UNION OF CHURCHES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2856, 9 December 1908, Page 90

UNION OF CHURCHES.

I Rabbits arc very plentiful on D'Urville > Inland at piosent. In some cases they have bren known to burrow down and cat potaro -,ccd after it had been in tbe ground for some time. One of the settlers filled * tub throo parts full of water, and placed" phavinars on the top with some bread where it eou'd be seen. Before very lonpr the tub was full of rabbit's. Recently it has been found that owing to scarcity of food the rabbits are becoming: cannibalistic in their habits, so -the trouble, it is thought (says j the Nelson Colonist), will bo less acute. One large farmer, who has a run o» I Maungakawa (Auckland), dares not put airy j Jerseys on it, for if hf doe* t.hey are «mx« } to be ehof, some of th* =h<y.t-ste not being able to distinguish the differe-noe between! a fawn-coloured Jersey and a deor. Laet j month Mr George Refd, of Karapir<y, was driving along the tx,&4 when he notice*! a Jersey cow suddenly fall down, give a kick or two, and then lie still. Heexammejl tho animal, and found it bAd been shot close by the heart, and ac there was no «xploeion heard he presumes th« shot wM i fired from a hUI at some dietanoe,.

A PRESBYTERIAN TRIBUTE. (Fkosi Our Own Cohrespondent.) AUCKLAND, November 26. In connection with the Anglican Church letter suggesting unity, the Rev. W. Gray Pixon, of St. David's, and the recognised leader of the Presbyterian Church here, said he was more than delighted not only with the aim but with the manner of the invitation issued to all Christian ministers within the bounds of the Auckland diocese by the Auckland dlergy Association. The aim — a fuller manifestation of- the unity of the one and indivisible Catholic Church — could not but commend itself to every Christian churchman of whatever, name. " For myself," he proceeded, " I confess that it touches me where I feel deepest and hope highest. The ideal of one Holy Catholic Church is a passion with me. Especially in a new land like this, with an ecclesiastically mixed population, does one hope for the blending of the best that is in each of the ecclesiastical types represented amongst ii 6 in a truly national church, alike loyal to the faith once delivered to the saints, and racy of the soil. We are building up a distinctive State. We should build up at the same time a distinctive church. If this aim seems Utopian, that cannot bo helped. No lower aim is adequate, however small the prospect of seeing it realised. I for one recognise that I dare not abandon it. It is too true that the prospects of a corporate union of our churches can hardly be said, even by the most optimistic, to be at all clear. Church government rather than doctrine stands government rather than doctrine stands in the way, and those churches which attach vital doctrine to their form of church government inrterpose the most serious obstacle. A general incorporated union of all the churches, the Roman Catholic included, is obviously not within the sphere of practical church politics, and ©yen if Tre confine our attention to the historic reformed churches the problem is far from easy. It is the open-minded-ness co beautifully manifest in this appeal from the Anglican clergy that moves .one jto respond to it con amore. The openmind*>dnps.s and also the spiritual mindednoss of the appeal is obviously' baptised with prayer. 'The Catholic Church, is wider than any part of it.' I like that, and again, 'we want facts, more facts, and At ill more farts ooncerninpr each other's aims and method.-,.' The whole manner and tone of the invitation, equally 'with its aim ' i.< admirable" and gratifying, and the outcome cannot but be a better mutual understanding among- the representatives of the different branches of the one Church of Chriat in our community, and with this I a deeper and fuller sense of unity, in1 creased influence for pood, and some prepress towards the coming into fact of the divine dream o) a reconstructed comprehensive church.''