excellency, and of so great difficulty, ye see with how great care and study ye ought to apply yourselves, as well to show yourselves dutiful and thankful unto that Lord who hath placed you in so high a dignity; as also to beware that neither you yourselves offend, nor be occasion that others offend. Howbeit ye cannot have a mind and will thereto of yourselves; for that will and ability is given of God alone: therefore ye ought, and have need, to pray earnestly for His Holy Spirit. And seeing that ye cannot by any other means compass the doing of so weighty a work, pertaining to the salvation of man, but with doctrine and exhortation taken out of the Holy Scriptures, and with a life agreeable to the same; consider how studious ye ought to be in reading and learning the Scriptures, and in framing the manners both of yourselves and of them that specially pertain unto you, according to the rule of the same Scriptures; and for this self-same cause, how ye ought to forsake and set aside, as much as ye may, all worldly cares and studies. "We have good hope that ye have well weighed these things with yourselves long before this time; and that ye have clearly determined, by God's grace, to give yourselves wholly to this Office, whereunto it hath pleased God to call you: so that, as much as lieth in you, ye will apply yourselves wholly to this one thing, and draw all your cares and studies this way; and that ye will continually pray to God the Father, by the mediation of our only Saviour Jesus Christ, for the heavenly assistance of the Holy Ghost: that by daily reading and weighing the Scriptures, ye may wax riper and stronger in your Ministry; and that ye may so endeavor yourselves, from time to time, to sanctify the lives of you and yours, and to fashion them after the rule and doctrine of Christ, that ye may be wholesome and godly examples and patterns for the people to follow." Then the three questions and answers, in the ordination of both Priests and Bishops, the only ones which relate particularly to preaching, are these: "The Bishop. Are you persuaded that the Holy Scriptures contain all Doctrine required as necessary for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ? and are. you determined out of the said Scriptures to instruct the people committed to your charge, and to teach nothing, as necessary to eternal salvation, but that which you shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved by the Scripture? Answer. I am so persuaded, and have so determined, by God's grace. The Bishop. Will you be ready, with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away from the Church. all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word; and to use both public and private monitions and exhortations, as well to the sick as to the whole within your cures, as need shall require, and occasion shall be given? Answer. I will, the Lord being my helper. The Bishop. Will you be diligent in prayers, and in reading the Holy Scriptures, and in such studies as help to the knowledge of the same, laying aside the study of the world and the flesh? Answer. I will endeavor so to do, the Lord being my helper." Thus it appears that the Scriptures only are recog nized in the public ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church; and that there is no obligation, and indeed no permission, to its clergy to preach except upon the Sacred Scriptures immediately and distinctly. Hence, while all the members of the Church, both clergy and laity, are left at perfect liberty to form and to hold and to discuss any conscientious opinions on these controverted systems, and this, too, without affecting any of their rights or privileges of Church-membership, at the very same time the pulpit is protected from discords, and the people are secured in their right to be always instructed from the Sacred Scriptures; and the public ministry is compelled ever to fulfil its one holy office of publishing the divine truth, of proclaiming to a needy world the message of that mercy and salvation which God has provided through His Son and Spirit. Does not the Protestant Episcopal Church deserve the approbation of all Christians, however they may differ on these controverted doctrines? And does it not come before them, and offer itself to them all, as a friendly arbiter, by whom their differences may be reconciled, or, at least, by whose agency they may 'agree to differ," when they shall have learned that their Christian interests, and aims, and hopes, and affections are common, and that they may worship God in a common temple? 66 SECTION XI. DISCIPLINE. The Discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church not arbitrary-regulated by law the occasions defined by the General Convention—the modes by the Diocesan Conventions-the subjects. THE MINISTRY— degrees of discipline-enumeration of offences liable to disciplineprosecutors-candidates for orders liable as laymen-mode of trial of ministers-each order tried by peers-sentence pronounced by the Bishop. THE LAITY-occasions and mode of Discipline-right of appeal-first to the Bishop-then to a special Ecclesiastical Diocesan court. Discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church rather merciful than austere defended-open to improvement-present principles just—proper to an all-embracing Church. THE Discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church is not arbitrary; it is defined and regulated by law. The occasions on which discipline shall be adminis tered are all defined by the General Convention. The particular modes of its administration are for the most part defined by the Diocesan Conventions. The subjects of discipline are-all unworthy members of the Church, both of the ministry and the laity. 1. THE MINISTRY.-There are three degrees of discipline, namely, admonition, suspension, and degradation. Deposition and displacement are synonymous with degradation.* The offences which make any minister liable to discipline are various: such as discontinuance of his ministry, neglect of public worship or of the holy communion, frequenting improper places of amusement, *Title II., Canon 2. presenting an unworthy candidate for ordination, obstinate refusal to resign a rectorship in case of certain specified differences with his congregation,* violation of his ordination vows and of the laws and canons of the Church, as well as immoralities of all sorts. † Any minister wishing to renounce the ministry of this Church may, at his own request, be displaced; and if his moral character be not implicated, this fact shall be declared.+ Whenever there is a public rumor, or a formal complaint, against any minister, it is the duty of the Bishop or of the Standing Committee, as the case may be, to take measures for bringing the individual accused to trial.S Candidates for the ministry are liable in their character as laymen. If any candidate, however, shall delay longer than three years to apply for his first and second examinations, or longer than five years to apply for his third and fourth examinations, unless the Bishop for sufficient reasons grant him a special permission for such delay, his name must be struck from the list of candidates In all ecclesiastical trials one rule applies, that the accused party is to be tried by his peers-a Deacon or Presbyter by a court of Clergymen, a Bishop by Bishops. In every trial of a minister, the decision of the ecclesiastical court appointed or provided for by the Convention of the Diocese to which he belongs, is definitive. The accused may be allowed a new trial if there be new *Title II., Canon 4. § Ibid., Canon 2. Ibid., Canon 2. Ibid., Canon 5. |