UNION OF CHURCHES. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10358, 13 May 1895, Page 3

UNION OF CHURCHES. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,—"Cowcatchar "claims that there must I be 25,000,000 Anglicans in Britain. Well, Canon Holinnd says there are'enly 23,000,000 in'the. world, and! am inclined to think be is more likely to ba jright iiun •" Cowcatcher." The Rev. Dr Ni F. 'Lujtledale In' 1892 Bays it is estimated that there is Biting room in the ,English Churca ■< o acbomuiddii: 6 6.250,000 people, and ai we lcbow. that thousands of her churches are virtually empty -when yon deduct the curate, eboir, eeztoo,'-* and other officials, arid that not 5 per Cent, of a!! her churches are filled, we are >afi in coucludipg that in this fircat historical church; to whieli the promise .-has so graciously been fuliiileti, " Ln, I am with you always," not raore, than; 5,000,000 worship at her shrine each B&bbatn. , And so the church is tet.going over to Rome. Then in the name of all that la good where does " Cowcatchiw " think it is going to ? It has abandoned Protcstintiam long ago, with a few noble .exceptions—of af on evangelicals. -If Vaughan' and Halifax count for nothing, surely he will ; admit that what leads up to their speeches will count for eotaethiag. He cannot deny that for many a loDg day tuere ha 3 bsen a river or tributary flowing iuto the Tiosr from England, bearing on it, cargoes of converts from the JSnglish c'aureh, and that ib needs'bac a little larger opening to admit of the transport of the whoie >rmy, horse and foot, bag and baggage. It is of no use " Cowcatcher " denying that she has abandoned Protestantism, because through her Puseyisiu, ritualism, sacerdotalism, sacranieutalisihi, obe is making rapid strides Romew.irds, and it begins to look <i 3if within a, reasonable time the Pope will ord»r a big " Te Deuin" over the refcui-cibg Prodigal. In proof that she is going hendioac to P.ome she has adopted Botnan method, Sonicm ritual, iucsnse, procesiioual cross, candies, the real presence, purgatory, prayers for the dead (as recently a!; Windsor), and the confession with priestly absolution (as an .instance*, in the "Christian World" of 3rd January last there is a document addressed to the laity for their guidance in this sacrament). It contains a form of confession with this reccminsud&tion, that when the priest ssys ■.'{ l absolve thee, the precious blood of Jesus flows saßrinisnta.lly upon your (soul and cleanses you frooi all sin: It is blood slodlb v/hich cieaneea you, acd no oce but the priesb has the power of applying it; to your soul," and it in added this form of coufession is largely use 3. So if she ia not going over to Rome, then whero is she going to. Let "Cowcatcher" read Atchbiahop Carr in to-day's Times. - • " Cowcatsher" says he has proved himse'.f "a veritable 'Cowcatcher."' Well, let us sea what that must. mean. In my first letter I said that the avdept deyotees of tha church claimed that/she was in England before Catholicism (Roman). JB'or this, in his first letter he accused ma or' ignorance ; in his second letter he is at considerable pains to prove than such was the case—i.e., that the English Church existed by tradition since Si. Paul'i day. We!!, I believe with Farrar and Littledale. It is only. Ccfiion, fable, legend, &nd coajacture. Then he deducts t.he numher of Mebbodists from ths numbffr cf Nonconformists, and aftsr this feat of legerrleinain 'proceeds- to make uapital out of i!;. Why didn'6 he sabtracb e^ch sect until I there was none left? Again, in speaking of I the Methodists »s not 500,000 he is speakiag of members only, but vvhen he speaks of Anglicans—2s.ooo,ooo—he is includioj? member,? and adherents, as well as the 15,000,000 camp followers, who, as I have shown, n«ver enter 1 their church. The object is obvious. He should have multiplied the member^ of Methodist Church by five, and then we would have had just about the number of M«thodi«.t3 in Eoglaud which this " great historical church " has outside England—the Anglican. Then he says, or rather would have you believe, fchat tile State, or the people, do not pay for the church. Tilhss, I think, have a good deal to; do with thi3. A well-known writer describes the origin .ot them thus: " The payment of tithe to the clergy originated in the recognition of a moral aud religious duty. The discharge of this acknowledged obbg&tion acquired the force of custom, then received the sanction of the ecclesiastical law, and flually passed into the up-tioual jurisprudence." Then he says her endowments are the gifts of her pious children. There is sis much truth in this a? the other. The gifts were the gifts of the pious children of the Roman Catholic Church, and the donors, as :i rule, would rather have seen their money sunk in the bottom of the oca than that it should hftvti gone to support the Reformed Cinrch of EoaUnd. Then he thinko he has a hard nut to crack in the fact or 500 parishes in Wales " in which no form of dissent whatever has a permanent home." This is only hilf a truth, coming from a ian.n like " Cowcatcher," whoever ha is. He knows well enough that the reason is that after paying the tithes to support the Anglican Church they are not in a position to pay for tha support oE ministers of their own persuasion. And no% in concluding this discussion, I would merely say in reply to "Cowcatcher's" remark that I have evidently mietaksn his identity, I hav^ never attempted in any of my letters, nor do I wish to idaar.ify mm. "VVa&fc 1 have shown is that he has shuffled in every fact in dispute betweerv ua^and 1 am very sorry. th'»t j he could not etd the argument without in- j dulging in r«murks which aru evidently of a personal caturo.—l am, &c, Dimediu, May 9, 1395. , Ickabod.

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