ICO 
 
 RESTORATION IN MEXICO. 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 PREACHED IN 
 
 TRINITY CHURCH, PITTSBURGH, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 Festival of St. Joiin Baptist, June 24tli, 1879, 
 
 AT THE 
 
 OOIlSECRATIOlNr 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REV. HEMY OHAUNCEY RILEY, DD. 
 
 As Bishop of the Valley of Mexico, 
 
 BY 
 
 ArfhtiAje 
 
 THE BISHOP OF WESTERN NEW YORK. 
 
 NEW YORK, 1879; 
 
 Published by the Foreign Committee op the Board op AIanagers op the 
 Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society op the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church. 
 
RESTORATION IN MEXICO 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 PREACHED IlSr 
 
 TRINITY CHURCH, PITTSBURGH, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 Festival of St. Jolin Baptist, June 24tli, 1879, 
 
 AT THE 
 
 CONSECRATION' 
 
 OP THE 
 
 REY. HENRY CHAUNCEY RILEY, D.l), • 
 
 As Bishop of the Valley of Mexico. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE BISHOP OF WESTERN NEW YORK. 
 
 NEW YORK, 1879; 
 
 Published by the Foreign Committee op the Board op Managers op the 
 Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society op the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church, 
 
■ ' ' 
 
 •. America 
 Hex\co 
 
 * 
 
 SEP 1 G '03 
 
 
 TO TUB RT. REV. 
 
 THE LORD BISHOP OP WINCHESTER, 
 
 ETC., ETC.: 
 
 I DEDICATE THIS SERMON, BY PERMISSION, 
 
 NOT AS COMMITTING HIM TO ANY OP ITS POSITIONS, 
 
 BUT AS A TOKEN OP GRATITUDE 
 
 POR HIS EARNEST AND YET MOST PRUDENT EPPORTS 
 TO EXTEND THE CATHOLIC RELATIONS, 
 
 AND TO APPLY THE 
 
 GENEROUS SUCCOURS OP THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 
 
 AMONG SISTER CHURCHES 
 
 AND PERSECUTED BRETHREN IN MANY LANDS. 
 
 A. C. C., Bishop of Western New York. 
 
 Buffalo, June 35tA, 1879. 
 
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RESTOEATION IN MEXICO. 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 By the Bishop of Western New York. 
 
 “ strengthen the things which remain, that are ready 
 to die.”—Rev. iii. 2 . 
 
 ■ The burning and shining light of midsum. 
 mer lends itself to this Feast of the great Bap. 
 tizer, as if to remind us of the eulogy of his 
 Master. He was not the light of the world; 
 but he was sent to bear witness of that Light, 
 and we are reminded to-day of the nature of 
 Missionary work and of the source of its pow¬ 
 er. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wil¬ 
 derness by His servant John: it is to prepare 
 the way of the Messiah. The coming of the 
 Sun of Righteousness is heralded by the Morn¬ 
 ing Star: he only reflects the glory of the 
 Redeemer. Beautiful the feet of him that 
 bringeth good tidings; but he is only the 
 Bridegroom’s friend. He ushers in the Bride¬ 
 groom Himself, coming to espouse His Church, 
 and to enlarge her with a dowry of children, 
 whom He will “ make princes in all the earth.” 
 It is the commission of the herald and of the 
 Missionary to comfort the people, like St. 
 John, by the Gospel-tidings: “Behold the 
 Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the 
 world.” Beautiful upon the mountains are 
 the feet of such a Missionary; and, though our 
 Brother-elect is to be sent to “the Valley of 
 Mexico,” let us not say, with the unbelievers 
 of old: “ The Lord is God of the hills; but 
 He is not God of the valleys.” There also, 
 we humbly trust, God will “deliver a great 
 multitude into his hand.” And long may this 
 good day be remembered in Mexico, as mak¬ 
 ing over to her Church and people the con¬ 
 soling promises and the blessed example it 
 recalls. 
 
 We stand here, at the confluence of waters 
 gathered from a thousand sources, which 
 unite at our feet and roll on in ever ac¬ 
 cumulating volume to the great Gulf; and 
 so a thousand providences are combined in 
 this solemnity to create a “sea of glory” 
 
 which we pray may inundate Mexico itself. 
 And in view of the peculiar trials of the 
 work before the new Bishop, we may trust 
 that the Collect for this day may ever find a 
 glorious answer in his life and ministry: 
 “ Almighty God, by Whose providence Thy 
 servant John Baptist was wonderfully born, 
 and sent to prepare the way of Thy, Son our 
 Saviour, by preaching repentance; Make us 
 so to follow his doctrine and holy life, that we 
 may truly repent according to his preaching; 
 and after his example, constantly speak the 
 truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer 
 for the truth’s sake; through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord. Amen.” 
 
