FIFTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING

OF THE

CHURCH CONGRESS,

HELD IN STOKE-UPON-TRENT.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON, 5th OCTOBER 1875.

THE RIGHT REVEREND the LORD BISHOP OF LICHFIELD took his seat as PRESIDENT at 2:30 P.M., and spoke as follows:

I HAVE first of all to read to you a letter from the President of the House of Deputies of the American Church :

"The General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

HOUSE OF DEPUTIES.

"To the Right Reverend,

NEW YORK, October 10, 1874.

The Lord Bishop of Lichfield.

"The House of Deputies in the General Convention of 1874 have received with very great pleasure the invitation to attend the Church Congress to be held next year at Stoke, conveyed in the telegram to your Lordship, dated October 9. It is another gratifying evidence of that true oneness in CHRIST JESUS our LORD which has been so happily manifested in many ways between the venerable Mother Church and her daughter in America, and of which your Lordship's visits in 1871, and now in 1874, are among the most grateful instances.

"Doubtless many of the clergy and laity of this Church will gladly avail themselves of the opportunity of improvement and brotherly intercourse which will be furnished by the coming Congress. May I ask you to convey to the Bishop of Chichester the thanks of this House for his very kind invitation?

"By order, and on behalf of, the House of Deputies.

JAMES CRAIK, President."

I have now the pleasure to introduce to this meeting the Bishop of Tennessee; also Dr Potter the Secretary of the House of Bishops, and some other American clergymen whom I am at present unable to name. I have also the pleasure of stating that we have representatives here from almost all the branches of our Church; the Archbishop of Armagh as the representative of the Irish Church; the Bishop of Edinburgh, and our old friend the Bishop of Argyll, as the representatives of the Scotch Church; we have the Bishops of Ontario and of Melbourne, as representatives of the Colonial Church, and I think also the Bishop of Nassau is here, though I have not seen him yet, and if I omit any names I hope I shall be forgiven; so that I think I may say all the branches of our Anglican Church are represented in this Congress.

It now becomes my duty to address to you a few preliminary remarks, but before I do that I am glad to inform you that much of what I may say as to the details of the forthcoming discussions has been said, in a manner highly appreciated by those who heard it, by the Bishop of Rochester in his sermon; and my comfort is, that whatever may seem defective in what I say as to the details of our discussions, has been more than amply supplied by my right reverend brother.

.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

Now that the Church Congress has established its position, by fourteen years of success, it becomes every year more and more important to define its object and to trace out its path. An annual meeting, held for discussion alone, would speedily have fallen to the ground, if it had not been followed by results of great value. It has been felt that a gradual but certain progress has been made towards an end, the attainment of which is our heart's desire and prayer. That object is truth, not partial truth, but truth as perfect as God, by the teaching and guidance of the Holy Ghost, may be pleased to reveal.

The title of Church Congress defines our limits. We seek for truth within the limits of the Church. We recognise one definite standard of faith, by which alone we can hope to render to God any acceptable service. We meet to seek for an increase of faith, that we may be more abundant in good works.

Our search after truth has a distinct character of its own. We do not accept as infallible the authority of any mortal man, nor do we submit doubtful questions to the decision of a council; nor, again, do we agree to differ, as if truth were beyond our reach; but we invite a free expression of opinion from men of various habits of thought, in the hope that it will be found that the greater part of our differences will vanish, when we come to understand one another. The language of extreme party spirit is an unknown tongue to all but the initiated. The man of one party is a "barbarian" to the man of the other (1 Cor. xiv. 11). The value, therefore, of these Congresses will depend upon the degree in which all temperate expressions of opinion are patiently heard and carefully weighed. If any speaker should seem to transgress the unwritten law of propriety, which is assumed to be the rule of our meeting, it must be left to the President, in the absence of all standing orders, to restrain him within due limits.

The object, then, which we propose to ourselves, is the calm and earnest search after truth, with none of that excitement which would be inevitable if a synodical declaration were proposed to be carried by a majority of

votes. We need have no parties drawn up in battle array each in support of its own "views." We meet to hear opinions, which many will think at first to be very different from their own, and to ponder them in our hearts.

The rejection of an infallible authority upon earth obliges every one of us to confess that whereinsoever he differs from his fellow-Christians he may possibly be wrong. The Bible was given to unite us in one faith; but it is from the various interpretations of the Word of God that our divisions spring. Perfect confidence can come only from perfect agreement. Every other society of learned men, astronomers, physicians, geologists, engineers, is striving to elevate its own department of knowledge to the dignity of an exact science. How wonderful, then, is the despairing tone in which some mourn over our unhappy divisions, as if they were, what some allege of war, a necessary evil, which will never come to an end. Still more wonderful is it that some should find a sorry comfort in the thought that, after all, Christ is preached "yea, even of strife and contention" (Phil. i. 15). Most wonderful of all that some should leave our Church because of its divisions; as if the promise were revoked that "the Spirit of Truth will guide us into all truth" (John xvi. 13). Why should we despair of so attaining to the mind of Christ, that "we may all speak the same thing, and that we may be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (1 Cor. i. 10).

