Holy Orders. your Grace as the President of this Synod, and as Primate of All England and Metropolitan, to convey to the Lord Bishop of Capetown, appointed by her Majesty's letters patent Metropolitan of the province of South Africa, and to the Bishops who assembled with him to try under the powers purported to be conveyed by letters patent granted by the Crown, a Bishop of the province accused before them of heresy, the expression of our hearty admiration of the courage, firmness, and devoted love of the truth of the Gospel as this Church has received the same which has been manifested by him and them under most difficult and trying circumstances. We thank them for the noble stand they have made against heretical and false doctrine, and we trust that even out of the present difficulties and embarrassments with which they are surrounded it may please God to provide some safeguard for the maintenance of the faith once for all committed to the saints. All which we pray your Grace to communicate to the Lord Bishop of Capetown. The BISHOP OF LLANDAFF-I quite agree with what my right rev. brother has said. I think it is our duty to express warm sympathy with the Bishop of Capetown under the very peculiar circumstances in which he is placed, and also our admiration for the conduct he has pursued. I think it is our duty as members of the Church to take this course, and I cannot but believe that the sentiments expressed in this address are sentiments which will be universally felt not only in this house but throughout the Church generally. I therefore second the motion. The PRESIDENT-If it be the pleasure of the province that I should present this address, I shall discharge that duty with very great satisfaction. I think it does become the Church of this country, or at any rate such portion of it as is here assembled, to express such sentiments, more particularly as I have reason to believe that the Church in America will probably give expression to the like sentiments-not exactly of admiration of the Bishop of Capetown, but of sympathy with the Church of England in struggling against that which we believe to be contrary to the truth. A very distinguished Nonconformist minister, who was present when the Bishop of Capetown delivered that Charge in which he so nobly and firmly vindicated the truth, has expressed in terms of warm admiration his sense of the conduct of the Bishop upon that occasion. Under all the circumstances, I do think that it would well become us to give expression to the feelings contained in this address. Motion put and agreed to. TRAINING OF CANDIDATES FOR HOLY ORDERS. The message from the Lower House on this subject, together with the report of the committee, having been read, The BISHOP OF OXFORD said-The address from the Lower House upon the very important subject of the education of the clergy, which has been read in this house, contains many matters which, I am sure, every member of this house would wish well to weigh and consider, rather than pronounce at once and off-hand any specific opinion upon them. They travel over the whole important subject of the education of the clergy. They begin by recommending that there should be at more definite training for holy orders at the Universities. I confess I feel very great difficulty myself in seeing how such a recommendation is to be carried into effect. I should be very sorry if the time which Holy Orders. is at present given to general education by those who are students for the holy ministry were to be abbreviated, and they were to be cut off at an earlier period from the general studies of the Universities. Of course there is a great deal at first sight which would seem to recommend such a change; but I cannot help fearing greatly that the result would be a tendency to place the clergy in a lower position with regard to their fellow-students at the Universities. If they were to be twoyears men and the others three-years men in the ordinary liberal studies of the Universities, I cannot but think that in the long run the Church would lose and not gain by such an alteration. Anything that the Universities can do I am most anxious to see done; but at the same time it does appear to me that until the University curriculum is thoroughly accomplished the liberal training of the student is not completed, and the particular professional training ought not to be begun. As to the suggestion of there being colleges for theological training, my assent to that has been practically given in the case of the College of Cuddesdon, and every year that it has existed has convinced me more and more of the great value of those institutions. Many of my right rev. brethren have seen similar results elsewhere. All I can say personally as to the main portions of the changes proposed or the suggestions made that men should remain longer than a year in the Diaconate is, that I do not myself see why in the present great need of clergymen that should be enforced. I do not think that in the case of a man who has been three years studying in a Theological College after his University career, and has for a year filled the lower office of Deacon faithfully and well, it would be well to postpone his advance to the office of the Priesthood if he be fit for such advance. As to the proposition that the Deacons should not be put in exclusive charge of parishes, I quite acquiesce in that. I never do it in my diocese unless in cases of great need. I think as a rule a Deacon will not have had sufficient experience to render him capable of administering the Lord's Supper or dealing with cases of souls, and I am led to suppose that this feeling extends to some of my right