It is asked, and with no little show of plausibility, Why--in
the face of such manifold hostility and such persistent opposition,
why press the movement for revision any further? Is it worth while
to divide public sentiment in the Church upon a question that
looks to many to be scarcely more than a literary one? Why not
drop the whole thing, and let it fall into the limbo, where lie
already the _Proposed Book_ and the _Memorial Papers_? For this
reason, and it is sufficient: There has arisen in America a
movement toward Christian unity, the like of which has not been
seen since the country was settled. It is the confident belief
of many that the key to the situation lies with that Church which
more truly than any other may be said to represent the historical
Christianity of the peoples of English stock. One of the elements
in this larger movement is the question of the form of worship.
The chief significance of _The Book Annexed_ lies in the claim made
for it by its friends, that more adequately than the present
Standard it supplies what may fairly be demanded as their manual
of worship by a people circumstanced like ours. While, in one
sense, more English than the present book in that it restores
liturgical treasures lost at the Revolution, it is also more
thoroughly American, in that it recognizes and allows for many
needs which the newly enfranchised colonists of 1789 could not
have been expected to foresee.
The question is, Shall we turn a cold shoulder on the movement
churchward of our non-Anglican brethren of the reformed faith,
doing our best to chill their approaches with a hard _Non possumus_,
or shall we go out to meet them with words of welcome on our lips?
Union under "the Latin obedience" is impossible. For us, in the face
of the decrees of 1870, there can be "no peace with Rome." The
Greeks are a good way off. Our true "solidarity," if "solidarity"
is to be achieved at all, is not with Celts, but with our own kith
and kin, the children of the Reformation. Is it wise of us to say
to these fellow Christians of ours, adherents of the Catholic Faith
as well as we, "Nay, but the nearer you draw to us the farther we
mean to draw away from you; the more closely you approximate to
Anglican religion, the more closely shall we, for the sake of
differencing ourselves from you, approximate to Vatican religion?"
In better harmony with the apostolic temper, in truer continuity
with the early churchmanship, should we be found, were we to join
voices thus:
_V_. Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
_R_. And he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.