CANON XXIII.

Mode of proceeding against a communicant.

If a communicant of this Church shall offend in any of the matters mentioned in the twenty-second of these canons, the minister of the parish in which the offender shall reside, upon receiving information thereof, shall take cognizance of the offence as provided in the rubric before the "Order for the Administration of the Holy Communion." And if, after private advertisement, he shall deem it necessary, he may then convene the vestry and church wardens, first giving the party reasonable notice in writing of the charge, and of the time and place appointed for the meeting of the minister, vestry and church wardens, for the purpose of enquiring into it. At the time and place appointed, the minister, vestry and church wardens, or a majority of them shall meet, and if they are satisfied that due notice has been given to the accused, shall, whether he appear or not, proceed to inquire into the charge, and if a majority of those in attendance, after a full hearing of the evidence, and of the defence of the accused, should he make one, shall be of opinion that the accused is guilty, the minister shall pronounce such sentence as the offence may in his judgment deserve, which shall be either reproof before the vestry and wardens, suspension from the Holy Communion, or excommunication.

MISCELLANEOUS CANONS.

CANON XXIV.

Of Candidates for Holy Orders.

Persons applying to be received as candidates for holy orders, shall give the notice, and present the testimonials required by the canons of the General Convention.

CANON XXV.

Readers to be appointed in vacant Parishes.

The Bishop may appoint in any parish where the rector is unable to perform the service in his church or churches every Lord's day, or where it is desirable to have Divine service celebrated at places, or times, at which the rector cannot attend, upon the recommendation of the rector, or in vacant parishes with the consent of the vestry; some candidate for orders or other layman of exemplary character for piety and morals as a reader, who shall,

under the direction of the Bishop. any member of the Standing Committee, or the rector of the parish, where there is one, on occasions of public worship, devoutly read the service of the Church and a sermon from the works of some approved Protestant Episcopal divine. Permanent appointments must be made by the Bishop. Nevertheless any member of the Standing Committee may make a temporary appointment of a reader, subject to the confirmation or rejection of the Bishop.

CANON XXVI.

Concerning Deacons who delay to apply for Priest's orders.

It shall be the duty of the Bishop to withdraw his license to preach from any Deacon who shall neglect, for a longer period than three years after his ordination, to take the necessary steps for obtaining priest's orders, unless he shall have sufficient reasons for the delay.

CANON XXVII.

Every Minister to keep a Register.

The minister of each parish or church shall make out and continue a register of baptisms, confirmations, communicants, marriages and funerals within his cure, in a suitable and substantial book provided by the vestry of the parish or church, which shall be left upon his death or removal for the use of his successor.

CANON XXVIII.

Providing the elements of the Holy Communion.

In every parish or church the church wardens, if required by the vestry, shall provide the elements of bread and wine for the Holy Communion.

CANON XXIX.

Of special meetings of the Standing Committee.

The Bishop shall have power to call special meetings of the Standing Committee at such times and places as may appear to him to be necessary and expedient.

CANON XXX.

All canons of the Diocese of Maryland are hereby repealed, which have been passed before the commencement of the present Convention.

On motion, Resolved, That each canon be acted on separately. The first canon was then read, amended, and on motion, adopted.

The second, third, and fourth canons, were read and adopted without amendment.

The fifth canon having been read, a request that the minority report be read also, was granted, and the report was read accordingly.

Report of the minority of the Committee appointed by the last Convention to prepare and report a revised code of the Canons of this Diocese.

The undersigned, a member of the Committee, was unavoidably prevented from attending its meetings. An opportunity, however, was afforded for examining the work of those who did attend.

Upon reading the report of my colleagues of the Committee, I found that I could not concur with them in opinion. And so important a principle appears to me to be involved in one of their canons, that I consider it my duty to report to the Convention my objections to the same.

The canon to which I allude, is that which prescribes the offences for which a clergyman may be tried and punished. And I object because, in my opinion, the General Convention alone, has authority to ascertain the rights and powers of the several orders of the ministry in this Church, and to enact the laws according to which they shall exercise the same. It has defined the offences for which ministers may be tried and punished by canon 37, of 1832, and the State Convention can do nothing more than institute the mode of trial, according to the 6th article of the General Constitution.