 The services of this festival give us, more¬ 
 over, most cheering pledges as to the success 
 of Missionary work. “ Every valley shall be 
 exalted and every mountain and hill shall be 
 brought low; and the crooked shall be made 
 straight, and the rough places plain, and the 
 glory of the Lord shall be revealed.” New 
 force is given to these promises by the inven¬ 
 tions which God has permitted man to make 
 in these times of ours. It is not for earthly 
 interests that He stimulates the minds of men 
 to accomplish His purposes. When Augustus 
 Csesar was engineering the Roman roads, by 
 which his armies might be easily moved to 
 the ends of the earth, it was, after all, the 
 little Child in the carpenter’s shop of Galilee 
 for whom all this was done. Those highways 
 were for God, and the fishermen of Galilee 
 were to use them for nobler purposes than 
 those of the emperor. And so now, when 
 men pierce the isthmus, and tunnel the moun¬ 
 tains, and stretch the telegraphic wire, and lay 
 the iron way, and force the swift keel through 
 the oceans by the mighty impulse of steam, 
 we feel that the times of prophecy are close 
 at hand. “The secret of the Lord is with 
 them that fear Him.” We see His tokens and 
 
8 
 
 of God’s worcls giveth light”; and Aguilar 
 stood forth, like Antipas, Christ’s faithful 
 martyr. Called suddenly to die, he sent for 
 his friend, Hernandez, and pointed to the 
 Bible. “I am sinking rapidly,” he said. 
 “ Be faithful to this cause, and press it on.” 
 Hernandez answered, “ With the Lord’s 
 help, I will.” "I die in peace,” said Aguilar. 
 And so he expired. Then God raised up 
 Aguas and others, and the work was pressed 
 on. It has been given to many in Mexico, as 
 in Philippi of old, “ in the behalf of Christ, 
 not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer 
 for His sake.” Let our Church be modest in 
 contrast. We hardly live for Christ; they 
 die for the testimony of Jesus. Forty mar¬ 
 tyrs are already numbered in the brief rec¬ 
 ords of this restoration, and confessors by 
 hundreds they have had from the first. 
 The rest you know: what, by God’s bless¬ 
 ing, our Brother-elect has already accom¬ 
 plished; what was done by my Right Rev¬ 
 erend and beloved Brother who presides 
 in this Consecration; and how the feeble 
 Church in Mexico has been, to this day, la¬ 
 bouring to strengthen the things which remain. 
 Truly, to her applies the language of the 
 Blessed Jesus, “I know thy works, and tribu¬ 
 lation, and poverty; but thou art rich. And 
 I know the blasphemy of them which say 
 they are Jews, and are not, but are the syna¬ 
 gogue of Satan.” 
 
 Now, if it be the duty of this little Church 
 to strengthen the things which remain, I hold 
 it to be quite clear that it is the duty of 
 Christ’s servants everywhere to remember 
 them in love and prayer: and if to pray for 
 them, then, surely, to help them; and if to 
 help, then to impart to them such spiritual 
 gifts as are lacking to their work and to its 
 perfection. In this conviction we are here 
 to-day to provide it with an Apostolic Episco¬ 
 pate ;“ for that is now its first want, deeply 
 felt alike in its own sore experiences of wid¬ 
 owhood and orphanage, and recognized in our 
 own principles of Scriptural organization. 
 
 But just here we encounter an apparent 
 conflict between our proceeding and Catholic 
 Constitutions.-'’ The Episcopate is governed 
 by laws which forbid intrusion, and it may 
 be asked. Is not Mexico already furnished 
 with Bishops whose valid ordination may be 
 regarded as unquestionable? Such is the 
 scruple of some, in whose opinion it presents 
 
 a Gordian knot. They see no practical solu¬ 
 tion of difficulties which arise in such move¬ 
 ments as ours, among Churches, however cor¬ 
 rupt, which possess an Episcopate derived 
 in historical continuity from the Apostles, 
 provided they hold verbally the Common 
 Creed.®’ 
 
 No need to cut such a knot. It is easily 
 untied by a little patience in the application 
 of Catholic principles and analytical thought. 
 Let me state the case even more forcibly than 
 it is ordinarily presented. “ Let us admit,” 
 says the scruple, “that the Church in Mexico 
 is as bad as those described in the Apocalypse, 
 that Satan’s seat is there, and the doctrine of 
 Balaam, and abominable idolatries, and Jeze¬ 
 bel’s harlotries, and the doctrines of the 
 Nicolaitanes, which Christ hates. Admit all 
 this; but yet the Master bore with all this 
 in the Seven Churches of Asia, and held their 
 stars, nevertheless, in His right hand. In a 
 word. He recognized their Bishops, and only 
 commanded them to repent. ” The inference 
 is that we should utter a similar call to repent¬ 
 ance, and then mind our own affairs and 
 leave Mexico to take care of itself. It is a 
 very plausible argument, and I have endeav¬ 
 oured in fewest words to state it in all its 
 force. 
 
