PRINCETON, N. J. '^' http://www.archive.org/details/historicalpositiOOhaN THE HISTORICAL POSITION The Episcopal Chuech. B paper READ BY THE Rev. Francis J/ Hall, M.A., INSTRUCTOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, CHICAGO, BEFORE THE CHURCH HISTORY CLUB OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL (BAPTIST), OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, DECEMBER 11, 1894; AND BEFORE THE CHICAGO CLERICUS (EPISCOPAL), DECEMBER 17, 1894. Published under the Auspices of ti Chicago Clekicus. MILWAUKEE, WIS.: THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO. Copyright Secured by the Author, Dedicated, by Permission, TO THE Rev. Eri B. Hllbert, D.D., Dean of the DrvTNiTY School of the University OF Chicago, whose COURTESY, HEREBY SHOWN, IS THE MORE NOTEWORTHY BY REASON OF THE DIFFERENCES OF CONVICTION BETWEEN US. WHAT DOES THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH CLAIM TO STAND FOR IN HISTORY ? It is with heartfelt pleasure that I accept the courteous invitation which you have given me to read a paper before this Club, and I appreciate your kindness the more because I understand that you expect me to address you from the point of view of an Episcopalian. It is not to be expected that a Club like this will agree with all the beliefs which are likely to be propounded by one who speaks from such a point of view. Yet, if I rightly understand your invitation, I am expected to speak with entire candour. Gentlemen, I appreciate your kindness and accept your invitation in good faith. I shall, therefore, not shrink from plain speech, even when touching upon tlie things wherein we differ, although, in speaking plainly, I trust that I shall not abuse your kindness by any manner of utterance inconsistent with the Christian duty of speaking the truth in love. The truth, my friends, is sacred — not less so 6 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF when ascertained than when still being sought after — and should enslave our hearts, and minds, and tongues. Truth is mighty and, in the end, Avill prevail; so that, if we would think to some purpose, and contribute to the permanent advance of spiritual intelligence and life, we must conform our thoughts and language to the truth, as such. Moreover, the principle of love to which I have referred requires not only that we should conform to the truth ivhen we speak, but that we should speak — openly and persistently — in the pres- ence of those who are still lacking such truth as we have learned, until it has become the common possession of mankind. I am sure that you agree with me here, and that you expect me to conform my utterances to what I, an Episcopalian, am convinced to be the truth, without reserve or fear of causing offence. I purpose this evening to answer, as well as I can, this question: What does the Episcopal Church claim to stand for in hi story 9 My aim is chiefly expository, and I shall endeavour to avoid a polemical tone; although I cannot promise to assume the indifferent tone of one who has no interest in the questions at THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. issue. I am sure you do not expect this. I shall deal with arguments, but in their histori- cal aspects, and for the purpose of exhibiting more clearly the nature of the Episcopal posi- tion, and of obviating certain misapprehen- sions concerning it. To enter at once in medias res, The Episco- pal Church claims to stand in history for three things: (a) for the original of the Christian religion; {h) for that which it has, as a matter of history, received in trust, and therefore may not lawfully compromise or surrender; (c) for the only possible basis of Church Unity. In the first place, then, the Episcopal Church claims to stand for the original of the Chris- tian Religion. The true idea of religion, as it appears in history — and Sacred History is none the less history, because it is given chiefly in the Bible — is that of a bond or covenant between God and man ; along with whatever pertains to such a covenant, of truth, institutions and life. It is thus, I am sure, that Sacred as well as Eccle- 8 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF siastical history exhibits religion to us. The Greek word diaSjjH?/, Avhich is usually translated testament, is more accurately translated cove- nant; and the entire Bible is concerned with the Old Covenant or Hebrew Religion, and the New Covenant or Christian Religion. This does not mean that these two are different religions, but that they are two dispensations of one and the same religion, which are neces- sarily in harmony with each other and governed in common by certain principles which are permanent and unalterable, since they proceed from one God, with Whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning^ The law is a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ^; and, as S. Augustine said long ago, the New Testa- ment is latent in the Old, and the Old is un- veiled iu the Newl It is, therefore, a mistake to oppose one dispensation to the other, for they are but successive Divine arrangements in one covenant of promise made of old with the patriarchs. The Christian dispensation is indeed more spiritual, but this does not mean that the old religion has been revolutionized, so as to become indeterminate, unrecognizable 1. S. Jas. 1. 17. 2. Gal. III. 24. 3. Quest, in Ex. Q. 73. THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. and without visible ministries or means of open maintenance before the world and of corporate life. It means rather that the inner and spir- itual significance of God's covenant has been unveiled in its fulfilment by Christ; and that, in consequence of Christ's work and ordinance, the ancient forms, which were without power\ have been reconstituted and given spiritual efficacy and world-wide application. The re- ligion of Christ is the religion of Abraham and of Moses; and, like its Author, is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever'^ If this original and everlasting religion of God is to be identified, it must be by means of such characteristics as were of Divine origin in the beginning, and which have been permanent, being provided for by God in every successive dispensation. I think that three such charac- teristics can be distinguished historically with- out difficulty. I will try to exhibit them in due order. (a) The first of them, appearing in both the Hebrew and Christian dispensations, and, there- fore, characterizing the original Christian relig- 1. Heb. VIIT. 7-13: X. 1,11. 2. Heb. XIII. 8. 10 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF ion, is the existence of one visible organism^ or chosen people, with whom the Covenant is made, and which possesses a determinate organ- ization or Ministry of Divine origin, ordained for the publication and continual maintenance o£ the Covenant. The subject of the Divine covenants is referred to in a multitude of passages in both portions of Holy Scripture, but nowhere do we find that the human oartv thereto is an indi- vidual soul as such. The Hebrew Covenant was made with Abraham and his seed forever^ — ^not with Abraham in isolation from his seed — and the New Covenant is but a continuation of the Old in a more effectual and Catholic dis- pensationl The human party to the covenant is still the seed of Abraham, but a sacramental seed, buried by Baptism in Christ, Who is at once the seed of Abraham and the Son of God, the one Mediator between God and man*. The seed which was Jewish and had Circumcision for its sign, becomes Christian (without loss of 1. See App. I. 2. Gen. XVII, 7; S. Luke I. 55. 3. Gen. XXIII. 18; Isaiah LIV.l-3; LVI.3-7; Jerem. XXXI. 31-34; Mai. 1. 11. 4. Gal. III. IG, 27-29; S. Luke III. 8; I. Tim. II. 5. THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 11 continuity) and has Baptism for its sign^ The original chosen people is merged into the Christian Church ; which is the Body of Christ^, and to which all individual souls are added daily by Baptism who are being saved by God . In short the ancient Covenant has now for its human party the Church of Christ, and for its covenanted beneficiaries all those who are bap- tized into that Church and conform therein to the terms of the Covenant. It might naturally have beeu anticipated that when God called His chosen and made them a peculiar people, He would ordain some visible organization of that people for the sure main- tenance of the Covenant and an abiding evidence of its continuance. The Episcopal Church con- tends that He did this; and we regard the pa- triarchal, the Aaronic, and the Episcopal Min- istries as the successive centres of the orofani- zatious into which God Himself has moulded His chosen race. It was God who formed the earthly society with which He made His Cov- enant^; and therefore it was God who deter- mined for each successive dispensation in what 1. Gen. XVII. 9-11; Heb.X. 16, 22. 2. Eplies.II.ll-22. 3. Ephes. I. 22, 23; V. 28-30; Ac::s XII. 27. 4. Acts 11.47. 5. Isaiah XLIII. l, 21; XLIV. 2; S. Matt. XVI. 18. 12 TBE HISTORICAL POSITION OF maiiDer and by what sort of Ministry it should perform the corporate terms of the Covenant. God has altered the form of this Ministry in each succeeding dispensation. But He has" never surrendered the prerogative of making such alterations Himself^ Accordingly, our Lord Jesus Christ insti- tuted a parpetual Ministry for His church, which He built upon the Apostles and Prophets with Himself for its chief Corner Stone, to rest upon that foundation through all time^. And, as Clement of Rome says, writing four or five years before the death of S. John the Divine, "Our Apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife over the name of the Bishop's office. For this cause therefore, having received complete foreknowledge, they appointed the aforesaid persons, and afterward they provided a continuance, that if these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed to their ministration^" Examples of this action of the Apostles may be seen in Timothy, appointed over the Church of Ephesus, and Titus, appointed over that of 1. Heb. VII. 11-28; Numb. XVI. 2. S. Jolm XX:. 