Cylchgronau Cymru

Vol. II.] NOVEMBER, 1869. [No. 11. THE CARDIFF CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE. UNITY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. As Free Churches in America, in Scotland, in England, have risen into importance, the consciousness of a church unity similar to that of the Apostolic church has tended steadily to grow. The feeling exists, though it has as yet found no organ of expression. It is already not too much to say that a large majority of the ministers and members of the free churches throughout Christendom regard each other as belonging to one Christian church: the Episcopalianism, the Presbyterianism, the Congregational¬ ism, the Wesleyanism, being special and denominational; the Christianity being the primary and vital concern. A liberty not anarchic yet genuine, an order not artificial but real and vital, a diversity manifold enough to embrace every form of Christian administration, a unity on the fine spiritual lines of which Christian sympathy should go pulsing forth to girdle the word, might be attainable on these terms. The idea of such a unity is indeed by no means confined to Reformed Churches not in connexion with the State. It is as cordially embraced by individuals within the Church of England as it is in any communion under heaven, and the number embracing it extends rapidly ; nor is it an unwarrantable assertion that some of the best minds in the Church of Rome aspire more or less vaguely towards such unity, as forming a higher ideal for Christendom then that of Papal supremacy. There is no cause why this idea should not continue to diffuse itself in the Church of England ; there is no cause why the clergy and the laity of the Church of England should not enter now into spiritual communion with those of other Christian churches which are willing to join hands of fellowship with them ; nevertheless, it must be frankly admitted that the freedom, self government, and self-support of the Anglican Church are indispensable to the complete practical realization of this Christian unity in England; and that for several reasons. Iu the first place, it is only in the enjoyment of freedom and self-government that the Church can exercise the spiritual discipline assigned her by Christ. There may be no reason in the nature of things why the church should not be both endowed by the state and self-governing; but the condition on which