Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-20
BISHOPS IN SESSION
Continued from First Page.)


see his face no more, I am sure that the
echoes Of his voice abide with still, as
the sea shell never loses the rhythmic reso-
nance of the rolling waves. 1t was truly an
upper chamber that afternoon. in which
We were gathered together with one accord.
with one mind.
And the far away tradition is more splen-
did still. The almost natural and inevitable
Interpretation, it seems to me, of that up
per chamber, to which the revisers l am
glad 10 say, have restored its definite arti-
Gle, is that 1t was the guest chamber of
that house, to which the two disciples were
directed, and in which they prepared that
greatest of all feasts, when the dear Lord
gathered His twelve apostles on the night
in which one of them betrayed Him. the
only one that was not of one mind with the
rest.
Here, ST. Luke tells us, day by day. dur
ing the ten expectation days, they gathered,
not in dull and inactice patience, much less
In any Impotence of distruSt and unbelief,
but in the continuance of constant prayer
and supplcation; not the twelve only, but
the blessed mother of our Lord and the
brethren
The Coming of Pentecost.
And here. when the time was fully come,
came Pentecost. not merely with its star
ting tokens of power, the cleansing wind
and kindling fire, not merely with its
strange sign Of divers tongues, but with its
far greater power. it's far more important
function. and its far wider reaching grace
of inspiration and adaptation.
L am quite sure we miss the mark when
we read this, story as though it were act
OF cyclone violence or as though the mir
acle of it was that which made linguists out
Of ignorant Galileans whether for all their
lives or for that single day. 1t seems to me
a more marvellous thing that their tongue
tied timidity was turned into intense and ir-
reS.stible utterance, and their souls afire
with the irrepressble enthusiasm of mis-
siOns, SO that they could seek out and speak
to all sorts and conditions of men, first
at once, to the gathered representatives of
the worldwide dispersion, and then beyond
that. to the gentileS, to whom also God
granted repentance unto life. They were
fitted from that time to go into all nations
and let every man hear in the tongue in
which he was born the wonderful works of
God.
Surely. right reverend fathers and breth-
rem, these are the fitting thoughts for US
today. the lesson that we need to learn, the
reason for our gathering here from every
part of this great continent of America,
that we may be of one accord in this one
place, and get what God will give in
answer to our earnest prayer-first. inspira-
ton for. and then, adaptation to, the work
which God has given us to do.
feel that / may write down today the
words which old John Talbot, one of the
first missionaries of the Venerable Society
in this country, wrote as the heading of
the parish register of my dear fathers
old st. Mary's Church in Burlington, "Laus
Dec apup Americanos, for we are all
Americans here today not less than W. are
all Englishmen everywhere. All English
men. because We come from the same
mother country and speak the same mother
tongue, and all Americans because the
United States are only of America, even
though sometimes We seem to think that
they are all America. But the vast CONT
nent whose shores are washed by two great
oceans is the continent of America not
more in Florida and Washington than in
far-off Athabaska and Rupertsland.
One-Minded Inspiration.
And the inspiration is of -mindedness.
1t would be a shame to speak in the face
OF our comparative numerical snallness.
with any word thought of Boosting. as
to our right and title to be or to be called
the American church. But unless we are
persuaded in our own minds that to be this
is our mission, we shall come short of what
has been given to us to do-to possess the
continent for Him.
When we have wasted breath in boastful-
ness of heritage we have spent force
that should have been used in other ways.
When we have gloried in the fact of the
absorption into our communion, here and
there, of Roman converts, and, here and
there, of those who have been brought up
in the other Protestant communions. We
duty and deluded our minds to the chief
object of our ecclesiastical existence.
The aim and effort of our labors and our
prayers should be first by intensifying our
own oneness to maze good Christians, OF
whatever name of one mind and of one
accord, and then to take our place in
strong movement to reach those who
either has confessed the name of Christ or
else have come to deny Him; to build our
selves up on our most holy faith; to prove
ourselves not successors in office, but in
heritors of the spirit of the apostles; to
manifest the power. and not to magnify
the beauty of our --turgy: to confess our
faith not merely in the time-tested and
time honored symbols of it. of which We
have been put in trust but to live 1t. in
the intense earnestnesS of men who know
themselves His children, who maketh His
sun to rise the just and on the unjust
and His servants, Whose love knew no
limit to His redeeming sacrifice, but the
human race: His temples. Who gave Him
self freely as tie air (which is the type of
the Holy Spirit and Whom the Father
giveth to all them that ask Him.
Somehow it seems to me that we are be-
lifting ourselves with too much dwelling
upon little things. Within and among our
selves there is grave need to restrain the
Ia wlessness of false teaching either in the
denial of the Catholic verities, or in the
proclaiming of modern errors and untruths.
Within and among ourselves there is grave
need to set some boundary line to the in
dividual wilfulneSS of ritual, which, with
the true spirit of the old heresiarchs picks
out what it thinks pretty here and there
from various sources. and makes as many
uses as there are wilful minds in the stead
of the dignified uniformity of the church s
standards.
Ought to Overpower Us.
But the strength and time and voice and
printers ink that are expended on these
things are disproportionate and unworthy.
The self-consciousness of our inherent
power spent upon the self-conviction Of
our tremendous responsibility, to preach
the Gospel, to extend l., church, to con-
vert the unbeliever. to convict the sinner.
to convince the gainsayer ought to over
power us with the more strenuous love OF
men filled with passion such as possessed
the Master with very travail of soul. and
made the first missionaries of the cross
carry its conquering message to the palace
and the prison, to the nearer and the farther
borders of the known world
The great growths and movements in the
world and in nature are from Within out,
silent and steady and secret We count a
trees age by its rings which have grown
unseen out from the Utmost circle toward
the bark, which stretches itself to meet and
to accommodate the growth.
Men build material things from the out
side in God works the other way. Spiritu-
al growth comes the other way. And If,
l believe, we are charged by God with the
of