The Lambeth Conference.—Lambeth Palace in England has been the residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury for many years. From it, the recent Lambeth Conference takes its title. Such Conferences have been held periodically since 1867. At this recent Conference at Lambeth, sitting from 1st July until the 8th of August, over 300 Bishops of the Church of England from all parts of the world, gathered to consider many items under the main heading, “God in His Church and in His World.” The Conference was held in private, but there has now been issued a 120-page document containing 118 resolutions adopted, dealing with such subjects as “The Doctrine of Man,” “Atomic Power,” “Marriage,” and “The Church and War,” etc. We have presently to depend on a fairly long, yet limited report, on these resolutions, published in the Glasgow Herald.
Lambeth and the Doctrine of Man.—On the subject of Man, the Conference has much to say regarding what is called, “The new menace of Marxian Communism, which exalts atheism. . . . Christians must repudiate this form of Communism.” And in face of this, certain features of Communism are commended. The Bishops say that in the minds of many, Communism appears as a protest against social injustice, although such repudiate the Communist doctrine of man. Yet how indefinite and unsatisfactory, the professed Christian Bishops themselves are on the doctrine of man. They say: “Apart from God, he can neither master his nature nor find his true self.” They do not state what they mean by “his true self.” But we know that the Scriptures declare that: “The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” Man can never master his fallen nature. It is God alone who can work
in man by His grace, to will and to do, that which is according to God’s good pleasure. In a further statement the Conference gives expression to a well-loved heresy and delusion, viz.: “Nations as well as individuals, are all members of the one family, under the one God and Father of all.” And thus the Bishops link themselves up, spiritually, with Hitler, Mussolini, Gandi and the Pope and the Russian atheist. O! for the light of God’s Truth upon the doctrine of man and his relation to God, as a creature, a sinner and as saved by grace.
Lambeth and Roman Catholicism.—The Conference records: “That the only method of re-union which Rome will accept is that of submission to the Papacy. There is no sign of any abatement of this demand in the last 20 years.” Let Protestants mark the term used here, namely, ‘re-union’ and not ‘union.’ The Bishops appear to think that the original ‘fold’ of the Roman Catholic Church was and is the right one for them, only they would like to be allowed to continue as their own masters and not be the slaves of the Vatican, if a re-union is to take place. They enjoy so much liberty in the separate communion of their own Church, the Church of England, that they are permitting the Law to be broken, by their clergy, by the introduction of Romish practices into many congregations of their Church. And yet they say in Conference: “There are still most serious divergencies in faith and practice between ourselves and the Roman Catholic Church.” But the Bishops take good care not to state what these divergencies are.
What the Churches Need.—The Churches of our land need now, a return to belief in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, as the inspired Word of God, purity in worship, the preaching of “the whole counsel of God,” and much prayer in private and public for an out-pouring of the Holy Spirit upon preachers and people.
“Of Two Evils Choose the Less.“—This is a saying one often hears, as “Of two evils choose the least.” We have read somewhere that a noted divine wrote that he would prefer Roman Catholicism to atheism. Preference for neither is the right attitude of the Christian. It is true, of course, that there are some sins which, by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others; but it surely does not follow that we should choose the less heinous rather than the other. Our duty is plain, viz., to choose neither.