^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 Ii&|2j8 12.5 ■tt fM 12.2 ^ |4£ 12.0 U£ 1 1.25 II U |L6 ^ 6" > PhotDgraptiic Sciences Corporalion 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WMSTM,N.Y. MSM (716)l7a-4S03 '^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Hiatorlcal IMicroraproductions / institut Canadian da microraproductions historiquas Tachnical and Bibliographic Notaa/Notas tachniquaa at bibliographiquaa Tlia Inatituta haa attamptad to obtain tha baat original copy availabia for filming. Paaturaa of thia copy wMch may ba bibliographically uniqua. which may altar any of tha imagaa in tha raproduction, or which may aignificaiitly changa tha uaual mathod of filming, ara chaclcad balow. 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Pagee da eoulaur Pagea damaged/ Pagee endommag^aa □ Pagea reetored end/or laminated/ Pagea reataurAea at/ou palliculAea Pagee diacoloured. atained or foxed/ Pagea dAcoloriaa. tachatiea ou piquiaa Pagea detached/ Pagea dAtach^aa Showthrough> Tranaparance Quality of prin Qualiti inigala de I'lmpreaaion Includea aupplamentary materii Comprend du matiriel aupplAmentaira Only edition available/ Seule Mition diaponibia r~n Pagea detached/ rri Showthrough/ rn Quality of print variaa/ r~n Includea aupplamentary material/ I — I Only edition available/ Pagee wholly or partially obacured by errata alipa. tiaauae. etc.. have been refilmed to enaure the beat poaaibia image/ Lea pagee totalament ou pertiellement • obecurciea par un feuillet d'errata. una palura. etc., ont M filmiea i nouveau da fa^on i obtanir la meilleure image poaaibia. 10X 14X 18X 22X 2tX 30X • y 12X MX aox MX 2SX 32X Th« copy ftlmcd h»n haa bMii raproducsd thanks to tha ganaroaity of: N«w BrunMrkk MuMum Saint John Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha baat quality poaaibia oonaidaring tha condition and iaglbiliity of tha originai copy and in icaaping with tlia Aiming contract spacificationa. Originai copiaa in printad papar covara ara filmad baginning with tha front covar and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or illuatratad impraa- ■ion, or tha bacic covar whan appropriata^ Aii othar original copiaa ara filmad baginning on tha first paga with a printad or illuatr a t a d impraa* ■ion, and anding on tha laat paga %vlth a printad or illuatratad impraaalon. Tha laat racordad frama on aach mieroflcha shall contain tha symbol —•»( moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol y (moaning "END"), whichavar appiiaa. L'axampiaira film4 fut raproduit grica A la g4n4roait* da: Naw Brumwiefc MuMum Saint John Laa imagaa sulvantaa ont 4ti raprodultaa avae la plua grand aoln, compta tanu da la condition at da la nattati da l'axampiaira film*, at an conformM avae laa condltiona du contrat da filmaga. Laa axamplairaa orlginaux dont la couvartura mt paplar aat imprim^a aont film4a an commandant par la pramiar plat at an tarminant salt par la damlAra paga qui comporto una amprainta d'lmpraaalon ou d'iliuatration, soit par la saeond plat, salon la caa. Toua laa autraa axamplalraa origlnaux aont flimAa mt comman^nt par la pramMra paga qui comporto una amprainta dimpraaaion ou dlliuatratlon at an tarminant par la damMra paga qui comporto uno talla amprainta* Un daa symbdaa auhranta apparattra aur la damMra imaga da chaqua microficho. salon lo caa: la symbola "^ signifia "A 8UIVRE", la aymbolo ▼ signifio "FIN". IMaps, piataa. charts, ate., may ba fHmad at diffarant reduction ratioa. Thoaa too large to ba entirely included in one expoeure ere filmed beginning in the upper left hand comer, left to right and top to bottom, ae many framee aa required. The following diegrama llluatrate the method: Lee cartee. pianchee, taMaeux, etc.. peuvent Atre fllm4e i dee taux da rMuction diff Arents. Lorsqua le document eet trop grand pour Atre reprodult en un soul clichA. 11 eet filmi A partir da i'angia aupAriaur gaudie. do gauche A droite, et do haut en bee, en prenant la nombre d'Imagea nAcaeaalre. Lee diagrammee suivants IHuatrant la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 ' 2 3 4 5 6 ^e/36^ LETTER — OF TIIK — REV. JAMES A. LATANE, ICE C TOR O*" WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA, TO BISHOP JOHNS, Jt:p3STG2VI]VO THE IMIIS^IJajlTiY -OF THR- «!f Protestant Episcopal Church, -c MONCTON, N. B. ^^ Printed by H. T. Stevens, Moncton Printing Office. 