Annual address of the Bishop of the Diocese of Illinois

THE

TENTH ANNUAL ADDRESS

BISHOP

DIOCESE OF ILLINOIS,

.tekaiiMa^iailiiMtaMlMilldiik

TENTH ANNUAL ADDRESS

B I S H O F

DIOCESE OF ILLINOIS.

IS O 1

PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE CONVENTION.

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BISHOP'S ADDRESS.

Brethren of the Clergy and Laity of the Convention^ and of the

Diocese :

It is my duty to lay before the Convention, and through it, before
the Church in the Diocese, the record of my official acts for the
past year. The usual mode of doing this is by retracing the steps
of travel and service, noting with brevity the distinct visits, and
mingling with the routine of work the peculiar incidents of
parochial life and change. This is not required as evidence that
the Bishop is doing, or trying to do, his appointed labor, but in
the spirit of our family bond and common brotherhood ; in order
that the Diocesan Church may be grouped in intelligent sympathy,
and its practical work of love be carried on with fidelity, wisdom
and combined strength. There is a painful sense of isolation in
the majority of the Parishes, and they magnify the pressure of indi-
vidual feebleness, poverty and discouraging struggle. Minister and
people often feel as if they were alone, and the aspect in which
they regard their own efi"orts and sacrifices is that of a forlorn hope
against the manifold antagonism which assails or bars the way.
The secret craving of the heart is for sympathy — intellectual, moral
and ecclesiastical. Each one pines for some palpable reality without,
to sustain the reality of his own soul in its deep convictions and benev-
olent aspirations. The ideal of his church life, even with its
profound principle, floats off" at times as something visionary and
dream-like. The personal trials and unsuccess become to him the
discouragement of the whole Body of Christ; and almost moodily
he allows hope to droop and faith to fail, as if, according to his
experience, the "gates of hell" had prevailed. There is help for
the Minister in this too natural depression, in the mere practical

Biships Address.

Fe'lowship of suffering — Comfovt in meeting — General Convention.

acquaintance with the trials of others. He endures better, because
li^iinds his own a common lot, which is not therefore to be explained
within the crushing responsibility of his own neglects or infirm-
ities. A suffering Church, led in the foot-prints of a suffering
Savior, has a dignity and a daily martyrdom which makes vexations
and cares solemn and high-toned, and fringes the dark cloud of
present or prospective trial with "silver lining" from the rainbow of
the Throne. In what was agony of trial had private grief told its
tale, the Apostle calmly remarks: "There hath no temptation
taken you but such as is common to man," — assured that in this
broad fellowship of human exposure the individual heart would be
soothed, and appreciate more health ully the real strength and
effective consolation : " God who is faithful will not suffer you to be

tempted above that ye are able." " My grace is sufficient for thee."
#
But, thank God ! it is not fellowship of suffering alone that we

find as we compare our common work and group our strength. It

is combination of effort, the aggregate of progress, the cheering of

success 3 "here a little and there a little," until "the little one

becomes a thousand, the small one a strong nation ;" and the quiet

rain-drop sparkles in its identity with the deep and glorious ocean.

From our own annual Conventions I trust that comfort and

buoyancy have many a time been thus caught; and that minister and

laymen have gone back to their Parish in conscious exhilaration,

even though it were "a lodge in the wilderness." The mind and

heart rise up, braced and springing, as do our physical frames when

dull rain ceases, the leaden sky breaks into flashing sheen, and the

clouds wheel into a phalanx of motion and beauty. No one, with

any manly and hearty feeling of Church-life, ever attended an

opening service of the General Convention, or has been identified

with its sessions of earnest work and thoughtful charity, that has

not realized this influence. Few men or women in the Church read

the description of Bishop after Bishop, filing in and around some

spacious chancel, clad in their official vestments, and numbering

close on two score ; the sanctuary thronged with hundreds of the

Clergy, picked representatives from thousands; laymen, distin-

Bisliops Address.

True spirit of Convention — Legislation — Canon Law : its inner life — Influence of fidelity to it.

guished in every class of life, giving time and counsel and honored
name to the interests of the Church — few can read of the assembly
or doings of such a Council without an honest pride, which renders
each bolder in giving reason for the hope which is in him, and
readier to meet the claims of "the household of faith."

Hence we come at once to the true spirit and aim of our Con-
ventional meeting, to make the Church stronger and our hearts
braver for work and suffering by all that we see, hear, do and feel,
as we place ourselves — in the dignity of personal humility, and the
subordination which the Divine Head has constituted as His own —
in the well-knit membership of a single body, which, with head and
feet, the comely or the less comely, still makes a common life of our
weakness and strength, diversities of gifts and infirmities of nature,
"in honor preferring one another." The legislative spirit of our
assembly is not intended to be in the sharp contest of rival politics,
and the ordeal of a standing opposition : it is for rule and law
which increase the confidence of the individual by the sense of super-
intendence, directing the way and defining the bounds of corporate
duty. It is a pledge of mutual support in a common cause. The
prescriptions of its Canons, where they affect general or vested
interests, are intended to be followed with strict and conscientious
fidelity; for it is evident enough that the whole executive depends
upon the integrity with which each member, in his appointed place,
meets the requirements through which means are provided for the
support of the Church's servants, and the "venture of faith" she
is constrained to make for aggressive and intensive progress. But
the inner-life of Canon law for the benevolent work of the
Church is deeper than this : it has a soul within its strait-lined
body. No matter whether entitled " Canon for the support of the
ministry," for "Parochial assessments," for "Missionary collec-
tions," or for "Aged and infirm clergy," the dry form of prescript
law is in reality a living, loving bond. The spirit of it is, as if
brother grasped brother by the hand in mutual pledge, and in view
of relative wealth, or want, or work, said to him: "Rely on me,
Brother, to be and to do exactly according to that law of charity."

Bishops Address.

Sympathy : its consequences.

And in the strength of this common oath, Ministers should return
to the poorest as to the richest parishes, and Laymen to their brethren
of every degree, with a trust in the obligation, that each will do
his best; that the Diocesan Church, with all besides, has also,
a heart; that there, no naked loneliness or isolation, no pampered
fullness, no stand-aside selfishness and lust of patronage shall over-
match the fellowship of the "sacramental host," and the laws of
sympathy recorded in heaven. Sympathy — the cords of which are
twined of many strands; where the gold of the sanctuary and the
purple of wealth and the virgin-white of heavenly love cover and
adorn the strong homespun of the private life ; sympathy — whose
cords are firmer than iron, light as the "daisy chain," and sweeter
than a thousand flowers ; sympathy — that makes strong to labor,
heroic in endurance, and generous in consecration, because there
is kind appreciation and ready help. The strongest lean upon it
with manly trust, and the weak totter to it as to a mother's lap.
This is the bond of the Church of Christ, and is the real inner-lijEe
of the Church's work and fellowship. It is that which should
sparkle on the surface and underlie the grave business of our
Annual assembly, refresh us while together, make our step cheerier
as we turn homewards, mellow our voice as we tell the story of
pleasant hours, and ring like music when we plead as ministers for
the gifts to be laid on the broad altar of the Diocesan Church — "a
sweet savor to Christ."

It matters not if such words as these sound passionate and
dreamy as they glide over the hard reality of past experience and
our selfish consciousness. They are true. And though the ensign
may be blazoned for us now only on a far-off sky, still the cross
thus revealed may supplant the "Fasces," and "in hoc signo"
become the watchword even in the dust and strife of militant
life. Nor are some of us without experience that this is true.
We have gleaned it as we walked aside from the other reapers ;
or found that where Christ multiplies the beggarly provision, even
the fragments that remain may fill baskets full. But we want it
to be instinctive, gushing, overflowing; we want it as the "much

BlsJiops Address.

Deceased Bishops : Bishop of Alabama — Assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania.

grass in the place," tlie common air which is bahu ; we want
sacrifice and toil, honesty and liberality, loyal, resolute, obedient
work to "make broad plates for the altar," and not tinsel span;j:Ies
for our own self-pleasing. It is needful that we measure how weak
and naked we are as men, and how serried and potent we may
become as Christ's Own: then shall we "see and flow together, and
our heart shall fear and be enlarged, because of the abundance that
shall be given unto us."

As I left the mention of my own poor record of service, tempted
by thoughts spontaneous from inward yearning or the imparted
griefs of other bosoms, so now I return to it past the " grave and
gate of death." It is meet so to do : well for the living Bishop
to cast his eye back or forward, standing by the bier of his dead
Brothers. The work "while it is called to-day" gathers urgency,
and the heart hushes more easily its vanity and plaints, when draw-
ing near to those who have just " finished their course 'and rest
from their labors." Close and thick lie these memorials. One
breathes out his willing soul, just as the cannon booms that shivers
a nation's glory; another drops alone, panting on the dusty high-
way; and a third "bows himself upon the bed's head" at three
score and ten, thankful that a weary life is ended. It were well to
die in any hour or way — for life has earned its best — when a man
goes away followed by such mourning and eulogy as has the good
Bishop of Alabama, or the Assistant of Pennsylvania.

The ^aracteristics of the Et. Kev. Nicholas Hamner Cobbs
were so beautifully distinct and so widely appreciated in every
period of his ministry, that each one involuntarily describes him
as if copying a spiritual photograph : the same lines of gentleness
and firmness, simplicity and power, zeal and discretion, strength
and humility, wisdom and innocence, as Preacher, Pastor and
Bishop. We gaze at it confidingly, until assured that the Brother
spake truly when he said over his corpse, " He was one of the
holiest men I have ever met, and the very radiance of his face told
the passer-by that he lived with Jesus."

The Rt. Rev. Samuel Bowman, with the coronal of a brief

Bishops Address.

Bishop of New York.

Episcopate of three years, finislied a real life of devout work through
a uniform ministry, with attainments of scholarship, and better
attainments in the moral and divine, which have won from all,
however related to him in the strife of opinion, a common testi-
mony of admiration and grief.

