12 



ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



Liverpool in September on a charge of holding 

 antiritualistic meetings calculated to cause a 

 breach of the peace. Refusing to find sureties 

 and give bonds to keep the peace, he was sen- 

 tenced to imprisonment for three months. The 

 incident caused much excitement among the anti- 

 ritualists. Mr. Kensit, senior, sent petitions for 

 his son's release to the Home Secretary and other 

 members of the Government. He asserted that 

 the most serious offense proved against his son 

 \\a- that he had read a sentence from the Prayer - 

 I'.ni.k characterizing masses as "blasphemous 

 fables and dangerous deceits." In a memo- 

 rial to the Home Secretary the Council of the 

 t'hurch Association characterized the imprison- 

 ment as a grave scandal and a menace to liberty 

 of speech. In answer to a memorial signed by 

 100,000 persons, the Home Secretary said that 

 the case was one in which he could not interfere. 

 The Baptist Union, by resolution, asked for an 

 investigation into the case, in which it affirmed 

 tin-re was reason to believe that there had been 

 a grave miscarriage of justice. Mr. Kensit went 

 to Liverpool to visit his son in prison, and a 

 demonstration was made in Birkenhead against 

 the Wycliffite preachers, in which he was hit 

 upon the head with a chisel. Pneumonia super- 

 \ i iicd, from which he died, Oct. 8. His son was 

 afterward released by order of the Home Secre- 

 tary, when he declared that he would take his 

 father's place at the head of the movement he 

 had organized. Steps have been taken to erect a 

 memorial to Mr. Kensit as a " defender of Protes- 

 tant truth." 



Convocation of Canterbury. The Convo- 

 cation of Canterbury met in its first group 

 of sessions for the year on Jan. 28. In the 

 upper house the appointment was advised of a 

 joint committee to consider the best methods of 

 approaching the Jews resident in the kingdom, 

 and whether any special spiritual provision 

 should be made for Jewish Christians during the 

 first years of their conversion. A resolution of 

 the lower house protesting against a proposal 

 to legalize marriage with a deceased wife's sister 

 was adopted, with a request that the archbish- 

 op and bishops use all means at their disposal 

 to prevent any measure with that object from 

 becoming law. The subject of preparing a special 

 prayer in regard to the supply of candidates for 

 holy orders was referred to the joint committee 

 on special prayers and services. In the lower 

 house the subject of the procedure of the con- 

 tinuation of bishops was discussed. The follow- 

 ing resolutions on the subject of ecclesiastical 

 dilapidations were adopted: "1. That in the in- 

 terest of the Church of England, and with a view 

 to relieving the distress arising from the dimin- 

 ished income of the clergy at the present time, 

 a general insurance fund to deal with dilapida- 

 tions ought to be established. 2. That each in- 

 cumbent who is liable should be required to con- 

 tribute an annual payment to this fund upon 

 some suitable basis. 3. That it is desirable that 

 this annual payment should include a small sum 

 to be lodged in the name of the incumbent as a 

 guarantee fund against damage accruing through 

 neglect or waste, to be returned with interest, if 

 not required, to the incumbent at the termination 

 of his incumbency." The resolutions further ad- 

 vised that the central management of the pro- 

 posed insurance fund be placed in the hands of 

 the ecclesiastical commissioners; and that di- 

 ocesan, archdiaconal, or parochial repair funds 

 be established to assist the clergy, in case of ne- 

 ny, in raising the contributions levied upon 

 them. The opinion of the house was expressed 



that in any rearrangement of the position of vol- 

 untary schools, it was desirable that public aid 

 given to them should be applicable to their gen- 

 eral maintenance, without any allocution of 

 funds to the support of secular as distinguished 

 from religious instruction. The archbishop and 

 bishops were requested to take steps for the 

 provision of a prayer for the supply of candi- 

 dates for ordination. 



In the House of Laymen the discussion on the 

 subject of the lay franchise was continued from 

 a previous group of sessions, and a resolution 

 relative to the initial lay franchise was adopted,. 

 " that an equal number of parochial represent- 

 atives of every ecclesiastical parish or district 

 attached to an old or new parish church in the 

 diocese (including the district remaining ecclesi- 

 astically attached to the old parish church of 

 an ancient parish church which had been ec- 

 clesiastically subdivided) shall be elected by 

 such of the persons of full age, resident in the 

 ecclesiastical parish or district, as declare them- 

 selves in writing to be members of the Church 

 of England and of no other religious body, and 

 are not legally and actually excluded from com- 

 munion, and are of the male sex." Other resolu- 

 tions relate to the details of the scheme, the elec- 

 tion of representatives to the diocesan council, 

 etc. In view of differences of opinion between, 

 this house and the House of Laymen of the Con- 

 vocation of York with reference to the initial 

 lay franchise, a joint session of the two houses- 

 was asked for. The "Convocations of the Clergy" 

 bill, in the form in which it had been read a 

 third time in the House of Lords, was approved,, 

 with the expression of a desire for its speedy 

 enactment into a law. 



At the meeting of Convocation May 1 both 

 houses discussed the education bill and pa>-ed 

 resolutions giving a general approval to it. Ap- 

 proval was given in the lower house in detail 

 to the arrangements made at the confirmation; 

 of the Bishop-elect of Worcester, which, it was 

 represented, w 7 ere on the lines suggested in the 

 second report of the Committees of Church and 

 State on the Confirmation of Bishops. The reso- 

 lutions appended to the report of the joint Com- 

 mittee on the Position of the Laity were dis- 

 cussed, without action being taken. These reso- 

 lutions declare that it is desirable that a national 

 council should be formed fully representing the 

 clergy and laity of the Church of England; that 

 the definition of the powers to be entrusted to 

 the council in reference to legislation, of the 

 qualifications of electors, and of the method of 

 electing and summoning its members should be 

 determined by a joint meeting of the members of 

 the two convocations with the provincial hou-es 

 of laymen, with a view to its receiving statutory 

 authority; that this council should consist of 3- 

 houses, the first that of bishops, the second that 

 of representatives of the clergy, whether otlicial 

 or elected, and the third of elected communicant 

 laymen; that the acceptance of the three houses. 

 sitting together or separately, should be necessary 

 in order to constitute an act of the body: and 

 that nothing in the resolutions was intended to 

 interfere with the position of the convocation- a< 

 provincial synods of the clergy. The report 

 stated that the committee had come to the con- 

 clusion that the study of the apostolic and primi- 

 tive constitution of the Church as it is sei forth 

 in Holy Scripture and in the history and writings 

 of the first three centuries showed clearly the 

 coordinate action of clergy and laity as integral 

 parts of the whole body of Christ, and it was 

 added: "It appears to 'us that the creation of 



