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

Jul OuuICll-7G uc SuulCIcuCy VI GI0 1Oly
Scriptures for salvation?" And if there are
any in this congregation, Or any other in
our Church, who have not read the xxx
articles oftener than s'once in ten years.
whose fault is it, surely, not the Church's
fault, and how will the reading of the arti-
cles by the members be secured:in the New
IS
Our With article says "Holy Scripture
containeth all things necessary to saliva
ton, so that whatsoever is not read there
in, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be
required of any man, that it should be be-
lieved as an article of the Faith or be
thought requisite or necessary to saliva
tions,' es..s-as-.--.,.-- -s-s-...,-.,,v
But we are told that
ANOTHER GREAT FEATURE OF THE NEW
CHURCH
will be that 1t adopts a Scriptural Lit
urgy in which no countenance is given to
the Romish doctrines in regard to Baptism,
and the Lords Supper and the Ministry"
Having just examined these points and
found that our Prayer Book is sound and
scriptural, and can only by manifest per-
version be forced to teach error, the Bible
itself being liable to the same perversion,
we will quote the exact words of the leader
of the New Church, Bishop Cummins, in
regard to this point, carefully and elaborate
ly prepared by him, and delivered in the six
teenth yearof his ministry and only twelve
years ago, in the city of Philadelphia, for
the Prayer Book society. He declared that
Our Prayer Book embodies, as no other
uninspired volume does, the ancient and
| primitive Catholic Faith of Christ's
| Church-not Catholic in any corrupt or
perverted or exclusive sense; but Catholic
in the sense of the unadulterated faith of
Scripture, once delivered to the Saints. D
'sThe incense of it's devotion is fragrant
| with the most precious truth of Gods holy
| word" He tells us therein further that
s"our Prayer Book is fitted to be the Prayer
Book of All Reformed Communions, be-
cause it enshrines most faithfully the true
Spirit of the Protestant Reformation.''-
| 1.-THE Book of Common Prayer is the Fair
! est and Most Beautiful Child Of the Re-
| formation" "May we not continued he)
safely challenge any portion of Reformed
| Christendom to produce in any Confession,
Symbol or Formulary of devotion, that
which represents so faithfully the spirit of
the great Reformation Hear (said he)
the grand and stately protest Of it's Arti-
cles of Religion, as for three hundred years
they have borne their solemn witness
against Iransubstantiation, Purgatory,
| Pardons, &C."
| Could any testimony, my friends. be
stronger than this-borne, as it was, only
few years ago, in the maturity of his
mind and ministerial life, by the very lead
| er of this new Sect?
h Our Prayer Book has not been changed
zone iota since that testimony was made
1t has not been changed one iota since the
day he solemnly pledged himself in the
name Of God to conform to the doctrine,
worship and discipline of the Protestant
Episcopal Church.
| Shall then leave my Church and join
that which adopts as its Liturgy
THE BISHOP WHITE PRAYER BOOK?
And what has that book to recommend it
so wonderfully? In its Rubrics, for the word
Priest it has Minister, and there is some
difference in the Baptismal Service, and
for these comparatively trivial advantages
| it surrenders, oh, how much The Nicene
Credible very watchword of Christian
| Truth throughout the world and for all
the Centuries-has been left out. And
! marvellous to say. the articles against Ro-
| manism, 1.-THE reason of their existence as
new Church,, are greatly less pronoun-
ced and decided and uncompromising than
our own; they do not condemn the five
| sacrifices Of masses, nor the denial OF the
| cup to the laity, nor enforced clerical Gel
| ibacy, and our five articles on the Trinity,
wherein the truth is so sacredly guarded,
| in this book has been compressed into one.
1t would not have been nearly so strange
a spectacle if the Romanizers of our church
| had seeded, and had taken that very book
as their own; for they would have had
very much less revision to make than the
"Reformers ''-they would only have had
to alter several of the Rubrics, changing
if they thought necessary, Minister to
Priest and a trifling change in the Baptis-
NAL Service, and it would have been all
ready to their hands. But we are told they
7 will revise it. Revise what part of it, and
where will their revising end !? Let these
men exhibit their credentials for wisdom
and sound judgment and scholarly attain
ments and theological lore, all of which
| are eminently requisite, before they pre-
sumo to enter upon such an all important
task. In view of all these considerations,
shall I join the new movement and
| accept the invitation to come least in
! your lot among us''? Shall 1 go from a
| perfectly scriptural Church, which know
all about, to Sect about which I know
next to nothing-nor does anybody else
know? Can be assured, e. g., that they
will not in their great zeal against Baptis-
NAL regeneration in the case of infants,
which is such a source of contention and
so liable to be misunderstood, end this ev-
erlasting controversey by throwing it en-
tirely overheard, or, if they retain it, how
can / be assured that in their anxiety to
prevent any
MISCONCEPTION ABOUT THE EFFECT IN
SoG a. ut j. INFANT BAPTIsM,
they will not reduce the Sacrament to a
mare dedicatory form-,a form which some
Of the Baptist suse, with whom the denial
Of Baptism to infants seems almost the ar
ticle Of standing or falling Church.
Shall join this movement or accept the
advice given to our Bishops and Diocese,
and thus lend helping hand to- the forma-