A UNITED CHURCH?

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 40, 17 February 1933, Page 12

A UNITED CHURCH?

METHODIST VIEWS

SAFEGUARDING PRINCIPLES

(By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.")' AUCKLAND, This Day. Tlie attitude of the New Zealand Hcthodist Church to the question of the union of the churches was defined in the inaugural address last evening of the newly-elected president, the Ecv. A. J. Seamer, at the opening session of the church's annual conference, now in progress in Auckland. After referring to the consummation of union be--tween the three branches of the Methodist Church in the Old Country, Mr. Seamer observed that the wider adventure in ehuroh union launched in Canada in 1925, after some twenty-one years' preparation, and linking up the Congregational, Presbyterian, and Methodist Communions, had led to a spiritual forward movement in that Dominion. Reliable reports gave very cheering data showing the great benefits already derived. . Having touched upon the failure of tentative overtures, initialed by the Presbyteriaa Church in New Zealand thirty years ago, towards union with, the Methodist and Congregational Churches, Mr. Seamer said the attitude of the Methodist Church to the question had been consistent, though sometimes misunderstood. They had ever been ready to co-operato in appointing a conunittee, should the other two churches desire it, to seek a possible basis of uuion. They would onjy need to be assured that the members of the uniting churches should be able to carry forward in the united church those important aspects of truth, policy, and culture, for the propagation and development of which each partner in the union believed its church to have been divinely raised. Those three chur-ches had so much in common, and were at heart so sincerely one in faith and purpose, that when God gave- their rank and file, as well as their leaders, grace to see and acknowledge the facts —facts already so clearly appreciated, by their youth leaders—they would respond to the prompting of mutual respect and, affection, and, recognising their common attachment to the same ideals, would seek and find a basis of union on the lines made plain by the facts. But until that stage was reached it was the clear duty of all the members within, those churches to devote themselves enthusiastically to sustaining and developing, the life and work of their own church, so that when corporate union did eventuate they would bo able to bring into the united church such a full, buoyant, and definite contribution of thought and life, that they would see within the united church, the continuance of their best traditions. TACTS MUST BE FACED. As to the question of the wider union, "No cause can ever be truly served by failure to face the facts," said the speaker. ."Wo are still Protestants, although we claim to be more Catholic in spirit and doctrine than some others. We believe that Christ, not the Church, is the Vine, that all believers are branches, and should draw thoir life direct from the Vine. Wo should not permit ourselves to give the impression to the thinker in the public place that we could give serious thought to the question of union today with churches that still treasuro as fundamentals, in their creeds, rituals, and customs, those elements that brought about the Keformation. However regrettable the fact may be, it is absurd to deny that grave, differences of interpretation still exist, and are held tenaciously, concerning such fundamental principles as the very nature of the Church and her sacraments, the basis and extent of her authority, the status and function of the clergy, and concerning the lead the church should give -on what to us arc! great moral issues." : It^ was open to serious question, the president observed, whether Christian^ ity would necessarily benefit by the welding of all the different communions into one great organisation under one man, or a committee of men, who would probably claim to be the Regents of Christ: history seemed Ho teach the very opposito, incidentally demonstrating that so-called schismatics and heretics had often been among the most loyal to the real Body of Christ, and the finest workers in His cause. Finally, said Mr. Seamer, Methodism welcomed to her communion, and to the Table of the Lord, all who loved the Lord, irrespective of opinions, and it entertained the fullest sympathy with proposals even for organic union with any church where external cleavages did not represent principles that offered an impenetrable barrier to union, and where union could be shown to be in the interests of truo unity and service. In such a. union, established on a worthy basis, with the necessary safeguards of vital principles, there wonld bo strength. n