A UNITED CHURCH?

Taranaki Daily News, 17 February 1933, Page 5

A UNITED CHURCH?

METHODIST LEADER’S VIEWS.

SAFEGUARDING OF PRINCIPLES.

The attitude .of the New Zealand Methodist Church to the ■ question of the union of the churches was defined in the inaugural address last evening of the newly-elected President, the Rev. A. J. Seamer, at-' the opening session of the church’s annual Conference, now in progress in Auckland. After referring to the consummation of union between the three branches of the Methodist Church in the Old Country, Mr. Seamer observed that the wider adventure in church union launched in Canada in 1925, after some 21 years’ preparation, and linking up the Congregational, Presbyterian and Methodist Communions, had led to a spiritual forward movement in that' Dominion. Reliable reports gave very , cheering , data showing the great benefits already derived. Having, touched upon the failure of tentative overtures, initiated by the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand 30 years ago, towards union with the Methodist and Congregational Churches, Mr. Seamer said the attitude of the Methodist Church to the question had' been consistent, though sometimes misunderstood. They had ever been ready to co-operate in appointing a committee, should the' other..two churches desire it,, to seek a possible basis of union. They would only need to be assured that the members of the uniting -churches should be able to' carry forward in the united church those important aspects of truth, policy and culture, for the propagation and development of which each partner in the.-union believed its' church to have been divinely - raised. -Those three churches had so much in; common, and were at heart so sincerely one in faith and purpose, that when God gave their rank and file, as well as their leaders, grace to see and acknowledge the; facts—facts already so clearly appreciated by their youth leaders—they would respond to the prompting of mutual respect and affection, and, recognising their common attachment to the same ideals, would seek and find a basis of union on the lines made plain by the facts. But until that stage was reached it was the clear duty of all the. members .within those churches to- devote themselves enthusiastically to sustaining and developing the life and work of their own church, so that when 1 corporate union did eventuate they would be able to bring into the united church such a full,’ buoyant, and definite contribution of thought and life, that they would see within the united church the’ 'continuance of their best traditions.

As to the question of the wider union, the ardent advocacy by certain church leaders of a corporate union of all the churches, based on the figure of the church as the Body of Christ, and upon our Lord’s prayer for unity, and insisting upon, organic union as an absolute duty, opened up a wide and altogether different question, and the whole of the facts should be faced before making pronouncements upon the desirability or otherwise of such a union. While rejoicing that the spirit of union was in the air, it would not .help to talk loosely about the duty of the churches to unite in. order that their unified institutions might form the united Body of Christ A conception which confused the Body ,of Christ with the. institutional church, and the unity He prayed for with the corporate union of church organisations, would never appeal to Protestant thought, and would only mislead Lthe outside world. The church which was the Body of Christ was a living organism transcending all ecclesiastical organisations, however wisely planned: it was the fellowship of all who acknowledged Christ as Head. "No cause can ever be truly served ' by failure to face the facts,” continued the speaker. “We are still Protestants, although we claim to be more Catholic in spirit : and doctrine than some We believe that Christ, not the Church,, is the .Vine,- that all believers are branches, and should draw their-- life direct from the Vine. We should not permit ourselves to -give the impression to the thinker in the .public; place .that we could give serious thought to the question of union to-day with churches •that still treasure as fundamentals,, in their creeds, rituals, aryl .customs, those elements that brought about the Reformation. However regrettable the fact may be, it is absurd to deny that .grave differences of interpretation still exist, and are held tenaciously, concerning such fundamental principles as the very nature of the Church and her sacraments, the basis and extent of her authority, the status and function of the clergy, and concerning the lead the church should give on what to us are great moral issues.” It was open to serious question, the President observed, whether. Christianity would necessarily benefit by the welding of all the different communions into one great organisation under one man, or a committee of men, who would probably claim to be the Regents of Christ: history seemed to teach the very opposite, incidentally demonstrating that so-called schismatics and heretics had often been among the most loyal to the real Body of Christ, and the finest workers in: His cause. ’■ ‘ • Finally, said Mr. Seamer, Methodism welcomed to her communion, and to the Table of the Lord, all who loved the Lord, irrespective of opinions, and it entertained the fullest sympathy with proposals even for organic union with any church where external cleavages did not represent principles that offered an impenetrable barrier to union, and where union could be shown to be in the interests of true unity and service. In such a union, established on a worthy basis, with the necessary safeguards of vital principles, there would be strength. CHURCH AND THE AGE. RAILWAY DEPARTMENT CRITICISED. “It is passing strange that it is only on Sunday that one can get a cheap ride on a railway train,” said the Rev. A. J. Seamer, President of the New Zealand Methodist Church, when criticising the policy of the Railway- Department in the matter of Sunday excursion traffic, during his inaugural address last evening at the opening of the Church’s annual conference in Auckland. The right use of Sunday, remarked Mr. Seamer, had much to do with characterbuilding, and grave loss would result to themselves arid to posterity if it were misused. While conceding the right of all to decide they should observe the day, provided they did not spoil it for others, the church did not thereby imply that everything that people did on that day was right. “Probably one of the most unsatisfactory developments of late years in our Dominion use of Sunday,” the speaker continued, “is the flagrant way in which our Government Railways, of which after all the Christian public are part owners, have used public money in the placarding of towns, and other widespread publicity efforts, to advertise Sunday galas and excursions. This criticism is not directed against legitimate Sunday traffic where the need and demand really exist, but it is opposed to the deliberate adoption of up-to-date advertising methods in order to create the demand.” The Railway Department’s policy was undermining that spirit of self-discipline that was essential to character formation, by popularising the taking of the easier way in conduct, and its action constituted a grave disservice to the young people and to the moral forces of the commun-

