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THE ORIGIN, THE GENERAL CHARACTER, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 PRESEJ^T SITUATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 FNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
THE ORIGIN, THE GENERAL CHARACTER, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 PRESEJS^T SITUJiTIOJ^ 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA— 
 
 A SERMON, 
 
 J^EAGHED IN ST. JAMES's CHURCH, IN THE CITY OF PHILADEL- 
 PHIA, ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 18TH, A. D. 1814. 
 
 On the occasion of the opening of the General Convention of the said Clmrcli, 
 
 AND OF THE CONSECRATION OF 
 
 THE RIGHT REV. BISHOP MOORE, 
 
 OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Br JOHJ\^ HEJ^TRF IIOBART, B. B. 
 
 ASSISTANT BISHOP OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL fHrRCH 
 IN THE STATE OF NEW-YORK. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY DESIRE OF THE CONVENTION- 
 PHILADELPHIA; 
 I'KINTRD FORBKADFOHD AND lYSKERl*. 
 
 nv J. MAXWELr. 
 
 1814. 
 
 . . _,. .£n^^.^ 
 
THE ORIGIN, &c. 
 
 PSALM cxxii. 7. 
 
 Peace be whhm thy walls and plenteousness within thy palaces. 
 
 The prayer of the devout Israelite, for that 
 holy city where God manifested his glory and dispen- 
 sed his blessing in the institutions and ordinances of the 
 law established by his servant Moses, should be the 
 more ardent prayer of the Christian for that New Jeru- 
 salem, that city of the living God, where he manifests 
 his glory and dispenses his grace in his Son Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 " Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall pros- 
 per that love thee. Peace be within thy walls and plen- 
 teousness within thy palaces. For my brethren and 
 companions' sake I will now say, Peace be within 
 thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will 
 seek thy good." 
 
 The sentiment, contained in this prayer, should 
 more deeply interest us, my brethren, on occasions 
 when the promotion of the peace and the prosperity of 
 our Zion is the object of the coun^ls of her highest 
 ecclesiastical assenibly. 
 
The absence through indisposition of the Right 
 Rcvd. person, who was to have addressed you, im- 
 posed upon me the duty of preparing, at a very short 
 notice, to supply his place. This circumstance, 1 trust, 
 will entitle me to your indulgence, should the senti- 
 ments delivered fall short of the importance of the 
 occasion, and of your expectations. 
 
 The prayer, contained in the text, for the peace and 
 prosperity of Zion, considered in reference to our own 
 Church, naturally leads us to consider the rneans b}" 
 which her peace and prosperity may be promoted; or, 
 in other words, the particular duties incumbent on her 
 clergy and people. The general duties of the ministry 
 have been frequently, on these occasions, displayed by 
 one * whose voice is never heard but with feelings of 
 the highest veneration and atfection. 
 
 It has occurred to me, therefore, that I cannot at 
 this time more profitably engage you than by calling 
 your attention to the origin ^ the general character y and 
 the present circumstances of our Church, with a view 
 thence to deduce the peculiar duties incumbent on her 
 clergy and people. 
 
 The peculiar duties incumbent on the Clergy and 
 Laity of our Churchy from a consideration of 
 
 Her Origin, 
 
 Her general Character , and 
 
 Yicv prcscjit Situation^ shall be the subject of this 
 discourse. 
 
 Your preacher is aware that he enters upon the 
 most important, the most interesting, and the most deli- 
 cate topics. Yet, if the utmost purity of intention, regu- 
 
 • lU . Rev. Bishop White, of Pennsylvania. 
 
iated by a supreme desire to promote the weliarc ol 
 a Church, which maintains, as he believes, the faith, the 
 order, and the worship, of the Gospel, in their primitive 
 ititegrity and power, — if such purity of intention can 
 authorise him to hope for the divine direction and bless- 
 ing, and for your candid indulgence, he confidently 
 trusts he shall receive them both. 
 
 He almost regrets that he has entered on this field, 
 because he perceives that it is so extensive, that he must 
 demand an unreasonable portion of your time, and cal- 
 culate largely on your patience. 
 
 I. The Origin of our Church, and the duties thence in- 
 cumbent on the Clergy and Laity, constitute the first 
 topic of discussion. 
 
 This part of the subject naturally divides itself into 
 tht generally and the particular, origin of our Church. 
 
 1. Her ge?ieral origin she traces back, through the 
 uninterrupted series of creeds, of the ministry, and of 
 ordinances, to the only source of spiritual authority, Je- 
 sus Christ, the Lord of Heaven and earth, and the 
 Head over all things to his Church. If there are any 
 truths that speak with irresistible force from almost eve- 
 ry page of the New Testament, they are — that our Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ established a spiritual soci- 
 ety, with officers and ordinances, and that to this soci- 
 ety he committed the precious deposit of the faith — 
 that this society, he redeems by his blood, sanctifies by 
 his spirit, and while he governs it by his Almighty 
 power, presents constantly for its faithful members be- 
 fqre the mercy seat of Hesiven his prevailing intercession 
 
— that of this society, stiled, on account of its intimate 
 relation to its divine founder, and union with him, the 
 body of Christ, he is the head and the ruler, the source 
 of all its powers and authority — and that to this society, 
 by a true and living faith and through the instrumenta- 
 lity of its ministry and ordinances, must be added all 
 who, according to God's covenanted mercies, would be 
 saved. Hear these truths enforced on the authority of 
 Christ and his Apostles in tlie declarations — " Upon 
 this rock I will build 7ny Church^ '' Christ is the 
 head of the Church, the Saviour of the body." ** Christ 
 also loved the Church, and gave himself for it." '^ The 
 Church of God which he hath purchased with his own 
 blood." *' The. Church which is his body, the fulness 
 of him that filleth all in all." '' The Church of the Liv- 
 ing God, the pillar and the ground of the truth." *' The 
 Lord added unto tlie Church daily such as should be 
 saved." " By one spirit ye are all baptised into one 
 body." *' Ye are come unto Mount Zion, the city of 
 the Living God." 
 
 Of this universal Church, particular Churches lo- 
 cated in particular districts were parts or members. 
 Thus we read of the Church at Antioch, of the Church 
 at Corinth, of the Church of the Thessalonians, of the 
 Church at Galatia, of the seven Churches of Asia. And 
 at the present day, it must be obvious, that of this uni- 
 versal Church, each particular or national Church is a 
 pure and vital member, in proportion as it possesses, 
 in their integrity, the faith, the order, and the ordinances 
 derived from Christ and his Apostles. 
 
