On the first point, the Free Church position is expressed in the resolutions adopted by the annual assembly of the Federal Council in Sept. 1922 : "We regard the place given to the two ancient Catholic creeds as . . . subordinate to the inspired Word and living Spirit ; and these creeds are received not as a complete expression of the faith, but as preserving 'essential elements' in it 'in the form handed down through many centuries,' and with reasonable liberty as to their interpretation and their use. We hold as not only consistent with this, but as implied in it, alike the fullest freedom in the intellec tual investigation of Truth and the most single-hearted disciple ship to the Mind of Christ." In regard to episcopal ordination the difficulty turns upon the question of the validity of the Free Church ministry. There is on the one hand a natural refusal to accept anything which im plies that the Free Church minister must be re-ordained before he can administer valid sacraments in a united Church, and on the other there is disinclination on the part of the Church of England to advance beyond the admission that many Free Church ministries have been "manifestly blessed and owned by the Holy Spirit as effective means of grace," and consequently must be regarded as "real ministries of Christ's Word and Sacraments in the Universal Church," though they may be in varying degrees "irregular or defective."
General Results.—The difficulties indicated above are still unsolved, in spite of many discussions and explanatory state ments marked by a very conciliatory spirit. In a memorandum signed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and the Moderator of the Federal Council in June 1925, it is stated that the joint conference believes that there should be a suspension of its activities in order that the documents already submitted may be studied with care. At its annual meeting in Sept. the Federal Council concurred, and at the same time recorded its conviction that the conferences which have taken place "have done much to bring representative members of the Churches concerned into closer fellowship and to a better understanding of each other's position ; and, further, that they have prepared the way to further progress towards unity in the future."