ANGLICAN" CHURCHES. 



19 



ing of which is inconvenient or has been 

 attended with abuses, and for making the 

 Church more fully representative of the peo- 

 ple of the nation. The bishops, after a discus- 

 sion of two days, agreed upon a report that, 

 in their opinion, the reforms which required 

 immediate attention were the removal of the 

 various evils and abuses connected with the 

 sale of patronage ; simpler and more effective 

 methods of removing from the cure of souls 

 incompetent and criminous clergymen; the 

 correction, so far as may be found expedient 

 and practicable, of anomalies in the endow- 

 ments of the Church ; the enlargement of con- 

 vocation and the statutory concession to it of 

 increased power in the internal regulation of 

 matters involving the efficiency of the Church ; 

 and the assignment to "the faithful laity" of 

 a more clearly defined share in the administra- 

 tion of the affairs of the Church. 



The house further adopted a report express- 

 ing its approval of a comprehensive measure of 

 reforms, the draft of a bill providing for which 

 was to be introduced by the archbishop into 

 the House of Lords ; approving the Pluralities 

 Acts Amendment Act of the previous session 

 of Parliament, but suggesting that further steps 

 were urgently required, " and that greater se- 

 curity against the ministrations of unworthy 

 clergymen should be given to parishes, by the 

 simplification of existing modes of procedure, 

 and by enactments which may obviate the ruin- 

 ous costs which at present are often incurred 

 in suits of this nature, especially in cases of 

 suspension from office and deprivation " ; rec- 

 ommending the formation of a central fund 

 raised by equitable taxation of ecclesiastical 

 incomes the principles of which already ex- 

 isted in the system of first fruits and tenths 

 for the reduction of existing anomalies in cleri- 

 cal incomes, and to improve the incomes of 

 benefices of small value; calling attention to 

 plans for enlarging the representation of the 

 parochial clergy, and for the institution of 

 " such changes in the rubrics and such addi- 

 tions to the services of the Church, as may 

 give fuller scope to the quickened life and 

 energies of the Church." The house also de- 

 clared that, " while we give full weight to the 

 desire that has been expressed for the admis- 

 sion of the faithful laity of the Church of all 

 classes to a substantial share in the control of 

 Church affairs, we still feel that we require to 

 be more fully informed as to the extent to 

 which it is deemed desirable that the laity 

 should share in the administration of the af- 

 fairs of the Church. We look for valuable in- 

 formation and assistance in this, as in other 

 matters, from the newly constituted House of 

 Laymen. Meanwhile we recommend the for- 

 mation of voluntary parochial boards or coun- 

 cils, whiofa, we are well aware, have been rec- 

 ommended in many dioceses, and have been in 

 operation in many parishes. It is otherwise 

 as regards parochial boards or councils with 

 defined statutory powers. The formation of 



these we can not, as at present advised, rec- 

 ommend until the principles on which they 

 are to be founded shall have been fully con- 

 sidered by the synods of the Church, and shall 

 have received their general approval. It must 

 always be remembered that parochial boards, 

 however constituted, can only properly be re- 

 garded as a portion of a still further developed 

 church government. But this development can 

 only be brought about by degrees, and by the 

 steady progress of organized growth. For the 

 present we must be content to endeavor to^ 

 bring about some measures of united delibera- 

 tion between the two separate convocations, 

 which would necessarily form the first stage 

 in the organization of that national church 

 council of clergy and laity which is obvi- 

 ously desired by many of the memorialists." 

 The House of Laymen declared its opinion that 

 "any scheme of church patronage amendment, 

 which would directly or indirectly divert any 

 portion of the revenues of a benefice to the ad- 

 vantage of the patron, would be inadmissible, 

 as secularizing the property given to the par- 

 ish for God's service"; that "the evils com- 

 plained of in the sale of advowsons can be 

 better dealt with by proper checks and modes 

 of restraint rather than by the prohibition 

 recommended in the draft bill " ; and " that all 

 sales of advowsons should in future be con- 

 ducted by a public diocesan authority, and ail 

 other sales be invalid." 



The Convocation of York met in York Min- 

 ster, Feb. 23. The Archbishop of York, in ad- 

 dressing the synod as president, said that in 

 view of the question of the disestablishment 

 of the Church, brought forward at the general 

 election, a number of suggestions of reforms 

 likely to strengthen the Church had been 

 made. They were met, however, with the 

 difficulty that most of these reforms required 

 the aid of Parliament. His belief was that 

 there was more danger from the want of 

 agreement among the parties in the Church as 

 to the required reforms, than from the refusal 

 of Parliament to adopt measures. However 

 that might be, it was their duty to consider 

 reforms. The hands of convocation should be 

 untied ; they wanted power to transact busi- 

 ness for the good of the Church with the 

 same freedom which other religious and secu- 

 lar bodies enjoyed, subject only to their doing 

 nothing contrary to the laws of the realm. 

 Failing that, the number was likely to swell 

 of those who now said that even disestablish- 

 ment with freedom might be preferable to es- 

 tablishment with enforced inaction. What was 

 now in their power was to agree upon the re- 

 forms required, but they must be tolerably 

 unanimous, and, if they should be refused by 

 the Crown or by Parliament, the question of 

 disestablishment would then have passed into 

 a new and somewhat dangerous phase. How 

 far ought the fear of disestablishment to have 

 an influence over them in dealing with those 

 questions of reform ? The outside clamor had 



