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Protestant Episcopal Church 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 .
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