The opinion thus expressed is derived from the view which I have been accustomed to take of the nature, character and organization of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which this diocese is a part.

Previous to the American Revolution, the Church of England was established by law in the Province of Maryland. The provisions, however, respecting Episcopal discipline were extremely defective.-For although the King of England was supreme head of the Church, and his ecclesiastical authority abroad was committed to the Bishop of London, as Diocesan of the Colonies: the exercise of that authority was very much impeded by the conflicting claims of the Lord Proprietary.

During the proprietary government, the Province was divided into parishes: many, if not all, of which possessed churches, glebes, or other

property at the period of the Revolution; all of which property the Maryland Bill of Rights declares ought to remain to the Church of England for

ever.

The existence of the Church of England in Maryland after it became an independent state, thus recognised in the Bill of Rights, was acknowledged by the Legislature, which passed a law in 1779, for the establishment of select vestries in the several parishes; in which vestries it vested the property of the people professing the religion of the Church of England, and authorised them to employ ministers of that Church.

From the period of the declaration of Independence to the peace of 1783, the Church of England existed in Maryland, in the voluntary associations of the people professing the religion of that Church in the several parishes, protected by law in the enjoyment of their Church property. These associations or Churches were respectively independent of one another, and of all foreign control. They were without Bishops; for whatever bond existed between them and the Bishop of London, had been severed by the Revolution.

Very soon after the restoration of peace and intercourse with England, the clergy and people professing the religion of the Church of England in Maryland, directed their attention to the formation of an ecclesiastical government. They accordingly held a Convention of clergymen and lay delegates from the different parishes, which agreed upon certain fundamental rights and liberties of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Maryland; established certain fundamental principles of ecclesiastical government and determined to hold annual Conventions of the clergy and lay delegates from the several parishes.

It appears from the proceedings of this Convention, taken in connexion with the article in the Bill of Rights, and the law for the establishment of select vestries, that the clergy and people professing the religion of the Church of England, in Maryland, had assumed the name of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Maryland as early as the year 1783; that they considered themselves absolved from every obligation of obedience, civil or canonical, to any foreign power or authority whatever; that they were desirous of accommodating the doctrines, discipline, and worship of the Church of England to their existing circumstances, without making any alterations which would conflict with the essential characteristics of that Church. They did not, however, proceed to the actual formation of any diocese, nor did they take any independent steps for procuring the Episeopal succession.

That all the parishes in the State, or any part of them, might have united for the purpose of completing and preserving themselves as an entire Church, independent of all others, cannot admit of a doubt. But they did not do it, because they thought that a subject of so much importance ought to be taken up, if possible, with the concurrence of the Episcopalians of the United States, in general; an union of whom in doctrine, discipline and worship, was considered extremely desirable. They accordingly appointed a committee to confer with Episcopalians in the other states.

Similar opinions prevailed in other parts of the American Union, and produced a meeting of clerical and lay deputies from several of the states in the year 1785. This Convention applied itself to an exhibition of the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Church of England, accommodated to the circumstances of the United States; and instituted measures for procuring from the English Bishops the consecration to the Episcopacy of such persons as should be sent with that view from the Churches in any of the states. They determined to hold triennial General Conventions.

The proceedings of this Convention formed the first bond, which united the Episcopalians of the United States into one body; but the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States was not fully formed and organized until the meeting of the General Convention of 1789, at which time its constitution was definitively agreed to, and its doctrines, discipline and worship authoritatively set forth.

The organization of this Church, completed in 1789, had been in progress, from a period anterior to the acknowledgment of independence by Great Britain. It was the joint work of the clergy and people professing the religion of the Church of England, (in their parishes and congregations, in their state Conventions, in their general Conventions,) and of the English Bishops. It took time to reconcile conflicting opinions. And although the Episcopalians in the United States, believed that their ecclesiastical independence was secured by the revolution, and that in common with other Christian Churches, in these states, they had the right to model and organise their own Church, forms of worship, and discipline in such manner as they might judge most convenient for their future prosperity, consistently with the laws of their country, they were very desirous of obtaining the Episcopal succession from the Bishops of the Church of England, and determined to retain all the essentials of that Church.

In 1789, conflicting opinions of Episcopalians on the subject of Church organization had been all reconciled. Previous to this time, the English Bishops became satisfied that the Protestant Episcopal Church in the