With the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Treadwell Onderdonk, Bishop
of New York, I have been united in all the changes of my own
life, from boyhood onwards. With him, as Professor of the Nature
and Polity of the Church, my student life in the General Seminary
was drawn into indulgent intimacy : under him, as Bishop — suc-
cessor to the one on whose arm I lay as an infant at the Font — I
wrought out the large share of my Pastoral life ; and when the
vicissitudes came of his resolute ministiy, and the discipline of the
Church fell upon him, I was participant in the griefs and struggles
of his bewildered Diocese. I have watched his wonderful submis-
sion to that strange burthen ; the fealty with which he honored
its authority, while he consciously denied its justice ; the martyr
firmness with which for long years he refused the open refuge of
the Civil tribunal ; the plaintive meekness with which he confessed
error and bewailed sin; the honest self-respect with which he
steadied himself at the line where conscience absolved him ; the
daily testimony of his devotional life; the quiet seclusion with
which he walked the streets where homes and graves were precious
from birth-right, and an unbroken franchise of the heart — where the
infant had smiled as angels whispered ; the boy had played ; the
collegian donned his manly honors ; the pastor threaded its waste
places, and endeared himself in its more stately homes ; where the
mitre was laid upon his brow, and where, through these changes, the
sanctuary grew of the husband and father — until at last the step be-
came feebler, and the back bent, and other generations than his own
said, as they passed, '' the poor old Bishop is going." These things
have I seen and felt, until I longed that the penalty could be remitted,
the touching pleading heard, and in restricted form at least, that he
might again stand to preach the Word, and minister the Sacraments,
and lay hands on some young head, and be borne to his grave with-

BisJiop's Address.

Comstock Ilanford — Record of Acts : Kewanee.

out attainder on his estate as Bisliop in the Church of God. Wiser
than myself, in solemn Council, thought it could not be : the door
of hope was closed on his last longing for earth, and now the grave
has closed on his labors, his failings and his sorrows. But we can-
not forget his large, vigorous, unselfish nature ; his working pow-
ers inexhaustible at the service of all who needed ; his inimitable
courtesy and social kindness ; the hand generous to carelessness ;
his crowded work and ringing voice that disdained fatigue ; his
chivalric truth in the utterance of his matured convictions; his
dauntless action where right, as he thought, led the way; the in-
flexible constancy of his life's opinions and attachments ; the
vigorous harmony of the man, faults and all ; the gentleness that
made the firmest and hardest qualities instinct with love ; such
traits as these — and more also far — will many living carry in heart-
remembrance, and posterity receive and keep " IN memoriam."

In the month of October a parishioner of my early ministry in
Rochester, N. Y., and for a quarter of a century a citizen of
Illinois and valued friend of Bishop Chase, ended a life more than
usually characterized by suffering. When our paths of life first
met it was by an open grave, where we laid at once his three chil-
dren, two of them lying with twined arms in the same coffin.
When I found him again, and strangely onc6 more our ways met
in spiritual relationship, the slow gnawing of disease — a speck on
the surface — was consuming life with terrible certainty. For years
he bore it, and a tender wife nursed him until she went to rest,
and the daughter took place in that patient ministering; until
welcome death came at last, and Co3ISTOCK Hanford finished his
course in faith with glad willingness to be away and be with
Christ. I went to Loekport and performed the funeral services
with such testimony and appeal as his life had well earned.

RECORD OF ACTS.

On the adjournment of the last Convention, on my way to Chi-
cago, I visited St. John's Church, Kewanee, and officiated morning
and evening of Sunday, Sept. 16, fifteenth after Trinity. Dr.

10 Bishops Address.

Record of Acts : Oiiarga — Mattoon — Centralia — Decatur — Jubilee College.

Cliase preacliecl in tlie afternoon, on whicli occasion I confirmed
eight, and one afterwards in private. The parish continues under
the charge of Rev. J. B. Richmond; and although, like all others
this year, sufi"ering from the mercantile depression of its supporters,
is faithfully administered, and " zealously affected" in church love.

On December 14th I started from Chicago, on a Visitation along
the Ilhnois Central Road, accompanied by Rev. J. W. Osborne.
In the evening of this day preached in Onarga, using the Congre-
gational church. On Saturday morning there was service and the
Holy Communion, and after that, at a jjrivate house, I baptised
three infants.

In the afternoon we went to Mattoon, where, on the third Sunday
in Advent, I preached three times and confirmed tico.

On Tuesday evening I preached, and confirmed two in Centralia.
It was deemed expedient to postpone an appointment made for
Salem until a later period.

These parishes contain in each a few faithful Churchmen ; but it
is difficult for them to sustain the expense of services every fort-
night, and except for the very limited salary which Mr. Osborne
is content to receive, it could not be done.

December 19th I consecrated St. John's Church, Decatur, to the
worship of God. The Instrument of Donation was read by Lowber
Burrows, Esq., and the sermon preached by myself. It was a
stormy day, which prevented the attendance of several clergymen
who were expected, and a portion of the congregation; but the
dedication finished a work which has called forth exemplary effort
and sacrifice to carry through. The congregation is united and
growing under the effective charge of the Rev. William M. Steel.

From the 19th to the 24th of January I was at Jubilee College.
On Sunday A. M., 20th, I preached, confirmed fourteen and ad-
ministered the Holy Communion. Among those confirmed were
five who were students of the College, three of them preparing for
Orders. On Wednesday, the 23d, I held an Ordination at which
Erastus De Wolf, Jr., was admitted to the Diaconate. During my
visit a meeting was held of the Board of Trustees. The Institution

BlsJiops Address. 11

Record of Acts: Morris — JoUet — Wilmington — Naperville — Fast Day.

is becoming more a Training School for the ministry. There are at
present eight young men thus engaged, and the burthen of support
falls on the funds of the College. It will be impossible for us to
continue the good work, unless we are aided by contributions from
the Diocese and other parts, as well as by a larger number of paying
scholars. In this last respect the Clergy could aid us effectually,
by turning the patronage of those in their parishes who educate
their sons away from home, to our Diocesan Institution.

January 27th I officiated in St. Thomas' Church, Morris, where
Rev. C. A. Gilbert officiated at that time, in connection with Naper-
ville. I spent Septuagesima Sunday there, and confirmed six.
They have been for sometime without a Minister, and with a good lot,
and the stone on the spot, they cannot collect sufficient means to
warrant the building of the Church edifice.

January 28th, in Christ Church, Joliet, I preached, and confirmed
seven presented by the Rector, Rev. John Wilkinson. This parish
sustained a severe loss a short time after in the death of one of its
most generous supporters, and the earnest friend of its pastors,
Hon. Nelson D. Elwood. His loss was felt as a public grief, and
he was borne to his grave by a large crowd of his fellow citizens. It
followed another, of like severity to the interests of the parish, in
the sudden death in Chicago of Henry L. "Wilson, a man full of
zeal and sacrifice in the Church's behalf.

January 29th, in the Church of the Redeemer, Wilmington,
under the Rectorship of Rev. C. B. Stout, I confirmed four after
preaching. Mr. Stout has since left for the Diocese of Iowa, and

the parish is temporarily supplied, in connection with Pontiac, by

Rev. Albert E. Wells, deacon from Wisconsin.

From there I went to another place of Mr. Gilbert's ministrations,

St. John's, Naperville, and confirmed /o?/?'. Service was held the

evening previous, at which Mr. Wilkinson preached, who had

diligently kept up occasional services from Joliet, until relieved by

the assistance of Mr. Gilbert, as Deacon.

The Public Fast, Jan. 4th, recommended by the Civil Authority,

I appointed to be observed in the Churches of the Diocese, and

12 BisJiops Address.

Record of Acts: Holy Comiminion, Chicago — Marengo — Belvidere — Institution.

issued *a brief Pastoral Letter on the subject, with a prescribed
Service and prayer for use in the cburches as the exigency might con-
tinue to require. I observed it myself in the Church of the Holy
Communion, Chicago, vrhere I preached morning and afternoon.
As the cloud then threatening has grown darker, and the rumor
of war has advanced to the awful existence of it, we are again
called to national contrition and supplication. I shall immediately
issue suitable appointments for its public services; and beg that it
may be observed with solemn fidelity by our whole Communion.

As the parish of the Holy Communion was without a Rector, I
took charge of it, and for three successive Sundays filled the pulpit.

Sunday, February 17th, spent in Marengo, and confirmed eleven
at the evening service; and was there again on the following Sun-
day, when I confirmed Jive in the morning. In the afternoon I
catechized the children of the Sunday School, and distributed books.
In the evening I preached, and confirmed tlii-ee not able to be
present in the morning, making a total of nineteen. The parish has
zeal and strength, although with limited means.

On Monday, the 25th, I preached, and confirmed five in Trinity
Church, Belvidere; and the Vestry presented a unanimous request
for the Institution of the Rector, Rev. Isaac P. Labagh. After a
meeting with the Vestry on Tuesday, I consented to do so, and
appointed the next Sunday for the service. The Rev. Mr. Scofield,
who had recently accepted the Rectorship of Emmanuel Church,
Rockford, met me here and assisted in the services.

Went on to Rockford, and in the evening preached, and confirmed
two — Mr. Stephen T. Allen, and daughter. Mr. A. was admitted a
candidate for Orders, having been a Congregational minister; and
his Ordination to the Diaconate has since then taken place.

On Sunday, March 3d, third Sunday in Lent, I fulfilled my
appointment in Belvidere to institute the Rev. I. P. Labagh. In
the morning I preached, and in the evening the Rector himself.

On my return, on Monday, I visited " Euphemia Hall," Marengo.
After Prayers in the Chapel, attended the diff'erent recitations of
the pupils, who at noon assembled again in the Chapel, when I had

BisJiop's Address. 13

Record of Acts: Euphemia Hall— Dixon— Grand Detour— Polo — Chicago Churches.

the pleasure of addressing them. It is the desire of Mr. Labagli
to make this Institution a thorough and permanent Church School,
where her daughters may be well educated under competent super-
vision, and a discipline in harmony with their Christian obligations
and privileges. The matter was introduced to the notice of the
Convention last year, and the purposes there expressed in my
Address, in behalf of Mr. Labagh, are still unchanged; and the
whole subject is fairly before the Diocese for any action, individual
or corporate, which may seem likely to promote the object of Female
Education.

On Sunday, March 10th, officiated in Dixon, administered the
Holy Communion and confirmed Jive.

In the evening went alone to Grand Detour, and after service
and sermon confirmed three. The Rev. A. J. Warner officiates
regularly in both places, but was prevented by sickness from being
present.

