This book - Centro de Estudos Anglicanos

56THE EPISCOPALIANSWith the consecration of White and Provoost, Episcopalians had completed theinitial stage of their denominational reorganization. By 1787, the church had threebishops as well as a proposed constitution and prayer book. Fundamental questionsabout church polity, however, still separated the leadership in the middleand southern states from Seabury and the clergy of New England. Was the EpiscopalChurch to be governed democratically, with clergy and laity sharing equalresponsibility for its guidance, or did an “episcopal” church have to be under thedirect authority and control of bishops? The inability to agree over the church’screeds also reflected a potentially serious theological division. If church membersdisagreed about the essentials of the Christian faith, the future unity of the denominationwas in doubt. Given the circumstances that existed in 1787, Episcopaliansin the United States might well have remained at odds, split perhaps intotwo separate denominations. 15Despite the gravity of the situation they faced, White and Seabury were eventuallyable to reach a compromise on the principles that divided them. The nextGeneral Convention assembled in 1789 in Philadelphia. White presided at thefirst session (July–August), and while no representatives from New England werepresent, Seabury contacted William Smith in an advance effort to promote unity.In response to Seabury’s gesture, the convention quickly passed a resolution recognizingthe legitimacy of his Scottish consecration. The first session of the 1789convention also agreed to modify its own structure by creating a separate “Houseof Bishops.” This arrangement not only provided the bishops with an assemblyseparate from the “House of Deputies,” in which the convention’s clerical andlay delegates met, but also gave them a partial veto over any action proposed bythe deputies. This decision successfully addressed a concern raised both by theEnglish consecrators of White and Provoost and by the New England clergy, whoobjected to the fact that American bishops lacked many of the prerogatives traditionallyexercised by Anglican prelates. Like the United States Constitution,which was ratified during the same period, the constitution of the EpiscopalChurch was designed to reflect republican political ideals, especially the notionof a “mixed” government that balanced the competing interests of various politicalconstituencies. 16In September 1789, at the beginning of its second session, the convention madefurther concessions to Seabury and the New Englanders. It increased the bishops’veto power over the House of Deputies (the proportion of deputies required tooverride a veto by the House of Bishops was raised from 60 to 80 percent), andit gave the bishops the right to originate (as well as to reject) legislation. Largelyappeased by these decisions, Bishop Seabury and clerical deputies from Connecticutand Massachusetts then joined the convention as it completed its work.Delegates from all the states formally approved both the church’s constitutionand the body of laws known as the “canons.” They also adopted a final versionof the American Book of Common Prayer and made its use obligatory throughoutthe denomination. The 1789 prayer book incorporated material that some Episcopalianshad earlier attempted to delete. The word “regeneration” was restored