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should be sent to the Church Army Labour 0,nes which extended from north to south.—Rev "j- Colville, of the Evangelists' Brotherhood, also ™°ke, and the proceedings then teminated. EXTRA CONGRESSIONAL MEETINGS. WOMEN'S MEETING. ^The young women's meeting was held in the forking Men's Hall on Tuesday evening, and was resided over bv the Hon Mrs A. Legge.—The Hon Maclae-an. "who was very cordially received. Poke 0n tho snv,ject 0f Work and recreation." e P'Jt these two together because many people a^e a great mistake in separating them. The union tfKVeen the two was "ecessary for the perfection both.—Lady Laura Ridding also gave some good l the girls, who she said must learn in the ools of experience.—Miss Clifford also addressed the meeting. THE POONA MISSION. (h* u Tllesday afternoon a well-attended meeting "Phalf of the Poona Mission was held in the S(3mbly Room at the Lion Hotel. Bishop Anson ta"esided, and addresses were given by his Lordship, ather Gardner, Rev J. Henry Lord and Arcli- ^eaPon C. F. J. Johnston, formerly Archdeacon of ^0tnhay) and the Chairman made an appeal 011 m'ss^on-—collection was made at e close of the meeting. THE ANTI-VIVISECTION LEAGUE. Vfu Tuesrlay evening a meeting in connection ji1 the above League was held in the Museum at the Music Hall. Rev. F. Roberts (vicar files', Shrewsbury) presided over a small i eridance.—The Chairman having spoken, Rev. Zander Smith remarked that no one could dis- >^e that vivisection still existed in the country. u ^as stated that the suffering which it caused necessary in the interests of science, but that not true, for Dr. Lawson Tait maintained that 0 Rreat advances in medicine or surgery had been a(ie which could not have been gained by clinical r,,atlon.- Rev. J. C. Gawtherne having ad- l'essed the meeting, Miss Woodward (hon. sec.) the annual report, which set forth that the >6fi?ue had made fairly good progress during the j1"—Miss Woodward was re-elected secretary, Hiss Pollock and Mips 3yde assistaat secre- cies.—A resolution condemning vivisection as ^justifiable was unanimously passed. ITHS LIBERAL CHURCH UNION. meeting of members of the Liberal Church was held at the Granville Liberal Club on I ^sdav evening. The Dean of Hereford presided, among those present were Sir Walter Philli- Rev. Sir James Phillips, Bart., and a number '°eal Liberals.—The Dean of Hereford said much due to the Liberal Church Union iu extending ^Wal opinions amougst Church people, and also jawing the great mass of Liberal working men h*t they were not so bigoted as perhaps they were Ol:1t in former days to think they were.- j.r H. J. Torr (Bridgnorth) said he was a ^eral and a Churchman, and he thought that existence of a party of Churchmen within I e ranks of Liberalism was of great importance, it would prove that the Church was not jj.ated with one party only. — Sir Walter ti» • 0l'R sa'*d there had not been any Chris- III. H!^ <erR would not have been any Liberalism country, and it should be remembered that of'p6 °* Sreatesfc names in history were those g. Churchmen who were Liberals (applause).—Rev tyr ^arnes Phillips, Rev T. Hill, Grimsby, Rev Mr Cambridge, and Mr H. W. Hill (London), 0 delivered addresses. Wednesday'S MEETINGS. AT THE CONGRESS HALL. H E THEORY OF EVOLUTION. hlhë Congress resumed on Wednesday mornin I C en the Bishop of Hereford presided at the j^gress Hall. The first subject for discussion _e Was" The hearing of the Theory of Evolution fcfct Christian doctrine." There was a very large ^ndance of clerical and lay representatives. 8nV ^RICSIDENT. in opening the meeting, said the 3ect they were met to discuss was one in which ^°se experts who were shortly to read and speak je them, would themselves confess to be but ry3ors, and most of them must be content thank- l y to accept their own conclusions. Before he th upon the first reader, they must remember that tbey were in Shrewsbury—the birthplace of e man whose name must be always indissollubly onnected with this question of evolution—and he it, would hardly be proper to begin without a l°gle word of reference to him (hear, hear). The arr|e of Charles Darwin was one of the good .^mes among the great in England (applause), -^hey admired him it might be with some amount fear and trembling in Shrewsbury, as well as elsewhere, but even at this early stage they were to feel that the efforts of such a man ear, ear to u-ue light iu God. Archdeacon WILSON, who read the first paper, ^aid we must learn to recognise evolution in our ^acuity of appreciating historical records. The theory of evolution had effected the greatest preformation of thought that the world had guessed, but evolution must be applied to "Oology by theologians, not by biologists. The danism of society, in its collective conscience, er the law of evolution, was advancing slowly a ^ards righteousness, and condemned first as sin Oj. ^en as crime, actions which it once tolerated approved. The survival of those actions was n. f«?er T< Bonxey> D.Sc., LL.S., F.R.S., Pro- of Geology, University College, London, and Canon of Manchester, read a paper on the tjj 6 object. He said :—We mean by evolution w^at is now living is intimately related to '*ved 'he forms of life, past and present, ^8titating a kind of genealogical tree, which has Cali^? and developed under the action of so- j'e<l natural forces. 