New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-05-13

The Committee on the State of the Church bees
respectfully to report: That there is great cause
for gratitude to Almighty God for the continued
prosperity of the church in this diocese The
large number OF new congregations admitted into
union with the convention, and the number of con-
irmatons, greater by one third than any previous
year, is an evident proof that the hand of God is
with u.s. and that the cause of our Zion is prosper
ing within our borders.
But the shortness of the time allowed, and the
Importance of the matters falling under their CON
sheraton compel the committee to dismiss with
these remarks the subjects commonly ENLARGED in
the report they are required to Make and which,
in general relate exclusively to tie internal oper-
atoms of the church. The state of the church i'm
plies well the state of her relations to the church
at large, as the condition of her ordinary opera.
tons. Therefore, the committee feel themselves
obliged to lay formally before the Convention what
they conceive to be true relation to the whole
body of Christ's Church Catholic and particularly
to that branch of it to which we lately belonged
the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United
States of America; q duty which is forced upon us
by the fact that Louisiana has within the last year
separated from the nationality of which she pre-
vously formed part and joined with other SOW
ereign States in forming new nation, to which
she and We her citizens to-day owe our allegiance
The simple question which we have to meet is
whether any change in our relations as a church,
to the church of the United States is, or of right
ought to be, involved in the change of national re.
latons which has taken place. In answering this
question the committee asks to be INDUCED in stat
ing briefly the reasons which have prevailed in
bringing them to the conclusion they feel bound to
lay before the Convention. A brief synoptcal
form will probably be found the best, as its def
ciencies in mere detail can readily be supplied by
the learning of the members of the Convention.
First, then, The Diocese of Louisiana, like every
other diocese, is an integral portion of the one
catholic and apostolic church, in the unity of which
she cannot cease to be embraced, but by lapsing
into heresy or schsm for the unity of the church
catholic is unity in true faith and apostolic order.
Holding the catholic faith, and having an apostolic
ministry, rightly and duly administering Christs
holy Sacraments, this diocese possesses all that is
essential to her being as a true and valid member
of the one church catholic and apostolic. With
these she would have been truly in the unity of the
church, things she had never been coDoined with
any other dioceses in union such as That which
forms the Protestant Episcopal Church in the
United States of America, and having these, though
in the matter OF her government, she should by
circumstances be discovered for time from every
other diocese her catholciy must still be perfect
and the church's unity in her regard nnbroken.
Acknowledging one Lord, one faith, one bap-
tism," with the universal church, there is between
her and all other churches " unity of spritn in the
apostolic " bond of peace" This unity no mere
political or national disturbances or revolutions
can destroy, and this bond cannot be impaired by
any changes among States or nations.
2. But unions among churches are altogether
different from the unity of the church. The unity
Of the church is unity in believing and doing all
that God has taught, and therefore, as matter of
divine precept, Is eternal in its obligation, while
unions of churches are voluntary combinations for
purposes of practical expediency, and therefore
may be changed whenever sound expediency re-.
quires that they should be dissolved.
j. And it does not appear that in the days of the
Apostles, or for some time afterwards any local
combinations between dioceses were formed 1t
does not appear that under Apostolic direction,
Ephesus, with its Bishop Timothy, or Crete, with
its Bishop Titus, were formally coDjoined with any
other dioceses. On the contrary, it appears from
n
ancient authors, that every diocese was originally
of every other
4. When, for reasons of eXpediency unions
among dioceses were entered into it was by free
consent among the parties to them. Consdera,
tlons of convenience required them to be limited
in their extent, and at first choice, afterwards by
the DEGREES of councils, they were made coexten-
sive with the divisions of the empire which had
been established by the civil power. In every
province, the senior bishop or the senior church
was allowed certain precedence over the others,
and out OF this grew the metropolitan and after
wards the patriarchal arrangements of the church.
8. At the disruption of the Roman Empire, the
provincial distribution of the church was merged
into the national bishops and dioceses in every na-
ton being drawn together by the influence OF ma
tlonal affinity, combined for the common benefit,
and for the sake of llturgica uniformity, in form
ing churches conterminous in jurisdiction with the
nations to which they owed temporal allegiance.
6. 1t was with the element of nationality in
churches that the papacy had most to contend,
principle we find the constant growth of papal
and corruptions.
Z. 1t was natural therefore that the church, when
should resume that of which Rome had
robbed her; and the fact is, that the articles and
canons Of our mother Church of England show her
to be intensely national. Her articles of subserp.
tion are such that she reGires her clergy to deny
the existence in any foreigner of any power or au
thorty ecclesiastical or spiritual, within the realm
of ENGLAND, or any of her dependencies,
s. Hence the clergy Of the United States, after
the Revolution, having ceased to be subjects of the
crown, ceased likewise to be clergy of the Church
of England, so that the ecclesiastical independence
of the churches in the colonies was of necessity,
included in the independence of the colonies Them
selves.
8. As was to be expected, the churches OF the
United States, and the dioceses into which they
were distributed, combined to form o church as
strictly national as that OF England! After most
careful study OF her constitution aud her canons
this committee cannot forhear arriving at the de-
terminate conclusion that they are of such ma.
ture as to exclude from her any diocese whose ter
ritory may have ceased to be aportion of the Uni
ted States. 5d7
(a,) Her corporate style and designation is such
as clearly to define her territorial limits. She is
the Protestant Episc0pal Church in the TTnited