The Portland daily press., 1900-06-06
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Has 1t Any Real Mission in
Maine.
REV. }. Bat,.n sh.phsrd'. Concluding
Lecture.

MaineP He answered the question in
the affirmative. II the Episcopal church
is an essential part of the church of
Christ then her mission is world wide.
II she is not doing her God given work,
then one of two things must be true,
either she does not know what that work
Is, or else she lacks the power to do IL.
What this church needs is the illuminat-
ing, life giving power Of the Holy Spirit
that she may see clearly her work. and
then do Il.
Our first work is to minister to our peo-
pie scattered in the towns and villages of
Maine. No man will fault us for doing
this work TO the best of our ability.
We have also the right 70 defend our
church from misrepresentation by people
within its fold and without II. Strange
as it may seen, the average man in Maine
believes the Episcopal church to lie out OF
sympathy with American institutions
and unprotestant in doctrine and ritual.
Both charges are false as our history,
doctrine and ritual prove.
have said our church has mission in
Maine. What Is ity First of all, its mis-
sion Is Ont Vi Al ~ II W ~
into the towns and villages Of Maine as
one more religious body whose sole ex-
cuse for existence is controversy, then IL
had better not go at all. New England
has had enough of that sort Of thing.
The people are tired of 1t. III our church
Is to spend her time wrangling about
apostolic succession, ritual, and church
polity, then Will she be as one that beat
eth the air
Many man has spent his life beating
the air and fondly believed that he was
doing Gods service. Air beaters are not
wanted In the church in any locality.
The first step toward mediation Is the
recognition OF the fact that the man who
is striving to obey all the commands OF
Christ is a servant of Christ. That may
not make him an Episcopalian, but 1t
does make him Christian. We must
settle down to the belief that there is sal
walton outside of the Episcopal church.
In the second place, we must be willing
to see that the sum of the agreements OF
christendom are greater than the differ.
ences We are to be more concerned
about what we believe than about what
we disbelieve. This church OF ours, as
Bishop Doane aptly put it In his great
address in New York at the Ecumenical
Conference on Foreign Missions, is not
like a rag picker in n heap Of street dirt,
rummaging about for differences and
ENdy Muhl y ol Will apOut
Professionalism, the fact remains that 1t Is
in fundamental agreement with us as TO
the essential verities of the Christian
faith.
There certainly can come no harm to
Christ and his church from recognition
of common service, and the magnifying
of agreements rather than disagreements.
There is another thing this church Of
ours can do for the sake of peace, and
that Is to insist on the simplicity of
creed rather than the complexity OF u
confession. All the churches have some
thing TO answer for In this respect. The
confessions of Trent, of Westminster,
of Augsburg, and of London are cases In
point.
The Anglican church has been wonder
fully free from this fault. She has taught
her children as simple creed as the sum
and substance OF doctrine.
Our church must also keep herself in
touch with what has been called applied
Christianity When 1t is question Of
suffering humanity, all Christians are
one. In matters of organized charities,
social reform, tenement house improve
ment, hospitals, homes of mercy, care for
the aged and orphans, ecclesiastical names
and party rallying cries fade away, be-
fore these great needs. Christian men
are willing to unite to do what Christ
would do If he were on earth.
to rejoice that in every way Christ is
preached" We have our way. Other
people just as sincere and just as conse-
Grated have their way. The main thing
is to have Christ preached. II ours be
the more excellent way, we must show it
by our works am more and more i'm
pressed with the greatness of st. Paul
tent TO contend for their way Of preach
ing Christ rather than the preaching it.
self. The door OF opportunity stands wide
open today. There never was time in
the history of the world when there was
so fine an opportunity TO preach Christ as
the present. But the Kingdom OF hsayen
suffers violence and the violent take 1t by
force"
The world is to be tran sformed into
the kingdom of heaven by intense en-
deavor. If others enter into this work
with more zeal, more sacrifice and con
secration than we do, then we have only
ourselves to blame. II every church but
our own ceased to exist in Maine, we have
neither the men or the money to I'LL the
gap. When we take into account our
limitations, 1t seems the very height of
folly to ignore or depreciate the good
done by others outside of our own COM
munion.
But viii be met by the objection, "If
your plan be followed the Episcopal
church must sacrifice many things she
holds as essential. '"rhat does not follow.
When our missionary enters a new field
he must take with him everything this
church stands for. He Is obliged to do
so by his ordination vows. Wherever he
goes he must take the prayer book. That
book is something more than a liturgy.
In it every distinctive feature of the
church is TO be found. Its faith, its Or
ders, its sacraments are here clearly set
forth. The moment the prayer book Is
used, that moment people will see just
what the church is. What our mission
aries need to do is simply to let the book
speak for itself.
That men are more and more coming
to see its beauties and excellenoes goes
without saying. The place Of our clergy
is not before the prayer book, but just
where the church puts them, behind 1t.
When men object to its use we can only
answer, after centuries OF use, experience
teaches us that 1t is the best thing of
the kind the wit of man ever invented.
If other people desire an extemporaneous
service we'll and good. We do not.
What we do insist ON is, that we have
just as good right to worship God by
the aid OF the prayer book as others have
to worship God without it.
One temptation we ought always to
guard against, and that is to pose as
Il. - .N..N.. -