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 LI B RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N IVLRSITY 
 
 or ILLINOIS
 
 J- 
 
 CHURCH ORGANIZATION 
 
 IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMEKICA, 
 
 IN CANADA, 
 
 AND IN NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 &C. 
 
 WITH AN INTEODUCTION 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. W. SHERLOCK, B.A. 
 
 CTIKATE OF BKAT. 
 
 DUBLIN : 
 
 HODGES, SMITH, AND FOSTER, 104 GRAFTON-STREET. 
 
 BOOKSELLERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 1868,
 
 ®aH{ fff €mhnh 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface v 
 
 1. INTKODUCTION ix 
 
 2. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PEOTESTANT EPIS- 
 
 COPAL CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES . 1 
 
 3. DIGEST OF THE CANONS, viz : — 
 
 Title I. — Of the Ordees in the Ministry, and of the 
 
 Doctrine and Worship of the Church . 9 
 
 Title II. — Of Discipline 54 
 
 Title III. — Of the Organized Bodies and Officers 
 
 OF the Church 76 
 
 Title IV. — Miscellaneous Provisions ... 85 
 
 Appendix 88 
 
 Index to the Digest . . . . . .89 
 
 4. REPORT I. OF THE LAMBETH CONFERENCE . 101 
 
 5. THE CHURCH IN CANADA: — 
 
 I. — The Constitution of the Provincial Synod . 107 
 
 II. — Declaration ....... 110 
 
 III. — Acts of the Provincial Legislature , .112 
 
 6. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH IN NEW 
 
 ZEALAND 115 
 
 7. APPENDIX I.— Canons of the Provincial Synod . 123 
 
 „ II. — Statutes of the General Synod of 
 
 New Zealand .... 127 
 iii

 
 PKEFACE. 
 
 There are here offered to Irish Churchmen the official documents 
 containing the Constitution and Canons of the General Convention 
 of the American Church, the Constitution of the Provincial Synod 
 of Canada, the Constitution of the Church in New Zealand, 
 Report I. of the Lamheth Conference, &c. They are offered with 
 the hope that, thus collected, they may be useful to those who have 
 to deliberate about the affairs of the Church ; and that they may 
 also give information to many who are anxious and perplexed as to 
 what can or may be done in the matter of ecclesiastical organization, 
 should the Church in Ireland be disestablished and disendowed. It 
 has been thought more satisfactory to print the official documents 
 than a mere abstract of them, that so every one may read and form 
 his own opinion upon them with confidence, not gathering his 
 information at second-hand, but obtaining it from the original 
 sources. 
 
 The anxiety for information upon the subject is natural and 
 laudable ; and it is truly important that the lay members of the 
 Church, who, in the event of disestablishment, will occupy such a 
 different position from what they now do, should be as far as pos- 
 sible prepared to play their new part by understanding something 
 about it. Besides which, there is a feeling of distrust and suspi- 
 cion engendered by ignorance, that can only be removed by giving 
 information. There is a sort of fear that the organization of the 
 Church, and the holding of Synods and making of Canons — things 
 absolutely necessary if the State withdraw from union with the 
 Church — will really be a revival of priestly tyranny, from which 
 the Church is now happily free. Such a fear is only the product 
 
 V.
 
 Preface. 
 
 of ignorance as to the form that re-organization would take, and as 
 to the constitution of Synods and their powers. But if fostered 
 and deepened for want of explanation, it may prove a serious 
 obstacle whenever the time comes for united action. Nothing would 
 so damage the Church as a widespread fear of a revival of clerical 
 domination ; and it is far easier to prevent such a suspicion from 
 springing up than to extirpate it when it has taken root. Any 
 one who understands the organization of the American and Colonial 
 Churches knows that clerical domination is simply impossible, 
 unless the laity voluntarily put themselves under it; and for this 
 reason, that the constitution of all these Churches is representative, 
 and nothing can be enacted by any of the Synods without the con- 
 sent of the Laity. And more than this, the representatives of the 
 laity are not "clerically-minded men," selected and nominated by 
 the Clergy or the Bishops, but are elected by the lay members of 
 the Church ; so that in the fullest sense of the word, the laity are 
 represented and take part in all actions of the Synods. That ex- 
 planation on this point is needed is shown by the fears expressed 
 by Lord Harrowby, and also by the Rev. H. Wace in his article in 
 "Macmillan" for this month, both of whom suppose that in the 
 new organization there will be no safe-guard for the laity. 
 
 It is moreover to be observed, that lay-representation in Synods 
 will not be the introduction of a new principle into our Church or- 
 ganization, but the adaptation of an old principle to new circum- 
 stances. Heretofore, in return for the advantages arising from the 
 union of Church and State, the laity have been represented in 
 Church matters by the Crown and by Parliament, and by Church 
 patronage vested in the Crown and in lay-patrons. 
 
 If the present action of the laity in these matters be done away 
 with by disestablishment, it will have to be restored in some other 
 form. And the American and Colonial Churches, in organizing 
 lay-representation in the Synods of the Church, have only followed 
 the traditions and acted in the spirit of the Mother Church of Eng- 
 land and Ireland. 
 
 vi.
 
 Preface. 
 
 At the present crisis the American Church has special claims 
 upon our attention, possessing an organization which has stood the 
 test of upwards of eighty years of very varied experience, and num- 
 bering now forty-four Bishops and more than 2,500 clergy ; and 
 next to the Church of America, we may well turn our eyes to the 
 Churches which in Canada and New Zealand have attempted to 
 benefit by her history. 
 
 To the official documents here collected has been prefixed an 
 Introduction, containing — 1. A sketch of the organization of the 
 American Church from the Vestry ujnvai^ds, based on the Consti- 
 tutions and Canons of the Diocesan and General Conventions. 
 2. Eemarks suggested by Report I. of the Lambeth Conference, 
 and a comparison of the American Ecclesiastical Organization with 
 it, and with the Constitutions of the Canadian and New Zealand 
 Churches. 3. Practical conclusions from the foregoing compa- 
 rison. 
 
 For the many defects of this Introduction the indulgence of the 
 reader is asked. The subject was new, the range wide, the time 
 most limited. All that has been aimed at is to be useful. 
 
 The kindness of all who furnished assistance is gratefully acknow- 
 ledged ; and in particular, thanks are offered to the Rev. H. W. 
 Stewart, for Reports of the Canadian Provincial and Diocesan 
 Synods, and for other information ; and to Fleetwood Churchill, 
 Esq., M.D., President of the King and Queen's College of Physi- 
 cians in Ireland, for the Report of the General Convention of the 
 American Church in 1865, and also for Reports of many Diocesan 
 Conventions. 
 
 vii.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I. 
 
 '^ It is not always remembered that the passing of an Act for our 
 disestablishment would carry with it the dissolution of every legal 
 bond by which the Church is held together. The jurisdiction of all 
 our Ecclesiastical Courts would cease at once. There is not one of 
 the obligations into which we have entered which would be capable 
 henceforth of a legal enforcement. If we were not to have anarchy 
 pure and simple, the whole scheme of self-government tuould need 
 before that time to have been framed and gotten i7ito working order. 
 The relations of the laity to the clergy, of the clergy to the Bishops, 
 of the whole Church to the sister Church of England, the manner 
 of electing Bishops, the voice which the congregation ought to have 
 in the choice of their clergy, the constitution of our Courts for the 
 maintenance of discipline and of the pure doctrine of the Prayer- 
 Book and Articles, . . . All this, and very much more than 
 this, would need to have been determined beforehand . . . And 
 behind all these, there is the entire scheme, which would need to 
 be elaborated, for the sustentation of the Church, and for the 
 averting from it, if possible, some of the worst evils of the Volun- 
 tary System."* 
 
 In these words are indicated some of the chief subjects which 
 present themselves to the Irish Church at the present crisis. 
 
 But how is a Church, long deprived of the habits of deliberation 
 and self-government, to meet and solve all these dehcate and intri- 
 cate questions ? Undoubtedly, one of the first things required in 
 such a case is to know how other Churches have organized them- 
 selves, and the practical working of the Constitutions they have 
 
 * A Charge delivered by the Archbishop of Dublin at the Triennial Visitation, 
 September, 1868, p. 62. 
 
 ix.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 adopted. Availing ourselves of their experience, and making just 
 allowance for the difference between our circumstances and those of 
 the Church in America and the Colonies, it may be possible to 
 avoid some of the dangers of a first experiment. 
 
 The Church in America organized herself more than eighty years 
 ago. The principles she then adopted have in the main been 
 adopted by all the Churches in the British Colonies which have 
 become self-governing ; we therefore begin with the organization of 
 the American Church. 
 
 A Sketch of the Organization of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church in the United States of America.* 
 
 In her first Canon the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United 
 States declares: — "In this Church there shall always be three 
 orders in the ministry — namely. Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.'* 
 This is the first fundamental principle of her organization. The 
 second is, that the Church in each Diocese shall be entitled to a 
 representation of both the clergy and the laity. 
 
 In working out the details of the organization, the rule followed 
 seems to have been that contained in a resolution of the clergy and 
 the lay delegates of the State of Pennsylvania in Maj^, 1784 — That no 
 powers be delegated to a General Ecclesiastical Government, except 
 such as cannot be conveniently exercised by the clergy and laity in 
 their respective congregations. 
 
 Beginning, therefore, with the congregation or parish, we shall 
 trace the organization of the Church upwards, through the Vestry 
 and the Diocesan Convention, to the General Convention or Council 
 of the whole Church, having first stated that each parish accepts the 
 Constitution and Canons of its Diocesan Convention, and every 
 Diocesan Convention accedes to the Constitution and Canons of the 
 General Convention. 
 
 I.— The Vestry. 
 1. Its (Jo7istitution. — On Easter-Monday all parishioners who 
 have resided in the parish for a certain time, and contributed to the 
 
 * A more detailed account will be found in the Paper read by F. Churchill, Esq;, 
 M D., at the late Church Congress in Dublin. This is here inserted for the purpose 
 of comparison with the Constitution of other Churches. 
 
 X.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 charges of the parish such a sum as the Vestry may have fixed, are 
 entitled to vote in the election of Vestrymen out of their own hody. 
 The number of Vestrymen is generally six or eight, and from them 
 are taken the Churchwardens. The minister of the parish acts ex- 
 qfficio as a member of the Vestry, and presides at its meetings.* 
 
 2. Its Powers. — The Churchwardens preserve peace and order in 
 the Church. In most cases they also provide the elements for the 
 celebration of the Holy Communion. Upon the Vestry it devolves 
 to give notice to the Bishop when the parish becomes vacant, to 
 take care of the property and manage the finances of the parish, to 
 exclude from the pulpit unauthorized ministrations, to choose 
 ministers and contract with them for their salary, to raise money 
 (generally by pew rents) for the expenses of the parish, and the 
 assessment made by the Diocesan Convention. 
 
 In most cases the Vestry chooses lay delegates to represent the 
 parish in the Diocesan Convention. But sometimes (as in New 
 York) this is done by the parishioners. Parishes forfeit their con- 
 nexion with the Diocesan Convention by non-compliance with certain 
 terms, but may be re-admitted. 
 
 II. — The Diocesan Convention meets every year, or more frequently 
 
 if necessary. 
 
 1. Its Constitution. — The Bishop presides, or, in his absence, 
 an Assistant Bishop or a President elected by the clergy and lay 
 delegates.! Every clergyman who has been in charge of a parish 
 in the Diocese for a given time is entitled to a seat in the Conven- 
 tion. J The number of lay deputies to represent each parish is 
 regulated by the Diocesan Convention. The number of clergy and 
 lay deputies necessary to form a quorum varies in different Dioceses. 
 The mode of voting also varies ; sometimes all the deputies voting 
 together, and sometimes each order voting separately. In the latter 
 
 * Practically, there is no difference between Parish Vestries and Congregational 
 Vestries. The American is based on the model of the English Select Vestry. A 
 parish consists of all the pew-holders attached to a particular congregation, with 
 their families and dependents.— Caswall, p. 293. 
 
 t Sometimes the President of the Standing Committee. 
 
 X Also clergymen engaged in the Diocese as Missionaries, Chaplains, Presidents, 
 Professors, &c., of Colleges, who perform clerical functions. 
 
 xi.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 case the lay deputies vote by parishes or congregations. In voting 
 for the election of a Bishop, the clergy nominate and appoint by 
 ballot, and the lay delegates afterwards confirm or reject their 
 choice in the same way. The majority required for the election of 
 a Bishop varies in different Dioceses. 
 
 2. Its Powers. — The Diocesan Convention elects the Bishop and 
 Assistant Bishop of the Diocese upon a vacancy. It also elects 
 from among its clerical members a Standing Committee to advise 
 the Bishop, and to exercise the necessary discipline (where there 
 is no Assistant Bishop) in the interval between the death of a 
 Bishop and the consecration of his successor. It further elects 
 clerical and lay delegates (not exceeding four of each order) to 
 represent the Diocese in the General Convention. It also makes 
 the Canons of the Diocese, appoints the mode of trying Presbyters 
 and Deacons, incorporates churches, and admits new parishes ; 
 assesses the sum to be paid by each parish to the expenses of 
 the Convention, and the amount demanded from the Dioceses 
 by the G-eneral Convention ; receives contributions to the Epis- 
 copal and other Diocesan Funds, and manages them by trustees 
 holding office during pleasure ; provides missionaries, looks after 
 the religious education and interests of the people, &c. 
 
 The Diocesan Convention has a veto upon the proposal to sub- 
 divide the Diocese and form a new Diocese or part of a new Diocese 
 out of its territory. 
 
 3. The Power of the Bishop. — In addition to the powers which 
 the Bishop ordinarily exercises, he is ex-officio President of the Dio- 
 cesan Convention, and summons its special meetings. He can make 
 any motion that may seem advisable to him in the Convention. He 
 delivers his opinion upon any proposed measure after it has been 
 discussed, but takes no part in the discussion. He votes, but has 
 not a veto.* He selects clergy to supply any vacant parish until a 
 new clergyman has been appointed. He institutes the clergyman 
 who has been duly elected by the Vestry. He^ cites Priests and 
 Deacons to trial, appoints the time for the meeting of the Court, 
 and summons witnesses. Upon conviction, if he concurs, he re- 
 
 * In the Diocese of Clermont, however, "the clergy and laity cannot, without 
 Episcopal concurrence, enact, alter, or abrogate any law or Canon." 
 
 xii.
 
 Inteoduction. 
 
 proves, suspends, degrades, in accordance with the recommendation 
 of the Court ; or if he thinks it necessary, has power to order a 
 new trial which is final. He appoints persons to correct all new 
 editions of the Bible and Book of Common Prayer, &c. When a 
 Diocese has been divided, the Bishop has his choice as to which 
 part he will have as his Diocese for the future. 
 
 4. The Standing Committee has been described as bearing to the 
 Diocese a relation similar to that of the Vestry to the parish.! It 
 is appointed by the Diocesan Convention, and serves for one year ; 
 appoints its own president and secretary. It advises the Bishop, 
 and when the Episcopate is vacant issues dimissory letters, insti- 
 tutes ecclesiastical trials, &c. No Bishop can be consecrated 
 without the consent of the majority of the Standing Committees 
 of all the Dioceses, and of the Bishops, unless he has obtained 
 the consent of the General Convention. The Standing Com- 
 mittee examines and signs the testimonials of candidates for Holy 
 Orders. 
 
 III. — The General Convention meets every three years, or whenever 
 special occasion requires, at the summons of the Presiding Bishop 
 of the Church. 
 
 1. Its Constitution. — All the Bishops have seats. Three or more 
 Bishops constitute a separate House ; but if there should not be at 
 least three Bishops present, there is no House of Bishops. The 
 Lower House is composed of clerical and lay deputies in equal 
 numbers not exceeding four of each order from each Diocese in 
 the Convention. Representatives from a majority of the Dioceses 
 in the Convention must be present, in order to constitute a quorum. 
 The mode of voting is prescribed by Art. 2 of the Constitution. 
 
 The senior Bishop in point of consecration is President. If no 
 House of Bishops should be formed, any Bishop present is an ex- 
 officio member of the House of Deputies, and sits and votes with 
 the clerical members ; and in this case a Bishop presides over the 
 General Convention. 
 
 2. Its Poivers. — (1) The House of Bishops has a veto upon any 
 
 t Caswall, p. 74. 
 xiii.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 proposed act of Convention. It has power to originate and propose 
 acts for the consideration of the Convention. But if the House of 
 Bishops does not signify its approval or disapproval (in the latter 
 case with reasons in writing) of any proposed act v/ithin three days, 
 the right of the veto is lost.* The court for the trial of a Bishop is 
 composed of Bishops only. (2) The General Convention frames 
 Canons for the government of the Church ; establishes or alters the 
 Book of Common Prayer, the Articles, the order for the administra- 
 tion of the Sacraments, and other offices of the Church ; prescribes 
 rules for the admission of candidates for Holy Orders ; admits new 
 Dioceses into the Convention under certain conditions, and legis- 
 lates on points touching the relation between the several Dioceses ; 
 and assesses upon the Diocesan Conventions the sum necessary for 
 its expenses. The decisions of the General Convention are binding 
 upon all Dioceses in the Convention, even though any of them may 
 have neglected to send representatives to it. The General Conven- 
 tion also regulates the relation of the Church to foreign Episcopal 
 Churches, appoints Missionary Bishops, &c. 
 
 Such is the organization of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
 the United States of America, by which the wants of each part are 
 provided for, and the unity and harmonious action of the whole 
 secured. When we consider the circumstances under which the 
 Constitution was framed, and the difficulties the Church had to 
 contend with, we cannot but express our admiration and our thank- 
 fulness to Almighty God for the wisdom and moderation which 
 guided her councils. 
 
 But the time has nearly come when some readjustment of the 
 relation of Dioceses to each other and to the General Convention 
 must take place in the American Church. This subject com- 
 manded the consideration of the Diocesan Convention of Maryland 
 in the present year. And in the year 1865, from the Diocesan 
 
 * Notice has been given to remove this restriction, and it will probably be struck 
 out of the Constitution by the General Convention of the present year. At first, 
 until 1808, the House of Bishops had a still more limited right of veto, the agree- 
 ment of four-fifths of the Lower House forcing upon them any measures approved 
 by the majority. — Firfe Wilberforce, p. 259. 
 
 xiv.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 Convention of New York the following resolution was presented to 
 the General Convention : — 
 
 " Resolved — That it is the opinion of this Convention that a Provincial 
 Synod, adapted to the present position of the Church in this country, 
 should be established. It, therefore, prays the General Convention to 
 make provision for the organization of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 in the United States of America into provinces." 
 
 The Convention of Pennyslvania presented resolutions to the 
 same effect, and the whole subject of the Provincial System was 
 referred to a committee of thirteen. This committee, of which 
 each member represented a different State, reported in favour of 
 arranging the existing Dioceses and missionary jurisdictions into 
 provinces, having their several Provincial Conventions, but were 
 unanimous in the opinion that no change should be made in the 
 General Convention. A Canon, giving effect to these views, was 
 proposed and referred to the Committee on the Canons. This 
 Canon was afterwards carried on a division, and a further Canon 
 was proposed and referred to a committee of five. This last Canon 
 was to the effect that the Church in the United States should be 
 divided into six provinces, each presided over by the senior Bishop 
 of the province ; the Constitution of the Provincial Synod to 
 resemble that of the General Convention, but no Provincial Synod 
 to have authority to abolish or alter anything in the doctrine, 
 worship, and discipline of the Church as set forth in its Liturgy. 
 The formation and sub -division of provinces to be intrusted to the 
 National Synod in General Convention. 
 
 This whole subject will probably be more fully discussed, and a 
 decision arrived at by the General Convention now sitting in New 
 York.* Should the above proposals be carried out, then, when the 
 great changes now impending over the United Church of England 
 and Ireland have taken effect, and the State has severed its con- 
 nexion with the Church in these countries, the grand idea suggested 
 by the Lambeth Conference will cease to be a dream or an aspira- 
 tion. Then, from many distant shores — from England, Ireland, 
 and Scotland, from North and South America, from Africa and 
 
 * This was written in October. Nothing was done in the matter, but as the sub- 
 division of the original Dioceses proceeds, it cannot long be delayed. 
 
 XV.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 India, from Australia and New Zealand — the representatives of the 
 Churches belonging to the great Anglican Communion may meet in 
 solemn council, and proclaim, by act as v/ell as speech, the close- 
 ness of the union wherewith they are bound to one another in the 
 Lord Jesus. 
 
 11. 
 
 Remarks Suggested by a Comparison oe Report I. of the Lam- 
 beth Conference, and the Constitutions of the Churches 
 OF Canada and New Zealand, with the Constitution of the 
 American Church. 
 
 The Constitution of the American Church was framed and deve- 
 loped under peculiar circumstances, being indeed a first experiment. 
 It is therefore not to be wondered at that experience has pointed 
 out several important errors and defects in its organization. These 
 naturally attracted the attention of the men to whose lot it fell to 
 draw up the Constitutions of the Churches of Canada and New 
 Zealand. The result has been that in many respects these 
 Churches possess organizations superior to that which served them 
 as a model. 
 
 The grandest opportunity, however, for combining and systema- 
 tizing the results of the experience gained both by the American 
 and the Colonial Churches in their various attempts at self-organi- 
 zation, was that presented by the Conference of Bishops of the 
 Anglican Communion at Lambeth in 1867. And the subject of 
 the relations and functions of the Synods of the Church was a 
 question which received special consideration from a committee, 
 which discussed and reported on '* the whole subject of Synods." 
 The Report of this committee is so important that it has been 
 printed in full at the end of the American Constitution and 
 Canons. Thus, in examining the organization of the Church in 
 America, we can compare it — 1. With the abstract principles laid 
 down by the Lambeth Committee from an experience of the working 
 of all similar organizations ; and 2. With the actual machinery at 
 
 xvi.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 work in Canada and New Zealand, where an attempt has been made 
 to avoid its mistakes.* 
 
 I. We begin with the principles laid down for Church organiza- 
 tion in the Keport I. But it will be necessary first to say a few 
 words about the nature of the committees appointed by the Lam- 
 beth Conference. 
 
 The Archbishops and Bishops of the Anglo-Catholic Church who 
 met in that Conference at the invitation of the late Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, named committees, to which different questions affect- 
 ing the general interests of the Church were referred. These 
 committees were large, and composed of men of different parties 
 and interests, and had also the assistance of many able men outside 
 of their own body. Through several weeks meetings were con- 
 stantly held, and in each committee questions w^ere prepared and 
 printed, and submitted to men of high legal standing, as well as to 
 Divines and others, whose opinions we're likely to be useful. The 
 results of all their inquiries were embodied in Keports, which were 
 submitted to the adjourned Conference, and by it commended to 
 the careful consideration of the Bishops of the Anglican Com- 
 munion, f It is with Keport I. that we have now to do. 
 
 The first part of Report I. concerns the organization of Diocesan 
 Synods ; and here the committee lays down that the Diocesan 
 Synod appears to be the primary and simplest form in the organi- 
 zation of Synodal order for the government of the Church. This 
 follows from the fact that by the Diocesan Synod the co-operation 
 of all members of the body is obtained in Church action, and so 
 that acceptance of Church rules is secured, which, in the absence 
 of other law, usage, or enactment, gives to these rules the force of 
 laws "binding on those who, expressly or by implication, have 
 consented to them." In the American Church, however, powers 
 properly belonging to the Diocesan Synod have been given to the 
 Vestry, or rather, the Vestry having, from the circumstances of the 
 
 * The Bishop of Cape Town has also prepared the draft of a Constitution for the 
 South African Church, hut it does not seem necessary to print it, as it has not 
 yet heen amended or discussed. The Church of New South Wales adopted a Con- 
 stitution similar in its main principles in 1866, of which see note further on. 
 
 t For this account of the Lambeth Committees, see the Colonial Church Chronicle, 
 October 1, 1868. 
 
 xvii. A- (f'
 
 Intkoduction. 
 
 early history of tlie Church, exercised those powers at the hegin- 
 ning, never resigned them ivhen Diocesan Synods were constituted. 
 The next point of importance is the recommendation of the 
 Committee that '' The Synod should consist of the Bishop and 
 Clergy of the Diocese, with representatives of the laity." This is 
 in accordance with the Constitutions of the American, Canadian, 
 and New Zealand Churches, and with the proposed constitution of 
 the South African Church. In England and Ireland, however, the 
 laity can only he present in Synods on invitation, and hence are not 
 strictly representatives. The Conferences hegun in the Dioceses 
 of Ely and Lichfield are not properly Diocesan Synods. 
 
 According to the present constitution. Convocation and Parlia- 
 ment sit at the same time, and representation of the whole Church 
 is supposed to he secured thus. But Parliament has ceased to re- 
 present the laity of the Church of England exclusively, many of 
 its memhers representing interests distinctly hostile to it. 
 
 The Committee further advises the adoption of the following 
 general rules, viz. : That the Bishop, Clergy, and Laity, should sit 
 together, the Bishop presiding ; that votes should he taken hy 
 orders, whenever demanded ; and that the concurrent assent of 
 Bishop, Clergy, and Laity, shoidd he necessary to the validity of 
 all acts of the Synod. 
 
 The last rule here recommended remedies one of the most ohjec- 
 tionahle features in the constitution of the American Diocesan 
 Conventions, in which the consent of the Bishop is not necessary to 
 render the acts of the Synod valid, which is really a violation of the 
 principle of representation. It also provides a security for the 
 other orders, that neither clergy nor laity shall be called upon to 
 obey Canons to which they have not given their consent, either in 
 person or by their representatives. Thus a just balance of power 
 is preserved, and the "co-operation of all members of the body is 
 obtained in Church action." 
 
 The great usefulness of that balance of power has been fully 
 proved within the last few weeks both in the American and the 
 Canadian Churches. In the United States, the Convention had to 
 consider the petition of the Oneida Indians praying for protection 
 in their just rights. The House of Bishops endorsed the petition 
 
 xviii.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 of the Indians to the Secretary of the Interior by expressing a belief 
 that their frequent removals were perilous for them ; but the House 
 of Clerical and Lay Deputies declined to concur in this action on 
 the ground that it was against the interest of the Church for the 
 Convention officially to interfere with questions of policy confided 
 to the State. 
 
 In Canada, at the election of a Metropolitan, November 11th, 
 when the House of Bishops unwisely endeavoured to restrict the 
 choice of the Lower House by sending down a resolution to the 
 effect that the interests of the Church required that the person to 
 be elected to the Metropolitan See of Montreal should be of the 
 Episcopal order, both Clerical and Lay Deputies stood firm in 
 resisting this infringement on their constitutional rights. 
 
 The second and third portions of the Eeport concern the Pro- 
 vincial Synods in their constitution and relation to Diocesan Synods, 
 and the question of a higher Synod of the AngHcan Communion, 
 with the relation of inferior Synods to it. To this last we need not 
 here refer ; but on the subject of Provincial Synods and their rela- 
 tion to inferior Synods, the Committee affirmed a general :'principle 
 which, as the Bishop of Grahamstown says, is the key to all the 
 difficulties of the question. They recommend that, " In order to 
 prevent any collision or misunderstanding, the spheres of action of 
 the several Synods should be defined on the following principle, 
 viz., that the Provincial Synod (which answers to the American 
 General Convention) should deal with questions of common interest 
 to the whole Province, and with those which afiect the communion 
 of the Dioceses with one another and the rest of the Church ; 
 while the Diocesan Synod should be left free to dispose of matters 
 of local interest, and to manage the affairs of the Diocese." 
 
 Guided by this principle, after a comparison of the history and 
 experience of Synodical action in the United States and the British 
 Colonies, the Committee drew the following conclusions : — 
 
 1. All alterations in the services of the Church, required by the 
 circumstances in the Province, should be made or authorized by 
 the Provincial Synod, and not merely by the Diocesan Synod. 
 
 2. The rule of discipline for the clergy of the Diocese should be 
 framed by the Provincial Synod. 
 
 xix.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 3. Eules for the trial of the Clergy should be made by the Pro- 
 vincial Synod ; but in default of such action on the part of that 
 Synod, the Diocesan Synod should establish provisional rules for 
 this purpose. 
 
 4. In questions relating to patronage, the tenure of Church pro- 
 perty, parochial divisions, arrangements, officers, &c., there should 
 be joint action of the Diocese and the Province, the former making 
 such regulations as may be best suited to develop local resources ; 
 the latter providing against the admission of any principle inexpe- 
 dient for the common interests of the Church, 
 
 5. The erection of a new Diocese within the limits of an existing 
 Diocese should proceed by general rules established by the Pro- 
 vincial Synod. 
 
 6. The question of the election of a Bishop was submitted to 
 another Committee, and the Eeport on that subject recommends 
 that the election should be by the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese 
 in Synod. 
 
 It will be seen from these conclusions how largely the Committee 
 approved of the constitution of the American Church, and how 
 nearly the federal system it contemplated approaches to that orga- 
 nization. 
 
 With respect to 1 and 2, the Services of the Church and the Eule 
 of discipline for the Clergy, the General Convention in America 
 exercises the powers recommended by the Committee ; and on 
 points 5 and 6, the Kules for the erection of new Dioceses, and the 
 election of Bishops, the recommendation of the Committee also 
 coincides with the system of the American Church. As to the 
 Eules for the trial of the Clergy, which is the third subject on which 
 the Committee pronounces an opinion, they have in America been 
 left to the Diocesan Conventions. And the suggestion of the Com- 
 mittee has this obvious advantage over such a plan, that it would 
 secure uniformity throughout the whole Church in the trial of 
 Clergymen guilty of Canonical offences. The point in which the 
 recommendations of the Committee differ most materially from the 
 American Constitution is the fourth, respecting the joint action of 
 the Diocese and the Province in questions relating to patronage, 
 the tenure of Church property, &c. In most of these matters, over 
 
 XX.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 which the Committee assumes that the Diocese has control, the 
 power in the American Church is whollj vested in the Parish and the 
 Vestry ; and the consequence is that it has been impossible for the 
 Diocesan or the General Conventions to exercise a supervision that 
 provides against the admission of principles harmful to the general 
 interests of the Church. This is particularly the case with respect 
 to the patronage of livings, and the payment of the Clergy. 
 
 II. The defects in the constitution of the American Church will, 
 however, be better brought out by a brief review of the actual ma- 
 chinery at work in the Colonial Churches, and especially with the 
 Constitution^of the Church in New Zealand.* 
 
 In 1853 Bishop Selwyn drew up a sketch of a Church Constitu- 
 tion, and submitted it to every Clergyman in the Colony, and 
 through him to his parishioners. In 1857, at a Conference of the 
 Bishops and delegates from the Clergy and Laity held in Auckland, 
 this sketch and all proposed alterations were considered, and a 
 Church Constitution agreed upon, of which the following is an 
 outline : — 
 
 I. The General Synod has a constitution and powers similar to 
 those of the General Convention of the American Church ; the 
 chief point of diiference being that it may not alter the Prayer 
 Book, or authorized English Version of the Bible, though it may 
 accept alterations made by the proper authorities in England. 
 
 II. Diocesan Synods in New Zealand are similar to the Diocesan 
 Conventions of the American Church, but they '.have important 
 additional powers. They consist of the Bishop of the Diocese, its 
 licensed Clergy, and Lay Representatives of its different districts. 
 The consent of the Bishop, as well as of a majority of the Clergy 
 and of the Laity, is necessary to all statutes and resolutions of a 
 Diocesan Synod. 
 
 In giving to the Bishop a veto, the Constitution of the New 
 
 * See a Paper read before the Clerical Association of the Eural Deanery of 
 Whitney, Oxon., by the Rev. J. A. Fenton, M.A., as well as the Constitution printed 
 in this Collection. 
 
 xxi.
 
 Introdvction. 
 
 Zealand Diocesan Councils (and of those of tlie Canadian Clmrch, 
 which in this respect resembles them) is much superior to that of 
 the Diocesan Conventions in America.* 
 
 The Synod in New Zealand has also a much greater control over 
 the patronage and the financial affairs of the Diocese than the 
 American Convention has. The Vestry of each parish is required 
 to pay to the Synod a certain sum per annum for the support of its 
 Clergyman, and also to provide for him a house or house-rent, and 
 this stipend the Synod hands over to the Incumbent, with such 
 addition as 'may be needful, and can be afforded out of the Diocesan 
 General Maintenance Fund, which is derived from endowments, 
 from subscriptions and donations, and from the offertory upon the 
 first Sunday in every month in each Church in the Diocese. In 
 this again, the system adopted in New Zealand is much better 
 than that in the United States, which leaves each Vestry to con- 
 tract with the Clergyman for his salary. 
 
 The Diocesan Synods of the New Zealand Church further limit 
 the powers of the Vestry in the matter of patronage. Each parish 
 appoints yearly two or more nominators. The Diocesan Synod ap- 
 points the same number for the whole Diocese. When a vacancy 
 occurs in a parish cure, the Diocesan nominators and those of the 
 vacant parish join in selecting and presenting to the Bishop a 
 nominee. t The Bishop may reject that nominee ; and if the nomi- 
 nators are dissatisfied, and still urge his appointment, they may 
 appeal to the House of Bishops ; and that House may either con- 
 firm the Bishop's rejection, or direct the nominee to be instituted. 
 When, however, an individual Church member wholly or in part 
 builds and endows a Church, he may be allowed by the Diocesan 
 Synod, during his lifetime, to stand in the place of one or more 
 
 * By the Constitution of the Church in New South Wales, which was agreed 
 upon in April, 1866, the Bishop or President of the Diocesan Synod is not allowed 
 to vote on any question or matter arising in the Synod ; but no act of the Synod 
 has force unless the Bishop signify his assent within a month after the passing of 
 the same. If the Bishop do not assent, the matter may be referred to and deter- 
 mined by any Provincial Synod. This is the only point in the Constitution of the 
 Church in New South Wales that calls for any special notice. 
 
 t It has been suggested that the Bishop ought, ex-qfficio^ to be one of the nomi- 
 nators, and there are many reasons to be urged for this. 
 
 xxii.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 nominators of that Parish, in conjunction with the Diocesan 
 nominators. 
 
 The advantage of this regulation of the right of patronage is 
 obvious. For while it gives the parish a due share in a choice so 
 important for its welfare, it does not, like the American system, 
 give the choice up altogether into the hands of persons who may 
 be prejudiced by merely individual or local considerations, but 
 recognizes that the whole Diocese has an interest in the welfare of 
 each Parish, and that the Bishop, too, has a responsibility in com- 
 mitting the souls of men to those whom he believes to be faithful 
 and wise pastors. 
 
 As to the necessity of giving the Bishop and the Diocesan 
 Council greater powers than they have at present in the American 
 Church, bestowing upon the former the right to a veto upon any 
 proposed act of the Diocesan Convention, and upon the latter the 
 power of paying the Parish Clergy, and a voice in their election, as 
 in the New Zealand Constitution, I would call attention to the 
 very out-spoken report of a Committee of the Diocesan Convention 
 of Minnesota in 1866. In this report we read : — 
 
 " The immediate dependency of the Clergy upon their own particular 
 cures is itself an evil, and productive of evil. It places the Clergyman 
 in a false position before his flock. It becomes sometimes an obstacle to 
 an independent and impartial administration of discipline. It is the 
 
 source of the instability of the pastoral relation One great 
 
 difficulty which underlies all these evils, so far as our system is con- 
 cerned, is, in practice, the cougregational independence of our parishes. 
 Every parish is felt to be an individual unit, and therefore feels bound 
 first of all to take care of itself, and too often remains content when it 
 succeeds in so doing. The Diocese is regarded too much as merely an 
 aggregation of parishes, independent of each other, sufficient in extent for 
 the jurisdiction and support of a Bishop, whose principal office is to 
 ordain, and to perform for each parish by occasional visitations such func- 
 tions as the Presbyters are not competent to perform. The truer and 
 more primitive idea of the Diocese is almost lost sight of, viz., that it is 
 an organic and corporate unity, the currents of life, sympathy, and sup- 
 port, in all the parts and members, flowing to and from, and feeling the 
 beating of one heart, and the guidance of one central inteUigence. The 
 
 xxiii.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 Bishop is the chief Pastor of one flock, the Diocese his parish, the Clergy 
 his assistants, and all having one common interest in the welfare of the 
 whole, and an undivided share of its responsibilities and benefits." 
 
 Such words prove that even in America the defects of the present 
 Diocesan system are making themselves felt, and we hope before 
 long will find a remedy. 
 
 On these points it is interesting to compare the somewhat similar 
 rights of the Diocesan Synod in the Canadian Church : — 
 
 1. By Act of the Provincial Legislature, in every Parish, the 
 Clergyman and the Churchwardens are a corporation. 
 
 In every Diocese there is either an Incorporated Church Society, 
 or the Diocesan Synod is incorporated. In one or other of these 
 corporations all the Church property is vested. 
 
 2. Then, as to patronage : by Act of Provincial Legislature, all 
 patronage, including Kectories, is vested in the Diocesan Synod. 
 The Synods, however, have always given this power to the Bishop 
 for his life. In this respect the New Zealand system seems better 
 to surmount the difficulties of patronage, and meets the objection 
 raised by Mr. Hatch in Macmillan's Magazine, October, 1868. By 
 a recent Canon, also, the system of lay-patronage has been intro- 
 duced, and it remains to be seen how it will work.* 
 
 III. In the New Zealand Church there are also meetings of 
 Rural Deaneries, with powers regulated by the Diocesan Synod. 
 These are being introduced with good effect in several American 
 Dioceses. 
 
 The Churchwardens and Vestrymen are elected by registered 
 adult male parishioners ; and of all parochial and^yestry meetings 
 the Clergyman is an ex-officio chairman, with an original and also a 
 casting vote. It would seem better if communicants alone were 
 allowed to elect. 
 
