Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1874-10-16
b. |)ort Q oboteo q lllles
& D.
PORT BACCO:
Friday Morning, October.l6, 1874
THE BONN CONFERENCE.

THE BONN CONFERENCE.
\ PLAN To UNITE ALL THE N0N-CATHoIIC
HURCHES-REVISING THE DOGMAS OF
CHRISTIANITY-DR. DOILINGER, BISHOP
REINKENs AND CANON LIDDON At WORK.
from the New York Worlds Correspondent ]
BoNN. September 16.-The Conference
Just held here has been crroneously called
an "Old Catholic Conference" That is a
misnomer, because it is composed of An
glicans, American Episcopalians, mem
bers of the Greek Church, and old Cath
olics." Among those present were the
Epi>copalian Bishop Of Pittsburg, and
Drs. Ncvin and Langdon, American chap
lains in Rome and Geneva. There were
also the Anglican Bishop of Winchester,
the Dean of Chester, and Canon Liddon,
and Anglican chaplains from va-ous parts
Of Europe; there were few members OF
the Greek Church from Athens, Moscow,
and ST. Petersburg, and the rest Of the
members were French and German old
Catholics" including the eminent Bishop
Reinkcns. 1t was intended by Or. Dollin-
ger that the procccdir - should be kept
secret. and only the results published, and
the Conference did sit with closed doors
but | had no difficulty in obtaining per
mission 10 bc present. and | know that al
least one other correspondent besides my
self was there. On the second day the
secrecy was abandoned, and the Confer
ence admitted every one who came Dr..
Dollingcr presided at ali the meetings,
and when, rs frequently happened, a
speaker insisted on delivering himself in
English. German. Greek or Russian. DR..
Dollinccg kindly acted as interpreter.
DR.. Do,linger began the business Of the
Conference by saying that il was convened
for the purpose of cndoavoring To frame a
series ofpropositions TO which all the non
Catholic churches, or the most OF them
might agree The first proposition was :
We agree that the Apocryphal or Deu
tcrocanonical books Of the Old Testament
are not of the same canoniCitv as the
books contained in the Hebrew canon.
Salvation cannot be meritcd by merit
of condignity, because there is no proper
tion between the intiui.s good of the sal
vA;, ,.--s.-S-e,l : , ~ the fritz
good Of mans works.
opened up the whole Of the old question
of faith and works. The seventh PROPOSE
tion went more easily:
We agree that the doctrine of works Of
supcrerngation and Of treasury Of the
merits OF the saints, i. C, that the overflow
ing merits of the saints can be transferred
10 Others. either ny the rulers of the
Church or by the authors Of the good
works themselves, is uu.enable.
This proposition was accepted. 50 was
the eighth. which was this:
We acknowledge that the number Of
sacraments was first fixed at seven in the
twelfth century, and was then received
into the general teaching nt the Church.
not as a tradition coming down from the
apostles or from the earliest times. hrt as
the result of theological speCulation.-
Catholic theol0rians acknowledge. and
We acknowledge win thtm' 'h"t ual lliN'l
nI 1ne ,us'';' ,s ~ 81 ar |ho ,~U p,.L' ,'i
necessary for salvation.
Tho r;,,b rro,os;,ior tre,chnI nnor
..,
sun '''''' ""'.
We agree tHAt genuine Tadl'l"h-i. e.
the unkhrokcn transmission, partly oral
'ni p'r'H "Fl''ch "l 5n' '''''F',l' ,''!N't.
-, ~ ..a,t;,l. g. ~
successive generations. This tradition is
partly To bc found in the consensus Of the
great ecclesiastical bodies standing IN ms
u, ,,I'o", o"I'I'"ut'i "i,n ''S - ''''':l
,ifc na,boi from the written Documents
Of all centuries; and we acknowledge that
the Church of England and the churches
{" IllF""@H II "~'o 'l'a'h'"''ieu U''o'o-
.,..-..... -,
's ir...,. C,,,h .l
,D..,p-..,:.
'"""S" ~ % ''''' '''''' Az III ''''
both said that they thought the validity
of the Anglican orders might safely be as
.rr,aa rho Gra.ke hold ont stoutlv and
:, .,,.
;,
''A' A'i'''' - - - i"'N-''' 49,