 But, “Adam, where art thou?” Is there a 
 Mexican Episcopate in the Mexican Church? 
 Is there any one there, as there was, for 
 example, in Pergamos, who recognizes his 
 true relations to his flock, and who can be 
 reached by a call to repentance under the 
 great message: “Let him hear what the 
 Spirit saith to the Churches ” ? Is there a 
 Mexican Bishop in Mexico, having such 
 mission and jurisdiction there as the Canons 
 of the undivided Church, and the Laws of 
 Christ’s Gospel, enable us to identify? Is 
 there an “Angel of the Church” there who 
 acknowledges his immediate responsibility to 
 our Great High Priest as his only Supreme 
 Head? We are forced to reply in the nega¬ 
 tive. 
 
 The nominal Bishops in Mexico refuse to 
 govern themselves by canonical law as Catholic 
 and Scriptural Bishops of the Mexican Church¬ 
 es. They have abdicated and renounced alike 
 the Apostolic order and the constitutional in¬ 
 dependence of true Bishops. They consent to 
 hold office from a foreign usurper, who gives 
 them mission as Presbyters; their Episcopate 
 
 See Note V. 
 / See Note VI. 
 
 s'-See Note VII. 
 
9 
 
 being merely a delegated authority to be bis 
 representatives.* * They are, in their own pro¬ 
 fession, Presbyters only, with certain Episco¬ 
 pal functions; the mere vicars of one Uni¬ 
 versal Bishop, who presides at Rome, by 
 whose permission and during whose arbitrary 
 pleasure they continue in Mexico for the pur¬ 
 pose of enforcing his usurpations upon a 
 national Church—a Church which owes him 
 no allegiance whatever, and which is entitled 
 to the liberty wherewith Christ makes all 
 His Churches free. There are absolutely no 
 Bishops in Mexico such as are defined by the 
 Scriptures and by the original Constitutions of 
 the Catholic Church. 
 
 Let us look into the matter a little more 
 particularly. To the superficial observer, 
 who, like most of our popular writers,* takes 
 no pains to examine the case in the light of 
 history, or as it is seen in careful analysis, 
 the whole question turns upon the claims of 
 “ the Roman Catholic Church” to be a true 
 Church. But the Catholic cannot admit that 
 there is any such Church, except in name. 
 No such Church appears in history till very 
 lately. There was a Papacy lording it over 
 certain Churches of the West, but there was 
 no Papal Church. The ancient Councils 
 never heard of such an anomaly. Scientifi¬ 
 cally examined, it is a modern society, formed 
 artificially, since the Council of Trent, by a 
 fusion of National Churches and Jesuit Mis¬ 
 sions, in violation of all Canons and Constitu¬ 
 tions. The Jesuits are its authors, and this 
 novel reconstruction is based upon certain 
 claims of the Bishop of Rome, which the 
 Eastern Churches have always pronounced 
 subversive of the whole .system of Catholic 
 law, as received from Holy Scripture and the 
 four great Councils of primitive Christendom.^' 
 In refusing to give this artificial system the 
 character it claims, and in reducing it to its 
 constituent parts for practical purposes, we 
 stand upon the old and consistent ground of 
 the Churches of the East, which are older 
 than Rome, and which maintain to this day 
 the primitive Synodical Constitutions of the 
 Church of Christ.* 
 
 These Constitutions knew nothing of a Pope, 
 much less of any Papal supremacy; and, if 
 possible, still less of any Papal infallibility. 
 The confederacy known as the “ Roman Cath¬ 
 
 A See Note VIII, 
 
 * See Note IX. 
 
 } See Note X. 
 
 * See Note XI. 
 
 olic Church” was organized in the sixteenth 
 century, to enforce such pretensions. But 
 nobody can be a Catholic, much less a Cath¬ 
 olic Bishop, who, instead of the Catholic 
 Church of the Nicene Creed, takes up with 
 this schismatical association, and, under its 
 remorseless yoke, carries on a persistent 
 warfare with all Churches that adhere to 
 the good old ways. 
 
 But, in ultimate analysis, this confederacy 
 is found to enfold individual Churches, 
 which may be recognized as such when 
 considered apart from their subjection to 
 the Papacy. Thus, the Churches of Prance 
 and Germany and Spain are visible churches, 
 and so is the Church of Mexico; but none 
 of these Churches possess a Catholic Epis¬ 
 copate. They have been abandoned and 
 betrayed by their nominal shepherds; if not 
 long before, then certainly at this late “ Vati¬ 
 can Council,” as has been made evident by 
 the testimony and clear expositions of the Old 
 Catholics.* None of these abdicating Bishops 
 have any position in the national Churches of 
 Europe and America which can be maintained 
 by Catholic laws.”* 
 
 To the Old Catholics all this is a recent 
 discovery. It has been forced upon them 
 by the working out of fallacies which they 
 only recognize in their reduction to the 
 absurd. But it was given to the restorers of 
 the Anglican Church to see the results before¬ 
 hand; and thoroughly are the principles on 
 which they took their noble stand three hun¬ 
 dred years since vindicated by the action of 
 the late Vatican Council, which is only a log¬ 
 ical sequel to that of Trent.” We apply these 
 principles to-day to the case of the Church in 
 Mexico; and God hasten the time when, on 
 similar principles, the Churches of Europe 
 may return to primitive freedom and truth. 
 
