abandon them? Surely not. Let not apathy and indifference give the opportunity to those who seek it, of depriving the Church of her main and surest support, in seeking to regain for herself, not only among the rich, but among the poor, that position which, we believe, she will in time again occupy. Faith in this, as in every other part of the Church's work, is the condition of success. Those who are now losing heart should remember that now, as in olden time, our Master does not give to our endeavours that success which a more steadfast trust in our cause and in our work as being His work would be sure to effect for us. On the contrary, we have much cause for thankfulness; and we hope that all, both clergy and laity, will, with more united and greater efforts, support and help on the education of the children of the poor in our schools.

THE

SCOTTISH GUARDIAN.

OCTOBER 1865.

INTERCOMMUNION WITH THE EASTERN CHURCH. THE announcement made in our last number of the renewal of intercourse between the east and west, through the Church of Serbia, will be hailed, doubtless, by all churchmen as a happy angury for the Church of the future. There can be no doubt that the present anomalous state of Christendom is a great disgrace to Catholic Christendom. It matters little which Church is to blame; and there can be no doubt each church will be too glad to throw the responsibility upon its neighbour. The fact remains unaltered that the division exists; and there can be no doubt our Roman friends derive great advantage from the apparent irremediable schisms that prevail. Late events have, however, shown that this state of things is not without its remedy. The Lutheran Churches in Germany, the Churches in Denmark and Sweden, and, finally, the Eastern Church, mustering some eighty millions of members, have demonstrated not only a strong desire to re-unite upon a Catholic platform, but have very manfully acknowledged the false position they have so long occupied. Members of the Roman Church in Italy and France have to a certain extent inconsistently admitted the anomaly of their position. The early Christians went a far way to heal up divisions. They were not too nice in inquiring into the causes of them. It was no mere matter of business to be settled upon mere business principles. Intercommunion must grow of itself without didactic articles of Union which all parties seek to evade and explain away. Intercom

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munion must be effected by spiritual means, otherwise it becomes a hollow compromise which reflects discredit upon all concerned. All examples of pedantic unions formed between Churches have only led to further disunions, and so we trust that there will be no new articles or learned discussions, but that the churches will combine upon the Catholic basis of the three creeds and the six Ecumenical Councils; but it is very desirable that there should be a clear understanding as to the leading doctrines which separate the churches, and it may be well that we direct the attention of our readers to a paper issued by the American Russo-Greek Committee, which touches very clearly and exhaustively upon some of the points at issue between the Churches of Greece and Rome. A circulation of this document, and the discussions to which a careful reading of it must necessarily lead, will do much to disabuse the public mind of certain prejudices which very naturally prevail upon this matter, and which a ventilation of the real doctrines held by the Church of Greece can alone dispel. It is quite evident that it is not for us to raise unnecessary discussions. Intercommunion with the churches in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and Asia cannot raise questions for debate, more complex and intricate than those which at present are discussed amongst us. Holding, as we do, the extreme importance of a wise comprehension, and freedom of debate upon all matters not settled before the division of the East and West, the Scottish Church is the last Church which should stand in the way of intercommunion upon the broadest and most comprehensive terms. Even in the medieval Church, the schoolmen debated freely all the questions now agitating the polemical world, and at the present time no Church is so divided in opinion as that of Rome upon all the points which dissever Christendom. In no church does Calvin receive more strenuous supporters, and in no church is greater latitudinarianism admitted upon even the essentials of the Faith. The only mark which distinguishes it really is outward unity, based upon two texts of Scripture, relative to the authority of St. Peter, the supposed Bishop of Rome. Without, in any way, admitting this clearly fallacious theory of Rome, we yet may emulate her in her love of a desire for unity, and we can found this unity, not upon the basis of a centralised executive, but upon a community of doctrine and of feeling such as did exist in the time of the Apostles, and such as has been recognised in all ages of the church. The

Church Catholic cannot abdicate her functions even if she wished it. She must be one, unless she cease to be the Church of Christ altogether. She must be one body, and each member must have his special functions in that body, or else she ceases to be the body of Christ at all. Christendom is at length ripe for this renewal, and we should be wanting in our primary duties, as members of the Church, if we did not lend a hand to facilitate this re-union in every way that opportunity admits of. We, therefore, gladly call attention to those points of difference which exist between the Churches of Greece and Rome, with the avowed object of demonstrating that there is nothing in the Greek creed to prevent intercommunion between the Eastern and Anglican Churches; and we will glance very cursorily over the points of difference, which, doubtless, will not a little startle many of our readers :—

We cannot, in a single article, discuss all the questions at issue between the Churches of Greece and Rome, but we think we have said enough to show that there is much common ground between Greece and ourselves, and that we cannot be too grateful to the Church of Serbia for taking the bold and judicious step to renew intercourse with a communion united by the fraternal bonds of a