CANON XLIV.

Concerning the mode of transmitting notice of all matters submitted by the General Convention to the consideration of the State or Diocessan Convention.

It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the General Convention, whenever any alteration of the constitution is proposed, or any other subject submitted to the consideration of the several state or diocessan conventions, to give a particular notice thereof to the ecclesiastical authority of this church in every state or diocess.

CANON XLV.

Providing for an accurate view of the state of the Church from

time to time.

As a full and accurate view of the state of the Church, from time to time, is highly useful and necessary, it is hereby ordered, that every Minister of this Church shall present or forward, at every annual convention, to the Bishop of the diocess, or, where there is no Bishop, to the president of the convention, a statement of the number of baptisms, marriages, and funerals, and of the number of communicants in his parish or church, and of all other matter that may throw light on the state of the same: and these parochial reports shall be read and entered on the Journals of the Convention.

At every annual state or diocessan convention, the Bishop shall deliver an address, stating the affairs of the diocess since the last meeting of the convention, the names of the churches which he has visited; the number of persons confirmed; the names of those who have been received as candidates for orders, and of those who have been ordained, suspended, or degraded; the changes by death, removal, or otherwise which have taken place among the clergy; and, in general, all matters tending to throw light on the affairs of the diocess; which address shall be inserted on the Journals.

At every general convention, the journals of the different state conventions since the last general convention, together with such other papers, viz. Episcopal charges, addresses, and pastoral letters, as may tend to throw light on the state of the church in each diocess, shall be presented to the House of Clerical and Lay-Deputies. And the parochial reports inserted on those journals, together with the Episcopal addresses, shall be read in the said house. And a particular inquiry shall be instituted into the state of the church in each diocess, and particularly into the attention paid to the Canons and rules of the Church. A committee shall then be appointed to draw up a view of the state of the Church, and to make report to the House of Clerical and Lay-Deputies; which report, when agreed to by the said House, shall be sent to the House of Bishops, with a request, that they will draw up and cause to be published, a pastoral letter to the members of the Church.

It shall be the duty of the secretary of the convention of every diocess or state, or of the person or persons with whom the journals or other ecclesiastical papers are lodged, to forward to the house of clerical and lay-deputies, at every general convention, the documents and papers specified in this canon.*.

CANON XLVI.

Providing for making known the Constitution and Canons of the Church.t

ADDITIONAL CANONS.

CANON

Concerning the Alms and Contributions at the Holy Communion, passed in Gen. Con. 1814.

Whereas, it appears, that no direction has been made, as to the mode in which the alms and contributions at the administration of the Holy Communion are to be applied: It is hereby declared, that they shall be deposited with the Minister of the Parish, or with such officer as shall be appointed by him, to be applied by the Minister, or under his superintendence, to such pious and charitable uses as shall be thought fit.

CANON

For carrying into Effect the Design of the second Rubric before the Communion Service; passed in Gen. Con. 1817.

There being the provision in the second Rubric before the Communion Service, requiring that every Minister repelling from the Communion, shall give an account of the same to the Ordinary; it is hereby provided, that on the information to the effect stated being laid before the Ordinary, that is the Bishop, it shall not be his duty to institute an inquiry, unless there be complaint made to him in writing by the expelled party. But on receiving complaint, it shall be the duty of the Bishop to institute an inquiry as may be directed by the Canons of the Diocess in which the event has taken place. And the notice given as above by the Minister shall be a sufficient presentation of the party expelled, for the purpose of trial.

CANON

To govern in the Case of a Minister declaring that he will no longer be a Minister of this Church; passed in Gen. Con. 1817. If any Minister of this Church shall declare to the Bishop of the Diocess to which he belongs, or to any Ecclesiastical authority for

* CANON, Repealing part of the 45th Canon, passed in Gen. Con. 1814. That part of the 45th Canon of 1808, which requires that the Parochial Reports inserted on the Journals of each State or Diocessan Convention, shall be read in the House of Clerical and Lay-Deputies in General Convention, is hereby Repealed.

+ CANON, Repealing the 46th Canon, passed in Gen. Con. 1811.

The 46th Canon, providing for making known the Constitution and Canons of the Church, is hereby repealed.

the trial of Clergymen, or, where there is no Bishop, to the Standing Committee, his renunciation of the Ministry, and his design not to officiate in future in any of the offices thereof; it shall be the duty of the Bishop, or, where there is no Bishop, of the Standing Committee, to record the declaration so made. And it shall be the duty of the Bishop to admonish or to suspend him, and to pronounce and record, in the presence of two or three Clergymen, that the person so declaring has been admonished, or suspended, or displaced from his grade of the Ministry in this Church. In any Diocess in which there is no Bishop, the same sentence may be pronounced by the Bishop of any other Diocess, invited by the Standing Committee to attend for that purpose. In the case of displacing from the Ministry, as above provided for, it shall be the duty of the Bishop to give notice thereof to every Bishop of this Church, and to the Standing Committee in every Diocess wherein there is no Bishop.

SECT. II.

COURSE

OF

ECCLESIASTICAL STUDIES,

Established by the House of Bishops, in the Convention of 1804, in pursuance of a Resolution of the preceding General Convention.

