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ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



meeting of the convocation in May, a draft canon 

 agreed upon by committees of the convocations 

 of both provinces, and already approved by the 

 Convocation of York, in anticipation of the pas- 

 sage of the Clergy Discipline bill then pending in 

 Parliament, was recommended for adoption in 

 the following language : " If any beneh'ced priest 

 shall by reason of any crime or immorality 

 proved against him become legally disqualified 

 from holding preferment, it shall be the duty of 

 the bishop of the diocese wherein his benefice is 

 situate to declare without further trial the bene- 

 fice with cure of souls (if any) vacant, and if 

 it should not be so declared vacant within 

 twenty-one days, it shall be declared vacant by 

 the archbishop of the province, or under his au- 

 thority." The Archbishop of Canterbury was 

 requested to make application to the Crown for 

 license to enact, promulgate, and put in use a 

 canon in these words. The subject of the mar- 

 ginal references in the revised version of the 

 Bible was considered in both houses. The arch- 

 bishop said that they had got into a confused 

 condition, and showed traces of several schools 

 of thought. The opinion of the upper house 

 was expressed that the question whether the new 

 list should supersede the old one should be de- 

 cided by the comparative merits of the two series. 

 At the second meeting of convocation, May 10, 

 a gravamen, numerously signed, was presented in 

 the upper house, reciting that fasting previous 

 to the communion was not authorized in the 

 Scriptures or prescribed in any of the formularies 

 of the Church of England, and requesting their 

 lordships to take such steps as should disabuse 

 the mind of the Church of the influence of the 

 teaching of certain priests that it is a sin to com- 

 municate otherwise than fasting. A petition from 

 the Sunday Society, presented at the meeting in 

 February, in favor of the opening of public li- 

 braries, museums, and art galleries on Sundays 

 was supported in the upper house by the Bishop 

 of Rochester, and was referred to a committee of 

 both houses. The House of Laymen, in February, 

 expressed the opinion that the interest of the 

 Church required that the law as to the patronage 

 of advowsons should be wisely and temperately 

 reformed. The ceremony of formally opening 

 the convocation in connection with the assem- 

 bling of a new Parliament took place Aug. 6. 

 The Bishop of Guildford was unanimously elected 

 prolocutor of the lower house. 



Convocation of York. The Convocation of 

 York met Feb. 23. Minutes were passed con- 

 cerning the deaths of Prince Albert Victor, Arch- 

 bishop Magee, and the Bishop of Carlisle. Both 

 houses acted in favor of the appointment of joint 

 committees to consider the provisions of the 

 Clergy Discipline bill which had been introduced 

 into Parliament, and to suggest the principles on 

 which future ecclesiastical legislation could best 

 be effected, and of inviting the co-operation of 

 the Convocation of Canterbury in both cases. 

 The upper house declined to grant a request of 

 the lower house that a royal commission on the 

 subject of betting and gam b 1 ing be sought. The 

 lower house adopted a resolution representing 

 the great importance of all ecclesiastical bills 

 being submitted for discussion in convocation 

 before second reading in Parliament. 



The House of Laymen of the convocation as- 



sembled for the first time in York Minster, April 

 20. The archbishop delivered an opening address 

 dealing with the Clergy Discipline bill, Church 

 trusts, and the spiritual provision for inmates of 

 workhouses ; after which the house organized by 

 the election of its officers. A resolution was 

 adopted approving of the principle of the Clergy 

 Discipline (immorality) bill then before Parlia- 

 ment, and also of the archbishop's intention to 

 apply for license to amend the canons so as to 

 bring them into conformity with the bill. 



The convocation again met for business April 

 26, when the bishop reported concerning the 

 meeting of the House of Laymen that it had 

 been extremely successful. He said it would be 

 a matter for the consideration of the houses how 

 they could best bring the deliberations of that 

 house into contact with theirs. The provisions 

 of the Clergy Discipline bill were discussed, and 

 a draft canon was approved by both houses cor- 

 responding with the one which has been cited al- 

 ready as passed by the Convocation of Canterbury. 



The royal assent having been given to the new 

 canon framed to bring the rule of the Church into 

 conformity with the Clergy Discipline bill, the 

 Convocation of Canterbury met June 14, and the 

 Convocation of York June 16, to promulgate and 

 execute it. The canon (as quoted above) now 

 goes out with the formal approval of both con- 

 vocations as well as of the sovereign. 



Church Missionary Society. The annual 

 meeting of the Church Missionary Society was 

 held in London, May 3. Sir John Kennaway, 

 M. P., presided. The ordinary income of the 

 society for the year had been 231,204, and the 

 expenditure 243,444. The gross expenditure, 

 including that from the application of special 

 funds, had been 251,374 ; and the gross receipts, 

 in which was included a special contribution of 

 nearly 21,000 for North American work, had 

 been 269,377. From the mission fields were 

 returned 316 stations, with 329 ordained, 69 lay, 

 and 101 woman European missionaries ; 2,847 

 native and Eurasian clergy; 4,232 lay teachers; 

 196,983 native Christian adherents ; 50,710 native 

 communicants; and 1,759 schools, with 70,731 

 pupils. The number of baptisms during the year 

 was 10,173. Fifty-eight candidates to be mis- 

 sionaries had been accepted for training, and 66 

 for immediate service ; 54 Cambridge men had of- 

 fered themselves as missionaries. A medical mis- 

 sion auxiliary committee had formed. Still, 

 more missionaries were wanted; from 3 alone 

 out of 18 of the society's missions came requests 

 for 300 additional men. The committee claimed 

 in the report that the result of the inquiry into 

 the Palestine mission by five prelates was a 

 vindication of the aims and methods of the 

 society's work among Moslems in juxtaposition 

 with the corrupt churches of the East. The re- 

 port related that the difficulties with which the 

 work in Uganda had been attended at times arose 

 from dissensions between Roman Catholic and 

 Protestant adherents. In the spring of 1891 

 there were in Uganda about 200 baptized Chris- 

 tians connected with the society, a large number 

 of those baptized since the mission started hav- 

 ing died; about 2,000 adherents were under in- 

 struction ; the native communicants numbered 

 60; and the adult baptisms of the year exceeded 

 50 in number. The congregations at the daily 



