FIRST DAY'S PROCEEDINGS.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, October 7. The first Wednesday in October, being the day designated by the Constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America for holding a General Convention, the Bishops and the Deputies-elect assembled, agreeably to the appointment of the last General Convention, in this city, in St. John's Chapel, Trinity Parish.

Processional Hymn, 202, Hymnal---" The Church's one foundation."

Morning Prayer was begun by the Rev. William Stevens Perry, D.D., Secretary of the last House of Deputies.

Venite.

The Eighth Selection of Psalms was read by the Rev. Edward James Edwards, Vicar of Trentham, Diocese of Lichfield, England.

The First Lesson (Isaiah lx.) was read by the Very Rev. Lewis P. W. Balch, D.D., Archdeacon of Huron.

Te Deum.

The Second Lesson (John xvi.) was read by the Rev. J. Ellegood, M.A., Canon of Montreal.

Jubilate.

The Creed and Prayers to the Litany were said by the Rev. W. Q. Ketchum, D.D., Honorary Canon of Fredericton, New Brunswick.

The Litany was read by the Rev. Henry C. Potter, D.D., Secretary of the House of Bishops.

Hymn 25, Prayer-Book, "I love Thy Kingdom, Lord."

The Communion Service was begun by the Right Rev. Ashton Oxenden, D.D., Bishop of Montreal and Metropolitan of Canada.

The Epistle was read by the Right Rev. William R. Whittingham, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of Maryland. The Gospel was read by the Right Rev. Reginald Courtenay, D.D., Bishop of Kingston, Canada.

Anthem, Mendelssohn's Elijah: "If with all your hearts you truly seek Him," by Rev. W. H. Cook. The Sermon was delivered by the Right Rev. George Augustus Selwyn, D.D., D. C. L., Lord Bishop of Lichfield, England.

SERMON.

Acts xv. 28.

It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us : ἔδοξεν τῷ Πνεύματι τῷ ̓Αγίῳ καὶ ἡμῖν.

Confer. Acts xv. 25.-It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord:

ἔδοξεν ἡμῖν γενομένοις όμοθυμαδόν.

Acts xv. 22. Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole Church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas:

τότε ἔδοξε τοῖς ἀποστόλοις καὶ τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις σὺν ὅλῃ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἐκλεξαμένους ἄνδρας ἐξ αὐτῶν πέμψαι εἰς ̓Αντιόχειαν. Acts xv. 2.-When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them. v. 2.-Dissension disputation disputing.

στάσις

ζήτησις ν. 7, συζήτησις

v. 4. They were received of the church and of the apostles and elders:

παρεδέχθησαν ὑπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων.

v. 6. The apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.

v. 23. The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting:

οἱ ἀπόστολοι καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ, τοῖς κατὰ τὴν ̓Αντιόχειαν καὶ Συρίαν καὶ Κιλικίαν ἀδελφοῖς τοῖς ἐξ ἐθνῶν, χαίρειν.

Behold, brethren, a Synod in the highest sense: "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us". God the Holy Ghost uniting believers with Himself by the spirit of counsel. St. Paul tells us in 1 Cor. iii. 9, that we are laborers together with God, and he adds: "Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." The world is the field in which. God works with us: He as the Lord of the harvest; we as the laborers. The Church is the building growing into a holy temple (Ephes. ii. 21), in which God is the master builder, and we the workmen. As Christ is both the priest and the sacrifice, so He is both the master builder and the chief corner-stone. And we, in like manner, are both the workmen and the stones-workmen to lay ourselves as living stones upon the one foundation, which is Christ alone, in whom we are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit (Ephes. ii. 22). In this character of "laborers together with God,"

Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem, and there declared to the Church and to the Apostles and elders all things that God had done with them (Acts xv. 4). So also at Antioch they rehearsed all that God had done with them (Acts xiv. 27). The final words of St. Mark's Gospel are thus seen in their course of fulfilment: They," that is, the Apostles, "went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them" (Mark xv. 20).

United work is the result of united counsel. There must be one mind before there can be one work. When the builders of Babel could not understand one another's speech, they left off to build the city (Gen. xi. 8). Not so when the Lord builds the house. The labor will not be lost of them that build it (Psalm cxxvii. 1). As the master builder God lays the foundation, and gives grace to them that build upon it (1 Cor. iii. 10). Many names may be given to that special grace. It may be called unity or the spirit of counsel, but its special name is edification (Î Cor. xiv. 26). Let all things be done unto edifying.

