18 



ANGLICAN CHURCI1ES. 



impurity, by raising the tone of public opinion 

 and stamping out ignoble and corrupt tradi- 

 tions. The sanctity of marriage was compro- 

 'mised by increasing facilities for divorce, re- 

 specting which the Church should insist upon 

 adherence to the precept of Christ. " The 

 polygamous alliances of heathen races are al- 

 lowed on all hands to be condemned by the law 

 of Christ ; but they present many practical 

 problems which have been solved in various 

 ways in the past. . . . While we have refrained 

 from offering advice on minor points, leaving 

 these to be settled by the local authorities of 

 the Church, we have laid down some broad 

 lines on which alone we consider that the mis- 

 sionary may safely act. Our first care has been 

 to maintain and protect the Christian concep- 

 tion of marriage, believing that any immediate 

 and rapid successes which might otherwise 

 have been secured in the mission field would 

 be dearly purchased by any lowering or con- 

 fusion of this idea." The growing laxity in 

 the observance of Sunday as a day of rest, of 

 worship, and of religious teaching, was depre- 

 cated. The importance of the attitude of the 

 Church toward the social problems of the day 

 was .urged ; and its duties in this category were 

 to be discharged by faithfully inculcating the 

 definite truths of the faith as the basis of all 

 moral teaching : particularly by a more con- 

 stant supervision of, and a more sustained in- 

 terest on the part of the clergy in the work 

 done in Sunday-schools ; by encouraging the 

 study of Holy Scripture ; by cautious and dis- 

 creet treatment of doubts arising from the mis- 

 apprehension of the due relations between 

 science and revelation respecting which, 

 " where minds have been disquieted by scien- 

 tific discovery or assertion, great care should 

 be taken not to extinguish the elements of 

 faith, but rather to direct the thinker to the 

 realization of the fact that such discoveries 

 elucidate the action of laws which, rightly 

 conceived, tend to the higher appreciation of 

 the glorious work of the Creator, upheld by 

 the word of his power " ; and by similar caution 

 in the treatment of questions respecting in- 

 spiration. A reference to questions in the 

 mutual relations of dioceses and branches of 

 the communion between which cases of fric- 

 tion may arise, was followed by a definition of 

 the attitude of the Anglican Communion to- 

 ward the religious bodies now separated from 

 it, which, it was declared : 



Would appear to bo this : We hold ourselves in 

 readiness to enter into brotherly conference with any 

 of those who may desire intercommunion with us in 

 a more or less perfect form. We lay down conditions 

 on which such intercommunion is, in our opinion, and 

 according to our conviction, possible. For, however 

 we may long to embrace those now alienated from us, 

 so that the ideal of the one flock under the one shep- 

 herd may be realized, we must not be unfaithful 

 stewards of the great deposit intrusted to us. We 

 can not desert our position either as to faith or disci- 

 pline. That concord would, in our judgment, be 

 neither true nor desirable which should be produced 

 by such a surrender. But we gladly and thankfully 



recognize the real religious work which is carried on 

 by Christian bodies not of our communion. We can 

 not close our eyes to the visible blessing which has 

 been vouchsafed to their labors for Christ's sake. Let 

 us not be misunderstood on this point. \Ve are not 

 insensible to the strong ties, the rooted convictions, 

 which attach them to their present position. These 

 we respect, as we wish that on our side our own prin- 

 ciples and feelings may be respected. Competent 

 observers, indeed, assert that not in England only, 

 but in all parts of the world, there is a real yearning 

 for unity that men's hearts are moved more than 

 heretofore toward Christian fellowship. May the 

 spirit of love move over the troubled waters of relig- 

 ious difference. 



With respect to the Scandinavian Church, 

 the seeking of fuller knowledge and the inter- 

 change of friendly intercourse was recom- 

 mended as preliminary to the promotion of 

 closer relations. Though it was not believed 

 that the time had come for any direct connec- 

 tion with the Old Catholic or other Continent- 

 al movements toward reformation, the possi- 

 bility of an ultimate formal alliance with some 

 of them was hoped for. While there were no 

 doctrinal bars to communion with the Eastern 

 Churches such as existed in the Roman Catho- 

 lic Church, and while all Episcopal intrusions 

 within their jurisdiction and all schemes of 

 proselytizing were to be avoided, it was only 

 right, the letter declares, 



That our real claims and position as a historical 

 Church should be set before a people who are very 

 distrustful of novelty, especially in religion, and who 

 appreciate the history of Catholic antiquity. Help 

 should be given toward the education of the clergy, 

 and, in more destitute communities, extended to 

 schools for general instruction. 



While it was considered desirable that the 

 standards, as repeatedly defined and as reiter- 

 ated in the letter, should be set before the for- 

 eign churches in their purity and simplicity : 



A certain liberty of treatment must be extended to 

 the cases of native and growing churches, on which 

 it would be unreasonable to impose, as conditions of 

 communion, the whole of the thirty-nine articles, col- 

 ored as they are in language and form by the peculiar 

 circumstances under which they were originally drawn 

 up. On the other hand, it would be impossible for 

 us to share with them in the matter of holy orders as 

 in complete intercommunion, without satisfactory 

 evidence that they hold the same form of doctrine as 

 ourselves. It ought not to be difficult, much less im- 

 possible, to formulate articles in accordance with our 

 own standards of doctrine and worship, the acceptance 

 of which should be required of all ordained in such, 

 churches. 



The resolutions formally adopted by the 

 Conference are in general harmony with the 

 precepts set forth in the encyclical letter. Be- 

 sides approving, in general terms, the positions 

 assumed in the several reports, they give more 

 formal and detailed expressions concerning 

 some of the questions considered in them. 

 They declare that "the use of unfermented 

 juice of the grape, or any liquid other than 

 true wine in the administration of the cup 

 in Holy Communion, is unwarranted by the 

 example of our Lord, and is an unauthorized 

 departure from the custom of the Catholic 

 Church " ; that the Church can not recognize 



