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cumstances and pressing difficulties under which you labour. Nor are you alone in thus looking for aid to the Anglican Episcopate. The fact came before the Lambeth Conference that solemn protests had been raised in many Churches and Christian communities throughout the world against the usurpations of the See of Rome, and against the novel doctrines promulgated by its authority, and that appeals had been made by them also for the intervention of the Anglican Episcopate in difficulties similar to your own. Application from members of Churches thus circumstanced to Bishops not under the same bondage was felt by the Conference to be justifiable, while a consideration of the position of these Christian communities rendered hopeless by the recent decree of the Vatican Council, in any effort to reform themselves unless aided from without, seems to make the line of duty to be pursued by such Bishops towards their struggling brethren only the more clear and definite. For their position is this: The demand which has been made and repeated for centuries by many of the most eminent and faithful adherents of the Church of Rome, for Reform both in 'Head and Members,' has at length been met, though it cannot be silenced, by the claim of an Authority assuming to itself the prerogative of Infallibility, which has decreed that all the definitions of doctrine on faith and morals by the Roman Pontiff are irreformable. This decree, being from its very nature retrospective as well as prospective, has for ever closed the door against every effort for Reform by those Churches or Members of the Roman Communion who, protesting against an authority which invades the attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ, and against the novel and un-Catholic doctrines which have been promulgated by its authority, are seeking to reform themselves on the model of the Primitive Church, and who are refused all aid and sympathy by their own Bishops.

'While prepared, therefore, to sympathise with any movement for Reform which is in harmony with those principles on which the Church of England reformed itself, and to express its readiness to aid those Churches and Communities which, under such insuperable difficulties, are striving to free themselves from the yoke of error and superstition, the Conference was not unmindful of the Canonical Rule of the Church to which I have already referred, and of the respect which is due to the legitimate action of Church Order in the different provinces and dioceses in Christendom. The general principle which the Lambeth Conference affirmed, with special reference to the Churches of the Anglican Communion, applies with equal force to the Catholic Church everywhere, viz.:-The legitimate action of National Churches, and the authority of Bishops in their own dioceses. But this principle assumes the rightful liberty and independence of National Churches and their Bishops-a principle which is, however, entirely traversed by the present Constitution of the Church of Rome. The application of those principles of Church Order which are essential for discipline in ordinary times, are, however, subject to modification or suspension when the necessities of the Church demand the application of a principle of yet higher obligation. Hence we find from the teaching and practice of some of

the most eminent Fathers and Bishops of the Primitive Church, that whenever the faith was endangered by heresy or persecution, and heretical Bishops would ordain none but heretical clergy, they did not hesitate to act in virtue of the commission which the Episcopate has received from Christ for the preservation of the faith and government of His Church, and to ordain orthodox men in such dioceses, though contrary to the common rule of the Church. They asked for no dispensation from the Bishop of Rome, or from any other Bishop, but as members of the one Episcopate to which Christ had entrusted the preservation of the Faith, and as Catholic Bishops of the Universal Church, they felt themselves bound, individually, to exercise their Episcopal power in any part of the world where the necessities of the Church required it and the Faith was endangered.

'It was in virtue of this great commission which the Episcopate has received from Christ for the preservation of the Faith and the Government of His Church, and for the protection of those who should suffer for it, that the Bishops of the Anglican Communion, convened at Lambeth, authorised a Committee of their own number to offer such help as they might need to those Churches and Christian communities which, seeking to free themselves from the intolerable yoke of Papal usurpation, and from the compulsory acceptance of novel and un-Catholic doctrines enforced upon them by their own Bishops, were striving to reform themselves on the model of the Primitive Church, and should appeal to them for assistance. As members of a Church thus circumstanced you and your brethren have availed yourselves of this offer and have appealed to that Committee.

'As I intimated to you at the commencement of this letter, the Committee, in acknowledgment of your appeal, has authorised me to communicate with you, and has referred you to me for guidance and direction, with the view of providing for you the aid which you need. I am prepared to undertake the work thus far entrusted to me, and by recognising your Mission, based upon the principles enunciated in your letter, and tendering to it a provisional oversight, to place you in a position to confer with me officially on the details of the work in which you are engaged. You will readily understand that it would be impossible for us to pledge ourselves to the administration of Episcopal functions in your Mission until we have had the opportunity of becoming acquainted with your proposed revised Ritual-the order and forms to be observed in the celebration of Divine Service and administration of the Sacraments, and other sacred offices of the Church. "We do not demand," to use the language of the Conference, "we do not demand a rigid uniformity;" nor, I would add, would we desire to abridge in the slightest degree the liberty of a National and Catholic Church to frame its own Liturgy and to decree its own rites and ceremonies. But "lex Orandi, lex Credendi." And if, in compliance with your request, we are to administer Episcopal functions according to your ritual, we can do so only in the event of that ritual, in its language and ceremonies, containing nothing inconsistent with the Word of God, with the principles enunciated in our

own formularies, with the prerogatives of the One Divine Head of the Church, or of the One Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Your proposed revision of your ritual on the basis of the Primitive Gallican Liturgy, adapted to your present necessities, would seem to furnish the best assurance that your reformed Liturgy will embody the principles which, you say, are common to us both, and thus remove any difficulty on this head. I await your further communication on this subject.

