The Church Union Movement

IMPROVEMENT ERA Vol. XXIII • MAY, 1920 No. 7

The Church Union Movement" By Elder James E. Talmage, of the Council of the Twelve

We hear a great deal about unity in this day and age, about combinations and associations of interests hitherto divided. Even the evil one has accomplished a great deal through the unity of his followers. Union is a means of strength, both in the accomplishment of good and in the doing of evil.

Proposed Merger of Churches All of us who have kept abreast of the times, who are acquainted with the trend of human thought and endeavor in matters religious, must have been impressed by the movement having for its object the prospective combination of churches. A merger has been proposed, by which the different denomina- tions and sects shall be brought together under general con- trol, this according to the first proposition. It has been pointed out that in even small towns and villages and rural sections throughout the country, vast sums have been expended for the erection of houses of worship in which are generally found but small congregations at the hour of service; and the term "over- churched" has gained currency. Only recently, in this city, representatives of many sects assembled and took steps toward bringing about such a union. It is significant, very significant indeed, that denomina- tions which but a short time ago were in open hostility to one another are now willing to come together and talk compromise and actually take steps toward perfecting a combination of forces. This has been very widely ascribed as in part due to the conviction that has fastened itself upon the minds of men, — that the church as an institution not this church or that, but

*Address delivered in the Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City, Sunday, March 14, 1920.

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the church in general — has very largely failed, failed the peo- ple in their hour of need, failed to bring comfort at the time of war and pestilence and trouble, failed to point the way in the midst of calamity. Now the first proposition was that the effort should be di- rected toward bringing the different denominations together as one organic church. "Union" was the slogan, but the pro- moters of the scheme very soon found the difficulties they had to encounter to be practically insurmountable. Sects did not want to give up their creedal characteristics, their ordinances, their rites and ceremonies; and therefore the purpose was nar- rowed somewhat, and was announced as an effort toward co- operation. It was proposed that the different denominations should maintain their autonomy but should cooperate one with another under the direction of a general presiding board or council. But that in turn was found to be too unsteady an aim and too great an undertaking. So at present the proposition is that churches shall be brought into a federation, each main- taining its individuality and voluntarily cooperating with the rest.

Statement of an English Churchman To show you that men in high station and men who speak with authority in the different churches have fears for the future, and are convinced that only in union can they hope to survive as living institutions among men, I take occasion to read to you a dispatch from London, dated February 28th; this being the utterance of the Bishop of Durham, a high prelate in the Church of England. It was published in the United States as a press dispatch: — "Urges Drawing of Churches Together Durham Bishop says Society is Threatened by Forces which Repudiate Christian — Faith London, Feb. 28. — — (By the Associated Press.) Bishop Welldon, dean of Durham, declares, in an interview, that 'so- ciety is threatened by forces which repudiate the Christian -faith.' The bishop has just returned from a conference on Christian reunion at Oxford, which was attended by both con- formist and nonconformist ministers. There was a general agreement, he stated, as to the necessity of drawing churches together. " 'The world is rocking under men's feet,' he said. 'Society is threatened by forces which repudiate the Christian faith and the Christian moral code. The church runs a grave risk of los- ing her influence upon national life. The decadence of regular church-going has long been a cause of anxiety. The statistics of divorce are alarming, and it may be necessary to rebuild hu- man morals from the foundation.

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" 'Meanwhile the church is disregarded because she is di- vided. It is too much to expect that the world will listen to her when she speaks with many discordant voices. Unity alone will be the secret of her power. The same need which has driven political parties to coalition drives reformed churches to federation. The opportunity has come with the necessity. It is now or never. If ecclesiastical statesmanship does not avail itself of the spirit excited by the war, the chance of Christian reunion, of Christian intercommunion, will be lost, and may not recur in the life of the living people.'

