New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1844-02-03
VOL. EHE. NO. 256.
High Church pretensions do not assail the charac

l1igh-Church pretcnsons do not assall the charac-
Ter and usefulness of those who differ from you.
You deny that you have thus assailed their
character and usefulness. | consider my char
acter assalcd when | am met on all hands with
thc insulting assertion which virtually amounts
to this" Sir, you are a sham minister; yours is
a sham Church; yours are forged credentials
you have no right to preach the Gospel" 1t is no
fault Of High Church pretension, if you cannot
persuade the world to believe these things But
should you succeed in persuading them, | ask
whether our usefulness to society would not at once
be destroyed This is what ! mean when say
that self-rcspect, and selfdefcnce, ard the good
of the world, all demand a resistance of the as
serton that there can be no Church withom a
Pfeiate [ have shown the legitimate conse-
quences of this position; | have shown the sense
IN which 1t Is understood by the world, and by
| your own writers. If you now start back from
these consequences, it is because they are odious
to others, and therefore injurious to yourselves
and not because they not logically derived
from your position. You say you do not give
over all other denominations to uncovenanted
| mercies. Are the covenant mercics Of God then
equally shared by those who are IN and those who
are ont of the Church If you admit this, you
do indeed give up the point, and take back your
unchurching dogma, and the debate may cease.
Again, you say you would welcome to your com
| munion myself and the COMMITMENTS of our
Church, if driven from what you call our tenn
pie ot 'rorship,' by fire. Yes doubtless but it
would be only because, by accepting your prof
tered hospitality, we should be virtually admit
ting that we were Preatsts for the OCCASION
How we could go TO partake of hospitality so
invidious, and so hcdged round with provisos and
for rlat bn first
MmfullY J0ptieed and not ,outuHy and
Knowingly schi&mat'c$'-is another question:
Hospitality is not worthy of the name, which IS
not reciprocated. Let me put the question:
Would you come to u.s. and sit down with us at
the table Of our common Lord, should Yonr tenn
pie OF worship be consumed by fire Unless
You can answer this question in the affirmative,
hand you back your modicum of charity and hos
pitaIIty, until 1t is far increased as TO make an
acceptance Of it compatible with decent self
respect. Again, you pronounce the Churches OF
the Reformation to be no Churches. and yet say
you do not unchurch those who belong 10 them.
Let who can, reconcile this unchurchng OF Gg
gregHteS with churching of the jndiridun|s who
compose the aggregates. No sir; with AL your
distinctions, intended as loop-holes for the escape
Of charity, your position IS unchanged; you DO
! claim, and claim the exclusive property OF
Roman and Anglican Prclatists, the name the
authority, the mmuntles, the sacraments, the
rights and blessings Of the visible Church OF
Christ. And | again call upon you to let the
world have the evidence Of tins clam; the as
founding consequences of which arc such as to
require evidence little short of demonstration to
Justify them.
now proceed more Immediately to the point
before us, and to which | have not yet succeeded
= Io
promise to be patient myself, in the hope that
the true issue cannot be much longer postponed.
You seem TO think that a certain query, which
closes your last letter but one contains something
so formidable to my argument that ] purposcly
avoided any notice of il. This is quite "a mis-
take. | cannot perceive, in the question referred
to, any Scylla and Charybdis, any sunkcn rocks
through which feared to pass. In what have
already offered, the question had been answered
again and again. 1t is in fact the very question
IL debate, VIZ: the necessary succession az indi-
RITUALS. II you require farther satisfaction upon
this point, hope my succeeding remarks will fur
nish it.
A ministry, divinely appointed ministry, a
ministry to the exercise of the duties of which
there should be Gods call, which call | defined
to consist in certain internal and external signs,
such as Gods grace, ana Gods Providence can
alone bestow upon any one such a ministry,
believe, enters into the very idea OF a Church,
besides being distinctly recognized IN the Word
of God
Now, maintain that with such a cali one IS as
really called Of God as lcas Aar0@ Tor take
it for granted that no man OF common sense VIII
Sec in this passage to which you have so often re-
fcrred, any thing more than that every particular
individual, before his assumption otthe ministerial
office, should be guided by some divine directions.
Aaron and his sons were called by dTect cdH
from God giren to Noses in express terms. DO
YOU mean that it is by such call as this, that
YOUR Preates, priests and deacons are summoned
to their places In this sense, are they "caled
of God as was Aaron ~ Taking for granted that
none have yet reached the point of claiming, IN
behalf of the ministry, an inspired appointment
of each individual, such as that of Aaron, there's
nothing more in the text referred to than an IN
culcation OF the duty of seeking the Divine dlrec
ton in every way reasonable and possible at the
present time Such a divine direction consists,
as have already SAID CD in strong ana Plous
desires to honor our master N the preaching OF
the Gospel-(2) in the possession OF the requisite
| cndowments, and (3) in the invitation OF the
Church. embracing the ministry and the people,
calling the individual to the exercise OF his gifts
Where then, docs this discussion rub? AT
what point do your route and mine diverge :
Just here, in the first instance: that you make
the very existence of the ministry, and of course
the validity of its functions, depend neccssarriy
and IN al aupposable cases, upon It's descent
through an unbroken line OF persons along
which line alone can be conveyed what some
have called " Episcopal grace In other words
YOU affirm an unbroken chain OF n'tinsters--we
affirm perpctuated ministry; yours is success
sion of men, ours succession OF truth; you IN,
sist upon the officers, we upon the ctics. instead
# tnlloUinr your remarks through all their wind