LENT FEBRUARY 1918 A minister was conducting meetings in one of our Government Cantonments. A young soldier came to him for a conference. He asked about the thirteenth of Revelation and the prophecy contained therein. Did the minister thaink that the war would end in February? The chapter had been so interpreted to him. He wished it would end then. As the conversation became more intimate, the minister saw that the soldier was a little home-sick-a little disgusted. He had only been in the camp about six weeks, and the discipline. was evidently irksome. He had no heart for it all, yet he was a husky, strong, young American, twenty-five years of age. By and by the minister quietly but firmly sent the probe home. He said: "You are not really interested in prophecy. You only want the war to end, because you want to get home, and that is perfectly natural. But suppose you could say, 'This is God's cause. I am in this thing to help that cause, and I do not want this war to end until it ends right.' Then, so far as you are concerned, it would not matter, if the war lasted a week or ten years, you would have peace." Later on, that same day, the minister met another soldier in intimate conversation. This soldier had been a school NO. 6 teacher, and had been in camp four months. He said: "When I first came into camp, I hoped the war would end soon, that none of us would have to go over on the other side. But now I feel different. I do not want it to end until the idea and ideal for which America entered the war is accomplished. I have even stopped smoking that I may have. as strong and vigorous a body as possible, and in this feeling of dedication, I have found a new joy." Here, then, is the call of Lent. It is a call not to get down from under but to get under the great spiritual task. The Pharisees were also believers in prophecy. They had all the signs of the coming of the Son of Man meticulously worked out. But they looked to God to accomplish it. Both John the Baptist and Jesus called to them to repent and co-operate in bringing in God's Kingdom. That was the one thing they would not do. The fulfillment of prophecy depended on God. It was not their responsibility. It is not so easy to look for the coming kingdom outside of our own willsour own inner faiths and co-operation. The great spiritual leaders speak another witness. This is the month of two signal American birthdays. They testify to Lent's inner message. When it became evident that freedom was in jeopardy in the Colonies, George Wash MADE FOR ST. LUKE'S CHURCH CONVENT AVE. AND 141ST ST., NEW YORK CITY Stained Glass and Mosaics The Gorham Studios have earned and received the unqualified endorsement of both Clergy and Laymen for their recent productions in stained glass and mosaics. Their aim to produce only that which shall be true to the highest traditions of ecclesiastical art has been gratified to a remarkable degree, and it can now be said that in this country, through them, is being produced, both in mosaics and stained glass, work equal in every respect to that produced abroad. Examination and verification of these facts is earnestly solicited. The Gorham Company Fifth Ave. and 36th St., New York City LENT FEBRUARY 1918 A minister was conducting meetings in one of our Government Cantonments. A young soldier came to him for a conference. He asked about the thirteenth of Revelation and the prophecy contained therein. Did the minister thaink that the war would end in February? The chapter had been so interpreted to him. He wished it would end then. As the conversation became more intimate, the minister saw that the soldier was a little home-sick-a little disgusted. He had only been in the camp about six weeks, and the discipline was evidently irksome. He had no heart for it all, yet he was a husky, strong, young American, twenty-five years of age. By and by the minister quietly but firmly sent the probe home. He said: "You are not really interested in prophecy. You only want the war to end, because you want to get home, and that is perfectly natural. But suppose you could say, "This is God's cause. I am in this thing to help that cause, and I do not want this war to end until it ends right.' Then, so far as you are concerned, it would not matter, if the war lasted a week or ten years, you would have peace." Later on, that same day, the minister met another soldier in intimate conversation. This soldier had been a school NO. 6 teacher, and had been in camp four months. He said: "When I first came into camp, I hoped the war would end soon, that none of us would have to go over on the other side. But now I feel different. I do not want it to end until the idea and ideal for which America entered the war is accomplished. I have even stopped smoking that I may have as strong and vigorous a body as possible, and in this feeling of dedication, I have found a new joy." Here, then, is the call of Lent. It is a call not to get down from under but to get under the great spiritual task. The Pharisees were also believers in prophecy. They had all the signs of the coming of the Son of Man meticulously worked out. But they looked to God to accomplish it. Both John the Baptist and Jesus called to them to repent and co-operate in bringing in God's Kingdom. That was the one thing they would not do. The fulfillment of prophecy depended on God. It was not their responsibility. It is not so easy to look for the coming kingdom outside of our own willsour own inner faiths and co-operation. The great spiritual leaders speak another witness. This is the month of two signal American birthdays. They testify to Lent's inner message. When it became evident that freedom was in jeopardy in the Colonies, George Wash but to get under the tremendous spiritual "So looking without and within With that stoop of the soul which ington of Virgina came to the rescue. With spiritual vision he saw that if Boston's liberty was threatened, Virginia's freedom was involved. He had no difficulty looking beyond Colonial lines. The cause of right and liberty was one. He was a man of few words—yet not Patrick Henry's speech with its "Give me liberty or give me death," electrified the Colonies more than George Washington's quiet announcement, in the Virvinia Assembly, "I myself will