wrought in his behalf, and what they must do to secure for him the covenanted inheritance. It is for such persons that I have written, and I shall be well rewarded, if one and another of my clerical brethren in the rural parishes of the East and South, or in the missionary fields of the distant West, shall find himself able to place this book with confidence in the hands of thoughtful people anxious to comprehend more fully the teachings of the Church. These Letters were originally published in the columns of the Churchman. They have been re-arranged and revised for this volume, and one article has been omitted as being somewhat too controversial. I may be permitted to say further, that in preparing these articles, there has come over me very often an earnest and thankful conviction of the substantial agreement that exists in our household. It was pleasant to note, as my articles alternated with those of my brother of western New York, how often, with his larger knowledge and more graceful pen, he won from his Apollos the same truth I sought to impress upon my Layman. Nay, more, it has encouraged me no little in publishing this volume, that several of my brother Bishops, who I am sure would by no means indorse all its statements, or accept all its phrases, have gone out of their way to express their approval of its general tone and teaching. We are a growing Church may that growth be even and uniform! Ill will it be with us, if, as we grow in apprehension of doctrine and in the decency and beauty of worship, there be not corresponding advance in religious affection, and in the realization of those spiritual truths which underlie all dogma and all ritual. EASTON, Septuagesima, 1872. STUDIES IN THE CHURCH. * LETTER I. TROUBLES IN THE CHURCH. "Thou Framer of the light and dark, Steer through the tempest Thine own ark; We are in port if we have Thee." * -Christian Year. You have spent nearly all of a long life in a retired country parish, endeavoring to discharge the duties of personal and domestic piety, faithful to your responsibilities as a Vestryman and a Sunday-school teacher, and happy to enjoy the privilege of noting the even, steady progress of the Church. I remember you well in what you call "those good old days." Books and papers were not so abundant then as now. "Scott's Commentary" was your great authority; and near by were "Taylor's Holy Living and Dying," "Nelson's Festivals and Fasts,' "Bradley's Sermons," "Hobart's Companion for the Altar," with the "Looking-glass for the Mind" and "The Lady of the Manor," for the children. You used to take the Episcopal Recorder, although you were not altogether satisfied with it; and Bishop Ravenscroft and Dr. Bedell were alike, in your estimation, great men in the Church, whose memory you held in reverence. In those days your rector never disturbed you with questions of High Church and Low Church. You would have thought any one out of his mind who should have talked about establishing an Evangelical Episcopal Church, or preached that Protestantism was a failure. : After Those quiet days have passed away. travelling for years on a sort of tram-way, a slow but sure five miles an hour, you have found yourself progressing at a much faster rate, but not without some apprehension of danger and just now it seems as if the train were sometimes off the track, and bumping over the cross-ties. All things seem to you full of trouble. The Church papers are much occupied with disputation. Extravagance of some sort or other seems to be the order of the day. Doctrine, ritual, sacraments are, all, the themes of controversy. Romanism seems to get before us here, and Methodism there. |