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Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filrrds en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en termitiant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symbo'es suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — »► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tab!;?aux, etc., peuvent dtre film^s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, IE est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivarics illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^ A "THE FREEDOM OF THE CHURCH." A SERMON, PREACHED IN TITE l^nxtli 0f §t Ic^n t^t ^bHngelist, MONTREAL. BY THE REV. WILLI; I WRIGHT, M.D., ON THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT, 1877. '^, ]' {t-UBLlSHED BY i?r • :r > .MONTREAL : PxilNTKl) BY LOVELL PHm TING AND FUBiulSHING CO. 1877. ? 5 a W'?3 ^«v ■ mm \ " TIE FKEEBOM OF THE CHURCH." A SERMON, PR2ACHED IN THE \imt\ 0f St lol^n i\t fbangelist, MONTREAL. m TEE EEV. WILLIAM WEIGHT, M.D., ON TBI FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT, 1877 {PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.) MONTREAL: PRINTED BY LOVELL PRINTING AND PUB' SHING CO. 1877. 71 ^^m I V V TO IN WHOM WE WERE NEW-BORN TO GOD, IN WHOM WE HAVE BEEN FED ALL OUR LIFE LOXO UNTIL THIS DAY, IN WHOSE BOSOM WE HOPE TO DIE, BELOVED AND AFFLICTED, AND BY AFFLICTION PURIFIED, ONCE THE PARENT OF SAINTS, NOW THROUGH OUR SINS FALLEN, YET ARISING, ,IK REVERENT AND GRATEFUL AFFECTION, FROM HER HUMBLEST AND MOST UNWORTHY SON^ WITH THE EARNEST PRAYER THAT HIS INFIRMITIES AND SHORT-SIGHTEDNESS MAR NOT ANY WAY GOD'S GRACIOUS WORK TOWARDS HER, NOR WHAT IS PURPOSED FOR THE HOLINESS OF HER CHILDREN BEING AUGHT OF ILL TO HER. 31? '! '■u SERMON. Gal. iv. 26 : "Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of U8 all." These words refer to the Church, — to the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. They are her royal charter, proclaiming her freedom, and our Divine authori- ty for maintaining that freedom in the face of all opposition. The Church is free from the law, free from man, free from bondage, and free from tyranny ; that is, by the will of God. She is free by her existence, her power, and her ministrations ; that is, as the appointment of God. She is free because she is God's, and His alone. The Church is free, free to all, whether Jew or Gentile, — to all of every nation. Every one is free to share in her priceless blessings, and to all they are free *' without money and without price." But not only is she thus free, she is also free " in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." To assure us of her freedom she is called ''Jerusalem which is above." So if you would see what the Churcli is designed to be by God's will, you must look up to Heaven, to the glorious abode of "the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity," whose hand l ne can stay, — and see her picture there. Heaven is free from sin, and wrong, and cruelty. And as they are unknown there, they should likewise be unknown in the Church. To enforce the truth of the Church's freedom upon us more deeply, we are shown, in the Epistle which has jnst hvvu read, vvliat slio is not like. Slic is not like MoMiir Siiiiii, l»l«'jik !iii(l desolate, dark and fbrbiddinir, with niiriifed peaks antl barren sides, — for all these speak of opjtression. Nor is she like Ai^ar, — for whom that mount stands, — since Ai:ai is the memorial of such as are in man's bondage, and have to bear, as she bore, persecution, and banishment, and punisinnent. Nor is the Cliurch even like "Jerusalem which now is," — for in spite of all that city's glitter of gold and marble, in spite of her busy streets and gorgeous temple, she is cap- tive, she is crushed by the Roman yoke and trodden under fool; by the Gentiles. No, the Church is like none of these, nor rinything else that is not free. If you would know what she is by God's will, you must lift your eyes beyond earthly things, and look up to "Jerusalem above," and learn from that siiiht. As Heaven is free, so s tiie Church to be free. It cannot be otherwise, for Heaven and the Church are uue. They are parts of the one, same, holy, free state. Jerusalem which is above is not merely an emblem of the Church, bat is the Church. Rejoice, then, oh rejoice, " Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." Alas ! that there should be .aiy bUterness in this cup of joy. But men have ever tried to thwart God's will and to mar His work. And I am ashamed and grieved to say that in this our day, — our day of free-thinking and ungodliness — the freedom of our Church is called in question. And because of thisj all England is agitated, and the Church herself convulsed, and so violently that there is risk of her being rent in twain by the struggle. Out of her own bosom have sprung up those who are trouI)ling her and piercing her through Cind through with many sorrows. This, indeed, may be hard to understand. However, the history of Joseph, read at this time in the first lessons, will help to simplify its comprehension. As Jacob's family was distracted by the conduct of his elder sons towards the younger brother, so is it now in the fainily of the Church. Her elder children who call themselves Evangelicals have set themselves up a<^ainst their younger brethren whom they nick-name Ritualist, Dreamer, As .Jacob's elder sons tre:«ted Joseph, so ihese elder sons of the Church have risen up against the younger. They have hated them, hounded them down, persecuted them, an-' tried to harry them out, of the land. They have de .red tham over to strangers to enslave them ; — and Uiej have had t)ie satisfiaction of seeing one whom they went about to kill cast into a foul jail, as a common felon, among thieves and harlots. And for all this they have received largt sums of h;(. ney in contribution or exchange. Oh! wondrou« - .