21; Acts XII. 28; Eplies. 11,20-22; Heb. V. 4. 3. Clem, ad Cor. c. 44, Lightfoot's transl. THE EPISCOPAL CUURGR, . 13 Crete; and it is immaterial to our contention whether the first successors of the Apostles were called Bishops, or Presbyters, or both. What we claim is, that, in auj case, the Apos- tolic Ministry was transmitted, and that no one can now exercise that ministry lawfully except those who have received the authority to do so by actual and unbroken transmission from the Apostles, who were originally appointed and ordained by Jesus Christ. This is the Apos- tolic Succession; and the phrase "Historic Episcoj)ate" is used because we are sure that, as a matter of history, what is now called the Episcopate, and still possessed by three-fourths of the Christian world, is the identical Ministry which the Apostles ordained, in accordance with the Commission of Christ, to perpetuate their own Ministry, for the benefit of future generations, until the end of the world. I do not, of course, mean that all the powers of the Apostles were handed on, but the powers of the Ministry, of tliat Ministry which Christ promised to be with to the end of days, of which they were the first trustees. Their mi- raculous powers, as distinguished from those strictly Ministerial, were, of course, an accident 14 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF of their time aud of their unique Avork of laying foundations; and it is worthy of note that such powers were not, as in case of their Ministerial ones, confined to those ordained to the Min- istry\ The limitations under which I speak forbid that I should exhibit in detail the large body of historical argument by which this position is sustained'^. I must content myself with saying, first, that Ignatius of Antioch, writing, as Lightfoot contends, about ten years after the death of S. John^, identifies the successors of the Apostles with the Episcopoi then ruling the Church^, and asserts that no ecclesiastical organ- ism was complete without them^ No care- ful student will hesitate to agree that the order to which he referred under the name Episcopoi is historically one with that now- called by the same name. Moreover, complete lists of the successors of the Apostles in cer- tain Apostolic sees, acknowledged in their day to be the Divinely ordained means by which the Apostolic Ministry was to be perpetuated, are preserved in the writings of S. Irenseus and 1. Acts XXI. 9; I Cor. XII. 28-30. 2. See App. I. 3. Apos. Fathers, Part II., Vol 1. 30. 4. AdPliilad. Introd., etc, 5. Ad Tral. 3, THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 15 others^ It is easy to show historically that these lines are but the earlier tranks of the many branches of Episcopal succession, now existing throughout the Catholic Church. Finally it is a fact, clear to the most superficial student of Church history, that it was not the custom in the ages preceding the Reformation to confer Apostolic authority on any save those who were named Bishops. Therefore if there is an Apostolic succession such as I have defined, the Historic Episcopate alone possesses it. (5) A second original and permanent note of true religion is the possession hij God's chosen people of a traditional body of truth, revealed by God and intrusted to its Ministry to be preserved from generation to generation, for the guidance of all who are called of God to share in the benefits of His Covenant. In ancient times God gave Israel a law which He commanded our spiritual " forefathers to teach their children, that their posterity might know it, and the children which were yet unborn, to the intent that when they came up, they might 1. cf . Gore on the Ministry, ch. Ill, 16 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF show their children the same\" And, in the fulness of time, our Lord fulfilled this law, revealed the principles of truth and righteous- ness which lay behind it, and commissioned His Apostles to disciple all nations, promising that He would be with them in this work until the end of the workP, and that the Holy Ghost should guide them into all truthl This prom- ise, because of its perpetual nature, applies to the successors of the Apostles. We are com- manded to hear the Church^, and are told by S. Paul that the Church is the pillar and ground of the truths Against this Church the gates of hell are not to prevaiP, whatever individual unfaithfulness may be displayed at times by some, or many, or even by a majority of its Ministers, It is not claimed that the earthly portion of the Catholic Church succeeds in making the Faith once for all delivered to the Saints so clear as to be unmistakable by any, nor that 1. Psa. LXXVIII. 5-7. Prayer Book Version: cf, S. Matt. XXIII. 2, 3. 2. S. Matt. XXVIII. 19, 20; X. 23. 3. S. John XIV. 2G; XVI. 13, 14. 4. S. Matt. X. 40; XVIII. 17 (Cf. XXIII. 2, 3). 5. I. Tim, III. 15. 6. S. Matt. XVI. 18, THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 17 the Church can answer every speculative ques- tion which the progress of science may sug- gest. That would indeed be a claim both unhistoric and unreasonable. God nowhere on earth so unveils the truth that we may per- ceive its contents without effort or liability to err^ Certainly, if the doctrinal differences between Protestant deoomiuations mean any- thing, He does not do this by means of the Bible only, in isolation from the Church whose Canon of Scripture it is. No, my friends, what we claim is, that God has, as a matter of history, made His Apostolic Church and Ministry the perpetual means of so preserving His saving truth in the world, that no one who fully conforms to the terms of the New Covenant as published and fulfilled by her—/, e., gives implicit assent to those Creeds which have her undivided and corporate sanc- tion, devoutly studies the Bible which she furnishes as God's Word from her point of view, and heartily enters into the privileges of her sacramental life and environment — can fail to attain to the knowledge of such truth as is needed for his advance in holiness and his 1. I. Cor. XIII. 8-12. 18 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF eternal glory hereafter. We claim further, that such security neither exists nor can exist elsewhere in the world. The One, Holy, Cath- olic and Apostolic Church, with its Divine and therefore unalterable Ministry, now called Episcopal, is the only thing on earth which Holy Scripture calls the pillar and ground of the truth, and which has Christ's solemn pledge of infallibility^ Individuals may err, Bishops may err, councils may err^; but, if they do, the abiding life and institutions of the Cliurch make it clear to the faithful, ere long, that such errors do not represent her mind. That mind is organic and can neither be altered nor permanently changed by majorities or passing schools of thought. I do not forget that I am concerned with what is historic rather than with what is theo- retical, and therefore call your attention to two significant facts, in order to make clear what I mean. The first of these is the fact that neither any individual nor any school of thought has ever changed or added to the faith of the Catholic Church. An Athanasius 1. I. Tim. III. 15; S. Matt. XVI. 18. 2. 39 Arts. XXI., Eng. Prayer Book, THE EPISCOPAL CnURCH. 19 and a Cyril in the East, au Augustine and a Leo in the West, a Hooker and a Pusey in the Anglican Communion, may have done much to vindicate certain ancient doctrines. But no theologian or school has been able to impose new doctrines upon either of the portions of the Catholic Church which I have mentioned, or modify Catholic teaching. The Lutherans appeal to Luther and Melancthon, the Calvin- ists to John Calvin, the Methodists to John Wesley. We appeal simply to the Faith once for all delivered to the Saints, as contained in the Scriptures, summed up in the Creeds, and affirmed by the undisputed general councils^ The second fact is the unity of faith which has prevailed and continues to exist throughout the Catholic Church. The controversies which have separated the Greek, Latin, and Anglican communions for so many ages are indeed deplorable ; but their very seriousness is our reason for marvelling at the range of agree- ment in Faith, which has survived them all, and for believins^ it to be suuerhuman. The O J. Greek regards the insertion of the filioque into the Nicene Creed as unlawful, and misconceives 1, Larabetli Conference, 1878, Introd. to Resolutions, 20 THE HISTORICAL POSIT I OX OF its meaning; but the doctrine which that phrase is really designed to protect is held in the East as well as in the West The Angli- can complains of the exaggerated claims of the Roman see, and of the modern theories and superstitious abuses which are cherished under the Roman obedience; but he perceives with thankfulness that, however much the Romanist may have surrounded it with inferior matter, he still cherishes in its fulness that original Faith which Anglicans cherish and for which the ancient martyrs died. Alienation exists, anath- emas have been pronounced — although the xlnglican Communion has hurled none — fright- ful misconceptions prevail, the differences in circumstances are radical; yet, in every land and in every language. Catholic Christendom holds the same Faith, cherishes one sacra- mental system and one sacerdotal Ministry, approaches the Almighty with one liturgic service and unbloody Sacrifice, which is every- where the same in its constituent parts and meaning, whatever variations of phraseology may be employed. The sun sets not upon those who hold the Catholic Faith in its en- tirety. We believe that a unity like this, sur- THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 21 viving, as it has, the loss of charity, is beyond man's power of achievement; and that it is the fulfihnent of Christ's promise to be with His Apostolic Ministry to the end of days. No such unity exists elsewhere, certainly not in the Protestant world. The Protestant denominations exchange polite speeches. There are Evangelical Alliances, interchanges of pul- pits, Y. M. C. A.s, societies of Christian En- deavour, etc. But, with every effort to minimize differences, the Protestant world does differ radically as to those primary verities and min- istries of grace with which the Christian relig- ion began to be. It has been pointed out that each doctrine of the Faith once for all delivered is denied by some Protestant body, and that that thing which Protestants call *'our common Christianity" is absolutely unde- finable — a vanishing point. Even what Mr. Gladstone has recently called the essence of Christianity — the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation^ — is being dissolved in many di- rections under the miasmic influence of rational- ism, and a thinly disguised Pantheism, which can subscribe to Christian formularies in pagan 1. Ninetenth Century, Aug. 1894. 