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CHRISTIAN UNITY: ITS PRINCIPLES
AND POSSIBILITIES

FINAL REPORTS OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE
WAR AND THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK
Religion among American Men. (Ready.)
The Missionary Outlook in the Light of the War. (Ready.)
The Church and Industrial Reconstruction. (Ready.)
Christian Unity: Its Principles and PossiBiLi'nEs. (Ready.)
The Teaching Work of the Church.

CHRISTIAN UNITY:
ITS PRINCIPLES AND
POSSIBILITIES

THE COMMITTEE ON THE WAR
AND THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK

ASSOCIATION PRESS
New York: 347 Madison Avenue
1921

Copyright, 1921, by
William Adams Brown

MmrZ5 Cn3

EDITORIAL PREFACE
I. The Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook
and Its Work
This volume is one in a series of studies that is being
brought out by the Committee on the War and the Reli
gious Outlook. The Committee was constituted, while the
war was still in progress, by the joint action of the Federal
Council of the Churches of Christ in America and the Gen
eral War-Time Commission of the Churches and was an
expression of the conviction that the war had laid upon
the churches the duty of the most thorough self-examina
tion. The Committee consisted of a small group of rep
resentative men and women of the various Protestant
Churches, appointed "to consider the state of religion as
revealed or affected by the war, with special reference to
the duty and opportunity of the Churches, and to prepaid
these findings for submission to the Churches." While
created through the initiative of the Federal Council and
the General War-Time Commission, it was given entire
freedom to act independently according to its own judg
ment and was empowered to add to its number.
The Committee was originally organized with Presi
dent Henry Churchill King as its Chairman and Profes
sor William Adams Brown as Vice-Chairman. On ac
count of prolonged absence in Europe, President King
was compelled to resign the chairmanship in the spring of
1919 and Professor Brown became the Chairman of the
group, with President King and Rev. Charles W. Gilkey
as Vice-Chairmen. Rev. Samuel McCrea Cavert was
chosen to serve as Secretary of the Committee and Rev.
Angus Dun was Associate Secretary for several months.
The peculiar significance of the Committee lies in the

vi EDITORIAL PREFACE
fact that it was appointed to do nothing except to study.
It has proceeded on the assumption that the Churches
need to do serious thinking and to think together.
When the Committee began its work four main lines
of inquiry suggested themselves as of chief impor
tance :
I. What effect has the war had upon the personal reli
gious experience? How far has it reenforced, how far
altered the existing type of religious life and thought?
2. What effect has the war had upon the organized
Christian Church ? What changes, if any, are called for
in its spirit and activities ?
3. What effect has the war had upon Christian teach
ing? What changes, if any, are called for in the content
or method of the Church's teaching ?
4. What effect has the war had upon the duty of the
Church with reference to social problems of the time?
What reconstructions are needed to make our social
order more Christian ?
As the Committee proceeded with these inquiries, sev
eral distinct fields of investigation emerged and led the
Committee to adopt the plan of bringing out a. group of
reports instead of a single volume. Three of these studies
have already appeared. The first was entitled "Religion
among American Men: as Revealed by a Study of Con
ditions in the Army," and dealt with the lessons learned
from the experience of chaplains and other religious
workers in the army. The second volume, entitled, "The
Missionary Outlook in the Light of the War," considered
the bearing of th^ new international situation on the sig
nificance, the policies, and the opportunities of foreign
missions. The third report, "The Church and Industrial
Reconstruction," was concerned with the responsibility of
the Church for Christianizing industrial relationships.
Another report which will soon appear will deal with the
teaching work of the Church in the light of the present
situation. The present volume is an earnest attempt to

EDITORIAL PREFACE vii
study the problem of church unity and to discover the
path of progress for the future.
Earlier preliminary publications of the Committee con
sisted of a comprehensive bibliography on the War and
Religion and a series of pamphlets under the general
heading, "The Religious Outlook," including the follow
ing numbers :
"The War and the Religious Outlook," by Dr. Robert
E. Speer; "Christian Principles Essential to a New
World Order," by President W. H. P. Faunce; "The
Church's Message to the Nation," by Professor Harry
Emerson Fosdick; "Christian Principles and Industrial
Reconstruction," by Bishop Francis J. McConnell ; "The
Church and Religious Education," by President William
Douglas Mackenzie; "The New Home Mission of the
Church," by Dr. William P. Shriver ; "Christian Aspects
of Economic Reconstruction," by Professor Herbert N.
Shenton; "The War and the Woman Point of View,"
by Rhoda E. McCulloch ; "The Local Church after the
War," by Rev. Charles W. Gilkey.
Our special thanks are due to Association Press, which
has assumed responsibility for issuing the publications of
the Committee.
II. The Present Volume
The present report has been prepared by a special sub
committee, created by the Committee on the War and the
Religious Outlook, under the chairmanship of Dr. Robert
E. Speer.
The membership was as follows :
Rev. Peter Ainslie, President of the Association for the
Promotion of Christian Unity
Rev. Alfred Williams Anthony, Executive Secretary of
the Home Missions Council
President Clarence A. Barbour, of the Rochester Theo
logical Seminary
Rev. Arthur J. Brown, Secretary of the Board of For-

viii EDITORIAL PREFACE
eign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the
U. S. A.
Rev. William Adams Brown, Professor in the Union
Theological Seminary
Rev. Samuel McCrea Cavert, Secretary of the Committee
on the War and the Religious Outlook
Rev. James H. Franklin, Secretary of the American Bap
tist Foreign Mission Society
Rev. Roy B. Guild, Secretary of the Commission on
Councils of Churches of the Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America
Rev. Hubert C. Herring, Secretary of the National Coun
cil of Congregational Churches'
Professor Charles M. Jacobs, of the Lutheran Theologi
cal Seminary
Rev. Frederick H. Knubel, President of the United Lu
theran Church
Rt. Rev. Arthur S. Lloyd, Bishop of the Protestant Epis
copal Church
Rev. Henry H. Meyer, Editor of Sunday School Publi
cations of the Methodist Episcopal Church
Rev. Frank Mason North, Secretary of the Board of For
eign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church
Professor George W. Richards, President of thef (^neral
Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States
Dr. Robert E. Speer, Secretary of the Board of Foreign
Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.
President J. Ross Stevenson, of the Princeton Theological
Seminary
Professor Williston Walker, of the Yale Divinity School.
Dean Henry B. Washburn, of the Episcopal Theological
School at Cambridge
Professor Herbert L. Willett, of the Disciples' Divinity
House of the University of Chicago
'The section of this report, entitled, "The Congregational
Churches and Church Unity," was prepared by Dr. Herring for
the Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook only a few
days before his lamented death.

EDITORIAL PREFACE ix
This committee held several conferences for the dis
cussion of the problems to be faced and the formulation
of its point of view, one of them consisting of a two days'
retreat (July 12 and 13, 1920) at Wallace Lodge, Yon-
kers, N. Y.
In the table of contents the names of those who have
been primarily responsible for the various parts of the
report are set beneath the titles of the chapters. No chap
ter, however, represents simply the point of view of a
single individual. In all cases the manuscripts were sub
mitted to the whole Committee for discussion, criticism,
and suggestions. The volume, therefore, is not merely a
symposium but the product of collective study.
For the final form of the volume an editorial commit
tee, consisting of Dr. Speer, Dr. William Adams Brown,
and the Secretary, was responsible.
November 15, 1920. Samuel McCrea Cavert, Secretary,
Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook
Mrs. Fred S. Bennett Rev. Charles S. Macfarland
Rev. Wm. Adams Brown Pres. Wm. D. Mackenzie
Miss Mabel Cratty Dean Shailer Mathews
Mr. George W. Coleman Dr. John R. Mott
Pres. W. H. P. Faunce Rev. Frank Mason North
Prof. Harry E. Fosdick Dr. E. C. Richardson
Rev. Charles W. Gilkey Very Rev. H. C. Robbins
Mr. Frederick Harris Right Rev. Logan H. Roots
Prof. W. E. Hocking Dr. Robert E. Speer
Rev. Samuel G. Inman Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes
Prof. Charles M. Jacobs Rev. James I. Vance
Pres. Henry Churchill King Very Rev. Henry B. Washburn
Bishop Walter R. Larabuth Pres. Mary E. WooUey
Bishop F. J. McConnell Prof. Henry B. Wright
Rev. William Adams Brown, Chairman
Pres. Henry Churchill King, V ice-Chairman
Rev. Charles W. Gilkey, Vice-Chairman
Rev. Samuel McCrea Cavert, Secretary
IDS East 22d St., New York

CONTENTS PAGE
Editorial Preface  v
Introduction  i
William Adams Brown
I. The Purpose of the Report  i
2. The Occasion of the Report  2
3. The Meaning of Unity and Union as Discussed
in the Report  8
4. The Scope of the Report  12
PART I
The Present Situation
I. The War and Christian Unity  19
Robert E. Speer
I. The New Demands upon the Churches  19
2. The Agencies of the Churches for War-Time
Service  22
3. The Problem of Unity Which Emerged  27
4. The Problems of Unity Which Remain for the
Future  34
a. The Relation between the Christian Asso
ciations and the Churches  35
b. The Relation of the Denominations to One
Another  36
II. The Present Situation in the Denomina'hons  45
I. The Congregational Churches and Unity 46
Hubert C. Herring
2. The Disciples and Unity  52
Peter Ainslie
3. The Lutheran Church and Unity  57
Frederick H. Knubel and Charles M. Jacobs
4. The Methodist Church and Unity  63
Frank Mason North
5. The Churches of the Northern Baptist
Convention and Unity  70
Clarence A. Barbour
6. The Presbyterian Church and Unity  77
J. Ross Stevenson
7. The Protestant Episcopal Church and Unity 83
Henry B. Washburn
8. Other Churches and the Problem of Unity. 90
Samuel McCrea Cavert xi

xii CONTENTS page
III. The Present Status of Local Cooperation  96
The Movement toward Church Unity in
Small Communities  96
Alfred Williams Anthony
a. Early Efforts to Stop Waste of Resources . . 97
b. The Union Church  97
c. The Federated Church  99
d. The Denominational Church Functioning
for the Whole Community  102
e. The Present Responsibility for Developing
Community Churches  107
2. The Federation of Churches in Cities and
States  no
Roy B. Guild
a. The Development of Local Cooperation . . in
b. Principles Underlying Local Cooperation.. 115
c. What Is Achieved by Cooperation  118
IV. The Present Situation in the Church as a Whole
Robert E. Speer
I. The Undenominational Movement  123
a. The Young Men's Christian Association. . . 126
b. The Young Women's Christian Association. 132
2. The Movement toward Administrative Union .. . 134
a. In Separate Lines of Activity  135
(i) The Foreign Missions Conference
(2) The Home Missions Council
(3) The Council of Church Boards of
Education
(4) The Sunday School Council 
b. On an Inclusive Scale: The Interchurch
World Movement  140
3. The Movement toward Federal Union: the Fed
eral Council  150
4. The Movement toward Organic Union  156
a. The Philadelphia Conference on Organic
Union  1 56
b. The World Conference on Faith and Order. 160
V. Present Problems in the Movement toward
Union  165
William Adams Brown
1. Factors Which Impede the Movement toward
Union  i68
a. Factors Growing out of the Past History of
the Existing Churches  168
b. Factors Growing out of Differences of
Religious Conviction  171

CONTENTS xiii
page
c. Factors Due to Permanent Differences in
the Type of Religious Experience  175
d. Factors Due to Lack of Clear Perception of
the Question at Issue  178
2. Factors Which Further the Movement toward
Union  178
a. Factors Growing out of the Nature of the
Christian Religion Itself  179
b. Factors Growing out of the World's Need
of a United Church  182
c. Factors Growing out of Past Experience of
the Practice of Cooperation  185
d. Factors Growing out of a Better Under
standing of the Nature of the Union to
Be Sought  187
3. Points of Contact between Differing Attitudes
toward the Existing Churches  189
4. Bearing on the Different Kinds of Union
Proposed  192
a. Administrative Union  193
b. Federal Union  194
c. Organic Union  198
PART n
The Historical Background
VI. Divisive and Unitive Forces in the Christian
Church Prior to the American Period  207
George W. Richards
I. The Apostolic Period  207
2. The Catholic Period  212
3. The Protestant Period  217
4. Bearing on the Present Situation  227
VII. The Development of the Denominations in
American Christianity  230
George W. Richards
I. The Influence of the New Surroundings on the
Churches  232
2. The Attitude of the Churches toward One
Another in the Colonial Period  235
3. Causes of Divisions in the American Churches . . 239
4. Attempts at Union of American Churches  245
VIII. Undenominational Movements in the United States 256
Herbert L. Willett
I. The Revival Movements  258
2. The Evangelical Alliance  262
3. The Young Men's Christian Association  267

xiv CONTENTS page
4. The Young Women's Christian Association  271
5. The Student Movement  273
6. Laymen's and Young People's Movements  276
7. Movements for Social Reform  280
IX. Interdenominational Movements in the United
States  285
I. The Cooperative Movement in the Early
Part of the Nineteenth Century  285
Williston Walker
a. Cooperation between Congregationalists and
Presbyterians in the "Plan of Union" . . . 285
b. The American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions as a Cooperative Enter
prise  290
c. Cooperation in the American Bible Society . 295
d. Rise of the Christian Denomination (Dis
ciples) as anEffort to Secure Organic Union 298
2. Foreign Missions and Christian Unity  302
Arthur J. Brown and S. M. Cavert
a. Cooperation in Missionary Work  304
b. Building up a United Church in Foreign
Lands  309
3. Religious Education and Christian Unity.. 317
Henry H. Meyer
a. The Development of Cooperation  318
b. The Present Necessity for Greater Coopera
tion  323
PART in
The Future
X. Principles Which Underlie Further Progress .... 327
I. Principles Which Define the Nature of the Union
to Be Sought  328
2. Principles Which Define the Method to Be Fol
lowed  335
3. Consequences for the Future  342
APPENDICES
I. Movements toward Union in Other Countries .... 349
Newman Smyth and S. M. Cavert
II. Plan of the American Council on Organic Union. 355
III. The Lambeth Statement on Reunion  359
I V. The Geneva Conferences in 1920  366
William Pierson Merrill
V. Selected Bibliography  371
Index  383

INTRODUCTION
In other studies the Committee on the War and the
Religious Outlook has considered certain phases of the
Church's experience and of the Church's responsibility —
notably the missionary work of the Church, the relation
of the Church to industrial problems, and the responsibil
ity of the Church for religious education. But all these
questions force us back to a deeper question, namely, the
question of the nature of the Church itself. We speak
of the responsibility of the Church for evangelism, for
teaching, for promoting social justice and good will.
But what is this Church which must do these things?
Where is it to be found, and how is it to function? Ac
cording as we answer this question will be our attitude
toward each of the more specific questions concerning
the Church's responsibility. According as we find some
way to make our convictions as to this supreme Christian
interest effective in action will be our hope of success,
or our certainty of failure, all along the line.
I. The Purpose of the Report
This central and fundamental question will concern us
in the present volume. Our theme will be the nature of
the Church and its method of operation. And here we
find the surprising fact that when we raise this question
there is no single body to which we can go for an authori
tative answer. What we see is not a church but churches,
each with its own independent history, each with its highly
developed organization, each responsible primarily to its
own constituency for that part of the work of Christ
which falls to its lot. It is clear that if we are to have a
satisfactory conception of the Church we must begin by
considering the relation between the churches. We must
determine whether they are parts of a larger unity and.

2 INTRODUCTION
if so, in what way that unity manifests itself and what
can be done to provide it with more effective organs of
expression. This question in turn falls into two parts, closely re
lated indeed, but still separable. The first is a question of
spiritual attitude and temper of mind ; the second, of or
ganization and machinery. How far, as a matter of fact,
are the churches one in spirit? How far have they
found means to express that inner unity in organs of
common activity? The first is the question of Christian
unity in the largest sense; the second the question of
church unity. It is with the second of these questions
that we shall be particularly concerned in this report. We
shall ask ourselves to what extent the churches have
found means to express their common unity in action, to
what extent the one true spiritual Church, in which all
Christians profess to believe, has succeeded in creating
the instruments through which it can reveal its presence to
the world and perform the tasks committed to it by Jesus
Christ, the great Head of the Church. And if it has not
yet succeeded, as all must confess that it has not, what
are the prospects of its succeeding in the future? What
plans are being made, and with what hope of success,
for furnishing Christians, who profess to be one, with
the means of demonstrating that unity to those who do
not now believe in it?
2. The Occasion of the Report
Important at all times, the subject we propose for dis
cussion is imperative today. For here, as so often, prac
tice will not wait for theory. Partly as a result of the
war, partly owing to causes that long antedate it, the
movement toward unity among the churches has been
developing with surprising rapidity. The Interchurch
World Movement was only the most widely advertised
of a number of movements that have engaged the atten
tion not of individual Christians only but of responsible

INTRODUCTION 3
ecclesiastical bodies. Not to speak of older organizations
like the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in
America and the Young Men's and Young Women's
Christian Associations, all three of which, as a result of
the war, have been expanding their activities in interest
ing and significant ways ; not to mention the recent activi
ties of the Commission on Faith and Order, there have
been a number of new movements that deserve careful at
tention. There is the recent movement for organic union
initiated by the Presbyterian Church, which has resulted
in the Philadelphia Conference and the presentation of a
definite plan to the churches. There are the various pro
posals looking toward the reunion of the members of
closely related ecclesiastical bodies, such as separated
branches of Methodists and of Presbyterians. There is
the significant multiplication of local federations and the
growth of sentiment in favor of the community church,
which has already given rise to a number of interesting
experiments, and the very suggestive proposal of the so-
called Concordat between the Episcopal and Congrega
tional Churches. Indeed, so many and so vigorous are the
different movements for greater unity among Christians
that it has been seriously suggested that we need a new
movement to unite the existing movements for unity.
But there is another reason which makes the present
study timely. For although as a result of the war there
has been a rapid development of the movement toward
unity, there are not wanting signs that a reaction has
begun to set in. The fate of the Interchurch World
Movement is a case in point. Begun under the over
whelming impiilse of the war, this enterprise, like the
similar movement in politics which gave rise to the
League of Nations, seemed to promise the immediate
realization of results of the highest possible significance.
Under the spell of the enthusiasm which it called forth,
difficulties which had hitherto been deemed insuperable
appeared of slight importance. It now seems, however, as

4 INTRODUCTION
if too little account had been taken of the inherent diffi
culties in the case, and methods of publicity and ad
vertising had been relied upon to take the place of
those slower measures of education which require years
for their consummation. In the reaction against these
exaggerated expectations there are many who are inclined
to depreciate the entire interdenominational movement,
and to see in a return to the old denominational rivalry —
the analogue in religion of the strife of nations which we
had fervently hoped the war was to end — ^the only hope
for the future of religion.
Such a view, it need hardly be said, is shortsighted.
History has its eddies, but the main course of the stream
is onward to the sea. The movement toward unity among
churches, as among nations, may have received a tem
porary check, but it is only to gather its forces for a new
advance. If there have been mistakes they will be cor
rected. If there are lessons to take to heart they will be
learned. But of one thing we may be sure. In the great
enterprise of uniting all the Christian forces for an effec
tive forward movement against the hosts of selfishness
and unbelief, there can be no turning back.
It is as a contribution to the reenforcement of this
faith that this report is offered. The work of many
hands, it is inspired by a single purpose. It is our hope
to furnish, to those who are trying to guide the movement
toward Christian unity into safe and fruitful channels,
the information they need for wise, constructive, and per
manent work. With this purpose in mind we propose to
survey the different forms which the movement for
unity has taken, not only among the different denomina
tions of Christians, but within each of the more impor
tant Christian churches. For unity — it can never be too
often insisted — is no less a task to be achieved within
each communion itself than between the different com
munions. We shall try to analyze the motives from
which the desire for unity springs, to weigh the obstacles

INTRODUCTION 5
which impede and the helpful influences which reenforce
the movement, and from this study to gain certain prin
ciples which may guide in laying plans for the future.'
It was the experience of the churches in the war which
suggested the studies of which this is the conclusion and
created the contacts which made them possible. This
experience, moreover, contributed much to our under
standing of the problems of Christian unity. In the first
place, it revealed to us the extent of the unity which al
ready existed. In the second place, it showed us new
ways in which the existing unity could find expression in
action. Along both these lines it taught us lessons of the
highest significance for the future.
To be sure, the extent of this twofold contribution has
not as yet been generally recognized. Amid the pressure
of more dramatic events the work of the Church held
small place in the imagination of the public. Much of it
was indirect and self-effacing, rendered through other
agencies, and finding no formal record in reports and bul
letins. What was done officially was done through many
different instrumentalities, and the story of their achieve
ments has not yet been — perhaps never will be — com
pletely told. Nevertheless, it is true that the story is well
worth telling. It is worth telling because of what it re
veals as to the progress made in the past. It is worth
telling because of what it teaches as to the possibilities
of the future.
It is worth telling, we repeat, because of what it reveals
as to the progress made in the past. The movement for
Christian unity is not of recent origin. It is as old as
Christianity itself,' and the cooperation attained during

'The present study confines itself to the movement toward
church unity in the United States. An important appendix,
however, discusses present movements in other countries than
the United States.
'This fact is made abundantly clear in the section dealing with
the divisive and the unitive forces in the history of Christianity
prior to the Araerican period.

