Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-04-24

land for disseminating the Gospel and
blessing the world. NV heart Is sict
and panied as / look upon her humil
iatIOn to day. I have often mourueC
over the naTrOWn5ss and ignorance o.
individuals who have misrepresented
her true character and spirit, and stood
as clogs and stumbIing-b blocks in the
| way of her progress. have often hung
I my head with shame, when absurd and
| eXtraYagant claims have been asserted
/ and pressed, as hers, which, necessari-
/ ly provoked the indignation or the
/ Tidicule Of sensible men. / have often
/ felt insulted, as if il were a personal
/ afrOnt to my own mother, when she
I has been made OdiOus and cOntemDtible
! by those who ought to uphold and pre-
sent her to the world in her rightfuI at
fractions.
The enactment IL our churches of
''superstitious fooleries,' as Bishop
GriswOld fifly characterized those rit-
ualistic performances which have been
greatly aggravated and extended since
his death, has often provoked my re-
sentiment and disgust but have en-
deavOred to regard them as sporadic
cases, or at the most as instances of
personal folly and mischief, in which I
had no share Of respOnsi bilIty. Two or
three abOrtive attempts have lately
been made to enforce, by official deciS-
ion and action, as the law of our church
sonal or at the most, party peculiarities.
am satisfied with the doctrines of my
church as they are stated in the Creeds
and in her Articles ; desire no changes
in her worship, as it is prescribed for
congregations in her t'BOOk of Common
Prayer" +" and as common usage for more
than half a century has interpreted
and established il. In regard to a mat
ter that has lately filled SO much of the
public mind, / will add that, outside of
my own church, at home or abroad,
have never felt restrained from preach
ing whenever 1 desired to do so, and
using any devotional services that
might deem most expedient. Here
always have stood. Others may leave
the cold paths''; but here I shall con-
tinue to stand, My position is that Of
the great majority of our laiiy, and, l
may add, Of our older, well-instructed,
and sober minded clergy. l have en-
plOyed the first personal prOnoun in
the foregoing o observations, not because /
the individual views and course of any
one man are Of any special Importance /
but because in this way I could at the
same time express what L know to be,
in the main, the views and feelings OF
all those who are truly loyal to the
evangelical standards and Protestant
scripturaI principles Of our church.
We ask for no new doctrines, no new
usages, no new license and we Will
We have, in a peace-lOving and largely
tolerant spirit, submitted, perhaps too
tamely, to the introduction of novelties
and eccentricities, both in teaching and
in worship, in some of our churcnes-
so extraordinary as to forbid the thought
of our participating in them but it is
neither a necessary nor a natural inter-
ference, to conclude that Weshall there
fore calmly submit to the invasion OF
that personal liberty which we have
enjoyed. So long as her arti- |
cles and creeds, and services are un-
we shall stand by our church, |
foes without and within. We shall la |
Dor and pray that she may be preserved |
from every adversary, purified from /
every blemish, and made to shine, !
more and more, until every earthly /
,hurch is merged in the glorious church /
IF the first born in Heaven.