In justification of ibis action, writ! rs in th( of the Reformed Episcopal church poinl to the actual state of the Evangelical bcI 1 or party in the Protes- tanl Episcopal communion. The errors and i Masses
oi the Tractarian school had been in process of devel- opment for a period of nearly forty years. Often and thoroughly confuted on the ground of scriptural argu- ment, they had grown to such w idespread influence and strengih as to be last absorbing all the vital forces of
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the Church. They had become prescriptive, and, by legislative enactment and judicial trials, were repressing evangelical life and energy. Efforts had been made to procure the condemnation and expulsion of these errors from the Church. The results were of so partial and inadequate a character as to encourage rather than check the reactionary movement towards mediaeval error and superstition. Then efforts were made to se- cure revision of the Prayer-book, but only with humil- iating failure. Petition after petition to the General Convention was treated wi^i scarcely concealed con- tempt. Even the poor relief of liberty to use alternate phrases in the Baptismal Offices was unceremoniously denied to a numerously signed petition. In these ef- forts to obtain relief many participated who are not as yet in the Reformed Episcopal Church, but whose action shows how deeply and earnestly men who loved the pure truth of the Gospel then felt on the subject. Thus, at a meeting in Chicago, June 1G and 17, 1869, among others who strongly advocated revision of the Prayer-book was Rev. Dr. Andrews, of Virginia, one of the ablest presbyters of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and a member of the General Convention. Rev. Dr. Richard Newton, the present rector of the Church of the Epiphany, Phila- delphia, introduced the following resolutions :
" Resolved (as the sense of this Conference), That a eare- ful revision of the Book of Common Prayer is needful to the best interests of the Protestant Episcopal Church."
"Resolved, That all words and phrases seeming to teach that the Christian ministry is a priesthood, or the Lord's supper a sacrifice, or that regeneration is inseparable from baptism, should be removed from the Prayer-book."
These resolutions were unanimously adopted. But neither these nor any other efforts to obtain redress were of any avail. An imperious and haughty major- ity bound and held every conscience, and the Church followed the sacramentarian drift unchecked. Those who organized the Reformed Episcopal Church were convinced, by a long course of stubborn facts, that the cause dear to them, as the cause of the true Gospel of Christ, was at stake; that they must either sacrilice the truth or go outside of the old organization to defend and propagate it. Conviction and conscience led them to their action.
The Church thus taking shape in ecclesiastical his- tory, though yet comparatively a small body, has, during the five years of its existence, grown, it is believed, with almost unexampled rapidity. Its apologists emphasize certain facts in this growth :
1. The Extent of Territory it Covers. — Christian de- nominations have, for the most part, been local in the early stages of their history, as the causes out of which they have sprung have been local. The imperative need of this Church is shown by the fact that it sprang up almost simultaneously in remote parts of the land, as from a soil quite prepared for the seed. Wherever the Episcopal Church was in existence, the reaction towards mediaeval corruptions in doctrine and ritual was more or less pronounced; and the recoil from these developments of error equally decided. The Reformed Church took immediate and strong hold of many and widely separated communities, quickly absorbing all the means and ministers which the infant communion could supply. Within two years from its origin it held positions at various points from South Carolina to Van- couver's Island, on the extreme west of the British North American possessions. The Church is now planted firmly in fifteen states in this country, in the maritime provinces and the various larger cities in the Dominion of Canada. In May, 1877, the General Council resolved, in answer to repeated solicitations, to introduce its work into Great Britain and Ireland. Already that work has extended into some ten or twelve dioceses.
2. The Friendliness with which this Church has been received by Protestant Christians and Churches. — The old Protestant Episcopal Church had met with opposi- tion in many places, and the habitual complaint of its ministers and missionaries was that the growth of the
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Church was hindered by the prejudice and unfriendly criticism of the people. The Reformed Episcopal Church finds no such difficulty. The people everywhere seem willing that it should take its place in the sisterhood of churches, and gather from all communities its appropri- ate elements. The freedom from assumption in this Church thus wins its welcome, and opens for it that path of progress which, it is believed, leads on to a great future.
3. The Overruling Hand of God in Harmonizing Inter- nal Differences among tin L< ading and Influi ntial Minds in the Church. — It is no easy thing, under the most favor- ' able auspices, for a number of men severing their con- nection with an old organization and constructing a new, to agree together in anything like a moderate position. In this case the difficulty was enhanced by the circum- stances of the separation. The men who left the old Church, though actuated by a common opposition tov particular errors in that body, held views, in many cases, divergent in regard to the positive principles to be in- corporated in the new organization. These differences have at times appeared so grave that no human wisdom could find a path through them along which all could travel in harmony. Some conservative by habit of mind; others with an equally strong tendency to reach out towards the true ideal of a Church for the age we live in; and all men, by the very necessities of their stand, of a somewhat independent tone of mind, it was found by them hard to yield individual and personal views and preferences far enough to coalesce in a really organic structure. In every case of difficulty in the councils arising from these causes, however, the Spirit of the Lord appeared to lead the way. His presence and agency was at times so manifest as to awaken live- ly emotions of wonder and gratitude. Though in this Church at present, as in all others where intelligent men are free to think and to maintain their views, all do not think alike in everything, there is perhaps as much harmony as can be found in any, and much more than marks most other, communions. In this fact of special divine guidance, this Church seems to see the pledge of future growth and success in its work.