Southern standard. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1851-1856, 1853-10-08

For tie Southern Standard
When in answer to such revilers of the Church. her
Ministry and sacraments as Episcopos and Presbute-
ros, the Rev. John Wesley is presented in his old age,
with but two or three years of life still remaining
pressing home upon his society the following exhorta
ton to-wt 81 wish all of you who are vugarIy call
ed Mehodsts would seriously consider what has been
said. And particularly you whom God hath commits
stoned to call sinners to repentance. 1t does by
follow from hence, that we are commissioned to
baptize, to administer the Lords supper. Ye never
dreamed of this for ten twenty years after we began
to preach. Ye did not then, like Korah Dathan and
ADRIAN, seek the priesthood also. Ye knew "no man
taketh this honor unto himself but he that is called of
God, as was Aaron" 0, contain yourselves within
your own bounds &c. and the following to-wit
"et all preachers 60 to Church let all the people
60 constantly let them receive the sacrament eV-
cry opportunity Warn all against despisng the
prayers Of the Church /; against calling society
church (Laic's apology for the term ''socety'O
against calling preachers minister's" and other
such exhortatiOns and opinions of Wesley these
selEstyled ministers Of the New Testament and
selfcalled "Evangelical by misnomer, exclam at
once, o! what dishonesty What "meanness - to
quote from Wesleys early writing, when in his later
days he changed his opinions. But when the youth
full Stllingeet is the victim, Epscopos can, with the
slaughter-ovng propensity of butcher, chop him in
two at the middle cut him off semicolon select
the endw suits his purpose BEST and deliberately
present the fragment truly the whole man and
can, with the deliberaton Of adept, without con-
science fear Of day of judgment impose upon his
readers, opinions, ascribed to the "Irencum Ga work
written by Stilngfeet when "a years of age) the
vertable opinions of Stllingheet when both Episco
pos and his fellow know Gf their boosted acquan-
lance with Stlngfeet is not sham,) that the opin-
ions thus ascribed were, by him. when his knowledge
had expanded and his judgment matured, denied, con-
Gemned repudiated, rejected. Now courteous reader,
let this abused author be heard of from more reliable
source Laic quotes from ''the Episcopal Church De-
Tended bp the Rev. James A. Bolles,' which was
written for and which has been subjected to the
tiny of the enomies of the Church. "Now what are
the facts in relation to Bishop StdgAeet! They
are briefly these. He wrote two books on this sub
ject-the called the "Irenicum, and the other the
unreasonableness of separation-the former written
when he twentyfour years DID, the latter when he
was forty-fve-the former was written "wth view
to moderate the violent controversies which the dis
senters increasingly kept alive against the Church.
OI his leeungS on THIS point,
he made concessions which he afterwards not only re-
GREETED. but utterly renounced and this not only in
his latter work, but in every way by and adj
dresses. Hence in his preface to his book the sun
reasonabeness of separation" and referring to his
Irenicum, he says "Will you not allow one single
person, who happened to write about these matters
when he was very young in tOenty gears time of the
most busy and Thoughtful part of his life, to
to alter his judgment % In sermon preached on the
occasion of an ordination at st. Pauls', when his
judgment perfectly matured, and his reading hat
become more extensive and better digested, he de-
clared 81 cannot find any argument of force in the
New Testament, to prove that ever the Christian
Churches were under the sole government of Presby
tiers - and again "This succession was not in
mere presidency Of order, but the Bishops succeeded
the Apostles in the government those Churches
And again "Iere IS great to believe the Apos
tOic succession to beef divine institution as the cannon
of Scripture or the observation of the Lords day.
And in his s'unreasonableness of separation" he as
serts that the case of Timothy is ncontrovertib
instance of diocesan Episcopacy."
Now, Presbuteros, answer categorically wheI
you say you have Stillingfeet in your possession,
you intend to be understood as having the whole o
his works, or have you only the Irenicum If 20
have his works complete, why did you put forth tn
Irenicum as the exponent of his opinions Did 20
knowingly misrepresent him, or were you ignorant {
the fact that he wrote his unreasonabeness of sepa
tion," twenty years after he wrote the Irenicum T
close with general iRterrogatory to be also with tn
above answered categorically 6tillngfeet &c
Dutch philosopher or contemporary of Jerome 90
We have yet to post up the account with thes
-nchop lo0ic" illuminate for having cut Stillingfee
off at a semi-colon. Why break sentence in tn
middle Why leave out the very gist of the matte
IN order to make false impression!
TO gain good understanding of this matter, tmu
be kept in mind that this work the Irenicum, whic
Sdllingfeet wrote at the agecOf twenty-four, wa
written in the troublous times of the usurPation
when presbyter government in church matters ha
met with another signal defeat on account Of its ine