Taint vs. Truth. August 17, 1917. To the Editor of The Chronicle: swers to In an issue of the Southern Churchman for May 12 last, there was the following, in "AnCorrespondents" viz., "AngloCatholic" defined as synonymous with "Anglican" * * *. "The Anglican Church comprises the Church of England in Great Britain and all her Colonies, the Protestant Episcopal Church in United States and her possessions, and the churches founded by these in the mission fields in various parts of the world." This, surely is a much distorted view of our American Church-the Protestant Episcopal Church-to claim that it is comprised WITHIN the "Anglican" Church-the Church of England; is it not? If this were so, WHY did we, just after our political separation from the mother country, need a new prayer-book, adapted to our new conditions, though modeled mainly after the English Church Prayer-book? re I have always understood, that our lationship to the English Church to be that of a WISE offspring, that had profited by avoiding the errors of its parent; and by incorporating in its church policy such changes as were for the betterment of the American Church. I must confess, however, in these latter days, many innovations have crept in, that may be "Anglican", and that are causing much trouble; and that our American Church would be much better off without. We must not become like some of our churchmen ready to accept, with little or no question, almost any and all “Anglican" and other, and often Romish, propositions, on the ground that the church should be so broad as to suit all shades of opinions. This idea is very dangerous, and never to be countenanced; for churchmen such as these are liable soon to be so broad-minded as to lose sight of the dividing line between the true and the false Bible doctrines; being unable to tell where the one ends and the other begins. It seems to me, our forefathers made a great mistake in not eliminating at the very beginning, much of the prayer-book that is plainly of Romish taint. Now, had the English Church been strictly of an ante-Roman, Anglican, (as claimed,) origin, WHY did it have in its service references to the Apocryphal Books, that are not recognized as inspired by Protestants, but are accepted by Rome? In the use, and continued use, of these books, Protestants are giving a quasi-sacred character to them. This surely, is wrong. Let them be eliminated. Just here allow me to ask the Editor of the Southern Churchman, what difference it could possibly make to the American Protestant churches, had any of them not come down the centuries through the English Church, but though Rome? Does any one imagine that our Savior instructed His Disciples to transmit the "Divine Afflatus" only through ONE appointed channel and no other; and that only those thus holding their authority to teach and preach His plan of salvation were able to save souls? Did He not come to overthrow this very system; and was it not struck down when the veil of the temple was rent in twain, at the end of the great tragedy on Calvary? The Jewish system was the only one that ever had a "corner" on religion; and it was overthrown because it was proven to be a colossal failure. Now, is it in the realm of supposition, that our Savior would have revived it again? NEVER. And I will go further and say, that if EVERY clerical in the whole world were to be stricken dead to-day, does any one imagine that the cause of Christ's salvation would cease in the world? Is it not self-evident, that inspired men would rise up every where to carry on the good work of His religion? Christ gave His salvation FREELY; (to be) without money and without price. The gift was as free as air and water. His religion was to be air, water, and meat to the hungry human soul. In the gift of the Bible is the gift of Salvation; for therein are the words of eternal life. And St. John saith; "But the hour cometh and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." Allow me to mention another Romish taint in asking the question, why not eliminate all saint days, except the one day for All Saints? This covers the whole field. Besides, the lives of the saints will, all, be rehearsed in the year's services and the fine, heroic characters be fully set forth, with all of the valuable lessons to be drawn there from for man's use in his progress through life. Again: If a digression be allowed, I will here state that we seem to have adopted England's and Rome's nomenclature for churches by naming very many of them after saints, notwithstanding our Prayer-book opens with the declaration, "The Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him." Therefore, it is evident, that the temple is the Lord's; then, why call it after some other and not after the Lord? Must it not be wrong to do so? I would write over the doorway of every church, "This is the Holy Temple of the Lord Jehovah; or This is the Holy Temple of the Living God; or some such superscription, which I think, would impress the general public with the sacredness of the place, far more deeply than the present nomenclature to say nothing of the wrong of it. There seems to be nothing in the early history of the church to show any preference for a name for the church other than that is common use amongst the Jews, viz., the House of God; or the Temple of God. Hence, it cannot be claimed to be an ancient custom to name churches after the saints; and, this being so, it must be, the habit originated later, and, doubtless, in the early Roman days, and is of Heathen origin; and has come on down the centuries from this source, because Rome has been so prolific in the manufacture of saints, and their use. It is easy to see, that such a custom, once in common use, and unquestioned, is hard to be rid of. Moreover, this naming of our churches after saints, has led one of the well known bishops of the church into a grave error; for, last year, he