 So, then, it is only with the Mexican Church 
 that we are called to deal. In Mexico we 
 have nothing to do with the Church of Rome, 
 or any pretended Bishops who act by its au¬ 
 thority. For what business has Rome in Mex¬ 
 ico? Where and by what Catholic canons 
 has an Italian*Bishop any warrant to meddle 
 with our affairs in America? Search antiquity 
 with candles, and you will find not one word 
 which authorizes any Bishop thus to extend 
 his jurisdiction over foreign Churches be¬ 
 yond seas. The reverse is the case, as we 
 
 ( See Note XII. 
 
 ;See Nste XIII. 
 
 ' « See Note XIV. 
 
10 
 
 learn from the history of the African 
 Churches/ The Church in Mexico awakes 
 to this truth; and, with no claim of dominion 
 nor any desire for it, we respond to her invi¬ 
 tation to provide her with a Catholic and 
 Scriptural Episcopate, which is willing to 
 “ hear what the Spirit saith to the Church¬ 
 es.” 
 
 The law for such cases we have found 
 in Holy Scripture. It is also clearly defined 
 by Catholic antiquity. At one crisis, says 
 Vincent of Lerins, “nearly all the Bishops 
 of the Latin tongue, misled partly by com¬ 
 pulsion and partly by fraud,” adhered to 
 another gospel. And in so great and uni¬ 
 versal a defection he recognizes as Catholics 
 only the faithful few “who preferred the old 
 Faith to the new perfidy.”^ By this rule we 
 identify the Catholic Church of Mexico in 
 the faithful few who have elected our brother 
 to he their Bishop, and who have entreated 
 us, as Bishops of the nearest sister Church, to 
 invest him with the Apostolic Order and 
 Office, that he may return to them and im¬ 
 part to them those spiritual gifts which their 
 necessities so imperatively require. 
 
 It was, at least by implication, on such 
 principles that the venerable Primate of 
 Holland lately consecrated the first Bishop 
 of the Old Catholics in Germany. On 
 such principles the hundred Bishops at 
 Lambeth virtually took their stand last sum¬ 
 mer, and, in so doing, opened, as I humbly 
 trust, a new era of Catholic restorations. For 
 thus they only recognized the ancient land¬ 
 marks and followed the great heroes of primi¬ 
 tive triumphs over heresy and schism. Bitterly 
 does St. Basil reproach the Western Bishops 
 of his day for the supine spirit of apathy in 
 which, like Meroz, they came not to “ the help 
 of the Lord against the mighty. ” He urges 
 their duty to interfere on grounds essentially 
 the same. ® And so the great Nazianzen hesitat¬ 
 ed not to visit tlie dioceses of heretical Bish¬ 
 ops in behalf of the few scattered sheep that 
 implored his help. He did this even in the 
 Second See of the Christian Church; and, in 
 so doing, he was not only sustained by the 
 Orthodox Bishops, but, against his will, he 
 was forced to treat the See as vacant, and to sit 
 down in its patriarchal chah as the true and 
 only Bishop of Constantinople.' 
 
 0 See Note XV. 
 
 p See Note XVI. 
 
 q See Note XVII. 
 
 See Note XVIII-l 
 
 Thus, in his person, they enthroned the 
 living spirit of Catholic law above its dead 
 letter. They refused to enforce canons in 
 favour of Bishops who had betrayed their 
 flocks and corrupted the truth which canons 
 were enacted to support; and they left us an 
 example to go and do likewise, whenever 
 and wherever nominal shepherds prove them¬ 
 selves “ wolves in sheep’s clothing,” devour¬ 
 ing the very flock they were appointed to 
 feed, to protect, and to keep safe in the true 
 fold of Christ. 
 
 Such, then, is the law of Christ and of 
 His Church, as applied to the “few names” 
 in Mexico who “have not defiled their gar¬ 
 ments.” In them we are bound to recognize 
 the Catholic remainder of their National 
 Church, and for them we must “ strengthen 
 the things that remain, that are ready to die.” 
 For, observe, their nominal Bishops excom¬ 
 municate and anathematize them only because 
 they refuse to accept “ the new perfidy,” and 
 thus to betray “ the Faith once delivered to 
 the saints.” If Chrysostom, if Augustine, if 
 Athanasius were in Mexico, and should now 
 teach and practice as they did in the old 
 time, they too would be excommunicated and 
 anathematized by the nominal Bishops. The 
 powerful remonstrances of Aguilar and Aguas 
 press this fact on the Mexican V icars. It is 
 by such remorseless violation of all Catholic 
 laws that these Papal Vicars enforce a creed 
 of novelties and a discipline wholly unknown 
 to the Primitive Church. But they who 
 lend themselves to such a despotism only ex¬ 
 communicate themselves. “Woe unto thee, 
 heretic and prevaricator,” said St. Hilary' to 
 a Bishop of Rome, who had denied the Faith 
 and anathematized the faithful; “I say unto 
 thee. Anathema.” And now shall we sit still 
 because they who persecute our faithful 
 brethren in Mexico call themselves Bishops? 
 Shall we permit them to claim canonical 
 immunities in order not only to excommuni¬ 
 cate, but even, under pretext of extirpating 
 heresy, to slay the faithful? Alas ! under 
 such Bishops, heretics may live in all security, 
 and even Priests grossly immoral in their 
 lives, if they hut accept new dogmas and 
 submit to a foreign usurpation. It is only 
 when Christians become witnesses for truth 
 and righteousness in this modern Sardis that 
 they are cast out and destroyed. And 
 have we no duty to Christ’s faithful at 
 
