The order has existed among us for nearly the half of a century, and not a single complaint has been heard, ei- ther of usurpation to the injury of any other denomi- nation, or of arbitrary government within our own." Organization and union, as far as practicable, were now of first importance. It was no new thing for the cler- gy to meet in their several districts from year to year. This had been done at intervals all through the 18th century, up to the end of the colonial period. In Vir- ginia and Maryland, where the Church of England was established by law, meetings, consisting of a large num- ber of the clergy and laity, were held in the spring of 1784-85. In Virginia, the chief effort was to rid the Church of State control, to obtain liberty to act freely in ecclesiastical matters, and to have the Episcopal Church incorporated in accordance with the laws of the state, so as to hold and retain its rights of property in churches, glebe lands, etc. A general willingness was expressed of uniting with Episcopal churches in other states; but ground was taken in regard to bish- ops and their office and position which alarmed the Northern churches. The Virginia notion was to re- duce a bishop to the lowest possible point, to use him simply for ordaining and confirming, to make him serve as a parish minister, and be amenable to the conven- tion, etc. In Maryland, a special effort was made to secure a bill of rights for the Episcopal Church, for objects similar to those just named in the case of Vir- ginia; <;a declaration of certain fundamental rights and liberties of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Mary- land" was set forth; and Dr. William Smith was chos- en to go to England for the purpose of obtaining epis-
PROTESTANT EPISC. CHURCH 074 PROTESTANT EPISC. CHURCH
copal nnlcrs. It may be mentioned here that, for van- I ous and sufficient reasons, 1 >r. Smith did nol obtain the proper papers, and was never consecrated. Farther south, a convention, consisting of a small number of clergy and laity, was held in Charleston, S. C, in 1785- 86. II"- feeling against the Church of England un- very bitter in thai pari of the country, which had Buf- fered greatly from the ravages "f the British armies. This convention, acknowledging the need of the three orders in the ministry, was willing to go so tar a- a general approval of union, but stipulated that there was io be no bishop settled in thai state without the consent of the Church there. In January, 1784, Dr.
Beach, of New Brunswick, N. J., made a suggesti o
Dr. White, of Philadelphia, and Dr. Provoost,.of New York, thai a conference of as many of the clergy as could he conveniently got together he held, to take into consideration the condition of Church affairs. Previ- ously to this, in August, 1782, before the recognition of American independence, and when it seemed as if the ministry of the Church were almost annihilate,!. Dr. White had issued a pamphlet, entitled "The Case of the Episcopal Churches in the United States Consid- ered." In this pamphlet, which excited considerable attention, the writer, apprehending the possibility of
the Church being compelled to go forward without olitaiuiii- the succession from Kile, km d, advocated the formation of a new body, without bishops in the regular line — in fact, a new presbyterian denomination. This. however, was only in case absolute necessity required such a course, and. as bishop White himself subsequent- ly stated, il was suggested only for such a possible state of affairs. The writer was. in realil j , too g 1 a church- man not to embrace joyfully the opportunity which was offered three years later of obtaining the succession in the English line. A meeting of several clergymen from New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, members of the Corporation for the Relief of Widows and Children of Clergymen, was held in New Brunswick, May 11.
1784. At this meeting a number of laymen were also present, and another meeting was appointed for Octo- ber in i he sa year in New i'ork. Accordingly, Oct.
6, 1784, some fifteen clergymen from New England, New Fork, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, and eleven laymen from the same states, assembled in New York. The principal result was the making of several important recommendations, such as. that there he a General Convention of the Episcopal Church; that
each State -end clerical and lay deputies: that the doc- trines held by the Church of England he adhered to: that the Prayer-book he altered only in so far as civil changes demand: that in any state having a bishop, he be, ex officio, a member of tic convention: that the clergy and laity deliberate together, bul vote separate- ly ; that the first meeting of a general convention he held in Philadelphia on Tuesday before the feast of St. Michael, in 1785, etc. Probably the mosl important benefit secured by the action ol this body was a recog- nition of the value and need of lay representation as not only right in itself, hut also in admirable harmony with the constitution of a republican form of govern- ment. The New England feeling was quite Btrojig against the having a lay element in Church councils, and for a tew years it appeared as if serious discord might arise, and hinder the union of the churches in