Pastoral letter.
We have received a copy of the ‘"Pastoral Letter to the clergy and members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the
State of Arkansas; by
the Right Rev. Henry C. Lay, D. D., Missionary
Bishop of the
South west."’ The letter gives a lucid and interesting record of the work of the Episcopal Church in that diocese, and is accompanied by a paper of marked ability on ‘"Our Relations to the
Church in the
United States."’
Bishop Lay, after an examination of the
Constitution and Canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the old
United States, comes to the conclusion that the Episcopal Church in the
South has an unquestionable right to claim ultimately a distinct organization as a National Church and is prepared to unite with his brethren in organizing a General Convention of the
Church in the
Confederate States.
In reference to his own jurisdiction in the missionary field, which was derived from the General Convention of the old
United States, he proposes to advise with his brethren in the Episcopate.
Bishop Lay is a native of
Chesterfield county, in this State, and one of the most eloquent and gifted of the
Southern clergy.