 We have now glanced at the Constitution of the American Church, 
 and compared with it the conclusions laid down in Report I. of the 
 Lambeth Conference, and also the Constitution of the Churches of 
 Canada and New Zealand in points where^they differ from it. 
 
 * Soc Appendix I., Canon vi. 
 
 xxiv.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 The most prominent defects that we have noticed are : — 
 
 1. That the Bishop has no veto in the Diocesan Convention. 
 
 2. That the rules for the trial of clerical offenders are not uniform, 
 
 but made by each Diocese for itself. 
 
 3. That the power of the congregation has been developed at the 
 
 expense of that of the Diocese, so that the Yestry has absolute 
 power in the patronage of livings and the payment of the Clergy. 
 The first and third of these are errors of very serious importance, 
 and very much affect the well-being of the Church. This has been 
 so clearly recognized, that every Church that has been organized 
 since that of America has endeavoured to remedy these mistakes. 
 And even in America, experience has gradually proved the necessity 
 of restoring to the Episcopate and to the Diocesan Synod the 
 powers usurped by the congregation. Unwilling as men are to 
 give up power when once they have enjoyed it, the right of veto 
 has been conceded to the House of Bishops ; and there is a wide- 
 spread conviction that the Church must return to the ancient rela- 
 tions between the Parish and the Diocese. 
 
 III. 
 
 Practical Conclusions. 
 
 If we regard the disestablishment of the Church in Ireland as 
 probable, one of the first questions that suggests itself is as to the 
 position which she would occupy in the eye of the law, and her 
 power of enforcing discipline within her body under her new cir- 
 cumstances. It is to be supposed that the disestablishment will be 
 complete, and that we shall not be submitted to '' the restrictions 
 and draw-backs of a State Church, without the dignity, position, 
 or vantage-ground of the same." Assuming this, therefore, the 
 decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council seems to 
 answer the question exactly : — 
 
 " The Church of England, in places where there is no Church estab- 
 lished by law, is in the same situation with any other religious body, in no 
 better hut in no worse position, and the members may adopt, as the members of 
 
 XXV.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 any other communion, may adopt, rules for enforcing discipline ivithin their 
 body ivhich ivill be binding on those who expressly or by implication have as- 
 sented to them. 
 
 " It maybe further laid clown, that where any religions or other lawful 
 association has not only agreed on the terms of its union, but has also 
 constituted a tribunal to determine whether the rules of the association 
 have been violated by any of its members or not, and what shall be the 
 consequence of such violation, then the decision of such tribunal shall be 
 binding when it has acted within the scope of its authority, has observed 
 such forms as the rules require, if any forms be prescribed, and, if not, 
 has proceeded in a manner consonant with the principles of justice. 
 
 " In such cases the tribunals so constituted are not in any sense Courts; 
 they derive no authority from the Crown ; they have no power of their 
 own to enforce their sentences ; they must apply for that purpose to the 
 courts established by law, and such comets will give effect to their decision as 
 they give effect to the decisions of arbitrators, whose jurisdiction rests en- 
 tirely upon the agreement of the parties." 
 
 So much for the position of the Irisli Church if disestablished. 
 But this supposes her provided with an organization, for otherwise 
 when an Act of Disestablishment passed, she would legally fall to 
 pieces ; and whenever it falls to her lot to begin the work of re-orga- 
 nization, there seem to be a few conclusions based on the experience 
 of the American and Colonial Churches, important to be remem- 
 bered and acted upon. 
 
 1. The first of these is that the new organization should be 
 thoroughly representative. On no other basis can the confidence 
 and co-operation of all parts of the Church be secured. " Peace and 
 justice are maintained by preserving unto every order their rights, 
 and by keeping all estates, as it w^ere, in an even balance. . . . 
 When all which the wisdom of all sorts can do is done for devising 
 of laws in the Church, it is the general consent of all that giveth 
 them the form and vigour of laws, without which they could be no 
 more unto us than the councils of physicians to the sick — well 
 might they seem as wdiolesome admonitions and instructions ; but 
 laws they could never be without consent of the whole Church, 
 which is the only thing that bindeth each member of the Church, 
 to be guided by them."* 
 
 * Hooker, Eccles. Pol. VIII. c. vi. 
 xxvi .
 
 Intkoduction. 
 
 It is a conseL}uence of this principle of representation tliat a con- 
 currence of all orders is necessary for any action of tlie Church. 
 The Clergy can do nothing without consent of the Laity, nor the 
 Laity without consent of the Clergy, nor the Clergy and Laity 
 without consent of the Bishops, who, in their turn, cannot enact 
 anything without consent of the other orders. 
 
 Nor would this be innovation in the Constitution of the United 
 Church. The Bishop of Oxford has shown that the earliest records 
 of the Church of England bear witness to the part taken by Lay- 
 men in her councils. And the Conference of the Bishops, Clergy, 
 and Laity of the New Zealand Church, speaking in their Eeport of 
 the representative organization adopted by them, declared that 
 *'the Constitution proposed was similar, so far as the circumstances 
 of a Colonial Church would allow, to that of the Church of Eng- 
 land, under ivhich the formularies of the Church were ratified hy 
 the Laity as represented hy the Crown and the Houses of Parlia- 
 ment, hy the Bishops in the Upper House of Convocation, and hy 
 the Clergy in the Nether House. Every one of these orders or 
 estates havifig a veto upon all the rest.'' In theory this is the pre- 
 sent Constitution of the United Church ; but in fact, the admission 
 of Non-conformists of every persuasion into Parliament prevents it 
 from truly reflecting the opinions of Laymen of the Church. In 
 seeking a representative organization, we should therefore be only 
 seeking to restore the Church to its ancient form adapted to present 
 circumstances. To all of which considerations we may add the con- 
 clusion of the Lambeth Conference : — 
 
 " Your Committee consider that it is not at variance with the ancient 
 principles of the Church, that both Clergy and Laity should attend the 
 Diocesan Synod, and that it is expedient that the Synod should consist of 
 the Bishop and Clergy of the Diocese, with Representatives of the Laity T 
 
 The great success of the American organization is, under God, 
 due to the adoption of this principle of representation, and some of 
 its most material errors arose from only accepting this principle in 
 part. For the refusal of the right of veto to the Bishop, which the 
 other orders enjoy in the Diocesan Convention, is a denial of this 
 principle. So is the arrogation to the Parish or Vestry of all rights 
 of patronage and of the power of paying the Clergy. 
 
 xxvii.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 With respect to the admission of lay representatives to the 
 Councils of the Church, the wisdom and even the necessity of 
 such a measure has of late been repeatedly acknowledged, even 
 in England, and that not only by the Lambeth Committee, but 
 by individual clergymen and laymen of different parties. In the 
 Bampton Lectures for this year considerable prominence is given to 
 this subject, and the following words apply not to Colonial Bishops 
 only: — "Unless the Colonial Bishop so supports himself and his 
 clergy by the real, proportionate aid and consent of the lay mem- 
 bers of his flock, ... he deprives himself of one of the best 
 hopes of lasting and wide influence, of free and powerful united 
 action, and endangers the loss of a great amount of sympathy 
 and practical help which he cannot spare or supply otherwise."* 
 And w^e may add, that they who have least experience of lay repre- 
 sentation dread it, while others who know its working are its 
 warmest advocates. Thus the Bishop of New York writes : — 
 *'Both the Diocesan and General Conventions include a large 
 number of the ablest laymen in the country, and these laymen have 
 always proved themselves cautious and conservative in their action, 
 the great majority of them earnest and sound in their Church feel- 
 ings and principles."! 
 
 As to how this power of representation may be obtained, this is 
 for statesmen and others to consider. Neither party can decently 
 pretend that the demand for it is unreasonable ; both ought to be 
 willing to help towards its attainment. The advocates of disestab- 
 lishment must allow that it is only fair to set the Church free to 
 deliberate and to organize.^ Their opponents ought to grant her no 
 less boon. It seems that it might be done by a short Act repealing 
 the Convention Act and any other legal impediments. Or by such 
 an Act as was passed by the Provincial Legislature of Canada re- 
 specting the Church in that Colony. || 
 
 2. A second point of vital importance to the Church in Ireland 
 is that the Diocesan Synods should not only be thoroughly repre- 
 
 * Bampton Lectures for 1868, p. 168. t Ibid. p. 335 
 
 X See the letters which have recently appeared in the Times from Mr. Bonamy 
 
 Price and Lord Harrowby as to the effect of disestablishment. 
 
 II See the Acts printed in this Collection with the Constitution of the Canadian 
 
 Church, 
 
 xxviii.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 sentative, but should be incorporated and given the power of holding 
 and managing property for the whole body which they represent, as 
 is the case with the Diocesan Synods of Canada. So that whatever 
 property is handed over to the Church after disendowment — such 
 as churches, glebe-houses, &c. — be not vested in the parishioners, 
 or in the vestries, but in the Diocesan Synods, which represent the 
 Church. And the Diocesan Synods should have power to deal with 
 this property in whatever way appears most for the benefit of the 
 Church. As the management of the property, so the payment of 
 the Clergy, should be in the hands of the Synod on the Canadian 
 or New Zealand plan. 
 
 3. The patronage of the livings should neither be given to the 
 Vestry, as in America, nor to the Synod or Bishop, as in Canada, 
 but jointly to the Bishop and nominators elected by the Vestry and 
 the Synod, which is the New Zealand plan with a slight modifica- 
 tion, and respects the responsibilities and secures the rights of all 
 parties, at the same time avoiding the evils inherent in other sys- 
 tems of patronage. The retention of lay-patronage, as on the scheme 
 lately proposed by a lay-patron, and that recently adopted in Canada, 
 seems very undesirable. 
 
 4. The election of Bishops should not be by nomination, other- 
 wise the evils of canvassing will be introduced. The example of 
 the New York Diocesan Synod might here be followed : — The 
 voting should be by ballot, each person voting for whomsoever he 
 likes, the tellers collecting the votes, which are written on slips of 
 paper, and the balloting to continue until some one candidate have 
 a clear majority of both orders ; the election being also subject to 
 the approval of a majority of the Bishops. If this plan were 
 adopted, it would prevent the occurrence of such scandals as have 
 taken place on the election of Bishops in the Church of Canada, 
 and also the disagreement that occurred between the two Houses 
 at the election of a Metroj)olitan this month. There being no 
 nomination, canvassing would not take place, nor would the newly- 
 elected Bishop be under any temptation to favour particular indivi- 
 duals who had been his supporters.* 
 
 * The Lambeth Committee on the Election of Bishops came to the following con- 
 clusion : — "The election, as a general rule, should be made by the Diocese, and the 
 
 xxix
 
 Introduction. 
 
 5. The election of lay delegates to the Diocesan Synods would 
 be better given to the whole body of communicants in each parish 
 than, as it is in America and Canada (?), to the Vestry. For thus 
 the danger of which Mr. Hatch speaks — '' that the Laity and their 
 so-called representatives in the Synods entertain, on most points 
 of importance, radically different opinions" — will be completely 
 avoided ; the influences that might be brought to bear in a small 
 elective body like the Vestry, will be deprived of their power when 
 the electors consist of the whole body of communicants. 
 
 6. On another subject, viz. — the future financial resources of the 
 Church — we may take a lesson from the history of the Canadian 
 Church. From it we shall learn to unite all our efforts to obtain 
 the power of commuting the life interests of the Clergy for a capital 
 sum, to form a fund for the endowment of the Church ; this, of 
 course, to be done with fullest security against injustice or con- 
 straint being inflicted on any individual. To understand this, it 
 will be necessary to notice briefly the financial arrangements of the 
 Church in Canada, which seem to afford the best example for the 
 imitation of the Church in Ireland. The American Church is, for 
 the most part, dependent upon the system of pew rents, though it 
 is not altogether without funds derived from other sources. But, 
 while out of the Diocesan Funds the annual income of the Bishop 
 is provided, and in many cases also the money for the support of 
 ecclesiastical colleges, &c., yet the Clergy are universally paid by the 
 Vestry. 
 
 This, as we have seen, is a state of things which the Ame- 
 ricans themselves deplore, but which is far easier to deplore than to 
 remedy. In Canada,* on the other hand, the payment of the 
 
 Bishops of the Province should confirm the election." They suggest the following 
 modes of carrying the election out : — 
 
 1. That the Diocese should nominate two or more clergymen from whom the 
 Bishops of the Province should select one to be Bishop of the vacant See. 
 
 2. That the Diocese should delegate to some person or body the power of 
 choosing. 
 
 3. That the Diocese should nominate two or more clergymen from whom the 
 Diocese should make choice. 
 
 They observe, however, that the right of sekctidg the Bishop belongs to the clergy, 
 while the right to accept or reject belongs to the laity. 
 
 * This account is taken chiefly from a letter of the late lamented Metropofitan of 
 Canada. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 I
 
 Introduction. 
 
 Clergy is derived from the Church Society, or from the Diocesan 
 Synod. This has been brought about in the following way : — In 
 the reign of George the Third a grant was made, called the 
 Clergy Keserve Lands, for the endowment of the Church of England 
 in Canada. These reserves were for a long period applied only for 
 the benefit of the Church of England ; but, owing to some ambi- 
 guity in the terms of the grant, the Presbyterian Church put in a 
 claim, grounding it upon the plea that they were acknowledged as 
 *' a Church established by law" by the Crown. This was resisted 
 as untenable ground by the Church of England. The controversy 
 waxed warm, and then the members of the Free Kirk and others 
 opposed the claims of both, and demanded the absolute seculariza- 
 tion of the Eeserve Lands, and all funds derived from them. This 
 party gained strength. The Koman Catholics joined them. Ad- 
 dresses were brought into the Provincial Parliament, and at last 
 passed both Houses, requiring the Imperial Parliament to grant 
 authority to them to deal with the Reserves. For, although a 
 responsible Government had been conceded to Canada, this one 
 question of the Church had been excepted, and no act affecting the 
 discipline or property of the Clergy could become law, until it had 
 been sent home, and received the assent of the Sovereign in Coun- 
 cil. At last, it became evident that the people were so determined 
 to have this power conceded, that no Government could stand in 
 Canada that was opposed to it. And, in fine, the Home Govern- 
 ment, in 1853, brought in a Bill conceding to the Provincial Legis- 
 lature authority to deal with the Clergy Reserves as they pleased, 
 saving the vested rights of all Clergy then receiving any incomes 
 from that source. 
 
 In the next session of the Provincial Legislature a Bill was 
 brought in, absolutely secularizing the whole present or prospective 
 proceeds of the Reserves, excepting what was protected by the 
 terms of the Imperial Act — the vested interests of the then Incum- 
 bents. While the Bill was passing through the House, the leader 
 of the anti-Church party complained of this reservation, on the 
 ground that the Clergy would be annuitants for life, and so the 
 payments would continue for a great number of years. Upon this, 
 the leader of the Church party suggested that perhaps it would be
 
 Introduction. 
 
 better to buy up their claims for a capital sum paid down. A 
 clause was accordingly introduced to give effect to tliis. 
 
 The leader of the Church party accordingly set to work to carry 
 this into effect. The clause was so worded that no clergyman could 
 commute without '' the consent of the parties and bodies severally 
 interested;" so he had a power of attorney drawn up to be signed 
 by the Bishop as representing the Church, and by the commuting 
 clergyman, by which authority was given to effect the commutation 
 of the life interest of the said clergyman for a fixed capital sum, 
 provided the same was at once paid over to the treasurer of the In- 
 corporated Church Society of that Diocese, to be invested for the 
 benefit of the Church, and provided the said Church Society gua- 
 ranteed to the said clergyman the same annual amount of income 
 so long as he should continue to officiate in that Diocese, or when 
 disabled from age and infirmity. 
 
 The result of this was that the whole body of the Clergy gave up 
 the G-overnment guarantee of their stipends, and accepted instead 
 the guarantee of the Church Society — an act, which, though it did 
 not actually involve a pecuniary loss to them, yet was at the time 
 an act of great faith and self-devotion. The whole sum payable 
 to all existing Incumbents was received by certain trustees, and re- 
 invested so profitably that, after paying all the stipends chargeable 
 upon it, a surplus was left, while the capital sum remained as the 
 permanent property of the Church, and an endowment for all 
 future Clergy. 
 
 In addition to this, all sums raised by voluntary effort for the 
 support of the Church are paid into the hands of the Church 
 Society, which is either identical with the Diocesan Synod or works 
 in harmony with it, and through whose agency the Clei-gy receive 
 their stipends. 
 
 The conclusion to which this history of the financial affairs of 
 the Canadian Church points is, that in case of the disendowment 
 of the Church in Ireland, every effort should be made to obtain the 
 power to commute the life interests of the Clergy for a capital sum, 
 as in Canada. This capital sum in each Diocese to be handed over 
 to the Diocesan Synod, or to trustees appointed by it, upon its guaran- 
 teeing to each clergyman commuting the full amount of his stipend. 
 
 xxxii.
 
 Intkoduction. 
 
 Nearly all would continue to officiate in the Church in Ireland, 
 until they were disabled by age and infirmity. In addition to 
 this, there might be formed a general Church Society, to collect 
 funds to enable the various Diocesan Synods to fulfil their gua- 
 rantee without encroaching on the capital. With the interest on the 
 capital granted for the commuted life interests, and the voluntary 
 weekly offerings of each parish paid into the Diocesan Synod, aided 
 by the general fund raised by the Church Society, there can be 
 little doubt that present wants would be fully met, and a compa- 
 ratively large sum be saved for the permanent endowment of the 
 Church. 
 
 In arranging for such a commutation, the following details would 
 be required : — 1. The names of the clergy. 2. Their stipends. 
 3. Their ages. 4. Their expectation of life. 5. The present value 
 of their vested interests. 6. The total sum given in commutation. 
 Exact information on the first five points is greatly needed, and 
 should be procured at the earliest moment. The Tables given 
 under the second head by the Irish Church Commissioners are not 
 altogether to be depended on ; and there is no return of the age of 
 each clergyman : hence we cannot even guess at the other points. 
 In estimating the number of years during which the payments of 
 life interests would continue, if we take the present number of 
 clergy in Ireland to be 2,281, there would be alive of these at the 
 end of ten years, 1,707 ; at the end of twenty years, 1,188 ; at the 
 end of fifty years, 128.* But although we can thus estimate the 
 number of deaths in each year, we cannot tell what life interests 
 
 * Taking the number of Clergy at present to be 2,281, the following table gives 
 the natural rate of decrease by death : — 
 
 A.B. Number of Clergy Living. 
 
 1868 2,281 
 
 1878 1,707 
 
 1885 1,440 
 
 1888 1,188 
 
 1893 ... ... ... ... ... ... 954 
 
 1898 739 
 
 1903 ... ... ... ... ... ... 543 
 
 1908 372 
 
 1913 233 
 
 1918 128 
 
 xxxiii. A b
 
 Introduction. 
 
 will fall in, without the details mentioned above to help in the cal- 
 culation. 
 
 The friends of the Church should not allow all their energies to 
 be absorbed in the political struggle, but should be prepared, as the 
 Church in Canada was prepared, with an organization ready to meet 
 the financial difficulty whenever it presents itself. The formation 
 of a Church Society for this purpose, to raise funds by a systematic 
 appeal to Churchmen throughout the kingdom, in order to aid the 
 Diocesan Synods in guaranteeing the life interests of the clergy, 
 and thus to secure the capital sum for perma^ient endoivment, 
 is much to be desired ; and there is little reason to fear that it would 
 not be most successful in warding off the danger most to be dreaded 
 by the Irish Church — gradual extinction, dying by inches. 
 
 Before the solution of any great question there must be conside- 
 ration and discussion. To promote these in some small way, these 
 suggestions have been made at a time when it appears incumbent 
 on every one to try and awaken Churchmen to a sense of the new 
 responsibilities that seem to aw^ait them. 
 
 The American, Canadian, and New Zealand Churches, in spite of 
 difficulties and errors, have proved that the Church can live and do 
 her work when severed from the State, so long as she continues 
 faithful to her principles and to her Divine Head ; and if she forsakes 
 them, no union with the State can preserve her. It is true that time 
 and experience have pointed out defects in their organization, which 
 those who follow in their steps should mark and avoid; but yet 
 from their history we may learn many a lesson of faith, and gather 
 many an example of zeal and charity and obedience to God. And 
 we believe that the Church in Ireland, when called to undertake 
 the same task that they have accomplished, setting forth in her new 
 and untried course, and gathering strength with every step, will 
 pass unscathed through every danger : so realizing the truth of 
 the promise — '' When thou passest through the w^aters I will be 
 with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee ; 
 when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned ; 
 neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." 
 
 xxxiv.
 
 Constitution. 
 
 OF 
 
 THE PKOTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHUKCH IN THE 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
 
 ADOPTED IN GENERAL CONVENTION, 
 
 In Philadelphia, October, 1789.* 
 
 Article 1. 
 
 There shall be a General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Cliurcli in the United States of America, on the first Wednesday 
 in October, in every third year, from the year of our Lord one 
 thousand eight hundred and forty-one, and in such place as shall 
 be determined by the Convention ; and in case there shall be an 
 epidemic disease, or any other good cause to render it necessary to 
 alter the place fixed on for any such meeting of the Convention, the 
 Presiding Bishop shall have it in his power to appoint another con- 
 venient place (as near as may be to the place so fixed on,) for the 
 holding of such Convention ; and special meetings may be called 
 at other times, in the manner hereafter to be provided for ; and this 
 Church, in a majority of the Dioceses which shall have adopted 
 this Constitution, shall be represented before they proceed to busi- 
 ness ; except that the representation from two Dioceses shall be 
 sufficient to adjourn ; and in all business of the Convention freedom 
 of debate shall be allowed. 
 
 Article 2. 
 
 The Church in each Diocese shall be entitled to a representation 
 of both the Clergy and the Laity. Such representation shall con- 
 
 * For a history of alterations subsequently introduced, see note p. 5. — Ed. 
 
 1 B
 
 Constitution. 
 
 sist of not more than four Clergymen and four Laymen communi- 
 cants in this Church, residents in the Diocese, and chosen in the 
 manner prescribed by the Convention thereof ; and in all questions 
 when required by the clerical and lay representation from any 
 Diocese, each Order shall have one vote ; and the majority of 
 suffrages by Dioceses shall be conclusive in each Order, provided 
 such majority comprehend a majority of the Dioceses represented 
 in that Order. The concurrence of both Orders shall be necessary 
 to constitute a vote of the Convention. If the Convention of any 
 Diocese should neglect or decline to appoint clerical Deputies, or if 
 they should neglect or decline to appoint lay Deputies, or if any of 
 those of either Order appointed should neglect to attend, or be 
 prevented by sickness or any other accident, such Diocese shall 
 nevertheless be considered as duly represented by such Deputy or 
 Deputies as may attend, whether lay or clerical. And if, through 
 the neglect of the Convention of any of the Churches which shall 
 have adopted or may hereafter adopt this Constitution, no Deputies, 
 either lay or Clerical, should attend at any General Convention, 
 the Church in such Diocese shall nevertheless be bound by the acts 
 of such Convention. 
 
 Aeticle 3. 
 
 The Bishops of this Church, when there shall be three or more, 
 shall, whenever General Conventions are held, form a separate 
 House, with a right to originate and propose acts for the concur- 
 rence of the House of Deputies composed of Clergy and Laity ; 
 and when any proposed act shall have passed the House of Depu- 
 ties, the same shall be transmitted to the House of Bishops, who 
 shall have a negative thereupon ; and all acts of the Convention 
 shall be authenticated by both Houses. And in all cases the 
 House of Bishops shall signify to the Convention their approbation 
 or disapprobation (the latter with their reasons in writing,) within 
 three days after the proposed act shall have been reported to them 
 for concurrence : and in failure thereof, it shall have the operation 
 of a law. But until there shall be three or more Bishops, as afore- 
 said, any Bishop attending a General Convention shall be a member 
 ex officio, and shall vote with the clerical Deputies of the Diocese 
 to which he belongs ; and a Bishop shall then preside.
 
 Constitution. 
 
 Article 4. 
 
 The Bishop or Bishops in every Diocese shall be chosen agree- 
 ably to such rules as shall be fixed by the Convention of that 
 Diocese ; and every Bishop of this Church shall confine the exercise 
 of his Episcopal Office to his proper Diocese, unless requested to 
 ordain or confirm, or perform any other act of the Episcopal Office, 
 by any Church destitute of a Bishop. 
 
 Article 5. 
 
 A Protestant Episcopal Church in any of the United States, or 
 any Territory thereof, not now represented, may, at any time here- 
 after, be admitted on acceding to this Constitution ; and a new 
 Diocese, to be formed from one or more existing Dioceses, may be 
 admitted under the following restrictions. 
 
 No new Diocese shall be formed or erected within the limits of 
 any other Diocese, nor shall any Diocese be formed by the junction 
 of two or more Dioceses, or parts of Dioceses, unless with the con- 
 sent of the Bishop and Convention of each of the Dioceses con- 
 cerned, as well as of the General Convention. 
 
 No such new Diocese shall be formed which shall contain less 
 than fifteen self-supporting Parishes, or less than fifteen Presbyters 
 who have been for at least one year canonically resident within the 
 bounds of such new Diocese, regularly settled in a Parish or Con- 
 gregation, and qualified to vote for a Bishop. Nor shall such new 
 Diocese be formed if thereby any existing Diocese shall be so 
 reduced as to contain less than thirty self-supporting Parishes, or 
 less than twenty Presbyters who have been residing therein, and 
 settled and qualified as above mentioned : Provided that no city 
 shall form more than one Diocese. 
 
 In case one Diocese shall be divided into two Dioceses, the 
 Diocesan of the Diocese divided may elect the one to which he will 
 be attached, and shall thereupon become the Diocesan thereof. And 
 the Assistant Bishop, if there be one, may elect the one to which 
 he will be attached ; and if it be not the one elected by the Bishop, 
 he shall be the Diocesan thereof. 
 
 Whenever the division of a Diocese into two Dioceses shall be 
 ratified by the General Convention, each of the two Dioceses shall 
 
 3
 
 Constitution. 
 
 be subject to the Constitution and Canons of the Diocese so divided, 
 except as local circumstances may prevent, until the same may be 
 altered in either Diocese by the Convention thereof. And when- 
 ever a Diocese shall be formed out of two or more existing Dio- 
 ceses, the new Diocese shall be subject to the Constitution and 
 Canons of that one of the said existing Dioceses to which the 
 greater number of Clergymen shall have belonged prior to the 
 erection of such new Diocese, until the same may be altered by the 
 Convention of the new Diocese. 
 
 Aeticle 6. 
 
 The mode of trying Bishops shall be provided by the General 
 Convention. The Court appointed for that purpose shall be com- 
 posed of Bishops only. In every Diocese, the mode of trying 
 Presbyters and Deacons may be instituted by the Convention of the 
 Diocese. None but a Bishop shall pronounce sentence of admoni- 
 tion, suspension, or degradation h'om the Ministry, on any Clergy- 
 man, whether Bishop, Presbyter, or Deacon. 
 
 Article 7. 
 
 No person shall be admitted to Holy Orders, until he shall have 
 been examined by the Bishop, and by two Presbyters, and shall 
 have exhibited such testimonials and other requisites as the Canons, 
 in that case provided, may direct. Nor shall any person be or- 
 dained until he shall have subscribed the following Declaration : — 
 
 " I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the 
 Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation; and I do solemnly 
 engage to conform to the Doctrines and Worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 in the United States." 
 
 No person ordained by a foreign Bishop shall be permitted to 
 officiate as a Minister of this Church, until he shall have complied 
 with the Canon or Canons in that case provided, and have also 
 subscribed the aforesaid Declaration. 
 
 Article 8. 
 
 A Book of Common Prayer, Administration of the Sacraments, 
 and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, Articles of Religion, 
 
 4
 
 Constitution. 
 
 and a Form and Manner of making, ordaining, and consecrating 
 Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, when established by this or a future 
 General Convention, shall be used in the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church in those Dioceses which shall have adopted this Constitu- 
 tion. No alteration or addition shall be made in the Book of 
 Common Prayer, or other Offices of the Church, or the Articles of 
 Religion, unless the same shall be proposed in one General Con- 
 vention, and by a resolve thereof made known to the Convention 
 of every Diocese, and adopted at the subsequent General Con- 
 vention. 
 
 Article 9. 
 
 This Constitution shall be unalterable, unless in General Conven- 
 tion, by the Church, in a majority of the Dioceses which may have 
 adopted the same ; and all alterations shall be first proposed in one 
 General Convention, and made known to the several Diocesan 
 Conventions before they shall be finally agreed to, or ratified, in the 
 ensuing General Convention. 
 
 Article 10. 
 
 Bishops for foreign countries, on due application therefrom, may 
 be consecrated, with the approbation of the Bishops of this Church, 
 or a majority of them, signified to the Presiding Bishop ; he there- 
 upon taking order for the same, and they being satisfied that the 
 person designated for the Office has been duly chosen, and pro- 
 perly qualified : the Order of Consecration to be conformed, as 
 nearly as may be, in the judgment of the Bishops, to the one used 
 in this Church. Such Bishops, so consecrated, shall not be eligible 
 to the Office of Diocesan, or Assistant Bishop, in any Diocese in 
 the United States, nor be entitled to a seat in the House of Bishops, 
 nor exercise any Episcopal authority in said States. 
 
 Done in the General Convention of the Bisho2')s, 
 Clergy, and Laity of the Churchy the 2nd day 
 of October, 1789. 
 
 Note. — When the Constitution was originally adopted, in Au- 
 gust, 1789, the first Article provided that the Triennial Convention
 
 Constitution. 
 
 should be held on the first Tuesday in August. At the adjourned 
 meeting of the Convention, held in October of the same year, it 
 was provided that the second Tuesday in September, in every third 
 year, should be the time of meeting. The time was again changed 
 to the third Tuesday in May, by the Goneral Convention of 1804. 
 See Bioren's edition of the Journals of the General Convention, 
 1817, pp. 61, 75, and 216. 
 
 The first Article was put into its present form at the General 
 Convention of 1841. 
 
 The third Article was so altered by the General Convention of 
 1808, as to give the House of Bishops a full Veto upon the pro- 
 ceedings of the other House. — See Journals of General Convention, 
 pp. 248, 249. 
 
 The second sentence of the eighth Article was adopted at the 
 General Convention of 1811. — See Journals of General Convention, 
 p. 274. 
 
 The words ''or the Articles of Eeligion" were added to the 
 eighth Article by the General Convention of 1829. 
 
 The fifth Article was put into its present form at the General 
 Convention of 1838. 
 
 The same Convention adopted the following alterations. — See 
 Journal of General Convention of 1838, p. 24. 
 
 Strike out the word " States" wherever it occurs in the first and 
 second Articles, except where it follows the word " United" in the 
 first part of the first Article, and insert in lieu of the word " States" 
 the word ''Dioceses." Strike out the word "States" wherever it 
 occurs in the second, third, and fourth Articles, and insert in lieu 
 thereof the word " Dioceses." 
 
 Strike out the words " or district" in the fourth Article. 
 
 Strike out the word " State" in the sixth Article, and insert the 
 word "Diocese." 
 
 Strike out the word " States" in the eighth Article, and insert 
 the word " Dioceses "; and in the eighth Article strike out the words 
 " or State" after the words " every Diocese." 
 
 Strike out the word "States" in the ninth Article, and insert 
 the word "Dioceses." Strike out the word " State" in the ninth 
 Article, and insert the word " Diocesan."
 
 Constitution. 
 
 The sixth Article was put into its present form at the General 
 Convention of 1841. 
 
 Article 10 was finally agreed to, and ratified, in the General 
 Convention of 1844. 
 
 Articles 2 and 5 were put into their present form at the General 
 Convention of 1856.
 
 Canons 1 and 2. § i., n. 
 
 gigest 0f % €mom. 
 
 TITLE I. 
 
 OF THE ORDERS IN THE MINISTRY, AND OF THE 
 DOCTRINE AND WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Canon 1. 
 
 Of the Orders of Ministry in this Church, 
 
 In this Church there shall always be three Orders in the ministry, 
 namely : Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.* 
 
 Canon 2. 
 
 Of the Admission of Persons as Candidates for Holy Orders. 
 
 § I. All persons seeking admission to the ministry of this 
 Church, are to be regarded as candidates for Holy Orders.! 
 
 § II. Every person who desires to become a candidate for Holy 
 Orders in this Church, shall, in the first instance, give notice of 
 his intention to the Bishop of the Diocese in which he intends to 
 apply ; or, if there be no Bishop, to the Standing Committee ; in 
 which notice he shall declare whether he has ever applied for 
 admission as a candidate in any other Diocese. No person who has 
 previously applied for admission as a candidate in any Diocese, and 
 has been refused admission, or, having been admitted, has afterward 
 ceased to be a candidate, shall be admitted as a candidate in any 
 other Diocese, until he shall have produced from the Bishop, or, 
 
 * Adopted in 1789. Canon L, 1832. t § 1, Canon iii , 1856. 
 
 9
 
 CitU I. Canon 2. § iii.-v. 
 
 Of the Admission of Candidates for Holy Orders, 
 
 if there be no Bishop, from the Standing Committee of the former 
 Diocese, a certificate, declaring the cause for which he was refused 
 admission, or for which he ceased to be a candidate.* 
 
 § III. A person desirous of becoming a candidate for Holy 
 Orders, shall apply to the Bishop, or, if there be no Bishop, to the 
 Standing Committee, of the Diocese in which he resides, unless 
 the said Bishop or ecclesiastical authority shall give their consent 
 to his application in some other Diocese.f 
 
 § IV. No person shall be considered as a candidate for Holy 
 Orders in this Church, unless he shall have produced to the Bishop 
 to whom he intends to apply for Orders, a certificate from the 
 Standing Committee of the Diocese of the said Bishop, that, from 
 personal knowledge, or from testimonials laid before them, they 
 believe that he is pious, sober, and honest ; that he is attached to 
 the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church; a communicant of the same; and, in their opinion, 
 possesses such qualifications as will render him apt and meet to 
 exercise the ministry, to the glory of God and the edifying of the 
 Church. And when the Standing Committee do not certify as 
 above from personal knowledge, the testimonials laid before them 
 shall be of the same purport, and as full as the certificate above 
 required, and shall be signed by at least one Presbji^er and four 
 respectable laymen of the Protestant Episcopal Church. t 
 
 § Y. It is also to be made known to every candidate, for whatever 
 order of the ministry, that the Church expects of him what never 
 can be brought to the test of any outward standard, — an inward 
 fear and worship of Almighty God, a love of religion, and a sensi- 
 bility to it holy influences, a habit of devout afi'ection, and, in short, 
 a cultivation of all those graces which are called in Scripture the 
 fruits of the Spirit, and by which alone His sacred influences can be 
 manifested.H 
 
 * § 2, Canon iii,, 1856 t § 3, Canon iii., 1856. 
 
 J § 4, Canon iii., 1856. If § 5, Canon iii., 1856. 
 
 10
 
 Canon 2. §'vi.-viil 
 
 Of the Admission of Candidates for Holy Orders, 
 
 § VI. The requisitions of this Canon heing fulfilled, the Bishop 
 may admit the person as a candidate for Holy Orders, and shall 
 record the same in a book to be kept for that purpose, and notify 
 the candidate of such record : and in any diocese where there is no 
 Bishop, the Standing Committee may, on the same conditions, 
 admit the person as a candidate, and shall make record and notifica- 
 tion in the same manner.* 
 
 § VII. The Canons of this Church which respect candidates for 
 Holy Orders, shall affect as well those coming from places in the 
 United States in which the Constitution of this Church has not 
 been acceded to, as those residing in States or Territories in which 
 it has been adopted ; and, in such cases, every candidate shall 
 produce to the Bishop to whom he may apply for Holy Orders, the 
 requisite testimonials, subscribed by the Standing Committee of the 
 Diocese into which he has come.f 
 
 § VIII. [1.] When a person, who, not having had Episcopal 
 Ordination, has been acknowledged as an ordained minister or 
 licentiate in any other denomination of Christians, shall desire to 
 be ordained in this Church, he shall give notice thereof to the 
 Bishop ; or, if there be no Bishop, to the Standing Committee of 
 the Diocese in which he resides ; or, if he reside in a State or 
 Territory in which there is no organized Diocese, to the Missionary 
 Bishop within whose jurisdiction he resides ; which notice shall be 
 accompanied by a written certificate from at least two Presbyters of 
 this Church, stating that, from personal knowledge of the party, or 
 satisfactory evidence laid before them, they believe that his desire 
 to leave the denomination to which he belonged, has not arisen 
 from any circumstance unfavorable to his moral or religious 
 character, or on account of which it may be inexpedient to admit 
 him to the exercise of the ministry in this Church ; and they may 
 also add what they know or believe, on good authority, of the 
 circumstances leading to the said desire. J 
 
 * § 6, Canon iii., 1856. t § 7, Canon iii., 1856. 
 
 t § 8, Canon Hi., 1856. 
 
