ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



15- 



ham, Dec. 30 and 31, 1901, and Jan. 1, 1902. The 

 subject presented to the consideration of the sec- 

 ond conference was that of Confession and Ab- 

 solution; and in his letter of invitation the bishop 

 suggested that there be four sessions, at which 

 the discussion might proceed on the following 

 lines: 1. The meaning of our Lord's words (in 

 St. John xx, 22, 23; St. Matthew xviii, 13), and 

 their use in the ordinal as affecting the con- 

 ception of the priesthood. 2. The practise of the 

 Church (a) in primitive times; (b) in the mid- 

 dle ages. 3. The meaning of the Anglican for- 

 mularies and the limits of doctrine and practise 

 which they allow. 4. Practical considerations 

 (a) the treatment of penitents; (b) the special 

 training of the minister. The members of the 

 conference were selected by the bishop, accord- 

 ing to his own declaration, " with the greatest 

 care, in order that all schools of thought in the 

 Church should be adequately represented." They 

 included Lord Halifax, as the representative of 

 extreme High Churchmanship; Mr. R. M. Ben- 

 son; Principal V. S. S. Coles, of the Pusey House 

 at Oxford; Professor Moberly, of Christ Church, 

 representing the "Oxford High-Church school"; 

 Canon Body, Dr. Mason, and Professor Swete, 

 holding an independent position; Dr. Childe; 

 Principal T. W. Drury, of Ridley Hall; Dr. Gee, 

 Principal of Bishop's College, Ripon; Chancellor 

 P. V. Smith and the Rev. Dr. Wace; Canon Lyt- 

 tleton; and Dr. Strong, Dean of Christ Church. 

 The Rev. Dr. Wace, who was also chairman of 

 the first Fulham Conference, was chosen chair- 

 man of the present one, and he prepared the 

 report, which was published under the authority 

 of the bishop. The general results of the confer- 

 ence are comprehensively stated in the summary 

 of conclusions verbally communicated by the 

 chairman to the bishop at the close of the last 

 session as they are given by the bishop in the 

 introduction to the volume embodying the report 

 as follows: 



" On the bishop entering, the chairman reported 

 to his lordship the general results of the confer- 

 ence. He stated that a practical agreement had 

 been reached on some important points, but that 

 grave divergence remained on others. With re- 

 spect to the first subject proposed to the confer- 

 ence, the members were agreed that our Lord's 

 words in St. John's gospel, ' Whosesoever sins ye 

 remit, they are remitted unto them, and whoseso- 

 ever sins ye retain they are retained,' are not to 

 be regarded as addressed only to the apostles or 

 the clergy, but as a commission to the whole 

 Church, and as conveying a summary of the mes- 

 sage with which it is charged. It is, therefore, 

 for the Church as a whole to discharge the com- 

 mission, which she does by the ministration of 

 God's Word and sacraments, and by godly dis- 

 cipline. But 'the members of the conference 

 are agreed that the discipline of private confes- 

 sion and absolution can not be shown to have 

 existed for some centuries after the foundation 

 of the Church. It grew, in fact, out of the grad- 

 ual disuse, perhaps about the fifth century, of 

 the ' godly discipline ' of public penance, re- 

 ferred to in our commination service as existing 

 in the primitive Church. In view of the mean- 

 ing which the conference agreed was to be as- 

 signed to the words of our Lord in St. John, 

 the formula of ordination in our ordinal could 

 not be regarded as in itself inculcating the duty 

 of private confession and absolution. It was 

 agreed that our other formularies permitted such 

 confession and absolution in certain circum- 

 stances, but the conference were not agreed as to 

 the extent to which they encouraged it. On the 



practical question there was a deep divergence 

 of opinion in the conference, some members hold- 

 ing that the practise of conte^ion and absolu- 

 tion ought to be encouraged, as of great value 

 for the spiritual and moral life of men and wom- 

 en, while others were deeply convinced that its- 

 general encouragement was most undesirable, 

 that it should be treated as entirely exceptional,, 

 and that the highest form of Christian life and 

 faith would dispense with it and discourage it." 



Incense and Keservation in the Diocese of 

 London. The Bishop of London explained his 

 policy in regard to incense and the reservation of 

 the sacrament in an address to his diocesan con- 

 ference in May. On taking up his work he had 

 addressed a letter to 40 churches the ritual of 

 which had been open to question, and had re- 

 ceived ready answers from all, showing how long 

 incense had been used in them (from five to 

 forty years), and affirming that in all of them 

 the laity were in cordial agreement with the 

 clergy. He next wrote to 39 churches the usages 

 oi which seemed counter to the Lambeth opin- 

 ion. He recognized the claim to special consid- 

 eration, saying that he had hoped to be able to 

 define uniform limits within which, in excep- 

 tional cases, these usages might be permitted, 

 but had found it impossible. He said also that 

 he did not propose to take any active measures 

 against the continuance of a modified use of 

 incense and manner of reservation, such as had 

 already been agreed upon in private conversa- 

 tion, but as bishop he would not be present at 

 any service when incense was ceremonially used, 

 nor would he visit any church in which the 

 limits privately agreed upon were transgressed. 

 He thought the true policy was not to disturb 

 existing arrangements. There were now only & 

 churches which he could not visit officially be- 

 cause the sacrament was reserved in the open 

 church and there was ceremonial use of incense 

 on Sunday. All the others had conformed to his 

 wishes entirely. A working method had been 

 attained on this difficult question, and he in- 

 tended to pursue the same policy during the corn- 

 ing year. 



The Church Congress. The Church Congress- 

 met at Northampton, Oct. 7. The regular meet- 

 ing was preceded by a meeting for young women, 

 which was addressed by the Archdeacon of Man- 

 chester, the president of the Girls' Friendly So- 

 ciety, and others. The Bishop of Peterborough 

 being still laid up under the effects of an acci- 

 dent, the Bishop of Leicester presided and deliv- 

 ered the opening address. In the discussion of 

 the first subject, Home Reunion, Bishop Boyd 

 Carpenter, of Ripon, considering the three sug- 

 gested methods of surrender of all the other 

 churches to one confederation, and reorgan- 

 ization as all impracticable, pleaded as the only 

 remaining alternative for cooperation between 

 the churches for their common end. Prof. Collins 

 affirmed that reunion could come only on the 

 basis of the apostolical succession. Canon Henslcy 

 Henson, whose sermons on Communion and Co- 

 operation with Nonconformists and addresses on 

 the same subject, had attracted much attention 

 and excited comment, maintained that in order 

 to secure anything like practical reunion the 

 non-episcopal churches must be frankly acknowl- 

 edged. Earl Nelson defended episcopacy as a 

 historic heirloom to be handed down to the chil- 

 dren of the Church as a sacred trust. The Bish- 

 ops of Perth (Australia) and Victoria (Hong- 

 Kong) and others showed how reunion had been 

 practically secured in the colonies and on the 

 mission field through interdenominational recog- 