-ullel in the history of Joseph and of the Church! I am sure tiiis is a subject which will strike a chord in the breast of every one who hears me. '»Vlio has not an interest in his mother ? who feels not for her ? who is not affected by what affects her ? And is not the Church our mother I Is not " Jerusalem which is above the mother of us all ? " Remember that it was through her you received the *' new birth unto righteousness." It was she who taught your infant lips to pray, gave you " the faith which was once delivered unto the saints " in her '^ form of sound words," led you along the narrow way of holiness, conlr-raed you with many excellent gifts of the Spirit, and fed you with the only food and strength and refreshment of your souls. It is she who conse- crates and solemnizes every event in your life. It is she *' That O'er our life presides, The birth, the bridal and the grave, Aad many an hour besides I ' Mj^ ',-'•' aa • 'ff?a^, j?m>; tsi. p'-^KTMWt&.aK'y 8 She rejoices with you in your sunshine, condoles with you in your afflictions, and when you die she will consign your body to the silent tomb " in sure and certain hope of [the resurrection to eternal life." Oh ! dear, sweet mother ! Oh gentle, tender mother, full of affection and devotion, full of benevolence and sohcitude, careful for every emergency, and supplying, from thy Husband, our every want, let thy constraining intiuence prevail with us to love thee more and more and to maintain thy freedom. " Happy shall he be that rt:wardeth " those who have wasted thee. The conflict now warring is on the one side a strife to waste the Church by giving up her liberty, and on the other side it is a defence to prevent that wasting by upholding her freedom. The one side makes nothing of God's solemn declaration, '' Jerusalem which is above is free." The other side makes everything of this precious truth. Tlie one side, I mean the elder brethren, claim freedom for themselves but deny it to the poor Eitual- istsi They usurp authority over them, and say, you have the Gospel to preach in your pulpits, and you have the sacrament to celebrate at your altars — you certainly have the freedom to do so ; but we neither like what you teach, nor your way of cfliciating, and we will take away your freedom in these. We have set ourselves up as your self-constituted rulers and judges and executioners. When a question arises as to the meaning of a doctrine or the propriety of a ceremonial, we shall and we must decide what the solution is to be. If you will not accept our decision and be driven by us, we will appeal to others. We will not appeal to the Church or Convoca- tion. No. Whatever freedom the Church may have to " decree rites or ceremonies," and settle " controversies of faith," we will ignore. We will pass her by, and we , the House of will go to secular courts, — to Parliament Lords, the Privy Council, the Public Worship Act, — in short we will cill in the aid of anything we can manage. And then we will set the iron heel of the State upon the neck of you Ritualists, and bring you into a bondage worse than that typified by Sinai, or Agar, or "Jerusa- lem which now is." The mistake in all this is at once obvious. It is " a transgression of the law " that " Jerusalem which is above is free." Instead of determining the dispute by the law or mind of Christ ;— brother goes to law against brother, and strives to end it by " self-appointed, techni- cal, human law." The Church is not allowed to mind her own business, or settle her own affairs. The spirituali- ties, contrary to all intention, both of God and the State, are meddled with and regulated by the laity or a secular body. So that you see the question in debate is this: Is Jerusalem above free, or is she not? Is the Church free to govern herself, — or is she so enslaved that the State shall govern her without her consent ? There should be no hesitation here as to " what is truth." Firstly. The State is incompetent. The State has no right to decide alone what doctrine or ritual shall be. The State has no right to enforce its rule upon either one or other of these without the consent or concurrence of the Church. The State or laity has no authority in spiritual matters. God alone has the needed authority. He alone can give it. But He never gave it to tlie State or laity. Where there is no spiritual authority, there can be no spiritual sanction. Where there is no such power, no lawful obedience to assumptions can be claimed. What is the British Parliament ? It is " an assemblage, consisting, to some extent, of Jews and infidels, and, to a very great degree, of men who are professed non-members to of the Cliurcli tlit'v presiiirie to judge." Are these the men to legislate in her spiritualities ? Is such an assem- bly to be worshipped rather than the Almighty, — is their bondage to be accepted rather than His freedom! What is the judicial committee of the Privy CounciH It was never intended by its founder to exercise jurisdic- tion in spiritual matters. It has pronounced judgments diametrically op2)Osed to the Church, — as in the Essays and Reviews case. And it has given birth to verdicts upon the same points which the highest law authority has said are irreconcilable. Are the decrees of such a committee to be prefened to those of the infallible God and His Church f And what is the present