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In 1792, the printing of the clause concerning the descent, in the Apostles' Creed, was changed to its present form, instead of being in italics and between the parenthetical marks as in the edition of 1790. The Ordinal was set forth at this Convention. With reference to this, Bishop White informs us that 'There was no material difference of opinion, except in regard to the words used by the Bishop at the ordination of Priests— "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," and "Whose sins thou dost forgive they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained." Bishop Seabury, who alone was tenacious of this form, consented at last, with great reluctance, to allow the alternative of another as it now stands.' , 1 A joint Committee of both Houses was appointed to compare the printed edition of the Book of Common Prayer with the original acts of the last General Convention,' 2 and thus to secure a standard copy. The consideration of the Articles of Religion was dismissed for the present. A further postponement of this subject was made in 1795, and at the Convention of 1799 seventeen articles were reported by the Committee on this subject in the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, and unanimously referred by that body to the following Convention. This injudicious measure,' as Bishop White styles it, 'proved beneficial in its unexpected consequences,' by showing the impossibility of agreement in any new draft of the Articles, and thus

1 Memoirs, p. 164.

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2 Journal of the General Convention of 1792. 3 Memoirs, p.182.

preparing the way for the return to those of the English Church. This measure was effected in 1801, the alterations and omissions being comparatively unimportant, and only such as would necessarily grow out of the different political relations of the Church; and to render the Articles consistent with the changes in the Liturgy. In 1804,' An Office of Induction of Ministers into Parishes or Churches' was set forth, the title of which was changed in 1808 to the Office of Institution.' This Office, with slight variations, was that adopted by the Bishops and Clergy of Connecticut in Convocation at Derby, November 1799, and was the composition of the Rev. William Smith, D.D., of Norwalk, Conn.

In 1808, thirty additional hymns were appended to the few then in use, with the provision that a rubric be annexed thereto, directing that a certain portion, or portions, of the Psalms of David, in metre, be sung at every celebration of Divine service.' 1

In 1826, on motion of Bishop Hobart, of New York, the House of Bishops, consisting of Bishops White, Hobart, Griswold, Kemp, Croes, Philander, Chase, Ravenscroft, and Brownell, proposed the following preambles and resolutions for the action of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies and the Diocesan Conventions:

"The House of Bishops, deeply solicitous to preserve unimpaired the Liturgy of the Church, and yet desirous to remove the reasons alleged, from the supposed length of the service, for

1 Journal of General Convention, 1808.

the omission of some of its parts, and particularly for the omission of that part of the Communion Office which is commonly called the ante-Communion, do unanimously propose to the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies the following resolutions, to be submitted to the several State Conventions, in order to be acted upon at the next General Convention, agreeably to the Eighth Article of the Constitution :

1. Resolved, That in "the order how the Psalter is ap-
pointed to be read," the following be added to the
fourth paragraph :· 66
:- or any other Psalm or Psalms,
except on those days on which Proper Psalms are
appointed;" so that the whole paragraph will read as
follows:-"The Minister, instead of reading from the
Psalter, as divided for daily morning and evening
prayers, may read one of the selections set out by this
Church, or any other Psalm or Psalms, except on those
days on which Proper Psalms are appointed."

2. Resolved,―That in "the order how the rest of the Holy
Scripture is appointed to be read," the following be
inserted after the fifth paragraph :-"The Minister may,
at his discretion, instead of the entire Lessons, read
suitable portions thereof, not less than fifteen verses.
And on other days than Sundays and holy days, in
those places where morning and evening prayer is not
daily used, he may read other portions of the Old and
New Testaments instead of the prescribed Lessons," it
being recommended that, unless circumstances render
it inexpedient, on the stated prayer days of Wednes-
days and Fridays, the Lessons for those days, or for
one of the intervening days, be read.

'The Bishops, in the use of the Office of Confirmation, finding that the Preface is frequently not well suited to the age and character of those who are presented for this holy ordinance, nanimously propose the following resolution :

3. Resolved, That after the present Preface in the Office of Confirmation, the following be inserted, to be used instead of the former, at the discretion of the Bishop : "It appears from Holy Scriptures, that the Apostles laid their hands on those who were baptized; and this ordinance, styled by the Apostle Paul as 'laying on of

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hands,' and ranked by him among the principles of the doctrine of Christ, has been retained in the Church, under the name of Confirmation; and is very convenient, and proper to be observed, to the end that persons being sufficiently instructed in what they promised, or what was promised for them in their baptism, and being in other respects duly qualified, may themselves, with their own mouth and consent, openly before the Church, ratify and confirm the same, and also promise, that by the grace of God, they will evermore endeavour themselves faithfully to observe such things as they, by their own confession, have assented unto."

'And to correct the injurious misapprehension as to the meaning of certain terms, in the first Collect in the Office of Confirmation, the Bishops unanimously propose the following resolution :— 4. Resolved,-That after the first Collect in the Office of Confirmation, the following be inserted, to be used at the discretion of the Bishop, instead of the first Collect:"Almighty and everlasting God, who hast vouchsafed, in baptism, to regenerate these thy servants, by water and the Holy Ghost; thus giving them a title to all the blessings of thy covenant of grace and mercy, in thy Son, Jesus Christ, and now dost graciously confirm unto them, ratifying the promises then made, all their holy privileges; grant unto them, we beseech thee, O Lord, the renewing of the Holy Ghost; strengthen them with the power of this divine Comforter; and daily increase in them thy manifold gifts of grace, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and ghostly strength, the spirit of knowledge and true godliness, and fill them, O Lord, with the spirit of thy holy fear, now and for ever. Amen."

'And whereas, in the opinion of the Bishops, there is no doubt as to the obligation of Ministers to say, on all Sundays and other holy days, that part of the Communion Office which is commonly called the ante-Communion; yet, as the practice of some of the clergy is not conformable to this construction of the rubric on this point, the House of Bishops propose the following resolution :

5. Resolved,―That the following be adopted as a substitute

for the first sentence in the rubric, immediately after the Communion Office: "On all Sundays and other holy days shall be said all that is appointed at the Communion, unto the end of the Gospel, concluding divine service, in all cases when there is a sermon or communion, and when there is not, with the blessing.”

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In these resolutions the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, after no little debate, concurred. The following year Bishop Hobart, the framer of these resolutions, in his address to the New York Diocesan Convention, gave a full and authoritative exposition of the end desired in advocating these changes. On the other hand, the Bishop of Virginia, Dr. R. C. Moore, who had been prevented by illness from attending the General Convention of 1826, in his Conventional address strongly deprecated any change in the Liturgy, and predicted that one innovation, if allowed, would follow another, till all uniformity of worship would be destroyed.

In this opinion the dioceses generally concurred, and at the General Convention of 1829, on motion of Bishop Hobart himself, the consideration of the subject in the House of Bishops was dismissed as inexpedient, and in this resolution the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies concurred.

In 1826, the number of hymns was enlarged; and in 1832, a selection of Psalms in metre was set forth in place of the whole Book of Psalms in metre.' In

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1 Journal of the General Convention, 1826, pp. 76-8.

2 Journal of the N. Y. Convention, 1827, pp. 18-25.

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