^ 3/0 \]&\l “Sir, we would sec Jes«s»" — St» John XII. 2J Church Unity A Sermon by the Reverend Walter S. Trowbridge Rector of The Church of The Holy Faith at Santa Fe, New Mexico preached during the Nineteen Eighteen Convocation of the Missionary District of New Mexico, and Texas, West of the Pecos and printed and circulated by The Bishop and Convocation : ^THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE^^ New Mexico Convocation — April 30, 1918 Church Unity St. John XII. 21. “Sir, we would see Jesus.” The world is sick at heart from viewing the spectacle of horrors “over there.” If it be true, as 7'umor tells us, that allied soldiers, in the trenches and in “no man^s land,” have seen Him Whom they tenderly speak of as “The White Christ,” as I apprehend it, there are, mainly, two conditions under which that Vision was vouchsafed: 1. They have strongly DE- SIRED TO see HIM, and ; 2. They were Avilling to sub- scribe to the laAV of spiritual optics under which, alone, they might behold Him. But these Greeks whom St. John is talking about? Well, they had the desire, and, measurably, it Avas gratified. They saAv Him AA'hose reputation Avas that of a miraele-Avorker — a man, apparently, like other men though AA’ith greater poAver. These Avere of that Athenian race Avho “spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some neAv thing.” But had they the poAver of Spiritual Vision to perceiA-e, as Avell, Avithout Avhich Avould not be reA^ealed to them (not simply the Jesus of earthy rumour, but) the real Jesus of heaA'enly reality? That this latter AAms not to be their prhdlege is disclosed by a careful study of St. John’s narrative of events. Let us turn to the Gos- pel story, and get the lesson if Ave may, and Avill, Avhich the language but half discloses, at all events to the astigmatized eye of human pride. It must be the Greeks failed to perceh’e AAdiat man- ner of man He Avas ; for, Avhat else can ha\"e prompted those mysterious sayings so immediately upon the mak- ing knoAvn of their desire? Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. Jesus ansAvered them, saying, “The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified.” Here is the process: “Except a corn of Avheat fall into the CHURCH UNITY oTound and die it alddetli alone : but if it die, it briiig- eth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it ; and he that hateth his life in this Avorld shall keep it unto life eternal.” Unearthly language, to be sure, amid which the human side of Him is seen, shall Ave say, by the Greeks — for, He goes on: ‘‘Noav is my soul troubled; and Aidiat shall I say? Father, saA'e me from this hour : but for this cause came I unto this hour. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, AA'iH draAA' all men unto me. This he said, signifying A\diat death he should die.” Abruptly here St. John breaks the narratiA^e, by saying, “Though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they belieA’ed not on him.” The SaA’iour AA’as liA'ing in the shadoAv of a death AA'hich He kneAA' to be only tAAm days distant — but He can yet declare His trust and loyalty. So He says: “T KNOAV THAT HIS COAIMAXDMEXT IS LIFE EVERLASTIXG.” These Greeks could not yet knoAv AAdrat that trust Avas. Xo doubt St. John counted them among the un- belieA^ers. They AA'ere the Rationalists of their day — seeing only AAdiat they AAmnted to belieA^e, and belicA’ing only AA'hat they Avanted to see. Reason may help iis, unless AA'e are out of the path of life. SomehoAA^ in spite of reason, not ahvays because of it, life goes on liAung, reaping its rcAvards, paying its penalties, AA'hat- eA’er AA'e may THIXK. And men go on belieA'ing that it AA'ill eA^er continue thus. Therefore, though they suaa’ Jesus, the Greeks did not find Him. Nor, did Ile'find them. Xor could He yet, for. He had not yet found Himself. He AA'ould not do so until after Good Friday and Easter. THEX He had discoA'ered. to us, as aatII as for Himself, AA'hat' human Kingship is, and, that the death of Self-surrender to God is the AUay to the King’s Throne, the croAA'iiing achieA'ement for eA’ery man. And more, Jesus had found His felloAv-men, because He had folloAA'ed the AA'ay of Loa'c, AA'hich is the only High-road to the human heart. He had draAA'ii men unto Himself “AA'ith the cords of a man, AAuth the bands of loA'e.’’ Christ upon the Cross of Obedience is saying to us men to-day: “FoIIoaa' me.” Shall ours be the final CHURCH UNITY Apostasy which replies — “Away with liim ; we have no kino’ but Caesar”? This challenge for obedience is arbitrary you say? The unbeliever says: “I cannot but grant asylum to the agent — my Avill — by Avhich I gain my livelihood, Avhether material or spiritual.” Hearken — Nature bears her fruit only by obedience to the Luav of fruit- fulness, Avhich is just as much a perennial dying as a perennial fruit-bearing. Except a corn of Avheat die it abideth alone. So, Human Nature. Generation means the passing of one ; and, the coming of another. So, even more than they all, the Divine Nature. The Life of God’s Loa’o, in its manifestation as the supreme object of our joy, is cradled by Christ’s death. It is the LAAV OF LIFE. Fundamentally the ques- tion Avhether IT, or some other princi])le, shall be es- tablished as the LaAv of Life is preei.sely THE ISSUL AA'hieh is being decided by War noAv. \"et, in the face of this LAW OF LIFE, Nietzsche, in his book, “The AVill to Power” teaches that — “God on the Cross is a curse upon life; a sign-post directing iieople to deliver themselves from it.” Noav, as a student of history, I do not claim the omniscience Avhich has cognizance of every occurrence that has eA'er happened. But, so far as I do knoAv history, there Avas one occasion Avhen the Cross Avas a curse upon life, a sign-post directing peo- ple to deliATi* themselATS from it. It Avas during lire German- World War, Oh! centuries ago. “During