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 1 
 
 -J 
 2X 
 
 1 2 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
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 5 
 
 6 
 
/JL. 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 TO 
 
 THE MEMUliRS OF THE 
 
 UNITED CHURCH 
 
 OF 
 
 ENGLAND AND IRELAND, 
 
 FJIOM 
 
 DE1.EGATES 
 
 TO THE 
 
 %vA of tji^ Mmm nf ^mkt 
 
 Shewing that in the regulation and management of the affairs of 
 the Church, the concurrence of the Bishop is essenlial. 
 
 QUEBEC: 
 
 PRINTED AT THE MERCURY OFFICE. 
 
 1859. 
 
{ 
 
i 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 TU THl 
 
 MEMBERS O F THE 
 
 CHURCH OF ENGLiVND. 
 
 At a Meeting of Lay Delegates, members of 
 the Synod of the Diocese of Quebec, which took 
 place in the City of Quebec, on the Seventh ot May 
 last, to consider the course to be adopted in opposi- 
 tion to views and opinions disseminated by an asso- 
 ciation of persons styling itjelf '^ The Church of 
 England Lay Association,'' a Committee was named, 
 composed of James Bell Forsyth, Frederick Andrews, 
 Horatio Nelson Jones, Thomas Glover, George 
 Jrvine, T. H. Dunn, and George Okill Stuart, 
 Esquires, to report upon the subject at the call of 
 Jesse Armstrong, Esquire, the Chairman of the 
 Meeting. 
 
 AND 
 
 On the Seventeenth day of June, one thousand 
 eight hundred and fift -nine, the same members having 
 
 ■ 12 
 
again assembled, with an accession to their number 
 from subsequent elections of Delegates to the Synod, 
 there were present : 
 
 J. Armstrong, Chairman, 
 
 Henry LcMesurier, 
 
 George Okill Stuan, 
 
 J. W. Dundcomb, 
 
 J. B. Forsyth, 
 
 H. N. Jones, 
 
 Hon. George Pemberton, 
 
 George Chapman, 
 
 Alex. J. Davidson, 
 
 J. J. Hatherly, 
 
 Thomas Cary, 
 
 Joseph B. Forsyth, 
 
 J. Greaves Clapham, N. P. 
 
 Benjamin C«le, 
 
 George T. Cary, 
 
 James Dunbar, 
 
 William Petry, 
 
 Archibald Campbell, N. P. 
 
 Henry May, 
 Thomas Glover, 
 Robert Hamilton, 
 George Irvine, 
 Frederick Andrews, 
 Leveson Sevvell, 
 Allied Rich, 
 George Sample, 
 W. Sturrock, 
 G. Cannyjel' 
 James Steveiiso^i, 
 P, A. Shaw, N P. 
 James Grist, 
 John Boomer, 
 Edwin A. Jon-;S 
 T. H. Dunn, 
 Henry Pratton, 
 S. Pope. 
 
 ►, 
 
 The following gentlemen were unavoidably pre- 
 vented from being also present at the mep^^ng. 
 
 Dr. G. M. Douglas, 
 Hon. H. Black, 
 James Parke, 
 Henry Burstall, 
 M. H. Warren, 
 H. S. Anderson, 
 P. V. Robin, 
 R. W. Longmuir, 
 H. P. Leggatt, 
 
 Octavius Rooke, 
 Hon. W.Walker, 
 W. Rhodes, 
 R. H, Smith, 
 W. Jenkins, 
 J. Giles, 
 J. Colston, 
 Walter Scougall, 
 W. Price. 
 
►, 
 
 The following was reported as an 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 TO 
 
 The Members of the Church of Enghnd in the 
 Diocese of Quebec. 
 
