No further steps seem to have been taken til 1872 A.D., when Bishop Armitage, in address to the Annual Convention, used following words:

his the

I earnestly invoke the aid of the

election of a Bishop. On the thirteenth ballot the Rev. Leighton Coleman, of Toledo, Ohio, was elected Bishop. The whole number of clergymen belonging to the Diocese at the time of its organization

was nineteen; of communicants, there were reported twelve hundred and eighty-four. The first Annual Council of the Diocese was held June 8, 1875 A.D., at St. Paul's Church, Fond du Lac. Bishop Welles presided. Seventeen clergymen and the representatives of twelve parishes were present. A body of Canons was adopted. The Rev. Leighton Coleman having declined to serve as Bishop, the Council proceeded to a new election. On the third ballot the Rev. Jacob S. Shipman, of Lexington, Kentucky, was chosen. The Rev. Mr. Shipman having declined the Episcopate, a Special Council was assembled at Christ's Church, Green

I see

bis tion and in

ties, Door,

gan,

not why we may not set off one Convo

Bishop Armitage did not live to see desire gratified. The General Convenof 1874 A.D., however, consented to, ratified the formation of, a new Diocese Wisconsin, to consist of nineteen counto wit: Marathon, Oconto, Shawano, Kewaunee, Brown, Outagamie, Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Adams, Waushara, Winnebago, Calumet, Manitowoc, SheboyFond du Lac, Green Lake, and Marquette, and also such portion of Dodge County as may be necessary to include in the limits of the new Diocese the village of Wampum, such division to take effect on the first day of December, 1874 A.D. vision made for the support of a Bishop was the sum of fifteen thousand dollars (of which ten thousand dollars were in promissory notes and five thousand dollars in cash securities), the interest of which, and an annual assessment of one thousand dollars and an Episcopal residence, were considered a sufficient compliance with the requirement

of Article 5 of the Constitution.

The pro

The Primary Council of the new Diocese was convened at St. Paul's Church, Fond du Lac, January 7, 1875 A.D. The Right Reverend E. R. Welles, S.T.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Wisconsin, presided. The Rev. Martin V. Averill was elected Secretary, and Mr. James B. Perry was elected Treasurer. Sixteen clergymen and the reppresentatives of fourteen parishes were present. Fond du Lac was chosen as the name of the Diocese. A Constitution of seventeen articles was adopted. The Bishop of the Diocese of Wisconsin announced that

he had chosen the Diocese of Wisconsin as his See. He was requested by the Council to take Episcopal charge of the new Diocese until the election and consecration of its Bishop. The Council then proceeded to the

The Rev. William Dafter presided. On the third ballot for Bishop the choice fell on the Rev. John Henry Hobart Brown, S.T.D., rector of St. John's Church, Cohoes, Diocese of Albany. Dr. Brown accepted the election, and was duly consecrated at St. John's Church, Cohoes, Wednesday, December 15, 1875 A.D., by the Right Reverend Horatio Potter, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of New York, the Right Reverend William Crosswell Doane, S.T.D., Bishop of Albany, the Right Reverend Benjamin H. Paddock, D.D., Bishop of Massachusetts, assisted by the Bishops of Vermont, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and New Jersey.

In 1880 A.D. the limits of the Diocese of

Fond du Lac were enlarged so as to include portions of the counties of Bayfield, Ashland, and Chippewa, and the whole of Taylor and Clark. The present area of the Diocese is about that of one-half of the State, 27,000 square miles. Its population in 1880 A.D. was 442,221. The summary of Diocesan statistics in 1884 is, clergymen, 28; families, 1382; individuals, 6306; com. municants, 2390; parishes, 20; organized missions, 30. The Diocese has many advantages of soil and climate, and at some future time will be populous. Its mineral deposits are undoubtedly large, but as yet little developed. The northern portion of the Diocese is heavily wooded. The climate is salubrious, but somewhat cold in winter. The soil generally is good, and in the southern part of the Diocese very productive The population is formed of an unusual variety of nationalities.

The American settlers are mostly from the New England and Middle States. Germans are next in number. Then follow Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Poles, Belgians, Bohemians, Hollanders, Welsh, Engfish, French, Canadians, Scotch, Irish, Finns, and Icelanders. There are several reservations of Indians, chiefly of Chippewas, Menominees, and Oneidas. The Winnebagoes have a little land of their own, but some of these and of the Pottawatomies

wander about the country in bands and companies. A few of the Stockbridges and Brothertown Indians survive. A portion of the Oneida tribe is settled in Brown County. At Hobart Church, Oneida, about nine hundred of them are baptized, and are under the pastoral charge of the Rev. E. A. Goodnough. About three hundred are communicants. In view of the missionary character of the work the erection of this Diocese was a bold movement, reflecting much credit on the faith and courage of the clergy and people that sustained it. The financial disasters of the country and the restlessness of the early settlers have retarded the progress of the Diocese. Yet there is steady and healthful growth at present and a bright promise for the future.

