24 CHURCH UNITY 



Church, and entrusted as a sacred deposit 

 of faith and order by Christ and his apos- 

 tles to the Church through all time, and 

 therefore as incapable of compromise or 

 surrender by those who have been ordained 

 to be its stewards and trustees for the com- 

 mon and equal benefit of all men. And 

 then the bishops set forth four such prin- 

 ciples of church unity. 



First. The Holy Scriptures, as the 

 revealed word of God. 



Second. The Nicene Creed, as the es- 

 sential faith. 



Third. The two Sacraments, as insti- 

 tuted by Christ. 



Fourth. The Historic Episcopate, as 

 locally adapted to different Christian 

 nations. 



The bishops concluded with an expres- 

 sion of their readiness for brotherly con- 

 ference with any Christian bodies seeking 

 the restoration of the organic unity of the 

 Church with a view to the earnest study of 

 the conditions under which so priceless a 

 blessing might happily be brought to pass. 

 This is substantially the whole purport of 

 the Chicago Declaration. 



