PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



637 



tion, which sat in the city of New York, Oc- 

 tober, 1868, the hishops, and clerical and lay 

 deputies-elect from the several dioceses into 

 which the Church is divided, assembled at 

 Emmanuel Church in the city of Baltimore. 

 On the conclusion of the religious services, 

 which consisted of morning prayer, the litany, 

 and the full communion office, embracing 

 a sermon from the Rt. Rev. John Johns, 

 D. D., LL. D., Bishop of the Diocese of Vir- 

 ginia, from the text " For whether we be 

 beside ourselves, it is to God; or whether we 

 be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of 

 Christ constraineth us," 2 Corinthians v. 13, 

 14 and the administration of the Holy Eu- 

 charist, the convention convened informally, 

 when the Senior and Presiding Bishop of the 

 Church, the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Bosworth 

 Smith, D. D., of the Diocese of Kentucky, 

 made the following presentation : " Right 

 reverend brethren and members of the House 

 of Clerical and Lay Deputies : It has been a 

 great gratification to us, in time past, occa- 

 sionally to have a colonial bishop of our 

 mother Church in our midst at our General 

 Convention, as we have on the present occa- 

 sion ; but this is the first instance that an ac- 

 tive bishop and some of the beneficed clergy 

 of the mother Church have had it in their 

 power to break away from their multifarious 

 engagements, and find themselves among. us 

 on this solemn and interesting occasion. I am 

 happy, therefore, to introduce to you his lord- 

 ship, the Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Lichfield, 

 the Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Nassau, and 

 the Very Rev. the Dean of Chester." The 

 reverend gentlemen were welcomed, ac- 

 cording to custom, by the members silently 

 rising. After the presentation, the bishops 

 retired from the chancel and organized them- 

 selves in their separate house at Grace Church, 

 the senior bishop presiding, and the Rev. 

 Henry C. Potter, D. D., being elected secre- 

 tary. The whole number of bishops entitled 

 to seats is fifty-two, of which nearly all were 

 present. One was consecrated and took his 

 seat during the session, the Rev. Dr. Howe, 

 assistant-Bishop elect of the Diocese of South 

 Carolina. As the House of Bishops sits with 

 closed doors, it is impossible to give any ac- 

 count of its proceedings, except such as were 

 communicated to the Lower House, or were 

 allowed to transpire. Each House can origi- 

 nate business, and each has a negative upon 

 the proceedings of the other, so that all acts, 

 not pertaining to each House exclusively, must 

 be concurred in by both in order to be made 

 legal and operative. The usages of the Houses 

 differ in some respects. Two customs of the 

 Upper House may be noticed : First, it is not 

 permissible to indulge in any memorial relating 

 to a bishop who may have died during the 

 three years' recess ; second, it is not permis- 

 sible for a bishop on his advent to the House 

 to debate a question in the course of the first 

 session. He can serve upon committees as a 



junior, but, except in peculiar cases, custom 

 forbids his speaking in the House. 



The House of Bishops, as soon as it had or- 

 ganized, sent the usual message to the Lower 

 House, stating the same, and announcing that 

 it was ready to proceed to business. Subse- 

 quently, as a matter belonging to themselves, 

 the bishops published the following declara- 

 tion : 



" We, the subscribers, bishops of the Prot- 

 estant Episcopal Church, in the United States, 

 being asked, in order to the quieting of the 

 consciences of sundry members of said Church, 

 to declare our conviction as to the meaning of 

 the word " regenerate " in the office for the 

 Ministration of the Baptism of Infants, do 

 declare that, in our opinion, the word " regen- 

 erate " is not there so used as to determine 

 that a moral change in the subject of baptism 

 is wrought in that sacrament." In explana- 

 tion, it is needful to say that the word " re- 

 generate " has two meanings the one theo- 

 logical and technical, the other popular, in 

 which it is used as the equivalent of the word 

 " conversion." The bishops set forth their 

 " declaration " to show that in the office of 

 Infant Baptism, contained in the Book of Com- 

 mon Prayer, the word is not employed in the 

 latter or popular sense, leaving the implication 

 that it is there employed in the former sense. 

 All the bishops present, save one, and he 

 deemed the proceeding unnecessary, signed 

 the declaration. It was regarded as a measure 

 tending to reconcile discordant views, and 

 promote harmony among brethren. 



Further, the House of Bishops, "instead of 

 the new missionary jurisdiction " established 

 by it at the last session, October 27, 1868, 

 established, from and after January 1, 1872, a 

 jurisdiction with the following boundaries : 

 On the east by the Missouri River, on the south 

 by the State of Nebraska, on the west by the 

 104th meridian, by the Territories of Wyoming 

 and Nebraska, on the north by the 46th degree 

 of north latitude, and the several Indian reser- 

 vations north and west of the said river ; the 

 style of the bishop of the Indian jurisdiction 

 thus erected to be the Missionary Bishop of 

 Niobrara. But the House of Bishops declined 

 to nominate any one for the office above created, 

 and placed Niobrara under the Episcopal su- 

 pervision of the Bishop of the Diocese of Ne- 

 braska. The House of Bishops also accepted 

 the resignation, on the part of Bishop Payne, 

 of his jurisdiction in Africa. The mission 

 remains vacant. At the close of the conven- 

 tion, the bishops, by the mouth of the presiding 

 bishop, delivered (both Houses being assem- 

 bled), a Pastoral Letter which had been pre- 

 pared for the occasion, by a committee oi 

 bishops the letter being addressed to tho 

 brethren. This letter, after recognizing the 

 divine wisdom and goodness of God in Christ 

 toward His Church for the past three years, 

 acknowledging the benefits received, touches 

 in a brief yet special manner upon the great 



