[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOIL"]
Sia,—The letters in your paper on Christian Fellowship and Reunion are just the sort of letters that have been going on probably from zealots and gloomy Deans ever since the day of the Divine Revelation to man. Christ said He had come into the world not to bring peace but a sword. Surely the sword must have meant this very dogmatic teaching that would arise in various sects, in order to prove that they, and they alone, were the true followers of the Master. The circle can never be squared. Whilst one says they are of Paul, the other says they are of Cephas, forgetting we were all one in Christ. History does not bear out the idea that the apostolic succession has been handed down to us without a break, for authority cannot account for a lapse of a hundred years or more. It has been said, and truly said, by the Lambeth Conference that the secret of life is the double fellowship of God and with men. Why, then, are not the rising generation taught about this fellowship in their schools? Why is it withheld from them? Can it be that the Christian communities are so hidebound by the letter of the law that they are unable to grasp the fact that it is by the spirit of the law rather than by the letter that we should be guided? They strain at a gnat and swallow a camel, much to the detriment of those they would seek most to help. Let us, then, go to the foundation of things in build- ing up a new England, and ever bear in mind that, no matter how much we may differ on many points, yet it is essential that the rising generation should be taught, just as their forebears were taught before them, their duty to God and their duty to their neighbour. In this way, perhaps, Christian fellowship will prevail, and become more in accord with the teachings of its original Founder, and give the world Peace. We look to our shepherds to bring this about. The boy is father of the man. He should not be made the victim of ecclesiastical sophistries.—I am, Sir, &c.,
A. II. SMITH-DORRIEN, Rear-Admiral. New Lodge, Berkhamsted.
P.S.—After having dispatched the above letter to the Spectator on March 10th I happened that evening to read the appointed lesson for the day. It was I. Cor., chap. 3. Curiously enough, here were the very words I had written in the morning, " that one said they were of Paul, another of Cephas." This was a strange coincidence, and I venture to think the whole of
this chapter should be read by all those who are endeavouring to bring about Christian Fellowship and Reunion. Thank God I am no saint, but a plain, blunt man, who attributes much of the unrest of the present time to the neglect of religious teachings in our schools. When a young woman on being re- monstrated with and told her mother should be informed of her conduct brazenly remarks she doesn't' care a damn for her mother, surely it shows, Sir, that there is something wrong in her early training.
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