18 



ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



the altars, " under the form of bread and wine, 

 on the ground that under their veil is the sa- 

 cred body and blood of our Lord and Saviour 

 Jesus Christ." Upon this the court ruled : 



The Declaration of Kneeling states that, by the 

 direction that the communicants shall receive the 

 consecrated elements kneeling, " no adoration is in- 

 tended or ought to be done either to the sacramental 

 bread and wine there bodily received, or to any 

 corporal presence of Christ's natural Flesh and 

 Blood." According to this declaration, neither the 

 elements nor any corporal presence of Christ therein 

 ou"ht to be adored. The 28th Article lays down 

 that " the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not, 

 by Christ's ordinance, reserved, carried about, lifted 

 up, or worshipped." In the 25th Article it had 

 been affirmed that " the Sacraments were not or- 

 dained by Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried 

 about, but that we should duly use them." It was 

 laid down in Martin vs. Mackonochie that such acts 

 as the elevation of the cup and paten, and kneeling 

 and prostration of the minister before them, were 

 unlawful. If the charge against Mr. Bennett were 

 that he had performed an outward act of adoration 

 on any occasion in the service, the principles laid 

 down in Martin vs. Mackonochie would apply to this 

 case. Such an act could not be done except in the 

 service, because the Sacrament may not be " re- 

 served." But even if the respondent's words are a 

 confession of an unlawful act, it is questionable 

 whether such a confession would amount to false 

 doctrine. Some of their lordships have doubted 



whether the word "adore," though it seems to 

 point rather to acts of worship, such as are forbid- 

 Article, may not be construed to re- 

 adoration, or prayers addressed to 

 spiritually in the Sacrament, which 

 saril iml any adoration of the con- 



den by the 28th Article, may not be construed to re- 

 fer to mental 

 Christ present 



does not necessarily imply any adoration of 

 secrated elements, or of any corporal or natural pres- 

 ence therein. Upon the whole, their lordships, not 

 without doubts and division of opinions, have come 

 to the conclusion that this charge is not so clearly 

 made out as the rules which govern penal proceed- 

 ings require. Mr. Bennett is entitled to the benefit 

 of any doubt that may exist. His language has been 

 rash,' but, as it appears to the majority of their lord- 

 ships that his words can be construed so as not to 

 be plainly repugnant to the two passages articled 

 against them, their lordships will give him the bene- 

 fit of the doubt that has been raised. 



The appeal was dismissed. 



The Church Congress. The Church Con- 

 gress is a voluntary body, and possesses no 

 authority for legislative or judicial action. Its 

 meetings for 1872 were held at Leeds. They 

 commenced on the 8th of October, and con- 

 tinued during four days. The most prominent 

 of the topics discussed were : " The Parochial 

 System, of the Church; " "Lay Cooperation;" 

 " Vital Christianity as affected by the Present 

 State of Science and Civilization ; " " The 

 Church in its relation to the State and Non- 

 Conformists ;" "The Just Principle of the 

 Church's Comprehensiveness in Matters of 

 Doctrine and Ritual ; " " The Deepening of the 

 Spiritual Life ; " " Sunday-Schools ; " and 

 "The Duty of the Church with regard to 

 Elementary Schools and their Inspection in Re- 

 ligious Knowledge." 



The Agitation for Reform. A large public 

 meeting was held in London on the 15th of 

 February, in support of measures for reform 

 in the Church of England, and in opposition 

 to the movement for disestablishment. Lord 



Castleton presided. Dean Stanley was the 

 principal speaker. Resolutions were adopted : 

 1. That the reform and not the disestablishment 

 of the Church of England should be the policy of the 

 present time ; 2. That in the opinion of this meeting 

 the propositions of the Archbishop of Canterbury to 

 Convocation, which have for their object increased 

 liberty in the use of the Prayer-Book services, 

 should receive the sanction of the- Legislature : 3. 

 That it is desirable that the creed commonly called 

 the Creed of St. Athanasius should no longer be 

 recited in the public services of the Church ; 4. That 

 it is desirable to give the laity in parishes, by 

 means of a representative organization, some voice 

 in the introduction of changes in the Church services 

 within the law, and facilities for taking further part 

 in the local administration of the Church ; 5. That it 

 is desirable that the serious attention of Churchmen 

 should be turned to amendments in the system of 

 patronage, a reformed constitution of Convocation, 

 and other questions of Church reform. 



The Bishopric of Madagascar. The English 

 Church papers reported, in April, that through 

 the interposition of the Archbishop of Canter- 

 bury, an amicable arrangement had been effect- 

 ed between the persons who were interested in 

 the movement to secure the appointment of a 

 bishop to Madagascar and the London Mis- 

 sionary Society. This Society had opposed 

 the appointment of the bishop, in the fear that 

 the introduction of another ecclesiastical body 

 to the natives of Madagascar might unsettle 

 the minds and disturb the faith of the con- 

 verts. The Church Missionary Society had 

 also opposed the appointment on the ground 

 that the setting up of a rival ecclesiastical j uris- 

 diction in Madagascar a field in which the 

 London Society had heretofore labored exclu- 

 sively would be a violation of the comity of 

 missions. It was said to have been agreed, 

 on the part of the promoters of the Episcopal 

 appointment, that the bishop, should adminis- 

 ter to the spiritual interests of the English resi- 

 dents on the island, and that he might estab- 

 lish missions among the heathen population, 

 but that he should abstain from direct interfer- 

 ence with the Christian missions already estab- 

 lished. With this understanding, tfce London 

 Missionary Society was understood to withdraw 

 its opposition to the appointment of a bishop. 



After much canvassing, a suitable person 

 was found upon whom to confer the office, and 

 arrangements were fully made for his conse- 

 cration by the Archbishop of Canterbury, 

 when at the last moment, very near the end 

 of the year, Mr. Gladstone, on behalf of the 

 Crown, refused the license. "Without this li- 

 cense the Archbishop was unable to proceed 

 further. A brief history of the efforts to select 

 a bishop for this see is of interest in connec- 

 tion with these facts. When the formation of 

 the bishopric of Madagascar was first contem- 

 plated, proposals were made to the Rev. Wil- 

 liam Ellis, a missionary of the London Mission- 

 ary Society, that he be ordained by the Arch- 

 bishop of Canterbury, and consecrated to the 

 Episcopal office. Mr. Ellis declined this prop- 

 osition. Negotiations were then opened with 

 a gentleman who is described as "now one of 



