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| | The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral
Adopted by the House of Bishops Chicago, 1886
We, Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of
America, in Council assembled as Bishops in the Church of God, do hereby
solemnly declare to all whom it may concern, and especially to our
fellow-Christians of the different Communions in this land, who, in their
several spheres, have contended for the religion of Christ:
- Our earnest desire that the Savior's prayer, "That we all may be
one," may, in its deepest and truest sense, be speedily fulfilled;
- That we believe that all who have been duly baptized with water, in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, are members of
the Holy Catholic Church.
- That in all things of human ordering or human choice, relating to modes
of worship and discipline, or to traditional customs, this Church is ready
in the spirit of love and humility to forego all preferences of her own;
- That this Church does not seek to absorb other Communions, but rather,
co-operating with them on the basis of a common Faith and Order, to
discountenance schism, to heal the wounds of the Body of Christ, and to
promote the charity which is the chief of Christian graces and the visible manifestation of Christ to the world.
But furthermore, we do hereby affirm that the Christian unity...can be
restored only by the return of all Christian communions to the principles of
unity exemplified by the undivided Catholic Church during the first ages of its
existence; which principles we believe to be the substantial deposit of
Christian Faith and Order committed by Christ and his Apostles to the Church
unto the end of the world, and therefore incapable of compromise or surrender by
those who have been ordained to be its stewards and trustees for the common and
equal benefit of all men.
As inherent parts of this sacred deposit, and therefore as essential to the
restoration of unity among the divided branches of Christendom, we account the
following, to wit:
- The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the revealed Word
of God.
- The Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian Faith.
- The two Sacraments, - Baptism and the Supper of the Lord, - ministered
with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution and of the elements
ordained by Him.
- 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.
Furthermore, Deeply grieved by the sad divisions which affect the Christian
Church in oun own land, we hereby declare our desire and readiness, so soon as
there shall be any authorized response to this Declaration, to enter into
brotherly conference with all or any Christian Bodies seeking the restoration of
the organic unity of the Church, with a view to the earnest study of the
conditions under which so priceless a blessing might happily be brought to pass.
Note: While the above form of the Quadrilateral was adopted by the House of
Bishops, it was not enacted by the House of Deputies, but rather incorporated in
a general plan referred for study and action to a newly created Joint Commission
on Christian Reunion.
Lambeth Conference of 1888
Resolution 11
That, in the opinion of this Conference, the following Articles supply a
basis on which approach may be by God's blessing made towards Home Reunion:
- The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as "containing
all things necessary to salvation," and as being the rule and
ultimate standard of faith.
- The Apostles' Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol; and the Nicene Creed, as
the sufficient statement of the Christian faith.
- The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself - Baptism and the Supper
of the Lord - ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of
Institution, and of the elements ordained by Him.
- 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.
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