The Press., 1884-10-23

succeeding generations; while these ln turn add their mite to the experlence o1 the past, and so is progress rhade. Every perfect invention, every important improve ment, every result of. scholarship to-day, is the very result and, outcome ot the nves of those now dead. We use and apply their effort and because of their effort, because of their labor in the past, carried on in the face of difficulties and stumbling block. you and are enabled to live lives to-day that reach higher and stretch out broader than could have been possible without these treasures that dead men have passed nown to us and to all men. So in a very true, ay {! in very practical way, we are in communion with the illus trious dead. Our skill, our right use of the worlds possibilities, depend upon and arise from the communion. Iii we should be so lost in folly as to reject'it, should the astronomer forget Calico, the philoso- pher reject Newton, the naturalists Hum- boldt, the scholar question the facts of history, we would perforce retrograde-go back to primeval ignorance, and descend to barbarism We'll This is the communion of the natural world. It would be suicide to attempt the natural life without 1t.
 But how true how deeply true, must be the communion of the spiritual world the con- munion of saints We cannot say the part in this communion which is taken by the blessed dead But we must know of the strength and comfort that cometh ln the knowledge of this communion to the living. On our part the communion is a'double one. It is from the past The knowledge of their sufferings is the germ of @ power of endur- ance of pain in us. The knowledge of their victory over failure gives us strong courage which we nurse instead of despair. The record of their persistence, ln the light of Christ's promises, gives us sure and certain hope of coming closer to him and to them by and by. But, too this communion is just as helpful as we realize that it is in the present.
 But let me warn you-it is the communion of saints. Saints are the holy.ones We must be struggling for holiness, my brethren, In order to have the sweet communion with the saints of God If we long to drink of the elixir that cometh from close relation with the holy dead, we must be like them in our aims if not in every action. If we yearn for the touch of unfelt hands; bearing our bur- dens with us, we must bear honest burdens in clean bodies. We must have the begin nings of that holiness in us which they have perfected beyond the grave. They are c'oth. cd upon with Christ. We must have the Christ in us, struggling through weakness t form our bodies in fitting mold to be clothed nnon by him. We shall recognize that we have share in the communion of saints, we shall know that their, victories and successes are our own heritage, if we have, though by faith, what they have by sight, Christ th' law of life. What was it that cleared th' vision of the human apostles to recognize th' risen Lord but the Christ in him? And so is the holiness in us that will bring to us membership In that communion of saints, O %ba SHhrfck fc tho token and tn pledge. Oh beloved in the Lord, the pure Il heart see God beyond, d,-the pure in hear only can ever see Him!
 pray you keep pure your hearts. Purlf them again and again in that memorial of ou blessed Lord, which keeping worthlly W dwell in him and he in us. By the struggle of the saints who have passed by let us b nerved to struggle more and more. We kno" we hope, we pray that we may be numbere with the saints in glory everlasting-let us b numbered in that glory now. We bless Go in the communion office for those who hay departed this life in faith and fear of him. why is it, if not that we may SC depart? | young men and young women! death look so far off to you, but eternal life IS alWay within your reach. The communion of saints so blessed and so great truth is yours; wh not enter now into the joy of your Lord Why not realize the communion of sain IuOro 1ullV Dy OI tudL uOAy CoA munion which is the token and pledge of @ divine and human brotherhood?
 The occasion of this days ceiebration,-l' it be said in plain and simple words, as sh would have 1.-the placing of an altar in tn church to the glory of God and in memory ( Ella Baker,-such an occasion, I say, mui mean very much to this community, of whic our dearly beloved sister was so close and il timate part, that to-day you cannot reali2 that her earthly life is ended. She gave or SO much to others that she has left herse broken in fragments here and there and yo and I hold this or that fragment so really that we are only hardly persuaded to at knowledge that there is an end of her earthl life for time. How simply. and purely an patiently that life was lived, you know.
 would scarcely dare to profane this place wit mere words of eulogy. How glad am know that this altar will be so typical of th life it commemorates Silently it stand simple and chaste and solemn being use( without thought of its own beauty, by tl priest and the people for their own comfo and help. Upon it is offered up the con memorative sacrifice of that One whose bloc taketh away the sins of the world. The ass citation henceforth will always be close in tn parish which she so dearly loved and ft which she did so much, between that tend and beautiful life which was sacrifice ft others and this highest act of worship in Il holy communion, by which we are unite with Christ and Christ with us.
 Many and many time have pointed that life as an example of what people mig do and might be, if they would do as she di be content ''to live faithfully 8 hidden life This altar stands now monument to her, n for it's material nor it's workmanship, but b cause 1t must be constant reminder of tn life of hers, which, being peculiarly hid wi Christ in God, with gentle force and sile eloquence led others within the holy of holi where she found peace. Being dead s speaketh yet Is she not glad to-day in Pal disc, knowing that we are recognizing throus her the communion of saints-knowing tn in that cloud of witnesses by which we a surrounded, we have seen her from afa From the thought of the blessed and ivi1 dead let me for one moment lead you upwa now, past the human disciple to the divi Master let me recall to you thatwe eel brate in this feast of the holy communion funeral honors. For communion is not wi the dead but with the living. The christi church in the feast, which over this memor
 is to-day for the first time celebrated, bea witness not to a dead Teacher, but to a livil Lord.
 We rejoice in the resurrection from t dead of One who holds the keys of death al hell and is alive for evermore. And as th living Lord, that risen and ascended Chri
 is the head of the body which we are, l church, the rest follows with him. We ca not separate the holy from the Holy One, a