put a notice in a city paper, a part reading as follows; "The Bishop of is to make an address at service to be held in St. Church, in honor of Saint Saint of the Church." a special Episcopal the patron So, it is made to appear by a bishop, that the Protestant Episcopal Church of America approves of the Romish doctrine of "Patron Saints." Now, by doing so, this bishop robs the church not only of its rightful name, but also even takes away from the Lord Jehovah His Kind providence over the particular church, and transfers it to one of the Apostles-as far as he is able to do so. Could anything be MORE UN-Protestant? Please observe, too, that this bishop makes the Apostle appropriate honors and powers after death he distinctly disclaimed in life; for to him, "God was all in all." Very respectfully, Cornelius B. Hite Les gens de Rouffach sont-ils devenus fous. Afficher une telle devise en pleine terre d'empire! "Le premier citoyen de la ville interpellé tourna la tête d'un air stupéfait. l'ombre d'une devise ici. -Quelle devise? Je ne vois pas Vous savez parfaitement que R. F. sig- Appelez cela comme vous voudrez. nifie "République Francaise". "Au printemps de 1914, Rouffach, pittoresque et vaillante petite ville d'Alsace, célébrait une fête de pompiers. Sur les édifices publics et les arcs de triomphe improvisés, des écussons ornés de drapeaux alsaciens portaient les lettres: R. F., que les habitants de Rouffach saluaient dévotement. Arrivèrent les membres du gouvernement pour présider aux cérémonies. Leurs yeux rencontrèrent les deux lettres sacrées. Ils poussèrent un piers de Rouffach". cri d'indignation. "Là-dessus, le maire de Rouffach eut un candide sourire. "A quoi pensez-vous? R. F. signifie: "Rouffacher Feuerwehr", "Pom Les Annales. EASTERN CHURCH LIFE The usually quiet season, when all the clergy go off on their vacations and the land has her sabbaths, has to some extent, this year, been stirred up by the necessity of doing one's bit in war-time. Not that the Protestant Episcopal Church is doing very much. The work among Protestants seems almost relinquished to the Y. M. C. A. In some training camps the Government appears to have recognized the Y. M. C. A. and the Knights of Columbus as the two organizations for social service during the war. This is unfortunate in the sense that the Knights of Columbus, being a sectarian organization, which the Y. M. C. A. is not, will win for their denomination special advantages among the young men of America. One can always trust Rome to see to it that she gets these advantages, or at least utilizes such as she does obtain. Meanwhile, the delegating to the Y. M. C. A. all social work on the Protestant side is very weakening to the Protestant denominations; no more so, perhaps, than has been their relationship with the Association in peace and at home. In effect, the denominations are supplying the Y. M. C. A. with the men, the money, and the energy, while they are getting none of the credit and not even much opportunity for personal contact with the men among whom the Association works. Now we begin to observe an added inconvenience. Protestants have so long used the Y. M. C. A. as the organ of their social work, that it is not strange the authorities should accept that as the situation. Meanwhile, as the Y. M. C. A. is officially evangelical, the Government is driven to seek a catholic organization to balance it. The Knights of Columbus offers and seems to be accepted. Yet here again, Rome gains on us. We have a strong, proselyting, Romish secret or semi-secret order working on their side and, on our side, a non-sectarian association pledged to do nothing to influence religious opinion. In the matter of chaplains, it is doubtful if our Church is doing her share as yet. Massachusetts is furnishing three regimental chaplains of the National Guard, all of whom were on active service at the Mexican border last summer. Massachusetts is also taking systematic care of the Churchmen who may be at Ayer, one of the sixteen great training camps for the new national army. This camp, of course, is situated in the state. The Boston cathedral has also organized war-relief on a large scale; the knitting committee, the Service Unit, which co-operates in the economy-campaign, and assistance rendered the Red Cross, being among the activities. As usual, Massachusetts and the Boston cathedral are leading the way and showing how. Whether some other dioceses with their clumsy cathedral staffs, over-manned and under-inspired, will find the way to follow, remains to be seen. The great diocese of New York with all its wealth and wealthy institutions and its large number of clergymen has made a poor showing in contributing men to be army chaplains. No enthusiasm has seemed to get into the appeals nor have the leaders, diocesan or parochial, done much to encourage action. We do not discover, for instance, that Trinity parish, New York, has contributed any of its numerous opulent vicars or curates to the service, although the rector, Dr. Manning, was very vociferous for preparedness and for intervention, even long before this country entered the war. The wealth of this institution could easily equip such chaplaincies as the Church could fill, but neither men nor funds have so far been contributed or offered. The chaplains who have actually volunteered from New York deserve full recognition. In the first place there is the Rev. Herbert Shipman with the First Artillery. Mr. Shipman is a contributing editor of The Chronicle and the Rector of the Church of the Heavenly Rest. He was, last year, at the front in Mexico and is now at Plattsburg, preparatory to going to the front in France. The Rev. Horace R. Fell, Rector of St. Alban's, Borough of the Bronx, is chaplain of the 22nd Regiment. The Rev. William T. Crocker, Rector of the Church of the Epiphany, is chaplain of the 71st Regiment. The Rev. Raymond S. Brown, curate