[Of interest
chiefly to Anglican (or Episcopalian) readers]
W. R.
Huntington, although never a bishop, had more influence on the Episcopal Church
than most bishops. He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1838, the son of a
physician, studied at Harvard, and was ordained a priest in 1862. In each of
the thirteen General Conventions (held every three years, in years that have a
remainder of 2 when divided by 3) of the Episcopal Church that met between 1870
and his death, he was a member, and indeed the most prominent member, of the
House of Deputies. In 1871 he moved for the restoration of the ancient Order of
Deaconesses, which was finally officially authorized in 1889. His parish became
a center for the training of deaconesses. Huntington's was the chief voice
calling for a revision of the Book of Common Prayer (completed in 1892), and
his the greatest single influence on the process of revision. The prayers he
wrote for it include the following, used during Holy Week and on Fridays.
Almighty God, whose dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified:
Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none
other than the way of life and peace; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our
Lord.
In his
book The Church Idea (1870), Huntington undertook to discuss
the basis of Christian unity, and he formulated the Chicago-Lambeth
Quadrilateral, a statement adopted first by the House of Bishops of the
Episcopal Church in 1886 and then, with slight modifications, by the Bishops of
the world-wide Anglican Communion assembled at Lambeth in 1888. The statement
set forth four principles which Anglicans regard as essential, and offer as a
basis for discussion of union with other Christian bodies.
I append the
preface as adopted by the House of Bishops in Chicago in 1886, followed by the
Four Points in the slightly different wording adopted by the Lambeth Conference
of 1888.
We, Bishops of
the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in Council
assembled as Bishops of 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:
(1) Our earnest
desire that the Saviour's prayer: "That we all may be one," may, in
its deepest and truest sense, be speedily fulfilled;
(2) 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;
(3) 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;
(4) 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 essential to the restoration of
unity among the divided branches of Christendom, we account the following, to
wit:
[Here I switch
to the Lambeth wording.]
(a) 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.
(b) The
Apostles' Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol; and the Nicene Creed, as the
sufficient statement of the Christian Faith.
(c) 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.
(d) 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
the Church.
A personal
observation: The reader will notice that the four points of the Lambeth
Quadrilateral: Scriptures, Creeds, Sacraments, and Ministry, correspond roughly
to the points listed in Acts 2:41f, where Luke speaks of those who received the
Gospel as it was preached on Pentecost.
So those who received his word were baptized, and
there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they continued
steadfast in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of
bread, and in the prayers.
These early
Christians were in the apostles' doctrine. That is, they believed what the
apostles taught about the Resurrection of Jesus, and about His victory on our
behalf over the power of sin and death. That is to say, they believed the
doctrine summarized in the Creeds.
[For background
articles on the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, send the one-line messages:
GET CREED
APOSTLES
GET CREED
NICENE
GET CREED
FILIOQUE
GET CREED
CHURCH
to the address
LISTSERV@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU or consult the web at http://www.ihi.aber.ac.uk/~spk/library/author/index.html. ]
They were in
the apostles' fellowship. That is, they did not seek to serve God as unattached
individuals, nor did they form groups of persons of like minds with their own
in whose company they might worship. They joined themselves to the existing
band of believers, whose nucleus was the apostles. That is, they were united by
participation in the ministry of the apostles and those whom the apostles
deputized to carry on their work.
They
participated in the breaking of bread. That is, they were regular participants
in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. (That they had received the Sacrament of
Holy Baptism has already been specified.)
They
participated in the prayers. As far back as our records go, Christian services
of worship have consisted principally of two things: (1) the reading of the
Holy Scriptures and preaching based on them, accompanied by prayer, and (2) the
celebration of the Lord's Supper. The pattern was set by Our risen Lord at
Emmaus (L 24:13-35), when He first opened the Scriptures to His companions, and
then "was known to them in the breaking of bread." The former part,
the prayers and readings and sermons, would often be referred to simply as
"the prayers."
End of personal
observation.
Despite his
involvement in the national affairs of the Church, Huntington was foremost a
parish priest, for 21 years (1862-1883) as All Saints' Church in Worcester,
Massachusetts, and for 26 years (1883-1909) at Grace Church, New York City. He
died 26 July 1909.
The biographies were written by James Kiefer
