The History American Episcopal Church, 1587-1883, Vol. 2 of 2 (Classic Reprint)

Book excerpt: Excerpt from The History American Episcopal Church, 1587-1883, Vol. 2 of 2 Once entered upon this effort to secure the episcopate as the foundation of the Church, the Connecticut clergy never relaxed their labors till the end was gained. Their action had been taken without the presence of the laity, who had Leon trained tow "trust matters purely ecclesiastical to their clergy." They consistently declined to unite in schemes for organization or the formation of ecclesiastical constitutions, or the consideration of alterations in the liturgy, until they had secured the completion of the church's polity in the possession of a valid episcopacy. Their longings and labors were not in vain, and on the 14th of November, 1784, in an "upper room" at Aberdeen the first Bishop of Connecticut received at the hands of the primus and two other bishops of the Scottish Church the consecration denied him in England. In Maryland, under the proprietary and colonial governments, the Church had been established by law, and upon the breaking out of the war, under the name and title of "the Protestant Episcopal Church" the identity of the Church in the independent State with the mother-church of England, and its rights of property in the churches, chapels, glebes and endowments of that mother-church, were duly recognized in the "vestry act" of 1779. There was danger that the legislature might go further than merely secure the church's rights and property. So closely was the Erastianism of the age ingrained in churchmen and legislators alike that it was proposed in the Assembly to proceed to organize the Church by legislative enactment, and to appoint ordainers to the ministry. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.