The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-01 00:00:00

THE ffCUMENICAL COUNCIL.

The assembling of the (Ecumenical Council,
for which such great preparations are being
made by learned theologians summoned to
Rome from every part of the world, ought to
awaken grave reflections in the " Catholic
party" in the Anglican Church as to their
position. What part are.they entitled to take
in a General Council, or if they be not entitled
to an invitation, why not ? There must be
a sufficient reason for the exclusion of the re-
presentatives of a party in the Anglican
Church who desire so earnestly for reunion
with Rome. Why are they not summoned to
a Council to which schismatic bishops may
be invited ? What is the difference between
their position and that of the schismatic
Greeks ? Anglicans who desire the reunion of
Christendom ought not simply to confinethem-
selves to denunciations of what they term the
unreasonable policy of Rome. They must
remember that this policy is dictated by the
Supreme Head on earth of the Christian
Church, without a single bishop in the Chris-
tian world, saving those affected, the Angli-
can bishops, raising a voice against such an
exclusion. What is the reason of this unani-
mity ? It behoves Anglicans, leaving abuse
of what they call " Ultramontanism aside,
to set themselves seriously to work to account
for the reason why the Universal Church, schis-
matic Greeks, as well as the Holy See, do not
regard their bishops as entitled in any possible
way to a seat in a Universal Council of the
Church. At the first blush of the matter it
is not too much to say that it would be the
height of unreason and extremest presumption
for a party in the Anglican Church to set its
own opinion against the unanimous decision
of Christendom ; but when we reflect on the
interests at stake—the eternal interests, it may
be, of souls innumerable—such contumelious
disregard f the assembled Church
seems
an act of final despair.
little of theless voicethan o
But we cannot believe that Catholic-minded
Ritualists, the men and women in the Angli-
can Church who believe in the efficacy of the
Sacraments, in the Divine Presence, in the
Holy Eucharist, in the Sacrifice of the Mass,
and who so zealously act up to their faith, will
turn a deaf ear to the voice of the Church,
which, speaking through its accustomed
organs, and in its wonted fashion, as in ancient
times so now proclaims to all the world that
union can only co :e through unity—unity of
faith and unity of practice. The convocation
of a General Council is to such Anglicans also
a summons to be present—to come, not as
Anglicans belonging to a separate fold, but as
Catholics—believers, that is to say, not in one
dogma or two, but in every dogma without
exception proposed to their belief by the Church
to which they desire to be united. Why do
they not accept the summons individually ?
why waste time in the hope of coming in com-
pany ? Let them come alone and make their
submission. But if they present themselves
as a body, and seek admission as members of '
an Anglican Church to the Council, what can
they expect but to be asked to produce their
title deeds, and to say by whom their bishops
were consecrated, who gave them jurisdiction,
what was the character of their orders ? To
such questions there can be but one answer,
for neither Greek nor Latin recognises Epis-
copal consecration, nor jurisdiction, nor valid
orders, in the Anglican Church. For such
comers and such claimants the doors of the
General Council will be shut, but to those
who, like so many of the Ritualists, seek the
re-union of Christendom, such a shutting of the
door of the assembled Church in their face,
cannot fail, we should hope, to excite inquiry.
It is neither wise nor charitable in the Ritual-
ists always to impute wrong to the Church
of Rome in her dealings with themselves, and
so continually, as so many of them do, to assume
that the position which they themselves occupy,
is not only not due to their own act, but is,
though exceptional, safe and Catholic. Let
them by way of spiritual exercise reverse the
position. Let them believe that the Holy See,
the Head of all the Churches, directed in
its acts by the guidance of the Holy Ghost, is
in the right, and then let them examine anew
the whole position in which they stand in re-
gard to the dognias of faith and to practical
devotions towards their own Church, and
towards the Church of Rome. Let them ex-
amine, moreover, into the consecration and
jurisdiction of their bishops, the habitual cha-
racter of their episcopal acts, the nature of their
faith, their relations towards the Catholic
Church and towards the Royal Supremacy;