The Press TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1938. Church Reunion in England

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22309, 25 January 1938, Page 8

The Press TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1938. Church Reunion in England

i The report of the committee appointed in con- | sequence of the “Appeal to all Christian I “ people ” issued by the Lambeth Conference i of 1920 will disappoint those who had hoped i for a removal of the remaining obstacles to : corporate reunion of the Free Churches with the Church of England. To judge by the cable summary of the report the progress made in 18 years towards a scheme of church government acceptable to all the churches concerned has been disappointing; foi although a scheme has been put forward, its complexity is a little alarming and it is accompanied by the qualifying statement that the time is not yet ripe for negotiations. During those 18 years, moreover, an event has occurred which might seem at first sight to remove many of the constitutional difficulties in the way of reunion. That event is the union of the Wesleyan Methodist, the Primitive Methodist, and the United Methodist Chuiches, consummated in 1932 after many years of negotiation. It is probable, however, that this event has delayed rather than hastened the larger scheme of reunion. Any union of churches imposes a strain on the tolerance of ministers and laymen; and it is possibly considered unwise to ask Methodists to accommodate themselves to another union until the newly united Methodist Church has found its feet spiritually and solved the administrative still outstanding. Nor is it likely that the leaders of the Church of England have been anxious to force the pace. Certain experiments in the missionary field have already shown that the price of the concessions necessary for reunion with non-episcopal churches may be secessions such as took place when the Oxford Movement began to doubt whether its ideals were consistent with the ideals of the Church of England. Although such secessions might not be numerically important they would constitute a serious spiritual loss; for the insistence on historical continuity which is the core of Anglo-Catholicism is as important an element in the spiritual life of the Church of England as is the maintenance of the principles estab- |. lished at the Reformation. Any disposition on I the part of the leaders of the Church of England and of the Free Churches to minimise these difficulties may set back the cause of reunion for many years or, alternatively, may result in a reunion which is no more than the starting point for fresh schisms. Furthermore, it has to be remembered that, although the goal of corporate reunion between the Church of England and the Free Churches is still many years distant, the discussion ol differences which has gone on since the beginning of the present century has already resulted in a far better relationship between the churches concerned, in much useful co-operation, and, above all, in a very general recognition 'that on all important doctrinal issues there is no real disi agreement. The attitude of English nonconformity to the establishment issue is perhaps the best index to the changed relationship. As . recently as the middle of last century the establishment of the Church of England was regarded by most nonconformists as an injustice and an anomaly; it is safe to say that at the present time nonconformists would regard severance of the connexion between the Church of England and the State as a disaster to a common cause. Co-operation between the Church of England and the Free Churches has, of course, made substantial progress in the mission field, where disunity is ceasing to be a serious problem. There is the further consideration that the oecumenical movement, which is now firmly grounded, has appreciably lessened the disunity of Christendom •and to that extent made schemes of corporate reunion less urgent. The gains which would follow from a corporate reunion of the Free Churches with the Church of England, and which cannot be secured merely by cooperation, are three. The first is an economy of resources particularly desirable at a time when the social and educational work of the churches is being crippled by lack of funds and lack of workers. The second is the creation in England of a church national in fact as well as in name. The Church of England is at present the national church by virtue of its history and its legal position; it is probable —though statistics relating to religious denominations are notoriously unreliable —that by the test of membership it is less important than the Methodist Church. The third advantage of corporate reunion, the most important and the least emphasised, is that the reunited Church would enjoy a far greater measure of spiritual independence than is now enjoyed by the Church of England. Indeed, reunion on the basis of the existing Church-State relationship in matters spiritual is unthinkable.