The PROLOCUTOR-It is quite competent for you to make that motion when the discussion comes on.

DR. LEIGHTON-If copies of the report are supplied to the newspapers, shall we be showing a proper deference to the Upper House? The REV. M. W. MAYOW-By proposing that it should be supplied to the members of the house it was intended that that should extend to members of the Upper House.

The PROLOCUTOR-Quite so. Members should never forget that the two houses are one body. These reports would naturally go to the Upper House.

The REV. M. W. MAYOW-I will call attention to the report in the Chronicle of Convocation as to the terms in which the motion was met, and I think they almost preclude Sir H. Thompson from making the motion he has given notice of. The words are—

That this house has received and considered the resolution of the Lower House expressing its entire readiness to co-operate with this house in dealing with the important question of the use of the Order for the Burial of the Dead.

That this house was about to communicate upon this subject with the Lower House. That it cordially accepts the offer of co-operation made by the Lower House, and entirely approves of the appointment of its committee, the report of which when made this house desires to have communicated to it for its consideration.

SIR H. THOMPSON-Of course, "communicated for its consideration." I think there cannot be any better " concurrence and co-operation" than a conference.

DR. WORDSWORTH-It is quite out of order to discuss the form of a notice of motion. It will economise time if we proceed to the next report.

The REV. M. W. MAYOW-There is one question I should like to ask in reference to what fell from the Warden of All Souls'. I understand him to imply that we are bound to send the report to the Upper House in accordance with their request, and I think it would be a strange proceeding on our part if we met to-day to receive the reports without doing that which they have instructed us to do. I fully concur, however, that we cannot send up the report as one to which this house has agreed.

ARCHDEACON DENISON-I understand that sending copies to the Upper House was included in the proposition that the report should be circulated amongst the members of the house.

The PROLOCUTOR-There is a little informality in Dr. Jelf's notice. He should move that this house concur in the recommendation of the committee. As a simple matter of courtesy a copy of the report should be sent to the Upper House. I would suggest that some one should move that the report be communicated to his Grace the President and their lordships of the Upper House in the first instance, and then the notice should be that Dr. Jelf will move the adoption by the house of the recommendations in this report.

DR. LEIGHTON-I move that a copy of this report be communicated to his Grace the President and their lordships of the Upper House, with an explanation that the report has not yet been adopted by this house.

Subscription. S

The REV. J. H. RANDOLPH-I second that.

Carried.

ARCHDEACON DENISON-You have passed a resolution which is contrary to the very principles of the house. I really must beg the house to consider that the motion that this report be printed and circulated amongst the members of this house includes the Bishops, and Dr. Jelf's resolution is right in form and substance. I am in the hands of the house, but I am anxious that we should not pass unnecessary resolutions which serve only to encumber our proceedings.

LORD A. COMPTON-Though one body, it is hardly correct to say that we are one house, because we have our own committees and our own reports, and our committees report to this house and not to their Lordships the Bishops.

The PROLOCUTOR-Right or wrong, the house has passed the resolution; but if it were to be done over again I should have no hesitation in saying that the house would be perfectly right in taking that course. I think that in courtesy we should pass a resolution that a copy of the report be sent to the Upper House.

DR. LEIGHTON-Are papers printed for the use of the Upper House sent to the Lower House as a matter of course?

The PROLOCUTOR-I cannot say that they are. And there may be instances of matters simply concerning the transaction of business in this House, which it would be quite unnecessary to trouble their lordships with.

DR. JELF-I think mine was the proper mode of proceeding, but I yield to the opinion of the Prolocutor, and give notice that at the first session of Convocation which shall take place after the first day of Lent I will move that this house do concur in the recommendations of this report of their Committee upon the Order for the Burial of the Dead.

CLERICAL SUBSCRIPTION.

On behalf of Archdeacon Bickersteth, Pro-Prolocutor, the chairman of the committee, ARCHDEACON RANDALL read the following :—

The Committee appointed "to consider the question of Clerical Subscription, and whether there are any grounds for objecting to the present rule of subscription as burdensome to the clergy, and further, whether it might be improved without endangering the definite faith of the Church of England,"-report as follows:

In addition to the Oath of Canonical Obedience, and the Tests on admission to Holy Orders, embodied in the Ordinal, the following subscriptions and declarations are required from the clergy:

Subscription,

(A.) Subscription to the Articles, required by the Act 13 Eliz. c. 12 (1571). This Act enjoins

(a.) By Section 5, that none "shall be admitted to the Order of Deacon or Ministry, unless he shall first subscribe to the said Articles."

to be

(b.) By Section 3, "that no person shall be hereafter admitted to any benefice with cure, except he shall first have subscribed the said Articles in presence of the Ordinary, and that every person admitted to a benefice with cure, except that within two months after his induction he do publicly read the said Articles in the same church whereof be shall have cure, in the time of Common Prayer there, with declaration of his unfeigned assent thereunto, shall be . ipso facto immediately

deprived."

