New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-05-08
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
.rur EpIsCoPAL CRURCH.

TIE EpISCOPAiJ ttaOAsNA.s
THE HIsT9Ry OF TEE 1 by WsIas sTEvkSs PER
3D. LID, Bibopof Iowa p In Two Of the
Vol IL T Church i7ss-isss. Alto. PIP 1ih' 0'o'
as,a .o,;cs covered by the concluding volume u
R;sboo Perrys elaborate history are mofo 49,.
fed and in one sense more diincu' t,ian ..atol-
which fell within the scope OF the es' -. q
ment of the work, reviewed In theSo oO ua Co.
short time ago. There has been DO hsou au
the investigation of obscure hs'oiioa S.l;oote
but the author has had 10 ro'ie" s' 90 stirl
..r+rovara;as on which opinions arc ST.
S,v,ded and feeling is apt to run nisn
The volume however, docs ho0
abort of the standard set ND by its predecessor "
;ts general character IT indicates the Same o,En
sincerity. and industry while tho NOTES. n
mons documents monographs, ETC., arc eSpe'~'
rich and interesting. ,.,. 90 tho
Thanarrative opens with the Organization VI ',o
American Episcopal Church at the cioSe VI ~. ~
Revolution. q process which was at'eh"ou ~
considerable difficulty and threatened at one ,''no
lamentable disruption. The nrst pI"o'
FORMAL recognition of the separation OF the hnoi'
80 fon, the English church took place in 1888, IN
Connecticut and Maryland. In the former ota,e'
"a, clercvmen met at Woodbury. and cnose pno
Rev samu.l Seabury as bishop, instructing nm "
Obtain conservation, if possible, from the
oafest church in England, or, the Eng
Isb bishops refused, then 1rom '"0
church in Scotland This action seen's
To have been virtually an anticipation OF Tue
measure of diocesan independence when mas sinoo
been recognized in the Episcopal BODY In Mais
land the movement proceeded from a oineionV
starting point There the Church OF Englanu was
established by law; and the convention "ai0n no'
Mt Annapolis in August. 1888 i've months aiter
fbs woodbury. meeting held that from the owl
iudependence OF Maryland it necessarily foiioweu
that the church in Maryland enjoyed complete
"eeclesastlca and spiritual independence" as not
only separate church organization, but an euIife
church." 1t was just at this time lwhen rs yo'
there had been no acknowledged negotiations ior
reaee with Great Britain on the basis OF Ameri-
can iudauendencel that the Rev. William
White, afterward Bishep OF PennsyiVania'
published his celebrated proposal tha'
the church should content itsef 1or 'no
nresent with "a general appreciation of episcopacy'
and declaration of an intention to secure
the succession as soon as conveniently may De-
and IN the meantime should ordain ministers and
"snnerntendautsv or "oyerseers," without walt
ING for the episcopal succession" Dr. Wnlte
argued against the exclusive validity OF eplscopa
orders but ne suggested that If his plan should DC
adopted aud the episcopal succession afterward be
obtained, "any supposed imperfeotions OF the sup
posed intermediate ordinations might Ii IL were
iudeed proper be supplied, without acknowledging
their nnity by conditional ordination resembling
that of conditional baptism In the liturgy" Inc
Connecticut plan nevertheless, was carried out,
and Dr. Seabury having been repulsed IN England
was consecrated at Aberdeen in 1884
The story of the expansion and gradual settle
,n.nt of the church is told With sufficient fulness
and system An exhaustive examination OF doc
tunal controversies within the denomination
formed no part of D. Pery's plan, and hence ms
ebanters on The Oxford Movement" and on De-
fections and Accessions" are very brief His ac-
count of The Ritualistic Controversy is little
moro than a series of short extracts from the pro-
ceedings of conventions. The account of the On
derdonk scandals IN Philadelphia and New-iork
might well have been omitted. These affairs made
a treat noise IN their day, but they belong rather
to personal biography than TO the annals OF the
church. and are already passing into oblivion The
rtuas.ic and tracSaran controversies on the othor
hand are symptoms of certain tendencies OF thought
which NAV have permanent influence upon the
church But for the present. no doubt, 1t would
Ia ;,n,oaste to write of them in detail without
disappointing zone side or the other A note on the
progress of the church states that IN 1850 INC
Protestant Episcopal denomination comprised As
dioceses, 2937 parishes 1872 ministers ana 4oI'-
AL communicates. The ratio OF increase In the
nu,ober of communicates for 100 years has aver
AGED about 20 per cent every three years. while the
,ot;o of increase in the fetal population OF the
couuttv for the same period has not been more than
10 or IL per cent.