AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

To those readers of the Christian Guardian who are unacqnainted

with the working of the American Episcopal Church, the following account of the proceedings of the Virginia Convention will not fail to be interesting. The venerable Bishop Meade a short time since visited this country, and we believe he was the first American episcopalian, who preached under the provisions of the new Act. ,

THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION.

The Convention assembled in Trinity Church, Staunton. There were in attendance, beside the Bishop of the Diocese, forty-eight clergymen entitled to seats in Convention, and thirty-three laymen. This may be regarded as quite a large representation, when the distant point of the diocese at which the Convention met is considered. The Convention was opened at 11 o'clock, A.M., with the reading of the Morning Prayer, by the Rev. T. Atkinson, Rector of St. Paul's Church, Lynchburg, and a sermon by the Rev. J. P. M.Guire, Rector of St. Ann's and South Farnham parish, Essex co., from Rev. xii. 11,—" And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb; and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” The subject of this appropriate and excellent discourse was the contest which is being carried on between the Church and the great adversary of man's salvation, the means by which the Church will obtain the victory in this contest, and the encouragement to the Church derived from the Divine promises, to advance to ultimate and complete success in the warfare in which she is engaged.

After Divine Service, the Convention was organized in the usual manner, the Bishop of the Diocese acting as President.

It was ordered, that for the remainder of the Session, Divine Service commence each day at 9 o'clock, A.M. The Convention then adjourned till the next day. This is a new arrangement in regard to the religious services of the Convention. Its operation gave, we believe, general satisfaction, and we hope will be adopted by future Conventions.

On Thursday, the Convention assembled for the transaction of business immediately after Divine Service, when Bishop Meade delivered his annual address to the Convention. In addition to the usual report of official acts performed during the period elapsed since the last Convention, the address contained a touching reference to the loss the Diocese had sustained in the death of our late Diocesan, the venerated Bishop Moore, and some considerations on the duties of the clergy and laity to each other, to the Church, and to the world at large.

On concluding his address, the President announced the appointment of the Standing Committees as required by the Rules of order.

The principal part of the day was occupied in referring papers to the different committees, and in reading the Parochial Reports; many

of the latter were deeply interesting, and indicated that the influences of the Holy Spirit had been poured out in copious showers on some of the congregations. Large accessions were reported as having been made to the number of communicants, in one instance more than one hundred ; in another sixty, and in others, forty and thirty persons having in the course of the few last months, commemorated for the first time the love of the Saviour in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. May this good work still more widely extend, and result in adding very many to all our churches of such as shall be saved.

On Friday, Bishop Meade communicated to the Convention his desire, from his continued bad health and his consequent inability to perform the duties demanded in our extensive Diocese, of assistance in the discharge of the Episcopal functions. After a protracted debate, which consumed a large portion of the day's session on the expediency of postponing the election of an assistant Bishop until another Convention, either annual or called, the Convention by a very large majority decided to proceed to the election of an assistant Bishop on the next morning (Saturday) at nive o'clock.

The Convention, on Saturday, was opened with appropriate prayers by the President of the Convention. After the announcement of the order of the Convention on the preceding day, to proceed on this morning at nine o'clock to the election of an assistant Bishop, the Convention engaged for a few minutes in silent prayer. A division then took place of the Clerical and Lay orders, each occupying separate portions of the Church. The President appointed for tellers on the part of the clergy, the Rev. Mr. Grammar and the Rev. J. P. M'Guire, and Mr. John Nelson, and Mr. Cassius F. Lee, on the part of the laity. At this stage of the proceedings the Rev. Mr. Atkinson arose and remarked, that although no nominations had been made, yet it was known that the Rev. Mr. Cobbs had been spoken of in connection with the office of assistant Bishop of the Diocese. He stated he was authorized by Mr. C. to request that his friends would not make use of his name in the ballot which was about to take place, and that he had deposited in Mr. Atkinson's hands his own ballot for the Rev. Dr. Jolins, of Maryland.

