PASTORAL L ETTE

ADDRESSED TO THE

PROTESTANT EPISC OPAL C HURC H

11: mm

UNITED STA E S AMER C T OF I A ,

H O o U S E O F B I S H O P S

éb z n z r a l q n n z n t i u n u f ' a r c M h,

HEL D IN TEE

’ D 1 4. C it o ew Yoolc October A . 87 y f N , ,

P R I N T E D F O R T H E C O N ' E N T I O N '

1 8 74

T RAL ETTER PAS O L .

BRETHREN OF THE CL ERGY AND LAITY Within the three years which have elapsed since the ou Bishops of the Church addressed y by Pastoral Letter, not

' a few of our number have been released from their earthly m f inistries . The late Bishops o Ohio, of Massachusetts, and l of Illinois no longer assist in our counse s , which they were fl f wont largely to in uence . The late Bishop of Indiana, a ter f f years of suf ering and weary sickness, has ound rest ' while his brother of : Iowa was taken suddenly away by casualty in

' m SOu th the idst of labors . The blind Bishop of Carolina has ' hu mb l t r u st passed, we y , from darkness into light, an d Armi B ou r tage, almost the enjamin of House, fell sweetly on sleep ' E hile it was yet day . Our Missionary piscopate has lost in Bishop Randall one whose career was marked by energy and

' n self devotion . Africa has laid beneath the sod her Missio ary

Bishop Auer, just as he sought to set the battle in array, while we hear in the midst of our deliberations that the veteran f ' Payne, who preceded him , has ound his grave in irginia, beside the tomb of his fathers .

- l f Most suggestive is this roll cal o departed brethren , so f n various in gi ts and age, in the work give them while they the m ' lived, and anner of the death appointed them to die ' f ery ragrant is the memory of their Christian virtues, and d a well assured our hope that, in the y which shall try every ’ m n f h a s work o what sort it is, t ey shall find mercy and the reward of grace . The reports which have come before us afford gratifying evidence of even and steady progress throughout the whole

Church . Besides the mere increase of numbers, there is ex ’ pan si on and growth i n the agencies designed to seek Christ s f sheep , and to keep them rom harm . New dioceses have been erected , additional Missionary Bishops have been appoint

- da ed , Christian schools are established . To y, more than e ev r in this Church , men and women are rendering to God

' - b u t oi n their personal service not merely sending others, g g e themselves to seek the lost, to instruct the young , and to nurs the sick . We desire in this place to express our sense of the ex ’ ' c e e din g value of the ' Woman s Work that ha s been done ff in the Church , and to encourage its more extended e orts . h Whet er in the way of organized charitable associations , or f D i a a o eaconesses, or of Sisterhoods, t is now proven by ctu l i n results that women can do much relieving the sorrowful , in u d the reclaiming the vicious, and in phol ing the hands of l s hera ds of the Cross . We cheerfully recognize as helper in the Lord the faithful women of our communion who show f themselves succourers o many . h f We have, wit the concurrence o the Clerical and Lay D eputies, restricted the jurisdiction of our Foreign Missionary Y E r J Bishop at edo , to the mpi e of apan , and we propose, if l f God wi l, to consecrate another Bishop or the work in China, and yet another to preside over our Missions in Africa . Measures have b een devised to place the i nfant Church in n w i Haiti on an assured basis . At home, four e Miss onary E f piscopates have been created for Northern Texas, or West e rn f Texas, for Northern Cali ornia, and for New Mexico and

A n . e v re rizo a All these des rve igorous support , and will n ffi quire e larged contributions . It is ours to send the o cers to the front . It is yours to supply them helpers, and to lade them with such things as are necessary to prosecute their GOd work . And let us seek to realize that it is the Holy w ho sa n ctifie s Ghost alone enlightens, guides, sustains , and