9" ^LOVD ENGSTROM, secretary of the Chris- ^vidence Society, read a paper on the Re- thn°n8 evolution to the apologetic teaching of ^hnrch." HVJ e Bishop of LONDON, who was received with <tilause> spoke of evolution as a fact, because aS as tiniversal as men of science now generally af^ed it to be, or whether it was still, after all, ljg* laHn the working out of nature, it had estab- its claim to be as wide as the great bulk of t^j8 0 phenomena that were presented to them in the 'Vor'd. Therefore it was natural enough that y should think of it as if it were practically for Ver°r(iillary purposes universal. The readers were it ^Uar^e(^> aD(^ pointed out that they were still, ^ere, learners in this matter. They were very the ^rom having acquired the position at which could really pronounce definitely upon the °f this doctrine of evolution upon Christian W an(^ a K°°d deal, therefore, of what had said must be accepted as somewhat speculative t>h P*ause)—or as wou^ called in scientific geology, working hypotheses. jj0 J. A. BETTS, organising secretary to the Cor- ti/atIon of the Church House, said evolution con- to H6^. a ^reat many essential truths it restored proper places certain aspects of Christian thj. which had been forgotten or neglected it <}0 a great deal of light upon many important Qes' an(^ ^e'Pe^ them to interpret the Holy pture more intelligibly. 'th ev L.AV. Denman and Rev D. Lacy having spoken, bishop of ROCHESTER said that evolution had the natural to them to see and understand how Were brought up to Christ in a way that those ^ll ^Went before them could not see was beyond tj0 ^bt. In a thousand ways they felt that cvolu- iu j "rought them up to the spirit and the spiritual; It a.ct brought them up to Christ. D. B. Waters having said a few words, the *itflrinari wound up the discussion and the night 119 terminated. « CHURCH REFORM. arge assembly gathered in the Mnsic Hall, foj. r the presidency of the Bishop of Lichfield, to he consideration of the subject of Church re- ke The portion of the subject for the morning tiree lng was" The Appointment, Tenure, and Re- cent of the Beneficed Clergy." they at,tie^or BIBIX, who read the first paper, said ^st approach this subject with feelings of thjs^P°^ntment. It had been expected that by 1^6 benefices Bill would have passed into *eCoi, sense of a rare opportunity lost, and the va,iu „ection of how long the Church had begged in toler ??" **kis reform did not make defeat more Pt'oq I:I.ble. The collapse of the Benefices Bill had v.Ce<\ tar more irritation than the failure of ^0(j](jreviotts Bill, and he trusted that Churchmen ^6Ud °n ^eiD8f irritated until their wants were was not a pleasant talk for a it CInan to state the plain facts about patronage la ^resent existed in the Church of England, rf a0cdaH°wed the patron's right—not the cure ^rch'v!e ^ncuinbent's office—to be sold, and the J^le as always condemned the latter sort of e la^Sln^ was simPle truth that as stood could be so easily evaded that ^S^t themselves or their relatives into ^Vei'ti 'T? day- Benefices were shamelessly ^or sale with immediate possession," thatptlrclla8ers were not wanting. The fact was a to various causes livings were cheap, ^clcet erSyman with £ 1,000 or £ 1,500 in his r>»s„r;w.'3° very well for himself in the t?stead°Vnarket' Tfae evil was g'ett=I)g worse £ bet^ as the price of livings went the Qi as be wondered at that the enemies °rch doubted their sincerity while they tolerated such a system, and that the baser sort of Liberationist revelled in the use of so excellent a weapon against them ? He did not think he was wrong in saying that they all felt the sting and shame of the thiig, and wished very heartily to see a remedy. Reform might follow either of two lines. They might prohibit sales of patronage altogether, or they might so control sales of advowsons as to prevent their being in reality sales of cures of souls. The difficulty of abolition was com- pensation. Where was compensation to come from, and who was to exercise the patronage after a patron had been bought out ? Perhaps some day a strong Government would take the matter in hand and make a clean job of it. But as things were it must be admitted that the most practicable way, the line of least resistance, was that of apply- ing conditions which might act as a sieve to let through sales of patronage made bona-fide, but to catch sales, ostensibly of patronage, but really of the cure of souls. The reader then entered upon a close analysis of the Benefices Bill, and pointed out that the passage of the practically unopposed parts into law would be doubtful utility. Churchmen must look to the Government, and not to private members, to introduce and to press through next session a greatly shortened Patronage Bill on the lines of Parts I. and II. of the Benefices