Really a Re-Union A significant utterance is this, coming from one occupying the high churchly position of this speaker. He refers to Chris- tian reunion, and this would intimate that there was a state of Christian union sometime or other in bygone ages, if not in recent days. This is technically true; for we know that after the passing of the apostolic dispensation, and when the Chris- tian world, so-called, had fallen into the shades of apostasy, which were soon to deepen into darkest night, there was but one church. There were many branches, of course, or territorial divisions, and over each a bishop was placed to preside. But the bishops of the larger congregations and jurisdictions soon began to arrogate to themselves superior power, and the Bishop of Rome claimed supremacy. His influence grew until he came to be regarded as the head of the entire church, and took to himself the title of Pope or Father. He is otherwise known as the Roman Pontiff. In the fourth century a great schism was started, when Constantine the Great adopted Christianity, so-called, and made it the religion of State. He aggrandized the city of Byzantium, in Turkey, by making it the capital of his empire, and renamed it in his own honor, Constantinople. The Bishop of Constan- tinople claimed equality with the Bishop of Rome and took to himself the distinguishing title of Patriarch. This schism continued with increasing difficulties until the middle of the — ninth century to be specific, in the year 855, when the Bishop of Constantinople or the Patriarch of what had come to be known as the Eastern Church, disavowed any allegiance whatsoever to the Pontiff, or Pope of Rome; and thus were definitely segregated the two divisions of the Catholic Church, known as the Eastern and the Western, comprising respectively the Greek Catholics and the Roman Catholics. So there was a time when unity existed in the church; but that church was an apostate organization, as a rational inter- pretation of history clearly demonstrates. The tyranny of the Roman Church, through the exercise of its arrogated sovereignty

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in temporal affairs, led to the epochal upheaval in the six- teenth century, known to us as the Reformation; and out of the travail of those times arose the Church of England, which was organized by act of Parliament, and its head was named and — confirmed by act of Parliament, the king, a strange way in- deed of choosing a leader for the Church of Christ. Names of Sectarian Churches From that time on churches multiplied apace, and now they are numbered by the hundreds. Most of them are known by distinctive titles, which in nearly all cases seem to me to be well chosen, very well chosen indeed. After a careful consid- eration of the matter, I confess myself unable to suggest any improvement in the names of the larger denominations or churches that call themselves Christian institutions. In all re- spect I say this. What could be more expressive than "Presby- terian" for that denomination? I respect the name because — it tells its story that of a church governed by a power vested in the presbytery. What more expressive than "Congregational" for the denomination that believes the power of government should be vested in the congregation; or "Methodist," when we consider the particular conditions under which that church came into existence; or "Episcopalian," for members who be- lieve that the governing authority should be and is centered in the episcopate? From their point of view the founders and promoters of these and other sects have chosen wisely, and I know not how they could amend their names so as to tell the story of their profession more definitely than do the names now current. They are churches that have been formed by men, and the men who formed them had the right to name them and had the right to give expressive names. Not one of the sects claims to be anything else than a man-made church. Their history demonstrates the fact, for one and all. Not a single denomina- tion, save only the Catholic Church, which is known as the "Mother Church" as distinguished from an offspring or sect, claims to be in possession of the Holy Priesthood given of God. As human institutions many of the churches have done and are doing splendid work. They have erected hospitals, they maintain seminaries and schools, they foster libraries, and they are accomplishing much in community life. A large part of their work has been taken up during recent years by undenom- inational organizations such as the Young Mens and Young Womens' Christian Associations, for which organizations I have in my heart much of commendation. With all their mistakes, upon which some critics have dilated, perhaps to an extreme, those organizations have done and are doing much good work.

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They do not make any claim to the possession of the power of the Holy Priesthood, any more than do sectarian churches. It would be folly indeed to say that men could come to- gether and form a church and originate the Priesthood in their midst. The power to speak in the name of man can be given by man. Your legislature empowers judges to speak in the name of the state. Your city commission empowers its ap- pointees to act in the name of the municipality; but the city cannot legislate for the state, nor the state for the country. And, similarly, each of these churchly organizations, formed by the voluntary association of men on their own initiative, acting un- der the constitutions that men have drawn, may be of worthy purpose; but they can never be anything other than organiza- tions of men. No matter though they flourish like the green bay tree and number their adherents by the hundreds of mil- lions, they could not originate the power of the deacon in the Priesthood. So I say, regarding themselves as man-made insti- tutions, as they themselves do if they consider the facts of their origin, though some claim otherwise because they do not un- derstand the facts, they have a right to coalesce if they want to, they have a right to combine and to merge one with the other if they so desire; and probably some good will come out of their cooperation.

