New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-10-05
PRICE THREE CENTS.
MISSION WORK DISCUSSED.
THE TWO EPISCOPAL HOUSES SIT AS oNI
BODY.
MANY PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS PRESENTED
THE REPORT OF THE MISSIONARY BOARD
READ-URGING THE ERECTION OF A
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES OF THE
PRAYER-BooK REVISION

The Episcopal General Convention yesterday
received number of petitions and memorials
and referred them TO the appropriate committees.
The two Houses then resolved themselves into a
Board OF Missions in which capacity il sat for
the rest OF the day In the morning session
blshop Whlpple presided and i'm the afternoon
DShop whitaker presided. The Rev DR. Lang
fora, the general secretary OF the Missionary
Board, read the report of the missionary work.
and on behalf Of the Board advocated the erection
oil mission building in Fourth-ave above CAL
vary Church in this city, at n cost of $500. 900.
a resolution warmly approving the project was
unanimously passed. a number of foreign and
domestic missionaries made stirring addresses and
Bishop Dudley read the report of the Commission
for Work Among Colored People
EFFECT OF THE CHANGES
Ii may be well TO explain briefly just how
the cbu ges and amendments approved bv tbe
General Convention will affect the PRAYER -Bools
First of all, the Order of Morning PRAYER. the
Lltany, and the Office Of the Holy Communion
may be ustd separately, provided that none OF
these services be habitually disusod. The Litany
may be said at Evening Prayer If desired. The
mlrlster may, under certain circumstances, use
such devotlons taken from the Prayer Book as
nc thinks best The bishop of each diocese
PfODer
psalms are appointed for a number of feas,s OF
the Church not now provided with proper psalms,
twenty selections of psalms are appointed.
being double the present ,.umber of selections.
Inc common custom of singing hymn or anthem
ap thc Dtglnnlng Of a ser> ice and before AMI
alter sermons is legalizcd. Except on Sunday
morning the Exhortation beginning Dearly
Beloved Brethren may be omitted and when
te Holy Communion is to he administered ths
Elaboration, the General Confession, and the
Declaration Of Absolution may be omitted A
numDer OF additional opening sentences in the
hornlng anu evening services. appropriate to
special seasons. are added; the Gloria Patri need
only ne used after the whole of the psalter for
the DAY is said. part Of the morning service
may DC omitted In certain contingencies. certain
ohertory sentences are added. The singing of a
hymn or anthem during the presentation of the
ofiertOry Is authorized. a slight addition is made
IN the Confirmation Office, and the use of the
Ganticles in The morning and evening services in
Lent II made obligatory Previously il was
allowable 10 substitute Isilms Nil and ylili for
them lew verbal changes of minor IMPORTANCE
were ratified.
MORE LIBERTY FOR TIE CLERGY
The first interesting fact to be noticed abou,
all these revisionS is that. with one triling ex-
cepuon, they tend to make the services of the
church more flexible, and will have the effect of
giving to the clergy larger liberty in the use
OF the Prayer-BOOk than they now possess. In
deed, one of the resolutions was rejected on the
ground that it would restrict the present liberty
of the clergy.
Another interesting fact is that many of the
lsages now fayOrably authorized and legalized
by the supreme legislative body Of the Church
have, as matter of fact, been adopted for MANY
years ny large number Of parishes SO generally
have such usages been adopted that il will be
news to many EpiScOpalians that they were until
now, technically unlawful
, IhIs reveals a remarkable condition of affairs in
the Episcopal Church Owing to the intense
conservatism of the General Convention. il ia
generally about ten Years behind the thought of
the Church The usual custom. therefore is for
Individual dloceses parishes TO adopt some usage
or method OF work which seems to be wise and
then several years afterward, when the usage or
method has commended itself 10 everybody the
General Convention, sometimes with great hesita-
uon, solemnV gives TO the usage or method in
question its Official sanction. And this is doubtles
the reason why the meetings of the General Con-
ventlon excite greater interest. relatively, out
side than inside the Church. For most of the
important decisions of the convention have been
discounted years before by tho General Church
which, within certain well-defined limits does
what seems good in its eyes From a legal
point OF view not much can be said for this
custom but it cannot he denied that in practioe
it has worked very well.