GENERAL PRINCIPLES 21 



query was raised, whether the Protestant 

 Episcopal Church, with only her present 

 canonical means and appliances, her fixed 

 and invariable modes of worship, and her 

 traditional customs and usages, is compe- 

 tent to the work of preaching and dispens- 

 ing the gospel to all sorts and conditions 

 of men in this land and in this age : and 

 whether her mission might not be more 

 fully accomplished by the extension of 

 Episcopal ordination to " men in other 

 Christian bodies, who would gladly receive 

 it could they obtain it without that entire 

 surrender of all the liberty in public wor- 

 sliip to which they have been accustomed, 

 — men who are sound in the faith and 

 having the gift of preachers and pastors 

 would be able ministers of the New Tes- 

 tament." It was further urged by the 

 Memorialists, that to the Catholic episco- 

 pate belongs the high privilege of becom- 

 ing the central bond of church unity in 

 Protestant Christendom, and that it may 

 be the special work of an American epis- 

 copate to attempt some " broader and more 

 comprehensive ecclesiastical system, sur- 

 rounding and including the Protestant 

 Episcopal Church as it is now, leaving 



