IV. THE CHURCH'S NATURE AND PURPOSE. "Built * * * * upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head cornerstone.”—The Collect for St. Simon and St. Jude's Day. "Give us grace that, being not like children carried away with every blast of vain doctrine, we may be established in the truth of Thy holy Gospel."-The Collect for St. Mark's Day. "We beseech thee, O Lord, * * * *that, as we have known the incarnation of Thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an Angel, so by His cross and passion we may be brought unto the glory of His resurrection.”—The Collect for the Annunciation. THE The sanctions with which she is invested are of four kinds, i. e., legal canon; rubrical direction; established use; and diocesan regulation. The first is to be sought in the records of her formal legislation; the second in her Prayer Book; the third and fourth are variable and often interchangeable. The last two form a body of unwritten law, regulated by parochial custom and episcopal oversight. They sometimes constitute a precedent having almost the force of a canon, being often based on the authority of primitive and catholic usage; but allow great liberty to choice and conviction, in many matters not essential to uniformity. A Church which claims to be Catholic must be widely comprehensive of the tastes, and tolerant of the opinions, of "all sorts and conditions of men." At Parishes in a given Diocese may differ widely in some mode of rendering the Service, though using the same Prayer Book and violating neither canon nor rubric. Whole Dioceses, in this respect, sometimes bear an impress of a nearly uniform character as to points of ritual observance, the Diocesan Bishop being the source of direction and appeal, under canonical limitations. This unity in diversity is an elastic yet powerful bond of union. different periods of her history (as in political and social spheres), undue predominance has no doubt been given to the expression of the views of different schools or parties in religious thought; and this will be in some measure the case till the end of time. There is ample scope within her usage, from great simplicity of worship to lofty ceremonial. It should be carefully remembered, moreover, that the Prayer Book was never intended as a complete directory. It is to be judged in its use, like other laws and customs, by traditional interpretation, and was formerly accompanied by written directions. "Ritual and ceremonial are the hieroglyphics of the Catholic religion, and are a kind of parable in action." In theory and in the unvarying teaching of her Offices, the infant is welcomed into and made a member of Christ's Church in Holy Baptism; nurtured in its tender years by Family Prayer at the hearth-stone and by systematic instruction in the Church on the simple, essential truths of the Catechism, based on the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments; brought to the plenitude of sevenfold grace given by the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, or the Laying-on of hands by the Bishop, so soon as these truths are realized, and thereby admitted into the full privileges and blessings of the Holy Communion as the sustenance of Christian souls; ministered to and followed with loving care as the inalienable right of the child of the Church in every condition and vicissitude of life, until, in the Burial Office, the body is reverently laid away for a time, and the soul, leaving the Church Militant, is commended to its Maker and Saviour, to await in the Church Expectant or the Rest of Paradise, the dawning of the Judgment Day, when soul and body shall be reunited and thenceforth a member of the Church Triumphant in Heaven. crave. The Church abounds in innocent and helpful symbolism, a fruitful teacher which our finite natures often sorely The truth of the Christian progress in this life and the next is symbolized in the Church building, which has the threefold division of Vestibule, Nave and Chancel, fitly suggesting Earth, Paradise and Heaven; the latter portion of the sacred building being preferably toward the East, where rose the Sun of Righteousness. The Chancel is composed of recessed Choir and Sanctuary, even as Paradise and Heaven, distinct abodes of blessedness, are blended together in our thoughts and unrealized as yet by mortal eyes. Thus its general arrangement corresponds with that of the Hebrew Tabernacle and Temple, which were planned by God Himself. Daily Morning and Evening Prayer are the normal and prescribed order, though exigencies (such as a want of a sufficient number of clergy) oftentimes necessitate their omission; and the observance of the Feast of the Holy Eucharist on the First Day of the week, the unvarying usage of the Primitive Church, is set forth in an Altar Ser vice which provides as part thereof a distinct Collect, Epistle and Gospel for every Lord's Day in the glorious round of the Christian Year. The first half of this Christian Year follows closely the events of Our Lord's earthly life from Bethlehem to Calvary (its close preceded by a prolonged season of Fasting and Prayer), and then on to the day of Pentecost; the latter half recites His teachings and dwells on His example; so that in due proportion the Faith is observed, and the Christian life carried forward with regularity and systematic steadfastness. Her Ministry is a thoroughly educated body, conservative of the best, in thought and practice; and the staple of her instruction of the young is rounded and complete. In legislation she is thoroughly democratic. The rights of her laity are sedulously conserved, and her constitutional methods are singularly analogous to those of the American Commonwealth to which she ministers. Her sympathies and methods are peculiarly adapted to the needs of the poor and the outcast. She pleads the cause of Missions as the first demand of her existence under her divine charter. If she be not a working missionary Church, she is naught. Her Services are made beautiful with floral offerings, lights, and harmonious and suggestive colours of the Season's symbolism. The Word of God has the place of honour in every Service, and the Prayer Book itself is in great part Holy Scripture. Her prayers are most venerable and holy models of devotion, none of them of later date than the Elizabethan era, and very many reaching back to the fifth and sixth centuries; and their worthy rendering, considered merely as literary compilations, challenges the highest efforts of her most cultured and spirit ually-minded clergy. And the habitual use of such reverent petitions, which are a cold formality only to the uninformed, the worldly, or the prejudiced, are no bar to less consecutive or even extemporaneous supplications, in cases of emergency or proven fitness, or in the work of Missions. In the latter case, as also in parochial use, simple leaflets or cards, with the Morning and Evening Prayer, and printed directions, are often employed for the benefit of those unfamiliar with the Service. Music is given great prominence as the "voice of praise and thanksgiving," and accorded a thorough and scientific study and method not elsewhere attained, and always under the express control and direction of the Minister, as indicated by specific rubrics. Those who serve at her altars or otherwise in holy things, wear a distinctive and dignified dress, slightly variant, as distinguishing the three Orders of Bishop, Priest and Deacon, or those who render the music or serve about the Sanctuary. It is mainly white, the color of purity, and, as a learned Bishop once said, "to conceal the changing fashions of men ;" the personality of man being every where subordinated to the worship of God. She inculcates the reverent and harmonious worship of the body, without which the soul's worship is incomplete: sitting for instruction or in hearing the Word; standing as before a King in praise, or as before His messenger, when exhorted in the liturgy, or when acting as witnesses; and kneeling in Prayer and the reception of the Sacraments, which latter have highest honour in all her symbolism, teaching and ceremonial. With her the Incarnation, not the Atonement, is the corner-stone of Christian doctrine, upholding the latter as its |