The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-05-17
The Divisions of Christendom.

The Divisions of ChristendOm.
Philadelphia Times.
The so-called congress of churches-or
congress of Christians, as Bishop Coke
preferred to call it-that has been held
at Hartford proved very interesting. 1t
does not appear, upon the surf ce OF
things, that it did or could do uch Of
immediate and practical effect to adj
vance the cause of Christian
unity; and yet such meetings
as this cannot be without their
value, if it be only in setting people to
thinking.
The various speakers all agreed that
! the divisions and subdivisions of Chris
tianity were a very great hindrance to
the growth and influence of the church
and the leading purpose of their meeting
was to talk over their differences and
their points of contact and to find what
common ground there was among them.
They all agreed to the old motto, "In
/ essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liber
/ ty; in all things, charity" but, naturally,
they did not agree as to what were non
essentials. and so they necessarily left
/ the question precisely where they found
/ it. Between Bishop Coke and the presi-
dent of Haverford College, for example,
or between DR.. Howard Crosby and
| Father Grafton, the differences are not
| merely in matters of form, but concern
the very basis of Christian authority.
To one the historic church is the divine
ly ordained witness, ''the pillar and
ground of the TRUTH to another the di-
vine witness is altogether within the in
dividual soul. They will both agree as
to what is the essential manifestation of
the faith in the christian life, but the
churchman and the Quaker would each
have to change his whole intellectual at
titude if they would forget their differ
ences.
No doubt a common ground would be
less difficult to reach between the larger
protestant bodies-the Presbyterians and
the Methodists, the Baptists and the
Lutherans-but even among those sects
that seem most closely allied the differ
ences of view are often so deep-rooted
and far reachi ng that an approach to
visible unity must be matter of very
slow development. 1t does not follow
that such a comparison of widely differ
ing beliefs as was had at Hartford is al
together fruitless. On the contrary, it
demonstrates that the divisions of chris
tendon, which are so often dwelt upon,
are not necessarily hostile and that the
illogical differences, however extreme,
do not exclude christian charity.
To those who believe that the chris
tain church is really of divine institution
its divisions and disturbances, though
distressing and perplexing. are very far
from causing despair. They will point
out that christianity not only is more
widely spread, but has worked itself
| deeper into the life of the world than in
the days of the church's greater apparent
strength and there is more unity of feel
ing among christian people to-day than
there was when the church was extern
ally united. All this suggests the hope
that at some time and in some way this
perplexing problem will work out its
own solution, in the gradual disappear
ance Of mere man-made disputes and alb
stractions and the ultimate triumph of
the truth. For lot of volunteer theolo-
gians to get together in new England
town and talk for three days may not go
very far to hasten this consummation,
but it shows at least that christian unity
is good deal nearer than it was when
two theologians could not meet without
a desire to cut each others throats.