The rule by which we work is the mind of the Master-builder. The plumb-line (Amos vii. 7), the measuring-reed (Ezekiel iv. 3), and the square are the Lord's. The pattern of things on earth was first conceived in heaven. The foundation on which we build was laid by the foreknowledge of God. He that built all things is God (Heb. iii. 4).

It was no part of the creed of the Apostolic Church that every man might build upon this foundation as he pleased. It was not enough to say, “I build upon the foundation of Christ ;" whether he built gold, silver, and precious stones, or wood, hay, and stubble (1 Cor. ii. 12). A plain warning was given: "Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon," for the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is (ib. iii. 13). There was no place or rival bands of builders. This was the earnest exhortation of St. Paul to the Corinthians (i. 10), when he heard that there were contentions among them :

"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

No man had a better right to assert an opinion of his own than St. Paul. He had been called, from his mother's womb; he had seen the Lord Jesus Christ; he had heard the voice of the Lord speaking to him from heaven; he had been caught up into the third heaven to hear unspeakable words. If he had claimed to the uttermost the right of private judgment and rejected all counsel of his brethren, he at least, if any man, might have been excused. But this was not the mind of the Lord Jesus as the Lord Himself had revealed it to him; this was not the way along which the Holy Ghost led him; this was not the lesson which he learned and practised at the Synod of the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem; this was not the example which he saw and followed when he was received, late in the day, as one born out of due time, into that church in which the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul (Acts iv. 32). The thought was thus deeply rooted in the Apostle's mind, that "God is not a God of confusion, but of peace" (1 Cor. xiv. 33).

The right of private judgment was not abolished, but placed under due control. Each believer might have his own special gifts by which one man would differ from another; to one, the word of wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge; to another, faith; to another, the gifts of healing; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, discerning of spirits; to another, divers kinds of tongues; to another, the interpretation of tongues:

all these were the work of that one and self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he would. These special gifts, like the powers of foot and head and eye, were for the good of the whole body. There was to be no schism in the body; but all the members were to have the same care one for anothEach member of Christ was free to covet earnestly the best gifts; to pray for more knowledge and more faith, and more inward and spiritual life, yet all these would be of no avail, without that more excellent way of charity, that bond of perfectness, which unites all the several members in the one body.

er.

Private judgment and free expression of opinion were not forbidden in that Synod of Jerusalem. What is a Synod but an assembly of men of many minds, and what would be the value of a Synod if there were not freedom of speech? The Apostolic Church was not exempt from differences of opinion; it was not a Church bound to accept as infallible the opinions of one man. Grecians were free to murmur against the Hebrews, that their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. The converts to the circumcision were free to contend with St. Peter, because he went in to men uncircumcised and did eat with them; others of the converted Jews, in their zeal for the law, taught the brethren, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. St. Paul did not fear to withstand St. Peter on the same ground, face to the face, because he was to be blamed; there was no small dissension and disputation upon the point at Antioch; much disputing on the same question at Jerusalem; certain of the sect of Pharisees which believed gave their opinion that it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law. Peter, Paul, Barnabas, took the contrary side; and St. James, as president, summed up the debate and put the question to the vote; and then by the united voice of Apostles, Elders, and brethren, the decree was given, and the encyclical letter written with the solemn preamble:

"It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us." Can we fail to learn from this inspired history what the right of Private Judgment really ineans? It means the unfettered right of every man to have his own opinions and to express them freely, but to be ready to give way to the opinion of his brethren, and to accept their decision, as if it were his own. It does not mean the audacious assertion of personal infallibility it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to me but it does mean that to every believer a power is given, to some more, and to others less, to search the Holy Scriptures; to pray for the guidance of the Spirit; to seek the mind of Christ; to compare spiritual things with spiritual; to be fully persuaded in his own mind; and yet withal to know himself to be but man, finite, fallible man, still far from perfection, still an Apostle who with all his gifts may require to be taught the way of God more perfectly, still a Peter who may deserve to be withstood. All this his own private judgment, rightly used, will teach him. I cannot be as God, knowing all things; can I assume to myself the grace of infallibility, which I deny to the head of two-thirds of Christendom, and deny it because he, as the successor of St. Peter, claims a power which St. Peter himself did not possess: are the gifts of the Holy Ghost, which I have received, so much more abundant as that I should be more certain of freedom from all error than they, who heard the words of Him who spake as never man spake ; and upon whom the Ghost came down on the day of Pentecost to teach them all things, and to guide them into all truth? And when the holy and humble man of heart goes, in this frame of mind, into the Synod of his Church, and sees Bishops, Priests, and brethren assembled there "with one accord" (Acts xv. 25) in the name of the Blessed Trinity; when

