LAMBETH. – Palace of the Anglican archbishop, primate of all England (v. CANTERBURY), from which the following are named: 1) the “L. Articles”; 2) the L. Conferences; 3) the “L. Quadrilateral.”
I. ARTICOLI DI L. – This is the name given to certain propositions published in 1595 by the archbishop of Canterbury G. Whitgift (1583–1604), in which the Calvinist doctrine of predestination was proposed as a doctrine to be included in the articles of religion of the Anglican Church.
The articles are as follows: 1) from eternity God has chosen some to life and others to death; 2) the efficient cause of salvation is not the foreknowledge of a person’s faith or good works, but God’s will alone; 3) the number of the elect is fixed and unalterable; 4) the non-elect will necessarily be condemned; 5) the elect cannot lose their faith; 6) whoever has justifying faith is absolutely certain of the forgiveness of his sins and of his eternal salvation; 7) saving Grace is not communicated to all men; 8) no one comes to the Son unless the Father draws him, but the Father does not draw all; 9) salvation does not depend on the will or efforts of each individual. These articles were approved neither by Queen Elizabeth nor by the English Parliament, and thus had no official value. They nevertheless remained for some time as an appendix to the 39 Articles of Religion and were subsequently suppressed in the seventeenth century during the strong anti-Calvinist reaction. In Ireland, however, especially through the authority and influence of the Anglican archbishop Giacomo Ussher (1580–1656), they enjoyed semi-official or semi-symbolic authority for some time and form the principal basis of the Presbyterian Westminster Confession (v. CONFESSIONI DI FEDE PROTESTANTI).
II. CONFERENZE DI L. – This name designates the meetings to which, every 10 years, all the bishops of the Anglican Episcopal communion are invited. From the very first of these conferences, on 22 February 1867, the archbishop of Canterbury, Longley, asserted that such meetings had no authority to make statements or draw up decrees on points of doctrine. They do, however, deal with doctrinal, ecclesiastical, missionary, social, and other questions, but solely in order to provide explanations, offer advice, and indicate norms, while the individual dioceses remain free to accept or reject them. They are presided over by the archbishop of Canterbury, who nevertheless has no authority over the assembled bishops.
Seven conferences have so far been held: the first, in 1867, under Archbishop Longley, with 76 bishops; the second, in 1878, under Archbishop Tait, with 100 bishops; the third, in 1888, under Archbishop Benson, with 145 bishops; the famous “L. Quadrilateral” was proposed and accepted there as a basis for union with the other Churches; the fourth, in 1897, under Archbishop Temple, with 194 bishops; among the subjects proposed was also the revision of the Prayer book; the fifth, in 1908, under Archbishop Randall Davidson, with 242 bishops; among the other questions, that of the revision of the Prayer book was again discussed; the sixth, in 1920, under Archbishop Randall Davidson, with 252 bishops; the principal question concerned the union of the Churches, which was set forth in the “Appeal to the Whole Christian People,” accompanied by the “Letter to Believers in Jesus Christ,” in which the four points of the “Quadrilateral” were proposed as the basis of union, but with certain modifications; the seventh, in 1930, under Archbishop Lang, with 308 bishops; it admitted that a divorced person who had contracted a civil marriage could receive Communion; moreover, in practice, it permitted the use of contraceptives.
III. QUADRILATERO DI L. – This is the name given to the four articles accepted by the L. Conference of 1888 as the basis for the reunion of all the Churches; they had been proposed in 1886 at the “General Convention of the American Protestant Episcopal Church,” as truths considered essential for the return to unity: 1) the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, regarded as the revealed word of God; 2) the Nicene Creed as a sufficient summary of the Christian faith; 3) the two sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, administered with the same words used by Christ in instituting them and with the same matter ordained by him; 4) the historic episcopate, adapted in the methods of its exercise to the various needs of the nations and peoples called by God to the unity of the Church. The articles, however, underwent the following changes: 1) it was said of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments that they contain “all truths necessary for salvation” and are the ultimate rule of faith; 2) the Apostles’ Creed was accepted as the baptismal symbol, and the Nicene Creed as a sufficient summary of the Christian faith; articles 3 and 4 were retained in approximately the same form. Later, in the “Appeal to the Whole Christian People” of the L. Conference of 1920, in order to facilitate reunion with the nonconformists, since some of them did not admit the Old Testament and all rejected the episcopate, the quadrilateral was modified so as to avoid mentioning the episcopate and to refrain from speaking specifically of the Old Testament.