 Publicalions have issued from u number of per- 
 sons, styling themselves ♦* The Church of England 
 Lay Association." These have been accompanied 
 by a form of Constitution, recommended to members 
 of the United Church of England and Ireland for 
 their adoption at the approaching session of the 
 Synod at Quebec. As these documents were issued 
 to inlluence the elections and to induce the clergy 
 and laity of Quebec to set up such pretensions 
 as will, if acquiesced in by the Bishop, Clergy and 
 Laity, annihilat'^ the office of Bishop in this Diocese, 
 and divest him of the power held and exercised, not 
 only by the Bishops in England but by every Angli- 
 can Bishop in the Queen's dominions, it has been 
 deemed proper to issue this address, stating some 
 reasons why the Constitution of the above mentioned 
 Association should be opposed and one different sub- 
 stituted in its place. 
 
 It was, at first, imagined, by the leading members of 
 the association, that under the statute 19th and 20th 
 Victoria, authorizing the members of the United 
 Church of England and Ireland in Canada, to meet 
 in Synod, the Clergy and Laity were to meet, vote 
 together, and conduct the affairs of the Diocese by a 
 majority of the mass. This unprecedented assump- 
 tion of the Laity to over-ride and control the Bishop 
 and Clergy, by the vote of numbers, although stre- 
 nuously insisted upon at the first meeting, is now 
 
abandoned, and the right to vote by orders, as respects 
 the clergy and laity when domandeil, is conceded. 
 
 The pretension at present is, that the powers con- 
 ferred by thn statutes on the Bishops, Clergy and 
 Laity, should be exercised by the Clergy and Laity, to 
 the exclusion of the Bishop, in the following terms of 
 an article of a proposed Constitution lor the Dioceso 
 
 of Quebec. . , n i • • 
 
 ** In all matters brought before the Synod a majori- 
 ty of votes of the members present shall be decisive, 
 and, if required by the members, the two orders sliall 
 vote separately ; in which case, the concurrence of a 
 maionty of each order shall be necessary to constitute 
 a decision; the delegation from each cure being 
 entided to but one vote." 
 
 By this plan (supposing the Clergy and Laity, even 
 with ihe assent of the Bishop, have the power to 
 adopt it, which is denied,) the Bishop of the Diocese 
 of Quebec would be reduced in rank to the position 
 of a parish priest or minister ; the main element ot 
 episcopacy, one most essential in the constitution of 
 the United Church of England and Ireland, would be 
 removed, and the power of the episcopate vested in 
 the Clergy and Laity. , u i r 
 
 It is not now intended to enter into the whole of 
 the merits of the episcopal veto, but to ascertain, ma 
 practical and legal point of view, whether it is 
 inherent to the office of a Bishop ot the Church, and 
 whether a Bishop can, with or without his consent, be 
 
 divested of it. , j i^ j :* 
 
 That the subject may be properly understood, it 
 is material to shew, what the powers incident to the 
 office of Bishop are, whence they have been derived, 
 how these powers are affected by the Statute 19th 
 and 20th Victoria, chapter 121, the ^a^^j;^^^,^^^;^^ 
 other Synods, composed of Members of the United 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
Ohurcli of England and Ireland, have acted through- 
 out the Britifn possessions, particularly those in 
 Canada constituted under the same statute, and 
 what the effect will be, if a majority of the Clergy and 
 •Laity of this diocese insist upon imposing on the 
 Bishop the form of Constitution which has been ad- 
 vened to. 
 
 The Right Reverend Jacob Mountam, Doctor of 
 Divinity, was appointed the first Bishop of the 
 Diocese of Quebec, then comprising the present 
 Dioceses of Quebec, Montreal, Toronto and Huron, 
 by Letters Patent from the Crown, bearing date the 
 28lhday of June, 1793 ; and, in this instrument, the 
 powers conferred upon the Bishop were enumerated 
 as follows : 
 