From Grand Detour I went to Polo, preached, and confirmed
Jive. The Church building is in use, but not quite finished.

On the morning of the fifth Sunday in Lent I visited St. John's
Church, Chicago, where I confirmed fen. The afternoon appoint-
ment in Christ Church failed; when I attended at the appointed
time, I found that no preparation had been made for the service.
I have heard since, incidentally, that the notice, although mailed
at the same time and in the same manner as those for the other City
Churches, did not, it is said, reach the Rector.

On the following Sunday I visited Grace Church, Chicago,
preached, and confirmed seventeen. The Rev. Henry Stanley, from
Western New York, assisted in the services.

In the afternoon of the same day I preached, and confirmed
twenty-three, in St. James' Church, Chicago.

An appointment for Trinity Church, for Good Friday, I was
requested by the Rector to postpone until the Confirmation could
be administered in the new Church edifice. Since September, 1859,
there have been only two persons confirmed in this parish, and one
belonging to it, in my own Chapel.

14 BisJiop^s Address,

Record of Acts ; Passion Week — Bishop's Chapel — Rev. J. Wilkinson, Chaplain — F. A. Juny.

During Passion Week I held service twice a day in the building
previously belonging to the Parish of the Atonement, but which I
had purchased a few weeks before as a "Bishop's Chapel." I
appointed the Rev. John Wilkinson my Chaplain, he still continuing
Rector of Christ Church, Joliet, and the Rev. C. A. Grilbert, acting
as his Assistant.

On the reception of the Rev. F. A. Juny into the Ministry of
our Branch of the Church, he also became attached to it as a min-
ister to the French population, and, as occasion may offer, to the
German. The number of French residents in Chicago is probably
three thousand; and although the work among them must, on many
accounts, be attended at first with very limited success, we have
found no cause for despondency thus far in the trial made. Several
favorable points are opening for our services in German.

Rev. Erastus Be Wolf, deacon, has been attached during the
week to the Chapel work ; and on Sunday acts as Missionary by my
appointment and the invitation of the parishes at Onarga and other
places.

On the Saints' and Holy days I have lectured in my Chapel, and
on the Lord's day officiated alternately in it and in the Church of
the Holy Communion, when not engaged in Visitations.

I have made arrangements for the enlargement of the building,
and have purchased additional ground in the rear for that purpose .
It is a work of individual responsibility, but affording me increased
opportunity for the " Ministry of the Word," and the fuller exercise
of my Episcopal Pastorate.

Its statistics will be duly embraced in the Journal of the Biocese,
and include ninety-seven regular communicants, and about twenty-
five who have communed without formally giving their names.
There have been in the four months, one adult baptised and fourteen
children, eight funerals, two marriages. The Sunday School contains
a hundred and five scholars. Eleven have been confirmed. '

Thursday, April 11th, I was in Christ Church, Ottawa, where,
after sermon, I confirmed fourteen. Shortly after my visit, the
valued Rector and wife lost, within a few days, both their children.

Bishop's Address. 15

Record of Acts : Farmridge — Tiskilwa — Princeton — Providence — Resolutions — Lacon.

I record the bereavement with deep sympathy, and thankfulness
that the Heavenly Comforter has enabled them to bear the dreadful
trial with christian fortitnde and submission.

From there, in a heavy storm, the continuance of which affected
the service, I proceeded with Rev. H. T. Heister to his home and
parish in Farmridge; and in the afternoon preached, and confirmed
one — four others, duly prepared, being prevented from coming by
the swollen streams. I rendered, in consequence, later in the
season, another visitation to this rural flock.

Sunday, 14th, second Sunday after Easter, my morning service
was at Tiskilwa, where we occupied the Methodist church. The
Holy Communion was administered, and I confirmed seven. In
the afternoon went to Princeton, where, in the Presbyterian house
of worship, I again preached, but there were no candidates for
Confirmation.

On Monday, April 15th, went to Providence, and again preached
without Confirmation, but administered the Lord's Supper. On
my return to Tiskilwa, at the Hector's house, I met a large body of
the parishioners, and spent with them a pleasant evening, at the
close of which were devotional services, and by the Vestry I was
presented with a series of Resolutions, conveying, in the name of
the Parish, very kind expressions of personal attachment and official
confidence. I have been favored with similar acts of kindness from
the congregation at Princeton, and previously from Springfield.

On Tuesday, April 16th, took the train for Lacon, where in the
evening I occupied the new Chapel, finished since my last visit.
The Rev. C. P. Clarke has been appointed to a Chaplaincy in the
army, and the parish is now without a minister. There were no
candidates for Confirmation.

From Lacon I went to Peoria, preached Wednesday evening and
confirmed three.

Here I met Rev. Charles F. Loop, who had recently taken charge
of St. Paul's, Pekin, to which I proceeded the next day. The
small place of Worship here, built originally for a school house, has
been much improved. The new Rector is esteemed, and the con-

16 JBishops Address.

Record of Acts : Farmington — Galesburg — Monmouth — Warsaw — Jacksonville — Chesterfield.

gregation is doing well, according to its number and means. The
support is inadequate at present, without missionary assistance.

My next visit, April 19tli, was to Calvary Church, Farmington,
where, after the usual service, I confirmed two.

The next day I passed to Galesburg, and on Sunday, third after
Easter, officiated in the morning in the new Church edifice, which
is well arranged and in good taste. Confirmed three. Rode in the
afternoon to Knoxville and preached ; but there were no applicants
for Confirmation.

On Monday, accompanied by Rev. Mr. Smithett, I went to Mon-
mouth, Warren county. He had held service there, and prepared
tivo for Confirmation, whom he presented. The Episcopalians there
have since applied for permission to organize, which I have gladly
given ; and the prospects are fair of a permanent congregation.

My next appointment for Wednesday, April 24, was in Quincy ;
but the Rector, having been for some time confined to the house by
sickness, requested a postponement. I passed through the city,
spending a few hours on my way to Warsaw and on my return.

At Warsaw, Rev. Mr. Bostwick presented two persons for Con-
firmation. I returned the next day to . Quincy, on my way to
Jacksonville, where I arrived by midnight; and the next day,
Friday, April 26th, preached at an afternoon Service, and confirmed
eight. Five of these were mutes ; for whom the Principal of the
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb interpreted my Address.

The Rev. Mr. Morrison became my companion on Saturday in
my journey to Chesterfield, where, with great perseverance, the
Rector had eff"ected the completion of a Church. Sunday, fourth
after Easter, it was consecrated, the fullfilment of hopes long cher-
ished, and labors hard. The building was crowded, and the services
awakened, apparently, great interest. Seven were confirmed. In
the charge of Rev. D. W. Dresser, it is united with Carlinville,
where, in the evening, I preached again ; but there was no
Confirmation.

The evening of Monday I officiated in Springfield, and baptized
the infant of the Rector ; confirmed teii and one the next day in
private.

Bishops Address. 17

Kecoril of Acts: Rev. F. A. Juny— French Services— N. Y. Bible and C. 1'. B. S.— Salem.

On the fifth Sunday after Easter, in my own Chapel, Chicago,
I received with appropriate services into the Ministry of our Branch
of the Church, Rev. Frederic Auguste Juny, who had been
highly commended to me from the diocese of Kentucky, within
which he had been for seven years resident. Mr. Juny was a
Priest of the Diocese of Metz in France ; left the Roman Commu-
nion about eight years since ; has been engaged a portion of that
time in education ; and has resumed the active duties of the Min-
istry, owing to the special call for services in their own language
by the large number of French converts in Kankakee County and
elsewhere.

There are in and about the city of Chicago, it is said, as many
even as five thousand French, and for the last four months I have
been making, at my own expense, the experiment of a Mission
among them. A Morning service is held on the North side of the
river, and an afternoon one in my own Chapel. Through the kind-
ness of the New York Bible and Common Prayer Book Society, we
are supplied with a sufficient number of French Pi-ayer Books. The
services are attended by a number of persons who understand the
language, as well as by those to whom it is vernacular; and although
the permanence of the mission is not settled, there is more to en-
courage than dispirit us. The Holy Communion and the rite of
Confirmation have both been administered by myself : at the former
ten or twelve were thus united to the Protestant branch of the
Church. It is my intention to add a service in German as soon as
a favorable occasion ofi'ers. Even if an experiment of this kind
fails to secure the popular interest, there is a satisfaction in having
made it. The failure defines the limits of a present responsibility,
and thus mitigates the anxiety lest a favorable call for missionary
enterprize should be disregarded.

My next Visitation service was in the southern part of the State,
where, on May 30th, at Salem, on the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad,
I preached, and confirmed two.

Sunday, first after Trinity, I spent in St. Johns, Albion, preaching,
administering the Holy Communion, and confirming four. The
2

18 Bishops Address.

Record of Acts — Albion — Confirmation in Bishop's Chapel — Holy Communion, Chicago.

Rev. Robert Ryall is the Rector, and ministering faithfully and
acceptably; but I fear that the depression in the private affairs of
the Episcopalians there will prevent them from supporting him;
while the isolated position of the town leaves no opportunity for
uniting with any other place. On Monday morning I solemnized
the marriage of the Rector with Miss Elizabeth Tyrrell; and in the
evening officiated in the Presbyterian Church at Olney, Richland
County, and baptized an infant. There is no Church organization
at Olney; but, finding that several desired to be confirmed, I spent
the next day in visiting them, assisted by Mr. Ryall, who accom-
panied me thus far on his way to St. Louis. In the evening I
preached, confirmed three and baptized two children. Mr. Ryall
promised services on the the following Sunday, which he fulfilled.

Sunday, June 16, 1 held Confirmation in my own Chapel, and laid
hands upon nine — one of them presented by the Rector of Trinity.

On the following Sunday I officiated in "the Church of the
Holy Communion," in Chicago, which has continued under my
special charge since that time. This parish was formed by the Rev.
Mr. Whipple in 1857, now Bishop of Minnesota, to be sustained
entirely by free-will offerings. The building was erected under his
supervision in 1859. Since the congregation has been deprived of
the pastorship and personal influence so well adapted for the work,
it has gradually declined, until, on the resignation of its late Rec-
tor, there did not remain force and means enough to settle a suc-
cessor. The building is on leased ground, and, unfortunately, so
badly constructed as to have become already dilapidated, and
requiring an outlay of considerable amount to put it in repair and
security. Under these circumstances the Vestry, disheartened,
closed it. Without very sanguine conviction of permanent results,
I proposed to supply the Church with services from my own Chapel,
officiating there, alternately, myself. This has been done, and still
continues. The collections are very small; but the attendance on
the ministrations is increasing ; and I am not yet willing to aban-
don the prospect of the ultimate revival of its own corporate vital-
ity, or some modified use of it for "the worship and service of
Almighty God," which its guardians may devise or approve.