 11
 
 Cttle I. Canon 2. § viii.-x 
 
 Of the Admission of Candidates for Holy Orders, 
 
 [2.] If the Bishop or Standing Committee shall think proper to 
 proceed, the party applying to be received as a candidate shall 
 produce to the Standing Committee a testimonial from at least 
 twelve members of the denomination from which he came, or twelve 
 members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, or twelve persons in 
 part of the denomination from which he came and in part Episco- 
 palians, satisfactory to the Committee, that the applicant has, for 
 three years last past, lived piously, soberly, and honestly ; and also 
 a testimonial from at least two Presbyters of this Church, that they 
 believe him to be pious, sober, and honest, and sincerely attached to 
 the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Church. The Standing 
 Committee, being satisfied on these points, may recommend him 
 to the Bishop, to be received as a candidate for Orders in this Church ; 
 or, in a vacant Diocese, the Standing Committee may so receive 
 him.* 
 
 § IX. When a person, not a citizen of the United States, who 
 has been acknowledged as an ordained minister in any other 
 denomination of Christians, shall apply to become a candidate for 
 Orders in this Church, the Bishop to whom application is made 
 shall require of him (in addition to the above qualifications) satis- 
 factory evidence that he has resided at least one year in the United 
 States, previous to his application. f 
 
 § X. When a person, not a citizen of the United States, who has 
 been acknowledged as an ordained minister in any other denomina- 
 tion of Christians, shall apply for Orders in this Church, on the 
 ground of a call to a church in which divine service is celebrated in 
 a foreign language, the Standing Committee of the Diocese to which 
 such church belongs, may, on sufficient evidence of fitness according 
 to the Canons, and by a unanimous vote at a meeting duly con- 
 vened, recommend him to the Bishop for Orders, and the Bishop 
 may then ordain him, and he may be settled, and instituted into 
 the said church, without his producing a testimonial to his character 
 by a clergyman from his personal knowledge of him for one year, 
 "♦ § 9, Canon iii., 1856. f § 10, Canon iii., 1856. 
 
 12
 
 Canon 3. § i., n. 
 
 Of Admitted Candidates, 
 
 and without liis having been a year resident in this country, any- 
 thing in any other Canon of this Church to the contrary notwith- 
 standing. Provided that, in both of the above cases, the person 
 applying produce a certificate, signed by at least four respectable 
 members of this Church, that they have satisfactory reason to 
 believe the testimonials to his religious, moral, and literary qualifica- 
 tions to be entitled to full credit.* 
 
 Canon 3. 
 
 Of Admitted Candidates, 
 
 § I. The Bishop, or other ecclesiastical authority who may have 
 the superintendence of candidates for Holy Orders, shall take care 
 that they pursue their studies diligently and under proper direction, 
 and that they do not indulge in any vain or trifling conduct, or in 
 any amusements most likely to be abused to licentiousness, or 
 unfavorable to that seriousness, and to those pious and studious 
 habits, which become those who are preparing for the Holy 
 Ministry.! 
 
 § n. No candidate for Holy Orders shall take upon himself to 
 perform the service of the Church but by a license from the Bishop, 
 or, if there be no Bishop, from the clerical members of the Standing 
 Committee, of the Diocese in which such candidate may wish to 
 perform the service. And such candidate shall submit to all the 
 regulations which the Bishop, or said clerical members, may 
 prescribe. He shall not use the absolution or benediction; he 
 shall not assume the dress appropriate to clergymen ministering in 
 the congregation ; he shall conform to the directions of the Bishop, 
 or said clerical members, as to the sermons or homilies to be read, 
 nor shall any Lay Eeader deliver sermons of his own composition ; 
 nor, except in case of extraordinary emergency or very peculiar 
 
 * Last paragraph of Canon xxiv., of 1832. 
 t § 11, Canon iii., 1856. 
 
 13
 
 ^xih I. Canon 4. § i. 
 
 [General Provisions and Requisites for Ordination, 
 
 expediency, perform any part of the service, when a clergyman is 
 present in the congregation.* 
 
 § III. No person, who is a candidate for Holy Orders in this 
 Church, shall he permitted to accept from any Diocesan Convention 
 an appointment as a Lay Deputy to the House of Clerical and Lay 
 Deputies of the General Convention.! 
 
 § IV. A candidate for Holy Orders may, on letters of dismission 
 from the Bishop or Standing Committee of the Diocese in which he 
 was admitted a candidate, be transferred to the jurisdiction of any 
 Bishop in this Church ; and if there be a Bishop within the Diocese 
 where the candidate resides, he shall apply to no other Bishop for 
 ordination without the permission of the former.J 
 
 § y. Candidates shall not change their canonical residence but 
 for hond fide causes, requiring the same to be judged of by the 
 Bishop ; or, if there be no Bishop, the Standing Committee ; and 
 they shall not be dismissed from the Dioceses in which they were 
 admitted, or to which they have been duly transferred, for the 
 convenience of attending any theological or other seminary. || 
 
 Canon 4. 
 
 General Provisions and Requisites for Ordination. 
 
 § I. No Bishop shall ordain any candidate until he has inquired 
 of him whether he has ever directly or indirectly applied for Holy 
 Orders in any other diocese ; and if the Bishop has reason to believe 
 that the candidate has been refused Holy Orders in any other 
 Diocese, he shall write to the Bishop of such Diocese, or, if there 
 be no Bishop, to the Standing Committee, to know whether any 
 just cause exists why the candidate should not be ordained. When 
 
 * § 12, Canon iii., 1856. t § 13, Canon iii., 1856. 
 
 X § 14, Canon iii., 1856. || Last clause of § 15, Canon iii., 1856. 
 
 14
 
 Canon 4. § ii.-v. 
 
 General Provisions and Requisites for Ordination, 
 
 any Bishop rejects the application of any candidate for Holy Orders, 
 he shall immediately give notice to the Bishop of every Diocese, or, 
 where there is no Bishop, to the Standing Committee.* 
 
 § II. Deacon's Orders shall not he conferred on any person until 
 he shall be twenty-one years old, nor Priest's Orders until he 
 shall be twenty-four years old. No Deacon shall be ordained 
 Priest unless he shall have been a Deacon one year, except, for 
 reasonable causes, it shall otherwise seem good to the Bishop. f 
 
 § III. Every candidate for Holy Orders who may be recommended 
 by the Standing Committee of any Diocese destitute of a Bishop, 
 if he have resided for the greater part of three years last past within 
 the Diocese of a Bishop, shall apply to such Bishop for ordination. 
 And such candidate shall produce the usual testimonials, as well 
 from the Committee of the Diocese in which he has resided, as 
 from the Committee of the Diocese for which he is to be ordained. J 
 
 § IV. No Bishop of this Church shall ordain any person to 
 officiate as a Priest in any congregation or Church destitute of a 
 Bishop, situated without the jurisdiction of these United States, 
 until the usual testimony from the Standing Committee, founded 
 upon sufficient evidence of his soundness in the faith, and of his 
 pious and moral character, has been obtained, nor until the candi- 
 date has been examined on the studies prescribed by the Canons of 
 this Church ; and should any clergyman, so ordained, wish to 
 settle in any congregation of this Church, he must obtain a special 
 license therefor from the Bishop, and officiate as a probationer for 
 at least one year.T 
 
 § y. A clergyman who presents a person to the Bishop for Holy 
 Orders, as specified in the Office for Ordination, without having 
 good grounds to believe that the requisitions of the Canons have 
 been complied with, shall be liable to ecclesiastical censure.** 
 
 * § 16, Canon, iii., 1856. f § 1, Canon v., 1856 ; Canon viiL, 1832. 
 
 t § 7, Canon iv., 1856. f § 15, Canon v., 1856. ** § 12, Canon iv., 1856. 
 
 15
 
 CiiU I. Canon 5. § i.-ii. 
 
 Examination, etc., for Deacon's Orders. 
 
 § VI. Agreeably to the practice of the primitive Church, the 
 stated times of ordination shall be on the Sundays following the 
 Ember Weeks, namely, the Second Sunday in Lent, the Feast of 
 Trinity, and the Sundays after the Wednesdays following the 14th 
 day of September and the 13th of December. Occasional ordina- 
 tions may be held at such other times as the Bishop shall appoint.* 
 
 Canon 5. 
 
 Examination and Testimonials for Deacon's Orders, and 
 Ordination. 
 
 § I. Every person hereafter to be ordained Deacon in this Church, 
 shall be examined by the Bishop and two Presbyters, whose duty 
 it shall be to ascertain that he is well acquainted with the Holy 
 Scriptures and the Book of Common Prayer, and who shall inquire 
 into his fitness for the ministrations declared in the Ordinal to ap- 
 pertain to the office of a Deacon, and be satisfied thereof.! 
 
 § II. [1.] A person admitted as a candidate for Deacon's Orders 
 shall remain a candidate for the term of three years before his 
 ordination, unless the Bishop, with the consent of the Standing 
 Committee, shall deem it expedient to ordain the candidate after the 
 expiration of a shorter period, not less than one year ; but this 
 provision shall not apply to candidates under Section VI. of this 
 Canon. 
 
 [2.] Before his examination, the candidate shall present to the 
 Bishop a testimonial from at least one Hector of a Parish, signi- 
 fying a belief that he is well qualified to minister in the office of a 
 Deacon, to the glory of God and the edification of the Church. t 
 
 * Canon xx., 1832. In 1789 the Canon was passed without the last clause. In 
 1808 this was added, and the Canon has continued unchanged since then. 
 
 t § 1, Canon iv., 1856. J § 2, Canon iv., 1856. Amended in 1862. 
 
 16
 
 Canon 5. § iii., iv. 
 
 Examination, etc., for Deacon's Orders. 
 
 § III. No person shall be ordained Deacon in this Church unless 
 he exhibit to the Bishop testimonials from the Standing Committee 
 of the Diocese for which he is to be ordained, which shall be signed 
 by the names of a majority of all the Committee, the Committee 
 being duly convened, and which shall be in the following words : — 
 
 "We, whose names are hereunder written, testify that A. B. hath laid hefore us 
 satisfactory testimonials, that for the space of three years last past he hath lived 
 piously, soberly, and honestly, and hath not written, taught, or held anything con- 
 trary to the doctrine or discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church ; and, more- 
 over, we think him a person worthy to he admitted to the sacred Order of Deacons. 
 
 In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this day of , in 
 
 the year of our Lord ."* 
 
 § IV. But before a Standing Committee shall proceed to recom- 
 mend any candidate, as aforesaid, to the Bishop, such candidate 
 shall produce from the Minister and Vestry of the parish where he 
 resides, or from the Vestry alone if the parish be vacant ; or, if 
 there be no vestry, from at least twelve respectable persons of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church, testimonials of his piety, good morals, 
 and orderly conduct, in the following words : — 
 
 " We, whose names are hereunder written, do testify from evidence satisfactory to 
 us, that A. B., for the space of three years last past, hath lived piously, soberly, and 
 honestly, and hath not, so far as we know or believe, written, taught, or held any- 
 thing contrary to the doctrine or discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church ; 
 and, moreover, we think him a person worthy to be admitted to the sacred Order 
 
 of Deacons. In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this day 
 
 of , in the year of our Lord ." 
 
 He shall also lay before the Standing Committee testimonials 
 signed by at least one respectable Presbyter of the Protestant Epis- 
 copal Church in the United States, in the following words : — 
 
 *' I do certify, that A. B., for the space of three years last past, hath lived piously, 
 soberly, and honestly, and hath not, so far as I know or believe, written, taught, or 
 held anything contrary to the doctrine or discipline of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church; and, moreover, I think him a person worthy to be admitted to the sacred 
 Order of Deacons. This testimonial is founded on my personal knowledge of the 
 said A. B. for one year last past, and for the residue of the said time upon evidence 
 that is satisfactory to me. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 
 day of in the year of our Lord, ."t 
 
 * § 4, Canon iv., 1856. f § 5, Canon iv., 1856. 
 
 17 c
 
 ^xth I. Canon 5. § v.-vii. 
 
 Examination, etc., for Deacon's Orders. 
 
 § V. But in case a candidate, from some peculiar circumstances 
 not affecting his pious or moral character, shall be unable to pro- 
 cure testimonials from the Minister and Yestry of the parish where 
 he resides, the Standing Committee may accept testimonials of the 
 purport above stated, from at least twelve respectable members of 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church, and from at least one respectable 
 Presbyter of the said Church, who has been personally acquainted 
 with the candidate for at least one year.* 
 
 § VI. Candidates, who, not having Episcopal ordination, have 
 been acknowledged as ordained or licensed ministers in any other 
 denomination of Christians, may, at the expiration of not less than 
 six months from their admission as Candidates, be ordained Dea- 
 cons, on their passing the same examinations as other candidates 
 for Deacon's Orders ; and, in the examinations, special regard shall 
 be had to those points in which the denomination whence they come 
 differs from this Church, with a view of testing their information 
 and soundness in the same ; and also of ascertaining that they are 
 adequately acquainted with the Liturgy and Offices of this Church ; 
 provided, that in their case the testimonials shall be required to 
 cover only the time since their admission as candidates for Holy 
 Orders.! 
 
 § YII. When any person, not a citizen of the United States, 
 who has been acknowledged as an ordained or licensed minister in 
 any other denomination of Christians, shall apply for Orders in 
 this Church, the Bishop, to whom application is made, shall re- 
 quire of him (in addition to the above qualifications,) satisfactory 
 evidence that he has resided at least one year in the United States 
 previous to his application. J 
 
 * § 6, Canon iv., 1856. f § 3, Canon iv., 1856. 
 
 J § 8, Canon iv., 1856 
 
 18
 
 Canon 6. § i.-iii. 
 
 Of Deacons. 
 
 Canon 6. 
 
 Of Deacons. 
 
 § I. Every Deacon shall be subject to the regulation of the 
 Bishop, or, if there be no Bishop, of the clerical members of the 
 Standing Committee of the Diocese for which he is ordained, until 
 he receive letters of dismission therefrom to the Bishop or eccle- 
 siastical authority of some other Diocese, and be thereupon received 
 as a clergyman of such other Diocese ; and he shall officiate in 
 such places as the Bishop, or the said clerical members, may 
 direct.* 
 
 § II. [1.] No Deacon shall be settled over a parish, or congre- 
 gation, or permitted to accept of a chaplaincy in the United States 
 Army or Navy,t until he shall have satisfactorily passed the three 
 examinations required for Priest's Orders. 
 
 [2.] No Deacon shall officiate in any parish, or congregation, 
 without the express consent of the Kector for the time being, where 
 there is a Eector, nor in any case without the assent of the Bishop ; 
 and when officiating in the parish or congregation of a Rector, he 
 shall be entirely subject to the direction of such Rector in all his 
 ministrations. I 
 
 § III. No Deacon, who shall not have passed the examinations 
 required for Priest's Orders, shall be transferred to another Diocese 
 without the written request of the Bishop to whose jurisdiction he 
 is to be transferred.il 
 
 *§ 11, Canon iv., 1856. 
 
 t This phrase touching Chaplaincies was added in 1862. 
 
 J § 9, Canon iv., 1856. 11 § 10, Canon iv., 1856. 
 
 19
 
 Citle I. Canon 7. § i.-iv. 
 
 Of Candidates for Priest's Orders^ etc. 
 
 Canon 7. 
 
 Of Candidates for Priest's Orders, and their Ordination, 
 
 § I. If any candidate for Priest's Orders shall not, within three 
 years after his admission, apply to have the first and second exami- 
 nations held as hereinafter prescribed, or if he shall not, within 
 five years from his admission, apply to have the third examination 
 held (unless the Bishop, for satisfactory reasons to him assigned, 
 shall allow him further time), the said person shall, in either case, 
 cease to be a candidate.* 
 
 § II. [1.] Every Deacon of this Church maybe admitted, by the 
 Bishop of the Diocese to which he belongs, on the recommendation 
 of the Standing Committee (or, where there is no Bishop, by the 
 Standing Committee), a candidate for Priest's Orders, provided he 
 have the qualifications hereinafter required. 
 
 [2.] A candidate for Deacon's Orders may, in like manner, and 
 upon the same terms, be admitted a candidate for Priest's Orders, 
 provided he do not require the dispensation hereafter allowed.! 
 
 § III. Every person wishing to become a candidate for Priest's 
 Orders, must lay before the Standing Committee a satisfactory 
 diploma, or other satisfactory evidence that he is a graduate of 
 some University, or College ; or a certificate from two Presbyters 
 appointed by the Bishop (or, where there is no Bishop, by the 
 clerical members of the Standing Committee) to examine him, of 
 his having satisfactorily sustained an examination in Natural Phi- 
 losophy, Moral Philosophy, and Rhetoric, and in the Greek Testa- 
 ment and the Latin tongue. t 
 
 § IV. When a Deacon, applying to be admitted a candidate for 
 Priest's Orders, wishes a knowledge of the Latin, Greek, and 
 Hebrew languages, and other branches of learning not strictly 
 ecclesiastical, to be dispensed with, the Standing Committee shall 
 
 * § U, Canon v., 1856. t § 1, Canon v., 1856. J § 3, Canon v., 1856. 
 
 20
 
 Canon 7. § r.-vii. 
 
 0/ Candidates for Priest's Orders, etc. 
 
 not recommend him as a candidate, until he shall have laid hefore 
 them a testimonial signed by at least two Presbyters of this Church, 
 stating that, in their opinion, he possesses extraordinary strength 
 of natural understanding, a peculiar aptitude to teach, and a large 
 share of prudence ; and the Bishop, with the consent of the Stand- 
 ing Committee, shall have granted the dispensation. But in regard 
 to a knowledge of the Hebrew language, in all cases the Bishop 
 shall have the sole discretion of dispensation.* 
 
 § V.f [Kepealed in 1862. See Section II. of Canon 5, of this 
 Title.] 
 
 § VI. Every person who has been a candidate for the ministry 
 of any other denomination, and has been received as a candidate 
 for Priest's Orders in this Church, may be allowed by the Bishop, 
 with the consent of the members of the Standing Committee, the 
 period of time during which he has been a student of theology or 
 candidate in such other denomination, provided the time so allowed 
 does not exceed two years. J 
 
 § VII. [1.] There shall be assigned to every candidate for 
 Priest's Orders three different examinations, at such times and 
 places as the Bishop to whom he applies for Holy Orders shall 
 appoint. The examination shall take place in the presence of the 
 Bishop or two or more Presbyters, on the following studies pre- 
 scribed by the Canons, and by the course of study established by 
 the House of Bishops. The first examination shall be on the 
 books of Scripture, the candidate being required to give an account 
 of the different books, to translate from the original Greek and 
 Hebrew, and to explain such passages as may be proposed to him. 
 The second examination shall be on the Evidences of Christianity 
 and Systematic Divinity; and the last examination shall be on 
 Church History, Ecclesiastical Polity, the Book of Common Prayer, 
 and the Constitution and Canons of the Church, and of the Diocese 
 for which he is to be ordained. In the choice of books on the above 
 
 * § 4, Canon v., 1856. f § 5, Canon v., 1856. J § 6, Canon v., 1856. 
 
 21
 
 ^xih I. Canon 7. § viii.-x. 
 
 Of Candidates for Priest's Orders, etc. 
 
 subjects, the candidate is to be guided by the course of study estab- 
 lished by the House of Bishops. At each of the forementioned 
 examinations, he shall produce and read a sermon or discourse, 
 composed by himself, on some passage of Scripture previously 
 assigned to him, which, together with two other sermons or dis- 
 courses on some passage or passages of Scripture selected by him- 
 self, shall be submitted to the criticisms of the Bishop and clergy 
 present : and before his ordination he shall be required to perform 
 such exercises in reading, in the presence of the Bishop and clergy, 
 as may enable them to give him such advice and instructions as 
 may aid him in performing the services of the Church, and deli- 
 vering his sermons with propriety and devotion. 
 
 [2.] Such examinations may take place either before or after the 
 admission of the candidate to Deacon's Orders. Nothing in this 
 Canon shall be construed to require any person who has already 
 passed any examination to repeat the same.* 
 
 § VIII. The Bishop may appoint some of his Presbyters to 
 conduct the above examinations, and a certificate from these Pres- 
 byters, that the prescribed examinations have been held accord- 
 ingly, and satisfaction given, shall be required of the candidate : 
 provided that, in this case, the candidate shall, before his ordina- 
 tion, be examined by the Bishop, and two or more Presbyters, on 
 the above studies.! 
 
 §, IX. In a Diocese where there is no Bishop, the Standing 
 Committee shall act in his place, in appointing the examining 
 Presbyters required by this Canon. And in this case, the candi- 
 date shall again be examined by the Bishop to whom he applies 
 for Holy Orders, and two or more Presbyters, on the studies pre- 
 scribed by the Canons. t 
 
 § X. No person shall be ordained a Priest unless he shall pro- 
 duce to the Bishop a satisfactory certificate from some Church, 
 Parish, or Congregation, that he is engaged with them, and that 
 * § 11, Canon v., 1856. f § 12, Canon v., 1856. | § 13, Canon v., 1856. 
 
 22
 
 Canon 7. § xi., xii. 
 
 Of Candidates for Priest's Orders, etc. 
 
 they will receive him as their minister : or, unless he he a mis- 
 sionary under the ecclesiastical authority of the Diocese to which 
 he belongs, or in the employment of some Missionary Society 
 recognized by the General Convention ; or unless he be engaged as 
 a professor, tutor, or instructor of youth in some college, academy, 
 or other seminary of learning duly incorporated ;* or as a chaplain 
 in the Army or Navy of the United Sates. t 
 
 § XI. No person shall be ordained a Priest in this Church until 
 he shall have satisfied the Bishop and Presbyters by whom he 
 shall be examined, that he is well acquainted with the Holy 
 Scriptures, can read the Old Testament in the Hebrew language, 
 and the New Testament in the original Greek ; is adequately ac- 
 quainted with the Latin tongue, and that he hath a competent 
 knowledge of natural and moral philosophy, and of Church history, 
 and hath paid attention to composition and pulpit eloquence, as a 
 means of giving additional efficiency to his labours ; unless the 
 Bishop, with the consent of the Standing Committee of his Dio- 
 cese, shall have dispensed with the knowledge of the Latin and 
 Greek languages, and other branches of knowledge not strictly 
 ecclesiastical, in consideration of such other qualifications for the 
 Gospel ministry as are set forth in Section lY. of this Canon : the 
 dispensation with the knowledge of the Hebrew language to be 
 regarded as in that Section. J 
 
 § XII. No person shall be ordained a Priest in this Church 
 until he shall have exhibited to the Bishop testimonials from the 
 Standing Committee of the Diocese for which he is to be ordained, 
 which shall be signed by the names of a majority of all the Com- 
 mittee, the Committee being duly convened, and shall be in the 
 following words : — 1| 
 
 " We, whose names are underwritten, members of the Standing Committee of the 
 Diocese of , do testify that A. B. hath laid before us satisfactory testimonials, 
 
 * § 10, Canon v., 1856. 
 
 t The phrase touching Chaplaincies was added in 1862. 
 
 J § 2, Canon v., 1856. || § 7, Canon v., 1856. 
 
 23
 
 Citic I. Canon 7. § xiii. 
 
 Of Candidates f 07^ Priest's Orders, etc. 
 
 that, for the space of three years last past, he hath lived piously, soberly and honestly, 
 and hnth not written, taught or held any thing contrary to the doctrine or discipline 
 of the Protestant Episcopal Church ; and, moreover, we think him a person worthy 
 to be admitted to the sacred Order of Priests. In Avitness whereof, we have hereunto 
 set our hands this day of , in the year of our Lord ." 
 
 § XIII. But before the Standing Committee shall proceed to 
 recommend any candidate, as aforesaid, to the Bishop, such candi- 
 date shall produce from the Minister and Vestry of the parish where 
 he resides, or, if the parish be vacant, or if the applicant be the 
 minister of the parish, (a Deacon desirous of Priest's Orders,) from 
 the Vestry alone, testimonials of his piety, good morals and orderly 
 conduct, in the following words : — 
 
 " We, whose names are hereunder written, do testify that A. B., for the space of 
 three years last past, hath lived piously, soberly and honestly, and hath not, so far 
 as we know or believe, written, taught or held any thing contrary to the doctrine or 
 discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church; and, moreover, we think him a 
 person worthy to be admitted to the sacred Order of Priests. In witness whereof, 
 
 we have hereunto set our hands this day of , in the year of our 
 
 Lord ." 
 
 He shall also lay before the Standing Committee testimonials 
 signed by at least one respectable Presbyter of the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church in the United States, in the following form : — 
 
 I do certify, that A. B,, for the space of three years last past, has lived piously, 
 soberly and honestly, and has not, so far as I know or believe, written, taught or 
 held any thing contrary to the doctrine or discipline of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church ; and, moreover, I think him a person worthy to be admitted to the sacred 
 Order of Priests.* This testimonial is founded on my personal knowledge of the 
 said A. B. for one year last past, and for the residue of the said time upon evidence 
 
 that is satisfactory to me. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 
 
 day of , in the year of our Lord ."f 
 
 Under the circumstances mentioned in Section V. of said Canon 5, 
 or if there should be no Vestry, the certificate provided for in that 
 Section may be substituted for the one above mentioned. J 
 
 * Typographical error {Deacons] corrected in 1862. f § 5, Canon iv., 1836. 
 
 J § 8, Canon v., 1856. 
 
 24
 
 Canons 8, 9. 
 
 Of the Admission of Ministers, etc. 
 
 § XIV. In the case of a candidate for Priest's Orders, who has 
 been ordained a Deacon within three years preceding, the testi- 
 monials may be so altered as to extend to such portion only of the 
 three years preceding his application for Priest's Orders, as have 
 elapsed since his ordination as Deacon ; and the Standing Com- 
 mittee shall allow the testimonials so altered the same effect as if 
 in the form prescribed, and shall sign their own testimonial, in 
 such altered form, with the same effect as if in the form prescribed, 
 unless some circumstance shall have occurred that tends to invali- 
 date the force of the evidence on which the candidate was ordained 
 Deacon.* 
 
 Canon 8. 
 
 Of Ministers Officiating in a Foreign Language, 
 
 When a clergyman, coming from a foreign country, and pro- 
 fessing to be regularly ordained, shall be called to a Church of this 
 communion in which Divine Service is celebrated in a foreign 
 language, he may, with the approbation of the Bishop of the 
 Diocese in which such Church is situated, acting with the advice 
 and consent of the Standing Committee, or with the unanimous 
 consent of the Standing Committee if there be no Bishop, and, on 
 complying with the other requisitions of the Canons, settle in the 
 said Church, as the minister thereof, without having resided one 
 year in the United States, any thing in these Canons to the contrary 
 notwithstanding.! 
 
 Canon 9. 
 
 Of the Admission of Ministers ordained by Bishops not in 
 Communion tuith this Church, 
 
 When a Deacon or Priest ordained by a Bishop not in communion 
 with this Church, shall apply to a Bishop for admission into the 
 * § 9, Canon v., 1856 t Canon xxiv., 1832. 
 
 25
 
 gxiU I Canon 10. § i. 
 
 Of Ministers ordained in Foreign Countries, etc. 
 
 same as a minister thereof, lie shall produce a written certificate 
 from at least two Presbyters of this Church stating that, from 
 personal knowledge of the party, or satisfactory evidence laid before 
 them, they believe that his desire to leave the communion to which 
 he has belonged, has not arisen from any circumstance unfavorable 
 to his moral or religious character, or on account of which it may 
 be inexpedient to admit him to the exercise of the ministry in this 
 Church ; and he shall also, not less than six months after his 
 application, in the presence of the Bishop and two or more 
 Presbyters, subscribe the declaration contained in Article 7 of the 
 Constitution ; which being done, the Bishop, being satisfied of his 
 theological acquirements, may receive him as such minister.* 
 
 Canon 10. 
 
 Of Ministers ordained in Foreign Countries by Bishops in 
 Communion ivith this Church, 
 
 § I. A clergyman coming from a foreign country, and professing 
 to have been ordained out of the United States by a foreign Bishop 
 in communion with this Church, or by a Bishop consecrated for a 
 foreign country by Bishops of this Church under Article 10 of the 
 Constitution, or by a Missionary Bishop elected to exercise Epis- 
 copal functions in any place or places out of the United States, shall, 
 before he be permitted to officiate in any parish or congregation, 
 exhibit to the minister, or if there be no minister to the Vestry 
 thereof, a certificate signed by the Bishop of the Diocese, or if there 
 be no Bishop by the Standing Committee duly convened, that his 
 letters of Holy Orders are authentic, and given by some Bishop in 
 communion with this Church, and whose authority is acknowledged 
 by this Church ; and also that he has exhibited to the Bishop or 
 Standing Committee satisfactory evidence of his pious and moral 
 character, and of his theological acquirements ; and in any case, 
 before he shall be permitted to settle in any Church or Parish, or 
 be received into union with any Diocese of this Church as a 
 
 * Canou X., 1841. 
 
 26
 
 Canon 11. § i. 
 
 Of Persons not Ministers officiating. 
 
 minister thereof, he shall produce to the Bishop, or if there he no 
 Bishop to the Standing Committee thereof, a letter of dismission 
 from under the hand and seal of the Bishop with whose Diocese 
 he has heen last connected ; which letter shall be, in substance, 
 that provided for in Section VII. of Canon 12 of this Title, and 
 shall be delivered within six months from the date thereof; and 
 when such clergyman shall have been so received, he shall be 
 considered as having passed entirely from the jurisdiction of the 
 Bishop from whom the letter of dismission was brought, to the full 
 jurisdiction of the Bishop or other ecclesiastical authority by whom 
 it shall have been accepted, and become thereby subject to all the 
 canonical provisions of this Church ; Provided, that no such 
 clergyman shall be so received into union with any Diocese until he 
 shall have subscribed, in the presence of the Bishop of the Diocese 
 in which he applies for reception, and of two or more Presbyters, 
 the declaration contained in Article 7 of the Constitution ; which 
 being done, said Bishop or Standing Committee, being satisfied of 
 his theological acquirements, may receive him into union with this 
 Church as a minister of the same ; Provided, also, that such 
 minister shall not be entitled to settle in any Parish or Church, as 
 canonically in charge of the same, until he shall have resided one 
 year in the United States subsequent to the acceptance of his letter 
 of dismission. 
 
 § II. And if such foreign clergyman be a Deacon, he shall reside 
 in this country at least three years, and obtain in this country the 
 requisite testimonials of character, before he be ordained a Priest.* 
 
 Canon 11. 
 
 Of Persons not Ministers officiating, 
 
 § I. No person shall be permitted to officiate in any congregation 
 of this Church without first producing the evidence of his being a 
 Minister thereof to the Minister, or, in case of vacancy or absence, 
 
 ■ * Canon ix., 1844. 
 27
 
 Cit(^ I. Canon 12. § i. 
 
 General Regulations of Ministers, etc. 
 
 to the Church Wardens, Vestrymen, or Trustees of the Congrega- 
 tion.* 
 
 § II. No Minister shall officiate transiently in a Vacant Parish, 
 or in one the Kector or Minister of which is sick or absent, unless 
 the Wardens or Vestry are satisfied that he is at the time a 
 Minister in good and regular Standing. When from another 
 Diocese, letters commendatory from the ecclesiastical authority 
 thereof may be required.! 
 
 Canon 12. 
 
 General Regulations of Ministers and their Duties. 
 
 § I. [1.] It is hereby required, that on the election of a Minister 
 into any Church or Parish, the Vestry shall deliver, or cause to be 
 delivered, to the Bishop, or where there is no Bishop, to the 
 Standing Committee of the Diocese, notice of the same, in the 
 following form, or to this effect : — 
 
 " We, the Chui'chwardens (or, in case of an Assistant Minister, We, the Rector 
 and Churchwardens) do certify to the Right Rev. (naming the Bishop), or to the Rev. 
 (naming the President of the Standing Committee) that (naming the person) has heen 
 duly chosen Rector (or, Assistant Minister, as the case may he) of (naming the Parish 
 or Church.) 
 
 Which certificate shall be signed by the names of those who 
 certify. 
 
 [2.] If the Bishop or the Standing Committee be satisfied that the 
 person so chosen is a qualified Minister of this Church, the Bishop, 
 or the President of the Standing Committee, shall transmit the 
 said certificate to the Secretary of the Convention, who shall record 
 it in a book to be kept by him for that purpose. t 
 
 [3.] And if the Minister be a Presbyter, the Bishop, or President 
 of the Standing Committee, may, at the instance of the Vestry, 
 
 * Canon xxxvi., 1832. t § 5, Canon vii., 1856. 
 
 X ^2, Canon vii , 1856. 
 
 28
 
 Canon 12. § ii., iii., iv. 
 
 General Regulations of Ministers, etc. 
 
 proceed to have him instituted according to the Office established 
 by this Church, if that Office be used in the Diocese. But if he be 
 a Deacon, the act of Institution shall not take place until after he 
 shall have received Priest's Orders. This provision, concerning 
 the use of the Office of Institution, is not to be considered as 
 applying to any congregation destitute of a house of worship.* 
 
 § II. No Minister, removing from one Diocese or Missionary 
 District to another, shall officiate as the Kector, Stated Minister, or 
 Assistant Minister of any Parish or Congregation of the Diocese or 
 District to which he removes, until he shall have obtained from the 
 ecclesiastical authority a certificate in the words following : — 
 
 " I hereby certify that the Eev. A. B. has been canonically transferred to my 
 jurisdiction, and is a Minister in regular standing."* 
 
 § III. The Alms and Contributions at the Administration of the 
 Holy Communion shall be deposited with the Minister of the 
 Parish, or with such Church officer as shall be appointed by him, 
 to be applied by the Minister, or under his superintendence, to such 
 pious and charitable uses as shall by him be thought fit. J 
 
 § IV. [1.] It shall be the duty of Ministers to prepare young 
 persons and others for the holy ordinance of Confirmation. And 
 on notice being received from the Bishop of his intention to visit any 
 Church, which notice shall be at least one month before the 
 intended visitation, the Minister shall give immediate notice to his 
 parishioners, individually, as opportunity may offer, and also to the 
 congregation on the first occasion of public worship after the receipt 
 of said notice. And he shall be ready to present for Confirmation 
 such persons as he shall think properly qualified, and shall deliver 
 to the Bishop a list of the names of those confirmed. 
 
 [2.] And at every visitation it shall be the duty of the Minister, 
 and of the Church Wardens or Vestry, to give information to the 
 
 * § 3, Canon vii., 1856. t § 4, Canon vii., 1856. 
 
 X Canon Iii , 1832. 
 
 29
 
 ^xih I. Canon 12. § v., vi. 
 
 General Regulations of Ministers, etc. 
 
 Bishop of the state of the congregation, under such heads as shall 
 have been committed to them in the notice given as aforesaid. 
 
 [3.] And further, the Ministers and Church Wardens of such 
 congregations as cannot be conveniently visited in any year, shall 
 bring or send to the Bishop, at the stated meeting of the Convention 
 of the Diocese, information of the state of the congregation, under 
 such heads as shall have been committed to them at least one 
 month before the meeting of the Convention.* 
 
 § Y. [1.] Every Minister of this Church shall keep a Register of 
 baptisms, confirmations, communicants, marriages, and funerals, 
 within his cure, agreeably to such rules as may be provided by the 
 Convention of the Diocese where his cure lies ; and if none such be 
 provided, then in such manner as in his discretion he shall think 
 best suited to the uses of such a register. 
 
 [2.] The intention of the Register of Baptisms is hereby declared 
 to be, as for other good uses, so especially for the proving of the 
 right of the Church-membership of those who may have been 
 admitted into this Church by the holy ordinance of Baptism. 
 
 [3.] Every Minister of this Church shall make out and continue, 
 as far as practicable, a list of all families and adult persons within 
 his cure, to remain for the use of his successor, to be continued by 
 him, and by every future Minister in the same parish. f 
 
 § VI. [1.] No Minister belonging to this Church shall officiate, 
 either by preaching, reading prayers, or otherwise, in the parish, or 
 within the parochial cure, of another clergyman, unless he have 
 received express permission for that purpose from the Minister of 
 the parish or cure, or, in his absence, from the Church Wardens and 
 Vestrymen, or Trustees of the Congregation, or a majority of them. 
 
 [2.] Where parish boundaries are not defined by law, or settled 
 by Diocesan authority under the second Section of Canon V. of 
 Title III. of this Digest, or are not otherwise settled, they shall, 
 for the purposes of this Section, be defined by the civil divisions of 
 the State, as follows : 
 
 * Canon xxvi., 1832. t § Canon xxix., 1832. 
 
 30
 
 Canon 12. § vii. 
 
 General Regulations of Ministers, etc. 
 
 Parochial boundaries shall be the limits, as now fixed by law, of 
 any village, town, township, incorporated borough, city, or the 
 limits of some division thereof which may have been recognized by 
 the Bishop, acting with the advice and consent of the Standing 
 Committee, as constituting the boundaries of a parish. 
 
 If there be but one Church or congregation within the limits of 
 such village,'town, township, borough, city, or such division of a 
 city or town as herein provided, the same shall be deemed the 
 parochial cure of the Minister having charge thereof. If there be . 
 two or more congregations or Churches therein, it shall be deemed 
 the cure of the Ministers thereof; and the assent of a majority of 
 such Ministers shall be necessary. 
 
 When, under Diocesan authority, a new parish is constituted, and 
 its boundaries defined, this Section shall be applicable to the same 
 as so established. 
 
 [3.] If any Minister of the Church, from inability or any other 
 cause, neglect to perform the regular services in his Congregation, 
 and refuse, without good cause, his consent to any other Minister 
 of the Church to officiate within his cure, the Church Wardens, 
 Vestrymen, or Trustees of such Congregation shall, on proof of 
 such neglect or refusal before the Bishop of the Diocese, or if there 
 be no Bishop, before the Standing Committee, or before such 
 persons as may be deputed by him or them, or before such persons 
 as may be, by the regulations of this Church in any Diocese, vested 
 with the power of hearing and deciding on complaints against 
 Clergymen, have power, with the written consent of the before- 
 mentioned authority, to open the doors of their Church to any 
 regular Minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 
 
 [4.] This Canon shall not affect any legal rights of property of 
 any parish.* 
 
 § VII. [1.] A Minister of this Church removing within the 
 
 jurisdiction of any Bishop or other ecclesiastical authority, shall, 
 
 in order to gain canonical residence with the same, present to said 
 
 ecclesiastical authority a testimonial from the ecclesiastical authority 
 
 * Canon as amended in 1859. 
 
 ai
 
 ^xih I. Canon 12. § vii. 
 
