Birmingham age-herald., 1895-10-03
The Most imposing Ceremony Ever Witnessed on the Continent.
DELEGATES FROM CANADA IGNORED
By Being Placed Between the Two Senior Bishops-Alms Were Received in Valuable Golden Bowl Brought
 From Egypt.

the most imposing ever witnessed in church of that denomination on this con tinent. Sixty bishops, attired in vest ments of snowy whiteness, with hoods of scarlet, purple and blue, occupied the chancel of St. Gethseme. Brilliantly il- luminated with candles and fragrant flo- ral offerings, 800 clerical and lay dele gates and local churchmen occupied pews in the body of the church. while the front seats of the temporary galleries were filled with the wives and daughters of visitors.
 Admission to the church was by ticket, and a crowd of several thousand gath cred on the outskirts to witness the ar rival of the distinguished participants. At the opening notes of the professional hymn, Forward Be Our Watchword," the head of the procession moved from Knickerbocker hall, and, crossing the lawn, entered the edifice through the main aisle. The bishops of Kansas and Indiana, as the juniors of the Episcopal lords, led the column and the senior bish- ops brought up the rear the delegates from Canada being given a portion of homo between Bishops Whipple and Cole, the two seniors in attendance. The regular order of common prayer and litany had been read at the o'clock serv- ice, and when the bishops had taken their places the communion service was begun by the reading of the epistle of Bishop Nicely of Maine. The gospel was read by, the archbishop of Ruperts Land and the aims were received by Assistant Bishop Gilbert of Minnesota in a golden bowl valued at several thousand dollars, which was brought from Egypt many years ago. Bishop Whipple was the celebrant of holy communion and every bishop and -Ir~.- The service was fully choral, the chants and hymns being rendered by supplied mals choir of fifty voices. After the read ing of the gospel the annual sermon was delivered by Rt Rev. Bishop Coxe of the diocese of central New York.
 The service commenced at II o'clock and it was after 1 o'clock when Bishop Futile of Missouri pronounced the ben ediction
 L.. J. Pierpont Morgan with a large party of delegates, arrived on a special train this morning in time to participate in the organization ceremonies.
 Fifteen minutes after the formal organ ization of deputies had been affected this afternoon the call to arms for the pros pective great battle over the revision of the constitution and canons of the Prot estant Episcopal church in the United States was sounded. Rising from beside J. Perpont Morgan. the New York finan-
 
 cate, Dr. Eugene A. Hoffman of the same city made the announcement that the commission appointed by the general convention of 1892 had completed its task and that a certified copy of it's re- port had been laid upon the secretary's table. There was a note of defiance if not of a challenge in his tone as he pro- ceeded tomake formal resolution that the report be made a special order for Thursday morning, and that it continue in the same status day by day until final disposition had been made of 1t. Appa- rently taken off it's guard, the opposition was about to let the resolution go through without comment when a delegate in the rear of thechurch made inquiry as to whether any substantial change had been made in the report as printed and circulated To this Dr. Hoffman gave positive negative. What alterations had been made, he said. were purely verbal. Then Dr. Felton of Philadelphia, editor of the Church Standard, desired to know eX- plicitly whether in adopting the resolu- tion the convention bound or committed Itself to full and detailed discussion of the report or whether tomorrow or any day could do with the document as it saw fit. Upon this the ruling was made by Chairman Morgan Dix that once the re- port was made special order for fixed time the convention could either proceed to its considerat ton or dispose of it by any parliamentary method. This was satisfactory to the opposition and the resolution was unanimously approved. Tomorrow, according to the present pro- gramnae, a determined effort will be made to pigeon-hole the report by re- ferring 1t to the general convention of 1896, and some fervid oratory pro and con may be expected.
 Outside of this episode the proceedings of the session were of purely routine nature. When the roll was called by Sec retary Hutchns of Hartford, Conn.,, be- tween 300 and 600 clerical and lay dele. gates answered to their names; and there was a craning of necks on the part of both delegates and visitors as MT. Nor gan, Ex-Senator Edmunds of Vermont. W. Bayard Cutting of New York, c. Stu art Patterson and Dr. McVicar of Phila- delphia, Columbus Delano of Ohio and others of national reputation gave assent of their presence.
 By unanimous consent Rev. pr. Mor- gan Dix was elected chairman of the board, and as the eminent divine, who has presided over every general conven- tion. commencing with that of 1886. was escorted to the platform by Dr. Leffing- well of Quincy and the Rev. John A. King, of Long Island the deputies rose to their feet In tones of broken emotion pr. Dix thanked his associates for the honor once again conferred upon him. Matters of great importance, he said. were to be considered. Some of their work was beset with difficulties, and would effect great differences of opinion. Besides the revision issue, the question of mission work and the cause of Christian unity would require careful considera- ton. God guide them in their delibera- tions to the end that this convention might rank among the most important in the history of the church.
 The convention authorized the send n n tplppram n RfShan a me of Connecticut, the senior bishop of the church, deploring his illness and express ing hopes of his speedy recovery.
 Wien tha revision question had heen