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DE SOYRES, M.A Rector of St. John's Church, St. John Toronto : THE BRYANT PRESS r ^; I 1 II ■ I ■>, ml mn''- ' TTT REPORT OF THE Evangelical Church Conference HELD AT SX. JOHN, N.B. Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 13th and i^th 1894 I Edited by REV. J. de SOYRES, M.A. Rector of St. John's Church, St. John Toronto : The Bryant Press 1 TO OF THE CHria;H Ol< MNGLAN!) IN CANADA I'HIS RKCOKl) IS RESIMX'TKUI.IA lDc(Mcatct>. '3 VCO^ L i I I Introduction t 4 It has been a subject of regret for a long time that the meetings of our Diocesan Synods are so entirely taken up with mere routine busmess that no opportunity is left for practical discussion and devotional edification. Except for the official prayers at the commencement of each session, a chance visitor might sometimes wonder whether he was really attending a gathering of religious men, assembled with the invocation of the Holy Spirit. The need for money in connection with the various branches of diocesan work, and the ways and means of raising it, of necessity demand a considerable portion of the limited time which men actively occupied can devote to attendance. Many reasons combined to make the Evangelical Churchmen in the Maritime Provinces desire an opportunity for mutual counsel and encouragement. Although the laity in both the dioceses of Fredencton and Nova Scotia are mainly loyal to Protestant truth yet the great majority of the clergy have identified themselves with more or less advanced phases of sacerdotal teaching and practice Zealous efforts have been made to support the educational institu- tions of Windsor, and to discourage other colleges and schools where Evangelical truth is taught. In the diocese of Fredericton an additional cause for disquietude was created by the fact that the sub-Dean of the Cathedral, one who for twenty years bad been closely connected with the teaching of the diocese, entered the Roman communion, an incident to which no reference has been as yet made by those in authority. It was necessary, therefore, to meet and to discuss these grave matters but it was desired that every aspect of party bitterness should be removed. All were welcomed to the meetings, represen- tatives of all schools of thought were asked to speak, and in the two sessions m which no discussion was invited there was no word " INTRODUCTION. Uttered which transcended the limits of cliarity to others, no desire expressed to limit in the case of others that Hberiy which EvangeHcal Churchmen claim for the exercise of rites consecrated by the precedent of three centuries. Nor was there any attempt to appeal to authorities outside the Maritime Provinces, except for general sympathy and help. First of all, as of right, the Bishop of Kredericton was asked to be present, and, upon his explaining that he was prevented by prior engagements, he was earnestly requested to send his blessing to the Conference, and his counsel upon all or any of the topics about to be discussed. After this due recognition of ecclesiastical authorities in the dioce.se, a similar request was .sent later to the Primate and to the Bishop of Afontreal, as well as to other prominent Churchmen in the Dominion. Prom such men as the Principals of ^Vych•ffe, Huron, and Montreal Theological Colleges, from the Reverends G. Osborne 'Proop, W. J. Armitage, J. M. Snowdon, 'P. R. O'Meara, and others, valuable help was received in the form of papers upon the topics selected for discussion, which of themselves gave permanent value to the meeting, and furnished rich material for the debates. To them, therefore, the reason of success is mainly due, and the gratitude of Evangelical Churchmen in the Maritime Provinces. And to God, in whose name we met together, whose Holy Spirit was invoked to guide our deliberations and to lead us into light, we give our humble thanks for the blessing evidently granted to our Conference, and pray that His grace may ever continue with those who contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints. & "I m opening Service TMi: opening service was held in St. John's Church on Monday evening, Nov. 12th. There were present the Revs. Dyson Hague, F. Archbold, F. Ahiion (HaHfax), W. Hamlyn and A. Daniel (Prince P:dward Island), A. F. Burt (Shediac), \V. Burns (Hampton), W. B. Armstrong (Welsford), H. B. Morris (Dalhousie), J. T. Bryan (St. Stephen), G. E. Lloyd and A. S. Lea (Rothesay), J. deSoyres, W. H.Sampson, W. O. Raymond, A. D. Dewdney(St. John). The prayers were read by Revs. A. Daniel and A. F. Burt, the lessons by Rev. F. Almon and Rev. A. D. Dewdney. The sermon was preached by Rev. W. Hamlyn, rector of Charlottetown, P.E.L, from Jude 3 (R. v.): "Exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints." From the time when I first learned that the committee appomted to make arrangements for the conference had conferred upon me the honour and privilege of preaching a sermon on the occasion, I have continuously felt that nothing could be more appro- priate than a vindication of Evangelical Churchmanship, and a restatement on scriptural and historical grounds of the position which the Evangelical party claims within the borders of the Church. The increasing importance of this subject is due to the fact that sacerdotalists are becoming less and less tolerant of Evangelical prin- ciples, and are even beginning to challenge their right to a represen- tation within the Church at all. A well-known Eastern fable seems to me to illustrate so accurately the position of these two parties within the Church at the present time that its appositeness may per- haps form an excuse for its introduction at this point. It is said that on a certain occasion a camel belonging to an Arab chief ob- truded his nose between the curtains of his master's tent, and, meet- ing with no repulse, proceeded to insinuate his head, which was quickly followed by the neck and shoulders, until the whole animal I ^; 8 OPENING SERVICE. Stood within the tent, fiUing the space so completely that its owner was compelled to beat a retreat. It is quite time for Protestant Churchmen to be alive to the policy of the Ritualistic camel. We a.v? told that Evangelicals are unlearned and ignorant men, that they are disloyal to their Church and Prayer Book, that they twist and turn its formularies to suit their own peculiar views, that they are more Nonconformist than Churchmen, and that they have no right to the title which they claim. It will be my endeavour this evening to show that such )und is untenable, and that while we willingly concede to all the right to their own opinions, and even recognize the existence of other schools of thought within the Church besides our own, yet we do strongly and firmly hold not only that the Evan- gelical has a legal claim to be regarded as an honest and loyal Churchman, but that the views he holds are the views of those who ^ made the Church of England what she is to-day ; the views of the l Reformers of the sixteenth century, the views of the compilers of '"'' tht Thirty-nine Articles, which have remained unaltered since the year ;li 1 57 1, and the views of all those who from that time to this have % honestly and conscientiously regarded those articles as forming the 4 doctrinal basis of the Protestant and Reformed Church of England. '^ ! One proof of this is found in the fact that the history of the <| so called Catholic revival from the days of the publication of "Tracts i'l' I for the Times" is the history of the gradual reintroduction of those I j doctrines and practices which were cast forth by the Reformers of '^: ! the fifteenth century as being incompatible with an honest and | reverent interpretation of the Word of God. The sacrifice of the Mass, with all its attendant vestments, lights, A censings and prostrations ; auricular confession, with all its consequent M sacerdotal influences, loosening family ties of God's institution ; prayers for the dead, and even Mariolatry itself, are inculcated and defended ; and what is the teaching that centres around and under- lies the extravagant reverence that is paid to all that is connected with the administration of the Holy Communion ? It is teaching which ;J^" those who hold it themselves believe to be distinguishable from transubstantiation, but which no scripturally-instructed Christian mind can discover to differ from it in reality ; and what is the result of this teaching ? The one offering of the body of Jesus Christ upon the cross, once for all, is, by a perpetually iterated representation in the Eucharist, at least implied to have been insufficient for the put- ■re-*- ffs OPENING SERVICE. 9 ting away of sin, and the sinner is drawn aside from a saving faith in the Word which testifies of that finished work to a superstitious confidence in a carnal participation of the consecrated elements. In order to prove that the Evangelical interpretation of this doctrine is in full accord with that of the Book of Common Prayer ; in other words, to vindicate the character of Evangelical Churchmanship on this particular point, we have but to turn to the words used in the prayer of the Consecration of the Elements — words that fill my mind every time I use them with the deepest admiration for the spiritual and scriptural insight into divine truth which their compilers mani- % fested, words that seem to me to be the most wonderful to be found ,;J . .... ffi outside the pages of mspiration itself, words that contain no less than ■^ ten safeguards within the space of six lines against that false and 1^ unscriptural view of this holy sacrament which sacerdotal teaching # involves— "Who made there (by his one oblation of himself once ',';• offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice,oblation, and satisfaction 'ji for the sins of the whole world." This leads me to another thought. '|. Evangelical Churchmanship may be justified on i;ie ground that its vj". teaching is upheld both negatively and positively by Scripture. "^ Negatively — for we may search the divine volume from beginning to .'^ end without finding the shadow of a support for those views of which $ we are speaking. Take that which is the keystone of the Tractarian ']% arch — the sacerdotal character of the Christian ministry; there is an ''■ utter absence of any reference to it in the New Testament. Mr. Sad- I ler may disingenuously assert that the words used in the institution of the Lord's Supper are unquestionably employed in a sacrificial ■Jk sense, but one greater than Mr. Sadler, viz., Bishop Wordsworth, in his commentary, asserts that this cannot be the case, an opinion which he shared with every competent Creek scholar. In what passage in the New Testament do we find the Christian minister regarded as a sacrificing priest ? In I. Cor. xii. 28, we read, " God hath set some in the church." Who are they ? First, apos- tles ; secondly, prophets ; thirdly, teachers. The priest is conspicuous ^ by his absence. Again, in Eph. iv. i - , "He gave some, apostles ; and .1,. some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teach- •^ ers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." S'lrely, if anywhere, the priest should have a mention here. But, no, it is expressly implied that the saints may be perfected, the work of the ministry carried on, and lO OPENINC. SKRVICK. the body of Christ edified, without the intervention of the priest at all. Archdeacon Farrar has well pointed out that the apostles give to themselves and p;ive to Christian ministers ten different names ; but the one name which they never give themselves, and the one name which they most absolutely withhold from presbyters, even when (as in the pastoral episth^s) they are especially writing to them and about them, is the name of priest. The name priest does not so much as once occur in all the thirteen epistles of St. Paul ; not once in the ei)istles of Sts. John, Jude, Peter, and James ; not once of Christian ministers in the whole New Testament. Well may the Archdeacon add that this one fact "cuts away the very tap-root of the whole sacerdotal system." The apostolic commission of St. John XX. 23 has so clearly and so frecjuently been shown to imply no- thing more than a declarative power, and the conduct of the apostles in the Book of the Acts so conclusively proves that they interpret it in this sense, that I shall do no more than make this passing refer- ence to it on this occasion. Prayers for the dead are conspicuous by their absence, the only attempt at a justification of this custom on scriptural grounds being the words of St. Paul concerning Onesi- phorus : " The Lord grant that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day," but, even so, they find it necessary to kill Onesiphorus, and, without a shadow of evidence, to pronounce him dead, before these words can be regarded as a justification of the doctrine. The silence of Scripture with regard to the sacrificial character "?' of the l-,ord's Supper is equally significant. Not once in the New vj^ Testament is the Lord's table spoken of as an altar, not once is . 'f^ that sacred feast regarded as a sacrifice. The only sacrifice, except ■• ^:, that one sacrifice of Christ offered once for all, which the New ';";?)■ Testament and the Church of I'Lngland recognizes is that of Romans xii. 1 : " I beseech you, brethren,'' etc. Nothing can disprove Bishop Lightfooi's conclusions that "the kingdom of Christ has no sacerdotal system, and mterposes no sacrificial tribe between (iod and man.'' The positive statements of Scripture are equally clear and explicit in establishing our point. The all-important doctrine of justification by faith only, in o[)position to that of justification by works or by the sacraments, is here stated with all the fulness and I. clearness of inspiration ; the divine ai)pointment of one Mediator between God and man, in opposition to many human mediators and father confessors, is here made plain ; the need of faith as the one I 'A^- m Xft ■ ( ■m OPENING SERVICE. II and only connecting link between the s juI and the Saviour is here set forth ; the freeness, the fulness, the efficacy, the sufficiency of that message of reconciliation through the atoning work of Christ entrusted to the minister of the Gospel by the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls is here proclaimed, in opposition to the thousand ways of man's devising by which it is obscured, and even superseded. The deejj importance of this part of our argument is shown in the sixth article of the Prayer Hook, the Magna Charta of the Reformed Church of England, which places the Word of God in the position of sole arbiter and judge of every doctrine and practice — "Holy Scripture containeth all things," etc. ;* Again, we identify Evangelical churchmanship with the faith I once for all delivered to the saints on the ground that it faithfully ^, represents the views and doctrines believed and taught by the ^ Reformers of the sixteenth century. Bishop Ryle has truly said that I "if agreement with the English Reformers is to be the measure of '^ true churchmanship, there are no truer churchmen than those who '^, are called Evangelical. Their title is one that cannot be overthrown. ' If they are wrong, the Reformers were wrong. Vou cannot con- demn and unchurch Evangelicals without condemning and un- > churching the Reformers at the same time." ii The teaching of the Evangelical Churchman on the ^Vord of ''* God as being the only rule of faith and practice; on justification by i; faith only in the sight of God; on the necessity k)x good works, •A. following after justification ; on the absence of a corporeal presence 9£ of Christ's natural flesh and blood in the Eord's Supper ; on the evils iff of habitual private confession to a priest ; on the true place of epis- W cCj>acy as being useful and desirable for the well-being of a church, W though not necessary to its actual existence ; on repentance, faith, ■^|f holiness of heart and life, justification, conversion, union with Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as being all matters of [^ primary importance in religion, while Church membership, reception 'j^ of the sacraments and attendance at ordinances, however important .^' and valuable in their place, are by comparision things of secotidary I' importance — the teaching of the Evangelical Churchman on all '' these subjects is entirely in harmony with that of the men who first reformed the Church of England in the days of Edward and Eliza- beth. None, therefore, can show a better title to be called " Suc- cessors of Reformers'" than the members of the Evangelical school. ft - - I'l ill 12 OPENING SERVICE. I might show, further, that the successive versions of the Prayer Book have all been in an Evangelical direction, have all tended towards a return to the faith once for all delivered to the saints, from which there had been so wide a departure during the days of the early and middle ages. On this point I will merely quote a few lines from the Rev. Dyson Hague's valuable little book on " The Protestantism of the Prayer Book." He says (speaking of the occa- sional services) : — " It is remarkable to notice how in every one of these there is a threefold graduation in the upward direction. The Roman or Sarum service marks the first grade, and it is invariably low, debased by the elements of superstition. The Prayer Book of 1549, the first Prayer Book of Edward, marks the second grade, and it is always higher and in the direction of Protestantism. The second Prayer Book of Edward's reign, which is substantially the Prayer Book of to-day, marks the third and higher grade, the attainment of simplicity and Protestant purity." That which Mr. Hague says of the occasional services is true of the Prayer Book as a whole, and it serves to explain the anxiety of the sacerdotalist to put the clock back, as it were, to get behind these revisions, nay, to get behind the Reformation itself, and to introduce those doctrines and practices which were deliberately rejected at that period which the present Archbishop of Canterbury regards as " the greatest historical event in the history of the Church." My last point so far transcends the others in importance that I would ask you to give the more earnest heed to it, as having a prac- tical bearing on the life and character of every one of us. .After all, the most triumphant vindication of Evangelical churchmanship, the most effectual way of "earnestly contending for the faith," etc., is by leading such holy and consistent lives as shall prove to every gain- \,^ sayer that Evangelical principles have their natural and necessary outcome in a godly and Christlike life. The one great need of each individual Christian, the one great need for every member of the Christian ministry, is that "power from on high " which forms con- clusive evidence of the indwelling and inworking of the Holy Spirit within us. The importance of this comes home to us when we think of the special needs of the Christian ministry and the Christian laity in the present day. There is the need denoted by the growing worldliness of society, felt deeply within Christian circles. This is a '^: ^ OPENING SERVICE. 