 General Regulations of Ministers, etc. 
 
 of the Diocese or Missionary District in which he last resided, 
 which testimonial shall set forth his true standing and character. 
 The testimonial may be in the following words : — 
 
 - " I hereby certify that A. B., who has signified to me his desire to he transferred to 
 
 the ecclesiastical authority of , is a Presbyter (or Deacon) of — , 
 
 in regular standing, and has not, so far as I know or believe, been justly liable to 
 evil report, for error in religion or viciousness of life, for three years last past." 
 
 [2.] All such testimonials shall be called Letters Dimissory. No 
 such letter shall affect a Minister's canonical residence, until, after 
 having been presented according to its address, it shall have been 
 accepted, and notification of such acceptance given to the authority 
 whence it proceeded. The residence of the Minister so transferred 
 shall date from the acceptance of his letter of transfer. If not 
 presented within three months after its date, it may be considered 
 as void by the authority whence it proceeded ; and shall be so con- 
 sidered, unless it be presented within six months. 
 
 [3.] If a Minister, removing into another Diocese, who has been 
 called to take charge of a parish or congregation, shall present a 
 testimonial in the form aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the eccle- 
 siastical authority of the Diocese to which he has removed, to 
 accept it, unless the Bishop or Standing Committee should have 
 heard rumours, that he or they believe to be well founded, against 
 the character of the Minister concerned, which would form a proper 
 ground of canonical inquiry and presentment ; in which case the 
 ecclesiastical authority shall communicate the same to the Bishop 
 or Standing Committee of the Diocese to whose jurisdiction the 
 said Minister belongs ; and, in such case, it shall not be the duty 
 of the ecclesiastical authority to accept the testimonial, unless, and 
 until, the Minister shall be exculpated from the said charges. 
 
 [4.] It shall be the duty of all ministers, except professors in 
 the General Theological Seminary, officers of the Board of Mis- 
 sions, and chaplains in the Army and Navy, to obtain and present 
 letters of transfer as above described, whenever they remove from 
 one Diocese or Missionary District to any other Diocese or 
 
 32
 
 Canon 13. § i. 
 
 Of Bishops. 
 
 Missionary District, whether Domestic or Foreign, and remain there 
 for the space of six months.* 
 
 Canon 13. 
 
 Of Bishops. 
 
 § I. [1.] To entitle a Diocese to the choice of a Bishop, by the 
 Convention thereof, there must be, at the time of such choice, and 
 have been during the year previous, at least six officiating Pres- 
 byters therein, regularly settled in a parish, or Church, and quali- 
 fied to vote for a Bishop, and six or more parishes represented in 
 the Convention electing. But two or more adjoining Dioceses, not 
 having respectively the requisite number of Presbyters to entitle 
 either to the choice of a Bishop, may associate and proceed to the 
 choice of a Bishop, to exercise jurisdiction alike in each of the as- 
 sociated Dioceses, if there be at the time of such choice, and have 
 been during the year previous, nine or more such Presbyters residing 
 in any part of such associated Dioceses, qualified as aforesaid ; and 
 the Bishop, so elected, shall exercise Episcopal jurisdiction over 
 each of the associated Dioceses, until such time as some one of 
 such Dioceses, having six or more Presbyters canonically qualified 
 to elect a Bishop, shall elect him, and he shall have accepted the 
 office as its own exclusive Diocesan ; whereupon, his connection 
 with the other associated Diocese or Dioceses shall cease and deter- 
 mine : Provided, always, that the Dioceses thus associated in the 
 election of a common Bishop, and the Conventions thereof, shall, 
 in all other respects, remain as before, unconnected and indepen- 
 dent of each other ; and Provided, also, that such association shall 
 be dissolved on the demise of the Bishop, if not before. 
 
 [2.] A Minister is settled, for all purposes here or elsewhere 
 mentioned in these Canons, who has been engaged permanently by 
 any parish, according to the rules of said Diocese, or for any term 
 not less than one year.t 
 
 * Canon vi., of 1856. t Canon ii., 1844. 
 
 33 D
 
 miU I. Canon 13. § ii. 
 
 Of Bishops, 
 
 § II. [1.] Every Bishop elect, before his consecration, shall pro- 
 duce to the House of Bishops, from the Convention by whom he is 
 elected, evidence of such election ; and from the House of Clerical 
 and Lay Deputies in General Convention, evidence of their appro- 
 bation of his testimonials, and of their assent to his consecration : 
 and also certificates, respectively, in the following words ; such 
 certificates, in both cases, to be signed by a constitutional majority 
 of the members of the Diocesan Convention, or of the House of 
 Clerical and Lay Deputies, as the case may be. The same evi- 
 dence of election by, and the same certificate from, the members 
 of the Diocesan Convention, shall be presented to the House of 
 Clerical and Lay Deputies in General Convention. 
 
 Testimony from the Members of the Convention in the Diocese from whence the 
 Person is recommended for Consecration. 
 
 " We, whose names are underwritten, fully sensible how important it is that the 
 sacred office of a Bishop should not be unworthily conferred, and firmly persuaded 
 that it is our duty to bear testimony on this solemn occasion, without partiality or 
 affection, do, in the presence of Almighty God, testify that A. B. is not, so far as 
 we are informed, justly liable to evil report, either for error in religion, or for 
 viciousness in life, and that we do not know or believe there is any impediment, on 
 account of which he ought not to be consecrated to that holy Office. We do, 
 moreover, jointly and severally, declare that we do, in our conscience, believe him 
 to be of such sufficiency in good learning, such soundness in the faith, and of such 
 virtuous and pure manners, and godly conversation, that he is apt and meet to 
 exercise the Office of a Bishop to the honour of God, and the edifying of His 
 Church, and to be a wholesome example to the flock of Christ." 
 
 The above certificate shall be presented to the House of Clerical 
 and Lay Deputies in General Convention. 
 
 Testimony from the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies in General Convention. 
 
 " We, whose names are underwritten, fully sensible how important it is that the 
 sacred Office of a Bishop should not be unworthily conferred, and firmly persuaded 
 that it is our duty to bear testimony, on this solemn occasion, without partiality or 
 affection, do, in the presence of Almighty God, testify that A. B. is not, so far as 
 we are informed, justly liable to evil report, either for error in religion, or for 
 viciousness of life ; and that we do not know or believe there is any impediment, 
 on account of which he ought not to be consecrated to that holy Office, but that he 
 hath, as we believe, led his life, for three years last past, piously, soberly, and 
 honestly." 
 
 34
 
 Canon 13. § iii., iv. 
 
 Of Bishops, 
 
 [2.] If the House of Bishops consent to the consecration, the 
 Presiding Bishop, with any two Bishops, may proceed to perform 
 the same, or any three Bishops to whom he may communicate the 
 testimonials.* 
 
 § III. [1.] If, during the recess of the General Convention, the 
 Church in any Diocese should be desirous of the consecration of a 
 Bishop elect, the Standing Committee of the Church in such 
 Diocese may, by their president, or by some person or persons 
 specially appointed, communicate the desire to the Standing Com- 
 mittees of the Churches in the different Dioceses, together with 
 copies of the necessary testimonials ; and if the major number of 
 the Standing Committees shall consent to the proposed consecra- 
 tion, the Standing Committee of the Diocese concerned shall for- 
 ward the evidence of such consent, together with other testimo- 
 nials, to the Presiding Bishop of the House of Bishops, or, in 
 case of his death, to the Bishop who, according to the rules of the 
 House of Bishops, is to preside at the next General Convention, 
 who shall communicate the same to all the Bishops of this Church 
 in the United States ; and if a majority of the Bishops consent to 
 the consecration, the Presiding Bishop or Bishop aforesaid, with 
 any two Bishops, may proceed to perform the same, or any three 
 Bishops to whom he may communicate the testimonials. 
 
 [2.] The evidence of the consent of the different Standing Com- 
 mittees shall be in the form prescribed for the House of Clerical 
 and Lay Deputies in General Convention ; and, without the afore- 
 said requisites, no consecration shall take place during the recess 
 of the General Convention ; but in case the election of a Bishop 
 shall take place within six months before the meeting of the Gene- 
 ral Convention, all matters relative to the consecration shall be de- 
 ferred until the said meeting, f 
 
 § ly. No man shall be consecrated a Bishop of this Church 
 until he shall be thirty years old.J 
 
 * Canon iii., 1832. ^ f Canon v., 1832. 
 
 t Canon viii., 1832. 
 
 35
 
 Citle I. Canon 13. § v., vi., vii. 
 
 Of Bishops. 
 
 § V. When a Bishop of a Diocese is unable, by reason of old 
 age, or other permanent cause of infirmity, to discharge his Epis- 
 copal duties, one Assistant Bishop may be elected by and for the 
 said Diocese, who shall, in all cases, succeed the Bishop in case of 
 surviving him. The Assistant Bishop shall perform such Epis- 
 copal duties, and exercise such Episcopal authority in the Diocese, 
 as the Bishop shall assign to him ; and, in case of the Bishop's 
 inability to assign such duties, declared by the Convention of the 
 Diocese, the Assistant Bishop shall, during such inability, perform 
 all the duties, and exercise all the authorities which appertain to 
 the office of a Bishop. No person shall be elected or consecrated 
 a Suffragan Bishop, nor shall there be more than one Assistant 
 Bishop in a Diocese at the same time.* 
 
 § VI. A Diocese deprived of the services of its Bishop by a sen- 
 tence of suspension without a precise limitation of time, may pro- 
 ceed to the election of a Provisional Bishop, who, when duly con- 
 secrated, shall exercise all the powers and authority of the Bishop 
 of the Diocese during the suspension of such Bishop ; and who, in 
 case of the remission of the sentence of the Bishop, and his re- 
 storation to the exercise of his jurisdiction, shall perform the 
 duties of Assistant Bishop prescribed by the fifth Section of this 
 Canon ; and who in all cases shall succeed to the Bishop on his 
 death or resignation.! 
 
 § YII. [1.] The House of Clerical and Lay Deputies may, from 
 time to time, on nomination by the House of Bishops, elect a 
 suitable person or persons to be a Bishop or Bishops of this 
 Church, to exercise Episcopal functions in States or Territories 
 not organised into Dioceses. The evidence of such election shall be 
 a certificate, to be subscribed by a constitutional majority of said 
 House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, in the form required by 
 the second Section of this Canon to be given by the members of 
 Diocesan Conventions on the recommendation of Bishops elect for 
 consecration, which certificate shall be produced to the House of 
 * Canon vi., 1832. t Canon iii,, 1850. 
 
 36
 
 Canon 13. § yti. 
 
 Of Bishops. 
 
 Bishops ; and if the House of Bishops shall consent to the conse- 
 cration, they may take order for that purpose. 
 
 [2.] The Bishop or Bishops so elected and consecrated, shall 
 exercise Episcopal functions in such States and Territories, in con- 
 formity with the Constitution and Canons of the Church, and 
 under such regulations and instructions, not inconsistent therewith, 
 as the House of Bishops may prescribe ; and the House of Bishops 
 may at any time increase or diminish the number of States or 
 Territories over which the said Bishop or Bishops shall exercise 
 Episcopal functions. 
 
 [3.] In case of the death or resignation of a Missionary Bishop, 
 or of a vacancy by other cause, the charge of the vacant Missionary 
 Episcopate shall devolve on the senior Bishop of this Church, with 
 the power of appointing some other Bishop as his substitute in 
 said charge. 
 
 [4.] The jurisdiction of this Church extending in right, though 
 not always in form, to all persons belonging to it within the United 
 States, it is hereby enacted, that each Missionary Bishop shall 
 have jurisdiction over the clergy in the district assigned him, and 
 may, in case a presentment and trial of a clergyman become proper, 
 request the action of any Presbyters and Standing Committee, in 
 any Diocese sufficiently near, and the presentment and trial shall 
 be according to the Constitution and Canons of said Diocese. Or, 
 if there be such a Standing Committee appointed by the Missionary 
 Bishop as is hereinafter provided for, the clerical members thereof 
 may make presentment, and the trial shall take place according to the 
 Constitution and Canons of any Diocese of this Church which may 
 have been selected at the time of the appointment of such Standing 
 Committee ; Provided, that the Court shall be composed of at least 
 three Presbyters, excluding the members of the Standing Com- 
 mittee and the accused. 
 
 [5.] Any Bishop or Bishops elected and consecrated under this 
 Section, shall be entitled to a seat in the House of Bishops, and 
 shall be eligible to the office of Diocesan Bishop in any organized 
 Diocese within the United States. And whenever a Diocese shall 
 have been organized within the jurisdiction of such Missionary 
 
 37
 
 Cttkl. Canon 13. § vm. 
 
 Of Bisliopi 
 
 Bishop, if he shall be chosen Bishop of such Diocese, he may 
 accept the office without vacating his Missionary appointment ; 
 Provided, that he continue to discharge the duties of Missionary 
 Bishop within the residue of his original jurisdiction, if there be 
 such residue. 
 
 [6.] Every such Bishop may yearly appoint two Presbyters, and 
 two Laymen communicants of this Church, resident within his 
 missionary jurisdiction, to perform the duties of a Standing Com- 
 mittee for such jurisdiction ; Provided, that no Standing Com- 
 mittee constituted under this Section shall have power to give or 
 refuse assent to the consecration of a Bishop. 
 
 [7.] Every such Bishop shall report to each General Convention 
 his proceedings, and the state and condition of the Church in said 
 States and Territories of the United States ; and, at least once a 
 year, make a report to the Board of Missions.* 
 
 § VIII. [1.] The House of Clerical and Lay Deputies may, 
 from time to time, on nomination by the House of Bishops, elect 
 a suitable person or persons to be a Bishop or Bishops of this 
 Church, to exercise Episcopal functions in any Missionary station 
 or stations of this Church out of the Territory of the United States, 
 which the House of Bishops, with the concurrence of the House of 
 Clerical and Lay Deputies, may have designated. The evidence 
 of such election shall be a certificate, to be subscribed by a con- 
 stitutional majority of said House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, 
 expressing their assent to the said nomination, which certificate 
 shall be produced to the House of Bishops ; and if the House of 
 Bishops shall consent to the consecration, they may take order for 
 that purpose. 
 
 [2.] Any Bishop elected and consecrated under this Section, or 
 any foreign Missionary Bishop heretofore consecrated to exercise 
 Episcopal functions in any place or country which may have been 
 thus designated, shall have no jurisdiction, except in the place or 
 country for which he has been elected and consecrated. He shall f 
 be entitled to a seat in the House of Bishops, butt shall nott 
 * Canon x., 1856. f These words were thus altered in 1865. 
 
 38
 
 Canon 13. § viii. 
 
 Of Bishops. 
 
 become a Diocesan Bishop in any organized Diocese within the 
 United States, unless with the consent of three-fourths of all the 
 Bishops entitled to seats in the House of Bishops, and also of 
 three-fourths of the Clerical and Lay Deputies present at the 
 Session of the General Convention, or, in the recess of the General 
 Convention, with the consent of the Standing Committees of three- 
 fourths of the Dioceses. 
 
 [3.] Any Bishop or Bishops consecrated under this Section, or 
 any Foreign Missionary Bishop heretofore consecrated, shall, on 
 presentment by two-thirds of the Missionaries under his charge, 
 for immorality or heresy, or for a violation of the Constitution or 
 Canons of this Church, be tried, and, if found guilty, sentenced, in 
 all particulars as if he were actually resident within the limits of 
 the United States, except that the trial may be within any Diocese 
 in the United States. 
 
 [4.] Any Bishop or Bishops elected and consecrated under this 
 Section, or any Foreign Missionary Bishop heretofore consecrated, 
 or any Bishop to whom the exercise of Episcopal powers and func- 
 tions in a foreign Church or Congregation shall have been assigned 
 by the Presiding Bishop, may ordain as Deacons or Presbyters, to 
 officiate within the limits of their respective Missions, or in such 
 foreign Church or Congregation, any persons, of the age required 
 by the Canons of this Church, who shall exhibit to him or them the 
 testimonials required by Canons 5 and 7 of this Title, signed by 
 not less than two of the ordained Missionaries of this Church who 
 may be subject to his or their charge, or by two Presbyters of this 
 Church, in good standing, connected with such foreign Church or 
 Congregation. 
 
 Provided, 7ievertheless, that if there be only one ordained Mis- 
 sionary attached to the Mission, or only one Presbyter of this 
 Church connected with such foreign Church or Congregation, and 
 capable of acting at the time, the signature of a Presbyter in good 
 standing under the jurisdiction of any Bishop in communion with 
 this Church may be admitted to supply the deficiency.* 
 
 [5.] Any Foreign Missionary Bishop consecrated under this 
 * This Section was thus amended in 1865. 
 
 89
 
 mU 1. Canon 13. vm. 
 
 Of Bishops. 
 
 Section, or heretofore consecrated, may, by and with the advice of 
 two Presbyters, one of whom, if necessity require, shall be a Pres- 
 byter in good standing under the jurisdiction of any Bishop in 
 communion with this Church, dispense with those studies required 
 from a candidate for Deacon's Orders by the Canons of this Church; 
 Provided, that no person shall be ordained by him who has not 
 passed a satisfactory examination, in the presence of two Pres- 
 byters, as to his theological learning and aptitude to teach : and 
 Provided, further, that no person shall be ordained by him until 
 he shall have been a candidate for at least three years. Nor shall 
 any Deacon, so ordained, be advanced to the Order of Presbyters, 
 who has not been in Deacon's Orders for at least one year. Nor 
 shall any Deacon or Priest, who shall have been ordained under 
 this Section, be allowed to hold any cure, or officiate in the Church 
 in these United States, until he shall have complied with existing 
 Canons relating to the learning of persons to be ordained. 
 
 [6.] Any Foreign Missionary Bishop or Bishops elected and 
 consecrated under this Section, or any Foreign Missionary Bishop 
 heretofore consecrated, shall have jurisdiction and government ac- 
 cording to the Canons of this Church over all Missionaries or 
 Clergymen of this Church, resident in the district or country for 
 which he or they may have been consecrated. 
 
 [7.] Every such Bishop may yearly appoint not less than two 
 nor more than five Presbyters, resident within his missionary juris- 
 diction, and acting under the appointment of the Board of Missions, 
 to act as a Standing Committee in such missionary jurisdiction, 
 upon all questions pertaining to the interests of such missionary 
 jurisdiction ; and, in case of the absence of the Bishop from his 
 jurisdiction, or of a vacancy in the Episcopate, said Standing Com- 
 mittee shall be the ecclesiastical authority of such missionary 
 jurisdiction. 
 
 [8.] If any Minister of this Church, acting under a Foreign 
 Missionary appointment, and within the jurisdiction of a Foreign 
 Missionary Bishop of this Church, shall commit any offence which 
 comes within the provisions of Canon 2 of Title II., Of Offences 
 for lohich Ministers may be tried and punished ; or shall refuse 
 
 40
 
 Canon 13. § ix. 
 
 Of Bishops. 
 
 obedience to the lawful authority of the Missionary Bishop ; such 
 clergyman shall be proceeded against according to the Constitution 
 and Canons of any Diocese of this Church which may have been 
 selected at the time of the appointment of the Standing Committee 
 of such missionary jurisdiction : Provided, that a presentment shall 
 first be made by the members of said Standing Committee, or, if 
 the accused party be a member of the Standing Committee, by the 
 other member or members thereof. 
 
 [9.] The Court for the trial of such Minister shall consist of five 
 Presbyters, excluding the members of the Standing Committee ; 
 or, if there be not five, then of all the members of such missionary 
 jurisdiction. If there be more than five, then shall the Standing 
 Committee select, by lot, the five who shall compose the Court, 
 which Court shall proceed in the trial, according to the Canons of 
 the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, so far 
 as the same may be applicable to such a case ; and where no pro- 
 vision is made adequate to the exigency, the Court shall consider 
 and adjudge the case according to the principles of law and equity. 
 
 [10.] The sentence of the Court shall be rendered to the Bishop 
 of such missionary jurisdiction, who shall have power to revise 
 and modify the same, and the decision of the Bishop shall be final 
 and conclusive. 
 
 [11.] Every Bishop elected and consecrated under this Section, 
 or Foreign Missionary Bishop heretofore consecrated, shall report 
 to each General Convention his proceedings and acts, and the state 
 of the Mission under his supervision. He shall also make a similar 
 report at least once a year to the Board of Missions of this Church.* 
 
 § IX. [1.] When a Diocese, entitled to the choice of a Bishop, 
 shall elect as its Diocesan a Missionary Bishop of this Church, if 
 such election shall have taken place within three months before a 
 meeting of the General Convention, evidence thereof shall be laid 
 before each House of the General Convention, and the concurrence 
 of each House, and its express consent, shall be necessary to the 
 validity of the said election, and shall complete the same ; so that 
 
 * Canon i., 1850. 
 
 41
 
 ^iik I. Canon 13. § x., xr. 
 
 Of Bishops. 
 
 the Bishop thus elected shall be thereafter the Bishop of the Diocese 
 which has elected him. 
 
 [2.] If the said election have taken place more than three months 
 before a meeting of the General Convention, the above process may- 
 be adopted, or the following instead thereof, viz. : The Standing 
 Committee of the Diocese electing shall give duly certified evidence 
 of the election to every Bishop of this Church, and to the Standing 
 Committee of every Diocese. On receiving notice of the con- 
 currence of a majority of the Bishops and of the Standing 
 Committees in the election, and their express consent thereto, the 
 Standing Committee of the Diocese concerned shall transmit notice 
 thereof to every Bishop of this Church, and to the Standing 
 Committee of each vacant Diocese, which notice shall state what 
 Bishops and what Standing Committees have consented to the 
 election. And the same Committee shall transmit to every Con- 
 gregation in the Diocese concerned, to be publicly read therein, 
 a notice of the election to the Episcopate thereof of the Bishop 
 thus elected, and also cause public notice thereof to be given in 
 such other way as they may think proper.* 
 
 § X. It is deemed proper that every Bishop of this Church shall 
 deliver, at least once in three years, a charge to the clergy of his 
 Diocese, unless prevented by reasonable cause. And it is also 
 deemed proper that, from time to time, he shall address to the 
 people of his Diocese Pastoral Letters on some points of Christian 
 doctrine, worship, or manners.! 
 
 § XI. [1.] Every Bishop in this Church shall visit the churches 
 within his Diocese at least once in three years, for the purpose of 
 examining the state of his Church, inspecting the behavour of his 
 Clergy, administering the Apostolic rite of Confirmation, minister- 
 ing the Word, and, if he think fit, administering the Sacrament of 
 the Lord's Supper, to the people committed to his charge. And if a 
 Bishop shall decline, for more than three years, to visit a Parish or 
 Congregation, for reasons which to him shall seem sufficient, it 
 * Canon ix., 1856. t Canon xxvi., 1832. 
 
 42
 
 Canon 13. § xii., xiii. 
 
 Of Bishops, 
 
 shall be the duty of the Rector or Minister, and Vestry, or of one 
 of them, to apply to the Presiding Bishop, to appoint the five 
 Bishops in charge of Dioceses, who live nearest to the Diocese in 
 which such Church or Congregation may be situated, to act as 
 a Council of Conciliation, who shall amicably determine all matters 
 of difference between the parties, and each party shall conform to 
 the decision of the Council in the premises. If the Presiding 
 Bishop shall be the party within whose jurisdiction the Parish or 
 Congregation may be, then the application shall be made to the 
 Bishop next in seniority. And in any such case as is above 
 mentioned, the Bishop within whose jurisdiction the Parish or 
 Congregation may be, may, at any time, if he please, apply himself 
 to the Presiding Bishop, for a Council of Conciliation ; Provided , 
 that if, by the action of the General Convention, any Canon shall 
 hereafter be made for the establishment of a Council or Councils 
 of Conciliation, for the general purpose of amicably reconciling 
 differences of this or any other kind, then such a case as is above 
 named shall be referred to such general Council of Conciliation, and 
 the parties shall abide by its decision. 
 
 [2.] To enable the Bishop, who may be Rector of a Church, to 
 make his official visitation, it shall be the duty of the Clergy, in 
 such reasonable rotation as may be devised, to officiate for him in 
 the performance of his parochial duties, provision being made for 
 the payment of their expenses. 
 
 [3.] It is left to each Diocese to make provision, in such way as 
 it may deem proper, for defraying the necessary expenses of the 
 Bishop's visitation. 
 
 [4.] The Bishop shall keep a register of his proceedings at every 
 visitation of his Diocese.* 
 
 § XII. It is the duty of every Bishop of this Church to reside 
 within his Diocese. t 
 
 § XIII. It shall be lawful for any Bishop of a Diocese who is 
 about to leave, or has left, his Diocese, with the intention of going 
 
 * Canon ii., 1856. t Canon i., 1856. 
 
 43
 
 ^xih I. Canon 13. . § xiv., xv. 
 
 Of Bishops. 
 
 out of the limits of the United States, or, if remaining out of his 
 Diocese for the space of three calendar months although without 
 leaving the United States, to authorize, hy writing under his hand 
 and seal, the Assistant Bishop, or, should there he none, the 
 Standing Committee of such Diocese, to act as the ecclesiastical 
 authority thereof. The Assistant Bishop or Standing Committee 
 so authorized, shall thereupon hecome the ecclesiastical authority 
 of such Diocese, to all intents and purposes, until such writing 
 shall he revoked, or the Bishop shall return within the Diocese ; 
 Provided, that nothing in this Canon shall be so construed as to 
 prevent any Bishop who may have signed such writing, from ex- 
 ercising his jurisdiction himself, so far as the same may be prac- 
 ticable, during his absence from his Diocese, or from permitting 
 and authorizing any other Bishop to perform Episcopal offices for 
 him.* 
 
 § XIV. The Bishop of each Diocese may compose forms of 
 prayer or thanksgiving, as the case may require, for extraordinary 
 occasions, and transmit them to each Clergyman within his Dio- 
 cese, whose duty it shall be to use such forms in his Church on 
 such occasions. And the Clergy in those States or Dioceses or 
 other places within the bounds of this Church in which there is no 
 Bishop, may use the form of prayer or thanksgiving composed by 
 the Bishop of any Diocese. The Bishop in each Diocese may also 
 compose forms of prayer to be used before legislative and other 
 public bodies.! 
 
 § XV. [1.] Any Bishop, Assistant Bishop, or Missionary Bishop 
 may, on the invitation of the Convention or the Standing Com- 
 mittee of any Diocese where there is no Bishop, or where the 
 Bishop is for the time under a disability to perform Episcopal 
 offices by reason of a judicial sentence, visit and perform Episcopal 
 offices in that Diocese, or in any part thereof ; and this invitation 
 may be temporary, and it may at any time be revoked. 
 
 [2.] A Diocese without a Bishop, or of which the Bishop is for 
 the time under a disability by reason of a judicial sentence, may, 
 
 * Canon iii., 1853. f Canon xlvii. 1832. 
 
 44
 
 Canon 13. § xvi. 
 
 Of Bishops. 
 
 by its Convention, be placed under the full Episcopal charge and 
 authority of the Bishop of another Diocese, or of a Missionary 
 Bishop, who shall by that act be authorized to perform all the 
 duties and offices of the Bishop of the Diocese so vacant or having 
 the Bishop disabled : until, in the case of a vacant Diocese, a 
 Bishop be duly elected and consecrated for the same ; and, in the 
 case of a Diocese whose Bishop is disqualified as aforesaid, until the 
 disqualification be removed ; or until, in either case, the said act 
 of the Convention be revoked. 
 
 [3.] No Diocese thus placed under the full charge and authority 
 of the Bishop of another Diocese, or of a Missionary Bishop, shall 
 invite a second Bishop to perform any Episcopal duty, or exercise 
 authority, till its connection with the first Bishop has expired or 
 is revoked.* 
 
 § XYI. [1.] If, during the session of the General Convention, 
 or within six calendar months before the meeting of any such 
 Convention, a Bishop shall desire to resign his jurisdiction, he 
 shall make known in writing to the House of Bishops such his 
 desire, together with the reasons moving him thereto, whereupon 
 the House of Bishops may investigate the whole case of the pro- 
 posed resignation, including not only the facts and reasons that 
 may be set forth in the application for the proposed resignation, 
 but any other facts and circumstances bearing upon it, so that the 
 whole subject of the propriety or necessity of such resignation may 
 be placed fully before the House of Bishops. 
 
 [2.] An investigation having thus been made, the House of 
 Bishops may decide on the application ; and, by the vote of a 
 majority of those present, accept or refuse to accept such resigna- 
 tion ; and in all cases of a proposed resignation, the Bishops shall 
 cause their proceedings to be recorded on their journal ; and in 
 case of acceptance, the resignation shall be complete when thus re- 
 corded ; and notice thereof shall be given to the House of Clerical 
 and Lay Deputies. 
 
 [3.] In case a Bishop should desire to resign at any period not 
 
 * Canon iv., 1847. 
 
 45
 
 CttU I. Canon 13. § xvi. 
 
 Of Bishops. 
 
 within six calendar months before the meeting of a General Con- 
 vention, he shall make known to the Presiding Bishop such his 
 desire, with the reasons moving him thereunto ; whereupon the 
 Presiding Bishop shall communicate, without delay, a copy of the 
 same to every Bishop of this Church having ecclesiastical jurisdic- 
 tion, and also to the Standing Committee of the Diocese to which 
 the Bishop desiring to resign may belong ; and, at the same time, 
 summon said Bishops to meet him in person, at a place to be by 
 him designated, and at a time not less than three calendar months 
 from the date of his summons ; and should a number not less 
 than a majority of all the said Bishops meet at the time and place 
 designated, they shall then have all the powers given by the pre- 
 vious clauses of this Section to the House of Bishops ; and should a 
 number less than a majority assemble, they shall have power 
 to adjourn from time to time, until they can secure the attendance 
 of a majority of all the said Bishops. Should a proposed resignation 
 of a Bishop be accepted at any meeting of the Bishops for that 
 purpose held during a recess, then it shall be the duty of the senior 
 Bishop present to pronounce such resignation complete, and to 
 communicate the same to the ecclesiastical authority of each Dio- 
 cese, who shall cause the same to be communicated to the several 
 clergymen in charge of congregations therein. And it shall be the 
 further duty of the Presiding Bishop to cause such resignation to 
 be formally recorded on the journal of the House of Bishops that 
 may meet in General Convention next thereafter. If the Bishop 
 desirous of resigning should be the Presiding Bishop, then all the 
 duties directed in this Section to be performed by the Presiding 
 Bishop shall devolve upon the Bishop next in seniority. 
 
 [4.] No Bishop whose resignation of the Episcopal jurisdiction 
 of a Diocese has been consummated pursuant to this Section, shall, 
 "under any circumstances, be eligible to any Diocese now in union, 
 or which may hereafter be admitted into union, with this Church ; 
 nor shall he have a seat in the House of Bishops ; but he may 
 perform Episcopal acts at the request of any Bishop of this Church 
 having ecclesiastical jurisdiction, within the limits of this Diocese. 
 
 [5.] A Bishop who ceases- to have the Episcopal charge of a 
 
 46
 
 Canon 13. § xvii. 
 
 Of Bisliopi 
 
 Diocese shall still be subject in all matters to the Canons and 
 authority of the General Convention. 
 
 [6.] In case a suspended Bishop of this Church should desire 
 to resign at any period not within six calendar months before the 
 meeting of a General Convention, he shall make known by letter 
 to the Presiding Bishop such desire ; whereupon the Presiding 
 Bishop shall communicate a copy of the same to each Bishop of 
 this Church having jurisdiction ; and, in case a majority of such 
 Bishops shall return to the Presiding Bishop their written assent 
 to such resignation, the same shall be deemed valid and final ; and 
 written information of the said resignation shall at once be com- 
 municated by the Presiding Bishop to the Bishop and Diocese con- 
 cerned, and to each Bishop of this Church.* 
 
 § XVII. [1.] If during the recess of the General Convention, 
 and more than six months previous to its session, any vacancy 
 arise, either by death, resignation, or other cause, in the office 
 of any Missionary Bishop of this Church (whether Domestic or 
 Foreign), the House of Bishops shall be convened by the Presiding 
 Bishop, or, in case of his death, by the Bishop who, according to 
 the rules of the House of Bishops, is to preside at the next General 
 Convention ; and thereupon may proceed to fill any and every 
 such vacancy that may then exist, by electing a suitable person or 
 persons to be a Bishop or Bishops of this Church, to exercise 
 Episcopal functions within the district, place, country, territory, 
 station, or jurisdiction, where such vacancy or vacancies may exist ; 
 and in case of such election, they shall, by the Presiding Bishop, 
 or by some person or persons specially appointed, communicate 
 the fact of such election to the Standing Committees of the Churches 
 in the different Dioceses ; and each Standing Committee that shall 
 consent to the proposed consecration shall forward the evidence of 
 such consent to the Presiding Bishop, or Bishop aforesaid. And 
 if the major number of the Standing Committee shall consent to 
 the proposed consecration, the Presiding or other Bishop as afore- 
 said shall forward copies of the evidence of such consent to each 
 
 * Canon ii., 1850. 
 
 47
 
 Citk I. . Canon 14. - § i. 
 
 Of a List of the Ministei^s of this Church. 
 
 Bishop of this Church then within the limits of the United States ; 
 and if a majority of such Bishops consent to the consecration, the 
 Presiding Bishop or Bishop aforesaid, with any two Bishops, or 
 any three Bishops to whom he may communicate the testimonials, 
 may proceed to perform the same. 
 
 [2.] The evidence of the consent of the different Standing Com- 
 mittees shall be in the form prescribed for the House of Clerical 
 and Lay Deputies in General Convention ; and without the afore- 
 said requisites no consecration shall take place of any Missionary 
 Bishop elected during the recess of the General Convention. 
 
 [3.] Every Bishop elected and consecrated under this Section 
 shall have the several functions, jurisdiction, powers and rights, 
 granted by any Canon or Canons of this Church to Missionary 
 Bishops, whether Domestic or Foreign, according as such Bishop 
 shall be elected to be a Domestic or a Foreign Missionary Bishop ; 
 and shall in all matters be subject to the Canons and authority of 
 the General Convention.* 
 
 Canon 14. 
 
 Of a List of the Ministers of this Church. 
 
 § I. The Secretary of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies 
 shall keep a register of all the Clergy of this Church, whose names 
 shall be delivered to him in the following manner, that is to say : 
 Every Bishop of this Church, or where there is no Bishop the 
 Standing Committee of the Diocese, shall, at the time of every 
 General Convention, deliver, or cause to be delivered, to the said 
 Secretary, a list of the names of all the Ministers of this Church 
 in their proper Diocese, annexing the names of their respective 
 cures, or of their stations in any colleges, or other seminaries of 
 learning ; or, in regard to those who have not any cures or other sta- 
 tions, their places of residence only ; and the said list shall, from 
 * This Section was added in 1865. 
 48
 
 Canon 15. § i. 
 
 Mode of Securing an Accurate View, etc. 
 
 time to time, be published in the journals of the General Con- 
 vention. 
 
 § II. And, further, it is recommended to the several Bishops of 
 this Church, and to the several Standing Committees, that, during 
 the intervals between the meetings of the General Convention, they 
 take such means of notifying the admission of Ministers among 
 them as, in their discretion respectively, they shall think effectual 
 to the purpose of preventing ignorant and unwary people from 
 being imposed on by persons pretending to be authorized Ministers 
 of this Church.* 
 
 Canon 15. 
 
 Of the Mode of securing an accurate View of the State of the 
 
 Church. 
 
 § I. As a full and accurate view of the state of the Church, 
 from time to time, is highly useful and necessary, it is hereby 
 ordered that every Minister of this Church, or if the parish be 
 vacant the Wardens, shall present, or cause to be delivered, on or 
 before the first day of every Annual Convention, to the Bishop of 
 the Diocese, or where there is no Bishop to the President of the 
 Convention, a statement of the number of baptisms, confirmations, 
 marriages and funerals, and of the number of communicants, in 
 his parish or church, also the state and condition of the Sunday 
 Schools in his parish, also of the amount of the Communion alms, 
 the contributions for missions, diocesan, domestic, and foreign, 
 for parochial schools, for Church purposes in general, and of all 
 other matters that may throw light on the state of the same. And 
 every clergyman, not regularly settled in any parish or church, 
 shall also report the occasional services he may have performed ; 
 and, if he have performed no such service, the causes or reasons 
 which have prevented the same. And these reports, or such parts 
 
 * Canon xlviii., 1832. 
 
 49 E
 
 CiiU I. Canon 15. § ii.-v. 
 
 Alode of Securing an Accurate Vieiv, etc. 
 
 of them as the Bishop shall think fit, may he read in Convention, 
 and shall he entered on the journals thereof. 
 
 § II. At every annual Diocesan Convention, the Bishop shall 
 deliver an address, stating the affairs of the Diocese since the last 
 meeting of the Convention ; the names of the churches which he 
 has visited ; the number of persons confirmed ; the names of those 
 who have been received as candidates for Orders, and of those who 
 have been ordained, suspended, or degraded ; the changes by death, 
 removal, or otherwise, which have taken place among the Clergy ; 
 and, in general, all matters tending to throw light on the afi'airs of 
 the Diocese ; which address shall be inserted on the journals. 
 
 § III. At every General Convention, the journals of the different 
 Diocesan Conventions since the last General Convention, together 
 with such other papers, viz. : Episcopal charges, addresses, and 
 pastoral letters, as may tend to throw light on the state of the 
 Church in each Diocese, shall be presented to the House of Clerical 
 and Lay Deputies. A Committee shall then be appointed to draw 
 up a view of the state of the Church, and to make report to the 
 House of Clerical and Lay Deputies ; which report, when agreed 
 to by the said House, shall be sent to the House of Bishops, with 
 a request that they will draw up, and cause to be published, a 
 Pastoral Letter to the members of the Church. And it is hereby 
 made the duty of every clergyman having a pastoral charge, when 
 any such Letter is published, to read the said Pastoral Letter to 
 his congregation on some occasion of public worship. 
 
