The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-12-30
ABOUT EPISC0PAITANISM
THE TIIRD IN THE SERIES OF LEG TURES BY RET WR. DICKERlI1N.

SuranCo Company-How it Differs From Methodism-In Its Good Points Much
 Like Cathollcism-some Hard Hits and
 Worthy Praise.
 At the Church of the Messiah last evening Rev. w. F. Dtckermon, the pas tor spoke to a large congregation on
 ''The Good Things of Episcopalianism." He took for Q text Tim. iii, 14, 15. He
 spoke as follows: "The Episcopal
 church has been regarded ae a harmless form of Catholicism, and as we look closely at it We see that it does present some similar features. There is the same family likeness between the two churches, both externally and internal ly. Even in architecture the prevail ir.y type in both is Gothic; there is the symbolic window behind the altar, the robed minister. Members are taken in similar ways. Ministers are ordained in almost precisely the same grand way the bishop pronounces the grand papal beredicdon as he lays his hand on the | head of the candidate. Regular bap- | tiSm, the observance of the sacrament and loyalty to the church are regarded as paramount institutions, although @ | per5on in the Episcopal church need not
 recognize all of the thirty-nine articles,
 Provided he has been loyal to the sac rament of the church these omissions
 may be passed over. This great lati- 1 tude observed by those outside of the l I-l-,, abroad that one may believe as he | p,eas2s and yet belong to the Episcopal church if he is faithful to the church 1 in other respects. The Episcopal church | has not been fanatical in matters of ! religion. It is almost certain that the | church has not history before the reign. | of Henry VIII, or about 1888. He who
 was defender of the fair became de- l ferder of the Church of England It l was claimed that the English church | originated with the apostles, that their l ministrations were evidenced in Eng | land at ar, early period. and that the l English church came down from Orient
 al Christians and not from missionaries
 of Rome The first church dates from 1 the fourth century. but during the fifth
 ctllt SlAlIl ttiiluI tllt liiN VI lilt | Danes practically exterminated church,
 but in the seventh century, under St. 1 Augustine, there came a revival Dis putes arose between the English church men and Roman priests. which were 1 settled in favor of the latter so that l Rome claims to have founded the Eng | fish church, and to have been recogniz-
 ed as the founder. The reforme spirit came into the English Catholic church at the time of Luther, and was led by | Sir Thomas Moore Moore, Luther and | COllett received not much sympathy in | their work, and Henry VIII wrote a l book against them.
 The ceasattor in 1888 of the long re- l Iigious dispute was followed by great | l2xity. At about that time the evangel- l ica1 movement of the low church began, l Soon the broad church arose under the | leadership of Thomas Arnold, and the
 high church under Newman. All three of these are found in the Episco-
 pal church of to-day The influence of l the high church party was a great
 help to the established church party l ard did for it what the Council of Trent did for the Catholic church. It strengthened the spirit of reverence in the church. In, the present United States the settlers of Virginia first es- abolished the Church of England. l Churches were built in New York and
 other cities, but in New England it | gained foothold with great difficulty. The governors maintained it and the
 church in ever instance remained loyal | to the crown, a, few years later taking | the Tory side. When the colonies be-
 came Independent of England the church of America considered a govern ment of it's own necessary. The clergy ! of Connecticut first selected Dr. Sea- bury to go to the mother country, and he was cons ecrat ted in Aberdeen in 17S4.
 A form of liturgy was iEsued inr 17S6, differing slightly from the English prayer book. It attained the present form in 1789 It has been proposed to
 change the name of the church to the American Catholic church, but this
 has never been adopted. The doctrines of the Episcopal church are orthodox and similar to those of the Catholic
 church, both in the prayer book and in
 the thirty-nina articles. No eXtempo-
 rary prayer is allowed and even the hymns must be approved by proper au-
 thorities The trinity is held prominent
 in the statement of belief and in the
 regular service. It is difficult to eX-
 pound the articles of the Episcopal
 church as the high ard low church have
 different views on certain points, al
 though united on the fundamental prin- ciples.
 The belief of the high church is that
 there is a perfect descent from St.
 Peter to the Archbishop of Canterbury,
 but in the low church the theory of
 apostolic descent has not much weight.
 The low church represents the evan
 gelical. a decidedly religious party, which lays great stress on the Bible
 and not much on ceremony. The broad
 church lays great stress on form cere-
 mony. and the apostolic descent. The
 high church enjoys the ceremonies ar
 tistically, but interprets the apostles creed and the thirty-nine articles in a
 liberal way. There is in the church Q
 tendency toward ritualism and one to-
 wards agnosticism. Rome looks on and
 says the general tendency is in her direction. Puritans and Methodists de-
 ride the Episcopal church as cold ard
 formal in its service, and say there is
 no religion there. but We cannot esti-
 mata a mans work by the frequency