1874. ' ^ St. Majthew's Church, Wheeling, W. Va., Jan. 12, 1874. } My Dear Bishop, — It is with sincere grief that I write to announce to you my purpose to withdraw from the Ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church. I know that this announcement will cause you both sur- prise and pain ; but I beg you to believe that the decision has not been reached without much reflection and prayer, and that the step is taken with the utmost reluctance, and only from imperative convictions of duty. Every earthly consideration is against it. My relations to you, and to Bishop Whittle, and to many dear brethren in the ministry in theDiocese of Virginia, my affection for the Church in Staunton, where I commenced my ministry and labored for fourteen years, my many obliga- tions to the people of my present charge, my desire, attested by my whole ministry, to do the Lord's work in quietness and peace, the natural shrinking which every manly heart must feel from entering upon a course which will cause me to be esteemed a fool by many whose good opinion I value, and the uncertain- ties of the future, both as to the field of my labor and the sup- port of my family, are all against the step, and have all been calmly, deliberately weighed. On the other hand, I ha\ e nothing to plead in favor of it, and nothing to sustain me in taking it, but a clear conviction of duty to Grod and to the cause of His truth in the earth. Let me say further, that in deciding the matter I have not taken counsel with others. For obvious reasons, until mv mind was made up I could have, and up to this moment I have had, no communication, directly or indirectly, with Bishop Cummins or any of his adherents. And I beg you to believe tliat had I felt that the case admitted of it, I would most glad- ly have sought counsel of you and of some of my brethren in the ministry. But when the matter was not a new one, when oM^ all t he iacts of the t'arfo ^vere l)efore me, and when it was a simple (luestion of duty in view of the facts, I felt that I could most sately decide it where I have at least sought to decide it, in my secret chamber, and on my knees before God. HKASONS FOR LEAVING THE C^HURCH. Let nie then state distinctly my reasons for leavinir the Kpiscopal Church. They are just those difficulties which have (Mmr 1 ' '''^™^ ^^'"'^ ^'^^^ ^ ^'^""^^^" ^^^ ^"^*' ^"^ '""^"^ ^" *^^ I. The iirst is the unhappy divmon of the Church into what are hioivn as the Hir/h-Gfiurch and the Low^Vhurch parties. ^ I will not say that in the Church there are two seeds, the seed ot Romanism and the seed of Protestanism ; but I will say that the Church, as it is now, is an army with two banners, lus- tification by the sacraments inscribed on the one, and justifica- tion by faith on the other. And there never can be any cordial union between the parties arranged under these two banners. It has been tried in the Church time and again, tried in mission- ary operations, m Theological seminaries, and in Church-book Societies, tried honestly, and by good men on each side, and, in every mstance, has lamentably failed. The two parties are not agreed, and cannot walk together. Their differences are real, ?f ^ '!wf ^2?i'^rS^- '^^^ Low-Church party cannot co-ope- rate with the High-Church party without being false to what it has ever held to be the doctrines of the Reformation, and with- out sacrificing what it believes to be the first principles of the Oracles of God. The division in the Church, therefore, with the unhappy strife and discord attending it, is one which can- not be healed. II. The second is the countenance apparently given bv certain expressions in the Prayer-book to those ^'erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's word;' out of which the division m the Church has grown. Those doctrines pertain to the effects of Baptism, to the nature of the Lord's Supper, and to the office of the Ministry. There are expressions in the Baptismal Service which seem to teach that every infant, when baptized, is thereby « regener- ated with the Holy Spirit." And, though I am satisfied^ that this doctrine was not held by the framers of the Prayer-book, nor intended to be expressed in the service, and therefore is not 7 !\ ^^^^ ''^ tiiat I could ^^ decide it, ^f^in^^ the "^^iieh have ^»y in the ^iurch into seeds, the f will say ^ers, jus- justifica- K cordial banners, fnission- ch-book and, in are not ^e real, ^o-ope- ^hat it I with- of the . with can- 'n hy ieou8 >hich the r. eem ler- hat okf lot really the doctrine of the Church, yet the ey.pressiona are so liable to be misunderstood, and so hard to be satisfactorily explained, and as a matter of fact are so constantly misunder* stood, and do practically educate and confirm so many in a false view of the effects of Baptism, that they ought to be altered. Regeneration is stated in the word of God to be essential to salvation ; the mode and means of regeneration are things which concern the way of salvation ; and to affirm that Baptism invariably effects regeneration, and that every person who has been baptized has, therefore, been regenerated, is dangerously to delude human souls, and that, too, in a particular essential to salvation. And yet this doctrine, contrary as it is to God's word, is distinctly and constantly taught and believed in the Church, and finds countenance at least in that service where the minister, in the case of every child and every adult bap- tized by him, is required to say, after the act of baptism, this child, or this person, ie now regenerate. And so long as the Baptismal service remains in the Prayer book in its present form, that teaching will go on, as it has done so alarmingly of late, to increase and prevail more and more in the Church. THE DOCTRINES OF A PRIESTHOOD