13 am- I difficulty that the minister has to contend against in the organization of the parish, in the working of young people's societies, in manage- ment of the Sunday school, in conduct of services, in arrangement of music. In the midst of all this the minister is called upon in all wisdom and patience to watch, to guard, to witness on behalf of primitive and unworldly life and worship. And, for this, what does he need ? Not hasty judgments, not the exercise of any harsh, repressive measures, which, however well intentioned, may be mis- guided and ill-judged, but the fulness of the Spiiit of God, to make him at once calm and strong, sympathetic and decided, and to impart to his life that power which makes his words and actions, as the outcome of his life, weighty to convince and recall. And, dear brethren, I trust that you will acquit me, as my conscience does, of uncharitableness or self-conceit when I say that Evangelical principles generally (I do not say always) form the truest antidote to these evils, and have their outcome in separation from the world and all the sins and follies of the age. I know a clergy- man at this moment whose church is attended by my nearest rela- tives and dearest friends, who has hitherto been regarded as an Evangelical, but who unfortunately, probably through the evil example of his Bishop, has quite recently begun to introduce into his services many changes in.a High Church direction. This clergyman was told in all earnestness and seriousness by a leading member of his con- gregation that the only people he was pleasing by the introduction of these changes were those who were to be found in the theatre, the racecourse, and the ball room. This witness was true. It was a fact that there was no gainsaying, a fact that needs no comment, a fact tnat is worthy of our careful and prayerful consideration in all its bearings. Then there is the need denoted by the invasions of alien teaching, not only in the direction we have been speaking of to-day, but that which is taking the form of revolutionary views with regard to the fallibility of the written Word and the limitation of the omniscienrr. uf il.e Living Word. Here, again, we need the fulness of the Hol> Spirit to keep us loyal to the faith once for all delivered, and so to unfold to us the glories of the divine book and the divine Saviour that we shall feel its self-evidence in all its grandeur, and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, and therefore with the presence and peace of Christ, shall commend such witness by the evidence of our own peace and joy. Then there are the social problems of m 14 OI'ENING SERVICE. i;ii' the day. How thickly they are crowding upon us, largely due to the terrible phenomenon of extremes of wealth and poverty close together and dreadfully conscious of each other. Here, again, we need the fulness of the Holy Ghost to bring tne Gospel to bear upon these questions, and to cause us so to live that the life of Jesus shall be manifest in our mortal flesh, enabling us to serve all classes, rich and pjor alike, without becoming the tools of any faction or the partisans of any class. May the resistless power of evangelical truth be exer- cised upon our hearts and lives, and, conversely, may we in our hearts and by our lives witness to the power of the Gospel in all its sim- plicity and all its purity ! The strongest form of Christian evidence is the godly, consistent life of a true Christian. Let us .his evening once more confess our sins, our failures, our needs, personal and ministerial, and solemnly recommit to God His promises, and tell over to ourselves the blessings we have in Him, and quietly in His name proceed to use them more definitely than ever, more simply and more entirely than ever for Him, and not for ourselves. This is the highest, the truest, and the best way in which we can " earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints." The offertory was given to the Canadian branch of the Church Missionary Society. 1' *« ■i0 I Proceedings ■i' V ""'i 1 1 After the administration of the Holy Communion in St. John's Church, the Conference was formally opened in the adjoining schoohoom. After prayer, the Rector (Rev. J. de Soyres) welcomed the visitors to their city, explained the reasons for summoning a conference, and mentioned the topics to be submitced for discussion. He regretted the unavoidable absence of the Bishop of the diocese, who had been communicated with at the first inception of the Conference, and pressingly requested to send words of counsel to them. The Bishop had directed the Archdeacon to be present and convey his greetings. The Chairman tlien read letters of regret from the following : His Grace the Archbishop of Rupert's Land, stating that his present illness prevented him from doing more than acknowledgin♦ •0 The second day of the Conference was opened by prayer by Rev. W. H. Armstrong, Rector of W'elsford, N.15. The first subject discussed was that of "Theological Literature," opened by a i)aper contributed by the Rev. W. j. Armitage,* which is printed in the report. The selected s[)eakers were Messrs. Burt (Shediac), Almon and Hague (Halifax), the last-named urging upon his brother clergy the systematic study of Reformation literature, especially such works as Jewell's "Apology"" and the Zurich Letters. In closing the discussion, the Chairman deprecated the notion of confining the consideration of this great topic to a mere recom- mendation of Evangelical works suitable as antidotes for current fallacies. This had been admirably done in Mr. Armitage's paper, which also did justice to the great classical treatises which stood above the clouds of controversy. Neither did they discourage in any way men of mature mind studying the views of other schools of thought; and he instanced Canon Mason's "Faith of the (iospel" as a treatise in which the Sacerdotal position was stated with candour and without innuendo against adversaries. After a warm tribute to Mr. Hague's work on the Prayer Book, he advocated the establish- 'Mi ■i^ *See infra, p. 50. PROCEEDINGS. 19 ment of a branch of tlic Rfligious Tract Society, instancing some of its adniirahlu puI)lications, such as translations of important patristic tn:atiscs, and appealed to all present to support it side by side with the S.I'.C.K. After tliis the Conference passed to the subject of "Church Music." introduced by a i)aper contributed by Rev. j. M. .Snowdon, Rector of St. C.eorge's, Ottawa.* 'I'his vigorous defence of congre- gational nuisic was supported by the first speaker, Mr. W. M. jarvis, of St. John, and the same view was espoused by the Rev. W. 15. Armstrong, Welsford, and by Mr. Hague, while the Rev. J. W. Millidge, in a singularly interesling record of a missionary's experi- ences in choir training, advocated a choice of music fitted for the capacity of a choir as much as for the taste of a congregation. Another large as.semblage was gathered at the afternoon session, when the subject of "Christian Reunion'" was di.scussed. It was opened by a paper sent l)y Principal Sheraton, of AN'ycliffe College, read in his absence by the Rector of Rothe.say.t This statement of the theory of the Catholic Church was followed by an address from the Rev. W. Hamlyn (Charlottetown), who e.\i)ressed his conviction that organic union among the varicnis branches of Christ's Church was neither jjossible nor desirable. While the Crindelwald Confer- ence, under Dr. l.unn. had possibilities of good and useful work before it, he found that those who were hoping for organic union were pursuing a chimera, and were consecjuently doomed to be disappointed in their hopes. How far some scheme for the federation of the various Evangelical Churches might become workable was an interesting and important topic, on which he hoped some light would be thrown this afternoon. Indeed, the fact that such a gathering was taking place for the consideration of the matter was a most hopeful sign of the times, and could not fail to do good. There was all the difference in the world between loyalty to our own denominati(jn and a narrow and bigoted sectarianism. What was wanted more than anything else was interdenominational co- operation. There was much going on around us at the present time to show us the sinfulness of sectarian exclusiveness and the power that would come to the whole united Church and the blessing that would come to the world if all Evangelical Christians would be *See in/m, p. 59. +See infra, p. 68. 20 i'Ri)Ci:i:iiiN:vangelical Cluirchmen, and would welcome them in the Methodist pulpits. He hoi)cd soon to see the Melhotlist and Presbyterian Churches united, and unity with the Church of l-jigland might come later. Mr. I'aisley referred to Principal .Sheraton's paper in high terms of praise, and alscj to his own former associations with the author in the L'niversity of New Brunswick. The Rev. J. A. (lordon explained the position of the Baptist Church as a virtually congregational body. Every Baptist church represented itself, and perhaps every member rei)resented himself. 'Phe speaker act'epted the spirit of Dr. Sheraton's paper. Regener- ation must stand at the back of every holy emotion. Speakmg of reunion, Mr. (lordon said it admitted of sei)aration and implied a P';;iit of departure. Let ..s take our stand on the last words of Christ t)efore He ascended into heaven. 'Jake the commission and stand on it. P-et us go back to that commission, and so far as 22 PROCEEDINGS. c ^^^.i^ we love Jesus that becomes the organizing centre. Then \ve would he glad to shake hands with all taking the Holy Word itself. After a few words from the - cWg yman the meeting then closed with the benediction, pronounced by the Rev. Dyson Hague. After the close of the meeting all the Conference members and resident clergy of the city were received by Sir Leonard and Lady Tilley at Carleton House. The Conference ended the same evening with a devotional meeting held in the same hall of St. John's Church, which was again crowded. After the reading of Holy Scripture by Rev. F.-Archbold (Halifax), and prayer by Rev. J. W Hr\an (St. Stephen), an address was delivered by Rev. Alan Daniel, Rector of Crapaud, P.F..L, the substance of which is given below.* The Rev. W. Burns (Hampton) then read another portion of Holy Scripture, and then the Secretary (Mr. Dewdney) read a pai)er from the pen of one whose name is cherished in St. John by all who knew him, Rev. (1. C). 'I'rooi), now Rector of .St. Martin",s, Montreal. t The proceedings concluded, after another acklress from the Rev. Dyson Hague, with the benediction, pronounced by the Rector of Charlottetown. There was a deeply st)lenui sense of (lod's presence at this meeting, and thrf)Ughout the whole (^)nference, which it fitly concluded. On 'I'hursday, November 15th, most of the memljcrs paid a visit to Rothesay for the purpose of inspecting the successful schools founded by Mr. Lloyd and Miss C.regory. .\ business meeting was held at the Collegiate School, when votes of thanks were passed to the \'estry and the Ladies" Association of St. John's Church, as well as to the IVess, for painstaking rept)rts of the i)roceedings. Without any definite resolution being passed, it was understood that another and similar ('onference would be again convened at no distant time, and at some other city in the Nhiritime I'rovinces. ^ ^ . in useful- ness and in power. True it is that some would be inspired to give by the name of " Wyctiffe " being connected with it ; but many, again, throughout the country, while true and strong in their loyalty to the Evangelical cause, would rather be kept back than drawn forward to support what they might easily allow themselves to think, judging by the name, was merely local in its sympathy and interest. Then, agtin, there was the experience of the past, in not a few cases, in regard to the examination and receiving of candidates for foreign service through the C.M.S. A goodly number have signified their wish to go out to the foreign field as C.M.S. missionaries from different parts of Canada. lUil the rules and practices of this great society are so strict and careful that in no case will they accept an offer for service unless the candidate has [)rcsented himself in person at Salisbury Square in London, and been interviewed by the com- mittee of the C.M.S. themselves. The) will accept no one else's recommendation. The practical ditihculties in the way of Canadians, such as expense, time, and possible rejection when there, were so great that it has really hindered many good and whole-souled men and women from going out at all, and the great cause so near the heart of Christ has conseciuently suffered serious loss in the past. In the fall of 1S93 the Rev. Mr. Stewart, of Inland China, who had spent a year or more with Mr. Eugene Stock in organizing Church Missionary associations in Australia and New Zealand, spent some weeks in and about Toronto, en route to his field of labour in China. Various conferences were held with him, and with the Bishop of Athabasca, who was s[)ending the winter in Toronto, and is also a C.M.S. missionary, as to what was best to be done, taking all the circumstances of the matter into most careful consideration. As a direct result of these deliberations, the present Canadian Church Missionary Association was commenced, with the following objects in view, it having first been ascertained by correspondence with the ■ w i THE CANADIAN CFiURCH MISSIONARV ASSOCIATION. 25 parent society that such a movement would be heartily approved of by them : 1. To afford an outlet for the sympathies and liberality of all those who are in harmony with the Evanp;elical principles of the Reformed Church of England, and who desire that their gifts may be applied so as best to promote those principles. 2. To act in harmony with the system adopted by the Church p in England, which there elicits such deep sympathy and vast w contri!)uiions for the promotion of missionary work. '- 3- 'i'o open the way for placing in the mission field, whether domestic or foreign, many candidates who now desire to enter upon > the work in connection with the C.M.S. ■V 4- A connection with a great missionary society will make it easier : {(j) To find fields where missionary workers are most wanted. (/') To put them in the field to the best advantage. ((•) 'l\) place each man and woman in that sphere of work for which each is best suited. f^l ('^) 'I o secure that those who are sent out may be placed under M the supervision and control of such a society, and in touch with P numerous and experienced workers in the same field. On the 1 2th of June last a meeting was held in Toronto, which was attended by nnny prominent clergymen and laymen from .^ Toronto and its vicinity, at which, after some most interesting m addresses had been delivered, by a unanimous vote of all present, # the Canadian Church Missionary Association was formally started, and the following constitution adopted : (l ) NAMK. This Association shall l)e known as the "Canadian Church Missionary Association,' in connection with the Church Missionary Society of England. (2) OIl.IKCTS. (1) To correspond with the Church Missionary Society, and generally to act on its behalf in the Dominion of Canada. (2) To send missionaries to the mission fields occupied by the C.M.S., who shall be under the direction of the committee of that society, heieinafter called the Parent Committee. 26 THK CANADIAN CHURCH MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. (3) To engage in missionary work in such other fields not occupied by the C.M.S. as the providence of God may direct. (3) MEMBERSHIP. Persons willing to join this Association, based upon the above principles, and formed for the above objects, are invited to become members by payment of an annual subscription. (4) GOVERNING BODY. M The governing body shall consist of an Executive Committee of '/ not less than seven, nor more than twelve, being communicants of the Church of England, to be elected at the annual meeting from members of the Association. This committee shall, at its first meeting after its election, appoint from among its number a Chair- man and a Secretary-Treasurer. This committee shall have the ^ general management and control of the affairs of the association. -".: The Executive Committee, the C.M.S. concurring shall appoint a Board of Examiners, whose certificate of the fitness of a candidate -f. shall be accepted by the Parent Committee. ■'] It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to promote ,4^ the diffusion of missionary intelligence, to stimulate missionary interest by the holding of public meetings and otherwise, to organize where it is expedient auxiliary branches, and generally to promote the welfare of the .Association. .■•^> (5) MISSIONS. In all ordinary cases, missionaries sent forth by the Association shall be supported t)y the Association, which shall make all arrange- ments regarding outfit, passages, allowances in the mission and at home, and be entirely responsible for them ; no pecuniary res[)onsi- bility attaching to the Parent Comnnttee, unless otherwise arranged between the .\ssociation and the Parent Committee. But if a mis- sionary sent out by the Association should be appointed by the Parent Committee to a recognized post, for which that committee is already responsible, the Parent Committee may, at its discretion, undertake his maintenance. The Parent Committee shall have al)solute power to remove any missionary sent out by the Association. :% This section shall apply also to women, whether candidates or 'k missionaries. 4 'W THK CANADIAN CHURCH MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. 27 (6) FUNDS. The Association shall receive contributions, either allocated by the donors or to be applied by the Executive Committee to the fol- lowing objects : (a) For the Association generally. 1^. {/>) For any special fund or object approved of by the committee. {(■) For the general or any special fund of the CM.S. At this most important meeting the following committee was chosen ; f Rev. Rural Dean Jones, M.A. Rev. Principal Sheraton, D.D. Rev. H. (1. Baldwin, M.A. Rev. T. R. O'Meara. Rev. F. H. DuVernet, B.D. N. W. Hoyles, Esq., Q.C. ^ Stapleton Caldecott, Esq. :** Mr. N. W. Hoyles, Q.C, being appointed chairman, and the Rev. F. H. l)u\'ernet, B.i)., secretary-treasurer. ,, At a later date the names of the Rev. Principal Henderson, M.A., of Montreal, the Rev. ). M. Snowdon, M.A., of Ottawa, Rev. Archdeacon Evans Davis, M.A., London, and the Rev. Dyson 2^ Hague, M.A., of Halifax, N.S., have been added. ^ In the month of September last the Domestic and I'breign Missionary Board of the Church of England in Canada, meeting in the city of Quebec, passed a resolution recoj;nizing our new mission- ary association, and directing its secretary-treasurer to receive and transmit any sums which may be sent to him for the C.C.M.A., and to give credit in the accounts and records of the Board for all moneys and vouchers which may be forwarded to him by the treas- urer of the Association, so that now the C.C.M.A. has the recogni- tion and im[)rimatur of the Church at large for its work. In the very few months of its existence not a few offers for ser- vice have been considered by the committee, and money has already begun to come in for Evangelical Church missions from many unex- pected quarters. The committee has been in correspondence with the parent society in regard to the sending out of a deputation from England in the fall of nSgs. It is indeed good news to know that not only has this been promised, but that also Mr. Eugene Stock himself is to be one of those to come. Would it not be a very good thing for all of us to make it a matter of earnest and continuing ^ 28 THK CANADIAN CHrKCH .MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. prayer that their coming may be with much blessing and power to the Canadian Church ? We are convinced that, under God, all that is now needed is that every true Evangelical Churchman, whether clergy- man or layman, will throw his whole, strong, personal interest and effort into this new work for the spreading abroad of Christ's king- dom at home and abroad, and it will most certainly mean a season of refreshing, invigorating growth in the cause of Evangelical truth, such as perhaps we have never known before. Love for Christ's truth will assuredly, if it be real and true, directly lead to obedience to Christ's command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." :? % mi ♦t^ ■m ■'S; ATTITUDE OF EVANGELICAL CHURCHMEN TOWARD ^ RITUALISM Rkv. Ca.