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NEW STREET. 1843. PRELIMINARY NOTICE. As tlie causes whicli occasioned the publication of the following Letters in the Toronto Herald, may probably continue to operate, it has been deemed expedient to present them to the public in the present forin. The last C/turc/i is spiced with another gratuitous attack on the Wesleyans ; but, O pvdor ! O pictas ! it is fraught with inuendoes so mean, and marked by such assassin-like cowardice, as we really did not think even he was capable of. One topic of consolation remains: much lower \ie cannot descend. Soon, therefore, he must either rest— if indeed his turbulent spirit is susceptible of quiescence — or begin to move in an «/>ward direction. If the Wesleyang, as a body, have erred at all in reference to an unfeigned desire to cultivate friendly relations with the Church of England, it has been in permitting the impulses of that desire, in some instances, to carry them, perhaps, too far. In the day of her trial, little more than ten years since, when, arraigned before the tribunal of public opinion, she stood trembling on the jutting precipice of destruction, and was forsaken of all others; Methodism, faithful to her professions of attachment, came to her rescue. The public press, in the interests of the Church, was not at that time, slow to acknowledge the obligation : it caused the empire to ring from end to end with eulogies of the d sinterested friendship of ' the Wesleyans' to the Church of their venerated Founder. And we have yet to learn, that there Is any thing dishonourable In wishing to have credit for the same feeling and the same principle still. But, if that reputation In tlie eyes of high churchmen is to be purchased only by our '* selling the truth;" then, be it known to all men by these presents, we cannot entertain the condition of its enjoyment: No, not for a moment. Caod bemg our helper, we are determined, at all hazards, " to keep the mystery of the faith In a pure conscience." Amicus Plato, amicus Socrates, scd magis arnica Veritas. That no ground may be afforded to the charge of unfairness, we give below the Editorial article entire, by which the subsequent Letters v/ere called forth. (From the Church, April 7) Although it must certainly and cheer- fully be confessed that Churchmen begin to exhibit a clearer understanding of their duties as such, still it is lamentable to be- hold those, whose station and opportunities of reading warrant us in looking for better things at their hands, compromising the plainest principles of Christian unity, and consorting, in religious fellowship, with men whom scripture bids us to mark and avoid, as causing divisions, and rending the seamless garment of the Redeemer. In- stances have of late occurred, in which gentlemen who call themselves Churchmen and who are supposed to pray every Sun- day for deliverance " from ali false doctrine, heresy and schism," have presided at the Anniversary meetings of schismatical bodies, or enacted the part of Master of the Revels, at one of those absurd and childish serio- comic money-raising festivities, commonly known by some such name as Methodist MissioNAKY Tea-Parties. It is just possible that these gentlemen may have suffered their good-nature to overcome their scruples, and that their inclination to oblige a certain number of follow citizens may have imliicod them to accede to rcque«t8 wliicli they wish had never been niado, but which they want the resoliitic n to retuso. They may, moreover, endeavour to persuade thfJiiiHelvcH, tliat by prcsidiiifj over a dif^sentiiig uic-Jliiif^ once a-year they are l)y no means lailiiif,' in that general homiij^e wliich is due from tliem to the (Jiuirch, but that, on the contrary, they exhibit a spirit of dillusivc charity in unison with her spirit and inacliinfj. Sucli amiable wealvMicsscs as these rnay be palliatives in some cases for the lax and mischievous Churclnnanship, or rather no Churchmanship at all, of which we com- plain. IJut at best they are but very flimsy excuses, unworthy of men of any principle or reflection : and therefore we fee! it our duty a;^ain and again to enforce those argu- ments, which we think ought to weigh witii every Ciiurchman, in regulating his reli- gious intercourse with his clu-istian breth- ren belonging to DLsscnling denominations. It is bad and incunsislent enough in a Churchman to attend Dissenting places of worship, eillior for curiosity or devotion. Tlie evils of this practice have been dwelt upon by our best and lioliest divines, and by none more strongly than by Bishop Beveridge. JJut at present we do not mean to revert to tiiis point. VVe just glance at it, in order to say, that if a casual atten- dance at a sectarian place of worship be a breach of duty, how much greater a trans- gression is committed when a Churchman, on the grand and solemn occasion of some Dissenting Anniversary, allows himself to be thrust into the temporary headship of a sect, gives all the weight of his character, and sonic of the contents of his purse, to tiie object of the meeting, ond the princi- ples of those most interested in it, although the very existence of tiie sect, over which he enacts the part of president for the even- ing, is most expressly condemned by that branch of Ciirist's Holy Catholic Ciuirch, of which he professes himself a member ! ('an inconsistency be more glaring than this ] Mr. Lukewarm goes to Church on Sunday, and on Monday evening presides at a Methodist Missionary Meeting, recog- nizing, co-operating, and interchanging compliments with, unauthorised ministers, whom the (Jhurch regards as less than lay- men, being self-excluded from her pale. Has he done all that he could for the Church? Has she no wants to be supplied, no Clergy to bo supported .' And is he therefore at liberty, liaving superabundance of means, and seeing no regular channel for their employment, to devote them to some pur- pose, not altogether regular and uiiexcep" tiunablc, but still, as he thinks, calculated to extend the Gospel, and to promote the spiritual welfare of hia brethren 1 Alas ! what a mockery ! what a vain pre* fence is tliis ! When the Churchman in this Province gives his five pounds, or his live dollars to Dissent, he knows, in almost every case, that hia own lawful minister struggles on with a scanty income, with difliculty contriving to feed, clothe, and ed- ucate his family in the plainest manner. He knows that his brethren in the new and poor settlements cry out aloud for ministers, while they can give nothing or but little to their support. He knows that Churches are to be built in every direction, and that those already built want the decent orna- ments necessary for the suitable perform- ance of Divine Service. He knows that Sunday and daily schools are to be main- tained, and furnished with books — and that parochial lending libraries would be bene- fited by his contribution. He knows that there is a Church Society, the whole Church in action, comprising Bishop, Clergy, and Laity, ready to receive his aid, and to em- ploy it in the most judicious manner. He knows all this ! and he knows that year af- ter year, and at this very moment, he and his fellow-colonists have enjoyed and do enjoy the unparalleled munificence of the two great English Societies, and are in- debted to them for the erection of Churches, and the fixed maintenance of a great num- ber of the Clergy. How, knowing this, he can reconcile it to his concience, to bestow any portion of his means upon Dissent, while he is under obligations, which he can never adequately discharge, to English charity, we are quite at a loss to discover. But he may not know, and it is time he should be told, that the Church in this colony must soon be thrown upt n her own resources, — that funds must be raised by ourselves, or there will be no more Clergy for the Bishop to ordain, — that the utmost which we can spare from our scanty means will be sadly insufficient to meet the growing demand for the ministrations of the Church. Only supposing then, that the sum bestowed by the Churchmen of this Diocese upon Dis- sent, and we think our calculation a very low one, to jCSOO a-year,— -is it not a reproach and an injustice, that a sum, which woi.ld support/o?