THE TEACHING OF THE MISSION.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2098, 17 December 1885, Page 2

THE TEACHING OF THE MISSION.

TO THK FDITOH. Sin,— Last Saturday, when I expressed the lio))e that Mime ablei man than myself would iojjlv to the Rev. G. E. Mason's very mode-t letter, I had no hope that so able a man would no soon reply as Archdeacon Matmsell, w 1)" deserv c the thiuikH of us all, Churchmen and Dissenter* (•><> oiled) alike, foi the manly, cmnteou^, out spoken letter in the "Heiald" of to day. May I ask the fawmr of youi publi-,lnng it in to tn»rn>w's u<Mie of yoiu piper, ho that such decided and duly Christian teaching may be diffused as widely as possible ? By mi doing you would confer ;i favour on tnytelf and vpiy many of your leaders. I the more pirtienlarly wish you to comply with my lequest as my daily duties pievent me giving the nece-Kary time to the abo\e. T. Tuk\\hkm,i.ui. Hannltcn, December 14, l.HB\

ARCHDEACON MAUNSELLON THE MISSION KRS. to rut: KDiroi:. Sin. —Mr Mason's letter in your paper of this day (Situulaj) coii'miiis repoits which lia\e reached me ab to the teaching* of the Mwsioners. When I *nbsenb>d t»uaids the oxpences »f their mis-ion 1 thought their object was that of St. Paul, to testify to sinners "repentance tow.wd God and futh towauls our Lord Jeaiis Clin-t." As if tins mlo urro not clear enough, they announced on their ainval that the prayeibook was t > be the guide of their teaching. Thus they left them-eho-consideiable latitude. Indeed they ha\e gone bey< nd their guide. For instance tli.it, in the L>rd's Supper, we paitake of the body of Christ "in a hea\enly and •.{Mutual mannoi " "when «o receive it by faith "is the teaching of oiu 128 th article, Accoiding to what we hear of Mr Mason ■< teaching, such a- \ lew is too Puritanic for him Again, what is dignified by him with then.uneof " Apo-tohe order " may li.ue r\i-ted in the Apo-tles' day. But of this I am ccitam, that neither fioin Prayer book nor from the liible c;m it be j)ioved to be a necessary constituent of a Christian Church. May tirbt exclamation on reading Mr Mason's letter was " Surely those itkti iini'.t some IJible different fiocu 0111 liible, some other Pnyerbook than oui Prayer-book." 1 believe in my heart that thos'i two bwk- aie only nominally and o.itw.mily their stand.ud-., and that thtir leal Riiido is elsewhere. How otherwise can we account for Mi Mason's four marks bv which to distin^ruwh the Church frmn "the Sects?" Who taught him to make up Ins "Sicramental ntes ' to s>e\cn ! On uhut authority does he make the creeds (one of which was upw irds of 700 years after Ulir't-t) a necessary mat k of the tine Chinch And whoie do wo learn that a Cliuich must bo "historically connected by continuous succession with the Apostolic Chinch of Jerusalem ' m order to ha\e " ,\nv authority whatever to teach or administei the Saciaments." He tells us \eiv truly that "theie u such a bin as schiMii," and he quietly implies that e\ery Chinch is schismatic uhi'.h h not in union with u-.. The real "tlnsmatic, I .submit, is ho who sct> up .stand nds other than those fited by the Bible, and then unchutches those who differ fiom him. The essence of the Church he seems to repaid as an outw.ird organisation, with certain officer*. Tiiib is "one," and all others are nowhere. I deeply regret th ; introduction of these hchismatica.l teaching*, *•> calculated to distill b tlic fiK'iidly feelings that have hitherto subsisted between us and the othm bndie-, and 1 would feiy in conclu-ion to those tuo gentlemen: In tliu name of the (iod of Peace follow the example and teachings of the Apostle Paul, and do not unduly magnify what is merely external and disputable. You ha\e iccened commandment to ble-s. Do not cuimj those whom the Lord has not cursed, and whom he has endowed with gifts and gracs in in my instances iroie abundantly than oui selves.— I am, &c, K. Mu,N-si,u-.