Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1874-01-30

scripturalness of this service as intended
by the Trainers of the Prayer Book, that is,
if the Baptismal service and other words
used are taken in the sense in which the
Trainers of the Prayer Book intended, and
in which they have been understood for
several centuries. there is not the slightest
ground for complaint. IT is Of the utmost
Importance that this point be firmly grasp
ed-that the "Reformers'' do not desire to
alter the doctrine of the Prayer Book, but
to maintain it, they say, in the sense in
which it was originally intended, and only
desire revision because some words seem
to teach erroneous doctrines, contrary to
God 8 word, and which are used as a ham
die against us. The sympathizers with
Bishop Cummins are not alone in desiring
revision on these grounds, but every Low
Churchman in the Episcopal Church. Ev
er since / was ordained. and before it,
have desired and been an advocate for re-
vision of these words. But because this
has not yet been accomplished am to join
with those who would break up the Pro-
testant Episcopal eh llch !? 5'.H'' ',
But individuals say it is utterly hope
less to expect that the Protestant Episeo-
pal Church will ever give relief as respects
the Baptismal Service, much less any other
revision. They say we have waited for IS
years, we'll what if we have ? Whoever
heard of fixing 35 years or any limit for
contending for the truth of Christ ?
And they say this first because Bishop
Potter, Of New York, has said SO, and in
his (self moved) reply to the modest re-
quest Of the nine Bishops spoke contempt
uously and INDUCED almost in ridicule.
| But H' "4l+f cfa 4n ~
WHO IS THIS BISHOP POTTER
our presiding Bishop? no-ten other
Bishops can occupy that position before
him, and even if he were it would not give
him the slightest authority to speak for
the Church. Why then should we be
frightened into revolutionary measures
because Bishop, and he perhaps Of all the
Bishops the most deeply tainted with sac
ramentarian doctrines, secuted in 1859 all
measures Of relief as regards the Baptismal
service But has no relief been given
since that time? The sympathizers with
Bishop Cummins say not, while the great
bulk Of the Low Church party thankfully
affirm there has, and, that you may under
stand the weight of these divergent testi-
monies we must remember that out Of
over 5000 ministers in the church only
three have joined or expressed an intention
of joining the Bishop Cummins movement
Seven other ministers, who had been pre-
viously deposed from our ministry, but for
nomoral reasons ALSO have united with him,
all of them however except one without
any parish. This will prepare us, among
other things, to understand how much
weight to attach to the utterances of
THOSE WHO CLAIM THAT NO RELIEF HAS
| BEEN GIVEN
4 by the action of the Bishops in the late
General Convention as compared with the
great bulk of Low Churchmen, or that the
/ last General Convention showed, in a most
.unmistakable manner, that it would never
concede anything. .t..+,z-s Issl.l5
THE Low CHURCH BISHOPS. oig
| The great Bishop McIlvaine Whose name
young ladies of the Institute you are IA
4 miliar with in the study Of the Evidences Of
| Christianity, and the learned and scholar
4 ly Bishop Lee Of Delaware, thought they
/ had made great gain by the action of the
| House of Bishops, when they unanimously
| adopted the resolution in regard to the
4 70 haf ha nj
! word in the Baptismal service does not Of
necessity determine any moral change in
the case of the Baptised. Our own be-
/ loved
| BISHOP JOHNS TEsTIFIEs ON THE SUB
/ of the resolution in regard to the Baptis-
NAL question, and. ALSO in regard to the
! temper of the late General Convention in
dealing with the Ritualists, in an address
to the Virginia Council in 1872, in the city
| of Norfolk; tH.~5 .eiA ..3
/ at had been confidently predicted in
various quarters (says he in that address,
| that this would be the last assemblage. of
| the Protestant Episcopal Church in the
United States-that it would be rent in
twain was by MANY pronounced inevita-
BILE. and perhaps by some deemed desirable.
/ With such authorizations and wishes, we,
as Diocese, had no sympathy, and may
| now thank God and rejoice in their dis
appointment. sNI 7H 81
81 am happy to testify that in the House
1 of Bishops the important matters which
agitated the Church were considered in
a Spirit of fraternal confidence and con-
Citation, and disposed of with an una
nimity WHICH authorized the humble be-
lief that He who maketh men to be of one
mind was of a truth in the midst of u.s."
s'The letter of the nine Bishops address,
ed some months before to their brethren in
the Episcopate, in reference to the relief
of those whose consciences were troubled
by certain expressions in the Baptismal
Office, though not met in the manner
which they would have preferred, yet was
disposed of by declaration Of opinion in
which they cordially concurred, trusting
that it would prove acceptable to those
! whose scrnples we aimed to satisfy. Ger
| tainly to say that the expressions excepted
to are not there so used as to determine
that a moral change in the subject of Bap-
tism is wrought in that Sacrament, recog-
| nises that such change may or may not be
| then wrought, though the phraseology does
not decide whether it has or has not."
"More than this doctrinally ought not to
be asked or conceded. and, with this I'M
| Outstanding, there need be no embarrass-
| ment in using the form asst is prescribed,
| hoping that the change may have been
/ wrought. and following it with such nur-