 “tSee Note XIX. 
 
11 
 
 such a time ? The house is burning, 
 and shall we hesitate to go in and save 
 life, because, forsooth, we might seem to 
 disregard the statutes against burglary ? 
 The murderer is in the field, to waylay 
 and to destroy. Must we first consult the 
 lawyer about trespass before we break through 
 the hedge and rescue the threatened victim? 
 When ties of nature bid us to succour our 
 spiritual kindred, shall we presume to excuse 
 ourselves by ingenious duplicity, like that of 
 the Corban? Our neighbour has fallen among 
 thieves. Shall we refuse to imitate the Good 
 Samaritan because Priests and Levites have 
 passed by on the other side, fortified, no 
 doubt, by a scrupulous deference to the Mosaic 
 Rubrics touching defilement? In a word, 
 David’s men are starving. Shall we palter 
 about Holy Bread, instead of obeying Him 
 who says, “ Go ye and learn what that mean- 
 eth—I will have mercy, and not sacrifice”? 
 Thank God, instructed by the Master Him¬ 
 self, we know our duty. We remember how 
 He rebukes the Pharisee who pleads the Sab¬ 
 bath-day in behalf of forbidding to heal ; 
 how He chastises the hypocrisy that strains 
 out the gnat of a ritual scruple to swallow the 
 camel of a gigantic wrong. If ever the Papal 
 Vicars in Mexico shall abjure their partner¬ 
 ship with the crime and false doctrine of the 
 Vatican, or whenever they claim the character 
 and the work of true shepherds, God knows 
 how willingly and lovingly we shall embrace 
 them, and retire from any field where we 
 might embarrass or annoy. As St. Augus¬ 
 tine was ready to deal with the Donatists, so 
 we are ready to give up anything but our pri¬ 
 mary obligations to Christ and to His Church 
 for their sakes. The only anathema we utter 
 smites their chains and not them. While 
 they curse, we bless; but till they return to 
 a right mind, we must leave them loaded with 
 the schism and heresy of which they are the 
 abettors. And so, in the name of God, and 
 as we shall answer at the great day, we pro¬ 
 ceed to do for Mexico what we are persuaded 
 is the Master’s will, for has He not ordained, 
 “ As ye would that others should do to you, 
 even so do to them ” ? 
 
 TO THE BISHOP-ELECT. 
 
 My Reverend Brother, the Bishop-elect, there 
 is an emphatic word which introduces the text, 
 and which I have reserved for this address to 
 you. “ Be watchful. ” The Lord is calling 
 you to be a watchman and to be chief among 
 other watchmen, and what He says unto all 
 
 He says unto you with special significance: 
 “Watch.” In these seven Epistles—which, 
 with those to Timothy and Titus, I venture 
 to remind you, will be your best direc¬ 
 tory and guide in your trying post of duty 
 —it is to be noted how this call to watch¬ 
 fulness is repeated; and the same Apocalypse 
 reveals to us what we must watch for and how 
 we must do it. Watchful over self; watchful 
 over the flock; watchful for the Master : such 
 is the Master’s charge; and oh, how great the 
 trust He commits with it into your hands this 
 day! It is an overwhelming responsibility. 
 Who is sufficient ? Surely they only whose 
 sufficiency is of Him who alone makes able 
 Ministers of the new Covenant. Yours will be 
 a stewardship so great, and not less so because 
 it is, indeed, the day of small things; a day 
 of poverty and affliction. We dare not prom¬ 
 ise you grand results; yet we recognize the 
 providences that have furnished you with 
 exceptional gifts for this field, and we would 
 fain believe they are like the prophecies that 
 went before on Timothy. For the first time 
 the Church of Christ in Mexico will see in 
 you a Bishop of its own choice; a Bishop in 
 all the freedom of his Apostolic Commission, 
 and wearing no yoke of foreign bondage; a 
 Bishop, indeed, owning no supremacy save 
 that of the great High Priest of our profession, 
 and invested with full power to “ set in order 
 things that are wanting, and to ordain elders 
 in every city.” For a time we hope to labour 
 with you—not as dictators, much less as 
 “lords over God’s heritage”; but as fellow- 
 stewards and counsellors, working under a 
 common Master, and “ by one spirit,” in obe¬ 
 dience to the inspired precept: “All of you be 
 subject one to another, and be clothed with 
 humility.” For this also we wish even your 
 perfection; and confessedly much yet remains 
 to be done to set in order things that are want¬ 
 ing. As a Bishop this will now be your ap¬ 
 propriate task, and we are but your yoke-fel¬ 
 lows and companions in labour. 
 
