ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



would make more necessary an enlargement 

 of the lower house of the Convocation of Can- 

 terbury. With an increased representation of 

 the parochial clergy in that house, the occa- 

 sional united action of the two convocations 

 would become a practical question. The crea- 

 tion of statutory parochial councils was depre- 

 cated. Special attention was invited to the 

 importance of strengthening the bishop's au- 

 thority, by means of a diocesan synod of his 

 clergy or of a council of clergy and laymen, 

 not to share his responsibility, but to aid him 

 by its advice. The house reaffirmed the prin- 

 ciples of a bill to provide facilities for the 

 amendment, from time to time, of the rites and 

 ceremonies of the Church which had been 

 agreed upon in 1879 ; and declared that, while 

 it could not recommend the establishment of 

 parochial councils with statutory powers, vol- 

 untary parochial councils summoned by the 

 clergy, and composed of the faithful laity of 

 all classes, might in many parishes be estab- 

 lished with advantage such councils being 

 subject in all matters to the bishop. 



In the House of Laymen, the chairman made 

 a statement regarding the functions of the 

 house with respect to petitions. They were 

 not a body to whom a petition could properly 

 be addressed. A resolution was adopted rec- 

 ommending that power should be given to the 

 bishop, acting with the concurrence of his 

 council, to enforce the resignation of incum- 

 bents who may be shown to be unfit, for certi- 

 fied causes, to perform the duties of their 

 cures. The bill on church patronage, which 

 the archbishop had introduced in the House of 

 Lords, was approved. The house expressed 

 its desire that the Bishop of Peterborough's 

 bill, relative to seats in churches, might be so 

 shaped as to secure, as far as practicable, the 

 common-law rights of parishioners to the free 

 use of seats in parish churches. 



The convocations of the two provinces met, 

 according to summons, at their respective 

 places of meeting, August 6, were formally 

 organized, and were then prorogued. 



Conference on Church Reforms. A public confer- 

 ence, attended byChurchmen and Nonconform- 

 ists, was held in London, Feb. 24, for the dis- 

 cussion of questions of church reform. Mr. A. 

 Grey, M. P., presided. Attention was called 

 to some resolutions which had been previously 

 adopted at a meeting of conformist and non-con- 

 formist ministers; and the chairman, inhisopen- 

 ing address, presented as the principles which 

 had induced a junction of men of every party, 

 and had prompted them to stand side by side 

 as the advocates of a reformed national Church 

 of England, first, that the teaching of moral- 

 ity to the people was a proper function of the 

 state ; and, second, that the Church ought to 

 be maintained as a national institution, not be- 

 cause it was inseparably connected with any 

 immutable sectarian dogmas or incontroverti- 

 ble and particular doctrines, but because it was 

 the institution through which, under such con- 



ditions as might be imposed by Parliament, 

 the truths of religion were preached to the 

 people. Resolutions were adopted, declaring 

 that " the basis of all true church reform must 

 be found in the recognition of the fact that 

 constitutionally every subject of the state is a 

 member also of the national Church ; that for 

 practical purposes the rights thus derived are 

 best exercised by the whole body of parishion- 

 ers," and that " the parishioners, through their 

 representatives, should be empowered by law 

 to exercise a real control over the appointment 

 of the ministers, the disbursement of the funds, 

 and the arrangement of the services of the na- 

 tional Church in every parish. 



Parish Chnrches Bill. The Parish Churches 

 Bill, which the Bishop of Peterborough has 

 introduced into the House of Lords, declares 

 in the preamble that, according to the common 

 law of the realm, every parish church in Eng- 

 land and Wales is for the free use in common 

 of all parishioners of the parish to which it be- 

 longs, for the purposes of divine worship ac- 

 cording to the rules and ceremonies of the 

 Church of England. For the remedy of en- 

 croachments that have been made on the rights 

 of parishioners "by the appropriation of seats 

 and pews to the exclusion of others, and espe- 

 cially of the poorer classes, to the great hin- 

 drance of religion," it enacts that every parish 

 church in the kingdom saving vested inter- 

 ests, churches built under special local acts, and 

 modern churches possessing legal scales of pew- 

 rents assigned under the Church-Building or 

 New Parishes Acts shall be free, for the pur- 

 poses and under the conditions recited above. 



Oxford Laymen's League. An organization of 

 laymen has been formed for contending for 

 the maintenance of the establishment out- 

 side of politics. It is called the Oxford Lay- 

 men's League for the Defense of the National 

 Church. Its essential principle is defined in 

 its circular to be the union of the religious lai- 

 ty throughout the country without reference to 

 sects or parties ; and this point is again em- 

 phasized in the words, " Nothing can be more 

 fatal to the Church than its connection with 

 any one political party; its only permanent 

 support is the party of religion." The League 

 proposes by lectures and publications to set 

 facts bearing upon the question of disestablish- 

 ment before the nation, and to answer the ar- 

 guments and representations set forth by the 

 advocates of that measure. 



Bishop of Edinburgh. The Rev. Dr. Dowden, 

 Preceptor of the Theological Hall of the Scot- 

 tish Episcopal Church, was on the 6th of Au- 

 gust chosen to be Bishop of Edinburgh, in the 

 place of Bishop Cotteril, deceased. 



Church Congress. The Church Congress met 

 at Wakefield, October 5, and was opened 

 with a sermon by the Archbishop of York. 

 The Bishop of Ripon presided, and, in his 

 opening address, mentioned the subject of 

 church reform as one that would be presented 

 with particular prominence. This subject wcs 



