Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1897-05-13


His law and established His religion
among them. He worked visibly and
ipvisibly In ways suited to mans com
| plex nature. lie employed when He so
chose angels sgarbed In human form, but
ordinarily and by the appointment OF
His will. He dealt with men by means
of men. He set apart a priesthood, He
determined rites and sacrifices, His hall
of Judgment and His mercy sea. were
set up upon the earth in place hal
lowed by the marvels OF His presence.
For in Judea, God was known, His
name was great in Israel, His place
was in Salem and His abode in Sion.
True these ordinances, this priesthood,
were but types and fgures transient
foreshadowings CT what was to be. weak
and beggarly elements which received
all their eff cacy from the future in
carnstion and sacrifice OF His Son, but
still elements, indications and argu-
ments OF His ways, pledges of their
Continuance, so that IL the ministration
of condemnation was glorious, much
more should the miniHtration Of Justice
exceed in glory, and if fthat which was
done away deserved honor, much more
that which remaineth. When He would
cume upon the earth, He sent prophets
to foretell the signs and circumstances,
He appointed the time and place, He
chose Mary, an Immaculate Virgin, as
His mother, He trusted Himself to
the fatherly care of Joseph. As He
came visibly, 80 He worked visibly.
healing, touching, commanding, using
the material creation as the instrument
and sign of the spiritual. So, too, He
suffered. died and rose again for our
justification. Sent by the Almighty
Father, He manifested Himself Son
and God, mediator, priest, prophet,
king. He fulfilled all Justice, realized
all prophecy and now was to aauend to
His place on high. But how was His
work to be perpetuatod, how were
individual men in coming generations
to share in the blessings and fruits OF
His redemption, how were they to know
His truth with certainty and cearness,
how were they to have part in His life
and merits?
'.By the admission of all Christians
He founded living society, church,
though what is contained in that
admission many do not know. He com
mitted to it His authority, He trans.
| His words and acts; lie gave His will
and promise as the pledge of Its sta
bility, He made it the continuation
and extension of Himself; He endowed
| il with being from His infinite being
with power from His almighty power,
with life from His eternal life. And to
theaDlric work, He and the Father
Aha HaIx 10 he &c 20
abiding. animating principle. All is
redeihption and plan save one thing
man. Must the almighty then depart
from His former economy of mans
agency, was not this trust too great for
human weakness, should not angels
rather, radiant, unspotted beings, be
the heralds of His truth, the enforcers
of His law, the dispensers of His
grace. So, brethren, il might well
have been, out go it was not As He,
the infinite. put Himself in bounds. as
| He, the eternal, the aucient of days
became the child of time, as He, the
all blessed, came in our abased and
suffering humanity, as He shrank not
from the virgins womb, nor spared
He was ON earth reckoned the friend OF
sinners. SO also in the high divine
work of conversion and regeneration He
associated men with Himself He made
nan His representative to bless, sto
judgs and to forgive in His name, to
offer sacrifice, to be custodians and dis
pensers of Himself. the stewards of
His family TO feed them. That the
- ,.,AA ha H.
manifest in our weakness and that His
agents encompassed by their own
infirmity might be the better able not
and error, but also to comfort and sus-
tain them.
Father Smith next spoke of the
Significance of the bishops consecra-
tion and of the duty of the people
towards him. He referred to the two
divergent and widely different views OF
the nature of Christ's church and in
consequence of the purpose of the
Christian ministry. He declared that
il the solemn act were but an appeal to
sight. to those sentiments of religious
emotion and aestheticism OF which few
are destitute it would fall far short of
the meaning il ought to convey; that
it recalled rather, because it partook
Of what was greatest, most benefcent
in past history, going hack to the day
when Paul and Barnabas were set apart
to the self same work in the self same
way. $50 toe" he. said, "this present
sacramental bestowai of gifts upon a
chosen one to-day, signifies. continues
and effects the transmission through
the episcopal body of powers conferred
upon the first IL by the divine founder
of Christianity.
Taking up the other view he asked !:
"Did Christ in truth leave His fol-
lowers to choose by sympathy and good
will any model of church government
that seemed to promise the best re-
suits? Did He leave them to find out
their own needs aud functions? Was
not the Gospel ministry valuable only
in go far as it was found convenient?
Is not a hisrarchical, authoritative
church, departure from the Gospel
type, an imitation of Jewish models
and Roman ideas? Is not simple, trust
full, lustifying faith, the very essence
and kernel of Christianity and the
Worship of the Father in spirit ana in
truth by His children, whether
organized or not, to be considered an
all-sufiicient form OF church. true and
satisfactory service of God? Making
allowance for the provisional state of
the church at i1rst, for the gradual and
necessarily guarded disclosure of the
doctrines and powers, owing to per-
secution, | say that the foregoing con-
ception of the church is out of har-
-. IN A A