ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



sider on the Draft Rubrics and Additional 

 Services Bill. 



Deputation to the Queen. A deputation rep- 

 resenting the upper and lower houses of the 

 Convocation of Canterbury was received by 

 the Queen at Windsor Castle, March 8, to pre- 

 sent an address from the members of the two 

 houses congratulating Her Majesty on her ac- 

 cession to the fiftieth year of her reign. The 

 address, after the words of congratulation, 

 related that during the year that had elapsed 

 since the convocation had last had the privi- 

 lege of approaching the Throne, ample evidence 

 had been afforded of " the steady progress of 

 the Church of England in her works of duty 

 and love, and a constant strengthening of at- 

 tachment to her communion. Some measure 

 (though an inadequate one) of that attachment 

 appears in the vast amount of free-will offer- 

 ings devoted to the work of the Church of 

 England and Wales. There is no part of the 

 country which is not yielding abundant signs 

 of this progress and this devotion. One event 

 there has been in our own history fruitful (as 

 we trust) of good counsels and good works. 

 An elective House of Laymen is invited to 

 deliberate, not as a part of the constitutional 

 convocation, but as a body of advisers at its 

 side. The experience and judgment of many 

 distinguished men thus become readily avail- 

 able for the service of the Church." 



The Queen, in her reply, said : " I rejoice with 

 you in observing the substantial progress of 

 the Church of England and the increasing zeal 

 manifested alike by clergy and laity. The 

 willingness of the laity to organize a voluntary 

 representative body to assist with their coun- 

 sel and advice, when required, the delibera- 

 tions of the House of Convocation, is much to 

 be commended." 



Convocation of York. The Convocation of 

 York met February 15. The archbishop, 

 in his opening address, spoke concerning a 

 projected fusion of the two convocations, 

 which, he said, should be viewed with regard 

 to its bearings on the question of disestablish- 

 ment. The establishment of the Church of 

 England as a national church was expressed 

 by a few elements. They were, the power of 

 the Crown to summon convocation, the nomi- 

 nation of bishops, the visitational power of the 

 Crown, appeal from ecclesiastical courts to the 

 Crown, the fact that no change could take 

 place in the doctrine or worship of the Church 

 without the consent of the Crown expressed 

 by Parliament, and the power of modifying the 

 regulations of the Church by means of statutes. 

 There remained for consideration the plan of 

 a delegation of each convocation to meet to- 

 gether to discuss all convocation business. 

 The combined influence of the delegations, 

 and of convocation, would be great, and it was 

 also conceivable that, by the method suggest- 

 ed, convocation might be altered from assem- 

 blies for discussion to bodies where serious 

 business would be considered and accomplished. 



A discussion took place between the two 

 houses with reference to the procedure in de- 

 bating the scheme which was thus brought 

 forward. The lower house desired to meet 

 with the upper house in considering the ques- 

 tion, then to retire and debate, and vote upon 

 the matter in separate session. The President 

 of the upper house did not feel free to grant 

 this request, and thought it best for each 

 house to proceed with business, the upper 

 house, as usual, sending down information to 

 the lower house as occasion might arise. The 

 proposition for the joint meeting of the two 

 Convocations by delegations, as approved by 

 the upper house, provides that all the mem- 

 bers of that house shall be its delegation, 

 while the delegation of the lower house shall 

 consist of the prolocutor and 35 members, 

 chosen by a committee of selection ; that the 

 rights and privileges of the delegates of either 

 house shall apply to the meetings of the dele- 

 gates in like manner as to the sessions of the 

 Houses themselves ; that the York delegation 

 shall vote separately, if any four members of 

 either house shall demand it ; and that the 

 joint delegations shall have power to discuss 

 any business which may be submitted by the 

 president of either Convocation, and may pass 

 resolutions thereon, provided that such resolu- 

 tions are to be considered as recommendations 

 only, which the whole Convocation may after- 

 ward discuss and adopt, if they shall think 

 fit. The lower house resolved that " it is 

 greatly to be desired that there should be a 

 joint meeting annually of the Convocations of 

 Canterbury and York," and approved of pro- 

 visions for the nominating of delegates to at- 

 tend it. The president said, with reference to 

 obtaining a right of access of the Convocation 

 to the Throne, that he had made an effort in 

 that direction some years ago, and had obtained 

 from the Home Office a distinct refusal. A 

 resolution was passed by the lower house in 

 February, 1886, but he did not consider that 

 he should again go to the Crown to receive 

 the same reply, without some new matter in 

 the form of an address of the house, or the 

 like. A suggestion had been made that in 

 this jubilee year anew attempt should be made 

 to obtain a place for presenting their address 

 in person. The lower house passed a declara- 

 tion in favor of the revival of diocesan synods, 

 and recommended that advantage be taken of 

 this year of jubilee to form a fund for aug- 

 menting the stipends of poorer benefices, and 

 the relief of impoverished clergymen. 



Church Missionary Society. The anniversary 

 of the Church Missionary Society was held 

 in London, May 3. Sir John Kennaway pre- 

 sided. The ordinary income of the society had 

 been 207,793, or 6,555 in excess of the or- 

 dinary income of the previous year, which was 

 the largest that had then been returned in the 

 history of the society. The total amount of the 

 receipts on all accounts, had been 234,639. 

 Eighteen young men, university graduates, 



