Bishop White's Address to the Convention of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, delivered in St. Andrew's Church, Philadelphia, on the 20th day of May, 1829. Brethren, the Clerical and Lay Mem bers of this Convention, AGREEABLY to the 45th Canon of the General Convention, I make the following report : Shortly after the session of the last convention, I repaired to the city of New-York, to be present at the annual meeting of the trustees of the Theological Seminary. On that occasion, I delivered an address to the students, assisted in the examinations, and presided in the deliberations of the trustees, from Tuesday the 24th, to Friday the 27th of June inclusive. With satisfaction felt, as to the sufficiency of the education, it could not but be a subject of regret, that although in the organizing of the institution, this diocese alone declared a preference of such institutions as would be local; and although it has subsequently sustained the plan which seemed to have the sanction of the general sense of the Church; little has been done for the carrying of the latter opinion into effect, by some of the dioceses which had been decisive in the preference given to it. On the 9th day of July, I ordained to the holy office of deacons, William Lucas; he is the second beneficiary from the Theological Seminary, furnished by the scholarship instituted by some ladies of this city. On the 30th of November, I consecrated Grace Church, in Penn Township, adjacent to this city, VOL. XIII. [VOL. XIII. preaching and administering the communion on the occasion. On the 5th October, in the Swedish Church of St. James's, Kingsessing, Philadelphia county, I ordained to the holy office of priests, the Rev. Pierce Connelly. On the same occasion, I preached and administered the holy communion. On the 14th day of December, I held a confirmation, and preached, and administered the holy communion, in St. Andrew's Church, in this city. On the 21st day of the same month, I held an ordination, and preached, and administered the holy communion in Trinity Church, Southwark, Philadelphia county. On the 12th day of April, I preached in St. Paul's Church, in this city. On the 10th day of May, I preached again in St. Andrew's Church, in this city. The number of my confirmations is 127. Those of Bishop Onderdonk will be reported by him. My several confirmations, held in the churches of which I am rector, are not here noticed; although the number confirmed is comprehended in the aggregate given in. Neither is there notice taken of my preaching and of my otherwise officiating in said churches. The changes in our ministry are as follows:-The Rev. Greensbury W. Ridgely, the Rev. Caleb Good, the Rev. Richard S. Mason, the Rev. John W. Curtis, the Rev. William Lucas, the Rev. Ralph Williston, and the Rev. Richard Hall, have left the diocese. The Rev. John Reynolds has been transferred to it from Maryland, and the Rev. Pierce Connelly 25 The Rev. Edward from Delaware. John W. James, John T. Adderly, William Hilton, and F. H. L. Laird, have been ordained deacons by the Right Reverend the Assistant Bishop, as will be reported by him, and are now mentioned as added to the ministry ́of our Church, in this state; with the exception of the first named, who has been transferred to the diocese of Maryland. The Rev. Benjamin Allen has departed this life. The Rev. Correy Chambers, an emigrant from Ireland, in deacons' orders, has resided nearly a year within this state, and has officiated for some time in Pottsville, Schuylkill county, where the building of a church is in progress. He brought with him respectable testimonials to his character and literary education. The Rev. Raymond Alphonso Henderson, having been ordained a deacon in this diocese, and having since engaged in the service of the Missionary Society, is to be considered as a member of our ministry. The Rev. Jacob M. Douglass has resigned his pastoral charge of the church in Concord, and is now assisting the rector of the church in which we are assembled. In my last annual address, I stated the case of the Rev. William R. Bowman as involving circumstances, in relation to which, in the event of his › appearance, it would rest with the convention to determine, whether he were entitled to a seat in their body. The case still rests on the same grounds. He has not taken a letter of dismission from the diocese, and continues to reside in Louisiana. The candidates admitted in the course of the year, and to be added to those on the last journal, are Samuel W. Selden, Sansom K. Brunot, Lyman N. Freeman, Charles Shaler, and Richard Collier. The Society for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsylvania, may be considered to have increased in usefulness. It is to be hoped that the increase will be still advanced by measures lately adopted for the organizing of auxiliaries to it throughout the diocese. Hitherto, there has been but little aid to its funds beyond the city and its suburbs. Its efficiency, while sustained by so slender a provision, may be considered as the promise of much greater good, to result from the possession of more ample means. The Female Tract Society are persevering in their exertions, for the extending of the knowledge and principles of our holy religion, as held within our Church. This is effected by the means of an instrument, unostentatious in its appearance, but powerful in its effect. The General Episcopal Sunday School Union has an increasing patronage in this diocese, and throughout the United States. It will help to protect our Sunday schools from endeavours perseveringly put in operation, for the subjecting of them to an authority exterior to that of our Church. The Education Society, noticed in my last two addresses, has become merged in the Society for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsylvania. In consequence, the small fund of the former has been transferred; but there will be kept a separate account of this, and of any additions which may be made. The present number of beneficiaries is three. The fund for the widows and children of deceased