«- missionaries, should absolutely be given for purposes which have a ten- dcncy to estrange people from our cominu. nion, and to increase the difficulties of the Church in her future attempts to collect her scattered children 1 And what shail wo say of the inconsis- tency of the Dissenters, in always endoav. ouriu{; to procure a Churchman to preside over their Anniversary Meetinirl Their pertinacity and perheverance under rel)ufTd and refusals, is, in this respect, astoiiishinjj;. They first fly at the hitrhcst game, and if they cannor get a Judge, a Logislative Councillor, or some eloquent public speak- er, they do the beat they can, and, after a few failures, generally succeed in gr-t- ting some respectable Churchman to take the chair for them. But why should they ask a Churchman 1 They are Dissenters, we presume, because the Church is not sufficiently spiritual for them, — does not sufficiently train up her members in the commandments of God. Yet, on the most public occasion of the year, when the treasury is to be replenished — when the fairest exterior and the most attractive names are to be presented to the public, they do not choose one of their own sect to preside, but enlist the services of some Churchman, whose religion makes him good enough to be their temporary president, but is not good enough for them to live by. And here, — without a particular individual in our eye, and expressly excluding those gen- tlemen, whose conduct of late has forced lis into these remarks, — we take occasion to observe, that the Churchmen, selected to preside at Dissenting Anniversaries are by no means chosen with a reference to their moral or religious character, but merely in consideration of supposed popularity and in- fluence, or their ability to make a speech. How ridiculous would it be, if. at the next feneral meeting of the Churcn Society, in une, we were to get a Presbyterian or Methodist layman to take the chair, instead of the Bishop ! And equally ridiculous is it for Dissenters tc place a Churchman in the President's sea: nt their Anniversary meetings, — stationing him there as a decoy- duck, to entrap his brotlicr Churchmen. Really l)is.sonler.-», in procuring the presi- dnticy of a Cluirclunan at their Anniversary Meetings, must bo considered as making cither the one or the other of those admis- sions — that they have not a member of their own fit to take the chair, or that Church- men, on the 3Coro of character and influ- ence, are far more drsir;ii)le. We write fre(iuenlly, and as strenuously as wo can, upon this subject, because wo deem it one of great practical importance, and involving essential principles. We have not advanced one-half of the argu- ments which suggest themselves to us, and shall probably be called upiui to adduce those that remain to be urged, upon some future occasion. One additional obsei'va- tion, however, we must make before wo close. A Methodist Anniversary Meeting is held in a parish, and the most influential and respectable Churchman presides over it 1 The clergyman, if he has done his di'ty, has inculcated unity and undcviating fidelity to the church, and warned his flock ajrainst the sin of attendinj; dissentincr places of worship. How discouraging then to him, to perceive that his principal parish- ioner, the nr.an who ought to help and cheer him, and set an example to the rest, has refused obedience to his teachings, and unit- ed, albeit for a few hours, with the enemies of the Church. Few circumstances can send a sharper pang into the faithful clergy- man's heart, than to see his Parishioners thus neglecting his solemn warnings, and bestowinv their countenance and subsis- tence upon men who revile him and his principles openly, or who stealthily seek to withdraw the sheep from his fold. Sir LETTER I. To the Eilitor of'Tlio Church." Toronto, April 12, 1843. In taking tho liberty tlius publicly to address you on certain topics suggested, or rather forced upon my consideration, by tlie virulent article which occupies the first column of your paper of tho 7lh instant, I feel that apology would savour too much of aflfcctatlon. I deem it equally superfluous to offer any cxi)lanation of my motive in availing myself of the courtesy of tho pre- sent medium of communication, inntnadof troubling you personally. From one, the Papal arrogance of whose bearing towards members of his own communion when they chance to come in collision with his ora- cular judgment, and whose bitter and ag- gressive hostility against all others, consti- tute his most prominent distinction as a re- ligious journalist, I have no favours to ex- pect, and am therefore thankful that I have none to solicit. Extravagant, indeed, as are the preten- sions put forth in the article referred to, and oiTensive as its tone must be to those of your own Church, whose christian charity will not admit of being pent up within the little enclosure which affords, it seems, am- ple scope for all of that quality which you possess yourself, it contains little, I con- fess, to excite the surprise of any but those who know not what manner of spirit you are of, " The Church" had not long fallen into your hands when its readers be- came familiarized to such phenomena. Their novelty is gone. Tritua, tt e medio fortunat ductus accrvo : And if the recent effusion of your righ- teous indignation against inconsistent Churchmen, and incorrigible Dissenters, is more turbid, as well as more copious and violent than previous emanations from the same fountain, the forced and pruden- tial repression of its overflow for a longer period than usual, probably affords the true solution of the diff'^rence. Tho proximate cause of this transport of your displeasure, no one can mistake. A gentleman, a member of tho Church of I'iiigland, — the rectitude of whose character wo believe, is unimpeachable, whose re- spect for the institutions and precepts of Ciiristianity, would, perhaps, sustain no very disadvantageous coniparison with your own, and who worthily wears the highest civic honours by which this community can ex- press its appreciation of hio talents and virtues, stands charged i.mong olliers by you, with a gross infraction of the unity of the Church, because he htd the temerity, on a late occasion, to attend and preside at a Wesleyan Missionary Anniversary. There can exist no doubt that had that gentleman been ap fully convinced of your infallibility and ghostly authority as you would seem to be yourself, he would have felt it imperative upon him to preclude tho visitation of your grave condemnation ; for, by no possibility, could he have been igno- rant at the time, of your stereotyped deci- sions on such important points of casuis- try. But the deed is done ! His Worship, the Mayor