APPENDIX, No. 1. REASONS FOR UNITING WITH THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL COMMUNION. THE Bishops and Clergy of the Episcopal Church of Scotland having, at a Convention held at Laurencekirk, in the county of Kincardine, on the 24th day of October last, solemnly subscribed the Thirty-nine Articles of the United Church of England and Ireland: and having, by this act, given the most decisive and satisfactory testimony, of their agreement with that Church in doctrine and discipline, there remains no possible objection to the Union of the two Episcopalian parties in this kingdom, and to the submission of the English Clergy here to the spiritual authority of the Scottish Bishops. As an Episcopal Clergyman officiating in this country, I think it my duty, under these circumstances, to make this submission, in order that the congregation attending my ministry may enjoy the advantages and the regularity arising from the superintendence of a Bishop, of which we have been hitherto deprived. That my congregation may be satisfied of the propriety of the motives which have determined my conduct in this matter, and of the benefits which they will derive from the union of our establishment with the Scottish Episcopal Church, I beg leave to submit to them the following considerations: 1. THAT the establishments of the English Chapels, in their present situation, are extremely inperfect and anomalous. Our Clergy, in the first place, officiate without the licence of the Bishop in whose diocese they reside; an irregularity only to be justified by circumstances of the most unavoidable necessity. Our youth have no opportunity of being confirmed, and are therefore admitted to the Holy Communion without this edifying and apostolical preparation; an omission very greatly to be lamented. Our places of worship are not consecrated: and, in one word, our establishments possess nothing of the becoming order and regularity which flow from the spiritual government of a Bishop. We are Episcopalians depending on no Ecclesiastical Superior, which is almost a contradiction in terms; for the Prelates of the Church of England can exercise no authority in Scotland. These circumstances have, for a considerable period, given pain to many serious and reflecting persons; and indeed no faithful member of the Church of England can look upon them as things indifferent. Every well-informed Churchman knows how indispensable it is to our comfort and edification, as an Episcopalian society, that these deficiencies should be supplied, and these irregularities corrected. 2. The submission of the English Clergy to the spiritual superintendence of the Scottish Bishops, is the easy and obvious remedy of the anomalies of our situation. This remedy is now placed within our reach, and that we shall * See the 23d Article, and the Offices of Ordination of Deacon and Priest. act wisely and piously by embracing it, will be evident to any one who considers, 3. That the Episcopal Church of Scotland is a 'true' Church, in the which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments are administered, according to Christ's ordinance.'* The doctrines of this Church are the same with those of the united Church of England and Ireland; the Bishops and Clergy of the Episcopal Church of Scotland subscribing the same Articles of Religion. The Scottish Bishops are true Bishops of the Church of Christ, and their Apostolical Succession is the same with that of the Bishops of the Church of England, for the present governors of the Scottish Episcopal Church derive their authority in a direct succession from those Scottish Bishops who were consecrated by the Prelates of the Church of England at Westminster, 15th December, 1661. 4. That the political perplexities, which in former times occasioned the introduction of the English Clergy into this country, and the separation of our chapels from the communion of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, have long been at an end, and the objections to our Union, which might have been urged on that score, entirely taken away. 5. That the continuance of our separation is therefore wholly CAUSELESS, considered in every point of view. But CAUSELESS SEPARATION FROM A PURE CHURCH, is the sin of SCHISM, an offence, of which it is impossible that any pious and enlightened Christian can think lightly * See the 23d Article of Religion. |