6 INTRODUCTION
the war was possible only because of earlier experiments
which had made the idea of unity familiar to multitudes
of Christians and had intensified their purpose to realize
it. When war broke out there was no time to educate
men as to the importance of Christians getting together.
We had to make shift with such unity as we already had.
Our problem was to find agencies through which this
unity could express itself in the most effective and ex
peditious way. What was done, therefore, is instructive,
not least of all for this, that it shows us to what extent
our efforts after unity have thus far attained.
This was true both within the individual denominations
and in the broader sphere of interchurch relations. In
each case the war gave the existing desire for unity a
mighty impetus. The new responsibilities confronting
each denomination were in themselves a summons to
more unified denominational undertakings. The inade
quacies of former procedure were more clearly seen.
Churches that had no organ through which they could
function between the meetings of their highest judicato
ries became conscious of a lack, as they faced the unex
pected demands upon them. Those churches which hap
pened to be meeting in annual assembly soon after the out
break of the war were in a position to create war commis
sions promptly, but others found themselves perplexed by
lack of adequate machinery. But it is in the larger field of
interdenominational cooperation that the lessons of the
war were specially instructive. Here, too, it was not
merely a matter of recognizing the sentiment for unity,
but of creating agencies through which this sentiment
could find expression in action. In the General War-
Time Commission of the Churches nearly forty different
religious bodies found an agency of common action. The
study of the steps through which this agency was brought
into being and the principles on which it operated is,
therefore, full of instruction to the student of Christian
unity.

INTRODUCTION 7
But in addition to this war-time experience, the situa
tion in which the Church finds itself today summons us
to a thorough study of the problem of Christian unity.
The troubles into which the Interchurch World Move-*^
ment fell do not mean that the causes which have brought
it into being have ceased to operate any more than a tem
porary failure of the League of Nations means that it is
possible for America to revert to the position of national
isolation which it held before the war. In Church as in
State, isolation is unthinkable. On every side Christians
are confronted by issues which render cooperation inev
itable. The only question which remains to be discussed
is that of method. Take any one of the phases of reli
gious interest which challenge us strongly today, and we
are brought back to the problem of unity. There is the
task of Christian missions in the widest sense. Facing
as we do in all the non-Christian countries not only a re
vived national consciousness, but with it a renewed vital
ity in the religions which are so intimately associated with
this consciousness, how futile it is to suppose that a
divided Christianity can be adequate ! There is the task
of Christianizing our industrial relations. Here, too, we
find unity an indispensable condition of success. Face
to face with the enormous aggregations of capital on the
one hand and of labor on the other, what hope is there of
bringing Christian principles to prevail, unless Chris
tians themselves are agreed as to what these principles
are and have some organ through which to bring these
principles to expression? Above all, in the matter of
Christian education is unity essential. Where so many
and such powerful influences are working to destroy
faith in God and in a spiritual order in the universe,
where there are such wide areas in which the elementary
principles of our Christian religion are ignored, or even
unknown, what prospect is there of meeting the need of
the rising generation for a sympathetic teaching of the
fundamentals of the Gospel, unless those who are alike

8 INTRODUCTION
responsible for success come together for a common at
tack upon the common task?
But there is a reason even deeper and more fundamen
tal still. The unity of Christians is important not simply
because of what it enables us to do, but of what it helps
us to express. It is a witness to the truth of the central
tenet of our religion, that there is one God who is Father
of us all, one Christ who is Master of us all, and one
Spirit who inspires and vitalizes us all. When the aspira
tions of mankind after unity, cherished through years of
agony and sealed by an unexampled sacrifice, have been
so rudely shaken; when so many are turning back with
heavy hearts to the old selfish and divided life, in politics,
in industry, in the wider sphere of international relations,
what counterpoise can be found powerful enough to hold
the faith of humanity steady and keep it from sinking
back to the old level of doubt and despair? What but
the spectacle of a society of men, wide as mankind and
as diversified in interests, who have yet found in their
religion a bond that has made them one indeed, and are
witnesses through their activities to the reality of such a
unity? In this witness to the world, the central object of
our Lord's high-priestly prayer — "that they all may be
one, that the world may believe" — is to be found the su
preme motive to Christian unity.
3. The Meaning of Unity and Union as Discussed
IN THE Report
In discussions of Christian unity confusion often arises
because of lack of agreement as to the meaning of com
mon terms. We shall, therefore, first attempt to call at
tention to certain distinctions, frequently overlooked, and
to suggest a use of terms which will be followed in our
subsequent discussion and which may conduce to clear
ness and mutual understanding.'
'The definitions here given are only preliminary to the general
discussion. The meaning and significance of the different kinds
of union are considered in detail in a later chapter.

INTRODUCTION 9
At the outset it is important to distinguish
a. Between unity and union. The first is a matter of
inner spirit; the latter of external organization. Chris
tians already possess unity in the measure that they are
one with Christ in spirit, and as such are members of His
one invisible Church — the company of all who share His
divine and redeeming life.
Union, on the other hand, has to do with the form of
outward organization. It concerns churches as corporate
bodies rather than the individuals who compose them.
It means the expression of the inner unity of Chris
tians in an external unity among the churches. This dis
tinction is often not observjed but it is essential to clear
discussion. And since it is with the relationships of
churches that we are primarily concerned in this report,
the term union is usually the more accurate one. All the
movements which we have presently to discuss — whether
organic, federal, or administrative — which take place in
the region of official institutional life and affect churches
in their corporate capacity, are a part of the general prob
lem of union.*
Within the general field of union we must further
distinguish b. Between such forms of union as are brought about
by the official action of church bodies, local or national,
and the union of individual Christians in associations or
societies, such as the Young Men's and the Young Wom
en's Christian Associations. These are themselves incor-

*In the interest of strict accuracy a distinction should also be
made between cooperation, as meaning any joint action so long
as it remains unofficial and temporary, and union, as meaning
official action based on approved and permanent rules mutually
agreed upon. In practice the line of demarcation between the
two is difficult to draw.
The difference between unity, as meaning essential oneness of
spirit, and uniformity, as meaning identity of expression, we
assume to be fully recognized. It is less generally perceived that
a similar- distinction needs to be made between union and uni
formity. The nature and possible extent of this difference will
be discussed later.

ID INTRODUCTION
porated bodies performing many of the functions of
churches and might conceivably develop into new denom
inations, to be considered with other churches in any
thoroughgoing discussion of church union. But they
themselves disclaim this position. They profess to be
voluntary associations of Christians banded together for
definite purposes, but leaving the membership and respon
sibility of their individual members with the churches
to which they belong. Their nearest analogy is the or
ders in the Roman Catholic Church, but they differ in that
the latter are officially sanctioned and controlled by the
Church, whereas this is not the case in American Protes
tantism. In so far as any relation of official recognition
and control is brought about between the Y M C A and
the churches, as has been done in Scotland, the Y M C A
is removed from the category of purely voluntary
organizations and becomes a part of the Church which
is the subject of the various plans of union to be dis
cussed. Where this is not the case the Associations re
main voluntary bodies, outside the particular sphere of
our immediate discussion."
Within the sphere of church union as thus limited and
defined, we must observe the difference
c. Between union as a problem which affects denom
inations as a whole and such forms of union as are pos
sible between sections or agencies of churches — for ex
ample, between church boards, educational institutions,
or individual local churches. In general we shall use the
term "administrative union" to denote the latter of these
forms of union, leaving "organic" and "federal union" to
designate the former. By administrative union we shall
understand any definite arrangement between official
agencies of the churches which makes possible common

'What is true of the Christian Associations is true also of
such federations of churches as are constituted by the action of
individuals and not of churches as such, for example, the New
York City Federation.

INTRODUCTION ii
responsibility and united action in the planning of poli
cies, the spending of money, or the doing of work. Such
union in turn may be either national, regional, or local.
Among denominations as corporate units we must dis
tinguish d. Between federal and organic union. By federal
union we shall understand any form of official union
between denominations as a whole which leaves their orig
inal organization unimpaired. The parties to a federal
union delegate certain powers to another agency but
with the proviso that they are able to resume them
at any time. Organic union, however, carries with it a
certain note of irrevocableness. It may be more or less
extensive, involving the transfer of responsibility in many
matters or in few but in so far as power is delegated it is
done so with the idea of definitely building up a new and
permanently responsible authority.
While it is not hard to distinguish in theory between
administrative, federal, and organic union along the lines
above indicated it is difficult to. carry out these distinc
tions consistently in practice. This is due partly to the
fact that the terms are used by different people in different
and often inconsistent senses, partly to the fact that the
territory covered by them overlaps. The terms, as we
shall see more clearly later, are not exclusive. There may,
indeed, be union which is at once administrative, federal,
and organic. And there may be many cases of union of
which it is not easy to say at any moment of time whether
they are primarily one or the other. We are dealing here
with living organisms, not with changeless organizations,
and in the process of change from one form of union into
another we may not be able to recognize the exact moment
when the transition is made.
Finally we must distinguish
e. Between union as a problem affecting the whole
Church, or at least all that section of the Church included
within a certain geographical area (e. g. the United

12 INTRODUCTION
States) and the union of church bodies of the same or
closely affiliated families. Those who speak of organic
union commonly have the first in mind, though the term
is equally apphcable in the second and narrower sphere.
Thus to many organic union is a synonym for the reunion
of all Christendom. To them it means such unity in the
whole outward organization as shall correspond to an
existing inner unity, which we have already distinguished
from union as purely spiritual. This use is naturally
suggested by the word "organic," which is a vital rather
than a legal term and so seems to be particularly appli
cable when we are thinking of the whole body of the
Church. It would tend to clarify our thought if we could
have a different term for designating a union which is
"organic" so far as it goes, but which may be less in
clusive than the entire Church. And since we are consid
ering institutions and organizations the phrase "corporate
union," in the sense of a union of two or more corporate
bodies, suggests itself as a term which is clearly equally
applicable both to the union of all churches and of any
two or more. We could then leave the term organic
union to designate the ultimate ideal of a completely uni
fied Christendom. For the present, however, the use of
the word organic union in both senses is so widespread
that it is impossible to dispense with it. We shall, there
fore, continue to use it to designate any form of corpo
rate union which, under the terms of the union contem
plated, carries with it the implication of finality.
4. The Scope of the Report
In the present study we shall deal primarily with ques
tions of church union or, in other words, questions which
affect the relation between the denominations themselves.
This movement, as we shall see, has two main forms, often
associated respectively with the terms federal union and
organic union. The first takes its departure from the
existing church organizations and tries to find means .of

INTRODUCTION 13
bringing about closer cooperation and fellowship between
these. The second takes its departure from the concep
tion of the Church as a whole and tries to find means of
realizing the unity implicit in this conception. While
independent in origin and in part in motive, the two
movements are intimately associated and are coming
closer together all the time. But there exists no single
treatment which includes in its discussion both aspects of
the movement and endeavors to point out the true relation
between them. This lack we hope in a measure to remedy
by the following pages.
But the movement for church union is itself a part of
a much larger development, namely, the movement for
Christian unity in the widest sense of which we have been
speaking. This is at heart a spiritual movement, eluding
our attempt at exact description or definition. Without
the existence of this spiritual unity among Christians, any
form of external or corporate organization would be
empty and futile. To discuss our theme adequately,
therefore, we must take this wider spiritual background
into full account. But unity cannot exist in a vacuum.
Wherever this spirit is found it must seek some form of
expression, and such, as a matter of fact, we find to be
the case. Quite apart from any formal and official pro
grams of union put forth by the denominations them
selves, there is a vast field of activity in which individual
Christians have come together in associations and soci
eties, or in which separate agencies or boards of churches
have found means of working together in what we have
called administrative union. All this field of cooperative
endeavor falls properly within the scope of such a study
as this.
And one thing more needs to be added. The various
movements which we shall study in this report are
themselves only the last of a long series of attempts to
realize church unity. No one is qualified to deal with the
problem today who has not informed himself of thes^

14 INTRODUCTION
earlier attempts and learned the lessons which they have
to teach both of success and failure. This historical
background, too, we have included in our study as fur
nishing necessary material for those who would address
themselves to the task of bringing about fuller unity
among the churches today.
The task thus undertaken will determine the order of
treatment. In the first place we shall study the experi
ence of the churches during the war, with a view of dis
covering the measure of unity which it revealed and the
lessons taught as to the way of securing greater unity in
the future. In the second place we shall consider the
present situation in the denominations and their attitude
toward the question of cooperation and union. We shall
then examine the present status of the movement toward
various forms of union between the denominations. This
will require us to distinguish between the movement for
unity within local communities and those larger enter
prises whose aim is a unity that is nation-wide. Con
sideration of this last will lead us to an analysis of the
present problems involved in this movement, taking into
account both the factors which impede and those which
further it.
To this discussion of the existing situation we shall
add certain historical studies that furnish a much needed
background of information. The first will deal with the
divisive and the unitive forces in the Church prior to
the American period; the second, with the development
of the denominations in the United States and their atti
tude toward one another at different periods. The sig
nificant attempts to secure united action among Christians
by ignoring the questions at issue between the denomina
tions, through such organizations as the Christian Asso
ciations, will also be studied. Finally, we shall review
the efforts to secure united action among the churches
themselves, and some of the more important influences
that have worked in that direction.

INTRODUCTION 15
We shall then be in a position to sum up the con
clusions to which our study leads as to the principles
which condition further progress, both in the present day
and in the longer future.
The first part, dealing with the present situation, and
the second part, furnishing the historical background,
might well be read in inverse order. We shall, however,
put the discussion of present practical problems in the
foreground because of the urgency of the situation that
we face today.

PART I
THE PRESENT SITUATION

CHAPTER I
THE WAR AND CHRISTIAN UNITY
The World War was one of those times of congested
human experience when all the institutions of society are
subjected to new and extreme tests and when their ade
quacy or inadequacy is vividly revealed. The Christian
Church shared in this ordeal of judgment. Part of its
testing was of its ability to see clearly and to hold tena
ciously to its perennial mission, a mission which could
not allow it to be reduced to a mere adjunct to the State
absorbed in war. The Church had duties essential to the
moral and spiritual life of the nation, as not only tem
porarily engaged in conflict but called also to live per
manently according to Christian ideals. How well or
ill the Church met all its tests we are not called on in this
report to inquire. We are to consider here the one ques
tion of the light which the war threw upon the problem
of Christian cooperation and unity as it emerged in con
nection with the war. How fully was the Church pre
pared to address itself to the special tasks which the
crisis brought? What lessons did the war teach as to
the ways in which the Church could meet its responsibil
ities more adequately in the future ?
I. The New Demands upon the Churches
The war-time situation made new demands, insistent
and inescapable, upon the churches. In the first place
there was a host of unaccustomed tasks to be assumed.
The ministrations of religion had to be provided for a
multitude of persons suddenly plunged into an unfamiliar
life, either in training camps or in centers of war indus-
19

20 CHRISTIAN UNITY
try; A new responsibility of social ministry was laid upon
the Christian forces of the country in connection both
with the army itself and with the camp communities, on
the moral character of which so largely depended the
welfare of our men. Millions of other men and women,
left disabled or destitute by the ravages of war, called for
speedy succor by all who had the mind of Christ. To
carry on these tasks new workers had to be secured, new
machinery put into motion, and new contacts with gov
ernmental agencies secured. More important even than
these obvious needs was that of maintaining high moral
ideals and aims in the nation during a period when many
influences were endangering them. And beyond all this
there was the far more difficult task of keeping ahve the
spirit of international brotherhood, with foes as well as
friends, in the day when of all days it was least easy.
to do so.
In the second place, and as a result of these new re
sponsibilities, there was a demand for unity such as the
churches had never before had to face. Without it it
was hopeless to try to meet the situation in any adequate
way. The task was too great for all together, to say
nothing of attempting it piecemeal through unrelated
agencies. The need for coordinated effort was all the
clearer because so much of the work involved proper un
derstanding with the national Government. Obviously it
could not deal- one by one with the churches as separate
organizations. Most clearly of all was the demand for unity among
the Christian forces brought home to them by the unity
which already existed in the nation at large. War is
always both a test of unity and a stimulus to it, and this
one was supremely so. Never did a war so demand a
united nation. The tolerance of divergent opinion in the
Civil War seems almost incredible in contrast with the
social and political pressure for uniformity in the recent
struggle. It presented the demand for solidified effort in

THE PRESENT SITUATION 21
the most coercive form, perhaps, in which it has ever
been experienced. The peril of a vast military domina
tion of the world, a great body of common convictions,
the sense of a great and, as it was believed, a righteous
cause were good influences, with which many less worthy
motives mingled, to lead men to hold their differences in
abeyance while they joined in sacrifice and loyalty. Even
though much that seemed to be unity was superficial and
unreal, and much that was real possessed only a tempo
rary vitality, yet beyond all doubt the experience of unity
and the demand for it were in war time unmistakable.
The Christian churches, which already had more deeply
unifying forces binding them together than existed in any
other department of human life, and which represented
the great fountains of moral purpose and spiritual ideal,
were at once brought face to face with this experience and
demand. If parties and classes and economic interests
could unite, even at sacrificial cost, what forces — espe
cially what kindred spiritual forces — could refuse to
unite? Surely the Church of Christ, which had always
declared itself to be essentially one and which by its very
Gospel was a witness to the oneness of humanity, was
challenged more than all other agencies to united action.
What agencies did the churches possess for such action
when the nation was drawn into the war ? For the circu
lation of the Bible they had the American Bible Society,
and there were other specialized organizations capable of
acting within their own limited spheres. For the new bus
iness, however, which was pressing hard upon them the
available agencies of the churches were their own denom
inational boards or committees, the Young Men's Chris
tian Association and the Young Women's Christian Asso
ciation, and the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ
in America. We shall understand the problem of Chris
tian unity more clearly if we note how each of these
agencies sought to respond to the demands of the new
situation.

