Book Description

Excerpt from An Appeal to the Scottish Bishops and Clergy, and Generally to the Church of Their Communion Such thoughts may be very natural to some minds, per haps to many But still, though an individual be as nothing, if it be true that this case will constitute a precedent, (nothing nearly so full or so clear having ever occurred before to bring out the relations of the two Churches towards each other), it may on that account, to all who are not pure Protestants in their Opinions, be more worthy of thought and circumspection, than merely as affecting the position of a worthless individual. II. As to the grounds on which the Presbyters, more especially, of the difi'erent Scottish Dioceses are now addressed: they are these. In all Councils of the Church, beginning from that held by the Apostles themselves at Jerusalem, we find the Clergy of the lower Orders to have been present and though neither Priests nor Deacons had any definitive voice, except as representing Bishops, yet they were heard consultatively; and even the faithful laity stood round as witnesses, as hav ing a common interest in all that affected their religion. And whatever may be said of forms varying, or of reasons of convenience, it is not altogether the same thing for Bishops to act sitting alone in a private room with closed doors, as to act after public worship and the celebration of the Mysteries, surrounded by the Clergy and lay Communi cants, in the House of God. If therefore the Scripture itself shows that by these words Tell it unto the Church, that Appeals may sometimes even in private, and still more in public matters, be carried to the Church, and that the Church cannot rightly refuse to judge them, - and if any individual, as is now the case, thinks he has reason to carry an Appeal before the Church, he cannot be wrong in sub mitting it to the Presbyters for consultation, and even in making it known to the lay Communicants; especially if no opportunity has been allowed him of doing this, according to primitive and canonical practice, in a regularly constituted and open Synod. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.