clergymen, who have been annual contributors to itfor the families of none other can receive from it consistently with moral honesty-amounts to $42,595 33 cts. It will afford liberal returns to those whose husbands and fathers had secured interests in it by fair purchase, on the terms which govern in monied institutions of that description. Having formerly devoted much time and trouble, and made various journeys, to preserve this fund from annihila tion; in which I was aided by a Rev. brother still living, and whom I perceive to be now present; it is a subject of regret, that there is so little of immediate benefit; but I am comforted by the anticipation of the increased attention to it, which cannot fail to be. the effect of its increasing capital. > The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society have experienced an enlargement of their prospects. After having sustained grievous discouragement, on the one hand, from the scantiness of contributions to their treasury; and, on the other hand, from claims which seemed to presume the possession of abundance of means; there is a gradual conviction throughout our communion, of the duty of carrying the design of the institution into full effect. In relation to the two departments of Domestic" and "Foreign," different opinions have been declared, as to which of them the preference is due. While there can be no denial of the right to the expression of opinion on either side of the question; it would seem a subject, on which there can be no pretence for the indulgence of unpleasant feelings. The constitution of the society has committed to every contributor the making of a choice between the kindred objects; and to the results of their exercise of discretion, the whole subject should be left, without censure and without contention. This diocese having all along taken an interest in the operations of the Bible Society of Philadelphia, the present will be a suitable opportunity of recommending to the countenance and to the aid of all orders of persons in our Church, the enterprise undertaken, and in progress, of providing that within the limits of this extensive state, there will not need to be any family without a Bible. It was a great undertaking; but it has been blessed with such a measure of success, as to be a warrant for the expectation of complete accomplishment. The Episcopal fund, of which a report will be made from another department, remains substantially in the same state with that detailed on the journal of the last year. It ought to be borne in mind, that while we may hope for the perpetuity of a part of this fund, (about two fifths of it,) the other part (about three fifths,) is dependent on the life of the present assistant bishop; any farther than as it may be redeemed by repayment of the loans advanced without interest, by collections to be made annually in our several churches. In proportion as these collections shall be efficient, the issue will be bonourable to our Church; and will contribute to the securing of the Episcopacy in severance from parochial labours. Brethren, In proportion as your bishop ap proaches the termination of his mortal course, he derives consolation from the promising beginnings of the labours of the Right Reverend his assistant and successor; and from the manifest evidences exhibited of the increasing acceptableness of his services, and of confidence in his judgment, and in the integrity of his ecclesiastical views. It is with great satisfaction, that his senior commits to him so great a proportion of the concerns of the diocese; considering himself as relieved from them, partly by his weight of years, and partly by there still resting on him a share of the duties of the three churches with which he has been, during the whole of his ministry, parochially connected. These considerations will not prevent him, so long as he shall retain the use of his faculties, from the taking of a deep interest in the cause of our holy religion; and on that account, in the proceedings of our Church in this state, and throughout the Union. In pursuance of this design, it will continue to be an object with him, to sustain the principles on which he has acted. during the whole course of his ministry believing them to be agreeable to Holy Scripture; and to have descended to us through the channel of the primitive Church; and of the Church with which we have professed to identify ourselves in all the leading properties of doctrine, of worship, and of discipline. Having been occupied, during so long a ministry, in sustaining the standards now referred to, he would have found a dark cloud induced over the remainder of his days, had he contemplated in a successor a dispo sition to a deterioration of the system, by the introduction of opinions and of practices inconsistent with it. WILLIAM WHITE. Bishop Onderdonk's Address, deli- Brethren, the Clergy, and the Lay My visitations have now extended to the whole diocese; and many of the congregations have been visited twice, and a few of them three times. The ordinary sacred duties performed by me in the churches of this city are not connected with a visitation. [The Bishop here enumerates, in detail, the services performed by him from 25th May, 1828, to 17th May, 1829, which being uninteresting to the generality of our read. ers, we have deemed proper to omit.] In all the journeys by which the above visitations were accomplished, I have been favoured with the most kind and acceptable hospitality; for which I take this opportunity of expressing my grateful acknowledg ments. From May 28th, to June 16th, 1828, I was engaged in a visitation of the diocese of Delaware, by request of Bishop White, who has charge of that diocese under the 20th canon of the General Convention. From December 5th to 23d, 1828, and from February 5th, to March 16th, 1829, I was engaged in visitations of the diocese of Maryland, under a special invitation from its Standing Committee; my connexion with that diocese, under that invitation, expired on the 1st day of the present month. From March 16th to 24th, 1829, I was engaged in a visitation of part of Delaware. On three Sundays I have omitted preaching; having been once confined by sickness, and once not sufficiently recovered for that duty. [The baptisms and confirmations here recorded by the Bishop, we also omit for the reason given above; and for the addi tional reason, that the confirmations have already been noticed in this Journal.] Four persons have been ordained by me, viz, In Trinity Church, Pittsburgh, August 10th, 1828, Mr. John W. James and Mr. John T. Adderly, were ordained deacons. In Christ Church, Meadville, August 20th, 1828, Mr. William Hilton was ordained a deacon. November 9th, 1828, Mr. Francis H. The consecrations of churches in the course of the above visitation have been two in number, viz.