ity. It was the church’s duty, while avoiding bigotry and compulsion, to conserve the heritage of the Lord’s Day, and prevent the commercialising of that day of leisure which, but for religion, would not have become available to the people. What he described as “the gambling habits of the community” also received attention in the President’s address. These were designated as a perversion of the spirit of adventure and sport. Gambling was something quite distinct from that noble willingness to take a risk, come victory or come defeat, which was so universally admired. True risk must have a worthy, objective, and success involving loss and failure to others was too dearly bought. Nor could it be pleaded in extenuation that all life is a gamble, for real life is anything but a gamble; and the principles controlling

insurance and friendly society operations were the very reverse of those operating in totalisator and art union gambling. In the latter instances the principle adopted was the seeking of profit without service, and purely through the loss of others. Unfortunately in days of economic stress the gambling method made a strong appeal to people to seek an easy, though demoralising way but of their difficulties. But that method, it could not be too strongly affirmed, was anti-social and anti-Christian, and Christian people could not be associated with it without denying the essential principles of true social and spiritual well-being.

Commending the work of the New Zealand Alliance for the Abolition of the Liquor Traffic, Mr. Seamer referred to the beneficial effects of that work

among the Maori people in particular, and said Christian ethics demanded the promotion of sane legislation to counter ‘such arch destroyers of national character as Sabbath vulgarisation, gambling and the liquor traffic.

The Bible-in-Schools’ League propaganda was approvingly mentioned by the President, who said that at a time when the future of this young nation was at stake, because religion, the first foundation principle of education, was ignored in the curriculum of their. State schools, they had nevertheless the amazing and absurd spectacle of one great church unwilling to co-operate in the attempt to place in the schools a prepared reading comprising Scripture extracts. For it was only in the Scriptures that the true basis of ethical and spiritual character was to be found. The exclusion of the Bible

from the school meant the banning of the greatest literature in the world, and the ignoring of its greatest character in an education system professedly encouraging the study of great literature and great men. It must be emphasised that the alternative to the balancing and improvement of the curriculum proposed by the League was, without doubt, the advent in the future of State-supported denominational primary schools. Concluding with an appeal for the church’s support of the literature department’s endeavours to circulate sound and wholesome literature in the Dominion, the speaker urged that members of the Conference proceed to their high tasks with sure confidence in God and in the righteousness and far-reaching issues of their cause.