of the City of Toronto, has had the audacity, your dictation to the contrary notwithstanding, to extend the hand of fra- ternal recognition and encouragement, to a class of Christians whom God — I speak it not boastfully — has signally owned in their evangelistic labours for more than a cen- tury, though they Jollow not with you. And, forsooth, because that gentleman, like many of the most enlightened and estima- ble members of the Church of England in this Province, has not bowed down and worshipped the image which you have set up — because he does not think proper at your bidding, to surronJor the common pri- vilogo of lu'inaii nature, tlio right of private judgnioiit ill matters of religion — !)ocauso he will not put out his coiiscieiico to keep- ing to i/oii — because, in a word, he doclinoH recognizing you in your self-const iiuted character, as director-general of tlio faith and practice, in every punctilio, of your fellow ChristianH, ho must bo •• dragged" — -as others, alike eminent in rank and reli- gious character, have as unceremoniously been — •" befonp the public, in the columns of a respectable newspaper, for the pur- pose of censure."* It is high time, Sir, that this system of intimidation, so little complimentary to the principles and understandings of those whom it is intended to awe and control, were checked. It is of the very essence of spiritual despotism. History amply at- tests that it has been the most effective pio- neer and inseparable attendant of the pros- tration of the civil liberty of professedly christian nations. The highest ecclesias- tical authority ought, in our humble judg- ment, forthwith to interpose, even as a mat- ter of policy, to rescue the provincial branch of the Anglican Church from the stigma and humiliation of having such des- picable arts employed to augment her in- fluence. To every discerning mind they indicate conscious moral weakness. Chris- tianity repudiates them as unholy, and true wisdom rejects them as impotent and un- worthy. They may in some instances coerce an abject submission, and procure in others, a negligent or hypocritical acquiescence ; but they can never operate enlightened conviction, and for one whom they attract they will repell a hundred. Your reasons for practically asserting, in your capacity as the conductor of a religi- * See the Hon. Chief Justice Robiasoa's Letter to the Church, republished in "the Wesleyan" of April 80, 1842, from " the Church." 0U8 journal, a claim of supremacy over tho coiiHciences of Churchmen, and for render* ing all Dissenters, by the unscrupulous employinont of calumny and caricature, as odious as possible, are I doubt not, quite satisfactory to your own mind. IJut until the exploded maxim, that, the end sanctifies the means, is restored to favour and autho* rilv, they will never rm a satisfactory vindication of such conduct to others. It is in vain to allege that you are impelled by zeal for tho unity of the Church,— by a pious solicitude to protect •' tho seamless garment of tho Redeemer" from the viola- tion of unholy hands ; you ought to remem- ber that there is a species uf zeal, which, j while its sincerity is above all suspicion, scorches the braui, and causes its subject to mistake the visions of his own fancy for the verities of Inspiration. With the de- cided preference which you avow for your own denomination I have no fault to find ; but the manifestation of that candor and in- dulgence to others, which you have a right to expect them to exercise towards you, would, permit me to say, be much more or- namental to your character, as a professed disciple of our common Lord, than the spirit of haughty intolerence which your writings breathe. Sympathizing justas lit- tle as yourself, with that religious indiffer- ence, to which I am prepared to admit many of the current professions of courtesy and liberality are to be transferred, I never- theless cannot divest myself of the impres- sion that your spirit is too muclt akin to that which, on a certain occasion, prompted the disciples to say, " Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he fol- lowed not with us ; and we forbad him be- cause he followeth not with us." You know the reply. On this monitory inci- dent a sensible commentator has well re- marked : " Thektf are men calling them- selves Christians, who seem to look with doubt and suspicion on all that is done by those who do not walk with thorn. Thoy undervalue Ihcir labours, atto.npt to IcHson tho evidences of their success, and to dimi- nish their influence. True likeness to the Saviour would load us to rejoice in all the good accomplished, by whomsoever it may be done, and to rejoice that tho kingdom of Christ is advanced, whether by a Presbyte- rian, an E|)i8copaIian, a Uaptist, or a Me- thodist." Sentiments like these, I am sure, your calmer judgment must approvc,however ardent may bo your desire to see all who now stand aloof from tho Church of Eng- land, worshipping within her walls. It was my intention, when I common ed this letter, to repel the chari^ea of schism, and of the usurpation of ministerial autho* rity, in which you so freely indulge ; but tho subject is copious, and it is time to come to a close. On these topics, pcrhapai I may hereafter address you. I am, Sir, your humble servant, MATTHEW RICHEY, Wesleyan Minister. LETTER II. To the Editor of " The Church." Toronto, April 18, 1843. Sir When I ventured, in a previous letter, ♦o enter my solemn protest against the course of intolerance and insult — without a parallel, I believe, in the ecclesiastical an- nals of this Province — which confers upon you so unenviable a species of pre-eminence as the editor of a religious newspaper, I was not prompted by a love of controversy; much less by hostility to the Church of England ; least of all by a wish to gratify any feeling of personal resentment. A ] strong conviction of duty to the cause of truth and of religious liberty was my sole motive. And no impartial judge, it is ap- prehended, will accuse me of having ex- pressed myself in terms too strongly con- demnatory of the spirit displayed in the phillipic by which my remarks were called forth. But I should do very inadequate justice to my own convictions of duty, and not less BO to the important cause of which I have undertaken the defence, were I merely to animadvert upon the unhallowed virulence with yourself" that opposing Methodism and dissent in all their forms, is "doing God service," it would be a matter of com- paratively trivial consequence. But when you are so violent and untiring in your efforts to imbue public opinion with the essential acid of your own spirit, and by tho fiery exhalations of your intemperate zeal to kindle the whole Episcopal Church in this Province into a flame of bigotry and intolerance, it becomes an ofRce and an obligation of charity itself, boldly to assert the rights of conscience in the face of euch persecuting and unblushing arrogance, and to expose the utter fallacy of those princi- ples, 01 rather absurd pretensions, on which you attempt to base a vindication of your Ishmaelitish procedure. You stigma- tize us as '* Schismatics " — " men whom Scripture bids " you •' mark and avoid, as causing divisions and rending the seamless garment of the Redeemer," men, by "con- sorting in religious fellowship " with whom a Churchman ''compromises the plainest principles of Christian unity," whiV> those whom we esteem as messenger J of the Church, and the glory of Christ, you unhe* sitatingly