The San Francisco call., 1898-10-26
MUCH BUSINESS TRANSACTED
COMPLETE REVISION OF THE
 CONSTITUTION EFFECTED.
Pastoral Read at the Closing Services Reviewing the Past and Present Condition of the.
 Church.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

WASHINGT IN, Oct. 25.-After ses- sion of three weeks the Episcopal Fri ennial Council of 1898 came to an end tonight. Probably never before at one convention has the council transacted more business than at this meeting, or of so much vital importance to the church. The work accomplished in- cluded complete revision of the con- stitution with many important amend ments, also the adoption of a number or amendments, most of them of minor character, to the canons.
 The new constitution will have to be ratified by the next succeeding con- Yention, three years hences before it becomes operative. A matter which has received the earnest attention of the council has been the question of church unity, upon which an amendment to the constitution was adopted. A readjust- ment has been made of the boundary lines of the missionary districts in the West and Northwestern parts of the United States; a new diocese in India has been created; six missionary bish- ops elected, one for the church of Bra gil and discussions held bearing on the extension of church work in Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines. The failure of the proposed canon on mar riage and divorce caused considerable surprise, but this has been left to a committee of thirteen members to pre- pare a report to be made public nine months before the next convention.
 Tonight both houses, sitting in joint session, brought the convention to a close with devotional exercises and the reading of the pastoral letter. The ser xrGnn a ha bishops appearing in their full robes of office.
 Rev Morgan Dix of New York read the opening service, Bishop Gailor the pastoral; Bishop Doane made the clos ing prayer and Bishop Whipple pro- nounced the benediction.
 The pastoral recounts briefly the work done by the council, asks that Whitsunday, the seventh semi-centen- nial anniversary of the book of com mon prayer, be observed in the churches, halls with satisfaction the wonderful harmony with which this general convention, by the adoption of an amendment to our constitution, has without weakening the use or lowering the value of the prayer book, opened the way toward training congregations of Christians unused to our liturgical forms, to accustom themselves by pro- cesses of education to approach and desire them" says that i've are glad that while insisting upon the choice of keeping the public school system of education free from political intrigue or denominational intrusion to urge all the more that it must be complemented and consecrated by the more careful and definite training in religious truth in the family and in the Sunday schools, in the church schools and col leges, and in the careful teaching of the clergy of the church.; recognizes the earnest and effective work of the vari- ous organizations of the church and calls attention to the fact that the list of communicants has grown 10 per cent in the last three years and that the contributions during that time exceeded those of the preceding period by $780, 114.
 we dare not face the future without a recognition of the fact that the church needs the stirring up of the mills of the faithful to the plenteous bringing forth of the fruit of good works, of the giving of their substance and themselves for their masters work"