The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-10-11
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE TRIENNI4L
CONVENTION At B1LTIMORE.
In the Ritual-The F Full Re-
port TO the House OF Bishops-What
was Said In the House OF Deputies
The Memory OF the Rev. G. p. Gads-

States. and was ordered, on Friday last, 10 De
sent down to the lower house, where 1t has
been made the order Of the day for Tuesday
(yesterday.) 1t has not yet been touched oy
the House of Bishops. 1t is unusually inter-
esting, as it maps out to a great extent the
work which Is now before the convention.
Although it bears strong marks of conserVa-
tism. and mutual concession what is known
as the High Church and the Low Church were
both represented In the committee-there are
mary portions which will doubtless lead to 40
animated debate. We give the report in full,
as few Of our Episcopal readers will be satis-
ned with the imperfect abstract sent by tel
egraph, and which has already appeared in The
NEWS A message was received on Saturday
by the House of Deputies from the House Of
Bishops as follows:
Uniformity In Ritual.
RESOLVED, That In the gravity Of the subject
and Its bearings, the house Is unprepared for
immediate action on the report submitted by
Its committee on ritual uniformity, without
G{heyious consideration of the same IN joint
committee Of the two houses OF tne conVen-
ton.
Resolued, The House of Clerical and Lay
Deputies concurring, that joint commttee
be appointed for the consideration OF the
above named report OF the committee Oh the
House of Bishops concerning ritual and 10 re-
port if any, and If any, what action may prop.
erly be taken In the premises.
HENRY G. POTTER, Secretary.
The following is the
Report.
The committee of FIVE bishops appointed BY
the House of Bishops, at the general conVen-
ton OF 1868, Ito consider whether any addl-
tional provision for uniformity, by canon or
otherwise, Is practicable and expedlent, ana
to report to the next general convenuoo,
having held sundry meetings at several eve dnsr nsr.
OF the committee were present through the
entire session; and having, as they believe,
given to the subject-matter entrusted to them
that careful consideration which lis lmpor-
tance merits, respectfully ask leave 70 repors !:
The resolutions under which the committee
was appointed raises several questions Tor e4-
amapation and answer. Is any legislation
toilching the performance of Divine service
and ssthe administration of the sacraments and
other rites and ceremonies OF the cnurcn'
practicable? II prachvabIe, is 1t, at this time,
-expedient II practicable and expedlent, shall
It take the shape of q cauon or canons; or
shall L. be otherwise provided for And. hnal'
ly. what shall the actual details Of legislation
be? Assuredly, these are Questions that toucn
the church, and Its ministers and Its members,
in many and very Vital points, and involVe
manv delicate as well as precious relations.
In considering these questions the commit
tee have endeaYored never to forget tnat SUD-
stantlal uniformity Is entirely compatible with
very considerable Individual liberty; that non
essentials should never be unduly magnihed,
and, far less, raised to an equality win essen
tials; that many troublesome and @ oSlecuonsa- ona
ssperish In the using" and that, under any
circumstances, hssty legislation Is ever to be
avoided. Nor have they omitted to keep IN
mind the wise words of the XXX1Vth Article
of Religion:
ut is not necessary that tradition aad cere-
monies be In all places one, or utterly IKE;
for at all times they have been divers, and
may be changed according to the diversity OF
countries, times and mems manners. 80 tna'
nothing be ordained against Gods Word"
"Every particular or national church hath
authority TO ordain, change and abolish cere-
monies or rites of the church ordained only by
mans authority. 80 that all things be done 10
editying."
these considerations In view, IL has been, and
Is, their unanimous conviction that some &C.
ton Of the general convention, 10 regard 70
the important matters named In the resolution
appointing them, Is very desirable, If not, In
deed, absolutely demanded. Among many
reasons for this conviction that present them
selves, they venture to ask attention to the
three following
First. II is obvious to remark that there are
among us great and growing "diVersitles OF
use' In the performance of Divine service and
. the offices OF the church. Unless something Is
done, and done soon, In the interests OF uni
formity, these diversities bid fair to equal II
they do not exceed, those which, at the period
of the American reformation, were regarded
as an evil to be removed; and which LED to the
decision that "the whole realm" should have
shut one use." They occasion, moreover,
even now,,. confusion, trouble and perplexity
among our people; and these, evils must In
crease as their causes are multiplied.
Secondly. It Is believed that various services
over and above those provided In the Book OF
Common Prayer, or set forth IN aee11danee s
XIV, OF the Digest, and not coming under the
denomination OF Sunday or other school ser
vices, are publicly used In certain churches.
how far liberty in this regard Is to be allowed,
or In what respects 1t is TO be restrained, the
committee do not undertake to say. It Is OBJ
vious, however, that any such services are
sources of disorder and confusion, In proper
ton as they are framed on principles, and en-
body acts, words or forms-come these from
what outside quarter they may-that are not
: in accord with the doctrine, discipline and
worship" OF our own church, or are foreign to
the genius and spirit of our services.
hpThirdly The committee have reason to be-
Geve that In some instances the services Of the
Prayer Book are urlawfully altered or mutt
lated, and in othere are so performed as to
make 1t difficult, to say the east, to distin-
gulsh them, except In the language employed,
from those of the Church Of Rome. Against
such wrongs our people have right to de-
mand projections; and whether they demand 1t
or not, it would seem to be a plain and bounden
duty to provide forlt.
For these reasons, besides others which 1t Is
not necessary to rehearse, the committee
unanimously recommend action by the pres.
ent general conventions; and, after maturely
weighing the different modes In which this re.
commendation may be carried out, they
further unanimously recommend that any
action which the convention may take shall be
in the form of canon or canons.
In proceeding to state the various details
which they believe ought to be made the sub
= iects of such action as has been proposed, the
Committee desire 10 say, that while on the
great msjorily of the points presented there
has been entire unanimity OF opinion, some
things are, nevertheless, proposed, and others
are omitted, which, had each members indi.
yidual wish regulated the final result, would
have been differently disposed Of. They have
strongly felt that uniformity necessarily In
wolves the giving up Of some things, and the
acceptance of other things which individuals
may desire, on the one hand, to retain, or, on
the other, to remove.
The committee report the following as the
matters upon which they respectfully recon-