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of all those "whose names are found written in the Lamb's Book of Life." "Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the Tree of Life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." (Rev. 22:14, Revised Version.) The ravages wrought by sin must be healed by the ministration of the saints before "the nations of them that are saved" can enter in through the gates into the City of God.

The Tree of Life is remedial and life-giving. We must not confuse it with the Tree of the Cross-the second tree. Some people can see in the Cross, and in human penalty generally, only the remedy for human sin. Punishment, they tell us, is only for the protection of society, and for the warning and reformation of the offender-that he may learn not to offend again. Sin is merely ignorance, and punishment is simply education, according to this view. The idea of punishment as retribution,-as the vindication of a broken law,-does not enter into this conception at all. Punishment is simply something remedial and nothing more. To think in this way is to confuse the second tree with the third. The Cross does not stand in Paradise; it stands upon Golgotha-the place of a skull-the hill of Death. It is true, the Cross does mean life, but it means life-through-death; it means that the penalty due to sin must be paid and has been paid. It is only through the Cross and through blood-shedding that we can attain to the Tree of Life. "Blessed are they that wash their robes and make them white in the Blood of the Lamb." It is they, and only they, who have right to the Tree of Life, and may enter in through the gates into the City.

The history of human salvation is the history of a progress from the first tree (the Tree of Knowledge), by way of the second tree (the Cross) to the third tree, "the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." As a matter of fact, we all start or rather we all have started, from the first tree. And there is no other way to attain the Tree of Life but the way which leads over Calvary, by the foot of the Cross. It was there that Bunyan's pilgrim felt the burden of sin slip from his shoulders; it was there that he left it behind him once for all. It is there at the foot of the Cross, that "The Blood of Jesus whispers peace within."

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BY THE REV. CHARLES CARROLL EDMUNDS, D.D.

OMETIMES one doubts the fact, in spite of many affirma

tions since that of the great Italian astronomer. The attitude of certain United States senators toward the League of Nations, the stubborn Protestantism of the senior warden in many a parish, the general prevalence of High Matins as the chief service on the Lord's Day, the curious attachment of congregations to the "old chant" as a setting for the Gloria in Excelsis, the Episcopal "habit" of the magpie, the frequent flight of the major part of the attendants in the midst of the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, the continued failure of a great number of priests to give their people opportunity to make their confessions, the retention of sold and rented seats in "our wealthiest and most aristocratic" parishes, the solemn ritual of the alms-basin and its attendant ministers, the horrors of "American glass" windows and the infrequency of decent architecture, the holding back of little children from confirmation and communion, the reception without adequate instruction of adults who have grown up in an alien atmosphere, the common election to our vestries of men more noted for wealth than for religion, the succession to the oyster supper and the grab-bag of the circus, the vaudeville and the dance as the consecrated means of support for charity and even for the worship of God,these and many more relics of the bad old days often move us to depression and cause faint hearts to sigh for the fancied blessings of a foreign fold.

But let us cheer up. Galileo was right, after all; the world does move, and evidences are not so hard to find. It is quite possible that after due homage has been paid to partisan and personal prejudice the Senate will discover, on hearing from the country, that its objections have been met by a few verbal changes; we ourselves know wardens and vestrymen who are devout Catholics and go to their duties with exemplary regularity; experience in camps and at the front has taught priests and

bishops that the soldier will eagerly attend mass when morning prayer fails to attract, that sacraments are more effective than sermons and instructions than exhortations, and that the ordinary man grown conscious of his sin recognizes and desires the benefit of confession and absolution; the greatest and most influential parish in the country has just made its pews free to all; the new buildings of St. Thomas's, St. Bartholomew's and of the Intercession in our own city promise better things throughout the land; there is a distinct dissatisfaction with elaborate "choir-work" and an effort to restore to the people their proper share in the worship of God; and there is a prospect, however remote, that our well-meaning Board of Religious Education, having reformed our imperfect pedagogical methods will go on to suggest that the important thing after all is what we teach, and to urge that our children and our congregations be thoroughly trained in the essentials of the Christian Faith, worship and morals, before they are initiated into the mysteries of the higher criticism or enlisted to propagate a vague "Gospel" in foreign lands.

