The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-07-25 00:00:00

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THE MEETING OF CONVOCATION

THE discussions which hac

taken place on the vexed

question of restoring the functions of the Convocation of
the Church must be fresh in recollection, and though no-

t been formally decided upon so as to giv

vitality tc

,s Session with a Spee

I from the Throe
should be set forth, a very important step in advance has

aich th

eration

lalready taken place, and which there appears little reason
to doubt will lead to further progress. On Thursday, both

Houses of Convocation of the Province of Canterbury
assembled, agreeably to adjournment, at Westminster,
and, though not numerously attended, some highly-inte-

reports

n subjects of great impor-

tance to the welfare of the Church.
In the Upper House, the Archbishop of Canterbury
presided, and the Bishops of London, Oxford, Lincoln, and

of the committee appointed by Convocation to consider
and report, with a view to addressing Her Majesty .11
" whether any, and if so what.

dorms in the constitution

xation are expedient to enable it to treat, with

the fuller confidence of the Church, of such matters.as Her
Majesty may be pleased so submit to its deliberations."
They suggest no alteration in the Upper House ; and in
the Lower House, that there should be a Proctor for every
Archdeaconry, to be elected by all beneficed clergy, and
curates and chaplains in priests' orders, and licensed by
the Bishop. They also make several suggestions with
reference to the joint action of both Houses, the power of
appointing Committees, presenting petitions, and other
matters of detail. With reference to the union of the

1 Convocations of the

two provinces of Canterbury and

York, and also with r€

.ence to the representation of the

lay members of tit

Church, they offer no opinion, deeming

it a fitter subject for discussion in Convocation, which was
considered to amount to an express opinion that the mat-
ter ought to be discussed thereafter. The report was
agreed to. The next business was the report from the

committee appointed by the Convocation of the province
of Canterbury to consider and report " whether the great

increase and present condition of the population do not

rules n

edful to enable her to meet their spiritual neces-

"The committee consider it of the utmost importance, in
the present state of the Church, that the services, as now
ordered in the Book of Common Prayer, should be pre-
served entire and unaltered ; but we are of opinion that
the length of the morning service on Sundays and holy-
days, especially when the Holy Communion is adminis-
tered to a large body of communicants, renders it desirable
to allow of its being divided into different services, and
used at various hours. We, therefore, think it would be
expedient that, at the request of the incumbent, or, in his
absence, of the licensed curate of any parish or district,
the bishop of the diocess should be empowered to autho-
rise, so long as he shall deem fit, a division of the present
moraine service

so that either the order for the admi-
nistration of the Holy Communion, or the order for daily
morning prayer, may be used as a separate service, includ-
ing the Litany when appointed to be read, be used either
in one or two services in the course of the morning ; a
sermon being preached at either or both services.
" As to the order for evening prayer on Sunday, we see
no need for suggesting any alteration, except when it is
used in the same church both on the tfternoon and even-
ing of the same day. In that case we think it would be
expedient, first, that a new table of proper lessons should
be authorised, which might be substituted in the evening
prayer for those already read in the afternoon service ; or,
secondly, that, at the discretion of the parish priest, with
the consent of the bishop, a substitution should be allowed,
either in the afternoon or evening, of one of the occa-
sional services hereafter mentioned, provided that the
order for evening prayer be always used either in the
afternoon or evening."

The committee proceed to suggest that some relaxation
of the absolute strictness of the Church Services might be
usefully adopted ; and they give the following as examples :

" First, we would suggest that a shorter order for daily
prayer might be compiled from the Book of Common
Prayer, with a prescribed lesson or lessons of Holy Scrip-
ture, which might be used instead of the present order for
daily morning and evening prayer, on other days than
Sundays and holydays, in parishes where the incumbent
shall have satisfied the bishop of the diocess that it might
be advantageously adopted.

" etondly, we would suggest that various occasional
services might be fonnad. from the Book of Common
Prayer, for use in the Church, with the permission of the
bishop, on week days, and in addition to the prescribed
services on Sundays."

" We would specify the following as examples of suet(
services :

" ' 1. The Litany, with a Scripture lesson, psalmody, holy
baptism, churching of women, sermon, or catechising, or
with any of them.

