(16) As before, the conference reaffirmed the Lambeth Quadrilateral as the basis for union, with particular emphasis put on the fourth point, the historical episcopate. (17) Newbigin observed, "The Lambeth Conference has coupled its kind references to CSI with a very firm instruction that others must not follow its example.
The CSI, however, accepted the historical episcopate as the legitimate center for the organization of the church.
Newbigin was convinced that "the historical episcopate is a God-given focus of unity," but "to absolutise the rule of episcopal ordination in the way Anglicans are doing is to pervert the real purpose of all rules of order, and to use them to perpetuate disorder." (43)