Our Historic Christian Faith: Chicago-
    Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1886-1888
                       
                       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:

    1. Our earnest desire that the Savior'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 visibile
    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:

    1. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the revealed Word of
    God.

    2. The Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian Faith.

    3. 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.


    4. 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:

    (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
    His Church.