\o.\ Hkndkrson, Montreal. w 'HAT should be the altitude of Evangelicals towards sound doctrine and ritual advance ? } Speaking generally, it should he the attitude of the great apostle of the (ientiles towards these two objects ; and what that attitude was has been revealed in no equivocal terms. As regards sound doctrine, when descril)ing ministerial (lualiii- cations (Titus i. 9.), he says, " Holding fast the faithful word as he |j-| hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers." And as regards ritual advance, when condemning the conduct of Judaizing teachers in Ckalatia, he says, " Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." Remarkable language, as coming from the lips of one who circum- cised Timothy with his own hands. More particularly, it is proposed to divide the subject into two parts ; and in accordance with the title consider (i) Sound Doctrine ; '^ (2) Ritual Advance. (i) SoufiJ Doctrine. Our own attitude towards it may be seen reflected in that of St. Paul. How strongly and repeatedly did he insist u[)on the necessity for sound doctrine ! How urgent was he in the case of Titus ! He repeats in the second chapter what he said in the first, and commands thus : " Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience." Soundness in the faith, therefore, was, in his eyes, a matter of prime importance ; so also should it be in ours. yf» 30 ATTITUDE OF EVANGELICAL CHURCHMEN TOWARD RITUALISM. But, upon further analysis, we find that our attitude may be regarded as the result of the combined exercise of the following lines of duty, viz., those of learners, stewards, watchmen, and teachers. Learners, that we may know what sound doctrine is ; stewards, that we may treasure it up carefully wlien we have learned it, and dispense it judiciously to those who will receive it ; watchmen, that we may ffuard it against the dangers of addition, diminution, corruption, and loss; teachers, that we may meekly instruct those that oppose them- selves. A few words upon each of these otfices. Learners. How needful it is to learn in every department of life, and how specially needful in those things which concern our everlast- ing welfare I How few there are who are intelligently acquainted with the first principles of the doctrine of Christ ! How exceedingly few who could satisfactorily answer the question, " WHiat is Evangeli- cal religion ? " and enumerate its distinguishing features. Yet such knowledge as this is at)solutely essential to that stability in the faith which is so desirable. In the lack of this knowledge may be found, perhaps, one reason why so few are zealously affected as they ought to be in the defence of truth against its enemies. So long as people see no other difference between Evangelicals and Ritualists than a mere external one of more or less music, and more or less ceremony, there is little hope of kindling any practical interest or creating any permanent enthusiasm among them as to the nature of the issues involved. They mus': learn to know that the differences between them are of a more serious and vital nature, which ought not to be overlooked. Ttiey must be brought to understand that they amount to the decision of the (juestion whether Christ shall be of any use to us as a Saviour, or whether He shall profit us nothing. Steivards. All are called to be stewards in the service of the Lord. Do any doubt the correctness of this universal statement ? Are any disposed to think that ministers alone are authorized to appropriate this title? They afford in this an illustration of the lack of knowledge referred to in the previous section, and they need to be reminded of the Scripture, which saith (L Peter iv. 10), "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." As stewards of sound doctrine, it becomes our duty to preserve it as a sacred deposit of inestimable value, and see to it that it is neither increased nor diminished, commixed nor adulterated in any degree. i ATTITI'DE f)r KVANC.KI.ICAL CHURCHMEN TOWARD K1TLAM>M. J I .'■■:-■ Remission of sins, for example, is not to be changed into remissibility of sins. Salvation is not to be translated into salvable position. Nor is faith to be made equivalent to faith and works, as the instrumental cause, much less the ground, of our justification before God. Such deviations from sound doctrine are like the deviations on the part of the druggist from the written prescription of the physician. 'I'hey are certainly injurious in proportion to their measure, and they may prove to be fatally destructive in their effects. Moreover, as stewards, it becomes our duty to dispense the gifts which we have received. In other words, we are expected to pro[)agate sound doctrine among those who are willing to receive it. This can be done in a variety of ways —in the family, in the parish, in the diocese, and throughout the world. It can be done in person, or it can be done through the agency of books, pamphlets, newspapers, and other publications, provided they are sound and conducive to health. It can be done also by the right selection of church officers, and by the maintenance of Church institutions, not omitting Evangelical colleges, which are by no means the least efficient agencies for the propagation of the truth and the repression of spiritual evil. Watchmen. We are all called to be watchmen as well as stewards. " What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch," are familiar words ; so also the exhortation of the aged apostle to Titus, "Watch thou in all things." We are to watch for opportunities of acquiring, preserving, and dispensing the truth, and we are to watch agauist the entrance of diluting and corrupting error. Specially are we to watch against the aggressions of earnest and eloquent advocates of error, and those who fascinate by their superior qualifications and social attractions. We must ever remember the apostolic warning : "There be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." Watch against the slightest departure from the truth of the Gospel, whether it be in respect of the nature of the Church, or the atonement, or the sacraments of the grace of God, or any other fundamental doctrine. The importance of doing so may be illustrated by a reference to railways. When an engine, with its train of carriages, enters upon a 11' 32 ATTITriiL; 01' EVANGELICAL CHURCHMEN TOWARD KriL'ALlSM. wrong tmck, it cannot be said that it is a matter of small moment to the passengers within, neither can it be denied that the sooner the mistake is rectified the better. The progress of error, like that of a steam engine, is exceedingly rapid ; like the disturbance on the water's surface, it spreads in ever-widening circles around us. In a single generation the younger members of the congregation will become familiarized with error, and it will he difficult to dissuade them from rejoicing in its embrace. Teachers. We arc all called to be teachers in the sense of meekly instructing those that op[)ose themselves. Mention has been made of stewards who distribute sound doctrine to those who receive it, but the off-ce of teacher referred to now relates to those who are unwilling to receive. It imi)lies labor among those who pervert and resist the truth, and who. among many other indefen- sible acts, do not scru[)le to invert the order of events in the Christian life, whether in the individual or in the collective experience of the Church of (lod. .\re they not sadly in need of instruction who t.>lace the Church, which is the creation of the Word, before the Word in authority and time? and is not their need equally great who make regeneration the result of baptism rather than the iiualification for it? Or, again, those who would have us disbelieve the fundamental declaration that now there is no more offering for sin. In like manner, what earnest need is there for careful instruction in the history and contents of our reformed Prayer Book? How few know anything of the true history of the ornaments' rubric (so-called), upon which our opponents lean for the reintroduction of forbidden novelties ! — which novelties that very rubric, or, more properly, the act of parliament, of which it is an extract, has authoritatively and effectively swept away. (2) Ritual Advance. What should be our attitude toward recent ritual advance ? I reply — a protesting attitude, not because an advance in ritual is in all cases necessarily objectionable, but because this ritual is founded upon principles alien to the spirit and letter of the Word of God, and of our reformed Prayer Book. St. Paul protested with all his mind, and soul, and strength against the self- sufficient Judaizing teachers of his day, and, if we would walk in his footsteps, we must occupy a similar position against the extreme Ritualist of the present age. They both seem to be animated with one spirit. They both hold, to a great extent, the same erroneous 'm ye ■rfej "■3;, I ATTITUDE OF KVANGKLICAL CHURCHMEN TOWARD RITUALISM. 33 doctrines, and of both, with equal truth, it may be affirmed {mutatis mutandis), " If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.'' Both entertain false views on the subject of the atonement and justification before (jod. Both assign a prominence to the outward in religion rather than to the inward, and there is even room for the belief that the Ritualists of the present time exceed in error those against whom the apostle so vigorously contended, as seen especially in the Epistle to the Galatians. Unlike the Ritualists of St. Paul's time, the Ritualists of the present day are in grievous error in respect to the nature and efficacy of both sacraments, but more es[)ecially of the sacrament of the Supper of the Lord. It is in relation to this sacrament that they hold the most heretical notions, and do to the Lord Jesus the most dishonor. In their unscriptural views on this most lioly sacrament is to be found the centre of their erroneous system. Here lies the root of that luxuriant Ritualistic growth which spreads itself in every direction round the base of the parent tree, and is doing so much mischief wherever it appears. It is to be detected in the supposed presence of our Lord's ascended humanity, in, with, or under the consecrated elements of bread and wine in the Supper of the Lord. It is supposed to be there for the purpose of being re-presented before God by His priests upon earth, who are supposed to be do'ing here below what Christ is supposed to be doing before the Father in heaven — on which supposition, accordmg to some, the most imposing ceremonies and the grandest of ritual would not be too grand, and the highest adoration would be more than justifiable. But what if it be only a supposition, and therefore entirely false, as we believe it to be ? In that case the nature of the acts performed become entirely changed. They become more than questionable as acts of worship to Almighty God. Yet let me call your attention to what seems to be generally forgot- ten, viz., that even if the Lord's glorified humanity were actually present, in, with, or under the consecrated elements of bread and wine, they would not constitute a sufficient justification for prostra- tion before the elements, and for the use of such an elaborate ritual service as that which is now unhappily becoming so common. For i^ig what would it be but an undoubted act of splendid idolatry? This will be manifest at once to any one who understands wherein the essence of idolatry consists, viz., in the worship of the true God through the aid or intervention of any material agency. If, then, 3 I 34 ATTITUDE OF EVANGELICAL CHURCHMEN TOWARD RITUALISM. with a strange infatuation, we attenii)t to envelop the glorified humanity of our ascended Lord (I almost shudder at the thought) with a base covering of material l)read and wine, in what respect are we better than the childish Israehtes of old, who at the instance of Aaron worshipped, not the calf, but the Lord of Sai)aolii through the golden calf, and called down upon themselves in consequence the heavenly judgment? In proof that the doctrine in (juestion is false, I refer you to a small and inexpensive publication by Arch- il deacon Perowne, entitled "Our High Priest in Heaven," published by Elliott vStock, of London, England. It furnishes in a short com- pass a most complete refutation of this monstrous perversion cf the truth. Taking, therefore, the Holy Scriptures as our rule of faith and practice, and looking at the recent advance in ritual from a scri|)lural point of view, we take exception to it on the grounds that it is not Kaiii ten didiuiu'ii, as we are taught it should be in Titus i. 9. Ikit tliere is another ground of opposition which should not be over- looked, Tliis advance in ritual is not only not Kata ten didaclwn of the faithful Word, but it is not Kata ten didachen of our own Reformetl Church, by wiiicli (as ministers) we are most solemnly pledged to abide. In elucidation of this part of the subject, I deem it of the highest importance tcj ask you to attend to and carefully consider the following facts : — 'I'here is a preface in our i'layer Book entitled " Of Ceremonies," and I am afraid it is very seldom read. In it our Church authoritatively declares that "Christ's Ciospel is not a cereuionial law (as much of Moses' was), but it is a religion to serve Cod, not in bondage of the figure or shadow, but in the freedom of the Spirit." If any, therefore, feel disposed to multiply ritual observances, and i)lead in justification as a scriptural example the ancient use of ceremonies as authorized by the law of Moses, let them listen to the teaching of the Church of England on the sul)ject, and reduce their practice into conformity therewith. The Church of England is emphatic upon this point, inasmuch as she reiterates in her Articles what she declares in her Preface, and assures us that " the law given from God by Moses as touching ceremonies and rites does not bind f^hristian men," and conse- quently, in her judgment, could not be taken as a model. On these grounds there need be no hesitation in describing the movement as unlawful and retrograde in character, and in regarding it as a species of will-worship, i.e., as an arb'.rary self-imposed service, which is ATTITl'DK OF KVANGELICAL CHURCHMEN TOWARD RITUAI-ISM. 35 far from being commendable among those who name ♦.he name of Christ. It will add much force to these remarks if it b'.; remembered that the recent advance in ritual directly contravenes the provisions of the two Acts of Uniformity which have regulated our ritual practice, in the one case since 1559, and in the other since 1662. I mean the .\ct of Elizabeth and the Act of Charles II., both of which combined (for the one re-enacts the other) form st:.l our guide and standard of reference. In the Act of Elizabeth it is enacted that " The minister in any cathedral or parish clnirch sliall be bounden to say and use all their common and open prayers in such order and form as is mentioned in the said book (with certain s])ecified alterations), and none other or otherwise."' Similarly, the .Act of Charles II. enacts "that no form or order of Common Prayer, Administration of Sacraments, Rites, or Cere- monies shall be o[)enly us(;d in any church, other than what is [)rescnted and appointed to be used in and by the said hook,'' and much more to the same effect. It will not avail to say that these Acts are no part of the Prayer Hook to which we (as ministers) have subscribed, and by which we profess to be guided. 'Plus is a serious misapprehension. A Prayer Book without the Acts of Uniformity is as incomplete as a Prayer Book minus the order for morning and evening prayer. These Acts have been authorized respectively as contents of the Prayer Bo!>k ever since the date of their publication. It is true they are not usually published in the smaller editions, but this does not alter the fact that they are constituent parts of the Sealed Books, and it may be owing to their omission from the contents, as one contributing cause, that we have now so much occasion to lament the progress of this evil. Bearing this in mind, it will be seen immediately how full and satisfactory is the answer which can be given to those who introduce existing innovations on the ground that the Prayer Book does not for- bid them. Of whatever kind they may be in themselves, harmless or injurious, good or bad, they are forbidden, one and all, without exception, by the terms of the Acts of Uniformity, the main purpose of which Acts is to secure uniformity and to prevent that distracting diversity which must otherwise obtain. rvi 36 ATTITUDE OF EVAN( HELICAL CHURCHMEN TOWARD RITUALISM. This being the case, how can they call themselves loyal Church- men who scruple not to violate so openly and so repeatedly such a binding obligation ? Does any one do so in ignorance of the facts of the case ? Let him confess it with shame, but let him redeem the time in amending his ways without delay ; so shall there be fresh cause to praise and magnify the name of the Lord. ~« w v ♦ ^ — •* - THE ATTITUDE OF THE EVANGELICAL TOWARD THE HIGH CHURCH PARTY By Rev. Herbert G. Miller, M.A. " It hath been the wisdom of the Church of England, ever since the first compih'ng her public Liturgy, to keep the mean between the two extremes, of too much stiffness in refusing, and of too much easiness in admitting any variation from it." So runs the opening words of the Preface to our Book of Common Prayer; and, in accordance with the general principle there enunciated, we find that from the first our Church has worn a twofold aspect, and held an intermediate position between Romanism, on the one hand, and those uncompromising systems developed by Continental Reformers, on the other. There is, there- fore, a legitimate place within her fold for the upholder both of High Church and of Low Church views, and it is matter for regret that these two great historical parties of which our Church from the first has consisted, and along the resultant line of whose forces all her movement has been made, should be now drawing off this way and that way to positions of determined antagonism, and from having been for long the supplementary opposites of each other should now be seen related as well-nigh the neutralizing contraries. It is a fact to be deplored, but as a fact it would be folly to ignore it. And, it being a fact, I lay it down as an axiom, funda- mental to determining the attitude towards those who differ from us, that he is traitor to the truth, which should be to him dearer than life, who, be he on which side he may, affects to treat as things indifferent those vital and deep-seated principles of religion which are now being brought into conflict and made to battle for their very existence. 