'If, as I hope may prove the case, we may be enabled to provide for you the Provisional Episcopal superintendence which you desire, I trust and earnestly pray that, by the assistance of the Holy Spirit of God, we may be permitted so to guide the movement as shall prevent the possible formation of any such schisms as those which resulted from the refusal on the part of the Bishops to recognise and guide the great religious movement of the 16th century-a guidance and recognition which were as earnestly desired by the Reformers of that day as they are now by yourself and by those who are co-operating with you.

'I am happy to add that the Bishop of Edinburgh has, at my request, kindly consented to be associated with me in the future conduct of this work.

'I beg to subscribe myself, Reverend and dear Sir, very faithfully yours in the Lord Jesus Christ,

'ROBERT, Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.'

It is only just to say that a more temperate and grave document upon a great subject could not be desired. We recognise in it the practical wisdom, piety, and administrative ability of the Primus of Scotland.

Père Hyacinthe says in effect:-These new doctrines of the Vatican are destructive of the Church: you may trace, since their promulgation, the rapid growth of the two worst evils that can beset her-novelty of doctrine and superstition. The Gallican Church, the Church of my forefathers, hallowed by noble traditions, which the greatest divines of France illustrated by their labours and their talents, lies gagged and bound at the feet of the Vatican councillors. Give me help in the arduous task of endeavouring to set her free, and restoring her to her ancient and Catholic position. The need is urgent-earnest pious men are bewildered, and the turbulent scoffers and the philosophical infidels are destroying her.

So many unjust burdens are laid on men's shoulders they will not bear those that are just, such monstrous novelties are required to be believed, that men take refuge in general scepticism. Come and help us, and delay not. We are no revolutionists, no founders of a new religion, no speculative dreamers.

All we ask is to be enabled stare super antiquas vias' of the Church of Christ.

Must this cry for help go up in vain? because we have fallen on evil days for which there is no precedent, are we to do nothing?

The disease in its present state and terrible magnitude is new are we to try no remedy?

For what are the dry bones of precedent valuable when the life which once inspired them is gone?

There is surely much weight in the petition thus presented to our Bishops. It cannot be denied that a state of things may possibly arise in one branch of the Church which would justify the intervention of a foreign Episcopate in aiding the congregations of that branch, even without the consent of their proper Bishop.

If, for instance, the Vatican were to insist on belief in the immaculate conception of S. Joseph, or on a dogma that Bossuet, Fénelon, Pascal, D'Aguesseau, and Montalembert are in Purgatory, on account of their infidelity to the Church of Rome, or on a dogma that all the kingdoms of the earth were in the gift of the Pope, and that no other construction, as the Canon law declares, can be put upon the ' Ecce duo gladii ('Behold here are two swords')—if the Vatican were to insist on the necessity of a profession of belief in positions such as these an event unfortunately not only possible, but by no means inconceivable-surely the intervention of a foreign Episcopate would be justifiable.

It is a question, therefore, rather of degree than of principle. That the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin was not holden by the Universal Church is plain to any honest reader of authentic history. We cannot easily forget the manner, the look, the tone, and the energy of expression with which the late Archbishop of Syra and Tenos, when, in answer to a question how the Greek Church characterised this dogma, replied,

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So with regard to the other new dogma of Papal infallibility, it is abundantly, superabundantly, proved never to have been the belief of the Church Universal. A belief in both these dogmata has recently become the condition required by Rome of admittance into her fold. The rise of the Old Catholic Church in Germany, and Père Hyacinthe's attitude of supplication on behalf of the Gallican Church, are the results

1 His Grace always spoke German or modern Greek.

of this un-Catholic and un-Christian conduct on the part of the Vatican. The necessity of introducing a foreign Épiscopate is the fruit-to borrow the expression of Thomassinus on the subject of two Bishops in one see--of an ‘ineluctabilis, invictissima necessitas'-(T. i. p. 100).

The last, but not the least important remark remains to be made. The Vatican has been troubled with no scruples about thrusting strangers into her neighbour's vineyard: there could not be a plainer violation of the principles of Canonical law and the practice of the Church than was afforded by her nomination, not many years ago, of foreign Bishops to exercise episcopal functions in the sees in this country; and only the other day, in the ancient sees of Scotland. The truth is, that the Vatican has never hesitated to be the author of schism in the Church, when her Italian policy seemed to dictate such a course. Witness her base and tortuous conduct to the Greek Church--conduct which has necessitated the appointment of Greek ministers and the erection of Greek churches in almost every Latin country where the Greek race is to be found. On the whole, we venture to commend this question to the immediate and earnest attention of the Church, hoping heartily, and praying humbly, that the evils which attended the Reformation in Germany, when Luther thought himself obliged to break down the ancient discipline of the Church, in order to preserve Evangelical truth, may, by the timely action and succour of the Catholic Episcopate, be averted from the Church of France. And may God grant that the reformation of that Church, which cannot long be delayed, may be built on the restoration of Evangelical truth and Catholic order.

ART. VIII.-ECCLESIASTICAL

BUILDINGS FIRE

INSURANCE BILL, 1878.

1. Report from the Select Committee on Ecclesiastical Buildings (Fire Insurance) Bill, together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of the Evidence and Appendix. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed June 28, 1878.

2. House of Lords. Church of England Buildings Fire Insurance. A Bill (as amended by the Select Committee and on Report), intituled 'An Act to amend the Ecclesiastical

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