We take the liberty to publish the following extracts from three good private letters received by Bro. Canright from Santa Clara Co.
Bro. Kundert of San Jose writes, Nov. 10th, "We had a good meeting here last Sabbath. The brethren and sisters seemed to take hold with the right spirit, and some are getting rid of their idols."
Bro. Stephens writes from Santa Clara, Nov. 12th. "Dear Brother, I have felt so happy for the last few days, that I thought I would write to let you know what the Lord is doing for us in Santa Clara. Our hearts are now very hopeful, and we feel that we will shortly have more Sabbath keepers. There has been a society started here for debate upon Bible questions. At last the Sabbath question has been sprung. Bro. Swinnerton and I have defended the Lord's Sabbath for two Sundays, and will again next Sunday. We believe the Lord will give some fruits from it, as several are inquiring into these things to see whether they are so.
"Brn. Smith, Swinnerton, and myself have started out of evenings to visit those who are aroused on Advent doctrine, to converse with them. We hope our work will not be in vain. We hope to have a strong church at Santa Clara yet. Mrs. O. rejoices that her daughter in San Francisco has commenced to keep the Sabbath from attending meetings in the big tent. The church here remember your endeavors in their prayers."
Bro. Swinnerton writes, Nov. 11th, "We have had two discussions on the Sabbath question. None stood by me but Bro. Stephens. The Lord gave us both liberty to stand for the truth. We had opposition from Methodists, Presbyterians, Adventists, and Infidels. But I observed one queer thing; so far they have not attempted a reply to our positions.
"I have reserved my best points for the closing round, but the negative are about spun out. They have proved (?) that the Sabbath was a merciful provision for man, but not binding. That it is a yoke of bondage, but would have been a good thing for the "Jews" while in Egypt. (I guess so.) That the Sabbath has been lost, and the first day found—which is the true day. That it is impossible to keep any day, and, finally, the Sabbath has been abolished, because it was not commanded over again. Their last ditch, next Sunday, is the two covenants.
"What a soul inspiring thing truth is, is n't it? I trust you will come and see us soon, and tell us how you do. I feel determined to live and die on the altar of the Lord. Love, prayers, and sympathy for all the brethren and sisters in the truth."
Phantom Congregations.
By D. M. C.
“A great many sermons are preached to whose excellence there is but a single drawback—they are preached to the wrong audience.
“Sometimes on a battle-field a regiment comes gallantly to the front and delivers its fire right over the heads of the enemy. If they had been twenty feet up in the air, what havoc there would have been among them! So, often, a minister stands in his pulpit and preaches a sermon full of truth and earnestness, which only goes sounding into space and dies there, because it was not aimed at the people who sat in the pews. The preacher had before him a purely imaginary congregation. They were phantoms, ghostly exhalations from the books amid which he wrote his sermon, or from his own secluded musings; or perhaps they were the shadowy images of real congregations that lived and died a hundred or eighteen hundred years ago.
“A great many preachers in Christian communities seem always to have before their mind’s eye a company of Heathen. Sunday after Sunday they go on expounding the most elementary truths of the Gospel. They tell their hearers that they are sinners, that Christ died to save them, and appeal to them to accept him. They praise the Bible as the best of books, and extol Christianity as a divine system. Perhaps nothing could be better if it were addressed to people ignorant of these things. But the preacher’s congregation drank them in almost with their mothers’ milk. They no more question the excellence of the Christian religion than the necessity of food and drink. They have no doubt that in a general way they are sinners, though they may have very vague ideas as to what their particular sins are, and still dimmer notions as to how really to get rid of them.”
So says an eminent minister; and so nine tenths of the congregations in the land can testify to their sorrow. The ministers dig up the dead issues of the past and then show their valor in killing them again! Preachers, to be effective, must grapple with the living issues of to-day and preach right at the men before them in the spirit of the prophet when he said to the king, “Thou art the man.” This is the kind of preaching which tells, which reaches the conscience, and which God always blesses. No matter if it does hurt some one. Men have to be hurt sometimes before they will wake up. Try it.
D. M. C.
From Walla Walla.
By I. D. Van Horn
The cause is moving on slowly and surely in this valley. Here in Walla Walla the church have a good Sabbath School and there is a good interest manifested in it. Their Sabbath meetings are well attended. The weekly prayer meeting, every Wednesday evening, is well attended and all feel much engaged in it. This is held round from house to house and a few outside take an interest in them.
