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CHURCH HISTORY


currency of the Tithe Act of 1918, to the amount payable in that year, with the proviso that where a benefice does not exceed 300 in value no rates will be payable on the tithe, and that if it exceeds 300 and does not exceed 500 one-hajf the rate only will be payable. Since the Act of 1918 sales of ecclesiastical tithe rent charge have greatly increased; it may be added that, in consequence of the im- proved value of agricultural land, there have been very extensive sales of glebes, to the substantial enhancement of the value of many benefices. A movement has been set on foot for relieving clergy of the Church of England from the statutory disability of sitting in the House of Commons and on municipal corporations. A bill with this object passed its second reading in the Lords in 1919 but in Com- mittee the relief as regards Parliament was struck out. It was rein- troduced in the Commons in 1920, but made no progress. In 1919 a Union of Benefices Act, limited in its duration to Dec. 31 1921, enabling the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, with the concurrence of the bishop of the diocese, to prepare after public enquiry schemes for the amalgamation of small contiguous parishes, was passed. These unions became effective by Order in Council.

Doctrine, Discipline and Ritual. During the decade several important events affecting the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England occurred. The first turned upon the interpretation of the Deceased Wife's Sister Marriage Act of 1907, and led to the suit of Banister v. Thompson. The plaintiff married his sister-in-law in Canada, where he had no domicile, under the Colonial Act, before the passing of the English Act, and was refused communion by his vicar, the defendant. The Court of Arches found in 1908 that the passing of the Act of 1907 validated the marriage as a civil contract, and that therefore the parties could not be repelled as " notorious evil livers," to use the language of the rubric which the defendant held to justify his refusal. The High Court, by a majority, upheld this decision, which was endorsed by the Court of Appeal and con- firmed by the House of Lords in June 1912. In 1911 the Rev. J. M. Thompson, Fellow and Tutor of Magdalen College, Oxford, pub- lished Miracles in the New Testament, which produced an animated controversy. In the result the Bishop of Winchester, as visitor of the college, withdrew the licence he had granted to Mr. Thompson who was, and continued to be, dean of divinity, on the ground that the book denied the articles of the Creed affirming the Incarnation and the Resurrection. There has been much discussion upon the propriety of permitting Reservation of the Eucharist, and in 1917 the Upper House of Canterbury Convocation reaffirmed the draft rubric on the subject which it is proposed to insert in the revised Prayer Book. This rubric permits Reservation for the sick, and pro- vides that if the consecrated elements are not taken immediately to the sick person " they shall be kept in such place and after such man- ner as the Ordinary shall approve, so that they be not used for any other purpose whatsoever,' the object being to prevent the spread of organized devotions before, or in the presence of, the Sac- rament. In 1919 and 1920 an acute controversy arose upon the adoption of the service of Benediction in a few churches, and two clergymen were deprived of their livings for persistence in celebrating this rite the Rev. L. S. Wason, perpetual curate of Cury-with- Gunwalloe, in Cornwall, and the Rev. R. Wynter, vicar of St. John Taunton. Mr. Wynter, together with a number of his parishioners, was shortly afterwards received into the Church of Rome. In 1918, the Bishop of Manchester (Dr. Knox) refused to institute the Rev. C. S. Carey to the living of Sacred Trinity, Salford, on the ground that he was habitually guilty of reserving the Sacrament, wearing Eucharistic vestments, using incense ceremonially, and lighting candles when not required for giving light. The case went to the High Court, and Mr. Justice Coleridge gave judgment in favour of the bishop, on the ground that three of the four practices are illegal. An appeal was not pressed, the patron having agreed to accept another presentee.

Care of Church Buildings. Doubts having been expressed as to the efficiency of the supervision by the Church of the ancient monu- ments under her care, a committee was appointed in 1912, under the auspices of the Dean of the Arches, which reported favourably upon the extent of the supervision exercised, but expressed the opin- ion that more attention might sometimes be given to aesthetic considerations. Recommendations in the direction of better super- vision of works of restoration were made, and a number of dio- cesan advisory committees were appointed. In 1913 an Ancient Monuments Act was passed which created boards for England, Scotland, and Wales to advise the Commissioners of Works upon the repair of monuments, and in 1920 a committee was appointed to consider the advisability of strengthening the Act and including in its scope churches and other ecclesiastical buildings still in use. Shortly afterwards the House of Lords passed a motion condemning the Government for appointing the committee " without consultation with the Church authorities and without some proof that the pro- visions for the protection of cathedrals and churches which have pre- vailed for centuries have proved inadequate." Shortly before a commission appointed by the Bishop of London had recommended that 19 of the City churches should be removed, as being redundant. A great outcry followed, and in the end the Bishop of London undertook not to settle the matter finally without the concurrence of the National Assembly. The subject was kept prominently before the public by the necessity, revealed at the end of the war, for exten-

sive and costly repairs to several of the most famous ecclesiastical monuments in England, notably Westminster Abbey, which will require approximately 250,000 for its reparation, and St. George's Chapel, Windsor, the choir of which was found to be dan- gerously unsafe. St. Paul's cathedral has also given great anxiety. The pressure of the dome upon the piers caused them to give signs of instability, and for several years the work of strengthening them has been proceeding slowly and at great cost.

