Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-08-15
FOR PROTESTANT UNITY,

President Roosevelt, It Is claimed, is
IN favor OF a union Of all Protestant
churches lie is said to have expressed
a hope 10 that effect, IN a letter 10 the
International conference Of Reformed
churches, held in Liverpool recently, In
the letter he said, In part
Permit me through you to extend
my greeting 10 the great assembly Of
reformed ministers and elders meeting
IN Liverpool II has been one Of my
hopes 10 see some day union Of all
reformed bodies In every nation into a
single organization, the better to do the
great work that lies at their hands
The thought is grand, and 1t Is one
the realization OF which is the ardent
desire Of the Pedestrians themselves
AT one time the various churches, no
doubt, believed sincerely that they rep
resented the truth in the particular
point IN which they differed with other
bodies. They hoped to be able, by Ions,
faithful work. 10 make all to see alike,
and in this way establish unity on the
basis Of truth. as they conceived It. But
centuries OF failure has finally con-
WINGED them OF the impossibllty Of es-
tabllshing unity In views by any meth
DDS 80 far tried, The tendency In many
Of the churches Of the world therefore
now is to admit that one doctrine Is
about as good as another: that there Is
no absolute truth, and that liberation
must be the substitute for knowledge.
ON that basis It is now hoped that unity
can be established,
In this, however, there viii again be
disappointment Unity cannot be built
on 30 weak foundation. What is
needed Is general submission to divine
authority, In matters OF both faith ana
practice. No country is united until
1t recognizes one government, and the
scattered children OF God viii never
become one until they yield obedience
to one divine authority 1t
is the apostasy from that authority
that has caused division and strife. The
persistency In apostasy perpetuatcs
that condition
The division into factions Is one Of
the stumbling blocks Of the non.Chris-
tian world, and causes thinkers to re-
ject the religion Of the NazaIene alto.
gether. Recently an educated China
man, commenting on occidental relig-
ion, remarked:
"1ho Inconsistencies Of the Cauca :.
sian challenge our own, Instead OF
having one splendid church and deyot-
ing themselves 10 tho real ethics Of
Christianity, these ChristianB are dl"
vided irrevocahly and so lose strength
and force They are I'm a sense turned
against themselves and their religious
colleges are graduating men to perpet-
uato the difference No more splendid
religion than that oXpounded by Christ
could be imagined II they would JOIN
hands and. Ike tho Confucians, devote
their attention not to rites and theolog-
icsl differences, but to the daily con-
duct of men"
Exactly But the churches Will wait
In vain for unity IL they expect the
priests and prelates to take tho iniatlye'
These are making a living OF the con-
fusion If there were unity. many OF
them would lose their situations. Ma
tions. when desiring progress toward
freedom. generally must proceed ahead
NJ rulers and leaders who are financial
IS interested In the perpetuation OF eN-
istlng conditions, The churches Of the
world must also break lose from the
bondage Of men. u they want to obtain
unity in the only possible way--thc
submission to the divine will, which Is
! true liberty,