The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-10-30
,EorESThNT EPISCOPAL GENE
EAE4 CONVENTION. Ia Ess
INCLUSION OF TUESDAYS PROCEED.
INGS.
EITUAI1SM.


RrTUALISM.
Tho order Of the day was then taken up,
n,;nc the report Of the Committee on Ca
,,os on ritualism. The report Of the ma
:,rf,v Of the committee-as published in
.,cstfrdav's DiSpQtch-was then read, and
T,irc Conyngham moved to substitute
.bcrcfor the resolutions submitted by him
self and Rev. DIR. DeWolf Howe, as the mi
,or;tv Of the committee, and these resolu-
ions we're read. They also appear in yes
,criav's Dispatch
Indigo Conyngham then opened the de-
hate. He preferred the minority report.
1-a;rormitv Of the worship is the great ad-
yortagc Of the Church, and it is sought to
lc broken into by the introduction Of va
IONS forms. There is no variety in the
words uscd but in the appendages and other
soosuous things. He can look back about
sixty years, and many can 60 back further,
md arc there not different and new things
rrc<cnted now? Is it to please fancy9 Is
!, 70 symbolic TO affect the young9 He
then told Of a young ritualist entering
strange church asking for the bearings Of
the compass, as he was accustomed to reve-
renee always to the East. Where is the ne
crs>itv FOR all this Let US rest on what
We had when the Church was organized,
and let us abide by it.
Judge Otis, of Illinois, spoke against the
substitute. This Church cannot legislate
hy resolution. No clergyman can be tried
FIR violating resolution. Resolutions are
Jr,ta fulmina, and hinder no clergyman
from doing as he pleases. 1t is unwise to
express an opinion which can have no force
upon the consciences of the clergy. At the
present time we are not prepared to legis-
late upon these matters. In the Church Of
England some things denounced in the sub
sttute as unlawful have been claimed to be
lawful since the Reformation. The Ameri-
can Church is branch Of the English
Church, in full communion as much now as
anterior to the Revolution. What was law
FIJI in that Church was lawful in the Ameri-
can branch, which was not new Church
when first established at jamestown, Va. 1t
w,s not made q new Church by the Re-
formation, but dates back to the apostles,
and in its purity is an Apostolic Church.
Let, therefore, those who want to worship
with high ceremonial do so, and those who
rrcler bare simplicity let them have it, so
that neither overstep the line Of the dogmas
Of the Church.
Mr. Samuel B. Ruggles had pleaded for
tolerance, when court Of appeals was
proposed TO bring everything within the
rid iron frame of its rules. The Church
exists, not in uniformity, but in diversity.
Eycn Bishops differ and defect point or
Two in the direction of Rome or Geneva.
No unvarying equatorial line between Ro-
Insuism and Calyanism can be maintained.
The chief attraction of the Church for the
laity is its variety and liberation, seeking,
not by force, but by love, to elevate and
save. Rome, seeking to enforce uniformity
q! her faithful. He begged the clergy to
vote for liberation.
Rev. Dr.. r. S. Mason, of North Carolina,
was for the substitute. There is a certain
tendency at times, and sometime ago this
tendency ran into ritualism, amounting
a,mos; 10 indecency. At this time the ten
dcncy is again TO the opposite extreme.
lie was exceedingly glad that the minority
express his own opinions and brought their
report to the House.
Rev. DR.. Haight, of New York, could not
concur in the views Of the minority because
Of certain allegations not founded in truth
and in fact. Worship and the mode of con-
Quoting II nave uOt Dccu III I'll pldCco SuD-
s;antially alike, and the speaker mentioned
the differences in the service in New York
and in Virginia. DR.. Haight then con-
tinued that the minority claim that the
ritual of this Church has not been changed.
Fifty years ago there was still clerk in
Trinity church, who said the responses, and
very seldom was there public baptism in
those days. These things have all changed.
The clerk's desk is gone, and the clerk him
self, that dcteStable nuisance, has not been
heard of for thirty years. Communion was
administered only six or seven times a
year; now ii is monthly. He referred to
this to show the tallacy Of the mino-
r!ty report. lie was always in favor of
liberation. In this he followed Bishop
Hobart and his successors aud did they
prosecute any man?
Rev. Charles Brech, Of Delaware, would
say that he belonged to parish where sur
plce alone (no gown and no band) was
worn for 240 years. He referred to the
fact that at Brooklyn and at Baltimore and
other places he saw the same service at
which Judge Conyngham saw him ottciate
thirty years ago.
Judge Edward McCrady, of South Caro-
lima, denied emphatically that this is the
Church Of England. Are we the Church
Of Scotand2 Does not every one know
that we resemble that Church more? The
Church Of Alexandria differed from the
Church Of Jerusalem, Of Antioch, of Rome,
and all were apostolic; 80 do we differ from
the Church Of England more than from the
Church of Scotland. They were just as
much bound to the liturgy of the Church
Of Jerusalem or Of Antioch as to that of
the Church Of England.
Rev. DR.. James Mulcahey, Of Massachu
Sets favored the majority report, not in
the interest Of any party Of Church fac
ton, but in the interest Of the country pa
rishes and country ministers. The people
know very little, and If they be left alone
would know less, about these ritualistic
difficulties.
Rev. DR.. Dekover, Of Wisconsin, called
the attention of the House to the third reso-
luton Of the minority report, as giving rise
t9a wrong impression. The House of BIZ
shops in 1914 did make no provision for
vs8tments, but only declared it improper
Tor lay readers 70 wear any vestments.
But in the Convention of 1914 the declara-
ton was made on May goth by the Bishops
that the Episcopal Church is the same body
hHown as the Church of England, but po-
IitIcally severed from the old country and
the House Of Deputies concurred in the de-
c.aratiou.
Rev. DR.. Andrews, of Virginia, and Rev.
DE GOODWIN both spoke in favor OF the
minority report, the latter gentleman de-
Caring that if the Convention will not put its
zeal Of CnnIpmn n tinn unnu this alteration