solemn prayer has been offered up for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, not upon one but upon all; when the Holy Communion of the body and blood of Christ has united all the members in the one body of their Lord, what will be the word of counsel which the Private Judgment of each member in particular will suggest to his mind? Will it not take its form in thoughts like these: What am I, in the midst of these gifted men? If I have searched the Scriptures, so have they. If I have prayed for the guidance of the Spirit, so have they. If I have walked with God, much more have they. I am the least of all these holy men. There are men here at whose feet I am not worthy to sit. I thank God that I am not left to trust to the conclusions of my own deceitful heart, for surely in this multitude of counsellors there is greater safety.

True it is, that times have been, and may be again, when one man may stand alone in the midst of an apostate world. Abraham stood alone when he interceded with God. Athanasius stood alone against a world of heresy. Even in heaven it may be true, as the poet has feigned, that some seraph Abdiel 'was faithful found;

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Among the faithless, faithful only he."

But of all the spirits that require to be tried whether they be of God, this spirit of championship needs the greatest caution. It was no true assumption which made Elijah say, "I, even I only, am left" (1 Kings xix. 10).

But what saith the answer of God unto him (Romans xi. 14): "I have reserved to myself seven thousand men which have not bowed the knee to Baal."

What greater temptation can there be to pride than for a man to believe himself to be a defender of the faith when he stands up before his brethren as the champion of some peculiar opinion? It is thus that the unity of the Church is rent, when men say, "I am of Paul," and "I of Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and "I of Luther," and "I of Calvin," and "I of Wesley," and "I of Simeon," and "I of Pusey." But what saith the Holy Ghost?

"Is Christ divided ?"

As children who have sailed their boats in the pond in their father's garden are filled with astonishment when they go down to the sea in ships and there see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep, so the man who has lived in the narrow precincts of his own mind, and measures all things by his own standard of thought, is amazed to find how little he really knows when he comes into the assembly of men older, wiser, more holy, and higher in station than himself. His feelings will be those described by Isaiah (lx. 5): "Thine heart shall fear and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee." He is as one that has launched out into the deep. He had fished in shallow waters; now he lets down his net into a sea that cannot be fathomed. How partial now seem those which he called his views; how imperfect that which he called his private judgment; the vessels which he drew with did not reach to the depth of Christ's love; his mete-yard could not comprehend that love, the measure whereof is longer than the earth and broader than the sea (Job xi. 9). But now he comes to his Synod, to learn the way of God more perfectly, to seek the mind of Christ by counsel with his brethren; to pray with them for the knowledge of that fulness of the Saviour's love which passeth knowledge until it be comprehended with all his saints (Ephes. iii. 19). The soul escapes as from a prison in which a single ray shone upon it through narrow chink, true light, it may have been, from the one true and only Sun, but still a single ray; but now in the fellowship of kindred souls, in the hallowed interchange of spiritual counsel, in united

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prayer, in frequent communion, the light shines upon him from every side mirrored upon the minds of all with whom he walks as friends in the house of God. Feelings unknown before, thoughts which never came into his mind, new views of doctrines, new applications of Holy Scripture, a wider range of spiritual sight-these are the ever growing and ripening fruits of a life of sympathy and communion with those whom God has united together in the mystical body of his blessed Son. The whole character of his mind is changed. He has come like a hermit out of his cell to impart to his brethren the

and to receive back again from them an hundredfold the gifts of grace and visions of glory which have been shed abundantly upon the Synod assembled with one heart to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. The conceit of private judgment is swallowed up in the full assurance of the conviction which has been brought home to the minds of all. The words once so pleasant and so custom

ary:

This is my view:

-give place to the soul-sustaining decision, which resolves all doubts, appeases all differences, and edifies the body of Christ (Ephes. iv.12):