The work on the meeting house is going on well. They have it now nearly enclosed. There seems to be a good will to push it through. We shall hope for the best.
I. D. Van Horn.
Nov. 9th, 1874.
The San Francisco Tent Meeting.
By John Norton Loughborough
Our tent meeting still continues in San Francisco, notwithstanding the lateness of the season. We have just had our second rain, the heaviest ever known here this early in the season. We have lost only one meeting on account of rain since our last report. There is now prospect of fair weather again for meetings. We have two large stoves in the tent which make it comfortable for the people.
We had a very interesting Sabbath meeting last Sabbath in San Francisco. Part of our brethren were over from Oakland. One hundred were present. A discourse was given and many encouraging testimonies were borne. At the same time about thirty were having a meeting at Oakland. On first-day morning we retired to the bay, and five were baptized. Among these were one Dane, a Bro. Jessen, and a sister Johnson formerly a Catholic Nun. The baptizing season was very interesting. Not far from a score of new ones have taken their stand in San Francisco, and still we labor on. Pray for us. J. N. L.
The Cause in the East.
By John Norton Loughborough
Review number 21 has just come to hand. As usual it is full of words of encouragement, and evidences of the onward progress of the work. It reports an interesting State Quarterly Meeting for Michigan, in which the directors present recommended that a pioneer paper, entitled The Voice of Truth, the size of the Advent Review and Herald of the Sabbath, be started with the new year, and that Michigan circulate 10,000 copies of it and the Health Reformer, and that the work commence immediately, so that as many as possible of the new subscribers shall commence with the new year.
Thus another means is to be added to the facilities for spreading the light of truth. Such things are surely tokens of progress.
We learn from the "Progress" department of the Review, that the work is moving on in all parts; that Bro. Andrews, with the brethren in Switzerland, is laying plans for active operations in spreading the truth there. In Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska and Massachusetts interesting meetings are reported, and many are embracing the truth. J. N. L.
J. N. L
By John Norton Loughborough
From Lassen County.
At our tent meeting in San Francisco, Sabbath, Nov. 14th, there met with us a brother from Lassen County, three hundred miles distant. He was one of eight in the place where he lives, who have embraced the present truth, and commenced the observance of the Sabbath. He had the privilege of hearing two discourses while with us, which were the first and only Advent preaching he had ever heard. The other seven have heard none. Their friends in Napa had sent them tracts, pamphlets, and papers, which, with God's blessing has decided eight. "But the end is not yet;" for a number of their neighbors are reading, and are about convinced that we have the truth. There is missionary work for District No. 6. A preacher of present truth would be more than welcome in their midst.
J. N. L
The World in the Church.
By Meth. Free Press
It is a sign of weakness when churches publicly resort to worldly expedients in order to sustain congregational life. Charades and private theatricals in church parlors, and similar secular amusements, are poor substitutes for spiritual power. Sociability can be readily promoted, and all legitimate religious ends subserved, by proper agencies. But a serious reaction is sure to follow spurious excitements. The line of separation between the world and the Church is distinctively drawn in the Word of God, and any trespass over this line will bring its penalties. Whatever can promote the divine objects of the Church of Christ is right and good: but it is better to err on the side of known propriety than to venture upon a questionable expediency. The Holy Spirit may be grieved away by the means employed to prosper a church. In these times, particularly, the most urgent need is spiritual life and strength.—Meth. Free Press.
Flabby Religion.
By Talmage
MUCH of the religion of the day is flabby, very flabby indeed. It is afflicted with a sort of Saint Vitus' dance; now bending this way, and now that; and it is uncertain which way it will wriggle next. It accommodates itself to the whims of the world. It is almost disposed to exchange our Bible for a science that, instead of tracing our origin to Adam, makes us only a better order of tadpoles; and instead of reading, "Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Joseph," would read: "The fish begat the reptile, and the reptile begat a marsupial animal, and the marsupial animal begat the inadrumana, and the inadrumana begat the gorilla, and the gorilla begat the ape, and the ape begat Darwin." Much of our modern religion begins with an eulogy of human nature, instead of an exposition of its utter downfall. It makes us sick to hear all this talk about the dignity of manhood. It is a heap of putrefaction, unless Saint John lied when he described it as "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."—Talmage.
Keep a Good Conscience and Tongue
A PRIME part of wisdom is to keep a good conscience; the next part is to keep a good tongue.
Spiritism Among the Esquimaux.