AND A SACRIFICE IN THE SAC- RAMENT NOT SCRIPTURAL. Again, there are expressions in the Prayer-book which give countenance, at least, to the notion of a Priesthood in the Christian Church, and of a sacrifice in the Lord's Supper. Now, if there is any truth plainly taught us in the word of God, then it is there plainly taught, especially in the epistle to the Hebrews, that our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, is the one perfect, ever-living, ever-sympathizing, and all-sufficient Priest of His people, and that they need no other, that His death upon the Cross was a full, perfect, and complete sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, offered once for all a/nd never to be 7'epeated, and that priests and sacrifices have been dis- tinctly and forever abolished in the Church on earth. And yet the opposite notion, unscriptural as it is in doc- trine and corrupting in practice, finds countenance at least in the Prayer-book, in the following instances : First of all, it constantly applies to the ministers of the Church the name Priests. Then, in the service for ordaining them, the Bishop uses this language, " Eeceive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a Priest in the (^luirch of God, now committed to thee by the imposition of our hands. Whime 8in8 thou dost forgive,, thejj arc. forf/iven ; and whose sins thou dost retain,, they are retained." (Tliere is here an alternate form allowed, but a majority of the Bishops use the form I have given.) Then, in the stated services of the (Church there is a " De- claration of absolution or remission of sins, to be made by the Priest alone, standing : the people kneeling." And then, in the service for the " institution of ministers into Parishes or Churches" (a service adopted by the General Convention of the Church, and now found, whether rightly or not, in every Prayer-book), the table used for the administra- tion of the Lord's Supper is spoken of as an ^' altar" the minis- ter's relation to the people of his charge is described as a ''^sacerdotal" connection between him and them," and he is invested with power "to perform every act of sacerdotal func- tion among them." Now in regard to the form of words < [noted above from the ordination service, let it be remembered that no such words were used in the Church of Christ, in the ordaining of her min- isters, for more than a thousand years after the Apostle's time, and that it was not until the Church of Rome had begun to assert her high claims, and in the days of her grossest corrup- tion, that she impiously presumed to use them. In regard to the word Priests, let it be remembered that the inspired writers of the New Testament seem scrupulously to have avoided applying the term in any way, directly or indirect- ly, literally, or even figuratively, to the ministers of Christ. So true is this, so divinely guided were they in guarding -his point, that no writer of any age, so far as I know, has ever claimed to have found one passage in the New Testament which, even in the remotest way, applied the term Priests or Priesthood to the Christian ministry. Yet in the face of this fact, and contrary to God's word, the Prayer-book constantly calls them Priests. I know that the word Priest i^ said to be a contraction in the Prayer-book for Presbyter. But Priests is a plain English word, and has a plain English meaning. It means one who is verily a " sacerdotal function to perform," an expiatory sacrifice to make, and the real blood of some slain victim to offer unto God. The word is never used by any English speaking people. *^, ^^ thee hv ^«*^ forgivl *^n, they are. ^^ed, but u • ^ is a « De- ^« made hy >^ ministers Qe General • "ghtly or idmmistra- the minis- "bed as a and he is otalfunc- ■ from tlie ch words ^er min- ce's time, ^G§:un to corrup- •«d that 'ouslj to ndirect- ist. So s point, med to ven in to the ntrary Jsts. ion in iglish ho is rifice unto ople, I or in any Knglish book, except the Pniyer-book, in any other sense. Can we be surprised, then, when the Piayer-book calls the ministers of the Protcjstant Episcopal Oluuch FrieatH, and uses such language in regard to their office, that many of them connj to look upon themselves, and their people to look upon them, as really priests, and their office as a priestly office, and the Lord's Supper as i\ sacrifice, and th(i Lord's body and blood as in some form offered in .that sacrifice ? Or can we wonder wlieu such language is used in the Prayer-book, in investing the ministers of the church with the office of Priest, that the doctrine and practise of priestly confession and aV)solution shoidd claim a rightful place in the Church? Or can we hope to get rid of the teaching and the error until >.V' get rid of the language which teaches the error ? THE HOPE'.ESSNESS OF THE Cf r TEST WITH IHE HI(JH-('HUB('ir ELEMENT. in. The third is the ah8oJui( Ivipossibilify of yettiruj rid of these objectionable expret^slons in the services of the Prayer-book, I use the expression "absolute impossibility" advisedly, and am indebted for its use