17 OCTOBER 1874, Page 15

THE LAITY IN 'CONVOCATION.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTAT0a.1

.SIR; The fact that Canon Trevor, not Mr. Robertson, was the -offender, against whom your artillery should have been levelled, has been doubtless brought to your notice from other quarters, -and in nowise affects the value of your arguments ; but you will -allow me to protest against the apparent assumption that the clergy are hostile to the right of the laity to be represented in the Church's councils, speaking, as I do, as one of the Clerical Secre- taries to the Association for Promoting the Reform of Convoca- tion, one of the main objects of which is to bring about this very ,end,— the representation of the laity. We have four or five of -our most noted prelates among our Vice-Presidents, and a large body of influential clergy, including many of the Church's digni- taries, among our supporters and subscribers. Upwards of 250 of the London clergy signed a representation to the Convocation of Canterbury only last year, which contained the following -clauses :— "The inclusion of the laity would undoubtedly be an essential change in the constitution of this venerable body, but your petitioners submit that it is called for by the change of time and circumstances.

"The English Church, like all other organic bodies, and not the less -on account of its connection with the State, ought to have, on proper terms and conditions, a corporate voice and a corporate action for all its members, and not for only one class of them."

This same London petition or representation had also the signa- tures of some fifty Members of both Houses appended to it, as well as those of about 200 barristers and churchwardens resident in the metropolis.

Our view precisely tallies with your own, that as the Church is a national establishment, Parliament, as representing the nation, must retain the legislative power or the right to sanction or refuse to sanction any modifications of doctrine or discipline which might narrow the terms of communion of the Church, and so affect the rights of every citizen ; but that Parliament, though it may be said to represent the national Establishment, cannot repre- sent the Church as such, and that all Church measures should be carefully debated and considered in a Church Council, in which the

laity are fairly represented, before they should be brought before Parliament at all.

These are the convictions of a large and constantly increasing number of the clergy, including members of all schools, High, Low, and Broad. And these convictions are greatly deepened and strengthened by the observation of the present aspect of affairs, a vast weight of responsibility being cast upon Convocation in the matter of the Rubrics, which it would be far better able to meet if a representative body of 100 or 150 laymen were con- joined to it. The union of the two Provinces, and fuller repre- sentation of the clergy, are points on which I need not enter now. Whether the lay delegates should sit within the same four walls as the clergy is a separate question. Personally, I consider it highly desirable that they should do so, though of course they must vote apart ; but our Association does not stand committed on this point. The method of election is also an open question. Some have proposed that the lay delegates should be chosen by diocesan conferences ; others would prefer a double process, every parish electing a delegate, and the delegates meeting to choose their two or three representatives by ballot, in the cathe- dral city of each diocese, every male parishioner of full age to be allowed to vote who would declare himself a bond fide member of the Church of England. But we are content to leave the arrangement of these details to Convocation, or rather to united Committees of the two Convocations, possibly aided by a Com- mission appointed by the Crown for that purpose.

A public meeting is to be held in November or the beginning of December, in London, at which influential members of both clergy and laity are expected to advocate the right of the laity to a representation in the Church's Council at the present juncture.—I am, Sir, &c.