JOURNAL OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 1898. VENTION, 1834. BRIDGEPORT, October 14th, 1834. THIS being the day appointed by the Constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Diocese of Connecticut, for the meeting of the Annual Convention of said Church, the Right Rev. T. C. Brownell, D. D. L. L. D. the Bishop of the Diocese, and several Clergymen and Lay-Delegates, attended in St. John's Church, Bridgeport, at half past 10 o'clock, A. M. Morning prayers were read by the Rev. William Shelton, of the Diocese of New York, assisted by the Rev. Smith Pyne, Rector of Christ Church, Middletown, and a Sermon preached by the Rev. William A. Curtis, Rector of St. Paul's Church, Wallingford. Melancthon Hoyt was then admitted by the Bishop to the holy order of Deacons; after which the Bishop, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Shelton and the Rev. Mr. Pyne, administered the holy Communion. The services being concluded, the Bishop took the Chair, and the Convention was called to order, A list of the Clergy entitled to seats, was called over by the Assistant Secretary, and the following answered to their names: The Rt. Rev. T. C. BROWNELL,||Rev. WILLIAM A. CURTIS, D. D. L. L. D. Rev. DAVID BALDWIN, 66 THOS. J. DAVIS, G. C. V. EASTMAN, LORENZO T. Bennett, OLIVER HOPSON, LEMUEL B. HULL, ENOCH HUNTINGTON, STEPHEN JEwett, Bethel Judd, D. D. WILLIAM L. KEESE, JACKSON KEMPER, D. D. The Secretary of the Convention being absent in consequence of sickness, the Rev. Jackson Kemper, D. D. was appointed Secretary pro tempore. The Rev. Messrs. Kemper and Charles Smith, and Burrage Beach, Esqr. were appointed a Committee to receive and examine the testimonials of the Lay-Delegates. On motion, Resolved, That when this Convention adjourn, it adjourn to meet in the Church this afternoon at 3 o'clock. Adjourned. TUESDAY, October 14, 3 o'clock, P. M. The Convention met pursuant to adjournment. The roll of the clergy was called. The Committee to whom were referred the certificates of the Lay. Delegates, reported that the following persons had been duly elected to represent their respective Parishes in this Convention: George A. Foot, Guilford, John S. Harrison, Hitchcocksville, Dr. Ebenezer Cone, Saybrook, William Bulkley, S Fairfield, Ira L. Ufford, Derby, William Merriam, Meriden, Nathan B. Thorp, Bridgewater, Philip A. Cannon, David P. Minot, Bridgeport, Josiah Nettleton, Humphreysville, Joseph W. Hubbell, Norwalk, The roll of the Lay-Delegates being called, they answered to their names and took their seats. On motion, the Convention went into an election of a Secretary, when the Rev. Jackson Kemper, D. D. Rector of St. Paul's Church, Norwalk, was elected. Burrage Beach, Esq. was appointed Assistant Secretary. On motion, the following rules of order were read and adopted as the rules of order of this Convention: 1. The business of every day shall be introduced by prayer. 2. When the President takes the chair, no member shall continue standing, or shall afterwards stand unless to address the chair. 3. No member shall absent himself from the service of the convention, unless he have leave from the house. 4. When any member is about to speak in debate, or deliver any matter to the Convention, he shall rise from his seat, and without advancing, shall with due respect address himself to the President, confining himself strictly to the point in debate. 5. No member shall speak more than twice in the same debate, without leave of the house. 6. A question being once determined, shall stand as the judgment of the Convention, and shall not be again drawn into debate during the same session. 7. While the President is putting any question, no one shall hold private discourse, stand up, walk into, out of, or across the house, or read any book. 8. Every member who shall be in the Convention when any question is put, shall on a division be counted, unless he be particularly interested in the decision. 9. No motion shall be considered as before the house, unless it be seconded, and reduced to writing when required. 10. When any question is before the Convention, it shall be determined on before any thing new is introduced, except for adjourn. ment. 11. The question on a motion for adjournment shall be taken before any other, and without debate. 12. When the Convention is to rise, every member shall keep his seat until the President leave the chair. On motion, Resolved, That clergymen of the Protestant Episco pal Church belonging to other Dioceses, and candidates for h orders, who may be in Bridgeport during the vention, be admitted to the same. Agreeably to this resolution, the Rev. Messrs. Lot Jones, William Shelton, Amos G. Baldwin, James D. Carder, and Isaac Peck from the diocese of New York; and Edward Ingersoll, David H. Short, Riverius Camp, and Thomas H. Judd, candidates for orders in this diocese, attended the sittings of the Convention. Several petitions from new parishes to be admitted into union with this Convention were presented: When, on motion, the Rev. Messrs. Judd and Todd, and Samuel