-St. Gabriel's Church, Sugarloaf, on the 15th of July-and Christ Church, Meadville, on the 16th of August. Blairsville, and Danville. St. Paul's Churches are erecting at Franklin, Church, Chester county, is ready for consecration. In several parishes measures are in progress preparatory to the erection of houses of worship. The Churches at Thompsontown and Pottsville, mentioned in my report last year, are enclosed. The missionaries employed within the past year under the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese, were eleven in number, and stationed as follows: 1. The Rev. Bennet Glover, at Erie and Waterford. 2. The Rev. Charles Smith, at Meadville, Franklin, Mercer, and Venango Furnace. 3. The Rev. William Hilton, at Butler, Kittaning, and the Slippery Rock Creek, with which latter congregation it is probable that at Venango Furnace will unite. 4. The Rev. Francis H. L. Laird, at Georgetown, and St. Paul's, Beaver county. 5. The Rev. David C. Page, at Greensburgh and Blairsville. 6. The Rev. John T. Adderly, at Philipsburgh, Bellefonte, and Huntingdon. 7. The Rev. Benjamin Hutchins, at New Milford. Mr. H. resigned this station last fall. 8. The Rev. Samuel Marks, at Springville, and St. Matthew's, Wyalusing Creek. 9. The Rev. George Weller, at Mantua and Hamiltonville. 10. The Rev. William Bryant, at Moyamensing, principally. 11. The Rev. Correy Chambers, at Pottsville, and at various places among the miners in its vicinity. This gentleman brought letters of deacons' orders from the Bishop of Meath, in Ireland. Not having yet resided a year in this country, he is debarred (by Canon 35th of the General Convention) a settlement in any parish. His ministrations, however, at and near Pottsville, rendered, in pursuance of a temporary arrangement with the vestry, have been so satisfactory as to induce the Society for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsylvania, to vote him a donation; his services being, in effect, those of a missionary. In behalf of this excellent society, our venerable Diocesan and myself united last fall in a communication to the several parishes of the diocese. And, at its last anniversary, held on the evening of the Epiphany, I gladly availed myself of an opportunity of urging the Domestic Missionary claims to which the resources of that society are chiefly devoted. I beg leave again to call the attention of the diocese to that subject. There is no way to extend and invigorate the growth of our Church, but the unwearied prosecution of missions of this sort. The more I see of the interior and distant parts of the state, and the more I hear of similar portions of our country at large, the more deeply am I convinced of their paramount claims to this department of our sacred liberality. Every journey, I make, I become the more thorough ly persuaded, that no public duty of the members of this diocese can compare in importance with that of aiding, with the most ardent zeal, and with unstinted generosity, the Society for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsylvania. H. U. ONDERDONK. May 19th, 1829. Bishop Brownell's Address to the Annual Convention of Connecticut, held in Christ Church, Hartford, on the 3d of June, 1829. My Brethren of the Clergy and of the Laity. THE goodness of God has permit ted us to witness another of those returning seasons when we are accustomed to assemble together as the organs of his Church, to present unto him our prayers and thanksgivings, and to take counsel together concerning the welfare of that portion of his heritage which he has committed to our especial care. Already we have united in the solemnities of public worship; at the holy altar we have professed our discipleship to our common Lord and Saviour, and have acknowledged the bands which unite us together as brethren in Christ. In the remaining duties which we have met to perform, may we be enabled, by divine grace, to act worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called: May we be “saved from all error, ignorance, pride, and prejudice," and be disposed, in all our acts, to have a single eye to the glory of God, and to the prosperity, peace, and union of his Church. That we may the better understand the condition of that portion of the Church with whose welfare we are charged, the 45th Canon of the General Convention requires that every Clergyman shall present to the Bishop a full report of the state of his parish, and these reports are to be read and entered on our journals. In addition to this provision, the Bishop is himself required to deliver an annual address to the convention, containing an account of the Episcopal acts which he has performed, and a full exposition of the state of the diocese. The parochial reports of the clergy will presently be called for, and laid before the convention. In fulfilling the duty which particularly devolves upon myself, I have abundant reason to be thankful to the great Head of the Church, that he still continues to smile upon this portion of his vineyard. Nothing has occurred to disturb the peace and union which so happily subsists among us, and which the distractions in other portions of the Church should teach us the more carefully to prize and to cherish. The evils of heresy and schism, which every where surround us, have not been permitted to corrupt or divide us, And may we not |