The Churchman. v.92 1905 Jul-Dec.
September 9, 1905 (11)
383
The Churchman
The Proposed Presbyterian Book
of Common Worship.
By the Bishop of Delaware.
There has very recently been printed
(not published), The Book of Common
Worship, as reported to the General As-
sembly of Presbyterians at the end of
May last, and as recommitted, with a few
minor suggestions, to the special commit-
tee upon the subject. This is an event
of very considerable importance and
significance, and one for which all desir-
ous of Christian Unity ought to be devout-
ly thankful.
First of all, let us consider the admir-
able Report of the Special Committee ac-
companying the proposed book, of which
the Rev. Dr. Henry Van Dyke was chair-
man.
After proving how very carefully and
conscientiously the committee endeavored
to follow the instructions under which
they were appointed, the report also
proves, by various statistics, how wide-
spread is the desire among Presbyterians
for just such a book.
The figures thus obtained show beyond
question: “( 1) That the movement toward
an order of service with responsive fea-
tures is already going on in three-fourths
of our churches: (2) That nine-tenths of
our ministers desire improvement and
better order in the conduct of worship
generally, in our Church; (3) That almost
all our ministers wish the people to take
part in the service; (4) That nearly nine-
tenths of our ministers wish for more
unity in Presbyterian worship, if it can
be voluntarily brought about; and, finally,
that four-fifths of them feel the need of a
book of forms.”
The argument for such a book is still
further strengthened by what the com-
mittee style “the bewildering variety” pre-
vailing in the arrangement of the difler-
ent parts of the service in various Pres-
byterian congregations.
In reviewing the proposed forms and
services, I shall follow the order in which
they are given by the committee.
The order of morning service on the
Lord’s Day is, in general, very similar to
our own order. The opening sentences,
while different from ours, are well chosen.
These are followed by the Invocation,
which consists of a number of brief col-
lects, from which the minister is to select
one. The Confession of Sins comes next,
and the Assurance of Pardon. After a
few versicles the Psalter is to be chanted
or read responsively, with the Gloria
Patri at the end.
Then ensues a Reading of the Holy
Scripture, either from the Old Testament
or the New: the rubric, however. declar-
ing that a selection from each is most
proper and profitable.
After a hymn of praise, the minister
and people are to join in saying
the Apostles’ Creed, which is succeeded by
. the general prayer, the general thanksgiv-
ing, and the Lord’s Prayer. Next comes
the offering which may be accompanied
by a canticle or anthem, and may be dedi-
cated with a brief prayer for that divine
blessing, “the church ofilcers who have
gathered the gifts standing, and the con-
gregation bowing down.”
One is grateful to note with what care
and reverence this part of the service is
conducted, and that it is distinctly de-
clared to be an act of worship. Then, the
people standing, a hymn is to be sung and
the sermon is to be preached. This is fol-
lowed by another hymn, the closing
prayers, the benediction, and a silent
prayer.
The order of evening service on the
Lord’s Day consists of the opening sen-
tences, the Invocation and – Confession,
Versicles, the Psalter, with the Gloria
Patri or the Gloria in Excelsis, the Scrip-
ture Lessons, an anthem or hymn, the gen-
eral prayer. The offering with a prayer of
dedication, a hymn, the sermon, a hymn,
the closing prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, the
benediction and the silent prayer.
Provision is next made in a brief order,
arranged very much after the manner of
the longer orders, “for any company of
Christians gathered together to worship
God, on land or sea, where -there are no
regular church ordinances, or where a
minister of the Gospel is not present.”
The Treasury of Prayers is the name
given to a large and varied collection of
prayers which may be used in connection
with the public services, “or by Christians
at other times, for guidance and help in
their devotions.” It is divided into
several heads: General Prayers for Com-
mon Worship, for Certain Times and Sea-
sons, for Special Objects and Persons, for
Various Graces, Ascriptions of Praise,
Family Prayers. Under the second divi-
sion are to be found prayers for Advent,
Christmas, New Year’s Day, Good Friday,
Easter Day and Thanksgiving Day.
Among the many collects here provided
are to be found selections from various
sources, ancient and modern, e.g., St.
Gregory, Leonine, Gelasius, Mogarabic,
Coptic, Dr. Samuel Johnson, Calvin,
Jeremy Taylor, Bishop Patrick, Thomas
Arnold, Dr. Pusey, Christina G. Rossetti,
Robert Louis Stevenson and the Rev. Dr.
C. W, Shields. There is, however, one on
page 57, attributed to this last-named
eminent liturgical scholar, which has been
from the beginning in our own Book of
Common Prayer, having its origin, 1′ be-
lieve. in the Sarum Manual.
There are not a few of these miscellane-
ous prayers which any Christian might
well wish to have in his own treasury of
prayers. In matter and in rhythm, they
will compare most favorably with those
in use in any compilation, and our Pres-
byterian brethren ought to be most grate-
ful for the time and labor engaged in
compiling them.
Next comes the Order for the Celebra-
tion of the Communion or Sacrament of
the Lord’s Supper, in regard to which
there is a quotation from “The Directory
for Worship” to the eifect that this sacra-
ment is to be celebrated frequently, but
how often as may be judged by the min-
ister and eldership of each congregation
most for edification.
There is not much similarity to our own
in the order as here proposed, and one
cannot but hope that, when finally
adopted it may contain some features
which would seem to be essential, and
omit others that detract from its signif-
icance.
For example, the laying on of the min-
ister’s hand upon what are termed “the
plate and cup,” is not mandatory; and
the elders are still allowed to administer
the two elements. It is a considerable
satisfaction to find, on page 79, a prayer
in which the faithful departed are dis-
tinctly remembered.
As to the Order for the Administration
of Baptism to Infants, there is not much
to remark, except mostly, with regard to
what is omitted. There is no sanctifying
of the water, and there is no signing of
the cross. There is no mention of im-
mersion, and the minister is allowed
either to pour or to sprinkle the water.
The most noteworthy feature in the
Order for the Administration of Baptism
to Adults, and their reception to the
Lord’s Supper, is the provision that, in
case such persons are to be received to
the Lord’s Supper—the uncertainty as to
which is surely a blemish in the Presby-
terian Discipline, “they may be called for-
ward, and the minister, omitting the re-
mainder of this order, may proceed with
the Order for the Confirmation or Bap-
tismal Vows.”
This Order for Confirmation and Re-
ception to the Lord’s Supper consists of
a confession of Christ as Lord, an adher-
ence to that Christian faith in which the
persons were baptized, a ratification of
their Baptismal Vows, and a promise to
use faithfully the means of grace, with
submission to the lawful authority and
guidance of the Church, and the further
promise to continue in the peace and fel-
lowship of the people of God. Then the
minister, laying his hand, if such be his
discretion (note the unfortunate per-
missiveness of this part of the rubric), up-
on the head of every one in order kneel-
ing before him, is to say exactly what our
bishops say at the time of Confirmation.
The Order for the Solemnization of
Marriage is a combination and arrange-
ment of “The Westminster Directory” and
the “Directory for Worship.” In regard
to our own marriage service, which it
closely resembles, the committee say that
it “is in many respects admirable, and still
remains open for use by all who may de-
sire it.” It is a satisfaction to observe
that in the proposed order the word obey
finds its proper place.
In the Order for the Burial of the Dead,
provision is especially made for children’s
funerals. The Scripture Lessons and
prayers are well chosen, and we are glad
that, among the latter, the faithful de-
parted are again remembered. The Creed
forms a discretionary part of the order.
Several prayers are copied from our Book
of Common Prayer without due credit
being given—a mere oversight, doubtless.
The last order is that for the Ordina-
tion of Ministers, and is as satisfactory, I
suppose, as might be expected under the
circumstance; but, of course, it lacks some
of the essential ideas which are incorpor-
ated in our own.
On the whole, as will have been ob-
served, there is room on the part of our-
selves for much commendation of these
carefully-prepared forms and services.