Bishops Address. 19

Record of Acts : Sycamore— sChapel Service on Holy Days — Freeport — Galena.

On Wednesday evening, July 26th, I officiated in St. Peters', Syc-
amore, and with the sermon and address, confirmed tlirce persons.

By St. Peter's day, Saturday 29th, I had returned to Chicago,
and lectured on the Collect for the Day in my Cha}3el. I advert to
this to add that the Holy and Saints' days, being all observed by
the appointed Services, I have in such cases, including Passion
Week, added a lecture on the Collect or Epistle.

Thursday, July 4th, was religiously observed at the Chapel by
morning and afternoon services ; and on the former occasion with
the addition of a sermon by myself.

Tuesday, July 9th, I held an appointed Visitation in Zion Church,
Freeport, and confirmed six, using for the services the Presbyterian
house of worship. The day previous there had been a violent
storm, during which the Episcopal Church edifice, then undergoing
extensive alterations and repairs, was prostrated and entirely des-
troyed by a whirlwind. It is a loss of peculiar severity to this
congregation. Small and depressed in means, at best, its members
had made a resolute efi"ort to raise among themselves an amount for
the enlargement of the building, which the encouraging growth of
the congregation demanded. This had been expended ; and the
work, which had been delayed beyond reasonable time, at last
promised to stand complete. In an instant all was gone ; and I
came on the ground to regard only a shapeless wreck, and meet a
people in sorrow and dismay. It is a case which, in all its particu-
lars, appeals to the sympathy of the Church at large ; and already
benefactions have been sent enough to warrant the raising the walls
of a new structure, and to cheer the flock with an assurance that they
will not be left to perish in their calamity.

From Freeport I went to Galena, and in the evening confirmed
seven, presented by Rev. J. H. Egar, who has there recently suc-
ceeded the Rev. H. M. Thompson, returned to the Diocese of
Wisconsin.

On the seventh Sunday after Trinity, July 14th, I celebrated the
Holy Communion, in French, in my chapel, to fifteen recipients;
being, probably, the first time that the Sacrament had been thus

20 Bishops Address.

Record of Acts : Diaconate MisBions — Ecclesiastical Home — Ordination — Waukegan.

administered in an Episcopal church at the West. The same
remark will apply to the Confirmation at the same place, on Sunday,
August 25th. The Rev. C. Locke, Rector of Grace Church, held
service and preached one Sunday in the same tongue, on the North
side in the Church of St. Ansgarius, during the winter.

On Sunday, July 21st, Rev. Erastus DeWolf, deacon, visited, as
a Missionary sent by me, the congregation at Onarga; and in pur-
suance of the same work has continued to officiate there, and been
to Aurora and other places. I hope to have a supply of diaconate
ministrations always around me to work in the waste places of the
City, and wherever, within reasonable distance, feeble or unsup-
plied parishes or unbroken missionary ground may require such
contingent ministrations. It will be connected for the Deacons,
resident near me, with supervision and instruction in their prepar-
ation for the Priesthood. Arrangements are on foot for the Clergy,
Deacons and Students connected with my Church, residing together;
thus forming an ecclesiastical Home where all calls for pastoral
duty can be promptly met, and the social life be congenial and
improving.

Saturday, August 3d, I examined for Deacon's Orders, assisted by
Rev. Messrs. Wilkinson and Juny, Stephen Thompson Allen,
late a Minister of the Congregationalists ; and the next morning,
being the tenth Sunday after Trinity, I admitted and ordained him
to the Diaconate in my Chapel. The candidate was presented by
Rev. Mr. Juny, who, from eight years' residence in this country, has
acquired a free use of our language, and is quite competent for its
liturgical and pulpit services. Rev. Mr. Allen preached in the
afternoon and evening; and has since been stationed in Trinity
Church, Aurora, and St. John's, Naperville.

The twelfth Sunday after Trinity I spent in Christ Church, Wau-
kegan, preaching on both occasions of Divine service, and in the
evening confirming thirteen. The Church building has been much
improved in capacity and appearance by the addition of a Chancel ;
and in the short time of Mr. Wright's rectorship a very marked
impression for good has been produced.

Bishops Address. 21

Record of Acts : Bishop's Chapel — City Missions, St. Ansgarius — Rev. Jacob Bredberg.

In the Bi.sliop's Chapel, August 25th, thirteenth Sunday after
Trinity, I confirmed three — two of them members of Grace Church,
Chicago. On the afternoon of the same day I held Confirmation
in French, when one Candidate was presented.

On Sunday afternoon, September 1st, I fulfilled an appointed
Visitation of the congregation under charge of the Rev. E. B.
Tuttle, worshipping in the church of St. Ansgarius. The build-
ing has undergone material changes, not afiecting unfavorably its
capacity for worship, and yet aff'ording place for the benevolent
work of the Mission in dormitory and school room. Fourteen
were presented for Confirmation, and the aspect of the congregation
indicated a useful work.

Among our Clergy entitled to seats in this Convention, is the
Rev. Jacob Bredberg, an ordained Minister of the Church of
Sweden, whom I have recently received on his Letters of Orders
and other papers from the Bishop of Skara. In this I have, of
course, formally recognized the validity of the Episcopate in that
venerable Church: guided in this act by the best-informed judg-
ment of the English Church and that of my brethren in the Epis-
copate here, whose opinion was fiivorably, though informally,
expressed in answer to my own request for it, during the last Ses-
sion of the House of Bishops in Richmond. This referred to the
giving of Letters Dimissory to the Swedish Bishops, as well as the
reception of ministers from there as regularly ordained. Mr.
Bredberg succeeds the Rev. Mr. Unonius in ministering to the
Swedes connected with the Church of St. Ansgarius, Chicago; and
there is a prospect that, through him, I shall be enabled to extend
the use of our services into some Swedish settlements accessible by
Railroad. There is a prospect of one or more young Swedes ofi'er-
ing themselves for the Diaconate to assist in this work. Mr. Bred-
berg has been for some time ofiiciating under the discipline of the
Swedish Methodist Conference, and from the itinerant system has
become well known to a large number of his countrymen. This is
one movement — small indeed — towards a closer fellowship with the
National Church in Sweden ; an event which the recorded action of
the General Convention has shown to be an object of interest.

22 BisJioj/s Address.

Limestone — Farmridge — Ordinations. Present State of the Diocese — Churches unsupplied.

On Sunday, September 8th, I visited the church at Limestone,
Peoria county, under charge of Rev. John Benson, who resides at
Farmington, nearly twenty miles distant 5 but on alternate Sundays
ministers here. The influence of his faithful labor, wrought with
a feeble frame, is clearly seen in both places; but was impressed
upon me forcibly on Sunday, when the rural church was crowded
in every part, and ten were presented for confirmation. The Holy
Communion was celebrated, and I preached and addressed the
Candidates.

I spent the evening and part of the next morning at Jubilee Col-
lege, in company with James Carter, Esq., of Chicago, one of the
Committee to visit the Institution appointed at the last Convention.

On Tuesday, September 10th, I, a second time, went to Farm-
ridge: preached, and confirmed ybi<r.

In the evening I confirmed six in the Church where we are
assembled ; and in the afternoon a sick lady, in private, making an
aggregate for the year of twenty-one ; no small proof of the general
pastoral fidelity with which its interests are cared for.

During the opening services of Wednesday, September 11th, I
ordained to the Priesthood Rev. Salmon Riego Weldon and Rev.
Charles A. Gilbert. The former was presented by Rev. Dr. Chase,
and the latter by Rev. John Wilkinson. The clergy assisting in
the opening services of the Convention united in the -laying on of
hands.

PRESENT STATE OP THE DIOCESE.

I will subjoin to this a Tabular Summary of the leading statistics
contained in the Address, as showing at a glance the relative
aggregate and difference, but premise the facts necessary for full
information in addition to those already given.

The Churches in the following places were unsupplied at the last
Convention, and now enjoy stated ministrations under a settled
pastorship :

Aurora, Belvidere, Bloomington, Collinsville and
neighborhood, Geneseo and Cambridge, Lewistown, Naper-
viLLE, Pekin, Peru, Rock Island, Rockford, St. Ansgarius,
Chicago, Swedish.

Bishops Address. 23

Present State of the Diocese — Churches new supplied — Only two places vacant.

These are all partially, but at present regularly, supplied :

Hi/de Park^ Woodstock^ Utica, Onarga.

The ministrations of the Church have been extended in addition
to the Episcopalians in Areola^ Monmouth,, 3Iacoml). Pontiac,
Tuscola, Sterling, and other places, which will be noticed in the
Parochial Reports.

It is somewhat remarkable in contrast with the above, that the
only two places supplied at the time of the last Convention, and now
vacant, are Lacon and Elgin, both too weak to retain a settled
pastor, and for the present not able to combine with any other point.

I have given my consent for the organization of the Church at
Monmouth, and shall present the papers from '' St. Gleorge's, Utica/'
asking admission, although the delay has created a technical
irregularity.

