LAMBETH. - Palace of the Anglican archbishop, primate of all England (v. CANTERBURY), from which are named: 1) the "Articles of L."; 2) the L. Conferences; 3) the "L. Quadrilateral."
I. ARTICLES OF 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 on predestination was put forward as a doctrine to be included in the articles of religion of the Anglican Church.
The articles are as follows: 1) God from eternity has chosen some to life and others to death; 2) the efficient cause of salvation is not the foreknowledge of man's faith or good works but the divine 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 the 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 the efforts of each individual. These articles were approved neither by Queen Elizabeth nor by the English Parliament, so that they had no official force. They nevertheless remained for some time as an appendix to the 39 articles of religion and then in the 17th century, during the strong anti-Calvinist reaction, they were suppressed. In Ireland, however, especially through the authority and influence of the Anglican archbishop James Ussher (1580-1656), they had for some time a semi-official or semi-symbolic authority and form the principal basis of the Presbyterian confession of Westminster (v. CONFESSIONS OF PROTESTANT FAITH).
II. L. CONFERENCES
By this name are designated the meetings to which all the bishops of the Anglo-Episcopalian communion are invited every 10 years. From the first of these conferences, on 22 Feb. 1867, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Longley, asserted that such meetings had no authority to make declarations or compile decrees on points of doctrine. They do indeed deal with doctrinal, ecclesiastical, missionary, social questions, etc., but only in order to give clarifications, suggest advice, 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.
The conferences held so far are seven: 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; there the famous "L. Quadrilateral" was proposed and accepted as a basis of union with the other Churches; the fourth in 1897, under Archbishop Temple, with 194 bishops; among the subjects proposed there was also that of the revision of the Prayer book; the fifth in 1908, under Archbishop Randall Davidson, with 242 bishops; among the other questions there was again treated that of the revision of the Prayer book; the sixth in 1920, under Archbishop Randall Davidson, with 252 bishops; the principal question was that concerning the union of the Churches, which was set out in the "Appeal to all Christian people," accompanied by the "Letter to the believers in Jesus Christ" in which the four points of the "Quadrilateral" are 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 has contracted a civil marriage may receive Communion; moreover, it practically permitted the use of contraceptives.
III. L. QUADRILATERAL
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; as they had been proposed in 1886, in the "General Convention of the American Protestant Episcopal Church, truths considered as essential for the return to unity: 1) the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, considered 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 at their institution 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) of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments it was said that they contain "all truths necessary for salvation" and are the ultimate rule of faith; 2) the Apostles' Creed is accepted as the symbol of Baptism and the Nicene Creed as a sufficient summary of the Christian faith; articles 3 and 4 were kept approximately the same. Later, in the "Appeal to all Christian people" of the L. Conference of 1920, in order to make reunion with the nonconformists easier, since some of them do not accept the Old Testament and all reject the episcopate, the quadrilateral was modified so as to avoid the mention of the episcopate and not to speak specifically of the Old Testament.