CHURCH ENTENTE

Waikato Times, Volume 92, Issue 14261, 12 January 1920, Page 6

CHURCH ENTENTE

ANGLICANS AND WESLEYANS. Details of the suggested re-union scheme of the Church of England and th© Wesleyans were recently given by the Bishop of London in an address to the members of the Old St. Paul Lecture Society. It was provided by the scheme that after January 1, 1921, there should be :no ordinations in either Church which were not considered valid by the other. There would be a Bishop with the Presbyters at the laying on ot hands, and at the end of 40 years there would be no Wesleyan minis or who would not hare been-ordained:, by a Bishop of th e Church of England. In order to get Wesleyan ministers epincopally ordained at once, 12 Presbytens would be consecrated bishops. Unordained Wesleyan ministers ought to bo regarded by the Church as prophets, and they should be allowed to preach in the pulpits of the Church of Engla«d..

JlfShy Wesleyans were keen for the restoration of confirmation in the reunited Church, but the Episcopal Church ought to be prepared to admit to their altars members of the Wesleyan Church, even if they did not see their way to be confirmed. It was certain that other Churches would want to join them, and he believed the time would come' when they would be in close association, not only with the Churches of Greece and of Russia, but with the Church of Rome. When interviewed, Dr. J. Scott Lidgett said the scheme alluded to by the Bishop wa» a suggestion made as the result of an informal meeting of members of the Church of England and certain Wesleyan Methodists. It had not gon* beyond that stage, and had not been submitted to any responsible body either of the Established Church or of the Wesleyan Methodist Church-