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{ [New Orleans, Jan. 20. 1842] }

Bishop Polk then rose and delivered the
following

Address --

Beloved Brethren --

I appear before you for the first time,
in obedience to an invitation you have
felt moved, under God, to extend me, to
address the office of chief pastor among
you.

The confidence you have manifested
towards me, during the period in which I
have been your Provisional Bishop, encourages
me to hope, that our future intercourse, in
the most intimate relations we now sustain
to each other, may be characterized by a like
spirit of brotherly kindness.--

Knit together as we are, we form one body;
and are, in Christ, to be co-workers with God,
for the promotion of His glory, and the salvation
of men.-- How well then does it become us to be
of one mind and of one heart, that we
may the more effectually "strive together for the
faith once delivered to the Saints."

Let us therefore, in the threshold of our existence
as an organized diocese, lift up our hearts in
devout prayer to Him, from whom all holy
desires and good counsels come, that He would
evermore preside in the midst of us; upon our