Whereas, the Surplice is a most becoming, significant, and ancient ministerial garb, recommended by the usage of the Old Testament Church, by Scriptural references, and by the approbation of wise and holy men, as well those who are not, as those who are, of our Church, resolved, That the Ministers among us who are not yet provided with Surplices, are hereby requested to conform to the general usage of our Church in this particular, and that the Vestries, or Congregations, are hereby requested to supply them, as is customary, with such Surplices.

On motion, resolved, That the Committee on Canons be instructed to inquire into the propriety of amending the 1st Section of the 7th Canon of 1835, by striking out the words, "the number of baptisms, confirmations, marriages and funerals, and of the number of communicants in his Parish or Church," and inserting in the place thereof, "the whole number of the baptized, adults and infants, within his cure, specifying the number of the baptized that have been confirmed, and the number of the confirmed that regularly partake of the Lord's Supper."

The following resolution was submitted:

Resolved, That the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies respectfully request the House of Bishops to compose, and set forth, a special form of Prayer for the extension of Christian. Missions throughout the world, to be used in the public service. of the Church at the discretion of any minister, by and with the consent of his Diocesan first obtained.

Whereupon, it was moved and carried, that the subject be indefinitely postponed.

The Rev. Messrs. Dyce, Wheaton and Forbes were added to the Committee on the State of the Church.

Leave of absence was granted to Messrs. Weston, Rogers, Mansfield, Barry, Lovell and Cleveland, Jr.

The House adjourned until Monday, at 9 A. M.

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 10, 1838.

The House assembled pursuant to adjournment. Morning prayer was read by the Rev. Dr. Stone, of Massachusetts. The following Deputies appeared and took their seats :From Connecticut.--Wm. W. Boardman, Esq. From Florida.--Rev. R. A. Henderson.

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From South Carolina.-Edward Richardson, Esq., in place of Mr. Wm. Heyward.

The Minutes were read and approved.

On motion, resolved, That a Joint Committee of six members on the part of this House be appointed to confer with the House of Bishops, respecting the time and place for the meeting of the

next General Convention. The following was appointed the Committee on the part of this House :-Dr. Upfold, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Forbes, Mr. Newton, Mr. Huntington, Mr. Tidyman.

Moved and carried, that the House go into an election tomorrow, at 12 o'clock, for a Committee to act with a Committee of the House of Bishops, in nominating a Board of Missions.

The Committee on Canons made the following report:

The Committee on Canons, to which it was referred to inquire into the propriety of amending the 1st section of Canon vii. of 1835, by altering the particulars required to be inserted in parochial registers, having had the same under consideration, respectfully report:-That, in the unanimous opinion of the Committee, it is inexpedient to make any alteration in the Canon, and therefore the Committee asks to be discharged from the further consideration of the subject.

Respectfully submitted,

F. L. HAWKS, Chairman.

Whereupon, on motion, the Committee was discharged.

The Committee on Canons reported a Canon touching the organizing of new Dioceses; whereupon, on motion, it was referred back to the same Committee, and the Committee had leave to retire.

The Secretary presented a statement of his receipts and expenditures, which, on motion, was referred to the Committee on Expenses.

On motion, resolved, That it be referred to the same Committee, to inquire into the expediency of repealing or modifying the 8th Canon of 1835, so as to reinstate the 54th Canon of 1832. Mr. Colston was substituted on this Committee in place of Rev. C. F. Jones, absent on leave.

A message was received from the House of Bishops, informing this House that they had concurred in passing the proposed Canon, respecting candidates for Holy Orders.

A message was received from the House of Bishops, transmitting the following resolution passed by said House:

Resolved, That this House concur with the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies in the form proposed by that House, agreeing to, and ratifying the alterations in the Constitution, proposed at the last General Convention.

On motion, resolved, That with the concurrence of the House of Bishops, a Joint Committee of both Houses be appointed to inquire if any, and what rules of order are necessary for the more regular transaction of the business of the two Houses.

