Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1910-10-29
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
An Interesting Letter About the General
Convention Recently Assembled
All Cincinnati.

The senior member OF une nrln OF >. T.
Whitman & Sons attended the General
Convention of the Episcopal Church at
Cincinnati as a lay deputy from the do
cese of Easton, Md, and he wrote Il
letter to The Press for publication in the
last issue i'll the hope that it might prove
of interest to the readers. Space would
not allow its appearance last week, so
we present it below:
Cincinnati, Ohio, Oct. Is, l9io.
1T will be of interest to some to know
somewhat of all that is going OH at the
General Convention of the Protestant
Episcopal Church. now closing its sess
ions here. Few, at first thought, reall.
understand the greatness OF the assem-
blage. Over 100 bishops, about 60U
clerical and lay deputies, and i'll the
-neighborhood of 500 members of til,
various boards, woman's auxiliary, anu
the different societies connected with the
Church, made large assemblage. 1h,
sessions are held in Music Hall, one oi
the largest i'll the country-it being 50
arranged that the various bodies cah
meet at the same time, therefore having
all under one roof, making it very con
venient.
"On the first day, Oct. 5th, the opening
services were held in the main auditor
ium, which is said to seat 1000 persons
outside of the stage, and it was packed.
On the stage were l02 bishops and-a
choir Of over 600 voices. The hymns be
ing familiar, when the procession was
started, it was taken up by the vast
assemblage, and with the choir made a
volume of song that will long be re-
membered by those who were present.
The sermon was preached by the Bishop
of Salisbury, England, and was an i'm
pressive one. The congregation was truly
cosmopolitan, representatives of every
State, Territory and all the insular pos
sessions, together with representatives
from Africa, China, Japan, Mexico, Cuba,
Brazil, Hayti, Europe and islands of the
sea.
In the afternoon the two houses and
the different societies organized and pro
ceeded to business. The first business OF
Importance was the proposed preamble
and constitutional amendments, all of
when were rejected except one-that i'll
regard to Suifragan Bishops. 1t is now
the law of the Church, and since then
canon in regard to the same has been
adopted, and it is expected that before
another year there will be several who
have been consecrated.
The convention then settled down to
business of routine nature. Reports
OF commissions and committees We're pre-
sented, and minor business matters pro-
gressed. The first matter of Importance
causing debate, was the proposal of an
Office for the ''Uncton of the Sick" This
was defeated in the House Of Deputies
The next was the proposition to drop
from the title page of the Book of Com
mon Prayer the word Protestant" in
the name of the Church. This was also
defeated i'll the House of Deputies by
the lack Of one lay vote. But the de
bate on the subject produced one lasting
good-it brought the different schools
Of thought nearer together. and past
animosities were notably lacking. 1t
was a barren victory for the opponents.
and indicates that the word which means
so many things and yet means nothing
will be eradicated in the near future.
Two places-New York City and At
lantic Gty-were proposed for the Con
vention of 1913, and the former was de
cded upon. The New Jersey delegation
did all they could for Atlantic City.
AT present the Convention is working
upon the new missionary canon, which
completely changes the Board of Mis-
sions and the manner of conducting
same. Many amendments to perfect
are being made and it will probably pass.
Other important matters to be de-
cded before the convention adjourns are
several amendments to the Constitution
and Book of Common PRAYER These
will be sent down to the diOceses and
acted upon by the next General Conven
tion.
Excepting the first three days. the
weather has been very nice, and today is
almost like summer weather. The city
is very smoky one, and as such is
quite dirty; but the scenery is fine. the
hills being numerous and quite high. both
here and across the river in Kentucky.
Quite number have taken advantage
of the many trolley lines. and made eX-
cursions into the surrounding country.
The people seem to be busy, and are very
kind and generous in their treatment of
the visitors. Taking all together Gin
cinnati is very good city in which to
live"
The Convention adjourned Oct. 2lst.