12 



ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



was organized about six years ago, but has been 

 active only four years, reported an increase in 

 funds of $9,800, the largest sum ever received 

 by the society during a single year. The Evan- 

 gelical Knowledge Society held its sixteenth 

 annual meeting at Philadelphia, on October 14th. 

 Its receipts during the past year were $28,171 ; 

 the property of the society amounts to $52,860. 

 The whole number of tracts issued by the so- 

 ciety is now 641 ; the number of prayer books 

 issued in four years, 105,982. 



The Church of England continued during the 

 year 1863 to be agitated by the excitement 

 which the books of Bishop Colenso had pro- 

 duced. Although there was at first a general 

 doubt how it ought to deal with him, there was 

 also a general expression of opinion among the 

 clergy that something should be done to vindi- 

 cate the orthodoxy of the church. Several 

 of the bishops denounced, in severe terms, as 

 heterodox the views of Bishop Colenso, and de- 

 clared that they would not allow him to offi- 

 ciate in their dioceses. On February 6th, a meet- 

 ing of the bishops belonging to the Convocation 

 of Canterbury took place, at which there was 

 a unanimous condemnation of the book on 

 the Pentateuch. On February 10th, the Con- 

 vocation of Canterbury met and adopted a 

 resolution, offered by Archdeacon Denison, 

 to pray the Upper House to direct the 

 appointment of a committee to examine the 

 book. The Upper House complied with this 

 request, although the resolution of the Lower 

 House was opposed by the Bishop of London 

 and St. David's. After a long deliberation as to 

 the best course they could adopt, the bishops 

 of England and Ireland agreed to address to 

 Bishop Colenso a joint letter, in which they 

 asked him to resign his see. Only three bish- 

 ops, those of St. David's, Killaloe, and Lim- 

 erick, refused to sign or endorse this letter. 

 Bishop Colenso, in reply, assured his brother 

 bishops that he was as fully convinced of 

 the truth of his theological opinions as ever, 

 and therefore refused to resign. The Lower 

 House of the Convocation of York likewise 

 passed strong resolutions of condemnation of 

 the books of Colenso. In May, Archdeacon 

 Denison, in the name of the committee charged 

 with the examination of the books, made 

 a report to the Convocation. The report 

 was adopted, and a resolution was passed, re- 

 questing the Upper House to take such steps 

 thereupon as they might deem expedient. The 

 bishops agreed upon a judgment, and communi- 

 cated it to the Lower House, that " the book 

 of the Bishop of Natal involves errors of the 

 gravest and most dangerous character, subver- 

 sive of faith in the Bible as the Word of God." 

 The Lower House unanimously accepted and 

 concurred in the judgment. After this the ex- 

 citement produced by the books began to sub- 

 side. Toward the close of the year, the Bishop 

 of Capetown, who is metropolitan of the Afri- 

 can bishoprics of the Church of England, sum- 

 moned Bishop Colenso before the tribunal of 



the synod of African bishops. The synod was 

 opened on October 17th, but Dr. Colenso re- 

 fused to attend, and entered a protest against 

 the jurisdiction of the tribunal. 



Another great controversy of the church, 

 relating to the work called " Essays and Re- 

 views " (see CYCLOPAEDIA for 1862, p. 719), was 

 brought before the Queen's privy council, two of 

 the essayists, Dr. Williams and Mr. Wilson, hav- 

 ing appealed from the decision of the Court of 

 Arches, which, in 1862, had suspended them 

 for one year from their benefices. The argu- 

 ments before the committee of the Privy Coun- 

 cil were concluded on June 26th, but by the end 

 of the year the decision of the council, which 

 will be final, had not been announced. Against 

 a third one of the essayists, Prof. Jowett, of 

 Oxford, a suit was instituted before a univer- 

 sity court, but it was soon abandoned. 



An agitation of a very different kind sprung 

 up in the Chqrch of England, in consequence 

 of an attempt to establish a kind of monastic 

 order under the name of the Benedictine Broth- 

 erhood. So called sisterhoods, resembling in 

 some points the monastic orders of the Roman 

 Church, had been for many years in full opera- 

 tion in the church, and even received the warm 

 approbation of the Convocation of Canterbury. 

 The first attempt to reestablish a monastic 

 community of men was made by Rev. Mr. Lyne, 

 or, as he now calls himself, with his monastic 

 name, " Brother Ignatius." He was born No- 

 vember 23d, 1837, in London, and ordained on 

 December 23d, 1860, on which occasion betook 

 solemn mental vows to lead the life of a monk. 

 He formed a society of young men and boys 

 living in the world, but bound by certain rules. 

 It was called the " Society of the Love of Jesus," 

 and numbered nearly forty. Miss Sellon, the su- 

 perior of the English sisterhoods, perceiving the 

 young deacon's aim, gave him a house in which 

 to commence a resident brotherhood. After a 

 severe and almost fatal sickness, he spent eight 

 months upon the European continent. While 

 abroad he sought every opportunity of ascer- 

 taining the working of the monastic system, 

 and, to use his own words, he "found it a most 

 complete and miraculous success." On his 

 return to England, in July, 1862, he labored 

 for some time in London ; from thence he 

 went to Claydon, because the rector of Claydon 

 and some of the inhabitants of Ipswich begged 

 him to locate his infant community in their 

 neighborhood. The enterprise met with great 

 opposition. The Bishop of Norwich, to whose 

 diocese Claydon belongs, commenced proceed- 

 ings against the rector of Claydon, for having 

 allowed Brother Ignatius, contrary to the bish- 

 op's prohibition, to officiate in Claydon church. 

 This case was to be tried before the Court 

 of Arches. The Bishop of Exeter also pro- 

 hibited the clergy of his diocese from permit- 

 ting Brother Ignatius to officiate in any of 

 their churches. Brother Ignatius, in a sermon, 

 preached on December 20th, 1863, in London, 

 stated that his community of "Benedictine 



