LAMBETH CONFERENCE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 283, 24 August 1908, Page 8

LAMBETH CONFERENCE.

IN SAINT AUGUSTINE'S CHAIR. A REMARKABLE SCENE IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. , There was a most remarkable scene in Canterbury Cathedral on Saturday, Juno 4, when over 200 bishops were present at a service to inaugurate tho Lambeth Conference. Punctually at the appointed' hour of threo (writes "Tho Times"), tho Archbishop's and Dean's procession filed slowly from the oast end down the choir and along the navo, to moet tho bishops' procession at tho west door. There they formed up in two lines, between which tho two hundred bishops, whoso arrival had been heralded by a saluto of bugles and tho roll of drums, advanced towards the choir screen and on and up to their seats in tho presbytery and sanctuary. The bishops one by one took their places on each sido of the two flights of stops below and above the altar rails, tho Archbishop seating himsolf in the centre on the chair of St. Augustino, which had been placed in front of the altar.

Hero is what tho Primato said to the crowded congregation standing in front of St. Augustine's chair:—

"Brothers in tho Lord Jesus Christ, gathered for tho fifth decennial conference of bishops in our Church's modern life, I greet you well. It is eminently right that those upon whom has been laid the solemn burden of governance in the Church of God should, ero wo meet in conference, gather as heretofore for prayer within these grey walls, at the birthplace and cradle of our historic Church, national and far more than national —our Church which has borne for centuries a trust uniquo in Christendom. Answerablo to, and in living touch with, the Church of earliest days; answerablo to, and in living touch with, the years which liavo not yet dawned. We cannot, if we would, lay down our distinctive obligation to face fearlessly the problems of modern life, and in tho name and power of Josus Christ to use with unwavering courage tho varied help which is proffered by tho thought and the scienco of to-day. To those who bear _ the glad _ but anxious burden of that splendid charge it is of practical help to be able to come back now and then here—to the nursery or schoolroom of our English Church's childhood. ing upon this hallowed ground, at a time pf special counsel and review, when old usages aro weighed and tested and fresh designs rough hewn, we remake the resolve of fealty, personal'and corporate, to Him that calleth us. It is true for a Church, as it is true for our separate selves. "Tho place where this timo-liallowed chair stands has, as a plain fact of history, been tho pivot or socket on which our Church's life has turned for thirteen restless centuries. Men, leaders of men, have gathered on this spot at tho junctures of our story, at crucial moments in tho lifo, sacred and secular, of England, sometimes, perhaps, ' of Europe. Wo repicturo now the old scenes, tho occasions .of such gatherings, when theso selfsamo arches echoed to the then prayers, tho then vows of eager men, ijud from our present standpoint wo think that wo can plainly sco how this - occasion or that might have been used better and more wisely for tho common good. "An oxample or two. In 1220, five years after tho Groat Charter had been signed and sealed, potentates, prelates, and people, lay and clerical, from every land in Christendom thronged choir and aisles to dedicate the Becket shrine, which should for full three centuries draw from all Europo tho eager, generous pilgrims whoso knees in li-

teral truth hollowed tho hard stoned beneath feet. Whereunto did all that como? What underlay it? What does it, in guidanco or in warning, tell us now? "Or again. A century and a half went by, and another great inultitudo thronged theso aisles and steps to lay to rest here tho foremost representative of what men thou called Christian chivalry. .All Europe watchcd them as they raised yonder tomb, which stands unbroken and unharmed in its quiet dignity to-day. i Whereunto did all that come? What underlay the Black Princo's fame, its 'Hoch Muth,' its 'Ich Dion' ? What does it in guidance or in warning tell us now?

"One other scene. Just two centuries on, and the Cathedral rang with glad acclaim as Matthew Parker led Queen Elizabeth through crowded nave and choir and the people made high festival. The old English Church had entered upon her renovated lifo of ordered freedom and of national service. How should sho use aright things now and old? Wherount9 did it all como? What do those days, in guidance or in warning, tell us now?

1 'It would bo easy to multiply tho memory of such representative days beneath this roof. I havo chosen only three. They set us thinking—is it not so ?—on the use and tho abuse, the gain and tho peril, of mediaeval ways of Christian worship, on tho significance of European chivalry, on tho problems of tho English Reformation. They are all of them voiceful amid the hopes and fears of modorn life. When men's hoarts beat high on days like thoso was the impulse sound ? Did the pride of possession and of power to givo overmaster tho simple desire to offer humbly for tho advancement of tho kingdom of God? Was tho spiritual life choked in its material setting? Was tho. senso of answerableness to the Lord God for tho uso of opportunity strong enough to temper the pride which chivalry felt in the sheer prowess of knightliness, or in the dignity of a groat nation? When tho nation and Church wore as one, did tho fact teach tho sanctity of public duty and of weekday working lifo, or did spiritual things grow sordid and time-serving? Tho answers are not easy. Each man then, as now, to his own Master standoth or falleth. "My reverend brothers, wo add a solemn event to-day to this Cathedral's memorable sories. Nover perhaps, in our thirteen centuries of English Churchmanship was there a gathering fraught with mightier issues for tho Church of God. When generations now unborn 1 havo como and. gone, what will wiso men havo to say, nay, we reverently ask, what will God say, as to our uso or misuse of opportunities new and wido at a crisis time in tho story of human thought and of human action, corporate and individual—a uso or misuse depending in some measure upon our personal oxorciso of rfeverent and yet fearless Christian leadership? Lot us stand and recite together upon holy ground tho solemn symbol of our faith in Him." . "Tho scene tirat followed was tho most impressive of the whole sorvico," adds "The Timos." "Suddenly tho whole congregation turned to the East, 'to rocito tho solemn symbol of our faith, standing in tlis sight, cu-thia holy,,ground,' "•