Canada. During 1910-21 there was great activity in the Church of Canada in consequence of the enormous influx of English settlers, especially into the N.W. provinces. The first service of the English Church in what is now the dominion was held at Annapolis Royal in 1710, and the bicentenary was marked by the opening of a new cathedral at Halifax, Nova Scotia. To meet the needs of a rapidly growing population unable to provide for its own spiritual needs the Archbishops' Western Canada Fund was established in 1910 for the provision of men and money to meet these needs, and the Rev. W. G. Boyd, one of the chaplains of the Archbishop of Canterbury, went out at once with five clergy and four laymen, who worked on the Bush Brotherhood system, and were afterwards joined by many others. By the time the fund, which was always intended to be of limited duration, came to an end in 1920, it had built 68 churches in connexion with the Edmonton, Alberta, and Railway Missions. In

1912 a mission of help was sent to the Province of Rupert's Land. In 1911 British Columbia was erected into a province and in 1912 it was decided that instead of one province for the whole of Canada E. of Manitoba, a new ecclesiastical province of Ontario should be formed to include the dioceses of Ottawa, Algoma, Huron, Niagara, Ontario and Toronto. There are consequently now four Canadian provinces. In 1913 the archdeaconry of Edmonton was constituted a diocese, and in the same year it was decided to form a diocese of Brandon out of that of Rupert's Land ; this see has not yet come into actual existence. It is also proposed to create a see of Saskatoon by dividing the diocese of Saskatchewan. A new Canadian Prayer Book was adopted in 1918.

Australia and New Zealand. In Australia the " Question of the Nexus " which arose in 1912 is still pending. Distinguished counsel have stated their opinion that the Church in Australia is an integral part of the Church of, and in, England, and that it is bound by the judgments of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. There is a movement in the direction of independence, but considerable opposition has been manifested to any disturbance of the status quo. A more local yet important disturbance of harmony was caused by a question of vestments at Sydney in 1910. The only churches in that city in which vestments were used were St. James's and Christ Church, and the incumbencies of both fell vacant within a few months of each other. The Archbishop of Sydney refused to institute any clergyman who declined to give an undertaking not to use, or allow to be used, " the chasuble or other vestment in any church under his charge until, in the judgment of the Archbishop of Sydney for the time being, they have become legal." In each case this requirement caused a long delay in making an appointment, and the incident produced a serious division of opinion in the diocese. The first portion of Brisbane cathedral was consecrated in 1910. In 1914 the creation of a diocese of Kalgoorlie enabled the erection of Western Australia into a province, the Bishop of Perth becoming archbishop and metropolitan. Two other new dioceses have been formed in Australia Willochra and Grafton both in 1914, the latter taken from the old see of Grafton and Armidale. A mission of help was sent from England to New Zealand in 1911.

India. The centenary of the Indian Episcopate was celebrated in 1914, Thomas Fanshawe Middleton having been consecrated on May 14 iSl^ first Bishop of Calcutta, a see which originally included also Australia, New Zealand, Mauritius, and Cape Colony. In 1915 a bishopric of Assam, cut away from the Metropolitical Diocese of Calcutta, was formed, and in 1912 a native priest was, for the first time, raised to the Episcopate, the Rev. V. S. Azariah being ap- pointed Bishop of the new see of Dornakal, in Hyderabad State. In

1913 the bishops decided that the time had come for the introduction into India of full synodical government; but legal opinion was opposed to the practicability of the change, and it was consequently decided that a provincial council, consisting of bishops, clergy and laity should be formed on a voluntary basis, side by side with the Episcopal Synod. Diocesan councils are also to be erected, and a beginning has been made in that direction. In consequence of the intended removal of the capital to Delhi, the Provincial Synod of Calcutta has prepared a memorandum suggesting the formation of two new archbishoprics one of Madras to include the sees of Madras, Tinnevelly. Travancore, Colombo and Dornakal; and another of Delhi, to include Delhi, Lahore, Lucknow, Bombay and Nagpur. Much attention has been given to the position of the Eurasians, whose education has been greatly neglected in the past. Roman Catholic and Nonconformist schools have provided for large num- bers of what is now called the domiciled English community, and special funds are being raised for improving and strengthening the Anglican schools in the great centres of population.

Africa. Two new dioceses have been formed in South Africa George, taken out of the sees of Cape Town and Grahamstown (1911), and Kimberley and Kuruman, taken out of the diocese of Bloem- fontein (1912). In 1915 the diocese of Mashonaland was renamed