ANGLICAN CHUECHES. 



members of the Church of England, male per- 

 sons of full age, and qualified by residence, 

 "shall be of the opinion 1. That in such 

 church any alteration in or addition, to the 

 fabric, ornaments, or furniture thereof has been 

 made without lawful authority, or that any 

 decoration forbidden by law has been intro- 

 duced into such church ; or, 2. That the incum- 

 bent has within the preceding twelve months 

 used or permitted to be used in such church or 

 burial-ground any unlawful ornament of the 

 minister of the church, or neglected to use any 

 prescribed ornament or vesture ; or, 3. That 

 the incumbent has within the preceding twelve 

 months failed to observe, or caused to be ob- 

 served, the directions contained in the Book 

 of Common Prayer relating to the performance, 

 in such church or burial-ground, of the ser- 

 vices, rites, and ceremonies ordered by the 

 said Book, or has made or permitted to be 

 made any unlawful addition to, alteration of, 

 or omission from such services, rites, and cere- 

 monies," such person or persons may represent 

 the same to the bishop : Provided, that no pro- 

 ceedings shall be taken concerning any altera- 

 tion in, or addition to, the fabric of a church 

 which has been completed five years before 

 making complaint. The bishop on receiving 

 the representation may, with the consent of the 

 parties, hear the case, and pronounce such judg- 

 ment and issue such monition as he may think 

 proper : " Provided, that no judgment, so pro- 

 nounced by the bishops, shall be considered as 

 finally deciding any question of law so that it 

 may not again be raised by the parties." If 

 the parties do not give, their consent to the 

 hearing by the bishop, he shall forthwith trans- 

 mit the representation to the archbishop of the 

 province, and the archbishop " shall forthwith 

 require the judge to hear the matter of the 

 representation at any place within the diocese 

 or province, or in London or Westminster." 

 Failure by the person complained of to answer 

 the representation is to be regarded as a denial 

 of its truth or relevancy. The judge is given 

 the usual powers of a court of record, and is 

 authorized to pronounce judgment, issue moni- 

 tions, and make orders for costs. An appeal 

 lies from his judgment or monition to her 

 Majesty in council. Obedience to the monition 

 or order of the bishops or judge " shall be en- 

 forced, if necessary," by an order inhibiting the 

 incumbent from performing any service of the 

 Church, or otherwise exercising the cure of 

 souls within the diocese for a term not exceed- 

 ing three months ; which inhibition shall not, 

 however, be relaxed until the incumbent shall 

 have undertaken in writing to pay due obedi- 

 ence to the monition or order, or the part 

 thereof which shall not have been annulled. 

 If, however, the inhibition shall remain in force 

 for more than three years from the date of is- 

 suing the monition, or if a second inhibition in 

 regard to the same monition shall be issued 

 within three years from the relaxation of an 

 inhibition, the benefice or preferment held by 



the incumbent complained against shall be- 

 come void, and the patron may make a new 

 appointment ; but he shall not reappoint the 

 person who has been the subject of the pro- 

 ceedings. In case the bishop is the patron 

 of the benefice, the incumbent of which is pro- 

 ceeded against, or is unable to act in the case, 

 the archbishop of his province is authorized to 

 act in his place ; if the archbishop is the pa- 

 tron or is disabled, it is provided that the 

 Queen shall appoint an archbishop or bishop to 

 act in his stead. In cases in which a cathedral 

 or collegiate church is involved, the duties 

 otherwise assigned in the act to the bishop of 

 the diocese are to be performed by the visitor. 

 Complaints concerning the fabric, ornaments, 

 furniture, or decorations of such cathedral or 

 collegiate church must be made against the 

 dean and chapter thereof; complaints concern- 

 ing the ornaments of the minister, or the man- 

 ner or form of conducting the services must be 

 made against the clerk in holy orders who is 

 alleged to have offended in the matter com- 

 plained of; and the visitor shall have the same 

 powers as to the infliction and execution of 

 penalties as are given to the judge and bishop 

 in the ca'se of other ministers. This act is to 

 go into force on the 1st of July, 1875. 



The Convocation of Canterbury met for or- 

 ganization March 6th, in St. Paul's Cathedral. 

 The Bishop of London presided at the opening 

 meeting, in the absence of the archbishop, who 

 was ill. The Latin sermon was preached by 

 Dr. Merivale, Dean of Ely. The venerable 

 R. Bickersteth, D. D., Archdeacon of Bucking- 

 ham and Vicar of Aylesbury, was elected prol- 

 ocutor of the Lower House. He made an open- 

 ing address, in which he reviewed the work of 

 convocation during the previous five years. 

 He regarded the question of the Athanasian 

 Creed as set at rest, at least for a generation, by 

 means of the synodical declaration which had 

 been adopted in 1873. The revision of the Eng- 

 lish version of the Holy Scriptures would, he 

 thought, unless the existence of this Convoca- 

 tion were cut prematurely short by some politi- 

 cal convulsion, be presented by it to the criti- 

 cal judgment of Biblical students. He trusted 

 that the work would be found to be worthy of 

 a place by. the side of the present authorized 

 version, and in time come to occupy the posi- 

 tion that incomparable volume now held. He 

 expressed the hope that some legislative action 

 would be taken to give power to the Queen to 

 subdivide unwieldy dioceses; and he thought 

 that by this means the subject of the reform 

 of convocation might be satisfactorily settled. 

 He hoped that the movement which had been 

 begun in convocation for intercommunion with 

 the Churches of the East would tend to pro- 

 mote the union of the universal Church. After 

 effecting their organization, both Houses were 

 adjourned to April 28th. 



On the 29th of April the Bishop of Lich- 

 field, in the Upper House, presented a number 

 of petitions on the subject of a second Pan- 