the German retreat from the Somme the allied officers noticed a peculiar accuracy in the enemy’s firing. So many casualties occurred from this accurate shelling that the officers set themseU'es to discover the cause. They found that the circle of shells had for its centre the cross-roads (Avhere allied troops Avould be passing and repassing) and that at the cross-roads Avas a Cruci- fix that stood up clearly as a landmark. Evidently the cross Avas being used to guide the gunners, and Avas causing the death of our men. The cross stood close to the road and Avhen the Germans retired they had sprung a mine at the cross-roads to delay our adA'ance. Everything near had been bloAAUi to bits by the explos- ion except the crucifix, but that had not a mark upon 4 CHURCH UNITY it. And yet it could not have escaped. They set them- selves to examine the seeming miracle and came across one of the most astounding cases of fiendish cunning. They found that the Germans had made a concrete socket for the crucifix so that they could take it out or put it in at pleasure. Befoi’e blowing up the cross- roads they had taken the cross out of the socket and re- moved it to a safe distance ; then when the mine had been exploded, they put the cross back so that it might be a landmark to direct their shooting. And now they were making use of Christ’s instrument of redemption as an instrument for men’s destruction. Nor was this the only time during their retreat when the Germans put the cross to this base use and were foiled in their knavery.” (Atlantic, April, 1918.) Herman Bahr, one of its most accurate historians, tells us that the German mobilization for World war was a millennium ago. That mobilization he tells us “Was no miracle,... It was the net profit of the whole of German history. It Avas nothing other than the natural result of a thous- and years of Avork and preparation.” The Cross a curse? XeA'er. Let us look at it through Robert Ser- vice’s eyes. ‘‘My Foe” — Rhymes of a Red Cross Man. ‘‘A Belgian Priest-Soldier Speaks; — “Gurr! You cochon! Stand and fight! Show your mettle! Snarl and bite! Spawn of an accursed race, Turn and meet me face to face! Here amid the Wreck and rout Let us grip and have it out! Here where ruins rock and reel Let us settle, steel to steel! Look! Our houses, how they spit Sparks from brands your friends have lit. See! Our gutters running red. Bright with blood your friends have shed. Hark! Amid your drunken brawl How our maidens shriek and call. Why have you come here alone. To this hearth’s blood-spattered stone? Come to ravish, come to loot. CHURCH UNITY 5 Come to play the ghculish brute. Ah, indeed! We well are met, Bayonet to bayonet. God! 1 never killed a man: Now I’ll do the best I can. Rip you to the e^■il heart. Laugh to see the life-blood start. Bah! You swine; I hate you so. Show you mercy? No! and no! There! I’ve done it. See! He lies Death a-staring from his eyes; Glazing eyeballs, panting breath. How it’s horrible, is ddath! Plucking at his bloody lips With his trembling finger tips; Choking in a dreadful way As if he would something say In that uncouth tongue of his Oh, how terrible Death is! How I wish that he would die! So unnerved, unmanned am I. See! His twitching face is white! See! His bubbling blood is bright. Why do I not shout with glee? What strange spell is over me? There he lies; the fight was fair; Let me toss my cap in air. Why am I so silent? Why Do I pray for him to die? Where is all my vengeful joy? Ugh! My foe is but a boy. I’d a brother of his age Perished in the war’s red rage; Perished in the Ypres hell: Oh, I loved my brother well. And though I be hard and grim, How it makes me think of him! He had just such flaxen hair As the lad that’s lying there. Just such frank blue eyes were his God! How terrible war is! I have reason to be gay: There is one less foe to slay. I have reason to be glad: Yet — my foe is such a lad. So I watch in dull amaze. See his dying eyes a-glaze. See his face grow glorified. 6 CHURCH UNITY See his hands outstretched and wide To that bit of ruined wall Where the flames have ceased to crawl, Where amid the crumbling bricks Hangs A BLACKENED CRUCIFIX. Now, oh now I understand. Quick I press it in his hand. Close his feeble finger tips. Hold it to his faltering lips. As I watch his welling blood I would stem it if I could. God of Pity, let him live! God of Love, forgive, forgive. His face looked strangely, as he died, Like that of One they crucified. And in the pocket of his coat I found a letter; thus he wrote: THE THINGS I’VE SEEN! OH, MOTHER DEAR, I’M WONDERING CAN GOD BE HERE? TO-NIGHT AMID THE DRUNKEN BRAWL I SAW A CROSS HUNG ON A WALL; I’LL SEEK IT NOW, AND THERE ALONE PERHAPS I MAY ATONE, ATONE Ah no! ’Tis I who must atone. No other saw but God alone; Yet how can I forget the sight Of that face so woeful white! Dead I kissed him as he lay. Knelt by him and tried to pray; Left him lying there at rest, Crucifix upon his breast. Not for him the pity be. Ye who pity, pity me. Crawling now the ways I trod. Blood-guilty in sight of God. If now we have looked long enough at civil division.s to see the dark shadows east l)y earthly dynasties at enmity with each other when viewed in the White Light of Christ’s Kingdom of Love, what are tve, as Christians, to say when we Itehold the more awful des- olation of the SPIRITUAL household divided against itself? Is there any such relationship between these two horrors as the relationship of Cause and Effect? I for one am convinced that there is. Is there not a ter- rible irony in the situation confronting iis to-day. CHURCH UNITY wherein the Protestant world has been vociferously keeping the three-hundredth anniversary of Martin Luther’s supposedly spiritual declaration of independ- ence, while at the same moment we are forced to wit- ness, on the part of Luther’s nation, the attempt to in- flict upon the world