They have their weak points; some of
them very weak. Especially is this the
case in regard to the discretion allowed
as to the manual acts in the Order for Ad-
ministering the Lord’s Supper and Con-
firmation.
We cannot but hope that in this whole
matter of discretion, the General As-
sembly may see its way to be less liberal.
It is with us often hard enough to get
some clergymen to observe rubrics where
no discretion is allowed. It would be
much worse if these rubrics were not so
mandatory. And may not kneeling be
substituted for “bowing down”?
Evidently, in a number of instances the
committee were prepared themselves to go
further than they recommended, but were
restrained by the fear of jeopardizing
their work as a whole. For the same rea-
son, perchance, instead of mentioning our
38+
(12) September 9, 1905
The Churchman
own Prayer Book in instances of quota-
tions therefrom, they give the original
sources from which we, in part at least,
gathered our materials. This is not men-
tioned here by way of complaint. It is
rather welcomed as giving first evidence
of the antiquity of such valuable and ac-
ceptable materials.
Historical Ethics.
BY THE RT. REV. MANDELL CB1-LIGI-ITON, LATE
BISHOP OF LONDON.
Among the papers of Dr. Creighton
there was found, too late to be included
in his “Lectures and Addresses” pub-
lished in 1903, a manuscript dealing with
historical ethics, which from internal
evidence appears to have been written
soon after 1887,not longafter his exchange
of views with Lord Acton on the “His-
tory of the Papacy.” Their correspond-
ence forms an important part of the
“Life and Letters” of Dr. Creighton. Its
effect on Lord Acton can be seen in his
correspondence with Mary Gladstone
printed last year. Dr. Creighton’s posi-
tion has been often misunderstood, and
this essay, printed in full in The Quar-
terly Review and reprinted in The Liv-
ing Age, should go far to correct misap-
prehension, while it affords also a singu-
lar evidence of the remarkably judicial
mind that the great historian brought to
the investigation of the most morally
perplexing periods of history. Some of
its more striking paragraphs are these:
“I suppose there are two main objects
which a teacher should have before him
—the increase of wisdom and the in-
crease of virtue. It is sufliciently clear
that a history, to be worthy of the
name, must teach wisdom.
torical spirit is, above all things, prac-
tical; it deals with the actual facts of
life, and no episode of the past is devoid
of teaching for the present. There is not
so much diflerence after all in the politi-
cal and social problems of all ages; men
have always striven for some real or im-
agined good; and, when we understand
the conditions of their problems, we can
sympathize with their efforts toward
their solution, and we can learn, I think,
pretty nearly in an equal degree, from a
study of any period in the past, much
that is of practical utility. I doubt if
any one period or any one crisis is more
useful than another in teaching political
wisdom or fitting a man for public life.
What is needful for that purpose is the
power of discerning between the real
issues and their accidental forms, the
sense of the complexity of political
problems, the estimate of the forces at
work and of the means by which these
forces can be directed. And these
things may be discovered at any period
of the history of any country.
So wisdom, to a greater or less degree,
may be always learned from history.
But how about virtue? In other words,
is history primarily a political science,
or primarily a moral science, or is it
both in an equal degree? I imagine that
we should all like to give the last an-
swer, which doubtless could be easily
given, but has some difliculties in its
practical application. . . . The historian
_wh0 lets events speak for themselves. and
allows their lessons to write themselves
in all their gravity is more emphatic than
one who is always at our elbow like an
over-oflicious cicerone. No doubt the
cicerone has his immediate reward, but
it is generally contributed by those who
did not come to learn, but to stare and
pass on vacantly.
The hls- ‘
One formula which sums up much of
the activity of our own day is that it is
an age of an awakened conscience in mat-
ters relating to society and politics. The
demand for moral teaching from history
is strenuous; and I think that there are
more diiiiculties in satisfying the demand
than is generally supposed. I do not see
how we can refer any one who is in
search for direct example of life or in-
struction of manners to the study of his-
tory as likely to supply his needs. It is
still left for an ideal republic to show
that the good man is identical with the
great statesman. Actual facts show us
the wicked flourishing like a green bay-
tree and the righteous too often for-
saken. Men do not like to admit this,
and the endeavor to escape from the ad-
mission has led to many interesting ex-
periments in historical presentation.
On one side it has created a school
of history which advocates the omission
of the personal element, and a prefer-
ence for the history of ideas or princi-
pies. The conscience is satisfied by a
general conception of progress; and the
crimes of the past are reduced to mis-
takes. A genial optimism and a gen-
eral belief in ourselves is the net result.
. . . This optimism has had a powerful
effect on the modern presentation of
English history; and the year of Queen
Victoria’s jubilee has quickened the con-
sciousness of national rectitude. Differ-
ent nations write their history in differ-
ent spirits. The French take a cynical
delight in exaggerating periods of na-
tional depravity and unveiling the vices
of their statesmen and their rulers. The
Germans seek in the past for something
grandiose and grossmuthig. The Eng-
lish, I am afraid, are somewhat hypo-
critical, and are unwilling to contemplate
their ancestors as being other than the
respectable and orderly citizens of to-
day. Morality is imported wholesale into
English history, and quiet decency is
made to prevail universally. This ten-
dency to blink unpleasant facts seems to
hamper our political influence in Europe
even now. . . . In some such way the
English historian is given to assuming in
the past virtuous motives in Englishmen
and vicious motives in foreigners. I
think there is often an unconscious
leaven of hypocrisy in the presentation
of English history by English writers.
Another mode of overcoming the moral
difliculty is the bold assumption that men
succeeded because they were in the right,
and therefore that successful men were
moral heroes. But this method necessi-
tates a transcendental morality which
does not help the ordinary man very
much. A hatred of shams and a search
for eternal verities is rather a loose
formula, which may be made to cover
anything. Its acceptance justifies reso-
luteness and force and dulls the sensitive-
ness of conscience, which it is the object
of true morality to promote. It goes far
to destroy historical morality altogether
under the pretence of maintaining
it. . . .
Individual morality is sometimes
driven, in spite of its own devices, to
admit of casuistry in facing the com-
plications of actual life. The highest
natures avoid the need of casuistry by
simplifying their conduct, so that they
do not fall into straits between contend-
ing obligations. The ordinary man cuts
the knot for himself by assuming that
one obligation is undoubtedly supreme;
thus Englishmen are famous for pre-
ferring verbal truth to any search for ab-
stract justice, though I imagine that they
make many exceptions. as, for instance,
in selling a. horse. However much we
may dislike casuistry. and try to mini-
mize it in our own case, it cannot be en-
tirely got rid of. What we have to aim
at is that its exercise should not weaken
the moral sense, that its basis should be
intelligible, and that it should not be pur-
sued to undue refinements. I think that
we have in history to temper our moral
judgments by some considerations of
casuistry if we would avoid wholesale
condemnation. The life of a statesman
is always complicated, and he cannot
simplify problems at his pleasure. He is
perhaps responsible for his choice of a.
profession. Kings, it ought to be re-
membered, had not even that amount of
responsibility. They could not refuse
their oflice, in many instances, without
causing much inconvenience. Still, even
if we saddle kings and statesmen with
the primary responsibility of choosing to
be kings or statesmen, we must admit
that after they have taken office they
have very little choice in the questions
which they have to face. . . .
