ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



11 



Twenty-five new missionaries had been recom- 

 mended for appointment. 



Church Missionary Society. The ninety- 

 first annual meeting of the Church Missionary 

 Society was held in London, May 6. The re- 

 ceipts for the year had been 200,582, and the 

 payments 224,585. The society had in its serv- 

 ice, at 297 stations, 282 ordained, 51 lay, and 57 

 women in all. 890 European missionaries, with 

 287 native and Eurasian clergy, and 4,210 native 

 teachers. The number of native Christian ad- 

 herents was 187,785 ; of native communicants, 

 46,520 ; and of schools, 1,772, with, so far as was 

 reported, 72,277 pupils. 



Convocation of Canterbury. The Convo- 

 cation of Canterbury met for the dispatch of 

 business Feb. 12. A petition was presented in 

 the upper house submitting that the trial of bish- 

 ops by their metropolitan otherwise than in 

 their provincial synods is contrary to the primi- 

 tive constitution and order of the Church. On 

 a question that had arisen concerning the rela- 

 tions and privileges of the two houses, the upper 

 house concurred with the lower house that decla- 

 rations were objectionable which might seem 

 either to narrow or widen the present limits of 

 discussion in that body ; defined it to be the duty 

 of the lower house in cases in which it is pro- 

 posed that the result of the discussion of any 

 question should be the passing of a synodical act 

 or the making of a declaration upon doctrine to 

 bring the subject under the notice of the upper 

 house by way of petition ; and stated that the 

 publication of documents, other than reports in 

 their proper form, on the sole authority of the 

 lower house, is at variance with the ancient cus- 

 tom and constitution of Convocation. The lower 

 house expressed the opinion, in a resolution, 

 " that the time has come when the Church can 

 with advantage avail herself of the voluntary 

 self-devotion of brotherhoods, both clerical and 

 lay, the members of which are willing to labor in 

 the service of the Church without appealing for 

 funds to any form of public support," and that 

 "the members of such brotherhoods shall be al- 

 lowed to bind themselves by dispensable vows of 

 celibacy, poverty, and obedience." 



The House of Laymen declared that an early 

 settlement of the tithe rent-charge in the present 

 session of Parliament was urgently desired, and 

 that such settlement should follow the lines of 

 the Government bills of 1888 in providing for the 

 payment of the rent-charge out of the rent of the 

 land when the ownership and occupation are 

 severed, and for the recovery of the rent-charge 

 by county court proceedings. A resolution was 

 unanimously adopted condemning the traffic in 

 strong drink carried on by European traders 

 among the native races of Africa " as a serious 

 obstacle to the progress of Christianity and civil- 

 ization, and opposed to the true interest of com- 

 merce." In another resolution a number of 

 modifications were specified as required in the 

 Burial Acts and their administration. A report, 

 denying the power of Convocation to change its 

 own constitution and declaring that such power 

 lies only in the Crown and ministers, and that no 

 effectual reform can be carried out without the 

 intervention of Parliament, was referred back for 

 further consideration. Resolutions were adopt- 

 ed respecting Sunday observance. 



The Convocation met again May 6. The up- 

 per house considered and approved a revision of 

 the form of 1714 " for admitting converts from 

 the Church of Rome, and such others as shall 

 renounce their errors, and for restoring those 

 who have relapsed." The report on sisterhoods 

 and deaconesses having been brought forward, 

 the first section, declaring that the house, " rec- 

 ognizing the value of sisterhoods and deacon- 

 esses and the importance of their work, consid- 

 ers that the Church ought to extend to them her 

 care and guidance," was adopted. The second 

 section, permitting those who enter a sisterhood, 

 after an adequate term of probation, to under- 

 take life-long engagements to the work of the 

 community, was amended by adding a proviso 

 that such engagements shall be liable to release 

 by competent authority. A statement was made 

 in the presence of the prolocutor and assessors 

 of the lower house, who attended for the purpose 

 of receiving it, on question of the privileges of 

 the lower house, in reference to which a resolu- 

 tion had been passed in February, and a point 

 demanding definition was referred to the arch- 

 bishop. The lower house, in reference to this 

 subject, requested the president (the archbishop) 

 to appoint a committee of the upper house to 

 confer with the committee of the lower house. 

 Resolutions passed in reference to the Educa- 

 tional Code embodied a declaration respecting 

 " free education " that the house regarded it 

 essential that no new restrictions should be placed 

 upon the teaching of the Christian faith as held 

 by the Church of England, or upon the moral 

 training founded thereon in Church schools. A 

 resolution was adopted in favor of making, in 

 connection with the next decennial census, an 

 enumeration of the people by their denomina- 

 tional affiliations. The House of Laymen adopt- 

 ed resolutions respecting the observance of Sun- 

 day ; approving a system of diocesan church 

 trusts ; favoring a summary and inexpensive pro- 

 cedure for the trial of criminous clerks; invit- 

 ing the institution of a "higher class" of lay 

 readers appointed by and responsible to the 

 bishop ; recommending the institution of brother- 

 hoods, whose rules should be approved by the 

 bishop of the diocese, and who should work in 

 subordination to him, and on the invitation and 

 under the sanction of the incumbent of the 

 parish ; and opposing the Deceased Wife's Sister 

 Bill. A resolution was adopted to the effect that 

 the Church of England contains the framework 

 upon which an organization for the encourage- 

 ment of national thrift might be constructed, 

 and favoring the formation of committees for 

 the circulation of information on the subject. 



Convocation of York. The Convocation of 

 York met for the dispatch of business April 15. 

 A message on the subject of lay representation, 

 submitted to the upper house by the president, 

 was agreed to, to be transmitted to the lower 

 house. It proposed the appointment during the 

 year of a house of laymen. The president, in 

 offering it, suggested that the step should be 

 regarded as an experiment subject to revision in 

 the first year of the next convocation, and that 

 no part of the scheme should be regarded as 

 final. He had been advised, and was convinced 

 that he had no right to sanction the appoint- 

 ment of a lay house to sit with the House of 