 § IV. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Convention of 
 every Diocese, or of the person or persons with whom the journals 
 or other ecclesiastical papers are lodged, to forward to the House 
 of Clerical and Lay Deputies, at every General Convention, the 
 documents and papers specified in this Canon. 
 
 § V. It is recommended that the Bishop and Standing Com- 
 mittee of the Church in every Diocese, or if there be no Bishop the 
 
 60
 
 Canon 16. 
 
 Of the Mode of Publishing authorized Editions of the Standard 
 Bible of this Church. 
 
 Standing Committee only, prepare, previously to the meeting of 
 every General Convention, a condensed report, and a tabular view 
 of the state of the Church in their Diocese, comprising therein a 
 summary of the statistics from the parochial reports, and from the 
 Bishop's addresses, specifying the capital and proceeds of the 
 Episcopal fund, and of all benevolent and missionary associations 
 of Churchmen within the Diocese, for the purpose of aiding the 
 Committee on the State of the Church, appointed by the House of 
 Clerical and Lay Deputies, in drafting their reports.* 
 
 § YI. All incorporated schools, all parochial schools, all acade- 
 mies and colleges, and all hospitals, asylums for orphans or other 
 children of either sex, maintained at the expense or conducted 
 under the management of members of this Church, are expected to 
 report annually to the Bishop of the Diocese at the annual Con- 
 vention, such reports to be disposed of as the parochial reports ; 
 and at every General Convention the tabular view of the state of 
 the Church in each Diocese, and the report of the Committee on 
 the State of the Church, shall include the results of such reports.t 
 
 Canon 16. 
 
 Of the Mode of Publishing authorized Editions of the Standard 
 Bible of this Church, 
 
 The Bishop of this Church in any Diocese, or where there is no 
 Bishop the Standing Committee, is authorized to appoint, from 
 time to time, some suitable person or persons, to compare and 
 correct all new editions of the Bible by the standard edition agreed 
 upon by the General Convention, and a certificate of their having 
 been so compared and corrected shall be published with said 
 book.t 
 
 * Canon xii., 1853. t This Section was added in 1862. 
 
 t Canon xliv., 1832. 
 
 51
 
 S:ith I. Canon 18. 
 
 Of the due Celebration of Sundays. 
 
 Canon 17. 
 
 Of Publishing Editions of the Book of Common Prayer, 
 
 § I. The Bishop of this Church in any Diocese, or where there 
 is no Bishop the Standing Committee thereof, shall appoint one or 
 more Presbyters of the Diocese, who shall compare and correct all 
 new editions of the Common Prayer-Book, the Articles, Offices, 
 Metre Psalms and Hymns, by a copy of the standard edition ; and 
 a certificate of said editions having been so compared and corrected, 
 shall be published with the same. And in case any edition shall 
 be published without such correction, it shall be the duty of the 
 Bishop, or where there is no Bishop of the Standing Committee, 
 to give public notice that such edition is not authorized by the 
 Church. 
 
 § II. The octavo edition of the Book of Common Prayer, the 
 Articles, Offices, Metre Psalms and Hymns, set forth by the 
 General Convention of 1844, and published by the New York Bible 
 and Common Prayer-Book Society, and by Harper & Brothers, in 
 1845, is hereby declared to be the standard edition.* 
 
 Canon 18. 
 
 Of the due Celebration of Sundays. 
 
 All persons within this Church shall celebrate and keep the 
 Lord's Day, commonly called Sunday, in hearing the Word of God 
 read and taught, in private and public prayer, in other exercises of 
 devotion, and in acts of charity, using all godly and sober con- 
 versation.! 
 
 * Canon vii., 1847. t § Canon xli., 1832. 
 
 52
 
 Canon 20. 
 
 Qf the Use of the Booh of Common Prayer, 
 
 Canon 19. 
 
 Of Parochial Instruction, 
 
 The Ministers of this Church who have charge of parishes or 
 cures, shall not only he diligent in instructing the children in the 
 Catechism, but shall also, by stated catechetical lectures and in- 
 struction, be diligent in informing the youth and others in the 
 Doctrine, Constitution, and Liturgy of the Church.* 
 
 Canon 20. 
 
 Of the Use of the Book of Common Prayer, 
 
 Every minister shall, before all sermons and lectures, and on all 
 other occasions of public worship, use the Book of Common 
 Prayer, as the same is or may be established by the authority of 
 the General Convention of this Church ; and in performing such 
 service, no other prayers shall be used than those prescribed by the 
 said Book.f 
 
 * Canon xxviii., 1832. t Canon xlv., 1832. 
 
 68
 
 ^xih II. Canon 1. § i.-m. 
 
 TITLE II 
 
 OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 Canon 1. 
 
 Of Amenability and Citations. 
 
 § I. Every Minister shall be amenable, for offences committed 
 by him, to the Bishop, and if there be no Bishop to the clerical 
 members of the Standing Committee, of the Diocese in which he 
 is canonically resident at the time of the charge. 
 
 § II. Unless a Diocesan Convention shall otherwise provide, a 
 citation to any Minister to appear, at a certain time and place, for 
 the trial of an offence, shall be deemed to be duly served upon him 
 if a copy thereof be left at his last place of abode within the United 
 States, sixty days before the day of appearance named therein ; 
 and in case such Minister has departed from the United States, by 
 also publishing, six months before the said day of appearance, a 
 copy of such citation in some newspaper printed at the seat of go- 
 vernment of the State in which the Minister is cited to appear.* 
 
 § III. A notice or citation required by any Canon of this Church, 
 when no other mode of service is provided, may be served by 
 leaving a copy with the party, or at his last place of abode within 
 the United States ; and if he shall have left the United States, by 
 also publishing a copy thereof in some newspaper printed at the 
 seat of government of tae State or Territory where such party last 
 resided.! 
 
 * Canon v., 1835. t Added, 1859. 
 
 54
 
 Canon 3. § i. 
 
 Of a Clergyman in one Diocese chargeable tvith Misdemeanor, etc. 
 
 Canon 2. 
 
 Of Offences for which Ministers may be Tried and Punished. ' 
 
 § I. Every minister shall be liable to presentment and trial, for 
 any crime or gross immorality, for disorderly conduct, for drunken- 
 ness, for profane swearing, for frequenting places most liable to 
 be abused to licentiousness, and for violation of the Constitution 
 or Canons of this Church, or of the Diocese to which he belongs ; 
 and, on being found guilty, he shall be admonished, suspended, or 
 degraded, according to the Canons of the Diocese in which the 
 trial takes place, until otherwise provided for by the General Con- 
 vention. 
 
 § II. If a Minister of this Church shall be accused, by public 
 rumour, of discontinuing all exercise of the ministerial of&ce with- 
 out lawful cause, or of living in the habitual disuse of public 
 worship or of the Holy Eucharist according to the offices of this 
 Church, or of being guilty of scandalous, immoral, or disorderly 
 conduct, or of violating the Canons, or preaching or inculcating 
 heretical doctrine, it shall be the duty of the Bishop, or if there be 
 no Bishop of the clerical members of the Standing Committee, to 
 see that an inquiry be instituted as to the truth of such public 
 rumour. And in case of the individual being proceeded against and 
 convicted according to such rules or process as may be provided by 
 the Conventions of the respective Dioceses, he shall be admonished, 
 suspended, or degraded, as the nature of the case may require, in 
 conformity with their respective Constitutions and Canons.* 
 
 Canon 3. 
 
 Of a Clergyman in one Diocese or Missionary District chargeable 
 with Misdemeanor in another. 
 
 § I. If a clergyman of this Church, belonging to any Diocese or 
 Missionary District, shall, in any other Diocese or Missionary 
 * Canon xxxvii., 1832. 
 
 55
 
 Citic II. Canon 3. § ii., m. 
 
 Of a Clergyman in one Diocese chargeable ivith Misdemeanor, etc. 
 
 District, conduct himself in such a way as is contrary to .the 
 rules of this Church and disgraceful to his office, the Ecclesiastical 
 Authority thereof shall give notice of the same to the Eccle- 
 siastical Authority where he is canonically resident, exhihiting, 
 with the information given, reasonable ground for presuming its 
 correctness. If the Ecclesiastical Authority, when thus notified, 
 shall omit, for the space of three months, to proceed against the 
 offending clergyman, it shall be within the power of the Eccle- 
 siastical Authority of the Diocese or Missionary District within 
 which the alleged offence or offences were committed, to institute 
 proceedings, and the decision given shall be conclusive. 
 
 § II. If a clergyman shall come temporarily into any Diocese, 
 under the imputation of having elsewhere been guilty of any crime 
 or misdemeanor, by violation of the Canons or otherwise, or if any 
 clergyman, while sojourning in any Diocese, shall misbehave in 
 any of these respects, the Bishop, upon probable cause, may admo- 
 nish such clergyman, and forbid him to officiate in said Diocese. 
 And if, after such prohibition, the said clergyman so officiate, the 
 Bishop shall give notice to all the clergy and congregations in said 
 Diocese, that the officiating of the said clergyman is, under any and 
 all circumstances, prohibited ; and like notice shall be given to the 
 Bishop, or if there be no Bishop to the Standing Committee, of 
 the Diocese to which the said clergyman belongs. And such prohi- 
 bition shall continue in force until the Bishop of the first-named 
 Diocese be satisfied of the innocence of the said clergyman, or 
 until he be acquitted on trial. 
 
 § III. The provisions of the last Section shall apply to clergy- 
 men ordained in foreign countries by Bishops in communion with 
 this Church. Provided, that in such case notice of the prohibition 
 shall be given to the Bishop under whose jurisdiction the clergy- 
 man shall appear to have last been, and also to all the Bishops 
 exercising jurisdiction in this Church.* 
 
 * Canon vi., 1850. 
 
 56
 
 Canon 4. § i., n. 
 
 Of the Dissolution of a Pastoral Connection, 
 
 Canon 4. 
 
 Of the Dissolution of a Pastoral Connection. 
 
 § I. In case a Minister who has been regularly instituted or 
 Bettled in a Parish or Church, be dismissed by such Parish or 
 Church without the concurrence of the Ecclesiastical Authority of 
 the Diocese, the Vestry or Congregation of such Parish or Church 
 shall have no right to a representation in the Convention of the 
 Diocese, until they have made such satisfaction as the Convention 
 may require ; but the Minister thus dismissed shall retain his right 
 to a seat in the Convention, subject to the approval of the Eccle- 
 siastical Authority of the Diocese. And no Minister shall leave 
 his Congregation against their will, without the concurrence of the 
 Ecclesiastical Authority aforesaid ; and if he shall leave them 
 without such concurrence, he shall not be allowed to take his seat 
 in any Convention of this Church, or be eligible into any Church 
 or Parish, until he shall have made such satisfaction as the Ecclesi- 
 astical Authority of the Diocese may require ; but the Vestry or 
 Congregation of such Parish or Church shall not be thereby de- 
 prived of its right to a representation in the Convention of the 
 Diocese.* 
 
 § II. In case of the regular and canonical dissolution of the con- 
 nection between a Minister and his congregation, the Bishop, or if 
 there be no Bishop the Standing Committee, shall direct the Secre- 
 tary of the Convention to record the same. But if the dissolution 
 of the connection between a Minister and his congregation be not 
 regular or canonical, the Bishop or Standing Committee shall lay 
 the same before the Convention of the Diocese, in order that the 
 above-mentioned penalties may take effect. 
 
 This Canon shall not be obligatory in those Dioceses with whose 
 Canons, laws, or charters, it may interfere.! 
 
 • This Section was thus amended in 1865. 
 
 t Canon xxxiii., 1832. The last paragraph was altered slightly in 1865. 
 
 57
 
 mh II. Canon 5. § i.-v. 
 
 Of Renunciation of the Ministry. 
 
 Canon 5. 
 
 Of Renunciation of the Ministry. 
 
 § I. If any Minister of this Church, against whom there is no 
 ecclesiastical proceeding instituted, shall declare, in writing, to the 
 Bisho}3 of the Diocese to which he belongs, or to any Ecclesiastical 
 Authority for the trial of a clergyman, or where there no Bishop to 
 the Standing Committee, his renunciation of the Ministry, and his 
 design not to officiate in future in any of the offices thereof, it 
 shall be the duty of the Bishop, or where there is no Bishop of the 
 Standing Committee, to record the declarations so made ; and it 
 shall be the duty of the Bishop to depose him from the Ministry, 
 and to pronounce and record, in the presence of two or more clergy- 
 men, that the person so declaring has been deposed from the 
 Ministry of this Church. 
 
 § II. In any Diocese in which there is no Bishop, the same sen- 
 tence may be pronounced by the Bishop of any other Diocese in- 
 vited by the Standing Committee to attend for that purpose. 
 
 § III. If the Bishop, to whom such declaration renouncing the 
 Ministry is made, shall have reason to believe that the party has 
 acted unadvisedly and hastily, he may forbear all action thereupon 
 for the space of not more than six months, during which time the 
 party may withdraw his application. 
 
 § IV. If the Bishop shall have ground to suppose the party to 
 be liable to presentment for any canonical offence, he may, in his 
 discretion, and with the consent of the Standing Committee, pro- 
 ceed to have the applicant put upon his trial, notwithstanding his 
 having made the aforesaid declaration ; and the same discretion is 
 allowed to the Standing Committee, in case the Diocese should be 
 without a Bishop. 
 
 § V. In the case of deposition from the Ministry, as above pro- 
 
 58
 
 Canon 6 § i., ii. 
 
 Of the Abandonment of the Communion of this Churchy etc. 
 
 vided for, it shall be the duty of the Bishop to give notice thereof 
 to every Bishop of this Church, and to the Standing Committee of 
 every Diocese wherein there is no Bishop.* 
 
 Canon 6. 
 
 Of the Ahandonment of the Communion of this Church by a 
 Presbyter or Deacon. 
 
 § I. If any Presbyter or Deacon shall, without availing himself 
 of the provisions of Canon 5 of this Title, abandon the Communion 
 of this Church, either by an open renunciation of the doctrine, 
 discipline, and worship of this Church, or by a formal admission 
 into any religious body not in communion with the same, it shall 
 be the duty of the Standing Committee of the Diocese to make 
 certificate of the fact to the Bishop of the Diocese, or if there be 
 no Bishop to the Bishop of an adjacent Diocese ; which certificate 
 shall be recorded, and shall be taken and deemed by the eccle- 
 siastical authority as equivalent to a renunciation of the Ministry 
 by the Minister himself. Notice shall then be given to the said 
 Minister, by the said Bishop receiving the certificate, that unless 
 he shall, within six months, make declaration that the facts alleged 
 in said certificate are false, he will be deposed from the Ministry of 
 this Church. 
 
 § II. And if such declaration be not made within six months as 
 aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the Bishop to depose said Minister 
 from the Ministry, and to pronounce and record, in the presence of 
 two or more Presbyters, that he has been so deposed. 
 
 Provided^ nevertheless, that if the Minister so renouncing shall 
 transmit to the Bishop receiving the certificate a retraction of the 
 acts or declarations constituting his ofi'ence, the Bishop may, at his 
 discretion, abstain from any further proceedings. f 
 
 * Canon v., 1850. t Canon of 1859. 
 
 59
 
 Citic II. Canon 7. 
 
 Of a Clergyman absenting himself from his Diocese, 
 
 And provided also, that such Minister, after having renounced 
 the Ministry and having been deposed, should he desire restoration 
 thereto, may address a memorial to the Bishop of the Church in 
 the Diocese wherein he resides, in which memorial he shall express 
 such his desire, accompanied by a statement that he has abandoned 
 the ministry or communion of any other Church or Society to which 
 he may have attached himself, from an honest conviction of the 
 errors in doctrine or discipline of such Church or Society, and also 
 all doctrine, discipline and worship inconsistent with those of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States ; and that for 
 the space of three years immediately preceding his memorial, he 
 has been living in lay communion with the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church, to whose Ministry he now asks restoration. Whereupon, 
 the Bishop to whom such memorial shall be addressed, together 
 with two Bishops, to be selected by him by lot for that purpose 
 from the six nearest Bishops, and by and with the advice and con- 
 sent of the Standing Committee of his Diocese, shall fully investi- 
 gate all the facts connected with the case of the memorialist ; and 
 the Bishop shall have power, with the approbation of one or both 
 of the Bishops assisting him in the case, and by and with the 
 advice and consent of the aforementioned Standing Committee, to 
 restore the memorialist to the Ministry of this Church, if he and 
 they are satisfied that such restoration will be for the glory of God 
 and the edifying of the Church.* 
 
 Canon 7. 
 
 Of a Clergyman absenting himself from his Diocese. 
 
 When a clergyman has been absent from the Diocese to which 
 he belongs during fivef years, without reasons satisfactory to the 
 Bishop thereof, he shall be required by the Bishop to declare the 
 cause or causes thereof in writing ; and if he refuse to give his 
 
 * This second Proviso was added in 1862. 
 
 t This word was changed from two to Jive in 1 862. 
 
 60
 
 Canon 8. 
 
 Abandonment by a Bishop). 
 
 reasons, or if they be deemed insufficient by the Bishop, the Bishop 
 may, with the advice and consent of the clerical members of the 
 Standing Committee, suspend him from the Ministry ; which sus- 
 pension shall continue until he shall give, in writing, sufficient 
 reasons for his absence ; or until he shall renew his residence in 
 his Diocese ; or until he shall renounce the Ministry according to 
 Canon 5 of this Title. In the case of such suspension as above 
 provided for, it shall be the duty of the Bishop to give notice thereof 
 to every Bishop of this Church, and to the Standing Committee of 
 every Diocese wherein there is no Bishop.* 
 
 Canon 8. 
 
 Of the Abandonment of the Communion of the Church by a Bishop. 
 
 If any Bishop, without availing himself of the provisions of Sec- 
 tion XVI. of Canon 13 of Title I., abandon the Communion of 
 this Church, either by an open renunciation of the doctrine, discip- 
 line, and worship of this Church, or by a formal admission into 
 any religious body not in communion with the same, it shall be the 
 duty of the Standing Committee of the Diocese to make certificate 
 of the fact to the senior Bishop, which certificate shall be recorded, 
 and shall be taken and deemed as equivalent to a renunciation of 
 the Ministry by the Bishop himself. 
 
 Notice shall then be given to said Bishop by the said Bishop 
 receiving the certificate, that unless he shall, within six months, 
 make declaration that the facts alleged in said certificate are false, 
 he will be deposed from the Ministry of this Church. 
 
 And if such declaration be not made within six months as afore- 
 said, it shall be the duty of the senior Bishop, with the consent of 
 the majority of the House of Bishops, to depose from the Ministry 
 the Bishop so certified as abandoning, and to pronounce and record, 
 in the presence of two or more Bishops, that he has been so de- 
 
 * Canon ii., 1841. 
 
 61
 
 ^xth II. Canon 9. § i., ii. 
 
 Of the Trial of a Bishop. 
 
 Provided, nevertheless, that if the Bishop so certified as aban- 
 doning, shall transmit to the senior Bishop a retraction of the acts 
 or declarations constituting his offence, the Bishop may, at his 
 discretion, abstain from any further proceedings.* 
 
 Canon 9. 
 
 Of the Trial of a Bishop. 
 
 § I. Any Bishop of this Church may be presented for trial on 
 charges for the following offences, viz. : 1. Crime or immorality. 
 2. Holding and teaching publicly, or privately and advisedly, any 
 doctrine contrary to that held by the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 in the United States. 3. Violation of the Constitution or Canons 
 of the General Convention. 4. Violation of the Constitution or 
 Canons of the Diocese to which he belongs. 5. Any act which 
 involves a breach of his Ordination or Consecration vows. 
 
 § II. [1.] The proceedings shall commence by charges in writing; 
 and, except when the charge is holding and teaching doctrine con- 
 trary to that held by this Church, shall be signed by either 
 
 Five male communicants of this Church, in good standing, 
 belonging to the Diocese of the accused, of whom two at least must 
 be Presbyters ; or. 
 
 By seven male communicants of this Church, in good standing, 
 of whom two at least shall be Presbyters, and three of which seven 
 shall belong to the Diocese of the accused. 
 
 [2.] Whenever a Bishop of this Church shall have reason to 
 believe that there are in circulation rumors, reports, or charges 
 affecting his moral or religious character, he may, if he please, 
 acting in conformity with the written advice and consent of any 
 two of his brother Bishops whom he may select, demand of the 
 Presiding Bishop of the House of Bishops, or if he be the Bishop 
 affected by such rumors, or if he be related to him within the 
 
 * Canon of 1859. 
 
 62
 
 Canon 9. § iii., iv. 
 
 Of the Trial of a Bishop, 
 
 degrees hereinafter mentioned, then to the Bishop next in seniority 
 not so related, to convene a Board of Inquiry in the mode herein- 
 after set forth, to investigate such rumors, reports, and charges, 
 and to proceed, in all respects, according to the provisions of this 
 Canon, as if charges had been formally made in either of the two 
 modes first mentioned in this Section. 
 
 [3.] Whenever charges are formally made in either of the modes 
 first above mentioned, the accusers may, if they choose, select a lay 
 communicant of this Church, of the profession of the law, to act as 
 their adviser, advocate, and agent, in preparing the accusation, 
 proofs, etc., until such time as a Board of Inquiry is convened in 
 such manner as is hereinafter provided for ; or they may prepare 
 such charges themselves, without regard to any particular form ; 
 and, in either case, the grounds of accusation must be set forth 
 with reasonable certainty of time, place, and circumstance. 
 
 § III. The charges, having been prepared in either of the modes 
 first above mentioned, shall then be delivered to the Presiding 
 Bishop of this Church, if he be not the accused, nor related to the 
 accused in any degree mentioned hereinafter in this Canon ; in 
 either of which cases, the charges shall be delivered to the next 
 Bishop in seniority not so related. 
 
 § IV. A Board for making a preliminary inquiry into charges 
 thus preferred, shall be constituted as follows, whenever such Board 
 shall be necessary, viz. : 
 
 [1.] The Presiding Bishop, or senior Bishop, as the case may be, 
 to whom such charges are delivered, shall take the list of Clerical 
 and Lay Deputies to the last General Convention that was held 
 before such charges were presented, and from that list shall choose 
 by lot two Presbyters and two laymen from the deputation of the 
 Diocese of the accused, and two Presbyters and two laymen from 
 each of the respective deputations of the three Dioceses adjoining 
 that of the accused ; and if there be not three adjoining, of the 
 three nearest thereto ; and if more than three Dioceses adjoin 
 that of the accused, those three that have the largest number of 
 
 63
 
 Citfc II. Canon 9. § iv. 
 
 Of the Trial of a Bishop. 
 
 canonically-resident Presbyters in them shall be accounted adjoining, 
 for the purposes of this Canon ; and the sixteen individuals thus 
 selected by lot shall constitute the Board of Inquiry, a majority of 
 whom shall form a quorum for doing business. 
 
 [2.] The Presiding Bishop, or next in seniority as the case may 
 be, immediately after thus selecting by lot the Board of Inquiry, 
 shall give notice thereof to each member of said Board, and direct 
 him to attend at a time and place designated by him, and organize 
 the Board ; and it shall be the duty of each member so to attend. 
 The place must be within the Diocese of the accused. The Presid- 
 ing Bishop shall, at the same time, send a copy of the charges to 
 the senior Presbyter of those thus selected by lot from the four 
 Dioceses. 
 
 [3.] On assembling, the Board shall organize by choosing from 
 among themselves a President and Secretary, and shall also appoint 
 a Church Advocate, who must be a lay communicant of this Church, 
 and of the profession of the law, and who thenceforward shall, in 
 all stages of the proceedings, if a trial be ordered, represent the 
 Church, and be the party on the one hand, while the accused is the 
 party on the other. The sittings of the Board shall be private ; 
 the Church Advocate shall not attend as prosecuting counsel, but 
 shall be at all times at hand and in readiness to give his advice in 
 all questions submitted to him by the Board. 
 
 [4.] In conducting the investigation, the Board shall hear the 
 accusations and such proof as the accusers may produce, and shall 
 determine whether, upon matters of law and of fact, as presented 
 to them, there is sufficient ground to put the accused Bishop upon 
 his trial ; and in such investigation, as well as in all cases of trial 
 by an Ecclesiastical Court now authorized, or hereafter to be autho- 
 rized, by the Constitution or Canons of the General Convention, 
 the laws of the State in which such investigation or trial is had, so 
 far as they relate to the law of evidence, shall be adopted and taken 
 as the rules by which the said Board or Court shall be governed. 
 If a majority of the Board present on such investigation shall be of 
 opinion that there are sufficient grounds to put the accused Bishop 
 upon his trial, they shall direct the Church Advocate to prepare a 
 
 64
 
 Canon 9. § v. 
 
 Of the Trial of a Bishop. 
 
 presentment, to be signed by such of the Board as agree thereto ; 
 and to that end, shall place in his hands all the charges, together 
 with the testimony that has been laid before the Board. 
 
 [5.] The Board shall then direct the Church Advocate to trans- 
 mit to the Bishop from whom they received the charges, the pre- 
 sentment thus signed ; and shall cause him also, without delay, to 
 send to the accused Bishop a copy of the same, certified by the 
 Church Advocate to be correct. 
 
 [6.] If a majority of the Board present shall be of opinion that 
 there is not sufficient ground to put the accused Bishop upon his 
 trial, in such case the charges, together with a certificate of the 
 President of the Board of its refusal to make a presentment, shall 
 be sent to the Secretary of the House of Bishops, to be deposited 
 among the archives of that House. And no proceedings shall 
 thereafter be had by way of presentment on such charges, except 
 upon the affidavit of a respectable communicant of the Church, of 
 the discovery of new testimony as to the facts charged, and setting 
 forth what such testimony is. 
 
 [7.] No presentment shall be found in any case, unless the 
 alleged offence shall have been committed within five years next 
 before the day on which the charges were delivered to the Presiding 
 or senior Bishop. But if the accused shall have been convicted of 
 the alleged offence in a State court, notwithstanding five years may 
 have elapsed since its commission, a presentment may be founded 
 on charges delivered to the Presiding or senior Bishop at any time 
 within one year after such conviction. 
 
 § ^- [!•] When a presentment has been made by the Board of 
 Inquiry, or a majority thereof, to the Bishop from whom they 
 received the charges, it shall be the duty of such Bishop forthwith 
 to give to the accused written notice to attend, at some place not 
 more than one hundred miles from the place of residence of the 
 accused Bishop, and at some time not less than twenty days after 
 the time of serving such notice, either personally, or by some agent 
 authorized by him in writing to act for him in the premises, for the 
 purpose of selecting the Bishops who shall form the Court for the 
 
 65 p
 
 ^xiU II. Canon 9. § v. 
 
 Of the Trial of a Bishop. 
 
 trial of the said accused Bishop upon the said presentment. He 
 shall also give notice to the Church Advocate of the time and place 
 appointed for such selection. 
 
 [2.] At the time and place appointed in the notices, the Bishop 
 who has given the notices shall attend ; and, in the presence of the 
 accused Bishop or of his agent authorized as aforesaid, and also in 
 the presence of the Church Advocate or of such person or persons 
 as may attend in his behalf, or, if no person shall attend on behalf 
 of one or both, of two Presbyters named by himself, the said Bishop 
 shall cause to be placed in a vessel the names of all the Bishops of 
 this Church entitled to seats in the House of Bishops, then being 
 within the territory of the United States, except the accused and 
 those Bishops who may be related to him either by consanguinity 
 or affinity, in the direct ascending or descending line, or as brother, 
 uncle, or nephew. He shall then cause eleven of the said names 
 to be drawn. The names so drawn shall be entered upon a list as 
 they are drawn, and the accused or his agent may strike off the list 
 one name, and the said Church Advocate or his agent another 
 name, and so on alternately, until the number be reduced to seven. 
 If it shall happen that either party shall neglect or refuse to strike, 
 then the Bishop who has given the notices shall reduce the number 
 to seven, by striking off so many of the last drawn names as will 
 reduce the list to that number. The seven Bishops whose names 
 remain, or a majority of them, when assembled, shall constitute 
 the Court for the trial of the accused upon the presentment. 
 
 [3.] The Court having been thus constituted, the Bishop to 
 whom the presentment was made shall immediately communicate 
 to each Bishop who has thus been by lot designated as one of the 
 triers, the fact that he is a member of the Court. He shall also 
 appoint a time and place for the assembling of the Court. The 
 time shall not be less than two nor more than six calendar months 
 from the day on which the notice should arrive at the most distant 
 Diocese, in the ordinary course of the public mail. The place shall be 
 within the Diocese or Missionary field of the accused Bishop, unless 
 where the same may be of such difficult access, in the judgment of 
 the Presiding or senior Bishop, that reasonable convenience may 
 
 6Q
 
 Canon 9. § vi. 
 
 Of the Trial of a Bishop, 
 
 require the appointment of another location. And the said senior 
 Bishop shall cause the Church Advocate to send certified copies 
 of the said presentment to all the Bishops who constitute the 
 Court. 
 
 [4.] The Bishop to whom the presentment has been made shall 
 also immediately communicate to the accused the names of the 
 members of the Court, and inform him of the time and place ap- 
 pointed for its meeting, and summon him then and there to appear 
 and answer. He or any other Bishop of this Church having charge 
 of a Diocese, shall have power, until the Court assembles, upon the 
 application of either the Church Advocate or the accused, to issue 
 a summons for witnesses. 
 
 § YI. The Bishops who constitute the Court, or a majority of 
 them, having assembled according to the notice given them, 
 which notice it is hereby made their duty to obey, shall proceed as 
 follows, viz. : 
 
 [1.] They shall elect a President out of their own number, and 
 appoint a Presbyter of the Church as Clerk, and if necessary, 
 another Presbyter as Assistant Clerk ; and when thus organized, 
 the President shall direct the Clerk to call the names of the Church 
 Advocate and the accused ; and if both appear, he shall then cause 
 the Clerk to read the presentment which was delivered to the Pre- 
 siding or senior Bishop, whose duty it is hereby made to deliver the 
 same to the Court upon its organization. 
 
 [2.] The accused shall then be called upon by the Court to say 
 whether he is guilty or not guilty of the offence or offences charged 
 against him, and his plea shall be duly recorded ; and on his ne- 
 glect or refusal to plead, the plea of not guilty shall be entered 
 for him, and the trial shall proceed ; Provided, that, for sufficient 
 cause, the Court may adjourn from time to time : and. Provided 
 also, that the accused shall, at all times during the trial, have 
 liberty to be present, and in due time and order produce his testi- 
 mony, and to make his defence. 
 
 [3.] If the accused neglect or refuse to appear in person, according 
 to the notice served on him as aforesaid, except for some reasonable 
 
 67
 
 Cttle II. Canon 9. § vi. 
 
 Of the Trial of a Bishop. 
 
 cause to be allowed by the Court, they shall proceed to pronounce 
 him in contumacy, and notify him that sentence of suspension 
 or degradation will be pronounced against him by the Court at the 
 expiration of three months, unless within that time he tender him- 
 self ready, and accordingly appear and take his trial on the present- 
 ment. But if the accused shall not tender himself before the 
 expiration of the said three months, sentence of suspension or 
 degradation from the Ministry may be pronounced against him by 
 the Court. 
 
 [4.] The accused being present, and the trial proceeding, it 
 shall be conducted according to the principles of the Common 
 Law, as the same are generally administered in the United States ; 
 nor shall any testimony be received at the trial, except from wit- 
 nesses who have signed a declaration in the following words, to be 
 read aloud before the witness testifies, and to be filed with the re- 
 cords of the Court : 
 
 " I, A. B., a witness summoned to testify on the trial of a presentment against 
 
 the Eight Eev. , a Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 
 
 States, now pending, do most solemnly call God to witness that the evidence I am 
 about to give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth ; so help 
 me God !" 
 
 And if it be necessary to take the testimony of an absent witness 
 on a commisson, such testimony shall be preceded by a similar 
 written declaration of the witness, which shall be filed and trans- 
 mitted with his or her deposition to the Court. The testimony of 
 each witness shall be reduced to writing. And in case there is 
 ground to suppose that the attendance of any witness on the trial 
 cannot be obtained, it shall be lawful for either party to apply to 
 the Court if in session, or if not, to any member thereof, who shall 
 thereupon appoint a commissary to take the deposition of such 
 witness ; and such party so desiring to take the deposition, shall 
 give to the other party reasonable notice of the time and place of 
 taking such deposition, accompanying such notice with the interro- 
 gatories to be propounded to the witness ; whereupon it shall be 
 lawful for the other party, within six days after such notice, to. 
 propound cross-interrogatories ; and such interrogatories and cross- 
 
 68
 
 Canon 9. § vi. 
 
 Of the Trial of a Bishop, 
 
 interrogatories, if any be propounded, shall be sent to the com- 
 missary, who shall thereupon proceed to take the testimony of such 
 witness, upon oath or affirmation, and transmit it under seal to the 
 Court. But no deposition shall be read at the trial, unless the 
 Court have reasonable assurance that the attendance of the witness 
 cannot be procured, or unless both parties shall consent that it may 
 be read. Provided, that in any Diocese in which the civil govern- 
 ment has authorized the ecclesiastical courts therein to issue sum- 
 mons for witnesses, or to administer an oath, the Court shall act in 
 conformity to such laws. 
 
 [5.] All notices and papers may be served by a summoner or 
 summoners, to be appointed by the Court when the same is in 
 session, or by a member thereof; and the certificate of any such 
 summoner shall be evidence of the due service of a notice or paper. 
 In case of service by any other person, the fact may be proved by 
 the affidavit of such person. The delivery of a written notice or 
 paper to the accused party, or to the Church Advocate, or leaving 
 it or a copy thereof at the residence, or last known residence, of 
 either, shall be deemed sufficient service of such notice or paper on 
 the Church Advocate and accused respectively. If the person to be 
 served with any notice or paper shall have left the United States, 
 it shall be a sufficient service thereof to leave a copy of such notice 
 or paper at his last place of abode within the United States, sixty 
 days before the day on which the appearance, or other act required 
 by the said notice or paper, is to be performed. 
 
 [6.] The accused party may, if he think proper, have the aid of 
 counsel ; and if he should choose to have more than one counsel, 
 the Church Advocate may have assistant advocates, to be named 
 by the accusers : but in every case the Court may regulate the 
 number of counsel who shall address the Court or examine wit- 
 nesses. The Church Advocate shall be considered the party on 
 one side, and the accused on the other. All counsel must be com- 
 municants of the Church. 
 
 f7.] The Court, having fully heard the allegations and proofs of 
 the parties, and deliberately considered the same, after the parties 
 have withdrawn, shall declare respectively, whether, in their opi- 
 
 69
 
 settle II. Canon 9. § vi. 
 
 Of the Trial of a Bisliop. 
 
 nion, the accused is guilty or not guilty of each particular charge 
 and specification contained in the presentment, in the order in 
 which they are set forth ; and the accused shall he considered as 
 not guilty of every charge and specification of which he shall not be 
 pronounced guilty by a majority of the members of the Court. 
 
 [8.] The decision of the Court as to all the charges and specifi- 
 cations of which a majority of the members of the Court have found 
 him guilty, shall be reduced to writing, and signed by those who 
 assent to it ; and a decision pronouncing him not guilty of all those 
 charges and specifications of which a majority shall not have pro- 
 nounced him guilty, shall also be drawn up, and signed by those 
 who assent to it : and the decision thus signed shall be regarded 
 as the judgment of the Court, and shall be pronounced in the pre- 
 sence of the parties, if they shall think proper to attend. 
 
 [9.] If the accused shall be found guilty of any charge or speci- 
 fication, the Court shall proceed to ask him whether he has any- 
 thing to say before the sentence is passed, and may, in their 
 discretion, give him time to prepare what he wishes to say, and 
 appoint a time for passing the sentence ; and before passing sen- 
 tence, the Court may adjourn from time to time, and give the 
 accused reasonable opportunity of showing cause to induce a belief 
 that justice has not been done, or that he has discovered new testi- 
 mony : and the Court, or a majority of its members, may, according 
 to a sound discretion, grant him a new trial ; but, in such new 
 trial, no Bishop shall sit who has already been a trier. Before 
 passing sentence, the accused shall always have the opportunity of 
 being heard, if he have aught to say in excuse or palliation. 
 
 [10.] The accused having been heard, or not desiring to be 
 heard, the sentence of the Court shall then be pronounced, and 
 shall be either admonition, suspension as defined by the existing 
 Canons of this Church, or degradation, as the offence or offences 
 adjudged to be proved shall seem to deserve. It shall be the duty 
 of the Court, whenever sentence has been pronounced, whether it 
 be upon a trial, or for contumacy, to communicate such sentence 
 to the Ecclesiastical Authority of every Diocese of this Church ; 
 
 70
 
 Canon 9. § vii. 
 
 Of the Trial of a Bishop. 
 
 and it shall be the duty of sueh Authority to cause such sentence 
 to be made known to every clergyman under his jurisdiction. 
 
 [11.] Every Court shall keep a full record of its proceedings, 
 including the whole evidence given before it. Should any Court 
 refuse to insert in its record a statement of any testimony which 
 has been received, or of any decision which the Court has made, or 
 of any fact which has occurred in Court, or any paper which either 
 party has produced, it shall be the right of either party to file an 
 exception in writing, containing a statement of such evidence, deci- 
 sion, or fact, or referring to or describing such paper, which paper 
 shall also be filed with the exception. All exceptions and papers 
 so filed shall become parts of the record. 
 
 [12.] Such records shall be kept by the Clerk, and inserted in a 
 book, to be attested by the signatures of the President and Clerk. 
 Every such book, and all papers connected with any trial, shall be 
 deposited with the Eegistrar of the General Convention. Such 
 books and papers shall be open to the inspection of every member 
 of this Church. 
 
