CHURCH UNION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 238, 2 July 1919, Page 2

CHURCH UNION

AN IMPORTANT QUESTION COMMENDED BY BISHOP, SPROTT The reunion of Christeudom was a question dealt with by bishop Sprott in liis presidential address to the Wellington Diocejan Synod yesterday. Tho General Synod, ho said, passed a resolution requesting tho bisho-ps'to take such steps us- might be necessary to lwvo tlio New Zealand Church represented at the great World Conference on Faith and Order, which is to be held in America, in 1921. It was thought that it would bo a great pity that hew Zealand should bo the only country in tho world not represented at that conference. "It. is, indeed, to my niiiid tho most' ini]it>rtant question tho Church' has •to consider to-day," said Br. Sprott. "In my judgment nothing less than the saving of civilisation depends upon the answer. We have had such evidence, as never before, of the appalling evil of a divided and distracted humanity. Wo havo but just emerged, if indeed we have emorged, from an almost world-wide war, involving 900,0C0,001T of tho human race, with its tremendous sacrifices of tho world's best life, and with attendant moral evils that arc unspeakable. We know,' too, that almost every nation is torn and rent with internal strife, and that more than one are on the verge of revolution.

A League of Churches. "To heal the international strife, and to render future wars impossible, statesmen havo dovised a League of Nations. But it must be remembered that in and jay. itself suoh a league, even if it bo ultimately established, does not render war impossible. Nay, it .may itself be compelled to wage war. For 'the ultimate sanction of a Lenguo of Nations against a recalcitrant number or outsider must still be force, whether applied by economic boycott or by war.' ' Such war, at best, would only differ from many past wars in that, given the honesty and sincerity of tho league, and that would' depend upon tho honesty and -sincerity of tho nations composing it, and of" the individual eitizons thereof, it would he force controlled by impartial justice, so far as that is possiblo &mong fallible men. I havo little hope of such a league being effectively maintained, and still less hope of the abolition of war, unless underneath the League of Nations, sustaining and animating it, there is a!so a world-wide League of Churches—of Churches not merely professing Christ, but animated by His Spirit, in full and practical sympathy with tho cause for which He lived and died, the cause of tho Kingdom of God. 'The source of all our international and social woe Sb that the dominating' motive in human lifo has been held to 'be tho will to pojyer, the will to rivalry, the will tc competition. Wo have come to think, many of us, that scientifically and practically there can be no other motive. ■ Our Master, Christ, stood and stands, for, the will to fellowship and co-operation in service, as all-controlling and all-determining. Manifestly, only as. such, a will .prevails can be human race bo brought to a unity. To crcato and foster that will is •the task. He committed to His Church.: Obviously such a task ennmt. b" executed by a Church that is itself divided. The Local Movoment. "As you may be aware, there is a movement on foot' hero in New Zealand for reunion between certain of the Churches —the Presbyterian, the Wesleyan, and the Congregational. It may lie.thought a matter .of regret that (lie leaders in this movement have not sought our cooperation. But they were probably right in confining themselves for the present to the narrower programme. It is' not likely that in so important a matter we' should be prepared to act apart from the larger communion of which we form a tiny fragment; especially fs this very question of rounion is being discussed between representative - -men of our Mother Church and of'tho ' Churches ruined, in tho United Kingdom; discussed, too, I cannot-but think, : with a larger and more sympathetic appreciation-of each other's position—both theirs- and ours—than is apparent here; especially, also, as this question of reunion will doubtless be the chief subject of consideration at the Lambeth .Conference to be held next year, and will be discussed on a world-scale at the great, conference in America in the following year. I think it likely .that we here in New Zealand would prefer to await the issue of I such- discussions before taking any steps ourselves. 'Nevertheless we can have no i other feeling towards the local movement I save that of sympathy and good will. But II most earnestly commend this question of reunion to your thoughts and prayers. [ It is, I am convinced, rho Church's supreme task, and tile one hope of the world. All Christian people need very earnestly and honestly to ask themselves whether what bo now deemed barriers in the way of reunion are 'iideed principles of such vital importance that for their maintenance unity must be for ever sacrificed."