anathematize as "unauthorised of your spirit If you only " verily thought [ minitterB whom the Chuich " (j/our Ch* rch T preiunio you mean) " regards an Iobr than laymen, being self-oxciudcf! from her pale." Charges so p^rave tind ominous we are certainly in no danger of considering "the kisses of an enemy,*' which, Solomon tells us, "are deceitful;" but, before we can view them as rcferriblc to the other branch of the proverbial antithesiH, *Maithful arc the wounds of a friend," we think it not unreasonable to demand ovidcni:e of their truth. If positivencua and pertinacity pos- sessed the moro than magic virtue of trans- muting assertions intoargutncnl8,wc readily confess few antagonists would be more formidable than yourself; but since that hope is as ridiculous as Uio alchymiat'R dream, your reiteration of such assumptions till doomsday would accomplish just nothing towards substantiating them. .Two methods; present themselves of briefly dealing with you in regard to the charges which you have so gratuitously and yet so confidently preferred against us : — a direct appeal to the word of God ; or an inquiry as to how far yuu are sustained by your own Church and her most eminent authorities, in the exclusive doctrines you propound with r"gard to your " Christian brethren " — as with more courtesy than consistency you style them — " belonging to Dissenting denominations." The former of these methods would be more congenial with my own views and feelings ; but the latter is, I think, more needful for you. For, if I am not greatly mistaken, such is your predilection for prelacy that you will be more likely to hear the Church, than to occupy much time in '* searching the ScRiPT'jREs whether these things are so." With a view to your special benefit, I shall therefore frame an argumentum ad modes- tiantt of materials derived from the Formu- laries, Founders, and most illustrious theological ornaments of your own vene> rated Church ; which should at least have the efTect of preventing you in future from palming an imposition upon the less inform- ed portion of your readers, by perpetually shielding yourself under the assumed sanction of her authority whonovor you wish to infuse special energy into your donuncialiona against schismatics and un- authon-cd ministers. But let UB, in the firrft place, look at your a«- pumptions ill the light of tho '• holy oracle," and of common sense. Admitting that belief in tho divine inspiration of the Scriptures is the basis of CliriMtian communion — a prin- ciple the recti! lido of which no Protestant will dirtpufo — it iiocc'Hsarily follows that the Bible is the tribunal to which Jill ecclesias- tical claims must bo brought for authorita- tive and final adjudication. Be this our arbiter and judge. From the erring and presumptuous judgment of a weak and ; vapouring mortal, we appeal •' to tho law j and to tho testimony." By this be itdoter- inincd, when we stand charged with tho j guilt of schism and of an impious invaston i of the sacred office, whether it is we who ? guilty of crime, or our accusers of I caiumny. The Catholic tinili/ of tlie Church of our Lord, as it is described and exem- plified in the New Testament, consists not in uniformity of practice with regard to riles and customs, nor in any particular form of ecclesiastical government, for none has been specifically prescribed ; but in matters of immeasurably greater moment — in her maintaining the fundamental truths of the Gospel — in her being pervaded and animated in all her faithful members by one Holy Spirit — in their possession of the principle of " like precious faith " — in that ''brotherly love" which flows from the love of God shed abroc ' in the belie v- i ig heart — and, above all, in vital mion with " the Head, from which all the body being nourished and knit together, by the joint? and ligaments, increaseth with the increase of God." These, Sir, are the tests of living Christianity : by the uniting power 10 of thcee principles it is that, amid all the modifications and changes of ecclesiastical adnninistration, all who truly believe are constituted "one in Christ Jesus." The di.ine cement thus formed is undissolved, untouched by mmor ditferences. •' The kingdom of God is not meat and drink ; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost ; and he that in these THINGS serveth Christ is acceptable to God," though he may not be approved of men entertaining unscriptural sentiments like yours. How gloriously does this view of the COMMUNION OF SAINTS, con*rast with the theory of Christian unity which has such charms for you ! a frigid, lifeless, ex- terior, organization. You may erect a dif- ferent standard, and, not deigning to "con- sort in religions fellowship " with Metho- dists or Dissenters, from the haughty dis- tance to which you retire to " avoid them," you may exclaim, " The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are we !" By assuminfi that the Church of Encland is the only Church of Christ within the British realms, you may brand as schismatics, and represent as left to uncovenanted mercy, all who are not within her pale ; but every "babe in Christ" must perceive that by so doing you incur the fearful responsibility of condemning those whom God hath re- received, and who are as " manifestly de- clared to be the epistle of Christ, written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the liv- ing God," as any within the pale of your own communion. How preposterous, then, ar'^ your exclusive and truly Papil preten- sions ! It would be well for you to reflect whether the indignant terms in which Dr. Campbell rebuked the temerity of the fa- mous Dodwell, a ma i after youi own heart are not as fully applicable to yourself :— *♦ Arrogant and vain roan ! what are you, tvho so boldly and avovV'tily presume to foist into God's covei/ant, articles of your own devising, neither expressed nor implied in his words 1 Do you venture, a worm of the earth 1 Can you think yourself war- ranted to stint what God hath not stinted, and, following the dictates of your own contracted spirit, enviously to limit the bounty of the Universal Parent, that you may confine to a party what Christ hath freely published for the benefit of all 1 la your eye evil because he is good 1 Shall I then believe that God, like deceitful man, speaketh equivocally, and with n-ental re- servations ? Shall I take his declaration in the extent wherein he hath expressly given it ; or as you, for your own purpose, have new vamped and corrected it 7 Let God be true, and every man a liar ! You would pervert the plainest declarations of the oracles of truth, and, instead of represent- ing Christ as the author of a divine and spiritual religion, as the great benefactor of human kind, exhibit him as the head of a faction — your party," Were I addressing one who, by direct avowal, arrogated the claim of infallibility, or who officially represented the anathe- matizing communion which openly affirms it as an incontrovertible axiom, that Extra ccclesiain salus non esse potest, out of her own pale there is no salvation, I should feci less surprise and indignation at the sweepingsentence of proscription which you pronounce indiscriminately upon all sepa- ratists and dissenters, and at the zeal with which you labour to convince Churchmen that however irreproachable may be their character or eminent their piety, they are " men whom Scripture bids Ihem mark and avoid." By what principle of the Bible, pray, Oi* of common sense, are