CHURCH UNION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4399, 18 December 1875, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHURCH UNION.

To the Editor of the Herald. Sir, — The interesting address o£ the Bishop of Lichfield (Dr. Selwyn) on " Church Union," delivered before the recent Church Congress, and referred to in your columns on Saturday last, must commend itself to the attention of every thoughtful mind at the present moment, when Creeds and Confessions are almost imperceptibly, but surely, losing their authority over the minds of men under the expanding influence of intelligence and toleration. I am afraid, however, that we are still a long way off from that ecclesiastical unity which he con- | templates ; when there shall be gathered into one pale, " the Anglican, the Old Catholic, the Greek, the Lutheran, the Wesleyan," and added to these Rome, "as she was at Nice and at Ephesus, one among living stones, built up into one Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church." Unity can only come from mutual concession and compromise. Where are the indications of these ? It is the old, old story, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are we!" , Bishop Selwyn starts out with shewing how that unity may be accomplished : "I cannot doubt that the Anglican fihurcli is the true centre" (with its High Church, Law Church, and Broad Church !) " round which may be rallied all the scattered forcps of those who agree in accepting Holy Scripture as their standard of faith, and the creeds of the un- I divided Church as their summary of doctrines." Let us take the three religious bodies presenting the nearest points of contact, and whose union would involve the least amount of denominational concession —the Anglican, Catholic and Greek Churches —and see what are the prospects of unity. Dr. Selwyn, as we see above, would effect it through rallying on '' the Anglican Church as the true centre." The Catholics, however, have a word to say to that, and this is their reply to such unity : —A form of prayer in used on the Continent by the clergy and laity for the " conversion of England." It is headed with a picture of the Virgin Mary, who is represented standing upon a serpent, crowned with glory, and with rays of light streaming from all her fingers : " Almighty and everlasting God, who hast ordained in thine unfathomable wisdom that men shall only be happy by means of the true faith, look down in pity on England, once the island of the blessed, but which for a long time past, being caught in the errors of heresy, has fallen from the true belief ; drive away from it all the ignorance, and destroy the vain, dark, false teaching which keeps it from the knowledge of the truth. Incline all their hearts to listen with pleasure to the true faith, bo that they may joyfully return to the bosom of Holy xMother Church. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for England. Holy Peter and Paul, pray for England. Holy George, England's Champion, pray for this land. Holy Thomas, of Canterbury, pray for this land. Holy Pope Gregory, Father of England, pray for this land. Holy Augustine, England's Apostle, pray for thiß land. Let not their souls perish. Amen." There is no hint here of concossian ; but unity is to obtained either by conversion or submission to the " Holy Mother Church" a somewhat different "true centre" from that proposed by Bishop Selwyn. The Roman Church, in its turn, anxious for reunion with the Greek communion, proffers the olive branch in this fashion, through a missive under the hand of the Pope: " We must speak words of peace and affection to the Easterns, who indeed serve Christ, but are aliens from the holy throne of the Apostle Peter. ... We lay on you none other burden except these necessary things, that you agree with us in the confession of the tru€ faith, which the Catholic Church guards and teaches, and that ye maintain communion with this Church, and with the holy throne of Peter." The Greek patriarchs and bishops in their encyclic letter, in reply, after eulogising the orthodoxy of the Catholic and Apostolic Church (meaning thereby the Greek Church!) and expressing their wonder that the way of the wicked should prosper, a tid that heresies should be so long allowed to spread their baneful influence, proceed to interchange the following civilities:-' Of heresies which have spread over a great part of the world for judgments known to the Lord Arianism was one, and at the present dav Popery is another; but like the former, winch has altogether vanished, the latter also (Popery) although now flourishing, shall not endure to the end, bat shall pass, and be oast down, and that mighty voice shall bo heard ' from heaven—' It ifl fallen ! But, notwithstanding, the Papal power has not ceased to deal despitefully with the quiet Ghurch of God, _ but everywhere the so-called missionaries (alluding to the Jesuits) "men that deal in souls, compassing sea and land to make one proselyte, to deceire one of tho orthodox, to destroy the teaching of our Lord, to bastardise the divine symbol of our holy faith, and countless other things, which the demon of innovation dictated to those darers of all things; the schoolmen of the Middle Agea." One might expect auch language from Exeter Hall, or at an Orange banquet, but to be thus wounded with " Greek fire" in " the house of har friends" —by » kindred oommunion once in fellowship h«r—Bome felt to be post «oda-

ranee. The'result of their feuds is well described by Dr. Selwyn :—" While & Turkish guard ia needed to restrain the strife of Christians at the birthplace of their Lord, will the Jew, -with his Isaiah in his hand, believe that they are the worshippers of the Prince of Peace V The followers of the False Prophet looking on, calm and neutral, at the disgraceful melee, might well exclaim " Behold how these Christians love one another !" If thentheabove three communions, so nearly allied in organization, can attain no higher standard of unity than that indicated in the quotations already given, what chance is there for an extended amalgamation, as sketched by Dr. Selwyn, with the Presbyterian communion (with its abhorrence of priestly orders), and the numerous branches represented by what, for want of a more accurate term, may be called Dissent 1 And, further, what prospect is there of a closer union between modern philosophic thought and modern theology ? Tyndall is still "prolonging the vision be- I yond the boundary of experimental evidence," and Carlyle, who "carries his religion under his hat," has nothing better to say of modern theology than this: — "Rituals, Liturgies, Creeds, Sinai Thunder ; I know more or less the history of these ; the rise, progress, decline and fall of these. "Whither has religion now fled ? Instead of heroic martyr-conduct, and inspired and soul-inspiring eloquence, whereby religion itself were brought home to our living bosoms to live and reign there, we have ' Discourses on the Evidences,'endeavouring with the smallest result, to make it possible that such a thing as religion exists. Considered as a whole, the Christian religion of late years has been continually dissipating itself into metaphysics ; and threatens , now to disappear, as some rivers do in I deserts of barren sand. " The more one i ponders over these things, the more one is inclined to say with. Dickens's Stephen Blackpool, "it be all a muddle." Looking abroad upon the Christian Church —upon its, sectarian hatreds, strifes, and jealousies—/ the lines of Coleridge rise unbidden to the memory,— / Hβ prayeth best who loveth best, ' All things both great and s nail: for the dear Lord, who loveth us, Hβ made and loveth all. I am, &c, Observer. Dec. 16, 1875.