650 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



tee, but toward the end of November Dr. Eg- 

 gleston withdrew from any further considera- 

 tion of the subject. 



The General Convention of 1874 having au- 

 thorized the formation of a new diocese out of 

 the northeastern part of the Diocese of Wis- 

 consin, a primary convention met at Fond du 

 Lac, January 7th. It was decided to call the 

 new diocese the Diocese of Fond du Lac. 

 After eight ballotings, the Eev. Leighton Cole- 

 man, of Toledo, Ohio, received the unanimous 

 vote of both orders for bishop, and was de- 

 clared duly elected. He, however, declined to 

 accept the offer. The Diocesan Convention 

 met again at Fond du Lac, June 9th, and 

 elected as bishop the Rev. Jacob S. Shipman, 

 of Christ Church, Louisville, Ky. Mr. Ship- 

 man declined to serve. A third meeting of 

 the convention was held at Green Bay, Wis., 

 September 15th. The Rev. Henry Hobart 

 Brown, D. D., of Cohoes, N. Y., was elected 

 bishop. He accepted his election, and was con- 

 firmed by the Standing Committee, and he was 

 consecrated bishop at St. John's Church, Co- 

 hoes, December loth. 



The General Convention of 1874 having re- 

 fused to approve the election of the Rev. George 

 F. Seymour, D. D., as Bishop of Illinois, a 

 special session of the Diocesan Convention ot 

 that diocese met on the 3d of February to elect 

 a bishop. The Rev. J. DeKoven, D. D., ap- 

 peared on the third ballot to have received the 

 majority of the votes of the clergy and the lay 

 delegates, and was declared elected. A strong 

 opposition to Dr. DeKoven existed in the con- 

 vention and the diocese, and in the Church at 

 large, based upon the fact that he was gener- 

 ally regarded as the most advanced leader of 

 the ritualistic party in the Protestant Episcopal 

 Church in the United States. He had indeed 

 placed himself on record in the General Con- 

 vention of 1871 by making the formal decla- 

 ration for the assured purpose of expressly de- 

 fining his views : " I believe in the ' Real, Act- 

 ual Presence of our Lord under the form of 

 bread and wine upon the altars of our churches.' 

 I myself adore, and would, if it were necessary 

 or my duty, teach my people to adore Christ 

 present in the elements under the form of bread 

 and wine." The validity of Dr. DeKoven's 

 election was, moreover, disputed on the ground 

 that he had not received a lawful majority of 

 the votes of the lay deputies. One vote, classed 

 as " divided " on the final ballot, was not 

 counted in the summary, whereas it was held 

 that it should have been taken account of in 

 making the estimate of the number " necessary 

 to a choice." Furthermore, the chancellor of 

 the diocese and the chancellor of the cathe- 

 dral, holding seats in the convention by the 

 canons, were allowed to vote, and their votes 

 were included in declaring the result, whereas 

 the constitution of the diocese required that 

 the lay delegates be representatives of congre- 

 gations in union with the convention, and 

 chosen by the vestry or congregations of their 



churches, conditions which were not fulfilled 

 in the case of the officers named. A protest, 

 based upon these grounds, was drawn up, and 

 signed by the opponents of Dr. DeKoven in the 

 convention, and forwarded to each of the 

 standing committees of the dioceses to whom 

 the name of the bishop-elect had to be sub- 

 mitted for approval. The decision of the 

 Standing Committee was adverse to the ratifi- 

 cation of the election of Dr. DeKoven. The 

 convention met for the third time to elect a 

 bishop, at Chicago, September 14th. Dr. De- 

 Koven declined to be a candidate again, and 

 the convention adopted the following protest 

 against the action of the standing committees 

 in refusing to ratify the nomination of Dr. De- 

 Koven : 



Whereas, The Eev. James DeKoven, Warden of 

 Racine College, has addressed to the Diocese of Illi- 

 nois a communication calm, dignified, and eloquent, 

 full of tenderness, pathos, and power, in which, after 

 defining clearly and distinctly his doctrinal views, 

 and professing his unswerving loyalty to the Church, 

 he withdrew his name as Bishop-elect of the Diocese 

 of Illinois ; and 



Whereas, The communication will be spread upon 

 the minutes of the convention: 



Therefore be it resolved. That this convention here- 

 by records its solemn disapproval of any constitu- 

 tions or canons, or any construction of constitution 

 or canon, that puts it in the power of the Standing 

 Committee, composed of clergymen and laymen, to 

 sit in judgment upon its doctrinal views or upon the 

 life and manners of our bishop-elect, deeming such 

 constitution and canons inconsistent with the law of 

 the Church catholic, and in contradiction of that 

 principle of the common law that a man can only be 

 judged by his peers 



resolved, That this convention further records the 

 extension of its unchanged confidence in the entire 

 soundness in the faith, the unshaken loyalty to the 

 Church, and the eminent fitness for the episcopate 

 of the Eev. James DeKoven, D D., Warden of 

 Eacine College, who was, at the special convention 

 in February last, elected to the vacant episcopate of 

 this diocese. 



The convention then elected as bishop the 

 Rev. W. E. McLaren, D. D., of Cleveland, Ohio. 

 Dr. McLaren accepted ; his election was con- 

 firmed by the Standing Committee, and he was 

 consecrated bishop in the Cathedral of Saints 

 Peter and Paul, Chicago, December 8th. 



The Rev. W. E. McLaren, Bishop-elect of 

 Illinois, had been but four years in the Prot- 

 estant Episcopal Church when he was elected 

 bishop. He was born at Geneva, N". Y., about 

 1831. He was graduated from the Allegheny 

 Theological Seminary, Pittsburg, Pa., in 1860, 

 and entered the Presbyterian ministry in that 

 city. He afterward went to South America 

 as a missionary. In 1867 he was settled over 

 a Presbyterian Church at Peoria, 111. In 1872 

 he joined the Protestant Episcopal Church, 

 was ordained to the ministry of the same, and 

 became rector of Trinity Church, Cleveland, 

 Ohio. He preached a short time in Detroit, 

 Mich., and was for a few years one of the 

 editors of the Cleveland Plaindealer. 



A Board of Inquiry, drawn by the presiding 

 bishop of the House of Bishops, met at Balti- 



