CANONS,

FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF

MARYLAND.

Passed in Convention, May 27, 28 and 29, 1847.

OF THE CONVENTION.

CANON I.

Of the titles of Clergymen to seats in Convention.

No clergyman removing from another diocese into Maryland, shall be entitled to a seat in the Convention as having been regularly and canonically elected into a parish or separate congregation, unless it shall have been signified to the Secretary of the Convention by the Bishop, or in case of a vacancy in the Episcopal office, by the President of the Standing Committee, that he had obtained from him a certificate of his Episcopal ordination and religious character; nor unless the Bishop or President shall have received from the vestry, and transmitted to the Secretary, the Certificate required by the 30th canon of the General Convention of 1832. In the case of a clergyman canonically resident in the diocese, elected into a parish or separate congregation, he shall be required, immediately after his acceptance of the appointment, to transmit to the Bishop a certificate from the Wardens. and Vestry of the said election. No clergyman shall have a seat in the Convention, as an instructor of youth in any Seminary of learning, till he shall have produced to the Convention a certificate from the rector and vestry, and if there be no rector, from the vestry, of the parish in which it is situated, or of some separate congregation, within such parish, acknowledged as such by the Convention, that he is so occupied. No clergyman shall be entitled to a seat in Convention as an infirm clergyman, unless he shall produce a certificate from some respectable physician, that

his state of health unfits him for the active duties of the ministry, and there be evidence that at the time his health became infirm, he was entitled to a seat in the Convention.

CANON II.

Absentees from the Convention to be noted.

At every meeting of the Convention it shall be the duty of the Secretary to report the names of such clergymen entitled to seats, as may have absented themselves from two successive Conventions, and the Convention shall take such order thereon as may be deemed expedient.

CANON III.

Of the erection of new Parishes or Congregations.

No part of a parish shall separate itself from the residue thereof, as a distinct parish, nor shall any number of members of the Protestant Episcopal Church in any parish associate themselves, as a separate congregation therein, without first obtaining leave of the Convention, who shall judge of the necessity and expediency of such separation or association. And no parish or congregation, although constituted with the consent of the Convention, shall be considered as a part of the Protestant Episcopal Church in this State without a strict conformity on the part of such parish or congregation to the use of the liturgy of the said Church, nor without a compliance, in the case of a parish, with the provisions of the act entitled "An Act for the establishment of Vestries for each parish in this state," passed November session, 1798, or in case of a congregation, with the provisions of the act entitled "An Act to incorporate certain persons in every Christian Church or Congregation in this State," and with the several supplements thereto. And in case of a separation made without the consent of the Convention, the persons so violating this canon shall be liable to be proceeded against for the breach thereof.

CANON IV.

Provision for defraying certain Expenses..

The vestry of each parish or Church shall, at every annual Convention, pay to the treasurer such sums as may be required from them respectively, by resolution of the Convention, from time to time, for the purpose of paying the salary of the Bishop, the travelling expenses of the Standing Committee and the delegates to the General Convention, printing the journal, compensation to the Secretary, and other incidental expenses of the Convention.

CLERICAL DISCIPLINE.

CANON V.

Of offences for which a Clergyman may be brought to trial. Every presbyter or deacon of this diocese who shall wilfully disobey the Constitution, or any canon of the General Convention of this Church, or of this diocese, or any rubric, or shall fall into a general neglect of public worship, or engage in gaming or any other vicious or corrupting amusement, or shall frequent places most liable to be abused to licentiousness, or commit any disorderly or scandalous action, or violate any of the Divine precepts, or his ordination vow, or shall teach or publicly avow any heretical doctrine, or shall without lawful cause discontinue the exercise of the ministerial office, or separate himself from the communion of the Church, shall be liable to Ecclesiastical trial and.

censure.

CANON VI.

Of the mode of instituting Proceedings against Clergymen. Whenever the Bishop shall, either, from his own observation, or from any information which he shall deem worthy of notice, have reason to believe that there are grounds for an investigation into the conduct of any priest or deacon of this diocese, he may

in his discretion convene the Standing Committee, and lay be fore them the information in his possession. And whenever the Standing Committee, or a majority of them, shall, from any information so laid before them by the Bishop, or from any other information which they, or a majority of them, may think worthy of notice, be of opinion that it is proper that a judicial investigation of the conduct of any priest or deacon should take place, they shall present that fact to the Bishop, with such a general statement of the facts of the case as may serve for a groundwork upon which charges may be drawn. It shall be the duty of the Bishop, upon the receipt of such presentment, to cause the charge or charges to be drawn up in such form as will, with reasonable certainty, give to the accused notice of the particular matters charged as offences. The style of the charge or charges shall be "Articles or charges against exhibited on behalf of

the Church to the Bishop of the Diocese of Maryland, by --, acting as Church Advocate in consequence of a presentment made to the said Bishop by the Standing Committee of the said diocese."

CANON VII.

Of Advocates and of Parties.

Whenever it shall be determined to bring to trial any clergyman, the Bishop shall appoint one person as Church Advocate, whose duty it shall be to prepare the charges and conduct the trial on the part of the Church. It shall also be his duty to reduce the charges into form. He shall conduct the case with a single eye to eliciting the truth, and shall regard himself as much bound to protect the interests of the accused, except in matters merely technical, as those of the Church. The Church Advocate shall be considered the party on the one side and the Accused on the other. The Accused shall have a right to call in any one person whom he may choose to assist him.

CANON VIII.

Of Ecclesiastical Courts.

There shall be an Ecclesiastical Court for the diocese of Maryland, to try such charges as may be preferred against any priest. or deacon of said diocese. It shall be composed of seven presbyters, not members of the Standing Committee. They shall be appointed by the Bishop, by and with the advice and consent of a majority of the Diocesan Convention, during the present Convention, and biennially thereafter, and shall continue in office until others shall have been chosen in their places, unless sooner removed by a vote of the Convention. The 'Bishop, by and with the advice and consent of the majority of the Convention, shall have power to fill all vacancies which may occur by such removal, or by death, resignation, removal from the diocese, or election into the Episcopate or Standing Committee. Whenever a charge or charges against any priest or deacon of this diocese shall have been reduced to writing, by the Church Advocate, agreeably to the provisions of the canons, it shall be his duty to deliver to the Bishop two copies of the same, signed with his own hand. It shall then be the duty of the Bishop to transmit one of the said copies to the accused, together with notice of the time and place of trial, both of which the Bishop shall prescribe. The charges and notice shall be delivered to the accused or left at his place of abode, at least thirty days before the time appointed for the trial. The Bishop shall also issue a precept, directed to all the members of the Ecclesiastical Court, requiring them or any five or more of them to proceed to the trial of the accused, at the prescribed time and place, which precept, together with another copy of the charges signed by the Church Advocate, shall be transmitted by the Bishop to the President of the Court, whose duty it shall be, upon receipt of the same, to cause all the members of the Court to be summoned to meet at the prescribed time and place. Any five of them who shall attend, in pursuance of