A FAITH THAT UNITES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19906, 28 September 1926, Page 5

A FAITH THAT UNITES.

ADDRESS BY THE REV. E. G. GUTHRIE. A representative gathering of members from the Council of Christian Congregations and the Sunday School Unions entertained the Rev. Ernest Guthrie at the Strand last evening. The Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, who presided, said it was a great pleasure to welcome their guest, an old Dunedin boy, who since has distinguished himself in Christian leadership in America. Mr Guthrie had .held the presidency of the Federation of Churches of Greater Boston, and was able, therefore, to speak with a. rich and intimate knowledge concerning the acute issues confronting the Church to-day. Mr J. Farquharson joined in extending this welcome to their distinguished visitor. Mr Guthrie said that the note of cordiality that had been sounded in the many welcomes that his native land had accorded him touched him deeply. New Zealand knew how to welcome her far-waudered sons, so many of whom felt eternally related to the land of their nativity. During the many years he had been in Boston, in which city there were 600 churches, the speaker said that he had been impressed with the possibility of co-opera-tive Christianity, a union that could have fellowship with liberal Judaism and Roman Catholicism. In the course of a notable address on “A Faith That Unites,” Mr Guthrie effectively maintained that such a faith must have a certain spirit that reconciles or holds in balance two strains that seem to tend in different directions. It must have whole convictions that rose out of its own experiences and its own history. On the other hand, a faith that was to unite must also hold by its convictions in such a way that it could see more and not less of the truth, the life and power of other faiths or phases of the same faith. A faith that united must not only have a certain spirit but a certain content. It must have a faith in God that answered the ultimate questions of the human spirit, and it must have an adequate doctrine of salvation. It would not only have a certain spirit and content, but it would be selfcritical in its methods. In conclusion, he showed that this great quest for a faith that unites is not only a vital necessity to the life of the Church, but also to the very life of humanity. The Chairman thanked the speaker for the very frank and courageous address to which the gathering had listened. Dr E. N. Herrington also expressed his deep appreciation for the very beautiful and challenging and courageous words that could not fail to arouse them to a reexamination of this urgent and vital matter of Church union. These sentiments were endorsed by all, and Mr Guthrie was asked to accept the thanks of the gathering. ,