Evening Post.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 41, 18 February 1911, Page 4

Evening Post.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1911. A CHURCH'S PROBLEMS. - . * The axiom that "no man livefch for himself" appliea nob to the individual only, but even more emphatically to bodies of men, secular or religious, informal or constitutionally incorporated. Like the unit, the corporation has its virtues and its failings, its "ups" and "downs," its times of strength and of weakness— the latter due, at times, to constitutional, defect; — its minor difficulties, and its profounder problems, which at times threaten, its integrity and call for all the energy and wisdom it can bring to bear on their solution. In the case of a religious body, especially when large and influential, even its domestic concerns, which it must settle for itself without intermeddling from outsiders," have a certain interest to the whole community, for the best interests of one are the best interests of all. Moreover, the secular and the religious elements cannot b& kept apart; like fluids divided by a pervious membrane, they act and react by a kind of "endosmose" and "exosmose" in bhe general body, as 1 "in its constituent units. This is very obviously the case with State Churches, and is no less real, though less evident, where no such invidious distinction between denominations is recognised. Foi" every private organised group, whatever its object, brings pressure upon the governing authorities to further its own aims, and when religious associations are in question a perennial struggle is in progress as to the authority of "Caesar" and the delimitation of his territories. In another column to-day wilT be found an outline-of the principal articles in an able quarterly review recently established in Sydney as tho representative organ of the Anglican Church in Australia— the largest and probably the most influential religious denomination in the Commonwealth. The offshoot of a State- establishment, it has found it necessary to modify its methods and reform its constitution to adjust itself to changed conditions which ha-ve followed its transplantation to new soil. While external changes need not touch the spiritual side of a church, lying as they do, entirely outside the region of | fundamental doctrine and its application to life and duty, they radically affect its relation to the- State when for the first time it finds itself only one among equals, and dependent, as they £»re, upon ' the voluntary contributions of its con- ' stituents. Doubtless the discipline is salutary; it is not well to go permanently on crutches. The change from a densely-populated land to one which includes vast areas so sparsely peopled i as to have scarcely anything resembling social life is one for which traditional training has not fitted the clergy, who, moreover, have no heritage of ancient [ places of worship, but must build their j own where there is a town or village. Where there is not, if there is to be public worship at all, it is a new experience to avail themselves of the recognised " union church," where the rare evangelist who can _ conduct public service and preach the gospel is always welcome, especially if he be an accredited minister, who can not only administer the ordinances but can legally j celebrate matrimony. In somewhat similar conditions, as Canadian literature shows, in the great Dominion a type of preacher is being developed adapted exactly to the environment. In New Zealand, in very early days, one of the finest types of this class appeared — Bishop Selwyit — who is and always will be affectionately remembered. Churches with a good proportion of this type of clergy, while they will still have to face "problems," will seldom have to complain of the coldness or indifference of back-blocks settlers, who are quick to recognise a strong and genuine man, and will meet him with ready help and warm hospitality. In the references to the "problems of General Synod," in another page, tho brief summary will give a general idea of the difficulties so ably discussed in the review we have quoted. By what appears to have been an oversight at tho outset, no effective central authority or final appeal was provided for the whole continent, and synodical and diocesan authorities clash. Where uniform administration is desirable, it is under such disadvantages as New Zealaaid in provincial days and Australia before Federation. The whole .-Commonwealth, it is true, is represented in the Synod, which has full powers to legislate; but its members aro tired of passing laws which any diocese may ignore at pleasure. The larger dioceses feel that they are inadequately represented ; Sydney, in particular, is aikiPß .*?£ Jjvo^ortiouttte represotttfttipo \

some of the little dioceses see no reason why they should have less voting powea: than the big. One of the debaters in the Review writes disparagingly of the ■ indignity of descending to "Trtfdes j Hall" methods. If, in go purely a temporal matter as the allocation of votes, a Church and a Trades Hall have identical difficulties, "Trades Hali methods" are rightly followed, unless it be shown that the methods are unjust. As in the Old Land, so in the new, some of the clerics are at issue with the State, notably concernbig the marriage laws. But in an orderly State there must be one law of marriage throughout" the land, and what constitutes legal marriage and what dissolves it is not for any priest to dictate— if his conscience disapproves a ceremony in any given case he is free to refuse to celebrate it. The United States is an object-leseon as to the evil of tolerating conflicting matrimonial laws in one land. Scandalous cases have occurred, where polygaonistß have had two or three wives — all legally married within certain boundaries, and automatically divorced by the mere fact of crossing a geographical line. But graver difficulties than occasional friction with the State may well weigh heavily on the minds of Australian biehope. Thoy'may not call it "schism" while all parties recognise an external bond in tho Book of Common Pi'ayer. But in the great dioceses of the SouthWest and the North respectively two schools of thought have evolved, with disagreement on so fundamental a point as to what really constitutes a church. The bush settler and his wife, hungering for opportunities to attend Divine service, especially on Lheir children's account, dislike, above all things, the proselytiser who comes to them with an abstruse polemic disquisition. "The hungry sheep look up and are not fed." It is "Trades Hall methods" of the unlovely kind, in tho spiritual sphere, when the preacher unchurches all wJio do not accept not only his official creed, but his particular reading of it. The idea of a fellow-worshipper being a kind of "blackleg" ie not spiritually elevating. " Mission ers" of this stamp would not have suited the apostolic Bishop Selwyn, and will never build up a strong Church in the waste places as he did. And, when Prayer-book revision comes, will Queensland insist on revision in one direction and New South Wales in another? The passage we have quoted from Bishop Frodsham in the review already referred to includes . this among enumerated "not impossible contingencies," nor does he see how it is to be averted. The Anglican Church in New Zealand has its own difficulties, but is still happily free from j those that chiefly perplex its brethren in the Commonwealth, of which it may be thankful it is not an appendage., Self-contained, eelf-governed, orw good terms with the State, and possessing a recognised central authority, it has at least a structional unity which speaks for the wisdom of those who long ago laid its foundation-stone. \