RT. REV. J. H. H. BROWN, D.D.,

Bishop of Fond du Lac.

Font. The vessel containing the water wherewith the Sacrament of Baptism is administered. It was, as we have seen (vide BAPTISTERY), placed in earlier churches in a separate building, but it was later transferred into the church. The Western Church used usually a stone Font, but it might be of any convenient material, and it was to be used for the baptism alone. The Font in the Eastern Church is movable, of wood or metal, and is seldom or never possessed of any beauty. The shape of it in the West was generally octagonal, though a fanciful mysticism occasionally gave it the form of a sepulchre or of a cross. The Font in the Baptistery was surrounded with a low wall, entered by steps, usually seven, three without, three within, excluding the top step. It was placed in the English Church near the west door or the southwestern porch,-a reminiscence of the Eastern practice of the Baptistery. In the act of Baptism the water is not to be placed in the Font before the Priest comes with the child or person to be baptized to the Font. (Vide rubric to Office of Public Baptism.) The invocation over the water is one of the most ancient rites in this most ancient office. St. Basil (De Sp. Sanc., c. 27) says that it is one of the Liturgical traditions handed down to us before the Liturgies were committed to writing. But the first direct mention of the benediction of the water is in Tertullian (De Bap., e. 4). Compare the earliest form (of 300 A.D.) with our own prayer, "Look down from heaven and sanctify this water, and grant grace and power that he who is baptized according to the command of Thy CHRIST may with Him be crucified and die and be buried and rise again to the adoption which is in Him, by dying unto sin but living unto righteousness." (Ap. Const., vii.

43.)

The early English use (and so in the first Prayer-Book) was to put water into the Font once a month, and blessing that, to have it ready for the baptisms; but this was changed and the prayer placed where it now stands in the second Prayer-Book of Edward

VI., 1552 A.D. The benediction of the water is not held to be essential, but it is a very old and solemn setting apart of the outward and visible sign of that Sacrament which regenerates us.

Formatæ Literæ. There were several kinds of Formatæ Literæ, or Commendatory Letters. The word formatæ has an obscure origin, but probably means sealed letters. Such we know to have been used in the Apostolic times (2 Thess. ii. 2; 2 Cor. iii. 1). They were both a necessity to the Christían traveler, that he might receive hospitality and relief from the brethren whom he might meet, and a protection and assurance to those who should give him the entertainment due to a brother. It was, too, a bond between the different Churches. It was an unanswerable argument against the Donatists, that their letters were not received outside their own Churches, and therefore that they were a sect. Later these letters, without which a person could not be received, formed a check upon the desire to rove from Diocese to Diocese, and were something like Letters Commendatory. It was under penalty of excommunication that any one received a stranger coming without such a letter, and even then he was subjected to scrutiny. For the abuse had grown up in the letters of confessors and in the letters of peace of not inserting the name of the bearer, so that the letter could be used by any one who held it at the time. This was repressed by refusing such letters any credit, and no cleric was allowed to officiate in a strange city without letters from his Bishop. Later on these letters took special forms. A special mode of signing such letters as were sent by Bishops was agreed upon,-letters asking material aid, letters recommending to communion, and letters dimissory, transferring the bearer to the jurisdiction of another Bishop.

We have retained two forms of these letters. The Canon (Tit. ii., c. 12, 2) requires that every layman removing from one parish to another should carry with. him a letter certifying that he is a Communicant in good standing, and the rector of the parish to which he removes "shall not be required to receive him as a Communicant until such letter be produced." The second form of letter is the Letter Dimissory of the clergyman removing from one Diocese to another. In order to gain canonical residence within the second Diocese he must present to the Ecclesiastical Authority a testimonial from the Ecclesiastical Au

thority of the Diocese he has left, which shall set forth his true standing and character. The testimonial may be in the following words: "I hereby certify that A. B., who has signified to me his desire to be transferred to the Ecclesiastical Authority of, is a Presbyter (or Deacon) of in regular standing, and has not, so far as I know or believe, been justly liable to evil report for error in religion or viciousness of

life for three years last past." The person presenting is not transferred till it has been accepted by the Ecclesiastical Authority of the Diocese to which he removes. He is allowed six months in which to present this letter. If it is not presented in three months, it may be considered void by the Authority that gave it; if not in six months, it shall be considered void. He must be received, unless there are such rumors against him as would justify an investigation in the Diocese he has left, in which case the Ecclesiastical Authority is not permitted to receive him. (Vide LETTERS.)

