CHURCH UNION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14355, 27 October 1908, Page 6

CHURCH UNION.

Theue are few of us who have not marvelled' at times when admiring some rural township at finding it to contain about as many separate religious conventicles, each used by a different sect as therp are. hundreds of population. Well justified on such occasions seems the reflection that were all these individual efforts concentrated towards tile building of one adequate church, upon tile provision of one strong congregation and one ministerial stipend worthy of the name—in short, were the sects to combine their efforts and sink their differences—much better results would be achieved. lb is impossible, however, not to recognise that human nature can 'be intractable and unreasonable to an astonishing degree. If a man has peculiar ideas as to just what methods of worship ho should employ he is- just the very man, as a rule, who will stick to those ideas despite all the concentrated reasoning in tho world. The layman may ho held justified, we think,, if in the signs around him.ho reads nothing very encouraging from the point of view of Church union. The Christian, especially ho who is a pillar of some particular church, has generally, pronounced convictionsA-to criticise them, as too often obstinate- is futile,—ami from several points of • view his .rigid adherence thereto is worthy of admiration. The. desirability of Church union is generally admitted: it is as to its practicability thnt opinions differ. Those interested in the subject will find it profitable to read carefully the Primate's latest Diocesan Synod address published in our columns this morning. It is an enlightened and very persuasive statement of tlw prospects of Church union generally, and particularly as far as tho Episcopal and Presbyterian. Churches are concerned. We can confine our attention to tho particular aspect- of' the Primate's •' Appeal for Corporate Reunion," since its general aspect does not serve to emphasise much more than that the feeling in favour of Church union lias gained ground of late years. After referring to the resolutions of the-Lam-beth Conference on this subject as a hopeful augury for Church union generally, the Primate traces the history of recent negotiations that have takon place in Victoria between representatives of tho Presbyterian and Anglican coiumunicns, and contends that these have pretty clearly shown that or, as< he prefers to call it, reimiift, ijfeasible, though tho difficulties may not all have been removed. As to tho Victorian situation, ■ there having been arranged a joint meeting of committees duly elected to represent the two Churches with a view to ascertain what propositions on fundamental questions could he accepted on both sides, the propositions or resolutions accepted by the committees were submitted to a conference of delegates appointed by each Church, and agreement on a number of fundamental points was arrived at. These need not be specially detailed. TJiey aro to be referred to the supreme legislatures of the Anglican and Presbyterian Churches in Australia, and include a scheiiic for a solemn, forma! and public consummation of tho proposed union. The Primate of New Zealand would not have this Dominion loo* on in "profitless amazement" while such a movement-is bcin» brou-bt before the authorities of the interested Churches in Australia,' It id net mnsLufe; tk*; he sltould ,hy sowe

_ im ii mi i i i ig\—t/ammmmm §trcss on the significance of the fact that he should be. thus speaking on rite subject of Cliurch union in a city which is a recognised stronghold of l'rosbyteriimism, but it may seem to many in such a community decidedly optimistic to anticipate yet awhile tho day when a. bishop shall be a persona grata to a good Presbyterian, and when the latter' shall be welcome in the pulpits and altars of the- Anglican Church. Optimism, however, j» such a case as this is at least a sign of breadth of mind, and while it may be going somewhat far to assert as some do that Christianity has degenerated into a war of /sects, each struggling against its neighbour to attain a leading position of distinction and wealth, there is in the assertion an element of truth sufficient to bo a strong argument in favour of the union regarding which the Primate is so hopeful. Dv Nevill's Views are not, however, shared by all ecclesiastical authorities interested in this latest evolution of the Church union question. In an article appearing in the British Weekly for August the Rev. J. Moikkjolm, D.D., exModerator of tho Presbyterian Church of Australia, discusses Church union in Australia from a general standpoint and with reference to the Lambeth Conference. Ho deems the union contemplated by the conference, n union through which other churches would be lost by ii process of absorption, and that so far us union between the Anglican and Presbyterian Churches is concerned the. outlook is not brightened by the Lambeth resolutions and encyclical. His conclusion reads:' "One is safe in iaying that, sensible as many Jn tho Presbyterian Church of Australia are of tho evils of division in the Church, and earnest as they are in their desire to see them healed, they will not contemplate a union .which could only bo entered on by the Church turning its back upon its own history and surrendering truth which has ever seemed to it of fundamental importance, 'flic Presbyterian. Church in Australia might be got to see, some of her number have hoped, that it would be to the advantage of the Church that there should be bishops or presbyters appointed for a definite, and limited period', with some form of individual superintendence and government, and that this government should be conferred by a solemn act of consecration • but the Cliurch could oily be true to what :t regards as the Scriptural conception of the Cliurch bv making the bishop subject to the General Assembly. The supreme authority must rest not with bishops but with courts and councils, in which laymen duly qualified and regularly appointed have the same rights and privileges as ministers." In May last the now Moderator of the Presbyterian Assembly! then., sitting in Sydney said: "As to the Church of England we can see no immediate prospect of union with that branch of the Church. As a. church wo can scarcely expect that those clergy who believe that they liiivo priestly power would join with those who put their cherished tenets on a par with the belief in witchcraft Or alchemy." These, are somewhat strong .statements, and scarcely to be construed as favourable to Church union in Australia. They contrast- at all events with the Primate's optimism in Ins interesting Synod address, and the fact ought also to be borne in nynd that tho Presbyterian Church in Australia, will not be anxious to come to any decision which would prevent or .hamper its further negotiations for union with the Methodist or Congregational Churches.