I have before expressed distinctly my opinion that it is not
expedient to press so hastily the formal Organization of the Church
in our Missionary places, the more so as an application to be admitted
into the Convention follows almost as a matter of course. This
elevates, indeed, the little body to the dignity of a Parish, but it
imposes upon it the obligation of meeting the charges incident to
the franchise. It becomes justly bound for its share of all the
Convention and other dues imposed by the Canons, and which can
not be repudiated without dishonor, or neglected without in some
particular vitiating the right of representation. A simple Parochial
Association answers for a time all the local purpose. The members
combining at first incidentally, and under diifering and even trans-
ient impulses, have time to become intimate; they prove and
ao-o-reo-ate the men suitable for officers, and test to some degree the
reliable permanence. The main import of a legal corporate exis-
tence is only in connection with real property and the erection of
a Church edifice. It is obviously in all respects a matter of delicate
administration, in which the chief actors are imperfectly acquainted
with the rules of the Church, but heartily anxious to show all
fidelity, and secure all privilege. The Convention cannot well
refuse to admit an applicant for union with papers right in the

24 BisJyyps Address.

Present State of the Diocese : Diocese prosperous — Modiiications of the same.

civil and canonical requirements. Still there underlies a serious
difficulty on both sides, not to create hastily what may prove a mere
nominal existence in the great work of the Church, and in reality
become a stain of decay; and also not lightly to incorporate an
unsubstantial existence as a component power on the level of equality
in our Convention. The clergy can best order this matter by their
advice, as respectively they may be called on to act in the growth
of their missionary work. It is better for us to grow strong and
sure, rather than as the "hasty summer fruit."

The Diocese this year has apparently prospered, and in face, of
course, of the obstacles raised by the derangement of business,
pressure of pecuniary difficulties, and our fearful National crisis. I
am far enough from feeling that there is any ground for boasting,
or could be, were all ten times told. Each parish has had some pecu-
liar difficulties to resist, which may be perhaps regarded as generic.
Many of them are very feeble, and only kept alive by Missionary
assistance. Others have heavy obligations, past or prospective, for
the building of places of Worship. The vicissitudes are sudden and
disastrous ; — the failure of a single prominent man ; an idle disagree-
ment with the minister on the part of two or three contributors; a
disposition to retrench, which "judgment begins at the House of
God;" the removal of half a dozen families; disappointment from
losing a favorite Pastor; some local or municipal change in the
prospects of the town ; — incidents like these, which would be trivial
and temporary in the old Dioceses, produce reverses among us which
convert at a stroke pleasant order into the anxiety of threatened
ruin. The gain of one year may thus be seriously affected in the
next, simply by the changes which belong to a new, enterprising,
but fluctuating social condition, where the Church is without hered-
itary strength, and depends for its tempoi'al sustenance on many
who contribute only for the sake of some member of their fomily,
whose predilections they indulge, but in whose pious anxieties they
have no fellowship.

Our rejoicing, then, at best must be with trembling, as material
lies thick for apprehension and discouragement. It may be easy

Bishops Address. 25

Present State of the Diocese : Misrepresentationn — Longer preparation for Confirmation.

to fling against our hasty building the taunt, "If a fox go up he
shall even break down the stone walls;" and this, apart from the
insidious statements of decline, for which it were relief to find the
apology of ignorance. A popular imputation of neglect or indiffer-
ence may spring from any section of our gi'ouud yet unentered, and
the touching appeals of the scattered Church famihes which it is
impossible for us to reach. Would that we could all do more.
Some of us are trying to do faithfully what we can; and while our
personal deficiency may well humble us, there is a true-hearted
consciousness behind which permits us to say with good Xehemiah,
"Remember us, 0 our God, and wipe not out the kindnesses that
we have done for the House of our God, and spare us according to
the greatness of Thy mercy."

"While speaking of the state of the Diocese generally, allow me
to remark to the Clergy especially, that where confidence can be
reasonably entertained that the Bishop will visit the parish each
year, the preparation for Confirmation should not be left, as it is fre-
quently, until the notice of that appointment is received. It should
form a marked part of the parochial arrangement. The young should
be brought together for systematic instruction for the solemn obli-
gation ; and then from the class in training, as the time becomes
fixed, the proper recipients could be selected, if all did not answer
the requirements. A similar watchfulness should be exercised over
the adults, and each one be addressed and registered in view of the
personal obligation. I believe that with more systematic prepara-
tion for the annual Visitation, the eff'ect of it would be increased
both in numbers and the more satisfactory training of the Candidates.

The number of Visitations has not been as large as it readily
might have been, had the Parishes been prepared to receive them
with satisfaction to themselves in the appointed course. But it
frequently happens that they are not; and owing to a vacancy in
the Rectorship, or other causes, a postponement is solicited, or a
passing by required, and there afterwards occurs no opportunity for
a proper retrieval.

26

Bishops Address.

Changes among the Clergy — Letters Dlmissory.

CHANGES AMONG THE CLERGY.

The following have left the Diocese with Letters Dimissory since
the last Convention.

Rev. William Fulton, to the Ecc'l authority of Iowa.

Samuel D. Pulford,
Sebastian B. Hodges,
John 0. Barton,
Charles B. Stout,
Hugh Miller Thompson,
Total, Six.

Michigan.
New Jersey.
Wisconsin.
Iowa.
Wisconsin.

The following have been received since the last Convention :

Rev. William M. Steel, from Ecc'l authority of Alabama.

" Isaac P. Labagh, " New York.

" Michael Scofield, " New York.

" Charles F. Loop, " Missouri.

" Charles. H. Williamson, M.D., " Mississippi.

" John H. Egar, " Wisconsin.

" Matthew Magill, " Ohio.

" John Foster, " Mississippi.

" Charles H. Albert, " New Jersey.

" Edward P. Wright, " Indiana.

" James W. Coe, " Wisconsin.

" Thomas Smith, " Missouri.

" A. P. Crouch, " Missouri.

Total, Thirteen.

The following have been added by Ordination :

Rev. Erastus De Wolf, Deacon.
" Stephen Thompson Allen, Deacon.
" John Cauch, Deacon.

" Frederic Augusts Juny, admitted from the Romanists.
" Jacob Bredberg, admitted from Sweden.
Total, Five.

Bishops Address. 27

Changes among the Clergy.

The clergy thus added to the Diocese, arranged in alphabetical
order, have settled, or are engaged as follows :

Rev. Charles H. Albert, Rector of St. Paul's Church, Peru.

Rev. Stephen Thompson Allen, Aurora and Naperville.

Rev. John Cauch, Assistant to Rector of the Church of the
Advent, Marengo.

Rev. James W. Coe, Rector of St. Matthew's Church, Bloom-
ington.

Rev. Erastus DeWolf, Missionary at Onarga and other places.

Rev. John H. Egar, Rector of Grace Church, Galena.

Rev. John Foster, Rector of St. Paul's Church, Alton.

Rev. Frederic Auguste Juny, Chaplain to the Bishop and
French Missionary.

Rev. Isaac P. Labagh, Rector of Trinity Church, Belvidere.

Rev. Charles F. Loop, Rector of St. Paul's Church, Pekin.

Rev. Matthew Magill, Rector of Trinity Church, Rock Island.

Rev. Michael Scofield, Rector of Emmanuel Church, Rockford.

Rev. Edward P. Wright, Rector of Christ Church, Waukegan.

Rev. Jacob Bredberg, Minister of St. Ansgarius Church,
Chicago.

Rev. A. P. Crouch, Christ Church, CoUinsville, and parts
adjacent.

Rev. Thomas Smith, Chicago.

Rev. Albert Edward Wells, Deacon, Church of the Redeemer,
Wilmington, and Pontiac; and

Rev. John W. Shatzell, Assistant Trinity Church, Belvidere
and in "Euphemia Hall," Marengo, have not been yet transferred.

Among the Clergy as reported at the last Convention have
occurred the following parochial changes :

Rev. Caleb A. Bruce removed from Alton and become Rector
of St. James', Lewistown.

Rev. Anson Clark, then without charge, is Rector of Trinity
Church, Geneseo.

Rev. Charles P. Clark, then at Lacon, has become Chaplain
in the Army.

28 Bisliops Address.

Notices of Discipline — Candidates for Orders.

Kev. William H. Cooper has left Waukegan and is Rector of
the Church of the Ascension, Chicago.

Rev. John Wilkinson is Chaplain to the Bishop, hut retains
the Rectorship of Christ Church, Joliet.

notices of discipline.

The official Notices of Discipline from other Dioceses, claiming
record here for your information, are :

Rev. GrEORGE WiLLiAM GODFREY, deposed hy Bishop of New
York.

Rev. Thomas N. Ralston, D.D., under Tit. II, Can. VI, Digest,
hy Bishop of Kentucky.

Rev. GrEORGE B. Taylor, Tit. II, Can. II, by Bishop of
California.

Rev. Charles W. Fearns, Tit. II, Can. V, by Bishop of Ohio.

Rev. Charles W. Bradley, L.L.D., Presbyter, for reasons
connected with the state of his health :

Rev. GrEORGE N. Monro, Deacon : both by Bishop of New
York. Tit. II, Can. I, Sec. 1.

CANDIDATES FOR ORDEKS.

The candidates for Holy Orders during the year have been Ten.

Erastus DeWolf, ordained.

0. C. Dake, transferred, by request, to the Bishop of the North-
West.

Bernard McG-ann.

J. Wainwright Ray.

Stephen Thompson Allen, ordained.

John Cauch, ordained.

Peter Arvidson.

Alfred Cauldwell.

J. H. Knowles, transferred from Bishop of Michigan.

Charles W. Leffingwell, admitted in Texas, has placed
himself under my direction, and is acting as Lay Reader.

BisJiops Address. 29

Candidates for Diaconate — Candidates for Priesthood — Ordinations, Diaconate and Priesth'd.
CANDIDATES FOR THE DIACONATE.

Bernard McGann.
J. Wainwright Ray.
Peter Arvidson.
Alfred Cauldwell.
J. H. Knowles.
Charles W. Leffingwell.
Total, Six.

CANDIDATES FOR THE PRIESTHOOD.

Charles A. Gilbert.
Erastus DeWolf.
Stephen Thompson Allen.

ordinations.

DIACONATE.

In Jubilee College Chapel, January 23d, Erastus DeWolf.
The candidate was presented by Rev. Dr. Chase.

In niy own Chapel, on the tenth Sunday after Trinity, August
10th, Stephen Thompson Allen ; presented by Rev. F. A. Juny.

In my own Chapel, on fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, Septem-
ber 1st, John Cauch; presented by Rev. Thomas Smith, who
preached the Sermon on the occasion.

PRIESTHOOD.

In Jubilee College Chapel, on the twenty-third day of January,
I admitted and ordained Rev. John Read West, Deacon, to the
Order of Priests. He was presented by Rev. Dr. Chase, who,
with Rev. T. N. Benedict and Rev. John Benson, united in the
laying on of hands.

