ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



23 



I 



,e Archbishop of Canterbury declared his de- 



. .[.[Hi-ution, and Earl Russell (in reply 

 > Lord Kluiry, February 12th) stated that the 

 o\vrnr:<-nt, ""anxious to promote peace and 

 . ill, ami not to open the way to discord," 

 mmumc'ating with tho Archbishop 

 ! crimpy, declined to propose the form- 

 ag of a commission. The friends of "church 

 " had accordingly (February 3d) pre- 

 a memorial to tbo Archbishop of Can- 

 rbury, signed by 36,008 communicants, of 

 _!,! :!3 were laymen, and 2,970 clergy of 

 o Church of England, against any alterations 

 ing made in the Book of Common Prayer 

 9[>ccting the " ornaments of the Church, and 

 f the ministers thereof;" and the mode and 

 anner of performing divine service "accord- 

 g to the use of tho Church of England." 

 The archbishop, in his reply, while repeating 

 liis depuration that ho would never consent to 

 any alteration in any part of the Book of Com- 

 mon Prayer without tho full concurrence of 

 ~ invocation, at the same time declared his de- 

 ded opposition to many of tho ritualistic in- 

 ^ovations. Tho lower house of convocation, 

 at its session in February, after a long and 

 animated discussion, agreed to the following 

 solution : " That this house, recognizing the 

 ils which may arise from an excess of ritual- 

 n, deprecates, nevertheless, any attempt to 

 ,vert those possible evils by the introduction 

 f changes in the prayer book ; that in coming 

 i these resolutions the house by no means ha- 

 nds to express approval of any alteration from 

 mrch order not included in the expression 

 excess of ritualism.' That this resolution (tho 

 st paragraph) bo communicated to their lord- 

 ships of the upper house, with a humble re- 

 quest that they take the subject into their con- 

 sideration, and adopt such measures as they 

 shall see fit, in conjunction with the house, for 

 clearing the doubts and allaying the anxiety 

 that exists upon it." The bishops, in return, 

 desired the lower house to appoint a committee 

 of inquiry. The report of this committee was 

 made by its chairman, Dr. Goodwin, Dean of 

 !K!y, in July. The report gives a history of the 

 ritualistic usages which the party tries to in- 

 troduce, and deprecates any attempt at a judi- 

 cial settlement of the question of ritualism, 

 urging moderation on both sides. The report 

 of the committee was adopted by a vote of 38 

 to 9. 



The monastery of the "English Order of St. 

 Benedict," at Norwich, was 'dissolved in conse- 

 quence of tho long absence of its founder, the 

 Kev. Mr. Lyne ("Father Ignatius"), and from 

 want of support. Mr. Lyne, toward the close 

 of the year, received an appointment as a 

 curate in the diocese of London. A monastery 

 of tho "Third Order of St. Benedict" was still 

 in existence at tho close of tho year, at Bristol. 

 The efforts for bringing on a closer union 

 between the Anglican churches on the one 

 hand, and other religious denominations pos- 

 Bessed of an apostolical succession on the other, 



wero actively pursued. The societies chiefly 

 instrumental in pursuing these efforts on tho 

 part of tho Anglican churches are tho " English 

 Church Union," the "Association for the Pro- 

 motion of tho Unity of Christendom," and the 

 "Eastern Church Association." The latter 

 confined its efforts to the Eastern Churches, 

 while the two former have a more general ten- 

 dency, and in particular keep in view the estab- 

 lishment of closer relations with the Koman 

 Catholic Church. An interesting correspond- 

 ence between a number of Anglican clergy- 

 men and Cardinal Patrizi took place in the lat- 

 ter months of the year 1865, but was only made 

 public in 1866. The letter of tho Anglican 

 clergymen (written in Latin) was signed by 198 

 " deans, canons, parish priests, and other 

 priests," and addressed to " the Most Eminent 

 and Reverend Father in Christ, the Lord Car- 

 dinal Patrizi." As regards the relation of the 

 Anglican Church to that of Rome, the writers 

 say : " Whatever may have been less perfect in 

 the faith of the flock, in Divine worship and in 

 ecclesiastical' discipline, we have improved be- 

 yond our hope ; and, not to be forgetful of 

 other tilings, we have shown an amount of 

 good-will toward the venerable Church of 

 Rome, which has rendered us suspected in the 

 eyes of some." The cardinal, in his reply, which 

 is dated November 8, 1865, salutes the writers 

 as " Worthy and Very Dear Sirs," and he as- 

 sures them that their letter has inspired the 

 " sacred congregation with a most pleasing 

 hope." But ho declines to admit their claims 

 to the name " Catholic," and describes their 

 condition as an " inherited state of separation." 

 He concludes with the hope that they will " no 

 longer hesitate to throw themselves into the 

 bosom of that Church which, from the Apos- 

 tolic See through the succession of its bishops, 

 while heretics have barked in vain, has attained 

 the pinnacle." The views of Dr. Pusey, con- 

 cerning a union between the Churches of Eng- 

 land and Rome (see ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA for 

 1865, p. 26), were supported by the "English 

 Church Union," of which society Dr. Pusey has 

 become a member. At a discussion on the 

 subject, Dr. Pusey stated that as the basis of 

 such a union he proposed " tho decrees of the 

 Council of Trent and the Thirty-nine Articles, 

 both documents being properly explained." As 

 regards the movements for a closer intercom- 

 munion between the Eastern and the Angh'can 

 Churches, the Convocation of Canterbury was 

 requested by the Russo-Greek committee of 

 the lower house, for an enlargement of their 

 powers. They were appointed originally "to 

 communicate with tho committee Appointed 

 at the general convention of the Protestant 

 Episcopal Church in the United States as to in- 

 tercommunion with % the Russo-Greek Church, 

 and to communicate tho result to convocation." 

 They now requested permission to consider the 

 question of " intercommunion with the Oriental 

 churches generally ; " and the request was 

 granted. The " Eastern Church Association " 



