On Sunday, October 23rd, Professor Goudge preached a sermon in St. Mary’s, Oxford, which has attracted a good deal of attention. Pleading for Reunion, he argued that while the Church as depicted in the New Testament seemed to have a monopoly of the Holy Spirit, present-day facts showed that such monopoly no longer existed. He admits that even ‘our fallen Sister’ speaks at times with the authority of the Spirit, nor ‘can we say for one moment that the Spirit of Pentecost is not present among the Protestant communions,’ while ‘a strong grasp of the Apostolic faith is found in the Church of England.’ But all have fallen short: Rome by her arrogance, cruelty, and refusal to repent, while England and all the Churches outside the Roman communion have suffered from ‘the nationalism from which the Roman Church is free.’ No shortcoming is expressly attributed to the so-called ‘free’ Churches; indeed, Professor Goudge almost idealises them: ‘Spiritual freedom is the greatest of their traditions; there will be no return to us until we, too, are free.’

What then, he asks, is the way to reunion? He frankly acknowledges that he does not see it yet, and that wet must all be content, therefore, to go slowly. But he sees room for hope in the ideas which prevailed at Lausanne : ‘we should jealously guard just that which corresponds to the Apostolic teaching;’ and the key to that lies in Apostolic Succession.