Bill. The opposition of this year would doubtless be renewed, but with time and patience it could be overcome in this as in other matters. The Dean of Cork was to have read the second paper; but the President said that he had received a communication stating that the Dean would be unable to attend, and he asked that someone would volunteer to read the paper. Mr SYDNEY GEDGE then read the paper of the Dean of Cork, who went on to speak on the subject from the point of view of an Irish Churchman and said that the influence of the disestablished clergy, and the loyal support of the laity faithful to them, saved the Church on its disestablishment from the revolutionary measures which extreme men would have forced upon them, and the result had been a system of appointment, on the whole, moderate and successful. Mr A. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWEN, M.P., spoke on the subject as it affects the Welsh Church. He said that the attack on the Church in Wales, now for the time, at least, frustrated, had had several good results. It had called attention to Church affairs, and created an honest determination to reform the Church wherever the Church needed reform. The durv of reform was plain the question was where to begin. In his view no reform was more urgently needed than in the appointment, tenure n-ii.4 retire- ment of the clergy. The present principle he regarded as utterly bad, as it enabled a man to buy a cure of souls, inflict himself on the parish, and neglect bis dnties till he died. The sale of livings deserve unmitigated condemnation. A system by which a cure of souls could be sold like a flock of I sheep, or a drove of pigs, was simply a disgrace to the Church which tolerated it, and to the country in which it took place. After criticising the Bene- fices Bill in this Rpirit, he went on to speak on the question of retirement, urging that the feeling against depriving an aged clergyman of his liviug must give way to the corsideraton of the good of the parish. The difficulty was that they could not deprive him of his living without pensioning him and such was the depreciation of livings that this was often an impossibility. But he hoped a scheme of pensions might be established. Rev T. HANCOCK, who had prepared a paper, was unavoidably absent, and his paper was read. It was chiefly devoted to a consideration of the his- tory and the laws on appointments and tenures, and he offei-ed a modest suggestion that they must returu to the primitive idea. Mr H. J. TORR (Bridgnonh) ventured to make two suggestions, first, the formation of diocesan councils representing both parish and diocese, not to displace the patron but to co-operate with the patron and the bishop in the appoiutment; secondly, the snbstitution of a freehold in the Church for a freehold in a particular parish. The prohibition of all sales of advowsons and next presentations was the only sound principle worthy of the Church's teaching. It was the only principle I worth fighting for (loud applause). It was the only principle which would ever arouse sufficient enthusiasm to overcome the difficulties of Parlia- mentary obstruction. He was in favour of an elective Diocesan Council, which would represent clergy and laity in the Council. When an appoint- ment fell vacant, the churchwardens and sidesmen should be sent to sit on this Council, the name selected should also be approved by the Bishop; and, if the name were not approved, the patron should be asked to select another. The life ap- pointments" might also be modified, and appoint- ments made for a number of years, though he did not urge that limited appointments were desirable. In conclusion, he urged that a care of souls waa not a living but a commission. Chancellor ESPIN urged that they should give their present Bills a longer trial before levelling another discipline bill at the heads of the beneficed clergy. He suggested a. solution of the retirement difficulty in a revivial of the collegiate churches. Mr E. GARNETT MANN said that Church Reform was the great aim and object of those who loved the Church, but the reform should come from within rather than. that they should have Disestab- lishment thrust upon them as it might be when the present Government went out. Rev W. TRENCH said the Benefices Bill was at once too timid and too bold. He asked why did not the bishops use the power they had already im regard to the appointment of unsatisfactory priests. It was quite competent for any bishop to examine the person presented.