THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1904. FEELING AFTER UNITY

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 46, 17 November 1904, Page 17

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1904. FEELING AFTER UNITY

WRNt HK reports of the Presbyterian General AsteJlly' scmhl 7 proceedings in Wellington suggest j^j'l 4r that th ° Ugh the lon S in S some sort of J^A£OJ unity amongst Protestants is growing in t^sC-8£ depth and earnestness the brethren are still $j£>fr m a State ° f almost ins « Iu ble perplexity en \ 'Sr * the matter. They feel that things are far trom right with them in this reslpect, but they have apparently no clear idea as to what true unity really is, and they have still less notion of how to obtain it. Oi course they are all agreed— with Ine most absolute unanimity— that the unity which the Catholic Church enjoys is not the unity they want. ' me sort of unity on which, the Church of Rome insisted,' said the ex-Moderator, ' and in which she prided herselt was more external uniformity than real inner spmtual unity. Was such outward uniformity t© be greatly desired ? He thought not— indeed, it could not be attained without destroying all freedom of thought and of conscience.' And to the same effect the Rev. Kennedy hliiott : 'He did not agree with, the craze for uniformity. God never intended it, and it acted most perniciously.' And yet the cry for a unity which they felt they had not got would persist in breaking out. ' But even with all the differences amongst Christians to-day,' said the ex-Moderator, ' there should be mutual recognition and forbearance, making for essential unity. There might and ought to be unity of spirit while there ■was diversity of outward organisation and method.'

It is difficult/ to see how anyone who wished to be thoroughly vpandid and honest couldjlpjo'ssibly, persuade himself that Catholic unity consisted in mere external uniformity. There is, of course, a general uniformity i n outward worship, but there is no institution under the sun in which there is exuberant variety of external methods of work as in the Catholic Church, and there is no phase of beneficent activity and no type of human temperament that is not provided for in her almost countless Uiders of priests and nuns and her manifold confraternities for the laity. Catholic unity consists, not) in external uniformity, but in unity of belief, unity of government, and unity of spiritual life, being regenerated, strengthened, and renewed by the same Sacraments, and nourished and fed by the same living Bread that comes down from Heaven. 13ut leaving quite out of sight the reality or otherwise of Catholic unity, and looking at the matter entirely from the Presbyterian stand-point, we ? might point out to our perplexed friends that there are two simple questions, and only two, which they need to ask themselves m order to get clear, conclusive, and definite ideas on this question. First, let them asir, fairly and squarely, what sort of ' unity 'is it which, as Protestants, they at present possess. We have no wish to score a mere academic point or to throw at their heads the deadly statistics of Whittakcr, or Hazell, or. JMulhall, to show the havoc which the demon of dissension and schism ,has made amongst them. We only as<k them to look at actual concrete facts staring them in the face to-day. Even

within the limited range of tiheir own ranks Presbyterians are so far from having unity that tiieir Church is at the present moment in the very throes of a disruption, lighting for the very churches, manses, and money necessary to carry on, the whole trouble arising from irreconcilable difterences on doctrinal points. I n their relation to the other sects the same atate of things obtains. So little approach is there 1o a sentiment of unity, that the Assembly has found it utterly impossible to even frame a basis for a working arrangement amongst the sects w hereby they 4 may be prevented from overlapping in the sparsely-populated country districts. And that a similar state of dissension and division prevails in the Anglican body has long been notorious. The London correspondent of the ' Otago Daily Times,' anting in Monday's issue regarding the great Church Congress recently held at Liverpool, says : ' The geneial result must be rather perplexing if not disquieting to the average layman, who finds his authoritative teachcis not only utterly at loggerheads among one another j s to what they s\hall teach him, but also entirely at sea among themselves as to interpretations and traditions and inspirations. This is, to say the least, unfortunate, but a careful study of the proceedings at the Church Congress will show that ,my estimate is not an unfair or exaggerated one.' It is not too much to say that this correspondent's account of this particular Congress is an absolutely correct epitome of the condition of things prevailing in the whoie Protestant world today.

Next let our Presbyterian friends ask themselves what is the type of unity laid down by Christ Himself as being requisite to any society claiming to be 11 is Church. That is the supreme test and to that question there can be but one xeply. It is the unity of ' One Fold and one Shepherd.' It is the unity which stands in strong antithesis to ' The house divided against itself.' Above all, it is the unity "whkh our Ble^ed Saviour, in the pathetic prayer recorded in the >se\enteenth chapter of the Gospel of St. John, so earnestly besought| His Heavenly Father to grant to lUs followers and to all who should aftei wards believe in Him :

And not for them only 'do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall behe\e in Me . That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in Ale. and 1 in Thee : that they also may be one m u& That t.he world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.

This clearly implies that the unity is auch that the world can easily discern, and a vague inwsible unity— a unity that the world cannot see— obviously fails to fulfil the requirement. This is unity as defined by Christ Himself and it is to be found, and is only t 0 bo found, in the One True Fold of the Redeemer.