"It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us." How will the promise be fulfilled, that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things, and bring all things to our remembrance, whatsoever Christ has said unto us (John xiv.26). How will the Spirit of Truth guide us into all truth? (John xvi. 13.) Are we making progress towards that end? We are compelled to answer that we are not advancing. This state of religious strife in which we live cannot be the mind of Christ, the Prince of Peace. It is not thus that we can keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. What one asserts and another denies cannot be the teaching of the spirit of truth. This is not the way by which we shall be guided to the knowledge of all truth. The truth of God must be one. There can be no more contention, when we have once found the truth. It is no use to say that we agree in the essentials of the truth. So much the more grievous is it that we should quarrel about trifles. But trifles they are not. Every particle of the truth of God is precious. It must be searched out like the one grain of gold hidden in a bucketful of sand. It is all truth that we seek, and not partial truth; truth in doctrine, truth in prayer, truth in every motive, truth in every action of the Christian life. There must be no compromise with truth; no saying that one opinion or one rule of life is as good as another. If I differ from a fellow-Christian in any single point however small of Christian doctrine or practice, I ought not to rest until I have found out whether he be wrong or I.

This is what the world calls bigotry, and why? Because the world cares nothing for the truth. It prefers the belief that every man shall be saved by the law or sect which he professes, to the doctrine that it is only the name of Jesus Christ whereby men must be saved. We, on the contrary, can never cease to pray that we all perfectly know the Lord Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life. What they despise as dogma is that which we seek as truth. We contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

How must we contend? Not with strife and ill-will, but with mutual forbearance. Stormy debate and angry recrimination are the bane and the disgrace of the Synods of the Church. Leave them to the world to which they belong, though even in the civil assemblies it is an unseemly thing that they who profess to govern others should be unable to control themselves. But in a Christian Synod, in which we pray for the presence of the Holy Ghost, the tone must be, not as of those who contend for

Hush!

victory, but of those who seek for truth. broilers, hush! the Dove has lighted in the midst: take heed lest she again unfold her wings, and flee away to be at peace.

That Holy Spirit who spake by the Prophets and Evangelists comes in answer to the prayers of the faithful, to guide them to the true interpretation of that Word of life, which, though it be plain to the simple, yet contains hard sayings which "they that are unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction" (2 Peter iii. 16). Was there ever any heretic who did not profess to base his doctrines, however erroneous, upon the letter of Holy Scripture? The true office, then, of the Synods and Conventions of the Church is to pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit to enable them to search the deep things of God. We have the Holy Bible in our hands; each one of us is free to read; free to seek the promised blessing, that they who search the Scriptures shall find; but still the fact remains, that whether it be from prejudice, or self-deceit, or defect of prayer, the readers of the same Word differ in opinion widely one from another. Can all be right? or, according to the current phrase, shall all agree to differ? Oh! no. It is truth that we seek. To acquiesce in error is to give up the search after truth. God has set his bow in the cloud to teach us that the refracted rays of many colors must be made to converge again. Men of narrow opinions and partial views must blend together in one those partial glimpses of the truth which each has mistaken for the whole. When party spirit, like the dark cloud, shall have passed away, and with it the many colored rays of religious opinions; then will truth of doctrine shine forth, like the face of our transfigured Lord, shining as the sun, and like His raiment white as the light.

That focus of the scattered rays of light has ever been in the Holy Synods of the Church. How glorious were those days in which the Holy Ghost poured down the spirit of counsel upon an undivided Christendom. Think what we, as descended from Gentile forefathers, owe to the Apostles, Elders, and brethren, for that decree, which seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to them:

"Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. In consequence of that decree, we have been brought out of darkness and error to the clear light and true knowledge of God and of His Son Jesus Christ.

Think again what we owe to the Council of Nicea, where all the diverging questions, "What think ye of Christ?" were gathered into one by the voice of the Holy Ghost speaking through the Bishops of the Universal Church:

"We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, God of God, Light of Light."