An Inter-church Conference I hold a clipping from the Portland Oregonian of Febru- ary 29th, 1920; it is a thoughtfully written editorial referring to a recent conference held in Philadelphia, which was com- posed of delegates elected by many denominations to attend the Inter-church Conference. The writer commends the action of the gathering, and quotes a paragraph from the proceed- ings: Realization of a large measure of practical church union is brought appreciably nearer by adoption of a definite plan by the delegates to the interchurch conference held recently in Philadelphia, and a feature that may account for the interest with which it is being received is that it con- templates large-scale enlistment of laymen in the business and adminis- trative departments of the enterprise. Another definite and encouraging phase of the plan, from the point of view of those who advocate ultimate elimination of as many superfluous denominations as possible, is that it looks toward more complete union in the future, without in the mean- time waiting for adjustment of a multitude of details that now stand in the way of actual erasure of den minational lines. The new plan proposes that subscribing churches shall retain autonomy in "purely denominational affairs," but it includes this highly signific nt declaration: "In taking this step we look forward with confident hope to that com- plete unity toward which we believe the Spirit of God is leading us. Once we shall have cooperated whole-heartedly in such visible body in the holy activities of the work of the church, we are persuaded that our differences will be minimized and our union become more vital and effectual."

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The Movement not New Proponents of the scheme for church federation are in a confessed quandary as just how to proceed to give proper recog- nition to the divergent and antagonistic creeds rituals and be- liefs of the different churches, and yet amalgamate them under one general head ; and in this difficulty they are looking toward Rome. This is no movement of the last year or two. It has been developing for a long time. Students of church history and of contemporary events may remember that as late as 1896 there was a very serious agitation, together with much dis- cussion and some heated debate, concerning the question of the validity of the so-called priesthood or the priestly orders be- longing to the Church of England; and in that year Lord Hali- fax, who was chairman of the Church Union organization, con- ferred with the Vatican authorities, inquiring as to the possi- bilities of a union being effected between the mother church of Rome and the English Episcopal Church, or the Established Church as it was and is called. The question naturally arises, if the Church of England felt that it had the authority of the Holy Priesthood why should it have thus appealed, directly or indirectly, to the Pope of Rome, for official recognition? The movement was favored in the interests of unity and peace by the — English premier, Mr. Gladstone, and the Pope the acknowl- edged head of the Church of Rome and the self-styled Vicar of Christ — appointed committees and boards of investigation, com- posed of learned men, to review the history of previous appli- cations of the sort, and of earlier pontifical action; and as a result Pope Leo XIII issued an apostolic letter dated Septem- ber 13, 1896, under the title of "Anglican Orders" in which, after reviewing in very careful manner the matters leading up to the question at issue, and after considering the reports that had been made by the committees and other organizations ap- pointed to investigate the subject, he presents this decision:

Vhcrefoie, strictly adhering in this matter to the decrees of the pon- our predecessors, and affirming them most fully, and, as it were, re- tiffs, newing them by our authority of our own motion and certain knowledge, we pronounce and declare that ordinations arried out according to the .

Anglican rite have been and are absolutely null and utterly void.

Apostasy Admitted Now I want to ask you whether, in reason, the Church of England would thus have knelt, figuratively, at the feet of the Pope and prayed that he would recognize the validity of their orders, if they thought for a moment that their own self- styled priesthood was valid? Since that time the literature of that church has been directed towards demonstrating that the

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Church of England did not originate under Henry the Eighth and was not called into existence by act of Parliament, but was only regulated thereby; that it had before ecclesiastical power and a priesthood, which I venture to say the facts of history do not support. For you know, away back in the sixteenth century, just after the Reformation had got well under way, and soon after the Church of England had been constructed I cannot say born —that church placed in its official ritual cer- tain directions for the government of its ministers, and among the homilies which were incorporated was one on the peril of idolatry. That is still published in the English book of com- mon prayer and rituals, and is prescribed to be read in churches, under certain conditions. The declaration reads, word for word, in this wise: So that laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ajes, sects, and — degrees of men, women, and children of whole Christendom an horrible — and most dreadful thing to think have been at once drowned in abom- inable idolatry; of all other vices most detested of God, and most damn- able to man; and that by the space of eight hundred years and more.

