CONGREGATIONALISM.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1202, 10 August 1911, Page 6

CONGREGATIONALISM.

DISTRICT REUNION. INTERESTING DISCUSSIONS. Tho first-Conference of the Wellington District Congregational Union was held yesterday in the Courtenay Place Church. Tho Rev. W. A. Evans (Wellington) presided. The delegates were as follow:—The Rev. D. Hiril, M.A., Mr. Whitehead, and .Mrs. Cullcn (I'alnierston North); the Eov. A. Hodgo, Sir. Redman, Sirs. Redman, and Mrs. Joy (Masterton); tho. Eev. A. M'Naughton and Mr. J. T. Thompson (Napier); tho Kev. If. Bowden Harris (Alicetowu); tho Revs. A. Mac Donald Aspland and J. Eeed Glasson (Wellington). Tho Eev. B. L. Thomas (Nelson)' was also present, and a number of members of tho Church.

THE CHAIRMAN'S WELCOME. The chairman welcomed the delegates, and said he hoped they would find a result of the meetings would be that they would be able to attack their daily difH- ';• iries with greater courage. The union was meeting not-as an academio body to i.isensH the. intellectual aspect of the Church, but as disciples of Jesus Christ to consider Christian work. They were pnrt>of the body of Jesus Christ, and as such were in direct and immediate relation with Him, and their concern was to make that relationship the all in all of their personality. They meant, by personality, that centre which gave to their being-a true unity. Personality they wanted more than thoughts arid impulses. Activity was also an essential, element in their personality. . They should realise that life was a great opportunity,' and that personality was the vehicle of truth. Tho Rev. A. Macdonald Aspland said he felt that the chairman had struck tho right, note, and had given a .truo ring to the conference. The Rev. B. L. Thomas deprecated the differentiation that was sometimes made between the men in the pulpit and .Hie man in the pew. This was not unsenptural. All w-ero laymen, and all should work for Christ. Mr. A. Costell was of opinion that there was much learning from the pulpit to-day about Christ, but this was not Christianity. It was one thing to know air about Christ, but it was another thing to know Him personally. . ' :

THE NEW TESTAMENT IDEA OF "'..;.' _-. THE CHURCtI.r>,, A thoughtful and interesting; paper was read by the Rev. D. Hird, M.A. (Palmerston North), on the subject, Hie. New Testament Idea iof the Church and How to Realise It." Ho said that the. ■ formation of the tarly Christians into communities was determined by : two main factors—the. nature of the common life and the' nature of the conditions amid f which it found itself. What had come !:to be spoken .of: as. public ..'worship was essentially- the social worship .in those days. Meetings wore held in each other s houses. To'carry on tho work of Christianitv, a certain organisation was inevitable, and if could bo'regarded ns practically inevitable that such organisation would be-along.tho lines of. tho conditions and institutions of the time, nad the Church, as a form of organisation, been iis vitally identified'with the Christian faith and life as it was sometimes said it was,, then the silence and. inaction _ of Christ were nothing less than astonishing. Tiie truth was .ih.it He. had too ample evidence befoM His very eyes of tho dangers of forms and institutions. He saw enough of mere .officialdom and traditional authority in priest, and , scribe. To'Kim the'life was always more than meat, and the bod'.- than • raiment. We did not find Ck.'i.-rt speaking of the Christian community ns a Church in the Inter ecclesiastical sense, with its graded officers' and its official nuthority, but as 'u fellowship of'faith and brotherhood. It was simply incredible that Christians could have set such store by Church and priest and rite and Sacrament as soinu people asserted ond claimed. That, of course, was not. a conclusive, argument, because to many of our fellow Christians it was altogether credible that Christians should do this. But there was ,no evidence in the New Testament to support the statement. Thera was eviderico that the form of subsequent, organisation was an ■ altogether subordinate thing in Christ's judgment. The organisation of the Church as set out in the New Testament was of the-simplest description; teachers and deacons' were its only officers. The very creation of deacons came about in a very unexpected and unpremeditated way. The Apostles found themselves with too muclfto do to bo ablo to attend to such matters as the care of the poor and needy; and the institution of deacons may rightly bo taken as typical of how the. organisation of tho Cliurch was to develop^—according to the varying needs und conditions of the times. There was no virtue in- the Church simply as a Church; its virtue was in the ,lifo it derived from its Lord. The Church had nd supernatural endowment that enabled it simply as an institution to confer blessings upon men. Not doctrine alone, not forms of government, not intellectual or external unity, but the spirit of Christ: that was tho life of tho Church and the bond of communion of its unity. In a sense, proceeded the sneaker, the Christian divisions have been the Christian salvations. With all the present differences of organisation there may bo more real unity and community of spiritual life than in ono uniform -oigamsatiori. The differences between tho modernised and the orthodox Catholic were as great as tho differences between any of those denominations, the existence of which the Roman Church deplored as so -great an evil. A great part of the charm of the Church of Rome for her- followers was that she stood for one indivisible Church. But such a Church'was evidently by no means a .guarantee of unity of spirit. 'In the ideas of a united Church they, must not mistake uniformity for unity, and beware of imagining that the only kind of likeness was sameness. At the same time no one would deny that a great access of efficiency might come as the result, of the co-ordination of the Churches' various institutions and organisations. The New Testament idea of the Church of Christ was one really composed of all: —no.matter what the forms in .which they might organise themselves—who shared His life and did His will. The ulea of tho Cliurch as presented by the, New, Testament was too great, too rich, too manifold to be exhausted iirnny one form. It was the "household of faith," and in this a common relationship between all the members of the household was suggested. The same thought was implied in the-term "the Body of Christ," the diffprent denominations being the diiferent. members. The speaker then went on to.dwell upon the necessity for recognising that we were not called primarily to a Church of the Apostolic pattern, but to a Cliurch of the Apostolic spirit. The claim to find the true Church in any one".particular organisation was more and more, being regarded as an absurdity. It was curious how'we admitted that Christ formally instituted no Church, and yet allowed ourselves' to become worshippers of the fetish of form.. Tet each Church was able to make out' at least a prima' facie case in its own snbporf. No one in his senses, concluded Mr. Hird, would dream of claiming Clirist for any denomination, as t!\bn«rh it had a kind of vested interest in Him.

EVENING MEETING.. The conference was continued "in the evening in the Terrace Congregational Church. The Hon. G. Fowlds,'who was to preside, was unahle to lis present, and his placo was filled by tho Rev, J. R. Glasson. A paper on "The Obligation of Personal Service in Christian Work" was read,by the Rev. R. M'Naughton, of Napier, and this was followed by another paper by the Rev. A. Hodge (Mnsterton) on "The Conservation of the Service." In-his remarks Mr. Hodge said it was an undoubted fact that Sunday desecration was growing, and the only way to combat the lendenev was to evangelise. 'At the conclusion of the address the folIcwing resolution was unanimously carried: "That this Wellington District Congregational Union in annual meeting av ambled declares itself against Sunday desperation, and that it take into consideration tho advisability of setting up ,1 committee to work in co-operation with other committees that are in existence for the conservation of the Sabbath." Tho conference will be continued to-day at 10 a.m. at tho Courtcnny Place Schoolroom.