ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



13 



a representative assembly in which clergy and 

 laity should be coordinated under episcopal au- 

 thority would be a wise reversion, not only to 

 old Anglican tradition, but to those primitive 

 Church principles which our national Church 

 always desires to follow. We observe that such 

 _a course has been universally adopted by the 

 sister and daughter churches of the Anglican 

 -communion. We observe also that the Estab- 

 lished Church of Scotland, in which a powerful 

 General Assembly, consisting of clergy and 

 laity, has existed from the first years of the 

 Reformation, shows that such an arrangement 

 is perfectly compatible with establishment. Such 

 an assembly in this country, working, as it must 

 necessarily do, in harmony with the Crown and 

 with Parliament, would, in our opinion, do much 

 to promote that effective service to, and repre- 

 sentation of, the religious life of the nation 

 which it is the object of establishment to secure. 

 Such an assembly would not stand alone. It 

 would lead to the development of local organ- 

 izations in our parishes and dioceses which would 

 subserve the general object of making all mem- 

 bers of the Church more conscious of their rights 

 and responsibilities." The resolutions of the 

 Committee on Clerical Poverty and Clerical Char- 

 ities were adopted. They assert the importance 

 of obtaining very general support for the Queen 

 Victoria Clergy fund and the diocesan funds affili- 

 ated with it, and the desirability of introducing 

 the custom of Easter offerings and collections 

 for the benefit of the clergy into every parish; 

 declare that no scheme for assisting the poverty 

 of the clergy can be satisfactory that does not 

 make provision for a considerable diminution in 

 the number of poorly endowed benefices where 

 the area and population are also small; advise 

 the institution of diocesan boards of clergy and 

 laity to promote the union of small benefices 

 in suitable cases; and make other recommenda- 

 tions of measures intended to remedy the evils 

 of clerical distress. A resolution was passed in 

 "the House of Laymen deprecating the tendency 

 to pervert Sunday into a day of pleasure-seeking 

 -and trade. 



At the session of the Convocation in July the 

 tipper house discussed the report of the Com- 

 mittee on Clerical Poverty. This report embod- 

 ied the opinion that legislative action was neces- 

 sary, and offered some recommendations, among 

 which were those for the institution of susten- 

 tation funds and for unions of benefices. In 

 "the lower house the discussion upon the position 

 -of the laity in the councils of the Church was 

 Tesumed. Resolutions were adopted urging Par- 

 liament to pass " an enabling act empowering 

 "the two convocations to reform themselves and 

 "to sit together " ; that " it is desirable that a 

 national council shall be formed fully represent- 

 ing the clergy and laity of the Church of Eng- 

 land " ; and " that it is desirable, without trav- 

 ersing in any way the historic position and 

 rights of convocation, that a representative as- 

 sembly of laymen, duly elected, and possessing 

 statutory authority, shall be formed in each of the 

 "two provinces, and so associated with the con- 

 vocations that in either province the archbishop 

 shall summon the House of Laymen to consult 

 and debate with the houses of Convocation, and 

 that the two archbishops, acting together, shall, 

 as occasion requires, gather all the houses of the 

 provinces for a joint session as a national 

 Church council." In the House of Laymen the 

 powers and constitution of the contemplated 

 national council and the education bill were 

 subjects of discussion. 



Convocation of York. At a meeting of the 

 House of Laymen of the Convocation of York, 

 April 3, the resolution adopted in 1901 proposing 

 that the lay franchise should he open to all rate- 

 payers was reconsidered and receded from. This 

 step was intended to bring the action of tne 

 house into harmony with that of the House of 

 Laymen of the Convocation of Canterbury. The 

 house further expressed its cordial approval of 

 the Government education bill, but urged the 

 elimination of the permission clauses. Another 

 resolution expressed general satisfaction with the 

 licensing bill of Mr. Ritchie, without binding the 

 house to agreement in every detail. 



The houses of the Convocation of York met 

 April 30 and May 1. Resolutions were passed 

 giving general approval to the education bill. 

 A resolution of the lower house having reference 

 to the distress among the clergy suggested the 

 institution in every diocese of an annual 

 Clergy Sunday, on which collections should be 

 made in aid of the various clerical charities, and 

 recommending the stimulation and encourage- 

 ment of local effort to make the net income of 

 every beneficed clergyman not less than 200. 

 Another resolution affirmed the positive duty of 

 the Church to impress upon all Churchmen the 

 perpetual obligation " to do their utmost, by 

 prayer, word, and example, to promote the cause 

 of peace by implanting the great principles of 

 justice, charity, and mutual respect throughout 

 the world " ; and further expressing a strong 

 sense of the responsibility which will rest upon 

 the Church in this regard toward the various 

 races of South Africa at the close of the present 

 war. 



Joint Meeting of the Two Convocations. 

 A joint meeting of the two convocations, includ- 

 ing both Houses of Laymen, was held in the 

 Church House, Westminster, in July. The sub- 

 ject of the lay franchise was discussed at length 

 and the opinions of the body were expressed by 

 resolution; "that the electors should be of full 

 age and have been baptized and confirmed, and 

 should declare in writing that they are bona fide 

 members of the Church of England " ; and that 

 the representatives elected by them should in ad- 

 dition to these qualifications be communicants. 



Report on the Position of the Laity. The 

 report of the Joint Committee of Convocation on 

 the Position of the Laity sketches historically 

 the share of the laity in the councils of the 

 Church, showing that their importance in ec- 

 clesiastical councils began to diminish after the 

 Council of Nicsea until under the medieval pa- 

 pacy it was almost eliminated. In the East the 

 emperor embodied, at least in theory, the func- 

 tions of the laity, in the West the Pope absorbed 

 these with those of the episcopate, though in re- 

 moter regions, such, for instance, as England 

 before the Conquest, the share of the laity still 

 remained great. The Conquest introduced a 

 change, separating the clergy from the laity, and 

 the Reformation did nothing to restore to lay- 

 men that direct share in ecclesiastical matters 

 which had once been theirs. The supremacy of 

 the king was gradually transferred to Parlia- 

 ment, always an imperfect substitute, and most 

 imperfect now that Parliament has ceased to con- 

 sist wholly of Churchmen. Recent political 

 changes have impaired the parochial organiza- 

 tion of the Church and deprived the laity of the 

 influence in the parish which they had in the 

 middle ages, and in some degree retained after 

 the Reformation. The present position, then, is 

 a disorganization not far removed from chaos. 

 " The time has come for the creation of a repre- 