38 ATTITUDK or EVANGELICAL TOWARD HIGH CHURCH PARTY. But in deprecating thus all neutrality, I would earnestly plead with the combatants to keep ever clearly in mind all the strenuous warnings of Scripture as to what methods of warfare alone are legitimate for Christians. Our Church is now composed of two camps, we are striving on each side for the mastery, and it should be the aim on each side to " strive lawfully." When principles of great moment are at stake, it is not fighting which needs to be deprecated, but, rather, coldness, indifference, neutrality. The Christian life, individually considered, is all a fight. Not for nothing is the figure of a warfare used again and again in the Scriptures to describe it. Not for nothing were we signed with the sign of the cross at our baptism, *' in token that hereafter we should not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil ; and to continue Christ's faithful soldiers and servants unto our lives' end." We are summoned each and all into conflict, into fighting, and the directions for sustaining this warfare are minute and particular — now embodied in words, now enforced by some telling and illustrious example. " lis not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good " — this is the general watchword. " Put up again thy sword into his place : for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." "My kingdom is not of this world : if my kingdom v,'ere of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to Ine Jews : but now is my king- dom not from hence." " We do not war after the flesh : for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through Cod to the pulling down of strong holds." " I heard a great voice in heaven, saying. Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our Cod, and the authority of his Christ : for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accuseth them before our (iod day and nighi. .\nd they overcame W\m because of the blood of the Lamb, and l)ecause of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death." From these and others such like passages— above all, from consideration of the Christian's armour, that panoply of (iod, described in Eph. vi., where for o/ic of/cHsive weapon (" The sword of the Si)irit, which is the word of (iod ") there are fiv-: that are purely dcfensm\ and consist of Christian gifts and graces— we cannot but gather thai we are dependent for victory less on what we do than on what we are ; ATTITUDE OF EVANGELICAL TOWARD HIGH CHURCH PARTY. 39 that while it is our duty " earnestly to contend for the faith which .was once for all delivered unto the saints," we should wield rather the weapon of defence than attack, and rather aim to secure an acceptance of the truth as ive have apprehended it, and in our own experience verified, than to subvert the position of those who may be deemed, or even in intention be, our opponents, and spend our labour in the fruitless task of disproving th . assertions, and casting discredit on their work. In a word, I would deprecate controversy, and for the negative work of mere criticism would substitute constructive zeal. Our moral sense may be shocked by the spectacle of men who claim the cover of an English Church for the practise of the Roman life. But " the weapons of our warfare are not carnal," and if we are to win upon the people, and save them from acceptance of doctrines which we regard as destructively erroneous, it must not be by the use of weapons forged in the workshops of the world — weapons of sarcasm and invective, weapons of strife and debate, weapons of insinuation and repartee, weapons of rhetoric and oratory, weapons of man's wis- dom, or man's strength — but it must be by the simple exposition in life and word of the pure and unadulterated Gospel of Christ ; it must be by using our parishes with diligent zeal as a field in which we may, by life and doctrine, recommend unto others the (lospel, the greatness of whose transforming powers we have manifestly experienced for ourselves. There is no need for us to run in alarm into the excess of emo- tional appeal; and though we see, with distress, that the spiritual power as well as the ecclesiastical position of the English Church is being sorely endangered by the excesses into which the fanaticism of the Ritualist has carried him, there is no need that our resentment should find expression (as unhappily it has done in the i)ast) in futile, though well intentioned, efforts to restrain wrongdoers by a recourse to civil tribunals. Our wisdom is calmly, soberly, and yet with reso- lution, to take as our method for propagating the truths which we hold the well-tried, decent, and orderly plans, traditional in our Church, and convincingly upheld by exjierience. "Om.' [)arisli," as \)x. Vaiighan has said— "One parish ordered as it ought to be, in all the services, public and private, of a constituted, a consistent, a self-denying, Christ-loving ministry, will do more, not only in its testimony for good, but even in its aggression upon the forces of evil, 40 ATTITUDE OF EVANGELICAL TOWARD HIGH CHURCH PARTY. than all the volumes of all the controversialists of all the centuries." No, " the weapons of our warfare are not carnal." We are to • contend, not with force, but with meekness of wisdom, and with the persuasiveness of truth — the Word of God our only sword. This was one of the root principles of St. Paul's ministry. If he reproved, it was done in the spirit of meekness (Gal. v. i); or if he defended his own authority, it was still in the same spirit (II. Cor. x. i). Again, when the time of his departure was at hand, and he would leave his last instructions with his son Timothy, he closes his summary of the character of ministerial work by showing the need of a gentle spirit : " The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose them- selves." And in the conduct of his own ministry, of which the sole weapon was Truth, there is a grand silent lesson for us now, when the noises of a hundred controversies stun the Church; when we are trying to force our own tenets on our neighbours, and denouncing those who differ from us, foolishly thinking that the wrath of man will work the righteousness of God. It is not thus we may hope to be given the victory. " Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." It is more than right, it is our bounden duty, to seek to have our views prevail, but we shall never accomplish this object except by frank and full reliance on the in- herent strength and persuasive power of the truth which in those views is embodied. Magna est Veritas, et pnevalebit. Away with carnal weapons, with policy, craft, and reliance on personal influence! Let us commit ourselves solely to the Truth that has been given to us, and " by manifestation of the truth'" commend ourselves "to every man's conscience." The truth shall stand when all else fails, and every refuge of lies is :Avept away. And if we meet with those that contradict us, in place of angry shouts of war, of defiance, recrimi- nation, and controversy, let us seek to be clothed with more oi spiritual strength, and resist all attempted encroachment by out-praying, out- preaching, flutworking them. But while shunning, as a rule, all controversy, there should be nothing, as I think, in our attitude that savours of fear or timidity. As in the case of "higher criticism," so in that of ''High churchman- ship," it is matter for regret that the epithet carries with it the suspi- cion of a claim to some sort of superiority over other criticism and other churchmanship ; and the working of this suspicion is to be seen ATTITUDE OF EVANGELICAL TOWARD HIGH CHURCH PARTY. 4 1 as well in the generally supercilious attitude of the Anglican priest towards his Evangelical brother in the ministry as in the general avoidance by Evangelicals of all reference to " the Church "—their lower views regarding which being apparently held as stamped with a certain inferiority to which it would be well that attention should not be called. Hence arises a very serious fault — a grave and serious tactical blunder — in our bearing towards the High Church- men. We concede to them an advantage which, though purely imaginary, is none the less effectual in undermining our confidence in the security and worth of our position, and in determining us in an attitude of timidity, almost fear, towards those whose main strength seems to lie in the boldness of their assumption of some superior efficacy as attaching to their ministration in the sanctuary. With all possible earnestness would I deprecate this timidity. We need more faith — faith in the truth of the Gospel which we count it our glory to preach ; faith in the power of that truth to defy all attempts to displace it ; faith in Cod, from whom that saving truth proceeded ; faith in preaching that truth ; faith based on the ofttimes repeated assurance that it is not through the eye, but through the ear, that its light is carried into the soul. Let those who will make their boast of the Eucharist as " the highest act of Christian worship " ; let them seek to make their " altars " attractive, and by all that is impressive in art and imposing in religious ceremonial seek to win men to heartfelt devotion ; let them make what they will of the water of baj)tism, and subordinate all to the grace of the sacraments ; let all their thoughts be given up to symbolic decoration and furniture, and their talk be from morning till night of "Church privileges" — they may think that, in virtue of this, they are High Churchmen : but, however high they nia\ be, we may claim notwithstanding to be higher than they, as not being content with merely clinging to the I^ody, though that liody be the Body of Christ, but determined to reiich higher than all .. 'er members, beyond and above all ('hunh ordinances and organiza- tions, beyond the ordained clergy and the appointed sacraments — not, indeed, despising them, but determined ncjt to rest in them ; valuing them higher, but determined not to use them save as stepping stones, as means of grace, means towards a higher end : let those who will stoj) short of what we aim at, and make their boast of the Church, of the sacraments and aj)ostolical succession. 42 ATTITUDE OF EVANGELICAL TOWARD HIGH CHURCH PARTY. but they will be called by a misnomer High Churchmen. They really hold far lower views than we do. Ours are the higher views, antl ours the more lofty aspirations. Onward and upward do we ever strive to climb ; onward, too, and upward do we ever point our hearers, until we reach the very highest, and lay actual hold upon the Head. Then only can we pause, then only stop. And in this upward march and movement we may cast a very pit)'ing glance upon the arrogant claims of High Churchmen. We are aiming at a height that is higher than theirs. It is our aim to be "holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourish- ment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of Cod." Am I wrong in the thought that the greatest danger which threatens the Evangelical cause is our own timid bearing in the presence of those who oppose it ? I have seen it myself yet again and again -seen it on both sides of the Atlantic— how a single High Churchman in an I'^vangelical neighbourhood can throw^ that whole neighbourhood into i)anic : whereas a single Evangelical in the midst of High Churchmen is so treated with contemptuous indifference that his nothingness is burnt into his soul, and in cases not a few, losing heart altogether, he loses faith in his principles, and passes over to the camj) of the Ritualists. If asked the secret of the growing strength of the Ritualists, I would wholly put it down to the fear which they are able to inspire — a needless, groundless, most unreasonable fear, but strangely, notwithstanding, real. It is owing to this, if at all, that our influence is on the wane amongst the l)eu|)le. 'i'hcy have no taste at all for Ritualism, to the bulk of them it is utterly ulihorrent : but with regard to a distinctive Evangelicalism that needless fear of which I speak betrays itself, to the loss of the attractiveness which naturally belongs to its prmciples ; ii takes the rmg of assurance from our tones in proclaiming them : it gives a deprecating hesitancy to our utterances, and stamps tlum with an unconvin(Hng feebleness. What we need is more enthusiasm - the enthusiasim which springs out of con- viction—conviction, not so much that those others are wrong as that wc are in the ri^^lit, not that we are in exclusive possession of the truth, but that the truths which we hold are Gcnrs truths, indestructible, eternal, and saving— vom'xcXxoxy, too, that we are the truest of Churchmen, that our title is, of all men's, the least open to question to jjlace in that historic Church whose articles we accept ATTITUDE OF EVANGELICAL TOWARD HIGH CHURCH PARTV. 43 and by whose formularies we stand, and that in seeking an ever- increasing acceptance for that priceless treasure of apostolic order, evangelic truth, and devout and reverent worship, which she has received in trust for the souls of men, we are doing more than others to broaden and deepen the foundation of the Church of our fathers, and securing her stability in the future against whatever the storms that may threaten her. The Ritualists are formidable because regarded so. Possunt quia posse videntur. Herein lies a fault to be corrected by us. \\c need more courage— the courage which is the outcome of faith. " Our fears are traitors."" A curiously interesting discussion has been going on in the Wcstini/isfer Gazette, started by a statement to the effect that " Ritualism has no root in English public opinion, but appealed at most to a section of the upper middle classes," and the position was maintained that " Ritualism qua Ritualism has done nothing at all to touch the working classes. It is not Ritual- ism, it is the Ritualists." That is to say, wiien so-called Ritualists have been devout, saintly, self-.sacrilicing, hard-working men, their virtues have attracted and captivated the people- in s[)ite of their unwelcome ritual. And this is exactly what Father Stanton, of St. Alban's, confesses. Asked whether he succeeded by Ritualism in attaching the people to the church, the famous Ritualist replied : "No, but in spite of it.'" A confirmatory evidence is found in the fact that when a famous Ritualist, Mr. Tooth, was at St. James', Hatcham, the communicants never exceeded fifty. Xow, under the ministry of an earnest Evangelic-al, they number a thousand. It was precisely the same at Bordesley, liirmingham, where .Mr. Enraght, a Ritualist, was disjjossessed, and an 1^-angelical api)ointed to succeed him. That church, from having I)een one of the weakest, is one of the strongest in Hirmingliam. And the deduction from this is most ol)\ious ; The\- are ham- pered, we are unhampered ; let them not in zeal surpass us, but "wherein they glory, let them be found d'?v« fzj- 7iic." Let us fear- lessly stand u[) before them with a challenge such as that of St. Paul to his impugner.i : "Seeing that many glory after the flesh, 1 will glory also. ... 1 sjjcak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howl)eit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) 1 am bold also. Are they zealous? so am I. Are they .self-.sacrificing ? so am I. Are they ministers of C'hrist? (1 44 ATTITUDE OF EVANGELICAL TOWARD HIGH CHURCH PARTY. speak as a fool) / am more ; in labours more abundantly, in journeyings often, in labour and travail, in watchings often The (lod and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not." I would advocate, then, as concerning the attitude to be adopted by Evangelicals towards Ritualists— that extreme wing of the High Church army — that, it be marked by no controversy, but be one of fearless independence and courageous zeal. And to this I would add that there be nothing seen in us of compromise. Very plausible, indeed, is the argument that the matters in dispute are most trivial — a mere vestment, a mere posture, a mere ceremony. But things unimportant in themselves become important when they become significant of other things. A certain coloured ribbon which might please one's fancy harmlessly at other times becomes no longer a matter of indifference when party feelings rise to height at the elections. When the wars of York and Lancaster deluged England with blood through the greater part of two centuries, no man, I apprehend, supposed it was the colour of roses about which they were contending ; but I am afraid that the man who should have adopted the plan, in pretence of the interests of peace, of wearing the red rose one day and the white the next would have fared badly between the two parties ; and verily, if the clergy will be doing a like thing, the fault is their own if they be mistrusted on both sides, and ha\e their best intentions misinterpreted. The fact is that war has been declared within the pale of our own Protestant Church against the Protestant faith. Blood has flowed — the blood of the holiest and wisest, flowed al)undantly and widely — about prayers for the dead, and the worship of saints, and the value of ordinances, and the nature of Christ's presence in the sacrament ; and if these questions now be all reopened, it is not 7ve who are on the aggressive : our stay is by the old decisions. ^Ve make no attack upon the tastes of others for white and black, \\'ednesday or Thursday, fish or flesh. We 7verc at peace, and then it did not siij^nify. ^^'care now attacked — besieged in our own entrenchments ; and these are not circum-'ances under which we should hoist our enemies' colours, and cede our outworks at their early summons. Rather is it assuredly in decision, not in compromises, that our path of duty and of safety lies. Actjuiescence in the externa^ peculiarities of Ritualism is not matter at all of indifference, for they ATTITUDK OF EVANGELICAL TOWARD HIGH CHURCH PARTY. 