George Washington Flowers 
 Memorial Collection 
 
 DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 ESTABLISHED BY THE 
 FAMILY OF 
 COLONEL FLOWERS 
 
^ l)0ice from Connecticut ; 
 
 OCCASIONED BY 
 
 THE LATE PASTORAL LETTER 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BISHOP OF NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 TO THE 
 
 CLERGY AND LAITY OF HIS DIOCESE. 
 
 BY THE REV. 
 
 SAMUEL FARMAR JARVIS, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 WITH THE APPROBATION OF THE 
 
 BISHOP OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 HARTFORD : 
 PUBLISHED BY A. C. GOODMAN & CO. 
 
 8TKAM PRESS OF J.«AYLORD WELLS. 
 
 DECEMBER, MDCCCXLIX. 
 
% boicc from €onnecticttt; 
 
 OCCASIONED BY 
 
 THE LATE PASTORAL LETTER 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BISHOP OF NORTH CAEOLINA 
 
 TO THE 
 
 CLERGY AND LAITY OF HIS DIOCESE. 
 
 BY THE REV. 
 
 SAMUEL FARMAR JARVIS, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 WITH THE API'ROBATIOX OK THK 
 
 BISHOP OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 HARTFORD : 
 PUBLISHED BY A. C. GOODMAN & CO. 
 
 STEAM PRESS OF J. (iAYLORD WELLS. 
 
 DECEMBER, MOCCCXLIX. 
 
Entered according to Act « (" Congress, in the year 1849, 
 By A . C . G O 0 D xM A N CO., 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for ike 
 District of Connecticut. 
 
THE FLOWERS COLLECTION 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. 
 
 The Power and Limits of Priestly Absolution. 
 
 Xn the state of nature no Absolution. It is a blessing of the Gospel Covenant. 
 That Covenant, after it was confined to Abraham and his seed, had an outward 
 and visible sign. The <;hange of the sign produced no change in the thing sig- 
 nified. Infant Baptism the incipient Absolution. Its diffei ence from Adult Bap- 
 tism. The final Absolution, at the last day, will be pronounced by our Lord 
 himself. Tlie period between Baptism and Deaih, the only space for contro- 
 versy as to Absolution. The Baptismal Coventiiit renewed in Confirmation. 
 One of the six fundamentals The duty of Chi islians to leave fundamentals, 
 and go on unio periection. What is meant In" perfection. Not freedom from 
 sin, but manhood in Christ. Baptism the Sacrament of Infancy — the Holy 
 Communion the Sacrament of Manhood. To these two all other acts of the 
 Christian life subordinate. To them the remission of sin or Absolution restricted. 
 
 II. 
 
 The Doctrine and Practice of the Church of England. 
 At the Reformation, Infant Baptism universal. No office for Adult Baptism 
 till the restoration ol Charles II. Definition of the two Sacraments as gene- 
 rally necessary to salvation, added in 1G03, but in perfect harmony with the 
 Catholic faith. Remission of sin conveyed in both Sacraments, and there only. 
 Prayer Book of 1549, the mature and unbiassed judgment of the English Reform- 
 ers, attempted to restore daily service to the people, and Communion at lea.st 
 on every Sunday and Holyday throughout the year. Changes introduced in 
 1552 — their causes and consequences. The two exhortations of 1549. Diffi- 
 culties in the way of the English Reformers, from the ignorance of the people 
 and mediaeval corruptions. Wisdom of the Reformers in guarding against 
 error and upholding truth 
 
 III. 
 
 Causes of the Alterations in the American Prayer Book. 
 
 If the exhortations of 1549 had been continued, all dispute would have been 
 prevented about auricular confession. But, through all changes and trials, the 
 Church of England confines Absolution to the Sacraments. The first violation 
 of this principle in the American Prayer Book, by allowing the Absolution to 
 be used to a mixed congregation. History of this and other changes. The 
 New England States, New York, and New .Jersey, opposed and had no partin 
 
IT 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 them. Couuecticut more cautious than the rest in reserving the right to reject 
 or receive the new Book. Part which Bishop Seabury took. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Practice of Connecticut, and Extent of her Concessions. 
 Suflfered much for the sake of union. Her rule, Conformity to the Old or 
 English Prayer Book, wherever it is not directly contravened by the New. 
 Consequently she has never approved the use of the proper Absolution, except 
 to Communicants. 
 
 V. 
 
 The Judgment of Bishop Seabury. 
 Selections from his Discourses, to show that he confines Priestly Absolution 
 to the two Sacraments. His practice as to frequent Communion. 
 
 VI. 
 
 How are we to Prepare for Communion ? 
 Baptism as early as possible. Religious training. Confirmation. The Holy 
 Communion of the Young before they are exposed to the assaults of the World. 
 The confession of sins as a preparation for Absolution in the Sacrament. Left 
 by the Church to men's consciences ; but indispensable to the vitality of the 
 Christian life. Private confession to God, to be made every night at least, 
 before sleep, the constant image of death. In this solemn act, eveiy Com- 
 municant a priest to himself, preparing his soul for the Sacrament. In case 
 of doubts or scruples which cannot be resolved, have recourse to a priest, as to 
 a physician. Analogy between auricular confession of bodily disease to a 
 physician, and auricular confession of the soul's infirmities to a priest, 
 
 VII. 
 
 Strictures on the Pastoral Letter. 
 This simple principle of Absolution in the Lord's Supper will allay all agi- 
 tation. Ravenscroft and Hobart united in Church principles with Seabury. 
 Quotations from Ravenscroft, Hooker, Wheally, all are in accordance with this 
 principle. Remarks on Mr. Curtis' sermon. The supposed Absolution in the 
 morning and evening services. Injustice to the early Lutherans in classing 
 them with Calvinists and Puritans. This shown with regard to Bucer and 
 Martyr. Two errors in departing from Sacramental Absolution, both leading 
 to the neglect of the Lord's Supper. English Visitation Office. Important 
 question. Conduct of Connecticut. The Changes in the American Prayer 
 Book, lead us back to the Prayer Book of 1549. Strict observance of Rubrics. 
 Two or three expressions in the Pastoi'al Letter of doubtful authority and 
 meaning. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Co7iclusion. 
 
 The author io impelled to write this letter by a sense of duty to his friend, 
 the Bishop of North Carolina, duty to the Apostolic Ministry, to the Diocese 
 of Connecticut, to the true Catholic Church in these United States. The 
 future, though uncertain, should not occasion despondence. An extract from 
 Bishop Seabury's Discourse on the duties of the Laity. 
 
A VOICE FROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Right Reterend and Dear Sir : 
 
 I am induced to address you thus publicly, by feelings of the 
 utmost personal friendship, and the utmost reverence for your 
 exalted station in the Church. As to friendship, I need not make 
 any long or loud professions. Ever since I had the pleasure of 
 knowing you, I have esteemed you as one of the purest minded of 
 our prelates — incessant and untiring in the discharge of duties to 
 God and man, and mainly anxious for His glory, and the salvation 
 of immortal souls. As to reverence, I need only say that it has 
 occasioned some doubt whether, as an humble presbyter, it was 
 my duty to express any opinion respecting your late pastoral let- 
 ter. Nor should I, if you had not sent it to me, and thus con- 
 structively expressed a wish to learn my judgment on the import- 
 ant subject which led to it. Even with this encouragement I am 
 not disposed to assume the language of individual oj^inion ; and it is 
 with the approbation of my diocesan, expressed after a deliberate 
 examination of what I now write, that I have ventured to call it 
 
 A VOICE FROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 I. 
 
 The subject, then, of the following remarks, is the power of 
 Priestly Absolution, and the limits within which it must be exer- 
 cised. 
 
 To so sinful and corrupt a being as man, when considered only 
 in his natural state, as a descendant of Adam, there can be no Ab- 
 solution. This position, I presume, no one who rightly calls him- 
 self a Christian will deny. However vague and unmeaning is the 
 
6 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 language of some who rely upon impulses and feelings, and talk of 
 justification by faith, as if it were wholly unconnected with any 
 act or deed on the part of man, there can be no question in the 
 mind of any true believer, that we can be pardoned only through 
 the merits and mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 To the Catholic Christian, there can be no doubt that, from the 
 time of Abraham, the blessings of the Gospel Covenant have been 
 conferred uptm infants in connection with an outward and visible 
 sign. As in Adam a perfect man was created with all the pow- 
 ers and faculties necessary to his nature, and then the successive 
 generations grew up from the feebleness of infancy, so was it in 
 the Covenant of grace with faithful Abraham. The promise of a 
 Redeemer, after Adam's fall, was made before he was allowed to 
 give birth to any child. All his posterity were therefore included 
 in the promise of redemption through Jesus Christ. Noah and 
 his sons were so included. Abraham himself was so included ; 
 and it was only on account of the universal corruption of men, and 
 their voluntary abandonment of their great privileges, in and 
 through the Redeemer, that a limitation was made of these bless- 
 ings to the Father of the faithful. As he was called in the perfec- 
 tion of his powers and faculties, in a state of grace and not of 
 nature, to be the lather, by miraculous agency, of the child of 
 promise, so was that child and all subsequent generations derived 
 from him to be made partakers of the Covenant of grace on the 
 eighth day after their natural birth. 
 
 The change of the outward and visible sign made no difference 
 as to the inward and spiritual grace which it signified. Every 
 Christian parent or sponsor, presenting his child for Baptism, is a 
 Father of the faithful circumcising the child of promise with the 
 circumcision made without hands, (Col. ii. 11, 12.) It is the sol- 
 emn act by which the Holy Ghost, as the vicegerent of the One 
 Mediator, receives into the One Mystical body of Christ a new- 
 born member. As all bloody rites were abolished on the cross, 
 it is not now necessary to wait even till the eighth day of the nat- 
 ural life. Such at least was the decision of the third Council of 
 Carthage, under St. Cyprian, about a. d. 253 ; not, as it has been 
 incautiously represented, a decision that infants should be bap- 
 tized, for of that the Ancient Church never doubted ; but whether 
 in the new sign it was necessary to be governed by the law of the 
 
FROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 7 
 
 ancient circumcision. St. Cyprian and his colleagues unanimously 
 decided " that the grace and mercy of God were to be denied to 
 none who should come into the world. For since the Lord saith 
 in his gospel, 'the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, 
 but to save them,' (St. Luke, ix. 56,) as far as in us lies, if it can 
 be done, no soul must be lost. For what is wanting to him who 
 hath once been formed in the womb by the hands of God % To 
 lis indeed and to our eyes, they who are born seem to receive 
 their increase according to the course of secular times. Whereas, 
 whatsoever things are made by God, are perfected by the majesty 
 and work of God the Creator."* The Baptism of infants before 
 they have done good or evil, is the incipient Absolution; the par- 
 don of that sin under which they were born by descent from 
 Adam ; the justification by faith before the performance of any 
 works. The postponement of Baptism indicates a want of faith 
 in the parents and guardians of children, in direct violation of 
 their duty to God : and so, it is an act of sin, for which they must 
 account hereafter at the dreadful day of judgment. 
 
 I enter not into the question of adult Baptism, any further than 
 to observe how obviously different it is from that of infants ; inas- 
 much as the adult has committed actual sin. Whether a person 
 lying under the guilt of the primaeval curse, and aggravating it 
 immeasurably as he advances in life, is pardoned in Baptism, de- 
 pends on the reality of his faith and the sincerity of his repentance. 
 The Holy Ghost, the searcher of all hearts, knows, when he ask» 
 
 * Cyprianus ad Fidum, de infantibus baptizandis. Opera Ed. Erasmi, 1520, 
 p. 82. Ed. Benedict, p. 98. I give the whole passage in the original, to show^ 
 that the question referred by Fidus to St. Cyprian and the Council was not about 
 infant baptism, huX whether infants skoull be baptized the second or third day 
 after their birth, or invari.ably on the eighth day. " Quantum vero ad cau- 
 sam infani iuni purtinet,quos dixisti i dra sccfmdum vel tertium diem quo nati sunt 
 conslitutos baptizari non oportcre, et considerandam legem esse circumcisionis 
 anliauGC, ut intra octavnm diem eum qui natus est, baplizatidum et sanctifi- 
 candum, non puiares, longe aliud in concilio nostro omnibus visum €8t. la 
 hoc enim quod tu putabas esse luciendum nemo consensit, sed universi potius 
 judicavimus nulli horainum nato misericordiam Dei et gratiam denegandam. 
 Nam cum Dominus in e v angelio suo dicut: ' Filius hnminis non venit animas 
 hominum perdere sed salvare,' quantum in nobis est, si fieri potest nulla anima 
 perdenda est Quid enim ei deest, qui semel in utero Dei manibus formatus 
 est? Nobis enim atque oculis nosiris, secundum dierum secularium cursum, 
 accipere qui nati suul incrementum videntur. Caiterum quaDcunque a Deo 
 fiunt, Dei factoris majestate et opere perlecta sunt." This is the text of Eras- 
 mus. It differs not in sense from that of the Benedictines, but of the two 
 seems to me preferable. 
 
8 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 for Baptism, whether he is inwardly moved by right motives or 
 whether, by the hypocritical pretence of such motives, he only 
 thereby increases his condemnation. The Christian minister, who 
 confers the outward and visible sign, is the agent for that purpose 
 of the Holy Ghost ; but the inward and spiritual grace is given 
 by the Holy Ghost himself. *' No man can say that Jesus is the 
 Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. There are diversities of opera- 
 tions, but it is the same God which worketh all in all," (1 Cor, xii. 
 2-6.) A child of the Devil, like Simon the Sorcerer, may be so 
 quickened by the instrumentality of the "Word, and the preaching 
 of Christ by his ministers, as to believe and be baptized, and con- 
 tinue with the Christian minister, and wonder when he beholds the 
 power of God. (Acts. viii. 4-13.) It is not for us to limit by 
 our crude conceptions and theories, the power of the Holy 
 Ghost even over such a being. Simon was admitted by the 
 sign and seal of Baptism into the outward and visible Church, the 
 ONE MYSTICAL BODY of Christ. As such, though his " heart " 
 was "not right in the sight of God," he was required to "repent 
 of" his "wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of" 
 his heart " might " be forgiven " him. Such language would 
 not have been used before his Baptism. He could not "repent" 
 without the Holy Ghost. He could not " pray," so that his sin 
 might be forgiven, without the Holy Ghost. Though perceived 
 to be still " in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity," 
 his whole life was given him for repentance ; and doubtless the 
 Church, as he requested, prayed to the Lord for him that he 
 might be forgiven. This is the worst aspect in which a case of 
 adult Baptism can be considered. It belongs only to the Om- 
 niscient Spirit to judge ; and except in such sins as " are open be- 
 forehand, going before to judgment," (1 Tim. v. 24,) the Church 
 at the close of the life on earth of every baptized adult, commits 
 his body to the ground in sure and certain hope of resurrection at 
 the last day. It is the reference of judgment to Him who alone 
 can judge in each particular case. The Church on earth pre- 
 sumes not so to judge, but only expresses her faith that they who 
 sleep in Jesus will be raised like unto him. In the Baptism of in- 
 fants the soul is so newly from the hands of its Almighty Crea- 
 tor, that the great Adversary of souls has not had time or oppor- 
 tunity to take it captive before it is put under the protection of 
 
PROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 9 
 
 covenant mercy. In the Baptism of adults, tlie soul has been 
 soiled by unnumbered sins and become the captive of Satan. In 
 this condition it hears the blessed tidings of salvation through the 
 merits of Him who hath led captive its captivity. The Lord 
 opens it to attend to the Word of truth. " Faith cometh by hear- 
 ing, and hearing by the Word of God." (Rom. x. 11.) It is 
 taught that the believer who is baptized shall be saved. (St. 
 Mark. xvi. 16.) Alarmed by the sense of sin and misery with- 
 out Christ, it applies to the minister of Christ and receives the 
 same answer which the repentant Jews received on the day of 
 Pentecost : *' Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus 
 Christ for the remission of sins." (Acts, ii, 38.) No sins can be 
 remitted to men but by the Holy Ghost ; for which reason our 
 Saviour said to his apostles, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose 
 soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto ihem ; and whose 
 soever sins ye retain, they are retained." (St. John, xx. 22,23.) 
 When Jesus was glorified, the Holy Ghost came to abide with the 
 Church FOREVER, (St. John, xiv. 16, 17. ;) and this term forever 
 must be explained by our Saviour's own hmitation : " Lo, I 
 am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (St. Matt, 
 xxviii. 20.) They that believe on Christ shall receive the Spirit^ 
 (St. John, vii. 37-39 ;) but it must be according to the terms 
 which Christ has prescribed, by being baptized into his body. 
 No works done before Baptism can plead for Absolution or justifi- 
 cation in the sight of God. They are excluded by the very 
 terms of the Gospel. It is by faith in Christ only, that the 
 awakened sinner can be justified ; for this plain reason, that, 
 however excellent a man's works may be in themselves, they do 
 not proceed from that principle of faith in the soul which is the 
 foundation of all good works. He who maintains that the nat- 
 ural man can turn and prepare himself, without the grace of God 
 preventing, is, whatever he may 'call himself, a Pelagian. He 
 is condemned by the Catholic Church; and every one, who, in 
 the language of the Creed, believes " in the Holy Ghost, the 
 Lord and giver of life " and "the one Catholic and Apostolic 
 Church," must also ** acknowledge one Baptism for the re- 
 mission OF SINS." 
 
 As the incipient Absolution or remission of sins in Baptism, is a 
 justification hy faith only, so the Absolution, the final remis- 
 
 9 
 
10 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 sioii of sin^, the ^?iaZ justification by our Lord himseh" at the last 
 day, will clearly be a justification hy icorks. " The dead, small 
 and great, will stand before God and be judged, every man ac- 
 cording to their works.'' The great Apostle to the Gentiles, who 
 has dwelt most upon the evangelical doctrine of justification " by 
 faith without the deeds of the law," (Rom. iii. 28,) maintains with 
 equal clearness, that, in "the day of wrath and revelation of the 
 righteous judgment of God," He " will render to every man 
 according to his deeds ; to them who by patient continuance in 
 well-doing seek for glory and honour, and immortality, eternal 
 life ; but unto them that are contetitious and do not obey the 
 truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation 
 and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil," (Rom. 
 ii. 5-9.) 
 
 These truths arc so clearly expressed in holy Scripture, and 
 by ancient Catholic doctors, that an apology would be due from 
 me for having so long dwelt upon them, if it were not that I wish 
 to define with perfect precision what seems to me the only space 
 within which there can be any just room for controversy. The 
 grand question is, concerning the time allotted to every Christian 
 to work out his own salvation, and make his calling and election 
 sure. It is the period between Baptism and Death ; and on the 
 issues of fourscore, or at the most fourscore and ten years, de- 
 pends the awful question, which the most aged of our race must 
 consider, whether he is to be eternally happy or eternally miser- 
 able. At the longest, how short ! Yet in the midst of life we 
 are in death. Though certain and unerring in the decrees of 
 God, the term of every man's earthly existence is to himself most 
 uncertain. The night of death cometh when no man can work ; 
 and the Cliristian must imitate, in the activity of Christian life, the 
 example of his blessed Lord, in working while it is day. Half 
 of our race, as is commonly computed, die before their senses are 
 exercised to discern good from evil. What that point is in each 
 individual, we are ignorant. The Holy Ghost, the searcher of all 
 hearts, is not so. He haih applied to the soul of every baptized 
 infant the merits of the great Atonement ; and if that infant dies 
 without actual sin, he is, by the assurances of God's Word, most 
 undoubtedly saved. But if the infant lives, and the parents and 
 sponsors do their duty, he is taught that he has " made a solemn 
 
FROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 11 
 
 VOW, jiromise and profession " in Baptism, " to lead a godly and 
 a Christian life ;" " to follow the example of our Saviour Christ, 
 and be made like unto him ;" to " die from sin, and rise again 
 unto righteousness;" continually to mortify all his "evil and cor- 
 rupt affections ;" and to proceed " daily in all virtue and godli- 
 ness of living/' 
 
 Our blessed Lord, circumcised on the eighth day of his mor- 
 tal life, and on the faith of his mother and reputed father, 
 was taken to the Temple at the age of twelve years, accord- 
 ing to the practice of the Church which then was, to take 
 upon himself the observance of the Covenant implied in what 
 St. Cyprian called the " ancient circumcision." It is so with the 
 new circumcision, after the abolition of all bloody rites; the cir- 
 cumcision of the Spirit or of Christ, as St. Paul calls Baptism, in 
 his epistle to the Colossinns, (Col. ii. 11. 12 ; iii. 1-6.)* The child 
 is now baptized on the faith of those who present him for Baptism ; 
 but he must afterwards take upon himself the observance of the 
 Covenant ; and this he does in Confirmation. It is one of the fun- 
 damentals or first " principles of the doctrine of Christ," laid down 
 by the Apostle in Hebrews, vi. 1, 2. They are six in number : re- 
 pentance from dead works, faith toward God, the doctrine of bap- 
 tisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, 
 and of eternal judgment." All these fundamentals cluster around 
 Baptism, and are inseparably connected with that Sacrament. Af- 
 ter the laying on of hands, the baptismal Covenant is confirmed and 
 ratified. It is a Covenant between the soul of every baptized per- 
 son and the Holy Ghost ; confirmed by the recipient as far as the 
 promise of duties is concerned, and by the Holy Ghost, throu"-h 
 the outward and visible agency of His chief minister. If all the 
 fundamentals are there, (and that the Holy Ghost surely knoweth,) 
 there can be no doubt that, in that solemn transaction, the Cove- 
 nant of Baptism is renewed and ratified. The pardon of past 
 sins, by the very nature of the terms, is confirmed ; and the soul 
 of the Christian is invigorated by the Holy Ghost to renew the 
 warfare with the enemies of his salvation, the world, the flesh, 
 and the devil; looking forward to the two fundamentals which are 
 yet future, the "resurrection of the dead" and "eternal judgment." 
 
 *The circumcision " made without hands," is a Hebraism ; just as in Dan- 
 iel, ii. 34 the " httle stone cut out without hands," to denote the agency of 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
12 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 But the Apostle requires of all Christians, that they leave " the 
 principles of the doctrine of Christ " and " go on unto perfec- 
 tion, not laying again the foundation." What, then, is this per- 
 fection ■? It is a figurative term, which he himself has elsewhere 
 explained ; a term derived metaphorically from the growth of a 
 human being. As a child grows up from infancy to manhood, so 
 by gradual progression does the true Christian " grow in grace 
 and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,'^ 
 (2 Pet. iii. 18.) The Apostle reproaches the Hebrews, that when 
 for the time they ought to be teachers, they liad need to be taught 
 again these first principles. He compares them to infants, who, 
 on account of their tender age, must be fed with milk, and not 
 with that strong meat which can be inwardly digested only by 
 persons of full age, ( Heb. v. 12-14.) So he tells the Corinthians 
 that he has fed them with milk, as being babes in Christ, because 
 they were carnal, and not spiritual ; because there were among 
 them envying and strife and schism. (1 Cor. iii. 1-3.) Yet he 
 speaks of some of them as being "perfect." (l.Cor. ii. 6.) And so, 
 in the Epistle to the Ephesians, speakingof that one Body and one 
 Spirit into which we are called at our Baptism, he says of "apos- 
 tles, and prophets, and evangelists and pastors and teachers," that 
 they are given " for the perfecting of the saints." The ministry 
 appointed by Christ, as agents of the Holy Ghost, is so appoint- 
 ed for the very purpose of bringing men from the infancy of the 
 first principles " unto a perfect man — the stature of the fulness of 
 Christ." It is so appointed, that the members of Christ's body may 
 " be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with 
 every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men," but that they 
 "may in all things grow up into him which is the head," (Ephs. iv. 
 4—16.) This perfection is not sinless. The greatest saint on 
 earth is not in that sense perfect, **If we say that we have no 
 sin, we deceive ourselves," (1 John, i. 8.) The most mature 
 Christian counts not himself "to have apprehended;" but "for- 
 getting those things which are behind," the mere fundamentals of 
 the Christian religion, he presses " toward the mark for the prize 
 of the high-calling of God in Christ Jesus." They who are per- 
 fect are thus minded. Though they are still on earth, their 
 conversation is in Heaven," (Phil. iii. 13-20.) Such is the man- 
 hood in Christ. Such are they who, baptized into his body, 
 
FROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 13 
 
 continue steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, 
 and in breaking of bread and in prayers/' (Acts, ii. 41, 42.) 
 They are "the saints and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus," 
 to whom the Apostles have written. They are " the faithful " 
 of the primitive Church, to whom " the Cup of blessing," which 
 the Apostolic ministry blesses, is " the communion of the blood 
 of Christ," and "the bread" which they break, is "the com- 
 munion of the body of Christ." (1 Cor. x. 16.) They examine 
 themselves, that they may worthily *' eat of that bread and drink 
 of that cup," (I Cor. xi. 28.) With the heart they believe unto 
 righteousness ; with the mouth they confess unto salvation, (Rom. 
 X. 10.) It is the confession of Christ before men, (St. Luke, xii. 
 S.) Self examination to detect even their most hidden sins ; re- 
 pentance, when^by they forsake sin ; that living faith which shows 
 itself in works of love ; that boldness in the faith which is not 
 ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; that deep humility which ac- 
 knowledges that, even when our lives are most holy, we are saved 
 only through the precious death and passion of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ ; the application of his passion to our souls, by the Holy 
 Ghost, in the Eucharist, for the remission of post-baptismal sins ; 
 these are the qualifications and privileg(is which belong to the 
 maturity of the Christian life. The Sacrament of Baptism, is the 
 Sacrament of Christian infancy; the Sacrament of the Holy 
 Communion, that of Christian manhood. All other acts of the 
 Christian life are subordinate to these. In them, and in them alone, 
 remission of sin is conveyed to the soul of the recipient, by the 
 Holy Ghost. The power of the Christian priest consists only in 
 this : that by a valid ordination he has received, and that exclu- 
 sively, authority from the Holy Ghost to remit sins in the admin- 
 istration of the Sacraments. He is the agent by whom the Holy 
 Ghost conveys the outward and visible sign ; but the Holy Ghost, 
 who presides invisibly over the Church, who has so presided ever 
 since our glorified Lord sent Him as his substitute, and who will 
 continue so to preside until that same Lord shall come again, re- 
 serves to himself the conveyance of the inward and spiritual grace. 
 Unhappily, the practice of lay-baptism has been tolerated in the 
 Church, on the ground of the absolute necessity of the incipient 
 Sacrament; but even on the most favourable construction, it must 
 be ratified and confirmed by the Holy Ghost, through the agency 
 
14 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 of that chief minister of His, to whom alone the power of ordi- 
 nation is entrusted. As for the other Sacrament, no such tolera- 
 tion has ever existed. None but the Apostolic ministry derived 
 from Christ, through the power of the Holy Ghost, can lawfully 
 administer the Holy Communion. Such is, and ever has been^ 
 the judgment of the Catholic Church. 
 
 II. 
 
 We are now prepared to consider whether the doctrine and 
 practice of the Church of England, is in strict conformity with 
 the judgment of the Church Catholic. 
 
 As to Baj' ism, I need say but little. It is now generally 
 acknowledge and will soon, I trust, be beyond controversy, 
 that she has ever departed, on that subject, from ancient and 
 Catholic faith and usage. At the time of the English Refor- 
 mation, the prn ctice of infant Baptism was universal. The first 
 Prayer-Book ol 1549, and the subsequent prayer-books for nearly 
 a hundred years, until a profane Parliament suppressed the Book 
 of Common Prayer altogether, provided only for the Baptism of 
 Infants ; nor ^■ it till the restoration of Charles II., when the 
 dead waters of Puritanism had swept over the land, and had had 
 time to produce their apples of Sodom, that an office for the Bap- 
 tism of Adults was deemed necessary. During the same period 
 the Catechism was included in the Office for Confirmation, and its 
 very construction implied that all the children for whose religious 
 training it was intended, had been baptized before they were ca- 
 pable of being taught what a solemn vow and promise and pro- 
 fession had been made in their names. What is now the Preface 
 in Confirmation, was then only a Ruhric assigning the reasons 
 why children should not be confirmed at too early an age. On the 
 accession of James I., and after the Hampton-Court Conference, 
 to meet a reasonable objection of the Puritans, that too little was 
 said in the Catechism about the Sacraments, the Convocation set 
 forth the part which follows the subject of prayer. It was in strict 
 accordance with Catholic faith and ancient usage ; and we know 
 not whether to admire most the precision and clearness of its defi- 
 nitions, or the dignified moderation of its language on questions 
 then in controversy. In reply to the question, How many Sacra- 
 
FROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 15 
 
 merits hath Christ ordained in His CMiurch ] tlie answer is, '* Two 
 
 ONLY, AS GENERALLY NECESSARY TO SaLVATION." The WOrd iSfl- 
 
 cramentum was used among the Latins to denote what is meant in 
 Greek by the word Mystery, Admitting this in ils largest signifi- 
 cation, and so avoiding a dispute about words, the answer says 
 that Christ ordained two only as generally necessary to salvaiian. 
 Infants, dying before the commission of actual sin, have been 
 absolved in Baptism, and are undoubtedl}'^ saved. Confirmation 
 is the renewal of the Baptismal Covenant ; and though sacra- 
 mental in its character, and probably ordained of Christ during 
 the forty days instruction before he ascended, cannot be considered 
 as necessary to the salvation of those who die in Christ before 
 they have had ability to receive it. Orders m 'y be sacramental, 
 80 far as the priesthood are concerned ; but surely they are not 
 generally necessary to salvation. Matrimony, instituted in Para- 
 dise as a type of the union of Christ with the Church, cannot be 
 considered as generally necessary to salvation ; or a life of celiba- 
 cy would make those who practice, and those who enjoin it, cast- 
 a-ways. I say nothing of extreme unction ; for I have yet to learn 
 that it was ordained of Christ; or that persons not so anointed 
 are therefore rejected from God's mercy. 
 
 The next answer is a definition of the word Sacrament, as re- 
 ceived and taught in the Church of England. What meanest 
 ikou by this word Sacrament ? "I mean " (that is, every person 
 baptized into Christ, and taught to observe all things whatsoever 
 Christ commanded his Apostles, ^latt. xxviii., 20) — every such 
 member of the Church means, " an outward and visible sign of an 
 inward and spiritual grace given unto us; ordained by Christ 
 himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge 
 to assure us thereof." Baptism and the Lord's Supper are gene- 
 rally necessary to salvation ; and are not only the means of re- 
 ceiving the inward and spiritual grace, but are the pledges given 
 by the Holy Ghost, through the agency of His ministers, to all 
 whom He, the searcher of all hearts, knows to be worthy. The 
 doctrine of the Church of England, then, is, that Remission of 
 Sins is conveyed in the two Sacraments; and it considers Con- 
 firmation as inseparably connected with Baptism, and therefore 
 not an independent Sacrament. It is the end of Christian infancy, 
 and the beginning of Christian manhood. In writing to a Bishop 
 
16 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 of our Church, I do not think it necessary to enter into any defense 
 of these positions. To any one who carefully examines the his- 
 tory of the English Reformation, they must all be apparent ; and 
 to that I proceed, in order to show that the Church of England 
 allows no Absolution, separated from the Sacraments. 
 
 The Prayer-Book of 1549 expressed the mature and unbiassed 
 judgment of the English Reformers. It contained an Order for 
 daily service, morning and evening, throughout the year. It was 
 to be used in every congregation, chiefly for the edification of the 
 clergy and for the purpose of having the Bible read through, "that 
 the people (by daily hearing of holy Scripture read in the Church) 
 Should continually profit more and more in the knowledge of God, 
 and be the more inflamed with the love of his true religion." 
 The Litany was appointed to be used " upon Wednesdays and 
 Fridays" — " m all places.'^ The Office for the Holy Communion 
 was used in Cathedral Churches and other places daily, and was 
 appointed to be used in all parish Churches, upon all Sundays 
 AND Holy Days throughout the year. But it must be distinctly 
 observed that in the morning and evening services throughout the 
 year, to be attended by all, indiscriminately, there loas no form of 
 general confession or absolution. Such forms were appointed no 
 where, excepting in the ministration of the Holy Communion. This 
 I have said was the mature and unbiassed judgment of the Eng- 
 lish Reformers. Unhappily, in the political condition of Europe 
 at that time, the Enghsh statesmen wished for a closer union with 
 the Protestant princes of Germany, which they thought might be 
 effected by concessions to the foreign Reformers. This produced 
 the Prayer-Book of 1552. The concessions were not to Calvin ; 
 for he was then a young man, just beginning to be known in Eng- 
 land ; and the little regard paid to him occasioned his petulant and 
 peevish behaviour with regard to the English Reformation. Bucer 
 and Martyr were the foreigners who, next to Melancthon, were 
 held in greatest estimation in England. Both were men of great 
 learning and moderation ; but their influence led to changes which 
 m many cases were far from improvements. They detracted 
 from the fervour of the first Prayer-Book. They introduced into a 
 book of devotions too much of the formalism of preaching", and too 
 much of exhortation. Still, the texts of Scripture, and the ex- 
 hortations with which the morning and evening services were now 
 
FROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 17 
 
 commenced, were admirable in llioir kind ; " iIk; Gcn<3i al Con- 
 fession to be said of the whole congregation," was wisely ndapted, 
 by its lowly language, to produce a contrite spirit ; and what was 
 called the Absolution, stated clearly lhat all pardon comes from 
 God, and can be obtained only on the conditions of the Gospel 
 Covenant. I say what was called an Absolution ; for it was only 
 what the American Prayer-Book correctly calls it, *♦ the declara- 
 tion of Absolution or Remission of Sins." The true authoritative 
 act of Absolution to be pronounced by the Bishop only when 
 present, and by every priest onli/ in his absence, was still connec- 
 ted inseparably with the Holy Communion. For any adult 
 Christians to neglect the Communion was declared to be an offence 
 against God, by which they perilled their own salvation. With- 
 out it there could be no remission of post-baptismal sin. 
 
 In the prayer-book of 1549 it was ordered that, " if the jirople 
 be not exhorted," (in the sermon, which was always a part of the 
 Communion Service,) ** to the worthy receiving of the Holy Sa- 
 crament of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ," the Curate 
 should use the exhortation specially provided *' to those who were 
 minded to receive the same." As it differed somewhat from the 
 exhortation as now used, an: I its language clearly showed the 
 mind of the Reformers on the efficacy of the Sacrament when 
 worthily or unworthily received, I may be permitted to insert 
 some extracts here : 
 
 Dearly beloved in the Lord, y(! that mind to come to the 
 Holy Communion of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ, 
 must consider what St. Paul writcth to the Corinthians, how 
 he exhortoth all persons diligently to try and examine them- 
 selves before they presume to eat of that bread and drink of 
 that cup. For as the benefit is great, if with a truly peni- 
 tent heart and lively faith, we receive that Holy Sacrament, (for 
 then we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood j 
 then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us, we be made one with 
 Christ and Christ with us;) so is the danger great if we re- 
 ceive the same unworthily. For then we become guilty of the 
 body and blood of Christ our Saviour ; we eat and drink our 
 own damnation, not considering the Lord's body ; we kindle 
 God's wrath over us ; we provoke Him to plague us with divers 
 diseases and sundry kinds of death. 
 3 
 
18 
 
 A TOICE 
 
 Therefore if any here be a blasphemer, advouturer, or be in 
 malice, or envy, or in any other grievous crime, (except he be truly 
 sorry therefor, and earnestly minded to leave the same vices, and 
 do trust himself to be reconciled to Almighty God, and in charity 
 with all the world,) let him bewail his sins, and not come to that 
 holy table, lest after the taking of that most blessed bread, the 
 devil enter into him, as he did into Judas, to fill him full of all 
 iniquity and bring him to destruction, both of body and soul. 
 
 "Judge therefore yourselves, (brethren,) that ye be not judg-ed 
 of the Lord. Let your mind be without desire to sin ; repent 
 you truly for your sins past ; have an earnest and lively faith in 
 Christ our Saviour ; be in perfect charity with all men ; so shall 
 ye be meet partakers of those holy mysteries. And above all 
 things," &c., to " everlasting life," as now used. It then proceeded 
 thus : " And to the end that we should alway remember the ex- 
 ceeding love of our Master and only Saviour, Jesu Christ, thus 
 dying for us, and the innumerable benefits which (by his precious 
 blood-shedding) he hath obtained to us, he hath left in those holy 
 Mysteries, as a pledge of his love, and a continual remembrance 
 of the same, his own blessed body, and precious blood, for us to 
 feed upon spiritually, to our endless comfort and consolation. 
 To Him, therefore, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, let us 
 
 give," &c in true holiness and righteousness all the 
 
 days of our life. Amen." 
 
 So averse were our Reformers to long exhortations, that in case 
 there had been a sermon or homily, or portion of one of the 
 homilies in which the people had been exhorted to receive worthi- 
 ly, it might be omitted. In Cathedral Churches and other places 
 where there was daily Communion, it was sufficient to use it, 
 doubtless under the same alternative, once a month. In Parish 
 Churches, where the Communion was on Sundays and holy days 
 only, it might be left unsaid upon the week days. But in case the 
 people neglected to come to Communion on Sundays and holy 
 days, the priest was ordered earnestly to exhort his parishioners 
 in *' these or like words." That is, he might, if he pleased, exhort 
 them in a sermon, or homily of like import, if he preferred it. 
 
 " Dear friends, and you especially upon whose souls I have care 
 and charge, on next, I do intend, by God's grace, to offer 
 
 to all such as shall be godly disposed, the most comfortable Sa- 
 crament of the body and blood of Christ, to be taken of them in 
 
FROM COiNNECTICUT. 
 
 19 
 
 the remembrance of his most fruitful and glorious Passion : by the 
 which passion we have obtained remission of our sins, and be 
 made partakers of the kingdom of Heaven; whereof we be as- 
 sured and ascertained, if we come to the said Sacrament with 
 hearty repentance for our offences, steadfast faith in Grod's mercy, 
 and earnest mind to obey God's will and to offend no more. 
 Wherefore our duty is to come to these holy mysteries with most 
 hearty thanks to be given to Almighty G-od,for his infinite mercy 
 and benefits given and bestowed upon us his unworthy servants, 
 for whom he hath not only given his body to death, and shed his 
 blood, but also doth vouchsafe, in a Sacrament and Mystery, to 
 give us his said body and blood to feed upon spiritually. The 
 which Sacrament being so Divine and holy a thing, and so 
 comfortable to them who receive it worthily, and so dangerous to 
 them who will presume to take the same unworthily : My duty 
 is, to exhort you, in the mean season, to consider the greatness of 
 the thing, and to search and examine your own consciences, and 
 that not lightly nor after the manner of dissimulers with God ; 
 but as they which should come to a most godly and heavenly Ban- 
 quet; not to come but in the marriage garment required of God 
 in Scripture that you may (so much as lieth in you) be found 
 worthy to come to such a table. The way and means thereto is : 
 " First, that you be truly repentant of your former evil life ; and 
 that you confess with an unfeigned heart to Almighty God, your 
 sins and unkindness towards his Majesty committed, either by will, 
 word, or deed, infirmity or ignorance ; and that with inward sor- 
 row and tears, you bewail your offences, and require of Almighty 
 God mercy and pardon, promising to him (from the bottom of your 
 hearts) the amendment of your former life. And amongst all oth- 
 ers, I am commanded of God especially to move and exhort yotJ, 
 to reconcile yourselves to your neighbour, whom you have offend- 
 ed, or who hath offended you, putting out of your hearts all 
 hatred and malice against them, and to be in love and charity with 
 all the world, and to forgive other, as you would that God should 
 forgive you. 
 
 **And if any man have done wrong to any other, let him make 
 satisfaction, and due restitution of all lands and goods, wrongfully 
 taken away or witholden, befure he comes to God's board; or at 
 least, be in full mind and purpose so to do, as soon as he is able ; 
 or else let him not come to this holy table, thinking to deceive 
 
20 
 
 A TOICE 
 
 God, who seeth all men's hearts. For neither the absolution of 
 the priest can anything avail them, nor the receiving of this holy 
 Sacrament doth anything but increase their damnation. And if 
 there be any of you whose conscience is troubled and grieved in 
 anything, lacking comfort or counsel, let him come to me," (his 
 own spiritual guide,) "or to some other discreet and learned priest, 
 taught in the law of God, and confess and open his sin and grief 
 secretly, that he may receive such ghostly counsel, advice and 
 comfort, that his conscience may be relieved, and that of us, (as of 
 the Ministers of God and of the Church,) he may receive com- 
 fort and Absolution, to the satisfaction of his mind and avoidinti 
 of all scruple and doubtfulness ; requiring such as shall be satis- 
 fied with a general confession, not to be offended with them that 
 do use, to their further satisfying, the auricular and secret con- 
 fession to the Priest ; nor those also which think needful or con- 
 venient, for the quietness of their own consciences, particularly 
 to open their sins to the Priest, to be offended with them that are 
 satisfied with their humble confession to God, and the general 
 confession to the Church. But in all things to follow and keep 
 the rule of charity ; and every man to be satisfied with his own 
 conscience, not judging other men's minds or consciences ; where- 
 as he hath no command of God's vrord to the same." 
 
 Peter Martyr *' confessed that we truly or really receive tli© 
 body and blood of Christ in this Holy Sacrament," and that " the 
 Holy Spirit operates effeatually in'' both tht Sacraments ^ by vir- 
 tue of our Saviour's institution.'" So also did Bucer ; and he 
 admitted that there was nothing in the first Liturgy which did not 
 agree with the Word of God, or at least nothing contrary to it. 
 He also asfreed with the English Reformers as to the need of 
 restoring frequent Communion.* If so, where was the necessity 
 of changing the first Office ? Innovations, even for the better, are 
 apt to produce discontent, especially among those who feel more 
 than they reason ; and a change in three years in the Prayer-Book, 
 would seem to argue instability and error, just as the changes in 
 the Roman Bible from 1590 to 1592 argued against the proud 
 claim of Papal infallibility. In the case of the Prayer-Book, and 
 especially in the Exhortations now given, the change in 1552 was 
 not for the better. But as an apology for the English Reformers, 
 
 *See Collier, rol. 2, pp. 273, 296, 
 
PROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 21 
 
 must be added, what could not be said of the Popes Sixtus V. 
 and Clement VIII., that they had to contend on every side with 
 great difficulties. The people, under the long influence of Latin 
 services and Mediaeval corruptions, were grossly ignorant. 
 Though the Clergy retained the primitive practice of daily Com- 
 munion, it had, in Parish Churches, degenerated into a solitary 
 Mass. The laity were suffered to neglect the Communion except- 
 ing at Easter, and were willing to be excused from the Cup, 
 which they loathed, because they were taught that the priest had 
 changed it into natural blood. The Eucharist was considered aa 
 a piacular sacrifice ; though all such sacrifice had been terminated 
 forever on the Cross, The laity had been taught that one such 
 sacrifice, once a year, was sufficient for them, and a fictitious 
 Sacrament of Penance had been substituted instead of that "sac- 
 rifice of praise and thanksgiving " which commemorated the 
 great sin offering, and constantly applied its blessings to the pen- 
 itent soul. 
 
 Yet with wonderful wisdom all these abuses were jxuarded 
 against, and the opposite truths maintained in the two short 
 exhortations of which I have given the substance. In the 
 first, as being addressed to those who arc already " minded to 
 receive the Holy Sacrament of the body and blood of our Saviour 
 Christ," the people are cautioned and warned " diligently to try 
 and examine themselves,'' and not to come unless they are "truly 
 worry " for their sins, " do trust themselves to he reconciled to God," 
 which they cannot be unless they leave their sins, and have " that 
 earnest and lively faith in Christ " which worketh by love. In the 
 latter, addressed to those who neglect to come every Sunday and 
 holy day to the Communion, they are told that although the ** most 
 fruitful and glorious passion " of Christ has already obtained re- 
 mission of sins even for the most guilty, yet is the constant remem- 
 brance of it in the Sacrament, necessary to assure and ascertain it 
 to the penitent, faithful and obedient soul. They are required to 
 " confess with an unfeigned heart to Almighty God;" to "require 
 of Him mercy and pardon to " promise Him from the bottom 
 of their hearts, the amendment of their former life; of sins com- 
 mitted by win, word or deed, infirmity or ignorance." They 
 are told, that unless they redress the wrongs done to others, 
 ** NEiTHEi^ THK ABSOLUTION OF THE PRIEST," noT the receiving 
 of the Holy Sacrament can avail aught before God, who 
 
22 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 seeth all^ men's hearts. If, then, in the secret examination of 
 themselves, their consciences are so troubled that they need com- 
 fort or counsel, it is recommended to them to confess and open 
 their sin and grief secretly to some discreet and learned priest, 
 taught in the law of God, that by his spritual counsel, advice and 
 comfort, their consciences might be relieved. They are then re- 
 quired to follow and keep the rule of charity with regard to other 
 men's consciences. Those who were " satisfied with a general 
 confession^^ should not be offended with them who prefer '"the 
 auricular and secret confession to the Priest ;" nor should " those 
 who for the quieting of their own consciences think it needful or 
 suitable, particularly to open their sins to the priest, be offended 
 with them that are satisfied with their humble Confession to God, 
 and the general Confession to the Church." When it is recol- 
 lected that in the prayer-book of 1549, there was no other general 
 Confession but that of the Communion Service, it will be seen that 
 *' the comfoit and absolution to be received of the ministers of 
 God and of ihe Church," is the comfoi t and absolution which fol- 
 lows the general Confession to the Church at the Holy Communion^ 
 This, in the first lAinrg^ , folloiced the consecration of the ele- 
 ments, and immediately 'preceded the receiving and delivery of the 
 mystical body and blood. 
 
 Ilf. 
 
 If these exhortations had been continued, as they came from 
 the Convocation of 1548, even to the present time, they would, I 
 think, have prevented many subsequent evils, and especially all 
 dispute concei-ning the limits of Auricular Confession. Yet with 
 all the changes occasioned by the fluctuations of the English 
 Government, and introduced from 1552 to 1662, the Church of 
 England adhered in fact to the great principle that Absolution 
 is inseparably connected with the administration of Baptism 
 and the Holy Communion ; and notwithstanding her subse- 
 quent trials, she has ever retained it, even to this day. The first 
 violation of this great principle, as far as the Holy Communion is 
 concerned, [ am obliged to confess, with shame and sorrow, was 
 committed after the American Revolution, and on this side of the 
 Atlantic. The Book, proposed by the seven States south of New 
 England, in their Convention of 17S5, however great and cen- 
 
FROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 23 
 
 surable were its innovations, lias the merit of more carefully dis- 
 tinguishing this great principle ; for in the order for daily morn- 
 ing and evening prayer, it called the Absolution of 1552, what 
 it was in reality, a dedaration concerning the forgiveness of :sins; 
 while it confined to the Communion Office, and ordered to be 
 said by the Bishop, if present, the true Absolution of 1549. It 
 was reserved for the Convention of September and October, 1789, 
 to violate the great principle of which I speak. The prayer-book 
 of 1789, for the first time in the annals of the Catholic Church, 
 degraded the trjte Absolution by making it a substitute for that 
 which it rightly termed only a " dcclaraiion of Absolution." It is 
 allowed to be used to a promiscuous congregation, baptized or 
 unbaptized, many of whom may be notorious evil-livei's, and oth- 
 ers, who are not grossly immoral, negligent of their Christian 
 duties, turning perpetually from the Lord's Table, and even to 
 their dying day out of Communion, if not out of the Church, 
 and living without the appointed means of grace and salvation. 
 Is it to be wondered at that the Laity should set no value upon 
 such Absolution ] or that the Clergy should come to regard 
 it as a lifeless form ? I have myself heard a priest pronounce this 
 solemn Absolution to a mixed congregation, while his Bishop 
 was sitting at the altar, and afterwards heard the Bishop pro- 
 nounce to the Communicants that same Absolution, because to 
 them it was unlawful for the priest in his presence to utter it. 
 Every one who considers Absolution as a reality, will see at once 
 the inconsistency of such a violation with the fundamental principles 
 of the Church. How then could it have been committed at a Con- 
 vention where Bishop Seabury and the Clergy of Connecticut had 
 a voice ] To answer this question, and to exonerate the Bishop 
 and Clergy of Connecticut, we must go as briefly as possible into 
 the history of the violation. 
 
 The remote cause of all the changes in the American Prayer- 
 Book vvas the political condition of England after the Revolution 
 of 1688, and the accession of the House of Hanover in 1715. 
 The violent suppression of the Convocation in 1717, made the 
 Church subservient to the State, and threw all power in matters 
 Ecclesiastical, into the hands of a lay Parliajnent. The voices 
 of the Bishops in the House of Lords were too few and feeble 
 to have much influence. They became timid and desponding. A 
 general coldness and torpor came over the Church which extend- 
 
24 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 etl itseU' to those Colonies in which the Church of England was 
 by law establisheJ, or where at least it was favoured by the civil 
 government. It was not so in New England. That province of 
 the British crown had local Legislatures independent of the Brit- 
 ish Parliament, and an established religion of its own which ruled 
 over its civil authorities with a rod of iron. This establishment, 
 while it affected to have no oilier king but Jesus, tore from his 
 sacred head the crown of his sovereignty. It took the crook 
 from the hand of the good Shepherd, and gave innumerable lit- 
 tle crooks to the sheep. In its own way it ex< rcised as des- 
 potic an inquisition as Rome. It fined and imprisoned, and 
 often treated with still greater barbariles, all whose consciences 
 would not pe'rmit them to walk according to its rule. What 
 worldly motive had our clergy and laity to believe in Episco- 
 pacy as giving sanction and validity to the Sacraments 1 Their own 
 miserable condition led them to look back upon the suffering prim- 
 itive Church before the days of Constantine, and to sympathize 
 with the Catholic remainder of the Church of Scotland, situated 
 like themselves under the ban of a corrupt civil establishment. 
 The moment their consciences were relieved by a separation from 
 the crown of England, and by the bill of rights of the American 
 Revolution, which undermined the tyranny of the New England 
 religious establishment, they took measures to obtain the Episco- 
 pate. They considered all attempts to organize the Church and 
 revise the Prayer-Book, as irregular, without Episcopal authority. 
 The great desire of their hearts was accomplished on the four- 
 teenth of November, 1784, by the consecration of the Right Rev- 
 erend Dr. Samuel Seabury. He was received by his clergy at 
 Middletown early in the following year, and what had before 
 been only a voluntary Convention was now resolved into a Con- 
 vocation : a term which implies the necessity of being convoked 
 by Episcopal authority. Connecticut was now a Church in the 
 primitive sense of the term, entirely independent of all foreign 
 aid, and having the approbation and support of the clergy gen- 
 erally in the other New England States. All looked with alarm 
 upon the proceedings of their Southern brethren. Not the least 
 trace of union with them existed for live years.* So little hope 
 
 * The Report of ;i General Ecclesiastical Constitutiou (Bioreii, p. 8,) speaks 
 of a meeting of Clerical and Lay Deputies, in New York, in October, 1784, in 
 which the States of Massachusettci, Rhode Island and Connecticut were in- 
 
rROM COIVNECTrCUT. 
 
 25 
 
 was there at union from the lempor displayed in the Conven- 
 tion of the seven States, in June 1786,* that the Clergy of Con- 
 necticut elected the Rev. Messrs. Hubbard and Jar vis to pro- 
 ceed to Scotland for Consecration ; and it was confidently ex- 
 pected that a like measure would be taken in Massachusetts. In 
 that case, New England would have been a Province by itself, 
 and so would have acted independently, with a complete organiza- 
 tion. In Connecticut the order of morning and evening prayer, 
 and the Litany of the Church of England, were continued as in 
 1662 without the state prayers; but the Bishop in Convocation 
 set forth a Communion Service, modelled on that of 1549, which 
 becanio then the Liturgy of the Diocese. This took place in 1786, 
 The amiable and conciliatory conduct of Bishop White pre- 
 vented this rupture. A movement of the clergy of Massachusetts 
 and New Hampshire, in a like spirit of amity, inviting the Bishops 
 <af Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania to unite in conse- 
 crating the Rev. Edward Bass a.s their Bishoj^, opened the door 
 of reconciliation, in July, 1789. t The Convention was adjourned 
 to the 29th of Sej)tember in that year, to give opportunity for the 
 New England States to act. The Clergy of Connecticut appoint- 
 ed as their Proctors, the same individuals whom they had before 
 elected for Episcopal Consecration ; but they did not give to their 
 Proctors full authority. They reserved to themselves the right of 
 accepting. or rejecting the tei-ms of future union. The wisdom of 
 this reservation will now be made manifest by the testimony of 
 one of the Proctors, which has never yet been published, and 
 which I give in his own words. In answei- to the eighth in a se- 
 ries of questions proposed to him by Charles James Stuart, Esq., # 
 '* What alterations from the Church ef England in the Liturgy or 
 Common Prayers V he answered thus : " A comparison of the 
 two books by inspection will discover the alterations more effect- 
 ually as well as more briefly, than any enumeration which could 
 here be made. The causes of those alterations may not be so ea- 
 sily perceived. In September, 1789, delegates from ten of the 
 
 • luded; but that is clearly a mistake. Bishop AVhite, in his preface to Bio- 
 yen's Collection, iickuowledges this. As for Connecticut, it was impossiblo ; 
 inv Dr. Seubury was then preparing lor consecration, and the Clergy could and 
 would do nothing till his arrival, and the organization of his Diocese. 
 
 *See the motion made by Mr. (afterwards Bishopj I'revost, of New York 
 and seconded by Mr. (afterwards Bi.shop) Sniiih. of South Carohna. — Biorm 
 p. 21. 
 
 t Bioren, p. 49 — 54. 4 
 
26 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 then thirteen States, consisting of Clergymen and Lay-members 
 of the Church, met at Philadelphia, for the purpose of forming a 
 union. To accomplish this, it was necessary to make some alter- 
 ations in the Prayer-book, which, as the offspring of the Church 
 of England, the American Church still looked upon as its own. 
 With respect to the extent of the proposed alterations, the Con- 
 vention was equally divided. The delegates from five of the 
 States, viz : New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New 
 York and New Jersey, were averse from any alterations, except 
 the omission or adaptation of particular prayers in the daily ser- 
 vice to the Government of the United States. Of the two Bishops 
 present, (Bishop Seabury and Bishop White,) the former advo- 
 cated the alteration in the Communion Service and the addition of 
 some occasional prayers ; in all other particulars, he strenuously 
 opposed even such as were verbal. Strong impressions that a 
 disunion would work ruin to the American Church, induced that 
 part of the Convention most attached to her interest and sound 
 doctrine, to submit to a compromise, in hopes that at some future 
 day the true friends of the Church would be enabled to correct 
 those defects to which the want of right principle and the fervour 
 for innovation in their opponents had obliged them reluctantly to 
 consent. This may account for all the departures from the Eng- 
 lish Prayer-book, and for the latitude given in many rubrics to the 
 officiating minister, which laid the foundation of diversity in the 
 use of the Liturgy." 
 
 I forbear to enter into any additional illustration of these 
 changes by verbal testimony often received from the same source, 
 except to state the remarkable fact, that notwithstanding all the 
 prejudices against Bishop Seabury which existed in the minds of 
 some of the deputies, principally of the Laity, from the States of 
 Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina, all the alterations 
 which he specially advocated were passed loithout a dissenting 
 voice. I look with devout thankfulness to God, that the Prayer of 
 Consecration from the Connecticut Liturgy, modelled as I have 
 said on that of 1549, was admitted without opposition and in si- 
 le7ice, if not in reverence. In common with the Clergy and Laity 
 of the five Northern States, the Bishop lamented the exclusion of 
 the Athanasian Creed, the displacement of the Nicene, as the 
 Creed of Communion, and the false views of Absolution which 
 broke down the distinction between Communicants and Non-com- 
 
FROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 27 
 
 municants ; bat he, as well as they, confidently looked forward to 
 the rising of a better day, when these defects might be corrected. 
 That day may not yet have arrived ; bat Church principles have 
 ever since been steadily advancing in their influence ; and if kept 
 within their proper bounds, by the increase of correct learning 
 among our Clergy, and the diffusion of a more fervent and devout 
 spirit among our Laity, they will finally be shed abroad in every 
 portion of our land. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Connecticut suffered much for the sake of union ; but the 
 Bishop and her Clerical Proctors, on their return from the Con- 
 vention of 1789, did all in their power to reconcile the Clergy and 
 people to the use of the New Prayer Book. Wiih the exception 
 of Stratford, where the influence of Dr. Johnson's memory was 
 still powerful, they finally succeeded. At a Convocation of the 
 Clergy held at Newtown, the last of September, 1790, "on the 
 question being put, * whether we confirm the doings of our Proc- 
 tors in the General Convention at Philadelphia, on the 2d day of 
 October, 1789 V it passed in the affirmative," by the votes of every 
 member present, one only excepted, who entered his protest and 
 left the Convocation. This was the Clergyman of Stratford. It 
 occasioned some trouble ; but by the mild and conciliatory meas- 
 ures of the Bishop and Clergy, the schism was soon healed. The 
 Convocation left it to the prudence of each member to introduce 
 the New Book among his parishicmers ; and it was solemnly 
 " agreed, that in the use of the new Prayer Book, we he as uniform as 
 possible, and for that pnrjwse that we approach as near the Old Lit- 
 urgy, as a compliance with the Rubrics of the New will aUow^ Thus 
 did the Bishop and Clergy of Connecticut, in Convocation assem- 
 bled, and in the very Act by which they received the New Prayer 
 Book, establish as a fundamental rule of uniformity, that in all the 
 rubrics which allowed a diversity of practice, the Old or English 
 Prayer Book should constitute the usage or observance of this Di- 
 ocese. That act of Convocation has never been rescinded to this 
 day, and I trust never will be rescinded. It follows, therefore, that 
 Connecticut has never approved the use of the proper Absolution, 
 excepting to persons who are in full communion with the Church. 
 
28 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 V. 
 
 I miglit now proceed to show, from the published writings of 
 Bishop Seabury, his views on the necessity of the two Sacraments 
 for the remission of sins. His discourses on the Authority of 
 Christ's Ministers, their duties, and the duties of the people towards 
 them ; those on the Apostolical Commission, on Baptism, Confirm- 
 ation, and the Holy Eucharist ; and that on Christian Unity, now 
 circulated as a tract among the Christians of the East ; all express 
 fully those Catholic truths of the primitive Church, which the 
 English Martyrs had embodied in the Prayer-Book of 1549. I 
 shall content myself with a single extract, which very briefly and 
 happily discriminates the Catholic faith from all sectarian views of 
 the Eucharist, and points out the benefits it conveys to the worthy 
 communicant. 
 
 "There is therefore, in this holy institution, no ground for the er- 
 rors of transubstantiation, consubstantiation, or the bodily presence 
 of Christ, with which the Church of Rome, Luther and Calvin, 
 have deceived, beguiled, and perplexed the Church. The bread 
 and wine are, in their nature, still bread and wine. — They are not 
 transubstantiated into the natural body and blood of Christ, as the 
 Papists teach. — The natural body and blood of Christ are not con- 
 substantiated with them, so as to make one substance, as the Lu- 
 therans teach. — Nor are the natural body and blood of Christ in- 
 fused into them, nor hovering over them, so as to be confusedly 
 received with them, as Calvin and his followers seem to teach ; for 
 they are far from being intelligible on the subject. The natural 
 body and blood of Christ are in heaven, in glory and exaltation. — 
 We receive them not in the Communion, in any sense. The bread 
 and wine are his body and blood, sacramentally and by represent- 
 ation. And, as it is an established maxim, that all who, under the 
 law, did eat of the sacrifice with those qualifications which the 
 sacrifice required, were partakers of its benefits ; so all who, un- 
 der the gospel, eat of the Christian sacrifice of bread and wine, 
 with those qualification.^ which the holy solemnity requires, are 
 made partakers of all the benefits and blessings of that sacrifice of 
 his natural body and blood, which Christ Jesus made, when, under 
 the symbols of bread and wine, he offered them to God, a propi- 
 tiation for the sin of the world. 
 
 ** I am not sensible that, in this explanation of the mystery of 
 the Eucharist, I have departed from the letter, or sense, or spirit 
 of the Holy Scripture : and, in support of it, I appeal to the early 
 writers, and first liturgies of the Christian Church. It cannot be 
 supposed, that those early writers were ignorant of the doctrines 
 and practice of the Church in their own time; or that they would 
 wilfully misrepresent them. Nor could they be ignorant of the 
 
FROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 29 
 
 doctrines and practice of the Apostles : at least, they had better 
 and surer means of information than we can have, especially if we 
 disregard their testimony. For, they had the same Gospels and 
 Apostolical writings that we have : they understood the language 
 in which they were written, and the manners and customs of the 
 age, blotter than we do : and, the tradition of Apostolical practice 
 passed but few hands, before it came to them. 
 
 The first liturgies may bi^ supposed to have been corrupted 
 by the interpolation of some of the errors of subsequent times. 
 Should this be granted, it will not follow that no credit is due to 
 thera. It will not be difficult, by comparing them together, to 
 detect those interpolations and errors : and of this we may be 
 sure, that those principles in which they all agree (differing only 
 in expression) must be the remains of Apostolical Antiquity. 
 
 " By attending to these, we shall not only see the order and pro- 
 cess of the consecration of the holy elements, but also the princi- 
 ples on which their practice was founded — 
 
 At the time of the celebration, the officiating Bishop, or Priest, 
 first gave thanks to God for all his mercies, especially lor those of 
 creation and redemption. Then, to show the authority by which 
 he acts, and his obedience to the command of Christ, he recites 
 the institution of the Holy Sacrament which he is celebrating, as 
 the Holy Evangelists have recorded it. In doing this, he takes 
 the bread into his hands and breaks it, to represent the dead body 
 of Christ, torn and pierced on the cross ; the cup, also, of wine 
 and water mixed, representing the blood and water which flowed 
 from the dead body of Christ, when wounded by the soldier's 
 spear. Over the bread and the cup he repeats Christ's powerful 
 words. This is My Body — This is My Blood. The elements be- 
 ing thus made authoritative representations, or symbols of Christ's 
 crucified body and blood, are in a proper capacity to be offered to 
 God as the great and acceptable sacrifice of the Christijni Church. 
 Accordingly, the Oblation, which is the highest, most solemn, and 
 proper act of Christian worship, is then immediately mude. Con- 
 tinuing his prayer, the Priest intercedes with the Almighty Father, 
 to send upon them (the bread and wine) the Holy Spirit, to sanc- 
 tify and bless them, and make the bread the lody, and the cup the 
 bloody of Christ — his spiritual life-giving body and blood in power 
 and virtue; that, to all the faithful, they may be effectual to all 
 spiritual purposes. Nor does he cease his prayer and oblation, 
 till he has interceded for the whole Catholic Church, and :ill the 
 members of it — Concluding all in the name and through the merit 
 of Jesus Christ the Saviour. 
 
 *• The Eucharist being, as its name imports, a sacrifice of thanks- 
 giving, the bread and wine, after they have been offered or given 
 to God, and blessed and sanctified by his Holy Spirit, are return- 
 ed by the hand of his Minister to be eaten by the faithful, as a 
 Feast upon ike Sacrifice — the Priest first partaking of them him- 
 self, and then distributing them to the Communicants; to denote 
 
30 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 their being al peace and in favour with God, being thus fed at his 
 table, and eating of his food ; and also to convey to the worthy 
 receivers all the benefits and blessings of Christ's natural body 
 and blood, which were offered and slain for their redemption. 
 
 "For this reason, the Eucharist is also called the Communion 
 of the body and blood of Christ ; not only because, by communi- 
 cating together, we declare our mutual love and good will, and 
 our unily in ihe Church and faith of Christ ; but also, because, in 
 that holy ordinance, we communicate with God through Christ 
 the Mediator, by first offering, or giving to him the sacred sym- 
 bols of the body and blood of his dear Son, and then receiving 
 them again, blessed and sanctified by his Holy Spirit, to feast upon 
 at his table, for the refreshment of our souls ; for the increase of 
 our faith and hope ; for the pardon of our sins ; for the renewing 
 of our minds in holiness, by the operation of the holy Ghost; and 
 for a principle of immortality to our bodies, as well as to our souls. 
 
 " From this consideration, the necessity of frequently communi- 
 cating in the Holy Eucharist evidently appears. It is the highest 
 act of Christian worship; a direct acknowledgment of God's 
 sovereignty and dominion over us, and over all his creatures. It 
 is the memorial of the passion and death of our dear Redeemer, 
 made before the Almighty Father, to render him propitious to us, 
 by pleading with him the meritorious sufferings of his beloved 
 Son, when he made his soul an offering for sin. It is a sensible 
 pledge of God's love to us, who, as he hath given his Son to die 
 for us, so hath he given his precious body and blood, in the Holy 
 Eucharist, to be our spiritual food and sustenance : And as the 
 bread of this world, frequently taken, is necessary to keep the 
 body in health and vigour ; so is this bread of God, frequently 
 received, necessary to preserve the soul in spiritual health, and 
 keep the divine life of faith and holiness from becoming extinct in 
 us.''' — Seahury^s Discoitrses, 8vo., 1793, Vol. 1, jjp. 179-183. 
 
 Bishop Seabury had no Cathedral, like the stately pile which 
 now covers his remains ;* nor had he a body of clergymen at the 
 altar with whom he could renew the primitive and apostolic prac- 
 tice which he commends, of daily Communion. [See Disc. I., Part 
 I., p. 13. j Such observances require endowments; and his deep 
 poverty, (for he was obliged to support himself by his consummate 
 skill as a surgeon and physician,) — his deep poverty and the hum- 
 bler duties and labours of a parish priest, would not permit more 
 than Sunday Communion. In this he continued steadfast to his 
 
 * The remains of Bishop Seabury were transferred, on the 12th of last Septem- 
 ber, to the crypt beneatli tlie Chancel of the new and beautiful Church of St. 
 James in New London. The Bishop's monument, which is an Altar-tomb, iu 
 a canopied niche, stands immediately above, in the Chancel, on the right side 
 of the Altar, and without the rails. 
 
FROM GO.NNECl ICUT. 
 
 31 
 
 d^dng day, labouring lo excite in bis parisb and in bis Diocese 
 that sense of the importance of frequent Communion, which it 
 was a prime object of the English Reformation to revive. If he 
 failed, it must be ascribed to the infelicity of the times, and the 
 deep-seated prejudices and false views of the nature and impor- 
 tance of the Sacraments which pervade New England. Speak- 
 ing of those false views, he observes : 
 
 *' There seems to be an opinion prevailing with many, which, 
 probably, prevents their compliance with the institutions of relig- 
 ion, more than any thing else — namely : Thar, while th.ey refrain, 
 they may freely indulge themselves in many things, which would 
 be inconsistent with the obligations which those institutions imply. 
 But, in this opinion, several mistakes or false suppositions are 
 contained. It supposes that a man may live innocently, and be 
 good enough, though ho live in constant disobedience to God. It 
 supposes, also, that a compliance with the ordinances of religion 
 lays new duties upon him, or makes that unlawful for him, which 
 before was not so, and those practices sinful which before were 
 innocent. But neither of these suppositions 's true. He that 
 lives in disobedience to God, lives in a state of sin : For sin 
 is neither more nor less than disobedience to God. And, with 
 regard to the other supposition — Though it be acknowledged 
 that the ordinances of religion furnish new motives for doing our 
 duty, and supply new strength to perform it ; yet our compliance 
 with them increases neither the number nor magnitude of our du- 
 ties. What can be done consistently with a good conscience, may 
 always be done ; and what cannot be so done, ought never to 
 be done, whether we comply with the ordinances of religion or 
 not. For instance ; it is a man's duty to renounce the devil and 
 his works, the world and its wicked tempers, and the evil appe- 
 tites and passions of his nature, whether he be baptized or not. 
 
 "Another false supposition contained in the above opinion is, that 
 the ordinances of religion are mere arbitrary institutions, of no 
 value in themselves, but merely to show God's sovereign power 
 over us. That they are arbitrary institutions^ in this sense, (that 
 they depend entirely on the will of God ; and that, for any thing 
 we know, he might have omitted these, and have appointed others) is 
 readily granted. It is also acknowledged, that had he not appointed 
 them, there would have been no virtue nor goodness in them. 
 But, it is denied, that they are instances of his sovereignty intend- 
 ed to increase the burden of our duty, or to render more strait 
 the narrow way that leadeth unto life. They are intended to be 
 privileges and blessings to us — to put us in that narrow way, and 
 to keep us in it — to make it more ])lain and easy to us ; and to 
 strengthen and refresh us in our progress in it. He that refuseth 
 them, refuseth his own good, and turns away from blessings which 
 God holds out to him. 
 
32 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 " That it is a privilege to be admitted into God's family, and 
 made one of his children, and an heir of the heavenly inheritance, 
 no one, who has seriousness to think about il, can doubt. This 
 privilege we obtain by Baptism. The wilful rejection of Bap- 
 tism, therefore, put into plain language, is — I will not be one of 
 God's family, nor one of his children — 1 like this world and its 
 enjoyments, which religion marks as extravagant, too well to give 
 them up ; and, I find too much gratification in my appetites and 
 passions, to put them under restraint. And as to the works of the 
 devil, ihey have a bad name, it is true, but I see no great harm in 
 them. — In short, let them seek for a heavenly inheritance who 
 choose it. This world, and the life it inspires, is enough for me ; 
 and I am determined to enjoy as much of it as 1 can." — Bishop 
 Seabury's Discourses, ut Sup., Vol. 1, pp. 158 — 160. 
 
 I have added these remarks of that clear-minded and great 
 writer, because they are as applicable now as they were then. 
 We cannot get rid of our responsibilities. They are inseparable 
 from our being. Every man has a soul to save, or a soul to lo^e. 
 If saved, it must be reconciled to God. If the Sacraments are 
 necessary to salvation, or reconciliation with God, it is an awful 
 inquiry, How are we to prepare for them 1 And upon that ques- 
 tion I now enter. 
 
 VI. 
 
 That our children should be baptized as soon as possible after 
 their natural birth ; that they should be trained to know what a 
 solemn vow, promise and profession was then made ; that they 
 should be brought to the Bishop to be confirmed, as soon as they 
 know what is necessary for their souls' health ; that they should 
 come to Communion before they go out into the world, as a safe- 
 guard against its follies, temptations and crimes ; are truths which 
 no right-minded member of our Church will question. The only 
 cases of conscience concerning which there can be any doubt in 
 the minds of faithful, earnest men, relate to Confession. The 
 general duty is clear. '* If we say that we have no sin, we de- 
 ceive ourselves." Before the High and Holy One who inhabiteth 
 eternity, even Seraphs veil their faces, and His angels he chargeth 
 with folly. The greatest saint upon earth is a sinner saved only 
 by the blood of Christ. To be more and more conscious of sin, 
 and more and more penitent for it, is an evidence to our ov^^n 
 Bouls of their increased vitality in the Christian life. Let a man 
 
FROM CONNECTICUT, 
 
 33 
 
 examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that 
 cup which are the Communion of the body and blood of Christ. 
 The just or righteous man lives by his faith ; and no one can 
 properly be called faithful, who does not receive the outward and 
 visible sign of Chi ist's death and passion, that he may receive 
 from the Holy Ghost the inward and spiritual grace. For our 
 encouragement the gracious promise is given, " If we confess our 
 sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our snis." He is faith- 
 ful ; for what He hath promised. He will surely keep and per- 
 form. He is just ; for to all who keep the conditions He imposes. 
 He conveys the Remission of sins past, and more grace to help in 
 future time of need. The oftenor this confession is made, the 
 better. It ought especially to be made every night, before sleep, 
 which constantly praefigures death, refreshes the care-worn body 
 and anxious soul, for the resurrection of a new day. At that 
 hour of stillness and seclusion, the faithful penitent, with pros- 
 trate body and uplifted soul, pours forth the language of confes- 
 sion and prayer. No eye seeth him but that which saw his sub- 
 stance yet being imperfect, and hath known every thought and 
 word and deed, from infancy through his past life. The appall- 
 ing consciousness of this knowledge is tempered by the conviction 
 that "God is love." If his heart, in these secret searchings, con- 
 demns him, God is orreater than his heart and knoweth all thingrs ; 
 If his heart condemn him not, he has confidence in God. On the 
 morrow it may be, the Holy Ghost, by his minister, will present 
 to nim the outward and visible sign of absolution and reconcilia- 
 tion, peace with God, and good will towards men. If he receives 
 it unworthily, he eateth and drinkelh condemnation, not pardon; 
 if worthily, it is the body and blood of Christ, freely given for the 
 redemption and sanctification of his soul and body. Oh, with 
 what earnestness will he prepare for that solemn act ! So far, he 
 is a priest unto himself ; for he is one of that elect generation and 
 Royal Priesthood who are one with Christ, and Christ with them. 
 Such an one is prepared for that General Confession, publicly 
 made to God and his Church, which precedes the Absolution 
 which the Bishop, or in his absence the Priest, is authorized to 
 pronounce in connection with the Holy Eucharist. 
 
 But there are other Christians, who, in the searchings of heart 
 requisite for tliis high solemnity, are troubled by doubts and scru- 
 5 
 
34 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 pies best known to themselves, whether their souls are in a fit 
 state of preparation for worthy receiving. What are these to do ? 
 They do not mend their condition by turning away from the Holy 
 Table. On the contrary, they turn away from the Holy Ghost, 
 who alone can pardon their sins and strengthen them to contend for 
 the mastery in their fearful struggle against the world, the flesh 
 and the Devil, Supposing they had a bodily disorder, under- 
 mining their health, and if unchecked, bringing them down by 
 slow yet sure approaches to the gates of death. In such a case, 
 what would be the dictate of common sense ] Would they not 
 resort to a medical man in whom they could have confidence, both 
 as to skill and discretion ? Unwilling to expose to an unfeeling 
 and pitiless world the infirmities and diseases of which they are 
 conscious, would they not pour into the ears of a physician, with 
 all the minuteness which their case requires, and all the frankness 
 which he would demand, the diagnosis of their malady Yet, 
 startling as the assertion may appear to those who use words in 
 coniined meanings and with narrow associations, this is neither 
 more nor less than auricular confession. By all the rules of 
 honourable intercourse, the physician is bound to inviolable se- 
 crecy. Many a limb has been saved, and many a life lengthened 
 by this confidence. And what is to prevent a penitent Chris- 
 tian who wishes to approach the Lord's table, but is troubled with 
 doubts and fears, from pouring his troubles into the ears of an 
 affectionate and pious pastor who is able to give him godly coun- 
 sel and advice for his soul's health ? I am unable to conceive of 
 any defect in this analogy, unless it be that men are more willing 
 to confide in a physician for the benefit of their bodies, than they 
 are to confide in a priest for the benefit of their souls. But let a 
 man be convinced that he has no choice in the matter j that he has 
 to do with men only as the Ministers of God ; that he must by 
 Confession lay open his most secret sins before the Holy Ghost, 
 whom he cannot deceive ; that he must then come and receive the 
 absolution of them in the Holy Communion : let him once be con- 
 vinced of all this, and a principle of faith is at work within him, 
 far superior to every other consideration. If he cannot convince 
 himself that in his secret communings with his Maker, he is duly 
 prepared to receive those holy mysteries, he will go to his spirit- 
 ual physician, whom he himself has chosen as the earthly guar- 
 dian of his soul, and open his grief. It is the tenderness of a 
 
FROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 35 
 
 man's conscience only, which can render auricular confession 
 compulsory. All attempts to enforce it will be ineffectual. Like 
 the fable of the traveller, the sun and the wind, the cloak will be 
 drawn tighter by violence, and voluntarily thrown aside under the 
 warming rays of religious conviction. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Let us now turn to the Pastoral Letter, and see in what respects 
 it is at variance with the above statements. I am happy to see so 
 many points of agreement, that I despair not of conciliating your 
 approbation, even where we seem most to differ. It would be 
 unbecoming in me, stranger as I am to the questions at issue in 
 the Diocese of North Carolina, to say more than this : that what- 
 ever agitation there may be, a recurrence to the simple principle 
 of Absolution, in the two Sacraments generally necessary to sal- 
 vation, will easily allay it. The names of Ravenscroft and Hobart 
 are dear to your Diocese. Both came up to the same Church 
 principles which have ever been the standard of Connecticut. 
 You quote Bishop Ravenscroft (p. 28, 29) "speaking of the ends 
 of the ministry towards the children of God," as saying " * The 
 first is, the communication of the Grospel to mankind, in order to 
 recover them from the ruin and misery of sin, and from eternal 
 death as its wages. The second is, to transact the conditions of 
 this recovery, receiving the submission of penitent sinners, and by 
 administering to such the divinely instituted pledges of pardon and 
 adoption into the family of God,' " &c. " Instituted jyJedges of par- 
 don and adoption,'^ says the Bishop ; and, I ask, what are these 
 BUT THE TWO Sacraments 1 You confess (p. 29) that the Bishop 
 " speaks incidentally" as to the purpose for which you quote him, 
 "not having made priestly absolution the immediate subject of 
 either of the discourses which have been cited." I have not his 
 works to refer to ; but I feel confident he would have admitted no 
 priestly absolution to those who neglect the Lord's Supper. 
 
 The same remark may be made with regard to all the quotations 
 from Hooker, which occujty nearly sixteen pages of the Pastoral 
 Letter, (32-47.) Hooker is contending against the Papists as 
 well as the Puritans ; and he expressly denies the papal doctrine 
 that priestly absolution, connected with repentance and confession, 
 is a separate Sacrament. The constant practice of the English 
 
36 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 Church, connecting all pardon of sin with the Sacraments of Bap- 
 tism and the Lord's Supper, must be our rule in the interpreta- 
 tion of Hooker's words. 
 
 You quote Wheatley, also ; but I cannot see with what purpose. 
 His words are very pertinent, when Absolution is considered as a 
 grace of the two Sacraments. Neither he nor Hooker ever con- 
 tended against that voluntary auricular confession which the offi- 
 ces of the Church contemplate ; though they did contend against 
 that imperative and universal claim which makes it a condition of 
 salvation. 
 
 There is another writer whose sermon you quote witli appro- 
 bation, but who seems to me to confound things essentially differ- 
 ent. He speaks (p. 30) of the ''Judicial Absolution of the minis- 
 ter, ir the power of executing Church discipline;" but that refers 
 to ciu>cs of Ecclesiastical censures, where notorious offenders are 
 to be repelled from Communion, until they give evidence satisfac- 
 tory to God's holy Church that they are truly penitent for their 
 sins. They are then re-admitted to Communion. But this is a 
 subject so entirely distinct from that which we are now consid- 
 ering, that we may well pass it by in silence. The same writer, 
 however, delivers an opinion concerning the " declaration of Absolu- 
 tion " in our daily morning and evening prayer, so utterly at vari- 
 ance with the view I have taken, I think it necessary, especially 
 as you adopt it, to say something more on the subject. 
 
 That Absolution derived its origin, as we know, from the Lu- 
 therans ; but v/hen you class the early Lutherans with the Calvin- 
 ists and Puritans, and consider them as opposed to the English 
 sacramental system, you do them injustice. In common with all 
 the Theologians of the Latin Communion they were well read in 
 the works of St. Augustin, the great doctor of that Church, and 
 had imbibed his modes of thinking. The English divines were 
 equally well acquainted with his writings, but less under his influ- 
 ence, because the early eminence of Oxford for Greek learning, 
 had made them acquainted with the illustrious Greek fathers of 
 the fourth and fifth centuries. This vv as long before the Puritans 
 existed, and even before Calvin was born. The whole history of 
 Martin Bucer and of Peter Martyr, their age, their countries, the 
 places where they studied, exempt them from a charge which noth- 
 ing but a modern spirit of party has framed. Both were men 
 when Calvin was a child. The one was a German, the other an 
 
FROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 37 
 
 Italian. The one was a Dominican Friar, converted by Luther 
 at Worms, in 1521 ; the other a Canon regular of St. Augustin, 
 at Fiesole, educated at Padua, and converted by Valdez', a Span- 
 iard, w^hen he was president of a college at Naples. Bucer was 
 with Hermann, Archbishop of Cologne, who wished to introduce 
 there the doctrines of the Reformation. If we had the prayer- 
 book of Hermarm, we might, perhaps, be able to trace from it the 
 origin of the changes introduced into the English Prayer-Book of 
 1552. Independent of all such history, the very analysis of the 
 Confession and Absolution in the morning and evening services, 
 shows that their object was rather to prepare men's m.inds for the 
 more solemn Confession and the only authoritative Absolution by 
 the Holy Eucharist. Separate Absolution from that Sacrament, 
 and it diverges inevitably into one or the other of these two forms 
 of error. To a mixed congregation it is an unmeaning act ; to 
 a penitent, in secret confession, it is another and an unauthorized 
 Sacrament. It leads, in both cases, to the neglect of the true Sa- 
 crament. If a man can be absolved without coming to the Eu- 
 charist, why should he come ] If he can be absolved by the 
 Priest on private confession and doing such penance as the priest 
 requires, why should he come oftener than once a year 1 
 
 I enter not into the question respecting the English Office for the 
 Visitation of the Sick. 1 have never felt myself at liberty to use 
 the Absolution which, in an extreme case, is there permitted ; nor 
 can I do so until it is restored in our Office, for the very same rea- 
 son that I do not use the Athanasian Creed in the morning prayer. 
 All Absolution being connected with the Holy Communion, it could 
 not be pronounced in England to any but a faithful communicant, 
 who had shown, in the course of a well-spent life, that he had con- 
 quered the enemies of his salvation, and was going where there is 
 laid up for him a crown of glory. 
 
 And here a question arises, of great magnitude, to which I am 
 led by your words at p. 55: "'Ceremonies and practices' have 
 been ' introduced,' I know, wholly ' unauthorized ' by the ' customs 
 of this Church,' as established by the English reformers." Do I 
 read aright ? or is this like the language of St. Paul to the Corinth- 
 ians, only solemn irony ? Your subsequent denial, (pp. 58,) *'of the 
 introduction of what are usually styled 'novelties' — unusual bow- 
 ings, or crossings, or lighting of candles on the altar in the day- 
 time" — relieves me. But still the question recurs, When we have 
 
38 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 given uj) wliat we ourselves approve, for the sake of union and 
 peace, shall we not adhere to the sacrifice until, by mutual consent, 
 the terms arc altered ? Such has been the conduct of Connecticut. 
 
 Let it be remembered that this Diocese was fully organized five 
 years before the organization of the whole union : that the daily 
 service of England, excepting her state prayers, was its rule ; that 
 the Communion office set forth by Bishop Seabury in Convocation, 
 was in its arrangement far more agreeable to ancient and primitive 
 usasfe than that we now have ; and it will be seen how much Con- 
 necticut sacrificed. Yet, from 1790, when the New Prayer-Book 
 was received, she never violated the terms of compact. I could 
 quote, in proof of this, her proceedings for man}^ years. The Laity 
 were in general so satisfied with their Bishop and Clergy, that they 
 neglected to send deputies to the Annual Convention. The Bishop 
 and Clergy were actually compelled to exhort them to comply with 
 the Constitution and Canons of 1789. This they did with the ut- 
 most good faith. However opposed Bishop Seabury was to the 
 innovations of the American Prayer-Book, not one jot or one tittle 
 of its requisitions was ever violated. Its options only were consid- 
 ered as coming within the scope of Diocesan Authority. 
 
 It has ever seemed to me to be a wonderful overruling of God's 
 providence, that the very changes introduced into the American 
 Ritual lead us back to the original arrangements of the English Re- 
 formers in 1549. Separate the Matins from the Communion Service 
 by any interval of time ; restore the celebration of the Eucharist 
 on every day for which a Collect Epistle and Gospel is especially 
 provided : and you have at once the general arrangement of 
 Archbishop Cranmer, and the Convocation of 1548. I speak from 
 my own experience when I say that the Morning Service, even as 
 it has been lengthened by the subsequent revisions, need not occu- 
 py more than half an hour. Let there be a space of time then 
 given, in which the parishioners may be engaged in the duties of 
 the Sunday School, and we have every thing in proper harmony. 
 During the same time, the Priest might be informed how many 
 would that day present themselves for communion ; and this would 
 be his guide in the consecration of the elements so as to avoid any 
 violation of the Rubrics. 
 
