Churchman Article: The Anglican Pattern of Episcopacy

The following link is to an article in the Churchman, issue 1948, vol. 62, issue 2. (See the Churchman home page). I found the article by J. W. Hunkin to be informative in light of modern High Church Carolinians who claim that the historic episcopate is the only acceptable form of church polity, a position which is identical to that of the Tractarians. Unfortunately, Hunkin points out that the original Caroline divines would have rejected the Tractarian position, although they did believe that the episcopate is the best polity. Hunkin convincingly argues that the episcopate is for the bene esse of the church but not of the esse of the true nature of the church. This distinction between "good being" and the "being" of the church (good nature versus the true nature of the church) is an important one. My only disagreement with Hunkin's article is his concluding remark where he quotes Dr. Norman Sykes,  professor of church history at Cambridge, about a future reunification of denominations where episcopacy is seen as the  "indispensable basis" of such future reunification. I would contend that this idea has more basis in the Anglican Quadrilateral than in the history of the English Reformation.  The date of the quadrilateral is 1888, a time when the Tractarian controversialists were determined to dominate the English church and the fellowship of Anglicans worldwide.  You can read J. W. Hunkin's article at, "The Anglican Pattern of Episcopacy." The Right Reverend J. W. Hunkin was the bishop of Truro (United Kingdom) at the time of the publication of this article.