45 are now made the signs of things. Forms which at another time were at least harmless, and to some minds might have been helpful, like the meat offered in an idol's temple, have gathered harm from their intent. The form still may be nothing, the hour nothing, and the place be nothing ; at another time it were enough that every man be persuaded in his own mind, and that whatever be done be done in the faith of the Son of Ciod ; for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. " But there is not in every man this knowledge," and now that they tell us that these things are necessary to salvation, are efficacious to salvation, are, in fact, part and portion of salvation, through which we are regenerated, justified, sanctified, and saved, it is nothing less than to sin against the brethren, and to sin against Christ — -to become participants in the dishonour of the one and the destruction of the other — if we conform in the Church to their practices, adopt their language, and copy their ways. We need to take as our motto ^" Distinctiveness^ It is not too much to say that the glory of (lod, the work of Christ, the ministra- tion of the Spirit, the essential doctrines of revealed truth, every just ground of hope and promise for eternal life, are assailed by the camp of the Ritualists. Signs are far from being wanting that alarm is being felt by High Churchmen, as they watch the fantastic excesses into which the extreme wing of their party is hurrying. Popery has said that she asks no more than they concede. In- fidelity might well say the same of some of the things they have written. Dear should be the Church of England to our hearts, as the birthplace of our souls, and the fold in which we have hitherto found sustenance. Hut its present dangers are the theme of every tongue ; religious separation and Romish encroachments are as the trenches dug by a besieging army round about this honoured fortress of our faith, preparing for its overthrow. As long as she is a light that giveth light to them that are in her hous •. the gates of hell will not prevail against her. But if they that sit .v'.thin her walls must once more sit in darkness, if the shechinah of Evangelical light is to be withdrawn, her clergy assisting and her people consenting, if the time has come that Cod has done with her, we know that she must pass away as the most hallowed instruments of this world has done ; and it may be for us "to watch her fall, incompetent to save." But, (iod forbid I May He raise up many who shall have the courage and self-possession to bear their Master's banner unscathed 46 ATTITUDE OF EVANGELICAL TOWAKD HIGH CHURCH PARTY. through the enemies' lines, without making it a call to arms — an unavailing strife of words to no good issue; but bringing the light of truth convincingly to bear upon the minds of them that are in error. ^\'e have the truth, and (lod forbid that we should sell it I In the early "':nvn of the (Christian era it was borne to the ear of our fathers. It brought life and light into their rude abode ; it infused grandeur and nobility into tlieir ruggetl characters ; it shed a halo of peace and hope around their sylvan groves. But, little by little, the truth was sold : little by little did the false interlopers steal the heaven-sent heritage away, until the trut' seemed almost to have fled from their shores. At length, however, the awakening came. A remembrance of what had been was kindled, a desire for, a craving after, the old faith was engendered, and our fathers determined to buy back the truth, and ihey bought it. Home and friends and life itself were the cost to not a few of their buying it ; l>ut, thank (lod, they gave all that ihey might be given once again to possess it. And they have beijueathed that truth to us -in all its purity, in all its integrity, in all its pristine beauty. The inheritance has come down to us; Cod grant we may not sell it again, but against all the corruptions of superstition preserve to oin- well-beloved Church of England the character whi( h Cardinal Newman once di'spairinglv pronounced to belong to b.er, of being •' ho[)eIessly and irreniediablv Protestant." CHAIRMAN'S OPENING ADDRESS Bv Sir L. 'I'm, lev, CIhair.man. WHEN accepting the invitation to preside at this meeting, he did so all the more readily because he was assured that, while the statements of the several speakers would he made with all frankness, all parties would be treated with Christian courtesy. He might be pardoned for expressing even at this stage of the proceedings his conviction that the result of these meetings would be found to be beneficial, not only to our Church, but to the cause of religion generally. Should nothing more be done than the publi- cation of the admirable sermon delivered by the Rector of Char- lottetown on Monday evening last, the able papers contributed by distinguished Churchmen who were unavoidably absent, and the speeches delivered to-day at the (.'(jnference by members, and the placing of the same in the hands of Churchmen generally, the work of the Conference will have proved a success. He seldom took part in theological controversies, but it appeared to him that, in view of what is taking place in England, and of recent events in Canada, the members of the Church of l-jigland in Canada who hold Evan^eli- cal views are not only warranted in giving the reasons for the hope that is in them, but at the same time sounding the note of alarm. He had read of late, and not without interest, the o[)inion of the Pope with reference to the vexed question of the c<:)nflict between capital and labour, and also his reference to the present and [)rosi)ect- ive religious opinions of the people of ICngland. His Holiness appears to have received such evidence with reference to the latter as to lead him to the conclu.sion that the day is not far distant when England will cease to be Protestant and become Roman Catholic. The opinion and {)ractice of a very consider.ible number of the clergy of the Church of England and their congregations seem to rr"! 48 chairman's oi'f:nin(; address. warrant him in entertaining this hope. Cardinal Vaughan, the head of the Roman Cathohc Church in England, appears to entertain like views, the result of the same circumstances. Cardinal Vaughan is credited with having made statements that would, if warranted, appear to justify his conclusions. He enters into particulars as to the opinions and practices of many of the clergy and congregations of the Church of England that indicate that all that is necessary for their admission into the Church of Rome is their acceptance of the Pope as their head. He, the speaker, had been anxiously looking for some contradiction of these statements. They may have been made ; if they have, they had not reached his eye. On the contrary, a con- firmatory statement had recently been made by a distinguished minister of the Church, no less a person than Archdeacon Farrar, of St. (ieorge's (Jhurch, Westminster, London. He sounds the alarm in no unmistakable language. Would that all Churchmen would take heed ! A most remarkable correspondence has taken place between Viscount Halifax, the President ofthe English Church Union, and the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Spain. In the President's letter he condemns, in strong language, the act of the Archbishop of Dublin in having consecrated a bishop to take the spiritual charge of a body of Reformers who had separated fron:! the Roman Catholic Church in Spain, and apologizes, as an English Churchman, for the act referred to, practically declaring that when the adherents of the Roman Catholic Church are a majority in any country a Protestant bishop should not be recognized. If Lord Halifax represents the views of the members of his mission, their attitude is an alarming one, as it is well known that in its member- ship there are many high dignitaries of the Church, both in England and the colonies. We will naturally be anxious to see whether or not his course is justihed by his associates. He confessed that the position of affairs was sufficiently alarm- ing to warrant the members of the Church to be up and doing, and in defence of their cherished and deadly bought liberty, he asked, could it be possible that the blood of the martyrs had been shed in vain ? God forbid ! The evidence so clearly presented by the reverend gentleman in his sermon on Monday evening, by the papers prepared by the able divines and professors and read at the Conference to-day, and the arguments presented by the speakers as well, showed in the most chairman's opening address. 4g conclusive manner that the opinions held by Evangelical Church- men are m strict accordance with theThirty nine Articles of ourChurch and with the Book of Common Prayer, and were so clear and logical that they might be considered unanswerable. The tv^o parlies in the Church are generally known as Low Church and High Chi-rch the Evangelicals being called " Low Church," a designation ohen accepted by them. He had felt that this was a mistake, and he was more than ever convinced of this after hearing the able defence recently presented. He claimed, and did so most emphatically, that the Evangelical members of the Church, both clergy and laity, were the ''True Church- men," and had a right .o be so recognized. His early religious opinions and convictions had been formed under the teaching of such devoted men as the late Rev. Canon Harrison, the late Rev. Dr. Wm. Gray, and the late Rev. Geo, Armstrong, more especially under the tea-hing of the former. He had been led to recognize but one mediator between God and man, that mediator was Christ Jesus ; this appeared to be the scriptural view, and on that founda- tion he was bound to stand. Some fifty years ago, he was a subscriber to a Church paper published in Upper Canada. The editor was a devoted Churchman, perhaps considered somewhat High at that time, but who might be clas. -d among moderate men at the present time. In one of his leading editorials he dwelt upon the great work that the Church had performed at home and in the colonies, but seemed to apprehend even at that time that troublous times were in store for her. He concluded his able and loving article by a few verses, expressive of his devotion to the Church of his fathers. Would that we were all actuated by his sacrificing spirit ! I have never forgotten his words, though read fifty years ago. I will, in conclusion, repeat the words : Then, say, shall the Church which our forefathers built, Which the tempests of ages have battered in vain, Abandoned by some, from sufferings or guilt, Oh, say, shall it fall by the vile or profane ? No ! perish the impious hand that would take One shred from its altars, one stone from its towers 1 The life-t)l()od of martyrs had flown for its sake, And its fall, if it fall, shall be ledeemed with ours. EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE Bv Rev. W. J. Armitage, Rector of St. Tho.mas' Church, St. Catharines. THE age in which we live is pre-eminently a reading age, an age of intellectual improvement ; education has advanced, and is more widely diffused than ever before, and books, which were at one time the property of the few, may now be possessed by all. The quick- ening influence of mind upon mind, once restricted to personal intercourse, through the speaker, the preacher, the teacher, has now, perhaps, its highest instrument in the printing press. The love of reading may now be gratified by millions, where thousands could enjoy it a century ago, and hundreds but a short period before. Literature is to-day, perhaps, the mightiest factor in the uplifting of our race ; and alas ! too, when it is evil, in its degradation. It is acknowledged on all hands that the human mind was never more active than at present. It is the age of enquiry, the age of criticism, when a reason must be given for the reception of every new opinion, for the principles we profess, for the institutions we uphold, and for the faith that is in us. It is not sufficient now to make bare statements ; proofs are required. There is not only a bolder, but a more earnest spirit abroad. There are advantages and disadvantages to be seen in the spirit of the day. The spirit of entjuiry is good, the cultivation of the critical faculty is a healthy sign, l)ut there is danger in many directions, from scepticism and religious bigotry, and also from the acceptance of crude and ill-digested opinions, which are being pressed upon us from every quarter. ********* Those Churchmen who are loyal to the Reformation have on their side the best part of the literature of the English Church. These principles have called to their elucidation and defence the EVANCELICAL THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE. Church's ablest miinis. The views of the Sacerdotalists are new in our Reformed Church. Newman himself had to confess that, apart from a period covering about two generations in the time of Laud, they were not held nor taught until the Oxford movement. The Sacerdotal views pressed upon us with -o much zeal are either mediaeval or the fruit of modern Romanism. They are repudiated by the great English divines. There has ever been in the Church great variety of opinion in non-essentials, and the Church of Cranmer, Jewel, and Hooker has contained Laud, Andrewes, Cosin, Bull, and Bramhall. But the old High Churchmen were loyal to the Reformation, while the modern Ritualist hates and abhors it, and wishes to undo its work. Even Laud, the most suspected of all, would acknowledge no infallible rule but Scripture, and said of apostolical succession : "I do not find any of the ancient fathers that makes local, personal, visible, and continued succession a necessary mark or sign of the true Church in any one place." And on the scaffold he claimed, in strange contrast to the modern Ritualist, who hates the word : " I have always lived in the Protes- tant religion established in England, and in that I come now to die." The loyal Churchman should not only understand his principles, he should also know the best way to propagate and defend them. It is not enough to claim that we are right ; we must be able to show upon what ground we believe our principles to be true, and why the medieval teaching is wrong. The writings of the Reformers themselves should be studied, for they throw a marvellous light upon the opinions of the men who, under God, swept our Ciiurch free from the accretions of Romish error and superstition. 'I'hey assist, too, in the interpretation of the Prayer Book services, and the formularies of the Churcli. As the Rev. Dyson Hague points out, "The key to the Prayer Book, con- sidered as a whole, is the theology of England's Bishop Reformers. Enter into their sentiments, and an understanding of the doctrinal difficulties is at once arrived at. Realize their doctrinal position,, and the interpretation of ritual directions is at once unfolded." The writings of the Reformers are now brought within the reach of all through the publications of the Parker Society. They furnish a per- fect armoury of defence and offence for the Reformation position. The lives of the Reformers should be studied by all Churchmen. His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury has lately called attention 5 2 EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE. to the value of the Reformation, and to the scholarship of the Reformers. The Archbishop holds that the Reformation was the greatest event in the history of Christendom since the days of the apostles, and that it was conducted by persons of very high capacity and of the largest knowledge. It is important to understand the position and teaching of the Churchmen who wielded influence in Elizabeth's reign. Foremost among them was Bishop Jewel, whom Hooker describes as " The worthiest divine that Christendom hath bred for some hundreds of years." His "Apology of the Church of England" is a monument of learning, and a vindication of the doctrines of the Church of England against the corruptions of Rome. It was placed in all parish churches in Elizabeth's time. Hooker stands out as the great master mind and clearest exponent of Anglican theology, to whom all appeal. Archdeacon Farrar says that High Churchmen taught him in his youth to regard Hooker " as the one truest and soundest representative of the theology of the Church of England." The clergy should be familiar with the works of one so thoroughly on the Reformation side, and it would be well for the laity at least to understand his main positions. I would recommend ihem to read, at least, his fifth book. Arch- bishop Usher, of the sister Church of Ireland, one of the first scholars in Europe, was also a strong advocate of the Reformation position. It is a remarkable thing that, almost without exception, every great English commentator has bjen opposed to Sacerdotalism. The list is a very weighty one, from Matthew Henry, Thomas Scott, and Fool, down to Bishop Westcott in our own day. I'he great names of this, and of the generation preceding us, are nearly all on the side of the Reformation. iJishop Lightfoot took strong ground, and he was the most learned Churchman of modern times, uniting vast scholarshij) with a spirit of candour and fLiirness. He summed ui) our position in a famous sentence, " Above all, the kingdom of Clirist has no sacerdotal system." And, again, " It interposes no sacrificial tribe or class between Cod and man." Hishoi) I,ightfoot teaches us the absolute safety of our position, and cuts the ground from under the priest |)arty in the Church. His commentaries on (ialatian-, I'hilippians, and Colossians should be in the hands of every Church clergyman. Lightfoot's celebratetl essay on the "Christian Ministry" can only be obtained in England bound up with F.VAXCIEIJCAL THEOLOCWCAL LITERATURE. 53 other works, and is very expensive. A\'e are able to obtain it in Canada in separate form, through the Protestant Churchmen's Union, at the cost of a few cents. Near Lightfoot stands his friend and successor, l^ishop \\'estcott, the greatest living theologian of the English Church, strong in the department of Biblical criticism, a ' master in the discussion of the relation of religion to philosophy, modern thought, and social problems. His commentary on St. John should be in every Churchman's library, while his "Cospelof Life," his " Clospel of the Resurrec- tion," his " Bible in the Church," and his commentary on Hebrews, are invaluable to every clergyman. Not to know Westcott is to be outside of the current of religious thought in the Church to-day. Bishop Ellicott is another great commentator whose writings deserve the closest study. Dean Alford's commentary is too well known to need commendation. He was offered the bishopric of New Bruns- wick in 1844, but perhaj)s ('anada's loss was the world's gain. It is only possible to give a brief reference to many commentators, and to indicate their typical wqrks. Bishop Perowne has edited " The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges." His brothers work on the Epistle to the Calatians in that series, and his own larger work on the Psalms, are worthy of special notice. Dean Plumptre's work is both learned and practical. I would specially commend his Ecclesiastes, and hisEpistle of James. 