 Viewing then that branch of the universal Church to 
 which we belong as a pure and vital member of the)?f> 
 
dyof Christ, we are bound to revere her as a spiritual so- 
 ciety of divine origin — not an engine of human work- 
 manship, to be employed as human pohcy and human 
 passions may dictate; but a structure formed by the 
 hand of a Divine Architect, which is to be an holy tem- 
 ple unto the Lord, in which souls are to be trained, by 
 the grace of the spirit accompanying the word and the 
 ordinances duly administered, unto glory and honour 
 and eternal life — not an institution resting on the sandy 
 basis of human power, and supported merely by the ta- 
 lents and the efforts of fallible men; but a spiritual build- 
 ing placed on the foundation of the Apostles and Pro- 
 phets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 
 and while continuing to rest on this rock of ages, pro- 
 tected against the gates of Hell by the power of the 
 Most High — not a kingdom which, like the kingdoms 
 of this world, may employ against the violators of its 
 laws the secular arm^ the terrors of pecuniary loss, and 
 corporeal sufferings; but a kingdom whose punish- 
 ments like its powers, are spiritual, extending only to 
 the forfeiture of its spiritual privileges. 
 
 Hence also result the most important lessons both to 
 rulers and ruled — inculcating on the former the mo- 
 mentous truths, that the power committed to them is not 
 to be employed as the base instrument of corrupt am- 
 bition, or the cruel engine of vindictive passions, but 
 like the divine source from whence it emanates to ex- 
 ert itself for the reformation and the salvation of the ol>. 
 jects of its discipline; that those who hold this power, 
 responsible according to the legitimate provisions of 
 ecclesiastical authority to the tribunals of the Church 
 on earth, are to render a more strict and awful account 
 
10 
 
 to that tribunal whence they received their commission, 
 and to wliich they offered their solemn vows of fidelity 
 to the prescriptions of the Church, and of being ** so 
 merciful that they be not too remiss, and so ministering 
 discipline, that they forget not mercy" — inculcating on 
 the ruled the equally important truths, that the power 
 of the Church, exercised according to legal forms and 
 for legitimate ends, is, in the highest sense, the ordi- 
 nance of God; that " whatsoever is thus bound on 
 earth is bound in Heaven, and whatsoever is thus 
 loosed on earth is loosed in Heaven;" and that they 
 who in such case resist fcannot expect a penalty less 
 severe than that which is denounced by an inspired Apos- 
 tle against unlawful resistance where the authority is 
 entirely human, and the ends temporal and civil for 
 which it is exercised. 
 
 Lastly, in reference to the divine origin of our 
 Church, we are called on to revere, to love, to obey her 
 as Xh^ spouse and body of Christ, In this view, how jea- 
 lous should we be of her honour; how tenacious of her 
 purity; how tender of her peace. The Redeemer has 
 placed her in tlic most interesting and tender relations 
 to him. She is near to him as his own body. She is 
 dear to him as the most precious object of human affec- 
 tion. Blessed Lord! can any professing Christian thus 
 regard thy Church and offend her! Can any who bear 
 thy sacred name, sully by their unholy lives the purity 
 of thy spouse! Can any, through selfish and unworthy 
 passions, introduce disorder and division intothy Church, 
 and wound thy sacred body! Save us, we beseech thee, 
 from the tremendous guilt — save us from the horrible 
 punishment which must ensue. 
 
11 
 
 Our Church then traces her origin to that Church 
 which was founded by Christ and his Apostles. We are 
 now led to consider, 
 
 2. The particular origin of our Church — or the par- 
 ticular Christian communion from which she received 
 that apostolic faith, order, and worship, which constitute 
 her a legitimate member of the body of Christ — and 
 that communion, we are proud to boast, is the Church of 
 England, 
 
 Here your preacher deems it necessary to guard 
 against misconception. In boasting of our origin from 
 the Church of England, he does not contemplate her as 
 enriched with secular wealth, adorned with secular ho- 
 nours, or defended by the secular arm. Of the policy 
 of this union of the civil and ecclesiastical authority, so 
 that the latter, in commutation for the wealth and patron- 
 age of the former, relinquishes a portion of her legitimate 
 spiritual powers, and is in danger of being viewed 
 as the mere creature of human institution, and of being 
 made the engine of state policy, there have been sound 
 churchmen, even of her own communion, who have en- 
 tertained serious doubts. 
 
 Nor is the Church of England contemplated in con- 
 nexion with the character or conduct of the government 
 or nation where she is established, concerning which, 
 wise and good men, and within the knowledge of him 
 who addresses you, correct and exemplary churchmen 
 entertain very different opinions; and your preacher 
 would deprecate as unsound in principle and most im- 
 politic in its results, any connexion of our Church, as a 
 religious communion, with the principles and views of 
 political parties. 
 
02 
 
 Nor docs be contemplate the Church ot England in 
 that particular organization oF her government, and 
 those local ecclesiastical aj^pendages which involve no 
 essential principle of Church order. 
 
 But in boasting of our origin from the Church of 
 England, he views her merely a^ a spiritual society pos- 
 sessing the faith, the order, and the worship which were 
 the characteristics and the glory of the primitive ages 
 of the Church. 
 
 We boast then of our origin from a Church, which, 
 in renouncing the despotic claims of the Church of 
 Rome, tempered, with such singular felicity, zeal and 
 ardour with prudence and moderation, as to reject the 
 errors, the superstitions, and corruptions of that Church; 
 while she retained the primitive faith, order, and worship 
 which those errors, superstitions, and corruptions had de- 
 based and disfigured, but with which they were so inti- 
 mately mingled as to render the separation a work of ex- 
 treme difficulty and imminent hazard. We boast of our 
 origin from a Church which, in reference to the sound- 
 ness of her principles, the talents and piety of her clergy 
 and her cttbrts in the cause of the reformation, still main- 
 tains the proud title which at the first she acquired of be- 
 ing Xht glory of the reformed Churches — A Church which 
 Cranmer and Latimer and Ridley enriched by their blood; 
 in whose cause Chillingworth and Hooker and Horseley 
 exerted the strongest powers of intellect and employed 
 the most varied and profound erudition; which BaiTOW 
 and Tillotson anel Porteus honoured by their eloquence; 
 in which Andrews, and Taylor and Home displayed the 
 lustre of a fervent piety — a Church, which, shaking off 
 the infirmities, the lukcwarmness, and the weaknesses, of 
 
13 
 
 old age, now comes forth in the vigour, and the freshness 
 of apostolic youth, to carry the cross of the Saviour, that 
 pledge of salvation, to the strong holds of pagan power; 
 and to illuminate, with the light of Scriptural truth, the 
 regions where error and superstition have held their 
 reign. 
 