-e s the Church , and let us pray that our Church at home and f i n f abroad, walking in the ear of the Lord and the com ort

e difie d . of that Holy One, may be and multiplied Be sd e s this external growth of the Chu rch we have reason to believe that there is a higher sense among man y of our people of the saintliness of their Christian calling, and a yearnin g after a more complete conformity t o the likeness of the Pure and Holy One . We note with much satisfaction the wide circulation of books by living writers which treat of t he f f f or li e of God in the soul o man , and the large demand the well- w orn manuals of devotion which have come down to h t us fromour An glican doctors . We may not forget t a there

- of ou r is danger in the very restlessness religious activities, without these correctives of quiet meditation and personal communion with the Fat her of all spirits . In contrast with these encouragements stands out the fact that the supply of candidates for Holy Orders is now i n a d e

' quate tomeet t he demand created by the organ ization of n e w m c . ongregations And , ore than this , but a small proportion

- of those who are admitted candidates are self supporting .

' We entreat you to ponder well these pregnant statements . ’ m The priest s office is not coveted by the any nay , it is ‘ a v oid e d by too many of the ingenuous a n d favored youth of u n re the country, whose parents are able to give them an

‘ stri c te d choice of profession . ’ If - this indisposition to consecrate on e s self or his children r of r f to the wo k the ministry be due to the g eed o wealth, to of the delusion that the accumulation an estate is, of right, the

‘ flu i n i f on e a r th controlling in ence the select on o our work , then we declare to you , in the name of the living God, that this is covetousness, which is idolatry ' this is to pervert the n f f v fi great desig o li e, and to re olt against the very rst condi f tion o Christian service, Make ready wherewith I may sup a n d gird thyself and serve Me till I have eaten and drunken ' f u an d a terwards tho shalt eat and drink . u Woe to the Christian yo th who , as he stands where the f f paths of li e diverge, inquires only which o these will lead f a most assuredly to gain and to promotion , instead o sking meekly, and first of all , Show thou me the way that I should ’ n walk in ' and woe to the father who, whe his son s eyes are n f u moistened with compassio or the m ltitude, seeks to distract his attention an d disturb his j udgment by obtruding on his n ‘ l sight a visio of e a rth y grea tness . We believe that many a young life ha s been clouded by this irreparable error in its n t f a f begin ing, ei her o not sking for a word rom the Lord , or . else of grieving the Spirit of God whispering in his heart the ' L e t admonition , the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God . s Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that He will end forth laborers into His harvest . Look ye out , men and brethren , o u t o u f t f look ye among y men o honest repor , ull of the Holy

i o m v . Ghost and w sd m, who we may appoint o er this business f r f Lend unto the Lord , ather or mothe , the goodliest o your ' ' u . young men , even thy son , thine only son , whom tho lovest t We set this our earnest exhortation in the firs place, With c a n unanimous consent, and with all the urgency we bring to ‘ this our official counsel, we entreat clergy and people to take aw ay the reproach which m u st be ours ' hile the children ask f f the bread o li e, and there is n o man that breaketh it unto them . Too often the Confirmation of our youths is deferred until it is too late so much as to . consider the claims of the sacred ‘ r a n minist y at all . We do not advise that y be hastily brought r a f t to this holy o dinance, without c re ul ins ruction and self scrutiny a n d earnest prayer to God . But we urge that in the r f o just discha ge o parental responsibility , you should enc urage your sons as well as your daughters early to renew their c ov e n a n t w se fic on se c rat ion ith God, and to make it a part of their l n to choose their vocatio in life according to His will, and not t their own mere na ural predilection . m The passion of the age i n which we live is Freedo . Its favorite watchword is Liberty . Noble words are these if we i n ' e i n use them their true significance . purpose this Pas toral to admonish you of the Glorious Liberty which ye have as f covenanted children o God , and to exhort you that ye hold it f f m e s . a t I the Son hath ade you free, then are ye fre indeed ' free t o believe all that is true and nothing that is false ' free to love all that is lovely and nothing that is evil free to do all that is right and nothing that is wrong free to covet all that is noble and naught that is vile . Such is Christian Liberty, a f re edom with limitations indeed , but limited in those respects only wherein the absence of restraint would be but another name for vassalage and cruel bondage . We desire to illustrate the true meaning of the Christian Liberty whereof ‘ we speak i n three several instances

o u . 1. The Faith y profess

2 . The Obedience you render ' and

'

