The objections of the English Prelates having at length been satisfactorily disposed of at a Convention held at Wilmington, in the State of Delaware, in October, 1786, the deputies from the several States were inquired of whether any persons had been chosen in them respectively for Consecration; when it appeared that the Rev. Samuel Provoost, D. D., Rector of Trinity Church, New York, the Rev. William White, D. D., Rector of Christ Church and St. Peter's in Philadelphia, and the Rev. David Griffith, D. D., Rector of Fairfax Parish, Virginia, had been chosen by the Conventions of their respective States. The two former of the above named clergymen, having received the requisite testimonials, embarked together for England early the next month, and, on reaching London, were most kindly received by the American Minister, who not only introduced them to His Grace. the Archbishop of Canterbury, but did all he could in other ways to facilitate the object of their visit. Their Consecration took place in the Palace of Lambeth, on the 4th of February, 1787, the service being performed by the Most Reverend John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury. They returned to the United States immediately after, and entered at once upon the exercise of their Episcopal functions. The General Convention assembled on the 28th of July, 1789, and duly recognised the Episcopacy of Bishops White and Provoost, though the former only was present, the latter being detained by sickness. One of the principal subjects that occupied the Convention was the importance of taking measures to perpetuate the Episcopal succession. Dr. Griffith, who had been prevented from going to England for Consecration, had tendered his resignation to the Convention of Virginia, and had come on as one of their deputies to attend the General Convention at Philadelphia, but was taken suddenly ill and died before the close of the session. The Clergy of Massachusetts and New Hampshire had just before elected the Rev. Edward Bass, Rector of St. Paul's Church in Newburyport, their Bishop, and had addressed letters to each of the three Bishops, in Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania, requesting that they would join in consecrating him. Bishop White, being the only one of the three who was present, laid the letter addressed to him before the Body; but while he expressed a strong desire that a permanent union might be formed with the Churches in the Eastern States, he intimated a doubt whether it was not due to the English Prelates that, before they should proceed to any Consecration, they should obtain from them the number which their Canons made necessary to such an act. Bishop White's opinion, thus expressed, proved to be the opinion of the Convention, though they passed a vote recognising the validity of Bishop Seabury's Consecration— in which their President concurred. The difficulty referred to was obviated, not long after this, by the election of the Rev. James Madison, D. D., as Bishop of Virginia, and by his being consecrated in England. Previous to the adjournment of this Convention, an invitation was given to Bishop Seabury, and the Eastern brethren generally, to attend the next session, to be held on the 29th of September, with a view to a permanent union. When the Convention reassembled, Bishop Seabury, with sundry cler gymen from Connecticut and Massachusetts, was present; and the evidence of his Consecration in Scotland having been laid before the Body, a conference ensued between a Committee of the Convention and the Clergy from the Eastern States, the result of which was that, after one alteration of the Constitution, made at the suggestion of the latter, the Convention declared their acquiesence in it, and gave it their signatures accordingly. The first Consecration that took place after Bishop Madison's return from England was that of the Rev. Thomas John Claggett, D. D., elected by the Convention of Maryland, in 1792,-in which Bishop Seabury united with Bishops White, Provoost, and Madison. The Constitution formed in 1786 had provided that the arrangement of two Houses should take place as soon as three Bishops should belong to the Body; and as this circumstance occurred in the Convention of 1789, the House of Bishops was accordingly formed. The two Houses then entered on a review of the Liturgy; the Bishops originating alterations in some Services, and the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies proposing others. The result was the Book of Common Prayer, as it was then established. The different portions of the Ordinal Office, were added at different times afterwards. Of the details of the History of the Protestant Episcopal Church, since the period now referred to, it does not comport with the designed brevity of this sketch to speak-suffice it to say that it has had a regular and vigorous growth, and has now a footing in every part of our country, not excepting even the most newly settled portions of it. The following statistics will convey some idea of its progress and present state : In 1792, the number of its Bishops was five; of its Clergy, one hundred and seventy-eight, exclusive of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. In 1832, there had been twenty-nine consecrated to the Episcopate, of whom fourteen were then living; and the number of Clergy was five hundred and forty-eight. In 1857, the whole number of Bishops