had an outlook across Lake Geneva, I had before me in the distance the great white cap of Mont Blanc. It glowed in the morning and setting sun with lambent fires, and looked like an altar uplifted to God. Somehow the sense of its greatness and purity touched me, and was a parable of the soul. Its broad foundations rested on the earth. Down its sides, and in its valleys, flowed the streams of penitence; but above, looking to heaven, it was glorious in its purity, and transformed as by a fire from heaven, which glowed within.

But God had not done His purifying work in me.

He saw fit to allow me to have a yet greater trial to the emptying of my soul. If there was one thing about which my affections clung, it was the Society of St. John the Evangelist. The re-establishment of the religious life among men, and in the form of an order of mission priests, had become the cherished object of my life. I had, in a small way, aided in its planting and development, and God's blessing seemed to rest upon it. It had extended into England, America, Africa, and India. In America we had two houses and churches, one in Philadelphia and the other in Boston. Owing to the very able workers I had with me, the work grew among the wealthy and intellectual, the parish congregations were very large, and the influence of the Fathers was felt throughout the diocese. We were not very extreme in our ritual, but with all loyalty to our Communion we taught the Catholic Faith. Everything was happily progressing, when a trouble came. Looking back,

one can see one's own failings, and believe much was owing to misunderstandings and the craftiness of Satan. Very few Americans had joined us, and we were pressed with the objection that we were a society under a Superior not a member of the American Church. A question having arisen concerning our duty, the Americans felt that loyalty to their own Bishops, by virtue of their ordination vows, took precedence. It was a very painful time. The questions created much misunderstanding. I had to bear much harsh treatment, and that from old friends. Amongst other things, it was said that I was breaking my vows, and again, that I was losing my mind. Naturally, I could not but feel this very much. I was tempted to think that persons who were Christians would not act in such a way. I felt I was like a doormat on which every one was wiping his muddy boots. My great desire for the soul's progress had come to naught. The harm done amongst Catholics was a great pain to me. I retired to my little brick-lined cell, sick at heart, and could only take refuge in God. One thing I became determined about I would not give up Christianity because some did not act as Christians. I would not leave my post and duty as a priest of the Church. I would accept whatever was God's will in my regard, whatever the suffering might be. I would resign the dearest idol I had known, if it was His good pleasure. I did not ask or wish anyone to agree with me, if he thought I was in the wrong. would, from the bottom of my heart, for Christ's

I

sake, forgive those who opposed or differed with me. I would try and see my own faults, with God to show them to me, and be penitent for them. All this was a slow work. I felt so sore that I exclaimed, like one who was under torture, when his limb was crushed, it did not matter what more was done to him, for he could not suffer more. God knew how I had failed in many ways; how strong self, with all its ambitions and desires, was; how necessary it was for my heart and will to be humbled and crushed. One can, in old age, be thankful for it all. Not one sorrow or pain would one miss. It did not do all it might have done, but it helped me, made me more real, somewhat emptied me of self, wrought a spirit of charity in me, and I got up and joined the host of forgiven cripples, and went stumbling on to God.

CHAPTER III

"CAN THESE DRY BONES LIVE?”

F we may look for hidden and little beginnings

IF

of God's great purposes, we may find one in the connection of our Church with the saintly work of the house at Little Gidding. The holy Nicholas Ferrar was a member of the London Society that set forth the enterprise of the Virginia colonization, and we recognize as one of its objects the establishment of the Church there and the conversion of the Indians.

The Church at this time in England, however, was in a low spiritual condition, and this may be the cause of the subsequent difference in churchmanship between Virginia and New England. The Virginians were conservative and held on to the Church as they had received it. In New England the Church had to maintain itself against the fierce prejudices of the Puritans, and this forced it to a fuller grasp of Church principles and its life.

After the Revolution a great effort was made to obtain the Episcopate. The colonists up to that time had been under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, who never visited them. The clergy, especially those of Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, desired Bishops as essential to the preservation of the Church. The scheme was violently attacked

by sectarians, and some in the Church, as likely to bring in the English system of Episcopal rule over the clergy, and tithes imposed upon the laity.

It was, however, contended that the Episcopate was to have no connection with the civil government whatever. The Bishops were not to be appointed, but elected by clergy and laity. The Bishop was to govern along with a council of advice, elected by the Diocesan Convention. The establishment of the American Church has been regarded as the greatest of all reformations. Up to that time, from the days of Constantine, State and Church had been united, sometimes to the detriment of both parties. But now the American Church was to be free, and the responsibility of growth rested on herself.

The Episcopate was at last obtained. First, by Dr. Seabury, from the Scottish Bishops on the fourteenth of November, 1784, at Aberdeen. It was a wonderfully providential event, as it brought, through Seabury, our Church under the influence of the Scotch Liturgy. The Scotch Liturgy differed from the English, showing signs of a more Eastern origin, and in its recognition of the great Eucharistic Sacrifice.

Seabury, it is said, was willing that changes might be made in the offices of Morning and Evening Prayer, if he might direct those relating to the Eucharist. It was this that gave the American Church the more full and Catholic recognition of the Holy Eucharist as the great Christian Sacrifice. Seabury said that he left it to men of another generation,