By Prof. Sountag
THE religion of the Esquimaux is, of all curious systems of theology, the most curious. Nevertheless they are not polytheists, demon-worshipers, nor even idolators, in the common acceptance of that term. They believe in one Supreme Deity, whom they call Toongarsoon; likewise in a devil, who is of the feminine gender, but whose proper name, if she has one, I could never ascertain.
Their god is supposed to reside in a handsome stone dwelling, situated somewhere in the sea. His occupation, according to their notion, is a very benevolent one; for he is said to keep large herds of seals, sea-horses, etc., for the express purpose of providing entertainments for the souls of good men, which are transported immediately after death to the apartments assigned them in the marine palace where his godship resides. A large apartment of this palace is said to be fitted up with cooking apparatus, on the most exstensive scale; pots and kettles of such dimensions that walruses, sea unicorns, seals, etc., in large numbers are boiled or baked therein every day, to furnish a perpetual banquet for the happy spirits of deceased Esquimaux hunters, or such of them as behaved themselves with tolerable propriety while in the flesh. Hence it will appear that the Esquimaux heaven consists of a never-ending feast of fat things, an eternity of well-cooked walrus meat and seal's blubber.
The devil (a female one, remember) is supposed to be an unworthy sister of the divine Toongarsoon. She resides at some distance from her brother's palace, on an island, where game of all kinds is very scarce, where she takes charge of deceased sinners, who, under her domestic management, fare worse, if possible, than the inmates of some of the cheap boarding houses in New York. In fact, these delinquent spirits suffer the pangs of starvation, and their cries and shrieks of agony are often heard above the howlings of the Arctic gales and the angry war of the mountain torrents.—Prof. Sountag's Narrative.
Missionary Spirit.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
SAYS the Christian Union:
More missionaries like the Misses Ely, now at Bittis, Turkey, would doubtless be welcomed by the American Board. These ladies, daughters of a minister living in Erie Co., N. Y., some six years ago became so interested in the degraded condition of the Turkish women that they offered to go out and work among them at their own expense, if the Board would give them its protection. They finally went on the Board's proviso that it should pay them the salary of one; but since their arrival at their chosen field they have spent more than this sum in making additions to school-houses or mission buildings, and in books and apparatus to aid them in their work. One way in which they reach the native women is by calling them in to listen to their piano music and singing, in which accomplishment they are proficient. Such labor of love cannot but be effective. It appears that Vermont has the privilege of making up the salary for these ladies this year.
"The Moravian church has one out of every fifty of its communicants engaged in the mission service, and, for every member at home, nearly three members in the mission field."
THE following is from a recent number of the Boston Transcript:
"Private letters from Jeddo confirm the devotion of Bishop Williams of China and Japan. The Bishop was recently found in a Japanese boarding-house in Jeddo, in a room nine feet square, without any furniture except a pail with ashes and a few coals in the centre of the room. In one corner were two blankets, with one of which the Bishop wrapped himself, while he slept upon the other. There the Bishop was found, sitting upon the floor, engaged in the work of translation."
How such facts ought to reprove us. Claiming to have the most solemn message that the world ever heard, yet others are working harder and sacrificing more than we are! California, with its dozen churches and five hundred members, has not a missionary in the field at home or abroad. Shall we make the shameful confession that it is for a lack of talent? We do not believe this to be the fact. The spirit to work is what is needed. D. M. C.
Questions and Answers.
By John Norton Loughborough
BRO. J. W. B., from Dist. No. 2, inquires, Would it not be well for the State Missionary Secretary to furnish each Director a list of paid members of each church in his District, so that he may know who in his District are not paid members, and induce all possible to pay their $1.00 each and become workers in the Missionary cause?
Reply. Yes, I have written the Secretary to send out such lists, and before this meets your eyes those lists will be promptly placed in the hands of every Director. Let there be as prompt a work in each District. Secure the names of every brother or sister, and friend who are not already members, as paid members to Missionary Society, and return these lists to sister Lucie Bush our State Missionary Secretary, at Woodland, that she may enroll them upon her list book.
Bro. C. C., from District No. 9, inquires, How many books are needed by a District Secretary, and how should they be kept?
Reply. I do not know the custom of our brethren east, but, we read in the Constitution of the Missionary Society, in Art. V., SEC. 4, that the "duties of the District Secretary with each church will be similar to those of the State Secretary with each District." With this view of the subject I should judge they would need three books, I thus advised our State Secretary, to have one book for Records, one book for a cash account; in case of District Secretary this second book should be also an account of books dealt out to the churches by the Director, and the third book a list of the names of the members of the Missionary Society in such District, classified by churches.
