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Show 1 ; I 1' Times Are Changing ?i . f 1 if Catholic Doctrines,- Usages and Ceremonies Are Being j; Gradually Introduced Into Protestant Services. -1 t The immediate changes brought about the reformation in doctrines dis'.-ii'line, as well as the working of the church, were originally few in number. In England the schism was confined to the primacy of the Pope. f The H' ven sacraments were preserved, the ancient discipline adhered to. and ilio v in king of the church -as carried di;t for sixteen centuries closely followed. fol-lowed. Rut soon disintegration showed-itself. showed-itself. Without a head to serve as a bend, it was manifestly impossible to I preserve unity, and, as time rolled by, I ilin ancient faith was stripped of its non-essential robes, its sacraments f vi to denied, its army of auxiliaries j Mere derided and its most sacred f f teachings held as blasphemous or idol-1 idol-1 stious. The momentum given by "pri- s judgment" to man's natural in- t clinations resulted in schism in the Anil An-il gliean church, and gave rise to non-i non-i conformity, which, at first unpopular, ? became finally, because of the decay of religion, a potent factor in the re- ligious history of England. The dissenters dis-senters gained strength, power and ! influence from the positon assumed by the Church of England when she sev-, sev-, , . ered the link that united her with si Home. She could not assume the role of teacher, claiming as she did that all churches have erred." Therefore, she. too. may have erred. The claim ; of infallability in teaching by the . Holv Father in faith and morals set " all England into such paroxysm of fear and trembling that its ablest statesmen states-men and divines were up in arms at the rebellious attitude of an infallible Pope. The storm passed over, peace reigned supreme. To the dissenters, after a long fight, it could only say: Having no authority from God or man upon which I could presume to teach vou, I welcome you as brothers in Christ; make your own laws, de- cide for yourselves what is of faith ' since I cannot command compliance with mv church regulations or punish 'political heretics." They did as the law allowed, and the consequences have I boon that each year saw the birth of j one or more new religions. All united j oniv in one point, namely, denouncing the' Catholic church, its institutions j and its services. Now, after three and a half centuries, those same institutions institu-tions and religious rites, after being unmercifully denounced, are gradually being adopted by the Anglican church, whilst some of the most violent dis-. scnters find robes used in Catholic ' service not unbecoming. The New York Sun of recent date tells some surprising surpris-ing changes. It says: i ceremony significant of the great changes in religious sentiment which have taken place in this country aunns th last generation was the laying, on Thursdav. of the comer-stone of a new r convent to be erected at Teekskill for the Sisterhood of St. Mary of the Episcopal Epis-copal church. Bishop Seymour of Illinois Illi-nois officiated at the ceremony, and among those oresent were "mothers superior" and many other sisters of the order. The cost of the new structure struc-ture is to be $75,000. and it will be one .f five convents of the sisterhood, which is the oldest of the American Episcopal orders. V Here is a list of the Episcopal relig- ious orders in this country, nearly all ; of which have been founded or established estab-lished here within the last twenty-five years, and most of them during the last ten years: FOR MEN. 'k Society of St. John the Evangelist (the "Cowley Fathers.") Order of the' Holy Cross. Congregation of the Most Holy Savior. Sa-vior. Brothers of Nazareth. FOR WOMEN. Sisterhood of St. Mary. Sisterhood of St. John the Baptist. All Saints' Sisters of the Poor. Sisters or St. Mary and All Saints. Sisterhood of St. Margaret. ' Sisterhood of the Holy Nativity. SisU-ihood of St. John the Evangelist. Sisterhood of the Holy Child Jesus. Diaconal Community of St. Martha. Sistcdhood of the Good Shepherd. Sisters of Bethany. Community of All Angels. Sisters of the Order of Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. ' Order of the Holy Resum etion. . ' Sisters of the Resurrection. I k;fiotv nf ihp Eninhanv. I Sisterhood of the Good Shepherd. Sisters of the Annunciation, B. V. M. St. Monica Sisters. Community of the Tranfiguration. - ' Sisters of the Church. Sisterhood of St. Joseph of Nazareth. Order of Deaconesses, Alabama. Sisterhood of the Holy Communion. This is a large number of religious