22 CHRISTIAN UNITY
II. The Agencies of the Churches for War-Time
Service
The Young Women's Christian Association promptly
undertook what proved to be an invaluable service. Upon
it fell the responsibility of providing wholesome and up-
Hfting influences for thousands of young women ex
posed to new dangers in communities surrounding the
camps or in the midst of the industrial life to which the
exigencies of war had called them. Overseas as well as
at home ministry to women war-workers was so needed
that its absence would have been a tremendous loss.
Even within the training camps themselves it found
a distinctive piece of service in maintaining hostess
houses for women visitors and their soldier friends.
Problems as to the sort of amusements to be sanctioned
and as to the forms of direct religious service to be pro
vided arose in connection with its functioning in these
ways as an agency of united effort on the part of the
churches, but its sphere of work was so clearly defined
that there were no serious misunderstandings.
The work of the Young Men's Christian Association,
however, was both so extensive and so interwoven with
that of the other agencies of the churches that we need to
consider it in greater detail.' Even before the United
States had entered the conflict the Y M C A had been
rendering a great service in Europe for prisoners of war.
This work was both in itself a splendid enterprise and
also a training that fitted it to give itself to the nation
for service in the army in the name of the Church with
out a moment's delay after our declaration of war.
The entrance of the United States into the conflict
showed the churches what an indispensable and effective
Tor a fuller discussion of this subject, see the Report of the
Coinmission on the Relation of the Young Men's Christian Asso
ciation to the Churches, submitted to the Fortieth International
Convention of the Associations at Detroit, November 19-23, 1919.
The material here presented concerning the Association is in part
a condensed statement of sections of that report.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 23
agency for service they possessed in the Young Men's
Christian Association. Without it they would have had
no instrumentality for offering a united and adequate so
cial and religious ministry adapted to the unprecedented
necessities of the hour. The "huts" in every camp and
every section of the army afforded centers of wholesome
influences whose value cannot be exaggerated. The Asso
ciation, with the specialized experience, organization,
equipment, and resources which the churches possessed
in it, was ready at once to offer to the Government a min
istry whose absence, as we now look back, would have
been an immeasurable calamity. It was a courageous
offer. The magnitude and the difficulty of what was in
volved no one realized. As Bishop Brent writes: "The
service rendered by the Y M C A in the army and navy
was one of the most daring adventures that any society
ever undertook. The exact degree of success it would
be difficult to state, but this at least can be said, that con
ditions being what they were the work in the A. E. F.
was indispensable."
The work in the United States was an even greater
work and it was equally indispensable. The Association,
in fact, undertook a complete program of physical, recrea
tional, educational, and religious service. Its secretaries
aimed not only to meet the needs of the men for a normal
social life but also to carry on distinctly religious efforts,
including Bible study, personal work, and popular reli
gious meetings. This work the churches generally recog
nized as being undertaken in their behalf. Most of them
cooperated in it heartily, not only in financial support but
by generously furnishing their clergymen for its serv
ice. The Federal Council of the Churches, in special ses
sion at Washington, May 8 and 9, 1917, declared: "The
churches should cordially sustain and reenforce the work
of the Young Men's Christian Association, which is an
especially equipped and well-tried arm of the Church for
ministering to men in the camp." And the General War-

24 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Time Commission of the Churches recognized "with
grateful appreciation the varied, extensive, and indis
pensable service rendered to the American soldiers and
sailors at home and overseas by those trusted auxiliary
agencies of our churches, the Young Men's Christian
Association and the Young Women's Christian Asso
ciation." But while cordially recognizing the service rendered,
the churches felt for various reasons that there were func
tions which they were called to discharge which lay be
yond the province of the Young Men's Christian Associa
tion. The Christian soldiers must have the sacraments
and provision for church worship. The churches must
keep in touch with their children in the Church's own
name and character. It was true that this was, in part,
the business of the chaplains, but it could almost be said
that at the outset there were no chaplains. The churches
realized that they must organize their influence for the
double purpose of securing proper chaplains and of pro
viding substitutes for them until they were secured. They
believed also that even when the regular quota of chap
lains had been provided there would be room for all that
the churches could contribute in the way of voluntary
chaplains and camp pastors to supplement the moral and
religious forces in the camps. And they felt that in such
an emergency as had arisen the different communions
could not delegate their own duties to anyone, but must
provide some denominational instrumentality of action.
If each denomination did not have some real work to do
now, what warrant was there for its existence at all?
No sooner, therefore, had the United States been drawn
into active participation in the war than the various de
nominations began to seek some corporate denominational
expression of their sense of duty. In many cases, no
doubt, this effort was spontaneous and instinctive rather
than reasoned and deliberate. It was a wholesome sign
of vitality and alert power. It was, in general, animated

THE PRESENT SITUATION 25
not by a sectarian or divisive or proselytizing spirit, but
by a sense of responsibility and a genuine desire for
service. There was the need of following with solicitude
and care the young men whom the nation was calling out
from their church homes. There was the task of securing
chaplains and sustaining them. There were the home com
munities to be cheered and steadied. There were the
camp neighborhoods to be guarded and purged of the
evils which have ever sought, in war and peace, to prey
upon young manhood. There was the need of keeping
the moral ideals of the war clear and pure and, if it might
be. Christian. The nation and the world were in need of
all the educational service and the spiritual illumination
and strengthening which the churches could possibly
supply. The work which the commissions did constituted a
great ministry to the higher interests of the nation. They
related each local church and each denomination as a
whole to the moral and religious service of the country,
so that every group felt its conscious relationship to the
task which fell to the Christian Church. They thus
opened a way for the enlistment of every individual in
the religious work of the war time. They supphed the
chaplains for the armies, and also the great company of
camp pastors and voluntary religious workers, who did
so much direct pastoral work in the camps and the camp
communities. They furnished church worship and the
sacraments, often in the Y M C A buildings cordially
opened to their use. They supported the Red Cross, the
Y M C A and the Y W C A. They moulded the moral
tone, the devotion, the unselfishness, the fortitude, and
the faith of the nation.
It was interesting to observe the methods of the differ
ent denominations as they dealt with this situation. In
the case of those which have annual official meetings and
which met in the spring immediately following our coun
try's entrance into the war the problem was simple. The

26 CHRISTIAN UNITY
great assemblies set up at once denominational war com
missions, authorized to act in the denominational name.
Where there were no such meetings various plans were
used. And the emergency proved a sufficient test. It
was found that neither the Methodist nor the Episcopal
Church, which by reason of their episcopal organization
have been regarded as especially efficient administratively,
was so constituted as to cope readily with the difficulty.
By a stretch of his powers the presiding bishop of the
Protestant Episcopal Church authorized Bishop Lawrence
to take action and a very effective, but somewhat ultra-
vires, war-time organization was set up. In the Method
ist Church the responsibilities of the emergency were left
to the Board of Home Missions, until the acute pressure
of the war experience itself led the Bishops to develop
supplementary agencies.''
One of the most striking things about these denomina
tional commissions was that their organization, point of
view, and hnes of action bore testimony to the underly
ing community of view and feeling in the American
churches. No other institutions in America acted with
more identity of mind and spirit. They set themselves
to almost identical forms of service. There were many
obvious differences, but they were as nothing in com
parison with the significant evidence of the substantial
unity of mind and temper characteristic of our churches.
There were a few which believed that they were partic
ularistic and different, but the interesting fact, almost
the amusing fact, was the similarity of spirit and ideal.
Actions spoke louder than words. Our American

"The nature and functions and activities of all the denomina
tional war commissions are fully set forth in one of the reports
of the General War-Time Commission of the Churches, entitled
"War-Time Agencies of the Churches," which can be secured
from the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America.
That volume will repay careful study as an exhibit of the denom
inational conscience responding to the pressure of a great duty,
and as an illustration of the modes of action and types of life
pf our denominational personalities,

THE PRESENT SITUATION 27
churches revealed their unity of character as a present
reality.
III. The Problem of Unity Which Emerged
At the same time it cannot be denied that the situation
created by the denominational war commissions brought
with it grave dangers — the dangers of overlapping and
collision, of divided counsel and divided influence, of
separate and mutually weakening representations to the
Government, of the loss of the power of united appeal to
the nation both for support and for action, of missing
great opportunities which required, if they were to be
grasped, a unity of effort which the separate organizations
could not supply. The churches enjoyed the advantages
of the widely distributed authority and administration.
They lacked the power of united and coherent action. The
long delay in securing legislation concerning chaplains
and the failure to seize more quickly the opportunity for
life enlistment of the soldiers and sailors in the service
of the Church were outstanding illustrations of the utter
inadequacy of denominational action alone. It was obvi
ously impossible for the Government to deal with the
denominations as separate and unrelated units. At the
outset the Food Administration, desiring to secure the
cooperation of the churches in conservation, tried to get
in touch with them one by one. With the multiplicity of
religious bodies the task was hopeless. It was equally
out of the question for the churches to denominational-
ize the appeal to men in the army for Christian hfe serv
ice. If ever our youth were ripe for some great and
heroic call, they were ripe for it then. They had heard
the united voice of their country speaking and they replied
to that united voice. If the Church wanted those lads
for Christian service, it was necessary to approach them
with one heart and one appeal.
Not only the relation of the denominations to their
common war-time tasks but also the relation of the Chris-

28 CHRISTIAN UNITY
tian Associations and the churches to each other pre
sented a problem of alarming proportions. Here was the
Y M C A on the one hand, acting in the name of the
Church and drawing upon the Church for resources both
of workers and money, yet entirely apart from ecclesi
astical direction or control. On the other hand the
churches, through their own commissions, were carry
ing on a work which was in many respects similar to
that which the Associations were doing. In the field of
distinctly religious work both were engaged. However
defined and delimited their respective tasks might be, it
was inevitable that at least in many local cases friction
should arise. The problem of unity that emerged was
clearly a serious one. And what would in any case have
been a problem of large proportions became even more
insistent, because so much of the war-time work of the
churches demanded almost constant contacts with the
Government and its various official or semi-official agen
cies, to which there had to be a united approach or
practically none at all. With the War Department, the
Navy Department, the Commission on Training Camp
Activities, the Food Administration, the Red Cross, the
U. S. Employment Service, the Department of Public
Health, the War Camp Community Service, and still other
bodies important relationships had to be maintained.
It was in part because these dangers were foreseen,
but still more in response to the impulse to unity to which
we have already referred, that early in the war the Gen
eral War-Time Commission of the Churches was called
into existence by the Federal Council of the Churches of
Christ in America. At the outbreak of the war, the
Federal Council was the one interdenominational agency
in existence directly representing the churches of the
United States. As soon as the war came it called a special
meeting at Washington, to which were invited leading
representatives of the denominations and other Christian
agencies. This meeting took steps for dealing with the

THE PRESENT SITUATION 29
questions of the chaplains and securing as much united
action in other war service as possible. During the period
before the General War-Time Commission was organ
ized the Federal Council itself carried on many important
war-time activities. It secured new chaplains with high
qualifications and initiated legislation for an increased
number. It investigated the conditions in the training
camps, cooperated with the Red Cross and the Food
Administration, helped to unify the work of the local
churches in some of the camp communities, and in other
ways showed how useful to the Church a permanent and
flexible interdenominational agency may be.
In the fall of 1917 the General War-Time Commission
was organized and given a free hand by the Federal Coun
cil to act for the American churches as a central agency.
Its organization was described as follows, in an official
statement, formally adopted iby the Executive Com
mittee :
"The General War-Time Commission of the Churches
is a body of one hundred persons chosen from the dif
ferent religious agencies which are dealing in direct and
responsible ways with new problems which the war has
raised. "It had its inception at a meeting of the Federal Council
at Washington on May 8 and 9, 1917. The discussion
at that meeting developed the fact that some representa
tive national body would be needed to act on behalf of
the churches in their effort to deal with the new prob
lems raised by the war ; and the Administrative Commit
tee was authorized to take the necessary steps to bring
this about."
In the same statement the constitution of the Commis
sion and its relation to other agencies were thus defined :
"The Commission is made up of members of the de
nominational war commissions and other denominational
war service bodies, of interdenominational agencies hke
the War Work Councils of the Young Men's C3iristian
Association and the Young Women's Christian Associa-

30 CHRISTIAN UNITY
tion, the National Sunday-School War Council, the or
ganization of Young People's Societies, the American
Bible Society, and the commissions and committees of the
Federal Council. Its executive committee includes meni-
bers of these various bodies and agencies, and its advi
sory council consists of the chairmen or secretaries of
the larger denominational war commissions. It is cooper
ating with the War Commission of the Roman Catholic
Church and with the agencies of our Jewish fellow-citi
zens in matters of common concern, such as securing the
appointment of an adequate number of chaplains and
improving moral conditions at home and abroad. With
the permanent commissions of the Federal Council its
relations are necessarily close and intimate and in all
that concerns war work the officers and the commissions
of the Council and the General War-Time Commission
are working together."
The purposes of the Commission were defined at its
first meeting as follows:
"i. To coordinate existing and proposed activities and
to bring them into intelligent and sympathetic relation
ship so as to avoid all waste and friction and to promote
efficiency. "2. To suggest to the proper agency or agencies any
further work called for and not being done.
"3. To provide for or perform such work as can best
be done in a cooperative way.
"4. To furnish means of common and united expres
sion when such is desired ; and, finally,
"5. To provide a body which would be prepared to
deal in a spirit of cooperation with the new problems of
reconstruction which may have to be faced after the war."
In the organization of the Executive Committee and
of the committees appointed by it the controlling prin
ciple was to build up the membership out of the respon
sible executives of the existing war-time agencies. Meet
ing every fortnight, it served to bring together in intimate
contact and regular conference the accredited represen
tatives both of the denominational commissions and of
other organizations like the Y M C A. Its members were,

THE PRESENT SITUATION 31
in effect, liaison officers bringing the various agencies into
cooperative relationships in the formulation of pohcies
and programs and in carrying out such as could best be
executed by a common agency. The importance of this
principle of organization in securing confidence and
hearty denominational support it is difficult to over
emphasize. Setting out with such aims and with such an organiza
tion, what did the General War-Time Commission of the
Churches actually achieve?
In the first place, it provided a needed clearing-house of
information for the many organizations engaged in war
time service. Various agencies were studying certain
parts of the new field of work from the standpoint of
their own particular interests. None was studying the
field as a whole. Through a series of surveys the Com
mission secured, and made available for all, information
concerning needs and opportunities for religious work in
the camps. Through a painstaking first-hand investiga
tion it ascertained the special needs of Negro troops and
brought them home to the various religious and welfare
organizations. A special inquiry was made into the situ
ation in army hospitals, which influenced the appointment
of both regular and voluntary chaplains to deal with an
urgent problem. The Commission kept in touch with the
changing personnel of chaplains, camp pastors, Y M C A
secretaries, and the workers in the various posts, and sup
plied the information to the several organizations for use
in their dealing with one another. It was thus able to
suggest to the proper agency needs still unmet and to
make it possible for each organization to see its own work
in relation to the work of other agencies and to the task
as a whole.
In the second place, the commission established more
correlated effort and generous cooperation among the ex
isting agencies. Through the meetings of the Executive
Committee better mutual understanding of plans and pur-

32 CHRISTIAN UNITY
poses was secured. In its membership were included rep
resentatives even of some churches which had not been
associated with the Federal Council, such as the Southern
Baptists and some of the Lutheran bodies. The work of
the denominational camp pastors was unified to a con
siderable degree by the joint formulation of a common
program and by a series of conferences of camp pastors
held in different sections of the country. The Y M C A
and the churches came to a better understanding through
a special committee of conference between the Associa
tion and the churches. The relations of the churches to
such welfare agencies as the War Camp Community
Services were clarified by occasional conferences for this
purpose. With the National Catholic War Council and
the Jewish Board for Welfare Work informal coopera
tion was secured in matters affecting the moral welfare
of the army and navy. Effective cooperation with the
Red Cross and many governmental agencies was also
made possible.
In the third place, the Commission afforded an agency
of united expression for the Protestant churches. In its
calls to prayer and in its frequent emphasis upon the
moral aims of the war, the Church spoke with one voice
and did much to sustain moral idealism and deepen the
spirit of penitence among the people. In its appeal for
war-time prohibition the sentiment of all the churches
came to a needed focus. In approach to the Government
In behalf of needed legislation for the chaplains it brought
the total influence of the Church to bear.
Finally, the Commission functioned as a common
agency for doing certain tasks which could best be done
by the Church as a whole. It secured the appointment
of about fifteen hundred well qualified army and navy
chaplains, and gave them the united support of the
churches in the endeavor to have them provided with
equipment, organization, and rank adequate to the per
formance of their duties. The chaplains' training school

THE PRESENT SITUATION 33
was established by the Government as a result of the
united pressure of the churches. Interdenominational
chapels for the use of chaplains and camp pastors were
erected at Camp Upton and Camp Dix. The problem of
the religious and moral welfare of the workers in centers
of war industry was tackled by a joint committee repre
senting the Commission and the Boards of Home Mis
sions. Programs for war-time service by local churches
were formulated. A campaign for recruiting for (Thristian
life service among the men in military service was inau
gurated by a joint committee representing the Y M C A
and the churches. Through cooperation with the Gov
ernment's educational program for the American Expe
ditionary Force, it was made possible for theological
students to begin their professional training while still in
service. An interchange of service between the ministers
of America and those of Great Britain and other Allied
countries was arranged, with a view to welding the na
tions together in moral and religious idealism. A cooper
ative financial campaign in behalf of the war-time work
of the churches was inaugurated and carried through.
Serving as a clearing house of information, a coordi
nating agency, a means of united expression, and an in
strument for joint administration, the General War-Time
Commission of the Churches enabled the churches to
present a united front in facing new problems and respon
sibilities. While carrying forward their several denom
inational activities separately, the churches associated in
this central Commission worked together effectively in a
spirit of helpful and sympathetic cooperation, avoiding
competition and duplication of effort in the full knowl
edge of what others were doing. It is not too much to
say that the Commission succeeded in large measure in
carrying out the purpose which it set before itself when
it declared at its first meeting :
"The Commission will do its work in close cooperation
with the existing agencies and commissions or other war

34 CHRISTIAN UNITY
agencies in the various communions, and with the inter
denominational agencies already at work. It will seek to
serve them all as a clearing house of information and as
an agency of sympathetic coordination. Its purpose is
not to replace or duplicate, much less to check any activ
ity directed toward dealing with the task which is too
great for all the forces which can be brought to bear
upon it. Its purpose is to support and strengthen all such
influences in the fullest measure, to the end that the
churches may be able to render the largest service to the
young men of the nation and to the nation itself in this
great and critical time."