German “Kultur” and German “efficiency,” under whose tutelage they have suc- ceeded, as the Lutheran Pastor of Hamberge in Hols- tein, AValter Lehman, has told us, in reducing God to this concept — “God is nothing but OUR moral activ- ity?” Luther thought he was establishing Christ’s Kingdom w’hen he deposed the Pope and banished the Church across the Tiber (or, to the other side of the English channel, if you Anglicans will). Did he suc- ceed in identifying the Kingdom? His spiritual chil- dren believe that he did succeed ; for, one of his pro- geny, this same pastor of Hamberge, now assures us that “The German soul is God’s soul.” Mayhap; but, if so, this German God is not the Christian God, which other, to prove His activity to be MORAL allowed Himself to be nailed to the Cross — from Avhich, He chanted no Hynui of Hate. I submit that if this Protestant principle of individ- ualistic prerogative be accepted as the leaven which shall leaven the whole lump then the war to-day proves Luther, and the Kaisei’, and their ilk, the legitimate children of a bastard Christianity, in the hideous face of which it were hardly worth while to “Carry on,” and in which case, “the hand of every man against his brother” is no longer a sin, and, Ave must apply in a new sense the psalminst’s injunction: “Fret not thy- self because of the ungodly: neither be thou envious against the evil doer«.” But, PERISH such Kultur! Such efficiency were Hell, in its utmost degree of refinement. God is not, Avhere the Kaiser is; except He be there as the inex- orable, albeit the perverted, DYXAIVIIC of this Self-de- termined Gehenna. Only secondarily is Hell God’s cre- ation, since, as I think Ave are AA*itnessing, Hell is the BY-PRODUCT of human nature in its oaaui fertility of inA'entHeness, exercising its desire to CREATE independence. Hell primarily is the human self-Avill in 8 CHURCH UNITY its perversion from God ; and, WILL BE EVERLAST- ING if self-will shall be eternal. We avert our faces with the cry, “Unclean, un- clean,” against its leprousy; and, through repentance shall we retrace our steps back to the City of God. But, verily, when men of this earth thus start heavenward, no longer will they end their journey in Berlin. They have learned that there, by Lutheran Apostasy from God, was the Church of Jesus Clndst declared to be effete ; that there, in its halls of ‘ High- er Criticism” has the Bible been declared to be no longer God’s Word Written — “only an epi.stlo of straw;” that there has the Altar been desecrated by subordination to an earthly throne; its common food must no longer nourish fellowship, with Christ nor men; that there has the univei'sal brotherhood of men, as the legitimate earthly children of the Heavenly Father, been finally repudiated in favor of the Despot- ism of a de-humanized Kaiser; that there, is the labor- atory of “Science, falsely so-called” wherein is -leing distilled the insidious poison of that human pride, which, from Creation’s dawn of day, has been: The Fall of Man. We thank God this brand is only local — “made in Germany.” Shall we not pray God that we may main- tain the barrage that will keeii it there? “We beseech Thee, 0 God, so to direct and dispose the hearts of all CHRISTIAN Rulers, that they may truly and imparti- ally administer justice, to the punishment of v/iclsed- ness and vice, and to the maintenance of Thy true re- ligion, and virtue.” Amen. Shall we not also thank God for the supreme lesson which Germany is teaching the world? “Rigliteous- ness exalteth a nation:” which, reduced to the terms of the condition of personal glory is this — “lie that humbleth himSELF shall be exalted.” What next, then? Well, “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” Judgment, I take it, over the spiritual disunity amongst the peo- ples of the earth. Come, now. Dr. Newman Smythe, the Congregationalist, Dr. Williston Walker (I think a Baptist), and a hundred other signatories, represent- CHURCH UNITY 9 ing some nine or more Protestant Denominations, pe- titioning oar House of Bishops at its recent meeting in New York, to grant them Episcopal Ordination, saying,— “At this epochal hour the Church of God is con- fronted with a great emergency. The war summons the churches to make common cause against a de- Christianized world, yet we gratefully recognize that a spirit of mutual trust, comradeship and devotion is increasingly prevalent throughout all communions. We may ask for our communication your especial consideration because we must recognize the fact which we all alike deplore, that the inherited division between the Episcopal ministry and the ministries of other communions is one chief obstacle to the re- union of the churches of the Protestant Reformation. We do so the more hopefully because from all sides, of late, increasing efforts are made and common pray- ers offered for the removal from Christianity of the reproach of disunity. We welcome the co-operation in work which is attained by the Federal Council of Churches and through the efforts of War Commis- sions of the several churches; but we cannot hide from ourselves the fact that such co-operation, how- ever successful, does not reach down to, or remove the fundamental cause and evil of our continued sep- aration as churches. Moreover we earnestly desire to receive from you some more definite indication of what overtures and actual approaches toward unity in the ministry and the worship of the Church may be deemed in your Christian judgment now possible. We do not seek immediately any proposals involv- ing material changes in existing ecclesiastical polities, which might require considerable postponement for their consideration and adoption by different eccles- iastical bodies. However desirable such overtures for more leisurely consideration may be, the present crisis calls for definite measures of prompt co-ordin- ation. “While responsibility for