Forms. Forms are necessary, in all important matters at least. Forms are constantly used in all legal instruments, and in very many other matters of business, as much for guidance as for the correct execution of the matter in hand. These forms, so necessary elsewhere, are most necessary in Public Worship, since as the Congregation worship as well as the clergyman, there must be a form to guide them in their common acts, and as these acts of Worship are of the most important man can engage in, forms also furnish the correct conduct and wording of these acts. Indeed, there is no worship at all without some forms, whether bare and insufficient, or full and sufficing. This must be admitted. Then that there must be matter in these forms is shown by our LORD giving us a Prayer with the inJunction, "After this manner, therefore, pray ye." The fullness and propriety of the forms used is another part of the subject of forms. Not only outlines of action or successions of procedure in the worship, but the words of the prayers were given in certain cases by God Himself (Deut. xxvi. 5-10; xxi. 7, 8; Ps. xc.; Joel ii. 17; Hosea xiv. 2, 3). With such a warranty for our action, the example of our LORD and the use of the Apostles (Acts iv. 24-30, "with one accord" they lifted up their voice to GOD, which could not be unless it were a wellknown prayer), the Church everywhere has ever used forms of prayer. Till the Reformation there was no body of Christians that was without a Liturgy. Such a thing was not dreamt of as possible; indeed, one of the perplexities of those who traveled out of their own country was in the variety of the Liturgical forms they met with, and the customs which were practiced abroad. It was in part the result of the ancient authority each Bishop held to alter the Liturgic forms in his own Diocese, which authority, however, was afterwards exercised by the Primate of the Archprovince that greater unity of Liturgic forms might be obtained. In this matter of forms there

should be a proper flexible mean kept be

tween laxness and straitness.

Then the Church in each country has the right to arrange its forms of worship on the general outline of the ancient Liturgic forms, but adapting them to the needs of the people with whom she has to deal. It is

wisdom in adaptation, and judgment in using our privileges, and a true valuation of the rich heritage of the forms and sanctified prayers of the Ancient Churches, that will solve the problems of fitting and using our Book of Common Prayer for the need of the Church in this country. Forms of Prayer have been added from time to time, and special prayers are issued by our Bishops whenever there is need, as in the case of war, or of an epidemic, or of a national fast-day.

The

Formularies. These may be of Worship, as the Book of Common Prayer, or of Faith, as the Creeds, and later, the documents like the Confession of Augsburg, containing formal statements on controverted points of the Faith. A Formulary of worship, as has been shown, has always been found in the possession of every Church, and incorporated in its structure there was always the recitation of the Creed (generally the Nicene). The Formularies of the Creed have been touched upon in the article upon the Creed, but it may be well to add a word upon the formation of the Creed. Apostles' Creed most probably was a commonly received form, built upon the Baptismal Formula, "In the name of the FATHER. of the Son, and of the HOLY GHOST." Of the FATHER, we believe that He is GOD, Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, a clause which sums up the main articles upon the First Person of the Trinity. Of the SON, we believe that He is the only Sox of GOD, and our LORD, and then we recite the outline of His human life, and confess His future coming. Of the HOLY GHOST, we believe that His work abiding in us is the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting, the sum of what Holy Scripture teaches of His work, and yet bearing internal evidence that it was also a doctrine in the Church concurrent with the Scriptures. This Creed was taught orally to the catechu mens at first in substance, not in words, and finally, just before their baptism was intrusted to them in its compact, concise wording. That this formulary should have varied slightly in the different parts of the Church, extending from India to the Atlantic, is not to be wondered at; the wonder is that there were not greater variations even within the just limits of the one Faith; but as a matter of fact, the variations were not material in any respect except that the Article "He descended into hell" was a later addition (about 400 A.D.). The Nicene Creed was set forth by the Fathers at the Council of Nicæa in 325 A.D. It was the result of the comparison of the forms of the Creed held throughout the Church, and had clauses added to meet the Arian heresy, It was structurally the same as the Apostles' Creed, and, as has been well said, it is the Creed upon which all of Christendom will unite. The formula called the Athanasian

