EPISCOPALIAN (e-pTs'Ic8-pd'IT-an).
The term Episcopalian is a very broad one. In its generic meaning it would include every person who believes that Episcopacy is either the best form of church government or else the one di vinely appointed form in the administration of ec clesiastical affairs. It would thus include mem bers of the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Church, the Church of England, the Protestant Episcopal Church, the Reformed Episcopal Church, and of all other churches having bishops among their high officials. Common usage, how ever, has limited the term to Protestants who ad here to Episcopacy derived through bishops from the Church of England as distinguished from those who are Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and the like.
Episcopalians may be divided into four schools —the High Church, the Low Church, the Broad Church, and the Reformed Episcopal Church.
(1) The Advanced High Churchmen. High churchmen, especially those of the most advanced order, desire to be called Catholics. They are ex tremely unwilling that "the Holy Roman Church" should have a monopoly of the term. Their views may be epitomized as follows: In the Jewish Church there were high priests, priests, and Le vites, representing three distinct orders in the Old Testament ministry ; so there are three distinct orders in the Christian Church—bishops, priests, and deacons. Christ Jesus Himself the great head of the church, in its very organization, insti tuted this threefold ministry with the two sacra ments of baptism and the Lord's supper. As the entity or essence of the first church was to be found in the Apostolate, so it is now contained in the Episcopate. The church in all the ages has preserved its visible structure, or corporate body, through the presence and functions of its bishops. The line of succession has been unbroken. Where there is no bishop there is no church. Authority flows down through these divinely appointed offi cers. They are the heaven-ordained conduits of saving and sustaining grace. From them the priesthood derive their powers, and without such priesthood no sacraments can be validly adminis tered. The subject of baptism has a moral or
spiritual change wrought in him by the applica tion of water duly blessed. The Holy Ghost can not operate to renew the soul without this outward ordinance. In this sacrament we have "the cre ation of a new heart, new affections, new desires, an actual birth from above, a gift coming down from God through the Holy Spirit." If one receiving baptism shall willfully sin, he loses the life imparted to him, which can be re stored only by confession and absolution. The regenerating and absolving priest holds that "the bread and wine offered and consecrated in the liturgy or service of the holy Eucharist are by such consecration made to be truly and really the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ." A minister who has received "the grace of orders" in the regular apostolical succession can alohe bring about this mysterious change and he alone can declare judicially the forgiveness of sins. High churchmen who are not enrolled as ritualists, and who do not subscribe to the doctrine of the real presence of our Lord in the Eucharist, and who do not erect the confessional in their churches, are yet as tenacious as the ritualists are of the dogma of apostolic succession and of bap tismal regeneration.
(2) Low Churchmen. Low churchmen, so called, are somewhat difficult to portray. All of them adhere to the historic Episcopate and believe that special blessings flow to the world through its possession by the church. They will use the verbiage of baptismal regeneration and yet give at least seven meanings to the term, no one of which teaches that a moral change is wrought in the heart by this sacramental rite. They are gelical in their doctrinal beliefs.
(3) Broad Churchmen. Broad churchmen are still more difficult to describe. Like the low churchmen they cling to Episcopacy. But it is not the sole channel through which God communicates His grace to men. The Episcopate form of gov ernment is orderly, dignified and ancient, and therefore very desirable. The extremes of liberal ism in doctrine are to be found among them.