Below is the link to the sixth chapter of Bishop Meade's Reasons for Loving the Episcopal Church. It is a .pdf file.
Meade Chapter 6.
The conclusion is brief. It is followed by an appendix which I will post soon. Below is a very interesting paragraph from this conclusion:
"Viewing her as to doctrine, discipline, and worship, we claim no infallibility for her. That is left to Rome and to some of the German devotees, who, at a certain period after the Reformation, claimed for certain symbolical books, that they were divine, and therefore perfect. Our English and American Fathers only ask for our prayer-book, such just and favorable construction, as in common equity, ought to be allowed, to all human writings. We think, that in the use of our carefully-composed forms, we are aided to pray with the spirit, because we pray with the understanding also. We think, that we not only "worship the Lord with an holy worship," but also" in the beauty of holiness," We do not affirm that the use of our liturgy is a sovereign antidote to all false doctrine, and the order of bishops a preventative of all confusion in the Church. Faithful history declares the contrary. We think that under God they do in a great measure check these evils and promote the contrary. We believe that our continued appeals to the three persons of the Godhead in the doxologies and prayers of the Church, our observance of her great festivals, in which the prayers, lessons, hymns, and sermons refer to the great doctrines and facts of Christianity, are admirably adapted to keep both ministers and people from error. We believe our Church to be on these accounts well calculated for the poor, and deserving to be called the "poor man's church," We think it most highly suited to children also, if the parents will only do their duty, and teach them by example as well as precept, to take their part in the services. We are perfectly sure, that it is entirely evangelical, and altogether opposed to those extravagant views of the virtue of the sacraments, and the power of the priesthood, which would approximate us again to Rome. The publication of the works of the Reformers, and the recent discussions in the Church of England and America, have placed this beyond all doubt, and some who once thought they might hold much of Romish doctrine, and continue to be, and even to minister in the Episcopal Church, have been forced in honesty to abandon the practice, and go to their own home - to the bosom of Rome."
Meade Chapter 6.
The conclusion is brief. It is followed by an appendix which I will post soon. Below is a very interesting paragraph from this conclusion:
"Viewing her as to doctrine, discipline, and worship, we claim no infallibility for her. That is left to Rome and to some of the German devotees, who, at a certain period after the Reformation, claimed for certain symbolical books, that they were divine, and therefore perfect. Our English and American Fathers only ask for our prayer-book, such just and favorable construction, as in common equity, ought to be allowed, to all human writings. We think, that in the use of our carefully-composed forms, we are aided to pray with the spirit, because we pray with the understanding also. We think, that we not only "worship the Lord with an holy worship," but also" in the beauty of holiness," We do not affirm that the use of our liturgy is a sovereign antidote to all false doctrine, and the order of bishops a preventative of all confusion in the Church. Faithful history declares the contrary. We think that under God they do in a great measure check these evils and promote the contrary. We believe that our continued appeals to the three persons of the Godhead in the doxologies and prayers of the Church, our observance of her great festivals, in which the prayers, lessons, hymns, and sermons refer to the great doctrines and facts of Christianity, are admirably adapted to keep both ministers and people from error. We believe our Church to be on these accounts well calculated for the poor, and deserving to be called the "poor man's church," We think it most highly suited to children also, if the parents will only do their duty, and teach them by example as well as precept, to take their part in the services. We are perfectly sure, that it is entirely evangelical, and altogether opposed to those extravagant views of the virtue of the sacraments, and the power of the priesthood, which would approximate us again to Rome. The publication of the works of the Reformers, and the recent discussions in the Church of England and America, have placed this beyond all doubt, and some who once thought they might hold much of Romish doctrine, and continue to be, and even to minister in the Episcopal Church, have been forced in honesty to abandon the practice, and go to their own home - to the bosom of Rome."
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