THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Southland Times, Issue 2916, 19 October 1877, Page 3

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

(TO THE EDITOR OP THE TIMES.)

SIX, — A religious periodical is ciroulated in this district, in which there appears this month a formal document, ivliioK speaks in tlie name of the Church of the Province of New Zealand. Iv these days when ne»v churches, novel ideas, and fresh customs are springing up around us, it is interesting to inquire, Ih this our old friend the Church of England ? If it is so, why doe 3 she not call herself by her name r This is a matter which concerns the honor of a large part of the community. We have had friends and neighbors calling themselves members ot the Church of England — perhaps we have ourselves made ike same claim ; we may therefore ask, have they been all this time making a false assumption, claiming our respect on worthless grounds, and placing a home brand on a colonial article F If a society claims a moral and spiritual leadership,, this is not a matter that should remain unsettled. Have our neighbors as a colonial-born society been trying to introduce a spurious aristocracy by callmg' their chief dignitaries my Lord Bishop ? or are they fairly occupying a position that legitimately belongs to them as a portion of the Church of England ? Tke assumption that they alone christianized this country, and cau be called the Church of New Zealand, is absolutely absurd. What are they if they are not the Church of England ?

In ail conscience we have enough churches ; is this to be the beginning of another schism p — I am, etc.,

Old Identity