IV. The Problems of Unity Which Remain for
the Future
Without some such agency as the General War-Time
Commission it would have been hopeless to expect that
friction, duplication of effort, and confusion could have
been avoided. We have seen that before the Commission
was organized, lack of contact with one another's plans
and points of view had given rise to misunderstandings
both in the relation of the denominations to one another
and between the denominations and the Y M C A. It
would be altogether too much to say that complete co
ordination was secured even after a common meeting
ground had been found in the Commission. Beyond
question, however, long steps were taken in this direc
tion. The experience of the Commission in endeavoring to
secure cooperation among the war-time agencies brought
certain questions clearly to light, which remain perma
nently before the churches after the crisis of the war has
passed. The problems involved in the relation of the
churches to the Y M C A, of the denominations to one
another, and of both to various welfare organizations,
which were the great problems during the war, are no
less serious today. What light does the war experience
shed upon these problems for the future?

THE PRESENT SITUATION 35
I. The Relation between the Christian Associations and
the Churches
Beyond all question there was during the war no ade
quate provision for a proper understanding between the
Association and the churches in the framing of general
policies and programs. The need for such understand
ing arose at the outset of the work. It was illustrated
first of all in the failure of the Association to take
into account the regular chaplains — the representatives
of the ministry in the army, appointed to their service by
the Government itself. Here was a permanent agency of
the churches in the army which should have been recog
nized by the Association. But as a matter of fact it was
a long time before such recognition was given in any
adequate form. Again, the organization of the Associa
tion made no clear provision for the definition of its
relation to the churches. Its War Work Council con
sisted at first almost wholly of laymen chosen by the In
ternational Committee and its Executive Committee was
confined to laymen. It became necessary, accordingly,
to provide in some other way for securing the counsel
and advice of the clergy of the churches and a Cooperat
ing Committee of the Churches was established. These
representatives of the ministry, however, were named not
by the churches but by the Association. Still the Com
mittee served a very useful purpose and indeed for a
short time it filled the place of the Religious Work
Bureau. A further point of contact between the Asso
ciation and the churches was afforded by the presence of
representatives of the Association on the Executive Com
mittee of the General War-Time Commission of the
Churches. In these ways it became possible to deal with
the acute problems of the war time and a situation
was worked through whose delicacy and difficulty are
known to but few. But the central fact is that personal
friendships and voluntary arrangements had to bear the

36 CHRISTIAN UNITY
burden of the heaviest task we have ever met in the mat
ter of the relations of the Association and the Church.
Under the procedure which was followed by the Asso
ciation, based on no definite understanding with the
churches and making no provision for any direct par
ticipation of the churches in the control of the Asso
ciation, projects were put forth largely in the name of
the churches but over which the churches had no control.
The church workers appointed by the denominational
commissions had no regular relation to the Association,
but were in many cases in the camps only by its suffer
ance or courtesy. The Y M C A was definitely accred
ited by the Government but the effect of the course which
it pursued was, in large measure, to leave the Church
without the means of making a contribution to the sol
diers and sailors in ways that the latter recognized as
coming directly from the churches.
Clearly the relation of the Association to the churches
remains still to be solved. If it is to be recognized as a
direct agency of the churches, some way must be found
whereby the churches as such may be democratically and
directly represented in connection with the governing
bodies of the Association. If it is to be a voluntary
agency, measures must be taken for establishing chan
nels of constant consultation between it and the denom
inations as to its general policies and plans. In any
case, the relation must be more clearly understood. And
although in the case of the Young Women's Christian
Association the question did not come to so sharp a focus
in the war, the same thing is true. This question of the
cooperation between the Associations and the churches
is so important that it will be considered in detail in a
later section of this report.
2. The Relation .of the Denominations to One Another
Even more urgent than the problem of the relation of
the Associations and the churches is that of the relation

THE PRESENT SITUATION 37
of the churches to one another. Here also certain facts
stand out that are of large significance today. It is clear
that in the war the churches had a task bigger than all
of them together could do, parts of which were indivis
ible. There were duties which could not be taken up by
any group in isolation. But whatever necessity there was
during the time of war for helping one another by mutual
encouragement and conference and united action, we have
today under circumstances no less trying and exacting.
What lessons, then, have we to learn from the war ex
perience for the future?
We have learned, in the first place, beyond any ques
tion that we need a collective guidance. No one of us
has wisdom enough to handle even his own duty in isola
tion. There are problems rooted in all the fiber of
humanity that cannot be dealt with by segments of
humanity or of the Church. We require all the wisdom
and trusted guidance that the churches together can
possibly supply. And we must have such collective guid
ance while our programs are in the making, rather than
in the days of hardened completion. Then the forces
that thus come together become more in their aggregate
than the total of those separate forces added together.
Such liaison was the essential condition of efficiency in
every department of our national and international ex
perience during the war. We can write the history of
those years as the effort of men to achieve this kind of
correlation, to secure interchange of knowledge, of pur
pose, and of plan among all the agencies at work. The
progress made by the churches in securing this kind of
interrelationship during the war must be completed by
some permanent provision, either through existing agen
cies or through some new machinery for a full correla
tion of knowledge and plan among the different denomi
nations and the several interdenominational agencies.
We need, in the second place, not only a collective
guidance in planning, but also coordination in the execu-

38 CHRISTIAN UNITY
tion of the plans. All agencies must see their work as
elements in a larger whole and carry it on accordingly.
When this is the case it will be found that some things
whicb have been done separately by various agencies can
be done more effectively by one. The General War-Time
Commission began with the primary purpose of affording
a common meeting ground for consideration of plans,
but it soon became evident that there were things which
the churches could do together better than individually.
In any case, there must be a full coordination of the
forces which aim at common ends and of programs which
cover common ground. To realize all this more clearly
has been a great gain. It can never be an open question
again as to whether the Federal Council, or something
that more fully fills that ground, is an indispensable
necessity. It is settled once and forever by the experience
through which we went in the war that we must have an
effective agency of interdenominational cooperation.
Beyond the need for collective guidance in planning
and coordinated execution of the plans there is, in the
third place, the need for a united interpretation to the
world of what the churches aim to do and are actually
achieving. In such a crisis as the war the churches could
be really heard only if they spoke with one voice. This
is no less true today. They have a common message to
the world. Again and again that message needs to be
interpreted and applied to contemporary issues that can
be solved aright only as they are solved in the Hght of
the Christian Gospel. The necessity of providing to
gether for such interpretative publicity as to the work of
the Church and the bearing of Christianity on the life
of the day is one of the clearest lessons of the war.
In the fourth place, the experience of the war has
more fully revealed to the churches the necessity of
definite denominational responsibility for their coopera
tive action. This has not been any new discovery, only
a larger application of what had already been ascertained

THE PRESENT SITUATION 39
and was already existent in some measure within the
Federal Council. In the commissions of the Federal
Council there had been two types of associated action. In
one the president of the Council selected individuals and
brought them together in a commission with a wide range
of action; In the other method the aim was to correlate
the organic activities of the denominations. The latter
method did not afford the same freedom, but it did give a
larger weight of authority and responsibility. The Gen
eral War-Time Commission of the Churches, as we have
already pointed out, made use of this second method,
bringing together the existing war-time activities of
denominations. Some said that in their war work the
churches were making a mistake in this regard and empha
sizing depominationalism. But there has been during the
last few years a great growth of the sense of denomina
tional personality and we do not want to break that down
unless there is something better to take its place. To confine
the cooperative endeavor of the churches chiefly to bring
ing together in an effective way the really responsible
denominational agencies may doubtless seem to limit free
dom and prevent progress. That method may, indeed,
hold back some of the more far-visioned and enthusiastic
men, but it has its compensation in the greater spirit of
unity that accompanies advance. It is essential that we
keep together the men who represent the organic respon
sibility of the different communions and seek to get
ahead by mutual understanding and interchange. It will
be a great pity if as we go forward we do not conserve
all the gains of the past, even if it makes some of us impa--
tient because the progress is not so rapid as it might be if
we could detach ourselves from these official relation
ships. , In the fifth place, we have learned something about
the spirit and the attitude that are indispensable to coop
eration. We have seen clearly that denominational coor
dination cannot be secured simply by readjustments of

40 CHRISTIAN UNITY
constitutional relationships, or by theoretical allotments
of power and authority. These have their place. But
this problem which the churches are facing is a problem
of service and personal relationships. The only kind of
instrumentality that will adequately meet this need and
fill this field must be one that is marked by institutional
disinterestedness. This was a large factor in securing
hearty cooperation in the General War-Time Commis
sion. It was generally recognized that it existed solely
to serve the churches. The important thing is that any
agency that sets out to work for the churches should lose
its life in the doing of it, seeking no honor whatever of
its own. Some of our problems spring from our forget
ting that. We have learned also through the war that
in this interdenominational cooperation the churches must
frankly face and solve the problem of supplying a leader
ship that is neither too strong nor too weak. We cannot
have a successful leadership if it is so strong that it breaks
away from its following and coerces it, nor, on the other
hand, if it is lacking in courage. It is not easy to know
just where the line should be drawn. The problem of
leadership is difficult because it is concerned with the
fundamentals, because our problem is not one of me
chanics, nor of external adjustments, but the hard prob
lem of love, of confidence, of the freedom, power, and
strength that invariably go with life.
We have seen, too, even more clearly that the pathway
of cooperative advance lies through the field of action
and embodied service, rather than through the field of
theoretical discussion. There were hosts of differences
of opinion among the agencies cooperating in the war
time service of the Church, but in spite of them the
churches were conscious that they were one, as together
they faced the magnitude and urgency of their tasks.
The power of embodied undertakings has come home
to us in a new way, so that we know that we deal best
with our problem of cooperation as we objectify our

THE PRESENT SITUATION 41
ends, and set before men tasks to be done, definite goals
actually to be traveled to and arrived at.
Here we find ground for hope as we look ahead. If
unity comes through common service our opportunity is
before us. Now, as in the war, great tasks confront us,
before which we shall be relatively impotent if we cannot
deal with them in cooperation. We have still, as we had
then, the necessity of proper, relationships with agencies
outside our churches — with the Jews and the Roman
Catholics, with the Government, with great welfare agen
cies like the Red Cross, with organizations that aim to
mould public opinion along lines of social betterment.
All these are carrying on significant work, with certain
parts of which the churches need to cooperate heartily
for the sake of their own goal. But this they cannot
do unless they can act together. And there are other and
greater common enterprises within the Church. The prob
lem of Christian education, the solution of which is vital
to the very life of Christianity, the problem of Christian
izing all our social and industrial relationships, the prob
lem of adequately enlisting men and women for the serv
ice of the Church, the problem of our missionary obliga
tion to the non-Christian world and of securing a broth
erly spirit among the nations — all these are challenging
us to a cooperative advance, because we shall never be
able to solve them along our old lines of division and sep
aration. They are indivisible tasks, and, if we will attack
them together, afford the clearest pathway to interdenom-
/inational unity.
Finally, and most important, the war revealed to us
how great a spirit of unity we already possessed. It made
it clear that what is needed is not so much to create a
unity as to provide external forms for the expression of
the inner unity that we already have. This being so, we
may be sure that the movement for cooperation and union
is going to grow year by year with increasing power. We
may make mistakes. It is conceivable that we should

42 CHRISTIAN UNITY
make such colossal mistakes as to destroy any existing
agencies of cooperation, so that new agencies would have
to be set up in their stead, but as sure as there will be a
sunrise tomorrow another agency would be set up in
their place, because we are in a great movement from
which we can never draw out or be drawn back.
The only question we face today is whether we are going
to be courageous enough, disinterested enough, wise
enough to discern our time and to pass into this time
with instrumentalities really adequate for the tasks that
lie ahead.
It is in the light of the challenging demand for union
that the war brought home to us and in spite of the in
creased incentives to it, that we must interpret the
intensification of denominational consciousness which we
have witnessed since the war. The reasons for this are
no doubt complex. In part, it seems to be due to a dis
content with the undenominational organizations which
operate in the Church's name but which are not re
sponsibly connected with the churches or inspired
with the full consciousness of the Church's life, his
toric character, and spirit of worship. In part, the
intensified denominational activity has arisen from a con
viction that in churches as well as in nations autocracy
and colossal waste are generally characteristic of efforts
on. a highly centralized scale, and that democracy and effi
ciency call for' a wider distribution of authority and
action by smaller units. Is not denominationalism after
all, men ask, more economical and more efficient than a
centralized organization that ignores financial frugality
and places on individuals more authority than men can'
exercise with wisdom and real power? With this has
gone a distrust of super-leadership and a certain justi
fiable hesitancy in entrusting to any men or small group
of men the great power. that goes with a united body.
There has been, moreover, a reaction toward freedom
from the restraint and pressure of the war. In churches

THE PRESENT, SITUATION 43
as well as states centralizing tendencies have, at least tem
porarily, relaxed.
The new denominational consciousness, however, has
another side. It rests chiefly upon a growing sense of
unity and corporate responsibility within the several de
nominations. This has been greatly stimulated by the
war. Christians whose horizon had hitherto been bounded
by the local church, or by the missionary outlook in the
more narrow sense, realized far more clearly that they
belonged to communions with nation-wide, yes, with in
ternational, responsibilities. In part, at least, as a result
of the war-time activities there was a heightened sense of
denominational responsibility which found expression in
such movements as the Presbyterian New Era, the Bap
tist Victory campaign, and other forward movements.
In the case of one great family of churches, the Lutheran,
organic union was achieved on the part of a number of
bodies, and for the first time in their history nearly 1,000,-
000 Lutherans find themselves in possession of an agency
for common action and for common expression.
The criticism of this revived denominational conscious
ness as if it were a foe to Christian unity, is therefore
unjustified. Only those groups can unite effectively which
have such a sense of their own corporate responsibihty
that they are already at one within themselves. But this
has not generally been the case with the individual Chris
tian churches. The differences which express themselves
on a large scale in the rivalry between denominations
reappear on a smaller scale in the dissension between
parties and schools of thought within each denomination.
And the unwillingness to surrender power to a central
organization, which has kept the individual Protestant
churches apart from one another, has, with few excep
tions, prevented each of them from creating within itself
a unified agency which is regarded by all the elements in
the Church as having the right to speak and act for the
whole. Whatever, therefore, unites Christians within

44 CHRISTIAN UNITY
each denomination may be regarded as a necessary step
toward that larger unity which unites them to their fellow-
Christians of other names. So the new denominational
activity is not to be thought of as narrowly sectarian.
With few exceptions it is more brotherly and cooperative
than it has ever been.
What is the actual situation today, both within the sev
eral denominations and in the interdenominational field,
and what is the pathway to fuller unity, we shall consider
in detail in the following chapters of this report.