1 )ean Vaughan is a sound expositor and preacher whose works cannot be too widely circulated. I consider Bishof) Ryle's " Thoughts on the Gospels " of peculiar value to preaches, speakers, and teachers. I have found them most helpful in my own work. Principal Moule's writings hold a high place in the religious world to-day. He is exact in scholarshii), sound in his judgment, and deeply spiritual in tone. I commend especially his commentaries on the Romans in the Ex[)Ositor's Series, and on Romans, Ei)hesians, and Philippians in the (,'ambridge Bil)le Series. Enough has been said to show that a majority of our great expositors are on the side of the Reformation. On the other side there is Pusey, who was compared by Pope Pius IX. to the bell which is always ringing the people to church, but does not itself go in. He was an authority on the Old Testament, but not on the New. Wordsworth, though of the High (!hurch school, considered Rome the harlot of Revela- tion. And Sadler, the latest Sacerdotal advoiMle, fails to prove his assumption that the teachiti,' of the Ritualists is Bible truth. It is 54 EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE. important that the well-instructed Churchman should have a fair knowledge of the Thirty-nine Articles. For, as Bishop Harold Browne pointed out, the Articles "Thus drawn up, subscribed, and authorized have the . . . unanimous and solemn assent of all the bishops and clergy of the Church, and of the two universities, for well- nigh three hundred years." They set forth the teaching of our faith, as drawn from Holy Scripture. For their study, such books are recommended as Boultbee's " Theology of the Church of England," and the excellent manual by Principal Moule, "Outlines of Christian Doctrine." The Prayer Book, with the Articles, furnishes the Churchman with the mind of the Church concerning doctrine and practice. Its study is duty. There are standard books which should be read. Blakeney's larger work occupies a high place, while his handbook on the Liturgy is one of the most useful volumes I know of, and should be in every Churchman's library for study and for reference. There is a sound and helpful manual on the American book by Dr. Butler, of the Philadelphia Divinity School, which is not without interest to Canadian Churchmen. Most useful, sound, and practical, as Bishop Ryle, Bishop Sweatman, Archdeacon Sinclair, and others have pointed out, is the Rev. Dyson Hague's " Protestantism of the Prayer Book," which I should like to see in the homes of our Church people throughout the Dominion. In sermons. Churchmen loyal to the Reformation have pro- duced many of the best in our literature. The highest type of sermons is necessarily Evangelical, and we can point, among a host of others, to Magee and Thomson, to Boyd Carpenter, to M'Neile, to iNIelvill, to Law, to Bickersteth, to Alford, to Vaughan, to Bradley, to Lefroy, to Webb-Peploe, to Farrar, and to Phillips Brooks. For ordinary Sunday reading on the part of our laity, I would name Bradley's sermons, and the valuable series by Dean Vaughan, Vaughan of Brighton, and by Canon Clayton. The Churchman who looks for a sermon as an aid to his spiritual development, the clergyman who seeks for a model for his discourse, or for contact with the best minds, will find in the sermonic literature set forth by Evangelicals, and by adherents of the Reformation, some of the ablest productions of the day. In the field of history, there are many works which should be mentioned. And, foremost of all, I would place Dr. Edersheim's EVANGELICAF. THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 55 monumental work, "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah." Archdeacon Farrar's "Life of Christ," and Cunningham Geikie's "Life and Words of Christ," are both well known ; as is also Farrar's " Early Days of Christianity." The early Church period can be studied in Smith's "History of the Christian Church," in Professor Kurtz's "Church History," while Dr. Schaff s volumes are of special value, and Green's "History of the English People" throws a light in the earlier chapters upon the introduction of Christianity into Eng- land. The history of the Reformation needs special study at this time. Geikie's "History of the Reformation," while it has its limita- tions, is a valuable work, and most readab e and instructive is Beckett's " Reformation in England." For closer study Fisher's " Reformation " and Kurtz's second volume of his " Church History " are most useful. Those who wish to go further afield, and for family reading, will find D'Aubigne's " History of the Reformation " to contain a thrilling account of its great events. In questions concerning the Church, its constitution, ministry, and sacraments, and the controversies connected with them, Bishop Lighlfoot's essay on the "Christian Ministry" stands supreme; it has never been answered, and is, in fact, unanswerable. Most useful, too, is Dr. Jacob's "Ecclesiastical Polity of the New Testament,' while for information and illustration Hatch's "Lectures" and his "Christian Institutions," applying modern methods of historical investigation, and Lefroy's "Christian Ministry," though the last named is unequal, may be used with great advantage. In this field there are many books of value which it is difficult to classify. For instance, Goode's " Divine Rule of Faith and Practice"; no loyal Churchman can afford to be without Bishop Ryle's " Knots Untied," a volume dealing with the great questions at issue m the Church ; while Dean Stanley's "Christian Institutions" strips bare, as he traces their secular and late origin, all the distinctive points of ceremonial, dress, and ritual which .idvanced High Churchmen value. In small compass, also, might be mentioned Odom's " Church of England, Her Principles, Ministry, and Sacraments," and Barnes-Lawrence's very succinct lectures on present-day controversies, " A Churchman to Churchmen." In the department of devotional literature, there is much of value, but there is still room for the preparation of manuals, and for their wide circulation. It is our [irinciple to send our people to the Scriptures for their spiritual upbuilding, and to expect them to find 56 evangf:licai. throlocicai, literature. all they need there. One of the evils of the day lies in the desire to read about the truths of the Bil)le, rather than the Bible itself. Now, the Sacerdotal movement owes much of its outward success to the compilation and circulation of Romish books of devotion. Against the practice Bishop Wilberforce and other High Churchmen raised their voices, but it still goes on. There is a demand for devotional works, and rightly used and of the right class, as Baxter's "Saints' Rest," have f;bundantly proved that they do much good. Such manuals as Moule's " At the Holy Communion," his " Thoughts "on ' The Spiritual Life," on " Prayer," on "Union with Christ," on "Christian Sanctity " ; as W. O. Burton's communicants' manual, as Bishop Oxenden's " Earnest Communicant," as Bickersteth on Prayer, and the Holy Communion, are most powerful in their influx ice. Tracts have always been found most powerful agencies for the dissemination of religious truth. Bishop Ryle claims that "St. Paul's Epistles, when first sent forth, were only tracts." They furnish a cheap, handy, and convenient way of spreading opinions abroad. There is a prejudice against them, but when Canon Knox- Little dates his first serious religious impressions to one of Ryle's tracts, and the Rev, E. A. Stuart acknowledges that a tract led to his conversion, and it is well known that one of Ryle's tracts led to the formation of the Reformed Mexican Church, such evidence alone would be sufficent to justify their use. Bishop Ryle is the prince of tract write'-s. He has written over 300, and they have attained a circulation of between twelve and fifteen millions. Over 20,000 have been circulated in Canada through the Protestant Churchmen's Union. The Church Association tracts are invaluable ; they form a perfect armoury for controversial purposes. As a rule, they are pre- pared by experts who are perfectly competent to deal with dis- puted points, legal, historical, and theological. To know them is to be thoroughly armed for the Ritualistic controversy. There are a number worthy of special mention. The tracts on Confession, the Priesthood, Prayers for the Dead, by Archdeacon 'J'aylor, are most sound and practical ; while those on the Eastward Position, by Bishop Ryle ; on Vestments, by Mr. Valpy ; on the Prayer Book, by Dr. Boultbee; on the Protestantism of the English Church, by Dr. Fleming ; on what we owe to the Reformation, by Bishop Ryle ; on Spiritual Life, by Archdeacon Richardson, are of permanent value. The pamphlets by Mr. T. J. Tomlinson, of whom Lord Grimthorpe EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 57 says that he is one of half a dozen of people in England who understand the points at issue, show deep learning and wide research. The publications of the National Protestant Church Union deserve to be circulated far and wide. The Union has done signal service by issuing in tract form Archdeacon Farrar's able articles in the Contemporary Reinew on " Sacerdotalism," and " Undoing the Work of the Reformation." F'ive thousand of the latter tract have been purchased for circulation in Canada by the Protestant Church- men's Union of Toronto. Of other publications Hugh Stowell's " Fourteen Reasons Why I am a Churchman," and Lord Grimthorpe's masterly refutation of Sadler's extreme Romanizing views, in his "Church Doctrine — Bible Truth." It is useful to Churchmen, though their own convictions are based on the Word of God, to have the extreme views of such partisans brought out into the clear light of day, where their premises are shown to be erroneous, their quotations irrelevant — indeed, often garbled and so mutilated as to be made to teach the reverse of what they do mean. It is helpful, too, to be shown that we have the real succession, the succession of truth, through Cranmer, Ridley, Jewel, Hooker, Field, Jackson, and Lightfoot, down to the present time. It is the plain duty of those who value the principles of the Reformation, in the face of attack now made openly upon them, to use every means within their power to spread the light and truth. Foremost among these agencies is the printing press. Money spent in distributing good literature is, as a rule, money spent both wisely and well. It was by the aid of the printing press that the views of the Reformers were carried throughout Europe. We are not taking advantage of our opportunities in Canada. There is much spiritual and intellectual apathy to be overcome. We should be the foremost in the use of the press. The publications of the Protestant Church- men's Union of Toronto should be more largely utilized, and the circulation of The Evangelical Churchman and Parish and Home greatly increased. We should be foremost in every good work, specially that connected with the diffusion of sound spiritual and truly scriptural literature and tracts. While the press has been a powerful means for good, the cheap press has brought with it many evils, and has depraved the public taste in many directions. There are thousands who read nothing but newspapers and cheap novels. 58 EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE. I do not despise newspapers ; they are good in their place, and a means of general enhghtenment. Cheap light literature, where it is good, has also its place, but, unfortunately, much of it is bad in quality, and by its cheapness it is driving out good books, and preventing our people from purchasing volumes of permanent use- fulness. Our clergy and educated laity can do much in the way of cultivating a purer taste, and in exciting an appetite for better intellectual food. It would be a good thing to have a depository for the sale of Evangelical literature in every large centre. Our friends in the other camp are most active, as the Kilburn Sisters, working under half a dozen aliases, show. Then, such a book as Staley's "Catholic Religion," which aims at being the handbook of the Romanizing school, but which sets all history at defiance, and which repeats many oft-refuted fallacies, while it is blind to facts, is circulated by the priest party with a zeal worthy of a better cause. It is our clear duty to do all in our power to extend the influence of all books, sermons, and tracts which represent the true scriptural teaching of our Church. The activity of our opponents makes it imperative upon us to be first in sacrifice, first in action, first in zeal for the spread of Christ's truth in the land, and for its preservation in all Its power and in all its purity in our beloved Church. CHURCH MUSIC. By Rev. J. M. Snowuon. THE question of "Church Music" is one that has come very prominently to the front in the last few years, and especially in our own communion, and very properly so, seeing that it affects so closely the spirituality of our worship. It would not be in the prov- ince of a paper like this to attempt a diffuse history of Church music from the earliest times, in which mention is made of the singing of congregations of people during worship down to the very extensive selection of Church music which is the outcome of the musical development of the last few years. I must content myself with briefly noticing a few principal points in this long history, and draw from what records we have of the past, and from the experiences of the present, some practical ideas to guide us in the conduct of our Church music of to-day. The first mentions of music are so bare and fragmentary as to be useless, except as mere statements that, shortly after the world's birth, musical sounds were recognized as distinct from mere noise. The knowledge that Jubal was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ is far from signifying that the kinf Df instruments, so dear to the modern organist, is of greater antiquity than the flood. The word " organ " here is an unsatisfactory translation of a word designating some instrument of exceedingly rudimentary char- acter, and probably of the pipe class. Amongst the Jews music was undoubtedly a recognized element in the worship of Jehovah. In the Psalms of David we have music not only consecrated to religion, but breathed upon by God Himself, in the words and use of those deathless productions, that re-echo every joy and sorrow of the human heart : " I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt lovingly with me." " Sing unto the ^° CHURCH Mb.SIC. Lord, O ye saints, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holi- ness." " Praise the Lord with the harp, sing unto him with a new song, play skilfully with a loud noise." "O come, let us sing unto the Lord, and make a joyful noise to the God of our salvation." The first great choir is David's two hundred and eighty-eight tramed voices and instrumentalists, leaders and teachers of four thousand smgers and players who ofificiated by courses in the taber- nacle service, and in the days of Solomon made the temple services perhaps the stateliest and grandest ever offered to Almighty God. As for the worship of the Christian Church, music has not only been characteristic of its whole history, but, amidst the description of the subhme idea which the word "Church" presents to us, music m Its influence and use has done more to foster unuy than any other form of worship we know of, for no strain of real soul music, however born can ever remain sectarian, or no words of worshipping praise coupled with music that speaks to the heart can ever find its real destiny apart from universal life. As to the exact character of the music which formed a part of the religious devotions of the early Christian congregations, we have no very exact information. It was, however, purely vocal ; instru- mental was excluded because it was associated with the depraved estivit.es of the heathen. The more the new religion found disciples the more it was found necessary to bring unity into the form of the Church service; and as the singing of hymns and psalms formed a principal part of it, St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, in the latter part o the fourth century, not only encouraged the setting and composing of hymns, but he also collected many among those already in use and h.story attributes to him the having chosen and fixed four scales as foundation for the music of hymns. But in those times, though new Christian churches sprang up everywhere, in spite of persecution, it was not yet possible to pursue a umtorm manner in the music which made such an essential part of he service. he melodies and chants of St. Ambrose changed and lost much of their primitive purity It was then reserved for St. Gregory the Great, who was at the ear the Christian Church from 591 to 604, to reform and regen da>s of Gregory to our own times the great power of music, as con- CHURCH MUSIC. 6 1 nected with sacred things, has swept on its course— conquering always— and will sweep on into eternity— conquering ever. We may know little of the heavenly state that God calls us to through Jesus Christ, but we know that amidst the sound of harpers, harping with their harps, the ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, the great host of the redeemed of (lod, with voice as of many waters and of great thunders, will sing the new song that no living man could learn, and whose echoes ".ill reverberate through eternity itself. But to return a moment to the music of St. Gregory. While I do not pretend to the musical knowledge to offer criticism thereon, I would like to call attention to one feature of it, and that is that the chants and tunes of those days were comprised in a very small com- pass, so that, whether the general character of tune were joyous or otherwise, it would be easily within the compass of any voice ; and so, too, there can be no doubt that the music of St. Ambrose was both congregational and stirring. St. Augustine, his friend, speaks of the great delight he received in hearing the singing of hymns and psalms at the Church of Milan in the following terms: "How did I weep in thy hymns and canti- cles, touched to the quick by the sweet attuned Church ! The voices flowed into my ears and the truth distilled into my heart, whence the affections of my devotions overflowed and tears ran down, and happy was I therein." Unfortunately, too often nowadays, our choirs are prone to undertake music elaborated beyond their capacity, and cause our tears to run down from emotions the very reverse of those of St. Augustine. And this leads me to speak of that much-discussed question of congregational as opposed to choir singing. There are two distinct styles of service in the Church of England— the Cathe- dral and the Parish Church. In the former it is necessary to have the music so performed that it can be listened to with pleasure and profit, for the usual arrangement of a cathedral is not convenient for congregational worship, owing mainly to the position of the choir, they being separated from the people by a choir screen, on which the organ is frequently placed ; but the necessity of having music in which the people can join has been found in some at least of the cathedrals of the old country. 