 For in all that 1 have said I have been 
 deeply impressed with two governing thoughts: 
 our feebleness and Christ’s sufficiency. This 
 day’s work will come to naught if it be our 
 work. If it be of Him, who can calculate 
 its importance? With tremblings I do yet 
 rejoice in the thought that this extension of 
 the Catholic Episcopate to Christians of an¬ 
 other race and another speech will give us a 
 sister Church on this Continent to strengthen 
 our own faith and inspire us to new endeavours 
 
14 
 
 Church, the Apostolic Commission was to be 
 perpetual in the Church. The other Orders 
 were produced by delegation of subordinate 
 functions, as clearly appears from the “ Acts 
 of the Apostles ” and the Pastoral Epistles. 
 The scholastic theory confines the apostolic 
 succession to the Popes, and makes the Epis¬ 
 copate an after-thought, the Pope confer¬ 
 ring some of his functions on certain Pres¬ 
 byters, with power to act for him and only 
 by his permission. This theory, which every 
 page of authentic history contradicts, and 
 which the organization, as well as the acts of 
 the great councils, proves to have been utterly 
 unknown to Primitive Christianity, was, logi¬ 
 cally enough, acted upon by Calvin, whose 
 scholasticism predominated in everything. 
 His rejection of the Papacy, therefore, left him 
 only Presbyters and Deacons as a necessary 
 consequence. But that such a theory should 
 have been revived by Anglican Churchmen 
 is amazing. The true idea of Apostolic 
 Episcopacy is fatal to the pretensions of the 
 Papacy and to the entire organization of 
 modern Romanism, while that theory, which 
 some favour as liberal, was invented by the 
 Schoolmen, and adopted by the Popes, for the 
 very purpose of destroying a genuine Episco¬ 
 pacy and erecting their usurpations on its 
 ruins. This is the fundamental principle which 
 distinguishes the late Vatican Council from 
 all councils, even of the West, that have pre¬ 
 ceded it. 
 
 Note VI. 
 
 Some respectable persons have imag¬ 
 ined that by going into Romish countries, on 
 such missions as ours in Mexico, we weaken 
 our own protest against Papal intrusions, and 
 lay ourselves open to a charge of inconsisten¬ 
 cy. But a little reflection will convince any¬ 
 body that such is not the case. 
 
 For what is it we do when we appeal to 
 God and man against Papal aggressions? 
 
 1. We protest against the intrusion of a 
 foreign Bishop into our Dioceses, with an 
 asserted right thus to intrude upon any Dio¬ 
 cese, in any part of the world, however ortho¬ 
 dox, and to compel submission on pain of 
 eternal damnation. 
 
 3. We protest against the assertion of a 
 foreign supremacy which dictates as well in 
 matters of faith as of discipline, and orders 
 all Christians to submit on pain of excommu¬ 
 nication. 
 
 3. We protest against the creation of 
 
 schisms within our Dioceses on the ground of 
 such claims to supremacy and infallibility, 
 and for the purpose of imposing the novel 
 creed of Pius IV. with the supplemental dog¬ 
 mas of Pius IX., which are “ another gospel.” 
 
 4. We protest against any intrusion into 
 Dioceses where the Nicene Creed is professed, 
 where the Holy Scriptures are read and 
 preached, and the Sacraments duly adminis¬ 
 tered, as in the times of the Apostles and 
 their primitive successors. 
 
 5. And we protest against the whole sys¬ 
 tem of the Papacy as a fraud and a heresy, 
 and as the source of innumerable schisms, 
 which have disorganized Christendom, and 
 given apparent victory to the enemies of 
 truth. 
 
 Now, it is just because we protest against 
 invasions of this kind that we are logically 
 bound to succour other Churches which are not 
 only corrupted morally, but absolutely denied 
 the privilege of professing orthodoxy, under 
 the fatal consequences of such invasions. 
 When we go to foreign Churches, not to suc¬ 
 cour, but to assert dominion and to subjugate, 
 then we shall be open to charges of inconsis¬ 
 tency; but, not till then. 
 
 Besides, our protest against Romish ag¬ 
 gressions are made for moral ends, only. We 
 know that Rome will not listen to them; but, 
 we bear our testimony against her remorseless 
 outrages, and leave our appeal with the con¬ 
 sciences of enlightened men, and with a just 
 God, till in God’s time the awakening and 
 the restoration shall come. 
 
 Note VII. 
 