—Rev W. Edwards, of Bun- bury, Cheshire, having spoken, Rev T. P. KING said that if the Benfices Bill died last year, it was because it deserved to die. If they were to deal with this question or patronage they must conclude that the sale of advowsons was only one stop less objectionable than the sale of next presentations, and to deal with the one and sanction the other by legislation and thereby give it a new lease of life was hardly to be tolerated. If they were to deal with the question they must go to the root of the matter and utterly abolish the abuse from the Church for ever. Rev J. M. WALKER argued that there were many parishes in which the clergy were too old and feeble to perform their duties. It was these they wanted to remove, and therefore they hailed with delight such measures as the Benefices Bill. Rev W. G. Ross said that 7,000 of our benefices were in the hands of private patrons. About half of these, in case of a measure to abolish unrepre- sentative patronage, would probably be resigno if a diocesan board should have previously been created for the purpose of dealing with them. The Rev. W. MARTIN (Bromyard) said there should be some facilities for an exchange of brings, and with regard to retirement he asked how they could retire a man unless they gave him adequate bread. It was preposterous. Canon WOOD thought something could be done morally to prevent the nomination of improper persons. The PRESIDENT wound up the discussion by say- ing that if they were going to give greater facilities to the Clergy of parishes they must provide them with some adequate pension. He went a long way with Mr. Rees with regard to a fund for the revenues of the Church in each diocese maintained by a diocesan commission. As to the Clergy Pensions Institution, it was a genuine attempt to meet the difficulty as far as possible without the compulsory payment of a premium. This concluded the proceedings. AFTERNOON MEETINGS. AT THE CONGRESS HALL. The Bishop of Lichfield, President of the Con- gress, was the Chairman at the afternoon meeting held here, when thexe was a very large attendance both of clergy and laity. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION. The subject was elementary education, sub- divided as follows :—(a) Proposals for the relief of the financial strain on Volurtarv Schools; (b) Decentralisation and local education authorities (c) How can the rights of parents to determine the religious instruction of their children be secured Colonel MORRISON, speaking upon the proposals for relief of Voluntary Schools, submitted the suggestion that the most hopeful course at this juncture would be to take the financial proposals of the Bill of this year as their starting point, and to press only for such amendments or additions there- to as were absolutely necessary. They were nearly aH agreed that the 17s 6d limit should be abolished, that their school buildings should not be rated, and that the grant from the State should be increased. The conclusion to which he invited the Congress to come waE that in the majority of the large urban School Board districts an exceptional measure of aid to Voluntary Schools was urgently necessary. The Archdeacon of MANCHESTER, in an address on Decentralisation and Local Education Authori- ties," said that most men interested in education were too deeply convinced of the debt they owe to the Education Department to be enthusiastic for decentralisation. i.<- „ Archdeacon SANDFORD, dealing with the right of parents to determine the religious education of their children, said the central question in national education for Churchmen was the religious ques- tion, and on their determination to keep it so their ultimate success would depend. The one point of the recent Education Bill which he could approve was that it was the first Education Bill which for many a long year had treated religion not as a thing to be guarded against and cold-shouldered, but to be recognised and welcomed. The Bishop of LONDON, who was received with prolonged cheering, commented at some length on the necessity, not only for religious teaching, but. for teachers who were really religious, holding that teachers could not really and properly teach what thev did not themselves thoroughly believe, and that children were quick to perceive what was being taught them in earnest and what was not. He admitted that it would be very difficult to get ade- quate assistance from the State, but hG did not admit the impossibility of it, and he felt very con- fideut indeed that if they went to the Stale and said that they unitedly demanded that all the countrv should share in what was done for educa- tion and not merely the ratepayers, they would get a great deal more than the 4s. He asked them before they threw their strength into this pro- posal to feel quite sure of what they were doing, because he thought they would find that, in the first place, the Nonconformists would press very hard indeed for the representation of the ratepayers on the management of their schools, which would seriously imperil their right to appoint the teachers. The utmost, he thought, they could get would be a law which required that the teachers, if appointed, should be members of the Church of England. He had seen lpore and more of the working of those things, and he could not but acknowledge that the election of the teachers, which was the vital ques- tion, was more likely—if they kept it from the hands which then possessed it to give them schools which would be Church schools in name, but not in the highest sense of the word (loud and long continued applause). Chancellor P. Vernon Smith, Canon Lowther Clarke, Earl Nelson, the Bishops