Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-03-20
CHURCH UNITY.
THIRD SERMON IN THE COURSE BY
BISHOP IRELAND.

THIRD SERMON IN THE COURSE BY
BISHOP IRELAND
The Principle of Unity Among the
Apostles, and its Necessity in tho Church
Peter Made the Principle of Unity by
the Savior-The Rock Upon Which the
Church Is Built-The Foundation and
Key Bearer. and the Shepherd of the
Flock-And Hts Support Withdrawn
All Church Unity Destroyed.
Bishop Ireland delivered last evening, at
the Cathedral, before very large audience,
his third discourse in the; present series, the
subject being, "The principle of unity in the
Apostolic chuch." The purpose of the dis
course was to prove that the Catholic church
has direct authority from Christ, through
Peter, to teach all the doctrines it seeks to in
culcate, and that any church organization
that has not this authority, is bound to fall
| into the teaching of heresy. The Bishop took
17thIchapter of John. The text and full alb
stract of the sermon will be found below:
sand not for them only do pray, but for them
also who through their word shall believe in me:
That they all may be one, as thou, Father, In me-
and In thee that they aso may be one In us: That
tina world may believe that thou hast sent me-"
JOHN XVII, 20-21.
| will invite you this evening to consider again
with me Christ's work in organizing the church or
society to which he entrusted the fruits of the in
carnation, and which he destined to represent him
and to continue among men his mission until the end
of time. So far we have witnessed the appointment
OF the apostles as the teachers and rulers of the
church, and the promises made that the gifts and
graces needed in the ful6llment Of their sublime
mission would not be refused to them. We have
now to ask what was the principle of unity among
the apostles, the corporate bond binding them to-
gether into one society or church.
THE NECESSITY OF UNITY IN THa CHURCH.
We are at once to suppose among the apostles
unity of action. In the charter organizing the apos-
toate it was distinctly stated that there to be
unity In their Teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have said unto you"-and
unity in general discipline Is so intimately connected
with unity of faith and witha so essential to the
| apostolic charge of bringing the nations to the
knowledge and observance of revealed religion, that
we are not to allow ourselves the belief
that Christ would not have enjoined it upon his
| chosen representatives. Unity OF faction is the
| source and rule Of power in all aggregatons OF
forces, whether material, political or moral. An
aggregation of forces remains numerical express
sion, not an indication of power beyond what be-
longs separately to the several units Of the aggre
cation, unless some new element Of strength perme-
ates it, and fuses into compact whole its minor
| ements, reducing them to one action. Indeed,
without this unity, the manifest result will be that
the elements will tend in contrary directions and the
outcome of the aggregation wi be to neutralize
their activity. What but source OF weakness and
the token Of defeat are the several regiments Of an
army on the battle field, without the omnipotent
| voice of the commander-in-chief? What impression
would the millions living between the Atlantic and
the Pacific make upon rival populations in the
world, if the term 1.-THE United States" SYN bolized
nothing more than the existence Of given number
of states absolute independent one from the 9TH
ers, each depending solely upon its own intrin
sic force? It is because our states, at the bidding OF
the executive power in Washington, move as one
body and pulsate with life that the Republic Of
the West is revered and feared over oceans and CON
tinents.
wisdom incarnate having built church, he bull
it with the elements Of power and successful
action oneness was to be marked feature in the
work His eolemn prayer at the last supper was fol-
oneness in the church: "Father, keep them II
} thy name whom thou hast given me, thst they
may be one as we also are one. As thou hast sent
me into the world, also have sent them into the
world; and for them do sanctify myself, that they
may also be sancti6ed in truth. And not for them
only do pray, bat for those also who through
their word shall believe in me, that they all may be
one, as Thou, Father, in me. and in Thee, that
they may also be one in us, that the world may be-
lieve that Thou hast sent me. And the glory which
thou hast given to me have given to them, thai
; they may be one we also are one' Perceive the
high model of oneness proposed to the society es
tabished upon earth by Christine oneness of the
three persona in Heaven. Observe that this
desired by Christ was not intended for the first
ties only, but for the church. mot for them only
do pray but for those also who through their wore
shall believe in me " Observe, too, that this one
to be visible in its nature and effects since
Christ put 1t forth argument to convince men
of the divinity of his mission that the world may
believe that Thou hast sent me'' Ohrist's prayer
was Christ's will; the effect 70 lowed the word; the
| seal of oneness was stamped on the church.
The expressions which IN the course of hi
ministry denoted the church forcibly bring
He cal called It the Kingdom Of God.
and "the Kingdom of heaven" Now, kingdom
without unity is contradiction in terms; the wort
suggests order, government, headship on ONT
hand, dependence on the other, and host of mu.
tual relations between chieftain and people. Christ
had elsewhere significantly remarked that "a king
dom which is divided against itself must fall, and
for himself. Again: Christ termed his church
"sheep folds word which evidently implies
unity of government he declared that as there
is one shepherd SO there must be one fold. He
called it "a city seated on mountan," which "can-
not be hid ~ here again are embodied the notions Of
order, government and conspicuous majesty. Tht
word "church" ITSELF the literal rendering OF which
is society. gathering Of men, puts in the front the
idea of some form Of unity OF government and of
action. There was never gathering, or society
without some ultimate bond of unity, some form OF
government on which oneness was impressed.
PROTESTANT BISHOP ON UNITY.
"Nowhere through the whole of Scripture" sayt
Rt Rev. Dr.. Ktpp. the Episcopal Bishop of Califor-
mia SIS there any intmation given that varying creed
and differing folds ware to meet the requirements
of Him who is not the author of confusion, but OF
peace" The bishop remarks how earnestly Christ
petitioned in his last prayer that the unity
of the church might be preserved, and
he givesI the advantages of this unity fol
the apostolic church. "While there was but one
church throughout the world it possessed the power
/ of discipline. Another consideration was the GER
tanty Of faith In these ancient days Of unity, as
the Christian set out in life, he had no doubts as to
| the faith he should adopt. No discordant voices
perplexed him. siren tones lured him into error
he passed along through life with the path plainly
marked before him. Yet another argument, the inn
preston the church was thus enabled to make upon
the world. By whom were the mightiest triumphs of
the faith won? Not by these discordant and chang
ing sects, but by the apostolic church, which, strong
in its divine unity, went forth to challenge the
troll of mans spiritual interests So great the
advantages of unity in the apostolic church, mapped
out in striking words by Bishop Kipp, that we
find no difficulty in concluding that the founder of
the church made her one.
PRINCIPLE OF UNITY NEEDED.
But unity presupposes principle which excludes d.
visions bond which moulds into one form the several
elements of an organization. The apostles were ap-
pointed t. teach and to rule. What was the bond
~