said resignation is confirmed, and shall transmit the said declaration to the President of the Standing Committee of the Diocese concerned. But if a majority of the Bishops do not notify the senior Bishop of their consent to the measure within six months, all the previous proceedings shall be void.

Sect. 6. A Bishop whose resignation of the Episcopal Jurisdiction of a Diocese has been thus confirmed, shall perform no Episcopal act, except by the request of the Bishop of some Diocese, or of the Convention, or the Standing Committee of a vacant Diocese. And if the said Bishop shall perform any Episcopal act contrary to these provisions, or shall in any wise act contrary to his Christian and Episcopal character, he shall, on trial and proof of the fact, be degraded from the ministry by any five Bishops, or a majority of them, to be appointed by the senior Bishop of this Church, and to be governed by their own rules in the case; and notice of the same shall be given to all the Bishops and Standing Committees as in the case of other degraded Ministers.

Sect. 7. No Bishop whose resignation of the Episcopal Jurisdiction of a Diocese has been confirmed as aforesaid, shall have a seat in the House of Bishops.

Sect. 8. A Bishop who ceases in any way to have the Episcopal charge of a Diocese, is still subject, in all matters, to the authority of the General Convention.

CANON XXXIII.-Of the Dissolution of all Pastoral Connexion between Ministers and their Congregations.

[Former Canons on this subject were the second of 1804, and the thirtieth of 1808.]

Sect. 1. When any minister has been regularly instituted or settled in a Parish or Church, he shall not be dismissed

without the concurrence of the ecclesiastical authority of the Diocese; and in case of his dismission without such concurrence, the Vestry or Congregation of such Parish or Church, shall have no right to a representation in the Convention of the Diocese, until they have made such satisfaction as the Convention may require. Nor shall any Minister leave his Congregation against their will, without the concurrence of the ecclesiastical authority aforesaid; and if he shall leave them without such concurrence, he shall not be allowed to take a seat in any Convention of this Church, or be eligible into any Church or Parish, until he shall have made such satisfaction as the ecclesiastical authority of the Diocese may require.

Sect. 2. In the case of the regular and Canonical dissolution of the connexion between a Minister and his Congregation, the Bishop, or, if there be no Bishop, the Standing Committee, shall direct the Secretary of the Convention to record the same. But if the dissolution of the connexion between any Minister and his Congregation be not regular or Canonical, the Bishop or Standing Committee shall lay the same before the Convention of the Diocese, in order that the above mentioned penalties may take effect.

This Canon shall not be obligatory upon those Dioceses with whose usages, laws, or charters, it interseres.

CANON XXXIV.-Of Differences between Ministers and their Congregations.

[Former Canons on this subject were the fourth of 1804, and the thirty-second of 1808.]

In cases of controversy between Ministers who now, or may hereafter, hold the Rectorship of Churches or Parishes, and the Vestry or Congregation of such Churches or Parishes, which Controversies are of such a nature as

same.

cannot be settled by themselves, the parties, or either of them, shall make application to the Bishop of the Diocese, or in case there be no Bishop, to the Convention of the And if it appear to the Bishop and a majority of the Presbyters, convened after a summons of the whole belonging to the Diocese, or if there be no Bishop, to the Convention, or the Standing Committee of the Diocese, if the authority should be committed to them by the Convention, that the controversy has proceeded to such lengths as to preclude all hope of its favourable termination, and that a dissolution of the connexion which exists between them is indispensably necessary to restore the peace, and promote the prosperity of the Church, the Bishop and his said Presbyters, or, if there be no Bishop, the Convention or the Standing Committee of the Diocese, if the authority should be committed to them by the Convention, shall recommend to such Ministers to relinquish their titles to their Rectorship, on such conditions as may appear reasonable and proper to the Bishop and his said Presbyters, or, if there be no Bishop, to the Convention or the Standing Committee of the Diocese, if the authority should be committed to them by the Convention. And if such Rectors or Congregations refuse to comply with such recommendation, the Bishop and his said Presbyters, or, if there be no Bishop, the Convention, or the Standing Committee of the Diocese, if the authority should be committed to them by the Convention, with the aid and consent of a Bishop, may, at their discretion, proceed, according to the Canons of the Church, to suspend the former from the exercise of any Ministerial Duties within the Diocese, and prohibit the latter from a seat in the Convention, until they retract such refusal, and submit to the terms of the recommendation and any Minister so suspended shall not be permitted, during his suspension, to exercise any Ministerial Duties.

This Canon shall apply also to the cases of Assistant Ministers and their Congregation.

CANON XXXV.—Of Ministers removing from one Diocese to another.

[Repealed by the fourth Canon of 1835.]

CANON XXXVI.—Of the officiating of Persons not Ministers of this Church.

[Former Canons on this subject were the fifth of 1792, and the thirty-fifth of 1808.]

No person shall be permitted to officiate in any Congregation of this Church, without first producing the evidences of his being a Minister thereof to the Minister, or, in case of vacancy or absence, to the Church Wardens, Vestrymen or Trustees, of the Congregation.

CANON XXXVII.-Of Offences for which Ministers shall be Tried and Punished.

[Former Canons on this subject were the thirteenth of 1789, the first of 1801; the twenty-sixth of 1808, and the second of 1829.]

Sect. 1. Every Minister shall be liable to presentment and trial, for any crime or gross immorality, for disorderly conduct, for drunkenness, for profane swearing, for frequenting places most liable to be abused to licentiousness, and for violation of the Constitution or Canons of this Church, or of the Diocese to which he belongs: and on being found guilty, he shall be admonished, suspended, or degraded, according to the Canons of the Diocese in which the trial takes place, until otherwise provided for by the General Convention.

Sect. 2. If any Minister of this Church shall be accused by public rumour, of discontinuing all exercise of the Mi

nisterial Office without lawful cause, or of living in the habitual disuse of public worship, or of the holy eucharist, according to the offices of this Church, or of being guilty of scandalous, disorderly, or immoral conduct, or of violating the Canons, or preaching, or inculcating heretical doctrine, it shall be the duty of the Bishop, or, if there be no Bishop, the Clerical Members of the Standing Committee, to see that an inquiry be instituted as to the truth of such public rumour. And in case of the individual being proceeded against and convicted, according to such rules or process as may be provided by the Conventions of the respective Dioceses, he shall be admonished suspended, or degraded, as the nature of the case may require, in conformity with their respective Constitutions and Canons.

CANON XXXVIII.-Of a Minister declaring that he will no longer be a Minister of this Church.

[Former Canons on this subject were the second of 1817; the seventh of 1820, and the third of 1829.]

If any Minister of this Church against whom there is no ecclesiastical proceeding instituted, shall declare to the Bishop of the Diocese to which he belongs, or to any ecclesiastical authority for the trial of Clergymen, or, where there is no Bishop, to the Standing Committee, his renunciation of the Ministry, and his design not to officiate in future in any of the offices thereof, it shall be the duty of the Bishop, or, where there is no Bishop, of the Standing Committee, to record the declaration so made. And it shall be the duty of the Bishop to displace him from the Ministry, and to pronounce and record, in the presence of two or three Clergymen, that the person so declaring, has been displaced from the Ministry in this Church. In any Dio