I think we ought, in all fairness, to ad-
mit that kings and ministers have a rep-
resentative character, and cannot act
with entire freedom. . . . A statesman is
not to be severely blamed for not rising
to a high level of enlightenment; we
must not find too much fault with him
for not giving expression to the highest
aspirations of his age. Moreover, we all
know how oflicial precedent trammels
even the most adventurous reformers,
till it requires superhuman labors to
effect the smallest change in the conduct
of a single department. The older the
institution the more it is fettered by offi-
cial conservatism. As the Pope has the-
oretically unlimited power, he is practi-
cally allowed very small room for exer-
cising it. As his authority rests upon
public opinion, he has to be careful rarely
to overstep the average opinion of his
staunchest supporters. This makes the
criticism of ecclesiastical institutions ex-
ceedingly diflicult. On the one hand,
they appeal to the highest principles; on
the other hand, they have to preserve
their hold on mankind. They are natur-
ally slow in reforming abuses, because
those abuses once had a meaning which
can still be defended in argument, and is
still, to some degree, profitable in prac-
tise. Before the abuse can be removed,
the institution which it helps to support
asks what is to take its place. It has no
power to replace it itself, but awaits the
constructive proposals of the reformers,
which are rarely very definite. . . .
I do not like the notion of judging in
accordance with the spirit of the age in
which events occurred, for the formula
is vague and opens out an opportunity
for justifying all things.~ But it seems
to me that, though there has been no
progress since the Christian era in the
contents of the moral code. or in the
knowledge of them, still the course of
events has altered their application. The
conception of free discussion and free
thought is not so much the result of a
firmer grasp of moral principles, as it is
the result of the discovery that uniform-
ity is not necessary for the maintenance
of political unity. So long as men be-
lieved that uniformity was needful they
strove to secure it: after their endeavors
broke down they found out by experience
that a State could get on very well with-
out it. Therefore moral objection to per-
secution must be founded on the fact that
men strove to secure uniformity by
methods which they ought to have
known. which they did know, to be in-
iquitous. I cannot gainsay this in the
abstract; but it is astonishing how much
the acceptance of a legal or a constitu-
tional principle tends to make men ob-
livious of the inherent iniquity of their
actions. I find it hard to deny that judges
were well aware that, granting such a-
September 9, 1905 (13)
385
The Churchman
crime as witchcraft existed, the meansand ought, on each occasion of its occur-
taken to prove it were wrongful. Yer.
somehow it would be harsh to brand as
criminals all judges who took part in
trials for witchcraft. There was the be-
lief among the people, expressed in the
law, and it was their duty to execute the
law. So it was with persecution gen-
erally. It came into being because so-
ciety laid down a definition of what was
necessary for its maintenance. The
definition was not sufficiently elastic, and
was not relaxed. It was ultimately over-
thrown by a process of general expan-
sion. But in this process there were sev-
eral moments when the guilt of re-
pression becomes darker, and when its
appearance in new forms becomes inex-
cusable. Persecution in a free-thinker,
like Sir Thomas More, constitutes a real
crime; in one who had himself rebelled
against uniformity, like Calvin, it be-
comes positively hideous. I take the
question of persecution as an instance of
what is perhaps the least dangerous
method of applying the current concep-
tions in extenuation of offences. The con-
ceptions must not be assumed or picked
up at random; they must be embodied in
legal or in constitutional precedure. Even
then they must be judged and repro-
hated; but I think they should be judged
and reprobated when they are first intro-
duced. They were generally at first
something more than errors of judgment
or unconscious mistakes; they rested on
some deliberate motives of self-interest,
which was wittingly allowed to pervert
the full power of moral judgment. When
once they were introduced and accepted,
we may deplore their mischievous vital-
ity, but we need not persistently blame
every man who did not strive to abolish
them. . . .
These fragmentary remarks may serve
to indicate what I mean by pleading for
as much casuistry in history as will serve
to distinguish between venial and mortal
sins. Opinions will widely differ about
the point where the line is to be drawn,
and the principles on which the distinc-
tion is to be made, if indeed it be ad-
mitted at all. After putting forward ex-
tenuating circumstances, I feel that I am
bound to say, what sort of historical
crimes admit of no extenuation? I think
these ought to be determined by the
harm done to the popular conscience, by
the effacement of recognized distinctions
between right and wrong, by the hin-
drance clearly thrown in the way of
moral progress. In our own society, law
measures an equal penalty to offences;
but legal punishment cannot be propor-
tioned to the measure of moral mischief.
We are sometimes surprised at the large
amount of popular indignation raised by
one crime, and sometimes surprised at
the small amount of indignation accord-
ed to another; but the difference is not
accidental: it corresponds to some un-
formulated conception of the popular
conscience. It would seem as though
mankind guarded jealously some princi-
ples which had been lately won by effort,
while others which rested on a firmer
basis did not require such careful watch-
ing. I think the historian should be in
the position of the guardian of the public
conscience. and should resent all at-
tempts to do it injury. Perhaps it would
be fair to say that few ends have been
pursued in history, in behalf of which
there is not a great deal to say, while
few means have been adopted to attain
them against which a great deal cannot
be said. We may not approve of war,
yet it would be useless to stop and blame
every war. But if a war seemed to con-
temporaries unjustfor was carried on in
defiance of recognized principles for mit-
igating suffering, it was a grave offence,
rence, to be reprobated accordingly. Yet
history busies itself with Henry VIII.’s
wives, or his persecutions under the Bill
of Six Articles, but has little to say of
the barbarous warfare wherewith he
devastated the Scottish Borders—a war-
fare as brutal in its way as that which
has made the Duke of Alva a monster of
savagery. I mention this because it ll-
lustrates the tendency to forgive any
wrong-doing which was ever so remotely
successful. Scotland in the long run was
joined to England, and the union has
been a success; we do not therefore keep
alive rancorous feelings about any por-
tion of the process by which this success
was achieved. Spain did not succeed in
winning back all the Netherland
provinces; its unsuccessful attempts to
do so are regarded as so many outrages
against the cause of liberty.
Perhaps the two crimes most calcu-
lated to shock the conscience and lower
the moral standard of mankind are
treachery and assassination. These are
public and not private crimes; they tend
to overthrow society and reduce it to
barbarism. Murders can never be for-
given; but then they have to be proved
as well in history as in common life.
When they are proved as matters of fact
they cannot be palliated, for they admit
of no extenuating circumstances. Com-
plicity in them or encouragement given
to them is as bad as being a principal.
Moreover, homicide is none the less a
crime because a flimsy air of legality is
occasionally thrown over it. Fa-lse ac-
cusations and the perversion of the forms
of justice aggravate rather than extenu-
ate the greatness of the offence against
public morals; for the destruction of
men’s belief in justice is again a subver-
sion of social order. The destruction of a
man’s character or influence by base
means is a moral m’urder.
So far as I can arrive at any conclu-
sions, they are briefly these: I like to
stand upon clear grounds which can be
proved and estimated. I do not like to
wrap myself in the garb of outraged dig-
nity because men in the past did things
contrary to the principles which I think
soundest in the present; nor can I palli-
ate wrongful means when they were used
to promote those principles. I cannot al-
ways judge aright whether or no a states-
man’s policy was the best which he could
pursue. I cannot decide how far he had
it in his power to work beneficial re-
forms, or how far he was to blame for
continuing old; abuses. His personal life
and his individual character is in many
points of no importance for the consid-
eration of his historical significance. But
I can judge if in his actions he was
treacherous and deceitful, if he overrode
the clear precepts of the moral law to
gain his ends, if he counted the life of
his opponent as nothing, if he perverted
justice and debased law. One instance of
such wrongful acts suffices to cast all
other achievements into shade.”
Ext-:rr:n cathedral, says The Church
Times, contains the heaviest ringing peal
of bells in the world; the tenor bell
alone, including the box girder, stock,
wheel, and clapper, weighs nearly five
tons, and, as a rule, for safety sake, two
men are put on to ring this ponderous
bell. The bells at Exeter cathedral were
repaired some years ago, the cost of the
repairs amounting to over $10,000, and
they are now one of the most perfect sets
of bells in existence.
The Sewanee Summer
School of Theology.
[From a Special Correspondent.]
The second session of the Sewanee
Summer School of Theology opened on
July 31, with a slightly increased attend-
ance over last year. The lectures of the
school are open to all Church workers of
either sex, and the interest shown by the
laity has been especially gratifying.
