i;'89] REV. WILLIAM SMITH, D. D. 2// 



written to Bishop White will be useless. But if a uniformity of worship 

 be aimed at, I know of no other method besides the one I mentioned 

 to Bishop W nite — to leave the matter to the bishops and the clergy. It 

 is their business; and if your laity will not consent to it, they interfere 

 out of their sphere * 



Dr. Smith, now in the Convention, on the application which had 

 been made by the clergy of Massachusetts and New Hampshire 

 for the consecration of the Rev. Mr. Bass, as their Bishop, offered 

 to the Convention, which had then resolved itself into a Commit- 

 tee of the Whole the following resolves: 



'fc> 



ist. That a complete order of Bishops, derived as well unoer the 

 English as the Scots line of Episcopacy, doth now subsist within the 

 United States of America, in the persons of the Right Rev. William 

 White, D. D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State 

 of Pennsylvania, the Right Rev. Samuel Provoost, D. D., Bishop of 

 the said Church in the State of New York, and the Right Rev. Samuel 

 Seabury, D. D., Bishop of the said Church in the State of Connecticut. 



2d. That the said three Bishops are fully competent to every proper 

 act and duty of the Episcopal office and character in these United 

 States, as well in respect to the consecration of other Bishops, and the 

 ordering of priests and deacons, as for the government of the Church, 

 according to such rules, canons and institutions, as now are, or hereafter 

 may be duly made and ordained by the Church in that case. 



3d. That in Christian charity, as well as of duty, necessity and ex- 

 pediency, the churches represented in this Convention ojght to con- 

 tribute, in every manner in their power, towards supplying the wants, 

 and granting every just and reasonable request of their sister churches 

 in these States; and, therefore, 



4th. That the Right Rev. Dr. White and the Right Rev. Dr. Pro- 

 voost be, and they hereby are, requested to join with the Right Rev. 

 Dr. Seabury, in complying with the prayer of the clergy of the States 

 of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, for the consecration of the Re\-. 

 Edward Bass, Bishop-elect of the churches in the said States; but that, 

 before the said Bishops comply with the request aforesaid, it be pro- 

 posed to the churches in the New England States to meet the churches 

 of these States, with the said three Bishops, in an adjourned Convention, 

 to settle certain articles of union and discipline among all the churches, 

 previous to such consecration. 



5th. That if any difficulty or delicacy, in respect to the Archbishops 



* From the original MS. preserved among the Bishop White papers. As (his letter 

 is mutilated more or less on every page, omissions have been supplied from the first 

 draft contained in Bishop Seabury's Letter Book. 



