ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



21 



on the spiritual " needs of the masses of the 

 people," embodying the substance of 379 replies 

 to questions bearing on the subject which had 

 been addressed to 646 rural deaneries. To the 

 question " whether there were any considera- 

 ble number of the people who were not reached 

 by the ordinary services and methods of the 

 Church," the answers varied. " In some coun- 

 try villages every one of the inhabitants was 

 brought more or less under the eye of the pas- 

 tor, and derived, more or less consciously, some 

 bias from his influence. In some of the small- 

 er towns leeway had been made by past neglect, 

 and even in the greatest cities progress had 

 been made with the darkest and densest mass 

 of the population." While it was " acknowl- 

 edged that there were many towns in which a 

 large proportion of the population had not been 

 reached at all, and that there was a low per- 

 centage of church-goers among whole bodies of 

 parishioners, yet the tone of the returns gen- 

 erally was rather hopeful than despondent.' 7 

 The report closed with a number of recom- 

 mendations for promoting an increased interest 

 among working-men in religious matters. 



In the lower house the archbishop was asked 

 to direct the appointment of a committee to 

 make a report upon parochial guilds possessing 

 more or less of religious character. The report 

 of a committee which had been appointed to 

 deal with the question of the recovery of fallen 

 women was considered, and a resolution was 

 adopted inviting diocesan conferences " to use 

 their influence for the maintenance and restora- 

 tion of female purity by encouraging the insti- 

 tution of industrial homes for neglected girls, 

 of penitentiaries for fallen women, and of other 

 similar institutions." A gravamen was adopted 

 in which, after mentioning some of the compli- 

 cations and perplexing questions that had been 

 developed by recent legislation on the subject 

 of marriage and divorce, the upper house was 

 requested to consider the subject, with a view 

 of giving to their clergy and to the Church at 

 large such an exposition of the law of the 

 Church as will suffice in any difficulties which 

 "may have arisen from the changes in the law 

 of the realm, and prevent any breach of the 

 law of the Church through ignorance of what 

 that law is." 



At the meeting of the Convocation in April, 

 a copy of the new revision of the English ver- 

 sion of the Old Testament was presented to 

 the houses, with the report of the committee 

 having the subject in charge. 



The Convocation met again July 7. A min- 

 ute was made relative to the death of the 

 Bishop of Salisbury (Dr. Moberly), "whose 

 great learning," it recited, "ability, loving 

 character, as well as gentleness to all men, have 

 endeared his memory to his countrymen, and 

 who has left an example for perpetual imita- 

 tion." The subject of forming a house of lay- 

 men, to meet as lay advisers of the Convocation, 

 was considered. The upper house had laid 

 out a scheme, and the lower house had made 



objections to some points. The amendments 

 proposed by the lower house were accepted 

 by the upper house. A report relative to 

 sisterhoods and deaconesses was accepted, and 

 the committee making it was requested to frame 

 some recommendations. The archbishop re- 

 ported upon the correspondence with the Gov- 

 ernment which had been carried on on behalf 

 of the upper house respecting the " Criminal 

 Law Amendment Bill" a measure for the 

 more efficient protection of girls against seduc- 

 tion. Convocation had urged immediate atten- 

 tion in favor of the bill, to which the Home 

 Secretary replied that the views of the upper 

 house should have his best consideration. A 

 report on divorce embodied the results of the 

 examination of many authorities, and of the 

 canons of the Councils which had dealt with 

 the matter. The committee found that some 

 of the early fathers had allowed remarriage 

 in the case of innocent persons, and that the 

 action of the Church of England had not al- 

 ways been uniform. The report advised the 

 house (upper) to make the following declara- 

 tion : " That in the case where the sin of adul- 

 tery shall have been proved before a competent 

 court, and a decree of divorce shall have been 

 obtained, the innocent party so set free ought 

 to be advised not to remarry during the life- 

 time of the guilty party ; that if, however, the 

 innocent party shall remarry, the charity of 

 the Church requires that the ministrations of 

 the Church shall not be withheld from the per- 

 son so remarried, or from the person with 

 whom the marriage shall have been contracted ; 

 that in case of the remarriage of the guilty 

 person, the ministrations of the Church ought 

 not to be granted, saving, however, that the 

 bishop shall have the power, after personal 

 investigation, to give such directions in any 

 case of penitence as he shall consider consonant 

 with the teaching of Holy Scriptures and the 

 usual practice of the primitive church." 



In the Convocation of York, at its meeting in 

 April, a committee was appointed in the upper 

 house to consider the relation of the Episcopate 

 to the Church Army ; a resolution was adopted 

 that the consecration of burial-grounds be con- 

 tinued, but that no objection should be made 

 to a " dedicatory " service on special occasions ; 

 and a report was adopted concerning the ad- 

 mission to the office of sisters and deaconesses, 

 in which the bishops shall have a controlling 

 power. The lower house adopted a resolu- 

 tion that every encouragement should be given 

 to the spiritual ministrations of lay members 

 of the Church. 



Missionary Societies. The annual meeting of 

 the Church Missionary Society was held in 

 London, May 5. The Earl of Chichester pre- 

 sided. The receipts of the society had been : 

 from general contributions, etc., 198,212 ; 

 for Extension fund, 3,136; and for various 

 special funds and interest, 30,193; making a 

 total of 231,541. The general expenditure 

 had been 207,283. The society had received 



