THE next church I wish to speak of is the Episcopalian. That was
founded by Henry VIII., now in heaven. He cast off Queen Catherine and
Catholicism together, and he accepted Episcopalianism and Annie Boleyn
at the same time. That church, if it had a few more ceremonies, would be
Catholic. If it had a few less, nothing. We have an Episcopalian Church
in this country, and it has all the imperfections of a poor relation. It
is always boasting of its rich relative. In England the creed is made
by law, the same as we pass statutes here. And when a gentleman dies in
England, in order to determine whether he shall be saved or not, it is
necessary for the power of heaven to read the acts of Parliament. It
becomes a question of law, and sometimes a man is damned on a very nice
point. Lost on demurrer.
A few years ago, a gentleman by the name of Seabury, Samuel Seabury, was
sent over to England to get some apostolic succession. We had not a drop
in the house. It was necessary for the bishops of the English Church
to put their hands upon his head. They refused. There was no act of
Parliament justifying it. He had then to go to the Scotch bishops; and,
had the Scotch bishops refused, we never would have had any apostolic
succession in the New World, and God would have been driven out of half
the earth, and the true church never could have been founded upon this
continent. But the Scotch bishops put their hands on his head, and now
we have an unbroken succession of heads and hands from St. Paul to the
last bishop.
In this country the Episcopalians have done some good, and I want
to thank that church. Having on an average less religion than the
others--on an average you have done more good to mankind. You preserved
some of the humanities. You did not hate music; you did not absolutely
despise painting, and you did not altogether abhor architecture, and you
finally admitted that it was no worse to keep time with your feet than
with your hands. And some went so far as to say that people could play
cards, and that God would overlook it, or would look the other way. For
all these things accept my thanks.
When I was a boy, the other churches looked upon dancing as probably the
mysterious sin against the Holy Ghost; and they used to teach that when
four boys got in a hay-mow, playing seven-up, that the eternal God stood
whetting the sword of his eternal wrath waiting to strike them down to
the lowest hell. That church has done some good.
The Episcopal creed is substantially like the Catholic, containing a few
additional absurdities. The Episcopalians teach that it is easier to
get forgiveness for sin after you have been baptized. They seem to think
that the moment you are baptized you become a member of the firm, and as
such are entitled to wickedness at cost. This church is utterly unsuited
to a free people. Its government is tyrannical, supercilious and absurd.
Bishops talk as though they were responsible for the souls in their
charge. They wear vests that button on one side. Nothing is so essential
to the clergy of this denomination as a good voice. The Episcopalians
have persecuted just to the extent of their power. Their treatment of
the Irish has been a crime--a crime lasting for three hundred years.
That church persecuted the Puritans of England and the Presbyterians of
Scotland. In England the altar is the mistress of the throne, and this
mistress has always looked at honest wives with scorn.