The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1868-11-25
the Church of Rome had manifesteditself fin the

the Church of Rome had manifesteditself IN the
Episcopal Church. At a time like this, when
so many good and faithful ministers and PEG
pie begin to ask with fear and trembling,
" What as to be done?"-we hope it is not
unbecOming in us to suggest serious Inquiry
into first principles. Is there not cause Tor
this remarkable fact? Was there not at the
time of the Reformation in England decided
eaven of Popery left in the Episcopal Church
there-which has been transferred and had IN
the measures Of meal that formed the Eplsco
pal Church in this country? Does not this
account for their present fermentation in that
country and in this? Such is the prevalent
opinion of the best and wisest men outside OF
that communion, and Of not few within 1t
also. Is it not time for our brethren who de-
ploie the present, and dread impending evils
to institute most solemn scrutiny, and to
complete the reformation which, from well
known causes was not made thorough in Eng
land in the sixteenth century? As long as
this leaven of POpery-this mystery of inl
guilty that doth already works suffered to
remain, can anything else be expected than its
spread throughout the Church? "A little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump"
?. The question is" What mast be done?"
Would not the inquiry be most proper one
at such crisis as this, whether the Episcopal
Church has not abandoned some of the solid
ground on which she stood at the period Of
the Reformation? 1.-The Reformers," says
Neal referring to England admitted the
ordination of foreign churches by presbyters,
till towards the middle of this reign Eliza
BETH when their validity began to be disputed
and denied" mo Bishop in Scotland, dur
ing my stay in that kingdom" says Bishop
Burnett, ever did SO much as desire any Of
the Presbyterians to be re0rdained. This was
the teaching of the Church of England as late
as the year 1906. How sadly different the
teaching of the Episcopal Church now, both
there and here
We say it in no spirit of elimination or con
troversy, but in sorrow, that the Protestant
Episcopal Church has on that whole question
of Episcopal ordination, severed herself from
ProteStaatiSm-fro from any practical recognition
or communion with the non prelatical churches
of which the vast body of the Protestant world
consists. Is it any wonder that every now and
then, they find stream setting in towards
Rome? And now that the current is stronger
than ever, so that as the Southern Chwchman
states hundreds have left us for Rome; and
not the young merely, or the ignorant, but
the middle aged and learned, from whom we
might expect better things, is it not proper
time for true and faithful brethren among
them to ask why it is so? Good men outside
think they can clearly discern at least one of
the potent influences at work. They see that
so much consequence is attached to Episcopal
ordination, that it is, in sense, and that very
practical one, made to be the article OF a stand
ing or falling Church e. drticuluS AIT stantis
AIT cadentiS celeste When they invest a
question of outward form with such vital i'm
portance that no minister of another church
can be inyited into one of their pull pits, and
when they persecute, with the severest discipline
one of their own number who may dare to ac-
cept an invitation to preach in the pulpit OF a
Presbyterian or Methodist, is it any wonder
that people begin to connect the whole stu
penduous fabric of Socramental grace with
such an assumption of ministerial prerogative?
And when once pursuaded into the necessity
of this kind of grace for the benefit if not the
salvation of their souls, is it strange that the
further pursuasion should be easily reached
that Rome claims richer treasury of that same
article than Canterbury or New York?
Would that our brethren in the Episcopal
Church who like the Southern Churchman, see
that they have so many among them teach
ing falsities and Romanism, could also per-
ceive the necessity of openly reeeding to the
solid, consistent ground of the fathers of the
English Reformation, who were ready, not in
theory only, but practically also and modestly
to acknowledge their Church as the younger
sister of the Church of Geneva
s. With the statements and admissions made
in the article from the Southern Chauchman,
as to the condition Of the Episcopal Church,
no minister or member in it can any longer
consistently ask, much less persuade any min
lister or member of another Church to seek its
communion. If the truth were known, it
would probably be found that no small part of
the great stream now leaving the Episcopal
Church for Rome, ismade up of those unstable
souls who were weakly "beguiled' to leave
their own churches, hoping that somehow or
other the hands of prelatical Bishop, if pro-
perly laid upon heads such as theirs, might
perhaps confirm the souls of the disciples" as
in the days of Peter and of Paul. But these
spiritual vagrants, as VIM. Jay calls them,
are not easily cured of their restless roaming.
They are not much loss when they leave as
for Sojoura with our Episcopal brethren, and
if they could now by any possible means limit
the stream from their precincts Rome-ward to
this class of poor unfortunates," they also
would have little cause for trouble and mourn
ing.