Now, as that was issued about the middle of the sixteenth century, the eight hundred years or more of acknowledged abom- inable idolatry, which had fastened itself upon all degrees and classes of individuals, dates back to the middle of the eighth century. The Congress of 1915* In the year 1915, as incident to the great celebration in San Francisco on the occasion of the opening of the Panama Canal, there was held a Congress of Religious Philosophies, not a — parliament of churches, but a congress of distinctive religious philosophies. On the elaborate program one day was set apart for the consideration of Christian philosophies, or for the hear- ing of churches, through their duly accredited representatives, that had distinguishing philosophies for their bases. The pro- gram had been made up with great care; and for that day the churches invited to participate comprised the following: The Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Catholic Church, one repre- sentative for all Protestant churches, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, —those four and no more. In conversation with the officers who had made the pro- gram I ventured to ask some questions, for I had been ap- pointed by the authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be there as its representative and had the honor of delivering an address on the subject of the philoso- phical basis of "Mormonism," I say, in conversation with them,

*See Improvement Era, Vol. 18, No. 11, September, 1915, pp. 947-964, for Dr. Talmage's address.

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I asked them how it was that they had come to invite us, when there was no representation offered to Baptists, nor to Metho- dists, nor to Episcopalians, distinctively, nor to Congregational- ists, nor to Presbyterians, nor to any others of the sects of the day. I ventured to say, in putting the question: "I know what reply you will have to make, but I am heartless enough to want to hear you make it, so please answer my question." The ans- wer was to this effect: "Well, when we really studied out the matter we discovered that these different sects had no distinct- ive claims, so far as divine authority is concerned." "Well then, why did you invite a represntative of all the Protestant sects in general?" "Out of courtesy. We admit that was inconsistent, but in the interests of courtesy we wanted to give them a hear- ing through one representative for all." "I want to go a step further: Why did you invite the Roman Catholic Church?" "Because the Roman Catholic Church claims to possess the Priesthood by descent, as you claim to possess it by restoration." I said: "You have studied the subject well. I know that your reply is the only one you could give. I have one other ques- tion to ask: "Why then did you invite the Greek Catholic Church to send its representative?" The answer was: "The chasm that divides the Eastern and the Western Catholic Churches is now time-honored; it dates back so far that we did not feel that we should pass upon the question as to which of them was right or which wrong. The easiest way out of it was to invite them both." But, mark you, the representative of the Roman Catholic Church was not present. The representative of the Greek Catholic Church made a fervent appeal, in the interests of Church unity, and declared, in behalf of his people, that they were prepared to go back to Rome and acknowledge the Pope as the shepherd of the whole flock. The delegate was a man of standing, an Archimandrite, in the Greek Catholic Church. The representative of Protestant sects in general made a plea for church union. He said in effect: We are scattering our efforts. We are accomplishing little or nothing and we want to get back into one fold and be under the one shepherd, plainly indicating readiness to open negotiations at least with the Church of Rome and its Pontiff for recognition and affilia- tion.

Recent Appeal to Rome Now let us come down to more recent times. Last March there set out from this land a body of Episcopal clergymen, in- cluding three bishops, who made their way to Rome. The latest preceding application for recognition of the Episcopal priesthood was made in 1896, as I have said, and, in the ex-

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pressive vernacular of the times, that was absolutely turned down by the Pope. In 1919 the delegation set out, not from England but from America, and went to ask that the Pope ap- point representatives of the Roman Catholic Church to take part with the other Christian denominations in the forthcom- ing World Conference on the Faith and Order of the Church, which is announced to be held during the coming summer; and dispatches sent after these delegates had had an interview with the Pope were widely published in the press of this country. Let me read to you a paragraph or so from the Literary Digest of June 21, 1919, page 34: The pontiff is reported to have told the visiting clergymen that it was not possible for the Catholic Church to take part in the proposed World Conference on the Faith and Order of the Church, but as the "successor of St. Peter" he declared that "the Vicar of Christ has no greater desire than that there should be but one fold and one shepherd." The dispatch published in the daily press gave this further account of the visit: The Pope added that the teaching and practise of the Catholic Church "regarding unity of the visible Church are well known to everyone, and therefore it would not be possible for the Catholic Church to participate in the proposed conference. The Pope explained that he in nowise wished to disapprove of the participation in the conference of those who are not united to the chair of St. Peter, but, on the contrary, he earnestly desires and prays that "those who take part in the conference may, by the grace of God, see the light and reunite with the visible head of the Church, by whom they will be received with open arms." After the visit to the Vatican the deputation issued this note: "The deputation regrets that the Roman Catholic Church will not be rep- resented in the world conference, as substantially all the rest of Christen- dom has promised to cooperate. The preparations for the conference will proceed and the deputation will continue its work, until invitations are presented to those communions which have not yet been reached."

