ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



f, at which the Archbishop of Canterbury 

 made a second address, congratulating the con- 

 gress on the success of its meeting, and de- 

 claring that it had been wise to avoid certain 

 difficulties and "burning" questions, with 

 which it had been supposed it would be agi- 

 tated, but had not hesitated to touch upon the 

 great principles on which such questions should 

 be settled. It was observed at the opening of 

 the congress that a part of the extreme " evan- 

 gelical" party of the Church were absent, 

 but that the attendance of the opposite party 

 and churchmen of the moderate school was 

 greater than usual. 



The differences between the managers and 

 agents of the Church Missionary Society and 

 the Bishop of Colombo, in reference to the 

 missions in Ceylon, have been made the sub- 

 ject of a correspondence which has taken a 

 wide range. An account of the origin of these 

 differences is given in the ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA 

 for 1876. They involve the question of the 

 jurisdiction of the colonial bishops over the 

 missions of the Church Missionary Society. 

 They began in an attempt by the Bishop of 

 Colombo to exercise control over the Tamil 

 Coolie Mission a mission which, though nom- 

 inally connected with the Church Society, is 

 supported by members of several denomina- 

 tions and to remove and appoint agents to con- 

 duct the same. This assumption was resisted 

 by the Missionary Society, and a sharp discus- 

 sion of the merits of the case ensued, which 

 has been continued at intervals through a large 

 part of the year. Among the propositions to 

 which it led was one for the direct establish- 

 ment of the Colonial Church, which, however, 

 was not carried. In March, 1877, the bishops 

 in India, having met in conference, unani- 

 mously adopted resolutions declaring that the 

 bishop of every diocese is, in the last resort, re- 

 sponsible for all teaching and work done in his 

 jurisdiction ; that all appointments of spiritual 

 teachers ought to be made after consultation 

 with him and subject tohisveto; thatanychange 

 in the conduct, place, or order of worship ought 

 only to be made with his approval ; that church- 

 es or places of worship should not be conse- 

 crated or allowed to be used for the celebra- 

 tion of the holy communion without such prop- 

 erty is first made over entirely to the Church 

 forever. They also decided to have these 

 questions referred to and considered by the 

 bishops of the other provinces of the Anglican 

 Church, and finally to secure an expression 

 upon them from the Pan- Anglican Synod which 

 is to meet in 1878. The resolutions were for- 

 warded to the committee of the Society for 

 the Propagation of the Gospel and to the 

 Church Missionary Society. The Society for 

 the Propagation of the Gospel made a reply 

 explaining what its policy had been in the es- 

 tablishment of missions and the administration 

 of them by bishops, and sustaining the Indian 

 bishops in the main points of their positions, 

 expressing particular approval of the theory 



that the missions of the Church should be 

 brought more directly and more effectually 

 under Episcopal influence. The Church Mis- 

 sionary Society made a formal reply to the 

 resolutions, traversing and contradicting their 

 pretensions in plain language. It asked how 

 a diocesan organization could exist in India 

 among military chaplains, assuming that, if 

 such organization were established, it should be 

 done by native bishops of free and indepen- 

 dent action. As much liberty was claimed in 

 the matter of the appointment of lay readers 

 and city missionaries as was enjoyed in the 

 Church at home. The society declared that, if 

 the alternative of working without licenses or 

 ceasing to evangelize India was presented, the 

 same course would be adopted as on a previous 

 occasion the former would be chosen. The 

 Bishop of Colombo replied to these resolu- 

 tions, July 20th, with statements showing that 

 the society was mistaken in assuming that the 

 province of the bishops in Ceylon was not the 

 organization of the native Church, represent- 

 ing the facts to be as follows : 



The Bishop of Colombo is "appointed" by "let- 

 ters patent " not to " European work " only, but p.lso, 

 and in an equal degree, "to the superintendence, man- 

 agement, and discipline of missionary work and the 

 development of the organization of native churches." 

 This I proceed to prove : 1. It is so provided by the 

 letters patent themselves, which constitute the bish- 

 op ordinary over all clergy of the Church of England 

 in Ceylon and all churches in which the services of 

 the Church of England are used. 2. It will probably 

 be admitted that the bishop appointed by the crown 

 has the full authority of a bishop, whatever it may 

 be, over the chaplains and catechists who are paid 

 by the crown and are officers of the department over 

 which he presides. The whole number of these, in- 

 cluding three aided chaplains, is twenty-five. Of 

 these, fifteen or (omitting one who ranks as Euro- 

 pean) fourteen are natives, and all in priest's orders. 

 From this it is evident that the bishop's legally-de- 

 fined jurisdiction is in a very large degree to be exei- 

 cised over the native Church. 



Besides, the clergy of the Propagation Society, 

 a part of whom were natives, with their peo- 

 ple, were under the management of the bish- 

 op, and the bishop was made a trustee in the 

 case of every church built or school founded 

 by natives. A few days before this letter was 

 written, July 10th, the Rev. Mr. Clark, the 

 missionary who had been suspended by the 

 bishop, wrote to him, stating that he had re- 

 ceived advice from his society, that the opinion 

 of counsel learned in ecclesiastical law had 

 been received, to the effect that the revocation 

 of his license was bad on the merits, and void 

 for informality, and giving notice that, unless 

 steps were taken to give him a judicial trial 

 and revoke his license legally, he should re- 

 sume his ministerial functions. The bishop 

 replied with an argument in support of the 

 legality of his position, assuming that, as the 

 order in council constituting the diocese de- 

 clared English ecclesiastical law to be estab- 

 lished, under it he could withdraw licenses 

 without assigning reasons. He would, how- 

 ever, if the Metropolitan would consent to 



