Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-11-06

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ton may be found. But that they have
ssnever been censured for it" | do most
emphatically deny. Dir. Cyr is not
much in the habit, | presume, of read
ing the various periodicals of the
Protestant Episcopal church, neither
can he have seen much of the New York
Tribune for the past two or three weeks,
or he would have known that these men
haze been most vigorously s'censured,"
not so much for participating in the de-
alterations of the conference as for do
ing other things, which an honest and
consistent participation i'll those deliber-
ations made logically necessary. A
body of men who had met to s'naaaaJsst
and cypress the unity of faith" might
very naturally be expected to use, as at
least one means to that end, that Holy
Supper, which the great Head of
the Church Himself ordained as
the means by which the people should
manifest, as well as confirm, the fell
lowship with each other, with the blessed
dead, and with Him the common Lord.
But the Baptists, as body, holding that
nothing but immersion is true baptism,
and therefore denying that an unim-
mersed person is member Of Christs
nor consistently manifest" their fellow
ship with other denominations of Chris
tian people in this way. "Episcopa-
lians," again, as a body, hold that GER
tain divinely ordained conditions are
necessary to the proper constitution of
the ministry of the church, and that, no
matter how devout and earnest a man
may be, he has no right to perform off
cia5 functions in the church until these
conditions have been complied with.
They, therefore, cannot consistently &C
cept what are strictly official services in
the church fran those whom they regard
as having no official right to perform
those services. l am not speaking of
what DR.. Angus Ga Baptist) or Bishop
Cummins Gan Episcopalian) may individ-
ually think about the matter, nor of the
opinions of any individuals whatever. 1t
cannot be denied that, in uniting in the
Holy Communion with immersed per-
sons DR.. Angus violated the general sen
tinent of the denomination to which he
belongs, and that in assisting with other
ministers at the administration of that
Sacrament Bishop Cummins violated
that doctrine, discipline, and worship
of the Protestant Episcopal Church, to
which he solemnly promised ''contormi-
ty and obedience" when he was conse-
Grated Bishop. Now all this will, doubt
less, seem "bigoted" and uncharitable to
great many. Charity is very much
abused word; it is made to ''cover
multitude of SINS in a sense never con-
templated in Holy Scripture. St. Paul
tells us that charity "rejoiceth in the
truth. There is no exhibition of chart
ty in a mans putting himself into such
relations with others, that he is obliged
either tacitly or openly to sanction what
he conceiyes to be error. Neither IS that
true charity, which leads a man to
wound the feelings and consciences of
the brethren of his own religious Com
munion whether he at the same time
violates any formal obligation, which he
himself has assumed or not) for the pur-
pose of making an exhibition OF his
charity toward others. Charity in the
sense in which we are here using it,
should certainly "begin at home"
Finally, | did not cast any reflections
upon the motives or the character of
those who participated in the conference.
I distinctly acknowledged them to be
''honest, dey0ut, and earnest men. en-
inent alike for their learning and for
their piety." / also distinctly aclHnow-
lodged that F'much good must eventually.
result from the warm-hearted inter
change of religious feeling and opinion
between such men, and / expressed the
greatest satisfaction in any good, which
those who ..walk not with us, may do
in their own chosen way. At the. same.
time, | did say, and do again say, that
the ''unity," sought to be realized, was
no real unity it was not a unity which
could be manifested and expressed" by
all Evangelical bodies without sacrifice
of principle on the part of some !; it was
not at all such unity as the vast major
ity of t'Episcopalians" believe ia. Not
believing in it, wecould neither honestly
nor consistently do anything which inn
piled that we did, and therefore only
a very few individuals of US had any.
thing to DO with the Conference. We
prefer TO stand by our principles, having
the utmost charity and respect for
others who stand by theirs, waiting for
the development of E'a basis of unity
which we can censcientiously accept,
and willing to do what we can toward
developing such basis, but not willing
to participate in any Conference, which
protests in advance against the principles,
which We, as a body, recognize,
,..--.- VIM J. HARRIS.