The Roman Catholic Church would have stultified itself had it answered otherwise the application made in 1896 by the commission under Lord Halifax, from England, or that of 1919 by this body of Episcopal clergymen who set out from America; because the Catholic Church does claim to possess the power of the Priesthood by descent, and on the basis of that claim it must consider all sects and all other denominations as funda- mentally wrong in any claim they may assert to organic mem- bership in the Church of Christ. It is interesting to note that the Churchman, an Episcopal publication of influence, pub- lished in New York, expresses its feeling in this way:

The Roman Church is such a communion. It has been asked to take part in the conference. It has refused to do so. But it desires that those who may take part in the conference may see the light and return to the open arms of the mother Church. For these kind wishes, many thanks! Undoubtedly, in the years that are to come we shall journey to Rome again, and even again, we shall be told, as often as we journey thither,

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what we long ago knew, that there h only one way by which Rome can — approach the question of unity the submission of alien communions. It is well for Christendom that Rome is obdurate and is not wise enough to make concessions. Were she more flexible, more statesmanlike, some fine day she might by a winsome show of yielding entice Anglicanism back in- to her motherly arms. That would be a tragic event for Christendom.

Position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Time does not permit me to go into details further respect- ing the development of this movement; but there is one im- portant question with which we are concerned: Where does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stand with re- spect to this Inter-Church World Movement? I have seen intimations in print that we are trying to get in ; and those who have arrayed themselves against us are taking care to assure us that we are doomed to be disappointed. Let our stand be known: It is an absolute impossibility that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shall ever be affiliated in any man- ner with any other so-called church. We are willing to work with other organizations for the common good, for civic im- provement, and in any patriotic duty; but there can be no fed- eration that shall include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints, for this Church is absolutely unique. Remember that this Church is no sect. A sect is an organ- ization that has sprung from some preexistent organization, or sprouted from some already existent tree, a faction or section that has been cut off, or that has cut itself off, from some in- stitution that existed before. Even those who have been most hostile toward us have never charged us with having sprung from any other church, nor with having segregated ourselves from any preexisting community of religionists. This Church embodies the New and the Everlasting Coven- ant, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not in the sense of the letter which can be found in Sacred Writ, but in the sense of the actual living power to administer the ordinances of the Gospel. John's glorious prophecy of the coming of the angel, in the last days, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue and peo- ple, has found fulfilment; and .the Gospel could not have been brought from heaven to earth had it been existent upon the earth. But some may ask, had we not the Holy Bible which con- tains the words of Christ, the commission that he gave to his apostles, and the rules and laws of the Gospel? Verily so; but the Gospel is no mere book record. Remember it. It is more than that. The angel brought the authority to officiate in the ordinances. True, we may learn a good deal about baptism from the Holy Bible, as to its necessity, and we can learn enough

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to warrant firm inferences as to what is the true mode of its ad- ministration; but no familiarity with those things would give a man the right to baptize another. As was admitted at the Panama Exposition gathering, the Congress of Religious Philosophies, there are but two churches today upon the earth making any claim to the possession of the Holy Priesthood, and those two are the Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This Church was not organized upon human initiative. It was es- tablished by dispensation from the heavens. So, I repeat, we have no part nor lot in this matter of the amalgamation and the merging of sects and denominations. So far as those earthly organizations can accomplish greater good, in bettering the con- dition of their members and in looking after the unfortunates, we wish them well; but the very constitution upon which our Church is established was given of God, and we cannot change it.

Ushering in of a New Dispensation In that wondrous year of which this is the centennial, that is in the spring of 1820, God the Eternal Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, did really appear in bodily presence to Joseph Smith, and Jesus the Son of God told the boy, Joseph, to join none of the then existent sects or churches, inasmuch as they were all wrong. We have been charged with intolerance for promulgating that thought. Remember that was not Joseph's thought. Those were not Joseph's words. He did not make that declaration on his own responsibility. He only told what Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, had said unto him. Wherein were they wrong? Hear for yourselves, in the Lord's words: They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power there- of. Men may come together and effect organizations with a wondrously elaborate form of godliness, but they can never originate the power. You may fit up your homes, your offices, your church buildings, with electroliers and side-lamps, and they may be of the best kind that can be produced; but remem- ber that without the current they will be nothing but ornaments; and you will have to get that current by complying with duly prescribed conditions. Our answer to these insinuations, intimations, and the few positive statements that have come under my attention, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is looking for a chance to go into this great merger now proposed, let me say