ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



such a course, give him a hearing before a spir- 

 itual court, " which might or might not be, 

 strictly speaking, informal, but which would 

 be conducted according to the spirit and prac- 

 tice of the Church of England, and from whose 

 decision there would be an appeal to the Met- 

 ropolitan, but no further," and suggested that, 

 pending the submission of this plan to the Met- 

 ropolitan, the suspended missionary should 

 continue the provincial submission which he 

 had hitherto thought right. Mr. Clark declined 

 to accept the offer of such a trial as the bish- 

 op proposed, and shortly afterward resumed 

 the exercise of his functions as a minister. 



II. THE IRISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. The re- 

 port of the Commissioners on Church Temporal- 

 ities in Ireland for 1876 stated that the com- 

 missioners had now advanced so far in realiz- 

 ing the property vested in them by the Irish 

 Church Act, that they were able to form a tol- 

 erably accurate estimate of the surplus which 

 will remain to be applied as Parliament may 

 direct, under the provisions of the sixty-eighth 

 section of that act. That surplus, they be- 

 lieved, would be larger than they had thought 

 would be the case two years ago, but it would 

 ba a yearly receipt and not a capital sum. The 

 nat annual revenue at the end of 1879, when 

 the present commission expires, will, it is esti- 

 mated, ba 533,000, and the capital value of 

 the surplus at that time the commissioners put 

 approximately at 6,068,000. In 1893, the 

 annual revenue will, according to their esti- 

 mate, be 600,000, and the capital value of 

 the surplus 10,494,100. The commissioners 

 then suggested a mode by which the surplus 

 of six millions, anticipated in 1879, might be 

 then made available for public purposes by 

 postponing or prolonging the liquidation of the 

 debt due to the Government. 



The report of the Irish Church Representa- 

 tive B^dy shows that the total funds possessed 

 and administered by them in 1876 were 7,- 

 524,710, of which 6,959,582 was capital, and 

 tha remainder interest, profits, contributions, 

 and miscellaneous receipts, and that the year 

 1877 was bagun with a capital balance of 6,- 

 938,097. The income of 1876 had been 320,- 

 227, of which a balance remained after expendi- 

 ture to 1877 of 41,915. The sum of 6,474,- 

 212 was invested in securities, producing a 

 yearly income of 286,298. The Irish parish 

 hai raised for stipends during the year 124,- 

 424. The excess of annuities over interest for 

 1876 was 122,167. Three hundred and fifty 

 glebes out of nine hundred were vested in the 

 representative body. The dioceses of Cork, 

 Dublin, and Down seemed to be the most pros- 

 perous ones. 



The Synod of the Irish Church met in Dub- 

 lin, April 10th. The principal business accom- 

 plished was the discussion and adoption of the 

 preface to the revised Prayer-Book, which con- 

 tains in brief a statement of the alterations 

 which have been made in the service, and of 

 the considerations on which they are based. 



In the House of Bishops, the Archbishop of 

 Dublin opposed the new preface in its entirety, 

 as requiring certain of the bishops, himself 

 among the number, to impose a declaration on 

 candidates which they themselves did not be- 

 lieve. The preface was carried in this House 

 by a vote of 5 to 4 ; the Bishops of Cashel, 

 Killaloe, Meath, Ossory, and Kilmore, voting 

 in its favor, the Primate, the Archbishop of 

 Dublin, and the Bishops of Down and Derry, 

 voting against it. It passed the clergy by a 

 vote of 94 to 10, and the laity by 137 to 3. 

 The " High Church " bishops, clergy, and laity 

 had, to a great extent, absented themselves 

 when the final vote was taken in the Lower 

 House. June, 1878, was fixed upon as the time 

 for the new Prayer-Book to come into opera- 

 tion. The preface, which presents a complete 

 summary of the seven years' work of the synod 

 in revision, is as follows : 



Whsn this Church of Ireland ceased to be es- 

 tablished by law, and thereupon some alteration in 

 our public liturgy became needful, it was earnestly 

 desired by many that occasion should be taken for 

 a new and full review thereof (such as had already 

 more than once been made in former times), and for 

 considering what other changes the lapse of years or 

 exigency of our present times and circumstances 

 might have rendered expedient. And though we 

 were not unaware of many dangers attending on such 

 an attempt, yet we were the more willing to make 

 it, because we perceived to pur comfort, that all men, 

 on all sides, professed their love and reverence for 

 the Book of Common Prayer in its main substance 

 and chief parts, and confessed that it contained tho 

 true doctrine of Christ, and a pure manner and order 

 of Divine service, according to the Holy Scriptures 

 and the practice of the primitive Church ; and that 

 what was sought by those who desired such a review 

 was not any change of the whole tenor or structure 

 of the book, but the more clear declaration of what 

 they took to be its true meaning, and the removing 

 of certain expressions here ana there, which they 

 judged open to mistake or perversion. And as this 

 Church has already, in its Convention of 1870, re- 

 ceive^ and approved the book as it then stood and 

 was in use, so we now declare that, in such changes 

 as we have made on this review, we imply no cen- 

 sure upon the former book as containing anything 

 contrary to the Scriptures, when it is rightly under- 

 stood and equitably construed. The true reasons 

 of such changes will, for the most part, appear on a 

 comparison of the two books ; but it has been thought 

 good to add some further explanation why certain 

 things have been altered and others retained. 



As concerning the Holy Communion, some of our 

 brethren were at first earnest that we should remove 

 from the Prayer-Book certain expressions which they 

 thought might seem to lend some pretext for tho 

 teaching of doctrine concerning the presence of 

 Christ in that sacrament repugnant to that set forth 

 in the Articles of Religion, wherein it is expressly 

 declared that the body of Christ is given, taken, and 

 eaten in the Supper only after a heavenly and spir- 

 itual manner, and that the mean whereby it is there- 

 in received and eaten is faith ; but upon a full and 

 impartial review we have not found in the formula- 

 ries any iust warrant for such teaching, and there- 

 fore, in this behalf, we have made no other change 

 than to add to the Catechism one question with an 

 answer taken out of tho twenty-eighth of the said 

 articles. 



As for the error of those who have taught that 

 Christ has given himself or his body and blood in 

 this sacrament to be reserved, lifted up, carried 



