The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1901-10-24
THE EPISCOPAL CONVENTION.

tAOh w pea AO1bi VIC bieA 80 D
emory where either of the parties
have been divorced for any cause
whatever, the former husband or
wife still living, wac very strange
one.
Notwithstanding Christ, the
head of the church universal, al
lows reniarriage to the innocent
where the other party has been
guilty of adultery, it seems that
there are some people who think
they can improve on the Masters
ethics. The position they assume
ia the one once held universally
but now lot to such a great ex-
tent by the church of Rome, that
whatever the church does is right
and not subject to change. Per-
haps a majority Of the Roman
Catholics do not now believe the
Pope to be infallible, or that
church ordinances, when they con-
travene the scripture, are binding.
The whole of the Protestant world
certainly rejects such PROPOSE
ton. The convention adopted the
wise provision of appointing a
committee to confer with other
churches with a view of bringing
about uniformity of Practice with
regard to the remarriage Of di-
vorced persons.
Another wise action of the con-
vention was the practical defeat
of the proposition to change the
name of the church from PRO
testant Episcopal" to 1.-The Holy
Catholic Church Of America. )"
From this it is to be inferred that
the evangelicals are in the major
ity in this church, though we are
informed that "high mass" was
celebrated in one of the churches
in San Francisco by one of the
bishop delegates clad in all the
medieval finery of the man-milli-
merry art, with the mitre, crozier,
etc. But at the same time servi-
ces were held in another Episco-
pal church in that city in which
many delegates discussed the ques-
ton as to the best means to bring
the various Protestant churches
into closer relation with each
other.
Enthusiastically the time has past
when any body of christians can
proceed upon the assumption that
they are the only representatives
of Christ's kingdom on earth.
That idea did very we'll in the dark
ages when the church was the most
important part of the state and
the Bible was sealed book to the
people, but that time has gone
forever, and the maiority of Amer
lean Episcopalians, sas indicated
by these two acts of their highest
court. are aware of sthat
fact and wish to be iii harmony
with the spirit of the age. Nor is
this commendable desire confined
to American Episcopalians, for a !
Synod of the Anglican Bishops of
Australia have recently adopted
a resolution which provides that
an invitation be extended to all
christian communions in that
country, having in view the chris
tan unity of all these churches,
not however upon the basis of the
historic Episcopate", bnt upon
common sense and the teachings
of the Bible.
The idea that the apostles in
stituted bishops, or superior ecle-
siastic dignitaries, and gave them
alone the power to perpetuate the
church by "the imposition of
hands" is both unreasonable as
theory and untrue in fact. This
has been admitted by numbers of
the best critics in the church of
among them Canon Far
rar who treats the subject in his
work, Gathering Clouds"
Neither the great Saint Paul or
Barnabas were ordained by a sin
gle bishop but by the whole apos-
tollc college, showing that all che
were of equal dignity or
that there was a parity of the
ministry. (See Acts 6, v 6; iv 10,
V g.
To show how the plan of exclu-
siveness and intolerance has affect
ed the world during the last half
century, some statistics compiled
by DR.. Dorchester, whose state
ments are regarded as of the high
est authority, may be given. Ac-
cording to Pope Pins the Ninth in
his Allocution, there were in the
world in 1850, 100000, 900 Roman
Catholic adherents to S2,OO0,OOOI
Protestant adherents. In 1900
thera wara )JE 600 900 D.,