This interest has been most marked in
the lectures given by the Rev. R. A. Hol-
land, D.D., of St. George’s church, St.
Louis, on “Apologetics.” Dr. Holland dis-
cussed the attempts made by science and
philosophy to express the universe in
terms of matter, force, life and mind.
With a brilliant dialectic, and a style of
expression abounding in striking aphor-
isms and keen satire, he proved himself a
master in the function of the negative,
and carried his audience with him
through all the lower categories into the
higher one of self-conscious mind, upon
which he based his flnal argument for the
existence of a personal God. In response
to the general interest aroused in his sub-
ject, Dr. Holland gave a most interesting
address upon “The Hegelian Philosophy,”
and also led the Seminary Conference on
“The Relation of Philosophy to Science
and Religion.” It is seldom that the in-
tellectual life of Sewanee has been more
deeply stirred, and the scientific objec-
tions to Dr. Holland’s lectures found ex-
pression in two thoughtful papers read at
the E. Q. B. Club of the University, on
“Pure Mathematics” and “The Nature of
the Scientific Hypothesis.”
Two lectures by the Rev. Edward Mc-
Crady, upon “Scientific Evidences of the
Divinity of Christ,” deserve special men-
tion. Natural evolution finds its culmina-
tion in the development of the spiritual
man. This final stage of evolution, being
self-conscious or self-directed, necessitates
a fore-knowledge of its end. But in order
to meet this necessity, God, working
through nature, must reveal this end to
him. Such a God-natural revelation can
be given only in the person of a God—man.
That such a revelation has been given in
the God-man, Jesus Christ, is left for his-
torical evidence to show.
Dean DuBose, in discussing the “Gospel
According to St. Paul,” found the essence
of the Gospel in the redemption of human-
ity in and through the union of the divine
and human in Jesus Christ, and traced the
identity of the Gospel message through
the four Gospels, the Acts, and the Epis-
tles of St. Paul. His discussion of the
purely humanitarian Gospel represented
by Harnack, Tolstoi, and Felix Adler, was
especially interesting. To,accept the sym-
bolical truth of the Gospel story, while
attempting to divest it of the supernatu-
ral, is inadequate. WVe cannot hold the
substance of the Gospel without its form;
we cannot accept the “what” of God with-
out accepting also the “who.” Christ was
not merely the clearest Seer of the vision
of humanity; to be consistent, we must
go on to admit that He was Himself the
Life of humanity. and the Author and
Finisher of it. The supernatural element
in the Gospel lies back of and precedes the
Resurrection. To accept. therefore. the
symbolical truth of the Resurrection with-
out acrepting its actualization in Christ.
is to accept only the vision and the hope
of immortality which are held by all the
ethnic religious; in other words, is to fall
short of a true Gospel altogether.
Bishop Beckwith gave two lectures on
the “Trinity System of Sunday-school In-
struction,” and the Rev. A. H. Noll, an ad-
386
(14) September 9, 1905
The Churchman
dress upon “Hymnology.” General inter-
est was shown in a course of very practi-
cal lectures upon “Christian Socialism,”
given by Professor Guerry. Professors
Tidhall, Bishop and DuBose lectured on
subjects connected with their depart-
ments, and open conferences were also
held on “Revival Movements and Paro-
chial Missions,” “Christian Unity,” “The
Relation of Philosophy to Science and Re-
ligion,” and “The Devotional Life of the
Clergy.” It was a matter of great regret
that, owing to the yellow fever epidemic,
both Bishop Sessums and Dean Wells
were prevented from delivering their lec-
tures, as had been arranged, but it is,
nevertheless hoped, that these lectures
may be delivered in Sewanee at a later
date.
The Sewanee Summer School of
Theology is no longer an experiment, and
the need it was intended to supply has
been abundantly demonstrated. Consider-
ing the privileges it has to oifer in ade-
quate boarding accommodation, a cool and
bracing mountain climate, and access to
the university lectures and library, the au-
thorities seem justified in expecting a con-
stantly increasing membership.
A Word to Mothers.
BY THE BISHOP OF WEST TEXAS.
I want to speak plainly, yet paternally,
on a subject of vital interest; and that is
the importance of the family in the con-
stitution and makeup of both Church and
State. Whilst in our country Church and
State are happily independent of each
other legally, yet in another sense they
are mutually dependent. The State is the
product of the character of its citizens,
and the character of its citizens is deter-
mined by the influences brought to bear
upon individuals in the family; as is the
family, such will be the Church and the
Nation. It is for this reason that in
God’s eyes the family is of more im-
portance than either the Church or the
State, because the salvation of both
Church and State depends upon the purity
and moral power of the family. One had
as well try to build a stately temple with
adobe as to endeavor to create a noble na-
tion, or a Church after the divine pattern,
out of ignoble, unrighteous individuals.
Hence arises the supreme importance
of the education of women in the exalted
ideals, and the pure principles of the
Christian religion; for the woman is the
sovereign of the home. She, if she be fit to
fill it, is gladly accorded this place of dis-
tinction. I say the Christian religion, for
Jesus Christ alone has given to woman her
full liberty, her true dignity. Only in Chris-
tian lands has she that position of honor,
equal socially with the man, which enables
her to exercise to the fullest extent all
of her fine qualities of head and heart-
first upon her children and through them
upon the world. With rare exceptions,
this is the only way a woman can exert
any widely extended influence.
An old school-teacher, who wrote her
experiences of “Sixty Years in a School-
room.” gave it as her opinion that the best
of most lives is received before the age
of nine. A more recent and more scien-
tific writer has _put it at four. This
period of life being almost exclusively un-
der the control of the mother—lt magni-
fies the importance of her oifice almost
beyond the possibility of exaggeration.
It is to these, then, that we are to look
for the inculcation of those principles of
truth, honesty, purity and piety, which
will dominate the whole after life of the
child, and through him the Church and
the Nation—and finally the world-giving
rise to the trite saying, “the hand that
rocks the cradle, rules the world.”
It is because of this that all that our
Church has said and done on the subject
of divorce, which threatens to destroy the
sanctity of marriage, and the purity of
the home, is more than justified. The
lowest estimate of divorces in this country
is 30,000 annually—some put it as high as
60,000, while in Canada, amongst our
cousins, just across the border, there
have been only fifty divorces in thirty
years. As woman would be the greatest
sufferer by the overthrow of Christianity,
and the consequent destruction of the
Christian home, that would inevitably re-
sult from it, we must look to her primari-
ly for the prevention of this awful calam-
ity. “Upon a mother,” it has been said, “is
laid a charge besides which, nothing in
the world can be compared—the fostering
of the soul. If she teach her son to have
regard to himself only, to make friends
with the children of unrighteousness, to
satisfy himself with ignobleness, to covet
material treasures—then she has betrayed
her trust and sold her son for a kiss. If
she train her son to set the eternal above
all things, to count service the highest
duty of life, to welcome hardship as one
meets his bride, to fear none and nothing,
save God, then shall that son be twice
born of his mother, once of her body and
once of her soul. Her son may be cast out
of synagogues and palaces, may die poor
and rejected, but her name shall be
written in the story of the ages as the
mother of a hero and saint.”
The great aim of a wise mother should
be character building after the pattern of
Jesus, because that alone endures. Natural
‘ affection, reinforced by religion, should be
brought to bear in accomplishing this re-
sult. The mother should not be satisfied
with selflshly drawing the child’s love to
herself; but she should carry her teach-
ings up higher, and let the child know
that her love is not the love of a she-bear
for her cubs, but it is the faint reflection
of the love of a Heavenly Father, whose
very name is love, and from whom all pure
love proceeds, as a stream from its foun-
tain. A child so taught will not love its
mother less, but more, for it will associate
the love of mother with the love of God,
which is the noblest instinct of which man
is capable.