CHAPTER II
THE PRESENT SITUATION IN THE DENOM
INATIONS
Christian unity — it can never be too often insisted — is
no less a task to be achieved within each denomination
itself than between the different communions. In this
chapter, therefore, the attempt is made to analyze the
present situation in the various denominations with re
gard to progress toward further unity, the discussion in
each case centering chiefly around two considerations:
I. What is the degree of spiritual unity within the de
nomination itself and how far has this inner unity found
expression in outer organization? Each of the larger
denominations presents such a diversity of religious tem
perament and conviction as to be in itself almost a
microcosm of the larger Church of which it is a part.
If, then, we can really discern the bond of union among
Christians within each of the several denominations, we
may have a valuable clue to the principle on which a more
inclusive union may be developed.
2. What is the present attitude of the denominations
toward (a) cooperation and (b) union with other
churches? The purpose here is to make clearer what
steps the existing mood and temper of the denominations
now make practicable.
In this survey space forbids a consideration of all the
denominations. In those, however, which are discussed
it is believed that the various types of Protestant Chris
tianity are represented, and that their attitudes may be
regarded as illustrative of other bodies.'
'In dealing with the several denominations the authors, of
course, are not speaking in any official capacity. They are sim
ply interpreting the situation as they personally see it from within
their own churches. 45

46 CHRISTIAN UNITY
I. The Congregational Churches and Unity
During the first two centuries of its history Congre
gationalism, like most other Protestant bodies, was not
greatly affected by any of the influences that make for
church unity. In so far as it entertained the thought of
unity, there was the vague expectation that its own in
formal and liberal structure might win general accept
ance. In the phrase of some of its later leaders, it hoped
to be "the solvent of the sects." It was suspicious of
organized integration, because it was convinced that or
ganization had always stood in the way of freedom.
I. The Development of Unity among the Congrega
tional Churches
' With the beginning of the missionary era, a hundred
years ago, the various forces that make for unity began
to be gradually felt in its life. The American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions (1810), the Ameri
can Home Missionary Society (1826), and the American
Missionary Association (1846), did not represent corpor
ate action by the Congregational Churches, but they all
sprang from Congregational roots and were predomi
nantly supported by Congregationalists. It never seems,
however, to have occurred to their founders to make these
organizations sectarian." Coincident with the thought of
their projection was the thought of their inclusiveness.
In like manner the "Plan of Union" between Congrega
tionalists and Presbyterians,' which prevailed for several
decades about the middle of the century, was an expres
sion of the non-sectarian spirit. When analyzed, how
ever, these and like undertakings are seen to be, so far as
Congregationalism was concerned, not deliberate and pos-
°For a fuller account of the inclusive character of these organ
izations, particularly the American Board, see pages 290-295 of
this volume.
'For an account of this important "Plan of Union" see pp. 285-
289 of this volume.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 47
itive movements toward unity, but partly the result of
structural weakness and partly of a general sentiment of
good will toward kindred bodies. It was needful that the
development of events should teach Congregationalism
that definite inner unity must precede effective outward
cooperation. Such development came rapidly. One de
nomination after another withdrew from the mission
boards named above, leaving them wholly to Congrega
tional support. The "Plan of Union" proved unsatisfac
tory to both parties and was abandoned by mutual con
sent. What appeared to be a promising movement toward
union dissolved and disappeared. Its vestigial remains
are seen in the word "American" still used by two of the
Boards and cherished by Congregationalists as an earn
est of the day of union still to appear.
The solidifying of the structural life of Congrega
tionalism began with the Albany Convention of 1850.
Up to that time it had had no national voice whatever.
Its common tasks had been initiated and conducted by
groups of individuals or semi-official state bodies. At
Albany it entered into a broader consciousness of its
responsibilities. This was strengthened by the calling
of a National Council in 1865 to consider post-war prob
lems. Following this in 1871 there was organized,
though with many dovibts, a permanent National Coun
cil. Its authority was nil and its mandate of leadership
slight. But it was a long step forward. Between that date
and 1900 progress was slow. Apparently the extensive
theological readjustment of that era diverted attention
from questions of organization. With the beginning of
the present century there was a quickening of pace. The
functions of state organizations were broadened until
the present condition was reached, in which the state or
ganization (save in a few exceptional cases) acts admin
istratively with full authority for the churches within
its bounds and at the same time places at their disposal
such inspirational leadership and helpfulness of over-

48 CHRISTIAN UNITY
sight as it is capable of furnishing and they are disposed
to use. Similarly, the National Council acts for and
serves the churches in the national field. The national
mission boards are subject to its general control.
Through its officials and commissions it offers a wide
variety of inspirational and educational service.
The process described has proceeded in all essentials
to the limit which the nature of Congregationalism per
mits. The assignment of judicial or legislative functions
to a representative body would mean that Congregation
alism had become something other than itself. Such
transformation is not generally desired by Congregation
alists and would not be acceptable.
2. The Attitude of the Congregational Churches toward
Union with Other Churches
Some have asumed that because of the process above
described there has been a steady movement away from
the spirit of unity toward hard-and-fast denomination
alism. Precisely the reverse is the truth. Congregation
alism in developing its own structure has become both
capable and desirous of fusing with others, either in coop
erative or organic union. The completest marriage is
between persons of supreme individuality. So of or
ganizations. The Congregationalism of a hundred years
ago might have been absorbed by another body. It
could not have united with that body. The Congrega
tionalism of today can and will enter into union with
others when the way shall open.
Like all denominations, Congregationalism has its fam
ily ties. At the outset of its history its closest connection
was with Presbyterianism. This was due partly to the
fact that both sprang from the Puritan movement in
England and Scotland and partly to the fact that as
pioneers in America, working side by side, they acquired
the intimacy which marks pioneer Hfe. The early tie per
sists but it is much less close than at an earlier day.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 49
In theory Congregationalists and Baptists are of the
same household, since their historic roots are intertwined,
their polity is the same, and their emphasis upon liberty
is identical. In practice, however, it can hardly be said
that there has been any peculiar and marked sense of kin
ship between the two bodies.
The Unitarian Churches inherit jointly with the Con
gregational Churches the first two hundred years of their
history. Since the schism of the early years of the last
century their paths have diverged. The question is often
asked whether the time has not come when the breach
should be healed. A full discussion of the factors of the
problem would require more space than is available here.
It can only be said that in the judgment of most Congre
gationalists any movement toward reunion is now impos
sible. This does not mean that Congregationalists are
willing to assume an attitude of irreconcilable antagonism
toward the Unitarian body. On the contrary, there is
the desire to recognize whatever of common outlook is
possessed by the two communions and to cherish the
hope of a coming day when the barriers of separation
shall be removed. But that day has not yet arrived.
Mention should be made in passing of the influence of
many individual Congregationalists in the direction of
church unity. The efforts of these individuals are
the more significant because they have been in some
sense accepted by the Congregational Churches as ex
pressive of their spirit. Long years ago Washington
Gladden wrote "The Christian League of Connecticut,"
a pioneer utterance concerning interchurch cooperation.
It is nearly forty years since Francis E. Clark projected
the Christian Endeavor Society, one of the most daring
and practical assertions of the essential oneness of dis
ciples ever made. In later years Howard H. Russell, a
Congregational minister, organized the Anti-Saloon
League which, retaining throughout its character as an
alliance of the churches, has won the most conspicuous

50 CHRISTIAN UNITY
battle against a public evil of all history. Still later Elias
B. Sanford, after a lifetime of agitation for unity, suc
ceeded as old age drew on in founding the Federal Coun
cil of the Churches of Christ in America. In Massachu
setts, where Congregationalism has its largest strength.
Rev. E. Tallmadge Root, one of its ministers, has been
able to develop a state federation in which all Protestant
bodies share and whose influence is felt to every remotest
comer of the commonwealth. These are outstanding
examples of a kind of service which the Congregational
Churches have rendered through men and women whose
ideals they have fashioned.
Congregationalists, in common with their fellow-
Christians of all communions, recognize that questions of
interdenominational relationship are becoming every day
more insistent and important. Thorough discipline of
recent years has revealed the weakness of disunity and
the limitations even of cooperative effort. The appalling
need of the world in these days when social rebuilding
proceeds so haltingly challenges us to think things through
and to fashion a course sensitively responsive to the call
of the hour. What is Congregationalism's answer to that
call? A consensus of opinion among its churches could
probably be expressed in such statements as the fol
lowing :
a. Congregationalism seeks to unify its own life as a
prerequisite to the wider unification for which it prays.
It seeks this inner unity primarily as a spiritual achieve
ment, through a common vision of Christ and a common
devotion to His cause. It seeks it also as an organic
achievement, through the strengthening of its organiza
tional structure so that it can address itself with all its
powers to common tasks.
b. It perceives the necessity of such an ordering of its
life as will enable it to speak and act effectively in its
relationship with other denominations. It is wholly
averse to the creation of agencies empowered to issue

THE PRESENT SITUATION 51
orders to its churches or its members. It is, on the other
hand, wholly desirous of maintaining agencies which,
acting within their legitimate advisory bounds, shall so
sense the mood of their constituency and so justly esti
mate the duty of the hour that their advice shall consti
tute a bond of unity and a basis for united action,
c. It desires to enlarge its realization of the corporate
oneness of the Church of Christ and to think of all ques
tions with which it has to do in terms of relationship
rather than in terms of an isolated individualism. In so
doing it can abate nothing of its emphasis upon the liberty
which is the inalienable right of every believer and of
every group of believers linked together in covenant
bonds. It simply seeks to find richer expression for that
liberty through ampler recognition of those compulsions
of love which are upon all the parts of the body of Christ.
d. It wishes to cherish and magnify its relation to the
historic Church of Christ. The creeds, the sacraments,
the traditions and the annals of that Church it counts its
own. It refuses to break with the past. Though it can
not repeat all the affirmations or follow all the customs of
that past, it sees in them all the effort of men upon whom
rested the Spirit of God to give expression to the one
changeless Gospel of Fatherly love and divine redemption.
Believing this, it thinks of its own future as identified
with the future of other bodies cherishing in their way
the continuity of the faith. It clings to the word "evan
gelical" and desires to fill it with fullest content of
meaning. e. It recognizes the absolute necessity and duty of
cooperation among the forces which seek to build the
Kingdom of God. Such cooperation may sometimes be
in temporary and local forms; sometimes it may shape
itself upon far-ranging and permanent lines. For either
or both the denomination stands ready, in so far
as it can perceive that it will serve the cause of Christ.
Considerations of denominational gain or loss must be

52 CHRISTIAN UNITY
set aside. The sole problem is how to find a way by
which all the Church can use all its powers in the service
of all the world.
f. It believes that by the roadway of cooperation the
churches will come and ought to come to some type of
organic union. Just what this should be is wholly beyond
the power of anyone to answer. Presumably we shall
find that the goal to which we are being led is that of
unity in diversity. How it will express itself organicaUy,
remains to be seen. But it is wholly certain that each
denomination must reach the point where it is ready to
cast aside its name and all other unessentials in the inter
est of the higher ends sought. In like way it must be
prepared for the sake of those ends to accept forms and
methods wholly out of line with its past, provided always
they do not involve disloyalty to conviction of truth or
the sense of duty.
With these beliefs and desires, Congregationalism
looks out toward the future. It believes that denom
inationalism has rendered the world a great service.
It believes also that its day is well nigh past and that the
greater service of the coming time is to be rendered by a
united Church.
II. The Disciples and Unity
The Disciples arose in the opening of the nineteenth
century in the Presbyterian household, out of a desire
for freedom in the practice of catholicity of religion.
Fellowship with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ was
the dominating thought in the minds of those who formed
the nucleus of this movement, which was first called
"The Christian Association." The Seceder Presbyteri
ans, with whom the Campbells were identified, practiced
close communion, against which they revolted. Not want
ing, however, to be separated from the Presbyterian
household, they sought membership with the regfular Pres
byterian Church. They were refused fellowship there.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 53
because they maintained that all creedal statements as
tests of fellowship were destructive of unity in the
Church and, therefore, that the Westminster Confession
of Faith, valuable as an historical document, should not
be made a test of fellowship. After several years the
leaders of this movement accepted immersion as the only
Scriptural baptism, which separated them still further
from the Presbyterians and at the same time made pos
sible their association with the Baptists. In order to avoid
being a separate denomination they identified themselves
with the Baptists, hoping in that denomination to be able
to work out their plans for the unity of the Church. But
here also they proved unwelcome and the relationship
was dissolved.
I. The Degree of Unity among the Disciples
Since 1832 the Disciples have been a separate body,
but have continued to bear witness to the necessity of a
united Church. Following these separations and changes
of denominational relationships, however, there came a
period of debate and controversy, in which the original
purpose of the movement was obscured. Two inter
pretations have prevailed among the Disciples. The first
had to do with Christian unity and grew out of a concern
for the union of the whole Church, upon which they
believed the conversion of the world to depend. The other
had to do with the restoration of the primitive Church, so
that the movement came to be called by many "the Res
toration Movement." This second position received con
siderable impetus in the Baptist fellowship and with those
who insisted on it Christian unity received secondary
consideration, the major emphasis being put upon a re
turn to the practices of the primitive Church. Zeal for
this latter interpretation so dominated the thought of the
Disciples for a time that they unconsciously shifted from
their original desire for a larger Christian fellowship.
During this period they gradually took on all the denom-

54 CHRISTIAN UNITY
inational characteristics, maintaining denominational
journals, denominational colleges, denominational boards,
denominational conventions, all of which tended to ob
scure their original purpose in the eyes of other
Cliristians. This policy, however, so separated them from other
communions that in their isolation they became in many
instances as sectarian as those communions surrounding
them, which is always the result of isolation, irrespective
of what one's doctrinal beliefs may be. This was so
marked that as late as 1908, on the organization of the
Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America,
the affiliation of the Disciples with that organization had
to be by individuals rather than by the action of their
General Convention, whereas had they been true to the
principle of their origin they would have been first and
foremost with both men and money in founding the
Council, seeing in federation one of the steps in coop
eration that lead to the larger unity of the Church.
The increasing unity of spirit among the Disciples
themselves is well illustrated by the recent consolida
tion of official boards of the Church. Their organized
missionary work is now better unified than at any time in
their history. All of their missionary boards have been
united in one organization, under the title, "United
Christian Missionary Society," including home missions,
foreign missions, church extension, benevolences, wom
en's work, and the department of the ministry.
2. Attitude toward Church Union
There have always been many among the Disciples
who have clung to the original catholicity of the move
ment and in recent years this number has been greatly
augmented. Of their nine national boards one — the
Association for the Promotion of Christian Unity — is
devoted solely to the interest of Christian unity. It was
organized at their General Convention in Topeka, Kan-

THE PRESENT SITUATION 55
sas, in 1910. Its purpose is to watch for every indica
tion of Christian unity and by friendly conferences with
other Christians, by intercessory prayer, and by the dis
tribution of irenic literature, to hasten the time of union.
While the offerings to this board are not large, neverthe
less to maintain such a board at all indicates that the
Disciples have a background for unity and an awakening
interest in the principle which gave their movement its
origin. Through this board they are in hearty accord
and cooperation with the Federal Council of the Churches
of Christ in America, the American Council on Organic
Union of the Evangelical Churches in America, the
World Conference on Faith and Order, the Universal
Conference on Christian Life and Work, the American
Bible Society, the World Alliance for Promoting Inter
national Friendship through the Churches, and every
other movement that looks toward the union of Christen
dom or permanent friendship between the nations.
Through their Association for the Promotion of Chris
tian Unity the Disciples have held conferences with
leaders of most of the Protestant bodies in America and
some in Europe. Out of these conferences has come the
formation of local unions of churches of the Disciples
with other bodies, as well as the joint signing of doctrinal
agreements with the leaders of various communions.
Some of these documents have been of historic signifi
cance, such as the resolutions passed in Australia by rep
resentatives of the Church of England and the Presby
terians as a basis for corporate reunion, revised and
signed unofficially in New York by Episcopalians and
Disciples in 1913; likewise the five- fold agreement
signed in Philadelphia by Presbyterians and Disciples on
March 23, 1916, and ratified that year by the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church and the General
Convention of the Disciples. A significant agreement
between Congregationalists and Disciples was formu
lated in 1912 and published in the papers of the respec-

56 CHRISTIAN UNITY
tive communions, upon which a number of churches in
small communities united, followed by later agreements
signed in New York in 1918. Articles of agreement
were also signed by Christians and Disciples in Norfolk,
April 3, 1918.
Through their Association they conduct a large cor
respondence on Christian unity with persons in all com
munions in all parts of the world. Their office is a
depository of all kinds of literature on Christian unity.
Their outgoing mail on this subject averages 25,000 pieces
a year. They maintain a League of Prayer, which, like
their literature, is shared by persons of all communions,
praying constantly for the union of the Church of Christ.
They have named Pentecost Sunday as a day for special
prayers and sermons on the subject of Christian unity.
They are issuing a set of books from the outstanding
points of view on Christian unity, the authors being from
various communions and of various nationalities. The
first volume has already appeared, serving as an intro
duction and dealing with the necessity, growth, and out
look of Christian unity. The next volume will be by the
Lutheran Archbishop of Upsala, and the remaining vol
umes will cover the whole field of Christian unity as seen
by some of the apostles of reconciliation in the House
of Christ.
The Disciples do not seek so much for others to come
into their membership as for others to accept certain prin
ciples that they believe make for unity in the Church of
Christ. These may be simplified into the following six
proposals :
a. A catholic name for individuals, such as "Disciples,"
"Christians," or similar term; and for the whole body,
such as "Church of Christ," "Church of God," "Chris
tian Church."
b. A cathoHc creed, such as that expressed in the
words of the Apostle Peter, "Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God."

THE PRESENT SITUATION 57
c. A catholic book — the holy Scriptures — as sufficient
for the rule of Christian life.
d. A catholic administration of the ordinances of bap
tism and the Lord's Supper as practiced in the New Tes
tament times and with the use of Christ's words.
e. A catholic polity of church government, recogniz
ing the universal suffrage and priesthood of all believers.
f. A catholic brotherhood, holding feUowship in the
Lord's Supper with all who have received Jesus as Lord
and Saviour.
Indications among the Disciples of growing interest in
Christian unity are encouraging. With a larger under
standing of others and more sympathy with those from
whom they differ, it is safe to say that the Disciples, who
started out a hundred years ago with a primary concern
for the unity of the Church of Christ, are still profoundly
interested in this subject, even though they differ among
themselves in interpretation and methods of approach.
III. The Lutheran Church and Unity
The attitude of the Lutheran Church toward church
unity is determined by its belief concerning the nature of
the Church. That belief is clearly stated in the Augs
burg Confession as follows : "They teach that one holy
Church is to continue forever. But the Church is the
congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly
taught and the Sacraments rightly administered. And
unto the true unity of the Church it is sufficient to agree
concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and the adminis
tration of the Sacraments ; nor is it necessary that human
traditions, rites, or ceremonies instituted by men, should
be everywhere alike; as St. Paul saith, 'One faith, one
baptism, one God and Father of all.' "
I. The Unity within the Lutheran Church
This confession is subscribed to by Lutherans of all
shades of opinion, and from its statement two things are

S8 CHRISTIAN UNITY
apparent: first, the vital importance of the congrega
tion; second, the supreme importance of faith and its
confession. The unity of the Church can consist in noth
ing else than in unity of faith, and the unit of the Church
must always be the congregation in which that one faith
is confessed.The practical effect of this conviction is evident in
the worship of the Church. The Lutheran Church pos
sesses an exceedingly rich liturgical heritage which per
mits of extensive and varied elaboration. The liturgy
is published by church authority, but no Lutheran con
gregation is bound to the use of that liturgy ; the mode of
its worship is entirely within its own control. This same
principle of freedom is applied in the whole field of
church organization. A congregation is free, if it so
desires, to ordain its own pastor, the right of a synod to
control ordination being a delegated right. No one form
of organization is regarded as divinely instituted, and
therefore legally binding, upon the Church. A church
body may be episcopal or presbyterian in its form of gov
ernment, and yet be recognized as a Lutheran Church,
provided it does not insist that every church must be so
organized. Thus the Lutheran Church shows a larger
variety and a greater number of independent ecclesias
tical organizations than any other church in the world.
Because of this fundamental principle the Lutheran
Church has not been greatly concerned about the sub
ject of organic union, either with other churches or with
in itself, believing that unity of organization is no more
than a means to an end, and can be vital only as the
expression of unity of faith. The Lutheran Church is
fully persuaded that there is one Church of Jesus Christ,
and that all who can truly be called believers are already
within this one Church. Admitting the advantages of
external union when it is a real expression of inner unity
of faith, it believes that such external union is value
less unless based upon a common confession.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 59
It is from this point of view that recent movements
within the Lutheran Church must be interpreted. The
number of independent congregations is negligible and
is decreasing annually; the use of a Lutheran Hturgy is
becoming the external mark of a Lutheran congregation ;
the Lutheran church bodies in America are approximat
ing a single type of organization. The cause is in each
case the same, namely, that the congregations are in
creasingly conscious of a common heritage of faith.
The same principle applies to the movements for or
ganic union within the Lutheran Church. They have
progressed more rapidly and have assumed larger prac
tical importance than any similar movements in American
Protestantism. Before 1890 the relatively small number
of Norwegian Lutherans in America was divided into
five separate and distinct synods. In that year three of
these synods combined to form the United Norwegian
Lutheran Church in America; in 1917 this body united
with two others to form the Norwegian Lutheran Church
in America. The new body contains six-sevenths of all
the Norwegian Lutherans in the United States and Can
ada, with a communicant membership of 300,000. In
1918 the three general Lutheran bodies which represent
the oldest Lutheran church organizations in America (the
oldest of the synods dating from 1746) combined to form
the United Lutheran Church in America, with a member
ship of 750,000 communicants. Both of these mergers
have established new ecclesiastical organizations, and are
movements of organic union in the very strictest sense.
The merging bodies have surrendered their separate iden
tity entirely and have given up even their names. Since
1872 the Lutheran Synodical Conference has been in ex
istence, and has drawn into its membership at various
times synods and parts of synods until it now contains
830,000 communicants. The present situation in the
Lutheran Church in America may, then, be summarized
as follows: It contains all told approximately 2,500,000

