The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-03-23

it is not. have got TO hold myself
TO higher standard than Moses and the
prophets. The branch grew out of the
vine. am not the soil but the branch
cannot live without the soil have a
historic connection with these saints
The flower is not tho soil, but the flower
cannot bo separated from the soil with
out death. True Christianity grew out
of that past theology, as the flower grew
out Of the soil, and must bo therefore o
DEVELOPMENT Of tho ages. So hnliava
in thai historic connection and would
turn from the mere negation which says
81 can make progress by beginning in
tho air." You cannot plant the seed in
the air; it must grow out Of the soil
AS TO APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION.
Third - Ecclesiastical authority is,
therefore, a purely human fiction, be.
cause Jesus said 30 and denounced it.
Jesus said, "Call no man your father
and do you not dare to lord it over ono an.
other" Apostolic succession and church
authority--whero do they rest? Apos-
tolic succession is a reality 80 far as it Is
the actual embodiment Of life stream
through the ages, and only thus far. It
has nothing in the world to do with mere
forms and offices. II has everything TO
DO with tho vital spark That has thus
been found through all the ages of the
past, Apostolic succession is reality
If you mean by it the continuity Of life
in Jesus Christ. | may have been grated
on tho vino, and IL am and its life pours
through my veins / am of the vino and
connected thus with the great life tap
and my life Is part Of that life.
Bishop Potter was going TO speak in
Baptist church lDr. Judson's Memorial
church, little while ago, and some Of
the little ccClesiasticsin this great church
got into terrible futter Apostolic sue.
cession was going to be injured The
idea! Wei, tho bishop did not go--he
was called to Boston to preach Phillips
Brooks funeral sCrmOE-but believe he
had a graHdor view of the real church
than that. just thini; Of tho little ecclo-
siastic who could stop to argue whether
Adoniram Judson was of the apostolic
succession, or whether some little man
who had been ordained by a bishop and
had ceremonies performed over him was
OF the apostolic succession!
Poor JudsOn. whom they crucifed in
india, whom they hung up by the feet
until they TOOK him down for dead, who
went over burning sands and who pour.
ed out life even rs the Christ poured it
out on Calyary's dark mountain for
men, who walked the same stony ridge
that Jesus walled and through a long
life--that any mortal man could rise and
say Of him. "Ec IS not of the apostolic
succession is. some little bishop
Of some little branch Of the church Las
not put his hands on him and given to
him that right. The only apostolic sue
cession that is real Is the vital one that
has dwelt in tho heart Of man through
the ages, and it does not matter whether
he has been ordained or not. IF he has
been ordained thus OF the spirit of God
ne belongs 70 the true vine.
Connection with the Christ is vital
not formal; vital, not iGechanical; real
not imaginary. If it is not so. then
Caiphas, the high priest, who Knocked
Jesus Christ, is Of the true succession,
and Jesus Christ, the outcast, crucified
between two thieves, is not. Caiphas
had the ceremonies Caiphas was the
legal high priest Of the Aaronic priest.
hood, but whether he was really in sue
cession was a question Of the spirit and
of the real life. IL am the life," said
Christ. 81 am the way, the truth and
the life." And he that would come must
come to him.