We could mention other gains, and we are quite sure that if we gave in detail our reminiscences of ecclesiastical conditions forty years ago we could convince the most skeptical reader not only that Crux stat but also volvitur orbis. We doubt if today in any diocese-and in saying this we do not forget Virginia and Alabama-a bishop could be found who would put a clergyman on trial for a surpliced choir; or would issue an Episcopal fulmination against flowers on an altar, or against the celebration of the Holy Communion at the burial of a priest, or against a reverence to the altar; or would forbid the wearing of a linen chasuble. The rector of St. Clement's, Philadelphia, is no longer compelled to offer the Eucharist in a surplice, and The Churchman no longer speaks of "Mr." Huntington and "Mr." Officer. Yet all these things and worse were done within our memories.

We were led to this train of thought by reading a little book we picked up the other day, which recalled vividly the unhappy wars of long ago. It was from the pen of the late Bishop George F. Seymour, then professor of Ecclesiastical History in the Gen

eral Theological Seminary, and was entitled A DEFENSE. Those who had the privilege of knowing Dr. Seymour will remember that in theological controversy he anticipated the maxim attributed to Foch, "The best defensive is a vigorous offensive," and he here conducts a masterly campaign against certain "assaults" by the Dean and others of the Faculty of the Seminary. The pamphlet is well worth reading in many ways, and at this distance of time is highly entertaining, though we suspect neither party regarded it in just that light at the date of writing.

We do not propose to invite our readers to follow us through the thorny mazes of the debate, and only desire to gather a few of the more brilliant posies for their special delectation.

The first discussion turned on the case of a student who, in a practice sermon submitted to Dr. Eigenbrodt, then in the chair of Homiletics, had introduced the following passage: "He humbles Himself to be upon our altars, and to be handled by sinful man. As when in helpless infancy He submitted to be wrapped in swaddling clothes and to be treated of men as they would whether with respect or disrespect, so now in the Blessed Sacrament, wrapped in the fine linen of the Church or her vesture of gold, He puts Himself in the power of men, they do with Him whatsoever they list, they raise Him in their hands, the same sinful hands that raised Him in childhood when men tended the holy child Jesus; again they lay Him down as they laid Him down in the manger. Well may we cry with St. Chrysostom, 'O Marvel! O love of God! He who sitteth aloft with the Father is at that hour held in the hands of all, and giveth Himself to those who will, to enfold and embrace. And how does He subject Himself again as it were to the death of the Cross, when He who might reveal His presence in all the visible glory which rested over the mercy seat in Jerusalem for our good, for the trial of the faith His Church, submits to the scorn of the unbelieving world.'"'

From our knowledge of the ways of undergraduates and from the shrewd use of St. Chrysostom we very much suspect that the young man was trying to "get a rise" out of the professor. If so, he certainly succeeded, for he not only received

a reprimand, but against the protest of Dr. Seymour, was made the object of the following action of the Faculty: "Resolved, That when a Professor reports to the Dean, and the Dean brings to the notice of the Faculty the case of a student who adheres to expressions respecting the Presence of our Lord in the Sacrament which seem to the Dean and Faculty unsuited to the dignity and foreign to the mind of the Church, the Faculty are acting within the bounds of their duty in commending such student to the special consideration of his Bishop." Notwithstanding the severity of the action taken, it will be observed there is a degree of cautiousness and, as Bishop Seymour points out, an avoidance of any censure on St. Chrysostom. Fortunately the bishop concerned, Clark of Rhode Island, was wise enough to decline to take any notice of the matter and so this trouble subsided for the time.

Then came an occurrence which evidently horrified the authorities of the Seminary and convinced them that instant and vigorous measures must be taken to save the institution and the Church from the danger which threatened. This crime-for it was treated as nothing less-was the attendance of seven men of the senior class at a Retreat! This took place in the "senior vacation," after their examinations and in preparation for their approaching ordination. Other members of the class went away on visits, these seven spent three or four days in prayer, meditation and Communion. The shock created by this monstrous offense was tremendous. A telegram was sent ordering the instant return of the offenders. Telegrams were despatched to their bishops stating that they had been guilty of a grave violation of rules. The question of the award of diplomas of graduation was debated. The technical charge was absence from the Seminary without leave, but as no objection was made or censure passed in the case of classmates absent for pleasure, there was little concealment of the real reason for discipline.

We hesitate to name the guilty seven. Several of them have gone to their rest but those who survive are in honored positions and might feel embarassed by a public recalling of the days when they were accounted dangerous fire-brands. Those of us

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