The Archbishop of York, in opening the Convocation of the
Northern Province on Tuesday, expressed his intention to get the help of a lay body, consisting of one hundred members, for his Northern Synod, but said nothing of what seems to us obviously the first step to be taken for a due representation of the Church,—namely, asking the permission of Parliament for the fusing of the two Synods into one. We cannot but believe that while the dual constitution lasts, Parliament will regard it as vir- tually impossible to judge what the mind of the Church on any subject really is. The Archbishop declared that a sufficient quali- fication for any member of this lay assembly would be a simple declaration of membership of the Church of England ; but he did not, so far as we know, explain how the election of these hundred members was to be arranged so as to secure a real repre- sentative body. We are very sure that the Assembly of Notables lately opened by the Archbishop of Canterbury is in no true sense representative of the lay mind of the Southern Province. The Archbishop of York's closing sentence was very just and wise : —"It was not," said the Archbishop," by a flaccid toleration, a sinking of differences, and keeping back the truth that the Church could stand. Religion was persecuted at the first by Rome, and though she should always preach the truth in love, it was faith in God and faith in Christ which were the pillars of the Church ; and if these should crumble down, the ill-adjusted buttresses would only add to the confusion and the ruin."
Previous page