Bro. J. M., of District No. 3, inquires, Out of what fund shall the District Secretary obtain his books for records and accounts?
Reply. In District No. 9, the Secretary got all the books necessary for about one dollar, and esteemed it a pleasure to pay it out of her own pocket. I presume every Secretary would feel likewise in the matter.
Bro. E. A. S., District No. 9, inquires, Does the Director of each District need to keep a book?
Reply. He needs a good sized memorandum book in which to minute the names of all the officers in his District in each church &c., to make a minute of books dealt out, that he may report the same to the Secretary of his District; and, as he is Treasurer for the District his book must contain a cash account of all moneys received on the various objects that come before him in his District.
Bro. E. A. S., District No. 9, also asks, What book accounts do the Librarian and Business Agent need to keep?
Reply. The Librarian needs a list book for books received from the Director of his District, and to keep an account with each member of the books dealt out to them. He wants a cash account of the book sales, donations received, and also a list of the paid members in his respective church. The Business Agents of course will want a record of all the business done by them.
We are glad to see the questions come in; it evinces interest, and a desire to work. Study the Missionary work brethren and sisters, and take hold immediately to work. God will bless you in the doing.
Systematic Benevolence.
By John Norton Loughborough
In the last number of the SIGNS, in an article on "Systematic Benevolence," I set before you the Bible plan of sustaining the cause of God. I wish all our people who have identified themselves with the truth, especially here in California, would read that article again carefully. Are not the statements there made reasonable? Are they not scriptural? Can we not, believing that the end of all things is at hand, act fully upon the plan there recommended? Some, perhaps the most of our people in this State, are adopting the plan; can we not all do it? It is a matter which concerns each and every one of us. If we are going to be Bible Christians, why not act upon the scriptural plan of sustaining the cause of God, as well as in other matters?
Since writing that article in the last SIGNS the following, published by the London Tract Society came under my observation. It is so good I copy it.
THE LAW OF GIVING
According to the principles of the word of God.
"Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." 1 Cor. 16:2.
Here observe, 1. The things to be done—"Lay by him in store." That is, lay up, in a sacred store, money to promote the cause of Christ—have a purse sacred to this object.
2. The person to do it—Every one of you. It is addressed to Christians. Every believer who has any means, is to lay up as in the Lord's bank; David, his princely offering—the poor widow, her "two mites."
3. Its rule and measure—As God hath prospered him.
The Lord is not an "austere master." He will not seek to "gather where He has not strewed," but where He strews He looks for a proportionate return.
4. The best time for doing it—"The first day of the week." It will secure weekly offerings. It will help to make our offerings of principle, and not of mere impulse, "a matter of bounty," and not as extorted, or "grudgingly" conferred. 2 Cor. 9:5-7.
5. The reason assigned for this instruction—"That there be no gatherings when I come." That there be no undue excitement, hurry, and bustle, accompanying your giving; that the giving in no way interfere with the higher and holier exercises.
Reader! How MUCH dost thou give weekly to the cause of God?
"God loveth the cheerful giver." 2 Cor. 9:7.—London Tract Society.
In all our companies in this State this plan of systematic giving has been adopted. A Treasurer has been appointed, and most have made their pledges; perhaps all have not. The Scripture says, "Let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him." The Treasurer in each company should give each individual adopting the truth an opportunity to do according to his ability. The offering should not be despised, though small. If all lift at the Gospel wheel according to their ability, when success crowns the efforts that are made to spread the truth, all will feel that they have an interest in the work, and that it is our cause which is moving.
You will see by reading carefully the Missionary Constitution, that it is the duty of the Director in each District to see that each Church "comes up on Systematic Benevolence." There is no compulsion about this, but the Director stirs up the Treasurer to his duty, and sees that he gives each and every Sabbath keeper an opportunity to do in this work.
Again, there are scattered brethren and sisters in each District, who, if the matter was properly laid before them, either in person or by letter from the Director, would esteem it a pleasure to make their pledges weekly on S. B., to be paid quarterly to the Church nearest to them. This is a point our Directors in each District will understand, and look after.
