to define doctrine. The Court would further, if tempted from the Articles and other parts of the Formularies, be inevitably compelled to consider theological questions not for the purpose of deciding whether they were conformable to a prescribed standard, but whether the positions maintained were reconcilable with Scripture or not. "Against such a course the reasons are overwhelmingly strong. The exercise of such a power has been repudiated by the Judicial Committee. The Court will therefore not be tempted to resort to Scripture as the standard by which the doctrine shall be measured."1 The Privy Council has defined its own position in these words: "This Court has no jurisdiction or authority to settle matters of faith or to determine what ought in any particular to be the doctrine of the Church of England. Its duty extends only to the consideration of that which is by law established to be the doctrine of the Church of England upon the true and legal construction of her Articles and Formularies. By the rule thus enumerated it is our duty to abide. Our province is on the one hand to ascertain the true construction of those Articles referred to in each charge, according to the legal rules for the interpretation of statutes and written instruments; and, on the other hand, to ascertain the plain grammatical meaning of the passages which are charged with being contrary to or inconsistent with the doctrine of the Church ascertained in the manner we have described." 2 The Church of England in the Province of Victoria, Australia, I now give the position in a state which has granted full power of self-government to the Church. The Constitution Act (1854) and a subsequent one 1 Williams v. Bishop of Salisbury: Judgment of the Dean of Arches. 2 Judgment upon the case arising out of Essays and Reviews, published in 1860. (1873) give the Bishops, Clergy and Laity power to regulate the affairs of the Church, and these Acts, of course, received the assent of the Crown. These are some of the provisions 1. It shall be lawful for the Bishop to convene a Synod of the Licensed Clergy and the Laity. 2. No regulation act or resolution shall be valid except it be made with the concurrence of a majority both of the Clergy and of the Laity the votes of the Clergy and those of the Laity being separately taken and except it receive the assent of the Bishop. 3. No regulation act or resolution made or passed by the Synod shall be valid which shall alter or be at variance with the authorised standards of faith and doctrine of the Church of England or shall alter the oaths declarations and subscriptions now by law or canon required to be taken made and subscribed by person to be consecrated ordained instituted or licensed within the said Church. 4. It shall be lawful for the Synod to make provision for the appointment deposition deprivation or removal of any person bearing office therein of whatsoever order or degree any rights of the Crown to the contrary notwithstanding. Such is the complete power of self-government possessed by the Church of the Province, which is thus set free in Australia in all spiritual matters, and is subject to the laws of the State only in civil affairs. DECLARATION MADE BY THE ARCHBISHOP AND OTHER BISHOPS OF THE PROVINCE. elected Archbishop of Melbourne and duly consecrated do solemnly and sincerely declare my acceptance of the Constitution of the Church of England in the State of Victoria as it is set forth in the Act 18 Victoria No. 45 commonly known as the Church Constitution Act and the Act to amend the same passed in the Thirtysixth year of the reign of Her Late Majesty Queen Victoria and numbered 454 and that I will to the best of my ability give effect thereto and to the Acts passed in pursuance thereof until the same or any of them shall respectively be lawfully altered or varied. DECLARATIONS MADE AND OATHS TAKEN BY THE CLERGY I Declaration of Assent. Deacon (1) about to be admitted to the Holy Order of Priest (2) about to be licensed to officiate as } } Parochial District of Deacon (3) about to be admitted to the Incumbency of { in the do solemnly make the following declaration : I assent to the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, and to the Book of Common Prayer, and of the ordering of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. I believe the doctrine of the Church of England, as therein set forth, to be agreeable to the Word of God; and in public Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, I will use the form in the said book prescribed, and none other, except so far as shall be ordered by lawful authority. I (Signature) Declaration of Conformity. do solemnly declare that I will duly conform to all Acts and Regulations of the Synod of the Diocese of Melbourne for the time being in force. (Signature) I Oath of Allegiance. do swear that I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to His Majesty King George V, His Heirs and Successors, according to Law. So help me God. I (Signature) Oath of Canonical Obedience. do swear that I will pay true and Canonical Obedience to the Archbishop of Melbourne and his Successors, in all things lawful and honest. So help me God. (Signature) In virtue of the Constitution Acts and by the adoption of the forms of Declaration and the Oaths the Church of England in this Province has made itself part of the Church at home and it is the duty of all its Courts to frame its decisions in accordance with the law of the Church of England as declared by the Courts in England. APPENDIX A THE CELIBACY OF THE CLERGY THIS oft-debated question plays an important part in Church life, and I will endeavour to give a brief summary of its history. Most of the apostles were married men, and in the first three centuries of the Christian Church there are countless examples of bishops and presbyters who lived in the state of marriage without any prejudice to their ordination. Ambrose states that omnes apostoli, exceptis Johanne et Paulo, uxores habuerunt." Cyprian was a married man, but there is no need to increase the testimony, as in the primitive ages of the Church men of both states, married and unmarried, were admitted to be bishops and priests.1 Very early a distinction was drawn between marriage before and after ordination, but it is difficult to point to even one instance in which marriage was contracted after ordination. At the Council of Nicæa in 325 an attempt was made to oblige the clergy, who had married before their ordination, to put away their wives. But this was defeated by a famous Egyptian bishop, Paphnutius, himself a celibate, who vigorously declaimed against it. He contended that so heavy a 1 In Anglo-Saxon times everything was done to encourage celibacy amongst the clergy. Elfric enjoined that an unmarried clergyman was to enjoy the privileges of a thane. The leaders in the Church branded priestly marriage as an execrable breach of conscience, and threatened the married clergy with frightful retribution hereafter. "But," says Soames's Anglo-Saxon Church, "vainly were apocryphal views of a future state produced for striking terror into themselves and their wives. In most par ticulars their credulity was naturally that of their age, but personal considerations sharpen human wits, and many a married Anglo-Saxon priest might see the ludicrous absurdity of tales invented for interfering with his own domestic comfort." |