ON THE

MINISTRY, RITUAL, AND DOCTRINES

OF THE

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH,

ADDRESSED TO THE

REV. WM. E. WYATT, D. D.,

Associate Minister of St. Paul's Parish, Baltimore, and Professor of Theology in
the University of Maryland,

En reply to a Sermon

EXHIBITING SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL DOCTRINES OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL
CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.

BY JARED SPARKS,

Formerly Minister of the First Independent Church of Baltimore.

Second Edition.

BOSTON:

PUBLISHED BY JAMES MUNROE & CO.,

FOR THE CHARLESTON UNITARIAN BOOK AND TRACT SOCIETY.

1844.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by

JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

ON THE MINISTRY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Reasons for discussing the subject-Our Saviour gave no instruc-

tions respecting any particular mode of church government-

Said nothing of three orders of ministry-The first church at Je-

rusalem was governed by the apostles, elders, and brethren—

Deacons-The ceremony of ordination was performed by any of-

ficers of regular standing in the church-Paul and Barnabas

were ordained by "prophets and teachers"-Opinions of Kui-

noel, Rosenmuller, Hammond, and Le Clerc-Episcopalians

fond of quoting the Fathers-Authority of the Fathers-Opin-

ions of Milton and Jeremy Taylor-Ignatius' epistles-Testi-

mony of the Fathers against episcopacy-Opinions of Paley,

Locke, the bishop of Lincoln-Ecclesiastical government essen-

tially a government of the people.

LETTER II.

ON THE RITUAL OF THE CHURCH.

p. 9

Baptism-Church form not scriptural-Sign of the cross- -Con-

firmation-These forms nearly the same as in the Catholic church

-Ordination service-Expediency and utility of forms of prayer

-Their disadvantages-Origin of Saints' days-Bossuet.

LETTER III.

p.51

ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH IN CONTROVERSIES OF FAITH.

Our Saviour gave no authority to any man, or body of men, to

judge others for their religious opinions-Christians have no

other rule of faith than the Bible-Chillingworth-Athanasian

creed-Historical sketch of the first conventions of the Ameri-

can episcopal church after the revolution-Injurious tendency

of creeds and articles, both on the clergy and the people-Many

christians cannot conscientiously worship according to the litur-

gy of the church-Inconsistency of holding to the authority of

tradition, and rejecting infallibility-How creeds keep schism

out of the church-Milton's opinion.

p. 74