Christian women who know what they
owe to Jesus Christ and what He has a
right to expect of them in return, should
not waste their time and talents in ex-
cessive pleasures, expensive dressing, and
costly and conspicuous jewelry, but
should coin both time and money into the
characters of their children, and so be able
to point to them, as did the Roman Ma-
tron, and say with pride, “Those are my
jewels.” Who that has a son or daughter,
that fulfils his or her fondest ex-
pectations and highest aspirations, does
not know that gold and silver and
precious stones are not to be compared
with such riches? I speak of that I doknow.
The poorest man or woman who has
such a child is richer than the richest
millionaire that has no such possession.
(I heard last summer of a mu1ti-miliion-
aire’s son whose most absorbing occupa-
tion was raising dogs. Think of a mem-
ber of a race that produced a Washington
and Lee degenerated to a mere dog-
breeder.) One may often see a childless
woman on the streets of our great cities
lavishing on a poodle dog that affection
which God gave her to expend on her
own offspring, in order that she might
make the world better for her and their
being in it.
Nothing
is more helpful in raising
noble children than to have a goodly num-
ber of them, for in such a. family they
learn unselfishness, and selfishness lies at
the root of all sin and meanness. The ne-
cessity of sharing all their good things
with brothers and sisters, teaches them
generosity, which is close akin to religion;
for there is no such generous a giver as
God, Who daily pours out His benefits up-
on us with lavish hand, even upon the un-
thankful and evil. Then, besides, large
families usually make happy homes, as in
these, children have all the companionship
they require, and do not need to go away
from home seeking it, so getting into
those evil communications which corrupt
good manners.
Everything should be done to restore
motherhood to that honor and dignity.
which belongs to it by divine right, and
the younger women should be taught that
the only true power they possess and can
exert is through the characters of
the children they really raise, and
not just let grow up, as so many do.
It is only by maintaining such a stand-
ard of motherhood or restoring it, if it has
been lost, that we can keep our place in
the front rank of the nations of the earth;
for inevitable deterioration and eventual
destruction awaits the nation which loses
reverence for parents, and that because
parents have nothing in them to be rever-
enced. There is nothing more pitiable in
this world than to see children devoid of
reverence because they had not in the
home, in the persons of father and mother_
models to teach them. Reverence lies at
the root of all real, noble character. A
child with no reverence in its nature, and
who, therefore, cannot reverence itself, its
nobler self, and what it owes to that self,
is in constant danger of_ moral shipwreck.
There is no such restraint upon immoral
conduct, when children pass out from the
restraints of home, as that voice which
cries within, as with Joseph, “How can I
do this evil thing and sin against God,
and my truest and noblest self!”
Much of a child’s early life is only an
imitation of what it sees and hears around
it in the family. After a while these oft-
repeated acts crystallize into habits which,
when once fixed. become well-nigh in-
eradicable. Hence the supreme im-
portance of a healthy moral atmosphere
in the home.
a moral malaria there, produced by either
or both parents, the noblest possibilities
of their children will sicken and die, and
they will go out into our already sin-sick
world to spread the infection among
those with whom they come in contact.
Nearly all the sin and consequent
misery with which the world is cursed,
can be traced to a lack of parental re-
sponsibility, and the right rearing of
children.
“The greater relative importance of the
first four years of a child’s life is almost
startling. Society has much to fear from
untrained fathers and mothers during
these pre-kindergarten years. The restless-
ness of home life must give way to seren-
ity and confidence, unless our children are
to get an almost irremediable bias in these
early years. Children are neither good
nor evil, but are a bundle of possibilities,
put into our hands to develop.”
There are many parents who seem to
love their children, and yet treat them as
though they were only pet animals. Care-
ful about iood and clothes and the educa-
tion of the moral, physical and intellect-
ual faculties, but utterly ignoring that
one great principle of the immortal soul,
which in the last analysis is the only
thing that separates them from the brutes.
God help us to lay these words to heart,
and may they bring forth in us the fruit
of good living, first in spreading a knowl-
If. instead of this. there is’
September 9, 1905 (15)
387
The Churchman
edge of this important subject, then in a
reformation of the present evils, which
afflict society, endanger the state, and
paralyze the power of the Church for
good in the redemption of the world from –
the dominion of evil, for nothing short of
this is the purpse of Jesus. Thy will on
earth as it is in Heaven—the prayer
of Jesus is the prayer of God and must be
answered.
The Fight with Yellow
Fever in New Orleans.
We are permitted by the Bishop of New
York, to print the following letter to him
from the Bishop of Louisiana.
Bishop’s House, 2,919 St. Charles Ave.,
New Orleans, Aug. 25, 1905.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. H. C. Potter, New York.
My dear Bishop:
I greatly appreciate your most thought-
ful and sympathetic letter. . . . The out-
break of the yellow fever here was at
first a staggering shock to this commun-
ity, because most of us had put. aside al-
most entirely the thought of it—assuming
an immunity which was proved to be at-
terly non-existent. Our city has made
tremendous strides within the last few
years, and especially has been making
good headway with its new sewerage,
drainage and water system—for which
system the city will probably pay a very
big sum, $15,000,000 or more.
The fever undoubtedly came in from
Central America on the fruit ships—these
ships either bring people already infected
with the fever, or at least a cargo of in-
fected mosquitoes along with the bananas.
A great many here will advocate national
control of the quarantine at the mouth
of the Mississippi in order hereafter to
prevent any such invasion again. ‘I am
strongly in favor of that method myself;
and there will probably be strong agita-
tion for it. Whether the effort to secure
it will succeed remains to be seen. The
first cases were entirely amongst the
Italians_ and were confined to the quarter
-of the city where they dwell. These peo-
ple are very secretive, and the authori-
ties had a difiicult time finding out cases
of the sickness amongst them. They bur-
rowed away in their quarter of the town;
and did everything they could to keep
their condition from being known. By
what process of mind they reasoned out
that course of action—is difficult to say.
Perhaps it was mainly an unreasoning in-
-stinct of fear and suspicion lest some of
the authorities might hurt them worse
than the fever.
Let me give you one illustration of their
most common attitude. This story was
told me by Dr. Hamilton Jones, who is
the grandson of Bishop Polk. He is a
young physician of eminent ability,,and is
at the head, under Surgeon White, of the
Emergency Yellow Fever Hospital. He
told me of one poor old Italian who was
sick almost unto death; and who seemed
perpetually haunted with the idea that the
people who were trying to save his life
might at any moment poison him. The
-old fellow’s bed was placed in such a po-
sition that he could see the water-cooler
out of which the nurses would occasion-
ally get a glass of water for themselves.
He evidently argued that the water in that
cooler was safe to drink, because the
nurses drank it, themselves. and evident-
ly would not poison themselves: and he
persistently refused to drink a drop of
water unless he saw the nurse get it im-
mediately from that particular place, and
bring it straight to his bed without
getting out of his sight for a moment.
His idea evidently was, that if the nurse
got out of his sight, she might put some-
thing in the water that would poison him.
He kept a lynx eye, even while he was at
death’s door, upon his nurse and that
cooler, and must have gotten great satis-
faction out of the feeling that he was tak-
ing shrewd precautions for his own safety.
That is very pathetic; but the attitude has
presented a tremendous problem to the au-
thorities. These people gradually scattered
away from that infected centre. Our
Mayor wanted to put a cordon around
that quarter and keep them all in, not
only for the sake of the community but
for their sakes; and probably that method
would have enabled the authorities more
speedily to find where the cases were lo
cated and care for the sufferers accord-
ingly. But Surgeon White’s experience in
other places convinced him that that
method would fail, and would only have
excited them the more, and would only
still further have aroused their ingenuity
to flnd ways of escape. They scattered,
as I have said, from that locality to vari-
ous sections of the city, and out into the
country; and so the foci of the fever
were multiplied. It is to be presumed,
also, that the infected mosquitoes must
have been blown about in very many di-
rections from that quarter. We do not at
all fear that the epidemic could be like
those of the olden time. The death rate
is not at all as heavy as it was in ’78;
and any rapid increase of the disease is
evidently being prevented.