In Christ Church, Ottawa, on the first day of the Convention,
Rev. SAL:\roN Riego Weldon and Rev. Charles A. Gilbert
were admitted and ordained to the Order of the Priesthood.

30 Bisliops Address.

Missionaries : Domestic Committee.

MISSIONARIES.

The Missionary work of the Diocese has been assisted, as here-
tofore, by the appropriation from the Domestic Committee; and
without it, I know not what could have been done to meet the
wants of Ministers and the weakness of Churches to which the dole,
broken into such small pieces, is the turning of life and death.
For long years have I known, at its council board, the spirit and
action of that Committee, change as it might its individual mem-
bers; for long years have I, as a Bishop, been pensioner, for your
sakes, on its annual appropriations, and in the exercise of my
diocesan prerogative, which its rules, as the agent of the Church,
require it to respect, been dependent on its judgment as correlative
with my own. Through all I can and am bound to say, that never
has the instance occurred where action, whether in harmony with
my own or discrepant, has seemed to have its secret impulse or
open purpose in an attempt to infringe on allowed freedom of
opinion in the Church, or discriminate its appointments by a bias
of partizanship. My only paih has been, that, in our poverty or
less excusable neglect, there has failed to be over the Diocese the
iiniform response of parochial collection in behalf of the work —
Domestic and Foreign — which, large or small, if met in honest
ability, would bring blessing for the Pastor and the Flock that thus
honored the claim of gratitude, and the missionary unity of the
Church.

I think it, too, a sad day when generous hearts of the Church's
Ministry and Laity associate under a name and principle which,
while abstractly true, practically produces results far other, I
believe, than the high-minded and devout many, whom I honor
and love among its friends, know or would sanction. As it meets
my experience, that system, as administered, tends to make Parishes
and Ministers stipendiaries for opinion ; introduces discordant views
into the feeble Churches ; engenders mutual distrust ; classifies the
Clergy by arbitrary and forced distinctions ; exasperates local dif-
ferences; and, under the appearance of helping the Diocese by
bearing a selected portion of its burthen, ignores it as a whole and

Bishops Address. 31

Missionaries : American Church Miss. Society — Appointments made by Domestic Committee

in its parts, works irrespective of it, and against it within its own
borders. I speak boldly, because I feel strongly these present and
prospective evils. I feel that, in my own relations, and that of the
large majority of the Clergy and Laity, it is utterly needless to per-
vert, even in appearance, an alleged kindness into a wrong. There
is no difterence of doctrinal sentiments, or reluctance to allow to
donors the watchful direction of their own gifts, that would prevent
the Bishop and the Missionary Board, and the Diocese at large
from accepting, gratefully, the benefactions which might be offered
and applied to its use in frank and loyal kindness.

The " Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Diocese of Illinois,"
is a visible and recognized body, with its Bishop, Clergy and Laity j
with its Convention and Canons, Standing Committee and Mis-
sionary Board; with its Parishes and Missionary stations; its area
of destitution, and its demonstrative life of growth. If this,
which is the exact sum of the Episcopal Church in the State
of Illinois, inclusive and exclusive, has no right to the sympathy
of the "American Church Missionary Society," in a way honor-
able to its own unity, just to its self-respect, and open to the
ready tribute of its gratitude, then I am sure I say, Brethren,
what the most of you, and the Clergy and Laymen all over would
wish me to say, firmly and respectfully, "Let us alone!" And
equally sure I am, that, if thus frankly that Society will help our
necessity, it will as rarely happen with its Executive as it does
with the Missionary Board of the Church, that there would be a
conflicting opinion about the recipient of the benefaction, or influ-
ence within or without follow that choice to impede his way or
derogate from his just position of confidence, freedom and brotherly
kindness.

APPOINTMENTS OF DOMESTIC COMMITTEE.

The appointments made by the Domestic Committee are com
prised in the following parishes and incumbents:

Chesterfield and Carlinville, Rev. David W. Dresser.
Sycamore, Rev. Warren H. Roberts.

32 Bishop's Address.

Missionaries — Diocesan Boai'd.

Decatur, Rev. William M. Steel.

Marengo, Rev. J. H. Waterbury.

Warsaw, Rev. William L. B'ostwick.

Kewanee, Rev. John B. Richmond.

Albion, Rev. Robert Ryall.

Dixon and GIrand Detour, Rev. A. J. Warner.

For Providence, Rev. George C. Street.

diocesan board.
Of the immediate course and result of this year's work in your
own Missionary Board, I can say little, but refer you to its Report,
which ought to show, if there is any reality in the alleged objec-
tions of the past, a liberal list of Appointments and large Contri-
butions from sources which have not, in my judgment, hitherto
met honorably their allegiance of charity. The power or the exer-
cise of "Nomination" vested in the Bishop may have been before
an indefinite, but assuredly mistaken, ground of suspicion. But
this at last found expression in rash words of cruel breadth, with
signatures of Ministers solemnly setting hand to its truth. In such
an issue but one course seemed right for a Bishop, who loved his
flock, and knew the griefs of its missionaries, and the depths of
the pang that came with the loss of the pittance or a delay in its
payment. It was indeed true, without an exception to gainsay
it, that the Bishop never had exercised the right of "Nomination,"
involving an approach to that with which it is confounded, ofiicial
" Appointment." It was also true, that in every case during his Epis-
copate, the selection or approval of the Missionary had been entirely
at the will of the Parish, or of the yet unorganized body to whom
he was to be sent. Still, whatever had been the past exercise or
reticence of prerogative, the duty of the crisis was plain : for St. Paul
had met and solved it — " All things are lawful for me, but all
things are not expedient" — and in view of that Christian expedi-
ency I have confined myself strictly to the technical act, and left
all freely and fully to those so specially combined by the last
Convention, praying God to fulfil, through their abundance, my
unwilling "lack of service toward you."

Bishops Address.

Missionaries — Lav Keaders.

But if this experiment shall have failed, and it be evident that
distrust in the integrity of application is not the right argument to
move to our common charity : then I beseech you, as the Council
of the Church, devise the means, if possible acceptable to all, by
which, in the crisis of maintenance that confronts us, every Church
and every Minister may stand up to the exigency — may collect
earnestly and with system the means, concentrate them scrupu-
lously in our suifering borders, and by this assure the fainting
hearts of the Ministry that there shall be one purse, and that purse
filled and emptied in resolute sympathy, strong enough to stifle, as
relatively frivolous, every contravening impulse.

We should settle in our minds the conviction how delicate and
exposed is the administration of such a trust, and how easily
mistakes may be committed, lest we confound with an intelligent
perversion the all but unavoidable accident. There is not a more
oppressive problem to the Christian mind, than a wise and just
almonry. We may be bafiled even in Pastoral aid, how to give
where it is needed and in due proportion : to continue the gratuity
long enough to stimulate liberality and exertion, and yet withdraw
it before it becomes a bounty to personal meanness and corporate
sloth. The best appropriations complicate with private afiairs, and
are actuated by reasons which do not lie on the surface, nor can be
jjublicly explained. There must be cases of grave mistake; cases
anomalous enough to be easily spotted by an "evil eye," and others
fairly open to question in proper time and place. Certain it is,
that it is easy to find fault, and confuse in so doing, for our own
moral responsibility, between what is generous and dutiful, and that
which exalts our selfish consequence and flatters our self-will.

LAY READERS.

The Nineteenth Canon of the Diocese prescribes: "that none

shall be considered as authorized to officiate as Lay Reader in this

Diocese, except in cases of peculiar emergency, without a written

license from the Bishop ; and Lay Readers shall, in all cases,

3

34 Bishops Address.

Lay Reading — iti benefit.

conform to the provisions of the Xlth Canon of the General Con-
vention," now known in reference as Title 1, Can. 3, Sec. II.

Under this provision, with due appointment, and acting, where
not otherwise mentioned, under my own supervision, the following
persons have continued to render service to the Church as the
respective cases required :

James Clark, Limestone; supervision, Kev. John Benson.
Peter Arvidson, Algonquin.
Jacob Bockee. M. D., Hyde Park.
B. F. Matteson, Morris.
Bodney S. Bowen, Wilmington.
George M. Lovell, Onarga.
N. HoLST, Wyoming.

Charles W. Leffingwell, Galesburg; Rev. W. T. Smithett.
Alpheus Hasbrouck, Mattoon.
John K. Bashforth, Griggsville.

BuFus p. Parrish and Jeremiah Hopkins; Kewanee, Bev.
J. B. Bichmond.

In all cases where the Lay Beading is in connection with an
organized Parish, I have requested the Vestry of the same to select
and nominate to me the person ; and have been, in like manner,
guided by the recommendation of the Clergyman, if intended to
act under his supervision. Several of the gentlemen named in the
list perform regularly the services of the Church, and are thus
doing a Missionary work of permanent value in sustaining weak
Parishes and gathering Episcopalians who would be otherwise scat-
tered and disheartened. There can be no doubt that this agency
might be extended, and the Church families in many places be pro-
vided, through it, with an opportunity of Public Worship, whole-
some instruction and Christian fellowship. It forms a " Savings
bank " for the capital of the future Congregation, and aggregates
for the enterprise, not only the individuals, but the love and princi-
ple, the godly habits and wholesome associations which otherwise
become irreparably squandered.

BisJiops Address. 35

Lay Beading: Services should be attended regularly — Appeal. Act of Gen'l Assembly, '01.

Lay ministry in this form is necessarily conservative, rather than
aggressive. It can be expected to collect and keep together those
only who are "religiously and devoutly disposed" to serve God
from a conscientious attachment to the worship of the Church. As
the whole excitement and interest must be in the Liturgy, more
than usual resolution is demanded to sustain these quiet Sabbath
gatherings. A very marked increase of attendance is hardly to be
expected in our age of exhaustive enthusiasm, and the whole, in
every case, are far too few to admit of irregularity in any without
damage to the interest, and a sense of failure imparted to the Lay
Reader himself. His delicacy easily runs into discouragement j
and from sensitive scruple he ceases ministrations which he feels no
authority for pressing on the taste or conscience of others.

I offer, then, on this point the earnest appeal, that religious and
qualified persons may feel themselves called of God to undertake
this Office ; and that in every place where two or three can be thus
gathered together, the baptized in the Church will recognize their
allegiance to her Services and Discipline; faithfully separate them-
selves for this appointed Worship ; come together with one accord
in one place, and thus far steadfast in the "Apostles' doctrine and
fellowship," even though for a time deprived of the Ministry, wait
for the promise of the Lord.

ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 1861.

It is my duty to call the attention of the Convention to the fact,
that, at the last session of the General Assembly of the State of
Illinois, an Act was passed under the following title : " An Act
amendatory of an Act entitled ' An Act to authorize the Protestant
Episcopal Church in the State of Illinois to raise a fund for the
support of a Bishop, and to aid superannuated Ministers, and
widows and children of deceased Ministers, approved February
10th, 1849."

It was presented and carried through by the Senator from Cook
county, no other parties appearing by petition or otherwise. The
Bishop, the Church in the whole Diocese, and even the Rector and

36 BisJiop's Address.

Act of the Gen'l Aeeembly : Real object — Act void. Appendix to Address of '60 : Docum'ts.

officers of St. Paul's Church, Springfield, were kept in ignorance
of the purpose and movement until it had received the sanction of
the Grovernor.

The real object of the effort was covertly to repeal the Act of
1853, entitled ''An Act authorizing certain persons holding pro-
perty in trust for the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in
the State of Illinois to convey the same." This Act empowered the
Bishop and his Successors in office to hold property in trust : this
amended Act seeks to divest the Bishop of all property held under
it, and to vest the same in the " Trustees of the Diocese of Illinois,"
and directs that all parties shall exhibit and submit to the Conven-
tion full accounts of the same. I am advised by the most compe-
tent legal authorities that the Act of 1861 is unconstitutional and
void 5 and I am not aware that I hold any trust for which, under
its provisions, even admitting its validity, I could respond. I beg
to commend the subject for instruction ; and as an attempt on the
part of incompetent persons to assume the powers of the Conven-
tion and Diocese, and by an unwary legislation to embarrass your
established order.

THE APPENDIX TO ADDRESS OF 1860.

On the 27th page of my "Ninth Annual Address" there is a
note in the following words :

" As Exhibits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, will be found Documents as follows :
Original Deed — Agreement between Henry J. Whiteliouse and Cyren-
ius Beers — Opinion of Standing Committee, 1856 — Opinion of Standing
Committee, 1857 — Appeal made to me by the Clergymen and some promi-
nent Laymen of Chicago, 1857."

It must also have been observed, that neither in the copies of
the Journal, nor in the Address as published separately, are the
papers comprehended which answer to this reference.

In my Address to the last Convention there is a succint account
of the settlement by compromise of my interest in certain property
in Chicago connected with my purpose of founding a Bishop's
Church. In a later part of the Session it became proper for me to
refer at length to original papers of leading importance, equally

Bishop's Address. 37

Appendix to AddreBs of 1860: Suppressed by Secretary — Act without excuse — Correction.

essential to the case in reference to my own course, the action of
the Convention, the information of the Church, and permanent
record of the future. These Documents deemed thus important
for my own official statement, and virtually part of the i^es gcstse, of
the session, I made formally a portion of my Address, attached
under the title of "Exhibits," and the whole Journal with the
Address, properly printed, was left ready for binding on my going
to New York in October to bring on my family. On my return to
Chicago, I found that, in my absence, the Secretary had assumed
the responsibility of suppressing them and of issuing the Address
thus mutilated. This was done without conveying to me in any
way an intimation of even an opinion adverse to the publication of
the Documents, much less any purpose of so extraordinary a viola-
tion, on his part, of propriety and duty. My inquiry afterwards
failed to elicit any plausible reason to justify the step, which, I
presume, like many other questionable acts, was the dictate of some
impulse of temper rather than a reflective action conscientiously
weighed. Regarded in any personal bearing, I should certainly
have passed it by in silence ; but trenching as it does on privilege,
and invading a right, whioh I hold to be inviolate, of uttering, on
my official responsibility, what I may deem proper, I cannot allow
the incident to pass by default, or leave a seeming precedent for
such arbitrary Censorship. I am obliged to invoke the protection
of this Convention, requesting it to affirm distinctly my Episcopal
privilege in Charge and Address; and to order the insertion of the
"Exhibits," as already printed, in the Journal of the present year.

STATISTICS.

Number of Clergy, sixty-six, and two not transferred — sixty-
eight.

Presbyters in duty, sixty-two; entitled to a seat in Convention,
fifty-four; not entitled, eight. Settled in Parishes, fifty-two; not
settled, ten — from ill health, three; absent, one; other causes, six.

Deacons, five

Bishops Address.

statistics. Our Christian Duty in the National Trial — The moral reproach general.

Clergy added to the Diocese, nineteen; by letters dimissory,
thirteen; by ordination, three; by reception, two; not transferred,
but settled, one.

Clergy dismissed to other Dioceses, six.

Ordinations, six; Priesthood, three; Diaconate, three.

Candidates for Priesthood, three.

Candidates for the Diaconate, six; whole number during year,
ten; transferred, one; ordained, three.

Licensed Lay Readers, twelve.

Parishes vacant I860, now supplied, twelve; supplied 1860, now
vacant, two; vacant 1860, now with stated services, four; new places
now supplied, six.

Consent for organization, one.

Consecration of churches, two.

Institution of Rector, one.

Change of Parish from report of last year, four; actual change,
two; as army chaplain, one; without charge 1860, now settled, one.

Visitations, fifty-two.

Confirmations — number confirmed, two hundred and eighty-four;
number of times, forty-eight; private, three.

Bishop's Record — Baptisms, adult, two; infant, fifteen; Funerals,
two; Marriages, one; Holy Communion, twenty-two.

OUR CHRISTIAN DUTY IN THE NATIONAL TRIAL.

On many accounts I should desire to close my Address without a
direct mention of the subject, which, indeed, is uppermost in every
mind, and crushes with anxiety the Nation's heart. But in such
an hour, it were hardly proper to withhold the counsels my station
demands, from a sense of personal difiidence however deep in my
own consciousness. We are in a fearful crisis. We are plunged
into Civil war under circumstances more appalling for the present
and future, than past History can measure. I am not disposed to
cast the moral reproach of this state of things on one portion of
our country alone. It is the effect of deterioration in principle,
and breach of obligations in which all are involved; of corrupt and

Bishop's Address. 39

The National Trial: Obedience to the Civil Authority — The Government niiist be siistiiincil.

selfish politics; of venality and fraud in official trust; of sinking-
love of country into the base tactics of party, of which the gains
of Office are the spoils, and availability the mean test of worth. As
a generation, we are probably lower in vigorous and controlling
principle in morals and religion, compared with our advantages, than
any other that has lived. Language can hardly be too strong in
charging us with faults deep in moral iniquity, and perilous in their
tendency to group and grow in fungus corruption. But sad as these
changes may be in our national morality, the purity of our Govern-
ment, and our social viciousness, it is no remedy for national offences
to abandon our Nationality, or to rend it in pieces, as the wild beast
its prey. There is stern necessity to suppress this as Rebellion : and
we cannot doubt, in the claim upon us from the Bible, and the Church,
for " obedience to the Civil Authority regularly and legitimately con-
stituted," where that obedience is due. The Nation — the great
American Republic as represented by its Chief 3Iagistrate, and those
in authority with him — must constitute for us that " Civil Authority "
which exacts, as from God, our devout allegiance; comprehends our
dearest rights and precious interests; and demands the sacrifices as
well as the fealty of dutiful citizens. In the violent attempt for its
disruption, any other course would be madness; and whether as
Christians or Citizens, looking in that direction, there cannot be mis-
giving as to right or faltering as to duty. We may hope and pray
that in the mercy of God, it may be arrested without long struggle,
and all but incurable sequences. We must pray to God to forgive
the national sins; and as they find their place in our hearts, strive to
correct them. We may pity with strong tears the delusion which
impels the generous and good into such misguided strife; and
implore a stronger power than man to arrest the passionate reck-
lessness and corrupt designs of others, who make "liberty the cloak
of maliciousness."

But as the issue now stands, forced upon us, we are united in
the feeling — the Government must be sustained. This is the all
but universal sentiment around us, and it did not require my re-
iteration to give it Aveight and solemnity. But with the fearful

40 Bisliops Address.

The National Trial : Special duty of Ministers — Intercessory Power— Spiritual Discipline.

condition of Civil war raging, and witli this our recognized position
of duty as Citizens towards the Constitution and Government — bound
to give it hearty and efficient support — there are thoughts and obli-
gations which belong to us in our distinct position as Ministers and
Communicants of the Church. There are dangers and trials which
we are to foresee, and as far as in us lies, avert or soothe. There are
passions which we must rebuke and temper; sorrows and adversities
requiring our special sympathy; and great malign influences, to
defeat and destroy vital religion, which will demand watchful and
unwearied labor to overmatch. On you, and those like you over
the Land, must rest that burthen of intercession by which God
may be moved to take the cause into His own hands. If God do
not help us, vain is the help of man. Hence, as Christians, our
place, our posture, our work, our trust. The crowd may grope as
the blind. The wisdom of the World may exhaust itself in sagacity
and policy. The jeoparded interests of Trade, Manufacture and
Commerce may close in serried strength. Voices of eloquence may
pour over the Crowd the appeals of patriotism, and historic rever-
ence, and deep-toned warning. The picked Representatives may
confer in the secret Chamber. We fault not these. But it may all
Jie done — it will be largely done in atheistic reliance on human
strength, while the Arm of the Lord, made bare in chastening
judgment, may be unheeded; His Hand in beckoning mercy be re-
fused; His Voice in eternal truth and pity be overborne by the wise
and mighty and enterprising of dying men.