of Hereford and Manchester, and Rev. C. Dunkley having spoken, the proceedings terminated. AT THE MUSIC HALL. LTCGISLATIVE POWERS FOR THE CHURCH. Under the chairmanship of the Bishop of Ballarat, a large assembly gathered in the Music Hall to listen to a discussion on the subject of the Con- cession of Legislative Powers to the Church of England for the administration of her internal affairs through a reformed Convocation." I I ArclidGcicon AiNSLifcj Sctiu Lnc cjixcfeLioii to6y iittQ to discuss'was how far could legislative powers be now recognised, and if need be extended ? There I was also the subsidiary question, how could the convocations bo rendered more fit to exercise tht power ? He proceeded to deal at length with the history of English ecclesiastical '"Nidation down to the end of the seventeeutil tentury, when the idea of regulating everything by Act of Parliament became rooted in the English mind. Continuing he said Now the question that we are to try and answer is this: Having the machinery of Church legislation, can we again bring it into use to the benefit of the Church ? My ausvvGr is, Ii vos,»if its revival is the natural outcome of the needs and circumstances of the day, and not advocated merely to satisfy a theory." Legislative power, he said, could not be conceded to the Church of to-day according to the ideas of days long gone by. There! was a growing feeling in favour of devolution of self-government; and though he was not sangilino as to Parliament conceding much in the way of facilities for enacting canons to be promulgated by the authority of Crown and Convocation, yet he could not but hope that a method which would fully recognise the supremacy of Parliament in deter- mining the law of the land while granting a power of initiative to the Church's synods, might be accepted, and would be found to work well. Sir WALTER PHILLIMORE said he had prepared his paper as a supplement to that of Archdeacon Aiuslie. Their object reduced to its simplest and plainest terms was in the nature of a demand for Home Rule. The Church should ba free, and should be allowed to legislate for herself, for this reason if for no higher one—that Parliament had not capacity or patience, or if patience, not time to legislate for her; and the result was that much- needed legislation was left undone or was done badly. There was no reason why all Church legislation should not be prepared by the Con- vocations, as were our present Prayer Book, our c present Lectionary, and the Shortened Services, and then be submitted as the work of Convocations to Parliament, and not be passed in part, bat as a whole, if Parliament approved. But before these functions were-restored or given to the Con- vocations, they would wish that the Convocation should be reformed and made more representative of all classes of the clergy. Archdeacon Watkins having spoken, Mr. Sydney Gedge, M.P., followed with a paper on the same subject. He pointed out that every secular institu- tion had found it necessary from time to time to tion had found it necessary from time to time to change its constitution and its standing orders. The Clinroh should make herself heard through convocation, which should become one body. Mr. STANLEY Lr-IQHTON, M.P., remarked en the unanimity of the discussion. No one had said anything against the general proposition which had been brought forward, and therefore he only came forward to support and emphasise what had already been said. The danger of this sort of meeting was that if they were satisfied with buffeting the air and repeating their own unanimity, and not carry- ing the thing further than that, after a time they aHeaiated the strongest men, and the men who were moeb rieteruiined only to work when they saw that they could carry their work to some effective issue. What had been doae was that the proposal to gi-vt ike Church a greater measure of Home Rule was safe and possible. They had had suffi- cient experience in the last Parliament and in the first part of the present Parliament to feel as Churchmen that they could not have very great confidence either in the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It was time that the Church should take the management and control of her, own affairs. It appeared to him to be well that the House of Laymen should have been organised and he thought it would be better if in the future there was a committee composed of the Upper House of Convocation and the Lower House and the House of Laymen, which might to a certain extent work together and report to their several bodies (hear, hear). He entirely agreed. with what Professor Gwatkin had said; but if such a Bill were to be carried forward they must have the active support of the Archbishop of Canter- bury, of the Bishops, and of the whole Church. They must act together, and put aside for the time those small and almost peddling reforms which had occupied much of the time of the House of Commons. They must have a larger Bill which would cover those reforms,"and others giving the Church the power to carry them out. Because the work of the Church had been splendid and pro- gressive under many legal difficulties and many unnecessary difficulties, that ought not to make them satisfied with things as they were, and should assure them that the Church was worthy to have more control over her own affairs (applause). The discussion was continued by the Dean of Lichfield (who romarked that reformed convoca- tion would very likely soon become a reality), Rev. Dr. Cunningham, Mr Kiswell, Rev T. A. Lacey, Rev L. G. Fry, Rev W. Edwards, and the President, after which the meeting concluded. WOMEN'S MEETING. There was a good attendance at the women's meeting, which was held at the Working Men's Hall on Wenesday afternoon, the Hon. Mrs A. Legge presiding.