The United States Marine Hospital au-
thorities, under Dr. J. H. White, have ta-
ken charge of the situation at the request
of the community, and they are making a
systematic, scientific and heroic fight to
prevent the contagion and to eradicate it.
Dr. White is a splendid man—quiet,
powerful and tremendously efficient; and
our City and State owe him a deep debt of
gratitude. Our people here have risen in
a superb way to the crisis, and they are
uniting with great energy to support the
health authorities—showing this support
both by work, and by their voluntary gifts
of money. The reports of the last few
days are much more encouraging; and Dr.
White’s steady strokes are evidently tell-
ing. They are hopeful of eradicating the
disease before frost.
None of our own clergy have as yet ta-
ken the fever; but Mrs. Wells, the wife of
Dean Wells, of the cathedral, has had it
in very serious form. We are profoundly
thankful that she is now better, and on
the way to recovery.
The epidemic means much injury to the
city in many ways; but there is a grim
resolution to conquer the disease, now,
and to intrench the city so thoroughly
against it that it will not return. It is
the irony of fate that Havana should
quarantine against New Orleans; but, as a
matter of fact, many of our conditions
make it a harder problem to handle the
fever here than in Havana. But the city
is bound to handle it now, and to prevent
it in the future; and it is making its ut-
most effort to these ends.
Let me again thank you gratefully, my
dear bishop, for your letter.
I am faithfully and affectionately yours,
DAVIS SESBUMS.
P. S. Some of our clergy, including my-
self, have had the fever in former years.
I had it as a lad in Galveston, in 1867.
D. S.
Tm: most costly frame in the world is
said to be that which incloses the “Vir-
gin and Child” in the Milan cathedral. It
is made of hammered gold and is worth
$125,000.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
N. B. All letters intended for this department
must be signed by the writers and the names
must be for publication.
-A Question from the Bishop
of Fond du Lac.
To the Editor of Tm-: Cnuacnuax:
In this week’s issue in your editorial
reply to Captain Mahan’s inquiry concern-
ing the Resurrection of Christ, you state
your belief in the “actual personal Resur-
rection” of our Lord. You wish, I sup-
pose, to make your meaning clear to your
readers. But the term “personal resur-
rection” is an ambiguous one, and capable
of more than one meaning. Personality
cannot die, and therefore there can be no
resurrection of a person. Your phrase,
“personal Resurrection” could as well be
used by those who deny the corporal
resurrection as by loyal Churchpeople.
When orthodox Christians say that Jesus
Christ rose from the dead, they mean that
the Body in which He appeared to the dis-
ciples was the same Body that hung on
‘the cross. It was the very same Body that
was separated from His Holy Soul on
Good Friday and reunited to that soul on
the day of the Resurrection. His Body
was so truly the same that St. Thomas
could touch the wounds that Body had
received on the cross. is this what THE
CH[‘RCHMA.\’ believes and stands for? You
would greatly relieve the growing anxiety
of many Churchpeople if you would an-
swer simply and categorically, Yes or No.
C. C. Form nu Lac.
[To Captain Mahan’s definite question,
“Do you or do you not mean that Christ
took His body and literally rose from the
dead therein?” we replied that we held to
“this fundamental fact of Christianity.”
If the Bishop of Fond du Lac is repeating
Captain Mahan’s question our answer is
the same. We do not understand why
there should be difficulty with the term
“personal Resurrection” in view of the
language of the Creeds: “Was crucified,
dead and buried. He descended into hell.
The third day He rose again from the
dead.”—Tm-: Enrron.]
As to Heresy Trials.
To the Editor of THE Crwncmuanz
The position you seem to ke in your
issue of Aug. 19 is so extra.or?‘inary for a
sound, loyal Churchman to ake, that I
am not sure that I interpret you aright.
You say at the outset: “Speaking general-
ly, heresy trials have been unprofitable, a
scandal to the Church, and unfruitful in
results.” To prove this sweeping pro-
nouncement you quote the case of Galileo
in the Roman Church, and the cases of
Professor Briggs and Professor H. P.
Smith, of the Presbyterian Church. With
one sweep of your pen you relegate every
general council of the Church to the rub-
bish heap as wholly useless and unfruit-
ful upon the strength of the condemna-
tion of Galileo by the Roman Inquisition
for putting forth a physical theory of the
solar system, which afterward was ac-
cepted as true in the Church; and upon
the still more questionable strength of the
condemnation of two Presbyterian minis-
ters by the Presbyterian Church, for
teachings subversive of the Westminster
Catechism. These two cases you press
into use to practically condemn the
388
(16) September 9, 1905
The Churchman
Church of God for requiring that her
ministers shall keep faith with her, to
teach what they have sworn to teach, her
faith, not their own ratiocinations. Be-
cause Galileo was condemned for teach-
ing a physical theory of which the natu-
ral philosophy of the age and of all past
ages knew nothing, but which afterward
was accepted, therefore the Council of
Nicea was an unfruitful, a scandalous
blunder! Because Professors Briggs and
Smith were condemned by the Presbyter-
ian Church for putting forth their theories
about Holy Scripture, which you say have
since become widespread in the Presbyter-
ian Church, therefore the Spirit of God
moved the Church of God not at all, in
the Councils of Constantinople, Ephesus
and Chalcedon, to condemn the heresies
and the heretics of those times! Nor was
it right that the wild notions of the
Gnostics and Montanists should be con-
demned, and they themselves out off from
the communion of the Church, whose au-
thority they despised and rejected!
Do you, can you really mean to say
that it is wholly right, just and profitable
for every corporation, other than the
Church, to require obedience and fidelity
to its principles and laws, at the cost of
punishment, and, in the last extremity of
expulsion; but it is altogether unprofit-
able, and unfruitful for the Church to
try, or to punish any one for flouting her
principles, or for flinging from him with
contempt,the vows he voluntarily assumed
in the full strength of his manhood,
either because he made those vows, at the
first, with a mental reservation not to
keep them, or because he has changed his
mind since he made them? Do you really
mean that? Can you? If so, then you
would have the Church the only corpora-
tion in all the world that allowed infidel-
ity to its principles, disobedience to its
laws; that allowed the oflicers of the
Kingdom of God to trample under foot
every vow made to teach, and to enforce
its laws, its principles, without loss, with-
out penalty for their disobedience and dis-
loyalty to plighted vows. Sitting in your
easy chair you would condemn the
Church, and the fathers of the Church,
of unwisdom at the least. of vain scandal-
ous action at the worst, because they con-
demned the heresles and the heretics that
openly denied and defied the authority of
the Church of the living God. Now. sir,
this is not simply a question of whether
the doctrines and principles of the Church
be true or false. It is a far simpler one:
Whether men may vow. may make a
solemn contract to teach certain princi-
ples on condition of receiving the Church
commission to teach in her pulpits, and
to minister at her altars; and as soon as
they have received that commission. may
turn around and repudiate their vows and
their contract, without danger of losing
their commission. Or, to go farther, it is
a question whether a bishop may vow to
rule with fidelity the iiock committed to
his charge, “to drive out all erroneous and
strange doctrines contrary to God’s
Word,” and may then refuse to do it, in
the only way possible to drive them out
effectively when held persistently, upon
the ground that, “speaking generally,
heresy trials have been unprofitable, a
scandal to the Church, and unfruitful in
results.” The only possible moral answer
to that infidelity to plighted vows and
sworn duty is: “Obey your sworn duty, or
resign your feeble, faithless rule.”
Had yours been the temper of the
Church of God from the days of the
Apostles, humanly speaking, it would
have ceased to exist before the end of the
fourth, if not of the first century of the
Christian era. It would perish now, were
your counsel to prevail, to let heresy and
heretics alone; to require any man, or any
priest, to keep faith with the Church, to
keep either his baptismal, or his ordina-
tion vows, “is a scandal in the Church.”