Here is our place then, ambassadors for God, to exhibit and
sustain His influence^ while in humility, and yet earnestness, we
plead for Him, and plead with Him. It must be our care to carry
all up and back to our Father in Heaven — and to Him who sitteth
upon the Throne — to honor Him in His Providence, in humiliation
under confessed transgressions, in sincere religious searching of
heart, a calm trust in His protection, which may rise, as need comes,
to the joy in tribulation which knows that "all things work for
•^■ood." To this personal discipline, this soul advance, what we
are now passing through ought to minister. We must urge the

BisJiops Address. 41

Tlio National Trial: Watchful Restraint — Popular excitement corrupts itself.

spirit of prayer in view of impending displeasure, and to avert the
calamity; in view of fearful exposure to dangerous evils of anarchy,
infidelity and social disorder in every form; in view of evil passions,
wrath and violence, anger and revenge. But with deeper aim, still
more filial relation, closer-application; seeking to be made better,
wiser for the unseen through the vanity for substantial reliance of
earthly gifts however numerous or profuse. In the measure of our
spiritual integrity as Christians, we can do good to our Country,
good to the living and to the unborn; for sure it is, if we are spared
in this fearful crisis — restored again to comparative harmony, or knit
in trustful brotherhood — it will be because His people turned and
sought Him; and because in the midst of our National folly, irrev-
erence, injustice, and guilt, there were praying and faithful found
in the Land to plead and prevail.

Hence, as I have before had occasion to say, as Ministers of the
Prince of Peace, the sanctity and reserve of our Office should restrain
us from mingling with forwardness in the spirit and conduct of this
awful strife. Our Profession restrains us from joining in many rela-
tions free to others. It imposes upon us gravity and sobriety in inno-
cent indulgence, and checks the outbreak of impulsive and passionate
feeling, even under generous excitement. There is emphasis in that
vow of our Priesthood " to lay aside the study of the world and the
flesh." We shall find enough to do to restrain rather than stimu-
late ; and if we grasp only the uprightness of our Cause, the honor
of upholding it, the flashing brightness of military achievement,
the incidents and vicissitudes of the struggle, and keep these and
their spirit paramount in our minds as indulged topics of conversa-
tion and permeating our pulpit appeals, we shall soon find ourselves
depai-ting from God, grieving His Spirit, and assisting the spiritual
declension around us through excitement and distraction and pas-
sions festering into malignity. 1 do not think that a conscientious
and watchful Minister can, in any fervid popular movement,
however right and needful in its origin, be long on the popular
side. The natural current, sluggish or vehement, is turbid with
evil ; and as it swells from the storm, it soon hurls the drift of a

42 Bishop s Address.

The National Trial: Layman's Duty.

wider area and wilder force. The Man of God must stand, pale
perhaps, but more calm, from the enthusiasm and absorbing pas-
sion and intense exclusiveness around him. He must not only
teach the same heavenly lessons, the same gi-aces of the Spirit, the
same appeals for thoughtful repentance as before, but discriminate
when popular passion will not, and resist the evil ; rebuke excess
even where the end is good; and claim obedience to Grod's Law and
Institutions as paramount even in martial exigency. He must teach
and illustrate meekness, forbearance and forgiveness ; rebuke bit-
terness, angry passion and revenge, even though the cry '-to arms"
all but drowns the voice, and the most vindictive passion is cheered
as heroism. Corruption twice corrupted will always be the general
result of passionate popular movement, right or wrong as it may
at first be : and if the common social life, honored and true, com-
pels the minister to be thus gravely secluded and jealously watchful,
guarding himself from the appearance of evil, lest his good be evil-
spoken of — how much more in the swelling of popular confusion,
when one great dominant necessity grasps and concentrates all to
itself, and puts even upon virtues almost the brand of vice.

As the Minister is under a peculiar claim for earnestness and
sympathy, and yet wise seclusion from the whirl and intensity of
the current events, a like spirit may be commended to the Christian
Layman relative with his actual and imperative claims of personal
duty. War, under any circumstances, is a horrible moral evil ; and
though, in the complexity of the social growth and purification, the
cool tone of philosophy may numerate its benefits, still the frank
instinct of the Christian soul knows that it cannot be rightly' thus
esteemed, or removed from the triad of Grod's sore displeasure —
"pestilence, famine and the sword." The Layman then, also must
feel the hand of the "gentle Jesus" laid upon him, to sober his
spirit and discipline his language and sanctify his patriotism, brace
him to watchfulness, and guide back to the wants of the Church
and the care of Religion the sympathy and activity restlessly scat-
tered or instinctively absorbed. The social disaster embarrasses
resources and largely impairs the means for the support of the

BisJiop's Address. 43

The National Trial : Church perpetual — its branches not sustained by personal consecration.

Ministry and the manifold work of needful charity. Even Chris-
tian principle will he tempted to set aside these claims and abate
for the time, its gifts and sympathy. But here, with more than
ordinary self-denial, must sacrifice be made, lest the Church and its
Ministers sink in the crisis.

The Church of Christ is perpetual. It cannot perish. Its Mis-
sion is the recovery of an alienated World in its successive ages,
and our hearts will not allow an hour's misgiving as to her final
triumph ; but of her parts we can only indulge this assured hope,
as each is in itself faithful and true. The maintenance of each
Branch depends, under Christ, on its fidelity in doctrine and dili-
gence in the "good works prepared for us to walk in." The noble
personal trust — "God is in the midst of her : she shall not be
removed" — must be indicated by our devotion to the welfare of
the Church, as it claims our personal consecration, our anxious
carre and devoted allegiance ; lest, in the uproar of Civil strife and
the intense engagement of our temporal solicitudes, we overlook or
sacrifice the interests of that Fellowship, of which its own Head has
said, "He that loveth father or mother, houses or lands, more than
Me is not worthy of Me."

REPORTS.

EEPOKT OP COMMITTEE ON ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 1860.

The Committee, to whom was referred that portion of the
Bishop's Address which relates to the Act passed by the Legislature
of this State in the Winter of 1860-61 and approved Feb. 21st,
1861, report :

Your Committee have examined the Act referred to, and find it
purporting to be an Act, amendatory of the Act obtained in 1849,
which incorporated the Trustees of the Diocese, and also purport-
ing to repeal the Act of 1853, under which the Bishop of the
Diocese is empowered to hold property for church and educational
purposes.

Your Committee also find, that the Act, so far as it is amenda-
tory of that of 1849, confers certain additional powers upon the
Trustees, and imposes upon them duties, not contemplated by, or
coming within the scope and purpose of the original Act, the
assumption and exercise of which by the Trustees would, in all
probability, jeopardize a large amount of church property in the
Diocese, by confusing the chain of Title, and placing its steward-
ship in a body, not only liable to change by an annual election,
but, by its very constitution, wholly incompetent to administer such
interests without a permanent and salaried officer.

Your Committee furthermore find that the act in repealing the
act of 1852, would in its operation wrest from the Bishop of the
Diocese rights and immunities which every Bishop possesses by
the virtue of his office, and which in this instance, have been
civilly secured to our Diocesan in the act sought to be repealed ;
and of which rights and privileges he ought not, and could not be
divested by any mere legislative action.

In view of these facts your Committee cannot but regard the
act of 1861 not only as contrary to the interests and well-being of
the Church in this Diocese, but as unconstitutional and void.

There is one feature in connection with the passage of this
Act upon which your Committee find themselves called upon to
animadvert in unmistakable and decided disapproval ; and that is,
that the Act in question was procured not only without the sanction
of this body, or any other duly constituted authority having power

46 Reports of Committees.

Report on Act of the General Assembly, 1860 — Report on Exhibits.

to ask for such or similar legislation at the hands of the State,
but without the knowledge, and irrespective of the wishes of the
Diocese expressed or implied.

Under these circumstances your Committee recommend the
adoption by this Convention of the following :

Whereas, the aforesaid Act, approved Feb. 21, 1861, was pro-
cured without the sanction of this Body, or the knowledge of any
considerable portion of the Diocese, and is in many of its provisions
detrimental to the interests of the Protestant Episcopal Church ;

And whereas, a grave question exists as to its constitutionality or
validity for the purposes therein set forth ; therefore

Resolved., That the Bishop of the Diocese be advised to regard
the said Act, so far as it relates to himself, as unconstitutional and
void ; and the Bishop is hereby assured that in so doing he will be
sustained by this Convention and the Diocese.

That the " Trustees of the Diocese " be, and hereby are, instruct-
ed not to assume the powers, or exercise the duties, so conveyed
and set forth in the said Act of 1861, but confine themselves to the
Act of 1849.

That the Bishop and Standing Committee of the Diocese be, and
are hereby, appointed a Committee of this Body, with insti'uctions,
to memorialize the Legislature of this State to restore to their
original provisions the aforesaid Acts of 1849 and 1853, and to
repeal the Act of 1861.

SAMUEL CHASE,
T. N. BENEDICT,
L. B. OTIS,
FREDERICK STAHL,
A. CAMPBELL.

REPORT ON EXHIBITS.

The Committee to whom was referred so much of the Bishop's
Address as relates to the suppression of certain papers, by the
Secretary of the Conv-ention in the publication of the Journal of
1860, beg leave to report :

That your Committee have examined the subject and the papers
referred to, and in their estimation find them important in charac-
ter, and in their bearing upon the subject matter to which they
relate. They have reference to the final settlement of the title to
the property, known as Lots 2 and 3 in Block 8, fractional section
15, addition to the City of Chicago, formerly held by the Bishop,
by difierent tenures, for the purpose of a Bishop's Church and a
private residence.

Reports of Committees. 47

Report on Exhibits.

Your Committee are clearly of opinion that much of the mis-
conception which has existed in the minds of Churchmen, in the
Diocese, as well as out of it, in regard to this whole transaction,
has arisen from want of that information which these papers
supply.

They are referred to by the Bishop, in a note to his Address, as
explanatory of the portion referring to the Compromise of the lots
— were commented upon, and for the most part read in open Con-
vention, in the way of explanation, and as of authority.

The late Secretary having, as we understand, failed to give the
Bishop a satisfactory explanation of his action in their suppression,
your Committee are, therefore, of opinion that they ought to have
appeared in the Journal of last year as part and parcel of the
Bishop's Address, and recommend the adoption of the following
resolutions :

1. Resolved, That this Convention fully recognizes the right of
the Bishop to lay any and all matters he may think proper before
the Convention and the Diocese, in his Address and appendices
thereto. And inasmuch as neither the Convention nor any of its
Officers has any right to alter, mutilate, or suppress any part of the
same, this Convention disapproves the act of the late Secretary in
suppressing the publieation of the "Exhibits," 'appended to the
Bishop's Address of last year.

2. Resolved, That the Secretary of this Convention be and
hereby is instructed to bind with the Journal of this year, the
papers so prepared and then suppressed.

JOHN BENSON, Chairman.
JAMES CARTER,
S. CORNING JUDD.

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