The act inn of the General < 'on vent ion. from this time onward, lias been devoted to legislating for the best in- terests of the Church, and as far as possible to baking such stops as arc calculated, under God's blessing, to promote the increase of faith and holy obedience, to guard against the intrusion of error and unsound doc- trine, and to place various matters of doubt or differ- ence of opinion on such a footing that the largest toler- ation I"- allowed, in these respects, consistent with pre- serving the faith once delivered to the saints and the maintenance of apostolic truth and order. In 1804 a ''Course of Ecclesiastical Studies" was set forth by the bishops, and it slili remains in its original shape, ii.it- v. ithstanding that many and valuable works, in the si \ - era! departments of theology, have since been published, and are in use in our seminaries and s.d Is of divin- ity. The General Convention of 1871, in its canon on examinations for orders, says : "In all these examina- rence shall be had. a- closely as possible, to the course of study established by the House of Bishops, and to the hooks therein recommended, or equivalent works of more recent date." In 1808 bhe bishops, in a message to the House of Deputies, who had asked For the enactment of the English canon concerning mar- I i — d thi ir doubts as to the propriety of en- tering upon the question; and at a later date (1841) there were two reports of committees presented on this the majority adverse to legislation, the minor- ity in favor of enacting the canon. Thus the matter Stands, the civil law being supreme, except in regard to marriage of divorced persons, which is as follows: "No minister of ibis Church shall knowingly, after due in- quiry, solemnize the marriage of any person who has a divorced husband or w ife still living, if Buch husband or wife has been put away for any cause arising after marriage; but this canon shall not be held to apply to theinuocent party in a divorce for the cause of adultery. or to parties once divorced seeking to be muted again" see Hoffman, Law ofth Protestant Episcopal Church, ]>. 71 84). The words of bishop White ought to be
quoted in this ci ection: " < m a retrospect of the
us of this convention there is entertained the
i it did not end without a general tendency to consolidate the communion ; although, in the course of the business, there had been displayed, more than in any other convention, the influence of some notions leading far wide of that rational devotion which this Church has inherited from the Church of England. The .spirit her.- complained of \>as rather moderated than raised higher during the session. But it being liable to be combined with schemes of personal conse- quence, there i- no Foreseeing to what lengths it may extend in future" In 181 I the subject of a th
seminary was discussed, and the need of such an insti- tution began to be evident Three years later its or- ganization was resolved upon, and initiatory measures 0] ted. It- offio rs, course of study, etc., wew finally agreed upon in 1820, and it began its work. The seminary was removed from New Haven to New Jfork, and the next year it was finally established as •■ I he General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal church in the United State-." By this ac- tion, however, it was distinctly understood that there was to be no hindrance to any state or diocese estab- lishing a seminary of its own. Time has shown the wisdom of ilds policy of non-interference; lor. in con- sequence of the vast extent of territory of the United states, ii i- i, Mind to l"- simply impossible to gather all the candidates for orders in the Church within the walls of the seminary in New York. We may mention here that ilnre are divinity schools ,,r seminaries in Mas- sachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, and other Western slates and diocest -. \t this convention the identity of the Protestanl Episco- pal church with the i burch of England was declared in the following terms : "It having been credibly stated
to the House oi Bishops that piestions in reference
to property devised, he ion- the Revolution, to congrega- t ions belonging to the ' < Ihurch of England,' and to uses connected with that name, some doubts have been en- tertained in regard to the identity of the body to which the two names have been applied, the House think it expedient to make the declaration, and to request the concurrence of the House oft Lerical and Lay Deputies therein, that 'The Protestant Episcopal church in the United States of America' is the same body heretofore known in these slates by the name of -The Church of England;' the change of name, although not of re- ligious principle in doctrine, or m worship, or in dis- cipline, being induced by a characteristic of the < Ihurch of England, supposing the independence of Christian churches, under i he di tic rent sovereignties tow hich, re- spectively, their allegiance in civil concerns belongs. Bui that, when the se^ erance a 11m led to took place, and ever since, the < ihurch conceives of herself as professing and acting on the principles of the < Ihurch of England is evi- dent from the organizations of our conventions, and from their subsequent proceedings as recorded in the jour- nals, to which, accordingly, this convention r< er for satisfaction in the premises. But ii would be contrary to fact were any one to infer that the discipline exer- cised in this Church, or that any proceedings therein, tire at all dependent on the will of the civil or of the ecclesiastical authority of any foreign country." The result of this declaration was, some twelve years later in Vermont, where the Society for Propagating the Gospel had formerly owned lands, "thai all the mate- rial points of law were settled in favor of the Church." At this session also I he const i i ut ion of the I '■ mestlC .and Foreign .Missionary Society ot the < Ihurch was per- fected, and the American Church has since done much —though not so much as it might and ought to have done in preaching the Gospel in the waste places in our own land, and in sending the lighl of Christian