raise a regiment of 1,000 men, at my own expense, and go to the aid of Boston." He served as General of the Colonial Army without pay and at the sacrifice of his private estate at Mount Vernon. In the Gethsemane of the cause in Valley Forge, he knelt with strong crying to God for help. He did not expect God to save the cause without his leadership. But he had faith that God could and would bring freedom and victory spires us to make certain observations. through his sacrifice. When in the Civil War, in the face of growing dissatisfaction and war weariness, Abraham Lincoln issued another draft, a delegation from Illinois made up of personal friends, told him it must not be; then Lincoln rose in tender righteous wrath and shamed them all. They stole away softly from his terrible love and devotion. Who were they to try to get from under when they had gotten a sudden vision of his burden? The war must go on until the righteous purpose for which it had been accepted was accomplished. If he had failed where would America be today? It was Peter that took Jesus aside to tempt Him from the great sacrifice His soul told Him must be made. Instantly the Master turned on Him with white righteous anger and called him a Devil, and so for the moment he was. The Master would make no compromises. Whatever the cause demanded, must be accepted. Only this brought Peace and the Joy that lay beyond the sacrifice. Lent is a call, not to get from under, As by each new obeisance of spirit RECALL OF BISHOPS The remarkable letters of Dr. James Bishop Thomas and "Alpha Centauri" in the correspondence depart ment of this issue of The Chronicle, in A bishop is a Christian minister. He may or may not be a successor of the apostles, but bishops and apostles_theoretically have this in common, at least, that both are Christian ministers. A minister should minister, i. e., serve, just as a cook should cook and a plowman should plow. This, at least, is an apostolic idea of the ministry. Christ quoted the opposite conception only to condemn it: "Ye know that the princes of the gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you" (St. Matt. 20: 25-26). This which "shall not be so among you" is a description of a prelate, not a minister. Bishops who keep to their palaces and cathedrals and executive offices and put off their missionary duties to a "bishop's week," bishops whose relations with their clergy are chiefly petty interference plus financial exaction, bishops who use their influence to enforce Romanizing ceremonies upon an unwilling laity, bishops whose associates are at Dives's table, but who forget Lazarus and his economic wrongs; these seem to realize the prelatical rather than the apostolic idea of a bishop. So long as a bishop was a life-officer with a halo of permanence, there was not much to do in the premises. If, however, the pacifist remarks of a progressive bishop can be utilized as grounds. for his recall, why not the Romanizing acts of a mediaevalist, or the useless expense of a reactionary, or any other grounds that may seem serious and weighty. After this, bishops must consider the wishes of the laity and the interest-return they themselves are making on the capital invested in them. The recall of bishops or short-term elections has suddenly become a live issue in the Episcopal Church. PRECEDENT AND POSSIBILITY The late Joseph Jefferson in his wonder ful interpretation of Washington Irving's immortal Rip, never failed to bring down the house, when, in the face of re newed temptation to the social cup, after a solemn pledge to reform, he used to hiccough out: "I won't count this one!" Of course, the audience could plainly see that this one did count. It fixed a habit. When a commission of the House of Bishops adopts a revolutionary resolution, breaking with all the traditions of this Church, to say nothing of that "catholic precedent" which the mitred. gentry are supposed to set such store by, but solemnly declares that their action. shall not be counted as a precedent, the aforesaid commission reminds us of the immortal Rip. We should like to have some lawyer enlighten us as to a precedent which is not a precedent. One good old Tory, namely, Sir William Blackstone, tried to do so, with regards to the events of 1688. As a staunch Tory, Blackstone believed the King could do no wrong, but as a good lawyer Blackstone knew that the events of 1688 constituted, willynilly, a precedent. "If therefore any future prince should endeavor to subvert the constitution by breaking the original contract between king and people, should violate the fundamental laws, and should withdraw himself out of the kingdom; we are now authorized to declare that this conjunction of circumstances would amount to an abdication, and that the throne would be thereby vacant. But it is not for us to say that any one, or two, of these ingredients would amount to such a situation; for there our precedent fails us." (Blackstone's Commentaries; Bk. I., p. 245). So we suppose, if ever a bishop, being the Missionary Bishop of Utah, should prove a pacifist, while America was a member of just such an alliance at war with just such European powers, then and not otherwise he might be asked to resign! No, gentlemen, precedents have a broader application than that, maugre Blackstone. Since 1688, the recall of kings has hung as a precedent over the heads of every British monarch. If the of this commission, by accepting Bishop House of Bishops confirm the findings Jones's resignation, after 1918 the recall of bishops will hang over every American bishop. Though he sleep twenty years, Rip will some day wake up after the revolution. BISHOPS ABROAD AND MORE Bishop McCormick, Bishop Brent and Bishop Israel are in France. The new suffragan-bishop of South Dakota is going there. That makes four. Are there any others? That is enough, anyway: too many, if we needed them much in this country. For what are they doing? Not a chaplain's work exactly, since bishops don't like to do work presbyters can do. Bossing the chaplains, probably, so that they won't get too independent. And that means interfering with the chaplains. Can't a fellow get free of this sort of thing at all, even if he is willing to take the risks of the trenches? That question, of course, is |