The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1867-10-15 00:00:00

ealtstastical Intsiligenti.

THE RESOLUTIONS OF THE PAN-ANGLICAN
SYNOD.

Tin I fourteen resolutions agreed upon by • private
partj• of gentlemen holding the office of Bishops in the
Ed. &ohm( church of England, the Nonconformist
Chin eh in Scotland, and the Free Church in America,
WV NW before the world. Agreed upon at a meeting,
ham agno possible authority, from which a largenumber
of b' elope were purposely absent, they would be only an
evil see of the mistaken presumption of certain
redl. wiestica, if there was anything in them ; as it is
the' r• contain simply an expression of their lordship's
cox ions desire to do something, if they only hail the
porer. and knew how to use it. It is • great dia-
ry; asiatment when TIM have watched a hen sitting
for wince thin to fin/ her incubatory exertions all in
•.. en, because the eggs are all addled; similar must be
th e disappointment of those, if there are any, who ex-
eked any good result from this unauthorised meeting
at Lembeth. There is, however, apparent through the
whole an evident desire to sot aside the royal
iinpremacy. In this respect it is a most unwise and
dangerous step for Inc. who have sworn
i allegiance to
Her Majesty,.. head of the Church, to call into their
opened& men. like the American Bishops, who owe her
no allegiance. Such a step can only have been taken
In order tr, strengthen the hands of one or two ambitious
prelate, the secret movers of the whole business, with
the rt-r..ress object of raising up a power in the Church
entio.,y independent of the State. That Synod had in it the
loTtres•enee of disloyalty. Without the Queen's sanction
tli ...amid have no authority. Her Majesty could not
paseibly give her sanction to • Synod including men
who do not recognise her authority. There was great
matt and subtlety in extending the limits of the synod
heyon I the limits of Her Majesty's dominions • it set
up an Episcopal power independent of her. brills ne6
lose sight of this. It forms the most important element
in the whole business. These resolutions are paltry
enough, but they are • defiance of the royal supremacy,
and once infringed upon, it will more easily and more
openly be set aside on another occasion.
No one in reading the resolutions through can fail to
remark that they consist partly of declarations as to
what would be " expedient" and " dedrable," partly
of the formation of committees to prepare certain
documents against the next session of Conference. If
ever that Conference does take place, the real eTil of
permitting the first meeting wfil become apparent.
We shall have colonial bishops and foreign bishops
dictating to us what we arc to believe and do, and how
we are to orship Hod.
Another remarkable fact is that no referenee to the
Articles of Religion is made from beginning to end.
We read of that indefinite thing " the Primitive
Church," but what iv ii? Within what limits of time is
it included? The Ibtualiuits will tell you that they
are restoring the practice of that Chunk, taking their
model of the Primitive Church from the 10th and
11th centuries. We read of "undisputed general
councils ?" What may they be ? The Church, whose
. officers land well pair ones tea) these men are, raters
everything to Smipture. With the Bible before us
what light can councils throw upon it? As Dean
G.aale has ably shown in his lake parophet, our Church
does not recognise any authority but the Bible; but the
addition of these uncertain standards of truth to the
• one which alone is sere, *hews the false principle that
hes at the bottom ; that there it a sacerdotal poison
pervading the ; that the whole boventy-four
bishops hays faidly been the puppets of • tow, who
have used them for the aggrandisement of the order,
and the letwiklag the first ground for • regular attack
upon tie Ire& We are almost tempted to quote or
tt -apply elft's lines upon the prelates of his day—
" Plot rage, in; Lords, though It cannot be said
That fan cloven tongue ever Mt on your hied
111 ha: you a groat (and 1 wish I could Neel)
If your stockings won off you could show clone fact."

When 'Elam we ace the adversaries of our civil and
religinsa freedom combining to set up an ecclesiastical
..leeptkam in the Protestant church • and when we see
'the ilkut steps they take to attain that object: Pint,
. entr.clusive meeting of one order of the Church's
ministers; secondly, the derogating from the authority
oleic Holy Scriptures ; we learn some very important
lessons; we learn that this Episcopal despotism is, in
principle and practice, nnscriptural, and that our best
liefence is in the exaltation of that word above all
human teaching, councils, or creeds. Our Church says,
Article x xi, " Things ordained by (general councils
as necessary to salvation, have neither strength, nor
authority, unless it may be declared that they be taken
out of Holy Scripture." What then is the advantar
of going to the uncertain instead of the certain
atandasd of trt_th and error, unless it be to help forward
the designs of ungodly and ambitious men, who want
to make the Church • stepping stone for their own
grandeur? . . . .

We must not pass over the resolution touching
Natal. It indeed practically endorses the resolution
of the Convocation. That resolution is couched in very
pompous terms, and one at first would suppose that the
matter was settled, and that Dr. Colenso'sste religion
was to be remedial by Mr. Butler's Riieahsss. But
unfortunately it begins with an "if," and that little
word spoils the whole. Whatever difficulty has arisen
in that diocese, is owing to those who forced Dr.
Colenso upon the late Archbishop of Canterbury, and
to the obstinacy and pride of the Bishop of Cape.
town. We can well imagine the ridicule and contempt
with which the inhabitsnta of that colony will read of
their bishop's reception in England. How earnestly
they will wish that those who like him go well would
keep Mm here. But with regard to Natal, Dr. Colons°
'would not wish for anything more likely to give him
inflame° than the appointment, as rival Bishop. of the
vicar of Wantage. Superstition and priestly assump-
ties. have been the most fruitful parents of scepticism.
So between these two precious bishops the poor
3istalites, who have any real religion in them, are likely
In settle down into Wesleyaris or Free Churchmen.
Vor ourselvee we hesitate not to say that were our lot
now cast in that unhappy colony, nothing would induce
us to recognise either the Sceptic or the Anglican as
our spiritual guide. Much as we love the Protestant
Church of England, we love the Bible more, and we
don't see much to choose between the man who nets up
reason. and the man who seta up a human priesthood,
as the authorised interpreter of that book. Each alike
leads to the dishonouring of that word, and of Him,
whose word it is; and our assembled bishops have
shown themselves utterly incompetent to dad collec-
tively, as some of them have before shown themselves
unwilling to deal individwilly, with the two great evils
that sic now making havoc of the Church- priesteraft
and rationalism- their highest isles of duty seem to be
to set one against the other; and our hope is, that while
these two evil principles, like the Kilkenny cats, are
tearing one another to pieces, the simple truth will
raise its head awl claims that supremacy which is her
right and her destiny.