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1920

Contents of Volume V.

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A Magazine of comment, criticism and review dealing
with questions confronting the Anglican Communion
and more especially the Church in the United States

TEMPLE PUBLISHING CORPORATION

President: GEORGE A. ARMOUR, Princeton, N. J.

Vice-President: GUY VAN AMRINGE, 55 Liberty Street, New York
Secretary: THE REV. CHARLES C. EDMUNDS, D.D., 6 Chelsea Square, New York
Treasurer: HALEY FISKE, I Madison Avenue, New York

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IN

N an exclusive interview published in the New York Tribune of January 30, the Bishop of New York told of arrangements that were being made for united services throughout Lent in different parts of the city. This series of services will culminate in "united services which will be held at 5 o'clock each day except Saturday in the Cathedral of S. John the Divine. After a brief prayer and song service, the daily meeting will be addressed by a clergyman of another denomination." This is very interesting. One gathers from the expressions used by the Bishop that in his opinion the Episcopal Church is but one out of many Protestant denominations. Therefore, he sees nothing out of place in making the Cathedral a rallying point for the various Protestant denominations of the city, so that during Holy Week they may all come together in one prolonged feast of brotherly love.

It has been taught by all the great doctors and teachers of the Church from the earliest times that one of the functions of the Church is to teach the faith once for all delivered to the saints. The Church does not invent new doctrines in each succeeding age but continues to bear witness to the old truths which were revealed by our Lord and entrusted to His apostles. He told them to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever He had commanded them. The laity, in accepting the Church as their teacher in matters of religion, have done so on the assumption that her authorized teachers would not teach their own notions about religion or morals, but would teach the faith and the moral standards which had been revealed by God.

To this end it has been customary in all parts of the universal Church to demand that the authorized teachers of the Church must be men who were properly trained in theology, examined by duly appointed chaplains, ordained and set apart by the laying on of a bishop's hands. It has always been impossible for anyone to receive such ordination unless he sincerely and honestly accepted the traditional faith of the historic Church as it has been handed down through the centuries. In every part of the historic Church the laity have, therefore, quite rightly enjoyed the assurance that erroneous and strange doctrines would not be taught them from the pulpits of the Church.

According to the new plan which has been espoused by the Bishop of New York the laity need not expect in the future any such assurance. The Bishop invites the laity to come to his Cathedral during the most solemn season of the Christian year to hear sermons from men who deny many of the distinctive teachings of the Christian religion as set forth authoritatively in the Book of Common Prayer. On one day the preacher may be a man who denies the reality of sacramental grace, on another day one who denies that there is any regeneration in baptism, and on another one who denies the real presence of

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