 [13.] Every Court, constituted under the authority of this Canon, 
 may be attended by one or more lay advisers, who shall be com- 
 municants of this Church, and of the profession of the law. Such 
 advisers may be present at all the proceedings of the Court, but 
 they shall have no vote in any case whatever : it shall be their duty 
 to give in person to the Court an opinion on any question not 
 theological, upon which the Court, or any member thereof, or either 
 party, shall desire an opinion. If a dispute shall arise whether 
 any question be or be not theological, it shall be decided by the 
 Court by a majority of votes. The Court may always, by unanimous 
 consent, appoint an adviser or advisers. If they are not unanimous, 
 each member of the Court may name a candidate ; if not more 
 than three are named, they all shall be advisers ; if more than 
 three are named, the Court shall reduce them to three by lot. 
 
 § VII. [1.] Any Bishop of this Church may be presented for 
 holding and teaching doctrine inconsistent with that of this Church, 
 by any Bishop in communion with this Church and not under 
 
 71
 
 mh II. Canon 10. § i. 
 
 Of Sentences. 
 
 suspension or degradation. No Bishop shall be presented in any 
 other mode for this offence ; and it shall not be lawful for two or 
 more persons to unite in any such presentment. The Bishop making 
 such presentment shall appoint a Church Advocate. 
 
 [2.] Every presentment for alleged erroneous doctrine shall be 
 signed by the person making it, and shall be addressed to the 
 Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, 
 and delivered to the senior Bishop entitled to a seat in the House 
 of Bishops, and not being the accused or the accuser, whose duty 
 it shall be to convene a Court for the trial of the accused. The 
 Court shall be composed of all the Bishops entitled to seats in the 
 House of Bishops, except the accuser and the accused. Three- 
 fourths of such Bishops shall constitute a quorum ; but the consent 
 of two-thirds of all the Bishops entitled to seats in the House of 
 Bishops shall be necessary to a conviction. 
 
 § Vin. fl-] If charges be preferred against a Missionary Bishop 
 who is not a Diocesan, such Missionary Bishop shall be required by 
 the Presiding or senior Bishop to name some one of the three Dio- 
 ceses nearest to his District or Missionary field ; and such selection 
 having been made, the proceedings shall then be precisely such as 
 under this Canon they would be were he the Diocesan of the Dio- 
 cese named by him. Should the Missionary Bishop refuse to name 
 a Diocese, then the Presiding Bishop may name any one of the 
 three above designated, and the effect shall be the same as if the 
 nomination had been made by the accused Missionary Bishop. 
 
 [2.] If charges be preferred against a Bishop having no jurisdic- 
 tion, he shall be proceeded against precisely as if he were the Dio- 
 cesan of the Diocese in which he has his civil residence.* 
 
 Canon 10. 
 
 Of Sentences. \ 
 § I. Whenever the penalty of suspension shall be inflicted on a 
 
 * Canon xi., 1866. t See the Constitution, Article VI. 
 
 72
 
 Canon 11. 
 
 Of the Remission or Modification of Judicial Sentences, 
 
 Bishop, Priest, or Deacon in this Church, the sentence shall specify 
 on what terms, or at what time, said penalty shall cease.* 
 
 § II. [1.] When any Minister is degraded from the Holy Mi- 
 nistry, he is degraded therefrom entirely, and not from a higher to 
 a lower Order of the same. Deposition, displacing, and all like 
 expressions, are the same as degradation. No deposed Minister 
 shall be restored to the Ministry, except in cases provided for in 
 the second Proviso of Section II. of Canon 6 of Title II. of the 
 Digest.f 
 
 [2.] Whenever a Clergyman shall be degraded, the Bishop who 
 pronounces sentence shall, without delay, give notice thereof to 
 every Minister and Vestry in the Diocese, and also to all the 
 Bishops of this Church, and where there is no Bishop, to the 
 Standing Committee. t 
 
 Canon 11. 
 
 Of the Remission or Modification of Judicial Sentences, 
 
 The Bishops of this Church, who are entitled to seats in the 
 House of Bishops, may altogether remit and terminate any judicial 
 sentence which may have been imposed, or may hereafter be im- 
 posed, by Bishops acting collectively as a judicial tribunal ; or 
 modify the same so far as to designate a precise period of time, or 
 other specific contingency, on the occurrence of which such sen- 
 tence shall utterly cease, and be of no further force or effect. Pro- 
 vided, that no such remission or modification shall be made except 
 at a meeting of the House of Bishops, during the session of some 
 General Convention, or at a special meeting of the said Bishops, 
 which shall be convened by the Presiding Bishop on the application 
 of any five Bishops ; three months' notice, in writing, of the time, 
 place, and object of the meeting, being given personally to each 
 
 * Canon iii., 184:7. t This paragraph was thus amended in 1862. 
 
 X Canon xxxix., 1832. 
 
 73
 
 mth II. Canon 12. § i., n. 
 
 Regulations respecting the Laity. 
 
 Bishop, or left at his usual place of abode. Provided, also, that 
 such remission or modification be assented to by a number of said 
 Bishopfe not less than a majority of the whole number entitled at 
 the time to seats in the House of Bishops ; and Provided, that 
 nothing herein shall be construed to repeal or alter Canon 10 of 
 this Title.* 
 
 Canon 12. 
 
 Regulations respecting the Laity, 
 
 § I. A communicant removing from one parish to another, shall 
 procure from the Kector (if any) of the Parish of his last residence, 
 or, if there be no Rector, from one of the Wardens, a certificate 
 stating that he or she is a communicant in good standing ; and the 
 Rector of the Parish or Congregation to which he or she removes 
 shall not be required to receive him or her as a communicant until 
 such letter be produced.! 
 
 § II. [1.] If any persons within this Church offend their brethren 
 by any wickedness of life, such persons shall be repelled from the 
 Holy Communion, agreeably to the rubric. 
 
 [2.] There being the provision in the second rubric before the 
 Communion Service requiring that every Minister repelling from 
 the Communion shall give an account of the same to the Ordinary, 
 it is hereby provided, that, on the information to the effect stated 
 being laid before the Ordinary, that is the Bishop, it shall not be 
 his duty to institute an inquiry, unless there be a complaint made 
 to him in writing by the repelled party, within three months from 
 such repulsion. But, on receiving complaint, it shall be the duty 
 of the Bishop, unless he think fit to restore him from the insuffi- 
 ciency of the cause assigned by the Minister, to institute an 
 inquiry as may be directed by the Canons of the Diocese in which 
 the event has taken place. And should no such Canon exist, the 
 
 * Canon ii., 1847. t Canon xiii., 1853. 
 
 74
 
 Canons 12. ^ n. 
 
 Regulations respecting the Laity, 
 
 Bishop shall proceed according to such principles of law and equity 
 as will insure an impartial decision. And the notice, given as 
 above by the Minister, shall be a sufficient presentation of the party 
 repelled.* 
 
 [3.] In case of great heinousness of offence on the part of mem- 
 bers of this Church, they may be proceeded against to the depriving 
 them of all privileges of Church membership, according to such 
 rules or process as may be provided by the General Convention ; 
 and until such rules or process shall be provided, by such as may 
 be provided by the different Diocesan Conventions.! 
 
 * This clause was thus amended in 1865. t Canon xlii., 1832. 
 
 75
 
 ®tll« III. Canon 1. § i., ii. 
 
 TITLE III 
 
 OF THE ORGANIZED BODIES AND OFFICERS OF THE 
 CHURCH. 
 
 Canon 1. 
 
 Of the General Convention,^ 
 
 § I. [1.] The right of calling special meetings of the General 
 Convention shall be in the Bishops. This right shall be exercised 
 by the Presiding Bishop, or, in case of his death, by the Bishop 
 who, according to the rules of the House of Bishops, is to preside 
 at the next General Convention ; Provided, that the summons shall 
 be with the consent, or on the requisition of, a majority of the 
 Bishops, expressed to him in writing. 
 
 [2.] The place of holding any Special Convention shall be that 
 fixed on by the preceding General Convention for the meeting of 
 the General Convention, unless circumstances shall render a meet- 
 ing at such a place unsafe ; in which case, the Presiding Bishop 
 may appoint some other place. 
 
 [3.] The Deputies elected to the preceding General Convention 
 shall be the Deputies at such special Convention, unless in those 
 cases in which other Deputies shall have been chosen in the mean 
 time by any of the Diocesan Conventions, and then such other 
 Deputies shall represent in the Special Convention the Church of 
 the Diocese in which they have been chosen.f 
 
 § II. [1.] The journals, files, papers, reports, and other docu- 
 ments, which, under Canon 15 of Title L, entitled. Of Securing an 
 Accurate View of the State of the Church, or in any other manner, 
 shall become the property of either House of the General Con- 
 
 * See Constitution, Articles I., II., and III. t Canon xlix., 1832. 
 
 76
 
 Canon 1. § m., iv. 
 
 Of the General Convention, 
 
 vention of this Church, shall be committed to the keeping of a 
 Presbyter to be elected by the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, 
 upon nomination of the House of Bishops, who shall be known as 
 the Registrar of the General Convention. 
 
 [2.] It shall be the duty of the said Registrar to procure all such 
 journals, files, papers, reports, and other documents now in ex- 
 istence ; to arrange, label, file, index, and otherwise put in order, 
 and provide for the safe keeping of, the same, and all such others 
 as may hereafter come into his possession, in fire-proof box or 
 boxes, in some safe and accessible place of deposit, and to hold the 
 same under such regulations and restrictions as the General Con- 
 vention may from time to time provide. 
 
 [3.] It shall be the duty of the said Registrar to procure a proper 
 and sufiicient book of record, and to enter therein a record of the 
 consecrations of all the Bishops of this Church, designating accu- 
 rately the time and place of the same, with the names of the 
 consecrating Bishops, and of others present and assisting ; to have 
 the same authenticated in the fullest manner now practicable ; and 
 to take care for the similar record and authentication of all future 
 consecrations in this Church. 
 
 [4.] The expenses necessary for the purposes contemplated by 
 this Section shall be provided for by vote of the General Con- 
 vention, and defrayed by the Treasurer of the same.* 
 
 § III. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the House of 
 Clerical and Lay Deputies, whenever any alteration of the Consti- 
 tution is proposed, or any other subject submitted to the consi- 
 deration of the several Diocesan Conventions, to give a particular 
 notice thereof to the Ecclesiastical Authority of this Church in 
 every Diocese. f 
 
 § IV. At every triennial meeting of the General Convention, a 
 
 Treasurer shall be chosen, who shall remain in office until the next 
 
 stated Convention, and until a successor be appointed. It shall be 
 
 his duty to receive and disburse all moneys collected under the 
 
 * Canon, iv., 1853. t Canon i., 1832. 
 
 77
 
 ^iih III. Canon 2. § i., ii. 
 
 Of Standing Committees. 
 
 authority of the Convention, and of which the collection and dis- 
 bursement shall not otherwise be regulated ; and to invest, from 
 time to time, for the benefit of the Convention, such surplus funds 
 as he may have on hand. His account shall be rendered trien- 
 nially to the Convention, and shall be examined by a Committee 
 acting under its authority. In case of a vacancy in the office of 
 Treasurer, it shall be supplied by an appointment to be made by 
 the Ecclesiastical Authority of the Diocese to which he belonged ; 
 and the person so appointed shall continue to act until an appoint- 
 ment be made by the Convention.* 
 
 § V. In order that the contingent expenses of the General Con- 
 vention may be defrayed, it shall be the duty of the several Diocesan 
 Conventions to forward to the Treasurer of the General Convention, 
 two dollars for each clergyman within such Diocese. f 
 
 Canon 2. 
 
 Of Standing Committees. 
 
 § 1. In every Diocese there shall be a Standing Committee, to 
 be appointed by the Convention thereof, whose duties, except so far 
 as provided for by the Canons of the General Convention, may be 
 prescribed by the Canons of the respective Dioceses. They shall 
 elect from their own body a President and a Secretary. They may 
 meet on their own adjournment from time to time ; and the Pre- 
 sident shall have power to summon special meetings whenever he 
 shall deem it necessary. 
 
 § II. In every Diocese where there is a Bishop, the Standing 
 
 Committee shall be a Council of Advice to the Bishop. They shall 
 
 be summoned on the requisition of the Bishop, whenever he shall 
 
 wish for their advice. And they may meet of their own accord, and 
 
 • Canon i., 1841. f Canon viii., 1856. 
 
 78
 
 Canon 3. § i.-m. 
 
 Of the Trustees of the Missionary Bishops' Fund. 
 
 agreeably to their own rules, when they may be disposed to advise 
 the Bishop. 
 
 § III. When there is no Bishop, the Standing Committee is the 
 Ecclesiastical Authority for all purposes declared in these Canons.* 
 
 Canon 3. 
 
 Of the Trustees of the Missionary Bishops' Fund. 
 
 § I. It shall be the duty of the General Convention, at each 
 triennial session, on the nomination of the Standing Committee on 
 the State of the Church, to appoint five laymen of this Church 
 to constitute a Board of Trustees of the Missionary Bishops' Fund. 
 
 § II. It shall be the duty of such Trustees to take charge of all 
 contributions of money or real estate which may be made to them, 
 and accompanied by designation from the donors thereof, for any 
 or either of the purposes herein specified, viz. : — 
 
 [1.] For the present support of any Missionary Bishop of this 
 Church. 
 
 [2.] For investment, the interest or proceeds to be applied to 
 such present support. 
 
 [3.] For the support of Bishops of this Church in new Dioceses, 
 or in regions in which the Church is not yet organized. 
 
 [4.] For the endowment of the Episcopate in new Dioceses, or 
 in regions in which the Church is not organized. 
 
 § III. All contributions, the disposition of which may not have 
 been designated by the donors, shall be applied by the said Board 
 of Trustees according to their discretion, for the above-named 
 objects, until the direction of the General Convention in the pre- 
 mises. 
 
 * Canon iv., 1832. 
 
 79
 
 CifU III. Canon 4. 
 
 Of the Trustees of the General Theological Semiiiary, 
 
 § IV. All moneys received by either of the Missionary Com- 
 mittees of the Board of Missions specifically for either of the pur- 
 poses designated in this Canon, shall be paid over to the Treasurer 
 of the Board of Trustees hereby constituted, accompanied by a 
 statement of the directions of the donors. 
 
 § V. The Board of Trustees, hereby constituted, shall appoint a 
 Treasurer, who shall keep fair accounts of all the receipts and ex- 
 penditures of the Board. These accounts shall at all times be 
 open to the inspection of any Bishop of this Church, or of any 
 accountant appointed for the purpose by any three Bishops of this 
 Church. The Board shall have power to make all necessary dis- 
 bursements in the discharge of their trust. 
 
 § VI. The Board shall make a triennial report to the House of 
 Clerical and Lay Deputies on the third day of the session of the 
 General Convention ; and shall accompany their report with an 
 account of their receipts and disbursements during the last three 
 years. It shall be the duty of the House to refer such account to a 
 committee to be audited. 
 
 § VII. Such Trustees are hereby empowered to procure an act of 
 incorporation for the purposes and objects specified in this Canon.* 
 
 Canon 4. 
 
 Of the Trustees of the General Theological Seminary. 
 
 It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Convention of every 
 Diacese to forward to the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, at 
 every General Convention, a certificate of the nomination, by the 
 Diocese, of a Trustee or Trustees for the General Theological 
 Seminary ; and without such certificate the nomination shall not 
 be confirmed.! 
 
 * Canon ii., 1853. t Canon i., 1847. 
 
 80
 
 Canon 5. § i.-iii. 
 
 Of Congregations and Parishes, 
 
 Canon 5. 
 
 Of Congregations and Parishes, 
 
 § I. Whereas a question may arise whetlier a Congregation 
 within the Diocese of any Bishop, or within any Diocese in which 
 there is not yet any Bishop settled, may unite themselves with the 
 Church in any other Diocese, it is hereby determined and declared, 
 that all such unions shall be considered as irregular and void; 
 and that every congregation of this Church shall be considered as 
 belonging to the body of the Church of the Diocese within the 
 limits of which they dwell, or within which there is seated a 
 Church to which they belong. And no Clergyman, having a 
 Parish or Cure in more than one Diocese, shall have a seat in the 
 Convention of any Diocese other than that in which he resides.* 
 
 § II. [1.] The ascertainment and defining of the boundaries of 
 existing Parishes or Parochial Cures, as well as the establishment 
 of a new Church or Congregation, and forming a new Parish 
 within the limits of any other Parish, is left to the action of the 
 several Diocesan Conventions, for the Dioceses respectively. 
 
 [2.] Until a Canon or other regulation of a Diocesan Convention 
 shall have been adopted, the formation of new Parishes, or estab- 
 lishment of new Churches or Congregations within the limits of 
 other Parishes, shall be vested in the Bishop of the Diocese acting 
 by and with the advice and consent of the Standing Committee 
 thereof; and in case of there being no Bishop, in the ecclesiastical 
 authority. 
 
 [3.] Nothing contained in this Section shall affect any legal 
 rights of property of any Parish .t 
 
 § III. [1.] It shall be lawful for persons belonging to this 
 Church, but resident in any foreign country (other than Great 
 Britain and Ireland and the Colon jes and dependencies thereof), 
 * Canon xliii., 1832. t Canon of 1859. 
 
 81 G
 
 ®itfe III. Canon 6. § i. 
 
 Of the Organization of New Dioceses. 
 
 not within the limits of any Foreign Missionary Bishop of this 
 Church, to organize as a Church or Congregation. 
 
 [2.] Such Church or Congregation shall be required, in its con- 
 stitution, or plan, or articles of organization, to recognize and 
 accede to the Constitution, Canons, Doctrine, Discipline and 
 Worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States 
 of America, in order to its being received under the direction of 
 the General Convention of this Church. 
 
 [3.] In order to such reception, it shall be required to declare 
 its desire therefor, duly certified by the Minister, one Church 
 Warden, and two Vestrymen or Trustees of said Church or Con- 
 gregation. 
 
 [4.] Such certificate and the constitution, plan or articles of 
 organization shall be submitted to the General Convention during 
 its session, or to the Presiding Bishop of the House of Bishops 
 at any other time ; and in case the same are found satisfactory, a 
 certificate thereof shall be forwarded to and filed by the Registrar 
 of the Church, and such Church or Congregation shall thereupon 
 become subject to and placed under the Episcopal government and 
 jurisdiction of such Presiding Bishop for the time being. 
 
 [5.] Such Presiding Bishop may from time to time assign to 
 any other Bishop of this Church having jurisdiction in the United 
 States, the exercise of any Episcopal power or functions, in relation 
 to such Church or Congregation, for such period of time as he may 
 deem expedient. 
 
 [6.] The Clergyman settled in such Church or Congregation 
 shall, in all respects, be subject to the jurisdiction of the Presiding 
 Bishop, while in charge of such Church or Congregation.* 
 
 Canon 6. 
 
 Of the Organization of New Dioceses. \ 
 § 1. Whenever any new Diocese shall be formed within the 
 
 * Canon of 1859. f See the Constitution, Article V., 1856. 
 
 82
 
 Canon 7. 
 
 0/ the Requisites of a Quorum, 
 
 limits of any other Diocese, or by the junction of two or more 
 Dioceses, or parts of Dioceses, and the same shall have been ratified 
 by the General Convention, the Bishop of the Diocese within the 
 limits of which another is formed, or in case of the junction of 
 two or more Dioceses or parts of Dioceses, the Bishop of eldest 
 consecration over the Dioceses furnishing portions of such new 
 Diocese, shall thereupon call the Primary Convention of the new 
 Diocese, for the purpose of enabling it to organize, and shall fix 
 the time and place of holding the same, such place being within 
 the territorial limits of the new Diocese. 
 
 § II. In case there should be no Bishop who can call such 
 Primary Convention pursuant to the foregoing provisions, then the 
 duty of calling such Convention for the purpose of organizing, and 
 the duty of fixing the time and place of its meeting, shall be vested 
 in the Standing Committee of the eldest of the Dioceses by the 
 junction of which, or parts of which, the new Diocese may be 
 formed. And such Standing Committee shall make such call 
 immediately after the ratification of a division by the General 
 Convention. 
 
 § III. Whenever one Diocese is about to be divided into two 
 Dioceses, the Convention of such Diocese shall declare which por- 
 tion thereof is to be the new Diocese, and shall make the same 
 known to the General Convention before the ratification of such 
 division.* 
 
 Canon 7. 
 
 Of the Requisites of a Quorum, 
 
 In all cases in which a Canon of the General Convention directs 
 duty to be performed, or a power to be exercised, by a Standing 
 
 * Canon viii., 1838. 
 
 83
 
 Citk III. Canon 7. 
 
 Of the Requisites of a Quorum. 
 
 Committee, or by tlie Clerical Members thereof, or by any other 
 body consisting of several members, a majority of the said mem- 
 bers, the whole having been duly cited to meet, shall be a quorum ; 
 and a majority of the quorum so convened shall be competent to 
 act, unless the contrary is expressly required by the Canon.* 
 
 Canon of 1865. 
 
 84
 
 Canons 1 and 2. 
 
 TITLE IV. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 
 
 Canon 1. 
 
 Of Repealed Canons. 
 
 Whenever there shall be a repealing clause in any Canon, and 
 the said Canon shall be repealed, such repeal shall not be a re- 
 enactment of the Canon or Canons repealed by the said repealing 
 clause.* 
 
 Canon 2. 
 
 Of the Repeal, Amendment, and Enactment of New Canons, 
 
 In all cases of future enactment, the same, if by way of amend- 
 ment of an existing provision, shall be in the following form : 
 
 *' Canon (or Section of Canon , or Clause of 
 
 Section of Canon ) of Title , is hereby amended so 
 
 as to read as follows." And if the enactment is of an additional 
 Clause, Section, or Canon, it shall be designated as the next 
 Canon, or next Section, or next Clause, of a Canon, or Section, in 
 the order of numbering, of the Title to which the subject properly 
 belongs ; and if a Canon or Section or Clause be stricken out, the 
 existing numbering shall be retained, until a new edition of the 
 Canons be directed. 
 
 The Committee on Canons of each House of the General Con- 
 vention shall, at the close of each Session of the General Con- 
 vention, appoint two of their number to certify the changes, if any^ 
 
 * Canon xi., 1838. 
 
 85
 
 mih IV. Canon 3. 
 
 Of the Time of these Canons taking Effect. 
 
 made in the Canons, and to report the same, with the proper 
 arrangement thereof, to the Secretary, who shall print the same 
 in the Journal.* 
 
 Canon 3. 
 
 Of the Time of these Canons taking Effect, 
 
 These Canons shall take eifect on the first day of January, in 
 the year of our Lord 1860 ; from and after which day all other 
 Canons of this Church are hereby, and shall be deemed to be, re- 
 pealed ; Provided, that such repeal shall not affect any case of a 
 violation of existing Canons committed before that date ; but such 
 case shall be governed by the same law as if no such repeal had 
 taken place. t 
 
 * Canon of 1839. f Canon of 1869. 
 
 86
 
 %ittBhtwn hx 1859. 
 
 WILLIAM MEADE, D.D., Presiding in the House of Bishops. 
 
 Attest, L. P. W. Balch, D.D., Secretary, 
 WILLIAM CREIGHTON, D.D., President of the House of 
 Clerical and Lay Deputies. 
 
 Attest, M. A. De Wolfe Howe, D.D., Secretary. 
 
 %ihBMxon iox 1862. 
 
 JOHN H. HOPKINS, D.D., LL.D., Presiding in the House 
 of Bishops. 
 
 Attest, L. P. W. Balch, D.D., Secretary. 
 
 JAMES CRAIK, D.D., President of the House of Clerical and 
 Lay Deputies. 
 
 Attest, George M. Randall, D.D., Secretary, 
 
 %iknMion fox 1865. 
 
 JOHN H. HOPKINS, D.D., LL.D., Presiding Bishop. 
 
 Attest, L. P. W. Balch, D.D., Secretary. 
 JAMES CRAIK, D.D., President of the House of Clerical and 
 Lay Deputies. 
 
 Attest, George M. Randall, D.D., Secretary, 
 
 87
 
 Appendix. 
 
 ^ppmirk.' 
 
 Joint Resolution of the Two Houses of General Convention 
 on the duty of the Clergy of this Church in the matter of bearing 
 arms : — 
 
 Resolved f That it is the sense of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 in the United States of America, that it is incompatible with the 
 duty, position, and sacred calling of the Clergy of this Church, to 
 bear arms. 
 
 Explanatory Note, by the House of Clerical and Lay De- 
 puties : — 
 
 The spirit and intent of this Resolution do not extend to the 
 office of Chaplain in either branch of the Military Service, nor to 
 that of Professor or Instructor in any Military or Naval Academy. 
 The duties of these offices are civil, and entirely compatible with 
 the duties of the Sacred Ministry. 
 
 * Appendix and Explanatory Note ordered in 1865. 
 
 88
 
 latkj^ 10 tl^t ^xQtBi. 
 
 CitU I. — Of the Ministry, Doctrine, and Worship. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Canon I. — Of the Orders of Ministry in this Chu7'ch ... ... 9 
 
 Canon 2. — Of the Admission of Caiididates for Holy Orders. 
 
 § I. — Who are deemed Candidates ... ... ... ... 9 
 
 §11. — Notice of Intention ... ... ... ... ... 9 
 
 §111. — To whom Application must be made ... ... ... 10 
 
 § IV. — Certificate from Standing Committee ... ... ... 10 
 
 § V. — Habit of Devotion ... ... ... ... ... 10 
 
 § VI. — Admission and Record ... ... ... ... 11 
 
 § VII. — Canons apply to Candidates from all parts of the United States ii 
 § VIII. — Application by a Minister of another Denomination. 
 
 [i.] Notice and Certificate ... ... ... ... 11 
 
 [2.] Testimonials required ... ... ... ... 12 
 
 § IX. — Such Application by one not a Citizen ... ... ... 12 
 
 § X. — And to Officiate in a Foreign Language ... ... ... 12 
 
 Canon 3. — Of Admitted Caiididates. 
 
 § I. — Supervision of Candidates ... ... ... ... 13 
 
 §11. — Candidates acting as Lay Readers ... ... ... 13 
 
 §111. — Candidates not eligible to General Convention ... ... 14 
 
 § IV. — Transfer of Candidates to another Diocese ... ... 14 
 
 § V. — No Transfer without (5(?«a_;?i/^ Cause ... ... ... 14 
 
 Canon 4. — General Provisions and Requisites for Ordination. 
 
 § I. — Previous Application in another Diocese ... ... ... 14 
 
 §11. — Age for Ordination ... ... ... ... ... 15 
 
 Period of Remaining a Deacon ... ... ... ... 15 
 
 §111. — Candidates from Vacant Dioceses ... ... ... 15 
 
 § IV. — Ordination of one to officiate without the Jurisdiction of the 15 
 
 United States ... ... ... ... ... 15 
 
 § V. — Liability of Presenting Clergjonan ... ... ... 15 
 
 § VI. — Times of Ordination ... ... ... ... ... 16 
 
 Canon 5. — Examination aiid Testimonials for Deacon^ s Orders, 
 and Ordination. 
 
 § I. — Examination by Bishop and Presbyters ... ... ... 16 
 
 §11. — [i.] Period of Candidateship ... ... ... ... 16 
 
 [2.] Testimonial from at least one Rector ... ... 16 
 
 §111. — Testimonials from Standing Committee ... ... ... 17 
 
 § IV. — Testimonials to Standing Committee ... ... ... 17 
 
 § V. — Substitute for Testimonials from Minister and Vestry ... 18 
 
 § VI. — Examinations of Candidates, Ministers in other Denominations 18 
 
 § VII, — Candidate not a Citizen ... ... ... ... 18 
 
 Canon 6. — Of Deacons. 
 
 § I. — Deacons subject to Control of Bishop, &c. ... ... 19 
 
 §11. — [i.] Restrictions upon Settlement ... ... ... 19 
 
 [2.] And upon Officiating ... ... ... ... 19 
 
 § III. — No Transfer to another Diocese without Request of Bishop ... 19 
 
 89
 
 Index to the Digest. 
 
 ^ith !• — Of the Ministry, Doctrine, and Wobqrip {Continued). 
 
 Canon 7. — 0/ Candidates for Priesfs Orders^ and their Ordina- 
 tion. 
 
 § I. — Examinations, when to be applied for ... ... ... 20 
 
 § II. — [i.] Admission of Deacons as Candidates for Priest's Orders 20 
 [2.] Admission of Candidates for Deacon's Orders as Candi- 
 dates for Priest's Orders ... ... ... ... 20 
 
 §111. — Qualifications — Diploma or Certificate ... ... ... 20 
 
 § IV. — Dispensation from Latin, Greek, and Hebrew ... ... 20 
 
 %-S!,—\Repealed.'\ 
 § VI. — Period of Previous Study allowed to one who has been a Can- 
 didate in another Denomination ... ... ... 21 
 
 § VII. — [i.] The Three Examinations for Priest's Orders ... ... 21 
 
 Sermons, Exercises in Reading, and Delivery ... ... 22 
 
 [2.] Examinations may be before or after admission to Deacon's 
 
 Orders ... ... ... ... ... 22 
 
 No Repetition of Examinations ... ... ... 22 
 
 [§ VIII. — Appointment of, and Certificate by, Examining Presbyters ... 22 
 
 Bishop's Examination ... ... ... ... ... 22 
 
 § IX. — Standing Committee, when to appoint Examiners ... ... 22 
 
 Re-examination in such Case by Bishop ... ... ... 22 
 
 § X. — Title for Orders requisite ... ... ... ... 22 
 
 § XI. — Learning of Priests — Dispensation ... ... ... 23 
 
 § XII. — Testimonials from Standing Committee ... ... •••23 
 
 § XIII. — Testimonials to Standing Committee from Minister and Vestry 24 
 
 Personal Testimonial ... ... ... ... ... 24 
 
 Substitution allowed ... ... ... ... ... 24 
 
 § XIV. — Alteration as to Time in case of a Deacon ordained such within 
 
 three Years ... ... ... ... ...2^ 
 
 Canon 8. — Of Ministers Officiating in a Foreign Language ... 25 
 
 Canon 9. — Of the Admission of Ministers ordained by Bishops 
 
 not in Communion with this Church ... ... 25 
 
 Canon 10. — Of Ministers Ordained in Foreign Countries by 
 Bishops in Cotnmunion with this Church. 
 
 § I. — Certificate requisite before Officiating ... ... ... 26 
 
 Letter Dimissory .. ... ... ... ... 27 
 
 Subscription, and one Year's Residence ... ... ... 27 
 
 §11. — Foreign Deacons ... ... ... ... ... 27 
 
 Canon ii. — Of Persons not Miftisters Officiating. 
 
 § I. ^ — Evidence of being a Minister to be furnished ... ... 27 
 
 §11. — The Consent necessary for Officiating transiently ... ... 28 
 
 Canon 12. — General Regulations of Ministers^ and their Duties. 
 
 § I.— [l.] Of Election and Institution ... ... ... 28. 
 
 Certificate of Election ... ... ... 28 
 
 90
 
 Index to the Digest. 
 
 CitU I. — Of the Ministry, Doctrine, and Wousbip (Continued). 
 Canon 12 — General Regulations of Ministers^ etc. (Continued). 
 
 PAGE 
 § I. — {Continued). 
 
 [2.] Certificate to be transmitted for Record 
 [3,] Concerning Institution 
 § II. — Certificate to Minister removing from one Diocese to another 
 §111. — Alms and Contributions 
 §IV. ; — Duty on Episcopal Visitations ... 
 
 [l.] One Month's Notice to be given 
 
 List of Names of Persons Confirmed 
 [2. ] Information to be given of the State of the Congi-egation 
 [3.] Parochial Reports 
 § V. — [i.] Parish Register to be kept 
 [2.] Register of Baptisms 
 [3.] List of Families ... 
 § VI. — [i,] Officiating of Ministers within the Cures of others 
 [2.] Parish Boundaries, not otherwise defined 
 [3.] Neglect of Minister to officiate 
 [4.] Rights of Property undisturbed 
 § VII. — [i.] Of Clerical Residence and Removal 
 Form of Letter Dimissory ... 
 [2.] When such Letter shall affect Canonical Residence 
 
 When void 
 [3.] When the Bishop may refuse to receive a Letter Dimissory 
 [4.] When Letters Dimissory are not required 
 
 Canon 13. — Of Bishops. 
 
 § I. — [i.] Election of Bishops 
 
 Six Presbyters and Six Parishes 
 Two or more Dioceses uniting 
 [2.] What is a Settlement 
 § II. — [i.] Certificates to be produced by the Bishop elect 
 Testimony from Diocesan Convention 
 Testimony from House of Clerical and Lay Deputies 
 [2.] Consecration 
 §111. — [i.] Consecration during Recess 
 
 Consent of Standing Committees 
 Consent of Bishops 
 [2. ] Evidence of such Consent ... 
 
 No Consecration within Six months of General Conven 
 tion 
 § IV. — Canonical Age for Consecration 
 § V. — Assistant Bishop 
 
 No Suffragan Bishop ... 
 § VI. — Provisional Bishop 
 
 Provisional to become Assistant Bishop on the Restoration of 
 Suspended Diocesan 
 § Vn. — Domestic Missionary Bishops 
 
 [i.] Mode and Evidence of Election 
 [2.] Exercise of Episcopal Functions 
 
 Extent of Jurisdiction 
 [3.] Death, Resignation, or other Vacancy 
 
 91
 
 Index to the Digest. 
 
 f^ 
 
 %iih !• — Of the Ministry, Doctrine, and Worship (Confmtteci). 
 Canon 13. — 0/ Bishops (Continued). 
 
 PAGE 
 
 %'SIl\.— {Continued). 
 
 [4]. Jurisdiction over Clergy ... ... ... ... 37 
 
 Mode of Presenting and Tiying Clergy ... ... 37 
 
 [5.] Entitled to a seat in the House of Bishops ... ... 37 
 
 Eligible as a Diocesan ... ... ... .-.37 
 
 Power upon the Organization of a Diocese ... ... 37 
 
 "6.] Power to appoint a Standing Committee ... ... 38 
 
 ^7.] Must Report to General Convention and to the Board of 
 
 Missions ... ... ... ... ... 3^ 
 
 § Vin. — Foreign Missionaiy Bishops. 
 
 [i.] Mode and Evidence of Election ... ... ... 3^ 
 
 [2.] Limitation of Jurisdiction ... ... ... ... 38 
 
 Shall have a Seat in the House of Bishops ... ... 39 
 
 Restriction upon Eligibility as a Diocesan ... ... 39 
 
 [3.] Mode of Presenting and Trying such Bishops ... ... 39 
 
 [4.] Power to Ordain Deacons or Presbyters ... ... 39 
 
 Testimonials necessary in such Case ... ... 39 
 
 Proviso ... ... ... ... ... ... 39 
 
 f5.] Power of Dispensation ... ... ... .•• 39 
 
 [6. ] Jurisdiction over resident Missionaries or Clergymen ... 40 
 
 [7.] May appoint a Standing Committee ... ... ... 40 
 
 [8. ] Trial of Ministers ... ... ... ... 40 
 
 [9.] Constitution of the Court ... ... ... ... 41 
 
 [10.] The Sentence ... ... ... ... ... 41 
 
 [11.] Report must be made to General Convention and Board 
 
 of Missions ... ... ... ... ... 41 
 
 § IX, — Election of a Missionary Bishop as a Diocesan. 
 
 [ I. I Concurrence of General Convention ... ... ... 41 
 
 [2.] Consent of Bishops and Standing Committee during 
 
 Recess ... ... ... ... ... 42 
 
 Notice of Election to be given ... ... ... 42 
 
 § X. — Episcopal Charges and Pastoral Letters ... ... ... 42 
 
 § XL — Episcopal Visitations. 
 
 [i.] Visitation at least once in three Years ... ... 42 
 
 Declining to Visit ... ... ... ... 42 
 
 Council of Conciliation ... ... ... ... 43 
 
 '2.3 Clergy to supply Bishop's Parish when he is a Rector ... 44 
 
 ^3.] Expenses of Visitation to be defrayed by the Diocese ... 43 
 ^4.] Register of Episcopal Acts ... ... ... •.•43 
 
 § XIL — Of Episcopal Residence ... ... ... ... 43 
 
 § Xni. — Of Bishops temporarily absent from their Dioceses ... 43 
 
 § XIV. — Forms of Prayer or Thanksgiving for extraordinary Occasions 44 
 
 § XV. — Performance of Episcopal Duties in vacant Dioceses, &c ... 44 
 
 [i. j Upon Invitation of the Convention or Standing Committee 44 
 
 Invitation temporary and revocable ... ... ... 44 
 
 [2.] Full Charge of another Bishop, by Act of the Convention 44 
 
 [3. ] Only one such Bishop at a Time ... ... • • • 45 
 
 § XVI. — Episcopal Resignations. 
 
 f I.] Desire to resign, to be made known to the House of 
 
 Bishops ... ... ... ... ... 45 
 
 Investigation may be made ... ... ... 45 
 
 92
 
 Index to the Digest. 
 
 Citl^ I. — Of THE Ministry, Doctrine, and Worship {Continued). 
 Canon 13. — Of Bishops (Continued). 
 
 § y>Nl.— {Continued). 
 
 [2.] House of Bishops may accept or refuse the Resignation 
 • [3.] Resignation during Recess ... 
 The iiishops to meet 
 Mode in which they are to act 
 [4.] Resigned Bishop not ehgible to a Diocese 
 [5.] Bishops without Charge subject to General Convention 
 [6. J Resignation of suspended Bishop 
 § XVII. — Vacancy in Missionary Jurisdiction during the Recess, 
 [i.] House of Bishops to meet and elect ... 
 
 Standing Committees and Bishops to consent . . . 
 [2.] Form of the Consent of Standing Committees 
 [3.] Rights of Missionary Bishops thus Consecrated 
 
 PAGE 
 
 45 
 45 
 46 
 46 
 46 
 46 
 47 
 
 47 
 47 
 48 
 48 
 
 Canon 14. — Of a List of the Mi7iisters of this Church. 
 