 From such a Church we boast our origin. Church 
 of our fathers! thou hast our veneration, our affection, 
 our prayers — " Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity 
 within thy palaces." Elevated is the ground on the hill 
 of Zion to which thou art exalted. We behold those 
 who have been arrayed in hostility against thee, won by 
 thy disinterested, thy noble, thy apostolic zeal, laying 
 their weapons at thy feet; and honouring thee as the first 
 of the Churches of Christendom; as the leader of Chris- 
 tendom in the glorious work of bringing into the fold 
 of the Redeemer the dispersed of Israel with the fulness 
 of the Gentiles, and of ushering in those blissful days 
 when "from the rising of the sun unto the going down 
 of the same God's name shall be great among the Gen- 
 tiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto his 
 name, and a pure offering; for my name shall be great 
 among the heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts." 
 
 My brethren, we honour ourselves, when we dis- 
 charge the debt of gratitude, by acknowledging in the 
 words of the preface to the book of Common Prayer, 
 that, " to the Church of England, the Protestant Epis- 
 copal Church in these states is indebted, under God, 
 for her first foundation and a long continuance of nurs- 
 ing care, and protection." 
 
 And while we discharge the debt of gratitude, it is 
 our duty to show the sincerity of the tribute, by iideiity 
 
14 
 
 to the principles of the Qiurch from which we arc de- 
 scended; so far as those principles maintain primitive 
 faith order and worship distinct from secular influence 
 and local arrangements. 
 
 The field before me is so extensive that I must has- 
 ten to a brief view of the second division of my dis- 
 course, which was to contemplate our Church in 
 
 II. Her general character^ and to point out some of the 
 duties of her clergy and people thence resulting. 
 
 The general character of our Church may be ascer- 
 tained by a view of some prominent features in her 
 doctrine^ order, and worship. 
 
 1. Her whole system of doctrine is founded on the 
 truth of the defection of man from original righteous- 
 ness, so that without God's preventing grace he is dis- 
 posed to evil and impotent to good: at the same time the 
 Church no wMere declares the accountableness of man 
 for any but actual transgressions committed against 
 grace received; or the total absence of all good propen- 
 sities in his nature; though she undoubtedly maintains 
 that there can be no principle in man called into holy 
 operation but by the pre%'enting and sanctifying power 
 of the Spirit of God. 
 
 On the corruption of human nature and the guilt of 
 man, our Church founds the necessity of a Mediator — 
 for through a Mediator it hath pleased God to conduct 
 his dispensation of mercy — a Mediator, man indeed 
 that he might obey the law, the violated authority of 
 which was to be vindicated, and sustaining its penal- 
 ties, ward them off from the guilt}' offenders — ma7i in- 
 
15 
 
 deed, that he might be touched with a feeling for our in- 
 firmities, and knowing how to pity and to succour 
 us embolden us to come unto God through him — 
 but also a Mediator, the Son of God, whom the 
 Almighty Father would view with complacency, whose 
 atonement he would accept as of infinite value, and 
 whose intercession would be all prevailing. The doc- 
 trine of a Divine Mediator our Church sets forth most 
 prominently in her Articles and Creeds, and explains 
 and guards with every variety of expression — and it is 
 his mediation, his merits, his intercession, which, ani- 
 mating all her prayers, her collects and services, make 
 them the source of comfort, of peace, and of exultation 
 to the penitent soul. 
 
 The redemption, effected by the sufferings and death 
 of this Mediator, who, in the language of Scripture is 
 " the Saviour of all men, especially of them that be- 
 lieve," our Church extends to all mankind; making salva- 
 tion possible through his merits to those, who, desti- 
 tute of Gospel light, follow the dictates of conscience 
 and the secret monitions of the divine spirit, as well as 
 to those actual believers, to whom the blessings of the 
 atonement are visibly signed and sealed by the word, 
 the ministry and ordinances. These are the explicit 
 declarations of our Church — " The offering of Christ 
 once made is that perfect redemption, propitiation and 
 satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both ori- 
 ginal and actual."* " By his one oblation of himself 
 once offered, he made a full, perfect, and sufficient sa- 
 crifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole 
 world."! 
 
 * Art. xxxi. t Communion service. 
 
16 
 
 The principle, by the operation of which we obtain 
 a vital interest in the merits of this great Mediator, is 
 faith, ** Wholesome and very full of comfort," in the 
 judgment of our Church, is the doctrine " that we are 
 justified by faith only.''* For it is faith which sends us 
 as guilty and perishing sinners, grieved with our sins 
 and bowed down under their burden, to Christ for rest 
 and deliverance. It is faith which places our hopes of 
 acceptance — not on our tears; they cannot wash away 
 the stain of our sins — not on our repentance; it needs 
 to be repented of — not on our works of righteousness; 
 when we have done all, we are unprofitable servants — 
 but on the all-sufficient merits and all-perfect righte- 
 ousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom, who- 
 soever Cometh unto God shall in no wise be cast out. 
 United by faith to Him, we have an anchor of the soul 
 that will secure us against every assault of the adversary; 
 we have an hope, that even in the day that shall burn as 
 an oven, and consume every false dependence, will not 
 make us ashamed, but will animate us with rejoicing in 
 the Lord, widi joy in the God of our salvation. 
 '* Wholesome and very full of comfort is the doctrine 
 that we are justified by faidi." Blessed Saviour, it is 
 faith which leads us to thee! 
 
 But the Church knows no true and hvely, no justifying 
 faith which does not produce the fruit of good works. 
 An inspired apostle knew no j ustifying faith which did not 
 " work by love and purify the heart and overcome the 
 world." And these works, which are the fruitsof atrueand 
 lively faith, ** are pleasing and acceptable unto God in 
 Christ. " For it is a trutli essentially and vitally resulting 
 
 * Art. xj. 
 
17 
 
 from his perfections, from his government, from the re- 
 lations of man to him, and from the nature of the hap- 
 piness of Heaven, that " without hoUness, no man shall 
 see the Lord." 
 
 But in a creature so dependent, so weak, so corrupt, 
 and so exposed to temptation as man, these works must 
 be wrought by divine aid, and this holiness produced in 
 the soul by the power of divine grace. " Wherefore," 
 saith our Church, " we have no power to do good works 
 pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of 
 God by Christ preventing," going before " us that we 
 may have a goodwill."* — But our Church disclaiming 
 the doctrine of the irresistibility of grace which destroys 
 man's free agency, subverts the nature of virtue, and 
 renders man an unfit subject of reward and punishment, 
 declares that the grace of God works ** with us when 
 we have that good will."t And our Church disclaiming 
 the equally injurious and unfounded doctrine of the in- 
 defectibility of grace, declares, that " after we have re- 
 ceived grace we may fall into sin, and by the grace of 
 God may arise again and amend our lives. "f 
 
 By this agency of the divine spirit is produced the 
 renovation and sanctification of the heart, which the 
 most superficial observer must acknowledge is a doc- 
 trine prominently displayed in all the offices and servi- 
 ces of our Church. Inconsistent indeed would she be 
 with herself, as well as contradictory to Scripture, if, 
 while she maintains with emphasis that wc are " born 
 in sin," that " there is no health in us," that " the 
 9esh lusteth against the spirit," that we are '' far gone 
 
 * Article xii. t Article x. 1 Article xvi. 
 
