ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



23 



Chnrch of England, instead of disappearing, 

 eemed to be magnified. Then, across the At- 

 lantic, anxious as he should be to unite with 

 tlu- three million persons who belonged to the 

 Protestant Episcopal Church in America, still, 

 as a Christian man who desired the diffusion 

 iif the Lord's word, he could not shut his eyes 

 to the fact that there were some thirty million 

 persons, speaking, too, the English tongue, and 

 wlid were Christians, but not members of any 

 Kpix-opal Church, with whom union might he 

 sought. On tho Continent of Europe, their 

 forefathers had cooperated with vast numbers 

 of persons who were now, from one circum- 

 stance or another, more or less estranged. 

 The Swedish and Danish Churches were ex- 

 amples of these. And, if he could not un- 

 derstand why no union was sought with these 

 churches, still less could he understand why 

 the great church of Luther, to which England 

 owed so much, was to be considered as less 

 connected with England than it was considered 

 possible for the English Church to be connect- 

 ed with the Eastern Church. He should be 

 very sorry to have it supposed that, while the 

 Church of England desired to cooperate with 

 Christians of the far East, she was neglectful 

 of her more intimate relations with her fellow- 

 Christians of the West. The resolution of the 

 Bishop of Winchester was adopted. His grace 

 the President was requested by resolution to 

 appoint a joint committee of both Houses "to 

 consider what steps can be taken toward mak- 

 ing provision for clergymen who, from age and 

 infirmity, are desirous of resigning their bene- 

 fices, and retiring from the active duties of the 

 ministry." In the course of the debate on 

 this resolution, the statement was made that 

 the number of benefices in England and Wales 

 was 13,000, and the number of clergymen, of 

 all degrees, was 23,000. Estimating the num- 

 ber of clergymen having no cure of souls, as 

 masters of schools, etc., at 2,000, there were 

 left 21,000 clergymen proper, beneficed and 

 unbeneficed ; showing that 7,000 clergymen, 

 or one-third of the whole, were unbeneficed. 

 In the Lower House, the report of the com- 

 mittee on " The Law of Burials " was made. 

 It suggested an outline of the procedure to be 

 adopted in case Parliament should pass a law 

 declaring the churchyards open for interment 

 without religious services, or with services 

 other than that of the Church of England. 



The Convocation of Canterbury met again 

 May 9th. A petition, numerously signed, was 

 presented in the Upper House, asking that their 

 lordships would take such measures as they 

 deemed best to attest the soundness of the 

 agreement or scheme of concord arrived at at 

 the Bonn Conference in August, 1875, and, if 

 possible, to promote further friendly relations 

 and closer intercommunion with the Orthodox 

 Churches of the East. The archbishop stated 

 that he had received a letter from the presid- 

 ing bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church 

 in the United States, asking that, in the event 



of a gathering of bishops from all parts of the 

 world, this subject should be brought before 

 them. He had also received a letter from the 

 Bishop of Pittsburg, suggesting that com- 

 mendatory letters be given to emigrants to the 

 United States, introducing them to the pastors 

 of Episcopal churches in the towns where they 

 might settle. By this means many would be 

 prevented being drawn away from the influ- 

 ences of their church. The principal subject 

 considered was that of providing a service of 

 burial for those who died unbaptized. The 

 Lower House adopted a resolution that it was 

 not advisable to provide for such cases by any 

 rubric in the Book of Common Prayer, but 

 suggested that a service of consolation and in- 

 struction for the friends of the deceased might 

 be used immediately after the interment, the 

 service being selected from the Holy Scripture 

 and the Book of Common Prayer. Both 

 Houses finally agreed to a resolution providing 

 that in the cases of persons who die unbap- 

 tized or excommunicate, or in the commission 

 of any grievous crime, " it shall be lawful for 

 the minister, at the request or with the con- 

 sent of the kindred or friends of the deceased, 

 to permit the corpse to be committed to the 

 grave in the churchyard or chapel-yard of the 

 parish without any services," and that " in 

 such cases the incumbent may permit the use 

 at the grave of such hymns as may be approved 

 by him." A petition was received from 14,000 

 working-men, asking for liberty for the clergy 

 to conduct the services of the church without 

 obedience to the Privy Council. A committee 

 was provided for to inquire into the law au- 

 thorizing clergymen to repel persons from the 

 Holy Communion on the ground of their hold- 

 ing false doctrines or leading immoral lives, 

 and to report if any further legislation was 

 necessary. A committee was also appointed 

 to inquire into and report upon the ancient 

 rites and ceremonies appertaining to the Chris- 

 tian burial of the dead, and the discipline at- 

 tached to the use of them. 



The Convocation of Canterbury met for the 

 third time during the year, July 18th. The 

 Lower House adopted a resolution to have the 

 synodical declaration respecting the import of 

 the " damnatory clauses " of the Athanasian 

 Creed, which was passed at a previous session 

 of the Convocation, appended to that creed in 

 the Prayer Book. The following rubric in ref- 

 erence to the communion service was adopted : 

 " When there is a communion a pause shall 

 here be made, during which those who desire 

 may withdraw, and the communicants may be 

 conveniently placed for receiving the com- 

 munion." It was left to the discretion of the 

 minister whether the pause should be made be- 

 fore the offertory services or after the prayer 

 for the Church militant. In the Lower House 

 a resolution was passed in reference to the 

 burial service, providing that " it shall be law- 

 ful for the minister, at the request or with the 

 consent of the kindred or friends of the de- 