 " And we do by these presents give and grant to 
 the said Jacob Mountain and his successors, Bishop 
 of Quebec and its dependencies, full power and au- 
 thority to confer the Orders of Deacon and Priest, 
 to confirm those that are bapti ed and come to 
 years of discretion, and to periorm ell the other 
 functions peculiar and appropriate tc the office of a 
 Bishop ; such Bishop and his successors having been 
 hcbi duly ordained or consecrated Bishop?, according 
 to the form prescribed by the Liturgy of the Church 
 of England, and also by him or themselves, or by his 
 or their Commissary or Commissaries, to be by him 
 or them substituted and appointed, to exercise juris- 
 diction, spiritual and ecclesiastical in and throughout 
 4he said See and Diof =^sc, according to the laws and 
 cannons of the Church of England, which are law- 
 fully made and received in England in the several 
 causes and matters hereafter in these presents ex- 
 pressed and specified and no other; and, for a declar- 
 ation of our Royal will concerning the special causes 
 and matters in which we will that the aforesaid juris- 
 
8 
 
 diction shall be exercised, We have further givni 
 and granted, and do })y these presents give ar'l grant 
 to the aforesaid Bishop and his successor?, tull power 
 and authority by him or themselves, or by his or their 
 suflkient Comm'.&saries, by him or them to be subjti- 
 tutcU and named, to give institution to Benctices and 
 krant licenses to Curates, and to visit all Rectors, 
 Curates, Ministers and incumbents of the Chitrches 
 within their said Diocese, wherein Divine Service 
 shall be celebrated according to the rites and liturgy 
 of the Church of England, and all Priests and Dea- 
 cons in Holy Orders of the Church of England resi- 
 dent in thjir 'iaid Diocese, wiih all and all manner of 
 jurisdiction, power and coercion Ecclesiastical, that 
 may be requisite in the premises, as also to call belore 
 him or them, or his or their Commissary, or Commis- 
 saries, at duch comp<uent days, hours and places 
 whatsoever, when and as often jiS to him or them, or 
 his ortheir Commissary or Commissaries shall seem 
 meet and convenient, the aforesaid Rectors, Curates, 
 Ministers. Incumbents, Priests or Deacons in Holy 
 Orders of the Church of England, or any of them, and 
 to enquire by witnesses to be sworn in due form ol 
 law by him or them, or by his or their Commissary 
 or Commissariep, and by all other lawful ways and 
 means by which the same may by law be best and 
 most effectually done, as well concerning their morals 
 as their behaviour in their said offices and stations 
 respectively, as also to administer all such oaths as 
 are accustomed to be taken in Ecclesiastical Courts, 
 and to punish and arrest the aforesaid Rectors, 
 Curates, Ministers, Incumbents, Priests and Deacons 
 in Holy Orders of the Church of England, according 
 to their merits, whether by removal, deprivation, sus- 
 pension or other such Ecclesiastical censure or cor- 
 rection as they may be liable to, according to the 
 cannons and laws Ecclesiastical aforesaid." 
 
• 
 
 Tliese powers nave been, substantially, coiifcrred 
 on the BiJiops of Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, and 
 Huron, by the Letters Patonl from the Ciown appoint- 
 ing them respectively. 
 
 The Statute !9th and 20th Victcria, by no means 
 divests the Bishops of these powers; on the contrary, 
 it confirms ther.\ by leaving it to the riiembors of the 
 United Church of Kngland 3nd Ireland, meeting in 
 Synod, tlu; Bishop, Clergy anJ Laity, to regulate how 
 they shall be exercised, conferring on the Clergy and 
 r.aity a concurrent and restraining, t)ut no controlling 
 power in the matters specified in the statute. Vn 
 til t^'* Bishop, Clergy and *.aity agree, in the form of a 
 Co) . itution, how these powers are to be exercised, 
 the fiishop will hold and exercise theai as he has 
 he^-etoforc done, they being the powers which the 
 Queen, as the head of the United Churcb of England 
 and Ireland, has conferred Ui. i him. 
 