 § I. — The Secretary of the Lower House to keep a Register ... 48 
 
 Diocesan Lists to be delivered to him ... ... ... 48 
 
 §11. — Notification of all admitted Ministers 
 
 Canon 15. — Of the Mode of securing an accu7'ate View of the State 
 of the Church. 
 § I. — Parochial Reports to be made ... 
 Clerg)^men not settled shall report 
 § II. — The Bishop's Address at Convention 
 § III. — Committee on the State of the Church 
 
 Pastoral Letter from the House of Bishops 
 To be read to every Congregation 
 § IV. — Duty of Diocesan Secretaries to forward Documents 
 § V. — Recommendation of a Tabular View of Parochial and Dio 
 
 cesan Statistics 
 § VI. — Church Schools, Colleges, Hospitals, and Asylums to report 
 annually ... 
 To be included in Triennial Tabular View 
 
 49 
 
 49 
 49 
 50 
 SO 
 SO 
 50 
 SO 
 
 50 
 
 51 
 51 
 
 Canon i6. — Of Publishing authorized Editions of the Standard 
 
 Bible ... ... ... ... ... ... 51 
 
 Canon 17. — Of Publishing Editions of the Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 § 1. — Certificate of Correction by one or more Presbyters ... 52 
 
 § IL —What is the Standard Edition ... ... ... ... 52 
 
 Canon 18. — Of the due Celebration of Suiidays ... ... ... 52 
 
 Canon 19. — Of Parochial Instruction ... ... ... ••• 53 
 
 Canon 20. — Of the Use of the Book of Common Prayer ... ... 53 
 
 ^3
 
 Index to the Digest. 
 
 ^xth II- — Of Discipline. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Canon i. — Of Amenability and Citations. 
 
 § I. — To whom Ministers are amenable ... ... ... 54 
 
 §11. — Mode of serving Citations ... ... ... ... 54 
 
 § III.— Of Notices in General ... ... ... ... ... 54 
 
 Canon 2. — Of Offences for which Ministers may be Tried and 
 Punished. 
 
 § I. — Enumeration of Punishable Offences ... ... ... 55 
 
 §11. — Proceedings on Public Rumor ... ... ... ... 55 
 
 Three kinds of Punishment ... ... ... ••• 55 
 
 Canon 3. — Of a Clergyman in one Diocese chargeable with Misde- 
 mea7ior in another. 
 
 § I. — Notice to Authority of Offender's Diocese ... ... 55 
 
 Proceedings on a Neglect to Act ... ... ... 56 
 
 §11. — The Bishop may admonish and forbid Officiating ... ... 56 
 
 Notice of Prohibition to be given ... ... ... 56 
 
 Pi-ohibition to continue until the Bishop be satisfied, or the 
 
 Clergyman acquitted on Trial ... ... ... 56 
 
 § III. — The same course to be pursued with Clergymen ordained in 
 
 Foreign Countries ... ... ... ... 56 
 
 Notice of Prohibition to be given ... ... ... 56 
 
 Canon 4. — Of the Dissoliitio7i of a Pastoral Co7inection. 
 
 § I. — No Dismissal of settled Minister without the Concurrence of 
 
 the Ecclesiastical Authority ... ... ... 57 
 
 No Minister to leave without such Concurrence ... ... 57 
 
 Deprivation of Seat in Convention in either Case ... ... 57 
 
 §11. — Record to be made of Regular Dissolution ... ... 57 
 
 Dissolutions not regular, to be laid before Convention ... 57 
 
 This Canon not obligatory in certain Dioceses ... ... 57 
 
 Canon 5. — Of Renunciation of the Mitiistry. 
 
 § I. — Reunciation when no Ecclesiastical Proceeding is pending ... 58 
 
 Renunciation to be recorded ... ... ... ... 58 
 
 The Bishop to depose, in presence of Clergymen ... ... 58 
 
 § II. — When the Bishop of another Diocese may sentence ... 58 
 
 § III. — The Bishop may suspend Action for Six Months ... ... 58 
 
 § IV. — Renunciation under Liability to Presentment ... ... 58 
 
 The Trial may proceed ... ... ... ... 58 
 
 § V. — Notice of Deposition to be sent to every Diocese ... ... 58 
 
 Canon 6. — Of the Abandoiimetit of the Communion of this Church 
 
 by a Presbyter or Deaco7i. 
 
 § I. — Abandonment without Renunciation ... ... •••59 
 
 To be certified by the Standing Committee ... ... 59 
 
 Notice to be given to the Minister concerned ... ... 59 
 
 §11. — Deposition after Six Months ... ... ... ... 59. 
 
 Proviso, of Retraction ... ... ... ... •••59
 
 Index to the Digest. 
 
 ^itle II. — Of Discipline (Continued), 
 
 Canon 6. — Of the Abandonment of the Communion^ ^/^. (Continued). 
 
 PAGE 
 § W.— {Continued). 
 
 Second Proviso, of a deposed Minister asking Restoration to 
 
 the Ministry ... ... ... ... ... 60 
 
 Consent of two other Bishops and the Standing Committee ... 60 
 
 Canon 7. — Of a Clergyman absejiting himself from his Diocese. 
 
 Absence for five Years, without satisfactory Reason, ground 
 
 of Suspension ... ... ... ... ... 60 
 
 How long the Suspension shall endure ... ... ... 6i 
 
 \ Notice of Suspension to be given to every Diocese ... 61 
 
 Canon 8. — Of the Abandonment of the Communion of the Church 
 by a Bishop. 
 Deposition ... ... ... ... ... .. 6i 
 
 Proceedings may be suspended on Retraction ... ... 62 
 
 Canon 9. — Of the Trial of a Bishop. 
 
 § I. — Enumeration of Offences for which a Bishop may be tried 
 §11. — Commencement of Proceedings ... 
 [" I,] Charges to be made in Writing 
 
 By whom Charges must be signed 
 [2.] A Bishop may demand a Trial, when there are Rumors 
 against him ... ... \ 
 
 On the Advice and Consent of any two Bishops whom he 
 may select 
 [3.] Accusers may choose a Lay Advocate and Agent 
 
 Reasonable Certainty of Time, Place, and Circumstance 
 § III. — Charges shall be delivered to the Presiding Bishop ... 
 § IV. — A Board of Inquiry 
 
 [i.] How the Board shall be constituted ... 
 [2.] Notice to the Members of the Board ... 
 Place of Meeting of the Board 
 Copy of Charges to be sent 
 [3. ] Organization of the Board ... 
 
 Church Advocate to be appointed 
 Duty of Church Advocate ... 
 Sittings of the Board to be private 
 [4. ] Duty of the Board of Inquiry 
 
 Rules of Evidence shall be those of the State in which the 
 
 Trial is had ... 
 A Majority of the Board present may make Present 
 
 nient 
 Copies of Presentment to be sent 
 Certificate of Refusal to Present 
 Such Certificate a Bar to future Presentment ... 
 Except on Affidavit of New Testimony 
 [7.] Offences more than five Years' old not Presentable 
 Except on Conviction in a State Court 
 
 95 
 
 M 
 
 62 
 62 
 62 
 62 
 
 62 
 
 62 
 63 
 63 
 63 
 63 
 63 
 64 
 64 
 64 
 64 
 64 
 64 
 64 
 64 
 
 64 
 
 64 
 
 65 
 65 
 65 
 65 
 65 
 65
 
 Index to the Digest. 
 
 CitU II. — Of Discipline (Continued). 
 
 Canon 9. — 0/f/ie Trial 0/ a Bishop (Continued). 
 
 PAGE 
 
 § V. — Course of Action upon Presentment 
 
 [i.] Notice to the Accused, and to the Church. Advocate, to 
 
 attend at the Selection of the Court ... ... 65 
 
 [2, ] Formation of the Court ... ... ... ... 66 
 
 Eleven reduced to Seven by striking off alternately ... 66 
 
 [3.] Notice to Members of the Court to attend ... ... 66 
 
 Appointment of Time and Place ... ... ... 66 
 
 Certified Copies of Presentment ... ... ... 67 
 
 [4.] Summons of the Accused ... ... .. ... 67 
 
 Any Bishop has power to summon Witnesses ... 67 
 
 § VI. — Course of Proceeding on the Trial ... ... ... 67 
 
 [ I.] Election of President and Clerk ... ... ... 67 
 
 Reading the Presentment ... ... ... ... 67 
 
 [2.] Calling on the Accused to Plead ... ... ... 67 
 
 Power to adjourn ... ... ... ... ... 67 
 
 Rights of the Accused ... ... ... ... 67 
 
 [3. ] Non-appearance of the Accused ... ... ... 67 
 
 Contumacy ... ... ... ... ... 68 
 
 Suspension or Degradation after three Months' Contumacy 68 
 
 [4, ] The Common Law the Rule of Proceeding ... ... 68 
 
 Declaration to be signed by Witnesses before Testifying 68 
 
 Commission to take Testimony ... ... ... 68 
 
 Appointment of Commissary to take Depositions ... 68 
 
 Cross-examination in such Cases ... ... ... 68 
 
 On what Conditions Depositions to be read ... ... 69 
 
 Civil Authority given to Ecclesiastical Courts ... ... 69 
 
 [5. ] Summoner to serve Notices and Papers ... ... 69 
 
 Certificate of Service ... ... ... ... 69 
 
 Mode of Service ... ... ... ... ... 69 
 
 [6. ] The Acccused may have Counsel ... ... ... 69 
 
 Counsel on either Side to be Communicants ... ... 69 
 
 [7.] Court to express an Opinion on each Charge and Specifi- 
 cation ... ... ... ... ... 69 
 
 [8. ] The Decision to be reduced to Writing and signed ... 70 
 
 [9.] The Accused to be heard before Sentence ... ... 70 
 
 The Court may grant a new Trial ... ... ... 70 
 
 [10.] Pronouncing Sentence ... ... ... ... 70 
 
 Sentence to be communicated to every Clergyman in 
 
 every Diocese ... ... ... ... 70 
 
 [11.] Record of Proceedings and Evidence ; ... 71 
 
 Exceptions and Papers filed, to be Part of the Record ... 71 
 
 [12.] Record to be kept by the Clerk ... ... ... 71 
 
 Attested by Signatures of President and Clerk ... 71 
 
 Deposited with Registrar of General Convention ... 71 
 
 Open to Inspection ... ... ... ... 7 1 
 
 [13.] Lay Advisers may be appointed ... ... ... 71 
 
 Their Office ... ... ... ... ... 71 
 
 § VII. — Proceedings on Charge of erroneous Doctrine ... ... 71 
 
 [i.[ Presentment to be made by any one Bishop ... ... 72 
 
 The Presenter shall appoint a Church Advocate ... 72 
 
 96
 
 Index to the Digest. 
 
 ^xth n. — Of Discipline (Continued) 
 
 Canon 9. — Of the Trial of a Bishop (Continued). 
 
 PAGE 
 %Nl\.—[Contimied). 
 
 [2. ] How the Presentment shall be signed, addressed, and de 
 livered 
 The Court to be composed of all the Bishops except Pre 
 senter and Accused 
 Two-thirds Vote necessary to convict 
 § VIII. — [i.] Proceedings against a Missionary Bishop 
 
 [2. ] Proceedings against a Bishop without Jurisdiction 
 
 72 
 
 Canon i o. — Of Sentences. — 
 
 § I. — Suspension must be limited by specific Terms or Time ... 72 
 § II. — Degradation, 
 
 [i.] Degradation not partial, but total ... ... ... 73 
 
 Deposition, Displacing, etc. , same as Degradation ... 73 
 
 No Restoration, except in one Case ... ... ... 73 
 
 [2.] Notice of Degradation to be given, and to whom ... 73 
 
 Canon i i.— Of the Remission or Modification of Judicial Sentences. 
 
 The Bishops may altogether remit or modify ... ... 73 
 
 Such Action to take Place only at General Convention, or 
 
 Meeting specially convened ... ... •••73 
 
 Majority of whole Number of Bishops must assent ... 74 
 
 Canon i 2. — Regulations Respecting the Laity. 
 
 § I. — Communicant removing shall procure a Certificate of Good 
 
 Standing ... ... ... ... •••74 
 
 Rector of Parish not required to receive a Communicant with- 
 out such Certificate ... ... ... •••74 
 
 § 11. — [i.] Scandalous Persons shall be repelled from the Holy Com- 
 munion ... ... ... ... ... 74 
 
 [2.] The Minister repelling shall inform the Ordinary ... 74 
 
 Inquiry to be made by the Bishop, on Complaint in 
 
 Writing ... ... ... ... ... 74 
 
 Case of the Absence of Diocesan Canon ... ... 74 
 
 [3.] Case of great Heinousness ... ... ... •••75 
 
 Deprivation of all Privileges of Church Membership ... 75 
 
 97
 
 Index to the Digest. 
 
 ^xth III.— Of the Organized Bodies and Officers of the 
 Church. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Canon i. — Of the Gcjieral Convention. 
 
 § I. — Special Meetings of General Convention. 
 
 [i,] To be called by the Presiding Bishop ... ... 76 
 
 On written Consent of a Majority of the Bishops ... 76 
 
 [2.] Place of Meeting ... ... ... ... ... 76 
 
 [3.] Who shall be Deputies at the Special Meeting ... 76 
 § II. — Registrar of General Convention. 
 
 [l.] To be a Presbyter ... ... ... ... 77 
 
 How Nominated and Elected .. ... ■••77 
 
 Shall have Charge of all Papers and Documents belonging 
 
 *" to either House of General Convention ... ... 77 
 
 "2. ] Duties of Registrar ... ... ... •••77 
 
 "3. ] Book of Record of the Consecrations of Bishops ... 77 
 
 '4.] Expenses of Registrar to be provided for ... •••77 
 
 §111. — When particular Notice shall be given to the Ecclesiastical 
 
 Authority of every Diocese ... ... ... • ■ • 77 
 
 § IV. — Treasurer of General Convention ... ... ... 77 
 
 His Duties ... ... ... ... ... ... 77 
 
 How a Vacancy shall be filled ... ... ... ... 78 
 
 § V. — How the Expenses of General Convention shall be met ... 78 
 
 Diocesan Ratio of Payment ... ... ... ... 78 
 
 Canon 2. — Of Standing Committees. 
 
 § I. — Standing Committee in every Diocese 
 Appointed by Diocesan Convention 
 Elect their own President and Secretary ... 
 The President to Summon Special Meetings 
 § II. — To act as the Bishop's Council of Advice 
 § III. — The Ecclesiastical Authority when there is no Bishop 
 
 Canon 3. — Of the Tritstees of the Missionary Bishops' Fund. 
 § I. — How the Board of Trustees shall be appointed 
 §11. — Duties of the Trustees 
 Objects of the Fund 
 
 ]i.] For Present Support of any Missionary Bishop 
 ]2.] For Investment, the interest to be applied as above 
 [3. ] For support of Bishops in New Dioceses 
 ^4. ] For Endowment of Episcopate in New Dioceses 
 § III. — Application of Contributions not designated 
 § IV. — Special Donations for the above Objects to be paid over to the 
 Treasurer of the Board 
 § V, — The Board shall appoint a Treasurer 
 
 Plis Accounts to be open to Inspection of any Bishop 
 § VI, — Triennial Report to General Convention ... 
 
 To be Presented on the Third Day of the Session ... 
 To be Referred to a Committee for Audit 
 § VII. — Trustees empowered to procure an Act of Incorporation 
 
 78 
 78 
 78 
 78 
 78 
 79 
 
 79 
 
 79 
 
 79 
 
 79 
 79 
 79 
 79 
 
 80 
 80 
 80 
 80 
 80 
 80 
 80 
 
 Canon 4. — Of the Trustees of the General Theological Seminary. 
 
 Nomination of Trustees not to be confirmed without Certificate 80 
 
 98
 
 Index to the Digest. 
 
 ^xiU in. — Of the Organized Bodies, etc. (Continued). 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Canon 5. — 0/ Congregations and Parishes. 
 
 § I. — Unions of Congregations in different Dioeeses irregular and 
 
 void ... .., ... ... ... ... 8i 
 
 No Clergyman to sit in two Diocesan Conventions ... ... 8i 
 
 § II. — Parish Boundaries and New Parishes 
 
 [i.] Left to the Diocesan Conventions ... ... ... 8i 
 
 [2.] Where Power is vested until Diocesan Conventions act ... 8i 
 
 [3.] Vested Rights preserved ... ... ... ... 8 1 
 
 § III. — Congregations in Foreign Lands. 
 
 [i.] Lawful to Organize ... ... ... ... 8i 
 
 [2.] Must recognize Constitution, &c. ... ... ... 82 
 
 [3.] Certificate of Desire to be received under Direction of the 
 
 General Convention ... ... ... ... 82 
 
 [4.] Certificate of Satisfaction to be filed by the Registrar ... 82 
 
 Jurisdiction of Presiding Bishop ... ... ... 82 
 
 [5.] Exercise of Jurisdiction may be assigned ... ... 82 
 
 [6.] Clergy in such Congregations subject to Jurisdiction of 
 
 Presiding Bishop ... ... ... ... 82 
 
 Canon 6. — Of the Organization of New Dioceses. 
 § I. — Who shall call the Primary Convention 
 Where shall be the Place of Meeting 
 § II. —Who shall call it, if there be no Bishop 
 When the Call shall be made 
 § III. — Case of the Division of a Diocese 
 
 Which Part shall be the New Diocese 
 
 82 
 83 
 83 
 83 
 83 
 83 
 
 Canon 7. — Of the Requisites of a Quorum. 
 
 A Majority is a Quorum ... ... ... • • • 83 
 
 Majority of Quorum competent to act ... ... ... 84 
 
 99
 
 Index to the Digest. 
 
 ^iih I^. — Miscellaneous Provisions. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Canon i. — Of Repealed Canons. 
 
 Repeal of Repeal, no Re-enactment ... ... ... 85 
 
 Canon 2. — Of the Repeal, Amendment, and Enact7nenf of New 
 Canons. 
 
 Form of Altering Canons ... ... ... •••85 
 
 Alterations in the Numbering of Canons ... ... • • • 85 
 
 Who are to certify Changes of Canons ... ... ... 85 
 
 Canon ^,— Of the Ti?ne of these Canojis taki?ig Effect. 
 
 January i, i860 ... ... ... ... ... 86 
 
 General Repeal of all other Canons ... ... ... 86 
 
 Joint Resolution of the two Houses of General Convention. 
 
 The Clergy not to bear Arms ... ... ... ... 88 
 
 But may be Chaplains, Professors, or Instructors ... ... 88 
 
 END OF INDEX TO THE DIGEST. 
 
 100
 
 REPORT I 
 
 OF 
 
 %l^t '^Kwxhti)^ €anftxz\\(t. 
 
 Report of the o mmittee appointed under Resolution V, by the Con- 
 ference of Bishops of the Anglican Communion, held at Lambeth 
 Palace, September M-27th, 1867.* 
 
 The subject of the functioDS and relations of the several Synods on 
 which the Committee is appointed to report appears to them to be 
 necessarily connected with questions as to the constitution of these 
 bodies. The following Keport, therefore, embraces the whole 
 subject of Synods. In discussing it, your Committee deem it 
 necessary to deal with the question in the abstract, without reference 
 to existing laws and usages in the several branches of the Anglican 
 Communion, and to lay down general principles, the adoption or 
 application of which must depend on circumstances, such, for ex- 
 ample, as the laws which any Church may have inherited or already 
 established. 
 
 I. — In the organization of Synodal order for the government of 
 the Church, the Diocesan Synod appears to be the primary and 
 simplest form of such organization. 
 
 By the Diocesan Synod the co-operation of all meml)ers of the 
 body is obtained in Church action ; and that acceptance of Church 
 rules is secured, which, in the absence of other law, usage, or 
 
 * Resolution IV.—" That, in the opinion of this Conference, unity in faith and 
 discipline will be best maintained among the several branches of the Anglican Com- 
 munion by due and canonical subordination of the Synods of the several branches to 
 the higher authority of a Synod or Synods above them." 
 
 Resolution v.— " That a Committee of seven members (with power to add to their 
 number, and to obtain the assistance of men learned in ecclesiastical and canon law) 
 be appointed to inquire into and report upon the subject of the relations and func- 
 tions of such Synods, and that such Report be forwarded to his Grace the Lord 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, with a request that, if possible, it may be communicated 
 to any adjourned meeting of this Conference." 
 
 101
 
 The Lambeth Conference, Eeport I. 
 
 enactment, gives to these rules the force of laws " binding on those 
 who, expressly or by imputation, have consented to them."* 
 
 For this reason, wherever the Church is not established by law, 
 it is, in the judgment of your Committee, essential to order and 
 good government that the Diocese should be organized by a Synod. 
 
 Your Committee consider that it is not at variance with the 
 ancient principles of the Church, that both Clergy and Laity should 
 attend the Diocesan Synod, and that it is expedient that the Synod 
 should consist of the Bishop and Clergy of the Diocese, with Eepre- 
 sentatives of the Laity. 
 
 The constitution of the Diocesan Synod may be determined 
 either by rules for that branch of the Church established by the 
 Synod of the Province, or by general consent in the Diocese itself, 
 its rules being sanctioned afterwards by the Provincial Synod. 
 
 Your Committee, however, recommend that the following general 
 rules should be adopted : viz., that the Bishop, Clergy, and Laity 
 should sit together, the Bishop presiding; that votes should be 
 taken by orders, whenever demanded ; and that the concurrent 
 assent of Bishop, Clergy, and Laity should be necessary to the 
 validity of all acts of the Synod. 
 
 They consider that the Clerical members of the Synod should be 
 those Clergy who are recognised by the Bishop, according to the 
 rules of the Church in that Diocese, as being under his jurisdiction. 
 Whether in large Dioceses, when the Clergy are very numerous, 
 they might appear by representation, is a difficult question, and on 
 which your Committee are not prepared to express an opinion. 
 
 The Lay Representatives in the Synod ought, in the judgment of 
 your Committee, to be Male Communicants of at least one year's 
 standing in the Diocese, and of the full age of twenty-one. It 
 should be required that the electors should be Members of the 
 Church in that Diocese, and belong to the parish in which they 
 claim to vote. It appears desirable that the regular meetings of 
 the Synod should be fixed and periodical; but that the right of 
 convening special meetings whenever they may be required should 
 be reserved to the Bishop. 
 
 The office of the Diocesan Synod is, generally, to make regula- 
 tions, not repugnant to those of higher Synods, for the order and 
 
 * " Judgment of the Judicial Committee of Privy Council in case of Long v. . 
 Bishop of Capetown." (1 Moore, P. C. C. N.S. 461.) 
 
 102
 
 The Lambeth Conference, Report I. 
 
 good government of the Church within the Diocese, and to promul- 
 gate the decisions of the Provincial Synod. 
 
 11. — The Provincial Synod — or, as it is called in New Zealand 
 and Scotland, the General Synod, and in the United States the 
 General Convention — is formed, whenever it does not exist already 
 by law and usage, through the voluntary association of Dioceses 
 for united legislation and common action. The Provincial Synod 
 not only provides a method for security amongst the Dioceses 
 which are thus associated, but also forms the link between these 
 Dioceses and other Churches of the Anglican Communion. 
 
 Without questioning the right of the Bishops of any Province to 
 meet in Synod by themselves, and without affirming that the pre- 
 sence of others is essential to a Provincial Synod, your Committee 
 recommend that, whenever no law or usage to the contrary already 
 exists, it should consist of the Bishops of the Province, and of 
 Representatives both of the Clergy and of the Laity in each Dio- 
 cese. 
 
 Your Committee need not define the method in which a Provin- 
 cial Synod may be first constituted, but they assume that its con- 
 stitution and rules will be determined by the concurrence of the 
 several Dioceses duly represented. 
 
 Your Committee consider that it must be left to each Province 
 to decide whether, and under what circumstances, the Bishops, 
 Clergy, and Laity in a Provincial Synod should sit and discuss 
 questions in the same chamber or separately ; but, in the judgment 
 of the Committee, the votes should in either case be taken by 
 orders ; and the concurrent assent of Bishops, Clergy, and Laity 
 should be necessary for any legislative action, wherever the Clergy 
 and Laity form part of the constitution of a Provincial Synod ; 
 such powers and functions not involving legislation being reserved 
 as belong to the Bishops by virtue of their office. 
 
 The number, qualification, and mode of election of the Clerical 
 and Lay Representatives from each Diocese must be determined by 
 the Synods in the several Provinces. 
 
 It is the office of the Provincial Synod, generally, to exercise, 
 within the limits of the Province, powers in regard to Provincial 
 questions similar to those which the Diocesan Synod exercises 
 within the Diocese in regard to Diocesan questions. 
 
 As to the relation between these two Synods, your Committee 
 
 103
 
 The Lambeth Conference, Report I. 
 
 are of opinion that the Diocese is bound to accept positive enact- 
 ments of a Provincial Synod in which it is duly represented, and 
 that no Diocesan regulations have force, if contrary to the decisions 
 of a higher Synod ; but that, in order to prevent any collision or 
 misunderstanding, the spheres of action of the several Synods 
 should be defined on the following principle — viz., that the Provin- 
 cial Synod should deal with questions of common interest to the 
 whole Province, and with those which affect the communion of the 
 Dioceses with one another and with the rest of the Church ; whilst 
 the Diocesan Synod should be left free to dispose of matters of local 
 interest, and to manage the affairs of the Diocese. 
 
 From this principle your Committee draw the following conclu- 
 sions : — 
 
 1. All alterations in the Services of the Church, required by cir- 
 cumstances in the Province, should be made or authorized by the 
 Provincial Synod, and not merely by the Diocesan. 
 
 2. The rule of discipline for the Clergy of the Province should 
 be framed by the Provincial Synod. 
 
 3. Rules for the trial of Clergy should be made by the Provincial 
 Synod ; but, in default of such action on the part of that Synod, 
 the Diocesan Synod should establish provisional rules for this pur- 
 pose. The Provincial Tribunal of Appeal should be established by 
 the Provincial Synod. 
 
 4. In questions relating to Patronage, the tenure of Church pro- 
 perty. Parochial divisions, arrangements, officers, &c., there should 
 be joint action of the Diocese and the Province ; the former making 
 such regulations as may be best suited to develop local resources, 
 the latter providing against the admission of any principle inexpe- 
 dient for the common interests of the Church. 
 
 5. The erection of a new Diocese within the limits of an existing 
 Diocese should proceed by general rules established by the Provin- 
 cial Synod. 
 
 6. The question of the election of a Bishop it is unnecessary here 
 to consider, as it is submitted to another Committee. 
 
 III. — The question of a higher Synod of the Anglican Com- 
 munion, and of the relation which the inferior Synods should hold 
 towards it, whenever it might assemble, is one, your Committee are 
 aware, of much greater difficulty than those which have been pre- 
 viously considered. 
 
 104
 
 The Lambeth Conference, Report I. 
 
 The fact, however, that a Conference of Bishops of the whole 
 AngHcan Communion has abeady met together, is of itself an indi- 
 cation of the need which is generally felt of some united counsels in 
 a sphere more extensive than that of a Provincial Synod. Indeed, 
 the Eesolutions under which this Committee was appointed con- 
 template the possibility at least of some Synod being established 
 superior to the Provincial. It is also implied in Eesolution VIII. 
 of this Conference, that some such Assembly may be required, in 
 order to preserve Colonial and Missionary Churches in close union 
 with the Church of England, since it is provided that all changes 
 in the Services of the Church made by one of their Provincial 
 Synods should " be liable to revision by any Synod of the Anglican 
 Communion in which the said Province should be represented." 
 
 The objections that may be urged against the united action of 
 Churches which are more or less free to act independently, and 
 other Churches whose constitution is fixed, not only by ancient 
 ecclesiastical laws and usages, but by the law of the State, are 
 obvious ; but it appears to your Committee that the action of this 
 Conference has proved that the difficulties which are anticipated 
 are not insuperable, and suggests the method by which they may 
 be overcome. Under present circumstances, indeed, no Assembly 
 that might be convened would be competent to enact canons of 
 binding ecclesiastical authority on these different bodies, or to 
 frame definitions of faith which it would be obligatory on the 
 Churches of the Anglican Communion to accept. It would be 
 necessary, therefore, in the judgment of your Committee, to avoid 
 all terms respecting this Assembly that might imply authority of 
 this nature, and to call it a Congress, if even the term Council 
 should be considered open to objection. Its decisions could only 
 possess the authority which might be derived from the moral 
 weight of such united councils and judgments, and from the volun- 
 tary acceptance of its conclusions by any of the Churches there 
 represented. 
 
 Your Committee consider that his Grace the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, as occupying the See from which the Colonial and Ameri- 
 can Churches derive their Succession, should be the convener of 
 such an Assembly. That it should differ from the present Confer- 
 ence in being attended by both Clerical and Lay Eepresentatives of 
 the several Churches, as consultees and advisers, each Diocese being 
 
 105
 
 The Lambeth Conference, Report I. 
 
 allowed to send, besides its Bishop, a presbyter and a lay member 
 of the Church, if they should desire to be thus represented ; and 
 further, in the proceedings being more formal and, in part at least, 
 public. The question when for the first time, and at what periods, 
 this Congress or Council should be called, your Committee deem it 
 more respectful to leave for the consideration of his Grace the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury and of the present Conference. 
 
 G. A. New Zealand, Chairman. 
 H. Grahamstown, Secretary, 
 
 106
 
 CIj^ d^^rrl^ in CEiraba. 
 
 I. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE PROVINCIAL SYNOD, AS 
 ADOPTED BY THE LOWER HOUSE, WITH AMEND- 
 MENTS AGREED UPON BY THE UPPER HOUSE. 
 
 1. The Provincial Synod shall consist of the Bishops of the 
 United Church of England and Ireland, having Sees within the 
 Province of Canada, or executing by due authority the Episcopate 
 as Assistant or Missionary Bishops therein, and of Delegates chosen 
 from the Clergy and from the Laity. 
 
 2. The Bishops shall deliberate in one House, and the Dele- 
 gates from the Clergy and Laity in another; and each House 
 shall hold its sittings either in public or in private, at its own dis- 
 cretion. 
 
 3. The Clerical and Lay Delegates shall consist of twelve of each 
 Order from each Diocese. 
 
 4. The Synod shell meet on the 3rd Wednesday of September 
 in every third year, or oftener at the discretion of the Metropolitan ; 
 or, on the requisition of any two Bishops, or of the Bishop and 
 half the Delegates of each Order in any Diocese. 
 
 5. In a vacancy of the Metropolitan See, a meeting may be called 
 at the appointed period, or on either of the above requisitions, by 
 the senior Bishop of the Church in Canada. 
 
 6. A quorum of the Synod shall consist of not less than a 
 majority of the Bishops, and not less than one-fourth of the members 
 of each Order of the Lower House. 
 
 7. The Metropolitan, or some Bishop appointed by him, shall 
 be the President of the Upper House ; and in the vacancy of the 
 See the House of Bishops shall elect one of their own number to 
 preside. 
 
 107
 
 Thp: Church in Canada. 
 
 8. The Lower House shall be presided over by their Prolocutor, 
 to be chosen viva voce on motion of any member of that House. 
 
 9. Each House shall appoint a Secretary or Secretaries, who 
 shall keep regular accounts of all proceedings in their own House, 
 shall record them in books provided for the purpose, shall preserve 
 memorials and other documents under the direction of the Presi- 
 dent and Prolocutor, shall attest all public acts of the Synod, and 
 deliver over all records and documents to their successors. 
 
 10. The expenses of the Synod shall be provided for, and its 
 financial concerns managed by a Committee of the Lower House 
 after a manner to be approved by both Houses. 
 
 11. Each House shall establish its own order of proceeding and 
 rules of order, and may publish such of its proceedings as may 
 appear advisable. 
 
 12. The Upper House shall propose to the Lower any business 
 they may desire to have treated of or decided ; and it shall be in- 
 cumbent on the Lower House to take up and dispose of such busi- 
 ness in preference to any other. 
 
 13. The Upper House may direct the Lower to appoint a Com- 
 mittee to report to the Upper on any subject, on which they 
 may desire the judgment of the Lower, or to appoint their portion 
 of a joint-committee ; or may summon the Lower to a conference. 
 
 14. Messages from the Upper House shall be delivered by an 
 Officer of the Upper to the Secretary of the Lower, by whom they 
 shall be communicated to the Prolocutor, who shall communicate 
 them to the House. 
 
 15. The Lower House may present to the Upper any matter 
 which they conceive to be a grievance or to require amendment, 
 even when they have no proposition to make on the same ; and the 
 Upper House shall thereupon place it in order for consideration 
 with the view of providing a remedy ; and shall, before the conclu- 
 sion of the session, declare to the Lower House the result. 
 
 16. The Prolocutor shall have the right of admission personally 
 or by Committee to the Upper House, to communicate the desire or 
 decisions of his House ; and in such case he shall ascertain by 
 message when he or the Committee can conveniently be received in 
 the Upper House, and act accordingly. 
 
 17. It shall be competent to the Lower House to request a joint- 
 committee or conference on any special object, beyond those sub- 
 
 108
 
 The Church in Canada. 
 
 mitted to it by the Upper House, or to propose for discussion any 
 specific measure ; to which request an answer shall be given : but 
 it shall be at the option of the Upper House to accede to their 
 request or not. 
 
 18. When either house shall desire a conference with the other, 
 or a joint-committee, the reason for either shall be agreed to by the 
 House desiring it, and communicated in writing to the other ; the 
 Prolocutor personally or by committee in either case proceed- 
 ing to the Upper House, either to deliver or to receive such 
 reasons. 
 
 19. When either House shall have come to a decision upon any 
 subject in which the other House is concerned, it shall communi- 
 cate its decision to the other. 
 
 20. If the Lower House should not concur in a decision of the 
 Upper, they shall, in stating their non-concurrence, state their 
 reasons; and may either propose an amendment, or request the 
 Upper House to suggest an amendment to meet their reasons, or 
 request a conference. 
 
 21. If the Upper should not concur in a resolution or decision 
 of the Lower, they may, in stating their non-concurrence, either 
 state their reasons or not ; and may either propose an amendment, 
 or request the Lower House to prepare an amendment, or appoint 
 a conference, to which the Lower House shall always give atten- 
 tion. 
 
 22. The conference may be either by deputation from'both Houses, 
 or by deputation from the Lower House, or by open conference, as 
 the Upper House may think fit ; and the place shall be appointed 
 by the President. 
 
 23. No proposition shall be considered as sanctioned by the 
 Provincial Synod, until it has received the separate sanction 
 of both Houses, which shall be declared by the President in 
 writing. 
 
 24. Committees, whether of either House, or of the two Houses, 
 may hold their meetings either during recesses in the session, or 
 during the prorogation of the Synod. 
 
 25. No alteration of the Constitution or Canons shall come into 
 operation, until it has been confirmed at a second session of the 
 Provincial Synod. 
 
 26. Each meeting of the Synod shall be preceded, or commenced 
 
 109
 
 The Church in Canada. 
 
 by Morning Prayer and a Sermon, if so ordered by the Metropolitan, 
 and on the first day of such meeting the Holy Communion shall be 
 administered. 
 
 27. The business of each day shall be commenced by prayer for 
 the Divine guidance and blessing, according to a form authorized 
 by the House of Bishops. 
 
 28. The election of the Clerical and Lay Delegates shall be cer- 
 tified under the hand and seal of the Bishop of the Diocese which 
 they represent, or, in the absence of the Bishop, the Chairman of 
 the Synod, and such certificate shall be final and conclusive, which 
 certificate shall be forwarded by the Secretaries of the Diocesan 
 Synods to the Secretaries of the Lower House of the Provincial 
 Synod, within fourteen days after said election. 
 
 11. 
 DECLAKATION. 
 
 We, the Bishops of the United Church of England and Ireland 
 within the Province of Canada, together with the Delegates from 
 the Clergy and Laity of the Diocesan Synods, now assembled in 
 the first Provincial Synod under Royal and constitutional authority, 
 and intending, under God's blessing and guidance, to consider and 
 determine upon such matters as shall appear necessary for the wel- 
 fare of the Church in this Province, desire to express our most 
 humble and hearty thanks to Almighty God, that it has pleased 
 Him in His Providence to set over us a Metropolitan, and thus 
 to enable us, as in the ancient days, to assemble as one body, under 
 the direction of His Holy Spirit, whose aid we now invoke, in the 
 name of His only begotten Son, for the consolidation and advance- 
 ment of His kingdom in this Province. 
 
 Before entering on the business for which we are at present 
 assembled, we desire publicly to declare the principles upon which 
 we propose to proceed. 
 
 We desire the Church in this Province to continue as it has 
 been, an integral portion of the United Church of England and 
 Ireland. 
 
 110
 
 The Church in Canada. 
 
 As members of that Church, we recognise the true Canon of 
 Holy Scripture, as set forth by that Church, on the testimony of 
 the Primitive Catholic Church, to be the rule and standard of 
 Faith : we acknowledge the Book of Common Prayer and Sacra- 
 ments together with the Thirty-nine Articles of Keligion, to be a 
 true and faithful declaration of the doctrines contained in Holy 
 Scripture : we maintain the form of Church government by Bishops, 
 Priests, and Deacons, as Scriptural and Apostolical ; and we declare 
 our firm and unanimous resolution, in dependence on Divine aid, to 
 preserve those doctrines and that form of government and to transmit 
 them to our posterity. 
 
 In particular we maintain the ancient doctrine of our Church, 
 that the Queen is rightfully possessed of the chief government 
 and supremacy over all persons within her dominions, whether 
 ecclesiastical or civil, as set forth in the 37th of the Articles of 
 Beligion : and we desire that such supremacy should continue un- 
 impaired. 
 