Dr. Milnor, Dr. Mason, Rev. Mr. Saunders, Messrs. Meredith, De Rosset, and Warren, were appointed the Committee on the part of this House.

The Rev. Mr. Saunders and Mr. Eccleston, were added to the Committee on Canons.

A message was received from the House of Bishops, informing this House that they had concurred in the resolution for the appointment of a Joint Committee on rules of order, and have named on their part Bishops Brownell, Ives, and Meade.

A message was received from the House of Bishops, informing this House that they had on their part elected by ballot a Committee, consisting of the Right Rev. Bishops Doane, Onderdonk, of New-York, and McIlvaine, to act with a Committee of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies in nominating a Board of Missions, to-morrow morning, at 12 o'clock.

A message was received from the same House, informing this House that they had concurred in the resolution for the appointment of a Joint Committee respecting the time and place for the meeting of the next Convention, and have appointed on their part Bishops Bowen, Brownell, and Smith.

The House of Bishops notified this House, that they had added Bishop Meade, on their part, to the Joint Committee on the subject of measures for promoting education, according to the principles of the Church.

The House, on motion, took a recess for half an hour.

On re-assembling, a message was received from the House of Bishops, transmitting the report of the Joint Committee appointed at the last General Convention, on the subject of the Book of Common Prayer in the German language, together with a resolution passed by the House of Bishops, That the Committee be continued, and be permitted to issue an edition allowed to be used until the next General Convention, the subject of its ratification to be then taken up, and requesting the concurrence of this House in said resolution. Whereupon, on motion, the House concurred.

Mr. Adolph Frost was added to the Committee on the German Prayer Book.

The Committee on the Calendar presented the following report:

The Committee, to whom was referred sundry resolutions on the subject of amendments to the Calendar prefixed to the Book of Common Prayer, as also the resolution on the authority of the Rubric, subjoined to the collection of Hymns, reports:

That the addition proposed at the last General Convention, by Dr. Henry M. Mason, to the Table of the Moveable Feasts, according to the several days that Easter can possibly fall upon," is absolutely necessary to complete the use of the said table, as without such addition the Rubric to that table would in many instances prove erroneous in its directions; that further, without the addition proposed by Mr. Meredith, to be

annexed to the months of March and April in the Calendar of the table of lessons, the use of the figures prefixed to the days of the month from the 21st of March to the 18th of April, both inclusive, cannot be understood by an inspection of said table; and that the said table is imperfect without, and consequently needs such addition. As far as the members of the Committee have been able to discover, these proposed additions are to be found in all editions of the Book of Common Prayer of the English Church, but are omitted in almost all, if not all, editions of the Prayer Book of the American Church. It is, however, evident that such omission must have been accidental, and ought to be considered typographical; the Committee would therefore propose the following resolution:

Resolved, That in all subsequent editions of the Book of Common Prayer of this Church, the Rubric subjoined to the "Table of the Moveable Feasts, &c.," be printed according to approved standards of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England; and also, that the Rubric annexed, in the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England, to the months of March and April in the Calendar of lessons, be inserted in all subsequent editions of the Book of Common Prayer of this Church.

The Committee also proposes the following resolution to be passed at this Convention, and to lie over for adoption to the next General Convention:

Resolved, That the following explanation of the Tables and Rules of the Moveable and Immoveable Feasts, be inserted in the Calendar after the first of said tables.

To show upon what occasion this rule was framed, it is to be observed, that in the first ages of Christianity there arose a great difference between the Churches of Asia and other Churches, about the day whereon Easter ought to be celebrated.