3 shou l d a n ima te u se r ic e . . The Love which yo r y

1. The Liberty of Christian Faith .

Have faith in God is the first precept of our holy religion . C on fide r w i m in Him pe sonally , the ise and gracious One , as pl icitly as a child believes in his father . Believe His every

'

n woFd ' n n spoke , His i structio , His warning, and His pro m l ise ' for without such faith it is impossib e to please Him . f But belief is neither blind credulity nor en orced assent . ha s w n God His itnesses in nature and in provide ce, and by the mouth of these many witnesses it is proven that the Lord i s loving unto every man , and His mercy is over all His works . ' fa r n an d r e li e s u on In a higher sense, ith comes by hea i g, p that manifestation of the truth w hich commends itself to reason and to conscience . The sanctified intellect delights to explore every department of knowledge , to decipher the strange legend fl impressed upon the once uid rock , to unroll the papyrus, to analyze the mysterious processes of human thought and

f , consciousness . But none the less are we ree to recognize eternal truths, and , unappalled by mysteries or seeming con t ra di c tion s ffi v f to a rm the erity o the Christian story, which it is unreasonable to deny . But who knows not the presence of an arrogant scepticism ' f f b e h e vm which, in iew o our glorious liberty o g that God is

Love, and that His Son hath died , points at us the finger of derision as submitting to an intellectual bondage which dares not turn toward the light The Church seeks not to put out the eyes of scholars and investigators . She gladly welcomes all their contributionsto n human k owledge and to the wealth of human thought . But ' n she warns her children , in the prese ce of these little sys ' ' ' tems which have their day and cease to be, that they must not enslave themselves to the tyranny of transient r f theories, and forego their ight to hold ast that which is the

m - sa e yesterday, to day, and forever . R _ emember, brethren , that the religion which we profess is Th u f a religion of fact . e Creed y o recite is a rehearsal o e ' events that have happ ned in the olden days, and of hopes u s rely founded thereon . Our religion rests upon a historical basis as impregnable as

' when St . Paul at Thessalonica for three Sabbath days rea soned t o e n in a n d J out of the Scrip ures, p g alleging that this esus whom I preach unto you is Christ . The mere history of the successive philosophies which have held sway in the intellectual world, is of itself a labo . f rions study, and the discovery of revolutionary acts is con stan tly demanding the readjustment of hypothesis and theory . It is because the faith is sure and certain that its utterances can n ot be always made to harmonize with the half- known an d the variable . n ot e f It is Freedom , S rvitude,to hold ast the Faith once delivered to the Saints .

The Church has no quarrel with science . Far from it .

She ever welcomes science a s her ally and her friend . Her

f . quarrel is not with science, but with science alselyso called

' We warn you against the pretentious dogmatism , and especially against the atheistic materialism , which under the f b u t name o science presents, not its discoveries and its facts,

- cru de theories and tentative speculations . The long exploded f h errors o the past are thus, like ghosts, rising from t eir m graves, and seeking to resume their e pire over human t m me n though and hu an conduct, tempting to revive a i ' a o f species of Pagan sm, and miscall it the Adv nce ' Science .

