Decisions of courts, so far as the consciences of men are concerned, operate morally not legally, incidentally not directly, as arguments not as authority. They seek to regulate the actions, not the thoughts of men. If diocesan courts shall fail to do this, their appropriate work, satisfactorily, and such uncertainty shall follow a multiplicity of conflicting decisions as to work injustice, or threaten serious confusion, a court of appeal may become necessary as a last resort; but there is nothing in the present condition of the Church that indicates such necessity.

The Church wisely tolerates differences of opinion and judgment, until time shall have done its work of softening asperities, quieting excitement, and developing the deliberate judgment of the whole Church, or until practical evils shall have been disclosed, that demand a remedy. There are difficulties necessarily incident to any judicial system, but it should never be forgotten that the faith of the Church cannot rest upon the decisions of courts, but is entirely independent of them all. The essential facts of Christianity are set forth in our standards of belief-the creeds of the Church; but the interpretation of these facts, the inferences to be drawn from them, opinions in regard to them, cannot be so set forth, either by courts of justice, or councils, or conventions; and the only security from serious error in reference to these, is to be found in that "patient continuance in well doing" of the Christian life, that throws light upon so many problems that mere human speculation fails to solve.

CHAP. 3.

CHAP. 3.

If, however, experience shall finally show that we House of must have a court of appeal, the House of Bishops Bishops as a Court of would seem to be the body to which such powers can, Appeal. with the aid of assessors learned in the law, be most safely intrusted. Their independent tenure of office, their representation of the whole Church, high character, age, large experience, ability and attainments, the economy of their administration, and the historical fact that in the early ages of the Church they were its judges as well as governors, would seem to make it eminently proper, that any judicial power that shall be found to be absolutely necessary for controlling dioceses and preserving the faith of the Church, should be vested in the House of Bishops, which, while in one sense representing all the dioceses, is absolutely independent of them all.

Thus the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America has framed its Constitution, established its Book of Common Prayer, and, from time to time, enacts its canons; and being, like the Church of England, an independent Church, suffers no foreign law to gain a foothold here, unless voluntarily received and adopted, and thus made a part of the law of the American Church. It is not necessary for scholars and antiquaries to dig our law out of the accumulations of a thousand years, and tell us what it is, for it is all to be found in our Constitutions, canons, and history, including so far as the respective dioceses are concerned, such usages, if any, as have become a part of their law.

UNIVERSITY

NIA.

APPENDIXES.

APPENDIX A.

OF THE LAW OF THE CHURCH.

The laws and regulations concerning the discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States may be thus arranged:

Ist. The Constitution and Canons of the General Convention, forming a code for the uniform government of every Diocese and every Church.

2d. The Constitution and Canons of the several Dioceses, of force only within their several precincts, and generally subordinate to the power of the General Convention.

3d. The Rubrics of the Church, and in some particulars, the Articles.

4th. The civil laws of the States affecting the Churches and their members, in regard to corporate or personal rights, civil privileges, and the acquisition and preservation of property.

5th. And to these, in my judgment, is to be added a portion of the Ecclesiastical Law of England; of that law strictly so called, and distinguished from what in that kingdom is known as the Foreign Canon Law.

The Constitutions and Canons, and those portions of the laws of the States which are applicable, will be hereafter stated and discussed. I shall seek in this introduction to prove that the Ecclesiastical Law of England has an actual force and operation in the system of our Church-to point out the extent of that operation-its limits and qualifications.

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*

The separate action of the Churches in the States, after the Revolution, and prior to or about the period of the organization of the General Convention, is the next subject of inquiry.