you autho- rised thus to exact the implicit adoption of your dogmas, and unqualified acquiescence in your terms of Christian communion, as a sine qua non of our recognition as members of the Church of God ? The subject is of too lach*-vmal a character to admit of ludicrous associations, else o;|;ie 11 might well smile at your vieionary concep- tions of the nature of the religion of Christ. Dissenters, it might be imagined, a priori, are just as likely to be in the right as you. Their means of spiritual illumination arc as ample ; and, having equally valuable interests to secure, their motives to a faithful use of them are as solemn and impul- sive. Thousands of them, of various de- nominations, are inferior to none in the Church of England, in intelligence, and in the Scripture marks of a child of God. Have you searched the Scriptures with deep devotion of heart 1 They have done the same. Have you felt youself to be a sinner, and fled to a pai doning God through the only Mediator ? So have they. Have you found peace with God, and received the spirit of Christ, without which a man can be none of his ] These covenant blessings have been consciously communicated to them. Doyou adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things '} So do they. Are they, then, to be ordered to stand off, mere- ly because, after much deliberation, they have adopted different views of Church polity from you, and, under a full convic- tion of the rectitude of those views, will not passively yield to all your imperious exactions, i. e., falter in their allegiance to Christ ! Would it not be infinitely moic rational as well as christian-like for you to soliloquise and act in reference to such an one and to all such, as the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel does. "Am I now," sa^.. that distinguished ornament of the English Establishment, speaking of a conscientious dissenting brother — " Am I now to sepa- rate from his society 1 How has he sinned ? He wa3 obliged to follow what seemed to him the will of Christ. Hia conclusions were supported by several of the Protes- tant Churches. The Lutheran, Swiss, French, Dutch, and Scotch Churches, the Church of Vauduis, and a large and pious section of the American Church, were all on his side. While in favour of episcopacy, beside the Church of Rome, ' the mother of harlots and abominations of tlie earth, drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the n; .rtyrs of Jesus;' and the eastern churches, which are nearly as corrUjt, he found only the Church of England, and three or four sections of the Churcli of Christ elsewhere, who had re- tained diocesan episcopacy. Under these circumstances, am I to separate from him? Not *.o have examined the scripture doc- trine would have been sin. Not to have followed the conviction of duty tc which the examinations led him would have been sin. In fidelity to Christ he was obliged to act as he did ; and if I separate from him, I do it only because he did his duty."* Oh ! how refreshing, Sir, to turn from the chilling and repulsive mutterings of your morbid and bigoted spirit to these elevated sentiments of true christian charity — senti- ments which delight us the more, because they emanate from one of the noblest sons of the Anglican Church. Had you inhaled ever so small a portion of the spirit they breathe, could you, I solemnly ask, by a process so summary, and apparently with- out a misgiving or a sigh, eject from the pale of scriptural Christianity two-thirds of all the Protestant ministers in Christendom, with the millions of immortal souls under their pastoral care ! ! Apart from this revolting view of the principles you propound, in reference to christain unity, the charge of schism comes with a very bad grace from the member of a church which is in this respect herself not without sin, and therefore has no right to cast the first stone. I do not now refer to her coming out from the Church of Rome. In this I glory ; and I devoutly pray God she may never go in again. Here, how- ever, I must be permitted to remark, that * See the Hon. and Bey. B. Noel's Tract on tba Unity of the Church. :;,-<_,= . 'ii£^;i^V;;.;u.•;^^ 18 the Church of Rome has, on your princi- ples, a much more speciouB pretext for hurl- ing the charge of schism against you , than you can exhibit for preferring it against us. And well she understands how to use it. Steady to her purpose, she meets all the advances of high churchmen, all their at- tempts to conciliate her fraternization, with a stern and inflexible refusal " to compro- mise the plainest principles of christian unity." She tells you pointblank, — " Gen- tlemen, this, really, is quite condescending! Feeling some little qualms, it would ap- pear, as to the validity of your title, to the appellation Apostolic Catholic Church, you prefer being admitted as tenants in com- mon with us, to denying that we have any right, by asserting that the whole estate rests in yourselves. We cannot but feel grateful for y^ur generosity. But we will none OF IT. If we can have no better claim than this to the name, we are done with it." A mortifying predicament this to be placed in trv'ly ! But it is nothing more than the legitimate reaction of high church princi- ples and pretensions on their infatuated ad- vocates. To return from this digression, and leaving the church of Rome out of sight, it is with a singular want of modesty, that you attempt to cover us with the odium of schism. O Sir, look at home ! Schismat- icks ! What Protestant Church so much in- fested with them as your own 1 Instead of in- quiring what descriptions of those mischiev. ous gentry you have ? I might rather ask, what sort of them, however heretical, have you not 1 Universalists, Swe- denborgians. Pelagians, Socinians * * * the catalogue is far from being filled up, but let this sample suffice. Schism I what intelligent child does not know, Sir, that the great schism of the day, of the age, that which is rending to shreds '* the seam- less garment of the Redeemer," is at this hour making havock of your own church — a schism by which it will be well if ehe is not ruptured and riven from the centre to the circumference, or worse yet, carried away captive to Babylon. May He who dwelt in the bush, preserve her in the fiery furnance, and bring her forth in renovated purity and power ! But, my dear Sir, in the name of modesty, say little about schisms abroad while things are in so deplorable a state at home. If we really are as you represent, with- out an authorised ministry, and therefore without any sacraments, in a state of aban- donment to uncovenanted mercy, that is, as the phrase, I suppose, means, to "judgment without mercy," then we are fit objects of the deepest compassion, and every effort that wisdom can devise or charity suggestt ought to be employed by those who alone are authorised to interpose for our rescue, to " recover us out of the snare of the de- vil." But allow me to express an opinion not hastily formed, that the method you adopt to accomplish this object, is not " the more excellent way." He who perfectly knows our moral constitution, has said, " The cords of love are the bands of a man." And we fully believe it. But N. B. these are not the kind of cords you make use of. Your mode of proceeding is much more calculated to plant or exasperate prejudice against the church of England, in the minds of Wesleyan Methodists and Dissenters, than to extirpate any that may exist You make invidious comparisons, insult