62 CHURCH MUSIC. The late Archbishop of York felt that something had to be done to enal)le the people to participate in the service. A powerful organ was erected in the nave of the minster especially adapted to accom- pany a large number of voices. Seats were also arranged for the choir, which was increased to twice its ordinary strength. The result was on Sunday evenings a congregation of from six to seven thousand, and the effect of this large number singing some well-known hymn was grand, solemn, and overpowering. Hundreds have visited York because of the magnificent singing. And there is no reason why, in their measure, the services of our parish churches should not have the same stimulating effect of drawing people together in divine worship. In the ordinary parochial services the music should be of a character that will allow everybody to join without difficulty, and it is to this end that our efforts must be directed. The attempt to imitate English cathedral services in Canadian parish churches has seldom been to edification. On the other hand, who does not know from his own experience the inspiration there is in having a congre- gation join heartily in the singing of some well-known hymn ? If we cannot have elaborate singing, we can at least have hearty singing. Says a preacher of our own day : "A singing church is a triumphant church. If a congregation is silent during the exercise, or partially silent, it is the silence of death. If when the hymn is given out you hear the faint hum here and there of a father and mother in Israel, while the vast majority are silent, that minister of Christ who is conducting the service needs to have a very strong constitution if he does not get the chills. He needs not only the grace of God, but nerves like whalebone. I really believe, if the Church of Christ could rise up and sing as it ought to sing, that where we have a hundred souls brought into the kingdom of Christ there would be a thousand." But if we are to get our people to join thus heartily in our ser- vices, we must have plain, hearty, and inspiring tunes and chants. To me it is one of the most melancholy things I know of to see a congregation standing with lips mute and arms folded, gazing at a choir painfully struggling with the elaborate music of some service Te Deum or anthem evidently beyond their musical capacity. Says Bishop How, of Wakefield, in a short paper in The Church Worker : "There is one thing in our services which I now and then meet with, and which makes me growl inwardly when I do CHURCH MUSIC. 63 — it is difficult and uncongregational music. I know that iiere we are treading on delicate ground, for you know we have to please our choirs, and we owe them a debt of gratitude. They do so much to brighten and beautify our services, but I hope they will not be mortally offended if I hint that sometimes the music is just a Utile difficult for those who are not accomplished musicians. I confess I cannot the least tell what is being sung in an anthem if I have not the words before me ; and when I look at our people, with no books of words, just standing patiently till it is over, I do often feel how I should like to subi^titute some well-known and well-loved hymn for the anthem. Mina you," he says, "I don't want to banish anthems altogether, and, where care is taken that all should have the words, they may be very devotional; but do let us aim at simple and intel- ligible music, and do let us ask our choirs to believe that a simple hymn tune, very beautifully sung, is appreciated by ten times as many people as a scientific and elaborate anthem." Before passing from this subject of congregational singing, I would like to enter my protest against the too common practice, on such bright and joyous festivals as Easter and Christmas, when every Christian wants to lift up his voice in song, of making this impossible by the introduction of what is called "special music." Let us by all means have our anthem, and let the words be given to the people ; but let us not, especially at such times, shut out our congregations from those parts of the service that properly belong to them. As regards the singing of the prayers, such as the " General Confession," it is an outrage on common sense, and admits of no discussion. When we come to the question of surpliced or mixed choirs, we have to remember that there exists in the minds of very many of our people so strong a prejudice against the latter that their introduction would be, no matter what their individual merit, the very reverse of edifying. There is no good ground for this prejudice, which is con- fined almost entirely to our own country, but its existence will not be ignored by any clergyman who has the best interests of his people at heart. Leaving out this adverse feeling referred to, then it becomes a question of getting the best choir possible. If a surpliced choir meets our need most effectively, then let us have it ; but if (and I think this will be found the case in most Canadian parish churches) a mixed choir can be most serviceable, then let us have that. When 64 CHURCH MUSIC. I say we should have the best available choir, I do not for one moment wish to be understood as advocating the admission of either men or women, in surpHces or out of surplices, on the one consider- ation that they are musical, without any reference to their Christian walk and conversation. Over and over again have we seen the services of God's house sadly marred by the irreverent behaviour of members of the choir who were chosen simply for their voice qualification. What can be more painful than to see, as we do sometimes, members of a choir talking and laughing during the time of prayer, then rising up to lead us in singing "Jesu, Lover of my Soul" ? In this matter, we of the ministry are not altogether blameless. We have been too ready to overlook these things because of the difficulty of getting voices. We have not impressed upon our choir people the absolute necessity of reverential singing. W^e have devotional meetings for our Sunday School teachers and other Church workers, and we try to get them together from time to time for special communion services, but how often do we take like interest in the spirituality of those who are to lead us in singing Clod's praises ? How many of us are careful that our choir practices are commenced by asking the divine guidance and blessing? We cannot impress too strongly on our own minds, and on the minds of the members of our choirs, that the most glorious words of praise, set to the most exquisite music and sung by the loveliest voices, have no melody in the ears of God if they are not the utterance of the heart. They are but a harsh jangle of discordant sounds, the heart being out of harmony with the words, and they never can be heard in heaven. There is an old legend that illustrates this. The story goes that, many years ago, many holy men were living in the desert, far away from the busy haunts of men, each in his solitary cave or hut alone with God. Every day they were in the habit of meeting together to chant the Psalms. They were old, and their voices were feeble and unmusical, hut their hearts were full of the love of God, and they sang 'heir best, they could do no more. One day there came to the hut of these old men a boy, who had lost his way in the desert, and asked for shelter. The old men received him kindly, and shared with him their evening meal. Then the old men assembled together for their evensong, and the boy joined with them. He had such a beautiful voice that the old men all became silent in admira- CIIIKCH MUSIC. 65 tion. Tlicy persuaded him lo stay the next day and the next, and stood listening as to the voire of an angel when the boy sang so sweetly the sacred words which they could only chant so feebly and unmelodiously. But one night one of these K'. I have been asked to say something also on the subject of organist. I have spoken of the absolute necessity of reverence on the part of our choirs, if their singing is to be acceptaule to God or edifying to the congregation ; but this is an impossibility if the organist or choir leader sets an example of irreverence. Undoubtedly, we have amongst our organists many Christian men and women, who love the worship of the house of (lod, and who undertake their work in the proper spirit. Where a church is pos- sessed of such an organist, my advice is, stick to him, even though his playing may not be the most brilliant. On the other hand, we have organists who are shockingly irrev- erent. They are constantly talking to the members of the choir or turning over their music, and acting as if they had no concern with any part of the service except the singing. When you get an organist of that description, no matter how gifted as a musician, there is but one thing to be done, and that is, get rid of him speedily. By all means, let us have men who have the spirit of music within them, but it is of transcendent importance to have men who have the Spirit of Christ. In what I have said I do not wish to be understood as under rating the power of good music to lift up the soul to Cod ; I am only entering my protest against the devotional aspect being sacrifice J to the scientific. I quite agree with the words of the late Canon Kingsley : " Is not the righteous man recompensed on the earth every time he hears a strain of noble music ? To him who has his treasure in heaven, music speaks about that treasure, things far too deep for words. Music speaks to him of whatsoever is just, true, pure, lovely, of good report — of whatsoever is manful and ennobling — of whatsoever is worthy of praise and honour. Music: to that mar' speaks of a divine order and a divine proportion — of a divine harmony through all the discords and confusions of men — of a divine melody through all the cries and groans of sin and sorrow." Let us remember that the spirit of music is the gift of Cod, and its sacred use has had His seal of divine approval again and again [)laced upon it. Let us remember, too, that it is a gift i)estowed on higher beiniis than man — that the angels sang with joy as the glories CHl'RCH ML'SIC. 67 of creation lay beneath them—that as heralds, all bright and beauti- ful, they made all heaven ring with song when Christ was born. On angels and man alike (lod has bestowed the precious gift, that, whilst they use it to glorify Him above, we should use it in praise l»elow, to swell His giory on earth as well as in the courts of heaven. "'-^=5C^|<§}!^'" THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNITY By Rev. J)r. Sheraton, Wycliffe Coi.fecje, Toronto. AMONc; the religious phenomena of the day, there is none more significant than the widespread longing for Christian unity, for a clearer andjfuller realization of that oneness of His people for which Jesus prayed. Protestant Christendom is conscious of the weakness of division, and the waste of power and resources from which it suffers, as well as of the unseemliness of sectarian strife. Nevertheless the obstacles to the organic union of the Churches are very great, in sectarian pride, denominational interests, partial and defective views of truth, and misconceptions as to the very nature of Christian unity. These difficulties'exist in every denomination, but I purpose to discuss the question with special reference to the existing condition of things in our own communion. It is very evident that our conception of the nature of Christian union, and of the best means for its promotion, will largely depend upon the views we hold as to the nature of the Catholic Church. In our own [communion we find in existence two opposing theories as to the nature of the Church. The one theory defines the Church by its outward characteristics of form and organization; the other h ory defines it by its inward characteristics, faith in Christ, and the fruits of righteousness which spring from a living faith. The former theory makes the essential being of the Church to consist in what is external and visible, the succession of the episcopate and the administration of the sacraments. The latter theory makes the essential nature of the Church to consist in what is spiritual and ethical, in the great realities of truth, love, and righteousness, in the THH CATHOLIC CHURCH AM) CHkI>TIA\ LMTV. 69 lifeof (;od in the hearts of Christians, through the presence and power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Those who hold the former, the Sacerdotal, theory do not deny the existence of the spiritual realities. They admit that there ought to be in the Church an inner life, invisible to the human eye ; but they make this inner life and these spiritual realities dependent upon what is external and visible, the succession of the episcopate and the functions of the priesthood. As Haddon puts it: " Without bishops no presbyters; without bishops and presbyters no legitimate certainty of sacraments: without sacraments no certain union with the mystical body of Christ, viz., with His Church ; without this no certain union with Christ: and without that union no salvation." Salvation itself, or, at least, the certainty of salvation (for the human heart of the sternest Sacerdotal dogmatist shrinks from the logical consequences of his own theory, and leaves a kind of back-stairs entrance into the kingdom of God by means of uncovenanted mercy), is made depend ent upon the external organization of the visible Church. Now, this theory does not depend simply upon the view that Episcopacy is the one form of Church government which possesses an irrevocable jus divinum. Men have held the divine right of Episcopacy as the only legitimate form of Church government, as they have held the divine right of Presbyterianism or of Independency, without being Sacerdotali.sts. The theory cuts much deeper than that. It is not, except incidentally, a matter of Church government at all. It depends, as Mr. Gore, of the Pusey House, lays down, upon two essential elements, '' The existence of a sacerdotal ministr>, and the divine appointment of this ministry through the mediation of a mmisterial succession" — what is commonly called "apostolic succession"— and, accordingly, Mr. (iore delines Sacerdotalism tt) be " the belief in certain individuals, ordained m a certain way, being the exclusive instrument, in the divine covenant, of sacramental graces." This theory of the Church, then, rests upon two assumptions which to us Protestants seem not only untenable, but absolutely alien to Christianity. The limits of this brief paper do not j^ermit me to discuss them. I can only ([uote the cleatly enunciated declaration of Bishop Eightfoot : "The kingdom of Christ has no sacerdotal system. It interposes no sacrificial tribe or class between God and man, by whose intervention alone God is reconciled, and yo IHli CAIHOLIC CHURCH AM) CHKlSllAN UMIA. man forgiven. Each individual member holds personal communion with the divine Head. To Him immediately he is responsible, and from Him directly he obtains pardon and draws strength." Again he says : " For communicating instruction and for preserving pulilic order, for conducting religious worship and for dispensing social charities, it became necessary to appoint special officers ; but the priestly functions and privileges of the Christian people are never regarded as transferred, or even delegated, to these officers. They are called stewards or messengers of (lod, servants or ministers of the Church, and the like : but the sacerdotal title is never once conferred upon them. The only priests under the (iospel, designated as such in the New Testament, are the saints, the members of the Christian brotherhood; as individuals, all Christians are priests alike. . . . The most exalted office in the Church, the highest gift of the Spirit, conveyed no sacerdotal right which was not enjoyed by the humblest member of the Christian community." Let us turn now to the Protestant and Evangelical doctrine of the Church. This theory does not ignore or disparage the external constitution and ordinances of the Christian Church. All the Prot- estant confessions maintain that the C'hurch manifests its inner life by means of visible ordinances. But they regard what is visible in the Church, its external organization, public worship and ordi- nances, as the consequent and result of its visible life. We affirm that the being of the Church lies in what is invisible and spiritual, that what is external and visible in the Church is the result and manifestation of the inner and invisible life, and not its ground and basis, as the Sacerdotal theory affirms. This is the crucial point of differences between the two views of the Church, as the Roman ("atholic theologian Mohler clearly apprehended. Xow, he says, "can the differences, between the Catholic and the Lutheran view (of the Church) be reduced to a short, accurate, and definite expr-ission? The Catholics teach the visible Church is first, then comes the invisible ; the former gives birth to the latter. On the other hand, the Lutherans say the reverse ; from the invisible emerges the visible Church, and the former is the groundwork of the latter"; and he expressively adds, " In this apparently very un- important opposition, a prodigious difference is avowed." ("Sym- bolism.'' section 48.) THI' (ATllMlK ( tit K( H \M> (HKIXIAN IMIN. 7I The Creetl, in which we confess our I)elief in the Catholic Church, dt.'fincs it to be "the Communion of the Saints," that is, the fellowship, the brotherhood, of all who belong to Jesus Christ, all who have surrendered themselves to Him in the voluntary self- devotion of faith.. 'I'his ancient definition was reatifirmed at the Reformation. In our Communion service, the Church is defined as "the blessed company of all faithful (believing) people." It is more explicitly defined in the Homily for Whitsunday : " The true Church is a universal congregation or fellowship of (jod's faithful and elect people."' The("huri:h is a fellowship, and the fellowshij) is constituted by faith in Christ. The foundation of the Church is (."hrist. The crucified and risen Redeemer is the basis and ground of man's fellowship with (iod. It was not St. Peter's person, but St. Peter's faith, which was in our Lord's mind when He approved of his great confession. In St. Peter's Epistle (ch. ii. 4-S) we have the best comment upon our Lord's words. He makes it very plain that he regarded Christ Himself as the Living Stone upon which the Church is built, and believers as those who, by means of their faith itself, are built up into the fabric of the eternal temple. So Archbishop Leigluon, in his commentary on this passage, says: "To be built on C'hrist is [)lainly to believe in Him." 'i'hus 15ishnp Mcllvaine plainly puts it: "The soul's coming to Christ is his life: his drawing life from Christ is his union with Him ; and in that very union unto Christ is contained and involved his being built up in His true Church." It is the act of faith that builds us upon Christ and into the living temple, the fellowshi|) of believers. Accordingly* Hooker declares: " That which linketh Christ to us is His mere mercy and love towards us ; that which tieth us to Him is our faith in the promised salvation revealed in His word of truth." .Xnd so he tells us that "faith is the ground .md glory .'f all the welfare of this building." Thus the Catholic Churcl- has no existence apart from believers. They constitute it. That which makes a man a Christian makes him a member of the Cath.-)li<" Church, namely, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 'i'his is the basal [)rincii)le of the Christian life: and it is the basal principle of the Christian Church. So that in its essential being the Churcii o{ Christ is simply the fellowship of believers i;i Christ. Accordingly. Hooker declares: 72 I'HI. CATHOMC CHURCH AM) CHkl.