RE-UNION OF CHURCHES.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 May 1920, Page 9

RE-UNION OF CHURCHES.

ROME AS PARTNER. ANGLICAN VICAR ON LATIN 1 CHURCH INCLUSION. E C There was a full congregation at St. Mary's Cathedral, Auckland, when the vicar, Rev. Percival James, delivered a sermon upon the reunion of the churches, - dealing with the Anglican position in re- ; gard to the Church of Rome. j Beginning with a piea for a charitable ( tone in the discussion of religious differ- 1 dices witli those who were neighbors and fellow-citizens, Mr. James reminded his hearers that it was from the See of Rome that the first beginnings of British Christianity were drawn. "No reunion of the ] Church of England with other bodies can be regarded as complete unless it includes » reunion with the Holy Roman Church," lie continued, "and all etl'orts at reunion 1 which wor'.d prejudice this result must call for our uncompromising opposition." 1 The Church of England and the Church of Rome had all the greatest and most ' important things in common, and all their ■ differences were subsidiary to one main point—the claim of the Roman See to , supremacy over the whole Catholic Church of Christ. Every person who rebelled against or was not in visible communion with Rome was thus declared to be outride the Church of Christ. Mr. Jatnes outlined the historical arguments against the Roman See's claims to supremacy, and quoted Hobbes' description of the Church of Rome as "the ghost of the Roman Empire sitting crowned on the grave thereof." The claim, he said, was never acknowledged by the Church of England, which had resisted it again and again through the centuries. At the Reformation the Church of England did not break away from the rest of Western " Christendom, but simpy declared: "The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this realm 'of England." The Roman Church alone provided a basis for the Teunion of Western Christertdom. She had upheld for centuries the ideal of a world-church, but her imperialistic ideal had had its day. If there was to be a world-church, it must be a federation of free national churches, united in faith, sacraments, and ministry, but preserving their local characteristics in non-essentials. He quoted the encyclical letter issued by the Bishop of the Church of England at the last Lambeth Conference, declaring that no reunion could be other than imperfect and unsatisfactory, which did not include the great Latin Church of the West. "We believe," he continued, "that the unity of Christendom is more than the acceptance of one vicar—something grander and more imposing than the fabric of the Roman Churoh. While it would be idle to deny its power for good, we be- ' lieve that the future of Christianity does not lie in the Church of Rome as it now is. By charity, and charity only, can we hope to overcome the divisions of the faith, and repair the rents in the seamless robe of Christ."