18 
 
 from original righteousness," she, at the same time, 
 should fail to inculcate the necessity of the renewing 
 of our corrupt natures !)y divine power, and of our res- 
 toration to a stat^ of purity, of soundness, of evangelical 
 riehtcousncss. 
 
 On this subject tlicre is a remarkable characteristic 
 of our Church. — The avo^^•al, with clearness and with 
 force, of a doctrine, which indeed pervades every part 
 of her system, that baptism is the sacramental com- 
 mencement of the spiritual life. Infants, w ho according 
 to the terms of the covenant, to the declarations and prac- 
 tice of our Saviour and his apostles, are fit subjects of 
 baptism, are made in this sacrament members of Christ, 
 children of God, and heirs of the kingdom of Heaven. 
 To adults properly qualified by repentance and faith, 
 baptism is the mean and the pledge of the same 
 blessings. And even adults destitute of the necessary- 
 qualifications, certainly so far receive in this ordinance 
 a proffer on the part of God, of grace, pardon, and 
 salvation, as to leave them without excuse, and to in- 
 crease their guilt and their condemnation, if they do not 
 by repentance and faith secure the spiritual blessings sa- 
 cramentally offered them. This important change of 
 situation, whereby the subjects of baptism are called 
 into a state of salvation, is denominated by our Church, 
 in the language of Scripture and antiquity, regeneration. 
 But if any persons would hence assert that our Church 
 enforces no spiritual change but what takes place in 
 baptism, they are confuted not only by the spirit and 
 the language of all her institutions, but by the most 
 explicit declarations of the office of baptism, which 
 pr^ys for those who are baptised that " the old Adam 
 may be so buried that the new man may be raised up in 
 
19 
 
 them," that ** all sinful affections may die in them, and all 
 things belonging to the spirit may live and grow in 
 them," that " they may have power and strength to have 
 victory and to triumph against the devil, the world, and 
 the flesh;" and the same office enforces on the baptized 
 person the duty of "dyingunto sin and living unto righ- 
 teousness, and of continually mortifying all his evil and 
 corrupt affections, and daily proceeding in all virtue and 
 godliness of living." To pro^iote and effect this sanc- 
 tification of the soul, there are provided the ordinance 
 of confirmation, the ministrations of the word, and of 
 the sanctuary, and of the altar; all which as well as bap- 
 tism will only be unprofitable and condemning to the 
 soul without the exercise of deep and unfeigned repen- 
 tance, of lively faith, of watchfulness and prayer. The 
 " washing of regeneration" will not avail to salvation 
 without " the renewing of the Holy Ghost;" and, in the 
 language of the Church in one of her Collects, they who 
 are " regenerate and made God's children by adoption 
 and grace, must daily be renewed by his holy spirit." 
 
 This succinct view of the prominent doctrines of our 
 Church will serve I trust to establish her claim to the title 
 of evangelical, in the scriptural, the primitive, the sober 
 and the highest sense of the term — evangelical as pro- 
 claiming to all mankind not a nominal but a real Sa- 
 viour; offering to all the means of an interest in his sal- 
 vation. The doctrines of the Church are truly the doc- 
 trines of grace, tracing man's redemption to the love of 
 God, who appointed for him a divine mediator, his on- 
 ly begotten Son; exhibiting the merits of this Saviour 
 received by faith as the only ground of the sinner's ac- 
 ceptance; directing man to the power of the divine spirit- 
 
20 
 
 operating not with resistless force, but in conbistcnc}' 
 with his free agency, and conveyed through the instru- 
 mentality of the sacraments, and the ordinances and min- 
 istrations of the sanctuary, received with humble peni- 
 tence, faith and prayer — for deliverance from the bondage 
 of sin, for the renovation of his affections, for strength 
 to advance with increasing vigour in the divine life, 
 and finally to attain in triumph the heavenly glories of 
 his calling. 
 
 From the view of the general character of our Church 
 in regard to doctrine, there results the duty of cherish- 
 ing for her the utmost veneration, the liveliest affection, 
 and the most steadfast devotion to her interests; of vin- 
 dicating on all proper occasions her evangelical claims; 
 and above all, of enforcing these claims and of honour- 
 ing and adorning her by imbibing the spirit, and dis- 
 playing the holy influence of her doctrines. My breth- 
 ren of the laity! it will constitute an awful charge against 
 those who enjoy the pure and evangelical doctrines pro- 
 fessed by our Church, if these doctrines should not in- 
 fluence their hearts nor regulate their life. It will con- 
 stitute no inconsiderable portion of that guilt, on which 
 at the last day the judge will pronounce the sentence of 
 his wrath, that by their lukewarm, their worldly, their 
 unholy lives, they dishonoured and wounded the spouse 
 and body of Christ! 
 
 My clerical brethren — if such be the guilt of an un- 
 godly layman of our Church, what must be the guilt of 
 an ungodly servant of her altar; of one who to the holy 
 vows of his Christian profession has superadded the 
 solemn vows of devoting to his Lord in the ministry of 
 salvation, his soul, body and spirit, with all their pow- 
 
21 
 
 ersand affections? — What must be his guilt, if this man 
 of God display vices which would point even at the 
 man of the world the finger of scorn? What must be 
 his guilt, if excited by the most powerful motives that 
 can operate on the heart, he does not cultivate and ex- 
 hibit every Christian grace, and discharge every Chris- 
 tian duty. My brethren, let us think of these things. 
 
 It is only by the evidence of renovated affections 
 which an humble and holy life affords, that the minister 
 of our Church can be faithful to her doctrines, and to 
 his duty of inculcating them. All mysteries and all 
 knowledge, the tongue of an angel could he speak with 
 one, while his unsanctiiied life discovers that his know- 
 ledge and his eloquence, exert no influence over his 
 own heart, will fall on the hearts of others " as sound- 
 ing brass, or a tinkling cymbal." 
 
 By his private and his public instructions must the 
 minister of our Church show his fidelity to her doctrines. 
 If he fail thus to inculcate them with diligence, and 
 with prudent but ardent zeal, there is no excuse of a 
 worldly or even of a literary nature that can shield him 
 from the guilt of violating the most solemn obligations. 
 What, my brethren, literary or worldly occupations ur- 
 ged as an apology for neglecting the sheep of Christ 
 which he bought with his death, and for whom he shed 
 his blood! — Urged by the man, to whose charge they 
 were committed by the great Shepherd of the sheep; 
 and who promised that he would " devote himself to 
 this one thing, and draw all his cares and studies this 
 way," that he would be " diligent in the studies which 
 help to the knowledge of the Scriptures, laying aside as 
 much as he may the study of the world and of the flesh!" 
 