us by offensive epithets, warn churchmen against us as moral lepers whom they are to ** mark and avoid" — in a word, you clothe us in the livery of shame and reproach, and then hooting at us, exclaim. Behold the schisma- tics ! Mark those men ! Avoid them ! Have no fellowship with them ! Now, does it never occur to you Sir, that this is precise- ly the way in which the persecutors of the primitive followers of our Lord proceeded towards them ? With amazing fertility of malignant invention tbey coined epithets ot 13 reproach for them, to make them hated M a most dangerous and contemptible set of men. Ever the courtly Suetonius, you know, called them, Genus hominum super- stitionis nonte et malifica, " a class of men addicted to a new and mischievous super- stition." You cannot either greatly ele- vate yourself or injure us by imitating such unworthy examples. Besides, by showing a disposition to take away our good name, you lay us under a painful temptation to suspect, that were it in youi power, you would, in tender mercy to our souls, tram- ple both our civil and religious liberties in the dust, if necessary, in order that you might compel us to come in to the Holy Apos- tolic Catholic Church. Dr. Jortin some- where observes, that, " Christ never used anything that looked like force or violence, but once ; and that was to drive bad men out of the temple, but not to drive them into it" And you would do well to digest the remark. But it is quite time to inquire how far you are supported in your narrow views* and excommunicating censures of non-epis- copalians, by the recognized standards of the doctrines of the Church of England, and by her most illustrious theological or- naments and authorities. I fearlessly as- sert, and I challenge the production of proof to the contrary, that There is not an iota in the public formu- laries of the Anglican Church, to authorise the ejection of Presbyterian Churches from the pale of Christian communion. Her most distinct announcement, on this subject, is found in the Twenty-third Ar- ticle ; and whether that places non-episc - palian churches under the ban of excommu- nication, let Bishop Burnet— and no author- ity is entitled to more prof( und deference on the subject — say. *' The definition here given, of those that are lawfully called and sent, is put in very general words, far from that magisterial stiffness, in which, some, (the Non-juroM* &c,,) have taken upon them to dictate in this matter. The article does not resolve this into any particular constitution, but leaves the matter open, and at large for such accidents as had happened, and such as might still happen. Those who drew it had the state of the several churches before their eyes that had been differently re- formed; and although their own had been less forced out of the beaten path than others, yet they knew that all things among themselves had not gone according to those rules that ought to be sacred in regular times ; necessity has no law, and is a law unto itself." ***** ••Whatever some hotter spirits have thought of this since that time, yet we are very sure, that, not only those who penned the articles, but the body of the church for above half an age after, did, notioilhstanding, those irregu- larities, acknowledge the foreign churches so constituted, to be true churches, as to all the essentials of a church, though they had been at first irregularly formed, and con- tinued still to be in an imperfect state. And thprefore, the general words in which this part of the article is framed, seem to have been designed on purpose not to exclude them." Bishop Tomline's exposition of this article exhibits views equally just and liberal with reference to churches under different systems of ecclesiastical polity ; but the passage is too long for quotation. (See his Elements of Christian Theology.) And then, tell me, what is the meaning of the fifty -fifth canon — " Ye shall pray for Christ's holy catholic church ; that is, for the whole congregation of christian people dispersed throughout the world, and especi- ally for the churches of England, Scotland, and Ireland, &c.," if it does not fully recog- nize the membership of other churches 1 Moreover, it is an undeniable historical fact, that up to the year 1662, the office for the ordination of Presbyters in the Church of !P •Kl 14 I England, peculiarly appropriated to them the terms of ♦he Apostolic comMission, and the promise of tiie Savior's perpetual pres- ence—and further enjoins, that " they with the bishop shall lay their hands severally, upon the head of every one that receiveth the order of the priesthood." The inference is too obvious to need any formal statement. Pass we to the Reformers : It is matter of general notoriety, tiiat almost to a man, not only did they admit, but maintain, that in point of order, the New Testament makes no difference betwixt bishops and presbyters ; and that the opposite doctrine involves an antichristian usurpation. Take one proof of this, so conclusive, that a folio volume filled with similar testimonies, would not more fully settle the point : In a book, entitled '* The Instruction of a Christian man," which the Archbishops, Bishops, and Clergy subscribed with their own hands, and dedicated to the king in the year 1537, it i.-J explicitly declared in the chapter on orders, " That priests and bish- ops, by God's law are one and the same ; and that the power of ordination, and ex- communication, belongs equally to them both." * * There are two facts to which it was my intention to advert in my letter, but, in the unavoidable hurry of composition they were overlooked. They are so ex- tremely pertinent, that I hereappeud them. " No Bi»h- op in Scotland during my stay in that kingdom," says Bishop Burnet. -' ever did so much as desire any of the Pretbi/teriant to be re-ordatned." (.See his Vindication, printed, London, 1696 ) The other fact is that Grindal, Archbishop of Ca>ilerbury, isuued a licence to Mr John Morrivon, a Scotch minister, bearing date, 6ih of April, 1582. iu the fallowing terms ; — " Since you the fore- said John Morrison, about five years pnsi, in the town of Garret, in the county of Lothian, in the kingdom of Scotland, were ailraitted and ordained to sacred orders and tne holy ministry, by the imposition of hands ac- cording to the laudable form and rile of the reformed church of Scotland; and since the congregation of that county of Loihi ■ Hear what Bishop Andrews says, " Though episcopal Government be of di- vine institution, yet it is 710/ so absolutely necessary as that there can be no Church nor Sacraments, nor Salvation, without it. He is blind, that sees not many churches flourishing without it; and he must have a heart as hard as iron, that will deny them salvation." * Mark what Bishop Sherlock says, in his examination of Belarmine's Notes of the Church ; " I am sure that it is not a safe communion where there is not a succession of Apostolic doctrine ; but whether the want of a succession of Bishops, will, in all cases unchurch, will admit of a p^reater dispute. I am sure a true faith in Christ, with a true gospel conversation, will save men ; and some learned Romanists defend that old definition oi the Church, that it is coetus Jidelium, the company of the faithful, and will not admit Bishops or Pastors into the definition of a church." | Listen to the venerable Archbishop Usher : " I think that Churches that have no Bishops, are defective in their govern- ment ; yet, for justifying my communion * Bristed'g Thoughts, p. 440. f Notes of the Church examined and refuted, p. 55. 