to elect a Secretary, and the Rev. Birdsey G. Noble was unanimously chosen.

On motion of the Rev. R. Sherwood-Resolved, That clergymen of the Protestant Episcopal Church, belonging to other dioceses, and candidates for holy orders, who may be in this town during the session of this Convention, be admitted to the sittings of the same.

Agreeably to this resolution, the Rev. Ralph Williston, from the diocese of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Allen C. Morgan, a candidate for holy orders, took seats in Convention.

The Right Rev. T. C. BROWNELL, Bishop of the Diocese, agreeable to the 45th Canon of the General Convention, delivered the following

ADDRESS.

My Brethren of the Clergy and of the Laity :

Another of those interesting periods has returned, when we are accustomed to assemble together, for mutual information concerning the several portions of our Zion, and to deliberate on such measures as, with the blessing of God, may be conducive to her peace and prosperity. May we all be deeply impressed with gratitude to the Divine Being, for the abundant mercies he has bestowed on us during the past year. May we feel a deep sense of our entire dependance on Him; and may we humbly and fervently seek his blessing on our present deliberations.

The 45th Canon of the General Convention, requires that, on this occasion, I should lay before you a view of the state of the Diocese, and an account of the Episcopal acts I have performed since our last annual meeting.

My visitations through the Diocese, in the course of the past year, have been extensive, and, in general, highly satisfactory. They have enabled me to bear testimony to the fidelity of my brethren of the Clergy, and to the cordiality with which their efforts have been seconded by the Laity, wherever they have been exerted with zeal and constancy. Our Church is, probably, less subject to sudden fluctuations than other religious communions. We look for no high excitements. We expect no sudden and rapid growth, which is often as sudden in decay. To be steadily progressive, in extent, in zeal, and in piety, is what we most desire. Such, I believe, is the present state of the Church in this Diocese. If its progress does not wholly keep pace with our wishes, it is perhaps as auspicious as we can reasonably expect.

The gradual increase of the Clergy may afford no incorrect index of the general state of the Church. Little more than eight years ago, when I was first called, in the course of divine Providence, to preside over the interests of the diocese, the number of its clergy was but forty-two ;* the number at the present time, is fiftynine, and there are 3 or 4 vacant cures, each of which would afford

*Sword's Calender for 1820.

adequate support to a clergyman. The worldly inducements to enter on the ministerial office, have never been a matter of temptation in this country. Perhaps they have not been more humble, in any part of it, than in Connecticut. But it is believed that the clergy are as liberally provided for, at the present time, as at any former period, and without any oppressive burthen on the parishes.

If the tone of religious feeling has, within the last few years, been somewhat raised throughout our Church, there is good reason to believe that this diocese has participated in the animating spirit. An increasing zeal is evinced in supporting stated ministrations in the several parishes, in providing for the religious instruction of the rising generation, in the dissemination of religious knowledge, and in the missionary cause. We have abundant reason to bless God for these encouraging indications of increasing zeal and piety, and to pray that they may continue and abound more and more.

The exertions that have been made for the promotion of education, are not less encouraging than the indications of increasing zeal in the cause of religion. It is but few years, since the youth of our communion were educated almost exclusively by persons of other religious persuasions. This is not mentioned as ground of complaint, but as resulting from the circumstances under which our Church has grown up, in a community dissenting from her doctrines and worship. But such a state of things must have greatly impeded her growth, and we have reason to congratulate ourselves that a more propitious era has commenced. We have now, under the auspices of Episcopalians, Seminaries for the education of females, of as high grade as any in our country. We have, besides the well endowed Institution at Cheshire, respectable Academies at Norwalk, at Granby, and at ShaAnd we have a College at Hartford, which at present numbers nearly 90 students, and gives a fair promise of extensive and lasting usefulness.

ron.

It is thus that our Church is beginning to take a stand among the religious denominations, by which she is surrounded, and to participate in those equal privileges which are accorded and secured by the constitution of our country. We neither enjoy nor desire exclusive privileges, nor would we give to our Institutions an exclusive or party character. We would place them on the same footing with those of other religious persuasions; and conducting them with a liberality and charity surpassed by none other in our country, we may reasonably expect that these institutions will not be regarded as objects of jealousy, and that we shall ourselves escape the uncharitable imputation of sectarianism.

The situation of Cheshire Academy will doubtless occupy the atten tion of the present Convention. The Trustees of the Institution, pursuant to a vote of this body, at the last annual meeting, proceeded to the election of a Principal, who was recommended as well qualified for the station; but owing to the precarious state of his health, he

declined the appointment. The Board of Trustees have taken no subsequent measures on the subject; but the Prudential Committee of the Board, deeming it highly expedient that the Academy should be opened, appointed the Rev. Henry M. Mason, to the provisional charge of the Institution. This gentleman is well qualified by his learning, to fill the station of Principal, with reputation and usefulness; but the small number of students who have been attracted to the Academy, indicates the necessity of giving to the Institution a new organization, to accommodate it to the improvements which have recently been made in the methods of Academical instruction.