in this connection to Bishop Potter, of New York. In 1869, when certain innovations in doctrine and usage, of Komish character, were being boldly propagated in the Church, and were fast bringing its Protestant and Scrip- tural character into distrust and reproach, and when, in conse- quence, there was a movement on foot which, if not arrested, must end in a disruption of the Church, nine of the Bishops met in New York to confer together as to what was to be done to avert the danger. The result of their conference was " the conviction that if alternate phrases or some equivalent modifi- cation in the office for the ministration of baptism of infarts were allowed, the pressing necessity would be met." They therefore undertook to secure such alternate phrases or equiva- lent modification, and with this view addressed to the other Bishops the paper known as the " Proposition of the nine Bishops." The proposition was a modest one. It did not involve the change of one word in the Prayer-book. It did not require any clergymjin to omit one word, or to add one word, in the Baptismal service as he had always used it. It only asked that 8 any minister who desired it might be allowed to omit from the service that single clause which makes him seem to declare of every infant, after he has baptized it, this infant is now regene-r rated vith G^od's Holy Spirit. And the proposition was a reasonahle one. All that is essential to baptism, I mean outwardly, is the application of water " in the name of the P'ather, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." This is the formula given by our Saviour Him^ self, and the baptism is perfect and complete when the water has been applied and those words pronounced. The liberty asked for could, therefore, in no possible way, affect the validity or efficacy of the sacrament. And as it would have been a great relief to many in the Church, it ought, in brotherly kindness and charity, to have been allowed them. And then the proposition was. couched in the mo8t hecom-^ ing terms. The nine Bishops put it in the form of a " respect- ful and aflfectionate request of their brother Bishops." And what was the result? The proposition was fairly scouted. Bishop Potter at once made it the subject of a pas- toral letter, in which he declares that he is " too entirely assured of wliat the judgment of the General Convention must be, to feel the smallest concern^ save for the character and well-being of a certain number of individuals;" that "the movement wiU end in a mortifying discomjiture ;" that " very nearly the whole Church will stand amazed that any respectable body of churchmen, not to say Bishops, could have been found to give their countenance to such propositions," and that " it is indeed astonishing that they did not see that the thing to which they were urged to give their countenance was an absolute impos- aibility." Not satisfied with this, he next very kindly takes the trouble " to point out to the nine Bishops, and to their friends, that, with their views and wishes, they 'can have no interest in asking our G-eneral Convention to' undertake the task of revising the Prayer-book;" and lest this should not have the desired weight with them, he boldly threatens them that whenever such revision shall take place, then, "if two- thirds of the Bishops and three-fourths of the Dioceses may be expected to act according to their principles," it would result in such changes (and he distinctly specifies them), as would make the Prayer-book teach unmistakably the doctrine of priestly absolution, and the doctrine of the presence of our ''V *it from the declare of now regene, f." that is wication of ^nd of the ' ^o"r Him. the water '^^ liberty »e validity 'e been u brotherly «^ iec( a om-. •espect- 'as »f fairly ^ pas- ^ assured St be, ?fo 'W-being >vement arly the body of to givfi indeed 5b they takes • their ve no e the i not them two- ly be esult ould 3 of oiir Lord's body and blood, " v(;nly and indeed," in the I word's Supper. And for one, I lionestly belitne that in this nmtt(^r Bishop Potter has stattid nothing but the tnitli. When at tlie last General Convention (Baltiinore, 1871,) tlie majority voted down every Canon that could be framed agninst l^itualism in the (Church, when respectful petitions for alterations in the Bap- tismal service in the Prayer-book were so easily disposed of, witliout even the formality of a discussion, and especially wlien sucli 51 modest and reasonable proposition as that of the nine Bishops, not really altering one word in the Prayer-book, failed so signally to accomplisli anything, and the movement ended, as Bishop Potter so confidently ])redicted it woidd end, in a mortifying discomfiture, I cannot hope for the success of any new movement in that direction. I know it will be claimed by Korae that the "Declaration of the Bishops" touching the Baptismal service was gained at that Conxention. I wish I could regard that Declaration as in any sense " a gain" to the Low-Church party. l?ut I cannot. 