eral Canons of the American Church
provide that in every Diocese there shall be a _Standing Committee_
(usually composed of not less than three Clergymen and two laymen
who shall be communicants) to be appointed by the Convention
thereof, whose duties, except so far as provided for by the Canons
of the General Convention, may be prescribed by the Canons of the
respective Dioceses. In every Diocese where there is a Bishop the
{245} Standing Committee acts as his Council of Advice. It recommends
to him persons to be admitted to Holy Orders or as Candidates for
Holy Orders, etc. As the representative of the Diocese, it gives its
consent to the consecration of a Bishop elected by any other
Diocese. When there is no Bishop, the Standing Committee becomes
the ecclesiastical Authority of the Diocese for all purposes
declared in the Canons.

State of Salvation.--By Holy Baptism we are admitted into Christ's
Church, His Kingdom of grace, which in the Church Catechism is
declared to be a "State of Salvation," _i.e._, a Christian
condition in which it is quite certain the salvation of God is
within our reach and in which as we are responsive to all its
overtures of grace we may grow into the likeness of God's dear
Son. Our final salvation is dependent on our continuance in this
state of Salvation by God's grace unto our life's end.

Stephen, Festival of Saint.--A Holy Day of the Church observed on
December 26, in memory of St. Stephen the Proto-martyr, _i.e._,
the _first_ Christian martyr. The position of the three Holy Days
after Christmas is remarkable. We have here brought into immediate
nearness to the Birth of Christ the three kinds of members who are
joined to Him by martyrdom, viz., those who are martyrs both in
will and deed, as St. Stephen; those who are martyrs in will but
not in deed, _i.e._, escaped with life as St. John; and lastly,
those who are martyrs in deed, but had no wills of their own to
sacrifice to God, as the Holy Innocents. The Festival of St. Stephen
dates as far back as the Fourth Century. The reason for its
institution is thus {246} given by an ancient writer, "Christ was
born on earth that Stephen might be born in heaven." Nothing is known
of St. Stephen before his selection for ordination as a Deacon, but
in the 6th and 7th chapters of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles
is given a very full account of his being made a Deacon; of his
doing "great wonders and miracles among the people," because he