There are those who have moved away from our different churches, either with, or without, letters. It is according to the resolution of one session of our General Conference, that such persons are considered still as members of the Church whose letter they hold, and that they are expected to pay their S. B. to the Church to which they belong, until they formally unite with another Church. Simply moving away from a Church does not destroy our obligations to God. Some, when thus away by themselves, neglect to pay their vows, neglect to lift in the cause of God. They complain of reverses, of hard times. Is there not a cause?. If we "rob God," see Mal. 3, may we not expect blight, blasting, and mildew? Shall we not rather go back, reckon up our unpaid tithes, bring them all in, and see if the Lord will not bless us as he has promised, even "rebuking the devourer, that he shall not destroy our fruit before the time in the field."
I trust there will be a coming up to the work by every individual of our people in this State, not only that there may be no lack of means to push forward the glorious work of truth in every county, but that our own hearts may be like a watered garden whose waters fail not. Let us consecrate ourselves to God with our substance, humbly doing our part, and the Lord will verify his promise, and do on his part, even "pouring out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
J. N. L.
Do Good.
Do good, do good, there is no one on earth
Too poor to give something away;
A word, fitly spoken, a world may be worth,
And the poor for the richest may pray.
If you can give only the widow's small mite,
O give it with faith and with prayer,
And God a memorial in Heaven will write,
And signal your gift with his care.
Do good, do good, you should watch for a chance,
And be instant in season, my friend,
For often on only a small circumstance
The greatest of good may depend;
Then, never grow weary in labors of love,
Faint not though the tokens be small,
For the fragments you gather are noted above,
And the Master will multiply all.
I TRUST our missionary members are all deciding to be workers, and that none will be satisfied with simply being "Honorary Members." The blessing of Christ at the last day does not read, You belonged to a working society, but "Well done." This blessing is for the workers. It will be shared by those who "do good."
In numbers 8 and 9 of the SIGNS you will find instructions for the Officers and Members of the Missionary Society. I trust all of you are making your minds familiar with the Constitution, and with the instructions we are giving, and that each district is getting into working order, by the Director appointing the Secretary for the district, and the Librarian and Business Agent for each church. Make out your list of tracts &c., on hand, as suggested in last number of the SIGNS. Get all the members you can to pay the $1 and unite with the society.
In order that the President of such a State Society may counsel and help on the work simultaneously in each district, he must know what is going on. So I request that when reports of appointments of Officers are made to the State Secretary, that the State Secretary forward a copy of the same to me at Oakland, that I may understand how the matter is progressing.
Now for the work. It will occasion a little delay to get your tracts, pamphlets, and blank books so as to begin tract distribution, but I will suggest some more work for each district in addition to that already proposed, which you can immediately engage in. It is this, to take hold zealously of the work of obtaining subscribers for the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. See how many of your neighbors and friends are willing to pay $2 a year for the SIGNS. Next see how many candid persons who cannot pay are willing to receive it, read it, and thus become bona fide subscribers for it.
The Business Agent in each church is the proper one to attend to this, but he cannot do it all alone. He can call on each member who can do so to canvass among those to whom they have access. The Business Agent in each church can pass the subscribers on to the Office here, carefully stating the amount paid by each, if anything. The money can be charged to the district in which such church is located. The money should be paid over to the Director by the Business Agent, so that he can square the account of the district with the Office at the time of each State Quarterly Meeting. Scattered individuals in a district can send the subscribers they may obtain, and the subscription money direct to the SIGNS' Office; but in that case the subscribers they send will be added to the quota from that district. They should also report, when they send new subscribers, to the district Secretary. This, you understand relates to scattered ones living in any district who are not members of any of our churches. In case you are members of a church, let your business be done through the Business Agent of that church.
J. N. L.
Report of Progress.
By Editor
SINCE our last we can report some progress in the Missionary work. In several of the Districts the Directors report the appointment of officers, and are complying with instructions given. We would be glad to hear from all where the Society is organized. In District No. 8, they have had but little opportunity to learn of the Missionary work. The matter will be presented and organized there at the time of the Quarterly Meeting, Dec. 20th, the Lord willing.
One brother in Missouri, sends in eleven subscribers for the SIGNS, and says, "It's sweet to work for Jesus." District No. 5, in this State, sends six new, outside subscribers for the SIGNS with $12.25 to pay for them, and say nothing. But we say, It is action which speaks for itself. Let the example be followed by other Districts.