Tudor, Esq. were appointed a Committee to examine said petitions, and to report thereon. The Rt. Rev. the Bishop delivered his annnal Address. ADDRESS. MY BRETHREN OF THE CLERGY, AND OF THE LAITY: THROUGH the good providence of God, we are again permitted to meet together in Convention under circumstances of mercy. Owing to a concurrence of untoward events, which frustrated our last annual meeting, and to a change in the Constitution of the Diocese, which has transferred our time of meeting from June to October, it is now two years and four months since we were last assembled together. We have abundant cause of gratitude and thanksgiving to the Father of mercies for the kindness he has extended to us, and the blessings he has bestowed on us during the interim. The period has been distinguished by fruitful seasons, and by a bountiful measure of worldly prosperity. That dreadful pestilence which has scourged the nations of Asia and Europe, and which has spread its ravages through so many portions of our own country, has hitherto been graciously averted from the state in which we live. A few instances, indeed, have served to remind us of our dependance on God, to make us instant and fervent in our prayers for deliverance, and to excite our sympathies for the sufferings of our fellow-men in those regions where the divine chastisements have been more heavily dispensed; but the general exemption with which we have been favored, and the distinguished degree of health and comfort which we have enjoyed, should call forth our devout thanksgivings and praise to the author of all good. Our spiritual privileges and blessings have not been less distinguished; and they enforce similar demands upon our gratitude and love. "The means of grace, and the hopes of glory," are so constantly extended to us that they seem to be our regular inheritance; yet we should not forget that they are dispensed and controll. ed by the good pleasure of the Almighty, and that they derive all eir efficacy from the influence of the Holy Spirit. But apart this general dispensation of grace and mercy, the course of ecially ordered by the "divine governance,' has been defended from the "sins of heresy and schism," and has been sustained and preserved in "unity of spirit, and in the bond of peace." There has been somewhat less of religious animation, indeed, du. ring the period of our recess, than in the year or two which preceded it. The excitement which then prevailed so generally throughout this state, has been succeeded, as is usually the case, by a too general coldness and indifference to religion. But, as the discipline of the Episcopal Church guards her members from the common excesses of enthusiasm, we have been less affected by the re-action than the other denominations of Christians with whom we are surrounded. Happy will it be for us, my brethren, if, by a faithful use of the ordinary means of grace, we can sustain in our Church that elevated standard of piety, and that general sensibility to the concerns of reli. gion which the gospel demands, and which other communions seek to effect by artificial and ever-varying methods of excitement. Du. ring the fervor of their enthusiasm, indeed, they may reproach us with a want of spirituality and zeal: But let us still preserve "the even tenor of our way," and still adhere to that sober and mature piety which is so congenial to the institutions of our Church, and to the true spirit of the christian religion. Amid the vicissitudes of these other communions, and the controversies which rend them asunder, we shall thus preserve our stability and union. And in those ebbings of religious zeal which always follow the flood-tides of extravagance, and amid those corruptions of doctrine which naturally spring from a fondness for metaphysical subtilties, and from new devices to produce excitement, she who is stigmatized as a "dead Church," will still be found alive and vigorous; and she who suffers under the false imputation of relying upon "dead works," will be seen to stand forth as the steadiest defender of the orthodox faith, and the securest asylum of evangelical piety. Since my retirement from the charge of Washington College, my attention has been devoted almost exclusively to the concerns of the Diocese, and I have had full opportunity to become acquainted with its condition, and its wants- I should do injustice to my feelings if I failed, on this occasion, to bear ample testimony to the zeal and faithfulness with which the clergy are pursuing their unostentatiousf self-denying and pious labours: and I should be wanting in gratitude, if I were not duly thankful to the great shepherd and bishop of souls for that harmony in doctrine and in feeling with which they are animated. It has been my purpose for the last three years, to visit each parish in the diocese annually. A kind Providence has enabled me to fulfil this intention, with only a very few exceptions-while som of the parishes have been visited more than once in the year some of the parishes, particularly in the smalle always found candidates prepared fo |