The ballots were then given by the clergy. The Tellers reported the whole number given to be 49, of which 43 were for the Rev. Dr. Johns of Maryland. The President announced the Rev. Dr. Johns, as nominated by the clergy to the laity, as assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Virginia. After some conversation in regard to the light in which the nomination of Dr. Johns was to be regarded, the Tellers collected the ballots of the lay members of the Convention and de. clared the result to be, that the Rev. Dr. Johns had received 25 of the whole number, 33 votes, wbich had been given. Whereupon the President announced that the Rev. John Johns, D.D., of the diocese of Maryland, had been canonically elected Assistant Bishop of the diocese of Virginia.

It was then ordered that the election of Dr. Johns be entered on the journal as unanimous.

It is due to the Rev. Mr. Cobbs to state that he was the tirst choice of many of the clergy; and probably a majority of the laity in Convention. Upon his decided and positive refusal to allow his name to

be used on the occasion, his friends with great cheerfulness gave their suffrage to the Rev. Dr. Johns.

Thus was consummated-in a spirit of concession and barmony and Jove, as becomes Christians, and was to have been expected of the Convention of Virginia—the important transaction of electing an Assistant Bishop.

We congratulate the diocese of Virginia on the unanimous choice which has been made of one so admirably qualified in all respects for the dignified and responsible station to which he has been invited. We doubt not it will prove acceptable in the highest degree to the whole diocese ; and we hesitate not to assure our beloved brother that his reception by the Church of Virginia will be at once cordial and universal.

The remainder of the session was spent in disposing of the reports of special and standing committees, and in making provision for the support of the Assistant Bishop.

The Convention, after prayers, by the Rev. Mr. Grammer, who occupied the chair in the absence of the Bishop, adjourned on Saturday evening, sine die.-Philadelphia Episcopal Recorder.

wimmmmmm

ON EXTEMPORE PRAYER IN THE PULPIT.

SIR,--I have read in your · Christian Guardian' for September, a paper signed · Gulielmus' on Extempore Prayer in the pulpit : with your kind permission, I will trouble you with a few plain observations on the same subject.

I can readily enter into the feelings of your correspondent. They originate, no doubt, in a sincere desire to make himself useful to his flock, as a faithful minister of Jesus Christ ; though, perhaps, some of his observations might have been less objectionable, if they had savoured a little more of that charity which “ hopeth all things.” There have been, and now are, to my own personal knowledge, many truly excellent, zealous, and faithful ministers in the Church of England, who, though they may occasionally introduce extempore observations in the delivery of their sermons, very seldom, if ever, pray extempore in the pulpit. They, for the most part, read before their sermons, the Collect for the second Sunday in Advent; and indeed this Collect is so exactly suited to their purpose, that if it had been drawn up with a view to it, a more appropriate address on the occasion could not have been produced. It is so concise as to make no burdensome addition to the preceding services, yet it is so comprehensive, as to omit nothing which is necessary to be sought for at the mercy-seat, as preparatory to a profitable hearing of the word of God. It does not, however, appear, that the use of this, or any other particular form is enjoined by the law of the Church. For though in the convocation held in the year 1661, a vote was passed for uniformity in this respect, and a committee was appointed to draw up a form of prayer for the purpose, the measure was never carried into

effect,* so that every clergyman is left to adopt such a mode of sup. plication before his sermon, as he may think most proper. Some of the most learned, orthodox, and able ministers of the Church of England, have invariably used extempore prayer in the pulpit, both before and after their sermons, and it cannot be denied that extempore prayer, especially after the sermon, in which some allusion is made to the subject just delivered, is calculated to aid impression on the mind of the hearer. I once asked that Star of the East,' Dr. Middleton, Bishop of Calcutta, who, for several years had been my revered rector and most intimate friend, what was his opinion on the subject of extempore prayer in the pulpit; his reply was as follows:• I have myself generally used one of the forms in the Prayer Book, but as there is no law of the Church to forbid it, I think there can be no more objection to a clergyman writing his own prayer for the pulpit, than to his writing and reading his sermon : nor, if he should so feel inclined, to his offering up an extempore prayer in language best suited to the subject of his sermon ; but, whether written or extempore, it ought always to be short and comprehensive. Such was the opinion of that great and excellent divine.

