A Broad Christianity

Dr. Joscph Parker, pastor of the City Temple, and a Congregational minister of some proniinencc in England, sends the iotlowing letter to the London Times: 'The boldness of the proposal I am about to submit warrants me in secking for ït a place in columns no less distinguished than your own. You have receutly published reports of the primate's viaitation addresscs, and a day or two ago , you commeuted upon them in a tonewith which my proposal wül distiuctly harmoaize. I cannot but expres very deep dissatisfaction wilh the authoritalivc addresses which are delivered from many of our ecclesiastical chairs from time to time. As sedarían or denomina tioiial i addresses they are admiraal?, and are justly app'.auded _ by the couipanies for whicli thcy were prcpared; but, viewcd n tbt-ir larger relations, I canuot but fcel that they are often wuolly OUtaide Ihe thinking of one section of the oommunity and ihc immcdiate need of anotber. ' Has not the time oomc when the poiuts of unioa should bc uwgnified, and the , points of dillercnce lx; reduced to a mum? My own impression ia that there ! are thousauds of Cliristians in England who ha?e no conncction with the si-cts, and who, strangc as it may appcar, are not awaro of their owu Christiauity . This anomaly is lo be accountcd for by the fact tUat in the hands of these sects Christiauity has becoiuc a set of theological opinión and denuitions, instead of being left as the spir.t of self-sacrificc for the good of others. Christianity is not a form; it is a spirit; it kuo.vs uothing of anieles, calcchisuis, standards, and snbscriptioDB to tests or creeds. All these ] are merely human arrangeineuts or . veuiences, and if uot kept iu thcir proper [ilaues they will do more mihchief thau il is in the power of athcism to cfïect. 1 do uot hesitato to say that seclarian Ilico lojty is the most mischievous iufluence of the age. Men who think caretully and broadly will nem bc unitcd on this basis; it is too narrow too vague, and too contro verti'ilc. Is it uot posüiblc to flnd a point ut whicb all revereut thinkers will unite in cordial fellowahlpt In my upinioa it is quite possible, and if possiblc it must be inönitely desirable. Whoever adopta and practices the principies of self-sacritice for the good of others is, in my view a living Christian, whatever he may tbink of so-culled dogmatic thcology. He niny not even bc theolosian at all ; and if not, so much tbe better, unlcss he be a man of very ezceptional intellectual and moral capacily. I makt; the btoadest possible distinction betweeu Christianity and thcology, and my proposal is to opérate upou that distinction by encouraging Ihe formation of an inclusive alliauce whose one principie of union bhall be that selfsneritice for the good óf others is the true luw of life. ChrUtiaus must come to the renette of Christianity, wlien it ib dis flgured by sectarian badges and compellcd to speak tbe alien language of sectarian definitions and orthodoxies. I do not propose to intertere with auytbing that is legitímate in dcnominalionuliimi , Ah long as ilii' worltl enduras nieu who tliiuk alike wíll imite Cor the propagallon of thelr opinioos, and Uiis is mosl wise luid proper; bul my inquiry is whether there is noi below and abo ve all denomlnsttoDRl formations i principie whtch can imite añil inspire men of Ihe most diverso tlicu logieal ConviCtiODS, nnd wliether that priucipli! ought not t be primarLy recofni.cd so as to sel all ñifTerenees in tlicir just relaüonshi and perspectiva, I caunot but bellere tlmt there is a oobler word tliau I'an-Anglicau, l'an Preebyterlan, or I'an-Metbodist. uid that noblet word is Pan-Cbritlan. Tbe Trimiarian and the Unitarias) are liolh Christians, so are tbc Calvinist and the Armiiiiaii; but when do tbey ever meel on the broad round of Cbiistianity and make a COmmOD dcclaration tbat tbeir religión Is decner tban their tbeology? I leave my proposal of inclusive ni liane r or assoeiatiou to niüke its own ñnpressiou on your readers, and 1 hope tiltil his Grace, tbe Arcbbisbop of Casterbury wlll not -regard the suegestion as oul of barmony willi lus broad and generoiu addressea."