Declarations

* Declaration Touching the Doctrine of the Eucharist

A.D. 1867

To His Grace Charles Thomas, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, and Metropolitan, etc.

Eucharist.

Whereas, at this present time, imputations of disloyalty Declaration to the Church of England are current, to the discredit of on the those who have been, some of them for many years, inculcating and defending the doctrines of the Real Objective Presence, of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and of the Adoration of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament; And whereas, by reason of these imputations, the minds of many are troubled; We therefore, the undersigned, exercising the office of the priesthood within the Church of England, beg respectfully to state to your Grace, and through your Grace to our Right Reverend Fathers in God the Bishops of your Province, and to the Church at large, what we believe to be the mind of our Lord, touching the said doctrines, as expressed in Holy Scripture, and as received by the Church of England in conformity with the teaching of the Catholic Church in those ages to which the Church of England directs us as "most pure and uncorrupt," and of " the old godly doctors," to whom she has in many ways referred us-declaring hereby both what we repudiate, and what we believe, touching the said doctrines.

'(1) We repudiate the opinion of a "corporal Presence of Christ's natural Flesh and Blood," that is to say, of the Presence of his Body and Blood as they "are in heaven"; and the conception of the mode of his Presence which

on the

Eucharist.

Declaration implies the physical change of the natural substances of the bread and wine, commonly called "Transubstantiation." 'We believe that in the Holy Eucharist, by virtue of the Consecration, through the power of the Holy Ghost, the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ," the inward part, or thing signified," are present really and truly, but spiritually and ineffably, under " the outward visible part or sign," or "form of bread and wine."

(2) We repudiate the notion of any fresh sacrifice, or any view of the Eucharistic Sacrificial Offering as of something apart from the One All-sufficient Sacrifice and Oblation on the Cross, which alone "is that perfect Redemption, Propitiation, and Satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual," and which alone is "meritorious."

'We believe that, as in heaven, Christ, our Great High Priest, ever offers himself before the eternal Father, pleading by his Presence, his sacrifice of himself once offered on the Cross; so on earth, in the Holy Eucharist, that same Body, once for all sacrificed for us, and that same Blood, once for all shed for us, sacramentally present, are offered and pleaded before the Father by the priest, as our Lord ordained to be done in remembrance of himself, when He instituted the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood.

'(3) We repudiate all " adoration " of the "sacramental bread and wine," which would be "idolatry"; regarding them with the reverence due to them because of their sacramental relation to the Body and Blood of our Lord; we repudiate also all adoration of "a corporal Presence of Christ's natural Flesh and Blood," that is to say, of the presence of his Body and Blood as "they are in heaven."

'We believe that Christ himself, really and truly, but spiritually and ineffably, present in the Sacrament, is therein to be adored.

'Furthermore, in so far as any of the undersigned, repudiating and believing as hereinbefore stated, have used in whatever degree, a ritual [ceremonial] beyond what had

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become common in our churches, we desire to state that Declaration we have done so, not as wishing to introduce a system of on the worship foreign to the Church of England, but as believing that, in so doing, we act in harmony with the principles and law of the Church of England, and as using that liberty which has, in such matters, been always allowed to her clergy and her people; having at heart the promotion of the glory of God in the due and reverent celebration of the Holy Eucharist, as the central act of Divine worship.

In making the above statement, we expressly desire to guard ourselves against being supposed to put it forth as any new exposition of the Faith; nor do we seek to elicit from your Grace, or from our Right Reverend Fathers in God the Bishops of your province, any declaration in regard to the subjects upon which we have here stated our belief; we wish only thus publicly to make known this our profession of faith, for the quieting of the minds of others, and for the satisfaction of our own consciences.' BUTLER, W., Vicar of Wantage.

CARTER, T. T., Rector of Clewer.

CHAMBERLAIN, T., Vicar of St. Thomas the Martyr, Oxford.

CHAMBERS, J. C., Perpetual Curate of St. Mary's, Crown Street, Soho.
COURTENAY, C. L., Vicar of Bovey Tracey.

