The Portland daily press., 1891-06-15
Rev. Or. DaIton's Sermon on tho
Significance Of the Opposition.
The Teachings Of the Church Now
and In Former Times.
Famous churchmen Whoss Views
Were Identical With Or. 6rooks's.

The first is Judges TX: :15; the second IL
Samuel, xix :43; the third. jeremiah, ia.
1t is very seldom that public attention Is
called to the affairs of the Episcopal church
The present is rare instance. Why Is II
that this church is receiving now degree oI
attention heretofore unknown? We all
know that 1t Is on account Of the recent elec
tion Of the celebrated DIR. Phillips Brooks tt
the blshopric Of Massachusetts. But why
should there be an interest in the election
OF such man? Because Of his eminence
high character, his superior talents. But
the interest is greatly increased from the
fact that though he was elected by large
majority-the very decided choice Of his do
cese-his confirmation which Is required Is
bitterly opposed. The usual order OF cleo
tion is In convention duly assembled. Ev-
cry diocese has standing committee repre-
senting, 1t Is presumed, the diocese, the cler-
gy and laity of the parishes. Their assent
is required and expected, and usually given
unless there Is some very strong reason. We
have had. for instance, within very few
years, two distinct ritualistic bishops elected
In the West. Many dioceses declined, espe-
cially In the first instance, to confirm. Was
that parallel case? No; because the ritu-
atively. Ultimately they were confirmed
and the opposition died away and
was never fierce. What then Is the
situation? fear there Is a great misappre-
heDsion. Phillips Brooks stands so high, Is
so generally admired, that many people say
ne ought to be elected and confirmed that 1t
Is shame to oppose him. But with the un-
derlying feeling that there is something
wrong In the election. that in the abstract,
and following the letter of the law and pre-
cedent, those who oppose him are perhaps in
the right. and Notwithstanding they may
have the right in the abstract, the idea Is
still. let this grand man be elevated because
he is grand man; let the law be strained.
But this Is not the case at all. Nothing
could be more unjust to Mr.. Brooks and
those affiliated with him. Mr.. Brooks's cleo
tion was. regular. Z. he belongs to the
school Of thought IN the church
been represented among the bishops in this
country and England. There are bishops
now on the bench of the same views precise
ly, as Bishop Clark Of Rhode Island, fully
as liberal In every respect In thought, word
and deed. doctrine and discipline, theory and
practice. and has been all his life. well
him soon afterwards. There was no thought
of opposing him because Of his well known
liberal views, because he was leading
broad churchman. Bishop Burgess Of this
diocese was Of the same thought. l know
his ylews;1 was intimate with him. Hun
dreds Of times talked on all these su bjects
with him. know perfectly well what his
views were. and although no two men are
precisely alike ia their views,
the views Of these two men were
alike substantially. No one thought Of op-
posing Bishop Burgess on this account. The
views of Bishop Paddock, so far as he show
ed any bias, were against this new school
who call themselves advanced churchmen,
sometimes ritualists. He was thorough
Protestant. His two predecessors, EasJburn
and Griswold were, on this subject Of the
as @ the rs sa Is paScf enough
show that the election of such a man as DR..
Brooks Is not new thing at all; but the op-
position Is entirely new thing. How are
we to account for It? What does It signify
This Is the nature of 1t.
First, circular has been sent everywhere
in which he Is quoted as having said that
Episcopacy, that Is. the Episcopal form of
church government, Is not divine institu-
tion. The impression sought to be given is
that EpiScOpalians ought to believe that 1t Is
that the prayer book teaches 1t. | declare
here that the prayer book does not so teach,
and challenge any man to prove that 1t does.
What the prayer book does say is that from
the Apostolic Age there have been three
orders In the ministry, but it does not say
they were appointed by the Apostles; it
only says from that time they have been.
Much less does 1t say they are necessary. 1t
does say that to be minister In this church
apostolic ordination Is necessary; but 1t does
not say there cannot be ministers in other
churches without it, and that Is all Phillips
Brooks has said, and no one reveres the
ministry of the church more than he. Now
Il you will ask any churchman, high or low,
who Is the greatest scholar in our church In
this country, II he Is man who knows any
Thing, hewill say, the celebrated DR.. IIightfOOt
IF Durham. and in his commentary on st.
PauPs epistle, especially that to the Ephe-
slams, he distinctly recognizes that the epis-
copacy was development which implies, Of
course, that 1t was not an appointment. A
development Is something that grows up.
Here we have the very highest scholar In
bur church quoted.
The celebrated DR.. DOllinger in Germany,
whose authority is absolute, strange TO say,
. on our side and not the other. In the En-
ylish church the previous Archbishop TAFT
of Canterbury and Thomson Of York, who
were soft OF bishops OF bishops, held
views the same as those of Phillips
Brooks. Archbishop Tait is known by every
Dne to have been as broad a churchman as
Phillips Brooks. and he was cordially dis
liked by his opponents, who could scarcely
speak peaceably of him. These were men Of
breadth of view aud liberallty. The late
Dean Stanley, who recently visited this
country, who was a great friend Of the
Queen and one Of the greatest lights Of the
church, as a scholar and divine, was
even more comprehensive than Phillips
Brooks, and It would be easy to quote many
others. All these great diyines and scholars
are Of the school Of Phillips Brooks. That
a man of that kind should be thought to be
Ineligible to the episcopal office.
But, 1t Is said that he does not believe that
a church having three orders in the ministry
Is exclusively the church of Christ, and that
there can be no Gther; that you identify the
church with that Christian body that has
had three orders of ministry in actual sue
cession from the apostles. These
divines have quoted have the
same views. How many will you find
who believe that there is
no. church but ours. There are men who
hold views like Phillips Brooks's but do not
state them. How did he come to utter these
Views. 1t was in our last general conven-
tion. An attempt was made to change the
name OF our church from Protestant to
Catholic. Phillips Brooks saw that 1t was
OF deep Significance. There was deep
feeling in the party In favor of the change
about the word Protestant. They said we
are not a Protestant church; but in Parlia-
ment it Is always alluded to as the Pro-
is declared that none but Protestant can be
king. But these men, both In England and
this country, are ashamed of the word, and
the name and the thing aud they undertook
to change the name, and the only way they
could do it was through the arrangement by
which little diocese has the same vote as q
large diocese-a very foolish arrangements
trap in which the liberal men were caught.
And these little dioceses came very
near giving the church a new name. What
prevented them? The stand taken by Phil
lips Brooks and men like him. 1t was soon
found that II our church repudiated her
name there would be q schism In the church
at once. Phillips Brooks preached the fol-
lowing Sunday sermon and declared that II
the name OF this church was changed and 1t
became another church he would not be
counted In this new church. That was what
lncited the wrath against Phillips Brooks.
A man who dares to stand up and be counted
every time, and there IL no office In the gift
of the Episcopal church, no prestige that
could induce him to swerve hairs breadth !
Well may such man be feared. Moreover
the thing was illegal and l think l am not
unwarranted In saying the Chief Justice of
the United States was Of that opinion. 1t
numerically, believe, even with the majorl-
ty Of the clergy. Yet here is where the feel
ing Of antagonism is strongest. But the
third thing is, after all, the practical one.
Men will allow you to have opinions II You do
not express them, but they dislike you IL YOU
express them; will let you talk IL you won't
act. Phillips Brooks haa not only thought.
but spoken, not only spoken, but acted, and
has affiliated with all denominations of
christians In New England and especially in
Boston.
But the chief charge is that he has affiliat-
ed with the Unitsrians by officiating in
their churches. q There are Unltarians
ana Unitarians and Unitarlans are