The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-18

have embiematized a supremacy of which the imperial purple has hardly dared dream.
 The well known scene at Canossa illus trates the climax reached in the develop ment of the Christian ministry along what we might call Caesarean lines and certainly 1t is a far cry from Henry kneeling at the feet of Hildebrand, and holding his stirrup. back to the Christ, washing His disciples feet and wiping them with the towel wherewith He was girded.
 In pursuit of power the ministry of the church, after the apostolic age gradual ly, eithe ruled the state or allied them selves with the State and became poli- tical agsnts in one form or another, and this was she inh.sstance bSquS~shed to us even after the great Protestant Refor-
 nation. And it is a hard slow work for a pure historic Christianity to ret away from the entangling alliances of the past. If you will read the Life of Bishop Bass.
 the first Bishop of Massachusetts you will
 perceive that the popular impression con corning Bishops was the old mediaeval
 notion of mitred tyrants.An eccesiastical
 aristocracy raising itself from the dirt
 to the skies.'' My Lord Bishop" with
 civil power. as the successors of the
 
 wonder with such an idea of Bishops
 fixed in their minds a large portion of
 our people could not abate their opposi-
 ton to our order. Massachusetts did
 not want Bishops. And South Carolina
 asked for an Episcopal Church without
 Bishops. The Puritan mind, whether in
 New England or South Carolina Is always
 radical and fanatical and unreasonable
 and often devilish, and yet like blind
 Sampson it feels after the truth and pulls
 down the temples of Philistian error. The
 Hierarchical notion Is repulsive, in what
 ever form it manifests, or seems to mani-
 fest itself whether in the house you
 live in, or the clothes you wear. And
 while there is a contradictory element
 in such a mind which vii, condemn you
 if you do and possibly condemn you If you
 do not, yet in the main it Is to be taken
 account of, and due consideration given
 to it. While such a mind never did.
 nor never will see any truth in its we'll
 rounded and symetrical unity and rela-
 tionship to all truth; still 1t sees some
 thing. And what 1t does see is usually
 a danger of abusing. or an actual abuse
 of a truth. A Bishop in the spiritual con
 ception of the office, while not acceptable
 to the Puritan mind, because it imagines
 1t has seen so much of the other. is not
 objectionable in an aggressive and vitu-
 perative manner. but my Lord Bishop
 will ever be an offense which neither the
 stake nor blood can remove And the
 church would have been wise had she be-
 gun long ago to study the ratio 'ination.
 the why and the wherefore of such obsti- nate and persistent hostility. The Puri- tan mind will not be brought to recog- nize the whole truth as 1t is in Jesus concerning His Church for long while
 to come, because such a kind of mind Is hard set has fast colors against Bishops, as their narrow notions conceived Bishops to be during that sad and sicken- ing period when Bishops forgot what they really were and acted as though they were indeed and in truth quite different order of beings from what the Great Head of the Church brought into existence
 when He built His Church upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone. If our American people are to be won to the acceptance of the Historic Episcopate as one of the principles neces- sary for church unity, 1t will be when l wo who represent that Episcopate shall exemplify more and more each year | true spiritual conception of the Episco- pate, and prove more and more and be- yond the possibility of truthful gainsay- | ing that we are in every deed servants of Jesus Christ humbly striving to do good, and nothing but good. Ministers of Christ. ministerfng to humanity In Christ's honor and glory, and for the
 salvation aAd welfare of all those who can be brought to believe on His holy name. We are to show the world how we are called to an office of service rather than of power, of obedience in- stead of command. of giving of self in the place of receiving anything which pam ders to our pride or administers to the
 worldly and unsanctifed side of our fal- len human nature. We are not conse-
 crated to be placed in an office where we can be made much of by men. and dattered by their adulation and applause; nor are we ordained to have men lowing
 in our presence with superstitious rever- ence, and acting towards us as If the
 gods had come down in the likeness Of men, Christ is our all in all. We are nothing except so far as Christ appears in our life and teaching. The office we hold is nothing except so far as 1t sym bolizes the spiritual presence Of Him
 who ordained 1t. The essence of our commission consists in making Christ
 known among men as their one only Saviour and Mastor. The one great central fact of our most holy religion Is, that man mas Slnne0 anu SuiioN hoS Nio1 to save him from the guilt and conse- quences of his sin. The gospel Is the good news to men of their salvation, and our chief business in life is to proclaim | in all its fitness the atoning work of | our Divine Lord, who by His death on | the cross made a full, perfect and suf- hcient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction | for the sins of the whole world. and | gave us thereby the highest conceivable | revelation of the love of God towards us. We are sent to publish abroad in the
 world this mighty truth, and to tell men how there is salvation in no other way. l None other name under heaven given
 among men whereby we must be saved. 1 To be just before God ana accepted by Him we must appropriate by personal | faith the perfect righteousness Of Christ, | which God accounts to us and Tor | Christ's sake looks upon as our own. In | Christ we have a perfect redemption. We | stand complete in Him, and He can and | will save to the uttermost all who come | to Him, and are willing to accept the free gift purchased for them by the shedding | of His own most precious blood upon the accursed tree And yet, this Christ Tor whom we minister is not dead Christ. We are to set Him before men as | living and personal Christ. not in one ] sense. Christ who died 1900 years ago on 1 Calvary, but one who is now alive for ever more and is seated at the right | hand of God where He continually inter cedes in our behalf, and by His mediation makes our prayers and services accepta- | hle on the golden altar of His merits, | God hath set Christ at His own right hand in the Heavenly places, far above