-i2 
 
 My brelhrenl let us read our duty and recal to mind 
 our vows in those inimitable offices by which we were 
 bound to the service of the altar — And, in the world, in 
 our closets, in onr supplications at the throne of grace, 
 let us remember these things! 
 
 2. It is a distinguishing excellence of the worship 
 of our Church, to which, as another prominent feature in 
 h^Y general character^ I now proceed to direct your at- 
 tention, that it exhibits the whole system of evangelical 
 doctrine with unrivalled clearness, simplicity, strength, 
 and pathos. 
 
 That our Church in conducting her services accord- 
 ing to a prescribed order, has conformed to the practice 
 of the ancient Jewish Church, to the example and au- 
 thority of our Lord and his Apostles, and has thus also 
 adopted the most effectual method of securing a ration- 
 al, an enlightened, a sober, impressive, and dignified de- 
 votion, constitutes without doubt one of her great ex- 
 cellencies. 
 
 But a still higher ground of boast is it, and on 
 this alone your time will permit me to enlarge, that her 
 services exhibit the whole system of evangelical doc- 
 trine with unrivalled simplicity, strength, and pathos. 
 They unfold all the exercises of the penitent and be- 
 lieving soul. — They furnish her with language for ut- 
 tering all her emotions in her communion with her 
 God. Does she wish to give vent to the feelings of 
 guilt? — " I am grieved, O my God, with the remem- 
 brance of my sins; I am bowed down with their intole- 
 rable burden." Docs she seek to deprecate tlie wrath 
 of her offended Maker? — ** Enter not into judgment 
 with thy servant, O Lord, who am vile earth and a mi- 
 
23 
 
 serable sinner." " Deal not with me according to my 
 sins; reward me not according to my iniquities." Does 
 she wish to supplicate his mercy? — ** Spare me, Good 
 Lord, spare me — have mercy upon me, have mercy 
 upon me — for thy Son Jesus Christ's sake forgive me 
 all that is past — After the multitude of thy mercies 
 look upon me, through the merits and mediation of 
 thy blessed Son." Does she seek to enjoy the conso- 
 lations of pardon? — " Receive and comfort me, O God, 
 who am grieved and wearied with the burden of my 
 sins — Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the 
 world, grant me thy peace." " Almighty God — make 
 me know and feel that there is none other name under 
 Heaven given to man, in whom and through whom I 
 can receive health and salvation, but only the name of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ." Does she earnestly desire the 
 sanctifying and consoling power of the Holy Ghost? 
 " Cleanse the thoughts of my heart, O God, by the in- 
 spiration of thy Holy Spirit: May he in all things direct 
 and rule my heart; that by Him I may have a right 
 ju-dgment in all things, and evermore rejoice in his 
 holy comfort." Does she wish to love, and fear, and 
 serve her God? — *' Make me to have a perpetual fear 
 and love of thy holy name- — nourish me with all good- 
 ness, that withstanding the temptations of the world, the 
 flesh, and the devil, I may with a pure heart and mind 
 follow thee, the only God." In this her state of exile, 
 does she pant to be elevated to Heaven her eternal 
 home? — " O God, the King of glory, may I in heart 
 and mind ascend to the same place whither my Saviour 
 Christ hath gone before, and there continually dwell 
 where thou hast prepared unspeakable joys for them 
 
24 
 
 that love thcc." Does she in the anxious view of the 
 regions of the grave, lift her soul to him \vho holds the 
 keys of death and Hell? ** When my soul is departing 
 the body, may it be precious, O my God, in thy sight. 
 Delivered from its earthly prison, may it live with thee 
 in joy and felicity; and passing through the grave and 
 gate of death to a joyful resurrection, may I have my 
 perfect consummation and bliss both in body and soul 
 in thy eternal and everlasting glory." 
 
 Now, my brethren, imperfect as is this display, I ask 
 you with confidence to pronounce is it possible for piety 
 short of that which warms the adoring seraph, is it pos- 
 sible for language which is not dictated by that inspira- 
 tion that touched the lips of the Prophet, to breathe de- 
 votion more ardent more sublime yet more chaste and 
 tender; to express with more force more simplicity or 
 more pathos, the precious truths and promises of the 
 Gospel*? In this form these truths and promises are dai- 
 ly presented to the people, and carried to their under- 
 standing, their hearts and affections. The liturgy then 
 preaches with an eloquence and a power that breathes 
 in no uninspired book, that animates no uninspired 
 tongue. The liturgy like the ark of the covenant pre- 
 serves the heavenly law. By the liturgy was the flame of 
 divine truth kept burning amidst the darkness and the 
 desolation of our Zion. It is an invaluable dcpositiu-y 
 of all those truths which constitute the gospel, the pow- 
 er of God unto salvation ; and from thence the servants 
 of the sanctuary may display them in primitive lustre 
 and apostolic power. 
 
 If these things be so brethren. Clergy and Laity, a 
 question occurs in the view of your preacher deeply 
 
25 
 
 important. Shall we directly or indirectly loosen th,e 
 hold which this Liturgy ought to have on the affections 
 of our people, and thus prepare the way for the gradual 
 extinction of the purest source ncKtto the Bible of di- 
 vine truth, and celestial devotion? 
 
 Cold indeed must be that heart which advocates the 
 liturgy merely because the Church has prescribed it, 
 venerable as is her authority; which makes it merely the 
 Shibboleth of a sect; which while it denounces the least 
 departure from its prescriptions, neither glows with its 
 iires, nor speaks with its tongue. The Liturgy com- 
 mands our veneration, our devoted attachment, as the 
 sacred relick of apostolic times, as the precious legacy 
 which martyrs warmed with their spirit and wrote in 
 their blood; as the prescription of the Church which in 
 this case speaks with an authority that is ratified in 
 Heaven— But, I repeat it, the Liturgy commands our ve- 
 neration, our devoted attachment still more, as, next to 
 the Bible, the purest source of divine truth and celestial 
 devotion. 
 