.

This Act therefore requires subscription to the Articles from all candidates for holy orders, and subscription and declaration of assent thereunto from all Incumbents of Benefices, but does not prescribe any form according to which the subscription and declaration shall be made.

(B.) Subscription to the three articles of the 36th Canon, passed in 1603; which are as follows:

"I. That the King's Majesty, under God, is the only Supreme Governor of this Realm, and of all other his Highness's Dominions and Countries, as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Things or Causes, as Temporal; and that no foreign Prince, Person, Prelate, State, or Potentate, hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction, Power, Superiority, Pre-eminence, or Authority, Ecclesiastical or Spiritual, within his Majesty's said Realms, Dominions, and Countries.

"II. That the Book of Common Prayer, and of Ordering of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, containeth in it nothing contrary to the Word of God, and that it may lawfully so be used; and that he himself will use the Form in the said Book prescribed, in Public Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and none other.

"III. That he alloweth the Book of Articles of Religion, agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces, and the whole clergy in the Convocation holden at London in the year of our Lord God one thousand five hundred sixty and two; and that he acknowledgeth all and every the Articles therein contained, being in number nine-and-thirty, besides the Ratification, to be agreeable to the Word of God."

The Canon then proceeds thus

"To these three articles whosoever will subscribe, he shall, for the avoiding of all ambiguities, subscribe in this order and form of words, setting down both his Christian and Surname-viz., I, N. N., do willingly and ex animo subscribe to these three articles above mentioned, and to all things that are contained in them." This subscription is required, upon the authority of the Canon itself, from all persons to be received into the ministry, or admitted to any ecclesiastical living, or suffered to preach, catechise, or to be a Lecturer or Reader of Divinity, in any place within this realm.

(C.) Declaration required by the Act of Uniformity, 13 and 14 Car. II. (1662) which enjoins (sec. 6)—

That" every person who shall hereafter be presented or collated, or put into any ecclesiastical benefice or promotion within this realm of England and places aforesaid, shall, in the church, chapel, or place of public worship belonging to his said benefice or promotion, upon some Lord's Day, openly, publicly, and solemnly read the Morning and Evening Prayers appointed to be read by aud according to the said Book of Common Prayer, at the times thereby appointed; and after such reading thereof shall openly and publicly, before the congregation there assembled, declare his unfeigned assent and consent to the use of all things therein contained and prescribed, according to the Form before appointed." The "Form before appointed"-viz., by the 4th Section of the Act, is as follows:

"I, A. B., do here declare my unfeigned assent and consent to all and everything contained and prescribed in and by the book intituled The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church according to the Use of the Church of England; together with the Psalter or Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches; and the Form or Manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons."

It must be observed with regard to this requirement, that whilst the 3d and 6th Sections of the Act require assent and consent to "the use of" all things contained in and prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer, the Form appointed in Section 4 con

Subscription. S

tains a declaration of assent and consent to all and everything contained and prescribed in and by the said Book.

By the same Act, every person on being licensed to a curacy, or instituted or collated to any living, is required to declare and subscribe as follows:

"I, A. B., do declare that I will conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England as it is now by law established."

The Form, in which these last-quoted words occur, included at first a declaration of the unlawfulness of taking arms against the King; and a further declaration concerning the Oath commonly called the Solemn League and Covenant; but the latter of these clauses was, by the provisions of the Act itself, only of a temporary nature, and the former clause was abolished by the Act 1 Will. and Mary, c. 8. sec. 11 and 12, and the Oath of the Royal Supremacy substituted for it.

This account would not be complete without the notice that, by the same Act (13 and 14 Car. II., c. 4, s. 19), it is enacted

"That no Person shall be or be received as a Lecturer unless he be first approved and thereunto licensed by the Archbishop of the province, or Bishop of the diocese, and shall in the presence of the same Archbishop or Bishop read the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion mentioned in the statute of the 13th year of the late Queen Elizabeth, with declaration of his unfeigned assent to the same; and the first time he preacheth (before his sermon) shall openly, publicly, and solemnly read the Common Prayers and Service in and by the said Book appointed to be read for that time of the day, and then and there, publicly and openly, declare his assent unto and approbation of the said Book, and to the use of all the prayers, rites, and ceremonies, forms, and orders therein contained, according to the Form before appointed in this Act; and also shall upon the first lecture day of every month afterwards" read

the Common Prayer and Service, and make the declaration in the same manner and form as aforesaid.

It will be seen, then, from the foregoing statements, that (in addition to the Oaths and Tests embodied in the Ordinal) the present subscriptions and declarations required of the clergy, resting partly on the 36th Canon, and partly on Acts of Parliament, comprehend these three particulars:

1. An ex animo acceptance of (a) The Royal Supremacy; (b) The Book of Common Prayer; (c) The Thirty-nine Articles;-required by the 36th Canon. 2. A subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles, and a declaration before the congregation of assent to them;-required by 13 Eliz. c. 12.

