16 



ANGLICAN CHUECHES. 



The Convocation of York, at its meeting in 

 April, invited the Convocation of Canterbury 

 to join with it in requesting her Majesty to 

 direct steps to be taken to secure the due rep- 

 resentation of the laity in the meetings of the 

 Convocation. The Convocation of Canterbury 

 discussed the subject at length, without coming 

 to a definite conclusion. The bishops, how- 

 ever, unanimously expressed the opinion in 

 their addresses, that the introduction of lay- 

 men, instead of reforming, would revolutionize 

 the Convocation. 



The Irish Synod. The Irish Synod met at 

 Dublin in April. The committee on the re- 

 vision of the Prayer-Book, who had been ap- 

 pointed at the previous meeting of the Synod, 

 presented a partial report. They had come to 

 a conclusion on only a few points, and merely 

 submitted their minutes. They had agreed 

 that the word "priest," wherever it occurs 

 in the rubrics, should be altered to "pres- 

 byter ; " that the damnatory clauses of the 

 Athanasian Creed should be omitted ; that the 

 absolution in the service for the visitation of 

 the sick should be dropped ; that in the ser- 

 vice for the ordination of priests the words 

 " receive the Holy Ghost " should be replaced 

 by a prayer for the gift of the Holy Ghost, 

 and that the words " whose sins thou dost 

 forgive they are forgiven" should be omitted; 

 that the selections from the Apocrypha 

 should be dropped from the Lectionary, and 

 the saints' days designated as "black-letter" 

 saints' days should be omitted from the calen- 

 dar; that it should be made lawful to speak 

 the words used in delivering the elements of 

 the communion to so many people as may be 

 kneeling at the altar at one time; that the 

 parish-clerk be allowed to place the elements 

 of communion on the table before the com- 

 mencement of the service ; and that the rubric 

 in reference to ornaments be omitted. The 

 revision of the Lectionary had been intrusted 

 to a committee of bishops, who had adopted 

 the English Lectionary without material alter- 

 ations. Numerous amendments to the bap- 

 tismal service had been proposed with a view 

 to change the phraseology of the service, or 

 to define it so that the doctrine of baptismal 

 regeneration should be avoided, but none of 

 them had been agreed upon. 



The Synod, acting upon the matters pre- 

 sented in this report, decided that the lessons 

 from the Apocrypha should be excluded from 

 the Lectionary. It agreed to the insertion 

 of a new rubric declaring the word "priest" 

 to be synonymous with " presbyter," and ap- 

 proved of the recommendation for the omis- 

 sion of the rubric with reference to ornaments. 

 It adopted a rubric providing for a shortening 

 of the services on week-days, nnd permitting 

 the division of the services. The Synod di- 

 rected, with reference to saints' days, that 

 "no special mention shall be made in the 

 calendar of any clays except those which shall 

 have Gospels and Epistles assigned them." 



The propositions for the alteration of the 

 Athanasian Creed were rejected. A motion 

 was made to allow the service of absolution to 

 be pronounced by deacons, but it was de- 

 feated. 



The committee on revision were reappoint- 

 ed, with instructions to report to the Synod 

 the following year. They were forbidden to 

 reopen any of the questions on which a deci- 

 sion had been reached. A resolution was passed 

 deprecating "the introduction into Ireland of 

 the system of education proposed by the Ro- 

 man Catholic hierarchy to the Government." 



The Synod adopted the following address in 

 reply to one which had been received from 

 the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 

 States : 



To the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the Protestant 



Episcopal Church of the United States of America. 



The Archbishops and Bishops, and the clergy and 

 laity of the Church of Ireland, in their session of 

 the' General Synod, assembled at Dublin in 1872. 



Brethren, beloved in the Lord, We have received 

 with gratitude your address, the pledge and token 

 of your lively sympathy with us at the present time. 

 In the many trials and difficulties which beset us, 

 some of which, by the good hand of God upon us, 

 we have already overcome, while the others, Jby the 

 same gracious help, we hope to overcome, it is not a 

 small comfort to us to be assured that we have the 

 cordial sympathy and earnest prayers of our breth- 

 ren in the faith beyond the Atlantic. We are well 

 pleased to know that you, who have already trod the 

 same difficult path which we are treading now, hav- 

 ing nearly a century ago actually made the experi- 

 ments which we are making at the present, are 

 watching us with interest ana affection. We shall 

 find in our recollection of this fact another motive 

 to approve ourselves not altogether unworthy of our 

 place in that great Christian communion to which 

 we belong. Nor shall we cease to pray that the 

 Church Apostolical and Evangelical, Catholic and 

 Eeformed, like our own, which is the best hope of a 

 great Christian future for America, may abound 

 more and more in all wisdom and knowledge, and in 

 all gifts and graces of the Spirit, and may more and 

 more perfectly fulfil that great work for which we 

 believe it was ordained. We remain your faithful 

 brethren in Christ. 



Signed by the Primate of All Ireland on behalf 

 of the General Synod. 



The total amount of money which had been 

 received and subscribed to the sustentation 

 fund of the Synod at the beginning of 1872 

 was 37,231 14s. Wd. 



The Bennett Judgment. A decision, which 

 it is thought will have an important bearing 

 upon the doctrinal position of the Church of 

 England, was rendered by the Privy Council 

 on the 8th of June, in the case of Sheppard 

 against Bennett. This case came up on appeal 

 of the complainant from a decision of the 

 Court of Arches, which was given on July 23, 

 1870. The defendant, the Rev. James Early 

 Bennett, Vicar of Frome Selwood, had written 

 certain works entitled " Some Results of the 

 Tractarian Movement in 1833," and "A Plea 

 for Toleration in the Church of England." 

 He was charged in the complaint with having 

 maintained in these works "doctrines directly 

 contrary or repugnant to the articles and for- 



