CHRISTIAN UNITY

Hokitika Guardian, 26 February 1931, Page 2

CHRISTIAN UNITY

CHURCH’S OPPORTUNITY THE NEW LIBERTY. DUNEDIN, February 20. “If there is one. thing that condemns the Church of the past it has been her failure-to keep Christ’s central law of love. Never can the Gospel of Ivoe make its full appeal to the world until it is convincingly and conclusively manifest ed in the household of faith, within.” In these terms reference to the subject of church union was made by Rev E D. Patchett the newly-elected president of the New Zealand Mthodist Church, in the course of his inaugural address last night at the opening of the Church’s annual conference in Dunedin. ‘. All barriers, and they were but flimsy barriers to-day, contihiied the speaker, were ready to break down before the touch of the finger of love. Surely the world needed as never before the witness of a united church. His own belief was that if the church of this land would take their own cherished traditions and church loyalties, and lay them at the .feet of Christ in a spirit of sacrificial love, in. order that they might rise up as, one, the effect of, their witness,would be immeasurably increased, and the church would shine with renewed splendour. THE NEW LIBERTY “We live to-day in a world,” said the president, “which confessedly has not mean that the- world is to be little love for the church. That does not mean that the world is to be roundly condemned, nor the church unduly pitied. Men to-day have fallen early in love with the wonderiul new life and liberty which are theirs •Hence their neglect of fhe church. But the church knows that the day is coming., Man’s nature is such' that 1 it is bound to come.” ■ > It was true, Mr Patchett continued, that a preoccupied world was to-day captivated by the glamour of its ownachievement and ambitions. It hurried past the church’s door not with execration, but merely forgetful of the church’s message, •not because it believed there was no God to worship, no divine law. to keep, but .because :it. was carried forward oh the . flood tide of a new and captivating experience. Within the lifetimeof the present generation the world had > accelerated to such a degree that it seemed to have been projected centuries into the future What wonder that many had been carried off their feet? But while the outward conditions of life had greatly changed, the heart of man was still the same, and because the church of God taught long, long thoughts, it could afford to look with a certain calmness and courage upon the present tendency. / - : • . . CHURCH’S CHIEF PERIL. There was, however, a subtle danger to the church in an indifferent age—that of accepting herself at the world’s valuation of being intimidated by the indifferences of men. Seeing tpe world flowing pns.t her doors in ever-increas-ing flood she was apt to trail her faith as a broken tying. Yet the chief peril of the church had never been the presence or absence of the multitude; her chief peril had been that her own light should grow dim and Her spiritual fervour abate. Lot her hold.on her high way of unselfish service to God and man, and great would be her reward. The more her message was scorned the more necessary it became; the more difficult her day, the greater the call for her devotion. Mr Patchett urged that they should believe in the future of their church as earnestly and hopefully as they believed in God, for the temple they built could never be destroyed except Sam-son-like, they pulled it about their own ears. Reminding themselves continually of the) divjne origin of the church and her divinely ordained purpose of bringing in the reign of God on earth, they shuld not be too disturbed by the 'prevalent criticism that the church had had its day, that institutional religion was dying—a false prophecy. The onlv possible ground for a paralysing pessimism concerning the future of the church was the unthinkable fear that Christ had changed His purpose concerning her, or withdrawn His presence from her. Their thought of the church should not he governed by the uncharitable prophecies of the world, but by the word of Jesus, Who had promised that the gates of Hell Juhoukl not prevail against it. WAR’S HARVEST. The Methodist witness was of great value in an age of spiritual declension. It supported tiie view that the heart of man underneath its own modern veneer, is incurably religious, that human life is marvellously redeemable. In assessing the church’s problems to-day, had they reckoned with the Groat War and made allowance for the historical verdict that the harvest of a great war was always a bitter harvest? As the church shared in the crime of war so she must surely share in its curse. It was no exaggeration to say that they lived in an age when nearly every mortal and spiritual ideal had been tained by the foul breath of war. That was part of the price they were called upon to pay for the world’s madness. But the price would he paid and an unencumbered future emerge for the dy-

ing of nature* to live was a parable of the church. As a living organism the church, of course, must adapt herself to new conditions, proving not only that she has an unchanging foundation, but an expanding life. Then would come the fulfilment of the whole law of social brotherhood and love, the final outlawry of evils such as war and the licensed liaour traffic, the high enthonement of justice and righteousness for all. Mr Patchett urged that as a necessary condition of the application of the Gospel to the needs of the new age they must give more attention to an educated evangelism, and to the spiritual nurture of the young, who presented such splendid material to work upon. In this connection, believing in the inalienable right of every in the lanH' to grow up with a knowledge of God and "His word their church ardently supported the work of the Bible-in-Schools League. They rejoiced in the concordat with the Roman Catholic Church, believing that this amicable understanding had brought the promised land in sight.