CHURCH UNITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20071, 8 October 1928, Page 12

CHURCH UNITY.

Sir, —The cable news columns on Tuesday last contained a statement of the Bishop of Bradford, when preaching on and appealing for Christian unity, to tho affect that the first barrier to be broken down is the theory of apostolic succession. After much coquetting with Rome in recent years, Malinfs conversations and tho like, it is refreshing to hear of a bishop openly declaring in favour of Christian union in other directions. To the vast majority of laymen the rond to union with other Protestant Churches presents few if any difficulties impossible of removal. Most of tho difficulties spoken of by tho clergy are of man-made origin. Is the Presbyterian Church, .-for example, ono whit behind the Anglican in her preaching of the Gospel, or 1.0 what extent has she suffered through luck of apostolic succession ? Would not most of us laymen welcome Church union, even at tho cost of ornate robps and certain external observances ? Do wo not acknowledge tho sarno Christ and teach the same truths as our .less gaudy but no less earnest brethren of other Christian persuasions' It is my firm conviction that the cause of Church unity is hampered, rather than helped, by sections of tho clergy,- but the reason thereof, although perhaps obscure, may be found in the hope that by one day linking up with Rome much of the clergy's one-time temporal power and authority will be regained. If that be so, then tho hope is a vain one, for the bulk of Anglican laymen, although for the most part inarticulate, are steadfast in their opposition to any departure from Christ's teaching simply expressed. By "simply expressed" 1 don't mean that our sei'vicos should bo shorn of all ceremonial, or that our churches should be . divested of all architectural and other adornments, but I do mean that the worship of God should not bo subordinated in any way to tho "isms" and "ologies" which have stifled Church union and re- . larded Church progress during the past feiv years. Torn between dislike of anonymity and of limelight alike. Anglican Diehard. .