rev. brethren. I am glad myself, and I believe every member of the house will be glad, that the attention of the Lower House has been turned to so very practical and important a matter, and we shall, I am sure, all welcome with great thankfulness any suggestion that may come from them to perfect more completely the training of the English clergy. The BISHOP OF BANGOR-There is only one portion of the recommendation upon which I wish to add a few words to what my right rev. brother of Oxford has said, and that is the institution of a theological examination after taking the B.A. degree. I believe this has been for many years the practice at Cambridge, and I do not know that there is any obstacle or difficulty in the way of a similar course of examination being instituted at Oxford, in which case the Bishops would have a further assurance of attention having been given to theological studies at the Universities before those who are anxious to enter the ministry of the Church offer themselves to them as candidates for ordination. The matter is one of great importance, and requires careful and anxious consideration. Holy Orders. The BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER AND BRISTOL-I feel it my duty to rise in common with my right rev. brethren to express our best thanks to the Lower House for having brought before us recommendations of such great weight. I feel, with the Bishop of Oxford, that they travel over more ground than it would be advisable, perhaps, for us without mature deliberation to attempt now to enter upon. I will only take the liberty, then, on the present occasion to make a passing comment on two or three of those recommendations. I agree with the Bishop of Bangor that it is very desirable that there should be, if possible, a compulsory examination in Divinity in both of the Universities. I think it just to say for the University of Oxford, that I have understood that its Professors are extremely particular in the examinations to which those who attend their lectures are not necessarily but commonly subjected; and I have heard from those who have passed through this kind of voluntary examination, of the great benefits they have received from it. I do not feel quite so strongly as the Bishop of Oxford the difficulty of a shortened course, and I think that several of the leading members of the University of Cambridge are not wholly indisposed to take this subject into consideration. I believe the question has been publicly entertained whether there might not be a two years' course in Arts, and one year for theological study in particular, with an examination at the end. But I feel that upon this point the Bishop of Ely will perhaps speak more exactly. I have not myself been convinced that a longer time than two years is required for a course in Arts, but all the members of the University of Oxford with whom I have had the pleasure of conversing are, it is right to say, of a different opinion. There is one of the recommendations in which I feel that I can hardly concur. If I caught the spirit of that recommendation rightly, it was that the Universities should undertake to examine in Theology those who have not been students there. I feel that the Universities would naturally themselves take exception to such a proposal, and would justly urge that their own liberal and valuable education would, in many instances, run the risk of being superseded; it being not improbable that several Bishops might be induced to ordain upon that examination, and not require a residence at the Universities. I am very young in the solemn office I have been intrusted with, but must record my opinion that those who have been educated at the Universities have, so far as my experience goes, proved themselves better qualified for the sacred ministry than those who have not had that great good fortune. And I do sincerely trust, and I may say I sincerely pray, that we shall more and more draw our supplies of clergymen from the two ancient Universities. The last point to which I would advert is one on which the recommendations do not, except by implication, express an opinion. I am desirous, then, to say publicly that having been for several years of my life interested in examinations in Theology, I have felt it my duty to continue even in my present office the duties of an Examiner to a certain extent, and I can state openly and conscientiously, as I stated at the Congress at Bristol, that so far as I can judge, the standard of the candidates in my own diocese (and I may justly infer that what is Holy Orders. true of my own diocese is true of the greater portion of England)— that the standard, far from sinking as has been assumed, is really rising, and that there is very great reason for those who listen to the ministrations of our younger men to be thankful for the proficiency in their professional studies to which many of those young men have attained. I think it is most important that the public mind should be reassured upon this subject, and as I have myself personally taken part in these things, and continue to do so up to the present time, my words may perhaps be considered to carry with them a little weight. The BISHOP OF ELY-We may presume that this report of the Lower House is to be considered to a certain extent as tentative, and not as giving us all the information that may be desired on this important subject. We have a very short time now to consider this report, but it might, I think, be desirable at some future time that we should enter more fully into the subject, the magnitude and importance of which can scarcely be overrated. I must to a great extent agree with