Was the Spirit lost when the Churches of the East and West were rent asunder? Oh! no. The Lord has said that "He will be with His Church alway." True it is that a divided Christendom cannot pray for the gifts of the Holy Ghost with the same full assurance as if every prayer went up to heaven from a multitude of believers still of one heart and one soul. But the privilege which belongs to united prayer may still be exercised, though with abated confidence, by a Church like ours, which it has pleased God to extend far and wide over the face of the earth and among the islands of the sea. prayers never cease day nor night. Her bishoprics are one hundred and sixty. I will not say that a Church like ours can decide questions of doctrine with full authority like that of the undivided Church; but until the time shall come, in the counsels of God, for that reunion of Christendom for which we devoutly pray, the prayers of such a branch of the Church as ours cannot fail to procure for us a large

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measure of the gifts of the Spirit, if only we agree together as to what we shall ask of the Father. The same desire for unity which brings you together in your General Convention will much more lead us to look forward to another meeting of the Lambeth Conference, to seek more carefully for the mind of Jesus, and to pray more earnestly for the Holy Ghost to heal the divisions of our Church.

"Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded; and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

The offertory was received by the Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., Bishop of Delaware.

The Prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church Militant was said by the Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., Bishop of Delaware.

The Major Exhortation was said by the Right Rev. William M. Green, D.D., Bishop of Mississippi.

The Minor Exhortation was said by the Right Rev. Thomas Atkinson, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of North

Carolina.

The Confession was said and the service was continued by the Right Rev. Horatio Potter, D.D., LL.D., D.C.L., Bishop of New York.

The Trisagion and Sanctus were sung by Rev. W.

H. Cooke.

The Right Rev. B. Bosworth Smith, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of Kentucky, and presiding in the House of Bishops, then proceeded with the Prayer of Humble Access, Consecration, and Administration of the Holy Communion.

The Post Communion was said by the Right Rev. Thomas M. Clark, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of Rhode Island.

Gloria in Excelsis.

The Benediction was pronounced by the Right Rev. Samuel A. McCoskry, D.D., D.C.L., Bishop of Michigan.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSE OF DEPUTIES.

The members of the House of Bishops having retired to the rooms assigned them in the church building,

The Rev. WILLIAM STEVENS PERRY, D.D., Secretary of the last House, called the House of Deputies to order.

Each Diocese was called in alphabetical order, and the Deputies elected therefrom presented their testimonials.

The SECRETARY then called the roll, and the Deputies present answered to their names.

The SECRETARY (on the conclusion of the roll-call). I hereby declare that the Church is represented by a majority of dioceses, agreeably to Article I. of the Constitution of the Church.

ELECTION OF PRESIDENT.

The Rev. Dr. MEAD, of Connecticut. I move that we proceed to elect a President. The motion was agreed to.

The Rev. Dr. MEAD. I now nominate the Rev. James Craik, D.D., of Kentucky, President of the last House, to be President of this present House of Deputies of this General Convention.

The SECRETARY. The Rev. Dr. Craik is nominated. Are there any other nominations?

Mr. WELSH, of Pennsylvania. I move that the balloting be dispensed with, there being no other nominations.

The motion was agreed to unanimously.

The SECRETARY. The question now is on the motion that the Rev. Dr. Craik be elected President of the House.

The motion was agreed to unanimously.

The SECRETARY. I appoint the Rev. Dr. Mead and Governor Stevenson to conduct the President to the Chair.

The Rev. Dr. CRAIK, on taking the Chair, said: Brethren, I thank you with all my heart for this renewed expression of your confidence. I had hoped that the burdens of this office would have been placed upon a younger and more capable person but the counsel of friends in whom the Church is accustomed to confide, and the kindly voice which you have just uttered, have determined otherwise. I accept the duty, and will try to perform it in the fear of God, looking to Him for grace and strength, and looking to you to kindly forbear with my increasing infirmities.

We have come together from this broad land to confer with one another upon the momentous interests, the ever-momentous interests, of Christ's Holy Church; to remove obstructions in its way, if we find any; to provide facilities for its progress, if we may; to see to it that this holy city of our Lord receive no detriment. Grand and inspiring is this duty, demanding wisdom, firmness, charity, true love to God and man, true love to mistaken impugners of the truth, as well as to those whom we deem its fastest friends. I am sure that you will perform this duty manfully, fearlessly, looking to God for help, for wisdom, for direction. May the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of wisdom, love, and power, guide you, strengthen you, sustain you in all your work! Amen.

ELECTION OF SECRETARY.

