, 1874-10-04
AN IMPORTANT RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT


4 movement IL now on foot in Europe, III The
reIigio,la world, Of more than ordinary import
! ancc, looking to tho UNION Of tho Old Catholic,
the Anglican, s1aa Greek Churches, not rnuter'-
ally but iu a mutual recognition Of orthodoxy
Tie Conference, now in session at Bonn, has
devoted its entire attention to this great work.
! and las already made decided progress. Among
those present. are Or. Dollin.er and
Biyhop Kcinkups, the leaders OF tho Old
Catholic move inent; the 6lkbop Of Winchester
American Chaplain IL Rome; DR.. Laugdon,
American Cnhp!ain in Geneva; the Rev, G.
B1oade, British Chaplain in Dusseldorf; aud
Prof. Mayor, of Cambridge, representing the
Anglican Church Anl II. kerief, Ade-de-Camp
OF the Grand Duke Constantine, who ID Secre-
tary OF the Friends Of Spiritual Enlightenment
in st. Petersburg; and Prot. Khosin, Of Athens,
representing the Greek Church The gst Of the
proceedings Of this Conference looking to-
wards reunion il contained in eight propositions
submitted by DR.. Doliuger, all Of which we're
accepted, and adopted without hesitation. These
oight propositions are substantially follows:
l. That the apocryphal books Of the Old Testa-
ment arc net Of tie same canonlcity as the
books contained in the HobEew canon. 2. That
no translation Of the Scriptures can claim
authority superior to that Of the original text.
j. That tL. reading Of the Scriptures in the r1,l
gar tongue ca.snot be lawfully forbiddou. i. That
tl,a al, ha+ 1ha a71rIo
By the peox,le s. That faith working by love,
and not fuii il without love. is tha means and
condition olt raau's justification before Coda
poin, which WAS involved in the patton-Swiug
controversy. 6. ''Sa:vation cannot be mc1ited
By merit of coudignitv, because there il no pro-
oor:ion between the good Of the salvation
promised by God aud the good Of man 8 1oras."
l. That the doctrine Of opera =npererogationzs
and OF utesa4rus naeritoruna sanctorum, ,-~i e..
that the overaoving merits Of tue saints can be
transferred to others, either by the rulers Of the
Church OF by the authors Of the good works
themselves, unteuable. The last proposition
wc give en1ire:
E,Jath-{a} We acknowledge that tie number of
s2cra1nenta f1td Ut first iu the 18th CEN
11ry anl then received into the general teaching
Of tEc Church, not ! tradition coming down from
the Apostles from, the eariest times but as the
result OF theological speculation. " Catholic
theolog1.ns {t.a, Beuar1n.ne> acknowledge, anl
acknowledge vita them. t4 batts and the Eucharist
are lr1ncoaIsa. pF1citua, eximta s1Iutatis nostr1
s1croMtentu-
It is also reported that both DR.. Dol1inger aud
Bishop Rcinkens made declarations iu favor OF
the validity Of tha bishops and priests'
orlcra III the Anglican Church. This
action OF the delegates is not ouiy
important as indicating q union Of the Eastern
and Western Church. but also as bringing new
element into the struggle between Old Catloli-
cism and U1tra1nontansm, namely, tlo rccogni-
ton aud moral support Of the Greek and
Anglican Churches, which the Old Catholics will
have. Hereafter they will fight with spiritual
allies aad the very fact Of knowing; that they
have the sympathy and recognition OF two other
powerful Churches, and are grounded IN the
same orthodoxy, will undoubtedly inspire them
to moro determined efforts than erer.