1st. It had no aLtihorify; being merely an informal and unof- ficial expression of opinion on the part of most of the Bishops, or if of any authority, (he precedent was a most dangerous one for the minority in the ('hurch. 2nd. If- meant noil dufj; some of the signers declaring afterwaids that it made a moral rather than a relif/iovti, a scholastic rather than a theological distinc- tion; and not a single High-Church Bishop admitting that it touched the doctrine of Spiritual regeneration in Ba]»tism. And 3rd. It e^^eded nothing; the Declaration has Ijeen lost, thrown aside, torn up, scattered to the winds, by most of the laity who ever saw it, and meantime the 15aptismtd service re- mains imaltered in the Prayer-] lOok, and every minister of the (JIuirch has to go on declaring, again and again, as before, that every baptized child is regenerated. Out of regard to Dr. An- drews, to whom the credit of having devised and brought about this riiodc, of relief is generally ascribed, I woidd gladly liave with-held the expression of tliis opinion of its merits; but in this instance surely, Afar/nus A'pollo donnitat. THE POSITION ASSUMED TOWARDS OTHER PROTESTANT C'UURCHIOS. IV. Still another r(>ason is the attitude in which tha Episcopal Church stands in the present day to other Protes- tant Churches. B 10 ' \ It is now held by an overwhelming majority in the Epis- copal Church that tliere can be but one form ot" Church polity; that ordination by Bishops, deriving their authority by succes- sion, in an imbroken line, from the Apostles, is essential bo a valid ministry; and that without such ordination there can be no ti've Cliurch, and no lawful admin istraticm of the sacra- ments. Now I liave faitlifuUy sought to bring this theory to the test of Scripture, at three several periods of my ministry, each time devoting weeks and months to the careful examination and comparison of all the passages in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles which seemed to bear upon the question, an 1 the result is tlie clear con\ iction that no such claim is author- ized by the Word of God. Tlie Mosaic dispensation, for obvious reasons, was designed of (rod to possess one unvarying form through all tlie ages of its destined continuance. Therefore, when it was to l:e inaugurated, God called Moses up into Mount Sinai, gave him the minutest directions concerning every par- ticular of it, even sliowing him a pattern of the Tal)ernacle and of all the instruments to be used in the service thereof, and solemnly charged him: "See that thou make all things accord- ing to the pattern showed to thee in the Mount.'' Had our Saviour designed His (Church to be constructed on any such principles, or to be of one prescribed and invariable form, then surely, when He gave His last charge to His Apostles, He would have showed them a pattern of the (Christian Church, or given them explicit instructions as to its intended form. Or if He had left it to His Apostles, acting imder Divine Inspiration, to es- tablish forever such a form, then surely they would have drawn the plan and written out tlie details, and left them on record. And in the absence of any such definite plan and instructions, either from Him to His Apostles, or from His inspired Apostles to the Church, we must conclude that no such invariable form of government is of Divine authority, or essential to the being of a Church. F'or if established since the days of the Apostles, it must have been either by a fallible or by an infallible Church; if by a fallible Church, it has no rightful authority and cannot be binding for all time and in all places; if by an infallible Clmrch, there has never been but one branch of the Christian Church which claimed to be infallible, and those who hold that there can be but one form of Church Government, have no tn the Epis- "ich polity; y hy succes- ^(-ntial to a here can be ^ the sacra- -oiy to the nistiy, each illation and postle.« and 'stion, ani is author- for obvious ■ying- Ibnn \ Tlierefore, nto Mount every par- puele and ereot; and 8"s accord- Had our 'iny such 5im, then ffe would or given if He had '"» to es- ^e drawn ^ record. mictions, Apostles >le form le being apostles, -hurch; cannot fallible n'istian Id that ive no 11 jhiglior a ithority for tliat dogma than for any other dogma of [file Church s for Episcopacy do not liesitate to allege, the sin of Korah, Datlian and Abiram in the days of Moses. But if so, where is the evidence of it? Is it in the devout, blameless, consistent Oliristian lives they lead? Is it in the blessing of God upon their labors, and the power and success of tlieir ministry? Is it in the souls who, by God's grace, tlu'ough their instrumentality, are turned from the power of 8atfm unto God, and find pardon, and pea ^e, and lif(», and salvation at tlie foot of the Cross of Christ? Are these the marks and tokens of God's displejisure, of God's judgments, against a bold, daring, presumptuous sin ? In other words, and to put the (piestion in the ^•ery form in which our Savioin* put it to the Pharisees, wlio were denying the l)aptism of John be- cause he had not asked