The Intermediate Catechism defines the Church in two answers:
There is only one Church, in which all the saved, in heaven and on earth, are included, and of which Jesus Christ is the Head. The Church on earth is the whole body of those who confess Christ as Lord and Saviour, together with their children.
The catechism of the Baltimore Plenary Council repeats the customary Roman Catholic definition and devotes a number of questions to the nature and authority of the Church:
The Church is the congregation of all those who profess the faith of Christ, partake of the same Sacraments, and are governed by their lawful pastors under one visible Head.
This definition is followed by the statement that 'Our Holy Father the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, is the Vicar of Christ on earth and the visible Head of the Church.' The Catechism of Pius X.:
The Church is the company of true Christians, that is the baptized who profess the faith and doctrine of Jesus Christ, participate in his sacraments, and obey the pastors instituted by him. . . . The Church of Jesus Christ is the Catholic-Roman Church because it alone is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, as He wanted it to be.
[2249] Rev. William Price Hughes, Cont. Rev., Jan., 1899, expressed this high expectation which has not been fulfilled: 'Before we are twenty years older, all men will realize that this little catechism is one of the most wonderful and far-reaching facts of the wonderful century now hastening to its close.'
II. THE CORPORATE UNION OF CHURCH BODIES: BASES AND TERMS.
Lit. A selection is here given of the many works, larger and smaller, on the subject of Church reunion: G. J. Slosser: Christian Unity, N. Y., 1929, 425 pp.--G. K. A. Bell, Bp. of Chichester: Documents on Christian Unity, 2 vols., Oxf., 1924-30, 382, 225 pp.--P. Schaff: The Reunion of Christendom, N. Y., 1893, 46 pp. The enlargement of a paper read before the Chicago Parliament on Religions and his last literary work.--C. H. Briggs: Church Unity, N. Y., 1909, 459 pp.--W. R. Huntington: The Peace of the Ch., N. Y., 1891, 240 pp.--Newman Smyth: Passing Protestantism and Coming Catholicism, N. Y., 1908, 209 pp.; A Story of Ch. Unity, etc., New Haven, 1923, 87 pp.--Glover: The Free Churches and Reunion, Cambr., 1921, 56 pp.--W. T. Manning, Bp. of N. Y.: The Call to Unity, N. Y., 1920, 162 pp.--Headlam, Bp. of Gloucester: Doctr. of the Ch. and Church Reunion, London, 1920, 326 pp.--Bp. Soderblom: Christ. Fellowship, N. Y., 1923, 212 pp.--Rowley, Baptist: Aspects of Reunion, N. Y., 1924, 182 pp.--Hayes, Prof. Evanston: The Heights of Christ. Unity, Cin., 1927, 271 pp.--Marchant: The Reunion of Christendom. A Survey, 1929.--P. Ainslie: Towards Christ. Unity, Balt., 1918; The Scandal of Christianity, 1929.
During the last fifty years the movement towards the active co-operation or full union of Church bodies has called forth much amicable discussion in religious assemblies, in books, and in proposals looking to that goal, and has issued in the actual consolidation of certain Protestant communions. Historically, it received a mighty impetus from the Evangelical Alliance, whose articles showed the agreement of all Protestant bodies in the fundamental matters of doctrine and whose General Conferences, beginning with the conference in London, 1846, and especially the notable gathering in New York, 1873, gave exhibition of the fellowship between the individual members of the Protestant Churches throughout the world. The spirit of Christian fellowship and co-operation have shown themselves in various ways. The Revision of the English Scriptures was carried on by committees of British and American scholars composed of representative scholars of many denominations for fifteen years. The International Conventions of the Y. M. C. A. and the Sunday School Union and the Missionary Conferences of Edinburgh, 1910, and Jerusalem, 1928, have superseded the barriers of race and nationality and borne witness to common Christian aims. The work of the Salvation Army, ministering to the daily needs of mankind, has an important place in this connection. The consolidations of Churches in mission lands, Japan, China, North and South India, the Philippines, have set an example for the Churches at home to follow.
The unionistic movement has taken the forms of organic union, proposals of such union, and federation for the purpose of co-operation in practical work; and all with the purpose of more effectually furthering the progress of Christ's kingdom by conserving the forces of men and expenditures and avoiding the waste arising from the unwise multiplication of local churches and Church agencies. [2250] Such union and federation also serves to exhibit the substantial agreement within Protestantism in answer to the unjust attack from Roman Catholic sources that Protestant denominations are at discord in matters of essential Christian belief. Denominational divisions have been the natural if not inevitable result of the principle of Protestantism, the right of private judgment. A source of weakness, they have also been an evidence of inherent strength, serving a providential purpose by developing freedom and thoroughness in the study of the New Testament and the early and mediaeval history of the Christian Church, by quickening individual effort through competition, and by preventing the stagnation of religious thought and sameness of ritual, such as have marked certain parts of the Christian world. The amicable co-operation of Christian bodies is imperative. Organic union between them is desirable as a means of extending the message of the Gospel. Spiritual unity and fellowship are a mandate of the New Testament. Such unity is nobly expressed in the Anglican Bidding Prayer, by which ministers are bidden to 'pray for Christ's Holy Catholic Church, that is for the whole congregation of Christian people dispersed throughout the whole world.' A bidding prayer offered by the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 1919, speaks 'of the blessed company of all faithful people.' In all Protestant churches prayer is made for the Holy Catholic Church, meaning thereby the Holy Christian Church, as Luther would have altered the wording of the Apostles' Creed.
