NOVELTIES WHICH DISTURB OUR PEACE. LETTERS ADDRESSED TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY, AND' LAITY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. BY JOHN HENRY HOPKINS, D. D., BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE OF VERMONT. "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together PHILADELPHIA: JAMES M. CAMPBELL & CO., 98 CHESTNUT STREET. 73 1114893 C6488,44,11 HARVARD COLLEGE APR 25 1888 LIBRARY. John Kearney Treat. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of C. Sherman, Printer. 2 LETTERS ADDRESSED TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY, AND LAITY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. LETTER I. RESPECTED AND BELOVED BRETHREN IN CHRIST: The sacred office of the episcopate is confessedly invested with the most awful responsibility, even in its ordinary administration. When the Church is at peace in all her borders, and her bishops are only called upon to oversee their respective dioceses in the regular routine of accustomed duty, —even then, how few can feel that they have acquitted themselves of their solemn trust with entire fidelity! How ready must we all be to supplicate forgiveness at the hands of the great Bishop and Shepherd of our souls, and to acknowledge the force of the apostle's declaration, that the treasure of the gospel is indeed committed to earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God, and not of us! But far more delicate and difficult does our task become, when the peace of the Church is disturbed by intestine agitation. Scattered at distant points over our vast continent, meeting together only once in three years, and then during a period quite too short for an intimate and thorough understanding of our respective opinions, we are deprived of the power of mutual consultation, when those peculiar occasions arise, on which that consultation would be most desirable. Meanwhile, the irresponsible autocracy of the Press takes hold of the opportunity. Error and novelty gain ground. The clergy and the people choose their editorial leaders; andwhen at last, the sentiments of the bishops are declared, they are merely used as the complements of parties already formed, and are praised or blamed, just as the prejudice of party may dictate. The Bishops, in theory, are indeed, the governors of the Church. In practical effect, however, on the minds of the majority, the editorial chair stands far above them; and as the inconsistency, however gross, belongs to the spirit of the age, I doubt much whether it admits of any effectual remedy. Under such circumstances, the inquiry, What can and what ought to be done by each individual bishop, becomes a grave and serious question. The apostolic precept, Be not partaker of other men's sins, seems, of itself, to require our public attestation against error. And when we join to this the solemn promise of our consecration vow to banish and drive away from the Church all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's word; and both privately and openly to CALL UPON AND ENCOURAGE OTHERS to do the same, it would surely be a false interpretation that we could be justified in doing nothing. If the relaxed discipline of these latter days allows us to exercise only the common liberty of speech, our very silence, in times of trouble, becomes reprehensible. And just in proportion to the doubts and difficulties which involve our brethren, should be the force and distinctness of our warning voice. Whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear, is not for us to determine; but we cannot avoid the responsibility of the ultimate evil result, if we see them walking towards an unsuspected snare, without earnestly beseeching them to pause and consider, before it be too late. I freely acknowledge, however, that wisdom demands our utmost care, lest we create difficulty, by too hasty an adoption of the cry that the CHURCH IS IN DANGER. And I am by no means disposed to sympathize in that popular alarm, or to strengthen the fears of those who maintain it. In one respect, indeed, the assertion may be well granted, for the Church militant can never be free from danger, until her warfare is accomplished, and the final victory is won. But I would hope that the agitation which now pervades our communion, on both sides of the Atlantic, is not an argument of danger to the Church, so much as it is a proof of her sensitive vitality, and her zealous love for the pure and unadulterated doctrines of the gospel. Hence arises our jealousy of the least approximation to error. Hence our suspicions and our fears, lest the new school of Tractarian theology should conflict with our standards of religious truth. And hence, following the counsel of the wise son of Sirach, to take physic when we are well, it seems our duty to arise BEFORE the Church is in danger, attack the appearance of disorder in its first and lightest symptoms, and thus, so far as in us lies, under the guidance and by the power of the divine Physician, transmit her constitution, in health and vigour, even to the end of the world. With these views, my respected and beloved brethren, bishops, clergy, and laity, I beg leave to address myself to you upon the present interesting stage of our ecclesiastical history. I do it under the conviction, that the Church has a right to know the sentiments of every bishop, upon questions which concern her principles and doctrine, especially at a time of agitation, which threatens-may God avert it !-to be the herald of strife. I do it in the hope, that when all our |