Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1881-11-17
EPISCOPAL CONVOCATION.
Bishop Brewers First Annual Address to
the Clergy and Laity of Montana.
Delivered at st. Peters Church. HeIena
Monday Evening, Nov. Z, 1881.


Brethre" Of Me Clergy and Laity:-W
meet to-day under conditions different from
those which have marked any previou
} gathering of the church in Montana. Las
Fall the General Convention heard your peti
ton, granted you separate jurisdiction ant
gave you bishop Of your own. The neet
of such action had long been apparent Yet
when it came it brought regret to many
hearts, and tears to many eyes. 1t severed
ties that were sacred, and sundered bond.
that had been strengthening and deepening
for fourteen years. The taithfulness anC
devotion, the zeal and selt-sacrifice, the wis
dom and large-heartedness with which your
first bishop served your interests and minis
tered to the church's needs, will never die
out of your memory. You will Join with
me in giving him the warmest welcome tc
this our first Conyocation of the separate
missionary jurisdiction of Montana. And
you will approve my words when | add that
the welcome shall be repeated as often as he
may come to our Territory and that the
freedom of our churches and our homes
shall be his as long as he may live.
We are met to take counsel together, and,
legislate for the interests of the church in
this Territory. We have before us wide
field, containing at present a sparse, shifting,
heterogeneous population. The problem
before us is how to reach the hearts of these
people and win their souls to Christ. That
problem is simplitied for us by the circum-
stances under which we approach it. We
have no new faith, worship or methods to
offer. The faith we profess is that contained
in the old Creeds of Christendom. The wor-
ship we pay is that which has been handed
down to us from the primitive Church. The
methods we use are the methods shown by
the experience of centuries to be wise and
good. We have no need of new inventions
or novel eXpedients Everything necessary
is provided ready to our hand We have no
need to make many rules, or to pass many
laws. The Church has enough Of these in
her canons, and the Prayer Book in its
rubrics. We are loyal Churchmen, and the
spirit of loyalty is i'll our hearts. What is
needed is earnestness in our calling. Work
for Christ and His Church in the way that
demanded of us We sometimes become
weary in our well-doing, and fall into a
mechanical and routine way Of doing things.
We tire of the hardships entailed. We
shrink from the difficulties we must encoun-
ter We lose heart at the small results
accomplished. There is needed an annual
gathering like this, where we can measure,
as a whole, the work of all, and by mutual
counsel and consultation, gather renewed |
for the future. And therefore /
shall try and make what | have to say in
this my first Convocation address IS your
bishop, 4 means to that end.
If we were to enter one of the smelters or
stamp mills which contribute SO etfectually /
to the thrift and prosperity of the mining
camps which mark the Territory Of Mon
tana, we should see them filled with men or
helpers, and all busily engaged in some
employment. Everyone has his work to do
and is steadily employed in the doing of it.
There are no supernumerarles or drOnes to
be seen. All have their duties assigned
them and are expected to attend to those
duties Were it otherwise, little would be
Bustle, noise, and apparent
disorder are everywhere to be seen But
there is method, purpose, order Ill hat, at first
sight, seems confusion and disorder. All the
machinery is designed and all the work is
expected to serve certain purpose. Not
/ motion blow, OF effort is lost. Each moves
,owards certain end, and each workman
abors for a special object And altogether ac-
,omplish the end for which the establishment
vas designed. This scene is visible from
,arly morn till the shadows of evening
all And the process goes on day by day
md year after year, bringing profit and
wealth to the enterprising capitalist, carry
Nc happiness and plenty to the houses of
Industrious workmen, and marking commu-
lities and towns with the evidences OF
,rowth and prosperity. And so it is with
he husbandman, the artisan, the merchant
he professional man, with all who success
ully and. rightly engage in this worlds
pursuits They are ever busy, ever at work, .
onstantly striving with ceaseless activity
nd determined effort to realize the hopes {
nd accomplish the plans which worldly
mbition and material interests engender {
nd nourish in their hearts. y
What the world seems to US in its secular
ursuits, the Church ought to appear In her
piritual life and growth What the world |
, in its business life and energy, that the 9
hurch oupht to be in the accomplishment c
f her great purpose Of bringing all men to G
hrist The Church must be acorking '
Aurch. 1t was intended that the Church
hould be o working organization. Her
Divine Founders life ON earth was one OF e
Ill and hardship as well as of suffering, \
and always in his ministry in d
ne wilderness, in the city, by the quiet lake, z
\ the rugged mountain side, He was ever
o;ng GOOD to men. His Apostles followed b
is example. Danger and hardship were $
espised by them. Life was counted as moth /
% SO that they might do their masters 4
ork The lapse of almost twenty centuries !
u - ,Lon1rad her need or character, or d