A NEW MENACE TO THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 48, 20 November 1928, Page 13

A NEW MENACE TO THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Sir,—The annual meeting of the Ge»’ era! Assembly of the Rresbytein n Church begins on Wednesday, in Auckland, and its proceedings will be me act I bv the absence of a competent KfeU aa riser, whose business it is to see that every deliverance is consistent witn t e constitution of the Church, and with tht past legislation of . Asscll \ Wj '’., U, e «•„- sence of such a competent guide tner assemblies has been most ‘ lls a®rrous. Last year a peace manifesto, antagoms tic to the creed of the Church, was passed, and in the lower courts „of the Church, and in the ’ Outlook, it Ino yoked long and acrimonious eoPt}.o'®‘riIf the heritical parts had been e' 11 ”" 1 ’ 1 , 1 ; ed nt first, this senseless wriinJe J uu I have been avoided.. '-Hie. assembly this year is fortunate in having as Moder ator, Professor Hewitson, a man ■ for thirty years as minister ot Knox Church, Dunedin, convener ot toia-n missions, and master ot i has been a most successful leader and guide. Professor Hewitson s unique experience gives him the qualification ot an adviser in a church court. I have received a copy ot the Dhrte Book, containing the several proposals to be submitted to Assembly, and it is my painful duty to call attention to a most revolutionary proposal that it pushed through the assembly, would violation of the constitution oi tn church, a violation ot the Presbyterian Act ot Parliament, and the setting up of a church «>«}* decisions might be ultra vires, lhe constitution of the present General dates from 1901. For over 50 years up to 1901, there were two separate supreme Presbyterian Church courts, governing different territory. In these old courts, each congregation had two lepre sentatives—a minister and an elder, and the opponents to union contended t at in a one big church, the assembly "Oidd be “oligarchic, and not democratic, inis controversy ended in a basis of union, which preserved the old tlemoeratic control, and this agreement was embodied in the "Presbyterian Church of N.Z. Xct 1901.” In this “agreement there are’l2 articles, and the following quotations nre relevant to this lettei. “Ar?iele 3. The United Church shall be governed by a General Assembly n which ah the ministers of .the churcffi and an elder from each fession have th right to be present, and take P al t'{J the business, but the right to vote .shall be limited to the representative ministers and elders, who shall be appointed by tht Presbyteries in the proportion ot one half of the number on their rolls. Article 12. “That the Barrier Act shall apply to all proposals for tresh legislation.” For 27 years this Basis of. Union has not been challenged, but it is now challenged in an extraordinary "’ay- Die White Book reports that in August, l-»-b. the Wellington Presbytery sent an overture to the assembly, stating that the membership of assembly was too large, and that the court was ‘ costly and cumbersome” (the old anti-union cry), ami it prayed that the 50 per cent voting members be reduced to one-third. Hus revolutionary proposal is supported by a committee on organisation, whose repo t signed bv the Rev. W. J. Comne, asks tlint this and a score of other changes should be brought in force on December 1 There are two legal obstacles in the way of this rush to an oligarchic church eou-t- one is the Barrier Act, and the mlier is the 1901 Act of Parliament, which embodies the Basis of Union quo - L The Barrier Act. is 231 years old. and was enacted in Scotland in 1691. to save the lower church courts from desnotion in an assembly. It is pait of the constitution of the N.Z Church that every proposal tor a change such as the foregoing must be sent dow n io presbyteries and sessions for consideration and go back- to the assembly, and once more go down to tho lower courts. Under the Barrier Act. tho change that Mr. Comrie, in his report, asks, should take place next month, could not take place for two years. But there is another obstacle, and that is the Act. of Parliament, of which the Basis ot Union quoted is a part. Does not volved need a new Act of Parliament. 1 simplv raise the question. The church mav prate about its spiritual independence, but. if it ignores its own constitution, it comes under the lash of the civil courts. How long is the N.Z. Presbyteiian Church to wait for competent li o al advisors to save it from disasters such as this?—l am, ® tc £ OBERT WOOD . Wellington, November 17.