The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-10-11
HERETICS IN THE CHURCH.
TIE REF. HOWARD MfCQUEARF'S an
SHJcR no BISHOP POTTER.
He Advises All Frotestsnts Accused OF
1Ieresy 10 Fight Hard for Their Rights
nnd 60 Remain In Their Churches Cntil
H..f( A,,S No.

ssnd- 90 Remain In Their Churehes Un,i
Fat Out by Force.
Il Should tho hcretics loave tho churches. OF
x should they .rcmnin in their respective demon.
nations TO defend their rights? This is a
spcciitly int ercsting and important question
lust ut present. and. of course. different minds
! will give dill tarcnt answers TO this as to all
4 such question 9. and IL is we'll 10 hear from all
sides. Those who undertake TO defend tho
Z hcretics rights. however. are frequently said
TO do so because they want to hold on 10 their
salaries. or from some other equally low mo-
tive
The amount of depravity which certain poo-
ple attribute to til ose who differ from then, in
opinion IL amazing. They seem tn consider
tho heretics the very incarnation OF MI that Is
diabocal and mean. But We arc blissfully UNI
conscious OF such del,ravity. and We are quito
sure that desire TO retail, salary which is
Oftsn smaller than wfint we might earn In n
dry gooUs store W by Teaching n school
has nothing whatcvor 10 10 with our
DISPOSITION to defend our intellectual.
: moral. and religion, characters. Strange
thEt those who claim spccia! amount
at faith end n monopoly OF III" Holy
Spirit will not be ,uS. ats charitable enough
TO admit that disscntcrs from popular beliefs
are influenced by sinc,ce desire to know
and spenl the truth and do good according to
tnelf aD1IltN. AZ any THlt, wv NiSu " uSSuio
our opponents that we are quite able 10 earn
our bread and butter withou, acting :ho hypc-
crtts or defending falschootts. and No chn!-
lcnge them 70 incct rs in fair und opcn debate
and rcI,ito our contentious Ivy facts and r"n-
sons. not iy appeals 10 preiadi,H and plausible
sopllistries.
The SuN recently had an ar ticle on Bishop
pottcr's charge to- the clergy ID his diocese.
which was very suggestive and may serve as a
basis for n discussion 81 tho aforementioned
question. First u all. the Bishop Is reported
MS saying that :lirrc is u consis tent and un-
VARYING teaching uf tho Church - which no
Clergyman Of the Episcopal Church ran hon
oraby reject and retain his minst .ril orders
in that Church.
We cmphatcaliy DENY that there il. any such
body OF consistent and lln,arj ins: eaching OF
the Church " to ho found among this "rccds Of
Chrlstcndom. and "" challenge the Bishopto
provo his proposition He knows az w,tll rs any
body that for hrce or four centuries tho Chris
tiap Church had no'Enc common cr@'d. Every
Church formulated its own confession OF faith.
He knows that neither the Apostles nor the
Niccne Creed. rs we now have hem. was formu-
lated by the great Counciio Nice. which gave
the Church its first economical creed. II 10 knows
that that Council did not define tho nature Of
Christ's resurrection and did not insert the ar
tcle on the virgin birth in its creed. He knows
that the greatest diversity OF opinion prevailed
in the early Church on these subjects. He
knows that even Popes have since the Niccne
period been unitarian and pcagan. How.
then. can he have the courage to tell intelligent
men that the creeds of the Episcopal Church
embody the consistent and unrarying teach
ing OF the Church" which they are not at lib
crty to question?
But even II We admit. for the sake OF argu-
Ment. that these creeds do contain the con-
sistent and lInvarying teaching Of the Church
for tho last fifteen or even eighteen hundred
years. what would that fact prove? Did not
men believe for ages that the earth was fiat
and stationary. and that the sun moved round
it. but was that belief not demonstrated to be
falsc2 Don't all students OF tho Bible know
that many n passage in it was accepted as
apostolic. divine truth. which has been proved
to have been n latter addition to the original?
10 mention only ono celebrated text, that
about the Trinity. in the First Epistle of John
". a. is spurious and Of no authority, and
that We're long believed to be divineiy true but
were finally shown to DO the speculations Of
Everybody knows that tho power of tho
PaRaey was largely built up by the influence
ths Of Geef M
Still. we will honor the fathers as long as their
aees This ii" IS What a Bishop Potter and his his
se yns o. d The T cSyay ws to Esv
SsT' ia Ths E %Gs@H5' churs Gt
etnsy res nby her and 10fm ssnscay
5he nngnesttiioInable authority Of the General
rpsalem: Alexandria: Antioch. and Rome all
the great churches Of early times erred not
But also ' in matters Of faith It ssserts that
th9 Church hath authority , IN e., controversies
tn Or(luiu ANYTHING that Ia pODtra tn Coda |
SISSss$$f Scripture that it be rspdshans to an
h Got Mah sfs Gi the III E1ssh
Sy other nrte!ss G ths autho or
ity n General Councils Is rejected because OF
teenth century. Is we'll a. Luther. ZWinsIi.
authority OF the, Church. The Episcopal |
Church Expresses the general Protestant posi- |
~" r GhsH "si'Ts IL or Ii. fAh bat sr tns
ri contain Thai
sistr ION as u matter Of faith. Let II DO dis
FINELY Understood Ct lIst here for there Is great
bfliry or unqucstonahle authority Of the Scrip
Il says ta TIE af ali things s
sary 70 s4lyaton: but it does not say that all
ZwiDglian. and Methodist Churches. and DR. |
Bricgs says. and can doubt less provo. that |
even tlS presbyieria Church, WHICH comes
i aa Ss o'n nGt 70 teach @ g rS5
u. ,incrrant" or verbally Inspired.
Bishop Potter snys truly that "tho Church
has not anywhere. no, at any time. committed
herself to any dogmntic definition Of tho meau-
ing OF Inspiration and that tho Biblo includes
both a human and a divine element that is
tho right. nay. tho Protestant Church imposes
the duty upon its mcmbcrs to study tho Scrip
lures for themselves upd ascertain what Is d.
vine truth and what is human error in them.
Ofits members finds. TINT tho nroels embody
some belief that is, not proved By Scrip
turc. or Is based upon one passage
q Holy Writ which is contradirtsd
birth OF Jcsus,. 1t Is his boUndcn duty, to pro
test against insistence upon this article Of tho
creed as necessary to e.iurcli fellowship. No
plant ourselves on u!es1 teachings OF tho
rr0tsstshs d GisHrGGhes. 9 t Wy Heiy Hr op,
arguments We Enow what our ordination
our conscience md reason nre quite rs highly
n md mi NV nd fnteOendpNt n = IN and thnrn- |