 The Romanists hold the Nicene symbol, 
 and hence retain essential vitality under the 
 creed of Pius IV., which is the creed of ” the 
 Roman Catholic Church,” so called. But, 
 practically, the latter is their test of ortho¬ 
 doxy; so that the use of the great symbol as 
 the tessera of Catholicity is forfeited by them, 
 and they are schismatics by this test alone; 
 while, by the adoption of a new creed, which 
 thus defeats one grand object of the ancient 
 Synods, they incur the censure of the Council 
 of Ephesus in its Seventh Canon, and so, in a 
 matter of faith, deprive themselves of the 
 Catholic character. 
 
 Note VIII. 
 
 Let it never be forgotten that it is the dog¬ 
 matic teaching of the Council of Trent that the 
 three holy Orders are “ sub-Deacons, Deacons, 
 and Presbyters. ” See Chap, vii., Quijest. 13, 
 
15 
 
 Catechism of the Council of Trent. In the 
 same chapter (Quaest. 22) it is affirmed, “The 
 third and highest degree of all the Holy Orders 
 is the Priesthood. Persons endued with it 
 are distinguished by two names, that of Pres¬ 
 byters and Priests." 
 
 To content the Gallicans and others who 
 fought against the attempt to make a 
 dogma virtually abolishing the Episcopate, it 
 was defined that this Priesthood has “divers 
 degrees, such as Bishops, Metropolitans, Patri¬ 
 archs, and, beyond all these, the sovereign 
 Pontiff of Rome.” See same chapter, Qusest. 
 25. Thus, like the dignity of Metropolitans, 
 the Episcopate is only a degree in a divine 
 Papal hierarchy, and has no essential exist¬ 
 ence by itself as a “ Holy Order,” much less 
 as the root of the entire Christian Ministry. 
 
 Not only do the Romish Bishops accept this 
 degradation dogmatically: it is forced upon 
 them, practically, in every function. And not 
 as a mere ceremony, but most significantly, 
 were the first days of the late Vatican Council 
 taken up by the tedious work of making 
 every Bishop recite the creed of Pius IV. as 
 preliminary to sitting in council under Pius 
 IX. He thus abdicated the positiou of a Bish¬ 
 op as understood in the ancient Councils, and 
 consented to sit as a mere Presbyter, in the 
 degree of a Bishop, or, in the language of 
 the Trent Catechism, under “the father and 
 governor of all the faithful, of Bishops and of 
 all other prelates, be their office and power 
 what it may.” After this they could not 
 complain that they were reduced, as Arch¬ 
 bishop Darboy said, to a “ Council of Sex¬ 
 tons,” and sent home under the yoke of a new 
 dogma, which their consciences disowned, 
 but which their master told them it was 
 none of their business to discuss. See “The 
 Church of God and the Bishops” (London: 
 Rivingtons, 1870), to which I refer, rather 
 than to other works, because the author, Senor 
 von Liaiio, is a Spaniard, and has written in 
 the spirit of the Spanish doctors of the six¬ 
 teenth century. 
 
 Note IX. 
 
 Guizot, in his “History of Civilization,” 
 and in some of his other writings, commits 
 himself to baseless theories, and proceeds 
 upon assumptions the most erroneous, simply 
 because he has taken no pains to understand 
 the primitive Constitution of the Church 
 Catholic, the true history of the Papal schism, 
 and the revolution operated in the Western 
 
 Churches of Europe by the Council of Trent. 
 Ranke recognizes this revolution. Michelet, 
 in his “ Ultramontanism,” states it more em¬ 
 phatically; but all these writers fail to observe 
 the position, as respects the original Constitu¬ 
 tion of the Church, to which such a revolu¬ 
 tion necessarily reduced its subjects and 
 adherents. 
 
 Note X. 
 
 Of this we have the overwhelming evi¬ 
 dence very admirably collected and arranged 
 by the Abbe Guett^e, in his “Papaute Schis- 
 matique,” of which a translation has appeared 
 in America—New York, 1867. “ Rome,” he 
 
 says (p. 325), “insists upon a recognition 
 of her sovereignty, and the Eastern Church, 
 always appealing to the docMne of the first 
 eight centuries, . . . knows that such a con¬ 
 cession would be criminal in itself, and must 
 result in subjection to an autocracy con¬ 
 demned by the Gospel and by Catholic doc¬ 
 trine.” 
 
 Note XI. 
 
 It is worth repeating here that the Greek 
 Churches entirely coincide with our Anglican 
 doctrine as expressed in the Ordinal. See 
 “ Theologie Dogmatique Orthodoxe,” by 
 Macarius, Bishop of Vannitza, Vol. II., p. 
 254. Paris: 1860. 
 
 Note XU. 
 
 Weighty, indeed, are the words of Dr. 
 Bollinger in his famous letter to the Arch¬ 
 bishop of Mrmich: “The Episcopate of the 
 ancient Church is dissolved; . . . the primary 
 authority in the Church is reduced to a mere 
 shadow. Every one can understand the 
 impossibility of having two Bishops in the 
 same Diocese, the one a Pope and the other a 
 simple Bishop—in effect less than that, for a 
 mere Viear or diocesan commissary is neither 
 Bishop nor a successor of the Apostles ” 
 (Wallon, “La Verite sur le Concile,” p. 126. 
 Paris: 1872). 
 