was sixty-three, the number then living, forty; and the number of the Clergy eighteen hundred and twentynine. The General Theological Seminary was first established in the city of New York in 1817. It was removed to New Haven in 1820; but the next year, being incorporated with the Theological Seminary of the Diocese of New York, it was removed back to New York city, where its present organization commenced. Besides this, there are several flourishing Diocesan institutions for the study of Divinity, particularly one in Fairfax County, Virginia, one at Gambier, in Ohio, and the Berkeleian School at Middletown, Conn. There are also a large number of Colleges and other institutions of learning, scattered over the country, which are exclusively under Episcopal control. A Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society was established by the General Convention in 1829, which, in 1857, had in the Domestic field a hundred and twenty-six missionaries, and in the Foreign field, eighteen. The General Protestant Episcopal Sunday School Union and Church Book Society; the Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge; the Protestant Episcopal Historical Society; the Western Church Extension Society; and the University of the South, are all highly successful or promising institutions, not under the control of the General Convention. The following paragraph, explanatory of the distinctive economy of the Protestant Episcopal Church, is extracted from an article contributed by the Rev. Isaac Boyle, D. D., formerly an Episcopal clergyman in Boston, to the Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge : "The different Episcopal parishes throughout the United States are united by a Constitution which provides for a General Convention of the Church once in three years at some place previously determined, in which the Church in each State or Diocese is represented by Lay and Clerical Delegates, chosen by the State Convention, (every State or Diocese having a Convention of its own to regulate its local concerns,) each order having one vote, and the concurrence of both being necessary to an Act of the Convention. The Bishops of the Church form a separate House, with a right to originate measures for the concurrence of the House of Delegates, composed of Clergy and Laity; and when any proposed Act passes the House of Delegates, it is transmitted to the House of Bishops, who have a negative on the same, so that the consent of both Houses is requisite to the passage of any Act. The Church is governed by Canons framed by this Assembly, and which regulate the election of Bishops, declare the qualifications necessary for obtaining the Orders of Deacon or Priest, the studies to be previously pursued, the examinations which are to be made, and the ages which it is necessary for candidates to attain before they can be admitted to the several grades of the ministry, which are three in number, and are believed to be of Apostolical institution,—namely, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. Deacon's Orders can be conferred on no person under twenty-one, nor those of a Priest before that of twenty-four; nor can any person be consecrated a Bishop until he be thirty years of age. The Thirty-Nine Articles are not signed by those who are admitted to Orders, as in the Church of England, but candidates are required to subscribe the following declaration:-'I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation; and I do solemnly engage to conform to the doctrines and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in these United States.' These doctrines, however, are understood to be contained in the Articles of Religion which are printed with the Book of Common Prayer, and implied in the Liturgy of the Church. In these documents the Trinity of Divine Persons, the Atonement of Christ, and the influence of the Holy Spirit in the renewal of the heart, are recognised. In general, the doctrinal views of the Church accord with those which have been usually termed the doctrines of the Reformation, and were generally professed by those who separated from the Communion of the Church of Rome." CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX. [On the left hand of the page are the names of those who form the subjects of the SUBJECTS. 1749. John Ogilvie, D. D..... 1751. Thomas Bradbury Chandler, D. D... *Mrs. Dayton. Charles Inglis. D. D... 134 137 Edward Sprague Rand, Esq.. 142 Rev. Frederick Dalcho, M. D.. 146 149 1753. Rt. Rev. Samuel Seabury, D. D..... R. A Hallam, D. D. . 158 Professor C. D. Cleveland... D. D. Field. D. D.. Dr. Franklin.. 164 John Penn... 168 Rev. Frederick Dalcho, M. D. Charles Fraser, Esq.. 170 Andrew Barnaby, D. D.. Gibbon, the Historian... British Critic..... Rev. Nicholas Hoppin.. 174 United States Gazette.. .... Rt. Rev. William White, D. D... 180 Hon. Brenton Halliburton.. 186 1767. Rt. Rev. Thomas J. Claggett, D. D.. Rev. J. H. Chew.. Rt. Rev. George Burgess, D. D. 200 Memoir of his Life..... 205 Ethan Allen, D. D..................... 208 Francis Hawks, D. D.... 211 Rev. Edmund Withers.... Samuel Seabury, D. D. 214 *Rt. Rev. B. T. Onderdonk, D. D... 223 William Jenks, D. D Samuel Parker, D. D............. A descendant of Dr. Walter.. 226 Hon. John Woodworth.. 234 Daniel Burhans, D. D... 237 240 246 1774. Rt. Rev. Samuel Parker, D. D......A Parishioner... 1775. Rt. Rev. James Madison, D. D...... Hon. John Tyler.. |