6o CHRISTIAN UNITY
communicants. One third of these are in congregations
of the United Lutheran Church; a second third are in
a dozen or more independent synodical bodies, four of
which contain three- fourths of all the communicants;
the remaining third are in the Synodical Conference.
All of these movements for unification have rested on
the conviction of community of faith. That they have
developed rapidly within the last five years is due to the
growing recognition that this community of faith is really
a fact. Feeling themselves to be actually one in the
things which they believe to make a church, the merg
ing bodies have considered it a privilege as well as a duty
to enter into the closest possible fellowship.
Since 1917 the Lutheran Church has had two general
organizations which cannot be regarded as in any sense
unions of the church bodies concerned, but which have
brought these bodies together in close and important coop
erative efforts. These organizations are the National
Lutheran Commission for Soldiers' and Sailors' Wel
fare and the National Lutheran Council. The Com
mission, organized in 1917 for the purpose of caring for
the spiritual welfare of the Lutheran young men in the
national service, included all the larger Lutheran church
bodies and most of the smaller ones, with the exception
of the Synodical Conference, though even that body did
cooperate for a time in some of the activities of the com
mission. The Council was organized in 1918 by repre
sentatives of the same bodies which had previously
formed the Commission. Its purpose was to secure coop
eration, where possible, in matters that lay outside the
powers of the Commission. The bodies cooperating in
the Commission and the Council comprise two-thirds of
all the Lutherans in America.
The work of the Council has been chiefly overseas.
It has standing commissioners to the Lutheran Churches
of Europe and has formed connections with the Luther
ans of practically all the European countries. These con-

THE PRESENT SITUATION 6i
nections do not look toward an international organic
union of Lutherans, but have been formed only as a
means for affording aid in the present distress of the
European churches. The work that the National Coun
cil is doing at home extends only to the point of coop
eration in those objects which do not involve confessional
unity on the part of the cooperating bodies. For although
the synods cooperating in the National Lutheran Council
recognize each other as truly Lutheran bodies, never
theless there are differences between them on points of
faith and practice which are still a barrier to a general
union. Thus the movement represented by the Commis
sion and the Council, like the others which have been
mentioned, rests upon a recognition of inner unity, and
the organizations are merely an expression of the degree
of unity which is recognized as already attained.
2. Attitude toward Cooperation and Union with Other
Churches
Among many of the Lutherans of America there is a
growing conviction that they need to speak clearly on the
whole subject of the cooperation and the organic union
of the Protestant Churches. Heretofore they have quite
generally contented themselves with holding aloof from
such movements and speaking on the subject only to their
own people, but they are beginning to feel that they owe
it to themselves and to American Protestantism to make
their convictions plain to everybody. There is among
them an increasing desire to find ways of cooperation
with other Christians and to clarify the problem of or
ganic union by securing a recognition of the principles on
which such a union must rest. This desire is felt most
strongly in the United Lutheran Church, but it is shared
by many outside that body.
The following is a summary of an official declaration
which was adopted by the Convention of the United
Lutheran Church in October, 1920;

62 CHRISTIAN UNITY
a. The Church of Jesus Christ is the fellowship of all
believers, the "communion of saints." Its existence is
an article of faith, which cannot be demonstrated, but
which is asserted in the Scriptures, and is a necessary
consequence of belief in the continued life of Christ in
all His followers and in the efficacy of the means of
grace. Of this Church we believe that it is one, holy,
catholic, and apostolic.
b. The one holy Church performs its functions and
makes its presence known through groups of men and
women who confess their faith in Jesus Christ. These
groups are known as churches, and each of them — con
gregation, denomination, or what not — will inevitably
seek to realize the attributes of the one, holy, catholic,
and apostolic Church.
c. The true function of the churches, therefore, is the
confession of faith, the preaching of the Word of God,
the administration of the sacraments, and the perform
ance of works of serving love.
d. In their relationships to other churches, every
church should always be ready to declare unequivocally
what it believes about Christ and His Gospel, and to
show that it has truly interpreted the Gospel. It should
grant cordial recognition to all agreements with other sim
ilar groups, approaching them without hostility, jealousy,
suspicion, or pride. At the same time, it should not neg
lect to bear witness to the truth when it believes others
to be in error. It should seek to cooperate with others
in works of serving love, provided always that such coop
eration does not involve suppression of testimony to truth,
or acquiescence in error.
e. On the basis of these principles the Lutheran
Church believes that the only sound method of approach
to organic union is one that will definitely establish the
extent of the agreements and disagreements in faith
between the churches which it is proposed to unite. It
is convinced that until larger unity of confession is at-

THE PRESENT SITUATION 63
tained than now exists, it must maintain its separate iden
tity as a witness to the truth which it knows.
f. Resting on the same principles, it is convinced that
the Christian desire for cooperation must be limited in
practice in such a way that it shall not be led into acqui
escence in error or forced to a suppression of testimony
to truth. For this reason it believes that proposals for
cooperation among the churches should be accompanied
by a definite statement of fundamental principles drawn
from the gospels and embodying the essential content of
the Christian message. Indeed it stands ready to propose
such principles.
g. On the basis of such principles the United Lutheran
Church, at least, will be ready to enter into cooperative
movements with other churches, provided three condi
tions are satisfied, viz. :
(i) These principles must not be denied, either in
theory or in practice by the cooperative movement.
(2) The cooperating churches must not be limited,
while participating in cooperative movements, in their
confession of the whole truth which they hold, even
though that truth may not be held, or not held in the
same way, by all those who are cooperating.
(3) The purposes of cooperation must lie within the
proper sphere of church activity, which is the preaching
of the Gospel, the administration of the sacraments, and
the performance of works of serving love. It does not
extend to the enactment and enforcement of law or the
application of external force of any kind.
IV. The Methodist Church and Unity
I. The Unity within the Methodist Church
Methodism, whether in England or America, has
divided not on questions of doctrine but upon those of
practice and polity. In America there have been or
ganized protests against slackened zeal and surrender to

64 CHRISTIAN UNITY
"worldliness." Disregard of the rights of the laity to
representation in the conferences and assertion of the
rights of pastors to participation in the arrangement of
the appointments have caused withdrawals from the
central body. Especially has resistance to the fact and
the tendency of the episcopacy created discontent and
defection. It is interesting to note that the actual num
ber of Methodists to be accounted for in these sincere and
intensely conscientious movements is relatively small and
that many of the causes of separation have long since
been removed.
The difference of judgment and conviction concerning
slavery was an important underlying cause of some of the
early divisions and entered deeply into the controversy
resulting in the division in 1844, which left the Methodist
Episcopal Church as one — the larger — fragment of the
church, chiefly in the North, and led to the organization
of the other fragment — the conferences which withdrew
— altogether on the border and in the South, as the Meth
odist Episcopal Church, South. In a true interpretation
of Providence, slavery was the cause of this separation.
As a matter of fact, a question of ecclesiastical procedure
was the immediate occasion. Two schools had arisen
during the sixty years of the church's organized life, the
one holding that the final authority in the church was
vested in the episcopacy, the other that this authority in
hered in the General Conference — the supreme law-mak
ing body of the church. Undoubtedly once the separa
tion had occurred, the profound moral issue involved in
human slavery came to be regarded as the essential dif
ference between the two bodies.
One in origin, in doctrine, in spirit, in method, in ulti
mate aim, it was inevitable that men of good will in both
these great branches of Methodism should seek for some
common ground. Fraternal delegates from each to the
General Conference of the other have long stirred both
the churches by declarations of good will and avowals

THE PRESENT SITUATION 65
of high purpose. The membership of both is so vast
that the discussion of union or "unification" is with multi
tudes almost wholly academic. But to the leaders in the
churches, to the membership of each in the normal ter
ritory of the other, and to the ministers and the people
in the conferences which interplay throughout the broad
belt which we call the border, the issues involved seem
immediate and vital.
At the historic conference at Cape May in 1876 the
two commissions appointed by the respective General
Conferences of the churches adopted a "Declaration and
Basis of Fraternity." This cleared away long cherished
misunderstandings and opened the way for the negotia
tions of two score and more years. The progress has
not been rapid, to say the least, and yet those who have
marked the increase of personal friendship, the fading
away of misconceptions, the attrition which has worn
away obstinate prejudice, and the actual gains in the
common agreements reached from time to time, have been
assured that the hope for a reunited Methodism is some
thing more than a dream.
Proposals which have looked toward "unification by
reorganization" have been under the consideration of a
joint commission of representative men of both churches
during the four years past. A plan which involved a'
distribution of territory into regional conferences, with
large local autonomy, made provision for a General Con
ference with central authority in all matters connectional,
established a judicial conference or court with certain
legal powers, and while fixing certain limitations recog
nized the need of enlarged self-government in the Church
in foreign fields, was wrought out with great care by the
Commission. It was transmitted without recommenda
tion to the General Conference of the Methodist Epis
copal Church at its quadrennial session at Des Moines
in May, 1920. After most careful consideration it was
neither accepted nor rejected. Three major objections to

66 CHRISTIAN UNITY
it were presented in discussion: first, that it discrimi
nated against the Negro in the matter of representation
in the highest legislative body; second, that it inade
quately recognized the rights of the rising Church in
foreign lands; third, that its plan for regional confer
ences was at once unwieldy and divisive. Many were
convinced that for an ecumenical church some plan for
subsections which would provide for local autonomy is
essential, and that a way should be found to correct the
disadvantages placed upon the constituencies overseas
and to secure equality of treatment for the Negro mem
bership. The General Conference reconstituted the Com
mission, relieving it of previous restrictions, expressed
desire that the General Conference of the other church
would continue its Commission or create a new one, and
presented for the favorable consideration of the Meth
odist Chiirch, South,* a plan for a popular convention
consisting of from 200 to 400 from each church, in which
more broadly representative assembly the whole question
of unification should be considered.
This is the present technical status in the relationships
of the two largest Methodist bodies in the United States.
There is disappointment that a more conclusive result
has not by this time been attained. There can be no
doubt that the two great churches at heart profoundly
desire union in some form, and among many of the
leaders the purpose to achieve the desired end is deeper
and more ardent than ever.
In addition to the significant efforts of the Methodist
Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, are the friendly tendencies of smaller groups to
ward closer affiliation and the definite proposals of the
large organizations of Negro Methodists for union among
themselves. Long since in Canada the several branches
of Methodism have become one church; in Australia
'The General Conference of the Methodist Church, South,
meets in 1922.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 67
union has been practically accomplished ; in Great Britain
in 1907 was consummated the union of three bodies into
one, and this new organization and the others remaining
are moving as rapidly as conditions will allow toward
that complete union which will be really a merger of all
these historic British groups into one Methodist Church.
The study of the facts and the appraisal of the present
temper of Methodists throughout the world results in the
conviction that "Methodism is now," as a recent writer
has said, "an unbroken fellowship. Not only has the
spirit of conflict disappeared, but it has given place to an
unmistakable desire for reconciliation and reunion."
There can be no doubt that Methodists of every name
are characterized by the consciousness of a common her
itage and of close kinship. There is a "sense of birth
right" and of intimate spiritual fellowship. Its delight
extends to every group and member of the family and
in it are present solidarity and the basis for an inev
itable union ultimately. This can be understood only
when it is remembered that the "primary idea of Method
ism lies in its emphasis upon experience" — not upon emo
tion or sentiment but upon a conscious personal relation
to God through Christ which means assurance of for
giveness, deliverance, spiritual power, and joy. Meth
odism was not primarily a protest against the theology
of the day or a reaction against any ecclesiastical consti
tution. A careful English interpreter has said :
"The fundamental identity of Methodism is the appre
hension of the supreme and universal love of God as the
essence of the Gospel, of man as made for the fellowship
of that love, of sin as withstanding it, of grace (in Jesus
Christ) as atoning for sin and enthroning the love of God
once more in the heart. The conditions under which
Methodism arose led to its concentration upon this mas
ter truth. It attracted those who experienced its vitaliz
ing power. This is the bond of union between its mem
bers throughout all its branches. When this bond weak
ens it faUs to pieces at once."

68 CHRISTIAN UNITY
The search for this spiritual experience was the quest
of devout souls long before John Wesley found in it the
glowing center of a new religious Hfe for himself and for
those to whom he unceasingly proclaimed it, and the rec
ognition of it as the rightful possession of all to whom
God is Love as well as Law, to whom Jesus Christ is a
living Lord as truly as He was the crucified Saviour, is
limited by no denominational tradition or barrier. None
the less it is typically a mark of Methodist life, perma
nent and universal, is essential to it, and all branches of
Methodism throughout the world respect it and seek to
maintain it.
2. Attitude toward Union with Other Churches
The relation of Methodism in all its branches to other
denominations depends not only upon its essential spirit,
which is distinctly irenic in the field of discussion and
sympathetic in the field of action, but as well upon the
organization through which that spirit is finding expres
sion. Out of the controversies which were inevitable in
the united societies in England after John Wesley's death,
when authority and liberty were adjusting themselves
each to the other in an organization which was not during
his lifetime a church, and in the untried methods of the
new Methodism in this new world, have grown forms
of administration which on the one hand have close
affinity to those in some other denominations and on the
other are distinctive and unique. The general superin-
tendency, lay representation, the powers of the confer
ence, the itinerancy, democracy in the local church, the
connectional bond, all belong in some form to all branches
of the Methodist family. The organizing process con
tinues, rarely affecting the constitutional basis but ad
justing and readjusting the non-essentials to meet new
conditions and to give play to fresh forces. It is clear
that Methodists are not exempt from that preoccupation
with the methods of service which, in all bodies, so easily

THE PRESENT SITUATION 69
suppresses the enthusiasm for the ideals of the spirit.
The strain placed upon individual attention by a connec
tional system at once strengthens the sense of a wide-
reaching fellowship in service and, quite possibly, at the
same time limits this interest to the system itself. The-.
range of denominational activities, in a membership of
three or four milHons, with every form of Christian insti
tution represented, and with organized work in every
land, is so extended that the consciousness of denomina
tional divisions may easily be dimmed, and the lack of
unity may be viewed with slight concern. It is quite
likely, therefore, that without the least disregard for the
devoted purpose of those forward-looking spirits among
Methodists or among other denominations who feel the
urgency of union, and with no denial whatever of the
principles which warrant the effort to achieve it, mul
titudes in the Methodist groups — possibly it may be
also true of other groups — are without eagerness, it may
be, without care, concerning it.
On the other hand, three facts should stand out clearly
in the survey of this subject :
First: Among Methodists there are many individuals
to whom the appeal for union comes as a divine com
mand and who, in deed and prayer, work and wait for
that consummation.
Second: In statement of belief, in Christian practice,
or in church organization, there is no essential bar to
unity of the spirit and none to a union in external admin
istration which recognizes the truth of history and of the
Word of God.
Third : Methodism has shown, and doubtless will show,
in utterances and activities, that opportunities for comity,
cooperation, and federation are always welcome to her,
believing that if we are laborers together with God we
are also, and primarily, workers together with one an
other. In numerous instances this cooperative spirit has been

70 CHRISTIAN UNITY
shown by organized groups as well as by individuals and
it is in this direction that the hope for more complete
union is most clearly to be found. Acts of cooperation,
either individual or corporate, if developed into habit
become far-reaching in their influence. The example of
those who, while leaders in any denominational service,
are also easily and happily at home wherever men of
good will are in fellowship, is a cogent argument for the
recognition of spiritual unity and tends toward the actual
merger of the organized groups which now seem so sadly
divergent. To increase these contacts and to multiply
the number of those who participate in them is as definite
a service for unity as are academic discussions of the
"Quadrilateral" or debates upon rival theories of church
government. We might summarize this discussion of the Methodist
Episcopal Church by saying that in any of its confer
ences or congregations a test inquiry would find a large
majority ready for any feasible cooperation, friendly to
definite federation, responsive to the appeal for organic
union, and sympathetic with the ideals of those who seek
to promote it, but incredulous as to its practicability. But
the desire for a union as nearly complete as human con
ditions may allow is a growing experience in the thought
ful circles of Methodism. The will to produce this result
is probably not strongly indicated in the thinking and
activities of the denomination but, without doubt, warm
est welcome awaits those conditions in the common de
velopment of the programs of the several denominations
which will illustrate and promote the unity for which
devout believers of every name constantly pray.
V. The Churches of the Northern Baptist Con
vention and Unity
I. The Unity among the Baptist Churches
While there is no authoritative creedal statement

THE PRESENT SITUATION 71
among the Baptists, the fundamental Baptist contention
may be said to have been the spirituality of Christianity.
Among the principles and inferences to which they gen
erally hold may be enumerated: the immediacy of the
communion of the soul with God; the voluntariness of
religion, with its appHcation to the separation of Church
and State and the baptism of infants; the equality and
liberty of believers within the Church, from which would
be inferred the democracy and the independence of the
local church, and the denial to any man or any organiza
tion of the right to impose upon the individual believer
the acceptance of any creedal interpretation of the Gos
pel ; the spirituality of the Church, implying among other
things a regenerate church membership. This is only a
partial statement and there is wide diversity upon points
which most Baptists do not regard as being essential.
There is, however, a body of principles which are gen
erally accepted among them and which constitute a very
real bond of unity.
In addition to any unity of conviction, there is the tre
mendously vital principle of an organized and unified
work. The bearing of this upon interdenominationalism
would seem to be that the way to get together is to work
together in a common task and to pray together for the
common cause in which each denomination is trying to
do its share. The unity created and fostered by the
presence of a common task, together with great common
convictions as to the supreme and undying truths of the
Gospel, constitute the only basis of a bond of unity
among the denominations.
The spirit of unity within the Baptist constituency of
the North has been largely increased since the organiza
tion of the Northern Baptist Convention, which held its
eleventh annual meeting in June of this year. The
machinery of the Convention has been largely unified by
the creation in 1919 of the Board of Promotion of about
150 members, representing in a very comprehensive way

