"All the ages down some men have superciliously declared, 'The days of religion are numbered.' But her sacred books outlast the critics. Resting her hand upon the Bible, the Church can say, 'Here is an anvil that has worn out many a hammer.'" - Bishop William Hobart Hare - Niobrara Convocation Address, 1899
Bishop Hare, in addition to his work with the American Indians, ministered to the Japanese and Chinese in later years.
The following passage comes from "The Life and Labors of Bishop Hare" - 1912 relating remarks delivered at Trinity Church, Tokio (sic).
"A single passage from his address to them which in general was more a report than a sermon is all that need be quoted:Matthew 7:24-27 - NLT'I would urge upon all who are called upon in any capacity to teach religion to the people, that they keep carefully to those salient points in the broad lines of Christian truths of which it may be said that they are Catholic, that they have been held 'always, everywhere and by all.' We are here not of our own motion but of the Church's appointment, and we are commissioned to teach, not our own peculiar views of the things to be believed, and the things to be done, but what the Church teaches. This body, of truth is presented to us in the Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments, and in the striking summaries and paraphrases of them which our short Catechism contains. They contain truths so compact and terse in statement, that, as the intelligent teacher, familiar with the Scriptures, dwells on them, texts and incidents, impressive, pathetic, tender, from the His- torical Books, the Prophets, the Psalms, Gospels, Epistles, rise up in the memory and leap forward ready to expand, illustrate and enforce them. I fear these treasures are not adequately appre ciated. Religious emotions are of high value, but they rise and fall. They are not perennial.
'Religious opinions rise up and flourish in each age, in individuals and little coteries, and are like the passing highly-colored cloud. They attract attention and pass away. But the great truths taught in the formulas just referred to are not dependent upon emotion. They are not matters of opinion. They are seed truth. They are capable of perpetual germination. Once lodged in the mind, they 'spring and grow up and bring forth fruit, we know not how,' even though they be long inactive and apparently dead, and from their renewed life, holy emotions and pious opinions and right living result almost as a mat ter of course.'" - Bishop William Hobart Hare
24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
Bishop Hare would be tossed out of the Episcopal Church today. Pity his kind have died out.