Page:Letters from New Zealand (Harper).djvu/209

Rh by General Synod in 1865, the Church in New Zealand binds itself to maintain the Doctrine and Sacraments of the United Church of England and Ireland, as contained in the Book of Common Prayer, and declares that the Church in New Zealand has no power to make changes in the Authorised Version of the Holy Scriptures, or in the formularies of the Church;—Provided that, with consent of Crown and Convocation, any changes in the Formularies of the Prayerbook, or Version of the Bible, adopted in England, may be accepted by the General Synod. And, for fear of risk with regard to Church property, it is provided that if the Colony of New Zealand be separated from the Mother Country, or if there should be a separation of Church from the State in England and Ireland, then the Church in New Zealand shall have full power to make alterations in Services, Articles, and Ceremonies, or in the Version of the Bible, at its own discretion.

To these provisions there is added a clause: "These provisions are fundamental, and it shall not be within the power of the General Synod to alter, revoke, add to, or diminish any of the same."

This is our position as defined in the Church Constitution. Now for the actual position in which we find ourselves. Since 1857 things have changed. It was then supposed that the Church here, being an integral portion of the Church at Home, was subject to the Ecclesiastical authority of the Mother Church, as by law established. New Zealand Bishops held their office under Letters Patent, issued by the Crown. It was thought that the Church in New Zealand could take no action on her own responsibility, either in the matter of increasing her episcopate, or