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ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



matter. Addressing the House of Laymen on the 

 name day. the archbishop, expressing the trust 

 that before long the houses of laymen in both 

 provinces might have legal recognition, said that 

 it would be very important that the House of 

 Lavmen should *le considered by the nation at 

 large as really representing the laity, and conse- 

 quently they 'must take care that whenever they 

 propos'ed anything of that kind the franchise for 

 the election of members of the House of Laymen 

 should IK- wide enough to satisfy the whole of the 

 laity as a body. In the lower house a resolution 

 was passed, in view of the strong feeling known 

 to exist in many quarters that there should be 

 a representation of the laity duly authorized to 

 <roo]Mrati> with the convocations of the clergy, 

 requesting the archbishop to direct the appoint- 

 ment of a committee of the lower house "to inquire 

 into and report upon the methods of electing 

 representatives of the laity and the nature of the 

 authority assigned to them in other branches of 

 the Anglican communion and all churches in com- 

 munion with it.*' It was also made a part of the 

 duty of the committee to inquire into the defini- 

 tion of " a lay member of the Church," adopted 

 in various branches of the Anglican communion, 

 l>oth for purposes of voting and as a qualifica- 

 tion for acting as a representative. A resolution 

 adopted in the House of Laymen approved of some 

 amendment of the constitution of the convoca- 

 tions and of joint sittings, and of consultative 

 houses of laymen, but expressed the opinion that 

 action should at present be confined to the for- 

 mer subject, and that a joint meeting of the 

 houses of laymen of both provinces should be ar- 

 ranged for " to consider how and on what basis 

 the representation of the laity might best be car- 

 ried into effect. The upper house, by resolution, 

 declared it expedient that diocesan organization, 

 wherever practicable, should be established with 

 a view to " providing for some help and instruc- 

 tion for deacons in preparation for the priesthood 

 and the promotion of study and the maintenance 

 of a high standard of life among those who have 

 been ordained.'' A message was communicated to 

 the houses from the episcopal administrator of 

 the Old Catholic Church in Austria, expressing 

 sympathy over the death of the Queen, and prayer 

 for blessings upon the reign of King Edward VII. 

 Another message, from the Patriarch of Con- 

 stantinople, announced the election of Photius, 

 Archbishop of Nazareth, to be Pope and Patri- 

 arch of Alexandria. 



At the meeting of the Convocation, May 8, the 

 bill for reform of Convocation as offered in Par- 

 liament by the Bishop of Rochester was presented 

 by him and approved in the upper and lower 

 The bishop explained that he had been 

 allowed in the preceding year to bring in a bill 

 which provided for a possibility of reforming the 

 existing convocations, the creation of a repre- 

 sentative lay element, and the uniting to a certain 

 extent of the two existing convocations. Since 

 then it had been thought desirable to proceed with 

 the first and third of these objects, postponing the 

 The bill in its present form was entitled 



The Convocations of the Clergy Bill," and con- 

 fined itself to the two points mentioned. They 

 wished Parliament to declare that the convoca- 

 tions had power, with the King's assent, to amend 

 by canon the constitution of the Convocation 

 and the representation of the clergy, and also 

 to provide for the joint sittings of the two con- 

 vocations. The speaker desired to reiterate 

 the fact that it was not their will, but only 

 under pressure of circumstances, that the com- 

 mittee brought forward their proposal for the re- 



form of the clerical body without associating with 

 it the proposals for the constitution of a repre- 

 sentative lay house. They commended the bill 

 to both houses as a necessary step to the end they 

 had in view of giving the Church more power in 

 exerting the energies of its life in a free and whole- 

 some manner. The archbishop thought the bill 

 might be carried through Parliament without 

 A-ery great difficulty. It was comparatively a very 

 small measure. It did not propose to add to the 

 power of Convocation in the slightest degree. It 

 did not give them the right of doing anything 

 which they had not already. It enabled the clergy 

 to enter more thoroughly into the action of Con- 

 vocation by being more thoroughly represented. 

 The constitution of the lower house of Convoca- 

 tion had never been handled by any act of Par- 

 liament, and a declaratory act, therefore, was the 

 proper method of enabling the clergy to express 

 their opinion upon their own proper business more 

 effectually than they could now. The resolutions 

 provisionally passed at the previous session of 

 Convocation with reference to the supply and 

 training of candidates for holy orders were taken 

 up and passed in the upper house. During the 

 discussion of them, the Bishop of London men- 

 tioned five hindrances which he thought stood in 

 the w r ay of men's seeking ordination. They were 

 non-realization of the objectiveness of the call, 

 the unsettlement of men's minds, the attractions 

 of the Indian civil service, the poverty of the 

 clergy, and the lack of encouragement given at 

 home and at school to men to come forward for 

 ordination. In the lower house a committee was 

 appointed to consider the causes of clerical pov- 

 erty among both the beneficed and the unbeneficed 

 clergy, together with the objects of existing cler- 

 ical charities and the principles on which the man- 

 agers act in making grants; and to inquire into 

 and report upon the methods adopted by existing 

 institutions and associations for increasing per- 

 manently the incomes of poor benefices. Reports 

 of the Committee on Ecclesiastical Courts, em- 

 bodying resolutions of the joint meeting of the 

 two convocations in July, 1900, and of the Com- 

 mittee on " Ecclesiastical Dilapidations," advising 

 further consideration of the subject, were adopted. 

 In the House of Laymen resolutions were passed 

 condemning exercise of pressure upon young peo- 

 ple to make auricular confession; directing in- 

 quiry into the religious privileges of members of 

 the Church of England in workhouses, lunatic 

 asylums, and houses of industry; and approving 

 the use of the Revised Version of the Bible at the 

 lecterns in public services when it is desired and 

 is not open to well-founded objection the term 

 " use " being understood to mean " the occasional 

 employment of lessons from the Revised Version 

 when for the interest of more accurate translation 

 it is desirable." 



At the meeting of the Convocation, July 2, 

 the Bishop of Rochester presented the report of 

 the joint Committee on Ecclesiastical Courts. It 

 urged the strengthening of the diocesan and pro- 

 vincial courts, that they might dispose, as courts 

 of first instance, and in such a way that the de- 

 cision should not be merely the individual deci- 

 sion of a single judge, bishop, or archbishop, but 

 should have a more representative character, and 

 so be more likely to commend itself to the judg- 

 ment of the litigants on either side. Resolutions 

 were agreed to by the upper house to the effect 



that it is desirable (a) to strengthen the consti- 

 tution of the diocesan and provincial courts; (&) 

 that complaints concerning ritual or doctrine 

 should, if the promotion of the suit be approved 

 by the bishop, be tried by the diocesan court in 



