ody continue to be regularly held every
three years. Rev. James Madison, D. D., was consecrated Bishop of
Virginia, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, September 19, 1790, and died
March 6, 1812. Rev. Thomas John Claggett, D. D., of Maryland, was the
first Bishop consecrated in the United States, having been elevated to
that holy Order by the Right Reverend Bishops Provoost, Seabury, White,
and Madison, in New York, September 17, 1792; since which time,
thirty-three Bishops have been consecrated, making the whole number,
thirty-eight, of whom twenty are now living. For the succession of
Bishops, from the first establishment of the Church, to the present day,
see _Statistics_.

The last General Convention was held in New York, in October, 1841, at
which time, there were present, twenty-one Bishops, and 79 clerical and 57
lay members. The Bishops reported the consecration of 93 churches, the
ordination of 355 clergymen, and the confirmation of 14,767 persons, in
the years 1838 to 1841. The whole number of clergymen, at the present
time, (1842,) is 1114. Other facts of interest, in relation to the Church
in this Country, will be found among the Statistics of this volume; and
for more full information, the reader is referred to "Swords's Pocket
Almanack, Churchman's Register, and Ecclesiastical Calendar," a valuable
little manual, published annually, and to the "Churchman's Almanack," also
published annually; and for historical notices, reference may be made to
Bishop White's "Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church," Journals of
the General, and State Conventions, Hawks's Ecclesiastical History of
different States, and other similar works.

Articles Of Religion.

_As established by the Bishops, the Clergy, and Laity of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in
Convention, on the twelfth Day of September, in the Year of our
Lord, one thousand eight hundred and one._

"ARTICLE I. _Of Faith in the Holy Trinity._--There is but one living and
true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite
power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker and Preserver of all things, both
visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three
persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost.

"ART. II. _Of the Word, or Son of God, which was made very Man._--The Son,
which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of t