Smyrna times., 1891-05-13
The New Bishop of Massachusetts.

The election of the Rev. Phillips
Brooks as Bishop of Massachusetts, the
large majority of both the clerical and
lay vote cast for him, and the enthusi-
asm with which the result is received
IN the state, are striking indications of
the change in religious sentiment and
partizanship which has taken place in
the home of the Puritans during very
recent years.
1t is probably safe to say that he is
the most honOred and esteemed of the
Protestant clergy, of Massachusetts,
whatever their ecclesiastical affiliations.
He is strong and influential not only
IN the Episcopal Church, but outside
Of it also, and his election to the Bish-
opric is received with great satisfac-
ton even cOmmunions which them
selves reject the prelatical organization
OF the Church. They Hook upon him
as man who is concerned most for the
propagation of the spiritual truths and
principles of religion, and whose influ-
ence to that end is powerful. Yet
Bishop Brooks has done more than
anybody else to set the drift of Protes-
tant sentiment, in Boston more espec-
tally, toward the Episcopal Church and
its worship.
The great majority of the attendants
on the Church of the Holy Trinity. of
which he is the rector, were originally
OF other religious interests and afilia-
tlons. Many of them are of Unitarian
antecedents, and the Episcopal Church
In Massachusetts, generally seems to
have attracted multitudes of its follow.
ing from the same source. Unitarian
Ism is losing force in the State where it
had its birth in the movement led bv
Channing; and EpiscOpalianism is
now apparently the most aggressive of
the religious systems in the Common.
wealth where once Puritan sentiment
opposed the very existence of the
Episcopal Church Congregationalism
as handed down by the founders of the
State, is undergoing a complete doc
trinal transformation, and its vitality
is decreasing. The communicates and
churches of the Episcopal diocese are
multiplying in both town and country.
but more particularly in the towns,
and it is not improbable that if the life
OF Bishop Brooks is long, he will even
tually preside over the strongest Prot
estant communion in the old Puritan
State.
In his religious and ecclesiastical
views Bishop Brooks represents what
is called the Broad Church party, but
his liberality extends to every variety
of Episcopal opinion. The particular
forms in which religious sentiment
hnds satisfaction do not engage his
interest so much as the cultivation and |
development of a sense of religious OBJ
legation. He is not so much a theo- |
logian as an enthusiastic preacher of
the spiritual essence of Christianity.
Mere ecclesiasticism and even dogma
do not provoke his zeal, and he is
without partizanship. Whatever may
be his deficiencies as a practical admin
istratOr, as compared with some other
Bishops, he will be leader of thought
and sentiment. Such a Bishop will
doubtless have peculiar opportunities
for the exercise of his abilities in Mas
saehusetts, where regard for systems of
theology is passing away and giving
place to a sentiment of charity, philan.
thrOpy, and desire for the expression
of religious feeling in worship.
DIR. Brooks enters the House of Bish-
ops at a time of theological revolution
extending throughout Professionalism.
He may not contribute to the solution
of the particular questions involved,
for he is not theological leader and
can never be, but he may exercise an
important influence on the future man.
ifestations of the religious spirit and
instinct, which not even the complete
overthrow of the old theology cOuld