New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-10-03
THE CONVENTION OPENS.
AN IMPRESSIVE ASSEMBLAGE OF BISHOPS,
PRIESTS AND LAYMEN.


cUssED AT oNoE-THE REV. DR.. DIX
ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE
HOUSE OF CLERICAL AND
LAY DEPUTIES.
The thirty-ffth triennal meeting Of the General
Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in
the United States OF America began its sessions
yesterday, in ST. Georges Church. with religious
service, at which Bishop Whipple, of Minnesota,
preached. Upward of sixty bishops and four,
hundred clerical and lay deputies besides large
congregation. partook of the Holy Communion to-
gether pledge of faith and brotherhood After
luncheon the House of Bishops held a short pre-
Hminary session, and the House of Clerical and
Lay Deputies organized by electing the Rev. DR..
Morgan Dix president and the Rev. Charles L.
Hutchins secretary. The secretary appointed as
his assistants the Rev Dr. Anstice, of Western
New-YorlS; the Rev. f. w. Worthipgton, Of Ohio;
the Rev Carwell Davis, of Missouri. and the Rev.
William c. Prout. of Albany. This. in brief, is
the record Of what was done Yesterday in tha
supreme legislative synod of the Episcopal Church.
An additional interest lent TO the proceedings
because the second day of October happens TO be
the nundredth anniversary of the adoption Of the
Constitution of the Church by the first General
Convention OF 1789.
The demand for admission, which only by
ticket was unprecedentedy great, and long before
II o'clock, when the service began, the doors
were besieged. not only by those who were
fortunate enough to have tickets but by many
Others who of were unable
to get in. The congregation a remarkable
one in many respects. Besides the clerical and
hay deputies and their families, representing every
State in the Union, there were many other prom.
inent Episcopalians who had come from other parts
OF the country TO attend the sessions of the
vention. There were also present men and women
of this city and of Brooklyn who are famous in the
social literary or financial circles of the metrop-
oils. And sitting side by side with them might
be seen faithful and devout members of ths
Episcopal Church, whose names, it may be, ara
little known to the general public. but whose
unselfsh work and Christian zeap have done 81
much to make the Episcopal Church a religious
power in this city.
ALL CLASSES REPRESENTED
Missionaries in the neglected parts of the city.
clerical and lay; sisters and volunteer visitors
among the poor and afflicted, whose lives are
benson to the sorrowful members of guilds and
brotherhoods, some of them pcturesquely habted
in cassock and girdle; meel-eyed students from
the General Theological Seminary. many of them
more clerical in appearance even than the clergy
themselves; advanced Catholic" clergymen, tc
whom the words Protestant Episcopalg in the
title of the Church are gall and wormwood;
bustling Western missionaries, with the alert look
and breezy manners Of the genuine hustler:
sprinkling of Canadian clcrgymen, who do not
appear to know just what to think of American
" goaheadativeness in religious and secular mat
ters several intelhgentlool1ing coored clergymen;
members of some rituastic order, MONKS 10
embryo as it were, habited in long cassocks
and wearing those hat-crowned clerical soft
felt hats so much affected by English
High Churchnen; city rector here and there,
faultlessly dressed in cericals, but yet with
an air of cosmOpoitansm that sits remarkably
well upon him, evidently hard-worlung and
devoted PASTOR but evidently also man who
knows pretty much all that is going on in this
many-sided world; women from the great world
of fashion, whose names were seen not long ago
as leaders in the gayeties Of Newport or Bar
IIarbor, men of weight in the world of finance
or commerce-all these and many others might
be seen among the deN outly attentive and
reverent worshippers who thronged yesterday into
old St. Georges Church.
And the service which they came to attend was
typical of the genius of this great and growing
Church. 1t was simple, dignifed, impressive and
reverent, less dramatic than Roman Catholic
service but with suggestion of deeply rooted
faith and restrained enthusiasm, that gradually
though not at first perhaps, impresses all who
habitually attend well rendered Episcopal
vice. You forgave the reverend clergy in tha
chancel for the slight indications they gave here
and there of not having rehcarsed the service
beforehand. On the whole it was rendered with
stately dignity, and with an earnest sincerity that
cannot be gainsaid. 1t. is little longer, per-
haps, than is desirable in this hurry-skurryins
age, and here and there it may be it is little
out of touch with the secular spirit of the nine
reenth century, but on the whole it appeals most
strongly to the religious instincts of increasingly
large numbers Of people to-day. Such as it is
with its beauties and its defects, if we may sup
pose it to have any defects, it stands as bul.
wark of conservatism in the midst of so much
that is shifting and drifting in American Christi
anity.
ST. GEORGES POPULAR PARISH
And Bishop Whpple's sermon was in keeping
with the spirit of the service, strong hopeful and
accentuated by faith and charity. His reference
10 the change of the name OF the Church revealed
him as opposed TO that measure; and he spoke in
no uncertain tone in regard to the rights of the
colored race to the privileges of the Church. Ir
this connection it is interesting to note the fact
that one of the first persons admitted into the
church yesterday was coored clergyman, wha
occupied one of the front seats
ST. Georges Parish, which occupies the position
Of host TO the Convention, has an interesting
history. For many years it was the stronghold
of the nest vigorous type of Low Churchism-
and cherishes many traditions Of that party. In
his day, DR.. Minor, one of its rectOrs great
social and religious power in this towa, and tho
sanctifed pugnacty of the elder Tying, also one
of its rectors, is remembered by many yet living.
But in the opinions of most Epscopalans st.
Georges has to-day reached a higher level OF
Christian effort than il ever attained before IL
is no longer the home Of controversy and party