The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1869-11-24
PROTESTANT RULE OF FAITH.
DOES THE PRAYER BOOK TEACH ROMANIsM2


ready given are sufficient; and they Show that in
the opinion of those authors, the Prayer Book Is
very far from having no traces of Romanism in it.
They assert the contrary in the very strongest
terms; they declare that it was the purpose of
Queen Elizabeth and others so to arrange matters
in this Liturgy as to make the Papists eontented
and that the book is so framed as to have decided
germs Of Romanism" in it, This is their Opin-
ion. The question remains, is it correct?
Let us now proceed to test this question by an
examination of the book ITSELF. And We begin
with that fundamental question the rule Of faith
The true, Scriptural Protestant doctrine is that
"the word of God, which is contained in the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments is the
only infallible rule of faith and practice"
The doctrine of Rome is that the rule of faith is
made up of the Bible and Tradition together. And
this is the doctrine of the Puseyite Episcopalians
We could Gil columns and pages with quotations
let one or two be taken as specimens. Mr.. New
man says:
"Both Romanists and ourselves maintain that
whatever doctrine the primitive ages unanimously
attest, whether by consent of Fathers, or by Coun
ellis, or by the events of history, or by eOntrover
sizes, or in whatever way, whatever may fairly or
reasonably be considered to be the universal belief
of those ages is to be received as coming from the
Apostles" This is tradition, aud he adds that
"the need of tradition arises from the obscuriy of
the Scripture" Scripture does not interpret
itself, or answer objections to neutrality-suspicious.
Scripture was never intended to teach the many"
Keble, Pussy, and others all speak in the same
strain.
But it would be mistake to suppose that these
views are confined to the Oxford Traetarians. 1t
might be shown that they have been held in the
Church of England ever since the Reformation.
In the Episcopal Church in this country they have
long had, and have now, wide dissemination
among both the Bishops and other clergy. Let
the following instances be noted:
In 1925, Bishop RavenscrOft, of North Carolina,
preached a sermon before the North Carolina Bible
Society, established on the principles common to
such societies of circulating the Scriptures with
out note or comment" The object of this sermon,
as announced by himself, was to shO1o that the
principle recognised and acted upon By his and
other Bible Societies that the Scriptures are er
c,srey Sufficient TOR their o1oa Interpretation, is
uafo1mded dangerous, and ultimately Su6rersre of
all rerealed religion"
The ROmanism of this doctrine was ably exposed
by Or. John FL Rice in the Evangelical aud Liter
airy Magazine which he edited (See VOL s.
Bishop r. then preached in the Episcopal chapel,
in Raleigh another sermon, this Dr. Rice also re-
viewed, in which he advances step farther
Having declared the Scriptures alone not sufficient
~ ba ~
lowing rule as the interpreters manual:
The rule then is, that Interpretation of Scrip
ture is to be followed and relied upon as the true
sense and meaning, which has invariably been held
and acted upon, BIZ the one Catholic and apostolic
Church of Christ.
In another place he speaks of ''the primitive
Church, the best expositors of the obscure parts
of Seripture-the S1reSt and safest guide to the
truth of conflicting doctrines and practices.
1t is known that Bishop Hobart, of New York,
held the same views.
Bishop BrOwnell, of Connecticut, lat the time of
his death, not long ago, he was the senior Bishop
of the Episcopal Church in this country says:
"The Holy Scriptures as they were interpreted
by the Church during the t1oo first centuries =
constitute the only sure basis to rest upon" 1.-THE
Continental Reformers went to the extreme of re-
jecting all tradition and Church authority"
But troublesome question comes in just here
By the tradition spoken of, We are to understand
these Bishops as referring to the writings of the
earlier fathers, in other words, the voice of the
ancient Church. But the works of these early
Fathers consist of thirty FIVE folio volumes, and if
we include the books of Romish Decretals, Bulls
of the Popes, CanOns and Decretals of Councils
there are forty-niDe more. How is an inquirer af-
ter the meaning of Scripture to make his way
through this wilderness? All there does seem to
be rub. But just here this distinguished Episco-
paIian Bishop comes in with remedy. You need
not put yourself to any trouble; just take the
Church. Interpretations of all these other interpre-
tations in these volumes, and let your mind be at
rest. Here is the panacea: "The result is fully
embodied in our Book of Common Prayer
standard Of faith 1ohieh stands scare as the
only enduring monument of the Protestant Refor-
nation" (See Bishop BrOwnelIs Charge.)
We might bring forward case after case to show
how widely this heresy as to the rule of Christian
faith, has been and is now spread in the Episcopal
Church. But enough has been said for the pres
ent. Every intelligent reader knows that the
principle they announce leads the way straight to
Rome. Archbishop Whitgift was right in saying
that their doctrine on the rule of faith is 'the
ground of all PapistIy." The very turning point,
the fundamental question between Professionalism
and ROmanism is in this very question; and right
here large number of Episeopalians from Bishops
down, are with Rome Let this fact be remem-
bered.
And now the question is, what has all this to do
with the Prayer Book? We think it has a great
DEAL for it is just there where the fatal error of Ro
manism was received. Let us turn to "TKe form
and manner Of making and ordaiaiag and coase
Grating Bishops, Priests and Deacoas." The pre-
face reads thus: at is evident unto all men, dill
gently reading holy Scripture and ancient authors,
that from the Apostles time there have been these
orders of ministers in Christs Church-Bishops,
Priests, and DeaeOns &c.
Here in the question as to what constitutes the
orders of the Christian ministry important one
under any scheme of Church government and
which the Episcopal Church makes so fundamen-
tal-Our knowledge is made equally dependant on
diligently reading holy Scripture and ancient
authors. If it could be supposed that nothing
more was meant by this than that the Prayer Book
is to be regarded in the Episcopal Church as con-
tanning eompend of the Bible as to doctrine, the
sacraments, the ministry and worship, and that in
studying the Scriptures due respect should be paid
to what it teaches, this would be unobjectionable,