New-York daily tribune., 1844-01-13

Froa,the Commercial .4frsrh,sr.

>RNHNG, JANUAEsE 53, ES42.
From the Commercial .iicer,iser.
Rev. DR.. w ainwriSht to Rev. DE-. Potts.
Rev. AND DEAR SIR:-In concluding my last
letter to you said that would not be either
''entlced or driven from the position | occupied
when you called upon me- Notwithstanding
your pertlnaclous use of both these modes OF con-
troversal warfare. stand there still. and there
| mean to stand. \ Iou shall hold me strictly
as you please to the proposition have thrown
ont. | wish to be held there. But you shall not
hold me to assent to your charge that this pro.
position was thrown out as defiance, or that
yours is the :" attitude OF self-deience against
unprovoked assault" | have denied this before
Il deny It agaln-if repeated, shall henceorth
deny 1t as SLander. uttered mo defiance
| attempted no ecclesiastical prescription L
unchurchcd" no denomination of Christians
God forbid that L. or anv of those who symbohze
with me IN religious belief, should be guilty OF
such arrogance toward their fellow men or. what
is dreadful. such bold assumption Of the sole
prerogatlve OF God. The Church is HIS, and lie
has constituted 1t according to His own will
Those who do not conform to Its requlSltIons un
church themselves. Instead of all this stale de-
clamaton, so often repeated to excite popular pre-
iudlce-SO often answered-PRovE from Scripture
and ancient authors that Bishops are not essential
TO the constitution Of the Christian Church, and
then your work Will be done, and effcctually done.
But until you have accomplished this all the
charges in which you so literally indulge about
"exclusiveness, unchartabness, monopoly OF
nrivIleges unchurch;ng," &c. are utterly irrelc-
want, and only calculated q will not say de-
signed) to divert the public mind from the true
issue.
Enough of this, however. Let me recall you
once more to your true position. IL your letter
of December 9th you say, '' | will hold myself
ready should you admit that the reporter of your
speech has not done you injustice at least IN this
in this particularly to prove that this proposition
wiz. there cannot be Church, Sc Is pregnant
with innumerable evil consequences, social and
civil and that it is unScrptural, unchar1tnbte,
schiSmatcal and anti-republicaninits character
| admit the correctness of the report. Issue Is
then Joined, and what you have undertaken to
prove is set forth in distinct and emphatic terms.
You certainly will not say that you did not un-
derstand what you undertook to prove. You say.
moreover, that you are at no loss as to my real
meaning" You have then laid your work for
Yourself Begin to execute it, if that is your
pleasure My part of the work | shall manage in
nv own way; and when [ come to use terms |
will leave you at no loss as to their meaning.
AS to the two little pieces of history 10 which
you alude, the first, in the modern department,
is really too small matter to make it worthy my
while to show how utterly dlsingenuous your
presentation is. AS to the piece of ancient his
tory, containing the alluson to the Waldenses,
and to Bishop Stlngtcet, if you are indeed as
ignorant as you appear to be on these points, and
have implicitly followed DIR. Mason and Dr. Mil
er without taking pains to acqualntyoursei with
the unanswered and unanswerablc counter state
ments Of Bishop Hobart and DR.. Bowdcn, will
in due time, when the questions come up IN their
proper place, endeavor to throw some llg mt upon
them for your benefit
Nv wish now is simply to let the public know,
through my letter to you, as yonavow that pop
uar effect is your object, that to you are they
indebted for this unfortunate, and | may add, un-
worthy exhibition of two clergymen contendlng
in the public newspapers about question which
has been discussed over and over again, and ac
cess to the ablest popular arguments upon both
sides of which is very easy, by reason OF the re-
publication in cheap forms OF Mllers Letters,
&c, Bowdcn's Letters in reply, and Hobart's
Apology for Apostolic order and It's advocates
assert that to you, and to you alone is 1t owing
that we are both placed In this, which / will
cheerfulIv acknowledge to be an unenviabe po-
siton;' that to you Is 1t owing that we are both
subjected to the ribad remarks Of hcentlous
tongues and pens, and the sober dlsapprobatlon OF
:, large portion of the secular press; that TO you
is 1t owing that our common friends ana large
portion OF the pious and sober minded OF all de-
nominations feel deep regret and mortlhcatI"n.-
Nv course was inevitable. You challenged me
,I
paper report; you took 40 private and friendly
means To ascertain Its accuracy: when the CIR
cumstanccs of the case were laid before you you
refused to be convinced, and you still refuse
Your character and standing in the community
were so respectable, that should have been
traitor to my own if had siirunk even IN thought
from your defiance. | have met 1t, and / stand
ready to abide all its consequences. Iou now
WELD the point we have thus far contended for,
ungraciously as cannot help thlnkng but you
yield It. You say you "wlll commence" and
inns. with the affirmative have assumed the
responsibility of the aggressor and the deher.-
Proceed.
beg you now proceed to the proof; and |
take the liberty to beg you also to proceed upon
,be Durely scripturat and historical merits Of the
question and IN a Christian spirit, avoiding (as
| for nv part, by Gods help intend to do,) all
personalities, all injurious epthets, and all ap-
peals to mere prejudice and passion. Injurious
epithets decide nothing for if my doctrine should
I've Gods truth, what can they avail Appeals
to mere prejudice and passion decide nothing
thev cannot put my doctrine in the wrong, any
more than the universal camor of all Ephesus
mt St. Pau's doctrine in the wrong. My views
of of Christian truth, you are bound to believe, are
as sincerely and conscientiously held as your
own. And wherever they are ercIusire y as
toward yourself or others, assert lwhat certainly
YOU have no right to deny that they are held IN
nv own feelings as cHARIrABLY as yours can be,