22 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF senses. The present Socinian body in England is the same with the original Presbyterian denomination in that country. Multitudes of Protestants are losiug faith in the Old Testa- ment, especially in the presence of Higher Criticism, and few Protestants feel at home in the Old Testament or have auy large use for it\ "The down-grade of Protestantism" is too apparent to escape notice, as the late Mr. Spurgeon recognized to his grief. These facts — Catholic consent and disagreement else- where — convince us that what is nicknamed "ecclesiasticism," and misunderstood by many because of that misleading phrase, is the primary historical means whereby God wills to preserve His truth in the world and save the souls whom Christ has redeemed. (c) The third original and permanent char- acteristic of the Divine Covenants and of true religion is the maintenance among the chosen people of certain visible rites ordained of God^ — especially the rites of admission to the chosen people and Covenant, and those of cor- porate approach to God and communion with Him. 1. See App. II. 2. See App. I. TUE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 23 Thus Circumcision aud Baptism ai'e the respective rites by which God ordained that men should be admitted into the Jewish and Christian Covenants. They are for that reason correlative. This is shown conclusively in the Epistle to the Colossians, second chapter^ and the whole argument of the Epistle to the Gal- atians shows the same truth, in which the leadinof thouo:ht is that, whereas in the Old Covenant Circumcision was necessary for initi- ation, "in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature'"' — a plain allusion to the new birth of water and of the Spirit, mentioned by Christ to Nicodemus as necessary for entrance into His Kingdom^ Circumcision signified those who were of Abraham's seed. Baptism makes us also of that seed by our putting on Christ*; and a new life is thus imparted to us which, if fostered, will finally abolish the whole body of sin. Thus the accompanying effects of Baptism exceed those of Circumcision, which Avas only a sign. Yet, while Baptism causes an internal and organic relation between the soul and Christ's body^, and is an instru- 1. Col. II. 11,12. 2. Gal. VI. 15. 3. S. Jolin III. 5. 4. Gal. III. 24-29; Col. II. 11, 12. 5. Ephes.V. 26.30. 24 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF ment by means of which the Holy Ghost puts us in a siate of grace and salvation and begins His sanctifying operations in us ; it is neither the means nor the sign of completed salvation. Both rites, being initiatory, were ordained for children. Every Hebrew boy was circum- cised when eight days old, and Christ signifi- cantly declared concerning little children that of such — i. e., of such sources — ^is the Kingdom of Heaven. The idea that He meant that little children are members of the Kingdom of Heaven hy nature is distinctly modern. The new Testament, when isolated from the historic institutions and usaores of that Kinor- dom of God which put it forth, and treated as if it were in itself a complete thesaurus of formulated answers to all religious questions, has of course a different meaning from what it has when regarded in its ancient light as the Church's Canon of Scripture, set forth by her as inspired by the same Spirit who was guiding her Apostolic Ministry into all truth, in order that it might strengthen the hold of the faith- ful upon that body of truth which they had received through her. When the Church began to settle her Canon, THE EPISCOPAL ClIUUGU. 25 Id ante-Nicene days, she was baptizing infants; and the absence of any explicit mention of the circumstance in Holy Scripture signifies noth- inof, unless we are to assume unhistoric aground and make Holy Scripture the original and com- plete source of all the Church's usages. I have said that the Episcopal Church claims to stand for the original of the Christian Relig- ion. That original antedates the New Testa- ment Scriptures, and is only described in detail therein with reference to matters which had come into controversy or were liable to neglect. The analogy of Circumcision, for which Bap- tism is the Christian correlative, creates a pre- sumption in favor of infant Baptism, which can only be overcome by the discovery of its posi- tive prohibition by God. Certainly no such prohibition is found in the New Testament. The requirement of faith and repentance be- fore the Baptism of adult converts^ — and no other such requirement can be proved from Holy Scripture — does not bear on the point in the slightest degree, for a similar requirement of conversion to the Jewish religion was made of adult applicants for Circumcisionl So that 1. Acts II. 38; YII, 36-38. 2. Kom. IV. 10, 11. 26 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF the argument which is used to justify an inva- riable postponement of Baptism until the years of discretion would have been equally available to justify a similar postponement of Circum- cision. But such postponement was expressly forbidden by God^ Our position would be better understood — and my whole argument is for the purpose of mak- ing our position more clear — if regeneration were not so often confounded with conversion. They are very different. Conversion is a change in our moral aims. Regeneration, which Bap- tism achieves, is the inauguration of a new, objective, vital and internal relation to Christ's Body, and does not necessarily coincide with con- version or signify that it has taken place. The Apostles naturally required that conversion should precede Baptism of adults, lest unbelief and unrepented acts of sin should make the re- ception of supernatural life both useless and dan- gerous. But no such barrier exists in the case of infants; and under ideal conditions infant Baptism frequently obviates the need of con- version by forestalling the growth of an anti- Christian disposition. 1. Gen. XVII. 12 . THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Ill addition to these initiatory rites, God instituted in each Covenant the visible manner in which and the means bj which His chosen people were to approach Him with sacrificial homage or worship, and enter into Communion with Him. In the Mosaic Covenant three national Sacrifices were instituted, which were so many memorials beforehand, typifying in outline what Christ was to achieve in His great Sacrifice, consummated once for all on Calvary and perpetually offered in the Holy Place made without hands. These Sacrifices were ordained by God^ They were not actual means of grace, nor did they effect what they figured, but were none the less signs of what God promised that the Messias should fulfil, in due season, for those who humbly offered them with faithl When Christ was about to suffer and fulfil these sacrificial promises so as to become our perpetual High Priest and Intercessor, He instituted one spiritual and effective rite which should occupy the same relative place in the dispensation of grace which was occupied by them in the Covenant of promise. I mean the Holy Eucharist. This rite signifies and 1. Levit. I-VII, XVI; Heb. IX. 2. Heb. IX. 6-14; X. 1-18. 28 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF enables its participauts to JoId in the offering up of that full, perfect and sufficient Sacrifice which Christ achieved once for all on Calvary, but is offering forever in heaven on our behalf^ And it effects what the rites which it displaces only figured, for by means of it we truly unite under earthly conditions with what Christ is doing in heaven, and offer that pure offering which Malachi predicted would be offered throughout the gentile workP. The Euchar- istic bread and wine, as Justin Martyr said in the middle of the second century, " we do not receive as common bread and common drink, . . . but have been taught that the food which has been blessed by the prayer of His Word . . . is the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Who was made Flesh^." Thus we offer up Jesus Christ Him- self, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world but now alive forever more'^, feeding at the same time on the Bread which came down from heaven, in accordance with the words of Christ, Who said " except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood ye have no life in you^" Thus the Holy Eucharist is our 1. Heb. IX. 24-28. 2. Mai. I.ll. :<. S. Justin M., I. Apol. c. gg. 4. Kom. VI. 9, 10; Kev. XIII. 8. 5. S. Johu. VI. 50-58. THE EPISCOPAL CIIURCn. 