The education of our youth is a subject of deep interest, under whatever aspect it may be viewed. It is peculiarly so in reference to our Sunday Schools. In this Diocese, the general diffusion of elementary education enables us to devote these schools exclusively to their appropriate object, religious instruction. Perhaps no more efficient method of effecting this object could be devised. It extends its influence to the instructors, as well as to the pupils. The former are generally taken from the young people of the parish, at the interesting period of life when they begin to feel the responsibility of their station, as members of the community, and as probationers for another state of existence. At such a period, they cannot inculcate upon the children committed to their care, the great truths and duties of religion, without feeling the peculiar force with which they rest upon themselves. I believe Sunday Schools are now established in almost every parish of the diocese. I have watched their progress, and marked their influence, with the deepest interest. I cannot but see, in these schools, the members and supporters of the Church, as it is to exist, only a few years hence; and I cannot but feel how deeply its welfare will be indentified with their piety, their zeal, and their soundness in the faith. I recommend to the Convention, the passing of a resolution or canon, directing returns of the Sunday Schools to be annexed to the annual parochial reports, indicating the number of the scholars and of the teachers, and when the schools are, or are nót, connected with the General Sunday School Union of our Church; or that some other course be adopted, calculated to strengthen that Union, and to diffuse its benefits more extensively to the schools in this diocese.

The religious and charitable Institutions of the Church in this Diocese, as well as those established under the sanction of the General Convention, have been pressed upon the consideration of this body, in most of my previous addresses. I will only add, at the present time, that, in my estimation, these institutions have lost none of their interest, and that I regard, with high satisfaction, the increasing favor with which they are viewed, and the increasing zeal with which they are fostered by the members of our Church.

In the course of my visitations, during the past year, I have officiated in several parishes, where no duties peculiarly pertaining to the

Episcopal office, were required. These ordinary ministrations have afforded me facilities for becoming better acquainted with the state of the parishes; and the counsels which any special occasions may have called for, have always been cordially received. The rite of confirmation cannot be profitably administered in the smaller parishes, oftener than once in two or three years. In the larger parishes, it is required more frequently. During the past year, I have administered this holy rite in the following parishes, viz. :

On my visit to the Parish of Kent, on the 29th day of August last, I consecrated the new Church erected there, by the name of St Andrew's Church. This is a very handsome stone edifice, built in the Gothic style of architecture, and is the fourth Church erected, in four adjoining Towns, under the auspices of the Rev. George B. Andrews.

On the 13th of May last, I laid the corner stone of a new Church, which is now in the course of erection, at Hartford. This will be a very spacious stone edifice, and it promises to be one of the finest specimens of Gothic architecture in our country. A new stone Church is also erecting at Norwich.

The following ordinations have been held during the past year. On the 8th of August, at St. Peter's Church, Hebron, I admitted the Rev. George C. Shepard, Rector of that Parish, to the Holy Order of Priests. On the 2d of September, at St. John's Church, Bridgeport, I admitted Mr. Nathan Kingsbury, and Mr. Edward W. Peet, the latter a graduate of the General Theological Seminary, to the Holy Order of Deacons. The former is employed as a teacher of an Academy at Brooklyn, Long Island; and the latter is at present officiating as a Missionary in the Diocese of Virginia. On the 15th of February, at Christ Church, in the City of Hartford, I admitted Jacob Oson, a man of color, to the Holy Order of Deacons, and on the following day to that of Priests. This person had been for some time a candidate, and had been useful as a Catechist and Lay-reader, among the people of color, in the City of New-Haven. He was admitted to Holy Orders, at this time, in consequence of his appointment as Missionary to Liberia, in Africa, by the Directors of the Missionary Society, established by the General Convention.

On Monday last, the 2d inst. at St. John's Church, Huntington, I

admitted the Rev. William H. Lewis, Rector of that Parish, to the Holy Order of Priests; and this day, in your presence, I have admitted the Rev. William A. Curtis, Rector of the Parishes of Oxford, to the same grade of the Ministry.

Among the changes which have taken place in the Diocese, since the last Convention, I have to record the decease of the Rev. Thomas K. Peck. He was zealously employed as a missionary in the eastern part of the diocese, and was called from his labors, when there was the fairest prospect of success ;-another example of the inscrutable providence of God, which is calculated to inspire us with humility and reverence, and which should incite us to pray to the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth new labourers into his harvest.

It is known to the Convention, that the Rev. Menzies Rayner has relinquished his Ministry in this Church, and connected himself with another religious communion. Having communicated to me in writing, the relinquishment of his "official standing as an Episcopal Clergyman in the Diocese," that I might "record" the same, according to the provisions of the Canon, in that case made and provided, "and also take such other measures, as in my judgment, the canon might require;" I have, therefore, recorded his said declaration, so made; and also, in the presence of the Rev. George W. Doane, and the Rev. Norman Pinney, have pronounced the said Menzies Rayner to be suspended from the exercise of the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and have recorded his suspension, pursuant to the provisions of the Canon above referred to.-The Rev. Mr. Rayner, by making his suspension the result of his own voluntary act, has greatly relieved me from the pain which such an act of discipline is otherwise calculated to create. And however we may regret the cause which has led to it, we are not to be judges of other men's consciences :- "to his own Master he standeth or falleth,"

The Rev. Sturges Gilbert, has received letters dimissory, and removed to the Eastern Diocese. The Rev. Bennett Glover has received letters dimissory to the Diocese of Pennsylvania. And the Rev. George W. Doane, lately a Professor in Washington College, having been called as assistant Rector of Trinity Church, Boston, has taken his dimissory letters from this Diocese.

The Rev. Enoch Huntington, with letters dimissory from the Diocese of Pennsylvania, has taken pastoral charge of the Parish of NewMilford. The Rev. William H. Lewis, and the Rev. William A. Curtis have presented to me letters dimissory from the Diocese of New York. The former has accepted the pastoral charge of the Parish of Huntington, and the latter that of the Parishes of Oxford. The Rev. Francis L. Hawkes, with letters dimissory from the Diocese of North Carolinia, is officiating with peculiar acceptance, as Assistant Minister in the Parish of New Haven. The Rev. John Wurts Cloud has presented to me letters dimissory from the Diocese of Mississippi and the Rev. Horatio Potter,lately assistant minister of Christ Church,