 That there may be r-. .isapprehension on this 
 head the language of the statute should be referred 
 to : it is in these terms—" The Bishops, Clergv and 
 Laity, members of the United Church of England and 
 Ireland in this Province, may meet in tbeir several 
 dioceses which are now or may be hereafter consti- 
 tuted in this Province, anJ in such manner and by 
 such proceedings as they s'aall adopt, frame Cohsti- 
 tutions, make regulations for enforcing discipline in the 
 Church for the appointment, deposition, deprivation 
 or removal of any person bearing office therein, of 
 whatever ord'^r or degree, any rights of the Crown to 
 the contrary notwithstanding, and for the convenient 
 and orderly management of the property, affairs and 
 interest of the Church in matters relating to and 
 aflfecting only the said Church, and the officers and 
 members thereof, and not in any manner interfering 
 with the rights, privileges or interests of other com- 
 
 i 
 
munities, o. of any person or persons not being a 
 member or members of the said United Church ol 
 England and Ireland." 
 
 This provision is permissive only, not imperative. 
 The BishoD, Clergy and Liiity, in any diocese, may 
 remain completely passive, if they see fit, leaving 
 their Bishop in the full exercise of his authority ; or 
 they may be active and give effect to the statute by 
 acrreeincr to such a Constitution as will afford to the 
 clergy and Laity a participation in the same powers 
 of which he is now in the full possession. If there be 
 an attempt in one of the orders of the Synod, either ol 
 the Clei'SV or Laity, so to subvert the authority and 
 virtually abolish the office of Bishop, by depriving 
 him, not simply of power actually possessed, but even 
 of a negative power on the proceedings of ihe other 
 two orders in the Synod, at a time vyhen ho is in 
 possession of the whole and expresses his willingness 
 to admit of a participation in it, the consequence must 
 necessarily be that the Clergy and Laity can expect 
 no share whatever. 
 
 The Bishop has no power to change the nature ol 
 his office, as recognized by the law of England, or 
 yield to the Clergy or Laity, the power vested m h;m 
 by the Crown. The Statute certainly gives him 
 no such authority, and if he becomes divested of his 
 power as Bishoo, and the same be allowed to sink into 
 the Clergy and Laity, he ceases to be a Bishop of the 
 United Church of England and Ireland. Epibcopacy 
 is of the very essence of that Church, and it the 
 powe- appertaining to it be taken away and vested m 
 the clergy and laity, or either of them, it loses at once 
 its Episcopalian 'character in the persons who re- 
 pudiate It, and they, virtually, become either Presby- 
 terians or Congregationalists, 0, most probably, a 
 compound of each. 
 
 i 
 
H 
 
 I 
 
 The Statute recognizes no other persons than 
 members of the United Church of England and Ire- 
 land as having a right to form themselves into p. Synod 
 under its provisions, if the Synod at Quebec as- 
 sumes a Congregational, or other form of Church 
 government and discipline, which it will do if it dis- 
 cards the Episcopal authority, the statute no longer ap- 
 plies to them, and they will have no power under it, 
 they will then cease to be members of the United 
 Church of England and Irelmd, and all control over 
 the members of that Church and iheir property will 
 cease. 
 
 The establishment of Synods originates with^ the 
 Bishopsthemselves. Thejhave expressedtheir willing- 
 ness to share their power with the Clergy and Laity. 
 A section of the Laity in the Diocesp oi Quebec have 
 raised an agitation to secure the whole, nominally, 
 lor the Clergy and Laity, to result, if the principles 
 they advocate be carried out, in the Clergy being ulti- 
 mately deprived of their share. No Synod, composed 
 of members of the United Church of England and 
 Ireland, has ever entertained an idea that the Bishops 
 either c ould be, or ought to be, degraded in their office 
 by transferring their powers to the Clergy and Laity. 
 On the contrary, every Synod, composed of members 
 of the United Church of England and Ireland, recog- 
 nizes the episcopal authority, as a matter of course, in 
 terms the; most express, as the following examples 
 will shew: — 
 
 The Diocese of Toronto contains this provision,-^ 
 " No act or resolution of the Synod shall be valid 
 without the concurrence of the Bishop and of the 
 majority, both of the Clergy and of the Laity present 
 and voting at the meeting ; but when such act or re- 
 solution shall be objected ro by eilker of ike three 
 estates, a vote shall' be taken thereon, by s-eparate 
 
12 
 
 chambers, and if difference still subsists when such 
 vote is to be taken, then the subject under considera- 
 tion shall stand over for further consideration to the 
 ensuing Synod." 
 
