The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-10-14
Morning, Afternoon and
Night Sessions to be
Held by Deputies.
MANY QUESTIONS
|. NOT YET TOUCHED
Election Of New Bishops Will
Keep Upper Branch at Work
To-Day-Review Of What
Has Been Accom-
.plished Thus
Far.
BY THE REV. JOHN III. BROWN,

BY THE REV. JOHN II. BROWN,
Secretary OF the Diocese Of Florida.
Twelve days have passed since the
General Convention convened, and the
question naturally arises, What has
been done? OF these twelve days. two
ere Sundays, another was consumed
i oy the opening service, and the
work OF organization two more
have been given up to visits
to the places of great historic interest
at this particular time. at least one day
has been devoted to hearing the adj
dresses of representatives from tho
English Church in Its several branches.
one whole day and two afternoon ses-
sions have been devoted to the con-
sideration OF missions and to hearing
ports and addresses from those most
closely connected with the work, and
this leaves only four days for work.
consequently there has been but very
little accomplished. and yet the tiuo
has not been wasted. The three dan
which have been devoted to the con-
sideraton of the historic beginnings.
of the church In America were days
well spent. There have been some facts
prominently brought tut which many
never knew before and others have for
gotten. Through the publicity that has
been given to these facts. by both the
church and secular papers OF the couu-
try, the beginning of the church's life
| in the United States Is made known
far and wide. and an impression has
been made upon all who have visited
williamsburg and Jamestown Island
which will never be effaced. The men
| of the church can well afford to de-
vote three days to SO important a
matter, and neither the General Con-
lye mn ln "a rrc
be a loser by what has happened.
| Good Investment.
\ The time devoted to missions has
| been good Investment. which VIII
bring in an income that will mora than
i Justify what has been expended. not
merely In financial wa 81. but IN q
Ispiritual awakening arising from q
clearer perception Of the meaning of3
1.-THE church's missionary work. While.
money is an absolute necessity for the
carrying out of the missionary work.
the time devoted to the considerations
| of missions was not used in making
appeals for money Every speaker has
shown what has been done in the diff
ferent fields. what still needs to be
done. and the opportunities and obliga-
tions of the American church In the
several fields. The effort has been to
instruct and interest the hearer In the
work and development of the mission
aries, realizing that when one fully
understands these such an Interest
must be aroused as will make all anN-
ious to be doing something in the great
work.
Surely none who have given close
attention to the missionary addresses
will say that the time devoted to them
is lost or wasted.
But the question now IS, Has the rest
of the twelve days been used advnn-
tageously? And the answer must be.
taking all things into consideration,
Yes. 1t is true that three whole days
were consumed in the House OF Depu-
ties in dlsposing of three questions.
and that two of these days were de-
voted to the considering of the mat
ter: but they needed serious consid-
Grafton, and while some may have felt
Impatient ut the amount Of talking
done. all of it, either directly or in
directly, throw some light on the sub
jects and led to the final decision.
These three subjects We're the reduc-
ton of representation. the preamble.
and the court of appeals. Definite ac-
ton has been taken on the first two,
and tho latter, since no agreement Of
opinion can be had, at this time, lies
over for tho next General Convention
to consider
Nor is this all that tho House of
Deputies has accomplished. a revised
COue Oh FuleS SOI lOfueF kldS Oeell COnSld-si
cred and adopted. While this may APP
pear to the uninitiated very trivial
matter, to any one who has any knowl-
edge of parliamentary law or any eN-5
perience in presiding over either de-
Lucrative or Legislative bodies, right
rules of ouler become a matter OF very
great Importance, and consequently
new rules. or what amounts to the
same thing, revised rules, must be care
fully considered before being adopted.
Other Matters.
Again. a good and very essential
work has been done In the perfecting
OF the cnnons adopted three years ago.
Their. Very newness is the strongest
argument In favor OF making technical
changes For. While undergoing the
process OF amendment at the time Of
adoption, many verbal inaccuracies and
grammatical errors creep In und are
never detected until In printed form
the canons appear as a whole. These
inaccuracies may appear exceedingly
trivial. hut when the day comes that a
controversy arises over one OF these
very technical Inaccuracies. tho wis
dom of correcting them in time is seen
II there are to be any canons at all
they should be as near faultless as
possible else they are useless. So the
time devoted to this matter was well
|spent 7i.s5s Il
With tho bishops,
The House OF. Deputies has taken
positive action on several very impor-
tant questions. viz. receiving the plo-
cese OF Duluth into union with the
General Convention; permitting the d.
vision Of the Diocese OF Georgia.:
Amending the canonsi so that the liberty
of missionaries may he better protected
against any arbitrariness on the part
of the ecclesiastical authorities Of the
district to which he might belong; In
appointing commissions to consider
questions Of great Importance TO the
whole country. as we'll ~ 10 the
church. #
There have been several Very lmpor-
tant reports presented TO the House OF
Deputies, notably those on the Sunday
school and from the Joint commission
on uniformity In marriage and dlvoyss,