them for authority to l)aptise, " the ministry of these servants of Christ, is it from Heaven or of men?" Dare any man say it is not from Heaven? And dare we set up a standard of our ow i, by which we disown those whom God hath owned, and condemn tliose whom God hatli accepted, and separate ourselves from all fellowship on earth with those with wliom we shall be glad enougli to take our places in Heaven ? And yet the Episcopal Churcli in this country and in our day has practically planted herself on this high grovmd and as- sumed this imperious attitude towards the great bulk of Protes- tant Christians. It is true that her standards of doctrine remain unclianged and the ^^ineteenth and Twenty-third Articles in the Prayer-book still testify to her original Protestant stand on this cpiestion. But the othei has become the prevailing sentiment in the Church, and is fast becoming embodied in the Canon I^aw of the Church. So far has positive legislation gone in this di- rection, if we accept the current interpretation of certain Can- ons, that no minister of the Episcopal Church can now, by any ojficial act, recognize any ether Protestant Church as a true 12 Church, or ministers of any other Church as hwvful ministers of Christ. As the Church Journal^ of recent date, boastingly states it, "It maybe an opinion tolerafed In flic. Church, that the apostolical succession is not necessary to a valid ministry. It is an opinion, however, wlucli the (^hurch ehsolutely forbids every Parish, every Convention, every Deacon, Priest or Bishof) from acting on." Or, as the Hartford CAyrrcAm(t«, of the same date, puts it, more pointedly and arrogantly, " Any man has a right to believe Free-trade is better than protection, even though he is living under a Protectionist Cxovernment; but if he carry his Free-trade opinions into practice he is a smuggler;" and so the editor believes, and glories in believing, that the Episcopal Church has outlaived all non-episcopal ministers, and views any minister of her own who would officially recognize them as an ecclesiastical smuggler. This may be the law of the Church; I cannot positively deny it. This certainly is the spirit of the recent legislation in the Church. But I thank God, it is not the spirit of many of her ministers and multitudes of her people. I thank Grod that there are thousands in lier communion who have never yet bowed the knee to this Baal. Yea, I thank Grod that there are to-day thousands in her bosom whose hearts beat in full sympathy with the spirit of a late holy man of God and honored minister of the Gospel in the Episcopal Church, in tlie city of Baltimore, who for the last twenty years of his life made it a rule never to pass, in his daily walks jibout the city, the Church building of any Christian denomination witliout silent- ly lifting up his heart in prayer to the Great Head of the Churcli for his blessing upon that Church, its minislGV, its people, and its work! VINDICATION OF BISHOP CUMMINS. Again, this question of the attitude of the Episcopal Church towards the other Churches of Protestant Christendom was, after all, the real question involved in Bishop Cummins's com- munion act at the recent meeting of the Evangelical Alliance. The right or the wrong, the lawfulness or the imlawfulness, of his conduct, turned solely on this point. That meeting was a noble gathering of the great Protestant household of faith. It was a goodly and pleasant sight to see Christian brethren from almost every land, and nation, and people, and tongue, meeting together and d : elling together in such blessed unity. And it 13 ministers of •> t>0a8til)|ylv :^">'<'/^ that '« ministrv ^^ly forbids />r Jiisliop >f the siuno "lan has a yt'D thoijg-h i^ he carry n" and so Episcopal ^'iews any horn as an ,e Church; nf of the >it is not <'*• people. "ion who hank God earts beat f "Godand h» in the ife made ^^^y, tJio It silent- ' Clnirch pie, and CImrch fn was, 's com- lliance. less, of Was a \ It frora meting nd it iras surely most appropriate that, at the close of their meeting, ind before parting never to behold one another's faces again in ibis world, they should gather as the members of one great and [blessed family around the table of their (jommon Lord. And [yet for taking his place at that table and uniting with (Uiris- tian brethren of other Churches in that sacred service, Bishop ! Cummins was denounced in the most unmeasured terms, was accused of having violated the Constitution and Canons of the Chinch, and was charged with having Ijeen unfaithfid to the most solemn vows a human being can assume. Now, were these charges false, or were the}' true? I do not disduss this question so far as Bisliop (himmins is concerned. He needs no defence at my hands. His character as a Cliris- tian man and a Christian minister stands unimpeached before the Christian world. In tlie freshness and strength of his early manhood he took upon him ihe vows of God and devoted him- self to the service of God in the ministry of the Gospel of (Christ; and sacred, faithfully, and with his whole heart, so