Some may say, "Are not these thoughts for the synod rather than the Congress? Are not the objects of the Congress purely practical, to inquire how Christian work may best be done?" I cannot put asunder what God has joined together. Christianity knows nothing of practice as distinct from doctrine. Every subject brought before the Congress presupposes faith as its groundwork-definite, distinct, dogmatic faith. Good works are the fruits of faith (Article XII). Our motive, our guide, our rule is faith.

If, then, we aim at increase of work, we must also aim at unity of faith. "Can two walk together except they be agreed?" (Amos iii. 3.) Is not a large portion of our force neutralised by antagonism? Is it not a deplorable thing that earnest, faithful, pious men cannot work together, because they differ in religious opinion? Rival societies, rival journals, rival meetings, public and private-all these, like all opposing forces, counteract one another.

In the midst of this conflict of parties, can we suppose that this Congress has nothing to do with doctrine, because it does not claim the authority of a synod? Its highest object is to demonstrate visibly to the world, that, even in spite of our divisions, we are learning to keep the bond of peace while we are seeking for the unity of the Spirit. The icy

barriers which separated us are melting away as we draw near in Christian brotherhood to the one source of light and life.

Is there one in this great meeting who will not thankfully acknowledge the benefits which hundreds and thousands have received at former Congresses from the papers and addresses on the spiritual life? Can any subject be nearer to doctrine than this? What is spiritual life, but truth of doctrine received into the heart by faith, and acting upon the life of the believer? The soul of the Christian is nourished, not by diversity, not by controversy, not by speculation, but by unity of faith. It is as certain that the truth by which the soul lives is one truth, as that the air which we all breathe is one air. How thankful then ought we to be, when we look at the lists of the readers and speakers on the spiritual life, to see the names of men reputed to belong to every section of the Church, yet all meeting on the same platform in brotherly love; all setting forth the same one fundamental truth; with the same end in view of touching the hearts of their hearers, and deepening the spiritual life within them.

Is it not morally certain that those holy men of God are drawing nearer one to another? Who is it that gives them power to utter those heartsearching and soul-inspiriting words? It is not they that speak, but the Spirit of the Father that speaketh in them. And will not that Spirit guide them into all truth? not narrow, partial, self-complacent truth; but truth as it came forth from God; truth as it is in Jesus; truth as confessed by the Church, when "the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul" (Acts iv. 32).

I have spoken of the spiritual influence of the Congress upon the heart. I must now speak of its effect in promoting Church organisation. The success of the early meetings of Congress gave an impulse to the spread of synodical action among the English dioceses. Synods of the colonial Churches in Canada and New Zealand had been held two years before the first meeting of the Congress. The synodical action of the Church in the United States began almost from the time of its foundation. But all these branches of the great Anglican Communion have yet to learn by what wise and comprehensive system they may be united together upon the basis of one standard of necessary truth, while each retains its own freedom of self-government. A meeting like this has many advantages in prosecuting such an inquiry. It opens its doors to Churchmen from all countries. Special invitations have been sent to every member of the Synod of the Province of Canada, and of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States. I fear that the late season of the year has prevented many of our Transatlantic brethren from accepting the invitation. But some are present who will feel a deep interest in our first subject:

"The Church of England and the Churches in communion with her— How they may be drawn more closely together."

This is a subject which the Congress may well discuss in skirmishing order, before the whole array of the Lambeth Conference is brought to bear upon it. You have the advantage already spoken of, that the debate will not be marred by fretful anxiety about the result of a division. The object is clear: the promise is certain: it is no visionary mark towards which we press. It is that for which we so often pray, "that it will please God to inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord" (Prayer for Church Militant).

A great step in this direction has been made by the Conferences at Cologne in 1872, and at Bonn in 1874 and 1875. This Conference was not a synod claiming authority for its decisions, but a voluntary meeting of men of various nations under the guidance of one of the wisest and most learned of theologians. I know that there are some who scoff at these meetings and disparage the results. Scoff as they may, the declarations of the Bonn Conference in 1874 obtained an almost unanimous assent from members of various Churches, and from men representing every school of religious thought among us. In these declarations a basis was laid upon which we may hope the unity of Scriptural and primitive doctrine may be built up. True, it was a voluntary meeting, but it had in it the mind of Him "who spake as one having authority" (Matt.

vii. 29).

The Congress at its last meeting devoted a morning to the "Old Catholic movement." I do not see on our paper any mention of the Bonn Conference of 1875. But I must not omit to speak of it. The striking feature was the presence of so large a representation of the Eastern Churches. Surely the dawn is brightening in the East. It is too early to offer an opinion upon the results of that meeting. But they are full of promise. Between us and the Church of Rome there rises up an impassable barrier-the fourteen clauses added to the Creed by Pope Pius IV., and embodied in the canons of the Council of Trent; the dogma of the Immaculate Conception; and of Papal Infallibility. From the Eastern Churches we are divided only by three words added to the same Creed by the Council of Toledo. Is this a hopeless bar to reunion? Is one word of the Gospel of St John, and that an ära λeyouevov, a cause sufficient to set aside the Saviour's prayer, that all may be one? It may be true, that if a formal council were to meet now, it would be unable to settle the question between East and West. But these genial Congresses, these international conferences, are softening the asperities of controversy, and preparing the way for a true synod of confederate Churches, each retaining its own freedom, but all united in the same confession of faith. This