DENISON, G. A., Vicar of East Brent, Archdeacon of Taunton.
GRUEBER, C. S., Incumbent of St. James the Less, Hambridge.
LIDDELL, R., Perpetual Curate of St. Paul's, Knightsbridge.
LIDDON, H. P., Student of Christ Church, Prebendary of Salisbury.
LITTLEDALE, R. F., LL.D., D.C.L., Priest of the Diocese of London
MACKONOCHIE, A. H., Perpetual Curate of St. Alban's, Holborn.
MAYOW, W. H., Perpetual Curate of St. Mary's, West Brompton.
MEDD, P. G., Fellow and Tutor of University College, and Ċurate of
St. John Baptist, Oxford.

MURRAY, F. H., Rector of Chiselhurst.

PERRY, T. W., Assistant Curate of St. Michael and all Angels,
Brighton.

PUSEY, E. B., D.D., Professor of Hebrew, Canon of Christ Church.
RICHARDS, W. U., Incumbent of All Saints, Margaret Street.
SKINNER, J., Vicar of Newlands, Great Malvern.

WARD, W. P., Rector of Compton Valence.

WHITE, J. C., Perpetual Curate of St. Barnabas, Pimlico.

WILLIAMS, J., Senior Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.

Declaration

* Declaration on Confession

A.D. 1873

(1) We believe and profess, that Almighty God has on Confession, promised forgiveness of sins, through the precious Blood

of Jesus Christ, to all who turn to him, with true sorrow for sin, out of unfeigned and sincere love to him, with full purpose of amendment of life, and lively faith in Jesus Christ.

(2) We also believe and profess, that our Lord Jesus Christ has instituted in his Church a special means for the remission of sin after Baptism, and for the relief of consciences, which special means the Church of England retains and administers as part of her Catholic heritage.

'(3) We affirm that to use the language of the Homilies" Absolution hath the promise of forgiveness of sin " [Homily of Common Prayer and Sacraments'], although" by the express word of the New Testament it hath not this promise annexed and tied to the visible sign, which is imposition of hands," and "therefore," as it is said, "Absolution is no such Sacrament as Baptism and the Communion are" [Homily of Common Prayer and Sacraments'].

'We cannot admit, that the Church of England in Art. xxv. condemns the ministry of Absolution any more than she condemns the rites of Confirmation and Ordination, which she solemnly administers. We believe that God through Absolution confers an inward spiritual grace and his assurance of forgiveness on those who receive it with faith and repentance, as in Confirmation and Ordination He confers grace on those who rightly receive the same.

(4) In our Ordination, as priests of the Church of England, the words of our Lord to His Apostles"Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosesoever sins ye

retain, they are retained "-were applied to us individually. Declaration Thus it appears, that the Church of England considers on Confession. this commission to be, not a temporary endowment of the Apostles, but a gift lasting to the end of time. It was said to each of us, "Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a priest in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands," and then followed the words, "Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained" ['The Form and Manner of Ordering of Priests'].

(5) The only form of words provided for us in the Book of Common Prayer for applying this absolving power to individual souls, runs thus: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in him, of his great mercy forgive thee thine offences; and by his authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen" [The Order for the Visitation of the Sick '].

"Upon this we remark, first, that in these words forgiveness of sins is ascribed to him who, as God, forgives sins, our Lord Jesus Christ; yet that the priest, acting by a delegated authority and as an instrument, does through these words convey the absolving grace; and secondly, that the absolution from sins cannot be understood to be the removal of any censures of the Church, because (a) the sins from which the penitent is absolved are presupposed to be sins known previously to himself and God only: (b) the words of the Latin form relating to those censures are omitted in our English form, and (c) the release from excommunication is in Art. xxxiii. reserved to "a judge that hath authority thereunto."

(6) This provision, moreover, shows that the Church of England when speaking of "the benefit of absolution,' and empowering her Priests to absolve, means them to use a definite form of absolution, and did not merely