CHURCH UNION AND THE PANANGLICAN SYNOD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9180, 9 October 1888, Page 3

CHURCH UNION AND THE PANANGLICAN SYNOD.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —The basis of unity proposed b> "Layman" seems a somewhat impracticable one, inasmuch as it necessitates the abandonment of at least a-half of the total number of churchmen of their earnest convictions as to the teachings of the Church. No re-union amongst the various Christian bodies can ever take place unless it be based upon the wiliest toleration. The stability of the Church of England is assured by this very principle, her boundaries being wide enough to afford shelter to minds as widely different in thought as the poles asunder. I, for one, should not agree, perhaps, with all Bishop Cowie's utterances, nor for the purposes of unity is it necessary thab "Layman" should do so, any more than Bishop Cowie would be likely to acquiesce in the utterances of " Layman." There are, however, one or two remarks of " Layman" which seem to me to call for reply. Hβ writes: "Bishop Cowie says that ' tha bread and wine were placed upon the table whilst the other offerings were being collected.' He most distinctly speaks of the bread and wine as offerings. No longer the elements of a communion of heart with heart, and all with the Master, but the offering of a sacrifice with all it involves." Whilst the wording of the prayer-book speaks of the money, the bread and the wine as alms and oblations," I can hardly see what else Bishop Cowie could call them< As to the idea of sacrifice, again, whilst the prayer after communication ask? God " mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving," I fail to see in what other light any churchman can regard it, or to see anything ulterior " in< volved in it," or from preventing it in any respect from being "the communion of heart with heart and all with the Master. , ' The materialisation, again, of the idea of a "supper" is quite as dreadful as that of the aspect of a material "sacrifice," and , quite as repugnant to Holy Scripture, aa witness St. Paul's rebuke to those mem< bers of the Corinthian Church who had so degraded it. It is rather droll to compare. " Layman's" Puritan with the " Lo ! I am with you always," being to him a very truth of hourly life and thought, and yet. regarding the " Real Presence" as material!* sation of the grossest kind, and rank superstition. Why, the things are synonymous. If " Layman " will allow me, I will make a suggestion to him which, I trust, has a little practical charity about it, and that is, tal wait until Bishop Cowie returns and let him speak for himself, and not put words into his mouth or thoughts into his mind which in all probability have no other existence than in "Layman's" imagination.—l am,' &c, * " X. I