letters to the editor

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2489, 16 June 1915, Page 5

letters to the editor

nonconformists and conform ISTS.

re.niJ; t II ■ , "Cantankerous" lipnm r ? . "Nonconformist" bnrlif ap P of • various separatist Man! ot , cll " stl ans in Now Zealand. Jianj sects also object to being called fl«im en . ter !'i ?°' ,v aro churchmen to desgnato them? I ask this question • n no cavilling spirit, but rather befolwVl 0 -'\ 0t wls h,to give offence to mil ti i lani s" are we to can those who have separated themse ves from the unity of the Church «hich began its existence in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost? ni,;« bo . dies repudiate the claims of the Historic Episcopate—that backbone of Churcl. unity. Manv of iiom ignore the sacraments of 'the Uiurch—those effectual means of graco, m} s , spiritual sustennuco elsewhere. J-liey have organised themselves into ST'!! ® Cll have frankly abandoned the ideal of visible unitv—that ! m, g. Prayed for by our Blessed Lord »U'bE'HASf tly , ™ 1 " Polycliurchism is, I believe, absolutely 'inscriptural. The idea- tliat anv 'halfdozen men can found another Christian Uiurch is contrary to the teaching of the Ne W Testament, which condemned •??. t "? se were forming cliques within the Church; ono said "I am of j ' T another "I am of Apollos; iriT Cephas; and lof Christ." "hat reason, what shadow of reason have we for thinking tliat there can be three hundred Christian Churches when Christ founded only one. The New testament insists on "One Body" no i t!)? n 'IP 110 and "One Faith" n°i nnc ' father of all." That One Body ' is represented in New Zealand by "THE Church of the Province ot iNew Zealand," commonly called "Tho Church of England." In my opinion, those who conform to "THE Churcli" are ' Conformists" and those who do '/tv con f° rni arp "Nonconformists" and 'Dissenters."—l am, etc., CONFORMIST.