13 with them, which I do love and honour — as true members of the Church universal, I do proless, if I were in Holland, I should receive the blessed Sacrament at the hands of the Dutch, with ti.e like affection as I should from the hands of the French min- isters, were I at Charenton." * " Far from me," exclaims Archbiahop Wake, alluding to all the reformed Church- es, not episcopal (and his noble-minded utterance on the subject, shall close this illustrious succession of witnesses against your dogmatism,) " Far from me, be the iron heart, that, for this defect (let me so call it without offence), I should think any one of them to be cut off from our communion ; or with certain raving writers among us, think them to possess no valid sacraments, and to pronounce them hardly christian. I would, at any price, obtain a closer union among all the reformed." f I can easily imagine the perplexity into which you will be thrown by such an array of authorties, which it would seem su- premely indecorous, not to say schismatical, in you to impugn. And yet I may truly affirm, as you do in regard toyour arguments against churchmen consorting with dissen- ters ; I " have not advanced one-half, and shall probably be called upon to adduce those that remain to be urged, upon some future occasion." In such an extremity your only resource is the dogma of " Apos- tolical Succession ;" and that is really a forlorn hope. The links that compose this celebrated chain, I have not the slightest objection to examine whenever they are pre- * Letter to Dr. Bernard. f " Interim absit ut ego tarn ferrei pectoris sim, ut oh ejusmodi defectum (sic mihi absque omni invidia appellare liceai) aliquas earum a communione nostra abscindendas credam; aut, cumquibusdam furiosis inter nos sctiptoribus, eas nulla vera ac valida sacramenta habere, adeoque vix Christianas esse, pronuntiem. Unionem arctiorem inter omnes reformatos procurare ^uovis pretio vellem." liCtter to M. Le- Clerc. scnted ; but, if you do not envy the felicity of "a mouse in pitch," mus in ptce, I advise you not to tease yourself in this Popish laby- rinth. The learned Stillingfleot, when ho was adean. not only pronounced hut proved this succession to bo " as muddy as the Tyber ;" and his herculean endeavours to purify the stream after ho became a bishop, were signally unsuccessful. The Homily for Whitsunday (have you ever read it, Sir ?) ought for ever to settle this question with all Churchmen who do not deplore the Reformation as a calamity and a crime. It plucks up that figment of superstition by the roots, and scatters it to the wind. One word respecting the future conduct of your paper, and I have done. It would of course be the height of arrogance in me, an unauthorised minister — a schismatic, less than a layman, because self-excluded from the pale of a church to which / never belonged, to preach to i/ou. I therefore enlist the service of one of the first biblical scholars of the age, a clergyman of your own church, and therefore dull/ authorised, the Rev. Thomas Hartwell Home, B. D. In his discourse on " The Conformity of the Church of England to Apostolic Pre- cept and Pattern," he thus exhorts : " While in the exercise of your inalienable right of private judgment, you deliberately prefer her communion, show to all who profess conscienciously to differ from you, the more excellent way of active christian charity, by imputing to them no sinister motives for their dissent ; by uniting with them in every act of holy and christian benevolence, in which you can cordially co-operate ; and by praying for their spiritual welfare, that they all may hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace and righteous- ness of life." When the organ of that branch of the Church of Christ in this province, which is connected with the venerable Establish- ment of England, shall become the vehicle !!i ! li '^i 1(1 ' '■( 16 \ and advocate of sound and salutary princi- ' pies like these— when, purified from the sectarian rancour with which it is now so thoroughly saturated, it shall breathe " peace and good will towards men" — when, Instead of habitually violating the para- mount law of christian charity, and, in the recklessness of its i;eal, totally disregard- ing even the precepts of conventional de- cency, by its contumelious and abusive treatment of other christian bodies, it shall throw away its '• carnal weapons," and take unto it " the armour of God" — when, in a word, instead of fomenting the mutual re- pugnancies that unhappily exist between the diflferent portions of the Saviour's fold, by scattering among them, in sportive ma- lignity, " firebrands arrows and death," it shall employ its influence to pour into the wounds that have been ulcerating for age«| a healing unguent — then, and not till thetit will it make good its " Apostolic boast," and worthily represent, in doctrine and spirit, the ever-to-be-honoured instruments of the Glorious Reformation from Popery. Hoping against hope, that a consumma- tion so devoutly to be desired by overy spiritually-minded Churchman, may be speedily realized, either by a change of its Editor, or (which would delight us im- measurably more) a thorough and blessed change in the Editor. I am, Sir, your humble servantt MATTHEW RICKEY, Wesleyan Minister. ^t,^\,/\/^/V/^ 'W/^ V ■> rvrv '^ *^ .""i r> '' POSTSCRIPT. While these sheets are passing through the press, a reply by the Editor of the Church to the preceding Letters appears in the Herald. Any observations in the way of a rejoinder, must therefore be despatched with all possible brevity. 1. The most prominent part of the reply is a lon^ extract from Three Sermons on the Church recently published by the Bishop of London, in which his Lordship is graciously pleased to " express a persuasion, or at least a hope, that those national churches which having once, unavoidably and unw;t/- lingly, lost the perfectness of ecclesiastical order, have not yet regained it, possibly not having been able to do so, are yet within the pale of Christ's Church, so far at least as the being so is necessary to the salvation of their individual members." To .his ex cathedra mode of settling, or rather unsettling, the terms of a sinner's ac- ceptance with God, we can only say, — The Lord have mercy upon those whose hope of salvation rests upon no bet- ter foundation than the courteous conces- sion, or hypothesis, of any man, be bi Bishop or Archbishop, Cardinal or Pope ! We have not so learned Christ. Our faith standeth not in the wisdom of men, but in THE POWER OF GoD. When with a broken and a contrite heart, I tremblingly ask the Apostles themselves, ** What must I do to be saved?*' Their response, their only response is, '* Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Now, if any man come to me in their name, and bring not this doctrine, am I, in the face of the most solemn and explicit decla- rations of my Bible, to give credence to his heresy? "Though we," says Pauli "or an angel from heaven preach unto you any other gospel than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.'' 