" 2. A short selection of collects, with the Lord's Prayer
and psalmody, to precede or follow a sermon or catechizing.
" 3. A service, with sermon or lecture, preparatory to
the administration of the Holy Communion.
"' 4. A thanksgiving service, containing the Venite,'
Te Deum,' psalmody, collects, the Lord's Prayer, a scrip-
ture lesson, and the General Thanksgiving, with or with-
out a sermon.

" 5. Services for the deprecation or removal of God's
judgments—one formed of collects, the Lord's Prayer,
penitential psalms, and a scripture lesson ; another con-
sisting of the Litany, with penitential psalms, and a scrip-
ture lesson; either of such services with or without a
sermon.

" 6. A service for imploring the blessing of God on
church missions; with or without a sermon.

A. service for children

" ' Further, we think it would be expedient that the
bishop should be empowered to authorise the use of the
order for the administration of the Holy Communion as a
separate service on any day of the week, and that he should
be authorised to show, on special occasions, the substitu-
tion of other chapters of the Old and New Testaments
respectively, for the first and second lessons appointed for
the day. For one special occasion—viz., Ash Wednesday,
we would recommend the appointment of proper lessons.
Besides the adoption of these occasional services, framed
from the Book of Common Prayer, we think it desirable
that a collection of psalms and hymns, to be used in
churches, should be put forth by authority.
_ _ _ _

" Further, we think it desirable that a form should be
authorised `for admitting converts from the Church of
Rome, and such others as shall renounce their errors, and
for restoring such as have relapsed ;' and we are of opinion
that the form prepared by the Upper House of Convoca-
tion in 1714 would, with a few alterations, be proper for
this purpose.' "

The Committee further suggest that the exhortation to
the Holy Communion, after the prayer for the Church
Militant, might more appropriately be read immediately
after the sermon, and before any of the congregation have
left the Church. They also suggest a relaxation of the
prohibition in the 29th canon, of parents standing as
sponsors for their own children. With reference to the
extension of the agency of the Church, the Committee
consider that great advantage might be gained by the
admiision of literate persons to the diaconate, by the
establishment of missionary clergy in connexion with
cathedrals, and by a more general and systematic co-ope-
ration of the laity in works of Christian charity ; in visit-
ing and instructing the sick, poor, and ignorant ; in
exhorting the careless ; in teaching children and adults in
schools ; in collecting funds for the extension of the
Church at home and abroad; and in all other labours of

Christian love which can, consistently with the rules of
the Church, be performed by laymen ; under the superin-
tendence of the parochial clergy.
The Committee conclude their report by expressing
their opinion,

" That, inasmuch as the efficiency of the Church depends
mainly on the adequate discharge of the duties of the
Episcopal Office, and as it was the design of our Reformers
to erect a large number of additional sees, and as the
population of England and Wales has since their time
been multiplied nearly fivefold, while the episcopate has
received scarcely any augmentation in the last three
centuries, it deserves attentive consideration, whether for
the due performance of the Church's missionary work, an
increase in the episcopate is not now necessary, especially
in our great centres of population."
- - -

After a brief discussion, the report was adopted, the
Bishop of Lincoln remarking that it was one of the most
able and important papers ever put forth. It was then
agreed that a Committee of both Houses should be
appointed to consider the question of Church Rates, and
also a Joint Committee to consider on what it might be
expedient to recommend for the better enforcement of
discipline among the clergy. The next subject was the
communication of an offer from the Rev. S. E. Walker,
D.D., the incumbent of St. Columb Major, in Cornwall
His living was of the value of £1,515 per annum, and the
commuted tithes of 42 acres of glebe land, worth 60s. per
annum per acre—giving a total of £1,641 per annum, and
he had offered these advantages to endow a bishopric in
Cornwall. It was to be with immediate possession, and
in addition to the sum so stated, there was a house just
built, fit for the residence of the bishop ; and another fit
for the residence of the dean and archdeacon. Or the
grant was to be divided into three parts, to be the livings
of three separate incumbents. The House having expressed
its approval of this offer, the whole of the business was
ordered to be communicated to the Lower House.

In the Lower House, which was presided over by the
Very Rev. Dr. Peacock, Dean of Ely, the Prolocutor, some
formal business was transacted, and a discussion took
Paths_ introduced by a

)f gravamina submitted by the Rev. Dr. Words-

.e laid on

Ld ordered to b,

eration at

he next Session of Convocation. The c

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