THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Evening Star, Issue 16090, 15 April 1916, Page 11

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

REPORT ON CHURCH UNITY, The following interim report, entitled ‘Towards Christian Unity/ was issued by the sub-committeo appointed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and Yorks Committee and by representatives of the English Free Churches’ Commissions in connection with the proposed world conference on Faith and Order. The conference of the Archbishops’ Committee and of certain members of the Commissions of the Free Churches have given a general approval to this statement and agreed to its publication on the following understanding: 1. That for the exact wording the subcommittee should alone be responsible. 2. That the statement is offered not as a creed for subscription, or as committing in any way the churches thus represented, but as indicating a large measure of substantial agreement and also as affording material for further investigation and consideration. —Part I.: A Statement of Agreement on Matters of Faith.— We, who belong to different Christian communions and are engaged in the discussion of questions of Faith and Order, desire to affirm our agreement upon certain foundation truths as the basis of a spiritual and rational creed and life for all mankind. We express them as follows ; 1. As Christians we believe that, while there is some knowledge of God to be found among ail races of men, and some measure of divine grace and help is present to all, a unique, progressive, and redemptive revelation of Himself was given by God to the Hebrew people through the agency of inspired prophets, '■ m many pans and in many manners,” and that this revelation reaches its culmination and completeness in One who is more than a_ prophet, who is the Incarnate Son of God, our Saviour and our Lord Jesus Christ. 2. This distinctive revelation, accepted as the word of God, is the basis of the life of the Christian Church, and is intended to be the formative influence upon the mind and character of the individual believer. o. 'I he word of God is contained in the Old and New Testaments, and constitutes the permanent spiritual value of the Bible. . 4. Tho root and centre of this revola-

tion, as intellectually interpreted, consists in a positive and highly distinctive doctrine of God—His nature, character, and will. From this doctrine of God

follows a certain sequenco of doctrines concerning creation. Tinman nature, and destiny, sin, individual and racial, redemption through tho incarnation of the Son of God, and His atoning death and resurrection, the mission and operational tho Holy Spirit, tho Holy Trinity, the Church, the last things, and Christian life and duty, individual and social; nil theso cohere with and follow from this doctrine of God. 5. Since Christianity offers a historical revelation of Gcd, the coherence and sequence of Christian doctrine involve a necessary synthesis of idea and fact- such as is presented to us in the New Testaand in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds ; and thejo Creeds, both in their statements of historical fact and in their statements of doctrine, affirm essential elements of the Christian faith, as contained in Scripture, which the Church coukl never abandon, without abandoning its basis in the word of God. 6. We hold that there is no contradiction between the. acceptance of the miracles recited in tho Creeds and the acceptance of the principle of order in nature as assumed in scientific inquiry, and we hold equally that the acceptance of miracles is not forbidden by the

historical evidence candidly and impartially investigated by critical methods. —Part 11. : A Statement of Agreement on Matters Relating to Order.—

With thankfulness to the Head of the Church for the spirit of unity He hj ;s shed abroad in our hearts, wa go on to express our common conviction on the following matters :

1. That it is the purpose of our Lord that believers in Him should be. as in the beginning they were, one visible society—His body with many members—whun. in every age and place should maintain the communion of saints in the unity of the Spirit, and should bo capabla of a common witness and a common activity. 2. That our Lord ordained, in addition to the preaching of His Gospel, the Sacraments of Baptism and of the Lord's Supper, as not only declaratory symbols, but also effective channels "of His grace and gilts for the salvation and sanctification of men, and that these sacraments, being essentially social ordinances, were intended to affirm the obligation, of corporate fellowship as well as individual confession of Him. 5. That our Lord, in addition to the bestowal or (he Holy .Spirit in a variety of gifts and graces upon the whole Church, also conferred upon it by the self-same Spirit a ministry of manifold gifts and functions, to maintain the unity and continuity of its witness and work. —Part III.: A Statement of Differences in Relation to Matters of Order which Require Further Study and Discussion.—

Fidelity to our convictions and sincerity in their expression compel us to recognise that there still remain ditferences in respect of these matters; 1. As regard the nature of this visible Society, how far it involves uniformity or' allows variety in polity, creed, and worship. 2. As regards the Sacraments, the conditions, objective and subjective, in their ministration and reception on which their validity depend?. 3. As regards the Ministry, whether it derives its authority through an episcopal or a presbyteral succession or through tho community cf believers or by a combination of these. We desire to report accordingly, and we submit:

1. That this report be made known to the public. 2. That further inquiry should be directed to examining the implications in the matter agreed, and to the possibility of lessening or removing the differences by explanation.

The report is signed by the Bishop of Bath and Wells (chairman), the Bishops of Winchester and Oxford, Dr W. T. Davison, Principal A. E. Garvie, Dr J. Scott Lidgett, the Rev. J. H. Shakespeare, the Rev. C. Anderson Scott, Dr Eugene Stock, and tho Rev. Tissington Tatlow (hon. secretary).

CANADIANS' WAR MASS

In commemoration of the first action in Flanders in which Canadian troops took part, a War Mass was sung at Westminster Cathedral, the first anniversary of the battle. There was a strong contingent of Canadian soldiers and nurses present. Cardinal Bourne afterwards addressed the men. There would be few more noble things written in the annals of the Empire, he said, than the account of what the Canadians had done in defence of their country and the Empire. The young men of Canada, in ever-crow-ing numbers, had come forward to°take their part in assuring to this, the greatest Empire the world had ever seen, a unity of purpose such as the past ages had never witnessed. And that they had done, not under compulsion of the law but urred simply and solely by their own conscience, and the love of the country that gave them birth. "Go forward with courage," he concluded, "to the task that still awaits you. Think of the doings of those who have gone before you and "emulate their heroic deeds. Co'forward determined to do your duty whatever 'that duty may be. Go forward, for your God your country, and your King." ' '

At a.crowded meeting in the Citv Hall Berlin (Ontario), it was resolved, with only one dissentient, to petition the council to have the name of the city changed to some other name more in keeping with the national sentiment.

Next to the elephant, the white rhinoceros, of Africa, j s the largest animal known.