leadership rests on all the churches, a special and distinctive opportunity for comprehensive leadership and action is given, we think, at this hour to the Episcopate.” But, “We are to find our way through our differences not by cir- cuitous compi’omises, or by submission one to the way of the other.” Still, We ask for such declara- tion and action as the bishops are at liberty to take on the assumption of the theory, commonly preval- ent among you, of an Apostolic authority inherent in and continued through the order of the Episcopate, 10 CHURCH UNITY and furthermore, which is offered as a basis of re- conciliation to other communions in the fourth pro- posal of the Lambeth quadrilateral: viz., “the his- torical Episcopate locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of the Church.” We are asking for some specific and ac- ceptable adaptation of your administration of the Episcopate to the present needs of the nations. Much is possible today which but yesterday would have seemed imposible. This is true of the wonderful organization now being made of the resources of our country that the war of democracy may be won. Shall the Church of God find it an ecclesiastical im- possibility similarly now to organize its forces as a unit to win for the world the victory of Christianity? This one of the greater works of faith, which our Lord promised his disciples should have power to do, calls for new leadership.” “New leadership.” Oh, why then should they come to us. "We have nothing “new” to offer them of lead- ership. What we have is the old. Do they ask the Church of C4od to deny herself? They do see some- thing, They declare, “These two prospects, either of triumph through united action or of tragic loss through divided counsels, now lie before the churches; and be- tween these two the decision must be made.” We never have questioned it. When they cite the mobiliza- tion of the nation’s resources for the war for democracy we are in perfect accord. True, we are hearing much fault found with the U. S. Government by some people ; and the Avrongs as fast as discoATred are being righted — if it Avas ever Avrong to be iniprepared for Avar — but, hoAv do AA'e correct the defects? Certainly not \A’ith another Secession, nor AA’ith oath the A'eiled threat of one. As the nation in its decision for Avar decided to fight for something bigger than its OAvn national existence (and this is the glory of its enterprise) ; for nothing less than the universal brotherhood of all na- tions; and, so deciding, so renouncing itself through sacrifice Avillingly accepted, has found its true SOUL by determi)iing to die into life, and is learning by sucn renunciation hoAv A’astly augmented its life is, Avhen. and as, it thus enters upon its individual share of CHURCH UNITY n l)rotlierhood. SO -will tlie uis-jointed, dis-membered. Church of God become the all-mothering Bride oi; Christ when she unites herself Avith His Priestly act of self-surrender. The Church to-day is a divided house- hold Avhich cannot stand but will fall Avith the crashing of present day Avorldliness unless she learns the lesson AA'hich should be her supreme prerogative to teach, both by precept and example, the lesson that the LaA\’ of the higher, fuller Unity, the Unity AA'hich is Life, the unity AA'hich is Peace, AA'ill fall short of its consummation so dcA'outly AA'ished by us all if she should stop short only AA'ith the Fedei-ation of Tolstoi’s hope and Vision, AA'hich he called the United States of the World, refusing to press onAA'ard and upAA'ard into the Kingdom of God. This is the only AA’ay to make Democracy safe for the AA'orld AV'hile AA'e are making the AA'orld safe for Democ- I'acy. It can be done only as aa'o first make the Avorld free. But freedom is self-control; and self-control is self-surrender to the last red corpuscle ; unless — the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been proA'en a hoax. Sirs : AA'e AA'ould see Jesus. If, and, AA'hen AA'e SEE Jesus, then, AA’e shall see Him in the supreme achieA’ement of human nature, AA'hich is ; first, to perceiA'e and knoAA' that GOD IS SUPREME, and, then, that a God-like supremacy is possible to His earthly children ; though only to him, aaIio, believing henceforth that God is the GOAL of manhood, realizes that the final test of the human AA’ill is in its God-Avard striAung, so agonizing AA’ith earnestness that it AA’ill neA'- er suffer itself, by sin, to fall short of self-surrender, of obedience, eA'en unto death ; and, beyond this, real- izing also that since THIS exercise of the Will, that proA'es its heroic poAver by death, IS PART OP GOD’S WILL FOR ITS FINAL DEVELOPMENT, emerges at last into the Resurrection consciousness that, God so helping it, “It is not possible that (such a Avill) should be holden of death.” Otheiwise, God Himself AA'ere not Almighty. Lie must accept the offering AA’hich Him- self commands. It is not, then, death merely', or death only, that God asks. He Avants life, that proA'es and achieA'es its deathlessness by its loyalty through death. This, felloAv Americans, felloAV Christians of AA’hat- 12 CHURCH UNITY ever name, is the challenge of that Victorious Christ Whose faith overcame the world TO A WORLD who, rejecting' this challenge to victory through union with God, proclaims itself defeated in the War for the Spir- itual unity of the Nations, which unity would mean freedom for all the nations, Germany included. Mean- while, would it be freedom for Germany were we to impose our national will upon the national will of Ger- many, in spite of President Wilson’s exalted philosophy and dream of autonomy for every nation? Some would reply, — “Yes. Por, such an imposition would be Ger- many’s emancipation.” In the field of pui’ely human ideals of justice this were true; wherein either “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” or, some of their equivalent restitutional