In support of your contention you urge
that modern research and discovery may
prove that this or that condemned heresy
may be true after all. Now, sir, it is not
clear to my mind just what you mean by
that. If the Church were to enter the do-
main of physical science to condemn this
or that theory of the laws which obtain
in the material universe, your contention
might be granted forthwith. That is not
the Church’s province, except, indeed,
when theories of the material universe are
held and advanced, which deny God as the
Creator of the world. But what modern
research, or discovery, or philosophy can
be found that can in any way affect the
doctrines of the Creeds? No physical re-
search, or discovery, or philosophy of to-
day or to-morrow can disprove to a genu-
inely Christian mind the Incarnation or
the Resurrection of Christ. l’t is con-
ceded, it has been conceded from the first
that these things wholly transcend all
known physical laws; that they are pos-
sible only by the eternal will of God.
which will alone is the source and execu-
tive of every physical law. Now, sir,
what physical or philosophical discovery
of to-day or to-morrow can, in the small-
est degree, afiect the truth or falsehood
of these doctrines, or any doctrine of the
Creed? The philosophers of the Areopagus
were in full possession of every physical
argument against the doctrine of the
Resurrection that is possessed to-day, or
ever will be possessed by the wisdom of
this world.
What, then, has that to do with our
duty to keep the Catholic faith whole and
undefiled? If we want to deny it, we are
free to go out and deny to our heart’s con-
tent. But why can any man of honor
want to hold an office which he obtained
by a. pledge of fidelity to that faith, after
he has arrived at the conclusion that that
faith is untrue, or at all events that he
can no longer teach it ea: animof As it ap-
pears to me, sir, “the scandal in the
Church” springs, not from men being re-
quired to teach what they vowed to teach,
but that they should be permitted to hold
ofilce after they have deliberately refused
to keep their oath of office. There is no
essential dishonor in being an honest
heretic. There is, in being a disloyal
priest, or bishop who will not see that
honor requires of him to be faithful to the
contract by which he obtained othce in
the Church: or else, if he cannot, to resign
the ofiice which be secured by vowing.
There is no infidelity so hateful in the
sight of God as deliberate infidelity to
plighted faith. Jomv Wn.r.1.\Ms.
Omaha, Aug. 29, 1905.
[If our correspondent will examine the
editorial of which he complains, he_ will
probably see that we laid down no in-
fallible or inflexible law, but that we did
venture the opinion that in general it is
bad practice to prosecute or persecute men
for their opinions and theories so long as
they are loyal to the Faith. There is the
widest possible difference between the
Faith and opinions or theories of the
Faith. The editorial assumed throughout
an honest acceptance of the formularies
of the Church. “If a clergyman be not
honest and true. then he should be dis-
missed from the ministry on moral
charges. If he be an honest man, and
true, it is well in general to accept his
own affirmation that what he holds and
what he teaches conforms to the Creed
which he professes, even though to those
about him, men of a different training.
and not in touch with the same develop-
ments of thought and speculation, this
seems to be quite impossible. Matters of
Greed interpretation will ordinarily right
themselves in time without a heresy trial.
It is well to wait on the working of the
Spirit of God in these things.” This does
not mean that an individual is the best
judge of the truth. But an individual
ought to be and may be the best judge of
his loyalty to the Creed which be pro-
fesses, even if his opinions about it are
mistaken and erroneous. Fortunately the
truths of Christianity and our own salva-
tion are not dependent upon speculative
opinions or theories. “Many are saved
practically, who theoretically know least
how they are saved. And no one of us,
perhaps, professes to know so perfectly
what salvation is, that any other need per-
fectly agree with him. Christianity, if it
is divine, is wiser than any of us under-
stand, even as it is mightier than any of
us experience.” We shall stand, as al-
ways, for the widest possible liberty in
the domain of speculative opinion ‘for
those who accept the essential faith of the
Church.-—Tm-: Emrom]
Notice to College Churchmen.
To the Editor of Tm: Crmncmnm:
In connection with the conference of
College Churchmen to be held at the build-
ings of the University of Chicago. Wed-
nesday, Sept. 20, on the day preceding the
National Convention of the Brotherhood
of St. Andrew, we would like to make it
generally known throughout the Church,
that all College Churchmen, graduates or
undergraduates, whether members of the
Brotherhood or not, are invited to attend,
and will be warmly welcomed. Fraternity
men who desire to have rooms reserved
for them in their fraternity houses, will
kindly notify the secretary, John H.
Smale, 510 Masonic Temple, and he will
see that arrangements are made with their
fraternity houses. The fraternity houses
open to us are: Phi Kappa Psi, Psi Upsi-
lon, Delta Tau Delta, Phi Gamma Delta,
Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Kappa Sigma,
Sigma Nu, Alpha Tau Omega, and Alpha
Delta Phi. A synopsis of the subjects to
be discussed, as well as the names of some
of the speakers,will be found in connection
with the published programme of the Na-
tional Convention of the Brotherhood,
copies of which will be mailed on applica-
tion to our national office.
ROBERT H. GABDINEB,
Chairman.
PERCY G. Wnrra,
Secretary.
College Committee, Brotherhood of St.
Andrew.
Good Reading.
To the Editor of Tm: CHUBCHMAN2
Good reading of the service is of such
importance, and poor reading is so com-
mon, that I hope you will allow another
brief communication on the subject.
When I read the article in your paper,
of Aug. 12, by W. F. B. Jackson, in which
he took the ground that readers like poets,
were born and not made, I felt very much
like agreeing with him, for in all my min-
istry I could count on one hand all the
good readers that I have heard. And yet
I ha.ve heard many scholars, some su-
perior ones. but wretched readers of the
service. But good reading is as important
as good preaching. I have known some
intelligent laymen_ who, if they were com-
pelled to choose between good reading and
September 9, 1905 (17)
389
The Churchman
ordinary or interior preaching, would
rather have the service well read, with no
sermon at all, or a. poor one, than to have
the service mumbled over, or incorrectly
read in the way of pauses,‘ emphasis and
expression. Why not? For in the Lessons,
Epistles and Gospels we have the preach-
ing of Christ and the Apostles themselves.
As an illustratioir of reading being a. gift,
not long ago I wanted a lay-reader. I
selected a young business man, of high
character and good intelligence, yet who
had never taken a lesson in elocution in
all his life. The result is that he reads
the service better than one-half of the
ministers. Why? He reads over the les-
sons carefully before service, and tries by
distinctness of voice and correct emphasis
to give the sense to the people. This re-
minds me of an anecdote told of the Rev.
Dr. Francis L. Hawks, many years ago
rector of St. Thomas‘ church, New York.
Dr. Hawks was a splendid reader of the
service, the best perhaps, the American
Church ever had. The story is that some
students of the General Theological
Seminary once called upon him and asked
him to give them lessons in reading the
service. He replied: “Gentlemen, if you
have brains enough to understand what
you read and will give the meaning to the
people—that is the best reading.” Here is
a sermon in a few words, and while we do
not deny that the best natural readers-—
those who seem by intuition to compre-
hend the meaning and express it, may be
improved by the instruction of competent
masters, yet we do believe that there must
be peculiar natural ability in this direc-
tion—insight into the meaning and
felicity of expression. and more than all,
the spirit to convey the words of Christ
and inspired men to the hearers, with rev-
erence and solemnity. I do not mean the
“holy tone” that some adopt. nor the ore-
rotimdo or “rolling periods” as Doctor
Shinn suggests. methods which he regards
as obsolete. but a simple_ straightforward,
earnest style, which is never inconsistent
with reverence or solemnity.
Gso. H. McKmcn’r.
Elmira, N. Y.
Tm: Incarnation. the advent of God
in the mind of Christ, the presence of
the Absolute so far as the Absolute can
enter into finite conditions, is, says Sam-
uel McComb in The Contemporary Re-
view and The Living Age, the article
with which Christianity stands or falls.