—The Lady President, in open- ing the proceedings, said two subjects were to be brought before them, one philanthropic and the other personal. The great value of women as poor Jaw guardians was now very generally recognised. One of the most difficult problems to be dealt with in connection with the poor law was that of dealing with the feeble minded, and in connection with that subject she hoped her hearers would visit the Ecclesiastical Exhibition, where they would see 1 some vvonoimftl works by three feeble-minded women (applause).—Miss Clifford, Miss Sophia Lonsdale, Mrs Louisa Herbert, Mrs Creighton (The Palace, Peterborough), Mrs Alice C. Pelham, Mrs Phillip, and Mrs Woodhouse having spoken, the proceedings were brought to a close. EVENING MEETINGS. AT THE CONGRESS HALL. CONSTITUTIONAL CHURCH REFORM. The evening meeting at the Congress Hall was very largely attended, the Bishop of Lichfield pre- siding. The subject was Constitutional Church Reform The part of the laity in the government and administration of the affairs of the Church in the Province, in the Diocese, and in the Parish." The Bishop of MANCHESTER said they were all agreed that Church reform was necessary, and there was a gameral agreement that the reform most necessary was the introduction of the lay element to a greater extent than prevailed at present in every sphere of Church work. He would confine himself to the first section of the subject What representatives were desirable in their provincial constitution ? a question at the moment of the most practical importance. With the attainment of reform ia their provincial constitution all other necessary reforms would be brought within accom- plishment. Were the laity adequately represented, Parliament would be more likely to sanction the delegation of the functions proposed by Bishop Jackson, that all ecclesiastical legislation should be initiated in Convocation, and only arrested if Par- liament signified its dissent. When our forefathers dealt with ecclesiastical legislation they found themselves face to face with two existing bodies- Parliament and Convocation. Leaving Convoca- tion pretty much as it was, it seemed to them well to make Parliament the sole lay organ of such legislation. So long as the mass of the people remained members of a single church, this system would work in facility. Now we were confronted with this state of things, that while Prvv1 ment represented all the English people of all bei. is and of no belief, Parliament was at present the only authoritative lay representative of the English Church. While it was desirable that there should be unity between the Church and the State, nevertheless it was necessary that there should be no confusion between the two, and the one should not be set to perform the functions of the other. What they had to do in these circumstances was to endeavour to make their ecclesiastical constitu- tion correspond with their essential facts. This was what the Church of England had done wher- ever she was at liberty to reform herself. The introduction of the laity would not of itself present a sufficient safeguard against the removal of evils complained of; it was expedient that Parliament should hold the power to dissallow any of the canons promulgated which were inconsistent with the pri- vileges of'the Crown or any legal custom of the realm. Mr G. A. SPOTTISWOODE, dealing with the subject on the part of the laity in the government and administration of the affairs of the Church in the province, the diocese, and the parish," spoke at length on the duties of laymen to the parish and to the diocese, and sai' if the laity had not the power which they ought to have, the reason lay in their having neglected their duties. It was said that the laity should have an integral part, a recognised place in the administration of the affairs of the Church, but the odd thing in all their dis- cussions was that one thing had been overlooked, viz., that the thing said to be wanted had been there all the time. The place was offered to the laity, the part was assigned to. them if they did not fill the place, if they did not take the part, the reason was not that they were not called, but that when they were called they did not come. The House of Laymen, for the Province of Canterbury some years ago, formulated a scheme for the due representation of the laity parellel with every similar representative