at Calvary Church, has gone with the Red Cross Hospital Unit. The Rev. Duncan H. Brown, Rector of Christ Church, New Brighton, is attached to the Adjutant General's Staff with the New York troops. At the request of Mr. Herbert Hoover, Food Commissioner of the United States, the Presiding Bishop has appointed a commission of the Church to co-operate with the Government in work for food-conservation. The members are Bishop Gailor, Tenn.; Bishop Lawience, Mass.; Bishop Harding, Washington; Dr. Manning, Trinity Church, New York; Dr. L. Maxon, Christ Church, Detroit; Dr. Wilmer, St. Luke's Church, Atlanta; George Wharton Pepper, Philadelphia; Joseph Packard, Paltimore; Monell Sayre, New York. A committee representing the five dioceses of the state of New York, in the matter of providing adequate equipment for the clergy officiating as army chaplains, is now forwarding an outfit for their work to those soon to be called into the national service. This outfit consists of portable altar, altar linens, sacred vessels, service books, and such recreational features as baseball outfits, boxing gloves, footballs, and so forth. On August 24th the Ven. Edwin Warren Saphoré, Archdeacon of Arkansas, was consecrated bishop suffragan of the diocese at Hot Springs. The diocese of Western New York is still without a bishop. They first elected Dr. Manning, of Trinity Church, New York, and then Dr. Mann of Trinity Church, Boston. Both clergymen declined the see, which puts Western New York in a somewhat humiliating position. As these two clergymen were very different from each other in churchman ship, training, abilities, and, in fact, in important diocese is guided in its choice most respects, it would appear that this exclusively by the advertisement a candidate receives through the parishes or other positions he has held. This objective and material sort of canon of choice assesses the ideals of a diocese at a pretty low rate. Not to say that, though convention prays for divine guidance, the attitude of the voters limits the choice of God in His leading to those possible individuals whose station is already high enough for the episcopal lightning to strike them. Summer-congregations in all our cities have felt the competition of the automobile. Even large and popular parishes show a falling off in the good weather. If the tendency continues until many have entirely lost the habit of going to church, we may see church-going reduced to an earnest remnant of the few willing to make sacrifices for their faith. MID-WESTERN CHURCH LIFE Special to The Chronicle - Our Western Correspondent During the summer months, at least from June to September, most of our bishops flee from the wear and tear of Episcopal functioning and our overworked rectors from the cities of the first and second and even third class join these lucky ones at popular summer resorts, or are entertained by appreciative parishioners, or pass the warm days in general ease far from the madding crowd. The majority of the clergy stay at home or, if they have a vacation, feel it necessary to seek work as a supply to eke out their vacation expenses. In this latter class fell one of my good friends. We record his experiences under the convenient caption, "Troubles of the 'Supply Priest' on Vacation," and use as nearly as possible his phraseology in the narrative he gave of some of his experiences. The Rev. Mr. Blank of Lookout City wrote several priests and wardens for supply work during the months of July and August. He was pleased with the requests made for his services. He was of mature years and had been brought up by his Godly father on evangelical "milk and meat." Impressed by the obvious changing order and varieties he thought to safeguard himself by taking with him his own Book of Common Prayer of the Protestant Episcopal Protestant Episcopal Church. One Sunday he traveled East to take charge of a Church that had been. vacant for some time. On account of the lapse in administration but few of the faithful attended Morning Prayer. The vestry room on the right side of the chancel was a strange little box. There were no hooks upon which to hang vestments, no chairs upon which to sit and no windows to give light. The communion linen was untidy, the sacred vessels wrapped in papers and there were many signs of unseemly neglect. Presently a portly woman entered the church and hearing sounds in the dark vestry, came directly to the door and said, "Good morning, sir. Are you the minister for today?" "I answered, Yes - and is this the vestry?'" "Yes,' she replied, 'but don't show yourself until I have finished my short organ prelude as I don't like the minister coming out "robed" to begin the service until I am through with my piece.' Fancy me standing in that dark pocket listening to the organist blundering through her piece for ten minutes. I said things sotto voce and wished the next rector unlimited joy. After service the warden searched me out and giving me a check of $10.00 took me into his confidence by saying, 'Please don't cash this until I have had time to get to the bank with today's offering. Otherwise there might not be enough to pay it.' I replied, "That will be all right. I am on a vacation and to make safe I assured myself of a little extra change in my vest pocket.' That seemed to relieve him greatly. The Sunday following I went to another town. The Church there was vacant too. Many of the conditions witnessed the Sunday previous were noticeable there also. The condition of the vestry and the preparation for communion were shockingly careless if not irreverent. I was wearing a green stole that morning and after service a lady came up to me and said, “Sir, are you Irish? I see you are wearing green.' 'No, madam, this color is for the season,' I meekly replied. The usual fee of ten dollars came duly to hand. In transportation from one town to the other and for hotel accom |