 The Diocese of Huron declares in its constitution, 
 " -No act or resolution shall become law without the 
 concurrence of the Bishop and a majority of the Clergy 
 and Laity present, provided that, ordinarily, the votes 
 of the whole Synod shall be taken collectively ; but 
 that, at the desire of the Bishop, or at the request of 
 five clergymen, or of five laymen, the votes of each 
 of the above named orders shall be taken separately." 
 
 The Synod of JXova Scotia declares as follows : 
 *' The vote of each order shall be taken separately, 
 such vote being determined by the majority of the 
 members present and voting in each order. And no 
 act or resolution of the Diocesan Assembly shall be 
 valid which shall not have received the concurrent 
 assent oi' the Bhhop, the Clergy, and the Laity." 
 
 The diocese of Adelaide in South Australia, has 
 declared that *' No rule shall be binding on the mem- 
 bers of the church in this diocese which shall not 
 have received the concurrent assent of the Bishop, 
 the chapter of clergy, and the convention in the 
 Diocesan Assembly." 
 
 And the important diocese of Cape Toion at the 
 Cape of Good Hope, recognizes the episcopal au- 
 thority and veto as follows : *' The clergy and laity 
 shall, ordinarily, sit and deliberate together, the 
 Bishop presiding, and shall vote as one body, but any 
 member of the Synod may demand a vote by orders, 
 in which case no resolution shall be regarded as 
 adopted by the Synod unless carried by a majority of 
 each order and assented to by the Bishop,^* 
 
 Then there is an express enactment of the Legis- 
 lature of Victoria, to be found in " An Act to enable 
 
 T 
 
13 
 
 T 
 
 the Bishops, Clergy and Laity, of the United Church 
 of England and Ireland, in Victoria, to provide for the 
 regulation of the affairs of the said Church," which 
 is as follows : " Every regulation, act and resolution 
 of such Assembly,made by the Bishop, and the Clergy 
 and Laity thereat, respecting the aflairs of the said 
 Church, including all advowsons and right of patron- 
 ..ge, shall be binding on every such Bishop and his 
 successors, and on the Clergy and lay members of the 
 said Church, residing within the Diocese for which 
 such Assembly shall have been convened, and on none 
 other, and on them only so far as sucH regulation, act 
 or resolution may concern the position, rights, duties 
 and liabiUtitsof any minister or member of the said 
 United Church, or any person in communion therewith 
 in regard of his ministry, membership, or communion, 
 or may concern the advowson or right of patronage 
 or management of the property of the said Church. 
 Provided that no such regulation, act or resolution 
 shall be valid, except it be made with the concurrence 
 of a majority, both of the Clergy and of the Laity, 
 the votes of the clergy and those of the laity separate- 
 ly taken, and except it receive the assent of the Bishop.'^ 
 
 To these may be added the Diocese o^Melboxirne, 
 five dioceses in JYew Zealand those of Tasmania^ 
 JVataly Sydney, and JYew Castle^mih Montreal^ mak- 
 ing in all sixteen Dioceses, in every one of which the 
 veto has been adopted. 
 