body of the clergy. This scheme was in more or less active operation all over England, for it had spread from the southern to the northen pl-oviutlo. "Th,- Hiam^st first duty of a layman was to acquaint hiingpif with this system, and to take care that good men were elected to all these bodies It might be said that such bodies had no legal power, but was it true that bodies without legal power was powerless Did the Corn Law League affect nothing ? tyere the trades unions powerless ? Their influence on governments came from the fact that they were really representative j bodies. Rev BROOKE LAMBERT, SPEAKING of the position of the layman, held that Auglicanism in various forms now ruled as EvangcliCajjsm once ruled, and it was divided into various sections. If the change which had come about had elements of unmixed good, and bad brought blessings which none could ignore, there bad certainly tMl1 attendant evils, The changes made had been the cause of much friction due to the autocracy of the theclergyman. The clergy were ready to give the laity anything but what they needed, and that wM power; they urged on the laity their duty, which probably they knew as well as themselves; they patronised them in spiritual matters as if they were wholly their inferiors in that respect. ("N0 ») Mr. W. D. HOLLIS COMI)IFtil"d that in the matter of internal reform the Church sadly failed in making use of her opportunities. The money question was really the one with which the majority of the laity had not risen above the conception of the Church as a. commercial undertaking, and it was this state of things that really obstructed the progress of Church reform. They must take a higher view of the state of their Church than they did now if the desired reforms were to be effected. Rev. J. J. LIAS, Chancellor of Llandaff Cathedral, said that the cardinal poiut of Church reform was the restitution of the laity to their true place in the Church of God. Though the clergy received the guidance necessary for the special duties of guiding, governing, and teaching, they read of no other privilege belonging to them not equally shared by the laity. The Reformation in England, by the power it gave to the representatives of the laity in Parliament, was, in part, a return to the primitive principle, but it did not grant full powers of local self-government. The Church of England and Wales could not continue to be the only body in which the principle of POPttlar representation was set at naught. In every noil-esablished branch of the Anglican communion tl)ere was popular repre- sentation, and if the repres84-ft cf the voice of the laity of the Chnrck came to be identified with establishment, some day a reaction would take place, which the virtues, attaiumentgi and labours of the clergy would not avail to check. Already there was a decided feeling of dissatisfaction, displaying itself in a tendency to absent thetnelve from public worship altogether, among the members of the wealthier as well as those of the artizan class. Practically, in these days, there was no control over the incumbent, and often changes were made by an incoming clergyman which threw back the progress of Church work for a decade or two. Hostility was evoked by the claim on the part of the clergy to act independently of lay wishes and opinion. This spirit of ref3istall cc to clerical ascendency was to be found in every country in Europe, and it was certain that the freest and most spirited people in the world would not continue without protest to accept the subordinate position in the councils of the Church to which they were at present confined. If tiat voice were not given them, before long Nonconformity would re-organise on a new basis, that of the rights of the laity, and might find itself 8upported by many high-principled and independent members of the Church of England. Let the clergy take counsel of the people in what they did. The rehabilitation of the laity should be the foundation of all efforts at reform. Let the British Church, like the British Empire, rest upon the broad basis of the general consent of a contented people, and the Church would prove the greatest power for good the world had ever known. Dr SINCLAIR, Archdeacon of London, recapitulated the position of the laity of the primitive Church, which he said was equal to that of the clergy, and he thought, the question of Church reform in this direction should now be taken into serious con- sideration. Mr H. W. HILL thought the time would come when the parish priest in some way or other would have a kind of mission from the laity in regard to his election. He should devote himself to the spiritual affairs of his parish, and leave to the lay- ulen matters which came within their province. The laity would have to exercise their prerogative in having some share in the election of their parish priests; and by reforms working upwards they might be able to realise the ideal of the better government of the Church by tneans of diocesan, provincial, and, if need be. national synods. Rev Lucius G. Fry, Mr A- J. Torr, aad Rev W. Edwards next spoke. Dr