Church Union in Canada
By L. A. S.
WHAT is to be known as the “United Church of Canada” is now in process of formation in that country, the component elements being the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregational Churches of Canada. It is proposed to unite these churches into one on the basis of a common creed and system of government. Representatives of these three bodies have been in conference on the subject, and the result of their deliberations is an expressed belief that no insuperable obstacles exist to such a union. A “tentative plan of union” has been formed, which will be submitted to the Methodist General Conference, the Presbyterian General Assembly, and the Congregational Union for further action, and it is believed will be submitted to the general membership of these bodies for ratification. The movement has, naturally, attracted much attention in Canada and in the United States. The report of the joint committee of the three churches is hailed by the Toronto Globe as being “the most remarkable ecclesiastical document issued in Protestant Christendom since the Reformation.” The doctrinal basis of the proposed union is a formulated creed, which in the view of some religious journals sacrifices essential tenets of Christian belief. Thus the Southern Presbyterian (Atlanta, Ga.) says of it:— ‘So far as we have caught its meaning, it omits plenary inspiration, leaves out all the virility of foreordination, ignores the representative covenant with Adam, omits particular election and particular redemption, and the preservation of the saints. Its ecclesiastical paragraphs fail to distinctly exclude transubstantiation or consubstantiation. They speak not a word as to mode of baptism, leaving full room for the introduction of immersion. It provides for church government by “officers,” but says nothing about ruling elders, so far as we can see, and nothing about deacons. Another Presbyterian journal remarks that the proposed union “may lose in intention what it gains in extension.” There can be no real Christian union which involves the sacrifice of truth. Doctrinally, the only basis of Christian union is that of faith in every word of God. There can be no such thing as compromise over points of belief. “The whole Bible” is the creed of the Christian. This is the creed of true Protestantism, and anything less than this is a compromise with the papacy. The faith is all-important. “I have kept the faith,” said Paul as he summed up his life record. He had separated from the Jews, he had lost his membership and standing with them, he had withdrawn from the church of numbers and wealth, but he had kept the faith. And in the last days, when many shall depart from God, the special care of the Christian must be to “contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Real Christian union comes from rallying around the standard of this faith. The three churches concerned in this contemplated union have a combined membership in Canada of 1,786,676, which is nearly one third of the whole population of that country.