 It is our earnest desire and determination to confine our deli- 
 beration to matters of discipline, to the temporalities of the 
 Church, and to such regulations of order or modes of operation, as 
 may tend to her efiiciency and extension ; and we desire no control 
 or authority over any but those who are or shall be members of the 
 same Church. 
 
 We conceive that the following or such like objects may fitly 
 come under our consideration and lead to action on our part : 
 
 1. To form a Constitution for this Synod, and to regulate the 
 time and place of the meetings, and the order and manner of its 
 proceedings. 
 
 2. To provide for the proper exercise of ecclesiastical discipline 
 in regard to both Clergy and Laity, by modifying and enacting 
 Canons, and by establishing and ordering a Court of Appeal. 
 
 3. To provide (with consent of the Crown, when needed) fit regu- 
 lations for the appointment of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, in 
 accordance with the Canons of the Universal Church. 
 
 4. To provide, with the consent of the Crown, for the division of the 
 Province into new Dioceses, as occasion may require. 
 
 5. To procure from the Colonial Legislature any laws or modi- 
 fications of laws, which the circumstances of the Church may 
 require. 
 
 Ill '
 
 The Church in Canada. 
 
 6. To promote the further consolidation and united action of the 
 whole of the Diocese of British North America. 
 
 Proceeding upon these principles, which, as we humbly thank 
 God, were, under His good guidance, first among the Colonial 
 Churches, publicly set forth amongst ourselves, and have been sus- 
 tained by the acceptance of our brethren through a large part of the 
 Colonial Dominions of our beloved Queen, we firmly rely and 
 depend upon His continued blessing and guidance ; and we humbly 
 pray that He, who is the God of unity and peace, may ever be with 
 us, and so chasten our affections, purify our motives, and guide our 
 judgment, that we may be enabled to contribute to the efficiency, 
 concord, and stability of the Church in this land. 
 
 III. 
 
 ACTS OF THE PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE, RESPECTING 
 
 THE CHURCH IN CANADA. 
 
 19-20 Vict., Ch. 121. 
 
 An Act to enable Members of the United Church of England and 
 Ireland in Cayiada to meet in Synod, 
 
 Proclaimed, May 28th, 1857. 
 Whereas doubts exist whether the members of the United Church 
 of England and Ireland in this Province have the power of regulat- 
 ing the affairs of their Church, in matters relating to discipline, 
 and necessary to order and good government, and it is just that 
 such doubts should be removed, in order that they may be per- 
 mitted to exercise the same rights of self-government that are 
 enjoyed by other religious communities : Therefore, Her Majesty, 
 by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and 
 Assembly of Canada, enacts as follows : 
 
 I. The Bishops, Clergy and Laity, members of the United Church 
 of England and Ireland in this Province, may meet in their several 
 Dioceses, which are now, or may be hereafter constituted in this 
 Province, and in such manner and by such proceedings as they 
 shall adopt, frame constitutions and make regulations for enforcing 
 discipline in the Church, for the appointment, deposition, depriva- 
 \ 112
 
 The Church m Canada 
 
 tion, or removal of any person bearing office therein, of whatever 
 order or degree, any rights of the Crown to the contrary notwith- 
 standing, and for the convenient and orderly management of the 
 property, affairs and interests of the Church in matters relating to 
 and affecting only the said Church and the officers and members 
 thereof, and not in any manner interfering with the rights, privi- 
 leges or interests of other religious communities, or of any person 
 or persons not being a member or members of the said United 
 Church of England and Ireland ; Provided always, that such con- 
 stitutions and regulations shall apply only to the Diocese or Dioceses 
 adopting the same. 
 
 II. The Bishops, Clergy, and Laity, members of the United 
 Church of England and Ireland in this Province, may meet in 
 General Assembly within this Province, by such Representatives as 
 shall be determined and declared by them in their several Dioceses ; 
 and in such General Assembly frame a Constitution and Regula- 
 tions for the general management and good government of the said 
 Church in this Province ; Provided always, that nothing in this 
 Act contained shall authorize the imposition of any rate or tax upon 
 any person or persons whomsoever, whether belonging to the said 
 Church or not, or the infliction of any punishment, fine or penalty 
 upon any person other than his suspension or removal from an office 
 in the said Church, or exclusion from the meetings or proceedings 
 of the Diocesan or General Synods ; And provided also, that nothing 
 in the said constitutions or regulations, or any of them, shall be 
 contrary to any law or statute now or hereafter in force in this 
 Province. 
 
 22 Vict., Ch. 139. 
 
 An Act to explain and amend the Act, intituled, 'An Act to enable 
 the Members of the United Church of England a7id Ireland in 
 Canada to meet in Synod.' 
 
 Assented to August 16tli, 1858. 
 
 Whereas doubts exist whether in the Act passed in the Session 
 
 held in the nineteenth and twentieth years of Her Majesty's Reign, 
 
 intituled, '' An Act to enable the Members of the United Church of 
 
 England and Ireland in Canada, to meet in Synod," sufficient pro- 
 
 113 I ^
 
 The Chukch in Canada. 
 
 vision is made for the representation of the Laity of the United 
 Church of England and Ireland in the Synods by the said Act 
 authorised to be held, and it is expedient that such doubts should 
 be removed : Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and 
 consent of the Legislative Council and Assembly of Canada, enacts 
 as follows : 
 
 I. For all the purposes of the aforesaid Act, the Laity shall meet 
 by representation ; and until it shall be otherwise determined by 
 the Synod in each Diocese, one or more delegates (not exceeding 
 three in any case,) may be elected at the annual Easter meetings 
 in each parish, mission or cure within the Diocese, or in cases 
 where there may be more than one congregation in any parish, 
 mission, or cure, then, in each such congregation, or at meetings 
 to be specially called for the purpose by each Clergyman having a 
 separate cure of souls ; and all laymen within such parish, mission, 
 or cure, or belonging to such congregation of the full age of twenty- 
 one years, who shall declare themselves, in writing, at such meet- 
 ings, to be members of the United Church of England and Ireland, 
 and to belong to no other religious denomination, shall have the 
 right of voting at such election. Each delegate shall receive from 
 the Chairman of the meeting a certificate of his election, which he 
 shall produce when called upon so to do, at the Synod ; and the 
 first meeting of such Synod shall be called by the Bishop of the 
 Diocese at such time and place as he shall think fit ; Provided 
 always, that no business shall be transacted by the Synod of any 
 Diocese unless at least one-fourth of the Clergy of such Diocese 
 shall be present, and at least one-fourth of the Congregations 
 within the same be represented by at least one delegate. 
 
 II. All proceedings heretofore had in any Diocese under the 
 aforesaid Act, which have been conformable to the provisions of 
 this Act, shall be held to be valid, as if the same had taken place 
 after the passing of this Act. 
 
 114
 
 f |{ Cflnstitution 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BRANCH OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND 
 IRELAND IN NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 In the Name of God. — Amen. Wliereas it is desirable that the 
 members of the United Church of England and Ireland in the 
 Colony of New Zealand, should be associated together by voluntary 
 compact as a branch of the said United Church for the ordering 
 of the affairs, the management of the property, the promotion of 
 the discipline of the members thereof, and for the inculcation and 
 maintenance of sound Doctrine and true Religion throughout the 
 Colony to the glory of ALMIGHTY GOD, and the edification and 
 increase of the Church of CHRIST : And ivhereas, at a General 
 Conference, held at Auckland, on the Thirteenth day of June, in 
 the year of our Lord 1857, the Bishops and certain of the Clergy 
 and Laity representing a numerous body of the members of the 
 said United Church, agreed to a Constitution for the purposes 
 aforesaid : And tvhereas the said Constitution has now been revised 
 at a Session of the General Synod, held at Christ Church, in the 
 year of our Lord, 1865. 
 
 Now, therefore, the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity, in General 
 Synod assembled, do solemnly declare and establish as follows : — 
 
 I. — Fundamental Provisions. 
 
 1. This branch of the United Church of England and Ireland in 
 New Zealand doth hold and maintain the Doctrine and Sacraments 
 of Christ as the Lord hath commanded in His Holy Word, and as 
 the United Church of England and Ireland hath received and 
 
 115 i
 
 The Church in New Zealand. 
 
 explained the same in the Book of Common prayer, in the form 
 and manner of making, ordaining, and consecrating of Bishops, 
 Priests, and Deacons, and in the Thirty-nine Articles of Eeligion. 
 And the General Synod hereinafter constituted for the government 
 of this Branch of the said Church shall also hold and maintain the 
 said Doctrine and Sacraments of Christ, and shall have no power 
 to make any alteration in the authorized version of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, or in the ahove-named Formularies of the Church. 
 
 2. Provided that nothing herein contained shall prevent the 
 General Synod from accepting any alteration of the above-named 
 Formularies, and version of the Bible, as m.ay from time to time be 
 adopted by the United Church of England and Ireland, with the 
 consent of the Crown and Convocation. 
 
 3. Provided also that in case a Licence be granted by the Crown 
 to this branch of the Church of England to frame new and modify 
 existing rules (not affecting doctrine) with the view of meeting the 
 peculiar circumstances of this Colony and the native people, it 
 shall be lawful for this Branch of the said Church to avail itself of 
 that liberty. 
 
 4. And tvhereas opinions have been expressed by eminent legal 
 authorities in England, that the property of the Church in New 
 Zealand might be placed in jeopardy, unless provision were made 
 for the contingency of a separation of New Zealand from the Mother 
 Country, and for that of an alteration in the existing relations 
 between Church and State ; it is hereby further declared that, in 
 the event of a separation of New Zealand from the Mother Country, 
 or of a separation of the Church from the State in England and 
 Ireland, the General Synod shall have full power to make such 
 alterations in the Articles, Services, and Ceremonies of this Branch 
 of the United Church of England and Ireland in New Zealand as 
 its altered circumstances may require, or to make such alterations 
 as it may think fit in the authorised version of the Bible. 
 
 And the said Bishops, Clergy, and Laity do further declare and 
 establish as follows : — 
 
 5. There shall be a Eepresentative Governing Body for the 
 management of the affairs of the Church, to be called the General 
 Synod of the Branch of the United Church of England and Ireland 
 in the Colony of New Zealand, which shall consist of three distinct 
 Orders — viz., the Bishops, the Clergy, and the Laity, the consent 
 
 116
 
 The Chuech in New Zealand. 
 
 of all of which Orders shall be necessary to all Acts binding upon 
 the Synod, and upon all persons recognising its authority. 
 
 6. The above Provisions shall be deemed Fundamental, and it 
 shall not be within the power of the Greneral Synod, or of any 
 Diocesan Synod, to alter, revoke, add to, or diminish any of the 
 same. 
 
 II. — Provisions not Fundamental. 
 
 7. There shall be a Meeting of the General Synod in every third 
 year, dating from the year of our Lord 1859, at such time and 
 place as shall from time to time be prescribed in that behalf by the 
 said General Synod. 
 
 8. A fresh Election shall take place before each triennial 
 meeting of the General Synod in such manner as may be pre- 
 scribed from time to time in that behalf by the General Synod. 
 
 9. Every Diocese shall be entitled to an equal number of Clerical 
 Kepresentatives, and an equal number of Lay Kepresentatives, all 
 such Representatives being communicants of the said Church : the 
 numbers of each order to be determined from time to time by the 
 General Synod. 
 
 10. Every Act of the General Synod shall be assented to by a 
 majority of members of each of the three Orders, present in person 
 at a duly constituted meeting. 
 
 11. The General Synod shall fix the standard of qualification, 
 and shall appoint the mode of registration, for the purpose of 
 determining what persons are admissible to take part in the proceed- 
 ings of any General or Diocesan Synod, or of any Archdeaconry or 
 Rural Deanery Board, whether as Electors, Representatives, or 
 Synodsmen, or in any other manner whatsoever. 
 
 Provided that no person shall be qualified to be elected as a Lay 
 Representative for any District in any Diocese, or as a Synodsman, 
 or as a member of any Archdeaconry or Rural Deanery Board, 
 unless he be a Communicant, and of the age of twenty-one years or 
 upwards. 
 
 12. No person shall take any part in the proceeding of any 
 General or Diocesan Synod, or of any Archdeaconry or Rural 
 Deanery Board, or in the Elections thereto, in any manner what- 
 soever, who shall have been declared incompetent by any tribunal 
 
 117
 
 The Church in New Zealand. 
 
 acting under the authority of the General Synod, or who shall have 
 declined, when required by the same authority, to sign a declara- 
 tion of his adhesion and submission to the authority of the General 
 Synod. 
 
 13. The General Synod shall have full power to determine how 
 and by whom all Patronage shall be exercised, and generally to 
 make all such regulations as shall be necessary for the order, good 
 government, and efficiency of the said Branch of the United Church 
 of England and Ireland. 
 
 14. The General Synod shall frame such regulations as shall be 
 found necessary from time to time for the management of the pro- 
 perty held in trust for the General Synod, and for the government 
 of all persons holding office under or receiving emolument from the 
 General Synod, and shall determine in what manner and upon what 
 conditions every Clergyman, Trustee, Cathechist, Churchwarden, 
 Schoolmaster, or other office-bearer or agent, whether Clerical or 
 Lay, shall enter upon the use and occupation of any portion of the 
 Church property held in Trust for the General Synod, and in what 
 manner and upon what conditions all such office-bearers, whether 
 Clerical or Lay, shall receive their respective appointments, and the 
 General Synod shall have full power to fix the amount of all 
 salaries, dues, fees, and other emoluments, payable to any person 
 out of the proceeds of any property held in Trust for the General 
 Synod. 
 
 15. All Clergymen, Trustees, Catechists, Churchwardens, School- 
 masters, or other office-bearers or agents who shall be so appointed, 
 or who shall receive any income or emolument from or out of the 
 said Trust property, and all office-bearers who, whether receiving any 
 emolument therefrom or not, shall have consented to hold their 
 appointments under the General Synod, shall be liable to be deposed, 
 removed, or suspended from their respective appointments by the 
 General Synod, if from any cause whatever the General Synod shall 
 deem it expedient and proper to exercise such power ; and when- 
 ever any Clergyman, Trustee, Catechist, Churchwarden School- 
 master, or other office-bearer or agent, whether Clerical or Lay, 
 shall be deposed, removed, or suspended from his appointment, he 
 shall ipso facto immediately cease to have or exercise any function 
 or office under the General Synod, and shall be absolutely deprived 
 of all the rights, emoluments, stipend, or salary, to which, by 
 
 118
 
 The Church in New Zealand. 
 
 virtue of his appointment, he would have been entitled, but for 
 such deposition, removal, or suspension, and shall forthwith deliver 
 up to the Greneral Synod, or to Trustees appointed by them, all 
 such Trust property, and all such deeds, books, papers, money, 
 and effects belonging and relating thereto, as may then be in his 
 occupation, possession, or power. 
 
 Provided always, that whenever a competent Tribunal shall have 
 been established in any Diocese, no such person shall be removed 
 from his cure, charge, trust, or office, upon the ground of any 
 offence alleged to have been committed by him, and recognizable 
 by such Tribunal, except upon a decision of such Tribunal, unless 
 it shall have been expressly provided that he may be so removed 
 by the terms of his appointment. 
 
 16. The General Synod shall establish a Tribunal or Tribunals 
 in New Zealand, for the purpose of deciding all questions of Doc- 
 trine and Discipline ; and also may establish a Court or Courts of 
 Appeal from the decision of any such Tribunals. 
 
 17. The General Synod may delegate to any Synod, Board, or 
 Commission, either specifically as the case may require, or under 
 such general regulations as shall from time to time be laid down 
 by the General Synod, any of the powers conferred upon the 
 General Synod by these Presents. 
 
 18. The General Synod of this Branch of the United Cnurch of 
 England and Ireland may associate with itself any Missionary 
 Dioceses which may be formed among the other Islands of the 
 Pacific Ocean. 
 
 19. The Synod in each Diocese shall consist of the Bishop, 
 Clergy, and Laity, and shall be similar, as far as possible, to the 
 General Synod in constitution and mode of procedure. 
 
 20. Every such Diocesan Synod may, within the limits of the 
 Diocese, exercise all such powers, and make all such Kegulations 
 (not repugnant to any regulation of the General Synod) as may be 
 necessary for the order and good government of the Church in such 
 Diocese. 
 
 Provided always, that any person or persons who may deem 
 himself or themselves aggrieved by any act or decision of the 
 Diocesan Synod either in the case of property held under or ad- 
 ministered by the Diocesan Synod, or in any other matter, may 
 appeal to the General Synod, or to any Board or Court of Appeal 
 
 119
 
 The Church in New Zealand. 
 
 established by the General Synod in that behalf; and the General 
 Synod or such Court of Appeal shall finally decide such appeals. 
 
 21. Any regulation assented to by all the Diocesan Synods, 
 with a view to its acquiring the force of a Regulation of the General 
 Synod, shall be taken and deemed to be, and shall have the force 
 of, a Regulation of the General Synod. 
 
 Provided always, that no such Regulation shall repeal or alter 
 any of the Provisions of these Presents. 
 
 22. The General Synod shall have power to make any Regu- 
 lation controlling, altering, repealing, or superseding any Regulation 
 which may have been made by any Diocesan Synod. 
 
 23. The nomination of a Bishop shall proceed from the Diocesan 
 Synod, and if such nomination be sanctioned by the General Synod, 
 or, if the General Synod be not in Session, by the majority of the 
 Standing Committees of the several Dioceses, the senior Bishop 
 shall take the necessary steps for giving effect to the nomination. 
 
 Provided, that every such nomination shall be made upon con- 
 dition that the person so nominated shall, before accepting the 
 nomination, declare in writing his assent to this Constitution. 
 
 24. All property, real or personal, to be conveyed to Trustees on 
 behalf of the General Synod, shall be held upon Trust, that such 
 Trustees shall and do stand seised and possessed of and interested 
 in the same, or othervN^ise shall and do convey, settle, assure, or 
 assign the same upon and for or according to such trusts, intents, 
 and purposes, and under and subject to such powers, provisoes, 
 declarations, and agreements, and in such manner and for such 
 objects and purposes, whether Religious, Missionary, Ecclesiastical, 
 Collegiate, or Charitable, as the General Synod of this Branch of 
 the United Church of England and Ireland in New Zealand shall 
 from time to time direct or appoint in writing under the hand of 
 any person authorized by the General Synod in that behalf, subject, 
 however, to any special covenants and declarations of Trust imposed 
 by any Founder, Donor, Testator, or other Benefactor, attaching 
 to any property, which property shall have been accepted by the 
 General Synod, or by any board or other person authorized by the 
 General Synod in that behalf. 
 
 25. The General Synod, or any Board or Commission con- 
 stituted by the General Synod in that behalf, shall, for the pur- 
 poses of " The Religious, Charitable, and Educational Trusts* 
 
 120
 
 The Church in New Zealand. 
 
 Act, 1856," be deemed to be a body duly constituted to represent 
 the Branch of the United Church of England [and Ireland referred 
 to in these Presents. 
 
 26. Every Trustee in whom any property, real or personal, shall 
 be vested, either solely or jointly with any other persons or person 
 for or on behalf of the General Synod, shall hold the same with 
 the powers and subject to the limitations, restrictions, declarations, 
 and provisoes contained in the several Clauses of the Schedule 
 hereunto annexed, and any Board or Commission appointed by the 
 General Synod for that purpose shall possess and may exercise 
 such of the powers vested in the General Synod as shall be by the 
 General Synod in that behalf prescribed. 
 
 27. No Doctrines which are repugnant to the Doctrines of the 
 United Church of England and Ireland as the same are explained 
 and contained in the Thirty-nine Articles and in the Book of 
 Common Prayer, and in the Form and Manner of Ordaining 
 Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, may be taught or inculcated by the 
 Bishops, Clergy, Catechists, Schoolmasters, and others, wholly or 
 partially endowed or maintained by the proceeds of property held 
 in trust for the General Synod ; nor may any such Doctrine so 
 repugnant be taught or inculcated in any churches or chapels, 
 whether cathedral, parochial, collegiate, or missionary, or in any 
 colleges and schools, which shall be either wholly or partially built 
 out of funds derived from the property held in trust for the General 
 Synod, or upon sites held by Trustees appointed in the manner 
 herein specified, and it shall be the duty of all such Trustees to 
 obey all instructions issued to them by or on behalf of the General 
 Synod, for the purpose of guarding, as far as possible, against any 
 Trust property, or proceeds therefrom, being so applied or disposed 
 of as to promote the teaching or inculcation of any Doctrine re- 
 pugnant to that of the United Church of England and Ireland as 
 so explained. 
 
 28. No Clergyman, Trustee, Catechist, Churchwarden, School- 
 master, or other Office-bearer or Agent, shall be admitted to any 
 office under the authority of the General Synod, or be entiled to 
 receive any income, emolument, or benefit from or out of any pro- 
 perty held under the same, unlese or until he shall have signed a 
 declaration of his adhesion and submision to the authority of the 
 General Synod in the form following : — 
 
 121
 
 The Church in New Zealand. 
 
 I, A. B., do deelare my submission to the authority of the General 
 Synod of the Branch of the United Church of England and Ireland in 
 New Zealand, established by a Constitution agreed to on the 13 th day of 
 June, 1857, and to all the provisions of the Constitution. And I further 
 consent to be bound by all the regulations which may from time to time be 
 issued by the authority of the said General Synod ; and I hereby under- 
 take in consideration of being appointed immediately to 
 resign my appointment, together with all the rights aud emoluments 
 appertaining thereto, whenever I shall be called on so to do by the General 
 Synod, or by any person or persons lawfully acting under the authority 
 of the General Synod in that behalf, 
 
 Given under my hand this day of 18 
 
 in the presence of 
 
 29. Any doubt which shall arise in the interpretation of these 
 Presents, or of the Constitution for the time being of this Branch 
 of the said Church, shall be submitted for final decision to the 
 General Synod, or to some Tribunal to be established by the General 
 Synod in that behalf. 
 
 30. It shall be lawful for the General Synod to alter, amend, or 
 repeal all or any of the Provisions of these Presents, save and ex- 
 cept the Provisions v^^hich have been hereinbefore declared to be 
 Fundamental. 
 
 Provided always, that no such alteration shall be made until it 
 shall have been first proposed in one General Synod, and made 
 known to the several Diocesan Synods, and finally agreed to in the 
 meeting of the General Synod next ensuing. 
 
 122
 
 ^pp^ntri^. 
 
 ABSTEACT OF THE CANONS OF THE PEOVINCIAL 
 SYNOD OF THE CHUKCH IN CANADA. 
 
 I. For the Nomination and Election of a Bishop of Montreal 
 and Metropolitan, — The fact of the vacancy of the See having been 
 notified to the senior Bishop, he shall convene a special meeting of 
 the House of Bishops at Montreal to nominate two or more persons 
 to be presented to the Diocesan Synod of Montreal, for their choice 
 of one of them as Bishop of the Diocese ; and the House of Bishops 
 shall continue such nominations until a Bishop be elected. 
 
 Should however the Diocesan Synod of Montreal refuse to allow 
 the House of Bishops the right of nomination, the House of Bishops 
 may proceed to the election of a Metropolitan, who need not be the 
 Bishop of Montreal. 
 
 II. No clergyman shall be licensed to the cure of souls until he 
 has subscribed and declared his submission to the Canons of the 
 Provincial Synod, and of the Synod of the Diocese in which he is 
 to be licensed. 
 
 III. Of the powers of the Metropolitan. — The Metropolitan shall 
 have precedence of all the other Bishops of the Canadian Dioceses, 
 shall preside over the House of Bishops, and convene the Pro- 
 vincial Synod, and be President thereof. Upon a memorial signed 
 by two-thirds of the clerical and lay members of any Diocesan 
 Synod, he shall have full power and authority to exercise visitorial 
 powers in such Diocese. 
 
 IV. On the Trial of a Bishop. — This Canon is very similar to 
 that of the American Church on the same subject. 
 
 Y. This Canon constitutes a Court of Appeal of the Metropolitan, 
 
 123
 
 Appendix I. 
 
 consisting of tbe House of Bishops, presided over by the Metro- 
 politan or senior Bishop. Appeal to be in all cases adjudged by 
 any Diocesan Court ; and for any error or defect in form in such 
 cases ; and also from the judgment or decision of the Bishops of 
 the Court. 
 
 VI. Of the Temporalities of the Church. — The ^^rovincial Synod 
 having power under an Act of the Provincial Legislature, chap. 15, 
 29-39 Yict., to repeal, change, alter, and amend, by Canon or by- 
 law, the Acts previously passed relating to the Church Tempo- 
 ralities, subject to certain reservations, the following Canon is 
 substituted for the said Acts from and after the approval by the 
 Governor in Council. 
 
 1. The soil and freehold of all Churches shall be in the Parson 
 or Incumbent thereof, but the soil and freehold of the churchyards 
 and burial grounds belonging thereto shall be in the Incumbent 
 and the Churchwardens. The possession of the said churches, 
 churchyards, and burial grounds shall be in the Incumbent and 
 Churchwardens. The Churchwardens shall not permit church or 
 churchyard to be used for Divine Service or for interment without 
 the consent of the Incumbent thereof. 
 
 2. Members of Vestry. — All pew-owners and pew-holders being 
 members of the United Church of England and Ireland, and all 
 such members holding sittings under the authority of the Incum- 
 bent and Churchwardens in writing, shall form a Vestry. They 
 shall not vote, however, unless they have held pews or sittings in 
 the church for six months previously, and have paid all arrears of 
 rent or dues assessed by the Vestry on their pews. 
 
 3. The Incumbent of any Church which has never had a Vestry, 
 may appoint two Churchwardens. 
 
 4. On Easter Monday in each year the Vestry shall meet, and 
 the Incumbent shall nominate one Churchwarden, and the Vestry 
 elect the other. 
 
 5. No person may be Churchwarden unless a member of the 
 United Church of England and Ireland, of the full age of 21 years, 
 and a member of the Vestry. 
 
 6. Vacancies in the office of Churchwarden may be filled up in a 
 special Vestry meeting. 
 
 7. Churchwardens shall hold office for one year, or until the ap- 
 pointment of their successors. 
 
 124
 
 Appendix I. 
 
 8. The Incumbent and Churchwardens bein^ a corporation, may 
 sue or be sued for in respect of such Church and the members 
 thereof whose interests they represent, and may execute leases and 
 grant certificates to pew-holders. 
 
 9. In Churches in which the pews and sittings are free, the Vestry 
 shall consist of such members of the congregations being of the age 
 of 21 years, as shall declare themselves in writing on or before 
 Ash Wednesday in each year to be members of the United Church 
 of England and Ireland, habitually attending worship there, con- 
 tributors to the Church funds, and not in arrears with respect to 
 such contribution. 
 
 10. The Incumbent and Churchwardens shall from time to time 
 lease and rent pews and sittings in Church, subject to such annual 
 rent as may be assessed at the meetings of the Vestry. 
 
 11. From the passing of this Canon no sales of pews shall take 
 place ; but pews already freehold may be sold and assigned to any 
 purchaser being a member of the Church of England, subject to the 
 annual rent-charge or other dues. 
 
 12. Pew-holders, during their rightful possession, have a right 
 of action against any one disturbing their possession. 
 
 13. Churchwardens shall account to the Vestry for all moneys 
 received and for all payments made by them, and for all sums rated 
 by the Vestry and remaining unpaid ; and their account shall be 
 referred to two or more Auditors appointed by the annual Vestry 
 meeting. 
 
 14. Special Vestry meetings may be called by the Incumbent 
 when he sees fit, or upon application to him by the Churchwardens, 
 or by at least six members of the Vestry ; and if he refuse to call 
 a meeting, then the Churchwardens or such six members may call 
 the same by notice. 
 
 15. The Kector, or Incumbent, or Assistant Minister of the 
 Church, shall preside at all Vestry meetings, and in their absence 
 such person as the majority present shall name, and the minutes 
 of the meetings shall be kept by a secretary in books preserved in 
 custody of the Churchwarden. 
 
 16. The rent-charge and rent of pews and sittings shall be regu- 
 lated by the majority of the members present at any lawful Vestry 
 meeting ; and no alteration shall be made without the consent of 
 two-thirds of the members present. 
 
 125
 
 Appendix I. 
 
 17. The Clerk, Organist, Sexton, and other subordinates shall 
 be nominated, removed, and appointed by the Incumbent and 
 Churchwardens. Choristers shall be appointed and removed by 
 the Incumbent. 
 
 18. Fees for registration of baptisms, and fees on marriages, 
 burials, &c., shall be regulated by the Diocesan Synods. Charges 
 for burial plots, &c., shall be regulated by the Vestry. 
 
 19. Subject to the Canons of the Provincial Synods, and to those 
 of the Synod of the Diocese in which it is situated, the Vestry may 
 make by-laws for the regulation of their proceedings, and for the 
 management of the temporalities of the Church or parish to which 
 it belongs. 
 
 20. Any devise, bequest, deed, or conveyance of land or property 
 to any Bishop, Kector, or Incumbent, for Church purposes, shall 
 be valid and effectual, provided it be made and executed at least 
 six months before the death of the person devising, &c. In case 
 of real estate, it shall be registered not later than six months after 
 his decease. 
 
 21. When any person or persons have by licence of the Bishop 
 erected a Church and endowed it to his satisfaction, such founder, 
 his heirs or assigns, being members of the Church of England, 
 shall have the right to presentation to such Church according to 
 the rules and Canons of the Provincial and Diocesan Synods ; but 
 upon their ceasing to be members of the Church of England, the 
 right of presentation shall lapse to the Bishop of the Diocese. 
 
 22. Synods may fix Synod-dues payable by Parishes. 
 
 23. No spiritual jurisdiction or rights are conferred by this 
 Canon. 
 
 24. The Bishops, by and with the consent of the Synod or 
 Church Society of the Dioceses, and by and with the consent and 
 participation of the Incumbents and Churchwardens of the Parishes 
 interested, shall have power to sell, alienate, and transfer any lands 
 or personalty vested in them respectively for the endowment of the 
 See, or for Church purposes generally, or for the use of any par- 
 ticular Church or Parish ; provided always that the price or con- 
 sideration of such sale or transfer be applied to the uses and 
 purposes for which the property was conveyed to them ; and pro- 
 vided also that such sale, alienation, or transfer be not inconsistent 
 with or contrary to the conditions of the deed of conveyance. 
 
 126
 
 Appendix II. 
 
 25. The word *' Church " in this Canon shall be held to include 
 every description of Church or Chapel. 
 
 11. 
 
 ABSTRACT OF THE STATUTES OF THE GENERAL 
 SYNOD OF NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 1. For organizmg the General Synod. — The General Synod shall 
 consist of the Bishops for the time being, and of not less than three 
 Clerical and four Lay Representatives for each Diocese. Every 
 clergyman, whose name shall have been certified in a list kept by 
 the Synod of the Diocese in which he resides, shall be entitled to 
 vote at the election of Clerical Representatives, and to be elected as 
 a Clerical Representative. Every layman of the age of 21 years and 
 upwards who shall have signed a declaration that he is a member 
 of the Church, shall be qualified to vote, and if he be also a commu- 
 nicant shall be eligible to be elected as a lay representative. Any 
 Missionary Bishop duly associated with the General Synod may bring 
 to the General Synod two Clergymen and two Laymen. For the 
 purpose of the election of Lay Representatives, each Diocese shall be 
 divided by its Synod into Districts. The Synod also makes Regu- 
 lations for conduct of Elections. Since March 1, 1862, the pre- 
 sence of at least two Bishops, six Clerical Representatives, and 
 nine Lay Representatives, have been necessary to constitute a 
 meeting of the General Synod for the due exercise of the powers 
 vested in it. Provision is made for filling up vacancies, and no 
 representative can serve for more than one District. The Metro- 
 politan, or in his absence, the senior Bishop present, shall preside 
 over the General Synod. 
 
 2. For organizing the Diocesan Synods. — The Diocesan Synod 
 shall meet every year, and consist of the Bishop, the licensed Clergy, 
 and of not less than one Synodsman for every Parish of the 
 Diocese. The qualifications of Electors and Synodsmen shall be 
 the same for the Diocesan and the General Synods, The Synod 
 shall regulate the number of Synodsmen, and the conduct of Elec- 
 tions. The presence of the Bishop, of one-fourth of the Clergy 
 of the Diocese, not being less than four in number, and of one- 
 
 127
 
 Appendix II. 
 
 fourth of the Lay-Synodsmen, not being less than seven in number, 
 shall be necessary to constitute a quorum. The concurrence of a 
 majority of each order shall be necessary to every act of the Synod. 
 In case of the absence, death, or resignation of the Bishop, his 
 Commissary shall convene and preside over the Synod. 
 
 3. For the organization of Archdeaconry and Rural Deanery 
 Boards. — These shall be constituted and their power prescribed by 
 the Diocesan Synod, and shall consist of the Bishop and the licensed 
 Clergy, and of not less than one lay representative for each Parish 
 within the limits of the Archdeaconry or Kural Deanery. The 
 clergy and laity shall vote as one body, but the assent of the 
 Bishop shall be necessary to every act or resolution. 
 
 4. For the formation of Parishes, and defining duties of Parish 
 offices. — The Diocesan Synod shall constitute the Parish, define 
 its boundaries, and when expedient alter them. Two Church- 
 wardens shall be taken yearly out of the communicants of the Parish ; 
 one appointed by the Minister, and the other elected by the Pa- 
 rishioners. The Vestry shall consist of the two Churchwardens, and 
 of not less than three or more than ten communicants elected 
 yearly by the Parishioners. The Minister, or if there be no Minister, 
 one of the Churchwardens, shall convene and shall be Chairman of 
 all meetings of the Parishioners or Vestry needful for the purpose 
 of this Statute, with a substantive as well as a casting vote. The 
 Diocesan Synod shall define the powers and duties of the Vestrymen 
 and Churchwardens. The term "Parishioner," shall mean every man 
 of the age of 21 years or upwards resident in the Parish, and who 
 has signed a declaration in the Churchwarden's book that he is a 
 member of the United Church of England and Ireland. 
 
 5. To provide for the appointment of Pastors to Parishes. — 
 The Trust of selecting a Clergyman and nominating him to the 
 Bishop for institution to a vacant cure of souls, shall be vested in 
 nominators chosen annually by the Diocesan Synod and by the Vestry 
 of the Parish respectively. The number of nominators, and the 
 time and manner of election, is determined by the Diocesan Synod. 
 If either party fail to elect nominators, this may be done by the 
 Standing Committee. A majority of not less than two-thirds of 
 the nominators is necssary. The Synod may enable any Board of 
 nominators to delegate their trust, or may vest a limited right of 
 nomination in a private benefactor for the first presentation. The 
 
 128
 
 Appendix II. 
 
 Bishop, having first ascertained the means available for the support 
 of the clergyman, shall institute him when duly nominated, if he he 
 satisfied of his fitness, as prescribed by Can. 39, 1603; but if not so 
 satisfied, he shall give notice to the nominators, and communicate in 
 writing his reasons for so doing to the Clergyman rejected. Two- 
 thirds of the nominators or the Clergyman rejected may appeal 
 to the House of Bishops, if the appeal be lodged with the 
 Standing Committee of the Diocese within two months after such 
 rejection ; and if the- Bishop's grounds of objection appear insuffi- 
 cient either to the Standing Committee in the first instance, or 
 afterwards to two-thirds of the House of Bishops, institution shall 
 be given. Where no nomination shall be certified, or not certified 
 to the Bishop within eighteen months after the notification of the 
 vacancy, the nomination lapses to the Bishop. Every Clergyman 
 wishing to resign his cure must send a formal written notice to the 
 Bishop of his intention, and if the Bishop accepts this, he shall send 
 a notice to the nominators to seek for a successor. The Bishop shall 
 appoint the clergyman or lay reader, who is to officiate during any 
 vacancy in the cure. A clergyman duly instituted, cannot be 
 removed without his consent, unless upon decision by some com- 
 pentent tribunal. 
 
 6. For delegating certain of the poivers vested in the General 
 Synod. — A Standing Commission of not fewer than seven shall be 
 appointed by the General Synod to act for it in accepting special 
 covenants, and to appoint and remove trustees ; and to tender a 
 declaration of adhesion and submission to any member of any 
 Synod or Archdeaconry of Eural Deanery Board ; and on the ap- 
 plication of any two Bishops, to convene special meetings of the 
 General Synod, and to ascertain the assent of all the Diocesan 
 Synods to any regulation with a view to its acquiring the force of a 
 regulation of the General Synod. 
 
 7. All doubts which may arise in the interpretation of the Statutes 
 of the General or Diocesan Synods are to be submitted for final 
 decision to the Standing Commission of the General Synod. 
 
 8. Appoints a Board of Trusts for the Eural Deanery of Otago 
 and Southland. 
 
 9. This Statute was passed in 1865, and establishes Diocesan 
 Courts and Courts of Appeal for the maintenance of sound doctrine 
 and discipline. 1. The Bishop's Court shall hear and determine all 
 
 129 K
 
 Appendix II. 
 
 cases inwliicli any Clergyman, Office-bearer, or Trustee of the Church, 
 residing in the Diocese and subject to the jurisdiction of the Court, 
 is charged with any ecclesiastical offence. The Bishop shall appoint a 
 Chancellor of the Diocese to preside, a Church Advocate to conduct 
 proceedings for the Church, and a Eegistrar of the Diocese. He 
 may only remove these by the consent of the Diocesan Synod. 
 With the concurrence of the Synod the Bishop shall also appoint not 
 less than four Clergymen and four Laymen to be Assessors of the 
 Bishop's Court, and to hold office for three years. II. The second 
 part of this Statute regulates the proceedings before trial, and in 
 cases where no trial is needed. III. The third part of the Statute 
 arranges the proceedings at and after trial. IV. The fourth part 
 consists of miscellaneous provisions. 
 
 10. This Statute defines Ecclesiastical Offences, and the punish- 
 ments thereof. 
 
 Printed by Poeteous & Gibbs, 18 Wicklow-street.
 
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