The Dominion. SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 1938. THE PLAN FOR CHURCH REUNION

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 106, 29 January 1938, Page 10

The Dominion. SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 1938. THE PLAN FOR CHURCH REUNION

Christian people generally will have rejoiced at the announcement this week of the plan for the fusion of the Church of England the Free Churches in Britain. Though the scheme is tentative and in no sense should be taken as finally healing differences that have riven the Churches for three centuries, it nevertheless offers real hope for a coming together in a measurable space of time. It is ot tvutmost importance in Christendom and, as the cablegram phrased it, “it is the most momentous religious development of modern times. The draft plan is laid before the Christian world; for its consummation there must be patience,-goodwill, and, if need be, willing sacrifice of some things which, by tradition, may be prized but which are nonessentials of the Faith. Disillusioned by the failure of materialism earnest people are turning, slowly perhaps, to the Christian message for the answer to personal, national and Internationa problems as revealed in the Divine Word. • Separately the Churches have this answer. But to present it acceptably and with an effective voice they must close their ranks. The plan now made public is a notable advance. • * 1 The movement for unification was given its great impetus the “Appeal to all Christian People” issued by 250 Bishops of the Anglican Communion assembled as the Lambeth Conference of 1920. It was a lengthy document, couched in exalted language. We quote a portion of the Appeal: — The times call us to a new outlook and new measures. The Faith cannot be adequately apprehended and the battle of the Kingdom^ cann t be worthily fought while the body is divided. ... . The time has come, we believe, for all the separate grdups of Christians f 0 agree ™ ° j getting the things which are behind and reaching out towaid the goal of a reunited Church Universal. . . . United fellowship is not visible the world to-day. On the one hand there are other ancient episcopal Communions in East and West, and on the other hand there are the great non-episcopal Communions, standing for rich elements of truth, liberty, and life, which otherwise might have been obscured or neglected We cherish the earnest hope that all these Communions, and our , own, may be led by the Spirit into unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.

The call did not pass unheeded. Progress was necessarily deliberate, but measured by the centuries of division eighteen years is not long for even this much to have been achieved. . It is important to understand that the objective of unity contemplates a complete merging of identities. The proposals imply not a federation of existing bodies, but their absorption ln a new 5" 1C unitv, styled meantime the United English Church. Thus will disappear the terms Church pf England, Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist, and so on. Their elimination as separate entities will induce regret in many quarters; but it is part of the price ot the drawing together. What conditions attach to the Lambeth Appeal. The Anglican Church expressed willingness to enter info negotiations with any body of Christians prepared to accept as fundamental (a) the Bible as the ultimate authority for doctrine; (b) the two es ®® ntia ‘ sacraments, namely, Baptism and Holy Communion: (c) the Nicene Creed; (d) Episcopal Ministry. Plainly the difficulties of approach on all four or individual elements in these conditions are veiy rea . The Primate of New Zealand, commenting on the foregoing basis, declared that it need not constitute any bar or hindrance to unity, though sacrifices were entailed as much on the part of Anglicans as by the Free Churches. There would be irregularities, but these would disappear in a short time. Two formidable obstacles have stood in the way of reunion. These are the apostolic succession of the episcopacy (the direct succession of bishops down the ages from the Apostles) and re-ordination (whether ministers of Free Churches are validly ordained). According to the cable summary, the question of the episcopacy seems to have been overcome by the provision for consecration of Free Church bishops, but re-ordination is not mentioned. On the credal issue the ' way is apparently smooth. We are told that the United Church won accept the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, “but acceptance of creeds would not exclude reasonable liberty of interpretation. All in all, the framers of the plan appear to have been inspired with a sincere desire to reach a liberal. understanding, preserving essentials but giving way mutually on points of practice. In broad government a great united Church is envisaged, free from control-by the State, and under-the authority of its own courts except in such matters as property and endowments. l.he new Church would pledge itself not knowingly to transgress upon the long-established traditions of any Churches from which it is formed. This freedom is the best possible guarantee of the acceptance of the scheme by the laity, at all events. . . Apart from the encouraging manifestation contained in the new plan the movement for unity has made headway m other directions and other spheres. For example, there is the. union of the Wesleyan Methodist, the Primitive Methodist and the United Methodist Churches effected in 1932 after protracted negotiations. Again, in South India, in the missionary Churches, a bold experiment in unity has made substantial progress. The Lambeth Conference of 1930 gave its blessing to this scheme, from which data for the new United/'English Church plan was plainly derived. Three Churches in Canada—Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational —have come together. In New Zealand and Australia the divisions of Methodism have, of course, yielded to unity within that Church. So the trend in Christendom gives solid grounds for hope that again “they all may be one.” The forces; of anti-Christ are marshalled in the world to-day, and there is need that the Churches shall compose their differences to meet the challenge with a united front and a militant voice. In the words of Archbishop Averill, “The world may well say'to the divided Church, Physician, heal thyself,’ and may well turn a deaf ear to all her exhortations until she is prepared to sacrifice herself to her Lord and Master and.accept His way before her own.”