and retributive forms, were the accepted principle of social order and our government- al practice in courts of law. But, in such case what be- c.omes of the spontaneous life of free motive and free impulse? Shall WE apostatize from God by leaving no place for repentance? I for one believe that there is for Germany, and for us all, a higher freedom and a higher justice. It is the highest of all, indeed. It is this: “He hath showed thee, 0 man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do just- ly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” IIow doth the Loi'd “require?” Certainly, since Himself endured the punishment which our sin merited, not by compnlsion of physical force — though as the President has warned us, it Avill take “force to Ihe uttermost to win this war;” and, Christ himself laid down the law that “All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” But, the greater victory will be to win Germany back from her obsession, her auto-hypnosis, to God her highest freedom after the war is over. There IS a righteous indignation: such is ours. But let us not get so mad with hate we cannot see straight. So shall we miss our mark when we shoot at the enemy from onr aeroplane of Timth. Hence, I say, what the Imrd reciuires of us takes not its ORIGIN in physical restraint, but in Spiritual movement. The man, or nation, who is not free to surrender his free- dom to God the Highest of all freedoms as the U. S. has CHURCH UNITY 13 (lone, is not free at all. He has not seen his goal ; nor consciously entered upon the final destiny of mankind. To see this fact of human experience is to see Jesus Christ in His Majesty. And who fails to perceive this truth stops short at the point where his spiritual evo- lution begins. Abstractly, Christ’s practice is our final court of appeal in the Democracy, nay rather, the human king- dom of self-controlled conduct. Christ never used the word Democracy: His language is — “The Kingdom of God. ’ ’ It Avas that which made HIM a good citizen. Is, then, Pilate’s the Avorld’s judgment also? — “I find in him no fault at all.’’ Is this the Jesus WE see, or desire to see? Hai^e we in our enterprise of Avar adopted, or do Ave intend ultimately to adopt. His manner of life as the model existence for all men? AVell, HIS manner of life is this — an appeal to One oth- er, One higher : ‘ ‘ He that hath SEEN me hath seen the FATHER.” Why an appeal to the Father here? Be- cause the very core of the consciousness of the true son of his true Father is the motiAm, the heart, of Boat. Love, both human and Dhdne, is the poAver of blessing by OVERFLOW. Ah, you say — “Precisely: hoAV, then, can a true Father inflict pain upon his loyal child? In reply, let me submit that tAvo other questions are more funda- mental, tAvo facts are more primary, than this. First, if loA^e be not free to prove itself by the pain of sacrifice, then into AAdiat dark obliAdon has the glory of motherhood disappeared? “She remembereth no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the Avorld.” Christ, nor is any man, is not free except, and until, he freely surrenders his freedom. This is the final test of the supremacy of the human aauII. The suffering counts only as the measure of the fruitful- ness of self-control. It required Christ’s surrender in Love to establish His Perfect Manhood. And this, I repeat, is His challenge to humankind : to perfect them- selA’es by obedience, AAdien He says: “FoIIoav me.” But Avhither? Noav, second — God Himself A\’as nail- ed to the Cross : Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, hung and suffered there. Easter, hoAvbeit, proA'es this pain AA'ere 14 CHURCH UNITY not a blight but a Iransfiguration of glor\’. God, then, loves the Cross, lie bore it lovingly because it both establishes the fact that LOVE IS supreme, and points the Avay to freedom both Human and Divine — to that liberty which is the Father’s own, and to the liberty which is the Son’s own: they twain being several only in Union. Our Faith is built upon the doctrine of the Three in One. The very fact that self-surrender simply to the idea of God is the most agonizing challenge that can ever be addressed to the human Avill is to me one of the surest proofs of the Being, the existence, of God. Christ’s surrender to this IDEA is the demonstration. It shows, too, that this, the hardest thing to do, is the best. For, in that one moment of his human dereliction God seemed to Christ to be no more ; and all He had left, apparently, Avas the idea of God as the beacon light of a Avill that yet Avould perfect itself by fighting its Avay, faitliAvise, tlu’ough the sin-cloud that shrouded His Cross AAuth its blackness TO the God of His Faith and Obedience. Hence, Avhat is this judgment Avhieh noAv, “must be- gin at the house of God?’’ It is the recovery, by many, alas by some in our oaaui fold, (“They are not all Israel, AA’hich are of Israel’’), of this idea of God, and not the indiA'idual creature, as supreme. Too many Christians have burnt out their energy in the sphere of Spiiitual Dynamic under the obsession that the noblest enter- piise of life AA'as to establish their personal identity and prerogative at the cost of eA'erything else : catii God, by some, must noAV be dismissed, or, subjugated. i\Iay it not be too late that men are noAv learning to say Avith Christ — “I must be about my FATHER’S business!” And, unless obedience is to be left in the abstract, and get us noAvhere foiuvard because so it Avere the dreary experience of theory Avithout practice, it must be FOCUSSED — Dr. Sinythe and his company say something of the same sort in this form : ‘ ‘ The aAvakened spirit does nothing, and if not made incarn- ate it may vanish from us,”^ — Verily, and, so I .say, the AAull retpiiring its object, and for its highest exercise, its highest object. Obedience must be focussed by defi- nite acts of the