-jz CHRISTIAN UNITY
the constituent factors in the Convention, such as the
Executive Committee and the cooperating organizations
— including the Foreign Mission Society, the Home Mis
sion Society, the Publication Society, the standard city
mission societies, the state conventions, the Board of Edu
cation, the Ministers' and Missionaries' Benefit Board,
and others. It may rightly be said that the Board of Pro
motion in a very real way unifies the administrative ma
chinery, as it has not been unified before.
As to organic union within the various branches of
the denominational family, the so-called Regular Baptists
and the so-called Free Baptists some time ago united their
general work as a definite step toward organic union.
There has still to come, if ever, any organic union of the
Northern and the Southern Baptist Conventions. The
work of each is thoroughly well established and probably
the most that can be hoped for at present is a spirit of
brotherliness and cooperation.
2. Attitude toward Cooperation
The denominational consciousness of the present day
is strong, but it is not, in the main, a selfish or dogmatic
consciousness. The great Christian denominations have
no disposition to make apology for their existence or
their organized life, but they eagerly desire and definitely
purpose to work in loving and whole-hearted cooperation
with their brethren of other communions. And such a
spirit as this is a long way beyond that of toleration.
Toleration is a far advance on intolerance, but toleration
easily becomes indifference, and both are utterly inade
quate to express the ideal relationship between bodies of
Christ's followers. "Like a mighty army moves the
Church of God." No regimental sacrifice of conviction,
but above the flag of the regiment the flag of the army ;
above the standard of the denomination the banner of the
Captain of the host. Not intolerance, not toleration, not
indifference, but fellowship, is the rallying cry.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 73
One of the Christian statesmen of the day has said :
"It needs no prophet to foretell that this movement is
bound to increase in volume and momentum. Men may
question, criticize, and resist it, but it can no more be
held back than the tides of the sea. There are tendencies
at work which make this inevitable. Christian laymen
^yill not much longer be patient with the existing condi
tions. The most discerning Christian ministers are them
selves earnest in their advocacy of a change. Surely a
closer and more practical drawing together of the dif
ferent bands and companies of His followers cannot but
be pleasing to our Lord and Master. The foreign mis
sionary achievements of the Church in Asia, Africa, and
Latin America in respect to division of the field. Chris
tian comity, and cooperative effort, have been such as to
afford convincing and inspiring evidence in favor of the
widespread application of the same principles and meth
ods on the home field."
It is perfectly safe to say that such a statement repre
sents the vast preponderance of attitude and conviction
in the membership of the Northern Baptist Convention.
So much misunderstanding has arisen concerning the
action of the Northern Baptist Convention in its anni
versaries at Buffalo in June, 1920, terminating its official
relation with the Interchurch World Movement, that it
may be worth while to record the accompanying resolu
tions, without which the spirit of the action and the atti
tude of the Convention cannot be rightly understood.
Those resolutions are in part as follows :
"Resolved, That we hereby register our conviction
that the evangelical denominations of North America
have and hold so many interests in common that they
should in all practicable ways cooperate for the promo
tion of their common purposes and the accomplishment
of their common tasks, and that we do now and herein
reaffirm our earnest desire and our cordial readiness to
continue and to engage in such cooperative efforts with
other evangelical Protestant denominations.
"Resolved, That we desire to reassure our brethren
of the great Protestant bodies with whom we have

74 CHRISTIAN UNITY
for the last year been associated in the incorporated or
ganization known as the Interchurch World Movement
of our fraternal Christian feeling and good will, and that
we reaffirm the good faith and fraternity of spirit with
which under the Denver resolutions we engaged to coop
erate in the organization of the Interchurch World Move
ment, and our conviction of the abiding worth of the
ideals and spirit which we together sought to embody in
this organized movement.
"Resolved, That the Convention approve the contin
uance of existing relations with other well-established
interdenominational agencies and that the General Board
of Promotion at its discretion plan for further coopera
tive promotional work with other evangelical denomina
tions and present the same in a report to the Northern
Baptist Convention of 1921."
3. Attitude toward Organic Union
At the anniversaries of the Northern Baptist Conven
tion held in Denver in May, 1919, a statement prepared
by a convention committee was unanimously adopted as
follows :
"Whereas, The Northern Baptist Convention has been
invited to send delegates to a council looking toward
organic union of the Protestant denominations, it is
"Resolved, That the Northern Baptist Convention,
while maintaining fraternal relations with evangelical
denominations in extending the influence of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, does not believe that organic union with
other denominations is possible. It therefore declines to
send delegates to the proposed council.
"In declining this invitation, however, Christian cour
tesy demands that the Northern Baptist Convention
should state its position as to organic union with other
Christian denominations. This we make not with any
desire to pose as judge of our Christian brethren, but in
the interest of mutual understanding.
"The Baptist denomination is a collection of indepen
dent democratic churches. Not one of these churches
recognizes any ecclesiastical authority superior to itself.
Theyare grouped in associations, state conventions, and
a national Convention, but none of these groups has any

THE PRESENT SITUATION 75
control over a local church beyond that which lies in
common faith, practice, and service. The denomination,
in so far as it has unity, is a federation of independent
democracies. In the nature of the case, therefore, any
thing like organic union of Baptist Churches with other
denominations is impossible.' There is no centralized
body that could deliver Baptist Churches to any merger
or corporate unity. If Baptist Churches do not have
organic unity among themselves, they obviously cannot
have organic unity with other denominations. By the
very nature of our organization, we are stopped from
seeking organic union with other denominations.
"This situation does not arise from any desire on our
part as Baptists to withhold ourselves from fellowship
with other Christian bodies in the pursuance of Christian
work. Nor does it arise from any desire to impose upon
them our own convictions. We grant to others all rights
that we claim for ourselves. But the liberty of conscience
and the independence of the churches which characterize
our position are involved in our fundamental conception
as to the nature of the Church and of its relation to the
religious life.
"We believe in the complete competency of the individ
ual to come directly into saving relationship with God.
We hold that a church is a local community of those
who have consciously committed themselves to Jesus
Christ. The only Church Universal is, in our belief,
spiritual fellowship of individual souls with God. We
do not believe in any form of sacerdotalism or sacramen-
talism among Christians, who are all equally priests of
the Most High. We reject ecclesiastical orders and hold
that all believers are on a spiritual equality. With us
ordination is only a formal recognition on the part of
some local church that one of its members is judged
worthy to serve as a pastor. The fact that such appoint
ment is generally recognized in all our churches is simply
a testimony to denominational good faith.
"We cannot modify these convictions for the sake of
establishing a corporate unity with other denominations.
Any compromise at this point would be an abandonment
of structural beliefs.

'It should be noted that in this resolution "organic union" is
used in a narrower sense than in this report. Cf. pp. 194-202.

76 CHRISTIAN UNITY
"We heartily believe in the necessity of a combined
impact of Christian forces upon the evil of the world.
Such impact, however, does not depend for its efficiency
upon organic union of the churches. We are convinced
that our fundamental conception of the Church, the
nature of our organization, the democracy which is the
very basis of our denominational life, make any organic
union with groups of Christians holding opposite views
unwise and impossible."
At the same anniversaries of the Northern Baptist
Convention held in Denver a statement prepared by the
Convention Committee on Faith and Order was unani
mously adopted. It bears especially upon the matter of
the validity of ordination to the Christian ministry and
reads as follows :
"In the year 1910, the Protestant Episcopal Church in
America requested the various Protestant denominations
to appoint commissions to unite with it in calling and
arranging for a world conference to discuss the ques
tions of Christian faith and order. . . . Your Commis
sion has had a number of informal conferences with
representatives of the Episcopal Church. Its hope is
that in a world conference we may arrive at some basis
of faith and order upon which the divided Christian
denominations may become united into one Church of
God, and present a uniform witness of the Gospel to the
world. . . . From meetings thus far held it has become evi
dent to your Commission that the Episcopal Church
stresses the necessity of Episcopal ordination as a primal
necessity to validate the exercise of the ministry in the
Church. It proposes, however, a concession to the non-
Episcopal clergy who may be willing to accept Episcopal
ordination at the hands of Episcopal bishops. Ministers
of other denominations seeking such ordination shall not
be required to accept the Episcopal theory, but only the
fact of the Episcopate. It differentiates these terms;
meaning by 'theory' the doctrine of an unbroken historic
succession of the ministry traceable to the apostles;
whereas by the word 'fact' it means that the Episcopal
form of government has historically vindicated itself as
desirable and efficient. In thus accepting the fact, with
out the theory, it hopes that the non-Episcopal churches.

THE PRESENT SITUATION ^^
especially the ministers, may without the sacrifice of any
vital principle see their way clear to act upon the ground
of expediency, and so meet what is to the Episcopal com
munion a matter of conscience. Your Commission has
been unequivocal in its reply to these propositions. We
have said to the Episcopal (Commission with utmost can
dor that the trend of our views and attitude concerning
ordinances, sacraments, and ministry of the Church are
at such variance with , its conceptions that we are con
vinced that its above-named overtures would not elicit
the interest, much less a serious consideration, on the
part of our Baptist people. On these grounds there is
nothing to hope for in the direction of church union."
From the above statements it will be seen that there is
little likelihood that the churches of the Northern Baptist
Convention will participate in a definite movement toward
organic church union at this time, unless the conditions
of such organic union are materially modified from those
which were under consideration when these statements
were framed.
But the task before the Christian Church of today is
too great for any one denominational body, or for all the
denominational bodies acting as separate units without
cooperative planning and endeavor. In such cooperation
there surely is warrant for saying that the Northern Bap
tist Convention will participate fully and loyally.
VI. The Presbyterian Church and Unity
I. The Unity in the Presbyterian Churches
According to the Westminster Confession of Faith the
Church consists of "all saints that are united to Jesus
Christ their head," the bond of their union being the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. From this it follows that
all the legitimate manifestations of unity are referable
to the Spirit's presence. As the Holy Spirit is our
Teacher, it follows that all true Christians agree in faith.
As He is our Sanctifier, all those in whom He dwells

78 CHRISTIAN UNITY
agree in their religious experience and are one in their
inward spiritual life; and as the Holy Spirit is the Spirit
of Love, the command of Christ to His disciples to love
one another is written in the heart by the Holy Spirit.
This spiritual principle has led Presbyterians to unite
for the purposes of Christian worship, and to organize
congregations for mutual watch and care, for the exer
cise of disciphne, and for the propagation of the Gospel.
Presbyterian colonists when they came to this country
united with existing churches in New England or founded
distinctively Presbyterian Churches. They were indepen
dent of one another until their ministers and elders came
together voluntarily and organized a presbytery in 1706.
This in time grew to a synod, and as the organization
matured, an assembly was constituted in 1788. Accord
ing to the constitution which was then adopted, the
Assembly was made "the bond of union, peace, corre
spondence, and mutual confidence among all our
churches." This plan of organization has contributed to the uni
fication of all the administrative work of the church, and
each benevolent Board — as, for example. Home Missions,
Foreign Missions, Education — is controlled by the entire
church through the agency of the Assembly. Of late the
Woman's Home and Foreign Mission Boards, acting
hitherto independently of the Assembly, have become its
appointed agencies. In order to unify the work still more
effectively, the Executive Commission of the General
Assembly has been empowered to confer with and advise
the permanent benevolent and missionary agencies of the
church and to take such action as may be necessary to
coordinate and unify the whole benevolent and missionary
work of the church.
The Presbyterian inheritance which is expressed in
the standards of the church, and loyalty to which con
stitutes the inner bond among Presbyterians, embodies
a certain spirit, to be found no doubt in other churches.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 79
but which is specifically characteristic of Presbyterianism.
This spirit may be called the Puritan spirit, which in its
theology is Calvinistic and proclaims the rule of God
in all departments and relationships of life, which in its
polity stands for a representative form of government,
and which in its worship and life advocates simplicity
and freedom. It is this spirit which both holds Presby
terians together and enables them to cooperate readily
with all who are seeking to establish the rule of God
throughout the world.
The general attitude of the Presbyterian Church in
the U. S. A. regarding Christian unity may be summed
up in the action which the General Assembly has taken
from year to year and which is as follows :
"The Presbyterian Church holds Christian fellowship
with all who confess and obey Jesus Christ as their divine
Saviour and Lord, and acknowledges the duty of all
churches that recognize Him as the only Head of the
Church Universal to work together in harmony and love
for the extension of His Kingdom and the good of the
world; and this Assembly earnestly desires to commend
and promote this Christian cooperation, and also practi
cally to advance the cause of church union by confedera
tion, and, where possible, by consolidation among the
churches of the Reformed Faith, which are most nearly
akin in doctrine and organization."
For the past seventeen years a permanent Committee
on Church Cooperation and Union has been at work un
der these official instructions from the General Assembly :
"Resolved, i. That a Committee be appointed by the
Moderator to consider the whole subject of cooperation
and confederation and consolidation with other churches.
"Resolved, 2. That this Committee be instructed to
enter into correspondence with any churches of the Re
formed family with whom, in the judgment of the Com
mittee, such correspondence would be likely to promote
closer relations.
"Resolved, 3. That this Committee shall report to
the next Assembly such plans and measures as seem to

8o CHRISTIAN UNITY
them wise, proper, and profitable for the advancement
of fraternal relations, for the increase of harmonious
work, and, if God shall open the way, and incline the
hearts of the churches thereto, for the reunion of those
who hold the same faith and order in the service of
Christ." As a result of the Committee's negotiations, organic
union with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was
effected in 1905. At the meeting of the last Assembly
(May, 1920) the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church,
with a communicant membership of approximately
15,000, was received into the Presbyterian Church in
the U. S. A.
For the past ten years a Council of the Reformed and
Presbyterian Churches has been in continuous opera
tion. Through it the constituent bodies have become bet
ter acquainted with one another and have agreed upon
rules of comity and methods of cooperation in benevolent
and missionary work. Meanwhile, promising negotiations
for closer union have been carried on between the Pres
byterian Church in the U. S. A. and the Presbyterian
Church in the U. S., and also the Reformed Church in
the U. S. The Synod of the Reformed Church in the
U. S. at its meeting in June, 1920, authorized its Com
mittee on Church Union to carry on negotiations with
the Presbyterian Committee on Church Cooperation and
Union with a view to the consolidation of the two bodies.
Growing out of the Council of the Reformed and
Presbyterian Churches a movement has been inaugurated
almost simultaneously in the Presbyterian Church of the
U. S. A., the Presbyterian Church in the U. S., the Re
formed Church in the U. S., the United Presbyterian
Church, and the Reformed Church in America, in the
direction of closer relations and a more effective mis
sionary cooperation. A tentative Plan of Union has been
approved, whereby a United Assembly is to be consti
tuted with the title of "The United Assembly of the

THE PRESENT SITUATION 8i
Presbyterian and Reformed Churches of the United
States of America" which shall represent in one body
all the churches united therein and shall constitute the
bond of union, peace, and correspondence among all the
congregations and courts of the constituent churches.
It is to be the declarative, executive, administrative, and
judicial agency of the united churches, and shall possess
such ecclesiastical powers as are to be delegated to it
when the cooperating churches shall have agreed upon
a constitution. This movement gives hope that in the
not far distant future the leading Presbyterian and Re
formed Churches will be united in one Christian
communion.
2. Attitude toward a More Inclusive Union
The third resolution of the General Assembly, quoted
above, authorizing the appointment of the Committee on
Cooperation and Union, included an official declaration
of hope for the reunion of all "those who hold the same
faith and order in the service of Christ." The Assem
bly, consequently, responded promptly to the invitation
to share in the proposed World Conference on Faith and
Order, approving "the steps thus far taken by the Com
mittee on Church Cooperation and Union in the matter."
In the Assembly of 1918 overtures were received from
various presbyteries concerning the organic union of all
American evangelical churches and petitioning the As
sembly, "That it overture the national bodies of our sister com
munions to hear and prayerfully consider a program for
church union.
"That the General Assembly name a time and place,
as early as possible, for an interdenominational council
of evangelical churches.
"That our Assembly state frankly in this call, that the
purpose of the Council is to discuss, and if the way be
clear, to adopt a definite plan of organic church union."

