The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-21
4 BISHOP LECTURES
FIRST OF THE SERIES OF CHURCH
CLUB LECTURES.
Conspectus of Church History mt ST.
PauFs Church by the Bishop of
Springfield.

Rev. George f. Seymour, Bishop of
Springfield, delivered the first lecture of
the Bishops series at st. Paurs Church
last night. His topic was a Conspectus
of Church History" The Bishops predatory
remarks related to the late Bishop Knick-
erbacker, of whom he spoke with intense
feeling. He said 1T was at the suggestion
of the late Bishop that he would attempt
to speak of the history of the Christian
Church from its incipiency to the present
day. The history of mankind in relation
to human redemption must be dealt with
in chapters.
by sacred history we understand the
history of Gods church." he said. "He
gave the Jews the privilege of being His
special people. They were the custodians
of His grace. In the same respect that He
has dealt with us He dealt with other dis
pensations for the good of man. He was
the center of Christian history in the Jew
ish Church as He is the center of civil his
tory. All things reach down from the be-
ginning of Christ, and all things we now
have have been drawn from Christ to US.
The ancient dispensation was a preparation
for man. 1t was laying in store OF the
things which, when Christ came, would
make up evidence for an argument SO. con-
vincing that none could dispute His claims
d bOuy VI SNiuSlCt llldl piOSie1iAiiSN CiAAio
when He appeared as the Messiah The
history of the Jewish people in the Old
Testament may be compared to great
picture gallery. We see aged man lift
ing his hand to STAY his son. man prepar-
ing to sacrifice his daughter. We pass
down the annals of history, and when 1t is
all gathered together, we look about the
gallery and see complete conspectus OF
the life of Jesus Christ These SCRIPTURES
Christ appears, it is like the voice OF many
waters proclaiming that 1t is He, and MAX
Ing 1t impossible for any one TO refute the
ITO appreciate the history or the Churcn
of Christ we must take a roundabout view.
Our eyes must go around the hori ion and
syrian empire, gathered with prute
strength the Persian empire, ne f on
the Grecian empire, whose proWess was
intellectual force-a force that made the
Of intellect that Athens attained it's as
tendency The Roman empire brought to-
gether the Snevilized nations IL oydsr the ne
had wisdom and he endowed the people
with the gift Of citizenship. When Christ
Ths Civilized ef ie people we're all grouped and
held by the prowess of Rome. There was
God had had sHTed
ishment and made them His peculiar peo-
weak, and as Greek or Roman we would
have felt nc interest In them n In 1eeg great
i In Rome NJ! Yet ws they Were Gods People
they held in trust the fortunes of man
kind. In dealing with this history we have
ern hemisphere The far north and south
was shut out from the geryiew of ancient
p psxn,Aa BY sudden leap, ssom one cond
ton to another. 1t is by transition, as
we pass from day into night; from child
dale 1nf dio In
an instant. The apostles and their con-
temporaries kept up the Jewish Gus
p r9%z iaI hand Of e God destroye ed
the temple Of Jerusalem. That day
Judaism died and the Christian church took
hood the sacrifices, many of them that
eliminated in the sacrifice of the pass
1.-The ancient festivities of the Jews held
the fundamental principles of the Christian
Where The tempe of Jerusaie ane was re
placed by the cathedrals and the chapels
consecrated to almighty God. Three, men
be exiled because the Catholic Church
made the Christian world their home. When
legal day. the feast of the penticost, when
st. Peter and his fellow apostles preached
eee and the Heu spr Pas fed
so to speak, the swaddling clothes of that
infant and disclosed the cradle to the
which that life depends must appear at
the first. When we Were helpless infants
in the hands of our mothers there were
in operation all the functions of life They
must go on until we die They are just
as true in operation In the infant as in
the man. So with the spirit of God. The
blessed spirit takes us to that cradle and
shows us the functions of the church.
Devout men of every nation were there
to hear that infant sermon. There was
naught but unity there.
I'm the end, as in the beginning the feat
ureS of that church are brought out in
bold relief. The church is the body of
Christ; we are members of His body and
flesh of His blood. Marriage is the symbol
of his union with the church-marriage
that makes man and woman of one flesh.
The church is His body and His bride. We
must then anticipate that the bride must
share the fortunes of the bridegroom. TAX
ing into view the fortunes of Christ we
see what will be the future of His church.
Thus far the church has run parallel with
church. endeavoring to drive Christianity
from it, but Christianity triumphed It
was victorious at the cost of human blood
and suffering. In the middle ages there
was gross Ignorance and the church had
Then it was Ignorance attacking the church.
Our conflicts are not yet over; they may
be upon US now-we cannot tell-but they
cannot triumph. The church of Christ can
not be destroyed for we have His prom.s Sc
that the gates of hell cannot prevail
against it. She will be lifted up church
triumphant and take her place by the
side of the bridegroom