29 spiritual Sacrifice, whereby we participate in the one Sacrifice of Christ which can never be repeated or exhausted. It is not a repetition of the transaction of Calvary, but a memorial of it^ — the same memorial which Christ is making in heaven, where He perpetually offers Himself and exhibits those glorious wounds which are the enduring evidence of His meri- torious passion endured once for alP. Because the Holy Eucharist is a memorial and the offer- ing up of a real gift — the living and impassible Body and Blood of Him who suffered — it is a true and proper Sacrifice, although only such because Christ is its Offerer and the thing offered^ The Holy Eucharist is also our greatest Sac- rament, by means of which we receive the ben- efits of Christ's death and "feed on Him in [our] hearts, by faith, with thanksgiving." It is the visible centre of Catholic life and unity; the Christian shekinah and place of our closest access to the Father through Christ; the ladder set up to heaven on earth — ordained as the means whereby we may take the fullest advantage 1. S. Luke XXIT. 19; I Cor. XI. 24-26; Heb. IX. 24-2G. 2. Rom. YIII. 34; I Tim. II. 5; Heb. VII. 24, 25; Zech. XIII. 6, 3. See App. I. 30 THE lIlSTOniGAL POSITION OF of Christ's Mediation and enter through the veil of His Flesh into the Holy Place ^. Yes, gentlemen, we claim ours to be the original Christian Religion — in fact the divinely instituted and divinely perfected relig- ion of all the ages gone by; that which Patri- archs and Holy Prophets loved; that which God in Flesh obeyed, fulfilled and renewed with quickening power, but with unaltered and unalterable outlines and principles: that for which the Martyrs bled and the Fathers pleaded: which has persisted with unbroken life through every peril which Satan could devise; and which now reigns supreme in the hearts of countless multitudes of every nation, who obey Jesus Christ under one Apostolic Ministry, believe one universal Faith, and, in every tongue on earth, approach their God in one Eucharistic Sacrifice, " with Angels and Archangels and with all the Company of heaven evermore praising [Him J and saying Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Glory be to Thee O Lord most High. Amen." 1. Heb. X. 19,20. THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 31 II. To pass on to the claim of the Episcopal Church to stand for lohat is permanent in the Christian religion, which has been committed to the Apostolic Ministry in trust, and lohich there- fore is " incapable of compromise or surrender ^ (a) A great deal has been said and written since our Bishops put forth their declaration on Church Unity in 1886, which is based upon a serious misinterpretation. This mis- interpretation has arisen from isolating our term.s of Unity from the body of the Declara- tion of which they are a part and which ex- plains the sense in which they are submitted. Thus, one of the most able of our own Clergy has persuaded himself and others that the phrase " Historic Episcopate " means the Episcopate as a historic fact merely, without reference to any doctrine whatever concerning it; and he urges this interpretation with the amiable but vain hope that, if Protestants can be persuaded that they are not asked to accept the Episcopate as Divinely ordained, or as having any necessary authority beyond what men concede to it\ they will at once submit 1. See App. III. 32 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF and swell the ranks of that prospective Na- tional Church which fills his imagination and kindles his aspirations. But any one can see that no denomination, however respectable, can consistently or without grave presumption, re- quire as an ultimate term of Unity anything which it is not at the same time convinced is of Divine origin and requirement and, for that reason, unalterable by man. It is not surpris- ing therefore, that many Protestants, misled by the interpretation to which I have referred, have criticised our attitude severely. But an examination of the Bishops' Decla- ration itself is sufficient to clear us of the charge of inconsistenc}^ whatever may be thought of the historical validity of our position. As I have already stated, the terms in ques- tion are but a part of the Declaration on Unity. In that Declaration it is expressly claimed that the terms which are submitted are — to quote its own language — " inherent parts of a sacred deposit,". . ."the substantial deposit of Christian Faith and Order commit- ted by Christ and His Apostles to the Church unto the end of the world, and therefore in- THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 33 capable of compromise or surrender by those who have been ordained to be its stewards and ti'ustees for tl^e common and equal benefit of all men^" We do not therefore insist upon the Historic Episcopate as a venerable institution merely, nor because it is the Ministry most likely to be accepted by all, however true I shall show that to be, nor on any human ground whatever, but because Christ instituted it for all time, so that our only power in the matter is to exer- cise this Ministry for the benefit of the faith- ful and to transmit it without fail to succeeding ages. We cannot compromise or surrender it by entering into any scheme of union which is likely to result in its continuance and authority being made an open questioD. The subtle distinction between what is es- sential to the being of the Church and what is essential to its well being is entirely irrelevant. We do not cling to the Episcopate on abstract but on histo7nc grounds. It is historically of Divine origin, and has been committed to us as a sacred trust; and, therefore, is incapable of compromise or surrender. 1. General Convention Journal of 1386, p. 80. Gi THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF Those wlio misunderstand us think that we are illiberal. We are not. Even if our claim is mistaken, it is honest and based upon the best historical evidence available. You do not consider a trustee liberal who surrenders what is committed to his keeping. You rather look upon him as dishonourable. You cannot, there- fore, consistently ask the Episcopal Church to betray the Episcopal Ministry, so long as it thinks that that Ministry has been received in trust from God to be preserved through all generations. What our Declaration on Unity urges upon you is, that to secure Unity we must return to the ancient paths, by becoming loyal servants of wdiat history shows to be the original Christian Keligion; which, with its Apostolic Ministry, is God's Religion, founded for the common benefit of all generations of men ; also, that our relationship to it is not one of ownership, but of (.I'lsciplesliip and irustee- sliip. We urge you, in God's Name, to become its disciples also. AVe do not seek to absorb your denominafions, but we w^ant you, baptized brethren of the Catholic Church, to recognize your own spiritual Mother, and share with us in the blessings she imparts to her loyal chil- THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 35 dren aud in her coming glory. We refuse to compromise or surrender — not what loe own, but — ^Yhat (rocZ owns, and has commanded us to preserve for you and for all others who may be called of God into the Unity of His Holy Catholic Church. My brethren, we are not worthy of the trust which God has given us. The Jeivs were not intrusted with the Oracles of God because they were worthy^ So we cannot lay claim to any peculiar righteousness which fits us to bear the vessels of the Lord; but, recognizing that we are mere stewards who carry God's mercy in earthen vessels^, we call upon you, in God's Name, to come to the rescue with your zeal and piety, and share in the enjoyment and dis- tribution of the blessings which a loving Father is asking you as well as ourselves to receive and distribute. [h) God overrules the weakness of men. Through all the ages He has wrought spiritual marvels through those who were unworthy of the trust and ministry conferred upon them; and the Church with which He has thus dealt, has shown a power and energy in the midst of 1. Rom.II. 17-III.9. 2. II Cor. IV. 7. 36 THE IIISTORTCAL POSITION OF weakness which has often shut the mouths of her enemies. Three centuries of persecution but multiplied her saints. Court policy and fundamental heresy, combined against her, simply enabled her to set forth the truths which Avere assailed, more clearly than ever, and in terms which can never become obsolete or cease to rally the faithful before the throne of God. Barbarian inroads but gave new masses of humanity for her to leaven. The Papacy itself gave prestige to her missionaries, and papal corruption is not to-day what it was in the sixteenth century. Twice has the visible Unity of the Catholic Church been broken, but the mutually alien- ated portions, — the Greek, the Latin and the Anglican — have preserved their common heri- tage of Faith and Order in spite of many evils. In fact, the corruptions of the Roman Curia have been urged as an argument for the pres- ence of superhuman life in the Roman Com- munion, since that Communion has survived them and appears more vigorous than ever But no portion of the Church has given proofs of such indestructible vitality as has the THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 87 Anglican Communion^ The Historic Episco- pate has existed in England since the second century, without interruption. The original British Church, however, was driven into Wales by the Anglo-Saxon invaders of the fifth and sixth centuries. In 597, the work of converting these invad- ers commenced under St. Augustine, who was sent with forty monks by Pope Gregory L, and became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Celtic missionaries from lona aided the Romans in converting the northern parts; but, in 664, Roman usages were finally adopted, and under Theodore, consecrated by Pope Vitalian in 668 A. D., the English sees were filled with Bishops who traced their succession from S. Peter and his successors in the Roman see. The Ecdesia Anglicana, as it came to be called, completed its national organization under The- odore; and this organization preceded and made possible the political