PAN-ANGLICAN CON FERENCES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13674, 15 February 1908, Page 1 (Supplement)

PAN-ANGLICAN CON FERENCES.

»T M. KIRKUKIDE.

To a Church of England man the approaching Pan-Anglican Conference does not fail to supply matter for earnest consideration. Were it not for his knowledge of the poor results of former conference?, he would, naturally, presume that such an assembly of able men of God, from many pails of the world, must be able to do great things for the Church. There are those amongst us who are yearning for a much-improved state of affairs in the Anglican fold. Deep down in their hearts is desire of an intense kind for the wellbeing of their communion. Being Episcopal in their tenets, they turn their eyes at times to their bishops, and with looks of expectancy. At one time much was looked for from a great gathering of the prelates of the Anglican Church at Lambeth, but soon disappointment supplanted hop*. Hitherto, several conferences have been held, from which the Church has obtained little or no benefit. They wore failures too signal, too depressing, too apparent to the dullest comprehension, to give any satisfaction to men who hoped that the bishops might contrive some way of ending the regrettable state of things which has long obtained among us. The utter impotence of a Lambeth Conference is caused by its want of proper constituency. It is a body without a soul to give it life, and action, and power. The Anglican Church consists of bishops, clergy, and laity, and if an assembly representing the three, duly elected by the synods of the various provinces, were to meet at a great conference no one could say that such a deliberative body had no proper constituency. But only one section —the bishops attend a Lambeth Conference. The laity, who are practically the Church, are not represented at all. It can hardly be affirmed that the bishops, especially those of England, arc commissioned by synods to attend a Lambeth Conference. .

While the Irish, Scotch, colonial, and American prelates arc the elected of their people, the English bishops are, unfortunately, not. the chosen of their national Church. They are. the nominees of the State. Though godly men, and loyal to their sees, their love, for the Church being great indeed, it may well bo doubted if they arc morally justified in speaking and acting for their dioceses at any such gathering as a Lambeth Conference. Even Randal Cantuar himself owes his high position not to ah uplifting by tho Church of England, but mainly to his having been a domestic chaplain to Royalty. And yet it will be at the invitation of this man, who is by no means the selection of any synod, or of any ecclesiastical power whatever, that bishops from the ends of the earth will assemble at Lambeth. But, even these last, who have been placed in their high offices by their churches, cannot represent, in any real sense, the dioceses over which they rightly preside. As individuals they accept invitation, and as individuals they express their own opinions, but they represent themselves only. As a matter of course, we all expect that at the next conference there will be the wonted joyful greetings of brethern, earnest prayers and thanksgivings, and serious discussions on things i concerning the Kingdom of God. ; There will also be, of a certainty, great processions, whereat will be displayed primatical crosses, and manifold pastoral staves. The frequent services held will be grand and impressive, though somewhat bewildering to men used to the simple rites prescribed by the prayer-book. But the practical work done for the Anglican .. Church will, as usual, .be nil. A short session of the Auckland Diocesan Synod benefits , the Church , of Christ much more than can a whole century of Pan-Anglican Conferences, for the very simple and commonplace , reason that the synod has a constituency which gives to it a vigorous life, and endows it with legal power to act.

By some Church of England people a Lambeth Conference is regarded as an event of religious grandeur, which must captivate, as a matter of course, the hearts and minds of devout Anglicans. Nay, more: they hold that it. is endowed with the priceless gifts of holiness and wisdom. Concerning these pious sentiments, no one wishes to use words of fault-finding. There are, however, in this mater-of-fact world of ours, practical men, who demand, or at least expect, perceptible results from a free interchange of thoughts and opinions of a great Church council. They have no wish to carp, or even to criticise, but despite their efforts to restrain dissatisfaction, they find, at the close of the Lambeth Conference, that their _ thoughts continually fashion the question : " What did these men meet for?"

To bring about a great, conference many of the bishops have to leave their dioceses for several months. By land and sea they are compelled to travel long distances. Energies have to be put forth which could be better used elsewhere. The end of this expenditure of' time, money, and energy is merely a huge gathering. Its bigness cannot be questioned, its labours cannot be doubted, but it brings forth nothing. .

Whether or not the bishops are guided by the wisdom of the world, or by that which comes from above, cannot certainly be known. One thing concerning them, however, is well known : they evade difficult and troublous questions with an adroitness that is marvellous. Though possibly a mistaken one, there is an idea growing that the bishops of to-day are prone to magnify their office, and murmurs are not seldom heard that they regard themselves as a caste apart from the other members of the household of Christ. It is more than hinted that they prefer conferences with each other rather than with the clergy and laity. Probably this is unjust to the devoted men who occuoy the seats of Episcopacy. Still if anything is calculated to keep alive the spirit of jealousy in the other sections of the Church, it is a'.Lambeth Conference, whereat neither clergy nor laity find place.

' Home re-union is a thing much to be desired, and no men in the Christian world are more desirous of it than our fathers in God; who long and pray for it continually. But, unhappily, at the third Lambeth Conference they made the following an indispensible condition of communion : " The historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of His Church." With the real longing of devout Christians for union, the bishops themselves so block the way by putting across it the obstruction of the "historic "Episcopate," that a joining with others, even with Presbyterians, becomes an impossibility. They baffle their own desires by an unnecessary and uncalled for fear of not being true to the principles of their own Church. If, instead of conjuring up a bogle, and'raising a defence against it. the bishops would pay a little more heed to the canons, they would see something to take, away their fears, and enable them, without a remnant of doubt, to come into much closer fellowship with tire Presbyterians at least. Looking closely at a Pan-Anglican Conference men see godliness, patience, effort, grace abounding; but they must of necessity fail to perceive a power sufficing to rectify, even in small degrees, the real evils that are troubling the Church. It is advisable for anyone indulging the hope of great results from the next conference to diligently prepare his soul for disappointment. ~< ;,';,.