ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



12th. The Metropolitan presided at the open- 

 ing session, and delivered the opening address. 

 In it he referred to the marvelous progress 

 which the Church had made during the past 

 sixteen years, and mentioned that, within his 

 own experience of eight years, the numerical 

 dimensions of the synod had nearly doubled, 

 it having increased from five to nine dioceses. 

 One diocese had been added during the year. 

 Concerning the subject of the election and 

 consecration of bishops, and the right of bish- 

 ops to interfere with nominations to that office, 

 in the discussion of which the Church was 

 much interested, the Metropolitan stated the 

 position of the bishops to be, that they desired 

 nothing more than legitimate protection against 

 the possibility of having an unfit person forced 

 upon them for consecration, while the synods 

 wished to guard against any undue interference 

 with their acknowledged rights of election. 

 The Metropolitan also expressed himself as 

 thankful that the Canadian Church had been 

 spared those painful controversial scenes which 

 had disturbed the Church in other lands. The 

 Very Eeverend Archdeacon Whitaker was 

 chosen Prolocutor of the House of Clerical and 

 Lay Deputies. The most important business 

 transacted by the synod consisted in the adop- 

 tion of the canon on the consecration of a 

 bishop. This canon as adopted provides that, 

 on the election of a bishop, a certificate of elec- 

 tion shall be sent to the Metropolitan, who 

 shall within seven days send formal notice of 

 the election to all the bishops within his eccle- 

 siastical province. Should any bishop desire 

 to object to the consecration of the person 

 elected, on the ground of canonical disability, 

 he shall make the objection in writing, deliv- 

 ered to the Metropolitan within fourteen days 

 of the notification to him of the election, 

 setting forth his reasons in full. In case 

 of his receiving objections, the Metropolitan 

 shall summon the House of Bishops to meet 

 within one month to consider the objections, 

 and shall send a copy of the objections, and 

 a notification of the time and place of the 

 meeting, to the candidate objected to, at least 

 twenty-one days before the appointed time. 

 If the objection is declared canonical, and sus- 

 tained by the House of Bishops, another per- 

 son must be elected in place of the rejected 

 candidate. The bishop who makes the objec- 

 tion is not permitted to vote at the final de- 

 cision, and bishops objecting to the consecra- 

 tion are not required to participate in it. The 

 following are defined as canonical objections, 

 on the sustaining of which only the election 

 of a bishop may be nullified : 1. That the per- 

 son elected is not fully thirty years of age ; 2. 

 That he is not a priest in holy orders of the 

 Church of England, or of some branch of the 

 Church in full communion therewith; 3. That 

 he is deficient in learning; 4. That he has 

 either directly or indirectly secured, or at- 

 tempted to secure, the office by any improper 

 means ; 5. That he is guilty of any other crime 



or immorality ; 6. That he holds and teaches, 

 or has, within five years previous to the date 

 of his election, taught or held, anything con- 

 trary to the doctrine and discipline of the 

 Church of England. A proposition had been 

 made at the previous session of the synod for 

 authorizing the ordination of deacons at twenty- 

 one years of age, and had been referred to a 

 committee to consider and report upon at the 

 present session. The committee reported un- 

 favorably to the proposition, and its report was 

 adopted. The committee appointed hy the 

 previous synod, on intercommunion with the 

 Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 

 States, made a report, which was adopted. It 

 recommended, first, that great caution be ex- 

 ercised with respect to the testimonials pro- 

 duced by clergymen coming from the United 

 States ; secondly, that letters of commenda- 

 tion and information be given to families or 

 individuals emigrating to the United States; 

 thirdly, that a bishop suspending or deposing 

 a clergyman from the ministry shall give no- 

 tice of the same to all the other bishops of the 

 Church in the United States and British North 

 America; fourthly, that the Metropolitan be 

 requested to take steps for the appointment of 

 an editor to furnish missionary intelligence 

 from Canada for insertion in the Spirit of Mis- 

 sions. A resolution was approved, giving per- 

 mission, with the written sanction and ap- 

 proval of the bishop, to use a shortened form 

 of morning and evening prayer on Sundays and 

 holidays, when the clergymen shall deem it 

 desirable, either from the peculiar condition 

 of his congregation or from the laborious na- 

 ture of his ministrations. A resolution was 

 passed declaring that " no clergyman of this 

 ecclesiastical province shall knowingly solem- 

 nize a marriage forbidden by the 99th canon 

 of the year A. D. 1603, which is as follows: 

 ' No person shall marry within the degrees 

 prohibited by the laws of God, and expressed 

 in a table set forth by authority, in the year 

 of our Lord God 1563.' " The House of Bishops 

 were requested to represent to the Archbishop 

 of Canterbury the desire of the synod that a 

 day of humiliation and fasting be appointed 

 to be observed previous to the meeting of the 

 Pan-Anglican Conference in 1878, to pray to 

 God to pardon and heal the divisions of Chris- 

 tendom. The Bishop of Algoma made a re- 

 port to the synod of the missions in his diocese, 

 which are chiefly to Indians. Owing to the 

 want of funds, and of proper persons to engage 

 in the work, no increase in the missions could 

 be reported. The receipts for the past three 

 years had been about $20,500, and the expen- 

 ditures about $19,000. Nine clergymen, six- 

 teen lay readers, and several schools had been 

 supported. The Shingwauk Industrial Home 

 contained forty boys, and was prevented only 

 by the want of funds from receiving others 

 who were waiting to be taken in. The Wawa- 

 nosh Home, for girls, was to be opened early 

 in October, in a part of the new building, with 



