10 



ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



house expressed itself as unable to agree with 

 the interpretation given by the Convocation of 

 Canterbury to the requirements of the act of 

 Uniformity (amended) in respect to additional 

 services. The lower house requested the arch- 

 bishop to appoint a committee to consider and 

 report upon the subject of the law relating to 

 Mastical vestries and church wardens (in- 

 volved in the pending Parish Councils bill). 



Liberation Society. The jubilee of the So- 

 ciety for the Liberation of Religion from State 

 Patronage and Control was celebrated in London 

 April :jo and May 1. The report of the execu- 

 tive committee represented that, owing to the 

 absorption of the last session of Parliament by 

 two great governmental measures, the progress 

 of all the society's minor objects had been re- 

 tarded ; but the complete abolition of Church 

 establishments had been perceptibly advanced. 

 Successful resistance had been made to a meas- 

 ure dealing with -Liverpool churches and to the 

 London university scheme. The action of the 

 bishops and other friends of the Church on the 

 Parish Councils bill, which was in some degree 

 a measure of disestablishment, had deepened the 

 impression that the existence of a privileged 

 Church was obstructive to social progress. It 

 was expected that the act would do more than 

 promote mental activity and independence in 

 the country. The Church of England would 

 still have its local affairs managed by the unre- 

 formed vestry, besides a vigorous popular body, 

 and the concessions Churchmen were already ask- 

 ing in this respect could only be obtained by dis- 

 establishment. The Welsh bill seemed a com- 

 plete and satisfactory measure of disestablish- 

 ment, but its pecuniary arrangements would 

 need careful consideration. It would be stren- 

 uously resisted in order to defend the English 

 Establishment, and the friends of religious 

 equality in England as well as Wales must pre- 

 paiv for a struggle which must have far-reaching 

 i-snes. The Scottish bill introduced by Sir 

 Charles Cameron, for which there was little 

 chance of progress this session, might be con- 

 sidered too liberal to vested interests, but the 

 circumstances of the two countries differed 

 greatly. If the terms offered were rejected, they 

 were not likely to be renewed. A final struggle 

 in Scotland must now be prepared for. Efforts 

 to -ccure ecclesiastical ascendancy in connection 

 with popular education were increasing in num- 

 ber and boldness. Reference was made to the 

 opportunity which the consideration of the 

 Church Patronage bill gave for showing that 

 only after disestablishment could the Church de- 

 vise a satisfactory mode of appointing and allo- 

 cating its ministers. The report concluded by 

 reminding the society that its aim was "not so 

 much to right ourselves as to right. Christianity." 

 A resolution was passed expressing satisfaction 

 with the Local Government act as a measure 

 which effected a severance between civil and 

 ecclesiastical matters in parochial affairs, dimin- 

 ished the legal powers of incumbents and other 

 officials of the Established Church, and would 

 lead to beneficial changes in the condition of the 

 rural population. 



Other Societies. The annual meeting of 

 the Liberal Churchmen's Union was held in 

 London, April 13. Mr. George Russell, M. P., 



presided. Recalling, in his opening address, the 

 history of the society, the president said it was 

 mainly the product of the election of 1892 and 

 of the general feeling of regret on the part of 

 Liberals who were also Churchmen that the 

 Church, both during that election and before it, 

 had come to be identified in the eyes of the 

 voters with the Tory party. That was felt to be 

 a reproach which should not be allowed to con- 

 tinue to exist. The events of the last fifteen 

 months had abundantly demonstrated the truth 

 of that thought. 



The first annual report of the National Prot- 

 estant Church Union showed that the number 

 of members had reached nearly 4.000. About 

 48.000 pamphlets had been sold or circulated, 

 comprising 21,000 copies of Archdeacon Far- 

 rar's tract on " Undoing the Work of the Ref- 

 ormation." A parliamentary subcommittee 

 had been appointed, and the formation of a 

 board of patronage had been considered by the 

 council. The income of the Union was 1,500. 

 The need of such an association as this was rep- 

 resented as becoming daily more apparent. 

 Meanwhile the council had observed with much 

 thankfulness the signs of awakened interest in 

 Protestant principles in various parts of the 

 country. Especial thankfulness was expressed 

 " for the recent bold and faithful utterances of 

 our spiritual rulers, as indicating that they are 

 not insensible to the dangers which threaten the 

 Church from these causes." Particular refer- 

 ence was made in connection with this point to 

 some utterances of the Archbishop of Canter- 

 bury against extreme ritualistic declarations and 

 practices ; the declaration of the Archbishop of 

 York that " England is Protestant to the core " ; 

 an exhortation to clergymen by the Bishop of 

 Liverpool to ' stand firm " in the paths of the 

 Reformation : a declaration made by the Bishop 

 of Worcester ; and anxiety expressed by the 

 Bishop of Wakefield on account of the growing 

 practice of " reservation of the sacrament." 



A memorial, signed on behalf of the National 

 Protestant Church Union, was presented, in 

 August, to the Archbishops of Canterbury and 

 York and the English bishops, calling attention 

 to the " use of unauthorized service books, side 

 by side with the Book of Common Prayer, in the 

 administration of the holy communion, and also 

 to the wide circulation of manuals, especially 

 among the young, containing not a few of the 

 distinctive errors of the Church of Rome." 

 Among these are named " Notes on Ceremonial," 

 " The Priest's Ceremonial," "The Server's Ceremo- 

 nial," "The Ceremonial of the Altar," "Directori- 

 um Anglicanum," and " The Ritual of the Altar," 

 all of which are intended, it is expressly stated by 

 the compilers, for the use of the clergy and their 

 assistants in the public administration of the holy 

 communion. Numerous quotations are given 

 from the service books, with a view to showing 

 that their teaching is alien to the whole tenor 

 and teaching of the Book of Common Prayer, of 

 the Communion Office, and of the rubric at the 

 end of the Communion Office. The archbishops 

 and bishops are asked to express their disap- 

 proval of the use of these books by the clergy and 

 to discountenance their circulation. 



The Irish Episcopal Church. The twenty- 

 fourth report of the Representative Body of the 