It is this responsibility of being permitted to act for ourselves, to choose what we shall do, how we shall use the life, the capacities, the time, the education, the position, the religion He covers us with, the enjoyments as well as the ills, the stern duties as well as the softer pleasures; it is how we shall choose to use these and their like that makes us accountable beings to GOD, to our fellowmen, to our own conscience here in life, and at the bar of judgment hereafter, for we are all subject to GOD's Law, order, and harmony; and liberty and free-will are not anarchy and disobedience, though sin has so injured them that many men so miscall and therefore misuse them. Bishop Butler acutely remarks that though men may theoretically assert a preordained necessity, yet practically they must act as though such necessity did not exist. And it must be so, or all Law would cease, for no one could be justly held accountable if he were not free. Choice in human agents implies a moral obligation. So no action, in itself indifferent, but may be made the means of a good or bad result. Through our sin-taint all our acts are stained with this evil, despite a longing to do better. In this we feel our short-coming and our feebleness. The freedom of the will may, does in many, become the means of the worst slavery, a lawless willfulness. To free us from this, first by example, and then by His direct help, and by taking us into Himself, our LORD came upon earth, made His atonement, effected His resurrection, founded His Church, gave His sacraments. His free human will was subordinated to His Divine will, and made perfectly consonant with it. At all times and in all points CHRIST, the LORD of nature, submitted to the limitations of our nature and the action of those laws which constrain us, and through this obedience made Himself acquainted with our griefs and bore our infirmities. And at every point He taught that he was submitting His will to His FATHER'S will. "In the volume of the book it is written of me I delight to do Thy will, O my GoD; yea, Thy Law is within my heart" (Ps. xl. 7, 8). It was of His own freewill He suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried. Of His own free-will He took up our human life, His human life, again and made it immortal. He calls for a willing, a free obedience, full of love and loyalty to Him, for He can make us free indeed, as redeeming us from the bondage to sin. A consecrated freedom of will, then, in CHRIST is the true liberty wherewith CHRIST has made us free. And this freedom of the will is joyous and full of life, taking the ills that befall as disciplinary and rising above them, using the things of this world and not abusing them, living in the gifts of CHRIST'S Church, the means of grace, the sacraments, and the inner meditation and conscious, conscientious effort to subdue the carnal will and to bring it into a loving subjection to the will of CHRIST. GOD the FATHER created

us in His own image by His will, and we must by this have been at first created as free within our finite sphere as He in His boundless power. GOD the SON has redeemed us from the slavery of sin, and has made us free in Himself, with restored rights and privileges. GOD the HOLY GHOST is that Spirit of the LORD, that Spirit of Liberty, overshadowing, pleading with, and leading us, given to us at our Confirmation to abide with us, sanctifying us with the perfect law of liberty. So St. Paul, in the very Epistle quoted often to destroy the Christian liberty, urges as his conclusion from his argument, "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of GOD, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto GOD, which is your reasonable service" (Rom. xii. 1, 2). Our truest exercise of freewill is in using, in this life, the fullness of our Christian rights for our eternal life hereafter. (Browne on XXXIX. Articles, Art. X.)

Friday. Good-Friday, the day upon which the Atonement for the sins of the whole world was made, has left its impress upon each Friday of the year as the Resurrection has carried the Law of worship on the Sabbath to the first day of the week, and has made every Sunday a commemoration of its glorious victory. Friday has from time immemorial been a weekly fast-day for this reason. But Good-Friday has been the central fast-day of the Christian year. It was strictly observed. Lent had its beginning from the fast of forty hours, which began on Good-Friday and lasted till midnight of Easter-even. The kiss of peace was not given; the Holy Communion was not celebrated; the penitents were reconciled. At one time there was no sermon on that day, but a Council of Toledo (633) A.D.) ordered that there should be a sermon on the Passion on that day. The later cere monials, added during the medieval times, were sometimes very significant and solemn. Our own Office for Good-Friday, throwing aside the "Office of the Presanctified" elements of the Holy Communion, has, by as signing an Epistle and Gospel for the day, given us the right to have a celebration on that day.

Funerals. (Vide BURIAL.) In all the details connected with a funeral, simplicity and reverent decency should be considered, and all display of any kind suppressed. The Jewish law of utter simplicity is an excellent one to follow. Still more so should be the feeling impressed upon all who assist in showing the last respect due to the mortal remains of the hope of a future resurrection, the certainty of the promise. The early Christians bore their dead to the grave with glad hymns and with everything that could mark their faith in CHRIST. This principle should rule in all the arrangements which the rank and position of the departed demand should be made, and it must be the rule for all the preparations at the church.