FOOTNOTES:
[282] "I hope you will not disapprove of the connection which I have thought myself warranted in tracing between the Puritan fugitives and Episcopacy." (Wordsworth to Henry Reed, March 1, 1842.)—Ed.
[283] Dr. Seabury was consecrated Bishop of Connecticut by Scottish Bishops at Aberdeen, in November 1784. Dr. White was consecrated Bishop of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Provoost, Bishop of New York, at Lambeth, in February 1787. It was Wordsworth's intention, in 1841, to add a sonnet to his "Ecclesiastical Series" "On the union of the two Episcopal Churches of England and America."—Ed.
XVI
"BISHOPS AND PRIESTS, BLESSÈD ARE YE, IF DEEP"
Published 1845
Bishops and Priests, blessèd are ye, if deep
(As yours above all offices is high)
Deep in your hearts the sense of duty lie;
Charged as ye are by Christ to feed and keep
From wolves your portion of his chosen sheep:
Labouring as ever in your Master's sight,
Making your hardest task your best delight,
What perfect glory ye in Heaven shall reap!—
But, in the solemn Office which ye sought
And undertook premonished, if unsound 10
Your practice prove, faithless though but in thought,
Bishops and Priests, think what a gulf profound
Awaits you then, if they were rightly taught
Who framed the Ordinance by your lives disowned!