The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-06-13

pagan found an inspiration in the CT
| ceronian maxim. Quo difficilius, hoe
| praeclarius," much more so, the follow
ers of the Nazarene, who passed over Cal
vary with its thorn-spikes and spear
thrusts in reaching the Olivet of the AS
cension Difficulties should not appall
the Christian Thoughtful and circum-
spect must he be, to attain in any degree
the wisdom of the serpent with the harm
lessness of the dove.
The American Churchman is not OBJ
liged to go very far back to find the
causes which still retard the growth of
the Church in this young, vigorous re-
public. Prior to the revolution, which
resulted. after seven years of war, in
| the freedom of the Colonies from the
mother country, the truth of history
iustifcS the sad statement that for long
| years the Episcopalians who had come to
! America were denied the helps and safe
| guards of one important element in the
autonomy or organism of the ApostOcal
Church. Our fcrpfathcrs were depressed
| by the ab0rtive effort to secure a Bishop.
| The war continued quite long enough to
deepen the prejudice in the American
people against anything that savored Of
the scarlet uniform Of England. Human
nature is a queer tumble and saddening
| medley of perpleXing contradictions. And
yet in the face of history. we should not
wonder that the same people who, prior
| to 1916, had fought around the battle
| nents of Quebec under the cross of ST.
| George. in 1888. had learned to hate the
| English flag and almost every form Of
English institutional life We began the
nineteenth century with deep-seate1
prejudice against the English Church.
Al
tie United States. in their far-reaching
love for the Young republic and popular
! government readily imbibed the teach
ing OF the Romansts. the Baptists and
the QuakerS and others, notably so in
| Maryland and Virginia, that the Protes
| taut Episcopal Church, even under the
| sanity Bishop White, was in full sym
patty with and the natural outcome OF
English aristocracy.
Nearly century has passed away,
and yet, so amenable is poor human ma
ture to any and all forms Of false teach
ing. that here to this very day in North
/ Carolina the great mass of the people
are very much preiudiced against the
| Episcopal Church. They have been in
dustriously taught that. as the EpiscO-
pacy came to America from England
during the goddess eighteenth century,
the Church stands for everything like
ariStocracy one dares maintain under Il
republic and That the standard of per-
sonll piety is very low in her commun-
ion. Radical professionalism, failing fully
to differentiate goodness from godliness,
prudery from pcty. relgiQIanpess from
religion. vapd cmotionS D. from
pure emotion. the great body of
their rank and file fatty affirm that
the dress parade religionists have an In
defeasible pre-emption of the Kingdom of
i Heaven. Is it any wonder, with these
false views so prevalent among the great
body of the population Of the United
States, that the growth of the Episcopal
Church should be slow? The suspicion of
AngEcanism in some form or other ac-
counts for it. Coming from ignorance, it
seems to have come to stay, for with ig
norance comes prejudice. and from such
narentage as these two come the numer-
GUS progeny OF envy. Hatred ana llrtIive.
Comparing the Episcopal Church with
the large numbers of the Baptists, Meth
diSts.and Romanists, surely, if we are
right in counting by show, bulk, num-
bers. our growth except in the cities land
even there we are very far from being the
strongest of the Christian bodies) has
been and continues slow. Yet the history
OF the Church, under both dispensations
attestS the fact that while among men,
in matters, secular, the rights OF minori-
ties are too often oyer-ridden and de-
spised, yet Jehovah has ever wrought
out his purposes by minorities and most
generally by a minority of minority.
And yet, dear friends, what are we to
do in the matter of this prejudice against
the Church because Of real or imaginary
lAnglicanism? Surely every true lover Of
+, God wishes as rapid an extension of His
kingdom as possible, else let us stop say
ing "Thy kingdom come" ST. Paul says
IF the eating of meat causes my brother
to offend, | will eat no. more meat while
the world stands ''All things are law
full. but all things are not eXpedient.'
"All things to all men that l may win
some to Christ"
Is it wise or expedient, if one knows
that popular prejudice against the Epis-
copal Church is increased by being just
as English as we can be, in one thing and
another, in dress, in pronunciation. in
nomenclature, in the use of official titles
wisely inhibited by the General Conven-
ton at Minneapolis refusing to change
the name of Presiding Bishop to that Of
structively if not directly prohibiting the
use of the high-soundng word of Arch
Deacon-in some of our Bishops wearing
knickerbockers and tying up their hats,
be-decked with rosettes, with black
strings, in the wearing of aprons, in the
use Of the terms mathis for morning
prayer and vespers for evening prayer,
and sometimes the Roman word mass for
the holy communion, in this and that and
the other, to indulge these sad peculi-
arities? Is this loyalty to the Church? Is
this fidelity to ordination vows? With
popular opinion about us as it is, does
loyalty to the American branch OF the
Church Catholic permit one to be ever
acting as though this was the Anglican
Church, the English Church, and not the
American branch of the Church Catho-
lie? One may remember, if one would or
could brush away the London fog from
the sThioct how Mr. niclyans 1auuhad