Your's faithfully,

J. R. DEVERELL. Rector of Careby,

Stamford.

*** We have received other communications on the subject of

the above letter, and that of Gulielimus in our last number. We regret that the latter contained some unguarded expressions calculated, not only to wound the feelings of those of his brethren who differed in opinion from the writer, but also to prevent further discussion, which, should be free from personality. We have a great veneration for the Liturgy, and for the discreet directions of the Rubric, but we cannot withhold our tribute of gratitude from our ancestors, who, feeling how much the revival and maintenance of vital godliness depended, under the divine blessing, upon efficiency in the pulpit, have permitted its ministrations to be free and unshackled. The subject, which must be left to the discretion of the clergy, is at all times interesting, but especially at the present period, when nothing is prescribed for us by the Tractarians, but a dry and frigid formalism, in support of which, the Sacraments and the Liturgy are unduly exalted, and the duties of the pulpit are slighted, and disparaged, and treated as being of only secondary importance.

EFFECTS OF TRACTARIAN PREACHING.

It is singularly painful to trace the errors into which the confounding of regeneration with baptism, leads the clergy of the Tractarian school. I have, for very many months, been a constant attendant, where the church is under one of these gentlemen, and I have received a conviction that this is the grand rock on which they split. From want of clearness on this point, their whole system becomes a chaos of confusion : human reason -- buman means-acts of charity-love of God-prayers of the Church--Christ formed in us-necessity of holy living-a kind of spiritual morality is introduced in the sermons—but, alas ! we sigh-life is wanting there. I have never left that church with one clear idea-one rejoicing feeling——one look 'within the veil.' I say it with regret, because the life of this individual is praiseworthy as a self-denying, active, zealous clergyman, but it is ‘ zeal without knowledge;' and on this account, one the more deeply laments the tendency of these miserable errors, for they do preach another than the gospel of Christ. According to them, 'It is not finished ’-no! the curse still hangs over the devoted sinner's head, and his wretched performances are to assist in its removal: no Cross is exalted-no quickening by the Spirit-no pardon pronounced. The regenerate lament the absence of that true knowledge of divine things, that unction of grace, that urges forward the child of God with renewed vigour “ to run with patience” his appointed race, and “ fight the good fight,” looking unto Him who makes him more than a conqueror! No blessed Saviour is held up as an original of every virtue, à helper at every hour of need -no! cold-barren and lifeless are the discourses of your Tractarian, and if these are the feelings of one who has been taught better thingswhat must the unregenerate experience? I should imagine, miseryprovided their consciences are at all awakened. I think it was Rowland Hill, who observed, no sermon but should have the three R.'s• Ruin by the fall-Redemption by Cbrist-Regeneration by the Spirit;' so that if an enquiring soul heard but one sermon, he should know how to be saved. But, far from such simplicity is the present order of things; you must hear sermon after sermon, or ever you are supposed to arrive at any knowledge : here is indeed the complex work of man. The plain truth is too trite, or too dangerous for the multitude. Salvation, as preached by St. Paul, is not for the mass. It is a grievous mistake, and throws doubt and gloom over the bright and sunny fields of revelation. But is there not a strange want of common discernment in this sect? if they did but enquire of their flock, surely they would discover that baptism and regeneration are not synonymous. How many who have been baptized have no knowledge of God, or Christ and the Holy Spirit; and yet how explicit is the Bible on this head, promising to the regenerate that knowledge of all those, which makes men wise unto salvation. “Ye must be born again”-and birth by the Spirit brings men into those circumstances as respects their soul ; there is no gainsaying--the true birth unto righteousness, whereby the sinner becomes the «child of God,” and rejoices