Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-05-25
Conyention Of the Protestant Epis.

Conyention of the Protestant Epis
cOpal Church i'm the state of Ten
nessee.
The State Convention of the Epis
copal Church held last year il
Chattanooga was on adjournmen
appointed to meet in GAINESVILLE
Tenn, on Thursday, the 23d Of May
On that day goodly body of tht
clergy met in solemn conclave il
the magnificent new building re
Gently completed.
Morning rayer was held at 8 A
NJ, and after a short intermission
the congregation re-assembled tc
partake of the Holy Communion
and organize for business. The Sal
crament was administered by the
Rt. Rev. the Bishop, assisted by
the Rev. p. A Fits, Rector OF
Trinity Church. 1t is seldom that
the Office of the Holy Eucharist is
solemnized so impressively as on
this occasion, the consecrated ele-
ments being administered first to
the clergy, who received them in
full canonicals, and then to the laity
in large numbers.
The afternoon WAS chiefly occu-
pied with the annual address of the
Bishop, some passages from which
we hope to give in our next weeks
issue. Some preliminary business
of the convention was also trans
acted, not necessary to be now de-
tailed.
On Thursday evening the subject
for treatment was the Diocesan mis-
sion of the Church. The sermon
was by the Rev. w. G. Gray. 1t
was both instructive and original !;
it differed altogether from the aver
age missionary sermon and was Oc-
cupied in showing how the whole
Church system in State was capa-
BILE of being so worked as to consti-
tute permanent missionary organ
iZation. Our limits do not admit of
even an outline of this able dis
course, but we hope to discuss the
subject ourselves on a future occa-
sion.
Friday morning was devoted to
the ordination of candidates for the
ministry. These were the Rev. Jos.
R. Gray, ordained Presbyter, and
Prof. A. Jaeger and Mr.. Thomas
Valiant, ordained Deacons. Mr..
Gray is B. A. of the University of
the South and a graduate of the
General Theological Seminary, New
York.
Prof. Jaeger, a converted Hebrew,
is lecturer in Hebrew at the Univer-
sity of the South, a man of high
standing in the Jewish communion
and an eminent oriental scholar.
The convention sermon was
preached by the Rev. F. A. ShOup,
of Sewanee. His text was Cor. H.,
3, 6. "Who also hath made us able
ministers of the New Testament,
not of the letter but of the spirit"
We much regret that the distance
at which we sat from the pulpit pre-
vented us from following this dis
course throughout, as it was of much
interest. The leading idea of the
preacher was as follows: Explain
ing that the New Testament means
the new covenant made with the
world in Christ, and not the book
which now goes by that name, he
contrasted the happy lot of the
primitive Christians who received
the Gospel direct from the oral
teaching of eyewitness instead of
having to get at it from book,
however divine, every line of which
has been made the subject of elabo-
rate controversy. Not only these
controversies but the book itself
were at that time nonresident, and
the source of Christian light and
truth was the public declaration by
eyewitness of that which they had
seen and touched and handled of
the Book of Life. This declaration
being made by able ministers, able
in the sense of duly qualified and
authenticated.
Last night (tOo late for notice in
this issue) the Rev. A. o. Stanley
preached what is called the Otey
sermon of the Divine Constitution
of the Christian Ministry. This is
an annual o observance, the late Bish-
OPP James Henry Otey having left a
fund, the interest of which is devO-
ted to the support of an annual
preacher on this subject.
To-day is devoted to the regular
business of convention. To-mor-
row Sunday will be devoted to the
Institution of the present Rector of
Trinity church, in the morning, and
to the rite of Confirmation at night.
Our abstract of proceedings Is nee
essarily very brief to-day, as the
Convention had only commenced
its proceedings when we went to
press; but we hope to give a full re-
port of the proceedings next week.
The number of Delegates in at
tendance up to our date of publica-
ton was: Clerical Delegates %; Lay
Delegates 80.
River Items,
The river is falling slowly with