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{ [New Orleans, Jan. 20. 1842] }
Bishop Polk then rose and delivered the following
Address --
Beloved Brethren --
I appear before you for the first time, in obedience to an invitation you have felt moved, under God, to extend me, to address the office of chief pastor among you.
The confidence you have manifested towards me, during the period in which I have been your Provisional Bishop, encourages me to hope, that our future intercourse, in the most intimate relations we now sustain to each other, may be characterized by a like spirit of brotherly kindness.--
Knit together as we are, we form one body; and are, in Christ, to be co-workers with God, for the promotion of His glory, and the salvation of men.-- How well then does it become us to be of one mind and of one heart, that we may the more effectually "strive together for the faith once delivered to the Saints."
Let us therefore, in the threshold of our existence as an organized diocese, lift up our hearts in devout prayer to Him, from whom all holy desires and good counsels come, that He would evermore preside in the midst of us; upon our
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our tendencies to error ; encourage such {illegible} us to the pursuit and love of "the South ;" and make us as "an house at unity in itself."
The work we have to perform in the field assigned us, and which is interested chiefly to the clergy, has been plainly indicated.
We have had the Bible, as the written word of God, placed in our hands by those from whom we have received our commissions, and whom we recognize as Christ's ambassadors ; and been charged to "dispense it faithfully." In doing this, we shall of course be compelled to obey the further injunction laid upon us at our ordination, to dispense with equal faithfulness those holy sacraments, revealed by that word as of divine institution, and of binding obligation on all the followers of Christ.
That branch of the Church Catholic to which we belong, has given us in her creeds, articles, homilies, and services, a brief, but comprehensive exposition of her views of the doctrines she has commissioned us to teach. With those for our guides, referring us, as they all do, for their truth and authority, to "most certain servant of holy Scripture," we cannot greatly err. As ambassadors of Christ, we have been called by His spirit, and appointed to discharge a particular trust; -to be co-workers with the Holy Ghost, in the extention and establishment of His kingdom upon earth.
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Our business is to preach the "body of reconciliation";-to endeavour to establish in the minds and hearts of our {illegible: learners?} a sense of their {illegible: lives?}; and point them to their {illegible}.
In accomplishing to this, we cannot do better than to take for our guides, those first heralds of the cross,-who, being the immediate subjects of the teaching of the founder of our faith, must be presumed to have incurred least risk of error; and of whos preaching and teaching we have such abundant memorials in the pages of holy writ.
By referring to these, we cannot but observe in the writings of them all, especially in those of him who was the chief preacher among them, the -importance attached to a few leading doctrines as cardinal points in the system. "Christ crucified" was the ever-recurring theme of this ministry. The expounding and following {illegible} of that our single {illegible: principal?}, in all its legitimate details, compressed the burden of the ministry of the Apostle to the Gentiles. It was to Christ he referred {illegible: perpetually?}, as the source and end of all his teachings as the {illegible: matter?} and {illegible: finisher?} of the faith he preached; the great sacrifice for sin; the "end of the law-- for righteousness to every one that believeth;" -- and to whom he commanded the humbling penitent, as to a friend, a refuge, and a Saviour.
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We have then, in pursuance of the example of the Apostles, as the chief work of our ministry, to pursuade men "to be found in Christ;" to be united to Him as the members to the members to the body, as the branches to the vine; to be grafted into Him by faith; such faith as, being founded on on a conviction of his {illegible: issues?}, compels the sinner to entertain humbling {illegible} of himself on the one hand, and elevates and magnifies Christ, in all his offices, on the other; as leads the spirit of the penitent captive, and subjects it, in its will and affections, to a submissive obedience to the law of Christ. A faith, thus issuing in a devout desire to be conformed to the will of Christ, renders the believer teachable, and prompts him to a sincere and earnest diligence in seeking for the outward ordinances and appointments of his Lord's kingdom. This {illegible: devotes? devolves?} upon us, the ministers of that kingdom, the responsibility and duty of guiding them in their inquiries: we have to point them to the door of admission into the visible fold; and it is our office, {crossed out: and} also, to admit them to a participation of its privileges; having taught them, it is our duty to baptize them, and to seal thereby unto them, the promises of forgiveness of sins, and adoption to be the Sons of God by the Holy Ghost. --
Becoming thus the children of God by faith in Christ, through the operation of the Holy Ghost,