Is not this to make vain the gift of God? Is not this to turn
back the hand on the dial? Is not this to make men -- to make
ourselves -- forget that not forms, but duties; not names, but
righteousness and love are enjoined; and that in the eye of God there
is no other measure of the value of any one form than the measure of
its use?
There remain some practical objections to the ordinance into
which I shall not now enter. There is one on which I had intended to
say a few words; I mean the unfavorable relation in which it places
that numerous class of persons who abstain from it merely from
disinclination to the rite.
Influenced by these considerations, I have proposed to the
brethren of the Church to drop the use of the elements and the claim
of authority in the administration of this ordinance, and have
suggested a mode in which a meeting for the same purpose might be
held free of objection.
My brethren have considered my views with patience and candor,
and have recommended unanimously an adherence to the present form. I
have, therefore, been compelled to consider whether it becomes me to
administer it.
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