Evening journal., 1916-05-10

things need each other for balance
and supplementary support.
Need Some Eyangelicism.
"They relate fundamentally TO the
Person and to the Society. The So
ciety is nothing apart from the Per-
son; the Person is approached through
the Society The Person is the re-
ligiOn. There can be no pretence OF
religion in His Name, unless the truth
about His Person be approximately re-
allied and the hold upon His Person
be vital. Nor on the other hand can
personal devotion to Him be satisfied,
unless il use the means of personal
communion provided in that Body
which He inaugurated and inspires.
There can be nothing really deep in
religious conviction which does not
work itself out in lofty apprehension
of the divine love which works in the
church through the Holy Spirit.
"The church is nothing apart from
Him Who is its Head; and any thought
of the church. or use of the church,
which serves to obscure vision of our
Lord Himself. which eXalts the means
of receiving grace above Him Who is
the end of our faith and Giver OF all
grace, is nothing but species Of
idolatry. There has been much idol
airy of this sort. On the other hand,
any adequate conception Of Him Who
not only died upon the cross but also
rose and ascended and reigns for
ever, and is eternally active by His
Holy Spirit. of necessity leads to ac-
ceptance OF His church as a medium
OF corporate salvation. II seems, too,
that His use OF the earthly and visible
as a means of communicating the
heavenly and spiritual is wholly con-
gruOus with the thought OF the divine
creation of the world and of the omni-
presence of divine Love. No one who
loves Him will ignore His commands,
nor arbitrarily restrict the possible
operations of His redeeming love.
ChUchmanship. in one sense the
synonym of obedience. is the inevita-
BILE consequence OF evangelical devo-
tion. Personal religion Graves the
sense of neaness TO our Lord: the
church brings Him near. So also, the
church forever points to its Lord, and
Personal redemption is the great thing
for each individual; but this only
comes through corporate sanctifica-
ton. Again. the sanctity of the body
is of high Importance; but this is only
realized through the supreme surren-
der Of individual souls to the person
OF their divine Redeemer. We often
disparage the terms evangelical and
ecclesiastical because both have been
misused to denote opposite forms of
Christian one-sidedness. Better far 10
rehabilitate both the names and the
things they represent, and see that the
true ecclesiastic is evangelical to the
core, and that the consistent evangel-
ical, il he only knows it, is potentially
an ecclesiastic through and through.
Apostolic Continuity.
"One Of the most important theologi-
cal books recently published in Eng
land contains this statement in its op-
ening paragraphs: 1T is necessary tc
remember that the Reformed Church
Of England has always refused TO he
considered as an offspring Of the age
Of the Reformation. 1t does not start
with a constitution drawn up for the
first time in the sixteenth or seven
teenth century. II claims continuity
with the church OF apostolic times. II
inherits the vast store Of earlier ira
ditions. except where il has expressly
or tacitly regulated any part of that
store. Whatever can be shown to be
the teaching and of the unanimous
voice Of the early church is for that
very reason the teaching of the
Church of England, even if it has not
been explicitly accepted and profess
ed. II in any point her formularies
themselves should be found to contra
dict what is shown by a soundeI
exegesis to be the meaning of Scrip
ture-if a more thorough knowledge
of history should prove that her di-
vines misunderstood the practice and
doctrine Of the fathers-the represen-
tatives of the Church of England to.
day would not stand committed to the
mistake. The appeal to antiquity has
already been provided for them in ad.
vance. The wise and learned mer
who shape the system under which we
live. consistently maintained that they
were devising nothing new. but re.
turning to the old-and to the old not
as contained. only in the New Testa.
ment. but as exhibited i'm the early un.
divided church. They did not treat the
New Testament, as some Of the CONT.
mental reformers and of their scholars
in this island treated it, or as many
critics of the present day treat il. as
D. huI fr,el
an unknown world to be decipherec
for the first time, regardless of the
church life from which it sprang
Their one desire was to be faithful tC
the Scriptures; but for that very rea.
son they used for its Interpretation
though not without criticism. tn,
commentary supplied by the fathers
and by the histories and by the enact
ments of primitive Christianity MA
son; Church OF England and Episco
pacy PIP. lf)
''Appeai TO Antiquity"
"The history of Anglican Christian
ity is full of this appeal to antiquity
There is something rather Irritating
in the expression to modern peopl
who wish to use modern methods 70
modern needs. They do not mucl
care for mere antiquity in any perio
or form. But in this connection AN
tiquity' stands for the spirit and tn
life exhibited in the Scriptures an
in the life of the ancient undivide
Holy Catholic Church. for the convic
ton expressed in the ancient creed'
for the devotion expressed in tn