HARFORD BATTERSBY addressed himself to some practical points of detail. He suggested that something should be done to remedy the state of things which existed in many parishes bv which the clergy attempted to do all the work themselves they appeared to think that the only way out of the difficulty was to apply to some Chnrch Society to give them an extra curate, instead of thinking of the L-reat power which lay behind them in the use of the laity, many of whom would be only too ready to come and help them. Rev W. CROUCH was against interfering with the government of the Church in the wav that had been urged by many speakers. The laity were full members of the body of the Church, but the differ- ent members of the body bad different functions to perform. The bishops alone were the rulers in Christ's Church. Mr JASPER MORE, M.P., said that several of the speakers—especially one gentleman from Leeds- had related experiences different from his. He (Mr More) could say that no subject aroused so much interest on the Unionist side of the House of Commons as the interests of the Church. They had a large committee in the House which was well attended, and which discussed these subjects thoroughly. Before the last session closed they had tkree meetings to discuss the education ques- tion. Another speaker made reference to the in- difference of the upper classes in Church work, but the attendance and the number of communicants at churches in the West End entirely disproved the idea. Some of these remarks were made in- cautiously, he had never seen churches better attended than in the fashionable parts of London. The subject they had been discussing was a subject of great interest to him, because he brought it for- ward this year at the first meeting of the House of Laymen, and he did so because in the diocese of Lichfield, to which he did not belong, there was a most able discussion on the subject upon a paper written by Bishop Anson. The Church of Scotland an established church, had the good sense to get a church assembly centuries ago the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland-and he could only wish that the Church of England would do a similar thing (applause). I The CHAIRMAN remarked that he was sorry that some speakers had said the Bishop had turned a cold shoulder towards Church reform, and he would I ask them to study the reports of the Upper House of Convocation and the House of Lords for several years past where thev would find that there were very few points that had been dealt with that night that had not been dealt with previously. The proceedings then closed. The proceedings then closed. AT THE MUSIC HALL. THE CHURCH'S LAW OF MARKIACE THE QUESTION OF DIVORCE. The Music Hall was nearly full on Wednesday evening, when the Bishop of Southwell presided over a meeting held to consider The Church's Law of Marriasre, especially in relation to Divorce." The meeting was for men oniy. The Dean of LICHFIELD, in hs paper on the Church's Law on Marriage, especially in relation to divorce; emphasized the law of the Church that marriage can only he dissolved by death. He said the subject was dealt with, directly or indirectly, eight times in Holy Scripture. In six marriage regarded as indissoluble, save by death, without the slightest hint; of any possible exception. In the two remaining, those who ad- vec-ate re-marriage after divorce for adultery claimed to find Divine authority for the practice. At some length he urged that the passages did not bear this interpretation and he also urged that what was forbidden for the guilty party was like- wise impossible for the innocent. Rev CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, Rector of Tyneham, said the Church and State had some- what different functions. It was the province of the State to tell people what they could do legally. It was the part of the Church to teach people what they ought or ought not to do, so as to live rightly as disciples of Christ. Lord HALIFAX said the propositions he had to submit to tho consideration of the Congress de- pended on the assertions (1) that a validly con- tracted marriage was indissoluable by the existing law of the Church of England and (2) that in the interests of religion and morality it was essential that this law should be vindicated and maintained. If it was hard upon a man to forbid him to marry again when his wife had run away from him, why was it less hard upon him to refuse him the same facilities if she was imprisoned for life or was a confirmed invalid, drunkard, or a hopeless lunatic ? Canon Barker, Mr W. Digby Thurnham, Rev Dr Potter, Mr Chancellor Espin, Lord Nelson, and Canon Boddington having spoken, the Chairman summed up, remarking that if Churchmen thought there was a great evil, why did they not try to get things remedied, and oven get tho Divorce Act reversed.—The prc'vectlugt; then terminated. 1 OTHKR MEETINGS. On Wednesday evening a meeting was held in j tho Werkingmen's Hall, under the presidency of the Bishop of Wakefield the Church Army held meetings during the day and the Waifs and Strays Society also met. —