far as the eye of man can see, and with signal marks of Divine blessing upon his work in every station he has occupied, has lie from that day to this rememl)ered and kept those vows to God. And in now laying down his office in the Episcopal Church, and in going forth to labor in a new field, where, as he honestly believes, he may yet more faithfully serve God and His cause on the earth, he has done what, as a Christian man, he had a perfect right to do, has done it in the most manly, and lionest and straightforward way, and has done only what the Keformers of the Churcli of England did when thev came out of the Church of Rome. But I ask the question because of its bearing on the atti- tude of the Episcopal Church to the other Churches of the Ke- formation. And on this point there is tliis sad and significant fact: While Bishop Cummins was so loudly condemined for that Convmuniori act, there irte«, so far as I know, hid one paper in the entire Episcopal Church in this conntry which spoke out in fearless, and holiest, and hearty terms, in de^ fence of him and in justification of his act. Surely this single fact clearly marks how far the Episcopal Cluirch has al- ready drifted from her ancient Protestant moorings, and no one who has watched for the last few years the course of the current of public sentiment in her Communion can question that she is 14 destined to drift on yet further and yet faster in the same di- rection. It cannot he otherwise. It foUows as a logical neces- sity from that division in the (^liurch, and from those imscrip- tural views of the effects of haptisni and of tlie nature of the Lord's Supper and of the office of the ministry, to which refer- ence has already been made. Just in proportion as tliose views spread and prevail in tlie (^hurch, will the Churcli become more exclusive in its character and more uneliurching towards other bodies of Protestant (^liristians. PATIENCK AND PASSIVENESS OF THE LOW-CHURCH MEMHERSHH' UNDER THEHl TRIALS — (ONTEST WITHIN THE CHURCH USELESS. And I must say that when, in the last few weeks, I have gone over all these difficulties in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and looketl them calmly in the face, the result being si feeling, not o^snrprm' at the uneasiness and restlessness many in the Church liave felt tor years past, hut of aniazemeut that so many of us, from love to the dear old Church, and for the sake of her peace, and still hoping for better things, have borne them so long and so patiently. And when I have seen so clear- ly, as it seemed to me, that the whole tendency of things in the Protestant Episcopal Cluu'ch, as it is to-day, was not for the better but for the worse, I have not wondered that Bishop Cummins has at last felt himself verily cailed of God to take the lead in organizing a Reformed Episcopal Church, and still less do I wonder that many, in different parts of the Church, are, in their secret hearts, anxiously considering the question whether they too are not called of (rod to join hands with him in the good work. The main difficulty, I have no doubt, with many, as for days it was with me, is the question whether a reformation cannot in the end be effected in the Churcli, and therefore, whether it is not a matter of duty to fight the battle in the Church. A care- ful review of all the fiicts of tlie case has left me utterly without hope in that quarter. Li, the Church the Ijattle has heen fought; and in the Churcli the battle has been lost. Thirty-five yeiirs ago, when the Oxford " Tracts for the Times" began seriously to endanger the Protestant teaching and the Protestant char- acter of the Church in this country, open war was declared, and ^. om that day to this has raged .all along the lines. And as the matter stands to-day in the Churchy as the result of a thirty- five years' struggle, the one party lias gained complete ascend- h(? same di- >g-icaJ nec(?s- ose iinscrip- tyre of the ^'iich refer- tliose views eorne more vards other ''''^» i have Episcopal 'ifc heirjg- a 'i<^^-ss many '^«>^^ that J for the ^V'e borne i so clear- hin^s in >t for the ^ Bishop to take ^nti still Ciuueh, luestion th him 'or days anot in >i-it is ^ care- ithoiit yer.rs ioiisly char- Ij and id as irty- end- 15 ^ncy, has a majority of three-fourths in tlie House of Bishops, and perhaps nearly as larj^e a majority in tlie liOwer House, has lubsolute control of tlie entire macliinerv of the (leneral ( ^on- [vention, and, as a party, is thorouglily organized, flushed wi!l» Ivictory, and going on con({uering and to con(|uer. The other [party is in a hopeless Tninority, thoroughly disorganized, dis- spirited by defeat, imcertain what to do, and like a man who cannot find liis hands in tlie day of battle. And more than this; ui fhf ('hnrch, the struggle is hope- less for another reason. The High-Church has on its side tlu't (jrcat (idncaUonal power of f ha Church. It uses readily and easily, for the inculcation of its views, the catechism, and the Baptismal and other services; and these are read and heard read, many times a year, by