Litchfield enquirer., 1844-01-18


Awaiting, then, the appearance of your next letter.
subscribe myself, Very respectfully,
i, j, Rev. and dear sir, YOURS M s
~ IONA. M. WAINWRIGHT.
Friday morning, Jan. 5thss @ US " FFa ::
DIR. POTTS TO DR. WAINWRIGHT.
Dr. Potts, under date of Jan Cd, refers to the re-
marks Of DR. Wainwright, that |" there eanaot5e a
Gshlvch scitlout a Bishcp, as having been admit-
ted by its author to be correctly reported, and Dr.
Potts then proceeds to remark upon it at some
length. We makes few extracts:--ise 4
Why should be suspected of disingenuousness,
IN expressing hope that you, were in the kind
hearted minority, embracing many able minis
tiers and worthy members Of your communion, who
cannot go the length Of delivering over the vast
majority of Protestant Chrstenom to the ui,cov-
enanted mercies" ofGod, which are no mercies at
all! "A beg your pardon If have offended by sup
posing that upon the point Of J. No Bishop, no
Church" you possibly might accord with Gran
mer, Whitgift, Usher, StillingAeet, Whatcly and
Others, who seem to have had some bowels 81 com,
passion ather than with Laud and Dodwell, and
Oxford Tractarians who thought no more of cut
ting OH the heads of Christian Churches than if they
were 50 many tfiistles 81. ''sTsF
When1Dr. Wainwright, a.gentlemar,,a scholar,
Nh isldu uiihisteF, I'm each Oh Wnlc titles there
seems to be implied the idea Of refined feelings as
well as bland manners, has taken 50 public. SO
extraordinary an occasion. for the purpose Of an
.churching the wholesof Protestant Ghristendom,
the Churches of Germany, Switzerland, France,
Great Britain, Holland and America-all except
the prelatic bodies in England and this country
it surely is high time to demand that the public
should be put in possession OF the evidence by
which so bold and unfinching assertion is to be
sustained; or, if that evidence Is not forthcom-
ing, It isequally high time that the enormity Of
the assumption should be exposed. There are hun
dreds who can perform the latter task better than
myself, bat stin believe II is not task which
requires the strength Of a giant. .ip
a,,, ,,r,,I,s. ,.,, a. IN, 49,
claimed any tstio Is dr III 5aht % h ia Ss.
prelatic Churches, i willingly discharge you from
farther responsibility on that point. Had you, in
addition, been pleased to qualify your proposition,
so as to admit the ecclesiastical rights If those
Christian bodies who s'hoid the Head even Christ,
should have laid down my pen even though you
had claimed for your own body lofty superiority.
But you have made no such admission. You stand
now where you stood when rebuking the de-
scendants of the Puritans. You have indeed
denied an Intention to be offensive sor 8 ex-
elusive" but the question occurs, was not !" the
principle" you affirmed offensive, being exclusive
We arevirtually charged with acting under forged
commissions, with living in rebellion against God,
because forsooth, " there cannot be q Caych," sa-
cred and venerable name, the name Of our Birth
place !--scitloat what? without Christ the Divine
Redeemey no: sagithoM a. Bishop" But to be
out Of Christs Church, in the most essential mean
ing Of the phrase, is to be out OF the pale Of saliva
ltion. And hence to affirm That there is no Church
unless il have apreate, is to affirm something that
goes very far toward shutting heaven against the
whole Of Protestant Christendom, with the excep-
zion Of yourselves. -
Now, If these consequences naturally flow from
your position,I ask again If it is not necessarily an
" offensive" position And whether, therefore,
you did not assume an offensive attitude when you
uttered it Let Us settle this point first, and af-
forwards consider the plea of 'provocation which
yeu offer in standardization, and we shall then be
prepared to Judge of the propriety of your at
tempting to alter the issue. Your object, my dear
| sir, is to exchange places with me. So I judge
from the drift of your letter, which you speak Of
s.the public attack" have made upon you; for my
having forced You to follow me as "a combatant
IN" daily newspaper !" and finally, at the close
of your letter. you leave the post You assume onthe
22d December, and call upon nae to prove my neg
alive of your proposition In short you wish to as
sumo the attitude Of defendant in this case and to
present me in the character Of an assalanf. This
is very ancient expedient in controversy, and is
always resorted to by dsputants who wish to avert
from themselves the imputation Of aying Justly
provoked a religious controversy, and to secure
the sympathy of the bystanders as Wantoniy assale
persons. admit there IS an advantage il this
but think i canbe shown that gos. cannot il this
instance claim 1T 80, ~ e III - - v
u Now 4graut you. most readily, that il the APP
plauded sentence bad been framed as 70 assert q
even imply that this Church scittosa Bishop was
the only Legitimate CAsTel if the orator had
uttered the converse Or rather the counterpart o.
your doctrine, and had said !" there cannot be {
Church sgifh a BishoD, he would have advanced