Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-11-22

A0&Na

was when the conflicting sects would
not unite In great social reform OF
religious movement. Time is wher
the churches sincerely and heartily
cooperate in any movement for the
betterment Of humanity. Time was
when the terms Methodist, Anglican
Episcopalian, Baptist, Congregational
etc. were magnified as expressive OF
great and essential ideas and ideals
Time IL when we are coming to regard
such terms as narrow, sectarian, diyi-
sive, and we prefer to be known sim
ply as Christians Of common faith,
having one Master, and having, one
common end In view. Time was when
we gloried In our differences. Time
is when we glory in our common
Christian heritage and try to forget
our differences. Time was when
each denomination claimed to have
the right Interpretation OF truth. Time
is when we have abandoned that claim
and hunlbly hope that we all have
some fundamental elements Of truth /.
Many good folk In all chuches today
are of the belief that the greatest
stumbling block to the progress Of
Christianity at home and abroad has
been the Misunderstanding, the
Quibblings. the chickering's. the divi-
sions Of Christians. In the bad old
days it has certainly been a heart
saddening spectacle to be obliged to
witness regiments of one great army
wasting energy, talent, time, and
means in fighting against each other
instead Of against the common foe. A.
divided church has been the greatest
hindrance in the task of conquering
the world for Christ Someone has
well said that ''the unity which pre-
vailed among the early churches did
almost as much as the sermons and
miracles Of the Apostles TO convert
the world The masses outside the
churches judge religion not by read
ing the Bible, but by observing
Christians and the churches, and when
they see strife and division abound
ing, they come to have contempt for
all churches and fail to see the many
commendable things in every denom-
ination. But as we bury our reli-
gious battle axes, our denominations
war drums and our ecclesiastical
blunderbusses, the world will gradu-
ally acknowledge the power of the
religion which can produce such uni
ty and concord. "a, " s&
Narrow Distinctions
Rev. G. p. Anderson, Episcopal
bishop Of the important diocese of
Chicago. uttered the following manly
words in an address delivered at the
annual convention of the diocese
May %, 1912 He said, Take the
situation abroad What
does the non-C Christian know or care
about our ecclesiastical differences?
When Presbyterian minister in In
dia complained that his greatest diff
Guilty consisted in teaching his con-
verts the difference between the es-
tablished Church of Scotland and the
Free Kirk, he should have been re-
tired as man who did not know his !
business, or else those august bodies !
should have relieved him of his en-
by abolishing the dis
tinction. When an Anglican dean
could not offer up special prayers in
time of sudden calamity because the !
rnbric made no provision for such an !
and his bishop was not on
hand to authorize special prayers, it'll
raised the question as to whether the |
stiffness of Anglican uniformity does |
not need some limbering in the inter
est of spiritual unity. When Chris
tian' minister told me that there
could be no union apart from INNER
sion, 1t made one feel the importance
Of distinguishing between fact and |