The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1914. KIKUYU.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1987, 18 February 1914, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1914. KIKUYU.

Certain dpings at a place called Kikuyu have received a great deal of attention in our cable eolutnnii lately, and recent English mails show that Kikuyu has been responsible for from two to four columns of correspondence daily in the London 2'imes, in addition to several leading articles, while the other newspapers are also giving a large amount of spaes to news, letters, and _ comments oh the same subject. Ivikuyu has become famous at a bound, for history appears to have been inade there; and just as Tarsus has become immortalised as the birthplace of St. Paul, and as Nicaea owes its fame toJhe fact that it has given its name to the Niccnc Creed, so Kikuyu may go down to posterity as the- scene of a new departure in ecclesiastical history. It is doubtful if. a sqore of people in New Zealand ever heard of this little town in East Africa until the news of what happened at a missionary conference held theresuddenly burst upon an astonished world. Even now some people seem to have a very dim idea of what all the trouble is about; but the whole story can be told in a very few words. It appears that in June last a number of missionaries held a meeting to consider the possibility of. closer co-operation and also to discuss thn ides of forming a. United Native Church of Uganda. The present unhappy divisions of Christendom have always been a hindrance to mission work, and the feeling has been increasing in strength in Africa that in view of the growing activity of the Mohammedans it is extremely desirable that the Christian missionaries should show a more united front. The Conference proved a most cordial and' successful.gathering, and was brought to a close with a CommuniOn service held in the Presbyterian Church, at tfhieh the Bishop of Mombasa (Es, Peel) officiated, and missionaries representing a

I number of different religious denominations, including the"' Bishop of Uganda (Dβ. Willis), took part. -This Communion service at Kikuyu : has_ given great offence to an intluniituil section of the Anglican Chtirch, A protest was mack by the ; Bishop of . Zanzibar (Dn. Westok), I who brought a charge of heresy j against tho Bishops of Mombasa aiu! Uganda, and appealed to the Archbishop and Bishops of the Province of Canterbury to try the ease and to give' a definite declaration as to the attitude of the Church of England as regards the questions raised by the doings of ■ the two Bishops at Kikuyu. The scene of action was thus removed to England, and the floodgates of controversy wore at once- opened; but the discussion has been maintained at a high standard. Many of the writers differ strongly and say so plainly, yet they do "so with commendable courtesy and without attributing unworthy motives to each other. The points at issue have been argued by such eminent authorities as the Bishop of Oxford (Dr.. Goftfi), the Bishop'of .Durham (Dn. Motoe), Dean Wace, Bishop Welidon, Loeb Halifax, Dβ. Hbablam, and others, including Dean Hejjson, whose controversial blade has lost none of its keenness. Professor Sandav plays his customary role as mediator betweon the two parties, seeing good on both sides, and desirous of preserving the comprehensiveness of the Church. One notable absentee is the Dean of St Paui;s (Dit. Inoe), who has a, distinctive and decidedly unconventjal way of looking at things which always commands attention, ' The main Questions discussed am the' action of the Bishop of Mombasa in .administering the Sacrament to persons who had not received the rite of Confirmation, the relations of the Anglican ministry to the ministries of other Churches, and the general problem of Church Union at Home and abroad. The matter has ken placed in the hands of tho Archbishop of Canterbury (Dn. Pavipsoj-O, and he has decliHcd to Pjit tho Bishops of Mombasa, and Uganda on trial for heresy, but has decided to submit the points raised by the Bishop of Zanzibar for the judgment of the Consulta-. tive Committee appointed by the Lambeth Conference of 1908, At tho beginning of the controversy there was a good deal of rather excited talk about the possibility of a great schism .in the Anglican Church; but such an oc-cui-renee is not- at- all likely. One of the most serious aspects of Iho discussion is indicated in thft remark by the Bishop of Oxford that "to the great mass of High Churchmen the open Communion at Kikuyu seems to involve principles so totally subversive of Catholie order and doctrine as to be strictly intolerable, in the sense that th.ey ooul3 not continue in a fellowship which required of them to tolerate the recurrence of-such incidents."' Tho •Kikuj'-u Conference* may possibly result in individuals here and there seceding from the Anglican Communion, but the peculiar structure of that Church makca it almost impossible forit to split in two. There is no definite line of demarcation, because the different parties ahd schools of thought overlap asd run * into one another in a great variety of ways. The so-called Protestant and Catholic currents are combined in the great'! central' section whicn shades off gradually and almost; imperceptibly .into the two extremes.Tho spirit *"of '.comprehension.-is so strong that it gives the fullest, fjlay to freedom of thought and action, and any resort to the pressure of Authority is hampered by the fact that much of the law of the Church is obsolete and no ono- could obey it tp the letter, even if he tried, In a striking speech at the New Zealand General Synod some years ago Dean Fitchett, of Dunedin, remarked that this uncertainty of the ecclesiastical law many real advantages. It was a safeguard of liberty, for if the Church were provided with a brand new set of rules and regulations and all wore kept thoroughly up-to-date they would have to be rigidly obeyed, whereas under existing circumstances strict obedience was ( out of the question and opportunity was thereby provided, within revy wide limits, for every school of thought to express itself in its own way. A similar ido.a is exprcsscid by Phofessoe Scott Holland, who, in answer to the Bishop of Zanzibar's demand that someone should define how the Church of England stands regarding the Kiknyu incident, humorously remarks that it "never stands, It moves and pushes and slides and staggers and falls and gets up again and stusiblns on and presses forward and falls over into tho right direction after all. That is her way of going along. That is her tradition. An this sounds very illogical, but it seems to work out in the long run, and the Conference at Kikuyu is not likely to alter matters very much. One of the greatest ecclesiastical statesmen of modern times is' at the helm in the person of the Arch bishop of Canterbury. He has never been known to lose either his head or his temper, and he may be confidently relied upon to steer the Church safely through the present sLorhi.