 The episcopal authority being thus recognized as 
 an essential element ol the United Church of England 
 and Ireland, in every portion of the dominions of the 
 Crown, it remains to be ascertained whence the idea 
 of excluding it from that Church has been found. It 
 seems that the Association above named h?ve derived 
 it from the United States of America, in all but one of 
 
14 
 
 which, it is urged, that the episcopal authority, in the 
 form of a negative upon the proceedings of the Clergy 
 and laity, is not vested in the Bishops. A glance at 
 the history of the Church government in the United 
 States will suffice to shew why their government, in 
 matters clerical, any more than in those political, 
 should not be introduced into Her Majesty's domin- 
 ions. It is urged that the episcopal church in the 
 United States has been successfully managed since 
 the Revolution. It may have been so, and so may 
 have been the I^resbyterian, Methodist, Congre- 
 gational, and Roman Catholic churches, but this 
 affords no excuse for attempting to disparage the 
 Church of the United Kingdom of England and Ire- 
 land, at home or abroad, by comparing it with the 
 episcopal church of the United States. If such at- 
 tempts be continued, it is believed that a bulficient 
 number of old country people and their descendants, 
 members of the United Church of England and Ire- 
 land, will be found in the Dioeese of Quebec, to form 
 a majority determined to maintain the excellence of 
 their own church in preference to any other. 
 
 The Episcopal Church in the United States has 
 grown out of the republican institutions which there 
 predominate. It has, for the want of a belter, been 
 resorted to as a substitute for the United Church of 
 England and Ireland. At the time of the American 
 Revolution the episcopal Church in the Colonies 
 was comprised of Members of the Church, subjects 
 of the king, of England, The Church there was aided 
 and supported by the Society for the Propagation of 
 the Gospel in foreign parts. So soon as the Colonies 
 achieved their independence, the members of the 
 Church of England ihere, ceased to be members of 
 the Church of England, and the3%*as a natural conse- 
 quence, lost their aid from the Society. The King 
 
 t 
 
16 
 
 t 
 
 of England w^s, no longer, the head of any church in 
 the United States, The sovereignly of the people, 
 at once, became substituted for that of the king. 
 The members of the Church of England, in the old 
 Colonies, were thus compelled, by circumstances, to 
 create a church form of government, and it is quite 
 natural they should do so in conformity with the in* 
 stituuons ot the United States, 
 
 But, even in the United States, there is now a 
 decidedly progre^'sive tendency towards conservatism 
 in the discipline of the Episcopal Church, as evinced 
 in North Carolina so recently as the month of May 
 last. The Annual Convention of the Diocese of that 
 state assembled on the 4lh of May, 1859. The 
 principal work of this convencion was the considera- 
 tion and adoption of a new code, both constitutional 
 and canonical, which was then assimilated, more to 
 that of Vermont, as in their new, or amended con- 
 stitution, the principle of the episcopal veto was 
 adopted so far as to recognize, in the Bishop, the 
 right to dissent from any cannon affecting his own 
 authority or the spiritual condition of th;j Diocese. 
 
 The foregoing statement and considerations are 
 submitted in the hope that the principles of Church 
 government and discipline of the United Church of 
 England and Ireland, may be maintained among mem- 
 bers of that Church in the Diocese of Quebec, that it 
 will adhere to them as strictly, as the Diocese of 
 Montreal has recently done, where, upon a vote in 
 the Synod upon the Bishop's veto, there could be 
 found but seventeen members, (from among forty-five 
 of the clergy and ninety-one of the laity) who were in 
 favor of abolishing it. 
 
 The members of the Church of England having, 
 throughout the entire foreign British possessions, so 
 far maintained the constitution of their Church, it 
 
16 
 
 remains to be seen whether the Diocese of Quebec 
 will be the first to deviate iVom so fundamental a prin- 
 ciple of their church government as to remove the 
 main pillar of its strength, the authority of its Bishop. 
 
 The constitution recently adopted tor the District 
 of Montreal, which does not very materially vary 
 from those of the other Dioceses, might, it is conceiv- 
 ed, with some modifications, be adopted rith advan- 
 tage at Quebec, with a provision defining, with greater 
 precision, the qualification of voters at the election of 
 delegates, as the absence of this has already led to 
 much misunderstanding at the elections. 
 
 On motion of J. W. Dunscomb, Esq., seconded by 
 Henry LeMesurier, Esq., the above report was 
 adopted by acclamation, and ordered to be printed. 
 
 J. D. ARMSTRONG, 
 
 Chairman.