TOWARDS CHRISTIAN UNITY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
Sia,—With the vision of a reunited Christendom somewhere on the horizon a certain important and representative Committee is preparing the way for a World Conference on Faith and Order when, in the Providence of God, it can be convened. The move- ment originated with the Protestant Episcopal Church of America. The Committee at work in England was chosen by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and by the Conferences and Assemblies of the various non-Episcopal Churches. A second Interim Report is now published. Necessarily, every statement on the part of the Committee is introductory and every suggestion conditional and tentative. No student of the subject will be impatient on that account. The Committee has no authority even to choose the foundation-stones of the House Beautiful. It can only point to where it thinks they lie.
For example, the Committee thinks (1) that continuity with the historic Episcopate should be effectively preserved; (2) that in order That the rights and yesponsibilitiee of- the whole Christian community in the government of the Church may be adequately recognized, the Episcopate should reassume a constitutional form, both as regards the method of the election of the Bishop as by clergy and people, and the method of government after election (" It is perhaps necessary that we should call to mind that such was the primitive ideal and practice of Episcopacy, and it so remains in many Episcopal communions to-day "); (3) that accept- ance of the fact of Episcopacy and not any theory as to its character should be all that is asked for.
Points like these, one who is not a member of the Committee may be permitted to say, provide food for thought. The state- ment that " it is the purpose of our Lord that believers in Him should be one visible society " is, I think, open to more than one interpretation. Meanwhile, it is pleasant to recollect, there are increasing signs of a better understanding among the various Churches. Has not a Baptist minister read the lessons in a Royal Chapel ? 'All over the country, on New Year Sunday, there were united religious services. In many centres the Churches are wholly together for the common good. These things are not enough for the Committee. But, without the unity of the Spirit from which they spring, not even a World Conference will be other than barren and unfruitful. I wish that the leaders of the Churches who dream so beautifully would do their utmost to multiply practical and useful proofs, such as the world under- stands, of their oneness in Him Who judges us all by our fruits.—
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