The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-10-05
Meeting OF the General Convention OF tho
Protestant EpsscopaI Church.

Protestant Episcopal Church.
This imposing assemblage, of about thirty
prelates and between two and three hundred
presbyters and eminent laymen, from all parts
of the country will meet at ten O'Clock this
morning. in Trinity church. An English pre-
late, the Right Reverend Doctor Spencer. late
Bishop of Madras, will be present, together with
the venerable John Sinclair, Archdeacon OF
Middlesex the Reverend Ernest Hawkins, one
of the prebendaries of st. Paul's. London, and
the Reverend Henry Caswell, Vicar and Proc
tor, from the diocess of Salisbury The occa-
sion will possess peculiar interest, and, indie
pendent of the mere rustling of satins and silks,
and the vivid reflected colors of the stained
glass upon the profusion of bishops lawn and
priests fine linen of the sanctuary. not to men,
ton the rival drapery of the bonnet angels
which will hover amid the solemnities, the whole
scene will be on many accounts attractive
and very memorable.
1t was sixty-six years ago when the English
Bishops consecrated the first Protestant Episco-
nal Bishops for America. Until that period
the cis-Atlantic members of the Church OF Eng
land found themselves here church pc
culiar; and if not Church without aBishop."
certainly church with Bishop three thou
sand miles away. For more than century and
half before our Revolutionary war the Epis-
copalian churches in the American colonies
had been under the spiritual charge of the
Lords Bishops of London. These nonresident
prelates however, never once crossed the water
to look after their focks in the wilderness, to
administer to them the rite Of confirmation. to
consecrate their churches, and to do other acts
peculiar to the Office Of q chief shepherd.
The ocean seemed to be great gulf fixed so
that they who would come to us from thence
could not. Yet desire to receive holy orders
induced many American candidates for the
ministry to encounter the perils of the
deep, and go to the mother country for
ordination. when these perils by water, as
records prove, occasioned the loss OF one
fifth of their number; for then the sloops and
other small craft which usually We're employed
to convey these poor students of theology -ere
as different from a commodious and expeditions
modern packet or steamer as the ecclesiastical
small things Of that day were from the large
views and important operations that will appear
in the synodical acts of the imposing House Of
Bishops and House OF Deputies that constitute
the General Convention that meets to-day.
The first Protestant Episcopal Bishops in this
country were DR.. Seabury, Of Connecticut in
the year 1884, and Drs White, Of Pennsylvania,
and Provost, of New York, in 1887. DR.. Sea-
bury was consecrated Bishop at Aberdeen. by
three Bishops Of the Scottish Church; and Drs
White and Provost, at LAMBETH by the Arch
bishop Of Canterbury, the Archbishop Of York,
the Bishop Of Bath and Wells and the Bishop
of Peterborough. Three years after DR.. Madi-
son, OF Virginia, was consecrated, at Lambeth,
by the Archbishop Of Canterbury and two other
English prelates. These church events created
at the time powerful sensation both in Eng
land and in the colonies. They were the first
stars that cheered a dreary night and they
realised hopes that had been cherished for more
than century by British sovereigns and by
some Of the most illustrious prelates and other
members Of the Church of England
1t is well known that not only did King
Charles the Second in 1878, purpose to send
Bishop to our colonies but that DR.. Alexan-
der Murray was nominated to this Office, and
would have been consecrated had not the dissolu-
tion Of the Kings beloved Cabal, and the
troubles connected with the so-called Popish
Plot for the assassination Of the King, frustrated
his American schemes. The Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel expressed, as early
as the year l7O3-a hundred and fifty years ago
the wishes Of the colonies to be supplied with
Suffragan to visit their churches, ordain
some, confirm others, and bless all. The soci-
ETY. actually purchased soon after, at Burling-
ton, N. j., a seat for the residence of the pro-
posed Bishop But for the too early death of good
Queen Anne, who was very favorable to the
measure, it would have been accomplished in
her reign George the First, also, would have
accomplished it but for the civil turmoil that
threatened to deprive him of his crown Bishop |
Seeker, Bishop Burnet, and Bishop Sherlock,
each in turn urged its vast Importance
In this country the subject reused to a fierce
conflict churchmen on the one side and prelate-
haters on the other, and there was tor o time
a terrible beating of drums ecclesiastic AS
proof that systems Of faith do not always run
in the blood and follow the line of pedigree
Doctor May hew. the son Of thunder and chief
champion Of Congregationalism at Boston, who |
assailed Seeker, and Apthorpe, and Johnson,
and Gamer, then was the direct progenitor
from whom our New York Provincial Bishop,
Jonathan Mayhem Wainwright, has derived one
Of his baptismals. Our late Bishop Hobart, too,
as Ia thought by his friends, set the balance of
the sanctuary right by putting the weight of
his influence against that of his forefather, |
Peter Hobart of bingham, Massachusetts,, who |
was accustomed in his day to make the pre-
latical scale of the balance kick the beam.
The whole number Of Bishops consecrated for
the American Protestant Episcopal Church,
besides the first four consecrated abroad, have |
been fifty-two, all consecrated in America. |
Twenty two Of the whole number, ffty-six, have
daaaasad Rishnn Iuas of North Carolina