GENERAL PRINCIPLES 51 



of that communion, before the whole Chris- 

 tian world, as "bishops in the church of 

 God," and are not likely now to retreat 

 from it because of any tardy or reluctant 

 following on the part of a school or a 

 faction. 



EPISCOPALIAN MISCONCEPTIONS 



On the other side are some grave Epis- 

 copalian misconceptions which should be 

 discussed with equal frankness. One of 

 them is the general misapprehension of 

 the Presbyterian idea of the Church. It 

 seems to be assumed by our separated 

 brethren that Presbyterians are not church- 

 men. Yet they claim to be good church- 

 men? There is not a tenet of sound 

 churchmanship which, they do not hold, 

 and hold as tenaciously as the mass of 

 Episcopalian churchmen. Is the test to 

 be Catholicity, the claim to be a part of 

 the Catholic Church? Before the Protest- 

 ant Episcopal Church was born, the 

 Presbyterian Church had defined itself 

 in its standards as part of that "Catho- 

 lic visible church into which Christ hath 

 given the ministry, oracles, and ordi- 

 nances of God." Is the test to be Apos- 