 Note XIII. 
 
 Senor von Liano says (p. 72): “The Bish¬ 
 ops are his Vicars, representatives, or dele¬ 
 gates, whom this monarch has set over the 
 provinces of his empire. . . . And the Bish¬ 
 ops who reeeive his commands, receive them 
 unconditionally, or, if not, they are regulated 
 in every possible manner—nay, the ideal 
 striven after is, that they shall be deposed 
 without further ceremony, or de facto super¬ 
 seded by a so-called coadjutor, who would 
 only leave to them the name of the exalted 
 
16 
 
 stewardship to which they have been called 
 by the Holy Ghost. ” 
 
 Note XIV. 
 
 “ I acknowledge the Holy Catholic Apostolic 
 Roman Church for the mother and mistress of 
 all Churches. ” Compare this clause, from the 
 Creed of Pius lY., with the language of the 
 Apostles’ Creed, or the Nicene, and note how 
 marked the contrast. This Creed, only three 
 hundred years old, was put forth by the sole 
 authority of that Pope to sustain the decisions 
 of the Council of Trent; but the Bishops who 
 came to the Vatican Council were forced to 
 recite it as a condition precedent to a share in 
 its sessions. 
 
 Note XV. 
 
 The African Churches renounced the com¬ 
 munion of Rome for a hundred years, because, 
 contrary to the Canons and Constitutions of the 
 Church, that See encouraged appeals to her 
 against local discipline. St. Augustine died 
 in the African Church during this separation, 
 and so did many other saints and martyrs. St. 
 Cyprian had gone through a like experience 
 before him. All which is admirably shown 
 by Laud in his " Controversy with Fisher,” 
 p. 193. Oxford: 1849. 
 
 Note XVI. 
 
 “Antiquam fidem novelise perfldia? prsefer- 
 endo.” See the “ Commonitory ” of Vincent, 
 chapter IV., section vi., p. 10. Baltimore: 
 1847. 
 
 Note XVII. 
 
 See St. Basil’s Letters, notably LXX., Op. 
 iii. Paris: 1G38. “The one crime,” he says, 
 “that is violently punished is for any one 
 firmly to adhere to what we have received 
 from the fathers”—the apostolic and prim¬ 
 itive faith, that is. And in such case, he 
 holds, all true Christians are bound to make 
 common cause with those who are persecuted 
 for the truth’s sake. 
 
 Concerning the neglect and supercilious 
 conduct of the Westerns, see Basil’s Letter 
 to Gregory, Opera iii., p. 54. 
 
 Note XVIII. 
 
 The history of Gregory’s position in these 
 affairs is somewhat diversely related by the 
 
 ancient Church historians, but is well digested 
 by Cave in his biographies of St. Basil and 
 his friend Gregory. The answer usually made 
 to such facts as are referred to in the sermon 
 is that the Arians and others concerned were 
 formal heretics, who had violated the synod¬ 
 ical decisions of the whole Church. But has 
 not the Bishop of Rome trodden under foot 
 the Third Canon of Constantinople, which de¬ 
 fines and limits his place and powers ? Has 
 not the Roman schism formally incurred the 
 taint of heresy by imposing a novel creed as 
 the test of communion, contrary to the Ephe- 
 sine Canon? Also, by framing the late mon¬ 
 strous dogmas as tests of communion—the 
 one corrupting the fundamental doctrine of 
 the Incarnation, and the other abrogating the 
 rule of faith? Must we wait for new Councils 
 to settle again what has been settled for ages? 
 Meanwhile, must we let the wolves rend and 
 devour the sheep? And all with respect to 
 the mere letter of disciplinary Canons, which 
 Gregory pronounced “long since dead,” even 
 in his day? 
 
 Note XIX. 
 
 The fragment of Hilary from which this is 
 quoted is regarded as genuine by Guettee, 
 and by not a few in the Papal Communion. 
 It is undoubtedly a fragment of Antiquity, 
 even if not Hilary’s. 
 
 Note XX. 
 
 Everything indicates that the providence of 
 God has enlarged the Anglican Communion 
 for a great work in the world. No longer 
 insular, more spread abroad than the ancient 
 Church ever imagined could be the case even 
 with the whole Church of Christ, and stand¬ 
 ing at this time on the old Catholic ground, 
 and free from the trammels with which Latins 
 and Greeks still encumber Catholicity, it is 
 her mission to go forward in love and without 
 ambition, to do for Christ what others cannot 
 do. Her Episcopate is the most indisputable 
 apostolic succession under the sun, because, 
 while its history has been the most sifted, 
 nothing has successfully impeached it. She 
 has nothing now to do but to use her liberty 
 in all charity, leaving results to God.