ciders to have grown up in the Epis- ...! church in so short a time, and j more especially when we remember that the movement for such establish-i merits in its beginning encountered ear-le-st resistance as a "Romish innovation." innova-tion." The grwing tendency of that church toward extreme ecclesiastic-ism, riniHlism, sacerdotalism and sacra men-M.sm, men-M.sm, is also indicated by other institutions in-stitutions of comparatively recent establishment es-tablishment in it. Here are some of these fraternities which are most representative rep-resentative of the increasing "Catholic" partv: Confraternity of the Blessed Sacra-3 Sacra-3 oent of the Body and Blood of Christ; ;ui American branch of an English so-cietv. so-cietv. with these declared objects: "1. The" honor due to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ in the blessed sacrament J of his bodv and blood; 2. Mutual and ' special intercession at the time of, and in union with, the Eucharist sacrifice; 3. To promte the observance of the Catholic and primitive practice of re-l re-l I teiving the holy communion fasting." The Guild of All Souls. Objects: "In tercessory prayer for the dying, for the repose of the souls of deceased members, mem-bers, and to set forth the two great doctrines of the 'Communion of Saints' nd the resurrection of the body." I ' Society of King Charles the Martvr. Objects: Celebration of "the day of the martyrdom of the blessed King Charles" (Charles 1 of England), and "intercessory prayer for the defense of the Anglo-Catholic church against the attacks of her enemies." Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom: "To unite men-bers, men-bers, both clerical and lay, of the Roman, Ro-man, Greek and Anglican communions in a bond of intercessory prayer for the reunion of Christendom." It will be seen how near to the Roman Ro-man Catholic church the doctrines and practices of these societies are. The only very considerable separation is made by the papal supremacy, and even upon that some of the most extreme ex-treme Ritualists are disposed to look not unfavorably. They are very polite to the pope, but they have a serious grievance against him because he refuses re-fuses to recognizance the validity of the orders of the ministry of the Episcopal Epis-copal church. The confessional, as it is well known, is now a regular feature of the advanced ad-vanced ritualistic churches. The doctrine doc-trine of the real presence is taught by them and the seven sacraments of Rome are accepted. When the wife of a ritualistic clergyman of New York died recently prayers for the repose of her soul were asked. An Episcopal I monk, preaching in the church last I Good Friday, admonished the congregation congre-gation of the necessity of receiving absolution ab-solution and the viaticum, when about to die. In other churches a tendency to ritualistic ritu-alistic practices is also observable and it is the more remarkable because in their whole past history they have been distinguished by resolute and even bit-! bit-! ter opposition to any such suggestions of ecclesiasticism and sacerdotalism. Surpliced choirs have been introduced into Baptist and Methodist churches and they are likely to be the entering wedges for splitting aw-ay from doctrines doc-trines originally expressive of the very genius of Protestantism. It is notable, too, that the successful negotiations of Judge Taft with the pope concerning the question of the property of the Philippine friars have caused no ripple of disturbance. A generation ago such a quasi recognition of the Vatican would have stirred up all American Protestantism to angry protest. . All these are very significant facts. Meantime the Rev. Dr. McJunkin. a Presbyterian of Pennsylvania, looks for the speedy coming of a "great awakening" awaken-ing" like that of 1857; but other observers observ-ers of present religious tendencies, Mr. Herbert. Soencer and Mr. Goldwin i Smith, for example, look with misgivings misgiv-ings on an apparent tendency, both here and in Europe, toward mediaeval ecclesiasticism and ritualism. The late Christian Science convention was satisfied sat-isfied that the world is coming all its way; and the cognate "New Thought" people are not 'less confident that they are the heirs of the ages, so far as religion re-ligion goes." The spurious coin, no matter how-well how-well it may be executed, will, sooner or later, be detected. It is the same with all imitations. They may pass for a time as the genuine article, but time, that rights all things, will eventually discover and made bare the fraud. To make the counterfit genuine, it yet needs the Roman seal. |