Excerpt from Pastoral Letter From the Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church to the Clergy and Laity of the Church in the United States of America: Delivered Before the General Convention, at the Close of Its Session, in St. Luke's Church, Philadelphia, Tuesday Evening, October 21st, 1856 But; although we are appointed to this constant warfare, we do not lose our privilege of peace, because our weapons are not carnal but spiritual, and the war is carried on in tenderness and charity towards our enemies, and our only design in conquering them is to make them conquerors - yea, more than con querors, through Him that loved them, and gave Himself for them, and washed them from their sins in His own The soldiers of the Church are bound to use none but heavenly armor. Their sword 1s the sword of the spirit. Their helmet is the hope of salvation. Their shield is the shield of faith. Their defence is the breast-plate of righteousness. Their feet are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Their power is only of the Lord, whose strength is made perfect in their weak ness. And therefore, in all their victories, they are obliged to glve the honor to Him who has girded them for the battle, saying, in the language of the Psalmist, Not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name be the glory and the praise, for Thy mercy and truth's sake l - and in the blessed words of Christ, Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.