The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-03-13

Christ; ! believe in the Holy Ghost
There are the. simple facts around
which are grouped all the teachings of
the Scripture. 1t was to mall. these
palmer that Christ came 10 earth
My friends, / am an Episcopalian be-
cause of that simple faith, and, may
/ say 1T, with all frankness and candor.
that the reason why there are so many
divisions in Christendom is because
Hien have departed, as 1t were. from
this simple expression of the faith of
the Redeemer ard have insisted upon
basing faith upon portions OF the COS
pei; some have one opinion. some an
other; 1T may be the opinion of man
wiser than myself; it may be a theory
which has warrant in the Scripture,
but nevertheless it Is an opinion of
man and no church Of the living God
has any right to dismember His law,
which is the embodiment Of the truth
So L stand upon this simple, yet broad
foundation.
NOT A NARROW CHURCH.
1t seems strange that any man
should talk about the Episcopal church
being narrow. What could be broad
er than the fatherhood Of God. the
brothership of Christ and the fellow
ship of the Holy Spirit? And that is
the position and teaching Of the Epts-
copal church.
Then, 1 am an Episcopalian because
l believe that God founded church.
l do not believe that he simply found
ed scattered sections here and there
as the embodiment of His incarnate
life. The holy Catholic church STANDS
as the successor Of the old Jewish
church. The Jewish church was not
absolutely destroyed, but it found its
fulf1llment in the Christian church
You read Of it's unbroken lineage and
simple historic continuity, the continu-
ity of organism born on the day OF
Pentecost. never ceasing, never bro
ken, undergoing many changes which
any organism must undergo. Yet, after
1900 years, it is still the same church.
the same organism, though divided to-
day.
L simply ask you to point to a single
instance where the organization was
broken. If there is any man in this
audience that can point to single time
in all the history of this 1900 years,
when there has been a break in the
succession Of bishops, 1 will give up
| my belief in it,
IT IS CONTINUOUS.
Therefore, it is because of the his
toric continuity of this church. kept
clear, kept distinct, kept unbroken for
all these 1900 years, that 1 stand an
E;piscopalian today. believe that
When orders are transmitted to us they
should be continued, and when 1 be-
lieve that from above the order has
been handed down to us, receive them
simply as precious heritage and will
strive to hand them on to others. The
unbroken continuity OF the holy Cath
Ollie church has remained from the be-
ginning. l do not enter into the his
tor1c argument regarding the position
OF the church as We receive it from
England, for that is simply a part of
the general statement which l have
| made. The Church Of England, es-
tablished by law, going through the
terrible fire Of the Reformation, retain
ing it's laws and orders and constitu-
tional character, retaining all that
made it an organic church of the Eng
disappearing people, was transmitted
afterwards across the seas to this
American land. and became the
church of our American heritage, and
one of which We can we'll be proud.
CHURCH is CONSERVATIVE
l have nothing to say tonight, my
friends, in regard to our controversy
with the Church Of Rome. 1 only say
this, that we hold to the church in its
essential features; we did not give up
everything at the Reformation that the
Catholic church asked for; we did not
h,
nor the .seemly vestments of the clergy;
we did not give up these things simply
because the Church of Rome demanded
them. They were ours by right long
before the Roman Catholic church
claimed them. 1t was the conserva-
itism Of the English. reformation that
saved US from losing the things which
we consider precious today
Then, my friends, am an Episcopal
ian because of our liturgy, our prayer
book. This prayer book we hold a
precious legacy next to the Bible. Let
no one mistake our position. The BIZ
BILE first, the Bible for the home, the
Eible for the church and her services,
first and always, but the prayer book
Is the best commentary on the Bible
that was ever written. The prayer
book is the embodiment of devo-
lions; the prayer book has the express
sion of more reverential feelings; the
prayer book has the breathing Of de-
votions of all the years. The prayer
book, standing next to the Bible, Is
the one thing that holds the church
close to the reality of her faith Why
is it that we are not disturbed In our
church by the constant controversies
regarding faith?
IT'S LITURGY BEAUTIFUL.
1t is because every time the congre
cations of our churches meet together
every member of the congregation
stands up and repeats the belief of the
apostles. We fear little as long as we
know that wherever the English tongue
is spoken our people are standing on
their feet, reading the lessons of the
apostles and the saints Of old, repeat
ing that beautiful expression of the
love of God and Of church. We con-
slider this prayer book a sacred book
not sacred in the sense the Bible is sa-
cred, but sacred as having the devo-
lions Of the Bible crystalliZed. Born in
the fires Of the Reformation formu-
lated and ADOPTED by the strong minds
Of the learned men in the years that
have gone, breathing the prayers that
fell from the lips of the Savior and
the saints Of the church, we receive 1t
and hold it fast and offer it to the
world as an expression Of religious
devotion and religious faith.
Now. my friends. these are my rea-
sons First, because of it's simple Cos
pei; second. because Of its simple faith;
third, because of it's historic continuity
as part of the Holy Catholic church.
and fourth, because of its perfection Of
liturgy.
ALL TREND UPWARD.
I am holding what has been handed
down to me, Loyalty and respectfully.
because 1T Is a precious legacy; not In
the spirit of discord but in the spirit
of the Master, as far as I can, in order
that the good things. which I believe
are within the treasury of the church,
may be given to others. that they, seek
ing, may take life again So onward,
upward. homeward. heavenward may
I travel. Baptists and Methodists and
Presbyterians and Roman Catholics
and Lutherans and others are all trav-
cling heavenward / know. thank God