Priest of the Church of England, services began to be held
regularly and a church building was erected at Jamestown. This was
thirteen years before the "Pilgrim Fathers" landed on Plymouth Rock.
The Church was planted in all the colonies and included a greater
portion of the population. But in time other religious bodies were
also established and as these organizations had everything necessary
for their growth and development they grew and prospered. With the {16}
Church it was far different. For more than one hundred and fifty
years it existed on these shores an Episcopal Church without an
Episcopate. There could be no confirmations and no ordinations to
the ministry unless candidates were willing to take the long and
perilous voyage to England. The result was the supply of clergy fell
off, and children, although baptized, yet because they could not be
confirmed, finally wandered away to other folds.

Repeated efforts were made to secure the consecration of a Bishop
for the Church in America, but owing to political and ecclesiastical
complications this was not possible until after the Revolutionary
War. In A.D. 1784, on November 14th, the Rev. Samuel Seabury, D.D.,
was consecrated in Aberdeen, Scotland, by the Scottish Bishops,
for the Church in Connecticut and as the first Bishop in America.
On February 4th, 1787, the Rev. William White, D.D., of Pennsylvania,
and the Rev. Samuel Provoost, D.D., of New York, were consecrated
Bishops by the two Archbishops of the Church of England and the
Bishop of Bath and Wells, and Peterborough, in Lambeth Palace,
London. A few years later, viz., on September 19th, 1790, the Rev.
James Madison, D.D., of Virginia, was consecrated in England by
the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London and the Bishop
of Rochester. By the consecration of these four Bishops abroad the
American Church secured the Episcopate from the ancient and
Apostolic sources, and thus gained the power of perpetuating itself.
The significance of this may be seen when we reflect that the
ancient canons of the Church require that not less than three
Bishops shall unite in the consecration of a Bishop. This enactment
is designed to provide against any possible defect in the succession
of any one of the {17} consecrating Bishops. We thus see how careful
the Church has always been in conferring this great office, and how
particular the American Church was to meet every ecclesiastical
requirement according to the