THREE CHURCHES UNITE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18942, 13 February 1925, Page 12

THREE CHURCHES UNITE

[ CANADIAN MOVEMENT. CEREMONIES IN JUNE, PRESBYTERIAN DISSENSION. I VIGOROUS OPPOSITION. [from our own correspondent.] TORONTO. Jan. 10. What competent observers declare to bo the sternest controversy in the annals of Canada has now reached a climax with the polling of votes in tho various congregations of tho Presbyterian Church on ihe question of whether they will, with the Methodist Church and the Congregationalists, enter the new United Church of Canada. No political or social issue has been so productive of dissension and debate, of embattled communities, divided families and broken friendships as this cataclysm, which after 20 years' discussion is breaking in twain tho Presbyterian Church, hitherto the most powerful Protestant denomination in tho Dominion. The union of the three churches is to be consummated on Juno 10 next in Toronto. Each denomination is to hold its last great conclave as a separate entity in separate edifices, the Presbyterian General Assembly in one, the Methodist General Conference in another, the Congregational Union in a third. Then each convention will form in procession and converge upon a common point, a street demonstration of this character being unique in tho records of local Protestant churches. Then will follow a united street procession, massed choirs will sing "Blessed Be the Tie that Binds," and the General Council of the new United Church of Canada will come into being. If numbers and wealth furnish the measure, the new ecclesiastical body will occupy a dominating position in affairs and will be able to sffect profoundly the future of tho counity. Voting by Congregations. Union is being accomplished, however, only with grave dissension —not in the Methodist and Congregationalist bodies, which are entering the union without dissentients, but in the Presbyterian. The Act of Parliament which the Unionists succeeded, after a hard struggle, in getting passed at Ottawa last year, provides that each congregation may vote whether it will go into or stay out of the union—a majority vote to rale. These congregational ballotings are now being held. In many churches tho polls are open dailj for periods of two or three weeks. Bj tiio end of tho month tho results will be pretty well known. From tho beginning of the union movement in 1904, there has been determined opposition among Presbyterians. A plebiscite in 1911 showed 238,000 in favour, 107,000 against. In a second plebescite in 1915, the anti-unionists substantially increased their relative strength. Nevertheless tho General Assembly in the following year committed itself to going ahead with the project, though owing to tho war and for tactical reasons a temporary truce was declared. Two years ago hostilities were renewed with fresh vigour. The Presbyterian Association of Canada came into being as tho organised effort of the anti-unionists, not only to oppose and delay the merger, but to preserve and continue a Presbyterian Church in ease union proved inevitable. # Organisations rivalling those of political parties sprang up. They collected hugs campaign funds? engaged secretaries, organisers lobbyists, press agents, whole batteries ot legal counsel. The land has been flooded with tons of literature, and the noise and tumult of campaign meetings, some ot them requiring the presence of police, has not yet died down. Unionists Gain Strength. Generally speaking victory has lain with the Unionist armies. A great majority of the Presbyterian congregation will vote to go into the Union. _ have been from time to time some notable defections from the anti-nniomst x*anks and it is doubtful if thoy will master now nearly as large a proportion as in 191&. Eiehty per cent, of the ministers have declared for union, and 95 per cent, oi the missionaries, the latter fact being cite as a striking argument for the utility ot union in the nractical work of the church. Of congregations that have closed their polls, W6 have declared for union arid only nine against. It is said there will not be one congregation "out" in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Regina, Brandon, Saskatoon, Vancouver. Westminster, Moose _ Jaw, Prince Albert. Union is strorig inline West—and probably only one ' out in Edmonton, Calgary, Victoria, London But the anti-unionists are still unbeaten and undaunted. They claim that 300 congregations will remain out. Some of these are among the strongest in the Dominion, located in Toronto, Montreal, and Hamilton. This number will form an aggressive though small independent Presbyterian Chnrch. Moreover m most of the congregations which _ by majority vo':o go into union there will be minorities opposed. Some of these will merge and form new congregations and build now churches. How far this movement will go remains to be seen,. Many antiunionists, after registering their opposition, will submit to the majority and go into the now church. Others will drift to the Anglicans. It is said there will not be enough antiunion ministers to supply the anti-union churches. It_ is planned to supply tho deficiency with importations from the United States and Scotland. Anti-unionists claim also that many Presbyterian congregations and ministers will soon become dissatisfied with their experience in the new experimental church and will come back to the "church of their fathers." Property and Titles. Each congregation will retain its own property, according to the election of its majority vote, whether it stays out of or goes into the union, though this may ba subject to provincial legislation. The general funds of the church are to bo divided by an arbitration commission. Unionists sought to have it enacted that when the "Presbyterian Church in Canada" entered the union there could remain no Presbyterian Church outside the union. In this they were not quite successful. It now saems evident that the dissentients will retain the name "Presbyterian" though they will have to alter the phraseology of their official title. Questions of doctrine, particularly in the later stages of tho controversy, have been emphasised by anti-unionists, who claim that vital sections of tho Westminster Confession of Faith are repudiated by the creed of the new United Church. But it is doubtful if the rank and file are familiar with the doctrinal issues involved. Without pursuing this phase of the controversy it may bo merely remarked that the dissentient Presbyterians claim tha new church's creed is anti-Calvinistic.