New-York tribune., 1871-03-28
that Mr.. Forrest would undoubtedly have got
anything he asked for. Why did Mt no de-
mand a certiicate7
CHNRCH ON1RRELS

Our Philadelphia neighbOrs are just now
treated TO q savory dish of scandal from one
of the EpiscOpalian churches, by way of flavor
to their Lenten meals OF herbs ami water.
The Rector Of st. Clements has been accused
not OILY of unseemly candles, posturings, and
genunexions, but of holding auricuar confcs-
sion, and praying for the dead. The Bishop
accused. The Rector responded. The Vestry
came in like Greek chorus with wrathful re-
frains; letters multiplied as though wilkins
Micawber had the matter in hand. The secu-
lar press have taken it up and devote eight
or ten columns to the calculation of kn0tty
points of doctrine. The letters have grown
into pamphlets full OF hard words, if not hard
logic, and the whole Quaker City stands still
to see how the fight will end between the two
men of God ptted against each other in what
they call "this holy Lenten season"
Our English exchanges brings accounts of
like quarrel, though on n larger scale, in the
same church. Parliament and people are con-
yulsed on the question of the burial of dis
senters. Shall a Methodist be permitted to
force his unhandsOmc corpse among church
men, or lie apart7 Shall he, if he will thrust
himself into the inhosptable grave, be allowed
to hear his own hymns chantcd over the sod
above him, or be put to rest by the instituted
gown and book against his will For more
than a year this squabble between the living
church and dead outsiders has gone on, with
no hope Of settlement. 1t is hard to under
stand why the public are treated more fire.
quenty to these virulent, ill-bred brawls by
this church than any other, when we remem-
ber that she represents, both in her ministry
and laity, an exceptional degree of intelli-
gence, culture and social sarOir fare.
The long habit of power in Eng
land rmay have made her quarrelsome
when the power is slipping from her, as IL
there begins to do. A monarch about to be
dethroned may be forgiven if he is testy WITH
regard to the respect paid him, even by un-
buried dead men. But the Episcopal Church
in this country has no such excuse Her min
isters. especially in the Evan gelical branch,
are. as a rule, body of educated, God-fear-
ing. God-serving, ill-paid men; familiarity
with the simple chaste sublimity of their re-
lipious service should serve to educate them
not only as Christians, but gentlemen. They
should have the cOmmOn-sense and tact to
perceive that their rubric and liturgy, however
dear to themselves, are matters of total lndlf-
ference to tho world outside, until, indeed,
they make them matters of ridicule by forcing
them into disreputable notice by their un-
seemly squabbles.
Such a quarrel as that in Philadelphia mis-
represents and disgraces the cause of Christ
against the will of every earnest Christian in
the Episcopal Church. Bishops and Rectors
are but men, and liable to differ on points OF
candles aud genuflexions,.as other men do on
Tweed or Santo Domingo. If the amiable and
sincere Pastor of st. Clements chooses to re-
ceve confessions and pray for bis dead
friends and his equally amiable and sincere
vestrY choose to disapprOye of it, why should
they drag their unsavory virulence and Ill
temper before the worldV The Rector has
certainly no way of proving to the readers OF
the daily papers whether his absoutiOn was
eficacous to the living or his prayers
to the dead That malice, anger, and
ill-speakng are not Christianity, the
secular world knows already, without his
proving They are clear sighted enough to
feel that church forms, discipline, and doctrines
are but the outside garb of religion, and every
battle such as this about them, with its indecor-
Gus vehemence and fury, but serves to create
doubt whether the sectarian bodies possess the
true idea of religion or not. Weswould earnestly
suggest to all the churches, Protestant and
Catholic, that their disputes and chickering's
are quite as Vulgar and distasteful in the
public eye as those of individuals, and that,
if such things must be, they keep them in future
carefully out of notice. When they come vol
unfairly before the world let it be solely on
their Masters errand to teach men to deal
justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with
their God.
Mr. J. Stuart Mill, in his recent letter to the
iharal Cluh of this City admitting that the