PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



701 



i nd in communion with this Church and 

 th ciimvli ut' England." 

 Tin- following rulo was passed, an an amend- 



Hunt !' i :iin'n * ot'Titl.- 11., providing for tho 

 case of tho abandonment of tho communion 

 ot tin- riiuivli by a bishop: 



If any bishop shall, without availing him- 

 tho provisions of section 16 of Canon M i>rTitl I., 

 ulwnd->n thr o.mmunion of this Church, it nhull ho 

 the li -Minding Committee of tho .1 



of said "bishop to make certificate of tho fact to tho 

 ishop, together with a statement of the 

 acts or dei'LiraU'-ns which prove such abandonment, 

 .ortiticate shall be recorded by tho presiding 

 ; and the presiding bishop, with the consent 

 three bishops next in seniority, may then 

 suspend said bishop from the exercise of his office 

 ana ministry, until such time as the House of Bish- 

 ops shall consent or refuse to consent to his disposi- 

 t'u'ii. and in ease the bishop so abandoning tho com- 

 ii of tho Church bo the senior bishop, tho 

 bishop next in order of seniority shall be deemed to 

 bo and shall act as the presiding bishop under this 

 canon. 



Notice shall then bo given to said bishop by the 

 bishop receiving the certificate that unless ne shall 

 within six months make declaration that the facts 

 .1 in said certificate arc false, he will be de- 

 posed from the ministry. 



And if such declaration be not made within six 

 months as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the pre- 

 siding bishop to convene the House of Bishops, and 

 if a majority of tho whole number of bishops entitled 

 at the time to seats in the House of Bishops, shall at 

 such meeting give their consent, the said presiding 

 bishop, or the senior bishop present, shall proceed 

 to depose from the ministry the bishop so certified 

 as abandoning, and to pronounce and record in tho 

 presence of two or more bishops, that ho has been 

 so deposed : Provided, nevertheless, that if the bish- 

 op so certified as abandoning, shall transmit to the 

 presiding bishop a retraction of the acts or declara- 

 tions constituting his offense, the bishop may at his 

 discretion abstain from any further proceedings. 



With regard to the case of the abandon- 

 ment of the communion of the Church by a 

 minister, the first section of Canon 6 of Title 

 II. was amended so as to read: 



Section 1. If any presbyter or deacon shall, with- 

 out availing himself of the provisions of Canon 5 of 

 this title, abandon the communion of this Church, 

 cither by an open renunciation of the doctrine, dis- 

 cipline, or worship of this Church, or by a formal 

 admission into any religious body not in communion 

 with the same, or in any other way, it shall be the 

 duty of the Standing Committee of the diocese to 

 make certificate of the fact to the bishop of the dio- 

 cese, or, if there be no bishop, to tho bishop of an 

 adjacent diocese ; which certificate shall be recorded, 

 and shall be taken and deemed by the ecclesiastical 

 authority as equivalent to a renunciation of the min- 

 istry by the minister himself: and tho said bishop 

 may then proceed to suspend for six months tho 

 presbyter or deacon so certified as abandoning the 

 communion of this Church. Notice shall be given 

 to the said minister, by the said bishop receiving 

 the certificate, that unless he shall, within six 

 months, make declaration that the facts alleged in 

 said certificate are false, he will be deposed from tho 

 ministry of this Church. 



The following new canon was enacted in re- 

 ference to Church-music : 



Section 1. The selections of the Psalms in metre, 

 and hymns which are set forth by authority, and 

 anthems in the words of Holy Scripture, are allowed 

 to be sung in all congregations of tnis Church before 



and afror morning and evening prayers, and alto 

 before and after aormons at the discretion of tho 

 minister, whoto duty it shall be by standing direc- 

 tions, or from time to time, to appoint such author- 

 ized psalms, hymns, or anthems, an are to be song. 

 &to. 2. It tthull ho tho duly of every minuter of 

 irch, with such usuUtunco as ho may see fit 

 to employ from pontons skilled in music, to give 

 ..!! r concerning the tunes to be sung at any time in 

 hi-. Church; and it shall be his duty to nuppreaa all 

 light and unseemly music, and all indecency and ir- 

 reverence in the performance, by which vain and uu- 

 godly persons profane the service of the sanctuary. 



That clause of Article IV. of the constitution 

 which prescribes the conditions under which a 

 bishop may officiate in another diocese than his 

 t.wn, was amended by omitting the last seven 

 words " by any Church destitute of a bishop " 

 and substituting for them the words "in 

 another diocese by the ecclesiastical authority 

 thereof," so that the whole article should read : 

 ARTICLE IV. The bishop or bishops in every dio- 

 ccso shall be chosen agreeably to KUC-I rules as shall 

 be fixed by the convention of that diocese ; and 

 every bishop of this Church shall confine the exer- 

 cise of his episcopal office to his proper diocese, un- 

 less requested to ordain, or confirm, or perform, any 

 other act of the episcopal office, in another diocese 

 by the ecclesiastical authority thereof. 



In the regulations concerning missionary dio- 

 ceses, an amendatory provison was made that 

 the bishop shall yearly appoint two presbyters 

 and two laymen, communicants of the Church, 

 resident within his missionary jurisdiction, to 

 perform the duties of a standing committee for 

 such jurisdiction ; but that no such missionary 

 standing committee should have power to give 

 or refuse assent to the consecration of a bishop. 



Additional provision was made in the regu- 

 lations concerning the division of dioceses, 

 that, "whenever a diocese is divided into two 

 or more dioceses, any professor in a theologi- 

 cal seminary therein, which is governed by 

 trustees from every part of such original dio- 

 cese, may select to which of said dioceses he 

 shall belong, and shall not be obliged to obtain 

 and present the above-mentioned letters of 

 transfer." 



In the case of the organization of new dio- 

 ceses, the rule was amended so as to provide 

 that if there is no bishop who can call the 

 Primary Convention in pursuance to the regu- 

 lations previously described, "then the duty 

 of calling such convention for the purpose of 

 organizing, and the duty of fixing the time and 

 place of its meeting shall be vested in tho 

 Standing Committee of the diocese within the 

 limits of which the new one is erected, or the 

 Standing Committee of the oldest of the dio- 

 ceses by the junction of which, or parts of 

 which, the new diocese may be formed. And 

 such Standing Committee shall make such call 

 immediately after the ratification of a division 

 by the General Convention." 



Amendatory legislation was also adopted 

 regarding the ordination of ministers to offi- 

 ciate in foreign Churches in missions by bishops 

 having jurisdiction over the same ; with refer- 

 ence to tho preparation and presentation of 