 The question then, I repeat it also, is deeply impor- 
 tant — Shall we directly or indirectly, weaken or limit 
 the influence of this invaluable manual of truth and 
 piety? It would be an insult to your judgment to at- 
 tempt to prove, that aberrations from this Liturgy tend 
 to this deplorable result. The question then concern- 
 ing these aberrations is not solely a question concerning 
 the obligation of rubrics and ordination vows; but a 
 question whether we shall preserve to the Church this 
 source of truth, this light of devotion. The evangelical 
 excellence of our public service is not its security. 
 Against its venerable and sober forms, the spirit of en- 
 
20 
 
 thusiabin wages irreconcilable war; and it will Ix ulti- 
 mately successful if the Clergy, the appointed guardi- 
 ans of tliis liturgy, voluntarily surrender any of its holy 
 devotions. Where individual judgment is substituted 
 for public authority, aiid where private fancy moulds 
 the service at pleasure, all security is lost for its preser- 
 vation. Who shall direct or who shall restrain where 
 private judgment has wrested the reins from public law? 
 What part of the service is secure, when the almost in- 
 finitely varying jnc!gments of men arc permitted to alter 
 it? How long will it retain its place in the temple^ if 
 when the members of our Church meet for social wor- 
 ship, they substitute for the daily morning and evening 
 prayer, extempore effusions, or even premeditated de- 
 votions, necessarily inferior in excellence and authority? 
 If 07i€ should omit the law of God as proclaimed 
 in its awful prescriptions and sanctions by Jehovah him 
 self, on Sinai's mount, what shall prevent another from 
 withholding those sacred services which exhibit the 
 cheering consolations of Zion's hill? One part of the 
 service may be omitted for one reason, and another part 
 for another. The part omitted by one constitutes, in the 
 judgment of another, the brightest feature in the litur- 
 gy. Omissions, alterations, additions in the public ser- 
 vice, most certainly and naturally produce the impres- 
 sion that some parts of it are defective, others imperfect, 
 others of little moment, and others wholly unnecessary. 
 The inevitable result is, that where the liturgy is vene- 
 rated and loved, that veneration and attachment are 
 weakened; and where lukewarmncss and enthusiasm 
 have excited an aversion to the liturgy, that aversion is 
 fortified by the authority even of its guardians. What 
 
27 
 
 more certain, than the fatal results of innovation. Friends 
 then of evangelical truth! Honest advocates of vital pie- 
 ty — will you be accessory in depriving the people of the 
 pure exhibition of this truth which the liturgy contains, 
 and of the influence of the ardent spirit of piety which 
 animates this liturgy? Friends of the Church — will ye 
 extinguish her brightest glory? 
 
 To preserve then this liturgy, it is essential that 
 both clergy and people adhere to it as prescribed by 
 the wisdom, the piety, and the authority of the Church. 
 But let both clergy and people remember that the pos- 
 session of this invaluable blessing will only tend to their 
 condemnation, if they do not unite in its holy devotions 
 with anfeigiied^ifepentance; with lively faith and love; 
 and if they do not display in their life and conversation 
 the humble, the pure, and the heavenly tempers which, 
 by God's blessing, it is calculated to form in the soul. 
 
 3. I pass from the worship to the exhibition of an- 
 other prominent feature of our Church, her 
 
 Apostolic Ordery under the strong impression, my 
 brethren, that I have already trespassed onyour patience, 
 and that therefore I must be as brief as possible. 
 
 That an external commission as well as an internal 
 call of the spirit, is necessary to authorise a person to 
 minister in holy things; that this commission must be 
 derived from the head of the Church the source of all 
 power in it, through that order of men whom he ap- 
 pointed successively to convey it; that three orders of 
 the ministry were appointed by Christ and his apostles, 
 and the first order invested with the power of commis- 
 sioning to the ministry, are truths founded on the word 
 of God and supported by the strongest primitive tes- 
 
28 
 
 timony. Whatever variety of opinion there may be 
 concerning the terms in which these truths may be 
 stated, and the consequences which may be deduced 
 from them, there is certainly one ground on which all 
 churcJimen may meet — the ground taken in her articles 
 and offices by the venerable Church from which we are 
 descended, and maintained by our own. Now these ar- 
 ticles and offices declare that "it is not lawful for any 
 man to take upon him the office of public preaching, 
 or ministering the sacraments in the congregation, be- 
 fore he be lawfully called and sent to execute the 
 same" — * that **God by his divine providence and 
 holy spirit instituted divers orders of ministers in his 
 Church," that " from the apostles' times there have 
 been these orders of ministers in the Church, Bishops, 
 Priests, and Deacons," that the bishop alone receives 
 the power of ** ordaining, sending, and laying hands on 
 others," and that, therefore, ** no man shall be account- 
 ed or taken to be a lawful bishop, priest, or deacon in 
 this Church, or suffered to execute any of the said 
 functions, except he hath had episcopal consecration or 
 ordination. "II This, my brethren, is no new language — 
 these are not the effusions of sectarian bigotry — they 
 are not the declarations of private individuals. They are 
 the principles, the declarations, the language of the ve- 
 nerable Church from which we derive our immediate 
 origin; principles which at the period of the reforma- 
 tion she restored to primitive shape and form and laid 
 at the foundation of her polity; principles, in her attach- 
 
 • Article xxiii. 
 
 II Prayers in the Offices of Ordination, and tlic Preface to those 
 Offices. 
 
2^ 
 
 ment to which, a rcvolutioii that for a while subverted 
 them, served more to confirm. They are principles, 
 which no difficulties, not even the apprehension of be- 
 ing unable to carry them into effect, could induce our 
 Church to relinquish; and for which her wishes, her 
 prayers, her exertions were at last crowned with suc- 
 cess. They are principles w^hich she has deliberately 
 and solemnly laid at the foundation of her polity, and 
 which, if assailed or shaken, the whole edifice will be 
 endangered. Against these fundamental principles, 
 sanctioned by the wisdom and preserved through the 
 changes of ages, I fear not that any innovating hand will 
 be lifted up. 
 
 These principles which pre-eminently entitle our 
 Church to the character of an Apostolic Church, it is 
 the obvious duty of both clergy and people to revere, 
 to inculcate, to defend; and to carry into full effect as it 
 respects the admission to the ministry, the exercise of 
 discipline, and the preservation of the unity of the church. 
 
 But let no person be guilty of the gross inconsis- 
 tency and criminality of insisting on the means y while 
 he is indifferent to the end. The salvation of souls, the 
 promotion of vital practical godliness is the end for 
 which the order of the Church is the divinely appointed 
 means. And there can be no character more inconsist- 
 ent, or who does greater injury to the cause' which he 
 professes to advocate, than the churchman, whether cler- 
 gyman or layman, who contends with zeal for the order 
 and the other externals of the church, while he neglects 
 or undervalues that vital godliness and evangelical 
 piety which they are designed to cherish and to pre- 
 serve. 
 
30 
 
 The order of the church then as it respects the con- 
 stitution of the ministry is apostolic and primitive. In 
 respect to her government properly so called, the forms 
 by which she exercises her legislative, executive and 
 judiciary powers, there are a few pre-eminent character- 
 istics which you must permit me merely to point out. 
 
