CHURCH UNION IN THE LIGHT OF FROPHECY.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 208, 2 September 1919, Page 8

CHURCH UNION IN THE LIGHT OF FROPHECY.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —I have no desire to either help or hinder the movement of the various Christian sects towards the appointed goal of outward unity; my sole wish is to essay guidance of those earnest souls who may be perplexed and doubtful by pointing out what was foretold on the subject by men who claimed to have Divine guidance. The teaching of the prophets is that religion will become more and more corrupt, until, on the approach of the last days, general infidelity will prevail, so that when the Son of Man comes He will not find faith on earth. He will, however, doubtless find a flourishing and united church, which will have abolished "overlapping," and secured good stipends for its preachers. It is for these reasons that "judgment must begin at the House of God." The churches will have "false teachers," bringing in "damnable heresies." It is in the churches, too, that we must look in the latter days for "scoffers," saying: "Where is the promise of His Coming? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." Atheistical scoffers we always have had; but the portent of scoffers within the Christian church is a sign of the last days. Union of such churches can only result in tilings going from bad to worse, until the cry is heard, "Babylon the great is fallen." For the whole of the churches are embraced in "Babylon." Heathen errors and prac-i tices still rule in at least three-fourths of Christendom. These I could particu-, larise, but this is not the place to do so.'

But I will be asked: Is not church union right, and a worthy thing to strike for? Yes; if it is the right kind of union—"the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." Does anyone pretend that this unity of the spirit lias been reached, when "the sects continue to tear and rend each other—inflaming men's hatred by raking up all the real and imagined wrongs inflicted by one church on another for centuries past? Has any past union of a partial kind resulted in an increase of brotherly love? And is there any reasonable hope that further amalgamation will produce increased spirituality? My personal observation for over fifty years forces on mc the conclusion that mere outward union leads to greater indifference and worldliness.

There will undoubtedly be real Christian union reached by-and-bye. Our (Lord said: "Other sheep I have which I are not of this fold; these also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and I there shall be one fold and one Shepherd." Ezekiel, in chapter xxxvii., verse 24, foretold the same union when he said of Judah and Israel: "David, my servant, shall be King over them, and they all shall have one Shepherd," and that the shepherd should be a religious teacher is shown in verse 20, which says that God "will set His sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore." This "sanctuary" is evidently provided by the Divine Presence. It is not to be a "visible church," for in the Holy City, which John beheld coming down from heaven, he saw no temple. The one true church of the future will be a purely spiritual organisation. It will have no preachers, for all will be taught of God. No home missions or heathen missions; no creed; no litany or other formal worship. Praise and thanksgiving there will be however, for "the Song of Moses and the' Lamb" will be sung; and God the Spirit will be worshipped in spirit and in truth. That is the only kind of church union worth striving for; that is the "one Divine event to which the whole creation moves-"'; and its realisation is at hand, despite the fact that many "false teachers" keep asking for the" sign of His Coming.—l am, etc., J. LIDDELL KELLY", , Pfivonnort. . ~. ..t^wf