D . 2 . The Liberty of Christian iscipline t o t Almighty God has b een pleased give us, not only fai h , ’ Ye b u t a discipline as well . are free, and yet the Lord s A t t o e e b free dmen . dmi ted the G neral Ass m ly and Church u , of the first born , ye are set in authority and nder authority ou set to rule over those whom God has confided to y , and admonished in turn to obey them that are over you in the

. Lord , and to submit yourselves to their just authority

And this appointed discipline is Liberty, not bondage . It f is Liberty to be the members o a great army, instead of

v u ' lonely ad ent rers, soldiers with a claim for guidance, pro t t i on w m e c , and sympathy, ith a right to de and your place beneath the shade and beside the wells of every Elim where the army finds its camp it is Liberty to have over you in the

Lord men who ha ve not dominion over your faith, but are J an d helpers of your joy, who preach Christ esus the Lord ’ J o in r themselves your servants for esus sake, ' y g and ejoicing ’ if the y b e ofle re d u p upon the sacrifice and service of your faith .

- The Divine Master is con siderate of our self respect . He

f . calls us, not servants, but riends He, and His Church fol f lowing His directions, have no secrets to hide rom obedient u n r and h mble mi ds ' no arbit ary rules, no minute prescriptions to bind upon the faithful .

’ ' ' Shal lf w e hat shall we say to these thing , because

’ frie n d s c e a se ' we are , to be dutiful Shall we, because we are under grace rather than law, scant our obedience, and . betray the Master’s honor that is confided to us As the very boldness with which we may come to the throne of grace f obliges us to profounder reverence, so the large reedom we enjoy in all the details of life and d u ty fu rnishes the highest

- argument for circumspection and self control . Our clergy have large liberty : shall they abuse the gen tl e n ess of Christ and the patience of their mother by pressing their own fancies and self- conceits to the utmost verge of canonical end u ran ce ' Shall they usurp the functions of the m h body that commissions the , and seek to make that Churc more Evangelical or more Catholic than her own formularies and ff ' a J ritual a ect to be When men sked ohn Baptist, Who art ' w i n ff thou he ans ered, e ect, that he was nobody a voice in

of . the wilderness, the mere breath a divine utterance How how ' f glorious is the Liberty, high the privilege o the clergy,

- t God to refrain from all self assertion , to ut er that only which u ff and His Church put into their mo ths, and to a ord the most Signal example of that obedience of faith which obeys law because it is the law . It is a part of the Liberty wherewith Christ has made us free to lift up all our domestic life into the pure atmosphere of f n n spiritual thought and eeling . Marriage is no lo ger a unio o of c nvenience , or a matter of civil contract . It is the one m n f n is blessed heirloo tra smitted rom the days of in ocence, it the type and emblemof that union which is bet w ixt Christ

. c and the Church The freedom of the haste , pure Christian home stands pree minent among the earthly blessin gs bestowed on us in Christ . t o How is it, then , that some among you have presumed put away a wife except for the cause of fornication We are d f distresse to know that some, under pretext o a civil divorce, m f have, without adequate cause, dis issed an uncongenial wi e f r r the or husband, and a te ma rying another, have profaned ' i fil holy sacrament by coming to t with a body thu s d e e d . a ssu r e re thre n n Be ye well d Beloved , that whatever lice se r may be tolerated by society and by civil courts, if any pe sons ’ w be j oined together other ise than as God s Word doth allow, i i their marr age s not lawfu l . Be admonished that if any n f cleave not to his wife, but u law ully marries another, and then f l comes to the table o the Lord , a though he doth carnally and visibly press wi th his teeth 'as Saint Augusti n e sai th'the Sac a d f n rament of the Body n Blood o Christ, yet in owise is he f partaker o Christ , but rather to his own condemnation doth eat and drink t he sign or sacrament of so great a thing

