The Saint Paul globe., 1899-04-03


tan just so far as he Is helped by its
use The best modern expression of
cathol1city Is found In church hymn
DOCK. When. men sing, as when they
pray, they recognize no division, and In
the hymn books of our churches may bs
found the lyric expression of faith and
trust from Roman Catholic at one ex-
treme to the Unitarian at the other. And
no one Is shocked because Lead, Kindly
Light was written by Roman Catholic.
and Lord of All. Being Throned Afar,,'
written by Unitarian. All the apostles
and all the saints, all the confessors and
martyrs, all heroic and stalwart- -believ-
ers of every church and of every creed
are the common heritage of the catholic
Christi1n. l.,
CATHOLIC. YET FREE.
"But I am free churchman, as well
as catholic churchman, and 1t is nee
essary to be explicit In explaining just
what free church Is: 1t Is a church. in
the first place. that Is free from the state,
that neither claims temporal sovereignty
Tor itself nor permits temporal patron
age which leads directly to state control
A church to be free must be equally
free from the domination and control of
either bishop. synod or conference The
unit OF church organization Is the local
association Of believers; that organiza-
choose its pastors to manage It's business,
TO decide upon it's ritual and to prescribe
Its corporate share In the Christian ac-
tfvities Of the world. There are those
VINO stand for this much freedom. But
Tree churches have failed to accept. In
large measure, the full application Of
their own doctrine. If one church has a
right to be free every other church has
the same right without losing its place
IN the s1Sterhood Of Christian churches
or forfeitfng their fellowship Once again.
the free church must not only assert 1ts
own corporate freedom, but 1t must also
secure the freedom OF the individual
within the church. 1t may be asked. is
that possible? Can there be such a thing
as organization without the subordina-
ton of the individual? Certainly, in those
questions which relate to the corporation
as such, the individual must be subordf-
nate. Questions of finance. modes of
public worship, choice Of pastors. decf-
slons OF church policy, must, In any free
churcn, remain under the control of the
majority. But the majority has no right
to dictate the form of faith or measure
the duty Of its individual member. This
IL the Protestant principle. II we stand
Ior anything 1t is for the freedom of the
conscience and the right of the private
judgment. There is no stopping place to
logical mind between Rome and per-
mas no right to decide what the tndivfd-
uai member ought to think In order to be
received into It's communion or to remain
In Its fellowship. The or:y test Of a
christian and the only gospel basis of
church organization Is loyalty to Jesus
christ. 10 make my point specific let
me say that the Baptists, for example.
oeIleVe IN free churches, but their free
churches must all be Baptist churches.
tney are not therefore the free churches
OF Which speak. They insist that every
christian must be immersed In order to
come into their fellowship, whatever the
christian may think about the matter
hlmsen. In both these respects thew vIo.
late the f1nal principles of the free
churchman.
is THE PRIMITIVE ONE
THE free church is the primiti1,a ob,,noh.
so great an authority as John Herrv
newman admits that the primitive
churches were bound by no formal creeds
ana based on no dogmatic tests. Anv
study OF early Hturgfes will show that
rituals grew in perfect freedom accord
ms to the tastes and spiritual needs of
various congregations, and prayers were
no more prescribed than church music
Inc apostles were witnesses of the res
direction of Jesus Christ; they never had
any successors; the doctrine of apostolic
succession is mere fiction The new
testament is as much ignorant of the
mooefn clergyman as 1t Is of, the modern
bishop. There was no priest in the apos-
tone church, although there were minis
ters and teachers. The early church re-
Veals variety of organization, variety of
opinion, variety of ritual The earlv
church was free
The free church. and the. free church
alone, has room for the scientific method.
Ihe birth OF authority is the death of
thought; the cradle of ecclesiasticism is
the grave of faith. Modern men are com
PEELED to do structural thinking In all the
departments of their knowledge, but
truth cannot be decided either by Dower
OF numbers. Copernicus and Calico, each
In his time. alone against all the world.
was right, and all the world was wrong.
Truth may be voted down, dogmatized
down, may be derided by the powerful
and the great, but truth has rights of
her own and methods Of her own. No
council has any right to close the books
and settle intellectual questions for the
ages which are to come. The council of
Nicaea was the first great mistake of
Chrtstendom, and was the product of the
politician and not the saint
Conformity is the mother of schism
and the nurse of heresy The effort to
make men think alike in religion and to
worship alike has failed and always will
fail. until the doom of reason comes and
the soul Of man has lost Its vital power
TRUE CHURCH UNITY.
Church unity will never be and ought
never to be church uniformity Methods
which minister to the souls of some men
do not therefore develop the souls of all
men. AS In nature and In society the
basis of permanence and unity is found
not In the like but in the unlike. SO it will
be In religion.
Business is stable only as It provides
for variety. Literature has its birth un-
der many forms. A modern army DIFF
fers from an ancient mob because 1t Is
organized into different branches of serv-
Ice. The same is true of the churches
But the movement and aspiration of
all human forces and institutions Is In the
direction of consolidation. The distinct
type of the various nations of the earth,
each offers its treasure to the production
of modern cosmic culture, in which all
may share. There never was so great a
need for church unity as there Is today
join with those in all communious who
are ready to pray for it. work for 1t, and
-endeavor to realize it. But It seems plain
that unity can never come about by the
EpfScOpaltan becoming Roman Cathc-
lie or the Baptist becoming Presbyterian.
1t must come. il 1t come at all, on the
basis of the free church, which manages
without interference its own matters and
which at the same time guarantees the
religious freedom of every one of its
members. The unity will not be in councils
or pope or episcopacy or confessions OF
faith. The unity will come, If It come at
all, on the simple basis OF disciplehood
Of Jesus Christ. The denominational
wastes and rivalries of the present time
are among the most grievous scandals OF