the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol on the subject of University education. The movement that has been making at Cambridge, and which I have myself on a former occasion taken some little part in, was of this nature-not to limit the general education of the clergy to two years, and to leave the rest of the community, as before, with three years' education, but to suggest to those who did not take honours, and were not preparing to take honours, that for two years they should devote themselves entirely as heretofore to the general studies of the University, and that after the two years were ended, and the examination was passed in the general studies-an examination which was intended to be as strict as the present final examination is -some of them might be induced, whether laymen or clergy, to devote themselves for a year to some special study-some taking moral philosophy, others natural science, and others theological study. I do not think that would be a bad method of providing for the special education of the clergy. Men who distinguish themselves highly and take high honours in the Universities are, to a certain extent, an exception, and it is not necessary to legislate for them. They are educating themselves, and I believe will educate themselves theologically, as well as in general scholarship. But the more ordinary candidates may very often derive all the benefits they are likely to derive from a general course of education in the first two years of a University career; and that is more especially to be observed now, when young men go up to the University later in life than they did formerly. If they devote themselves for two years to the general studies of the University, and after that, instead of spending a portion of their time in mere carelessness and idleness, they are induced to take up some special study, more will be gained than is now gained; and I do not see why theology should not be as good a specialty as natural science, moral philosophy, or anything of the kind. It must be borne in mind that theology may form a part of general education, and that a certain amount of classical learning must be brought to bear upon it. I do not look myself with distrust at the movement that has been thus making in one of our Universities for giving special instructions in Theology in the last year Holy Orders. S of the University course. As regards the examination which has been hitherto used in the University of Cambridge, after the young men have taken their degrees, having taken part myself for many years in that examination, I am bound to speak on the whole favourably of it. I do not say that it does all that could be or should be done, but it has, I am convinced, very much raised the standard of theological learning in candidates for holy orders; and as the Bishop of the diocese in which that University lies, I have found this examination, which is commonly called "The Voluntary," of very great service and benefit. I have universally exacted that examination from candidates for orders in my diocese, and have found there was nothing which those who were not qualified were more inclined to resist, and if possible to escape from. And I have found the very salutary effect, that several persons who were coming to me for ordination, and who would not perhaps have come well qualified for examination, had failed previously at the Theological Examination at the University of Cambridge, and the remarkable result is that I have never, during the year and a quarter I have been a Bishop, been obliged to reject a single candidate ;-all that should have been rejected having been rejected previously at the University examination. I am much inclined to agree with what is said in the report which has been sent up to us, that anything that can be done to encourage persons during their Diaconate to give some portion of their time to study would be good. Of course if they have large parishes it would be impossible to do so; but the Diaconate is a step to the Priesthood, and if the scholar could be induced to carry on the studies he has begun in the University, Theological College, or elsewhere, during his Diaconate, great benefit would arise to him. some cases Deacons might be able to carry on such studies. Upon the subject of Theological Colleges I wish to say a word. It appears to me that they are extremely valuable under one special condition. I am inclined to encourage any person coming to me as a candidate for holy orders to study in a Theological College if he has previously gone through all the advantages the Universities have to offer. I know that in the present great exigencies of the Church it may be difficult to limit it entirely to those. I know that there are some dioceses which cannot be provided with clergy without passing by in some instances the University education; but for myself I deeply deplore the necessity. It appears to me that the real efficiency of Theological Colleges, and the real benefit they would be to the Church, is almost dependent upon their being made supplementary to a University education. I most heartily concur with the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol in saying, so far as my short experience has gone, that the superiority of an University education is far beyond what any one could naturally have expected. Knowing as we do how much time is wasted in the Universities, one might suppose that an education quite equal, and perhaps better, might be provided at other colleges; but I think practical experience shows that if you take a man from the University-who has had all the advantages of University associations-of the moral and social influences which the In |