unity of England. In those days, the Pope was looked up to by Anglicans with respect and gratitude; but, while he exercised great influence in England, that influence was moral simply. From the 1. See App. I. 38 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF time of William the Conqueror, however, claims to constitutioDal supremacy began to be urged. These claims were not admitted in theory; but, none the less, the papal power had be- come practically very excessive in England by the time of Henry III., and brought many evils in its train. Yet this supremacy was at no time legally or canonically acknowledged in England, but from time to time protested against as a usurpation. The ground taken then and at all times has been that which gov- erned certain decisions of the First General Council of Nicea, 325 A. D., which places the local government of every geographical portion of the Universal Church under its own Bishops and the nearest Metropolitans. Statute after statute was passed against papal usurpation, but without permanent effect until the time of Henry YIII. Henry was a despot, whose enormities are known to all. Yet God over- ruled his iniquities and tyranny to the good of the English Church — /. e., to the restoration of the ancient self-government of the Ecclesia AngUcana. In abolishing the papal supremacy, Henry endeavoured to secure for himself an ecclesias- TEE EPISCOPAL GHUPCH. tical supremacy equally absolute. But the Clergy refused — and they alone of Henry's subjects had the boldness to withstand his will — refused, I say, to acknowledge his su- premacy until he consented to the words " So far as the law of Christ doth allow," and explained that no invasion of spiritual rights was contemplated, but merely a re- assertion of the ancient constitutional principle that the king is kiiig of ecclesiastical persons as well as of secular ones\ In accordance with this in- dependent attitude (too often misrepresented by popular writers), the ancient Ecclesia Anglicana, which antedates the very Kingdom of England itself, and to which that kingdom is indebted for its constitution and Magna Charta, began the work of reforming itself. No break of ecclesiastical continuity occurred; and, when Convocation declared, in 1534, that the Bishop of Rome hath not, according to the Scriptures, any greater jurisdiction in this realm, of England by Divine right, than any other foreign Bishop, it simply fell back upon the opening sentence of Magna Charta, which declared that the Ecclesia Anglicana should be forever free ; and 1. Dixon'sHist. Eng. Cliurcli; Vol. I. 57-68. 40 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF upon the ancient right of Bishops of the Cath- olic Church to govern within their own geo- graphical jurisdictions on behalf of the universal Episcopate. Many aucient title deeds and statutes show the falsity of Macaulay's asser- tion that Henry VIII. founded the English Church. He merely delivered it from a usurped foreign tyranny. Under Edward's regency, the Church's Synod was largely ignored, and consequently the more radical legislation of that reign concern- ing ecclesiastical matters was unconstitutional, and never came to life again after Mary's accession rendered it ineffective. Under Eliza- beth the Reformation was renewed. She was despotic, but the Church acted through her own Synods. The Episcopate was perpetuated through Archbishop Parker, the validity of whose consecration has been acknowledged by the Roman historian Lingard, by the Romish Sorbonne of Paris, and by many eminent Roman theologians. The Prayer Book and Thirty- Nine Articles were put forth. These Articles were eirenical; and, for the sake of peace, adopted the forms of expression most likely to gain acceptance among the members of the Pu- THE EPISCOPAL VIIUPCH. 41 ritan faction already appearing. But Calvinism was carefully expurgated from the phrases em- ployed. No other proof of this should be needed than the subsequent course of events. The Calvinists became more and more discon- tented ; and, after failing in an attempt to secure an adoption of the Lambeth Articles, in 1595, drifted into non-conformity and dissent. On the other hand, those who remained attached to the Elizabethan settlement and were influenced by its atmosphere developed during the next generation into the Catholic School of Andrewes and Laud. Meanwhile the Church came between two fires — the State and the Puritans. An unfor- tunate association of her interests with those of a tyrannical government — an association which came about by the personal and passing political mistakes of those in power, and was not a part of her official and doctrinal position at all — obscured her spiritual position, alien- ated the people to a great extent, and strength- ened the hands of dissent. She was persecuted and driven into hiding places. Her services were proscribed and her Clergy were deprived of their means of subsistence and imprisoned 42 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF in plague-breeding hulks. The reaction came and brought its own evils — licentiousness and flippancy in high quarters. Dissent was natu- rally but barely allowed to exist, for the idea of physical toleration was not understood by any party as yet. In spite of all, however, the Church made rapid headway and had practi- cally become the Church of nineteen-twentieths of the people by the time of James II., when seven of her Bishops immortalized themselves by resisting openly the popish manoeuvres of that monarch. The revolution came, and William's reign fostered the development of rationalism — especially among the Bishops. He cared nothing for the Church's ancient position, and, without appreciating the real loyalty of the Non-jurors and the purely tech- nical nature of their scruple as to taking the oath of renunciation of James 11. , deprived the Church of England at a blow of the very flower of her Ministry. The upper house of Convocation degenerated rapidly, therefore, and before the opening of the eighteenth century the two houses of that body were at war with each other. The Church's Synod was finally sus- pended by royal authority, in 1717, and not THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 43 allowed to meet again for the dispatch of busi- ness until 1852. The Church's enemies seemed to triumph, but the very completeness of their victory was God's means of preserving her ancient heritage and formularies amid the dreary chaos of Deism, high and dry — intensely dry — Churchism, and non-sacramental low Churchism of the eighteenth century. No Convocation meant an unchanged Prayer Book, and Providence blinded the Church's enemies so that they did not complete their work by reviving and using the proper legal instrument for depraving her formularies. The Sacraments fell into disuse under the cold indifference of a semi-deistic and erastian Episcopate; so that, when the inextinguishable life of the Church revived from below, it first exhibited itself on the non-sacramental, one- sided and emotional lines of the Evangelical Movement. The Wesleyan Movement — not formally schismatic during Wesley's life-time — maintained the regular use of the Sacra- ments, but broke away finally and lost its sac- ramental character when it lost the Episcopal Ministry. 44 THE HISTORICAL FOSITIOy OF But Evangelical zeal could not support itself without the foundations of Historic Christianity. Those foundations were still preserved and officially maintained in the Book of Common Prayer. Accordingly, when threats of dises- tablishment led to a closer examination of the Church's spiritual position, the Catholic move- ment of this century began in 1833; — a move- ment which no man has been able to check or control; which has affected the entire Anglican Communion; which has survived discourage- ments of dignitaries, consequent impatient and illogical movements Romeward, widespread pan- ics resulting therefrom, hostile decisions of state-controlled courts, open persecution and the imprisonment of some of its leaders; and which now confronts the Christian world with the Book of Common Prayer in hand as its evidence that the Anglican Communion stands to-day as ever for the original of the Christian Religion — reformed of its mediaeval accretions, indeed, but ever the same and " incapable of compro- mise or surrender." It is a marvellous history, — in which our American body shares. For one hundred and fifty years our only Bishop resided in London, THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. and even our ordinations took place three thousand miles across the sea. We finally secured an American Episcopate, but our local organization was attended with great peril. We were surrounded with hostile dissent, which enormously outnumbered us, and suspected of political disloyalty. The prevalent Deism had leavened the minds of some of our leadinof Clergy and rendered them careless as to funda- mental verities. Yet no doctrinal changes in our formularies occurred. The Anglican Book of Common Prayer was adopted, with verbal revision, and a declaration inserted that "this Church is far from intending to depart from the Church of England in any essential point of doctrine, discipline, or worship ; or further than local circumstances require." Somewhat timid at first, our Clergy and laity gathered courage as time went by, and discovered that their success in winning souls was in propor- tion to their definite assertion of the Church's historic position and clear proclamation of the truths which they had received. Since the Catholic revival has brought into clearer light the priceless treasures embodied in our Prayer Book, the Episcopal Church has exercised an 46 TEE HISTORICAL POSITION OF inHueuce grotesquely out of proportion to her size, our opponents being judges. Permit me to quote certain notable words, written over fifty years ago, which epitomize the post-reformation part of the history I ha^ve given. "If there ever were a Church on which the experiment has been tried, whether it had life or not, the English is that one .... It has endured in trouble and prosperity, under seduction and under oppression. It has been practised upon by theorists, brow-beaten by sophists, intimidated by princes, betrayed by false sons, laid waste by tyranny, corrupted by wealth, torn by schism and persecuted by fanat- icism. Revolutions have come upon it sharply and suddenly, to and fro, hot and cold, as if to try what it was made of. It has been a sort of battlefield on which opposite principles have been tried. No opinion, however extreme, but may be found, as the Eomanists are not slow to reproach us, among its Bishops and Divines. Yet what has been its career on the whole? . . Lutherans have tended to Rationalism; Cal- vinists have become Socinians; but what has it become? As far as its formularies are con- cerned, it may be said all along to have grown THE EPISCOPAL CHUUCH. 