A list of the consolidations which have taken place between Church communions--which is not intended to be exhaustive--and the terms on which such consolidations have been effected seem to be in harmony with the purpose of these volumes and the mind of the author. It must not be forgotten that the first creed formulated in America, the Cambridge Platform, 1648, gave as one of its two ends 'the holding forth of the Unity and Harmony, both amongst and with other Churches,' and its authors declared that 'the more they discerned the unkind and un-brotherly and un-Christian contentions of our godly brethren and countrymen, in matters of church-government, the more they did earnestly desire to see them joyned together in one common faith, and ourselves with them' and that they did not 'desire to vary from the doctrine of faith, and truth held forth by the churches of our native country.' It may seem that the authors of the Platform took a strange way to show their regard for the unity for which they manifested concern, but it will not be forgotten that, in asserting the independence of the New England churches, they were also concerned for 'peace of conscience which the Platform declared 'more desirable than the peace of the outward man; and freedom from scruples of conscience more comfortable to a sincere heart than freedom from persecution.'
The Reunion of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church with the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., 1906.
The revision of the Westminster Confession of Faith by the Presbyterian Church North, 1903, modifying the definitions of the divine election and free will, opened the way for the return of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which had existed as an independent body for nearly a century, to the parent communion. A committee on 'Presbyterian fraternity and union' was appointed by the Cumberland Assembly, 1903, to 'confer with such like committees as may be appointed by other Presbyterian bodies in regard to the desirability and practicability of closer affiliation and organic union among the members of the Presbyterian family in the United States.' An immediate reply was given by the Presbyterian Church North in the appointment of a committee and a Basis of Union was favorably acted upon by a large majority of the presbyteries of both bodies. In 1906, 'the Union and Reunion' of the two bodies was declared to be 'in full force and effect.' At the same time the General Assembly of the Church North made the declaration that 'no acceptance of the doctrines of the Church is required of any communicant beyond a personal faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world and a sincere acceptance of him' and also that 'ministers, elders, and deacons, in approving the Confession as Revised, 1903, are required to assent only to the system of doctrine contained therein and not to every particular statement in it.' The representatives of the united bodies met in one General Assembly, 1907. At the time of the reunion, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church had 200,000 members, a number of whom chose to reorganize or continue an independent organization. The terms of the Basis of Union are as follows. See Min. of the Gen. Assembly of the U. S. A., 1903, p. 122; 1904, p. 119; 1905, p. 67; 1906, p. 2111 [2251]
"The union shall be effected on the doctrinal basis of the Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, as revised in 1903, and of its other doctrinal and ecclesiastical Standards; and the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments shall be acknowledged as the inspired Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice."
[2251] In 1920 the Calvinistic Methodist (or Welsh Presbyterian Church in the U. S.) was received into corporate union with the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. on the basis of the Westminster Confession and the Scriptures as the inspired Word of God and the infallible rule of faith and practice.
The Basis of the United Lutheran Church in the United States.
Organized Lutheranism in the American colonies dates from the Lutheran ministeriums of Philadelphia and New York formed respectively by Henry Melchior Mühlenberg, 1748, and his son, Frederick Augustus, 1786. Divided in part on account of degrees of doctrinal attachment to the Lutheran Standards and ritual observances, in part on matters of practical import such as membership in lodges and in part on account of national origins, Swedish, Norwegian, etc., groups have within the last twenty years entered into important consolidations and confederations. The consolidations are: 1. The United Lutheran Church in America, 1918, with 971,187 members, composed of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the United States in America, organized 1820, the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America, organized 1867, and the United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South, organized 1886. To the General Synod belonged the Hartwick, Gettysburg, and other theological seminaries, and to the General Council the Mt. Airy and other seminaries. 2. The American Lutheran Church, 1930, with 340,809 members, composed of the independent Joint Ohio, Iowa and Buffalo Synods. [2252] The American Lutheran Conference, constituted 1930, is a federation and includes the American Lutheran Church just mentioned, the Swedish Augustana Synod, the Norwegian and United Danish Churches, and the Lutheran Free Church. The Synodical Conference, numbering 873,454 members, 1930, is a federation of the Missouri Lutherans, the Joint Wisconsin Synod, and several small bodies. The Doctrinal Basis of Union of the United Lutheran Church in America is the following:
1.The United Lutheran Church in America receives and holds the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and as the only infallible rule and standard of faith and practice, according to which all doctrines and teachers are to be judged.
2.The United Lutheran Church in America accepts the three ecumenical creeds-- namely, the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian--as important testimonies drawn from the Holy Scriptures, and rejects all errors which they condemn.