ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



The Ritualistic Crisis. The bishops of the 

 Church of England, Jan. 20, issued a letter to the 

 clergy emphasizing the great and urgent need 

 of united action in order to improve the " unex- 

 ampled opportunities opening before the whole of 

 Christendom with the dawn of the new century." 

 In view of these opportunities, any causes, it was 

 said, would be the more keenly felt which would 

 tend to lessen the Church's forces to grapple with 

 them. 



" Circumstances have given special promi- 

 nence to certain points in the present condition of 

 our Church which cause very grave anxiety in 

 those to whom by God's appointment the govern- 

 ment of it is intrusted. We inherit a form of 

 government which has come down to us from 

 apostolic times. The duty of guiding the Church 

 is intrusted to the bishops, and we can not escape 

 the responsibility. All antiquity is united in 

 teaching that this burden is laid upon them, and 

 if any doctrine can be called Catholic it is that 

 the bishops have a right to call on all the clergy 

 to follow the godly admonitions and submit them- 

 selves to the godly judgments of those who are 

 set over them in the Lord. Those who refuse such 

 obedience are practically setting up a form of gov- 

 ernment which is distinctly not episcopal, and 

 they can not claim that they are guided by Catho- 

 lic principles or are treading in Catholic paths. In 

 matters of ritual, the regulation of which is ex- 

 pressly committed to the bishop by the Book of 

 Common Prayer, the refusal of a clergyman to 

 obey the solemn admonition of his bishop is a 

 grave offense still more grave when the refusal 

 sets aside the judgment of the bishops as a body. 

 We therefore put before you that we as a body 

 uphold the duty of submitting to the decisions of 

 the/ archbishops given on questions referred to 

 them in accordance with the direction in the Book 

 of Common Prayer. We acknowledge thankfully 

 the very general recognition of this duty which 

 has been conscientiously given by the clergy at 

 large. But this has unfortunately not been uni- 

 versal. Brethren, you are well aware of the mis- 

 chief that must necessarily follow on disregard of 

 the essential principle of all true government. The 

 great work which our Lord has committed to the 

 whole Church, and especially to our own branch of 

 it, preaching the Gospel to the whole world, de- 

 mands all our energy, and is seriously imperiled 

 if we can not give to it our united force. We en- 

 treat you to use all your influence to persuade 

 those we are thankful to know that they are few 

 in number who are regardless of our authority, 

 to return to that obedience which alone can ex- 

 pect the blessing of God. 



" We recognize the pressing need of various 

 measures of reform to enable the Church to do 

 her work more efficiently, but all real progress in 

 that direction is seriously hindered so long as, 

 even in a few instances, submission to authority 

 is refused. Most of all will this hinder the ful- 

 filment of any hope or desire of obtaining for the 

 Church such a real measure of self-government as 

 would enable us to supply what may be lacking 

 in our system, or to remove any stumbling-blocks 

 out of the way." 



Bound Table Conference. The report of 

 the proceedings of the Round Table Conference 

 on ritual, held at the palace of the Bishop of Lon- 

 don in October, 1900 (see Annual Cyclopaedia for 

 1900, page 20), was officially published in Feb- 

 ruary. The book has an introduction by the late 

 Bishop of London (Dr. Creighton), who said that 

 his desire in promoting the conference was "to 

 bring together various phases of theological opin- 

 ion, as represented by theologians whose train- 



ing enabled them to talk a common language." 

 Preliminary to the opening of the confer- 

 ence, written statements of opinion on its 

 subject were invited by the bishop from each of 

 its fifteen members. Among these expressions was 

 one by Dr. Sanday suggesting an appeal to an- 

 tiquity as a common ground, and defining an- 

 tiquity as what was prior to A. D. 451. The Doc- 

 trine of the Holy Communion was the subject 

 set for first consideration, after which it was in- 

 tended to discuss the question of Its Expression 

 in Ritual. The sessions were, however, mainly 

 taken up with the former aspect of the general 

 topic, so that the chairman, the Rev. Dr. Wace, 

 at the close of the proceedings expressed his regret 

 that it " had not been found possible to discuss 

 in principle some important questions of ritual, 

 such as adoration and reservation, and the posi- 

 tion of the minister, whether eastward or other- 

 wise." A favorable vote was given provisionally 

 at the beginning of the conference to a sugges- 

 tion by Canon Gore, for the adoption, as express- 

 ing its unanimous conviction, of a statement of 

 Hooker (Ecclesiastical Polity, Book V, chap. 

 Ixvii, sec. 7), with the supplementary state- 

 ment, also from Hooker, that " the grace which 

 we have by the holy eucharist doth not begin, 

 but continues life," but it failed of final adoption. 

 A thesis by the Rev. N. Dimock was discussed, 

 setting forth that " in use the consecrated ele- 

 ments are effectual signs for the purpose of the 

 ordinance, seals of donation, and so truly exhibi- 

 tive proxies of the things signified, whose names 

 they bear in the delivery, which are thus verily 

 and indeed taken and received by the faithful, be- 

 ing really present for the manducation of faith 

 cui prwsentia sunt omnia prceterita." Canon 

 Newbold proposed the statement that " while the 

 bread and wine retain their natural substance, an 

 addition is made to them, by virtue of which the 

 body and blood of Christ are present really and 

 truly." Three statements were finally adopted. 

 The first, by Prof. Moule, affirmed in its essential 

 points that our Lord is present at our commun- 

 ions, mysteriously, yet absolutely as an object 

 of faith, not on, but at the table; that we should 

 worship him thus present, and revere the bread 

 and the wine " as his equivalent signs of his once 

 sacrificed flesh and blood " ; but that Holy Scrip- 

 ture does not give us reason to believe " any espe- 

 cial attachment of his presence to the sacred 

 signs, albeit called his body and his blood by rea- 

 son of their equivalence as divine tokens." The 

 second statement adopted was by Lord Halifax, 

 alleging that the bread and wine by virtue of 

 our Lord's institution become sacramentally the 

 body and blood of Christ, while in the natural 

 order they remain what they were before; that 

 the holy eucharist is the memorial of the Lord's 

 death, Christ being the real Consecrator, giving 

 his body and blood, " mystically represented and 

 exhibited under the aspect of death"; the pres- 

 ence being not corporeal, but sacramental only; 

 spiritual, after the manner of a spirit. The third 

 statement, offered by Canon Gore, is that " the 

 bread which is of the earth receiving the invoca- 

 tion of God is no longer common bread, but eu- 

 charist, made up of Iwo realities, an earthly and 

 a heavenly," there being sacramental identifica- 

 tion of Jesus Christ with the bread and wine. 



The Bishop of London was requested by the 

 meeting of his diocesan conference in June to call 

 a second Round Table Conference to be held in 

 the autumn of 1901. 



Reunion. A meeting held in the Council 

 Chamber in Salisbury, in the cause of Christian 

 union, Feb. 12, was the result of meetings of rep- 