47 towards a more perfect Catholicism than that with which it started at the time of its estrange- ment .... In our own times temporal defences have been removed which the most strenuous political partisans of the Church considered essential to its well being, and the loss of Avhich they deplored as the first steps towards its ruin. To their surprise .... they beheld what they thought a mere establishment, de- pendent on man to create and destroy, rise up and walk with a life of its own, such as it had before they and their constitution came into being^" It is such a history that makes us so sure that the Episcopal Church stands for what is permanent in Christianity and incapable of compromise or surrender even by those of her Ministers who would undertake such treachery. I am trying your patience, I know; but our points of view differ too Avidely for me to ex- plain our position briefly, and I must clear up a few misconceptions before explaining the claim of the Episcopal Church to stand for the only possible basis of Church Unity. 1. British Critic of Jan. 1840, p. 77. 48 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF (a) It is said that the Episcopal claims can- not be proved by Biblical texts. Such an objection can only be urged by one who Ims failed to perceive the real nature of the Cath- olic position assumed by us; which is, as it has been the design of my paper to show, that of allegiance to a religion which we are convinced is more ancisnt than Holy Scripture, and which determines the point of view from which the different portions of the Bible were written. The Bible, therefore, is filled to bursting with this religion from end to end; but was written for the edification of those who already adhered to it rather than to explain its details to con- verts or to furnish an arsenal of proofs. We are not concerned, therefore, with chapter and verse — although by no means helpless in that direction — so much as Avith the uninterrupted pertinency of the entire Scriptures. Our Biblical proof is, we think, overwhelming; but it consists chiefly in this, that when the reader once acquires our point of view, many Biblical treasures are unlocked of which the dissenting world appears to have no inkling; and the connected harmony of the Sacred Volume as a whole flashes upon the mind in THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 49 dazzling splendour. If I can induce a man to read the Bible through devoutly and honestly, after mastering^ the Catholic standpoint, I have no fears as to the result. The Bible never turned a properly trained Catholic into a Sec- tarian. (6) Again, it may be objected that many eminent Episcopalians will not assent to the position which has been here set forth. That is true, and I acknowledge the fact that there are various schools of thought among Episco- palians which set forth opposing opinions. But true and lamentable as it is, it is entirely irrel- evant. I did not come here, my brethren, to represent the prevalent opinions of individuals, however eminent, or of schools, however exten- sive. I am exhibiting to the best of my ability what the Church stands for, which tolerates these schools without sanctioning them. I find this in her formularies and obligatory in- stitutions — embodied in the Book of Common Prayer. Let me illustrate : Should any Priest deny the Apostolic Succession, he may learn from the preface of the services for ordination, 1. I do not mean after accepting it, but after being able to assume it correctly for tlie purpose of argument. 50 THE IITSTOniCAL POSITION OF that, even though the Church may refrain from disciplining him, she does not sanction his opinion. Does he deny the supernatural efficacy of priestly ministrations, let him remember that, when the Bishop made him Priest, he did so with the words, "AV^hose sins thou dost for- give, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained." Bishop Cheney discovered that the Church will not even tol- erate a denial of infant regeneration by means of Baptism, when such denial leads to a muti- lation of the Baptismal Service. Finally, if a Priest does not believe that the consecrated Eucharistic Elements are the Body and Blood of Christ, he must none the less teach his can- didates for Confirmation a Catechism which says that the inward part of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is " The Body and Blood of Christ," and must administer the consecrated bread and wine with the words, " The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ," .... "The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ," etc. I have tried to show historically that passing waves of opinion and of imperfect loyalty to the Church's ancient position, have not, in fact, altered that position. They cannot do so; and THE EPISCOPAL CnURCH. 51 it is because of this security — a security which rests upon Christ's promise and presence — that she can tolerate imperfect opinions with safety, and can refuse to quench a smoking tiax by ex- cluding an imperfect believer, until forced to do so by direct repudiation of her formularies, or mutilation of the rites in which her mind is exhibited. No man-made society can thus tolerate permanently within its midst what it cannot sanction, without going to pieces; but the Episcopal Church has done so for ages, and has not yet gone to pieces. (c) What I have said should remove another misapprehension concerning the Epis- copal Church. It is objected that Episcopalians do not, as a rule, live religiously or exhibit the fruits of the Spirit; and it is added, " By their fruits ye shall know them." I am not going to deny the many imperfections of the average Churchman. I am but too well aware of them and of my own. And I am ready to admit that if you measure us individuals of average level by our fruits, we shall suffer severe judgment. But here again there is a misconception of what we claim to stand for. Let me explain. 52 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF Neither the Jewish nor the Christian dispen- sation constituted the Church to be an organi- zation of the righteous who need no salvation, but rather to be the place in which and the means by which to save sinners. It is Christ Who likens His Kingdom to a drag-net which gathers in fish of every kind, and retains them, if possible, until the day of judgment. It is be- cause we are so sinful and in need of sanctifi- cation that the Church gathers us in and retains us, that she may gradually leaven our corrupt hearts and minds, and save us. She dis- ciplines us with tender love, but does not ex- clude us; since to do so is to deprive those whom God died to save of the means by which He ordains that His saving grace shall be ap- plied to them. This saving work is life-long. There may be fall after fall, but even though repentance has to be repeated seventy times seven, Jesus Christ is ready in his Church to forgive and heal. For the Church to drive out the un spiritual would be for her to abandon her work of saving the world. Therefore, what you see of our imperfec- tions, while it proves that we are not yet made perfect, also shows that the Church to THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 53 which we belong is a Catholic Church, ordained by Him Who came to seek and save that which was lost, and who refrained from excommuni- cating even when His disciple denied Him. This Church is Holy — not because of its earthly membership, but because Jesus is its Head, the Holy Ghost is its animating spirit, and sanctification of souls is the ultimate result of its work. (d) Again, it is said that our position is sacerdotalism pure and simple, and infringes upon the prerogatives of the only Mediator between God and Man\ And it is frequently added, if we were consistent we would submit to the Pope. Well, at the risk of being thought a disciple of anti-Christ, I must ac- knowledge that our position does mean sacer- dotalism, pure and simple — although it does not involve the consequences which Protestants suppose. Sacerdotalism, properly understood, means a conviction that Christ exercises His Priesthood, which the Epistle to the Hebrews emphasizes so strongly, through a 3Iinistry of His own appointment and empowering. We Priests are Priests because we are Christ's 1. I. Tim. II. 5. 