The Churches of Asia kept their Easter upon the same day on which the Jews celebrated their Passover, namely, upon the fourteenth day of their first month Nisan, (which month began at the new moon next to the vernal equinox ;) and this they did upon what day of the week soever it fell, and were from thence called "Quartodecimans," or such as kept Easter upon the fourteenth day after the pass (phasis) or appearance of the moon; whereas the other Churches, especially those of the west, did not follow this custom, but kept their Easter on the Sunday following the Jewish Passover, partly the more to honour the day, and partly to distinguish between Jews and Christians. Both sides pleaded apostolical tradition; these latter pretending to derive their practice from St. Peter and St. Paul; whilst the others, namely, the Asiatics, said they imitated the example of St. John.

This difference for a considerable time continued with a great deal of Christian charity and forbearance, but at length became the occasion of great bustles in the Church, which grew to such a height at last, that Constantine thought it time to use his interest and authority to allay the heat of the opposite parties, and to bring them to a uniformity of practice. To which end he got a Canon to be passed in the great General Council of Nice, "That every where the great feast of Easter should be observed upon one and the same day, and that not on the day of the Jewish Passover, but, as had been generally observed, upon the Sunday afterwards." And that this dispute might never arise again, these paschal Canons were then also established, namely::

"1. That the twenty-first day of March shall be accounted the vernal equinox.

"2. That the full moon happening upon, or next after, the twenty-first day of March, shall be taken for the full moon of Nisan.

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3. That the Lord's day next following that full moon be Easter-day. แ 4. But if the full moon happen upon a Sunday, Easter-day shall be the Sunday after."

Agreeable to these is the rule for finding Easter still appointed by the Church. It is, however, proper to observe, that the Church does not reckon the full moons according to the rules of modern Almanacks, but that she governs herself therein by the ancient synodical determinations and paschal cycles of the Church. Also, that it was enacted by the 24th of George 2d, chap. 23, that, “whereas a kalendar, and also certain tables and rules for the fixing the true time of the celebration of the feast of Easter, and the finding the times of the full moons on which the same dependeth, so as the same shall agree as nearly as may be with the decree of the said general council, (of Nice,) and also with the practice of foreign countries, have been prepared and are hereunto annexed:" therefore, the said feast of Easter, or any of the moveable feasts thereon depending, shall be no longer kept or observed according to the tables," which had been till then prefixed to the Common Prayer Book, but had been found considerably erroneous; "but that the said new kalendar, tables and rules, hereunto annexed, shall be prefixed to all future editions of the said book, in the room and stead of the former: and that the said feast of Easter, and all other moveable feasts thereon depending, shall be observed according to the new kalendar tables, and rules hereunto annexed, in that part of Great Britain called England, and in all the dominions and countries aforesaid, wherein the liturgy of the Church of England now is, or hereafter shall be, used."

The tables and rules to find Easter and the other moveable feasts, which are now prefixed to the Common Prayer Book, as indeed they have been ever since the year 1752, are the tables and rules specified in the above extract; by which, it will have been remarked, that provision is made, not only for the celebration of the feast of Easter, on a day to be regulated by a certain full moon; but likewise for finding the time of the full moon on which the same dependeth.

On examining the authority for the Rubric inserted at the end of the Metrical Hymns, it has been clearly ascertained by your Committee, that the said Rubric was passed by both Houses at the Convention of 1808, was adopted by both Houses in 1809, and was thus made the condition on which the said Hymns were to be used; for proof whereof, reference is made to pages 249, 253, 255 and 261 of the Journals, as published by John Bioren, in 1817; that the said Rubric has never been either directly or inferentially abrogated, and is therefore of necessary obligation.

R. S. MASON, Chairman.

The Rubric is found in all editions of the English Prayer Book, annexed to the Table of Moveable Feasts.

Note. That in a bissextile or leap year, the number of Sundays after Epiphany will be the same as if Easter-day had fallen one day later than it really does. And for the same reason, one day must in every leap year be added to the day of the month given by the table for Septuagesima Sunday. And the like must be done for the first day of Lent, (commonly called Ash-Wednesday,) unless the table gives some day in the month of March for it; for in that case the day given by the table is the right day. The Rubric annexed to the months of March and April, in the English Prayer Book, is as follows: