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No. 10. Page 120.

Communication from the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Canterbury, July 4, 1786. To the Committee of the General Convention, &c. &c. GENTLEMEN,

The enclosed act being now passed, I have the satisfaction of communicating it to you. It is accompanied by a copy of a letter, and some forms of testimonials, which I sent you by the packet of last month. It is the opinion here, that no more than three bishops should be consecrated for the United States of America; who may consecrate others at their return, if more be found necessary. But whether we can consecrate any, or not, must yet depend on the answers we may receive, to what we have written. I am, your humble servant,

J. CANTUAR.

An Act to empower the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Archbishop of York, for the Time being, to Consecrate to the Office of a Bishop, Persons being Subjects or Citizens of Countries out of his Majesty's Dominions.

Whereas, by the laws of this realm no person can be consecrated to the office of a bishop, without the king's license for his election to that office, and the royal mandate under the great seal for his confirmation and consecration: And, whereas every person who shall be consecrated to the said office, is required to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and also the oath of due obedience to the archbishop: And, whereas there are divers persons subjects or citizens of countries out of his majesty's dominions, inhabiting and residing within the said countries, who profess the public worship of Almighty God according to the principles of the Church of England, and who, in order to provide a regular succession of ministers for the service of their Church, are desirous of having certain of the subjects or citizens of those countries consecrated bishops, according to the form of consecration in the Church of England: Be it enacted by the king's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons in this present parliament assembled,

and by the authority of the same, that from and after the passing of this act, it shall and may be lawful to and for the archbishop of Canterbury, or the archbishop of York, for the time being, together with such other bishops as they shall call to their assistance, to consecrate persons being subjects or citizens of countries out of his majesty's dominions, bishops for the purposes aforesaid, without the king's license for their election, or the royal mandate under the great seal for their confirmation and consecration, and without requiring them to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and the oath of due obedience to the archbishop for the time being. Provided always, that no persons shall be consecrated bishops in the manner herein provided, until the archbishop of Canterbury, or the archbishop of York, for the time being, shall have first applied for, and obtained his majesty's license, by warrant under his royal signet and sign manual, authorizing and empowering him to perform such consecration, and expressing the name or names of the persons so to be consecrated; nor until the said archbishop has been fully ascertained of their sufficiency in good learning, of the soundness of their faith, and of the purity of their manners. Provided also, and be it hereby declared, that no person or persons consecrated to the office of a bishop in the manner aforesaid, nor any person or persons deriving their consecration from or under any bishops so consecrated, nor any person or persons admitted to the order of deacon or priest by any bishop or bishops so consecrated, or by the successor or successors of any bishop or bishops so consecrated, shall be thereby enabled to exercise his or their respective office or offices within his majesty's dominions. Provided always, and be it further enacted, that a certificate of such consecration shall be given under the hand and seal of the archbishop who consecrates, containing the name of the person so consecrated, with the addition as well of the country whereof he is a subject or citizen, as of the Church in which he is appointed bishop, and the further description of his not having taken the said oaths, being exempted from the obligation of so doing by virtue of this act.

No. 11. Page 122.

Address to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.

MOST WORTHY AND VENERABLE PRELATES,

In pursuance of your graces' communications to the standing committee of our Church, received by the June packet, and the letter of his grace the archbishop of Can-. terbury, of July the 4th, enclosing the act of parliament, "to empower the archbishop of Canterbury, or the archbishop of York, for the time being, to consecrate to the office of a bishop, persons being subjects or citizens of countries out of his majesty's dominions," a General Convention, now sitting, have the honour of offering their unanimous and hearty thanks for the continuance of your Christian attention to this Church; and particularly for your having so speedily acquired a legal capacity, of complying with the prayer of our former addresses.

We have taken into our most serious and deliberate consideration, the several matters so affectionately recommended to us in those communications, and whatever could be done towards a compliance with your fatherly wishes and advice, consistently with our local circumstances, and the peace and unity of our Church, hath been agreed to; as, we trust, will appear from the enclosed act of our convention, which we have the honour to transmit to you, together with the journal of our proceedings.

We are, with great and sincere respect,

Most worthy and venerable prelates,

Your obedient and very humble servants,

(By order,)

In General Convention,

SAMUEL PROVOOST, Pres't.

At Wilmington, in the State of Delaware,
October 11th, 1786.

No. 12. Page 123.

A Letter from Granville Sharp, Esq. to Dr. Benjamin Franklin, with Extracts of Letters.

Extract of a Letter from Granville Sharp to the Archbishop of Canterbury, dated 13th September, 1785.

"All these circumstances prove that the present time is very important and critical for the promotion of the interests and future extension of the Episcopal Church in America, and that no time should be lost in obtaining authority for the archbishops and bishops of England to dispense with the oaths of allegiance in the consecration of bishops for foreign Churches, that they may be restored to their unquestionable right as Christian bishops to extend the Episcopal Church of Christ all over the world."

"An immediate interference is become the more necessary, not only on account of the pretensions of Dr. Seabury, and the nonjuring bishops of Scotland, (to which, however, I hope my letters will have given a timely check) but also to guard against the presumption of Mr. Wesley and other Methodists; who, it seems, have sent over some persons under the name of superintendents, with an assumed authority to ordain priests, as if they were really invested with Episcopal authority."

"Some accounts of this were read to the Society for Propagating the Gospel in May last, from the letters of their missionaries; and I have since heard that some Methodistical clergymen have procured consecration from the Moravian Churches, which the latter had received from the bishops of Poland. These attempts of the sectaries prove, however, that they perceive among the Americans an increasing inclination towards Episcopal government, of which they want to take an undue advantage; and consequently they prove, also, that the exertions of every sincere friend to the Church of England are peculiarly necessary at this time to counteract them, and to facilitate the communication of a pure and irreprehensible Episcopacy to America, by removing the obstacles which at present restrain the archbishops and bishops of England, from extending the Church of England beyond the bounds of English govern

ment."

"I should also inform your grace, that America is not

the only part wherein Protestant Episcopacy is likely to be extended, when the rights of election are better understood: for had I been prepared, in the year 1767, on this point, as I am at present, I have reason to believe that a Protestant Episcopal Church would have been promoted in Holland, and in several parts of Germany and Switzerland, long before this time."

"How I happened to be concerned in so important an affair, (if your grace should have leisure and curiosity to be informed) I am ready to communicate on receiving your commands," &c.

Extract of a Letter from Granville Sharp to the Archbishop of Canterbury, dated 17th of February, 1786.

"Since I had the honour of speaking to your grace on this subject, I have perused Dr. Smith's sermon, which was preached before the convention at Philadelphia; and though I have still great fears about the propriety of the alterations they have made in the liturgy, yet there seems to be some ground to hope that they will be able to assign a reasonable excuse for the changes, without giving occasion to suspect any want of belief in the several articles which they have omitted; for Dr. Smith plainly insinuates, that they proceeded on the model of the alterations that were proposed to the English convocation in 1689; for which, several circumstances have induced me to entertain a favourable opinion. In looking over the MS. account of Archbishop Sharp's life, I find that he was one of the king's commissioners for that business, and took infinite pains therein, being sensible that some alterations might be made with advantage. He was also the person who first proposed, in convocation, that Dr. Tillotson should be appointed prolocutor, in order to favour the intended alterations. Dr. Nichols has given a short general account of that business in his 'Apparatus ad Defensionem Ecclesia Anglicana;' but I never heard that the transactions at length were ever printed; and therefore am surprised to find that the convention at Philadelphia had a full account of that important business before them for their guidance. Dr. Nichols highly commends the alterations that were then intended, and few men were better qualified to be competent judges of that matter. If these circumstances be duly considered, there seems room to discriminate between the motives which

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