Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-06-20


fair and candid intelligence of conscien-
tious man who may see reason for variation
as to'its use.
Until recently, or since, the overwhelm-
ing predominance of highchurch princi-
Piles and measures have induced bold. sg-
sgressiofts gp9e Qfristian sHberty, tHe1atter
mode OF Interpretation has been almost
uniform. Even highchurchmen gave this
Interpretation. 10
Bishop Kemper, a prominent and very
wise high church bishOpsaid of fhispwn ac
tiOn, i'm adapting the Services Of the Prayer
Book by changes and omissions, to the
exigencies of occasion and place, that he
obeyed "the 'Rubric of common sense !! !"
Very great discretion has always been thus
Bishop Hobart, the leading High-church
Bishopso his day, adopted and gave sane
tion TO the making of a " third service
even for the Sunday, service not pre-
scribed, but composed of lesson to be
chosen at the will of the minister, and
certain collects or short prayers from VA
| rio,is services. Clergymen, with very few
Visitation of the sies" altogether, or
have, according to theif discretion, Chosen
certain parts of it to the exclusion of the
rest, to be used at the. bedside.
Now, to see the aniIhus that has actuated
the Bishop of the diocese of Illinois i'm
prosecuting and t.degradingYA Mr. Cheney,
it must he noted that all the devotional
parts of the Prayer Book rest on precisely
the same grqund5 OIL preseription.I The
all the other offices without the addition
or diminution of an iota, as he is to use the
baptsmal Office. And yet, while not q
single Bishop, not even Bishop White
house himself, pretendsl to have thus nni
formly and absolutely obeyed tile letter of
the direction i'm performing the offices of
this church, he relentlessly pushes to utter
and final deposition devoted clergyman
who omits single word in the office for
infant baptism! Why he thus, persecutes
it is not hard to show.
The baptismal office in the Prayer Book
has for ages been the subject of dispute.
Its language tseeb,s toconvey the statement
Of spiritual Regeneration as absolutely
and necessarily tied to baptism with water.
In former years no one interpreted the
language i'm thisextreme sense. Even the
High -churchmen had less sweeping and
offensive sense to impose upon them,
while the Evangelical churchman, re-
fering to history for his explanation of
the meaning of the words used,
felt sure they were originally in-y
tended to express meaning consistent
with reformed and evangelical doctrine.
1t is very clear that the language referred
most unfortunate, for it is susceptible of
so many interpretations that, it is not very
easy for conscientious man to satisfy
himself which is the true one. A learned
and very able clergyman of our church in
the Diocese of Virginia has traced out
seven different senses, in which, the lam
guage has been actually taken, according
to the different shades of. view among
clergymen of this church, Certainly
there can be no great moral obligation at.
taching to the use of language Of such qn-
certain meaning. 80 s5.-,.f b. s...s.sirs Il
! OF late, however, the ssadvaneePl High
churchmen have adopted and maintained; ].
with great energy, the extreme view
They assert that the language OF the baptIs-
NAL office means nothing less than that in
every case the infant Is spiritually Tegene
rated i'm baptism, that i'm baptism the soul
of an infant passes through a radical and
total spiritual change This view has
gained ground greatly = among, High j
churchmen, and is fast becoming aappar-
entity at least-thet accepted view among 4
| them Certain clergymen, and they, not
few. have been led by this-state Of things
| to look more closely at the language in
| question, and the result, has been. serious
doubt whether the language isanot suited'
to convey what they are convinced is er-
ronious doctrine. Rev, DIR. Cheney is one
of these. From doubt his mind became
conscientious as to the use Of the objection
| able sw6rds.a HE finally omitted them,
acting upon what is well known to be
usage in other Offices, as obligatory as
this. Here the Bishop steps IN
and .High-churchmen generally ap.
not be allowed. He does not claim tnat