substitute for that Council — what is the Public Worship Regulation Act that it should be respected ? Is an untimely thing like that wliich was designed to facilitate worshi}) — but instead of that has shut up churches and put large parishes under an intei'dict — has touched the Lord's anointed and done His pi'ophets harm — and has scattered His sheep, — is a miserable failure of that sort to be respected ? Surely the incompetency of the State is evi(1ent, aye, self-evident. Secondly. The Church is fully qualified to govern herself. God has stam|>3d the Church's freedom by granting her a power which man can neither give nor takeaway, — a)id, having that power, she is free, indepen- dent of all else. That power came down from above, when " Heiivim's eternal arches rang " with '^ Glory to God in the highest," when the glad tidings went forth of the birth of a Savioui', — and it was left as His legacy l)efore He went back to where He had been before. That is the power, which makes all free wiio yield them- selves to its rule and live up to its principles, — freetrom 11 sin, free from its guilt, dominion and puin'shment. That power is the power of the keys. It is the power to graft into Christ's body, through Holy Baptism, all who ore to have Him formed within them ; it is the power, in the Apostolic rite of Confirmation, to lay hands on those who are to be enriched with the gifts of tiie Holy Spirit ; it is the power to celebrate or offer the blessed sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood in sacrificial niemorial, — to feed devout communicants with the Bread of Life, and to refresii them with the Cup of Salvation. It is the power which was given by the Father to Christ, and by Him to His Apostles, and by them to their succes- sors, and by these to others, and so on, *' age by age and year by year " to this very time. God has not only given the Church this wondrous power, but He has also endued her with the knowledge of how it should be applied. He has taught her the doctrines she should teach, and the ritual in which to worship. He has done so generally in His word ; and He has done so more definitely when He came down, as of old, at Pentecost, upon the Fathers in their councils. Then He shewed them, by an unerring light, the truth of the creeds ; — and from Him, undoubtedly, came the directions for usages or 'Svnys in Christ" which have since been handed down by '^traditions" or " ordinances " that have been held as they had been taught. Moreover, God is ever present with His Church, to guide her into all truth, and by His Spirit " tiie wiiole body of the Church is governed." Surely, then, with these Divine advantages, she h.is all she can need to rnanaije her own aff'airs. Surelv idl who obey God rather tl ?m men will do as He bids them — '' Hear the Church,'' — and leave spiritualities to her alone m or to her with such help as she may seek and approve of. And if any be asked where is your authority for yielding to the Church rather than to a mere secular tribunal or opinion,- — the answer should be this . God the Father who sent the Son to build the Church, God the Son who " loved the Church and gave Himself for it," God the Holy Ghost who sanctifies the Church, God, — the ever blessed, holy and glorious Trinity, — He is our authority. Thirdly. To allow the State to interfere in spirituali- ties, apart from the Church, is a violation of constitutional liberties, an infringement of vested rights. When Eng- land began to be an established kingdom, William the Conqueror issued a royal decree to keep the Church free from the grasp of the secular power. It prohibited any one, bishop or otherwise, to bring any cause which pertained to the cure of souls to the judgment of secular men. Well would it have been had tlie present bishops — so timid and so time-serving — not broken this decree. By their doing so, they are to blame for much of the present distress. Tliey have armed the elder brethren with their deadly weapons. Till the bishops are unseat- ed in England's Senate, England's Church will never be free. But to go on with the historical proof that tiie Church's spiritualities are free by the law of tlie land. When famous magna charta was granted — " a document far superior to mere statutes, in being the basis of con- stitutional liberties " — it was expressly stated therein tiiat "for us and for our lieirs for ever the Church of England shall be free," and " shall have h^r rights unim- pairedand herlibertiesinviolate." Still lateron, herfreedom was again asserted. In the Statute of Appeals of Henry the 8th, the separate and independent existence of the spiritualitiesand temporalities was defined and recognized. And in years afterwards, when the troublesome period of 13 the Refonnation was over, the same freedom is once more proclaimed, — as you may read in the royal declaration prefixed to the Thirty-nine Articles. There the right of settling spiritual questions is reserved to the spirituality of the Church with the consent of the Crown, i. e. the Sovereign. What clearer proof can be needed that the Church is free to govern herself? What clearer p'-oof of the injustice of the persecution still raging, and of tne legality of the stand made against its attacks? Well may you wonder what could have been the cause of this persecution which, to gain its ends, would strip the Church of its freedom, and would give up the things of God to Caesar. What has kindled the vv^rath of the elder brethren ? It is not ceremonial. It is not, as has been said, the use of vestments. Joseph's coat did not fire the anger of his brethren. They may have envied him