THE UNION OF THE CHURCHES

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 137, 10 June 1911, Page 4

THE UNION OF THE CHURCHES

Any movement that tends in the direction of unifying and concentrating the forces working- for the "uplift" of humanity appears to us to be a highly desirable development, and we therefore congratulate the Methodist /and Primitive Methodist Churches of Sew Zealand upon their decision to ignore the points of difference between them, and to amalgamate under one government. As most of our readers are probably aware, the Primitive Methodists have hitherto held aloof from the Methodist union, which was consummated some years ago, and the negotiations that have been carried on between the two Churches were for a long time resultless. Now, at last, it appears that the objections entertained by the Primitive Methodists to the terms of union have been successfully met, and the joint committee of their representatives has recommended a practicable basis for amalgamation, which will probably be accepted without any further difficulty. We need not enter into minute details of organisation and administration; it is sufficient to say that the rights and interests of both -bodies are apparently well protected under the proposed scheme. And considering that the two Churches in conjunction have in this country nearly 100,000 adherents, and possess assets worth over £.i 70.000, their reconstruction on this new basis of harmony and unity is a matter of considerable public importance.

We need not labour to prove the advantages of co-operation between the various branches of the Christian Church occupied in promoting the same great moral purpose?, and engaged in ■ the same practical humanitarian and philanthropic work. More especially In ! a country like otr own, where the j Churches are all comparatively poor and - ihe population is widely scattered, it is j obviously a mistake from the standpoint iof economy and efficiency for them jto enter into direct competition with : each other. This may seem rather a crude way of putting it, but when one j thinks of the waste of money and energy involved in the erection of half a dozen I small churches, and the effort to gather i together half a dozen different congregaI tions in one sparsely-peopled district, , one begins to appreciate the advantages ; of any scheme that would save the country such an unnecessary waste of money ,as well as moral and intellectual driv- • ing power. More especially when two

churches are so closely related as the I Methodist and the Primitive Methodist I liodies and when there are so few doctrinal points at issue between them, it j feeres to us simply deplorable that they should struggle on as rivals instead of allies, limiting each other's resources, an j. perpetuating disiinetions of no material importance, which often go far toward destroying the dignity of their ideals, and robbing of half their efficacy the efforts they put forward for the improvement and moral regeneration of the world around them.

We need hardly add that this argument is of perfectly general application. Not only between the .Methodists and Primitive Methodists, but between these Churches and all the other non-episcopal | bodies, the points of difference appear jto the outside observer infinitely less ! important than the points of reI semblance. Presbyterians and Congrej gationalists and Baptists and Methoj dists must all surely admit that the great object of their existence, the promotion of the moral development and the spiritual welfare of mankind is iv every case the same. And though we recognise that the peculiar position that llio Anglican ChnrcJi has enjoyed bo long Jy Virtu* of the- Establisramrnt at Home, other occltaiastical orpanisations etill ] ]] I) I "■ •"■••(••» tf •onttituiion »c Wi t__,at_"«_qu__BtLn B ljUiion weigh the supreme importance of the lofty moral and spiritual ideals "CPallcn till the Christian Chnrebes alike have set before them. We believe that in I the near future this profound truth will he far more generally appreciated than it is to-day. Already the proposals for union, not only between the various branches of the Methodist Church, but Tvtween the Methodists and the Presbyterians, are being seriously considered; and if only the strictly religious aspects of the question are kept steadily in view, we believe that tbe movement toward unification must make headway, and that whether proposals for union come first from the Anglicans or tbe Dissenters, it must ultimately include them all. This may 'be still a long way off; but in the meantime we hail tbe union of the Methodist Churches in this country as a distinct step toward this great consummation.