The Portland daily press., 1891-06-15

| In a series Of sermons arranged by Rev. Mr..
Foote. refer TO the Rev. DR.. Washburn,
s0Sd Sss hfs In New York as aSS
was In this city. felt 1t an honor to assist
him In the service he held In the First Par
ish church. l remember his first sermon
perfectly well. and everything have seen OF
him. He is the idol Of the stu
dents Of Harvard College. Now, then,
take our own DIR. Hill. Is man to be cen
sured for afiiliatlng with Or. Hill OF the
First Parish church, Is there a more
more sanity character In the city? Is not
his praise sounded In all our churches and
do not the ministers Of all the churches rise
mp TO do him honor without exception, and
him in the pulpit and offer prayer or read
hymn or the scriptures. II 1t Is criminal, II
1t Is crime to be associated with such
man, who would not be criminal. do not
believe any one ever went into the First
Parish church to hear DIR. Hin who was not
made better and wiser for 1t. He believes as
do, substantially In the apostles creed, In
the holy scriptures and the authenticity OF
the four gospels, and like DR.
Of John John. Now / feel It % an honor nor to SfH have
such men invite me to assist them In their
services. When | had an opportunity last
Easter evening to preach at the First Parish
an Easter sermon, l thought It was one OF
.
The particular point make is that we
should not deceive ourselves, or allow our
selves TO be deceived into thinking that the
belief of Phillips Brooks Is In some degree
wrong, or Is not what this church requires 1t
| to be, that he Is to be favored because he is
so grand man, an idea people have. The
case Is wholly. different. We ask no favor
dent Let us look at the history Of
this church for four hundred years.
The 10th century was the age Of the reforma-
ton. Who brought about the reformation?
Why. the reformers. the most radical men In
our church. Cranmer, the conidant of Henry
VIII, was the only man who retained his
favor to the last. This name stands In the
reformation In England as Luther to that In
Germany. There lssno man Of this opposite
and work Of Cranmer, and 1t Is their busi-
ness to undo that work as far as possible by
their own confession often made to me. All
the ref0rmer5 were necessarily men, we per-
ceive, utterly Incompatible with what we
call high church principles. Men Of this |
new school who have sprung up among us
never could have effected the reforma.
tion and never would have done 1t.
The refoI oImers went too far; their work in
Ing. but theirs. and I can prove It over and
over again. But in the 18th century came |
the Catholic reaction, led by Laud. Then |
came In the Revolution, the House OF Han0- |
yer and William L.. and then, after one hun |
q
power. They were called Latitudinarians |
by the high church brethren. Then came |
revival, and the high church party had |
run Of forty or fifty years. The bishops |
were chosen chiefly by that party in Eng
land and In this country at the same time.
Then that party gradually subsided under
the Oxford movement, led by Pusey, those
who favored being called Puseyites, and
Cardinal Newman, who entered the church
Of Rome and became cardinal In that
church. tell you 1 can prove 1t to you
from the writings OF Cardinal New
man aud others that that party was |
party Of reaction. party to go backward. |
not forward. party 70 restore as far as pos pos
die Ages. " was great movement. Cardi- |
nal Newman was man OF great genius, er-
ratio. not sound man In my opinion. The
principles which were held by this Oxford
party, a name they are trying to fasten on |
our church, instead Of calling 1t Protestant |
Episcopal, led him Into the Roman Catholic |
church. believe he was right In my heart. /
preacher Of st. Mary's. He had every
worldly inducement to remain. The wonder /
has been that others did not follow /
him. One reason was that Newman /
was Of the commercial class.as high church /
radical distinction In England. The other
leaders, Pusey and the rest, were Of the /
aristocracy. These old families are so
bound up In ther prejudices that they were |
kept from, going into. the Romlsh church.
They would have had to give up so much |
that Is English, and that feeling was stronger
than the feeling toward Rome. Neverthe-
the father Of the Church OF England as it
now Is, meaning by his principles the ser
mons that he preached before he entered |
Rome. That Is not my saying, not low /
paper. Consider how much that implies /
then you see the force Of his be- |
lief. Now 1 think 1t would be
better for those who hold these principles Of |
believe that there has been an undue preju-
dice in this country against the Roman
Catholic Church. 1t Is much better church
In this country than 1t Is generally regarded. |
ciples Of that church as Newman said he
did. 1t is much safer place because OF Its
long lineage, Its ancient history, Its great ex-
perience. Everything has been tried and
reduced to as near perfect state as they can
the authority OF the church as supreme. and
the priesthood and the clergy, the true
home for these principles is the Roman
Catholic Church. There perscn
advantage and the least injury to himself.
The reason that keeps people back In this L
country Is that the associations are not so /
agreeable. But there is nevertheless feel
ing Of fellowship more felt for that church
Now the impression is given that men of |
Bishop Brooks's principles have no proper
place In church. Now what are the two
principal churches in England? Canterbury |
and Westminster. Canterbury Is the cradle
of our race and religion. visited Canter-
bury, was the guest Of the dean and senior
canon, had conversations with them, attend.
ed their worship, talked with them and heard |
them talk, and have corresponded with them.
declare they are as liberal In all respects as
Phillips Brooks, and men OF the same views, /
men at the head Of the greatest cathedrsls in /
England.
The concluding portion Of the address was
devoted to a consideration of the views of |
some of the prominent men. past and pres
ent. of the chufch. especially Bishop Bur |
CESS, and to an explanation Of the dlstinc- |
tions between the high, low and broad |
church parties. DR.. Dalton expressed the |
opinion that 1t was incumbent upon the lai-
ty in this country to combat the tendency to
rtualism.