 These suggestions lead me to notice the affirmation that "no 
 clergyman in your Diocese is free from the charge of unbrical 
 irregularity ; and the expression of your own conviction that the 
 
 / 
 
FROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 39 
 
 Church intended the rubrics rather as general directions, than as 
 inflexible laws." (pp. 58, 60.) That there may be cases of 
 necessity in which a departure from the rubrics is inevitable, no 
 one will deny ; but these are extreme cases which cannot be plead- 
 ed in defence of irregularity. If there be a customary violation 
 of rubrics, the fault is in the want of courage and firmness in the 
 clergy. As far as my experience goes, the lait}" are generally dis- 
 posed to obey the rubrics, if the reason of that obedience is prop- 
 erly laid before them. If I were subject to the scrutiny of the 
 questions you have asked, I could with a safe conscience have 
 answered them all in the affirmative. — These have I kept from my 
 youth up, and have taught others to keep them. Even in Boston, 
 where the puritan spirit is so dominant, I had very little trouble 
 in enforcing the general observance of the rubrics. I explained 
 their wisdom in the course of a few lectures, which I had occa- 
 sion to repeat only once in the course of five years. When occa- 
 sionally some new member of my parish came to commune 
 v/ith gloved hand, or any other irreverent or unseemly practice, 
 a gentle remark in private, explaining the practice of the 
 Church, was sufficient to remove all that could offend. I have 
 never witnessed in England or elsewhere, a more devout recep- 
 tion of the Lord's Supper, than such as was common in my own 
 parish ; and I am bold to say that many of the Presbyters of 
 Connecticut, even in its most rural districts, carry out the provis- 
 ions of the rubrics with as much care as I have. Experience has 
 taught me through the course of my life, the value of the maxim 
 uttered by a Scots Presbyterian, that in public worship, ichat is left 
 to the discretion of the minister, is left also to the indiscretion of 
 THE MAN."* For this reason a strict and even punctilious regard 
 to the rubrics seems to me the only way of preserving that beauti- 
 ful order in external things which is so conducive to internal har- 
 mony. 
 
 But to return to the Pastoral Letter : there are two or three 
 expressions which trouble me, because I am unable to ascertain 
 their authority or precise meaning. When you say (p. 62) that 
 "that doctrine of 'sacerdotal absolution' was cast into the shade 
 when its true and proper form was removed from general use into 
 'the order for the visitation of the sick,' " I am constrained to ask, 
 
 [*A letter from a Blacksmith to the Ministers and Elders of the Church of 
 Scotland. 2 Edit. Lond. 1761. 12mo. p. 42. 
 
r 
 
 40 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 When was that form in " ofeneral use ]" or of what " greneral use" 
 do you speak ] Certainly not in England. Mr. Palmer has suffi- 
 ciently shown the great antiquity of the form of absolution used 
 in our Communion Service, from 1549 even to this day.* The 
 Absolution you speak of as "the only true and proper form," was 
 in the Visitation Office, then inseparably connected with the Com- 
 munion of the sick, and no where else, as I can perceive, in the 
 Prayer Book of 1549. 
 
 Again : In your account of the interview with the young cler- 
 gymen in 1847, (p. 67,) you say that " washing to devote them- 
 selves, soul and body, to Christ, agreeable to the * Evangelical 
 Counsels,' they offered me their services," &c. What are these 
 Evangelical Counsels so strongly marked % You yourself seemed 
 to have som.e suspicion, from the words of caution you addressed 
 to them, (p. 68,) a caution so just and so suitable to a Bishop of our 
 Church. The subsequent expression, "Perpetual members who 
 must be unmarried men," requires some explanation; or, it may 
 lead to the inference that these Evangelical Counsels involved a 
 vow of celibacy. 
 
 I have but one more remark to offer ; and that is upon the note on 
 p. 69. I am as much opposed as you can be to unnecessary contro- 
 versy with the Romanists ; but when they continually attack us, 
 and continually seek to draw away from the Church ignorant and 
 unstable souls, we are bound to repel their sophistries, and save our 
 brethren from the guilt of heresy and schism, by our duty to Christ, 
 by all the obligations of our priesthood, by all that charity which 
 the spirit of love engendereth. There is to be no acrimony. We 
 must contend for Christ with the gentleness and meekness of Christ. 
 How can they be true members of Christ until they have broken 
 down the wall of separation raised by their own hands in the Creed of 
 Pope Pius IV. ? How can they be of the same family with us, so 
 long as they worship the creature, rather than the Creator, who, 
 alone, is God over all, blessed forever ? 
 
 VIII. 
 
 I have thus, Right Reverend and dear Sir, performed a duty 
 which I think I owe, to you, as a friend whom I love, to the Apos- 
 
 [* Antiquities of the English Ritual, Vol. 2, p. 169 ] 
 
PROM CONNECTICUT. 41 
 
 tolic Ministry, of which, though in very different spheres of action, 
 we both form a part, to the Diocese of which I am a member ; and 
 to the true Catholic Church in the United States, " reformed, 
 protestant and free." I owe it to you ; because I am persuaded 
 that if you err, (and who does not err ?) your motives are to glorify 
 God, and promote the salvation of men. I owe it to the Apostolic 
 Ministry, that they may not be blamed as taking too much upon 
 themselves. As ambassadors of Christ, they beseech men to be recon- 
 ciled to God; as ministers of the Holy Ghost they convey to their 
 brethren in one common faith, the means of reconciliation and 
 grace; but they are helpers of their joy, not having dominion over 
 their faith nor being Lords over God's heritage. (2 Cor. i. 24 ; 1 Pet. 
 V. 3.) I say not this as if I thought you were in league with tlie 
 spiritual tyranny of Rome ; for you have too often and too pointedly 
 expressed to me your rejection of Roman errors, to allow of any 
 suspicion that you can be false to your sacerdotal and Episcopal 
 vows. I speak only in behalf of our ministry, to show that we do 
 not arrogate to ourselves more than God has given us. Like the 
 English reformers in 1549, we wish only to restore that holy con- 
 dition of the Church, when they who were baptized, continued stead- 
 fastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of 
 bread, and in prayers. (Acts ii, 42.) 
 
 I have said that I owe it to the Diocese of Connecticut. Trained 
 up at the feet of one who was the intimate friend of Bishop Sea- 
 bury, and his successor in office ; of one who took a prominent part 
 in the transactions of that agitated period from 1764 to 1813: of 
 one who, as secretary of the clergy, conducted the correspondence 
 of Connecticut with the Hierarchies of England and Scotland, and 
 with Bishop Seabury, during his absence; of one who was a proc- 
 tor for his brethren in the conciliatory convention of 1789, an 
 original signer of its constitution, and employed in the revision of 
 the Prayer-book ; I have felt that I could vindicate the firm, steady 
 and conservative character of this Diocese, better than almost any 
 living man. I think I have vindicated it ; though for the sake of 
 brevity, I have left much that might be told, unsaid. What I have 
 said, however, may be relied upon as certain. Connecticut has 
 only to remain firm, and to continue to carry on the work which 
 her first Bishop and clergy began, and she will be, by the migra- 
 tion of her sons, the mother of many Churches, professing the 
 Apostolic faith whole and undefiled. 
 
42 
 
 A VOICE 
 
 I owe it lastly to the Church Catholic in these United States, at 
 a moment when her wonderful growth has alarmed the fears and 
 jealousies of contending sects, to give my testimony, the result of 
 much study, reflection and experience, as to her true central posi- 
 tion. She is equally remote from Sectarianism, by whatever name 
 it may be called. Her object is unity ; while sect implies divis- 
 ion. In the language of one who is himself not far from the king- 
 dom of God, " The spirit of Sect, is the spirit of Antichrist." 
 All sects, whether Papist or Protestant, by the very fact of their 
 schism, have departed from the one faith, once delivered to the 
 saints. They are only different points in the circumt'erence of 
 error, tending downward to that lowest point in which they will 
 unite and drop into the abyss of Infidelity. It is our duty to pre- 
 serve ourselves from their influence, and if any man approaches so 
 near as to come within their power of attraction, let us feel for our 
 brother as though he were a wanderer, endeavour to reclaim him 
 from his error, weep over his fall, and rejoice over his recovery.* 
 
 "When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" 
 The question implied a doubt ; and coming Irom the Searcher of all 
 hearts, it should make us tremble. Yet it was connected with a 
 parable, which taught that men ought always to pray, and not to 
 faint. There must therefore be no despondence. Christ hath set 
 in the body, some apostles, some prophets, some teachers ; but all 
 for the edification of the body. Our course of duty is plain. 
 Through evil report, or good report ; as deceivers, and yet true ; 
 whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear. We must 
 
 *This letter was finished and sent to press several days before the news 
 arrived of Dr. Forbes' guilt. The delay occasioned by the accumulation of 
 work in the printing establishment, at this season, enables, and indeed renders 
 it proper for me to add some i-emarks upon an event at which we may well 
 mourn, not for ourselves, but for him. Like most of the unstable men who 
 have left Jerusalem for Samaria, he began as a Calvinist, with low and loose 
 views of the Christian ministry, regarding it rather as human than as Divine. 
 Else how could he have committed the awful sin of violating vows to the 
 Holy Ghost, and renouncing orders conferred by the Holy Ghost? He has 
 but one or two steps more to complete the sacrilege. The Holy Ghost never 
 confers the same orders twice, any more than He confers Baptism twice. The 
 repetition of Orders as well as of Baptism, when both have been once validly 
 received, is ipso facto null and void. Such has ever been the judgment of 
 the Catholic Church; and every time the schismatic body he has joined 
 repeats a valid ordination or a valid Baptism, it adds another to the black 
 catalogue of its sins. Within the present year this unhappy man wrote a 
 letter in which he spake of his " increased conviction of the Catholicity of our 
 own mother. " Did he say this sincerely ? Or has he become so deep in the 
 morality of St. f! ) Alphonsus Liguori as to mean one thing while he led his 
 abused correspondent to believe another? If he was sincere, what are we 
 to think of his stsibility'? If insincere, what are we to think of his honesty? 
 
FROM CONNECTICUT. 
 
 43 
 
 SOW the seed of God's word " with measured step, and unabating 
 care." In our vast country the Church is yet feeble; but there 
 are signs like gleams of light on the distant hills, which quicken 
 the footsteps of hope. The intelligent, the wise, the good of all 
 parties among the laity, are beginning to see that we maintain the 
 Catholic faith whole and undefiled ; and that there is no other 
 principle of external or internal unity. I have no fears for the 
 Diocese of Ravenscroft, any more than I have fears for the Dio- 
 cese of Seabury. Both, as the dictate of a pure conscience, will 
 support their Bishop, when, like St. Paul, he exhorts them to be 
 followers of him, as he also is of Christ. An accurate survey and 
 delineation of the bounds of right and duty, will convince the laity 
 that when, like the great Apostle to the Gentiles, we magnify our 
 (office, Rom. xi, 13, 14, lit. : " glorify my ministry" or " service,") 
 it is that we may excite their zeal, and promote their salvation. 
 On this subject. Bishop Seabury, though dead, yet speaketh in 
 his discourse on the duty of the people towards Christ's ministers. 
 After saying that " the whole mystery of reconciliation with God 
 through Christ is committed to the ministers of Christ," he thus 
 proceeds: " Hence arises a plain duty on your part, namely, to re- 
 ceive their instructions, to submit to their government, to reverence 
 their authority, to partake with them in the ordinances of religion, 
 and to preserve the unity of the Church in faith, in discipline, and 
 in worship. If you attend not on their ministry, with regard to 
 you, their appointment is vain ; if you reject their government, 
 you reject the institution of Christ ; if you despise their authority, 
 you despise him that sent them ; if you refuse to partake in the 
 ordinances of religion, you cut yourselves off from the communion 
 of saints ; and if you break the unity of the Church, in faith, or 
 discipline, or worship, you fall under the condemnation of those 
 Christians who walk disorderly and cause divisions, whom the 
 Apostle advises us to avoid, lest the contagion of their example 
 should infest the faithful." {Discourses, Vol. 1, p. 36 ; Ed. 1793.) 
 I remain. 
 
 Right Reverend and Dear Sir, 
 in the best of all bonds, 
 
 the communion ot the Catholic Church, 
 Your faithful friend and servant, 
 
 SAMUEL FARMAR JARVIS, 
 
 one of the Presbyters of Connecticut. 
 
 MlDDLETOWN, NOVEMBER ClST, 1849. 
 
 To the Right Reverend Dr. Ives, Bishop of North Carolina. 
 
A. C. GOODMAN & CO., 
 
 PUBLISHERS, 
 
 No. 192 iHrnn Street, 
 
 nave in course of preparation a IVew Kdition of the 
 
 On pica type, corrected by the standard, and issued with the certifi- 
 cate of the Bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut, which will be equal, 
 if not superior, to any pubhshed in the country. 
 
 A full assortment of 
 
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