ANGLICAN 



43 



voopt one stenographer, wliose vor- 



:(, it wa- M'-rivi-d, should be pnlili-h.-d 

 ill full, in tlu- eoiirse of time, with sucli t:ni^- 

 os the AivhMshop of Canterbury might 

 deem jiiuirioiH. The, more important portions 

 of the proceedings were eommnnirateil to tho 

 puhlic immediately after the adjournment of tho 



!, in a semi-official manner. They are 

 ! l'\ a >eries of resolutions, which were 

 piveoded l.v a preamble expressing the convic- 

 tion of the bishops that the unity of the Church 

 ' will he most effectually promoted by maintain- 

 ing the faith in its purity and integrity as 



t in the Holy Scriptures, held by tho 

 Primitive Church, summed up in tho Creeds, 

 and atlirmed hy the undisputed General Coun- 

 cilsand by drawing each of us closer to our 

 common Lord, by giving ourselves to much 

 prayer and intercession, by tho cultivation of a 

 spirit of charity, and a love of tho Lord's 

 appearing." The resolutions were as follows: 



1. That it appears to us expedient, for the purpose 

 of maintaining brotherly intercommunication, that 

 all cases of establishment of new sees and appoint- 

 ment of new Bishops be notified to all Archbishops 

 and Metropolitans, and all presiding Bishops of the 

 Anglican Communion. 



_'. That, having regard to the conditions under 

 which intercommunion between members of the 

 Church, passing from one distant diocese to another, 

 may be duly maintained, we hereby declare it desir- 

 able: 1. "fhat forms of letters commendatory on 

 behalf of clergymen visiting other dioceses be drawn 

 up and agreed upon. 2. That forms of letters com- 

 mendatory for lay members of the Church be in like 

 manner prepared. 3. That his Grace the Lord Arch- 

 bishop of Canterbury be pleased to undertake the 

 preparation of such forms. 



'>. That a committee be appointed to draw up a 

 pastoral address to all members of the Church of 

 Christ in communion with the Anglican branch of 

 imrch Catholic, to be agreed upon by the 

 assembled Bishops, and to be published as soon as 

 possible after the last sitting of the Conference. 



4. That, in the opinion of this Conference, unity of 



faith and discipline will be best maintained among 



-.oral branches of the Anglican Communion by 



due and canonical subordination of the Synods o'f 



I'ru-i. 'In-* to the higher authority of a 



Synod or Synods above them. 



6. That a committee of seven members (with power 

 to add to their number, and to obtain the assistance 

 of muii learned in ecclesiastics and canon law) be ap- 

 pointed to inquire into and report upon the relations 

 and functions of such Synods, and that such report 

 be forwarded to his Grace the Lord Archbishop of 

 Canterbury, with a request that, if possible, it may 

 be communicated to any adjourned meeting of this 

 Conference. 



6. That, in the judgment of the Bishops now as- 

 sembled, the whole Anglican Communion is deeply 

 injured by the present condition of the Church in 

 Natal; and that a committee be now appointed at 

 this general meeting to report on the best mode by 

 which the Church may be delivered from the coniiii- 

 uance of this scandal, and the true faith maintained. 

 Tint such report be forwarded to his Grace the Lord 

 Archbishop of Canterbury, with the request that he 

 will be pleased to transmit the same to all the Bishops 

 of the Anglican Communion, and to ask for their 

 Judgment thereupon. 



7. That we who are hers present do acquiesce in 

 the resolution of the Convocation of Canterbury, 

 passed on June 26, 1866, relating to the Diocese of 

 Natal, to wit : 



If it be decided that a new Bishop should be con- 

 secrated as to the proper steps to be taken I 

 members of the Church in the Province of NV 

 obtaining a new Bishop, it is the opinion 

 House first, that a formal instrument, declaratory 

 of the doctrine and discipline of the Church of South 

 Africa, should be prepared, which every Bishop, 

 priest, and deacon should be n-miircd to subscribe; 

 secondly, that a godly and well-learned man should 

 be chosen by the clergy, with the assent of the lay 

 communicants of the Church ; and thirdly, that he 

 should be presented for consecration, either to the 

 Archbishop of Canterbury if the aforesaid instru- 

 ment should declare tho doctrine and discipline of 

 Christ as received by the United Church of England 

 and Ireland or to the Bishops of the Church of 

 South Africa, according as hereafter may be judged 

 to be most advisable and convenient. 



8. That, in order to the binding of the churches of 

 our colonial empire and the missionary churches 

 beyond them in the closest union with the Mother 

 Church, it is necessary that they receive and maintain 

 without alteration the standards of faith and doctrine 

 as now in use in that Church. That, nevertheless, 

 each province should have the right to make such 

 adaptations and additions to the services of the 

 Church as its peculiar circumstances may require, 

 provided that no change or addition be made incon- 

 sistent with the spirit and principles of the Book of 

 Common Prayer, and that all such changes be liable 

 to any revision by any Synod of the Anglican Com- 

 munion in which the said province shall be repre- 

 sented. 



9. That the committee appointed by resolution 5, 

 with the addition of the names of the Bishops of 

 London, St. David's, and Oxford, and all the Colonial 

 Bishops, be instructed to consider the constitution 

 of a voluntary spiritual tribunal, to which questions 

 of doctrine may be carried by appeal from the tribu- 

 nals for the exercise of discipline in each province 

 of the Colonial Church, and that their report be for- 

 warded to his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canter- 

 bury, who is requested to communicate it to an ad- 

 journed meeting of this Conference. 



10. That the resolutions submitted to this Con- 

 ference relative to the discipline to be exercised 

 by Metropolitans, the Court of Metropolitans, the 

 scheme for conducting the election of Bishops, 

 when not otherwise provided for, the declaration of 

 submission to the regulation of the Synods, and the 

 question of what legislation should be proposed for 

 the Colonial Churches, be referred to the committee 

 specified in the preceding resolution. 



11. That a special committee be appointed to con- 

 sider the resolutions relative to tho notification of 

 proposed Missionary Bishops, and the subordinates 

 of Missionaries. 



12. That the question of the bounds of the juris- 

 diction of different Bishops, when any question may 

 have arisen in regard to them, the question as to the 

 obedience of Chaplains of the United Church of 

 England and Ireland on the Continent, and the reso- 

 lution submitted to the Conference relative to their 

 return and admission into home dioceses, be re- 

 ferred to the committee specified in the preceding 

 resolution. 



13. That we desire to render our hearty thanks to 

 Almighty God for His blessings vouchsafed to us in 

 and by this Conference ; and we di'-ire to express 

 our hope that this our meeting may hereafter be 

 followed by other meetings, to be conducted in the 

 same spirit of brotherly love. 



The resolution in relation to Bishop Colenso 

 was adopted almost unanimously, there being 

 only three hands raised against it. A Pastoral 

 Address was adopted and signed hy the Bishops, 

 exhorting the members of the Church to hold 

 fast, as the euro Word of God, all tho canonical 



