Author: Episcopal Church. Diocese of Pennsylvania. Bishop (1787-1836 : White)

Publisher:

Published: 1784

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

This large collection, which includes 184 letters by Bishop White, contains much material on the formative years of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in which he took a leading part. Principal clergymen among his correspondents are William West (24 letters, 1785-1790), William E. Wyatt (letters of 1829-1836), and John P.K. Henshaw (1829-1830), all of Baltimore, and Maryland Bishops Thomas John Claggett (letters of 1796-1814), James Kemp (1812-1827), and William Murray Stone (1830-1836). Letters to Bishop Kemp are most numerous, although other holdings are substantial. Other correspondence is addressed to the Reverend Samuel H. Turner and the Reverend Jackson Kemper. One letter recommends the Reverend William Rollinson Whittingham to the Church in general as agent for the Sunday School Union, 1828.The correspondence ranges over most of the concerns and events of the Episcopal Church during the period, with special reference to the Church in Maryland. Only a sampling of subjects can be summarized here. White expresses his opinions on organization and government of the Church; the role of the laity; relations of church and state; proceedings of General Conventions; qualifications for ordination; relations with the Church of England; independence of the American Church; the liturgy of the two Churches, including problems concerning the thirty-nine Articles and the Creeds; aid given by the Church of England to the Episcopal Church; legislation in Parliament, 1786; and correspondence with the Archbishops of Canterbury and York concerrning the new Prayer Book. Much concerns revision and sale of the Prayer Book and donation of proceeds to the Corporation for the Relief of Widows and Children of Deceased Clergymen. There are also copies of four letters to White by the Reverend Thomas Cradock, the Reverend William West, and Samuel Johnston, 1786-1788, about the election of the Reverend William Smith as Bishop of Maryland and objections to his consecration (whereabouts of the originals not shown). Many other letters concern affairs of the Church in Maryland and Virginia in the last two decades of the eighteenth century. Correspondence from 1800 on includes numerous references to clergymen in Pennsylvania and Maryland, among them Walter C. Gardiner, William L. Gibson, Archibald Walker, John Chandler, John Armstrong, Joseph Jackson, and Bird Wilson, as well as substantial materials about affairs of the Dioceses of Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York , and Connecticut. Letters of 1804-1807 concern Methodist Bishop Thomas Coke's negotiations for reunion of Methodists with the Protestant Episcopal Church, including his plan for the reordination of Methodist preachers, and White's views on the Methodist Church and John Wesley's influence. There are frequent references to the election and consecration of early bishops, including objections to the consecration of Philander Chase, 1819, and to White's relations with other bishops. Much concerns the disputed election of James Kemp as Suffragan Bishop of Maryland, 1814-1816, and the conduct and schism of the Reverend George Dashiell during that time. Substantial materials related to dealings with Bishop Thomas John Claggett throughout his episcopate. White writes frequently about affairs of the Diocese of Maryland and the Church in general. He gives his views on church music, architecture, the arrangement of church interiors, placement of organs and furniture, the practice in Pennsylvania regarding use of churches prior to consecration, canon law, and the liturgy and rubrics.There are also numerous references to Richard Mant, Bishop of Killaloe, in Ireland. In 1817, White writes the Reverend Samuel H. Turner expressing his views on slavery, its evils, the need for its gradual elimination, and his belief that Blacks should have part in the vox populi. Letters of 1824 concern the Reverend William Levington, a Negro ordained by White, who founded St. James' First African Church, Baltimore, with mention of his education and work among Blacks in Philadelphia. Other letters of the 1820s discuss White's writings on the history of the Episcopal Church, Calvinism, and other subjects; his controversy with the Reverend Jared Sparks over Unitarianism; and troubles in the Diocese of Pennsylvania over the election of Henry U. Onderdonk as Assistant Bishop. White disapproves of the project for a General Theological Seminary and prefers diocesan seminaries. Papers of 1829-1830 chiefly concern the trial of the Reverend Timothy Clowes, which raised problems of canon law concerning episcopal authority, and the consecration of William Murray Stone as Bishop of Maryland. Correspondence with Bishop Stone is mostly about clergy matters. The collection also references to Bishop White after his death, concerning memorials to him, his theology, his attitude toward sacraments and the Prayer Book, and various tributes.