AA'ill upon such things as, God haA'ing CHURCH UNITY 15 instituted them for the purpose, and we in Faith hav- ing received them, establish the mutual bonds of an eternal Covenant. Such foci are the Sacraments, in- cluding above all the Sacrament of Order upon which, ordinarily, all other Sacraments hang. The Sacrament of Order is : the Sacrament of Obedience. Here is the Blood-written Chai’ter of our Ecclesiastical steward- ship. The Church, the Kingdom of God, is bound by the very constitution of her nature to be nothing if not the most concrete Life we can ever know, because God IS God, the Lord and GIVER of Life, and not simply an abstract idea, merely the object of the speculative intellect. Such is the Church’s theory of the Ecclesias- tical ORGANISM ; but she did not write it doAvn. Ever WAS this the consciousness of the Body of Christ mys- tical. She has proven the theory by liAung the Life. God helping her she could do no other. To compromise or Avater doAvn the theory Avhich she has demonstrated, and knoAvs it, Avere to jeopardize her A^ery existence by entering the category of those Avhose opposing theory they aeknoAvledge to be deficient in their present day confession of failure, and AAdiose restricted poAver they Avould have us augment by Episcopal Ordination, though, (sadly Ave read it), they “cii’cuitously” make request over'the shoulders of our Avounded soldiers. We cannot shift the superstructure of the Church from her Corner-stone, that Rock Avhich Christ is, to the founda- tions of Avood, hay, stubble, AAdiich is the alternatiA-e presented to us Avhen these petitioners ask us for the Episcopate saying, “We may accept (Episcopal) con- secration to the Avork of the Christian Ministry Avithout AGREEING entirely as to the INTENTION of the Or- dinance.’’ Are disloyalty and treachery lurking here? “The hands are the hands of Esau, but the voice is Jacob’s voice.” Ah? “Jacob haA^e I loA^ed ; Esau haA^e I hated,” you retort.. Well, yes: because Jacob A'al- ued the inheritance enough to cheat in gaining it ; Esau didn’t CARE. No. We will not sell our birth-right for the mess of Federated pottage. UNITY is ONENESS WITH JESUS CHRIST, through OBEDIENCE; not federa- tion amongst ourselves AAUth Christ accepted or reject- 16 CHURCH UNITY ed according as the individual seeking Ordination pleases. What power is born of, what sincerity lies within, receiving an ordinance Avhose “Intention” is rejected? Is not “a double-minded man unstable in all his ways?” No man enters, or abides in, Christ’s Priesthood ivho insists upon his right to membership Avith the Traditores. Thus Avould God’s Word return to Him A’oid. AVE are a Church under oliedience. AA^e refuse to re- turn to Him void God’s AA'ord, AAdiieh is; “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye haAm eternal life: and they ai’e they A\diieh testify of me.” And AA^ien we ha\m found Him AA'hat liaA'e Ave found? — “A Priest for- ever after the order of Melchisedec.” This is Christ’s highest prerogatHe, as it is also the CONDITION un- der Avhich He bestoAvs His blessing upon the Christian Alinistry. Apparently these petitioners do not yet per- ceWe that Priesthood IS LIFE — Life through death; Christ says, by Avord and example. But in their almost Jesuitical mental reserA'ation for the sake of a mistaken loyalty to their pre-conceived judgment as to AA’hat constitutes Christion discipleship, (auz., their REAS- ONED decision rather than a Christ-Avise _ Act of Faith) ; in their request for Episcopal Ordination to the Priesthood Avithout rendering that obedience Avhich is the essence of Priesthood, Avhat, precisely, are they asking us to do? They are asking us to take doAA’n from the Cross the Christ before He has completed His act of Avorld-redemption : Obedience unto death. But no, AA"e must NOT. Rather, this— “Let be, let us see Avhether Elias Avill come to save him.” Elias comes not. Nor does He Himself, because He IS God’s Son, “come doAA'n from the Cross.” It Avas God’s Avill : and, die He Avould. Noav, a man Avho has died, cannot un- die. These men come asking us to prove our Priest- hood by dying to the concept. They forget that so long as AA'e continue oliedient Ave have done and are doing our dying. This is the only poAver by AA'jiich we gain and perpetuate our Priesthood, after Chi’ist’s Or- der, forever. “I die daily;” St. Paul said: for so, “I magnify my office”; Avhieh, being interpreted is: so I make mine office Avorth another’s haA’ing. CHURCH UNITY 17 Unless these curious Grecian believers see this as their goal they are chasing a rainbow which has no1: in it God’s covenanted promise. Thus, God gave us “His flesh to eat.” But, “Will ye also go a\\ay?” “Ye know not what ye ask.” “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I drink of and to be baptized -with the baptism that I am baptized with?” What, in essence, 'vas this baptism? It was the Sacrament of will-Unity with God. And, more, blessed be God. It was the sacrament of Christ’s unity with his fellow-men. It was, and ever shall be, in the fellowship of the nations, the Sac- rament of the Elder Brother. But you cannot “join” this Union. You must be born into i*- I/y the death of submission. Do we, then, in this request for our Or- ders, find the submission which has exalted tho^e same Orders to the point of PriestAvse-efficiency A\hich makes it the envy, would I might say tlie desire, of these Grecian Christians Aidio say tliey “AA'ould see Jesus?’’ Tliey frankly decline submission. But Christ can no more do His Avork through us Avithout our sub- missio 1 than God did His work through Christ AvitJiout His submission. “Lo, I come to do THY Will, O God.” Just here I must obtrude a bit of person. il histoi-y. In tl:e fall of 1916 I received the high honor of being ap- pointed by the Social SerAuce Comi.'