THE FIFTH CHELTENHAM CONFERENCE.
To rim Elmo* or ins "Sreorerwit.")
Sm.—Perhaps you will permit me this year, as in previous years, to give your readers a brief amount of the above Confer- ence of Anglican clergy and laity associated with the Evangelical school. The Conference met on the let, 2nd, and 3rd June under the chairmanship of the Rev. H. A. Wilson, Rector of Cheltenham. The subjects chosen for consideration ,were the Fellowship of the Churches and the self-government of the Church of England. Upon the former subjeet the Findings of the. Conference are.of special importance in view of the near approach of the Lfsmbeth Conference of Bishops. The. Conference noted with thankfulness the increase of efforts towards re-union in many different directions at home, in the Dornieione, and in the Mission field., and re-affirmed its con- viction that, as preliminary steps and as a witness to the fact of spiritual unity, interchange of pulpits between the accredited ministers, and reciprocal inter-communion of members, of Episcopal and Evangelical Free Churches were desirable. The Conference felt that such inter-communion would be a return to the practice common in the Church of England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and appealed to the Lernheth Conference to give definite approval to the suggested preliminary steps. Upon the question of the self- government scheme the Conference re-Affirmed its support of the baptismal franchise and its desire for the withdrawal from the electoral declaration of the clause : " and do not belong to any religious body which is not in communion with the Church of England." The Conference also urged that the forthcoming Census Bill should include provisions for ascer- taining the religious beliefs of the people of England. -I am,
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