APPENDIX.

THE following extracts from annual addresses to the Convention of Pennsylvania, are introduced, partly as explanatory of matters touched upon in the preceding pages more especially as embodying other opinions which have been formed with some care. They embrace a variety of topics, some of which are of a general nature-others pertain more immediately to the duties and interests of those who were addressed.

I.

CANDIDATES FOR THE MINISTRY.

(From the Address of 1846.)

A considerable portion of the candidates in this diocese are pursuing their studies in Theological Seminaries. Of the residue, such as reside in Philadelphia receive counsel and direction from the clergy of the parishes with which they are respectively connected; and by the liberality of the Trustees of the Episcopal Academy, provision is also made, by which the Rev. Dr. Hare can devote an hour daily, for five

days in each week, to their instruction in the original languages of the Old and New Testaments. To a small number of candidates, I have myself been able to give some instruction, and I hope hereafter to have leisure to do more. The relation in which a Bishop is placed to those who are preparing for the ministry, as well by the fearfully important interests at stake, as by his vows made at his consecration, and by the 9th Canon of 1832, which requires him to give vigilant superintendence both to their studies and their moral deportment,-is a relation of the most serious and responsible character. At a time when the efficiency of the clergy depends so peculiarly on their exemplary conduct, their practical good sense, and their ample literary and theological acquirements, one whose duty it is to confer the sacred office by the laying on of hands, would fail in a most important department of his labors, if he did not strive to become personally acquainted with all the candidates within his jurisdiction. In an age, too, when questions, once considered as settled, are re-opened and are discussed with equal learning, ability, and zeal, it has become especially important that young men preparing for the sacred ministry should be trained to that careful and reverent spirit of inquiry, which will guard them as well against the resuscitated errors of the past, as against the unwarrantable novelties of the present. The mournful experience of the last few years, both in England and in this country, shows the danger of that rash and presumptuous tone of speculation which is sometimes most rash when employed in advocating the abstract claims of authority; and which, beginning with harsh and unfilial animadversions on the reformers and founders of our Church, terminates, but too frequently, in renouncing their guidance for the spurious Catholicism of Rome. This disposition, unbecoming in all, is peculiarly unbecoming in those who are only preparing for orders, and who should appreciate the awful responsibility which they assume, if they seize upon doubtful opinions, hardly consis

tent with loyalty to the Church, and hold them with a confidence which nothing but years of the most patient and thorough investigation could warrant. In whatever direction such a spirit may manifest itself, it ought, as it seems to me, to be promptly discouraged; and young men should be warned against the peril and guilt which they incur, if they press forward to a ministry which they cannot leave without reproach, and in which they may find that they cannot continue without dishonor. I make these remarks the more freely now, because, as far as I know, the candidates in this diocese are not liable to censure in these respects, and I can make them therefore without invidiousness. So far as I have any voice in the councils of the diocese, it shall always be raised in favor of a generous and charitable policy; but it ought not to be forgotten that such policy must be maintained without sacrificing the integrity of our Reformed and truly Catholic faith, and hence that some limits must be fixed to the license in which they can indulge who would be allowed to serve at our altars.

(From the Address of 1849.)

Esteeming it important that the Church in this diocese should be better acquainted with the spiritual condition of those districts, in which the population is most rapidly increasing, I last summer commissioned two of our Candidates for Orders, in whose judgment and efficiency I had confidence, to explore the whole coal-region in the eastern part of the State. These candidates, accompanied by one from the Diocese of Western New York, performed a laborious tour, of a month's duration, during which they passed from Pottsville through Schuylkill, Carbon, Luzerne, and Wayne Counties, to Honesdale, visiting 1433 families, distributing Bibles, Testaments, and Prayer-Books (510), and 15,000 pages of tracts. They supplied me on their return with a full and circumstantial account

in writing of the results of their tour, and it is one which reflected much credit on their activity and zeal. As other efforts of this kind will probably be made under my direction, and as they seem to me, if duly directed, to promise much benefit, as well in the information which they will furnish as in the good done to the people, and in the useful experience gained by the candidates, I subjoin in a note the instructions which were delivered to the young gentlemen, and an abstract of their report.

NOTE.

PHILADELPHIA, July 15th, 1848.

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS:

You have undertaken to visit some portions of this Diocese as Catechists and Colporteurs. It is proper, therefore, that you should receive a few hints from me as to the course which you ought to pursue in discharging duties so important, so delicate, and I may add so unprecedented.

The sphere of your operations will be mainly in the principal coal basins of Eastern Pennsylvania, and your primary object will be to place yourselves in communication with the resident population, and especially with those engaged in developing the entire mineral resources (iron, &c., as well as coal), of these districts. In your intercourse with these people you will endeavor to ascertain,

1. The number of families and of souls, in each locality.

2. Of what country they are natives-how long resident in the United States-how long resident in Pennsylvania-and how long resident in that particular locality.

3. In what faith or form of worship and church polity they were educated.

3. (b.) What place of worship (if any) they attend, and how often.

4. How far their children have been baptized.