Bro. H., a beginner in District No. 3, sends in three new subscribers, and says, "One Mr.— handed me $1, and says, 'send me the paper.' I am going through the neighborhood to see how many subscribers I can get, and then you will hear from me again." That letter has the true ring in it. Who will go and do likewise? There are many of your neighbors who would take the SIGNS and willingly pay the $2 a year, if it was properly placed before them. We design to have a live "News" column, a chronicle of passing, startling events and casualties, of value to many who now take no paper. Now is the time to work. Which District will send in the greatest number of paying subscribers before our State Quarterly Meeting, Jan. 2, 1875. "Provoke unto love and to good works." Heb. 10:24.
NEW SUBCRIBERS.
Since publishing No. 9, we have received new paid subscribers for the SIGNS from our Tract and Missionary workers, as follows: District No. 1, two subscribers : No. 2, two : No. 3, two : No. 4, one : No. 5, six : No. 6, none : No. 7, none : No. 8, two : No. 9, seven. Total, twenty-two.
An Apt Reply.
A NATIVE deacon, named Hagop, now has the charge of the Protestant Armenean Church at Trebizond, in Asia Minor, as there is no missionary there.
Mr. Wheeler, of Kharpoot, says of this man that he has good abilities, and excellent judgment, a good knowledge of the Bible, and a pleasing address.
To show his shrewd quickness in reply, he relates the following anecdote:
"Some years since the deacon was employed by an English mercantile house in Samsun, and was required to work on the Sabbath. This he steadily refused to do. His employer used all his ingenuity to convince him that it was necessary and right to do so then.
" 'What!' said he one day, 'if an ass fall into a pit on the Sabbath, does not even the Saviour say that it is right to pull him out?'
" 'Certainly,' replied Hagop, 'but if an ass has a habit of going every Sabbath and falling into the same pit, then his owner ought either to fill up the pit or sell the ass!' "
—Sel.
A Sound Constitution and Good Character
A MAN may leave a patrimony to his son; but how soon it may be mortgaged! He may leave him money; but how soon it may be squandered! When he gives him a sound constitution, an unblemished reputation, a good education, and an inward abhorrence of vice, in any shape or form, these cannot be wrested from him and are better than thousands of gold and silver.
The Canon Against Ritualism.
THE following is the text of the canon against ritualism as recently passed by the Episcopal General Convention:
*Resolved (the House of Bishops concurring) That the following additional section be added to canon 20, Title I. "Of the use of the Book of common Prayer."
SEC. 2. [1] If any bishop have reason to believe, or if complaint be made to him in writing by two or more of his Presbyters, that ceremonies or practices during the celebration of the Holy Communion, not ordained or authorized in the Book of common Prayer, and setting forth or symbolizing erroneous or doubtful doctrines, have been introduced into a parish within his jurisdiction (and as examples the following are declared to be considered as such):
a. The use of incense.
b. The placing, or carrying, or retaining a crucifix in any part of the place of public worship.
c. The elevation of the elements in the Holy Communion in such manner as to expose them to the view of the people as objects toward which adoration is to be made.
d. Any act of adoration of or towards the elements in the Holy Communion, such as bowings, prostrations, genuflexions, and all such like acts not authorized or allowed by the Rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer.
It shall be the duty of such Bishop to summon the Standing Committee as his Council of advice, and with them to investigate the matter.
[2] If after investigation, it shall appear to the Bishop and the Standing Committee that erroneous or doubtful doctrines have in fact been set forth or symbolized by ceremonies or practices not ordained or authorized as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the Bishop, by instrument of writing under his hand, to admonish the minister of the parish to discontinue such practices or ceremonies; and if the minister shall disregard such admonition, it shall be the duty of the Standing Committee to cause him to be tried for a breach of his ordination vow; provided, that nothing herein contained shall prevent the presentment, trial, and punishment of any minister under the provision of Section 1 of Canon 2, Title II, of the Digest.
[3] In all investigations under the provisions of this canon, the minister whose acts or practices are the subject matter of the investigation shall be notified, and have opportunity to be heard in his defense; the charges preferred and the findings of the Bishop and the Standing Committee shall be in writing, and a record shall be kept of the proceedings in the case.*
The vote was: Clerical vote—Yeas 38, nays 2, divided 1, total 41. Lay vote—Yeas 34, nays 3, divided 1, total 38.
The large majority given in favor of the new canon was probably secured not by speeches or arguments during the debate, but by the explanation of the committee.
Their spokesman stated that the canon, while presenting a mere opinion that certain ritualistic acts and practices were of doubtful doctrine, by no means settled the question or forbade the acts, but simply paved the way for an investigation and trial when they took place. The real battle over Ritualism is to be fought when these cases come up for trial. The vital question is thus postponed.