54 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF iDstrumeuts in performing on earth what He performs in glory above. We do not displace Him, but He uses ns as His Ministers. The powers which we wield are official ones — not personal. We are nothing save by; His ap- pointment and presence. This Nation recently offered to mediate between China and Japan, but the offer was officially and effeciivcly com- municated through our Secretary of State. It would have been absurd on that account to interpret Judge Gresham's act as putting his own person between the United States and the Eastern Nations. It is the same with sacer- dotalism. We are called Priests as the Minis- ters of the Great High Priest. Our ministry is with power, but with ministerial power simply. The only personal power which can come be- tween the soul and God in the Catholic Church is that of Jesus Christ^ As to submitting to the Pope, it would be logical, if logic required that in order to em- brace a religious system consistently, one should also embrace every caricature of it and accretion to it which human craft may have invented. We look more like Romanists than 1. See App. IV. THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 55 Protestants, I admit; but would any one think that, because a cleansed portrait resembled a spattered one more than one which had been torn to shreds, it should therefore be spattered again as soon as possible! No, we hope that the spattered portrait will be cleaned, and that the one which has been torn will be reproduced from the original negative. (e) Again, it is said that times change and the Catholic System is out of date. Christianity must adapt itself to new conditions. We can only reply that the Catholic System is Catholic because it has the capacity of adaptation to the most diverse conditions. Christ ordained the Church and her Ministry for all time, which he would not have done without per- ception beforehand of its Catholic elasticity. Moreover, since the Church is God's and not man's, it may not be modified in its original constitution save on Divine authority — an authority to which we lay no manner of claim. III. After all that I have said I need not detain you long in explaining why we claim our posi- 56 THE HISTOmCAL POSITION OF tion to be the only possible basis of Church Unify. That Church Unity must be attained if pos- sible, cannot be doubted by any habitual and devout reader of Holy Scripture. Schism is there condemned in unsparing terms. In Old Testament days, for example, no amount of falling away in the Jewish Church was held to justify schism from it; and the same mes- sages which in the New Testament denounce certain Churches for the wickedness prevailing in them speak with equally harsh terms of those who would c;i-eate divisions in them^ Let me speak frankly. We think that the founders of modern Protestant sects did a huge wrong in fact, although we acquit them of malice prepense. It was their sad misfake, as I am sure they now recognize and deplore. (a) There must be reunion ; but the Unity which we ought to seek is a visible conformity of all Christians to that organism which Christ established, along with a healing of its internal dissensions. And this is our first reason for saying that the Episcopal Church stands for the only possible basis of Church Unity — be- 1. Hammond's Christian Church, What is It? THE EPISCOPAL CIIURCn. cause we are convinced tbat it stands for wliat Christ designed sbould be the permanent organization of His Church. Holy Scripture nowhere gives the slightest hint of Churches in the modern sense — i. e., of Christian organ- isms differing in kind from each other and taking the place of each other in tlie same localities. The New Testament Churches are local apportionments of jurisdiction in one Universal Church, in which the same features of visible organization and sacramental life are repeated. When S. Paul spoke of " all the Churches" he did not have "denominations" in mind, but local congregations, obeying one Ministry, one Faith and one Sacramental Sys- tem. Gentlemen, we find it hard to understand or bear with each other on this subject. We are thought to unchurch the Protestant denomina- tions. But it is a mistake to think so. Only God could unchurch anything, which once was a Church. We are indeed convinced that the Protestant denominations about us are not, as such, genuine Churches of the New Testament pattern — i. e., organic parts of the Church of Christ, having its constitution and entitled to 58 THE UISTOmCAL POSITION OF the allegiance of its members. It is true, that we rather look upon them as mere human soci- eties, differing in kind from anything which Christ planted, whose vei-y existence is a sad mistake, since they withdraw the members of Christ from their allegiance to His Ministry and Sacraments. This is our conviction con- cerning the existing situation, but we neither caused the situation, nor do we rejoice in it. We cannot unchurch anything, but we have convictions as to what the Church is, in which Christ wills that men should serve under Him, and feel it our duty to proclaim what we are sure has been committed to us to proclaim. If we cannot agree in this, and if our disagree- ment affects our mutual relations and prevents us from having ecclesiastical fellowship with you, let us strive at least to refrain from mutual misapprehensions and to be convinced of each other's charity and honest desire to promote the welfare of mankind. Meanwhile, " The truth is mighty and will prevail." God speed the day, not of sacrificing religious convic- tions for the sake of deceptive externals of charity, but of such clear knowledge of the THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 59 truth by all loyal souls that charity will pre- vail because truth prevails. (6) Another reason why the Episcopal Church claims to stand for the only possible basis of Church Unity is the fact that its Min- istry and Sacraments did, as history shows, hold the Catholic Church together for many ceuturies, and that each departure from it has been the cause of schism. Thus, the attempt of the Bishop of Rome to upset the Divinely ordained and constitutional equality of all Bishops in their respective jurisdictions, by the claim to rule in Christ's stead by Divine right over the whole Church Militant, caused a rupture of Communion be- tween the East and West in the eleventh century, and between the Roman obedience and the Anglican Communion in the sixteenth century. The Eastern and Anglican Commun- ions are now drawing towards each other in proportion to their greater familiarity with each other's adherence to the ancient paths; but we cannot, even for the sake of an appear- ance of Unity, sacrifice the Divinely ordained organization of Christ's Church. If Rome should reform herself, modify her attitude, and 60 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF permit the Apostolic Ministry to exercise its proper functions without interference, it might be, perhaps, that the Unity of the Church would be made more visible to the world by yielding to some one see — naturally to Home — a precedency of honour among equals, a sort of convenient and limited presidency in matters subject to human control, such as was allowed in ancient days. If such a thing could be done without peril to religion and with increase of charity, no Churchman should desire to prevent it. Again, the revolt from the historic Ministry and Sacraments, which occurred in the sixteenth century, has split Western Christendom into hundreds of fragments, and has greatly in- creased the causes of alienation which must be removed before all Christians can be in Com- munion and visible charity with each other. These facts are indisputable and their sig- nificance appears plain to us — i. e., that there is only one Ministry and Sacramental System, the loyal adherence to which has ever kept the Church of Christ in visible Unity. Our plea is, "Why try experiments?" Church Unity must be worked for ; let us then make use of THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. CI the means which, as a matter of fact, has dem- onstrated its fitness for the use to which we would put it. (c) Nor is this all of the matter. We are bound to consider, before adopting any plan for the restoration of visible unity, whether it is such as is likely to secure general co-operation. As some of our Bishops have been careful to point out, the only Church IJDity with which we have a right to content ourselves must be Avorld-wide. The entire Catholic world must be united before the dying prayer of Christ that His disciples might be one, can be answered. Unless we refuse to Catholics generally the name Christian — which of course, we Episco- palians cannot do without changing convictions which lie at the root of our religious life — it is clear that over three-fourths of the entire Chris- tian world must surrender convictions as well as preferences before any basis of unity will be available, other than what has been named by our Bishops, and for which the Episcopal Church has stood since a time which antedates the existence of Protestant denominations by many ages. 62 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF Is it not natural that we should appeal to history, under such circumstances, and say that, so far from the maintenance of the His- toric Episcopate and Catholic Religion being a barrier to Unity, it is the modern rejection of it which must be repaired before any Unity is possible which God Avill bless? I have but little more to say. I have done my best to enable you to understand us. I have not concealed anything for the sake of appearance of an agreement which does not exist; but, at the same time, have tried to put you in a position to see that our inability to co-operate in religious matters with you is not caused by bitterness of spirit, but by the con- viction that we have received our religious system from God, for sure maintenance and propagation among all men; and that we can- not, without a breach of trust for which God will hold us to strict account, even seem to acknowledge any substitute as lawful, however sure we may feel that its adherents are sincere in their mistake and for that reason blameless. We do not judge Prortestants. We give them credit for good faith. But we believe that it makes a vast difference to mankind whether THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 63 the Catholic Religion prevails or not. That it will prevail we have no manner of doubt. Thus we rest our case. The securing of Church Unity seems, for the present at least, beyond human power. Yet we cannot believe that Christ's prayer is to remain unanswered