St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-09-28

region, seeks the spot for a new great life
center, IN which to group the vital forces
that are to push forth still new and better
growth, where else should he look than here
to st. Paul?
We have seen those forces at work; let us
now glance at the manner of their grouping,
or their vital organization.
Every vital force acts In two
impulse of further growth, and at
the same time it reaches back TO keep fast
hold on the life-center from whence it draws
lts energy and its powers. Every twig Of the
tree is pushing forth for further reaches Of
bough and leaves and fruit and at the same
time 1t is holding tenaciously, through bough
and branch and trunk, to the root whence
comes all its life. and from which, were it
once detached it would become powerless
and dead. When our divine Lord planted
the mustard seed that was to grow into His
worldwide church He gave it the vital energy
TO push forward its development for the good
OF every nation and every creature to the
very ends of the earth, and the very limits OF
time; and he also gave ita life-center, whence
he should forever pour throughout the whole
organism an energy, a life. far above all hui
man or natural life producing results beyond
all human capability, endowed with per-
petuity unmatched by any product of human
genius and power. 70 that life-center every
branch and twig of the tree must forever re-
main firmly knit in organic unity, or become
powerless to produce any save merely human
and whitening results.
That hfe-center is the Office Of st. Peter.
All the meaning of that office is this,
1T Is THE CENTRAL LIFE-CELL
OF the whole orgonism of the Church OF
Christ on earth. And since that Church is
HIS body, since He is the vine, and all the
church's growth are His branches, since it is
is to live. therefore, it is that He
so identifies the functions of st. Peters
office with the functions Of His own divine
mission, showing Us that it is through that
hlTf Off DrNC
of His divine life in the human organism of
His visible church. He is the Book of Ages;
he gives Peter the name which signifies rock,
and declares that Peters office shall be the
foundation rock of the church's structure
forever. He holds the keys of life and death,
OF heaven and HE'LL and to Peter He says:
ITO thee | will give the keys of the kingdom
of heaven" lie bindetn so that no man can
loosen. and looseth SO that no man can bind;
and to Peter He saith: Whatsoever thou
shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also
IN heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose
upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven"
He declares Himself to be the Truth, the
Light OF the World; and upon Peter His
prayer bestows the unfailng faith that is to
confirm his brethren in all truth. He is the
Good Shepherd; and to Peter He gives the
triple commission of feeding all the lambs
and all the sheep of His fold To that cen
trail office all eyes in every age have turned as
the unfailing fountain of the church's divine
life, the center of her unity, the source of her
universally the perennial spring of those
divine energies which, through the countless
channels of the sacred ministry, are pouring
forth In every corner of the world the streams
OF truth and grace and consolation, which
give to human life its highest worth,
It's 1alrest beauty: Its nv sweetest hope;
It's life, like those of the human heart, throb
to the very extremities of the church's
growth, and the God-given power of that
heart gives the vigor which reaches victori
rlSlV In nTrar 70 W md
for GOd and man. The Office of that central
heart is the Office of st. Peter the prince of
apostles, the vicar of Christ. The Office OF
that ever advancing forward energy is the
Office of st. Paul. the apostle of the Gentiles.
Admirably and beautifully both are united
and blended in the development of the
churchs life. Most fittingly then are they
to-day united and blended i'll him who, hav-
ing so wOrthily done the work of st. Paul. is
now sharer in the Office of ST. Peter. For
this Is what is meant by the archiepiscopal
office 10 which he is now elevated, and this
is what is symbolized by the pallium with
which he is now invested II is made in the
shape of yoke. to tell of the new burden of
care and solieitude which our Lord and His
vicar lay upon his shoulders. 1t is woven of
the wool of lambs sOlemnly blessed on the
feast of ST. Agnes ana Is laid on the tomb of
st. Peter to signify that this new RESPONSE
bility is a sharing in the duty of him TO
whom our Lord said: Feed my lambs,
feed my sheep 1t is marked with numerous
CROSSES 10 TGIDluu llS WedfeT OI lue cruClleu
Good shepherd, who loved His sheep even
unto laying down His life for them and who
demands of His vicar and all His wears rep
resentatives the best tributes of supreme
est love: Lowest thou me more than all
these?'
That yoke is laid to-day on strong
shoulders. The brave heart beneath it
will ever eXciaim: Il can do all things in
Him that strengthened me-" That heart, so
burning with ZEAL which means love of Lord
and of man and of all that is noble and
true, will not hesitate TO answer, with
humblest yet brayest confidence, our Lords
triple challenge: "Yes, Lord, Thou knowest
that love Thee"
We rejoice in the honor bestowed upon
him, i'll the trust confded to him. We in
woke heavens blessing on his discharge of
his high Office. We beg for him many years
of redoubled power and usefulness, that the
toilerS everywhere in every good and noble
work may still be cheered ou by that voice
from st. Paul: Lord, what wilt Thou have
me TO do?'' And this little yoke of st. Peter
will ever be, not only to him and his sue
cessors. but to us all, a sacred reminder that
all our efforts, all the progress and growth
that we can accomplish, will be secure and
fruitful only inasmuch as firmly rooted in
the office of Letter and inseparably bound
with it i'll organic unity; that the energies
thus pushing on to noblest ends. will win
them only by reaching forth with the God
given life-pOwer which emanates from that
center; that, in word, human work is then
the grandest and the best, when the motive
inspiring it, the energy animating it, and the