' f ou a r m In your reedom yet again , y e not under inute direction or prohibition concerning the manner of employing ’ Da O f the Lord s y, the bservances o domestic piety, the partici i n h pa t o in amusements or t e accumulation of gain . Much stu d1ou s ou trusted in all these particulars, how should y be to make the day of rest and praise honorable and holy, to m r aintain all the sanctities of the Ch istian home, to avoid fri v olit y and riot , and to take care that charity as well as 'ustice restrain you in asking all your dues, or in seeking your lawful profit ' h We tell you plainly , t at in these particulars some among i t b e i n flu you are greatly to be blamed . Whether due to the f n n f ence o a laxity of opinio imported amo g us rom abroad , n or to the demoralization of Contine tal travel , or to the want ’ f Da i s o lively interest in holy things , so it is that the Lord s y f f i n perverted rom its sacred uses o rest and worship , while m t he any homes throughout week , no voice of prayer is heard n at morning and at evening , and even the daily bread is eate

f G d . without mention o o , the giver Sadly do we need in all

' ° of d ome st ic b f the land a revival piety, so that y amily devo f r d a f t he tions, and the right use o the fi st y o week , our homes may be kept clean and pure . Especially do we admonish you against that laxity of morals which tolerates the participatio n by Christian men and women in a musements which outrage decency and inevitably soil the purity of those who share in them . We Specify plainly the n umerous i n d e c e n c 1e s which are ri enacted on the stage, and the improper familia ty which char iz e s f of l a c t e r . some , not all , o the amusements the socia circle L e t ' r f our men alue their own pu ity o thought, and our e h i n ow of a n O1n a me n t maidens believ t at modesty s , as old , , n t not a disgrace . And think o because you avoid the pi otan a ’ n t he Da tio of Lord s y, and licentious shows, and immodest

all ou . dances, that is well with y There is a temptation , and a f f f t : f ear ul one, to license o another sor that unrestraint o the lust of gai n which leads to usury and extortion ' to gambling

f . speculation , instead o honest toil For such things, just as f certainly as or folly and dissipation , God will surely call us into judgment . f Be ore passing to other considerations, we can but pause a n d r r reve t again to the importance, if we would rea up a n of a n d generatio saintly men women , of teaching children to sho w piety at home . Catechising by the clergy is a most val

- u a b l e of e - function their holy offic , and Sunday schools and f Bible Classes, under their supervision and direction , are use ul u agencies in training the young . B t neither pastor nor f f teacher, however skil ul , may exonerate the parent rom his l own responsibi ity . Christian fathers and mothers m ay n ot withdraw from a d u ty which they are so specially fi tted to dis

' charge . They must be at painsthemselves to instruct their chil i n i m dren the truths of relig on , and to assist the by their coun sel s and encourageme n ts i n the trials of their youn g Christian

. In f life the department o experimental and personal religion , r the pa ent who is loved and trusted by the child , and who in turn is well acquainted with the temper and disposition of the child , has it in his power to impart, howbeit in artless and

' n m u u theological phrase , the ost val able lessons of holy wisdom a nd of practical godliness .

Nor should religious educatio n be arrested here . A long m established Canon reminds the clergy, and the sa e duty is after their man n er bindin g on the laity in their more limited spiritual cures , that they shall not only be diligent in instruct i n g the children in the Catechism , but shall also , by stated cat e che t ic al b e f lectures and instruction , _ diligent in in ormingthe D youth and others in the octrines, Constitution and Liturgy ' of the Church . For the Church maintains the Faith in its r t i n r purity and integ ity, as taugh the Holy Sc iptures, held by r afli rme d the P imitive Church , summed up in the Creeds, and by the undisputed General Councils ' her Constitution , attested n t by Holy Scripture and ancie authors, she has not invented , but inherited f rom the d ays of old her Liturgy w as moulded Y by the breath of many saintly men . our children should f r i u know the value o these p ec o s gifts, and the grounds on l a n a e f f which we receive and ove them . In g o indif erent ‘ n e u n ism, when so ma y s ek to red ce all religio to a senti

' r i o n ment, it is c uel to expose a ch ld to the s licitatio s of variant systems of b elief and practice without a knowledge of the c i n t e lli the origin and history of Chur h of Christ, and an gent understanding of the authority on which she relies for her doctrine and order .