3. A declaration before the congregation of conformity to the Prayer-book, and of assent and consent to all and everything therein contained;-required by 14 and 15 Car. II. c. 4.

This, then, being the present rule of subscription and declaration, the Committee have proceeded to consider the question, "whether there are any grounds for objecting to it as burdensome to the clergy, and further, whether it might be improved without endangering the definite faith of the Church of England."

The Committee have no sufficient evidence to lead them to the conclusion that, as a general rule, the present forms of subscription are burdensome to the consciences of the clergy.

In reference to the further question whether the present rule admits of being "improved, without danger to the definite faith of the Church of England," the Committee would offer the following remarks:-

It appears to this Committee to be essential to the welfare of the Church, that there should be required from her clergy, not only a promise that they will conform to the Liturgy, but also a declaration of their ex animo acceptance of the Prayer-book and of the Thirty-nine Articles. It is obviously most important that the members of the Church should have this solemn assurance that her ministers honestly and conscientiously assent to the formularies which they recite.

This principle then being admitted, the Committee would call attention to the following considerations:

With regard to (A.), the Committee would observe

1. That subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles, as enjoined by the Act 13 Eliz., c 12, is now in practice combined with the subscription required by the 36th Canon. 2. That this Act enjoins that every incumbent upon being admitted to a benefice shall publicly in the parish church of that benefice read the Articles, with declaration of his unfeigned assent thereunto. This public reading of the Articles by the new Incumbent, with declaration of his unfeigned assent thereto, appears to the committee to be a becoming and appropriate opening of his ministry in the parish. The committee therefore do not recommend any alteration in the rule as to subscription and declaration laid down by this Act.

Subscription.

(B.) Nor are the Committee disposed to recommend any alteration in the subscription required by the 36th Canon. That form cominends itself by the wisdom and moderation of its language; and the Committee are not aware that any serious objections have ever been made to it.

(C.) Referring to what has been before stated with regard to the Act of 13 and 14 Car. II., c. 4, it will be seen

(1). That the form of declaration of assent and consent contained in Section 4 is not required from candidates for holy orders, whether Deacon or Priest, or from curates upon being licensed to their curacies; but only from clergymen upon being admitted to a benefice, or on being licensed to a lectureship.

(2). That the terms of this form, when compared with the preceding and following clauses of the Act, have at least an appearance of going beyond the declared purpose of the Act, and requiring more than seems to be contemplated in its general

structure.

Looking therefore to the whole wording of the Act (see especially Sections 3, 6, and 19), the Committee are of opinion that the FORM of Declaration, in Section 4 of the said Act, might be brought into more close agreement with the general provisions of the Act by being thus altered :

"I, A. B., do here declare my unfeigned assent unto, and approbation of,' the Book intituled The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the Church of England; together with the Psalter or Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches; and the Form or manner of making, ordaining, and consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. And I do also here declare my consent to the use of' all and every thing contained and prescribed in and by the said Book."

Such an alteration might, in the judgment of this Committee, be made without endangering the definite faith of the Church of England, and might obviate the objections which are sometimes taken to the terms of the present Declaration.

The Committee are also of opinion that that portion of the Act which requires lecturers to repeat their reading of the Common Prayers, with declaration of their assent thereto, every month, might advantageously be repealed: inasmuch as it appears to the Committee that there no longer exists any reason why lecturers should, in this respect, be placed in a different position from incumbents of parishes. January 14, 1864.

EDWARD BICKERSTETH, Chairman.

ARCHDEACON RANDALL-I beg to move that the report just read be printed and circulated amongst the members of Convocation of the Province of Canterbury. That will include the members of both houses, and will, I think, cover all that is required.

ARCHDEACON DENISON-I second the motion.

Carried.

ARCHDEACON RANDALL-I now give notice that at the ensuing session of Convocation I shall move that the recommendations contained in this report be adopted by this House.

ARCHDEACON DENISON-And upon that motion being proposed, I shall move "That so much of the report as suggests an alteration in the present rule of subscription is not approved by the House."

ARCHDEACON SANDFORD-As a member of the Committee I wish to take this opportunity of making a few remarks with the view of setting myself right with the house, or at least of preventing future misconstruction. Some members of the Burial Service Committee have protected themselves by placing on record that they dissent from the principal recommendation of that committee. I certainly do not wish to be considered as concurring in the terms of the report upon the subject of clerical subscription, but I have always understood that a member of a committee is bound by the expressed sentiments of the majority of that committee. I therefore bowed to the decision come to by the committee of which I had the honour to be a member. When, however, the subject comes to be discussed before this house, I