parents, and sponsors, and children, and the congregation generally, and that, too, on the most in- teresting occasions, and when they make the deepest'impression. While the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church, which were de- signed to be the standard of doctrine for the Church, and which sustain the Low-Church party in its teaching, and prove con- clusively that it holds to-day the doctrines held by the framers of the Prayer-book, cannot be used efficiently either in the edu- cation of the younger the instruction of the congregation gene- rally, and, as a matter of fact, are not read, or heard read, by one Episcopalian in ten, more than once in ten years. With the parties thus une(i[ually matched, and with the contest to be waged on these unequal terms, I can see nothing in the future for the Low-fyhurch party, if it continue in the Church, but further defeat, further disintegration, and in the end the surrender of what it has ever held to be the truth of God. But even if the contest were not so hopeless, my honest convictions are that it had better he ended. There is no neces- sity that the two parties should fight out their differences in the Church. Where no Divine law compels co-existence, separation is surely better than discord. Where two persons or parties are not agreed, they had better not walk together. And where they cannot do the Lord's work together, they had better, for the present, do it apart. So thought Barnabas and Paul at An- tioch, and so they decided to act. Their separation was a pain- ful necessity and a most humiliating occurrence; but the wrong of it was in their (iisa^?Wii.f/; the wrong was in their sharp 16 contention; the wrong was in their n«ert of l»estion enteied i^i any *t wiiat- cii, and eting to le other iticable. naklar^ minds part in »»I'POS(; ade up in the fe oh- uldbe to be 'liere- tt the office ' the Y ia ons, pis- ► it r I ^e- 17 Formed Episcopal Church, as organized by Bishop Cummins md others, meets entirely my views of a Scriptural Church : 1. It plants itself firmly on the Word of God, as the sole [rule of faith and practice. 2. It adopts a Scriptural Liturgy, in which no counte- nance is given to the F?omish doctrines in regard to Baptism, and the Lord's Supper and the Ministry, and it allows Christian liberty in the use of that Liturgy. 3. It retains Episcopacy, not as of divine right, but as a very ancient an ^ desirable form of Church government. 4. It recognizes as Christian brethren all who love our Lord Jesus Clu'ist in sincerity, and as sister Chvu'ches all the Protestant Churclies that hold the faith once delivered to the Saints. WHAT WILL WEST VIRGINIA DO? But though this Church commends itself entirely to my judgment and my affections, I shall wait to connect myself for- mally with it until I see what my brethren in the Church of Virginia and West Virginia will do in the matter. I know that there are many of them who have long been distressed and burdened on account of those Romish innovations in doctrine and usuage which are fast undermining the Protestant character of the Church, who have longed to see those expressions in the Prayer-book which give countenance to such things stricken out or altered, and who, almost despairing of any reformation in the Church, must now be anxiously considering their duty in regard to this movement for a reformed Church. And I cannot help remembering, and dwelling upon the thought, that the Church in the Diocese of Virginia occupies to-day, in the prov- idence of God, not only a peculiar position, but one of peculiar responsibility. As yet, by God's grace, and happily for her, she has been able to keep back from her own borders the rising tide of Romish error, and to maintain her Protestant and Scrip- tural faith, as no other Diocese in the land has begun to do. And now, with three godly Bishops (yourself, and Bishop Whittle, and Bishop Payne) within her limits, and a band of true men in the ranks of her clergy and her laity, she is a Church complete in herself, and can enter on this needed work of reform as no other part of the Church in England or this country can. Let her undertake it, and none dare question her right to do so ; let her consummate it, and none dare impung D 18 tlie \ alidity of her action ; and no living man can foretell the great work whicli, under God, she may thereby accomplish for lr[im and His cause in the earth. And I honestly believe, if all the facts of the case, and all the dangers of her longer connec- tion witli the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, as at present constituted, could be laid before the minds of her people, and a fair representation of tlieir sentiments be had, that nine-tenths of her laity and two-thirds of her clergy would be found imiting their voices in one glad shout : Let U8 end thin discord in the Church ; let tis separate from, those ivith who7H we cannot dwell in peace ; let us stop this tampering ivith OUT convictions of truth and duty in the use of expres- sions which dainjerously deceive human souls ; let us throw d