In attending to this subject, a considerable difficulty occurs, arising out of the differences of the circumstances of students, in regard not only to intellectual endowments and preparatory knowledge of languages and science; but to access to authors, and time to be devoted to a preparation for the ministry. For in accommodating to those whose means are slender, we are in danger of derogating from the importance of religious knowledge; while, on the other hand, although we should demand all that is desirable, we shall be obliged to content ourselves, in some cases, with what is barely necessary.

In consideration of the above, it will be expedient to set down such a course of study, as is accommodated to a moderate portion of time and means; and afterwards to suggest provision, as well for a more limitted as for a more enlarged share of both.

Let the student be required to begin with some books in proof of the divine authority of Christianity; such as Grotius on the Truth of the Christian Religion; Jenkins on the Reasonableness of Christianity; Paley's Evidences; Leslie's Methods with the Jews and Deists; Stillingdeet's Origines Sacræ; and Butler's Analogy. To the above should be added some books which give a knowledge of the objections made by Deists. For this Leland's View may be sufficient; except that it should be followed by answers to deistical writers since Leland, whose works, and the answers to them may be supposed known to the student. It would be best, if circumstances permit, that he should read what the Deists themselves have written.

After the books in proof of Revelation, let the student, previously to the reading of any system of Divinity, study the Scriptures with the help of some approved Commentators; such as Patrick and Lowth on the Old Testament, and Hammond, or Whitby, or Doddridge on the New: being aware, in regard to the last mentioned author, of the points on which he differs from our Church, although it be with moderation and candour. During such his study of the Scriptures, let him read some work or works which give an account of the design of the different books, and the grounds on which their respective authority is asserted; for instance, Father Simon's Canon of Scripture, Collier's Sacred Interpreter, Gray's Key to the Old Testament, and Percy's Key to the New. Let the student read the Scriptures over and over, referring to his commentators as need may require, until he can give an account of the design and character of each book, and explain the more difficult passages of it. He is supposed to know enough of Profane History to give an account of that also, whenever it mixes with the Sacred. There are certain important subjects which may be profitably attended to, as matters of distinct study, during the course of the general study of Scripture. For instance; the student having proceeded as far as the Deluge, may read some author who gives a larger account than the Commentators, of the particulars attached to that crisis; and also the principles on which are founded the different systems of Chronology: all which will be found clearly done in the Universal History. In reading the book of Leviticus, it will be useful to attend to some connected scheme of the sacrifices: such as is exhibited by Bishop Kidder in his Introduction to the Pentateuch, and by Mr. Joseph Mede in some of his discourses. A more full and interesting interpretation of the Prophecies than can be expected from the Commentators, will be desirable; and for this purpose let Bishop Newton's Work be taken. Between the study, of the Old Testament and that of the New, should be read Prideaux's and Shuckford's Connexions. With the New Testament should be taken some book relating to the Harmony of the Gospels, as M'Knight's, or Bishop Newcomb's. Let the student, before entering on the Gospels, read Dr. Campbell's Introductory Dissertations. Towards the close of the Gospels, the subject of the Resurrection should be particularly attended

to; for which purpose let there be taken either Mr. West on the subject, or Bishop Sherlock's Trial of the Witnesses.

After the study of the Scriptures, let attention be given to Ecclesiastical History, so far as to the Council of Nice. This period is distinctly taken, from a desire that the portion of history preceding it, as well as the opinions then entertained, may be learned from original writers; which may be considered as one of the best expedients for the guarding of the student against many errors of modern times. The writers of that interval are not numerous or bulky. Eusebius is soon read through; and so are the Apostolic Fathers. Even the other writers are not voluminous, except Origen, the greater part of whose works may be passed over. The Apostolic Fathers may be best read in Cotelerius' edition; but there are translations of most of them by Archbishop Wake, and the Rev. William Reeves. Cave's Lives of the Apostles and Fathers may be profitably read at this period.

This stage of the student's progress seems the most proper for the study of the two questions, of our Lord's Divinity and of Episcopacy. The aspect of early works on these subjects best enables us to ascertain in what shape they appeared to the respective writers. And it is difficult to suppose, on the ground of what we know of human nature, that, during the first three centuries, either the character of Christ should have been conceived of as materially different from what had been the representation of it by the first teachers of our religion; or that there should have been a material change of Church Government, without opposition to the innovation. For the former question, let the works of Bishop Bull and the Rev. Charles Leslie be taken; to which may well be added the late controversy between Bishop Horsley and Dr. Priestley. And, for the latter, Mr. Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, Archbishop Potter on Church Government, and Daubeny's Guide to the Church. As the Lord Chancellor King published a book on the discipline of the primitive Church, in which he has rested Episcopacy on insufficient grounds, unwarily admitted by many on his authority; let the student read his book, and the refutation of it in Mr. Slater's Original Draught of the Primitive Church.

After this let the student go on with the History of the Fourth Century, from Mosheim. But it will be of advantage to him to turn to Fleury's History for the Epitomes there given of the writings of the eminent men who abounded in that century and part of the next. Let him then return to Mosheim, and go on with that writer to the Reformation. Here let him pause and study, as the main hinges of Popery, its pretences to supremacy and infallibility; on which there will be found satisfactory matter in Mr. Chillingworth's Religion of Protestants a safe Way to Salvation, and Dr. Barrow's Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy. Here also let there be read Father Paul's History of the Council of Trent. Then let the student resume Mosheim. But it will be best, if, for a more minute knowledge of the history of the Church of England since the Reformation, he take along with him Collier's History; a very able work; but in the reading of which some allowance