The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-18


 in e practical way in our present state of existence, Much is concealed. much also has been revealed. On the divine side may be darkness; on the luminous side we walk in daylight. All these things were said and done and written in book of record for our learning and to teach us by precept and example, and to illus trate for us in word and deed the manner of persons we ought to be. The ethical value of this incident in the incarnation which we are considering is fundamen- tai and essential element in it. And this Is the feature of it which concerns us at present, and which we select as the sub ject of our sermon on this occasion. Il have given you an example" An exam pie of what? as applied to the services m wfa~h we are today engaged. The Cones- cration oH Bishop in the church ot Goa. We answer, an example of the profound truth that the apostles of Christ and their successors in official pjrerogative are pre- eminently first. last and always servants of Jesus Christ, humbly ministering to the spiritual needs and necessities oe man. krd. It was a startling and tremsndons way in which to brand such truth Cn the apostolate. But that something ex- ceptionel and anomalous was necessary appears evident from the subsequent cx- perience of the apostolate as VIC read the
 
 present day, and as reflected in the trials and difficulties of our order at this very moment. Service was the word writ large over the very threshold of the Christian ministry in its three orders or bishops. priests and deacons. The letters flame forth on the pages of the New Testament in living light so that he who runs may read and a wayfaring man. though iooi' need not err therein. But alas! men nave
 l-4~ AA@ device. and substituted many curious and enigmatica characters.
 In the collect for last Sunday and dur ing this week, John the Baptist Is set forth as a model of what bishop and minister should be. and the pattern con sists in the fact that John made himseit nothing. Christ was everythins. Jonh was but an index finger pointing to the Lamb of God. A voice crying in the wil- derness, and "a voice." as Dean Goui- burn has beautifully said, offers noth- ing to the eyes, nothing to LOOK upon, IL is merely an articulate sound carrying an idea to the understanding. giving notice or instruction of a direction or warning" John never professed to De anything more. Christ was the sender. John the messenger. Christ was the Mas ter, John the servant; Johns indivlouaiity was merged and lost, the one greater than himself was the all in all And so 1t IS with the Christian ministry We preacn not ourselves but Jesus Christ the Loro' and ourselves your servants TOT jesus sake. Who then is Paul and who is Apollos but ministers by whom ye be- lieye? Believe in whom? In us? Nay, but in Christ whom we make known and whose gospel we preach, and whose mes sage we proclaim. Christ Is the test Of a loyal ministry and the chief element Tn our office is to point men to Christ ana to declare to them the wonderful salva- lion which is to be found alone in Him. We are the agents of another we are not discoverers of a heavenly science. nor eiaborators of profound systems or original speculations and theories we bring no remedies of our own devislng as A nanacea for social and moral evils. All our knowledge and wisdom and pow CT and gifts and grace flow from source outside of ourselves. and in and or our selves in our ministerial capacity we are wholly and absolutely nothing. we can claim nothing. We represent nothing, Christ Is the source and spring of all authority. We only tell of Him, we speak in His behalf; we set forth His claims; we distribute the bounties of His grace
 we point to Him as the central figure the one only being to whom we and all AOOA~ saved.
 Among the earliest substitutes for ser wants and service we find men transform ing the three fold orders of bishops, priests and deacons into the vanity and self-assertion of the party leader and the popular preacher Brilliancy and original ity of personal gifts cast their blightine spell and drugged and fascinated men with their baneful influence; and thus perversfon and distortion If the Christian ministry has prevailed all through the churchs experience. Man seeking to draw upon himself the fiattery and adulation of his admirers until the glory and honor of the Master and the welfare of His church have been subordinated, and hero- worship has usurped the place of the homage and reverence which belongs alone to Christ. Churches have been call ed after the names of their favorites, and all authority disregarded, and history and the Scriptures dehed, when they conflict ed with individual notions and the asser- tions of private judgment and self-wtlled independence. What a sad spectacle, when we see poor mortal man rallying his followers with the charm of some pet shibboleth. and appealing to their bigotry. and stimulating their preJudices.
 until he becomes their idol and oracle;
  ceeded on the papal throne.
 And witness also that other painful sight of ostentatious parade of self char acterizing the pulpit at times Men speak ing great swelling words, and with pom pous demeanor shaming the very face of nature. and cutting such fantastic tricks | before high heaven as must make the | angels weep" Alas! behold, the preacher
 but where is Christ? You hear words of eloquence and power but the Gospel
 of the Lord Jesus, the cross of the crnci- fled one are hidden away out of sight
 behind the brazen glare of individualism
 and the dazzling exhibition of the man
 Again, history is all full 6f instances and
 examples of how men have striven tc
 erase the word service and write in its l room, Power, and forgetting that we are | Christ's servants and messengers have aspired to the role of material priesthood | and a world-power prelacy. Pretending | to deprecate the importance of the man, the have created imaginary orders to which attached the most extraordinary power and functions. Those initiated into | the orders become Gods spokesmen and correspondents and interpreters. They stand in the place of Christ, and visibly represent His presence. The grace of orders conveys to them the authority to reign as absolute sovereigns in the realm of spiritual matters. We have spiritual directors and duly commissioned officials to whom We can resort: and who assume authority, and take charge of conscience and overrule reason, and destroy self dependence. and reduce the soul to a state of drivelling cowardice and helplessness. What a heart-rendinE picture can hls-