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the Colonies had no other standing than that of a voluntary religious society. On July 30, 1866, the Bishop who had summoned the clergy and lay delegates from the several parishes to meet him at Charlottetown, held service in St. Paul’s and there delivered his charge. In the afternoon he addressed them in meeting assembled. He informed them that the Privy Council had decided that the United Church of England and Ireland is not a part of the conStitution in any colo- nial settlement, nor can its authority or those who bear office in it claim to be recognized by the law of the colony otherwise than as the members of a voluntary association and hence the church in the Colonies has full liberty to govern itself and manage its own affairs.

This being the case His Lordship told them that it became necessary that they should make some provision for a governing assembly. After some discussion an ad- journment was made until the following day when they met at the Masonic Hall and passed the following resolutions:

Resolved, That this Island, though un— der the jurisdition of the Bishop of Nova Scotia is and shall continue a separate diocese.

Resolved, That, recognizing the neces- sity of some such church assembly as a synod, it is recommended that steps be taken by the various parishes to bring the matter

to an issue. Resolved, That each congregation do

send one delegate and Charlottetown three to meet the Bishop and report the opinion of the people concerning a synod at a meeting to be convened by His Lordship; the election of such delegates to take place at the Easter meeting of 1867.

These delegates were elected but it was _

PAST AND PRESENT OF

decided to take no action until the Lambert Conference had pronounced upon the sub- ject. This conference in dealing with the matter set forth in part as follows:

Resolution 5. That while each branch of the Anglican Church should have its own synod, unity of faith and discipline will be best maintained by the due subordination of the synods of the several branches to the higher authority of a synod over them.

Resoltuion 8. That in order to the binding of the churches of our Colonial Em- pire and the Missionary Churches beyond them, it is necessary that they receive and maintain without alteration the standards of faith and doctrine as now in use in this church.

Resolution 9. Provides that the Bishops of London, Oxford and St. David's and all the Colonial Bishops do consider the consti- tution of a voluntary spiritual tribunal to which questions of doctrine may be carried by appeal from each province of the C010- nial Church.

There was nothing in these utterances to afford any guide to immediate action so the churchmen of Prince Edward Island at their next meeting decided to leave the whole matter in abeyance, passing a resolution.

“That this meeting deems it inexpedient to entertain the question of a synod at the present time.”

Another event of great importance had occurred during the visit of the Bishop in August, 1866. For some time St. Paul’s had been found too small to accommodate those desiring divine service. Two methods of meeting the difficulty were suggested. First, the enlargement of the parish church of St. Paul’s; second, the erection of a chapel of ease or district church at the western part of the city at which all the pews were to be