to the end. What man cannot achieve, God can bring to pass. Ah! my brothers, let us trust in Him and be patient. All human things pass away. God alone and His Religion is immutable. Believers may have to endure persecution yet; and persecu- tion, when overruled by God, is able to purify what is corrupt, and make age-long misconcep- tions and alienations disappear. We might welcome such a persecution, and in the power of united zeal and grace take the gates of heaven by storm. O Lord Jesus Christ Who saidst unto Thy DISCIPLES, Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; regard not our sins, but THE Faith of Thy Church; and grant her THAT peace and UnITY WHICH IS AGREEABLE TO Thy will. Who livest and reignest God, forever and ever. Amen. 64 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF APPENDIX I. I give a brief list of suitable works for the benefit of those who wish to study the sub- jects treated of in this paper. THE CHURCH. Hammond's Christian Church, What is It? Oxford, 1894; 65 cents. Gore's Mission of the Church; f 1.00. Palmer on the Church of Christ; 2 vols. London, 1839. THE MINISTRY. Lightfoot on the Christian Ministry. (In the " Disser- tations on the Apostolic Age," with appendix.) London, 1893. Pub. separately. New York; 70 cents. Haddan's Apostolical Succession in the Church of England. London, 1883. Gore's Ministry of the Christian Church. New York, 1889; $3.00. " THE SACRAMENTS. Sadler's Church Doctrine Bible Truth. New York, 1882; 50 cents. Sadler's Second Adam and the New Birth. New York, 1869; $1.25. Sadler's One Offering. London, 1889; 75 cents. Prynne's Truth and Reality of the Eucharistic Sacri- fice. Longmans, 1894; $1.25. Wilberforce's Holy Eucharist. New York, 1885; $2.50. THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 65 HISTOKICAL. Lane's Illustrated Notes on English Church History. New York, 1887; 2 vols., 40 cents per vol. Hore's History of the Church of England. New York, 1893. Aubrey Moore's History of the Reformation. London, 1890. Blunt's History of the English Reformation. Wilberforce's History of the American Church. MISCELLANEOUS. Ewer's Catholicity, Protestantism and Romanism. New York; $1.50. Ewer's Failure of Protestantism. New York, 1869. Hammond's Church or Chapel; An Eirenicon. London. Hammond's English Nonconformity and Christ's Chris- tianity. London. Little's Reasons for Being a Churchman. Milwaukee^ 1885; $1.10. Forbes on The Thirty-Nine Articles. Oxford, 1881; $3.00. Hall's Theological Outlines. Milwaukee; see adv. Staley's Catholic Religion. Oxford, 1894; 30 cents up. Westcott's Bible in the Church. London and New York; $1.25. The above works can be secured through The Youug Churchman Company, Milwaukee, Wis. 66 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF APPENDIX 11. Churchmen need not be disturbed by the results of Biblical criticism, however unex- pected, for the strength of their belief in the supernatural and plenary inspiration of the Bible depends — not upon the dates or author- ships of its several portions, but — upon the general trustworthiness of the religious his- tory which the Scriptures contain, and the success with which they can be employed to irradiate and confirm the doctrines, institu- tions and practical principles of the religion historically established and perpetuated in the world by God. APPENDIX III. It may be urged that the question at issue is — not what view of the Episcopate this Church stands for, but — whether she will, for the sake of Unity, tolerate other and less advanced views on the part of those who agree to yield obedience to the Episcopate, in fact. The proper answer to this question is clear. The Church does, as we shall show later on, THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 67 tolerate views which she regards as imperfect, when au exercise of discipline would quench a smoking flax and do more harm than good. But there is an important limitation to this. She cannot sanction error; and, therefore, whatever she may overlook in dealing with individual cases, she cannot permit error offi- cially^ or recognize that it is lawful for any one, especially for one who seeks entrance to her Ministry, to hold views inconsistent with her own teaching. The Church teaches that her Ministry is Divinely instituted and pos- sesses exclusive mission. She cannot rightly, therefore, enter into any concordat which leaves the parties who accept it free to enter her Ministry without accepting this, her teaching. Nor can she rightly acquiesce in any form of toleration of error on a scale so extensive as to imperil the official maintenance of her mind on the questions at issue. APPENDIX lY. It is said that Sacerdotalism is not contained in the New Testament, and that Christian Min- isters are nowhere called Priests in the Bible. We hold, on the contrary, that the New Testa- 68 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF ment is full of Sacerdotalism, and that the ab- sence of the title Priest, as applied to Christian Ministers, can be accounted for without taking non-sacerdotal ground. The Jewish and Christian dispensations over- lapped each other by Divine arrangement, apparently in order that the unalterable prin- ciples of the Old dispensation might be assim- ilated by the primitive disciples of the New, and successfully transplanted to the Christian Church. The Christian Church was conceived in the womb of Judaism. The New Testament is the product chiefly of the period of over- lapping, when the Jewish Christians were obliged to obey both dispensations at once; and we read that " a great company of the [Jewish] Priests were obedient to the Faith" (Acts, YL 7). To have applied the title Priest to Chris- tian Ministers under such conditions would have been confusing in the extreme. But that the Christian dispensation was to be a sacer- dotal one is clearly implied in vdiat S. Peter says (I. Pet. II. 9), "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood," etc., and in what the epistle to the Hebrews (XIII. 10) says, "We have an altar," etc. THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 69 We have been insistiug that the Christian dispensation is not the result of a revolt from Judaism (if it were, the permanent nature of the promises to Abraham and to Jerusalem would be destroyed and the Divine immutabil- ity intrenched upon), but an effective perform- ance and continual application to the souls of men of what Judaism merely prefigured. This contention involves that the Sacerdotalism, which is so essential a part of the Old dispen- sation, should not be abolished in the Christian dispensation, but should be made more effective, and modified in detail merely, to meet the con- ditions resulting from the death of Christ and His entrance within the veil. When the time drew near for completing the transition from the Old to the New, by the de- struction of Jerusalem, the author of the epistle to the Hebrews was inspired to give a clear ex- position of the eternal Priesthood of Christ, ordained of God (Chap. Y.) to take the place of the merely typical priesthood of Aaron (Chap. YIII). Thus the New Covenant was clearly shown to be sacerdotal, and, by reason of its effectiveness, fitted to take the place of what was ineffective and preparatory merely. 70 THE IIISTOBIGAL POSITIOK OF The new Sacerdotalism is effective because it is the Sacerdotalism of Christ, Who has over- come death, and entered the true Holy of Holies. Now, and this is a crisis in our argument, whatever Christ was sent forth to be in the world, that He sent forth His Apostolic Ministry to perpetuate on earth in His Name. " All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth" (S. Matt. XXYIIL 18). " And behold, I send the promise of My father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high" (S. Luke XXIV. 49). "As My Father hath sent Me (cf. Heb. V. 4-6) even so send I you. And when He had said this. He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are re- mitted unto them ; and whosesoever sins ye re- tain, they are retained" (S. John XX. 21-23). In view of all this, we believe that the thing signified by the term Priest is an essential part of the Christian dispensation as portrayed in the New Testament: that Christian Minis- ters on earth are Priests by participation in Christ's Priesthood: that their priesthood is THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 71 not persouallyiDherect in themselves, but min- isterial simply — i. e., Christ's Priesthood, exer- cised by a Ministry of His own appointment: that they have power (although official and not personal) to remit sins — a sacerdotal power. The overlapping of dispensations made it necessary for a time to use distinct names ; but when Judaism passed away, the sacerdotal character of the Christian Ministry stood out in bold relief, and the title Priest, as applied to the offerer of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, came into inevitable use. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. Theological Outltses. A Series of concise and accurate Theological Propo- sitions, covering the whole field of Dogmatic Theology, from the Anglo-Catholic point of view, with abundant references under each head. Vol. I.— The Doctrine of God. 50 cents net. Yol. II. — The Doctrine of Man and of the God-man. 75 cents net. Vol. III.— The Doctrine of the Church and of Last Things," will appear in May, 1895. The Trinity (N. Y.) Record says of Yol. II, that under its heads " is arranged a singularly compact, clear and strong instruction in Positive Dogmatics, soundly Cath- olic, and supported at every point by a highly useful array of authorities. Scriptural and other. The far- reaching brevity of this book would make it a very val- uable manual for laymen, and we are compelled to add, for some of the clergy also. The style is luminous." PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., Milwaukee, Wis. DATE DUE ^^•■^rt'-"''' ''''*"' / CAYLORO PRINTCOINU-S.A.