Article November 19, 1910 Issue

It was an interesting moment in the general convention...

St. Louis (Mo.) Republic

It was an interesting moment in the general convention of the Episcopal church in Cincinnati when the Rev. H. M. S. Taylor of Atlanta rose to second a resolution offered by a New Hampshire clergyman, contemplating the appointment of a committee "to prepare and report an office for the unction of the sick." Mr. Taylor said; "This precious jewel, this power of restoring the sick by prayer, was thrown away by our church and a woman picked it up. Now, I say, let us get back our own and use this magnificent gift in the name of the church." Which, divested of all surplusage, amounts to just this: That, in view of the fact that Christian Science appears to be distancing the church of the speaker, it behooves the latter organization to even the advantage so far as possible by taking over such distinctive tenets of the Christian Science fellowship as it may. In fact, Mr. Taylor spoke of Christian Science as "sapping the roots of other churches," whatever that may mean.

We should like to remark in passing that if the Episcopalians have lost ground to the Christian Scientists, they can never regain it by the appointment of committees and the drafting of "offices." It will require some more vital process than that. If Mr. Taylor believes in "the power of restoring the sick by prayer," we ask, in all respect, why he does not go out and restore some in that way? A church convention is not a dynamic body; it is only regulative. It can pass upon new spiritual growths and religious movements; but it cannot create. If a practice of healing the sick by unction should develop, it might sanction and regularize it; it could not originate it by all the resolutions that were ever resolved. More than that, the history of combat proves that the attempt to appropriate the enemy's strategy late in the campaign has little to recommend it save the frankness of the confession it incidentally involves.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

It was an interesting moment in the general convention...

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access