CANDID ADDRESS TO THE EPISCOPALIANS OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN RELATION TO THE PRESENT SITUATION OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE DIOCESE. BY PLAIN TRUTH. APRIL, 1827. TO THE EPISCOPALIANS OF PENNSYLVANIA. BRETHREN-You need not be told that the approaching convention of our church at Harrisburg, is one of most vital importance to the best interests of our communion. Upon its proceedings depend, to no small extent, the peace and harmony of the church in the diocese, and her ultimate preservation in that integrity and purity, on which she was founded by the few Episcopalians who survived the revolution, and in which she has been maintained by the kind providence of God, through evil, and through good report, from that dark period of her existence to the present moment. The experience of the late Special Convention evinces, beyond the possibility of doubt, that there is a spirit abroad in our church, not the pure, quiet, and humble spirit of religion for which we should pray, and in the signs of which we should rejoice, but one of a dark and boding character, which, if not repressed in time, by the firmness of the old and tried friends of piety, and the church, may issue in consequences fatal, not merely to the respectability of our communion, but to its purity as the great safe-guard of the unadulterated doctrines and principles of the word of God. With a mind impressed with a sense of responsibility for what is to be written; anxious that the true interests of the church in this diocese, should not be sacrificed to the demon of party spirit; and especially, solicitous that the members of our communion should not be left to form opinions, and to act, in ignorance and darkness, on points, involving matters of the highest moment to her concerns, I propose to lay before you, a brief, but plain history of some recent transactions in the church in this diocese, and then to offer a few remarks upon the present crisis of her affairs. Until the Convention of our church, held at Norristown in 1824, no public evidence has been furnished of any determination, on the part of those of the clergy who now seek to distinguish themselves by the title of evangelical, to act as a distinct party in the church in this state, in opposition to the bishop. It was previously well known, that perfect uniformity of sentiment did not prevail among the clergy on all points of doctrine, discipline, and policy. But these had hitherto been merged by the spirit of compromise, in general uniformity of action. The lines of party, however, were drawn at Norristown, |