ANGLICANS AND METHODISTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 104, 3 May 1919, Page 3

ANGLICANS AND METHODISTS

BISHOP OF mVDOX’S PLAN FOP.

'REUNION'

The Bishop ol London —introduced by the Rev. J. E. Ralenbiry as “me «--hjr*/ Christiah pastor of the Metropolis—spoke i at Tving-sway , Hall. ..vnuou. »e----eeiilly on "'111!' Necessity a in! Hope f i,r Christian Union-—(1) Because Chiist Christ willed it and wills it; (2) because of the tremendous foep, opposed to Christianity; (3) beUiuse of tile foariul wswto entailed by tlie present system; (4) because nowhere is our disunion more disgraceful and more -harmful than in the-mission held ; (5j be a use one of the great obstacles to evangelisation at Home i & the disunion of Christians. “If we had the order of Rome, the peasantpiety of the Russian Church, the restraint and order and- enthusiasm of the Church of England, the fiery missionary zeal of the Wesleyans, the intellectual strength of the Presbyterians, the devotion- of Lhptists, t’ollgre gat ion a.lisits and Quakers all poured , into one molten glory called the Catholic Church, such a body would be invincible —such a body could stop anything—could do anything.” Turning to what he described as n much more difficult- question, the hope of Church union, the Bishop said the -atmosphere was far more hopeful to-day than it had ever been. They had learned more and more to co-operate with one He had come back from .Salonika with new hope of reunion—and he. was talking of the reunion of . the whole of Christendom. Then there was the wonderful brotherhood of the chaplains at the front, who had shown a great desire to draw together. That, they might say, was a long way off reunion, and he agreed, but it was a preliminary, a prelude to it. “It is be-ca-ues I am going to be satisfied with nothing’but reunion that even at the risk oi misunderstanding I have deprecated indiscriminate exchange -of pm : pits, because 1 believe that these great schisms must be healed from inside and not plastered from outside.” ■/.-

The Bishop went, on to expound a scheme, by which the Church of England and the Wesleyan 1 Methodist Church—closely akin in spirt, in dortrine, in ideatf—might unite, 'they could not expect the Church of England to part with her .belief in the historic. de.rs or to water down her doctrine. But he suggested that after a specified date all ordinations in both churches should nc so canned- out ap to satisfy the principles of *Wh churches/’' Six or more mesiden.s or superintor.dent ft should be ordained bishops of the Connexional Society, for many Wesley am ministers would prefer to he ordained in’ their Wesleyan Bishops rather than by Bishops of the Church of England. "Just look.” said the Bishop, “at the tv ay we should .supplement each other. I would simply love to go round to the Wesleyan churches and preach the Gospel myself and find a magnificent joy in putting myself side by side with those whose zeal'and fervency I have admired for years. ’ ’ The Bishop admitted that the question of confirmation was a more difficult one, and one on which he wished to reserve judgment.