or for children, I feel constrained, both by reflection and by experience, to express the same views as were held by the same venerated man. To him, it seemed to involve a stipulated silence respecting certain principles which we hold to be scriptural and important-and silence, where it is hardly consistent with the full discharge of our duty. His apprehension, too, that such associations might not prove friendly to peace, either among ourselves or with those around us, has been verified, I fear, at least to some extent, by experience.

In conclusion, I cannot but congratulate the Convention on the improved and improving condition of the diocese. The number of churches is increasing; our schools are doing their work efficiently; the meetings of the clergy in district Convocations have been followed by the divine blessing; the confirmations during the past year have been materially larger than in the preceding; there is a better attendance, in many parishes, on public worship, and the manner of conducting the service is more spirited and more exactly conformed to the requirements of the PrayerBook. These I am rejoiced to believe are but indications of a deeper and more healthy religious feeling, which implies a growing sense of our responsibilities in respect both to God and our neighbor. When I state that in a few parishes in this city, a sum ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 has been paid or pledged within the last eight months, simply towards the removal of indebtedness, and that several of these same parishes have meanwhile contributed liberally towards church extension in this county and state, and even beyond their borders, I find in this fact a reason why we should thank God and take courage. May this good spirit extend, and may it be accompanied by all the other fruits of an earnest and steadfast faith. In our common efforts to build up the kingdom of Christ and dispense happiness among all for whom He died, may we reap a common reward. May our hearts be drawn together. May

our views of divine truth gradually be assimilated; and where differences of opinion are inevitable, there may we strive after the charity that thinketh no evil, that vaunteth not itself, that is not puffed up, but hopeth all things, believeth all things, endureth all things. Charity alone is that which never faileth. Now we see through a glass, darkly; but the time is coming, when all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity will see face to face. Now we know in part, but then shall we know even as also we are known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity.

XIII.

PERVERSIONS TO ROME.

(From the Address of 1847.)

It has been my melancholy duty to record the displacement of one clergyman of this diocese, during the last year, in consequence of his having exchanged his relations to this Church for membership in the Church of Rome. I have no desire to indulge in any unkind reflections either towards him or towards the religious body with which he has become connected. To their own Master they stand or fall. But I trust I may, without impropriety, refer to this event as a reason for renewing my dissuasive from speculations, which though begun, sometimes, in thoughtlessness, and sometimes in an over fond pursuit of what calls itself Catholic, is but too apt to terminate in rejecting the very first principles of true Catholicism. I rejoice in the assurance that there is in this diocese a prevailing and deep feeling of allegiance to the Church as it is, in its liturgy, its government, and its articles. This allegiance will

continue unimpaired, and will grow into a yet more controlling sentiment, if we allow the provisions which our Church has made for the edification of its members, and for the conversion of sinners, to work themselves out in a moderate and judicious manner. At such a time we must, as it seems to me, be content to recognize practically the broad and comprehensive principles on which the Reformation and reorganization of the Anglican Church were conducted, and thus be tolerant of diversities in doctrine and practice which have always prevailed, and which are not likely to disappear, except before the fires of a ruthless intolerance. We must recognize also that wise reference, as well to the principles of Scripture as to the condition and institutions of our own country, which governed the founders of our American Church in their revision of the Prayer-Book, and in their code of ecclesiastical law. We must be willing to leave to Churches more superstitious, and as we believe, less pure,-usages, which, though they may have the sanction of antiquity, are inconsistent with that simplicity which we have been taught to love; or which having been made directly subservient to gross errors, or, having become inseparably associated with such errors in the minds of a large portion of the Christian world, were on that account wisely laid aside by the early Reformers. We must strive after so much uniformity, even in externals, as will exhibit the unity and decorum of our system, shunning the extreme of pomp and pageantry on the one hand, and of slovenly negligence on the other. We must multiply the means of grace in public, but without withdrawing our people from the indispensable duties of the closet and of the family altar. We must encourage reverence for the Sacraments, but not at the expense of reverence for that ordinance of preaching Christ and him crucified, which has been the great instrument of winning souls to God. We must endeavor to draw deference and affectionate regard towards our office and our persons, rather by our zeal and

engagedness, than by doubtful theories of priestly authority. We must be willing to admit the indefeasible right to think, which pertains to every human being, while we combine with the admission of that right, clear views of the fearful responsibility which attaches to all who wantonly abuse it. We must cultivate gladly in our people the disposition for which the Apostle commended the Berean Christians, and on account of which he pronounced them noble— the disposition to search diligently the Scriptures of eternal truth, and to search them that they may learn whether the instructions which issue from our lips are in conformity with the mind of the Spirit. At the same time we must endeavor to train them up in a dutiful reverence for the authority and requirements of the Church to which they belong, and urge them constantly, that avoiding foolish and unlearned questions, they may endeavor to give full effect to her admirable provisions for the training of the young, and for the instruction and improvement of their own souls, neglecting none of her clear directions for the observance of the greater festivals, for the catechizing of children, and for the due and decent administration of her worship and offices.

(From the Address of 1853.)

In our chequered lot, unalloyed prosperity is not to be expected, and by those who consider well the exceeding frailty of the human heart, it will hardly be desired. Our adversities chasten pride and selfconfidence, and our difficulties stimulate to higher exertion. This discipline of trial is not withheld from our Church in these days. Both in our own and in our mother Church, there is much to excite solicitude, much to provoke to greater faithfulness in prayer, to more of humble, self-sacrificing labor. Questions, which agitate the Anglican communion, transfer themselves quite too easily to this country,

and hence it is that controversies, which in that Church, have owed much of their recent virulence and depth to local and political considerations, have been the occasion, in this country and in our communion, of unnecessary disturbance. It is not to be denied, however, that questions touching the constitution and working of the Christian Church have revived everywhere with unwonted power in these times, and that they demand calm and wise treatment. They have proved too unmanageable for some of our former associates, who have sought rest from the vexing storms of doubt and controversy, in submission to a power which claims to be the infallible expounder of doctrine and duty, but which usually relieves perplexity by extinguishing freedom of thought. These perversions have been much less frequent here than abroad, and less common in this diocese, I am glad to say, than in some other parts of our American Church. They are confined, for the most part, to the clergy, and are to be regretted, mainly, as indications of an unsound temper of mind and habit of thinking among a portion of that body.

If they are referred to now, it is not for the purpose of denunciation. These misguided brethren have gone out from us, because they were not of us, and we should accept their departure as cheering proof that no man who holds anti-protestant opinions can, with a good conscience, remain permanently in our fold. Their power to do us material harm ceases when they declare themselves; and, for my own part, I hold them in much higher estimation when they manfully meet the consequences of their opinions, than while they remain repeating, with baited breath, their professions of allegiance, and insinuating doctrines, which, till lately, no one supposed could be compatible with loyalty to a reformed communion. We may well mourn, however, that instead of accepting the Reformation as a blessing, and planting themselves on the liberty and the simplicity of doctrine which that event gave back to the Church, men of