Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The True Churchman: An Address of the Rt. Rev. William Meade, to the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Va., Assembled in Staunton, May 21st, 1851
First. In endeavoring to shew wherein true churchmen ship consists, and of course who the true churchman is, we should inquire into the origin and meaning of the terms. Though allowable when rightly used, yet are they not to be found in scripture, and for the mos-t part have been unhap pily and unkindly used. The word church, however, from, which they are drawn is often used by the sacred writers, and there are also expressions in the scriptures setting forth what these terms intend to declare, viz great zeal for the church of God, a true lover and faithful servant of the church. The word church, from whence they are derived, has a general as well as limited. Meaning. In its general sense it denotes all God's people, and whatever pertains to his kingdom. The true churchmen, in regard to this sense of the term, is one who is zealous for all things appertainingt'o Christ's kingdom on earth, loves the whole church of God the blessed company of-god's faithful people - and shows his churchmanship by what he does for it and them. But there is a peculiar and restricted sense in which the word church is used, and from it, 'in that restricted sense, the terms churchman and churchmanship, as commonly used, are drawn. We read not only of the church of God - the church of Christ - but the church of Corinth, of Ephesus, &c'. In all history we read in like manner of churches in the various countries of Christendom. After a time when a great division took place we read of the Eastern and Western church, and at a still later period, of the Roman Catholic church, and of those who protested against its dominion and corruption. Among the latter we may reckon the Protestant Episcopal churches of England and America, the latter being derived from the former, and adopting her doctrine, worship, and polity, making only such changes as the differences of civil government required. The title-of churchman, was at an early period 'of her history given to a member of 'the established church of England, and the distinctive appella tions of high and low churchman were added to designate certain views entertained as to her scriptural claims, or her' authority as the established church, or as to both. 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.