the more because of it, but they hated him for a worse reason. What, then, has kindled the bitterness against Ritualists ? It is not because they do not goby their order book, as the Duke of Wellington called the Prayer-book. Not at all. They cling to that dear old book. They wish to bave it left unaltered. They want to be left to use it as it was understood when it was drawn up. They appeal to their close compliance with its rubrics. Why, then, are they so persecuted ? It is not because they are disobe- dient to the Church, or to authority ecclesiastically or properly constituted. On the contrary, they express themselves willing to "be ruled by the principles of appeal to the canons, articles, etc., of the Church," and to the usages of the undivided Church. Nay, more, they consent to " obey any court having the sanction of the Church or Convocation, Parliament and Crown, when framed according to the express constitutional laws of 14 the Cliurcli aiitl realm of England." What can he more fair or just I Whatever, therefore, may be the cause of the attempt to put them down, it is not church lawlessness on their part. Wiiat, then, can be the cause of their being so bitterly hated ? It looks very much lik«' jealousy. It .nay not be that, but it is very like it. It Wcis tiiis inflamed the liatred of Jacob's e]d«u" sons against Joseph. "Israel loved Joseph more than all his children." Josepli had succeeded more than they had iu winning the old man's alfections. Ritualists have also succeeded where others have failed. They have succeeded in fostering a higher devotional life among the people, in raising up within them greater personal religion, in bringing them into more frequent commu- nion with God, in opening up more numerous spiieres of usefulness, etc. Society is morally low, and it has ever felt a jealousy against those who work their way above its level. Of all the passions that haunt the heart, this one of jeal- ousy is the most accursed. While we, my brethren, sti'ive, through grace, to kill all vices, let us make sure that not a trace of jealousy lives within us; and let us pray for all who are its unhappy victims. It is more pestilent than the plague, more terrible than death, fiercer than hell. It is the counterpoise of all the transports of beauty. And it rewards all who cherish it with an awfid doom. It is recorded in Grecian story that " Theagenes, a celebrated victor iu the public games of Greece, had a famous statue raised to him by his countrymen, and one of his rivals, inspired by the demon passion of jealousy, went forth in the silence and darkness of night, and endeavored to throw it down by repeated blows, At last he succeeded,— but before he could escape it fell from its pedestal and crushed him to death." This fact 15 not only shews the restless tonneiit of this passion, hut symbohzes the doom of its possessor. He who seeks to destroy the glory of a rival, crushes his own soul in the attempt. He who would rob another of his liberty, casts himself into bondage. What will be the result of the present strife ? Oh ! to the persecuted it will be a glorious triumph, '' Jerusalem which is above is free," and must be free. God's word cannot fail. Truth must prevail. You knov^^ Joseph went not up to the throne of Egypt, — the gold chain was not put about his neck, — till after he had been first punished. An opening has already been gained, and it only requires to be foUowed up to lead on to victory. There was once a battle set in array between the Austrians and Swiss. '' There were many valiant men in the Swiss army, — and again and again they came on, but again and again they were driven back. For the Aus- trians, standing shoulder to shoulder, held out their spears before them so as to make, as it were, an iron fence which neither man nor horse could break through. Amon<: the Swiss there was one who, seeing this, cried out, ' Take care of my wife and children, I will break their ranks.' He threw away his armor, rushed in upon the enemy, took as many spears as he could in his breast and arms and body, and so fell down dead at tiie very moment he broke through the fence. The others rushed in after him and the Austrians were soon put to flight." But while we are enthusiastic,— it nmst be borne in mind that success in this great struggle for freedom can only be had by striving to the utmost to obtain a recog- nition of the grand truth that " Jerusalem which is above is free," — to obtain " a recognition of the catholic claims of the Church of England, and of her true historic character, and of her community with the past." 16 " Delight thyself in the Lord," and, as the dear child- ren of ^*the Mother of us all,"— the dear children of Him who is her spouse,— try to please Him in all things as she bids you. Try to win His smile by being free from all sin. And, as this season teaches, — "watch and "pray" more and more "prove yourselves," and use holy discipUne. Bring out in your daily lives the will of God which is your sanctification. Gain steps in advance towards chat perfect freedom where fear is cast out, and towards that blessed unity which is agreeable to the mind of Jesus. "Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall grant thee the desire of thine heart." "Standfast in the Faith. Quit you like men," like true hearted sons " of the Mother of us all," and when "the shadows flee away " you " shall shine forth as the Sun," — free as" Jerusalem which is above is free." jjoTE.— The dedication, from the pen of one of the most revered and learned ot the Church's Doctors, is prefixed to this sermon at the instance of a dear friend of the writer.