 And liere we first recognise the important principle 
 involved indeed in the very nature of all good govern- 
 ment, that all orders of men affected by the laws should 
 have a voice in framing them. Accordingly, no act in 
 our church, not necessarily involving a point of divine 
 institution, has the force of law, until it has received the 
 sanction, under the forms of the constitution, of her 
 bishops, her clergy, and laity. 
 
 We notice also the conformity of our ecclesiastical 
 to our civil constitutions, in the division ofpouer in the 
 exercise of legislation; the bishops of the church consti- 
 tuting one house, in general convention, and the cleri- 
 cal and lay deputies another, Vvith co-ordinate and equal 
 powers. All the advantages of deliberation, of experi- 
 ence, and of security to individual rights, of which by 
 this arrangement, our civil constitutions boast, are se- 
 cured in the organization of our church. 
 
 We notice a similar conformity and further excel- 
 lence, in the unity of her executive head; her bishops 
 being vested by the very nature of their office with the 
 executive authority — And thus are secured that \ igour, 
 that decision, that promptness, and at the same time 
 that responsibility, and of course that fidelity, Avhich it 
 would be impossible to secure at least in an equal de- 
 gree, were the executive power of our church entrust- 
 '•d to large and popular assemblies. 
 
31 
 
 In like manner, though from the nature of his of- 
 lice, the bishop is the ultimate judiciary tribunal, yet 
 he can inflict no public censure and no punishment but 
 in the due course of law, by ^vhich a knowledge of the 
 charges against him, the means of defence, and a trial 
 by his peers, are enjoyed by every individual. 
 
 Apart then from the divine institution of the ministry^ 
 we have cause of boast respecting the Order of our 
 church, that it exercises the powers of government 
 agreeably to the principles of right and justice, and of 
 those forms of civil polity, on which experience has 
 impressed the stamp of \visdom. 
 
 The exhibition then of the general character of our 
 church, impresses the duty of the most devoted attach- 
 ment to her. Let not this attachment, best expressed by 
 fidelity to all her principles, be branded as narrow bi- 
 gotry, and sectarian zeal. It is an enlarged, an eleva- 
 ted, a noble feeling; excited by the evangelical spirit 
 which animates all the public confessions and formula- 
 ries of the church, and l^y the apostolical character 
 which distinguishes her ministry and ordinances. It 
 is an attachment therefore to a system which, exhibiting 
 the faith once delivered to the saints and bearing the 
 stamp of apostolic authority, must be the best calcula- 
 ted, if its advocates and professors are faithful to its 
 principles, to extend in its purity the kingdom of the 
 Redeemer, and to advance most effectually the salva- 
 tion of man. — Let us then my brethren, with united 
 hearts and voices and in the fulness of affection, offer 
 for our Church the prayer — *' Peace be within thy 
 Avails and prosperity within thy palaces." 
 
32 
 
 Under the influence of this sentiment let us proceed 
 to view some leading circumstances in 
 
 III. The present situation of our Church, and the duties 
 thence resulting. 
 
 And here there will appear, cause both for sorrow 
 and for congratulation. 
 
 The war of the revolution stripped our Church of a 
 large proportion of her clergy, of many of her influen- 
 tial members, and of the nursing care and protection of 
 the venerable society for propagating the Gospel in fo« 
 reign parts. Her congregations, with diminished num- 
 bers and impoverished means, were left without clerg)% 
 and destitute for many years of the episcopacy, clergy 
 were not to be obtained. The age of your preacher at this 
 period does not enable him to speak from personal 
 knowledge; but judging from information, he appears 
 warranted in expressing the opinion, that our Church 
 was placed in circumstances of so great depression and 
 difficulty, that it became a serious question whether she 
 would be able to preserve the characteristic of an apos- 
 tolical Church, episcopal ordination. While, therefore, 
 her present primitive organization claims for the patience, 
 the prudence, and the persevering zeal of the agents in 
 this most important work the highest praise (may their 
 names ever be held in grateful remembrance) her pre- 
 servation in all her characteristic features may be traced 
 to the protecting presence of her divine head, and un- 
 der him to her evangelical and apostolical character, and 
 to her inestimable liturgy. But she still exhibits, in 
 many places, the face of desolation. The clergy, who 
 
on 
 
 have been ordained since we obtained the episcopacy, 
 have not in many states supplied the wants even of the 
 old congregations. Our Church in many places mourns 
 that none come to her solemn feasts, because there are 
 no priests to make the celebration: while in the new and 
 extensive districts filled by the increasing population of 
 our country, the members of our Church are wander- 
 ing as sheep having no shepherd, and either joining 
 other folds, or mourning, desolate and solitary, their 
 exile from their Zion. 
 
 Amidst these causes of sorrow, it is a subject for 
 congratulation, that our people are awakening to a sense 
 of the duties which they owe to their Church, to the ne- 
 cessity of making provision for a learned, a pious, and 
 laborious ministry, of providing for their support in the 
 vineyard, of sending missionaries to the destitute quar- 
 ters of our Zion, of disseminating information in the 
 truths of religion, and the distinctive principles of our 
 Church. It is a subject of congratulation that correct 
 views of her distinctive principles are becoming more 
 prevalent; that her worship, overcoming the prejudices 
 which may have subsisted against it, is gradually ex- 
 erting its evangelical influence on the hearts of her mem- 
 bers; that the preaching of the doctrines of the cross is 
 the aim of her clergy, and more and more demanded by 
 her people; and that all orders among us seem disposed 
 and desirous to cherish the spirit of Christian love and 
 unity, to know no other aim but the glory of God, the 
 honour of the Redeemer, and the advancement of h^ 
 kingdom; and to these glorious objects to devote t^^'r 
 talents, their influence, their hearts. 
 
 £ 
 
34 
 
 It is incumbent on us, my clerical and lay brethren 
 of this convention, standing as we do in the high and 
 responsible station of the general council of our Church, 
 pre-eminently to display these divine dispositions, these 
 harmonious and pious views. Happily organized as our 
 Church is in her doctrines, her worship, and her disci- 
 pline, and entrusted, as her supreme officers are, with 
 many of those concerns, which, under a different organ- 
 ization, would be a subject of popular discussion and 
 determination; our principal duty at these ecclesiastical 
 meetings consists in obtaining information concerning 
 the state of our Zion; in watching over her principles, 
 her purity, and her peace; in adapting, but with a cau- 
 tious and a temperate hand, the provisions of our laws 
 to the changing exigencies of affairs; and, above all, it 
 should here be our object, as in the presence and under 
 the influence of the spirit of our divine Lord, to excite, 
 to cherish, and to strengthen our mutual zeal in his ser- 
 vice, in the cause of his holy religion, and in the ad- 
 vancement of the prosperity of his spouse and body the 
 Church. 
 
