VISIBLE FELLOWSHIP BETWEEN CHRISTIANS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The letter of the Rev. F. D. Cremer in your issue of
• May 19th in reference to Christian unity must have been read with great interest by many. There certainly are those who, with him, look for some practical steps to be taken as the outcome of the Whitsuntide special call to prayer.
Might there not be organised in the near future, under the direction of our Bishops and the leaders of Nonconformity, in all centres where it is practicable, an annual Conference of clergy and Nonconformist ministers? If the spirit of a deeper fellowship is realised among the ministers of religion, it will soon spread to their congregations. Let such a Conference have for its object united prayer and an honest desire to find out first of all, not where we differ, but on what points we agree. The great barrier to a truer unity st present is not so much difference of doctrine as the prejudice which exists on various sides, born of ignorance,— the ignorance which each has of the other's standpoint.
Such a Conference should be no hole-and-corner affair, but, as I have already stated, organised under the direction of the recognised Church of England and Nonconformist leaders. If a gathering of this kind only brought the ministers of Christ into closer touch with one another by friendly intercourse, it would be an incalculable gain to the Christian Church at large, and a definite step towards the fulfilment of our Divine Master's desire, —"that they may all be one."
Pyr ford Vicarage, Woking.
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