permitted now to say through me, that it is a privilege for which
they are deeply grateful to have been instrumental in bringing
about the very first movement of the Church in Britain from an
insular to a Catholic position; in demonstrating--to quote the
words of Lord Nelson uttered in your hearing at Aberdeen--"that
establishment and endowment are not necessary to Church life." For
it is to be remembered that not only was there not an Anglican
bishop exercising acknowledged jurisdiction in America before
Seabury, but there was not an Anglican bishop anywhere outside of
the British Isles. Our fathers, sending Seabury for consecration,
awakened the English Church to the consciousness that it had a
duty to the world in extending its episcopacy beyond the shadow of
its cathedrals and palaces. For this great result, "so far beyond
what they had hoped for," of their wise and holy enterprise, we
humbly adore the great Head of the Church on this hundreth
anniversary of its inception in the consecration of the first
bishop of Connecticut.

For thirty-three years, dear Bishop, chief pastor of the first
American diocese, you have carried on wisely and well the work
which Seabury began, going in and out among us with the pastoral
spirit in your heart, of which the graceful gift of the Scottish
Church to you is the expressive symbol: "To the flock of Christ a
shepherd." We welcome you once more to your home and to ours; to
the diocese you love and serve; to the parishes which love and
reverence you; and to the institutions you have founded and
fostered. You have been absent from us long enough for our comfort
and, as we gladly believe, for yours. Fourscore and four years of
the eighteenth century Connecticut endured to have its bishop on
the other side of the Atlantic. Three months is enough in the