 Since your last meeting a change has taken place in 
 our episcopal body by the removal of two venerable 
 brothers from their duties on earth to their rest in the 
 Paradise of God.* It is a subject of congratulation, 
 however, on the present occasion, and an indication of 
 a growhig zeal for our Church that the present ecclesi- 
 
 stical assembly is more numerously attended than 
 al. The difficulties of a long journey have not pre- 
 
 Yeii(^d the attendance of the bishop and clerical depu- 
 
 • RVJu Reverend Bishop Jarvis of Connecticut, und the Right 
 Revcrem Bish«p Madison of Virguiih. 
 
35 
 
 ties from the distant diocess of South Carolina; and our 
 hearts are cheered by the presence, long earnestly de- 
 sired, of a deputation from the Church in Virginia. And 
 it is particularly a subject of thankfulness that this dio- 
 cess, where our Zion has long been languishing, and 
 seemed almost extinct, has made provision for filling 
 the episcopate in the reverend person* whom having 
 presented to us the testimonials required by the canons 
 we shall now proceed to consecrate. 
 
 But little more than half a century has elapsed since 
 our Church universally prevailed through the rich and 
 flourishing dominion of Virginia. In every county 
 there were churches and chapels, all of them decent and 
 substantial, some of them even splendid in their deco- 
 rations. In those temples were statedly performed all 
 the services of our primitive liturg)^ The parishes, not 
 much short of one hundred, were all supplied with 
 clergy. What is the contrast? We have wept over it. 
 Our hearts have been wrung with shame, with grief, 
 that this contrast has been produced, not entirely (God 
 forbid we should sink them under this tremendous 
 guilt) but in no inconsiderable degree by many of the 
 clergy themselves. What is the contrast? Few are the 
 parishes in Virginia which enjoy the regular ministra- 
 tions of a clergyman. In many places the liturgy b 
 scarcely known, but as some antiquated book which 
 was once used by their fathers. The edifices, vhere 
 their fathers worshipped, now in a state of ruin, nx the 
 astonished gaze and excite the mournful sip^ of the 
 passing traveller; and in those courts where the living 
 
 * The Rev. Richard Channing Mooro, D. P- Rector of SV 
 fetephen's Church, New-York. 
 
oo 
 
 God was uncc invoked and the iiitsbaiics ol iulic)- 
 through liis Son proclaimed, no sounds arc heard bmt 
 the screams of the bird of night, or the louings of the 
 beasts of the field. It was not possible that this state of 
 things could long continue. Man does not feel himself 
 safe even w'nh his fellow man loosened from the re- 
 straints of religion — He cannot live without its conso- 
 lations — He cannot enter on futurity without its hopes — 
 The night of adversity has passed, and the morning, I 
 would fain hope, of a long and splendid day is dawning 
 on the Church in Virgnia. I think I see the pledge of 
 this in the attachment to our Church and in the anxi- 
 ous desire to serve her manifested by laymen of the 
 highest influence and talents, and by a few zealous 
 clergy. They have combined, and they have resolved, 
 under God, that the Church in Virginia shall not perish. 
 From my soul I revere and love them for the holy re- 
 solve. My God! in this remember them for good. 
 
 The first fruits of their labours, we witness this day. 
 
 To counsel, to lead, to strengthen them in their ex- 
 ertions; to revi\e, among a numerous and widely ex- 
 tended population, the spirit of piety i to make known, 
 valued and loved, the evangelical and primitive institu- 
 tions of our church; to make these institutions and ser- 
 Vyces under God the instruments of bringing again the 
 ouW\st and reclaimmg the lost, of conviction and con- 
 version to the hinncr, of holiness and comfort to the 
 saint, Vi the work of imminent dilftculty and hazard, but 
 I trust, \jv God's blessing, of success and honour, to 
 which yotymy reverend brother, will be called. 
 
 I owe iV)ii this occasion to many who have signed 
 in your favoiri the solemn testimonial required by the 
 
canons, and I owe it to myself, participatin,^ as I shall 
 in your consecration, to state, that any doubts which 
 might have existed as to the duty and the expediency 
 of the act which is now marked with perfect unanimity, 
 were effectually precluded by your frank and explicit and 
 unsolicited avowal of the principle which should in- 
 flexibly guide you in your discharge of your Episcopal 
 functions. That principle is the same to which* you 
 will now in the most solemn manner pledge yourself at 
 the altar, of conformity to the doctrine, discipline and 
 worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Uni- 
 ted States of America. I owe it to you to declare that 
 in relation to the episcopate of Virginia you were press- 
 ed with an urgency which would not admit of a refusal; 
 and that your whole conduct in respect to it has been 
 marked by a frankness, a conciliation, and a zeal for the 
 interests of rchgion and the Church which have remove 
 ed every difficulty that might have impeded your eleva 
 tion to the Episeopal office. We shall now foUou 
 you to your arduous station with our best wishes and 
 our prayers. It must be apparent that you make no 
 inconsiderable sacrifice of personal ease. At a period 
 of life when you must have begun to look forward to a 
 degree of rest from the conflicts of active duty, you are 
 called on to exchange, the comforts of your native city, 
 and the attentions of a congregation warmly attached 
 to you, for a land of strangers, and for the difficulties of 
 a depressed and extensive diocess. Still in the labours 
 of the field on which you enter, you will meet, we trust, 
 with zealous coadjutors in the clergy and laity, who in a 
 manner very honourable to yourself have chosen you 
 ^'-r their diocesan; and who have, by this act, pledged 
 
38 
 
 themselves to support yon in the fulfillment of your con- 
 secration vows to extend and to maintain the doctrine, 
 discipline and worship of our Church. Among the laity 
 whose talents and influence will be called to your aid, I 
 perceive some of my most early and valued friends. 
 From the people generally among whom you will la- 
 bour, you will, I am satisfied, receive every kind atten- 
 tion that can tend to lessen the burden of your cares. 
 The state of society and manners among those with 
 whom your future life is to be passed (I speak from 
 some degree of personal knowledge) needs only the 
 purifying and elevating influence of religion to be- 
 come in a high degree interesting, and a source of 
 personal gratification. But you must look beyond all 
 earthly aids and consolations, to those which your 
 Lord and Master only can confer. Should the spirit of 
 unfeigned and humble piety, regulated and cherished by 
 the sound doctrines, the primitive order, and tiie truly 
 evangelical service and institutions of our Church be 
 revived in the scene of your future labours, with what 
 delight shall we all look back to the service of this day! 
 And how fervent will be our thanks to God, who hath 
 made you the instrument of this great good! 
 To his holy keeping we commend yon. 
 
ri0M. 
 
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