THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 607, 7 February 1852, Page 2

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

In the Bishop of New Zealand's address on a Church Constitution for this colony, reported in our last, it will have been noticed that he made special reference to recent proceedings in Adelaide, taken with a similar purpose. The South Australian papers which have reached us contain a number of documents and articles bearing* on this subject, which we have carefully perused with the object of laying before our readers, in as brief a compass as may be compatible with clearness, all the essential points connected with the movement at our latest dates. The subject will have for many not only a general but a particular interest at present. It may be well here to call to recollection that, as we stated some time since, almost the first Act of the New Legislative Council of South Australia was the rejection of the " Grant in Aid (Continuance) Ordinance," — that is, the formal withdrawal of all assistance from the Public Revenue towards the maintenance of religious Institutions and Ministers in the i colony. This question had been made not only prominent but pre-eminent at many of the elections ; and it is certain that, in some instances, the most generally eligible candidates were rejectea because their views fell short of the test required by their voluntary constituents. The result was that a majority of the members entered the Council so stringently pledged to refuse the Grant in Aid, that the debate on the Bill was confessedly little beyond a matter of form, — and a speedy vote affirmed the pre-determined conclusion. The Church of England being the Body most seriously affected by this decision, it became necessary that some steps should be taken to meet the new circumstances, m which it was placed.