.issitni of the Epis- copal Church as one of her 22 delegates to the Quad- rennia,] Meeting of the Federal Council v-f th.i Charches of Christ in America, held in St. Louis. By 1he more than 401 delegates attending some 20 Communions comprising 30 millions of Christians AA’ere represent- ed. I AA-ent Avith high hopes of seeing Federation blos- som into the fruitfulness of Unity. Did I see this? Alas, No, only in A'erbal felicitations of felloAvship; af- ter Avhich brothers fell out by the Avay. At the first great mass meeting leading orators said, “Some of you sitting here Avould plead from this platform for Unity. What need? We already haA’e Unity. Don’t you see it here, amongst yourseh'es”? He saAV something Avhieh to others of us remained invisible as that neAv suit of clothes the King thought he Avas Avearing in The Arab- ian Nights Tales. Unity ? ! AVhen not one business ses- sion Avas opened AA'ith a prayer Avhich did not include a l: CHURCH UNITY l)etitioii FOR Unity. So in every one of the definite penocls set apart for prayer -was this same petition echoed and re-echoed. “What a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” Their i)rayers were for me deep moments of spirit- ual rejoicing^. They helped me more than ever to hope for Unity. I thought, “Surely, it is, if not here, at all events, coming.” Were those prayers answered? Not at that Council. Not yet. On the last afternoon de- voted to business one Commission made its report urg- ing the Council, for the achievement of a certain good end, to exercise its moral constraint through an appeal to the President of the U. S. The Presbyterian Church in the U. S. (South) gave notice that it would with- draw from the Council if the recommendation were acted upon affirmatively. They Avere “opposed to the union of Church and State ; to any dictation to the President.” They put the Council upon its good be- havior through another four years of probation. Likewise, did the Se\'enth Day Baptist brother, Avho said to the Commission on Sunday oliserA'anee, that if their recommendation included the use of “Sunday” as though it Avere the Lord’s “Sabbath” “it Avould be an insult to his Church” and “they Avould haA-e to AAuth- draAv from the Council of Federated Churches.” I repeat — “The hands Avere the hands of Esau, but the voice Avas Jacob’s Amice.” By the Avhich I mean that one heard, oft-repeated, the Bible language about the Kingdom of Priests. They seemed, indeed, to reckon themselves such; but it appeared, to one intensely in- terested obsei-A-er, yearning for the establishment of that Kingdom eAmryAAdiere, as though they Avere using Scripture language AAUlhout apprehending the “Truth — as it is in Jesus.” Priesthood means that life Avhich Christ lived out by surrender. But if the Council of Federated Churches did not apprehend, no more do our latest claimants for Unity by seeking our Episco- pate. They demand Unity Avith us in the Church of God on their oAvn terms, and under the impulse of their oaaua interpretation. While the Scripture says; “No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpreta- CHURCH UNITY 19 tion. ” Did God grant Unity with himself to Mary’s Son on the terms of His hnman, earthly, prayer — “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me?” Or, in the aspect of his human nature and Avill, Avas His union Avith God effected upon the terms Avhich GOD laid doAvn by constituting the human Avill to be Avhat it is — a thing Avhich cannot be PERFECTED AAuthout sur- render to HIM? Hence — ineAutably — ” Not my Avill but thine, be done.” Dr. Smythe, and his confreres, and WE ALL, (I am trying to “speak the truth in loA"e“), might learn a lesson in true Priesthood, if aa’o cannot face the CROSS, from the soldiers in the trenches. A French Artillery obseiwer AA’as stationed in a trench from AAdiere the Germans had been driA'en out Messages came duly, for a AAdiile. Then he said, ovei his telephone, “The Geiunans are here again. Fire, on me.” They did; droA-e the Germans out again, and searching for their comrade, found him at the bot- tom of the debris-stunned but unharmed. It aauII not al- AA\ays happen that Avay, to the priest-spirit. It did not for the Christ. When the Franco-Prussion War of 1870 ended in auc- tory for the HUNS (this is the Kaiser’s oaaui prescribed phonetic spelling of the name German to-day, and I pray my countrymen that this much of the German tongue, this AAmrd Hun, only, be forever retained in the curriculum of the Public Schools of an America FOR AMERICANS, and, “Lest AA'e forget.”) — Well, as I was saying, the Parisians gathered at the gates of their city looking Avith longing hope for the return of their defeated husbands and sons. They came back as strag- glers; and Avere joyously Avelcomed to their homes. But there Avas one soldier Avho had not met defeat. One lone, AvidoAved mother at last Avas left standing and neering doAvn the road — until she was sure. Then, from the joy of a heart that had cradled such LOYAL- TY, she cried to Heaven, “Thank God! HE didn’t come back!” God knoAvs; WE WANT our brothers of these “folds” restless and disappointed in their separation to haA'e our Gift of Episcopacy as theirs Avithin the ONE 20 CHURCH UNITY “FLOCK” OP CHRIST. But we ask that it shall be preserved in its integrity of purpose and life. UNDER obedience Ave received it. TO obedience only can Ave confide it Avith sufficient assurance that the interests of God’s Kingdom, Avhich it Avas called into being to maintain, shall be conserved and advanced. Since it is the PRINCIPLE of IndiAudualism, (both ROIMAN, and Protestant, — We all “liaA^e not obeyed the Gospel”), Avhich to a marked degree has disrupted God’s Church, that principle must be abandoned by all Avho in the Name of Jesus Christ profess to seek Unity Avith God, and. Brotherhood A\dth each other. They should remember St. Peter’s Vision of Racial Sol- idarity. 