3 . And lastly, we would admonish you of the precious

f . Liberty o Love We are not under the rule , This do, or f f thou shalt die , but Love is the ulfilling o the law . We are e fr e to love God with all our hearts, and the more we love Him the more gl orl ou s 1s our Liberty It becomes u s not to ask whether He will be content with less or more . He has given us blessing without stint, and ' ' r The we should render Him back love w ithou t me a su e . ' ' Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me . We love ' u s. Him who first loved With such thoughts in our hearts , obedience is liberty, and trials become sweet, and the hum ’ blest off ering finds its rich reward . The thought of God s love for sinners is the healing leaf which can sweeten the bitterest fountain at which we are called to drink .

- f e The Christian soul is sensitive to the love o God, and lov s all things in Him and f o1 His sake . It loves even the dumb n creatures He has made, because He co descends to be the God e i n of the sparrow , and consid red the very cattle that were G r ote c Nineveh . entleness to the animals which serve us, p tion to the dependent fle ck which typifies the chosen people of f ol m the Lord, pity the callow brood the fragile nest, are les sons w hich men of love are not ashamed to impress upon themselves, and upon their children . Let us love the Church and lavish on it the very best we as' h have . Men may in scorn , What is thy beloved more t an another beloved ' but we know Christ loved the Church and H f gave imself or it, and that she is His bride and the mother of His children . the Let us love the stranger and the fatherless, poor and

. him . that hath no helper ' let us love the vicious and the unlovely for the sake of that love in whose image they were f t created ' nor let us be unmind ul of the new commandmen , on e that we Christians love another with pity, with courtesy, ' i f n with patience, in honor preferr ng one another, orbeari g one another in love . ' Hi u ' Christ has founded s Church pon love . Thus wrote f f ' one o our Bishops in a day of stri e and discord . It is the

f . highest o Christian graces Now abideth Faith , Hope, and

' Charity these three, but the greatest of these is Charity . 1 ' Charity not mere almsgiving, which is only one of its mani

' fe st a ti on s . n e w m , but Love Christian Love A co mand

o . ment give I unto you , that ye love one an ther ' t And this is truly not only the new commandmen , but the summary of all the commandmen ts . The whole Gospel is redolent with it, with a broad , com ’ i all - prehens ve, embracing love , appointed , like Aaron s rod , to r f swallow up all the other Christian g aces, and to mani est the spiritual glory of God i n Christ . A Church without love ' f What could you augur o a Church without Faith , or a Church of Christ without Hope ' Bu t Love is a higher grace than either Faith or Hope, and its absence from the Church is just ' - the absen ce of the very life blood from the body . As these paternal counsel s come to an end we remember that ours is a ministry of consolation , and that the Priests of the Lord are set to bless the people in the n ame of the u t Lord . Our hearts reach o after all the children of the t a all Church hroughout this wide land , and sc ttered in the of an d countries the world, we invoke upon you the benedic tion of peace . f u May the blessing o God rest pon your homes, so that u f a they shall be pure and happy, the very n rseries o long line of kings and priests unto God ' a n d upon your farms a n d your merchandize, your labors and your business, so that your cup h fl t n may run over, abounding c ie y in tha godli ess with con

t e n t me n t . , which is great gain May it rest upon your churches,

- f a n d to so that they shall be to the sin sick houses o healing, the great company of believers, the very gate of heaven . May it abide upon the . patient missionary, so that when most n alo e he shall not be alone upon the bereaved , the sick, the

r . dying , the tempted , and the f iendless May that blessing so abound that not one of you shall fall i n the wilderness f through unbelie , but that all may receive at last that sentence of which all earthly benediction is but the anticipation , the e n f m Come, ye bl ssed childre o y Father, which shall put away forever all sorrow and all fear . We have it not in our hearts to restrain this our blessing to those only who are ready to accept i t from us as from their

f the . athers in Lord We remember the many with whom , alas ' w e are not in visible communion : the many whom we have reason to fear misunderstand us and count us not as part n a ers ' the many who, for l ck of right guidance, have discarded b u t i n most necessary articles of Christian belief, who, even