be discharged by posterity. No sanction has been given to the criminal practice of incurring pecuniary responsibilities, without a clear prospect of being able to meet and discharge them; and no hazard has been incurred, that places once set apart for the performance of religious offices, shall be wrested from their sacred purpose by the violent though righteous hand of the law. And it is due to five other parishes which have completed church edifices within the last year, to state that not having discharged as yet all their liabilities, they have not asked that these edifices should be devoted to the exclusive possession and service of the Most High.

Thanks to this spirit. It is shared by several of our older parishes which have long been pressed down by the incubus of debts, and which are now employed in strenuous efforts to disengage themselves. The diocese is thus engaged in the twofold work of erecting new churches, and of discharging the pecuniary obligations resting on old ones. The work, though arduous, is advancing with much spirit, and I look forward with confidence to a day not far distant, when we can point to all the consecrated edifices of the Church in this diocese-as free from the reproach of indebtedness.

Another characteristic of the churches built within the last year, and one to which I refer with much satisfaction, is the simple and appropriate style of their architecture, and the moderate degree of expense at which they have been finished. In a country where population increases at such a rate, where the capital which gives it employment is so limited, and where it is unspeakably important that the means of grace should multiply more rapidly, I should deprecate as unfriendly to the extension as well as to the simplicity of our faith, the growth of a taste which demanded gorgeous and magnificent structures for worship. More of graceful forms and convenient arrangements we may well desire, but they are by no means incompatible with simplicity and frugality.

Long may this diocese be known for her zeal and munificence in planting churches among the destitute, rather than for her prodigality in rearing splendid edifices, where art shall undertake to supersede the appropriate office of the pulpit and the desk,-and where piety shall be measured by the expensiveness of its solitary offerings, rather than by the diffusiveness of its unostentatious charities. At the same time, I desire to do merited honor to the better taste in church architecture which is gaining ground among us, and which is raising some new and beautiful monuments of its frugality, as well as of its refinement.

A third characteristic of most of the churches which I have consecrated, and of several others now in progress, is that they are offerings to the cause of missions. One stands in the midst of a mining district, distant several miles from any other place of worship, and has been built at the sole expense of a benevolent churchman in this city, for the benefit of the surrounding and increasing population. Another is the fruit of an ardent desire, conceived years ago, by a few of the members of our older churches, to establish a parish in a neglected district of this city, and it has been erected almost exclusively by the contributions of the benevolent. The same is true of others, and to a considerable, though less degree of some, which though finished are not yet consecrated. The noble building which has been raised by the parish at Pottsville, is likewise, under God, the result of a purpose long cherished and devotedly followed up, of opening accommodations for the foreign laborers, who are crowding into that town and its vicinity. In addition to liberal subscriptions among the members of the congregation, considerable sums have been given from abroad, and these have been devoted to the purchase of pews, which are always to remain free. It deserves to be noticed, as an arrangement peculiarly worthy of imitation, that these pews instead of being located together, in the remotest and least attractive part of the building, where their occupants would

feel more sensibly their dependence on charity, and be in the same proportion more exposed to the invidious remarks of others, are distributed through every part of the building. This arrangement must contribute as well to the orderly and edifying administration of the services, as to the promotion of a healthy feeling of Christian brotherhood.

(From the Address of 1850.)

It is with sincere gratification I record the fact, that in nearly all the churches throughout the Diocese, there is a growing attention to the proper preservation of the building, and to neatness and order. This is generally accompanied by a disposition to conform the chancel arrangements to the long-established usage which provides a place for the pulpit and reading-desk, as well as for the Lord's Table. In the few instances in which there has been any material departure from this plan, I am assured that there has been no intention to exalt one office of the Church at the expense of others, nor any thought of disparaging the ministry of the Word. What may be the ultimate tendency of some of these arrangements is a question about which minds the most enlightened and upright will differ. Could your Bishop's opinion or wishes prevail, there would be no deviation from the old plan, which assigns a reading-desk and surplice for the Morning and Evening Prayer, including the litany-the holy table, and a font in its vicinity for the Communion and Baptismal Offices-and a pulpit and gown for the sermon. Not that he conceives that these are things important in themselves; but order, sobriety, and uniformity are important, especially in a communion which is still to win its way to general acceptance; and which must owe much of its power to its blended order and simplicity. To us, more than to most Christian bodies, uniformity in the mode of conducting Christian worship in all our churches, is of moment; and it is therefore much

to be deplored when childish prejudices against the surplice, or a hankering not less childish after novelties, that are none the less novelties among us, because some precedent for them can be found in the records of the distant past,-when causes like these are permitted to interfere with our peace, and perpetuate the prevalence of anomalies. He, however, would greatly underrate the tenacity with which the human mind clings, on the one hand, to old ideas, and on the other to new conceits, who could expect, at a period like the present, any other result. In the absence of canonical regulations on the subject, which, in this country, would be framed with great difficulty, these questions must be left in a good degree to time, and to the operation of the good sense and good feeling by which the churchmen of this Diocese are characterized. Where the Gospel is faithfully preached and faithfully followed, there such questions will ultimately sink into comparative insignificance; and where these are wanting, little can be effected for the salvation of men by any architectural arrangements, however they may conform to a Medieval or a Protestant standard. It is due to the frankness which ought always to obtain between a Diocese and its Bishop to remark further, that should evils, which have been apprehended from some recent innovations, be realized, the time will then have come when I should conceive myself unworthy of the place I hold, if I did not exercise mildly, yet firmly, the discretion with which I have been charged, in respect to the consecration of places for public worship.

XI.

AGGRESSIVE WORK OF THE CHURCH.

(From the Address of 1852.)

In surveying the present condition of the Diocese, we have reason to take courage. We owe gratitude

to God and to our predecessors, that its course has been steadily progressive for more than half a century, and that, through its instrumentality, the Gospel has not only been maintained, but has been extended among many who would otherwise have been given over to ignorance and irreligion. Yet we ought by no means to rest satisfied with our present state. To ourselves and to our Divine Master, we owe large arrears on account of past unfaithfulness and inefficiency. We reach, directly, through our own services, but an insignificant part of the population of this great Commonwealth-not more, probably, than one in twenty. We see abundant proofs, at the same time, that there are multitudes, both in town and country, who are reached by no religious instruction and influence likely to be of permanent advantage to them. The voluntary system, for sustaining and propagating the Gospel, has thus far worked quite as well as any system with which it is usually compared. But, in its practical working here, it must be admitted that, at present, it appeals too much to the principle of competition among different religious bodies, and directs its care somewhat too exclusively towards those who have pecuniary support to offer. In travelling over this State, one is often saddened to see with what intense and ungenerous efforts those of different religious names sometimes struggle for ascendency in our small towns, and how, in this ignoble strife, ministrations and places of worship are multiplied as much beyond the proper wants of the population, as beyond its ability to support them. On the other hand, in the rural, mining, and manufacturing districts, there are large numbers of people who are left without the services of any properly qualified ministry; there are many who have the services of no ministry at all. In our cities and larger towns, the evil takes a somewhat different shape. Congregations there being gathered mainly through the attractions of the pulpit, and being composed almost exclusively of those who are able and willing