Shortly after the vote referred to, the Bishop of Adelaide addressed a Minute to the Lay Members of the South Australian Church Society, inviting their immediate and practical attention to the altered circumstances in which their Church was placed by " the recent vote of the Legislative Assembly, whereby all aid from the State in disseminating the doctrine and moral laws of our adorable Redeemer has been cut off, and so far His Kingdom upon earth no longer publicly recognised." Leaving his condemnation of the decision to be inferred (as it may be) from this phraseology, Bishop Short proceeded to recommend the appointment of a Committee of five lay members of the Society "to consult upon the best means of developing the resources of our communion for the support of its ministers; and to report upon the best mode of enlisting the sympathies of the great body of the lay members of the Church in this most Christian and necessary work.' 1 A Sub-Committee was accordingly appointed, by whom suggestions ■were prepared, which underwent prolonged consideration by the General Committee at several adjourned meetings. The Committee evidently regarded the opportunity as favorable for going beyond the particular topics brought before them by the Bishop, and sketching a scheme for something little if at all less than anew organization of their ecclesiastical system in the colony. The results of their deliberations has been published in a document containing ati outline of a " proposed Constitution for the Church of the Diocese," of which we have compiled the following summary :—: — Keeping steadfastly in view the subordinate relation of the Church in South Australia to the -United Church of England and Ireland, it is, however, proposed that the Church in the colony shall possess and be regulated by a " General Diocesan Assembly," comprehending the Bishop, a Synod of Clergy, and a Convention of the Laity. The Bishop is to be appointed as heretofore by the exercise of the Koyal prerogative : the Synod to consist of every duly licensed officiating Minister, — Presbyters alone having the right of voting : the Convention to consist of lay delegates (being communicants) elected by the seatrenters of all the congregations. No rule is to be binding on the DioGese at large which shall not have received the concurrent assent of these three estates, and been passed by the Diocesan Assembly. The Assembly shall have power to decide by a majority on all matters affecting the interests of the Church in the Diocese, — but it shall not be competent for it to make any alterations in the Thirty-nine Articles, or in the method of interpretation laid down in the Declaration prefixed to those Articles ; or in the three Articles of the 36 th Canon ; or in the Prayer Book ; or in the authorised version of the Holy Scriptures. The Assembly may appoint Committees for financial or other purposes, Ecclesiastical censures and punishments arc treated of at some length. Briefly — there is to be a " Consistorial Court, or Court of First Instance," in which the Bishop is to be assisted by five clergymen in dealing with charges against ministers for misconduct, ecclesiastical or moral. Offences requiring heavier punishments than censure are to come before the Bishop (or his Chancellor), and a " Court of Delegates" consisting of five clerical and five lay members, chosen by ballot by the Diocesan Assembly. A clause shall be inserted in every Trust Deed, determining the tenure of any minister of the Church, house, &c, •whereof he may be deprived by the sentence of this Court, and each clergyman shall be bound by a solemn declaration to give up possession of all Church temporalities, if sentenced to do so. Then follows the significant statement that, provided these objects can be accomplished, the Committee "does not think it desirable that our Church should seek for any legislation, either local or imperial, relating to tts affairs" As respects Patronage, the first appointment of a Minister is to be vested in the principal contributors of the Church. Subsequent vacancies to be'filled by the election of the Vestry and congregation, •" transmitting the usual form of nomination to the Bishop." Proceeding at length to the question of Finance, — to which the Bishop had primarily, and almost exclusively, invited their attention — three distinct Funds are proposed by the Committee :—: — 1. A "Pastoral Aid Fund," to be supported by quarterly subscriptions of 3s. from every adult member, and by annual sermons ; — this is to aid Ministers whose Churches or districts are notable to provide them with a minimum income of £150 per annum, and to help in supporting Missionaries : — 2. An " Endowment and Building Fund ;" — and 3. An "Educational Fund." All these Funds are to be under the control of the Diocesan Assembly, and -administered by the Finance Committee. The Committee conclude with some general remarks, the pointed and practical character of •which may be judged of from the following passage :—": — " A more effective organization is needed to give energy to the discipline of the Church. The laity must assume their proper functions, as well as largely extend the bounds of their liberality ; remembering that here there are no endowments as in England, and that our rapidlyincreasing population calls for corresponding increase in the means of Divine worship. Under the circumstances of this province, your Committee feel that each individual member of our Church, after satisfying local claims, would do well to devote not less than two and-half per cent of his income to a general Church Fund, under the control of the Diocesan Assembly, for the diffusion of the Gospel, the supply of ordinances, and the support of clergy, both parochial and missionary. The clergy ought to be relieved from secular things. The laity are called to take a more active part in the administration of the temporal concerns as well as ecclesiastical arrangements of the Church. A closer union would thus be formed between both, by the stated interchange of those spiritual and secular good offices •which are appropriate to each. Societies for visiting the sick, relieving the distressed, comforting the afflicted, and counselling the erring, would be more readily formed. A way would be opened for the more extensive exercise of those offices of charity and mercy which are peculiarly appropriate to the female sex. Through their influence, and the sympathies thus awakened, many ■wanderers from the fold of Christ would be restored to the bosom of the Church, as well as to the worship and associations of their youth." It will be seen at a glance that several important principles are asserted in this frame work of a Constitution. The chief are, the right of the laity to co-ordinate jurisdiction with the clergy in the government of the Church, including the administration of discipline in cases of clerical misconduct; the investing the laity with a large amount of Church patronage ; the substitution of the voluntary system in all its comprehensiveness for the previous system of partial support from State Grants ; and, virtually, a renunciation of State connection and of subordination to oscular legislation. This is a bold aggression upon the time-sanctioned order, and, should, it indeed be carried out, will place the Church of England in a very novel position in South Australia (except in so far

as the Constitution of the Episcopal Church in the United States affords a precedent). Whatever may be objectionable in it, it will at all events have amongst its advantages the erection of a powerful barrier against the spread of Tractarianism in the Diocese, — it being well known that, both at home and in the Colonies, the laity are far less extensively than the clergy tainted by that apostacy from the faith or the Reformation. It remains to be seen, however, whether the spirit which actuated the Committee will find a sufficiently cordial response in the community generally to secure the success of a scheme which demands such new and large sacrifices from a people hitherto accustomed to lean much upon the arm of the State for support. The Observer disclaims all • fear as to the. result. "We know," says our contemporary, " that there docs exist in the individuals of that communion such an ample abundance of talent energy, and honest zeal, and quiet devotedness of mind, that success must infallibly crown the noble career of independence which they are now entering upon. The Austral Examiner says, that the Episcopal Church "exhibits a consciousness of power, and a determination to use it with faithful perseverance, from which the best results to the religious condition of this land may be anticipated."