Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-03-26
TO CLERGY AND LAITY
An Address Issued by the New Bishop of
Washington.
Some Remarks on the Question Of
to the Christian Family.

Glocese oI w dSnlngtOn, mas issued the 1ol-
lowing address to the clergy and laity Of
the diocese:
My Dear Brethren: Grace be unto you,
peace from God our Father and our Lord
Jesus Christ. May the spirit Of truth guide
you into all truth ard fill you with that joy
in believing which is given to those who
know the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom He has sent
The first words which as your bishop /
write unto you are words of deep gratitude
for the unity of spirit which so manifestly
pervades the diocese. We may all Thank
God and take courage as we contemplate
this great pentecostal gift from the ascend
ed Christ, our Prophet, Priest and King in
heaven, in whose sight the needs of our
diocese and of cur parishes are all known.
May this unity of the spirit in the body of
peace become the ruling influence of the
diocese Of Washington. Through all COM
lng days and years let us guard and treas
ure II, and then hand it down to our sue
cessors as pearl of great price; for upon
US Is resting the God-given responsibility of
forming now, in the beginning: of our his
tory, the tradition of the future
III our diocese is to preserve this unity
throuSh future days, it must, first of ALL be
a loyal witness for Jesus Christ to the
world; remembering that the only perma-
nent conditions for church unity are those
set forth in that ancient apostolic descrip-
don, There is one body and one spirit even
as We are called in one hope of your calling,
one LORD, one faith, one baptism, one God
and Father Of all who is above all, and
through all, and in you ALL"
Unity begins in God and not in man: and
TINS is the burden of Christ's own high
Lriestly prayer before He offered up that one
full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the
sins of the whole world upon the cross by
which He was to draw all men unto Him.
The confession that Jesus is the Christ.
the Son of God, is the rock upon which He
puiids his church, and the condition not
only or all future unity Of the spirit among
US, but also of ali religious power and spirit
uil PROGRESS, is that We hold the mystery of
tnat f2ltf:, which was once for all delivered
10 the saints in pure conscience, living in
tle ABIDING consciousness that Christ in
heaven is not an absent but an ever-present
King, who, through the Holy Ghost, is gov
ern.ng His kingdom on earth; that as priest
IN heaven He is ceaselessly working through
the church which is His body Oh earth: that
prophet in heaven, He is ever speabing
through those who preach Jesus Christ and
Him crucified; that greatest honor accorded
to mortal man in this lower world is the
privilege Of being co-laborers with Hum;
that He can only work effectually through
us In proportion as We give ourselves I'D
with complete self-surrender to His will,
and that Gods Kingdom will only come
when men learn to do Gods will as it is
done in heaven.
And when We turn from the church to the
world, We are to emulate the Christians of
confidence and the security Of the faith
that is in Christ Jesus as we face the COM
pick and manifold problems that are dis
turbing men in the close of this nineteenth
century, There are the religious problems
that loom up as we contemplate the spiritual
darkness Of the heather world side by side
with the moral darkness in Christian lands
prompting many to think that it is more
honest to doubt than to believe: there are
the intellectual problems, created by the
advancement of science and the discoveries
Of the reign of law in the natural world.
bewildering many truth-loving minds; there
are the social problems arising from the
conflict of Christles5 individualism with a
Christless socialism arrayfng class against
class. and causing men to substitute self
1sh theory of rights for religious confession
of duties; there Is the well-nigh universal
disposition to lose life in reaching out for
livelihood, and to forget altogether the
kingdom of God and His Righteousness in
seeking first how they shall earn their
daily bread.
No man can forecast the exact way in
which all these disturbing questions are to
be settled, but we Christians know the end
from the beginning; Christ is revealing
himself in the very issues that perpleX us,
and as they all develop themselves through
the progress of his kingdom of heaven on
earth, SO will they find their explanation
only in the growing Eight Of His incarna-
ton.
But we cannot inspire ourselves II we
would walk as children of the light and of
Christs presence; and here, dear brethren,
! let me remind you, as your bishop. that we
are all in danger, amid the growing de-
manIs of business ffe and the ceaseless
round of complex social duties, Of losing
that consciousness Of the presence of
Christ without which our religious life will
gradually become an unreality or a form
of goodness without the power.
THE safeguard which the word of God
has provided, and which the experience of
the Christian ages has found most effect
ual in protecting us from this danger, is
Sunday observance. The more engrossing
the demands Of secular life upon our time
and strength and means, the more neces-
sary becomes this counteracting religious
influence and the more earnest should be-
come our efforts to be in the spirit on the
Lords day.
Il beseech you to consider prayerfully
| and carefully how large a blessing is COW
cred by Sunday observances. Sunday is
the day Of light; the day when Christ, the
Son of Righteousness, arose from the dark
ness Of the tomb, bringing life and immor-
tality to light; the day when the Holy
from on high. Again, from the beginning
OF the Christian era, the first day of the
week has been the day which the disciples
have consecrated to Christ by commence
rating Him in that only service of public
worship which He himself instituted the
breaking of bread when they repent them
truly of their former sins, steadfastly pur-
posing, week by week, to lead a new life
and when Christ feeds them with the
bread of heaven.
Sunday is the day Of rest when, free
from the distractions Of the world, our
! hearts can hear the voice of Christ calling
unto us and saying: Come unto me- all We
that are weary and heavy laden, and will
give you rest When we realize the joy Of
His presence and the comfort of casting
all our care upon Him; when we gain
strength to go forth to the trials and la
bors Of the coming week, with the con-
sctousness that We have friend in heaven,
by whom the very hairs Of our head are
all numbered.
Sunday is the day of m:nistertne in
Christs name, when We are free from the
routine of secular work to do Christ's own
work in Christ's own way: to tread in the
footsteps of the man of Nazareth; to bring
the Gospel, the good news from heaven,
home to the hearts of the poor and ignor-
ant; to visit those who are sick and In
prison; to help our brother men to be more
Christlike, and to comfort others with the
comfort wherewith We ourselves are COM
forted of God.
Sunday is the family day, when every
Christian father fulflls the highest duties
of fatherhood-f1rst, by worshiping with his
wife and children in the house Of God, and
then, priest in his own house. by coming
In contact with the purest, divnest life of
those God has given him. and instructing
them in the way of the Lord. And as the
family is the unit Of all civilized life, there
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