ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



A circular was issued in February, signed by 

 twenty-three presbyters of Illinois, and about 

 fifty clergymen through the United States at 

 large, in protest against the progress of ritual- 

 istic doctrines and practices in the Church, and 

 calling a convention, of those who agreed in 

 the views it set forth, to meet in Chicago in 

 Jane. It met, pursuant to the call, on the 16th 

 of June, and spent two days in discussion of 

 the questions suggested by the protest. It de- 

 clared a careful revision of the " Book of Com- 

 mon Prayer " to be needful to the best inter- 

 ests of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and 

 particularly recommended " that all words or 

 phrases seeming to teach that the Christian 

 ministry is a priesthood, or the Lord's Supper 

 a sacrifice, or that regeneration is inseparable 

 from baptism, should be removed from the 

 Prayer Book." It recommended discussion, of 

 "the vital questions which now agitate the 

 Church," through the pulpit and the press, and 

 that the evangelical clergy of the Church 

 " avail themselves of all such measures as they 

 may deem best to promote fraternal and Chris- 

 tian relations with the ministers of other 

 Churches, especially by uniting with them in 

 such great national institutions as the Ameri- 

 can Bible Society." A standing committee of 

 clergy and laity were appointed, to sit as often 

 as they might deem expedient, and to be a body 

 in perpetuity for the promotion of the general 

 objects contemplated by the Conference. 



A second Conference was held, in connec- 

 tion with the anniversaries of the Low-Church 

 Societies, in Philadelphia, in November, and 

 passed several important resolutions. The 

 committee on revision was continued by a 

 unanimous vote. The request to the bishops 

 in sympathy with the Conference, to carry out 

 their purpose of striving to obtain certain 

 modifications in the baptismal office, was passed 

 by a ^ decided majority, and would have been 

 unanimous but that some apprehended that by 

 asking only this they precluded themselves 

 from asking other reforms, for which they 

 were equally desirous. The resolution express- 

 ing a desire for a thorough revision passed by 

 a large majority, upon a division of the house. 

 The resolution, requesting the bishops to seek 

 the repeal of the canon on the service of 

 those not ministers of the Anglican Church, 

 was unanimously passed. A resolution, re- 

 questing the bishops in sympathy with the 

 Conference to inquire whether false doctrine is 

 held and taught by any bishops of the Church, 

 and, if so, to institute proceedings to bring any 

 such bishop to trial, was passed without one 

 dissentient vote. The Conference also, by a 

 unanimous vote, resolved to prepare and ma- 

 ture a plan for the organization of a brother- 

 hood, upon evangelical and truly catholic prin- 

 ciple. The new association of the Low-Church 

 party, thus inaugurated, is based upon the fol- 

 lowing statement of principles and objects: 



1. The maintenance of the purity of the doc- 

 trine of the Church as opposed to sacerdotal- 



ism on the one hand and infidelity on the 

 other. The doctrinal basis of the brotherhood 

 shall be the Creeds and the Thirty-nine Arti- 

 cles, with such latitude of interpretation as 

 shall be between the extremes just indicated. 



2. The assertion and maintenance of those 

 inalienable liberties which belong to ministers 

 of Christ, as such, and which cannot be im- 

 paired by the fact that they are also ministers 

 of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Among 

 these liberties is, that of unrestricted fellow- 

 ship with such churches and ministers as hold 

 with us the substance of the faith ; the liberty 

 of preaching, so far as territorial limits are 

 concerned, with no other restrictions but such 

 as Christian courtesy and propriety shall dic- 

 tate ; and such liberty in the use or modifica- 

 tion of our formularies of worship as shall 

 seem best adapted to the salvation of souls and 

 the edification of the people of God. 



3. The denial of the claim that any civil or 

 ecclesiastical authority can stand to any man 

 in the place of his own conscience ; and the 

 assertion that, in the event of any collision be- 

 tween the two, the claims of conscience are 

 paramount. 



4. The development of higher spiritual life 

 in our own souls, by frequent systematic and 

 united devotional exercises ; by united efforts 

 to promote peace and good-will, and by mu- 

 tual exhortation and encouragement to works 

 of love, for the good of man and the glory of 

 God. 



Nine Low-Church bishops of the Protestant 

 Episcopal Church sent in November the follow- 

 ing circular to their brethren in the Episcopate, 

 in behalf of a revision of the Prayer Book : 



To OTJB BRETHREN : In consequence of very seri- 

 ous indications of a state of mind among many of 

 the clergy and laity^ of our Church, having regard to 

 alleged difficulties in the Prayer Book, and contem- 

 plating action most earnestly to be deprecated, some 

 of the bishops requested a meeting, in New York, of 

 several clergymen and laymen from various parts of 

 the country, whose knowledge of the facts, and whose 

 opinions as to needed measures, would be valuable. 

 The object was to get such information and compari- 

 son of views as might assist the bishops in forming 

 a right judgment of their duty^ to God, and to the 

 Church, and to their brethren in the state of mind 

 alluded to. 



It became painfully evident that many in our 

 Church are so burdened and distressed in the use of 

 certain expressions in our formularies, that the in- 

 quiry is obligatory as to what ought to be done, in 

 brotherly kindness and charity, for their relief. 



The result is the conviction^tnat, if alternate phrases 

 or some equivalent modification in the office for the 

 ministration of baptism of infants were allowed, the 

 pressing necessity would be met, and a measure of 

 relief would be afforded, of great importance to the 

 peace and unity of the Church. 



We have always been fully persuaded- that our 

 formularies of faith and worship, in their just inter- 

 pretation, embody the truth of Chris.t, are warranted 

 by the teaching of Holy Scripture, and are a faithful 

 following of the doctrines professed and defended by 

 our Anglican Eeformers. 



The difficulties referred to we ascribe, in a great 

 measure, to the bold innovations in doctrine and 

 usage which at the present time so unhappily agi- 

 tate our communion, and expose the Protestant and 