2. But to even this hypothetical hope of salvation, the poor Wesleyans, it seems, can have no claim. The bishop's theory is so constructed as to present an aspect of mer- cy to national churches only, and that under « ing 17 peculiar circumstances. Tho Bufficiently intelliirible inference of tho Editor of the Church is, that " tho Bchi'im commenced by Mr. VVosloy and continued by hid followers," admits of no other prospect than a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation. — We utter)} re- pudiate alike tho conclusion, and the premises. Separation from a particular section of tho professedly Christian church — and tho Church of England is only a sec- tion of it — is not, under all circumstances, schism. She separated from the Church of Rome ; is she therefore a schismatical body ? The separation of the Wesleyan Methodism from the Anglican Church was not volun- tary, but compulsory. There was one con- dition only on which, so far as Methodism is concerned, it could have been prevented, namely, by obeying men rather than God. In its entire structure, spirit, and course, Methodism is the very converse of what the word of God condemns as schism. Into tho ecclesiastical position which it now occupies, it was compelled ; by the unkind and repellent treatment of others. Approv- ing of the maxim of Burke,— that the wounds of a parent ought to be approached with trembling solicitude — we have no in- clination to enter into the dark details which more than establish this point, unless they should be imperiously called for. Late events, howev ir, afford ground to believe, that this separation has been per- mitted by the wisdom of Divine Providence, for the accomplishment of most important objects. But for the spiritually-conserva- tive influence of Methodism during years long gone by, and that which she now ex- ercises upon both Church and State, what, ere this, would have been the condition of the boasted bulwark of the Reformation ? Not unlikely, more corrupt if possible than when Wesley commenced his Apostolic la- bours, if not under the withering ascen- dancy of the Great Apostacy, doing penance for having ever presumed to question the universal supretnacy of St. Peter's Suc- cessor. 3. Our opponent, in his reply, endea- vours to noutrali'^o the force of the argu- ment in favor oi tiic validity of Presbytorial ordination, derived from the book, entitled "The Institution of a Christian Man," signed by the Archbishops, Bishops, and Clergy, by alleging, that the same book contains many of the heretical doctrines of the Romish Church. — We confess ourselves at a loss to imagine how this allegation even ivere it eslablished, can be justly regarded as deducting from the weight of our argu- ment. The fact, that the Reformers, at a time when their knowledge was so imper- fect, that they only " saw men as trees walking," had light enough to discover from the new Testament that bishops and presbyters, as to order, are identical, only strengthens our position. But we are not confined to one or two historical facts. In addition to those stated in a note, page 14, many more, supported by unexceptionable evidence might easily be adduced. Is it not an historical truth, that in the reigns of Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth, many ministers were employed in the Anglican Establishment, who had received only presbyterian ordination, among whom were Travers, lecturer to the Temple ; Whit, tingham, dean of Durham ; the celebrated Wright of Cambridge, and Knox, the Scotch reformer ? Nay, did not Martyr, and Bucer, Ochinus and Fagius, foreign reformers* come over to England at the invitation of Edward ; and without re-ordination occupy most honourable and influential positions in the English Church 1 The assumption of the superiority of bishops, ^wre divino, to presbyters, was, in truth, one of the first steps that marked the re/rogression of a large portion of the English establishment from the principles and spirit of the Refor- mation. The London Christian 'Observer ts justly remarks : •• Towartls the cloirie of the reign of Elizabeth, and in the beginning of that of James I., there sprang up a new Bchool, widely diiFering from that of the reformers, and the tenets of which at length acquired the coherence of a system ; and under the influence of Archbishop Laud, in lh*-«-eign of C harles II., became widely prevalent. At the restoration they wore resuscitated by the surviving divines of Laud's school ; and they were, for the most part, embraced by the non-jurors." (See the No. for Feb., 1841.) 4. All this serves to show the fallacy of our opponent's mode of reply to us, when fronj principles and fonniilaries he appeals to tlie practice of iiis church. Before this arguing can prove any thing, the perfect and uniform coincidence of these, must first be established. Canons, moreover, which regulate ecclesiastical administration with- in a church are one thing ; and anathema- tizing differing communions, is quite ano- ther thing. The bold assertion of our ■opponent, that the " public formularies of the Anglican Church, pronounce excom- munication upon every one within tiie realm dissenting from the Church of Eng- land," turns out, then, to be only another Pi'oof of his possessing, in no ordinary degree those qualities for which we have already given him full credit, viz., perversencss and pertinacity. Where is the consistency of the English Church's denunciation of the ordination of the Popes as conveying " the spirit of the devil, and not of God," and of the Popes themselves as " Lucifer^s successors" entitled to no better reputation " among the servants of Christ " than "the forerunner of Antichrist," — contained in the Homily for Whitsunday ; while, in practice, she recognizes the valid'ty of the ordination of Popish Priests ] Aiming at the special benefit of The Church, we have thus met him again on his own ground, and shown that it is no better than yielding sand. f). For the purpose of outnumbering the churches that practice presbyterial ordina- tion, our foiled adversary rather in)pru- dcntly betrays Jiis latent tendencies, by calling in to his aid " the corrupt Roman and Eastern Churches." His apology for this is " the infidelity of the so-called Pro- testant Germany and Geneva." But has he lost eight of the fact that there are a goodly number of Socinians and neologists in the Anglican Church ] and that ortho- doxy in the recognized articles and expo- nents of faith, forms but a feeble barrier a- gainst error of the most deadly kind, when those who subscribe them cease to be ani- mated with " the love of the truth." Here, however, Methodism stands upon vantage ground so high, as to repel alike assault and insinuation. No one, we presume, ever heard of so anomalous a personage as a Wesleyan Socinian. After all our pauis, it is not unlikely that our opponent will maintain, as it is natural for him to wish others to believe, " that his arguments have been left nearly untouch- ed," Ami, understanding the term argu- ments in its conventional meaning, we have not much to object to this statement. We never professed to be quite etherial enough to touch what is really intangible. But wherever we have found in his decla- mations, any thing that looked Jike an argu- ment, we have certainly endeavoured to do something more than merely touch it ; and whatever opinion either he or / may entertain of the result will not much influ- ence the decision of a discerning public. For them it now remains to determine, whe- ther the weapons we have employed in this controversy, by us unsought, resemble more the pointless darts of old Priam ; — to which our antagonist likens them — or the winged shaft of Priam's son, which proved fatal to Achilles. The defence of the truth, however, not the achievement of a vie tori/, has been our object. .i:f