great pretensions and so little foundation for them. This is not because the authorities do not sometimes speak plainly, but because the members of the church insist on interpreting whatever they say according to their own ideas, and there is no final tribunal.
2. With the exception of a few local canons on matters which have no general interest, the convention, as such, has done nothing. We shall try to give a fair synopsis of its doings, and let them speak for themselves. As the Christian Witness tells us, great attention has been paid to points of order, and the rules for the trying of bishops and ministers. This would lead us to conclude that either these canons had been very imperfect, or that there are many and difficult cases of delinquency. We incline to think, however, that there are not many bad ministers, but that the wish to make laws and to speak on them is the parent of all these emendations of their code. Very few of the resolutions referred to the committee on canons have seen the light, but are consigned to that “tomb of the Capulets” of which the Church Journal speaks.
The different dioceses in the State of New York have been desirous of having a “federate council” of their own, and some action was taken on this subject. Not much satisfaction has been derived from this, because the journal most interested is acutely grieved. “It is sad,” it says, “to think that what is called the mind of the church is not yet ready for the Provincial System, or even a court of appeals. The federate council of New York is granted sufficient power to keep it from dying of atrophy or inanition, but we fear it will prove only a sickly sort of existence after all.” The particular benefit of the provincial system in the Episcopalian
hierarchy we do not see; but this is none of our business. Our sympathies are with those who want it, and are unable to get it.
A joint committee of bishops and ministers has been appointed or continued on religious reform in Italy.
As far as we can learn, the labor of this committee will be very arduous. They are to watch for Catholics and infidels in Italy who turn Episcopalians. There are not many of these converts, but for this very reason they will be all the more difficult to find and provide for.
We would humbly suggest that a branch of their branch of the one church be established there, with a bishop whose travelling expenses should be prepaid, no matter what the cost may be. A committee in the United States can hardly be adequate to this critical work, for if there is no Episcopalian minister at hand when a man or woman is at the point of converting, he or she may be gathered in by a sect of Protestants who have no bishops. We should also have recommended that this committee have power to act in Bavaria, especially as there is no time to lose. Still, as our advice may not be understood, we do not press the subject. Old Dr. Döllinger has valid orders, and so has poor Father Hyacinthe, and might possibly be saved for the cause of Episcopacy.
Another thing which moves us very much is the magnitude of the work again thrown on the committee who are to seek for union with the Eastern heretical churches. So little has been accomplished beyond an exchange of courtesies that we fear the means are not adequate to the end.
Anglicans have already signified their willingness to throw the “Filioque” out of the creed, and to give up thus the doctrine of the Trinity,
but this does not seem to bring the two or four bodies any nearer together. The Eastern churches still call the Anglicans heretical, and say they have no orders, while in all humility they prostrate themselves before the walls of Constantinople or St. Petersburg, and ask for the smallest smile of recognition. We do not think the committee have done their duty, and, as the prophet urged the priests of Baal, we beg them to persevere. These venerable patriarchs may possibly be asleep, or absent on a journey. If they would ordain one of the Episcopal ministers, he would certainly be a priest, and perhaps the American Branch might be ordered to adopt the Russian Pontifical. It is very like the Roman, but then it could be translated into English. The same doctrines are more palatable in Russian or in Greek than they are in Latin, and the Eastern is a “Holy Orthodox Church,” while the Roman Catholic Church is schismatical and in great error. The Holy Orthodox Church, having anathematized the Thirty-nine Articles, has touched rather severely the Anglican pretensions, but our good friends here are able to bear more than this without being discouraged. Before these words reach the public, we trust the Episcopal Committee will have had the opportunity to wait upon the Grand Duke Alexis and offer him Trinity Church for his cathedral during his stay in New York. A branch that has been cut off from the parent trunk can be carried even some distance to shade a sprout that comes out of the ground of its own responsibility and from its own little root. “How good and pleasant a thing it is to see brethren dwelling together in unity!”