Sermons of the Rev. Francis A. Baker, Priest of the Congregation of St. Paul: With a Memoir of His LifeBaker, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
Religion
Sermons of the Rev. Francis A. Baker, Priest of the Congregation of St. Paul: With a Memoir of His Life
Baker, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
Baker, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius), 1820-1865; Catholic Church -- Sermons; Sermons, American -- 19th century
The Roman Church is throughout the pages of the _True
Catholic_charged with idolatry, and in one passage which I had
marked, but cannot now find one reason given why Episcopalians
cannot attend Catholic services is, because by so doing they
participate in idolatry. On the other hand, Protestant ministers
are never required to make any such abjuration as the one above
cited, on being received into the English Church. The Church of
England formerly gave Archbishop Leighton episcopal ordination,
he being a Scottish Presbyterian minister, and the Crown gave him
jurisdiction in Scotland over the Presbyterian clergy and
congregations, without requiring any reordination or any new
profession of faith. So now, a German Lutheran minister
alternately with an English Episcopalian, is ordained for the
Jerusalem bishopric, with authority to receive under his care
both English and German ministers and congregations.
Now for the inconsistency. The same reasons which prove the
Church of Rome to be a schismatical, heretical, and apostate
Church, prove that the English Church was the same before the
Reformation, and that the Church of Christ had perished in
Western Christendom, except as represented by the Lollards,
Albigenses, Waldenses, and other precursors of the Protestants.
There was really no true, visible Catholic Church existing, from
which schismatics and heretics had separated, and to which they
could return. Hence, the modern Episcopal Church derived its
authority from no legitimate source in the past, and has really
started _de novo_, like the Protestant Churches of Europe.
This throws us back upon the theory of an invisible Church at
once, and breaks up the idea of Catholicity.
{47}
For the same reason, the Oriental Churches must be regarded as
schismatical and heretical. The Nestorians and Eutychians are
condemned by the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, accepted by
our Anglicans. The Greek Church is identical in doctrine with the
Roman, except so far as the Papal supremacy is rejected by them.
It disowns and condemns the Anglican Church as emphatically as
does the Roman. Nevertheless, we find a number of the Protestant
bishops subscribing the following letter to the Patriarch of
Constantinople:--
Letter To The Greek Patriarch.
Binghamton N. Y., 1_st April_, 1844.
_To the Editor of the True Catholic:_
Dear Sir:_-_Having seen in print a copy, surreptitiously
obtained, of the letter of our bishops, addressed to some of
the Patriarchs in the East, I have thought it might be well to
furnish an authentic copy, for permanent preservation in your
valuable periodical, especially as it is a document of much
importance. It is precisely as I myself, together with Mr.
Southgate, presented it, _accompanied by a Greek
translation_, to the Patriarch of Constantinople, who
received it very graciously.
Yours, very truly,
J. J. Robertson.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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