Southern bishops and deputies and their names were called as usual. The latter had considered themselves forced to outward ecclesiastical separation, but declared that "though now found within different political boundaries, the Church remains substantially one." By the time that the next General Convention met peace had been declared; and so tactfully were the delicate questions of the moment handled that complete reunion was effected with the least possible friction. The whole attitude of the Church gained public respect and confidence, and the manner in which it led the way in reunion was of undoubted service to the work of national reconstruction.
After the reunion of churchmen as citizens had been thus happily accomplished, they were for a while divided in spirit by fierce theological controversies. A determined attempt was made to suppress the outward developments of what is known as ritualism, especially in the General Conventions of 1868, 1871, and 1874. The opposing parties valued or condemned these external manifestations not for their own sake, but because of the doctrines they were supposed to symbolize, which were held by their opponents to be practically those of the Roman Catholic Church. In spite of the eloquent arguments of the leader of the High Church forces, the distinguished Warden of Racine College, James De Koven, a canon which marks the height of the movement in favor of repression was passed in 1874, limiting the ritual which might be employed in the celebration of the Holy Communion; but it has remained practically a dead letter. The question of baptismal regeneration was also productive of heated debate; in 1871, 48 out of 53 bishops issued a declaration that in their opinion "the word regenerate in the offices for the ministration of baptism of infants is not there so used as to determine that a moral change in the subject of baptism is wrought in the sacrament." This failed, however, to satisfy the extreme Low Churchmen, a number of whom withdrew in 1873, under the leadership of Dr. Cummins, then Assistant Bishop of Kentucky, and constituted the "Reformed Episcopal Church" (q.v.).
Partly through the withdrawal of these aggressive elements, and partly through the general drift of opinion in the Church, the old Evangelical party, as a party, has had less and less influence in late years, The High Church party, on the other hand, has grown continuously both in numbers and influence; and what were advanced ritualistic practices a generation ago are now placidly accepted by the most moderate churchmen. At the same time, the Broad Church school, which was an outcome of the movement of Maurice and Kingsley and Stanley in England, has attained a large and increasing share of power. The two older parties agreed in their insisting on the importance of dogmatic belief, differing only as to which particular set of dogmas were to be emphasized. The new one stands for individual freedom of both thought and action, and looks doubtfully upon claims to absolute authority, whether in Church or Bible. In its conception of applied Christianity it is largely humanitarian, and is forward to provide for the temporal as well as the spiritual needs of men.
By this growing latitude of belief on the one hand, and by its connection with the historic past and its dignified liturgical form of worship on the other, the Episcopal Church has in recent years appealed so strongly to numbers of educated men and women as to make natural its consideration of itself as a possible centre and rallying-point for the reunion of the widely varying forms of Protestant Christianity in America. This movement really began with the memorial presented to the House of Bishops in 1853 by Dr. Muhlenberg, a man far in advance of his generation in many particulars, which looked to "some ecclesiastical system broader and more comprehensive ... providing for as much freedom in opinion, discipline, and worship as is compatible with the essential faith and order of the Gospel." This spirit of conciliation found definite expression in the declaration of the House of Bishops in 1886, which was confirmed, with some minor changes, by the Lambeth Conference two years later. It set forth as an irreducible minimum, "as inherent parts of the sacred deposit, and therefore as essential to the restoration of unity among the divided branches of Christendom: (1) The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the revealed word of God; (2) the Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith; (3) the two sacraments — baptism and the supper of the Lord — ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him; (4) the historic episcopate locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of His Church."
The general position of the Episcopal Church is explicitly declared in the preface to the Prayer Book, which states that "this Church is far from intending to depart from the Church of England in any essential point of doctrine, discipline, or worship." Its organization in spiritual matters is substantially the same as that of the mother Church, with which, while taking the independent ground of a national Church, it maintains close relations, made more effective by the participation of American bishops in the Lambeth Conferences, held approximately every ten years. (See Anglican Communion; Lambeth Conference.) Its Constitution is in many particulars analogous to that of the nation, except that the powers of its executive head are strictly limited and hardly more than nominal. He is called the Presiding Bishop, and is the senior bishop in order of consecration. Of late years there has been a movement in favor of facilitating the government of the Church, now that it has grown to such dimensions, by a division of the country into strictly organized provinces, with a metropolitan see at the head of each; but action on this was deferred at the General Convention of 1901, showing that the time had not yet come for such a step.
In legislative matters, for purposes affecting the whole Church, the General Convention is supreme. This body, which meets triennially in different places, is composed of two houses, the House of Bishops, consisting of all bishops having jurisdiction within the United States, and the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, composed of four clergymen and four laymen elected from