The Rev. Dr. MEAD, of Connecticut. I move that we proceed to the election of Secretary, and I nominate the Rev. Dr. Perry.

The PRESIDENT. It is moved that the House proceed to the election of Secretary, the present Secretary being nominated as part of that motion. The motion was unanimously agreed to.

RULES OF ORDER.

Mr. OTIS, of Illinois. I offer the following resolution :

Resolved, That the rules of order of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, as proposed to be amended and reported at the last General Convention and printed in the Journal as appendix 16, No. 2, on pages 621, 622, and 623, be adopted as the Rules of Order of this House, except that the Committee on Canons shall consist of 19 members instead of 13, as therein provided, the proportion of clergymen and laymen thereon to be left to the discretion of the President of this Convention.

Mr. McCREDY, of South Carolina. I am opposed to that, and I will give my reasons. I have read those rules, but I doubt whether many gentlemen here have read them. I think they are an improvement on the rules adopted at the last House; but the exception that is made I object to.

The proposition now is to enlarge the Committee on Canons to 19. Will 19 work any better than 13? I think not. You have power in the Committee on Canons, as now organized, to divide itself into two and make two committees: One on Canon Law, and the other on the Constitution. At present you send all these subjects (whether they be constitutional or whether they be only legislative) to one committee. Now that is not the proper way, because it tends in itself to confound subjects, and the committee is sometimes in doubt as to whether a subject ought to be presented by Canon or otherwise. I have seen that more than once, and I have known things to be done which would not have been done if there had been two committees, one on the Constitution and one on the Canons. Now, if you look at the work which is brought before us, you will see that we do not have legislation simply at our sessions, but we have many schemes brought before us which affect the organic constitution. Take for instance the provincial system. That is prominent before us at this time.

That ought to go to a standing committee, not a special committee-that would take its place in order and be called before special committees. If you succeed in getting the same committee and divide it into two, making each a committee of thirteen, one on the Constitution and one on the Canons, you will find that your work will go on quite as fast as it can go on if you have but one committee. Committees when they are so large as nineteen

The PRESIDENT. The gentleman will please give way that we may receive a message from the House of Bishops.

NOTIFICATION OF ORGANIZATION.

The following message (No. 1) was received from the House of Bishops by the hands of the Rev. Dr. POTTER, its Secretary:

The House of Bishops informs the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies that it has adopted the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Secretary be instructed to inform the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies that this House is organized, and has elected the Rev. HENRY C. POTTER, D.D., of the Diocese of New York, as its Secretary, and is ready to proceed to business.

On motion of Rev. Dr. BURGESS, of Massachusetts, a committee of two was ordered to be appointed to inform the House of Bishops that the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies has organized and elected its officers, and is ready to proceed to business.

Rev. Dr. Burgess, of Massachusetts, and Mr. Meads, of Albany, were appointed the committee.

RULES OF ORDER.

Mr. McCREDY, of South Carolina. Mr. President

The PRESIDENT. I would suggest that, in consequence of the message we have received from the House of Bishops, we postpone this resolution in order to pass a similar one to be sent to the House of Bishops to that which we have received from that House, informing them of our organization.

Mr. McCREDY, of South Carolina. I would be very glad if this could be postponed until to-mor

row.

Mr. STEVENSON, of Kentucky. If the Deputy from South Carolina will give way, I will move that this resolution be printed and made the special order for to-morrow. I concur in most that the Deputy from South Carolina has said. The Committee on Canons did very well when we had 12 or 15 dioceses. Now we have over 40. Momentous questions come before this body as the Dioceses increase, and I think no better way can be had to reach the views of the honorable deputy from

South Carolina than to refer this resolution to a committee of so many clerical and so many lay deputies, who shall report whether we want any additional committees and such amendments to the rules as will meet the general sense of the Convention. I am satisfied that great amendments are required in these rules. I am satisfied it is unjust to put upon any single committee the duties which now devolve upon the Committee on Canons; and, as these immense questions come before this Convention, we ought to have committees of discreet and able men who shall give the various subjects their consideration and report such rules as will carry out the end. That can only be done by a reference of this resolution to a committee. Let it be printed to-day, referred to-morrow, and let us have a speedy report, and adopt the suggestions which a wise committee may make.

The Rev. Dr. MEAD, of Conn. I fully agree with the gentlemen who have spoken, and I agree with