The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-29
SPIRIT or xIxn R1nss.
Editorial Opinions Of the Leading Journals
upon Current opios-Compiled Every,
Day for the Evening Telegraph
THE EPISCOPAL COUNCIL.


From the NJ y. World
1t is curious to observe how little effect in
religious matters the liberal leaven appears
TO have upon the orthodox lump. The theo-
logical guetillas only close up the ranks and
| strengthen the array of the church militant
"Free Religion" finds its compensating
extravaganza in advanced ritualism, aud the
Unitarian Conference of last week is sue
ceeded and supplemented by the Federate
Council of five dioceses of the Protestant EpIs-
copal Church. People who are wandering about
in search of a creed. and finding none as were
the ecclesiastical estrays of last week. are at
liberty to derive whatever instruction they
can from the spectacle of people who are
thoroughly content within strict formula of
faith ana who have met, it appears, to but
tress the bulwarks of Zion which the others
\ have been endeavoring to throw down.
Upon points of doctrine it is not under
\ stood that this council will deliberate, as its
\ deliberations could not in any case be of any
authority or arrive at any final decision, and
4 would therefore run the risk of being as un-
i satisfactory as the deliberations upon those
points of the Unitarian Conference appear to
ave been to those who participated them
\ and those who have read of them. Coleridge
Il was derisively called an excellent talker,
provided you let him start from no premises
Il and come to no conclusion" The excursions
\ of ecclesiasts who insist upon no common
premises, aud are certain not to
n ar1ive\ at any common conclusion,
are not likely to lead to very pro-
\ ftable results, however much eloquence may
be evoked in the process, or however pleasant
it may be to the excursonists. The council
\ has the clear advantage of having no points
of doctrine in dispute, or at least none
which it will attempt to settle.
But there are many points of discipline aud
organization which the council can busy it
self upon. Though these, perhaps, are not
of so general interest as debates upon ques-
tions of belief, and so are not likely to figure
SO conspicuous in the newspapers, the ar
rangement of them is at least as likely to
promote the interest of the church in whose
behalf they are sought to be ordered. They
may expect excited discussions upon the
ritualism which is the present bugbear of all
the branches of the Anglican communion.
1t Is likely, also, or at least it is possible,
that steps will be taken towards rendering
the hierarchy of the Episcopal Church of
America more analogous to the hierarchies of
the Episcopal Churches of England and of
Rome by adding grade to it. The five dio-
ceses into which the State of New York Is
now divided, and which have been increased
within few years from two, are sufficiently
prosperous, numerous, and extensive to be
erected into an archbishopric. And the esta-
blishment OF such dignity might be thought
necessary to the symmetry of the system.
Prelacy implies primacy. The hierarchy of
Rome is graduated from the priesthood
through bishoprics and cardinalates to the
papacy. The hierarchy of England ascends
from the diaconate to the headship oi>the
Church conjoined to the leadership of the
State. The hierarchy of the Episcopal Church
in America alone is truncated at the episcopal
stage. It's organization is at present not
democratic certainly; but it is also not mon
archical, or even properly hierarchical
Whether theoretical considerations like thi
weigh with the council or not, it's meeting
shows the tendency towards sphere of gov
ernment larger than the area of single dio
cese, as its sessions will attest the great ant
growing influence of the communion so large
portion of which it represents