The United Church of the United States

Front matter

THE GIFT OF

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''""M»iiiiifiii"iipfiiiNi«i* '*'* United States / by olin

Preface

It has been becoming evident to many thoughtful observers that the chief Christian problem of our age is the Reunion of Christendom, and that the most favorable conditions for its solution are found in this New World, where the churches and denominations of the Old World have become compacted together within a new political environment, yet with perfect freedom of action and intercourse. The growth of public interest in the question during the past ten years has been surprising. If the present volume have no higher value, it may serve to mark the course of opinion in this new direction, and to afford some outlook for the future. It contains the results not only of private study, but of conference with representative thinkers holding all the possible views in respect to the problem of American Church Unity.

The interest of the writer in the subject dates as far back as the year 1 862, when he published a Manual of Worship in the United States Army and Navy, compiled from ancient liturgies and modern formularies, and jointly recommended by eminent clergymen of all denominations. This was followed in 1864 by his edition of the Book of Common Prayer, as amended by the Presbyterian Divines in the Royal Commission of 1 66 1, and as designed, with other more special objects, "to increase the spirit of catholicity and fraternity among such Churches of the Reformation as originally contributed to the formation of the Prayer-book, by restoring to more general use those liturgical formulas which are their several production or common inheritance and, next to the Holy Scriptures, the closest visible bonds of their unity." Some results of his studies at that time were em-

V vi Preface,

bodied in an essay which, after awaiting a ripened state of public interest for twenty years, at length appeared in the Century Magazine of 1885, under the title of "The United Churches of the United States," and at once drew forth a wide discussion from leading divines in different denominations. Together with that discussion, it forms the first part of this collection of papers. As belonging to the early history of the question it is presented without amendment, although some expressions and suggestions have already been made obsolete by the rapid progress of opinion.

In the following year the House of Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Chicago issued the proposals, afterward amended by the Lambeth Conference of 1888, and now known as the Quadrilateral or Four Articles of Church Unity. The author has advocated these articles in a paper read before various circles of representative divines in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, and before several public assemblies, after introductory addresses by President Seth Low, of Columbia College ; by President Daniel Gilman, of the Johns Hopkins University, and by the Hon. Justice William Strong, of the United States Supreme Court. It is here reproduced, with a review of some of the valuable opinions to which it gave expression.

The other essays refer to different practical aspects of the question as still under discussion ; and two essays have been added, which are designed to illustrate the unifying value of the English liturgy among the Christian denominations, and the momentous importance of church unity as a Sociological Question.

The periodical press has been furnishing us with various symposia, which at times make church unity look like a bubble or a dream. For some minds even the iridescence is gone. But other minds only see more plainly that the great problem is not to be solved by the denominational opinions of more or less interested leaders, but rather by a long educational process requiring many years, perhaps sue-

Preface. vii

cessive generations, ere it will come to full effect. To such minds there is not only the promise of Holy Scripture but the logic of Providence in the movement. If there be such a thing as historic cause and effect, the chief historic Churches are already recoiling from their rash extremes toward substantial agreement and re-union. The growth of Church unity in the coming century would be no more marvelous than that of State unity in the past century. In-the ecclesiastical as well as political sphere our country seems destined to become the wonder of Christendom, not by renewing its time-worn issues and fighting them over again, but by burying them out of sight forever in one United Church of the United States.

Contents

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The United Churches of the United States, 1-32

Organic Unity of Churches.

II. Denominational Views of Church Unity 33-63

Episcopalian Opinions.

Presbyterian Opinions.

Congregationalist Opinions.

Consensus of these Opinions.

Signs of Church Unity.

Proposals of the House of Bishops.

Historic Relations of Presbytery and Episcopacy.

Reunion of Presbytery and Episcopacy.

Advantages of Historic Episcopacy.

III. Church Unity Defined

Federation of Churches.

Assimilation of Denominations.

False Ecclesiasticism.

False Denominationalism.

Feasibility of Church Unity.

The New Promise of Church Unity.

The Claim of the Historic Churches.

The Claim of the Reformed Churches.

The Need of a Practical Consensus.

The Chicago and Lambeth Proposals.

Catholicity of the Four Articles.

X Contents.

Catholicity of the Historic Episcopate.

Adaptability of the Historic Episcopate.

Unifying Power of the Historic Episcopate.

Unification by Confederation.

Unification by Consolidation.

Unification by Organic Growth.

Organic Reunion of Presbytery and Episcopacy.

Ideal Fulfilment of Church Unity.

Slow Growth of Church Unity.

Logical Tendencies to Church Unity.

Decline of the Denominational Spirit.

Revival of the Ecclesiastical Spirit.

Popular Tendencies to Church Unity.

The Coming Campaign of Education.

The Historic Episcopate and the Three Church Polities, . . 167-178

Preliminary Principles.

The Scriptural Episcopate.

The Apostolic Episcopate.

The New Made Episcopate.

Comprehensiveness of the Historic Episcopate. Its Alleged Hierarchism.

Its Alleged Sacerdotalism.

Studies in the Historic Episcopate.

VII. The Historic Presbyterate and the Historic Episcopate, . . 179-214

Appeal to Presbyterians and Episcopalians.

Apostolic Succession.

Practical Union by Ignoring the Question.

Contents. xi

Gradual Unification.

Pulpit Exchanges.

Preiibyterian Orders.

Mutual Recognition.

Hypothetical Ordination.

Concurrent Ordination.

The Hope of Reunion.

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The Historic Liturgy and the Historic Churches, 215-256

Analysis of Prayer Book.

Composition of Daily Offices.

Composition of Communion Office.

Composition of Baptismal Offices.

Composition of the Occasional Offices.

Catholic formularies.

Protestant Formularies.