1st. St. Peter II. 6-10. “It is contained in the Scripture, Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that belieATth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore Avhich BELIEVE he is precious : but unto them Avhich be disobedient, the stone Avhich the builders disalloAved, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, eA'en to them AAdiich stumble at the Avord, being disobedient : AA’hereunto also they AA'ere ap- pointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a Royal Priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shoAv forth the praises of him Avho hath called you out of darkness into his marA'ellous light : Which in time past Avere not a people, but are noAV the people of God : AA'hich had not obtained mercy, but noAv haA'e obtained mercy.” Oh ! my felloAA^-countrjonen, We are face to face Avdth either the final Apostasy from God; or, that Pentecost Avhich shall spiritualize the poAver of eA-ery man A\dth augmented LIFE. We must settle uoav the paramount question of choice as to AA'hether the Democracy of this Avorld shall come as the Kingdom of God amongst men ; or, shall it be the Democracy of GODS, ODIN in such case receiAung first choice. “Choose ye this day AAdiom ye AAull serve ; Avhether the gods which your fathers serA-ed that Avere on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in AAdiose land ye dAvell : but as for me and my house, Ave Avill serA’e the Lord.” Why try to be that impossible thing the “Super-man?” CHURCH UNITY 21 Rudolph Eucken, professor of Philosophy at Jena Uni- A'ersity said: “Nietzsche’s attempt to cut the subject (individual) adrift from the ivorld, and make it de- pend on itself, was certainly stimulating. (It was). It opened up neiv possibilities and shed a new light on many old positions. (It certainly has: we stand hor- ror-stricken in its ghastly shining.) But this by itself cannot give to life a spiritual substance or an inspiring, unifying purpose. (It can not.) TIJE INDIVIDUAL, IN OUTBIDDING ALL OTH- ERS, THREATENS TO OVERREACH HIMSELF.’’ (Here is a ivhole sermon on patriotism.) Eucken ’s fin- al judgment is: “Despite the rich driersity of its con- tributions, subjectivism cannot rank as more than a mere passing phase ivhich HUMANITY, under the spur of its own spiritual nature, is even now outgrowing and is destined in time to outlive altogether.” I think here as in a former sentence of Eucken, Germany has herself furnished the BIOLOGICAL REASON Avhy she cannot, shall .not, win this Avar. “Truth! crushed to earth irill rise again. ’ ’ HUMANITY ! Ah ! that is the Avord ; humanity, Avhich is human be- cause it has a spiritual nature, a nature Ai^hich is spirit- ual because the nature of man has its roots in the Na- ture of God ; of God Who is LoA^e ; Who knoAA's Himself as Love because HE loves others not less than Self ; and Who could not hope to retain others’ respect except He so respect others as to retain His OAvn self-respect ; Who, so, demonstrates the MUTUALNESS of Life, for it Avould seem no more possible for God than for man to live unto Himself alone, as a UNITARIAN PRINCI- PLE. (The Unitarian’s doctrine is: SELF here; God yonder — NeA^er shall they tAvain be one flesh. God must not be permitted to become Incarnate.) But, OUR GOD IS A TRINITY IN UNITY. What then,— God could not BE God did He not live out, exhibit. Priest- hood through Sacrifice, the sacrifice not of another for His OAAUi gain, but the sacrifice of Himself for another’s gain. God on the Cross, then, is not, as Nietzsche Avould haA'e it, a curse upon life. God on the Cross is life’s CHURCH UNITY emancipation. And if freedom be the fruit of sacrifice (and how else did the Fathers establish this nation?) why is it not also the root of sacrifice, since life is ONE in all its stages? GOD, and, Man : — if God loses man. He loses His glory ; if man loses God he loses his Life. But if man loses his life for God he finds it again IN GOD as sure- ly as God found His life again when He lost it FOR !Man. He that loveth is born of God; born of His Fathei’, and knows the true Fatherland, is — A Patriot. Only, my friends, as ye are a Royal Priesthood, are ye a peculiar people, an holy nation, a chosen generation. Priesthood : Royalty ; these are the essential ele- ments of abiding National Life. The world has forever been trying to set the one over against the other. It cannot be accomplished. Every man’s wish to be a IvING is the gift of a DiAune Father to his earthly child ; one part of his heritage : the other part of Avhich is, first, to be a Priest — for, is it not a Priestly act by Avhich the Father gives life to his son, since it is: Life for Life? Hence, I submit, my brothers, to you avIio Avould be each a king, if National life is ever to be a priesthood of kings, its establishment Avill come only through a Kingdom of PRIESTS. Jesus Christ, Avhose likeness Ave Avould see in every child of man, Avas not King until and except. He Avas first Priest. “Lo, I come to do Thy WILL, (3 God.” Would you be a King? Then exer- cise that Priesthood Avhose Altar of Self-sacrifice is its imperishable, indestructible. Throne. This, only, can be the highest, because it only is the Avidest Patriotism. To achieve this, under the matchless leadership of One Who knoAvs the Avay, for He has shoAvn it to us, will be to “SEE” The KING IN HIS BEAUTY, and to usher in the day AA'hen all the kingdoms of this Avorld are become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign foreA’er and eA’er — ” “The Prince of Peace.” May I, in conclusion, miniaturize CHURCH UNITY 23 the vision of Jesus, Avhich I have been trying to unfold, by presenting you with my own concept of: — * “THE NEW CKEATURE IN CHRIST.” Father! in Heaven, and in me, THY CHILD; THOU madst ME Thy HEAVEN in this earth’s wild! LIFE! of my life, “with Christ hid in GOD”, When Gethsemane’s death was BIRTH by the ROD; RAISE me, from self, to find SELF in THEE, That, in Self DEAD, RISING, I may KNOW SELF in me. AMEN.