^TIAN IMl'S. " That Church which is Christ's mystical Bociy consisteth of none but only true Israelites, true sons of Abraham, true servants and saints of C'loci." Bishop Ridley affirms: "That Church which is Christ's Body, and of which Christ is the Head, standeth only of living stones and true Christians, not only outwardly in name and title, but inwardly in heart and truth." Bishop Jeremy Taylor declares: "The mere profession of Christianity makes no man a member of Christ ; nothing but a faith working by love." Again, he says: "The invisible part of the visible Church, that is, the true servants of Christ, only are the Church." Dr. Jackson, President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in the early part of the seventeenth century, a divine whom Dr. Pusey has characterized as " one of the best and greatest niinds the Church of England has nurtured," in his brief treatise on e Church, declares : " The Catholic Church, in the prime sense, consists only of such men as are actual and indissoluble members of Christ's mystical body, or of such as have the Catholic faith, not only sown in their brains or understanding, but thoroughly rooted in their hearts." He declares " the live members of the Catholic Church " to be " those only in whom Christ dwelleth in faith." There is but one Church, the Body of Christ. There can be no other. It is Catholic, or Universal, because it comprehends within its fellowship, as Archbishop Usher says, "The multitude of all those that have, do, or shall believe unto the world's end." "This," says Dr. Jackson, "we commonly call the invisible Church." Hut this Church, invisible as to its essential being, the great spiritual realities of faith and love, necessarily becomes visible in the world. The Church manifests its unseen fellowship by means of visible ordinances. Its visibility is the result and manifestation of the invisible life. He who believes with his heart must make confes- sion with his mouth. He who loves his brethren must manifest his love in speech and in deed. Thus the creeds and confessions of the Church are the result and outcome of the faith of Christians. The worship of the Church is the external and united expression of the piety, reverence, and faith of its members. The preaching of the Church is the proclamation of its faith , the setting forth of the truth God has revealed, which it has by faith received. The good works of the Church are the outcome and fruit of the inner and hidden life of the Spirit. The individual religious life has not only its THI-: cAiHOi.ic cnikcn anm» chkisiian lnitn. 73 personal fruits in character and conduct ; but also necessarily its social expression, for the faith which unites us to Christ makes us also members one of another. There must be external organization for worship, and our public confession of the faith ; for the services and ministries of love, both on behalf of members of the Church, and for the needy and sorrowful world for which Christ died ; and for the promulgation and preaching of the Gospel in obedience to Christ's command. Accordingly, the external organization of the Church, its offices, ministries, and services, were gradually constructed, evolved, out of material already existing inhuman society and in its social and political institutions. The Apostles did not begin with the external polity. They went forth and preached the Cospel. Those who believed were made by their faith members of the fellowship of which Christ is the living Head. The believers united together in worship and in work; at first, without any definite organization, but as the Church increased organization was imperative, and was gradually formed as the necessity demanded. Thus, as I, echler points out, "an external association arose out of the purely internal community of faith." As we have already observed, the relative position of cause and effect assigned to the external and internal, to the visible and material on the one hand, and to the invisible and spiritual on the other hand, constitutes the crucial difference between the Sacerdotal and Evangelical doctrines of the Church. Enough has been said to show that it is no mere question of words, and to justify the impor- tance attached to it even by that acute Romanist, Mahler. It would not be to much to say that the whole conception of religion and the entire compass of theology is more or less affected according to our standpoint here. We can now only briefly deal with one of the issues involved, the one specially before us, the unity of the Church of Christ. Upon what basis can the unity of the Churches be advanced ? Is unity upon a Sacerdotal basis pradit-able, or desirable ? The Sacerdotal theory of the Church confounds unity with uniformity. True unity i' a life process. It i)roceeds from within, outwards. It cannot be wrought out by any merely external process, by synodical enactment and ecclesiastical procedure. These may be useful in facilitating and advancing the manifestation of unity, in 74 I'll'. CAJllDI.K LllUKCll AMI CHKIMIAN I M I A . removinj^' legal hindrances, in i^iving effect to the aspirations and convictions of Ciiristian men, and in regulating the methods of co- operation and federation to which the spirit of unity may lead. Hut they cannot originate or maintain unity. Mere uniformity is a method of repression and restriction, destructive of thought and of that freedom which is of the very essence of religion. Instead of promoting, it has often hindered unity by precluding the full and free expression of thought and conviction. The .Sacerdotal theory of unity has only one complete and self- consistent embodiment, that is, in the system of the Church of Rome. As it teaches that theChurchis in its essential being an external society, so it claims for itself external unity, the whole body being subject to one visible head. There is thus secured throughout the Roman com- munion a manifest unity of purpose and of action. Hut, in reality, it is only the appearance of unity, maintained by the deadly processes of repression and restriction. The Tractarian, or Anglo Catholic, as he prefers to be called, cliims that the true Church is made up of three distinct bodies — the Anglican, the Roman, and the Eastern, overlooking also the fact that the latter is, as 1 )ean Stanley called it, a congeries of discordant sects. .Assurei ly unity cannot be predicated of .1 visible society between whose various divisions there is not only no mtercommunion, but actu.tl antagonism. 'I'he English articles denounce Roman dogmas as blasphemous errors. Rome formally excommunicates England. There is neither uniformity of worship, agreement of doctrine, nor connection of government between these bodies. And yet this theory asserts that they, and they alone, con- stitute the one Church of Christ. How self-contradictory is such an assumption ! We have lately seen how Rome regards the advances towards union with herself made by Anglican Sacerdotalists. Can they approach Protestant Christendom with any better hope of success ? A strange olive branch they bear, seeing that their (irst word for them is a denial cf their orders and their Church standing. " No community which is without the succession can be a Church of Christ,' is the dictum of Palmer in his " Treatise of the Church of Christ " a recognized Tractarian authority, Even the amiable Dean Cioulburn as resolutely maintains the absolute necessity of episcopacy to the existence of a Church. It is a strange infatuation which can [\i\: CAIllOl.U (lUKCIl \Nh tHKIMIAN LM1\. 75 hold 10 such an assumption in the hcc of the teaching of Scripture, the facts of history, and tlie workings of the divine Spirit amongst those who are thus abandoned to the vague refuge of uncovenanted mercies. But how. we ask, can those who maintain this view talk .)f unity with the Protestant Churches? The Tractarian message to non-Episcopal communions is only the sveak echo r. Rome's iiltimatum to themselves. It is not union, but submission, which is s11.\N IMIA. 77 our own Church, merely because I believe it to be the best and most scriptural and profitable form in which to establish the kingdom of (jod. 1 desire to seek no extension of the Episcopal Church but by the extension of truth and righteousness. I desire to feel a most affectionate and prayerful interest in the success of the labours of all other denominations of Christians, in proportion as they labour m word and doctrine according to the mind of Christ." Let us all heartily unite in the prayer the good Hishop offers : " From anything like a sectarian spirit, 1 pray Thee, good 1-ord, deliver me ! " In seeking to enter into relations of co-operation and union with other communions, we must lay down no conditions which Christ Himself has not imposed. Holy Scripture sets forth the mind of Christ, and if, as our Sixth Article affirms, we must recjuire nothing that is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, as a condition of salvation, no more must we impose it as a condition of intercommunion. As Principal Caven said at the Toronto Con- ference on Unity, " We should carefully avoid making anything essential to the integrity of the Church which her Lord has not made essential. . . . Nothing which is not set forth in Scripture should enter into the credenda of the Church, or be laid as duty upon the conscience." That which is not necessary for admission into the fellowship of the saints in heaven cannot surely be necessary for admission into the communion of the saints on earth. That which is not essential to the constitution of the Church triumphant cannot be put forward as essential to the constitution and unity of the Church militant. If we hinder Christian fellowship and Church unity by unscriptural pretensions and demands, we become schismatics, and incur the guilt of schism, as we shall surely reap its penalties in the isolation and impoverishment of our Church life. Let us cultivate a wise discrimination between things essential and non-essential, and apply to all the wise and gracious maxim of Rupertus Meldenius : " In necessariis unitas, in nan iwa'ssariis liberUn, in utris II.W I'M IN. I'resl)yterian Church of the United States, and lie emphatically records, concerning his greeting to them, that in it he took pains to acknowledge them as a Church. * Why should he have needed to emphasize this recognition ? As a protest against the teachings of what Archdeacon Farrar aptly calls " the mushroom school," which during the last forty years has done its utmost to disown and discredit the recognition of our sister Protestant Churches, which has been freely accorded for three hundred years l^y all the great divines and fathers of our Church. No one will have the hardihood to ([uestion what was the position and teaching of the Church of England in regard to these non-l'4)iscopal communions in the face of the testimony of Hishop Hall, the champion of episcopacy, who, at the instance of Archbishop Laud, wrote a defence of its " Divine Right," and who affirms : "'I'hose particular Churches to whom this power and faculty (of e[)iscopacy) is denied lose nothing of the true essence of a Cluuch, though they miss something of their glory and [)erfection." " There is no difference," he says, " in any essential matter between the Church of J-^ngland and her sisters of the Reformation, The only difference is in the form of outward administration ; wherein, also, we are so far agreed as that we all profess this form not to be es'jential to the being of a Church." Let us, then, labour to secure practical co-operation with other I'rotestant Churches. Possibly, we hope, probably, this will lead up t . federation, and even, ',t Cod's good time, to organic union. l>ut certainly this is the practical course to take to secure that ultimate yoal : firs;, recognition, then co-operation, and then federation. The fatal mistake on the part of those who arranged the [)rogramme of the 'I'oronto Conference wr;s to begin with the ultimate (juestion, and to refuse to consider le intermediaries, by which alone that goal can ever be reachea. The only r^>ally adequate and enduring expression of Christian fellowship is to be found in united action in Christian work. There is abundant room for such co-operation, and pressing necessity for it. In a measure, it has been tried in the foreign mission field. The home field, with all its waste of resources and unnecessary duplication of agencies, urgently demands it. A policy (>f isolation is most injurious to ourselves. We thereby deprive ourselves of t!ie stimulus and enrichment which result from fellowship with the manifold varieties of s[iiritual endowment. By iipi»i|«,WWIPMI*.>"""357"^ THL fAlHOlIC tHLKC II AND CHKISTIAX L'MTV 79 co-operation and intercommunion with others, we brin^^ blessing to our glorious heritage, and make it more v orthy of our affection. I beheve that the Church of England possesses a splendid vantage as the unifier of Protestantism, if she only holds fast to the Reformation settlement, and is not misled by the false lights of a spurious catholicity, which is, in reality, the narrowest sectarianism. Let us, then, as l':vangetical Churchmen, have the courage of our opinions, and, while we fervently love and are thoroughly loyal to our own communion, let us never seek to exalt her by unscnptural pretensions. Let us cherish love and brotherhood towards all Protestant and Evangelical Churches : and let us seek to realize within our own communion, in all their [jurity and power, those I':vangelical Catholic principles which alone can furnish the secure and sufficient basis of a reunited Christendom. ijr^ :*^r^ THE CHRrSTIAN'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE WORLD llN (). OsliOKNK 'I'ROtll', St. MaKIIN's RlXTORN-, MONTKKAl.. TO the inspired pen of the same apostle, we owe the striking words : " Love not the world," and "(lod so loved the world." These two passages throw light upon each other, and upon the sub- ject of this paper. Noth'ng is more clear than that a (X'rtain love of the world is absolutely forbidden to the ("hristian. " Know ye not," sternly demands St. James—" Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with (lod ?" And he adds : " Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of (lod." " I.ove not the world," cries the beloved disciple, " neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the i ather is not in him. l-'or all that is in the world, the h"it of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." The Lord Christ speaks of the world as an enemy which He Himself has overcome ; and by His own triumph He cheers His followers on to share His victor). Again, He prays for His disciples that, though left in the world, they may be kept from the evil. 'I'hey are (as He was) /// the world, but not i/the world ; and, just because of their unworldliness, therefore are they by the world hated. On the other hand, it is e(|ually clear that a (Xrtain love of the world is absolutely essential to the very life of the Christian : " I'or (lod so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life." Christ so loved the world that He " tasted death "--and that the death of the cross — " for every man " in it. The Holy Spirit so loves the world that every man saved out of it owes His salvation to Him, whose otifice it is to 'Convince the world of sin and of right- eousness and of judgment." IHK CUKISI IAN's ATTiriMtK TOWARDS lUK WORM). Hi Moreover, Christ has left an exami)le that we should follow in His steps. He has shown us in His (jwn earthly life just what unworldliness means. Thouifh spotted by the world's spitting and cruel blows and wounds, He yet kept Himself "unspotted from the world." Men could stain Him with the marks of His own blood, but they were powerless to stain His pure, unworldly life. He was willing to die U)X the wcjrldly, but not willing'to compromise with the least remnant of their iniwordliness. Upon all this, it reasonably follows th;).t the Christian's attitude towards the world should be marked by Christ's love, on the one hand, and ('hrist's uncom[)romising hostility, on the other. He should love the world as C!hrist loved it, and in no other way. Tliis funda- mental princii)le, once establishe.l, may bi' rt-adily built upon ; or, to (^hange the figure, this simple rule will be found to ap])ly to every case. Hy it, on the one hand, the Christian is ])lainly forbidden to become "a man of tlic world'' : by it, on the other, \m: is encouraged M\(\ enabled to live as a citizen of heaven. If we may reverently believe, for example, that Christ would unhesitatingly o|)pose all worldly ways and means of raising money for His Church, surely His followers arr left without excuse in resort- ing to fashionable bazaars, and (Ciod forgive us!) even raflles and lotteries to advance His kingdom. If the Head of the Church said, " Make not my I'atht.-r's house a house of merchandise," surely the members of His body should neither buy, nor sell, nor rent the seats in His l''ather's houses now. lUit, in witnessing against tlusc pre valent evils, true (Christians will never forgi't that "the wrath of man worki'th not the righteousness of Ciod." Their op[)()sition must be permeated by genuine love. In pri\ate life ttie Christian nuist stand like a rock against the love of money, the following slavi;-hly after fashion, the fatal |)ride, whether of poverty or riches, the wasting of time, and mone\-, and health in the weary round of worldly anuisemeiits. Hut \\v must do this, not with the snarl of the cynic, nor with the hy|)ocrisy ol the Pharisee, but as one |)ossessc(l of the '\i^ood fart," and alhiring others by his own joyous life to "better things." He nuist iv.aki' it evident to all men that he is enjoying '' no7V in t/iis present time" Chri.st's promised '"huniredfold" c-\en though "with pi'rsei ulions" : and that he is therefore, with a well-grounded hoi)e. looking for eternal life in the world to come. Amen. THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE BELIEVER By Rev. Alan Danikl, Rector or Crapaud, P.E.I. PKRFEC"r holiness should be the ambition of every believer, an ambition which he cannot expect to have realized in this life, it is true, yet one toward which he should ever earnestly strive to rise. Holiness is a growth, and is governed by laws the same as, or similar to, those that govern physical growth. For instance, it is spontaneous. \Ne cannot make ourselves grow. Paul may plant and Apollos water, but it is (lod alone who gives the increase. All that we are asked to do, and all that we can do, is to see that our plant is supi)lied with those elements that growth recjuires. 'I'he boy grows, not as a result of his own effort, not as a consetiuence of his own willing or striving (no one, by taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature), but simply because in his daily life certain conditions of growth are complied with -he breathes in the purr air, takes food, exercise, rest. Such conditions as these being supplied, his development asks no more. His growth is not a matter of anxiety or care to him, it, i)erhaps, never once gives him a tl- ought ; all that is to be noted in his case is that, day after day, the conditions are complied with, and he steadily increases in stature. So with regard to growth in grace. We need not be anxiously careful about our actual advance or progress, as it is Cod alone who | L gives the increase. 'i'hat that we should be careful about is to see I || that we are complying with the conditions of spiritual growth— to see that we are living in th.e pro[)er atmosphere (the atmosphere of communion with Cod), partaking of the proper food (the sincere milk of the Word), engaged in the right exercise (running in the way of '/.od's commands), fuiding the true rest (resting in the Lord), for spiritual develoi)mcnt. tr 11