Each age must relate this fact as it can
to its ruling ideas. and interpretations
which satisfy one generation become ob-
solete in the next; at times, as in our
own age, it may be ignored or resisted
on some a prion‘ ground, such as the im-
possibility of miracle, yet the fact itself
has so entered into the religious life that
under various disguises, now philosophi-
cal, now poetical, it gives the light, in
which the universe takes on 9. new glory,
and man appears the crowned heir
of deethless hopes. Christianity, then,
centres in a Person. Through Him
we gain certainty as to the nature
of God, and the assurance that in
some way good must be the final goal
of ill. The heart of things is not cold
an ddead, but throbs with an infinite
pity; man is not the helpless victim of
nature’s blind fatalisrns, but the child of
the Infinite, who knows he was not made
to die, whose highest good is not at the
mercy of time, but lies hidden in the
hand of the Eternal. Christ is. as it
were, an epitome of the world-pro-
gramme, and the long reaches of history
have as their end the realization of the
ideal incarnated in His person. He cre-
ates a new ethical spirit. founds a. fellow-
ship of souls, a kingdom of God in which
the highest energies of the human spirit
are organized in harmony with the
Divine purpose.
Forthcoming Events.
Sept. 10, 11, 12. Convocation of the
Missionary District of Laramie in St.
Mark‘s church, Cheyenne, Wyo.
Sept. 16. Formal Opening of Gilbert
Hall for Little Children in the Cathe-
dral Close, Faribault, Minn., follow-
ing the regular Founders’ Day Service
in the cathedral at 11 4.11.
Sept. 19. Convention of the Diocese of
Milwaukee, in All Saints’ cathedral,
Milwaukee, Wis.
Sept. 20-24. Convention of the Brother-
hood of St. Andrew in the Buildings
of the University of Chicago, Chicago,
111.
Sept. 26. Convocation of the Missionary
District of Sacramento in Trinity
church, Nevada City, Cal.
Sept. 27. Convention of the Diocese of
New York in Synod Hall, Cathedral
Heights, New York City.
Sept. 28, 29. Celebration of the 25th
Anniversary of the Establishment of
the Woman’s Auxiliary in the Diocese
of Western New York, in St. Luke’s
church, Rochester.
News of the Dioceses.
Colored “lork in the Diocese of North
Carolina.
The annual meeting of the convoca-
tion of the colored clergy and congrega-
tions of the diocese met in St. Mat-
thias’s church, Louisburg, Thursday,
Aug. 24. There were present, besides
the bishop, six of the eight colored
clergymen of the diocese, and lay repre-
sentatives of nine colored congregations.
Two other colored clergymen, the Rev.
Eugene L. Henderson, of Connecticut,
and the Rev. Frank I. A. Bennett, of
Washington, attended the meeting. Pro-
fessor Charles H. Boyer, of St. Augus-
tine’s School, was re-elected secretary
of the convocation, and was re-
quested to act also as treasurer
pro tem. in the absence of the treas-
urer, the Rev. A. B. Hunter. Bishop
Cheshire and the Rev. Mr. Hun-
ter, principal of St. Augustine’s School,
are the only white men connected with
the convocation. In his address, read
at the afternoon session, the bishop
gave a summary of his ministrations to
the colored congregations during the
past year and suggestions as to the
work of the convocation. He informed
the convocation of the proposal made
by a distinguished committee of the
Board of Missions, that the three edu-
cational institutions of a. general char-
acter, at Raleigh, Lawrenceville and
Petersburg, should be combined in some
common organization as the Church
Educational Institute for Colored Peo-
ple; St. Augustine’s, Raleigh. being the
normal and classical department; St.
Paul’s, Lawrenceville, the industrial
and mechanical department, and the
Bishop Payne Divinity School, Peters-
burg, the theological department. He
laid before the convocation a statement
of the appropriation made for the col-
ored work in the diocese, together with
the scheme of its apportionment among
the various schools and missions, and
invited their counsel and advice as to
whether the scheme proposed could not
be improved. In conclusion the bishop
referred to the movement started by the
Conference of Colored Workers for the
organization of the colored work in the
South as a separate missionary juris-
diction under a Negro bishop. He ex-
pressed his own strong preference for
the existing arrangement in his own
diocese, whereby both colored and
white clergy and congregations were
separately organized into convocations
for missionary work, and all met to-
gether once each year in the common
diocesan convention. This seemed to
him to combine in a conservable meas-
ure the advantages of separate organi-
zation for the two races, and the visible
unity of all races in the bond of a com-
mon fellowship under the bishop. This
system be much preferred. But, if the
common visible bond of the one conven-
tion for all should not be maintained,
then he should not be disposed to ob-
ject to some scheme of a separate or-
ganization and episcopate.
The rest of Thursday’s session and
much of Friday was taken up with re-
ports, from both clergy and lay-mem-
bers, of the work in the various congre-
gations represented. Three committees
were appointed to consider and report
on different aspects of the work—a
committee on the state of the Church,
the Rev. John W. Perry, chairman; a
finance committee, the Rev. Primus P.
Alston, chairman; and a committee on
education, the Rev. Henry B. Delaney,
chairman. At night an interesting
meeting was held, at which Archdeacon
Pollard presided, in the interest of the
Brotherhood of St. Andrew. The Rev.
Frank A. L. Bennett, of Washington,
and others made addresses urging the
formation of chapters of the Brother-
hood in all congregations. At the clos-
ing session on Friday the bishop con-
firmed two adults.
Connected with this convocation
there are fourteen congregations, and
eight colored clergymen, six priests and
two deacons. One white priest, the
principal of St. Augustine’s School, is
also connected with this body on ac-
count of the character of his work. The
number of communicants reported is
629; Sunday-school teachers, 72; Sun-
day-school pupils, 1,126; teachers in
mission schools, 21; pupils, 1,063; stu-
dents in St. Augustine’s School,
Raleigh, 381; contributions reported
for all purposes during the past year by
colored congregations, $3,232; amount
received by the treasurer of the con-
vocation for convocation purposes,
$272. Methods and means of more ef-
fective support of the work by the col-
ored people, both locally and in connec-
tion with the responsibilities of the con-
vocation, were discussed with much
earnestness and intelligence by both
clergy and lalty. It was resolved that
the convocation raise during the year
$150 toward the support of the mis-
sionary at Oxford and the same amount
for the support of a teacher and cate-
chist at St. Philip’s church, Noise,
Moore county. To meet these engage-
ments. a. resolution was passed asking
of each adult communicant the sum of
$1 annually for the work of the con-
vocation, and of each communlcant
under twenty-one years of age the sum
of fifty cents.
The convocation passed a. resolution
heartily commending the proposed
union of the educational institutions at
Raleigh, Petersburg and Lawrenceville
under one general governing body as
the great Church Educational Institu-
tion for Colored People.
The Northern Convocation of Easton.
The sessions of the northern convo-
cation of the diocese of Easton were
held in North Elk parish on Aug. 22-
24 with services in St. Mary’s church,
North East; St. John’s chapel, Elk
Neck; St. Mark’s chapel and in the
parish house at Perryvilie. The sub-
jects presented were “The Church’s
Work among Children,” “Duty to God
and to Our Neighbor.” “Church
Work; Parochial, Diocesan and Gen-
eral,” “Faith, Prayer and Obedience,”
“The Teaching of the First Psalm,” and
“Conversion.” The clergy taking part
were, besides the Rev. J. Gibson Gant,
dean and rector of the parish, the Rev.
Messrs. Ware, Denroche, Edson and
Schouler. A specially interesting feat-
ure was the reading of a paper on “Con-
version,” by the Rev. Mr. Denroche,
followed by a discussion. quite free and
informal. on the part of the clergy and
lalty.
(Continued on page 392)
fynm 