82 CHRISTIAN UNITY
In recommending action thereon the following resolu
tion was adopted :
"The Committee on Bills and Overtures, before recom
mending action, desires to congratulate the General As
sembly and through it the whole church, that these over
tures show that there is an earnest desire for church unity
growing in power in the hearts of many, and a determined
effort put forth to accomplish the same.
"It is to be noted that our church has long been for
ward in its expression and effort looking toward the
reunion and union of the evangelical churches of
America. "The Committee recommends the foflowing action:
(i) That we, the Commissioners to the One Hundred
and Thirtieth General Assembly, now in session at Colum
bus, Ohio, do declare and place on record our profound
conviction that the time has come for organic church
union of the evangelical churches of America.
(2) That this Assembly hereby overtures the national
bodies of the evangelical communions of America to meet
with our representatives for the purpose of fprmulating
a plan of organic union."
Following this action the Committee on Church Coop
eration and Union took the lead in convening the Council
on Organic Union which assembled in Philadelphia, Feb
ruary 3 to 6, 1920. The Plan of Union for Evangelical
Churches in the U. S. A. which was then formulated was
approved by the last General Assembly and ordered to
be sent down to the presbyteries for their action.'
Concerning the special question of organic union on
the foreign field the following action was taken at the
Post- War Conference held in Princeton, June 19 to 28,
1920, when the twenty-seven missions of the Presbyterian
Church were represented:
"We gladly record our gratification that our Board is
now working in cooperation with at least twenty-nine
other Boards in various fields, and is in organic coopera-
*The Plan of Union is printed as Appendix II of this report.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 83
tion in at least forty-four educational institutions, and
that the definitely established policy of the General As
sembly and the Board is that expressed in the action of
the Board, May 15, 1900, and specifically approved by
the General Assembly of that year, as follows :
" 'Believing that the time has come for a yet larger
measure of union and cooperation in mission work, the
Board would ask the General Assembly to approve its
course in recommending to its missions in various lands
(in line with the General Assembly's action of 1887, Min
utes p. 23, having in view building up independent na
tional churches holding to the Reformed doctrine and the
Presbyterian polity) that they encourage as far as prac
ticable the formation of union churches, in which the
results of the mission work of all allied evangelical
churches should be gathered, and that they observe every
where the most generous principles of missionary com
ity ; and, further, it is voted that the Board now adopt the
statement of policy prepared by its special Committee on
Policy and Method, and submitted to many of the mis
sionaries and approved by them, as follows :
" 'In the view of the Board, the object of the for
eign missionary enterprise is not to perpetuate on
the mission field the denominational distinctions of
Christendom, but to build up on scriptural lines, and
according to scriptural principles and methods, the
Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Where church
union cannot be attained, the Board and missions will
seek such divisions of territory as will leave as large
districts as possible to the exclusive care and devel
opment of separate agencies. It is believed that in
other regards also missionary comity should be given
large range. . . . Fellowship and union among native
Christians of whatever name should be encouraged
in every possible way, with a view to that unity of all
disciples for which our Lord prayed, and to which
all mission effort should contribute.' "
VII. The Protestant Episcopal Church and
Unity
The Protestant Episcopal Church offers no exception
to the general observation that men who were actively
interested in church unity previous to the War are more

84 CHRISTIAN UNITY
deeply interested in it now, while those who were then
conscientiously sectarian are even more conscientiously
so at present. There are those within the Episcopal
Church who would go to the extreme limit of useful sac
rifice if through any effort of theirs the churches might
be drawn more closely together ; there are others, equally
earnest, who would welcome unity if other communions
would accept the polity and point of view of Episco-
palianism. There are, however, certain signs of a desire for union
which are more or less characteristic of the Episcopal
Church in general. They may be divided into three
classes : signs that the Episcopal Church is already some
what of a microcosm of church unity; signs that it is
interested in a larger and more comprehensive unity than
now exists ; signs that it is taking steps toward an actual
union. I. Signs that the Episcopal Church Is Already Some
what of a Microcosm of Church Unity
In its organization it has, as closely as possible, con
formed to a kind of federal system. The framers of its
constitution, being also in certain instances either the
framers of the Constitution of the United States, or in
close association with them, naturally leaned toward the
federal idea. As in the national organization so in the
ecclesiastical, the will of the smallest unit is carried higher
until it reaches the center, and, vice versa, the decisions
of the executive are submitted to the component parts of
the church. The will of the people is expressed in the
clergy, wardens, and vestry of the parish ; the will of the
parish is voiced in its clerical and lay delegates to the
diocesan convention ; the will of the diocese is expressed
in the clerical and lay delegates to the triennial conven
tion of the entire church. The church, therefore, while
preserving in great detail parochial and diocesan freedom,
recognizes a central deliberative authority. It is the

THE PRESENT SITUATION 85
replica of city, state, and nation. The recently formed
organization called the Presiding Bishop and Council
further unifies the church in the practical despatch of the
will of the Convention. Under its immediate direction
are placed the missionary, the educational, and the social
activities of the church. It will be readily seen,
therefore, that the widest margin of local freedom is
secured while a very real central authority is maintained.
In the matter of the liturgy a wide latitude is con
sciously and unconsciously allowed in the interpretation
of its formularies. From an historical point of- view such
a latitude was evidently in the intention of the compilers
of the Prayer Book. Actual signs of such intention may
be seen, for example, in the use or in the omission of the
sign of the cross in baptism, and in the permissible alter
native of pouring or immersion; in the substitution of
"He went into the place of departed spirits" for "He de
scended into hell" in the Apostles' Creed ; in the more and
less priestly sentences used by the bishop in the ordination
of priests. Actual evidence of such latitude may be found
in almost any congregation. It is a well-known fact that
many people ally themselves with the Episcopal Church
simply because they like the Prayer Book form of wor
ship, unaware of any demand the Prayer Book may make
upon them; there are others who interpret literally and
still others figuratively; there are those to whom the
Apostles' and Nicene Creeds appear as literal statements,
and there are those to whom they are more in the realm
of poetry.
Another sign that the Episcopal Church is already
somewhat of a microcosm of church unity appears in the
actual varieties of faith within it. Within the same con
gregation there are people who look upon the office of
bishop as essential to the being of the church, and people
who regard it as a useful institution that has stood the
test of time. There are some whose conception of the sac
rament of the Holy Communion approaches that of the

86 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Romanists, others who believe in con substantiation, others
in the so-called spiritual presence, others still who hold
the memorial view. Also with regard to the conception
of God points of view differ as widely as the poles. The
Incarnation is accepted as a matter of course. But the
implications of the Incarnation as to the person of Christ
vary with the temperaments of individuals. For some
the Incarnation and the Virgin Birth are inseparable, for
others they are separable ; for certain types of mind Jesus
is the perfect man and therefore one with God, for con
trary types of mind He is almost indistinguishable from
God. Some worshipers regard the trinitarian phraseol
ogy as language of theological exactness, while others use
the words because they describe, as well as words can,
their religious emotions.
In fact, it would seem that practically all types of reli
gion and theology might be found within the Episcopal
Church at present. All the way from a faith that closely
resembles the more richly emotional kinds of Unitarian-
ism, to the faith that is closely akin to Romanism, differ
ing from it only in its refusal to acknowledge the Pope,
the variations range. To say that a man is an Episco
palian is by no means to indicate whether he does or does
not believe in baptismal regeneration, what is his partic
ular view of the episcopacy, what kind of a sacramentalist
he is, or what are the refinements of his idea of God.
The Episcopal Church includes manifold temperaments
and manifold points of view.
2. Signs that the Episcopal Church Is Interested in a
Larger and More Inclusive Union than Now Exists
If it may be assumed at the outset that evidence is
drawn from theory and practice within the church rather
than from any pronouncements of an official character,
and if certain tendencies within the English Church may
be included as germane, it may be said that church union
of a limited kind is already in operation. The war found

THE PRESENT SITUATION 87
the Episcopal Church in this country working with many
other communions through the General Wartime Com
mission. This was clearly indicative of a recognition of
practical unity for a common aim. For many years cer
tain types of churchmen have counted on their neighbors
of other communions for addresses, particularly in Lent,
and occasionally for sermons. The permission of the
bishop is required ; it is seldom refused. It is the prac
tice in many churches to invite to the sacrament mem
bers of any communions. This custom is seldom inter
fered with. Such examples as these are not uncommon ;
they bear witness to the desire for a legal warrant for a
widespread practice.
More than this, however. Scholarship of recent years
has seemed to point to the conclusion that unity may in
here in faith rather than in polity. Research in first
century church government has persuaded at least some
of the more advanced churchmen that the apostolic fel
lowship found its life in correct thinking in regard to
God and Christ, rather than in holding to an especial
form of government, precious though that form might
be. There is said to be a strong movement in this direc
tion in England at the present time.' If such a tendency
gathers headway it will but corroborate the conviction
which large numbers of churchmen have always had —
that, important though forms of government may be,
they are of secondary value. There is great promise, in a
movement of this kind, that the church at large may find
itself ready to unite with those whose catholicity inheres
in their religion. At any rate, it may easily be seen that
scholarship is seeking the true basis of Catholicism rather
than sanctions for particular points of view.
Religion also is coming to the assistance of scholarship.

'This section was written before the Lambeth statement on
reunion was issued. That statement, printed as Appendix III
to this report, should be read in connection with this discus
sion of the attitude of the E|piscopal Church.

88 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Until quite recently full church membership depended
upon confirmation. To be sure, a baptized person was rec
ognized as a member of Christ. But until that person
had taken upon himself his baptismal promises and had
received the episcopal laying-on-of-hands he was not a
church member. This conception is gradually changing.
Baptism in the three-fold name may yet be accepted as
the basis of universal church membership. If so, prob
lems of an exclusively episcopal character will fall into
the background.
3. Signs that the Episcopal Church Is Actually Taking
Steps toward Real Union
At least forty years ago a movement was set on foot
by William R. Huntington toward allowing such non-
episcopalian churches as cared to do so to place them
selves under the jurisdiction of the local bishop and be
considered part of the church over which he was in
authority. The attempt came to nothing. The proposed
Concordat between Congregationalists and Episcopalians,
whereby Congregational ministers shall receive episcopal
ordination and at the same time shall retain all the essen
tial features of their own church, is but a second and pos
sibly more advanced chapter of the same bit of history.
Both of these movements, as well as participation in the
work of the Conference on Faith and Order, are earnest
attempts on the part of Episcopalians to secure a work
ing union in which the convictions of those who hold
that episcopacy is essential to the being of the Church
shall be respected, while the feelings of others who look
upon it as a useful institution only shall not be offended.
It is interesting to note that the friends and enemies of
the plan may not be separated along lines of churchman-
ship. It is also interesting to see on what cordial and mutu
ally trustful terms certain leaders of the Episcopal
Church are working with others along moral and religious

THE PRESENT SITUATION 89
lines. Reports from the Federal Council of the Churches
of Christ in America show how enthusiastically some of
the clergy and bishops of the Episcopal Church are not
only participating in local interchurch work, but are even
taking positions of leadership in such useful enterprises.
Reports from the lumber camps of the Northwest and
from frontier work elsewhere bear witness to a willing
ness on the part of many Episcopalians to cooperate on
the basis of certain working fundamentals, allowing the
exigencies of the situation to take precedence of certain
precious methods of religious procedure.
Possibly the most significant movement toward real
union is coming from the mission field. Sections of the
same communion are uniting as, for example, the
Anglican Church and the American Episcopal Church.
Beyond this, however, missionary bishops and others are
coming to the conclusion that the doctrine of common
sense is one of the notes of Catholicism, and that it en
tails Christian fellowship and a working union, what
ever the theoretical objections may be. Simply because
disunion defeats the purpose of missions and thereby be
comes heresy, the orthodoxy of union is made apparent.
It looks as if Gordian knots would be cut. Too much
time has been conscientiously wasted in trying to untie
them. It lends little to the discussion of the larger problems
of union to say that definite progress is being achieved in
drawing together all Episcopal Churches, save the Ro
man. Overtures are at present being made between the
Anglican and the Protestant Episcopal Churches on the
one hand and the Greek and Russian Churches on the
other. A report favorable to intercommunion was made
shortly before the war by a commission representing the
Anglican, the Protestant Episcopal, and the Swedish
Churches. From time to time the Old Catholics and
Anglicans of all branches show signs of fundamental
sympathy. All of these, however, being episcopal, are

90 CHRISTIAN UNITY
rendered free of obstacles supposed to be fundamental.
While they furnish interesting evidence of the attain
ment of a greater degree of real union, they do not repre
sent the critical problem. Definite advances have been
made to the Roman Catholic Church by the Anglican and
Protestant Episcopal Churches. The former insists,
however, upon submission to unaltered Romanism as the
sine qua non of union.
VIII. Other Churches and the Problem of Unity
In this chapter we have thus far considered only
seven of the large groups within American Christianity,
but in a general way it may be said that the denominations
here discussed are fairly representative of most of the
other Protestant bodies. To this statement, however, at
least three important exceptions need to be noted.
There is in the first place what we might term "the ex
treme right" of American Protestantism, the stricter
group within the Southern Baptist Convention. Since a
later section will analyze the implications of the more
uncompromising Southern Baptist conception of the
Church, we need here only say that their rigid insistence
upon the local congregation as the only ecclesiastical au
thority, upon immersion as the only valid form of bap
tism, upon a strict interpretation of certain other doc
trines, and upon complete freedom from central control
of any kind has led them generally to take so undeviating
a position of entire independence that they have been
unrepresented in the Federal Council of the Churches of
Christ in America and in most other cooperative endeav
ors. During the war, however, the Southern Baptist
Convention cooperated in the work of the General War-
Time Commission of the Churches, and such beginnings
in a concrete way afford a hope for larger cooperation
in the future.
At the extreme "left" of American Protestantism are
the Unitarian Churches, again affording a special prob-

THE PRESENT SITUATION 91
lem in connection with church unity. Here the prob
lem is the reverse of that presented by the Southern Bap
tists, for the Unitarians, it may be safely said, stand ready
to cooperate with other churches while some, at least, of
the other churches are very hesitant about such coopera
tion. But here, too, the measure of cooperation already
entered upon in specific instances suggests the possibility
of a larger future cooperation in matters that do not in
volve doctrinal considerations. In certain of the local
federations of churches Unitarians now participate, and
during the war the recommendation of Unitarian chap
lains to the War Department was through the agency of
the Federal Council's General Committee on Army and
Navy Chaplains.
Concerning one other Protestant body a word should
be said, the Friends. Representing an extreme emphasis
upon the supremacy of the individual conscience and dis
pensing with sacraments and a paid ministry, they have
naturally given less attention than other groups to insti
tutional religious life, whether denominational or inter
denominational. They are, however, one of the constitu
ent members of the Federal Council. There is, moreover,
a growing tendency to closer organization among the
Friends, a notable illustration being the American
Friends' Service Committee, which has carried on a work
that, in proportion to numbers and financial strength, no
doubt surpasses that of any other war-time agency.
The Salvation Army is another important group, less
easy to classify but requiring consideration. Here is a
great Christian movement built up on the principle of
that complete consecration which characterizes the
monastic orders of the Roman Catholic Church, yet, un
like them, making provision for family life. Whether it
is more correctly to be regarded as a denomination or as
an undenominational agency has not been entirely clear.
If membership in it is to be accepted as a substitute for
membership in one of the regular denominations — which

92 CHRISTIAN UNITY
seems now to be the case — it becomes practically another
denomination. If, on the other hand, it were to be re
garded like the Y M C A, as a supplementary agency for
speciaHzed service, its logical place in the present study
is in a later chapter.' In response to an inquiry as to how
the Salvation Army regards itself, one of its high officials
writes that it "is a Christian denomination very undenom
inational and extra-denominational in many of its
practices." Most difficult of all, of course, is the question of the
relations between the Protestant Churches and the Roman
Catholic Church. The adoption of the Constitution of the
United States, by which religious liberty was guaranteed
to all its citizens, saw the Roman Church but scantily rep
resented in the original thirteen states. More than 15,000
of the fewer than 25,000 Catholics then in the Union were
to be found in Maryland. While Catholics were still un
der local political disabilities in several of the states till
well into the nineteenth century, the earlier Roman priests
were received in some Protestant communities, and even
by Protestant ministers, with a good deal of personal
friendliness. By 1830, however, immigration was rapidly
augmenting the Roman CathoHc population. It is sup
posed to have reached 1,000,000 by 1840. With this
growth came religious conflicts, generally intensified by
racial antagonism. These feelings were further intensi
fied by the political contests, especially in the large eastern
cities, between the foreign (largely Roman Catholic)
elements and the Native-American Party from 1841 to
1847, and the Know Nothing Party in the years between
1852 and the Civil War.
Since the Civil War an increasing toleration has suc
ceeded the suspicion and hostility of the preceding dec
ades, and this state of relations has been greatly aided by
the tacit abandonment of all considerable proselyting at
tempts. In general, Roman Catholics and Protestants
'Cf., p. 125 of this report.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 93
have respected each other's constituencies and have made
relatively slight attempts to win from the one fold to the
other. The result has been a mutual toleration and a
growing regard. The chief field of friction in recent
years has been regarding public education. Popular feel
ing, as represented by the majority, has insisted on pub
lic schools maintained by general taxation. Roman Cath
olic conviction has emphasized parochial schools, educa
tion in which is usually recognized as meeting the re
quirements of the State. Paying for these parochial
schools themselves. Catholics have regarded the require
ment of taxation to support the public schools as a bur
den, and have desired either relief or the diversion of a
portion of the public money to the maintenance of their
parochial schools.
Those who hold, as do Roman Catholics, recognition of
the spiritual authority of the Pope a prerequisite to reun
ion, and those who reject that authority, as do Protes
tants, have no common basis of union which can now be
proposed.' That fundamental divergence does not pre
vent, however, the possibility of an increasing measure of
cooperation and mutual recognition. Some evidences
of such an attitude are to be seen. Cardinal Gibbons and
Archbishop Ireland took part in the Parliament of Reli
gions at the Chicago Exposition in 1893. In various cities
Roman Catholics and Protestants have occasionally la
bored together officially, as religious bodies, to secure
better moral conditions of civic Hfe and to aid in epi
demics which threatened public health. In Cincinnati a
joint commission representing the Federation of Protest
ant Churches and the Federated CathoHc Societies met
with a series of successes in dealing with commercial
amusements. In the spring of 1916 Bishop McGolrick
joined with the Interchurch Council of Duluth and other
'The recent declination of the Pope to participate in the World
Conference on Faith and Order is noted elsewhere in this report.
See page 161.

94 CHRISTIAN UNITY
forces to make the city "dry." In Louisville the Roman
Catholics cooperated in securing the appointment of a
vice commission." In the same city, when the churches
were closed during an influenza epidemic, the Roman
Catholic bishop joined with the Protestants in an appeal
for religious observance in the homes. At Easter time,
1920, in Detroit the Holy Name Society and the Council
of Churches united in an appeal to the city administration
to request the closing of all business houses for three
hours on Good Friday. In the summer of 1920 the Social
Service Commission of the Federal Council of the
Churches and the National CathoHc Welfare Council
joined in giving assistance to an investigation of the Den
ver tramway strike, at the request of a local commission
including both Protestants and Catholics.
During the World War there were numberless in
stances in which Roman Catholic and Protestant chap
lains worked together in a fraternal spirit. Catholic
clergy and Protestant ministers joined in public com
munity services of thanksgiving, celebrating the success
ful conclusion of the struggle.
The most comprehensive attempt at practical coopera
tion between Catholics and Protestants during the war,
if not during American history, was the work of the
so-called "Committee of Six." The Committee was the
outcome of an informal conference in October, 1917, at
which representatives of the General War-Time Commis
sion of the Churches, the National War Work Council
of the Young Men's Christian Association, the National
Catholic War Council, and the Jewish Welfare Board
participated in considering what should be done to safe
guard the moral welfare of the soldiers. It was recog
nized by the Secretary of War "as an Advisory Commit
tee to confer with the Government on matters relating
to the religious interests of the Army." It was expHcitly
"Guild, Roy B., "Practicing Christian Unity," pp. 10, 21, 53.
New York, 1919.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 95
stated by the Committee that its functions were "purely
unofficial and advisory and that the organizations to
which members belong . . . are in no wise committed by
the action of the Committee." Several meetings were held
between October, 1917, and July, 1918, and important
recommendations were made to the War Department con
cerning the appointment of chaplains, the chaplains' train
ing school, and legislation concerning chaplains. Thir
teen meetings were held in all and the relations of the
members of the Committee were marked to a notable de
gree by mutual confidence and good will. The fact that
the members of the Committee were not authorized to act
in a representative capacity, and the complex situation
created by the action of the War Department in termi
nating the services of the "camp pastors," with the mis
taken impression in some quarters that the Committee of
Six was partly responsible for the step, were the chief
factors standing in the way of its further functioning.
It is no doubt in the increase of such forms of mutual
recognition and of practical cooperation within this lim
ited sphere that a closer relation between Protestants
and Roman Catholics is to be sought, so far as the imme
diate future is concerned.

CHAPTER III
THE PRESENT STATUS OF LOCAL COOP
ERATION
The movement toward church unity is developing rap
idly in two fields — in the local community and in the
Church as a whole. And each development is indispen
sable to the other. In the last analysis, however, every
thing rests upon the local church. It is here, therefore,
that we need to begin our discussion.
Local communities differ so widely in character that it
is almost impossible to speak in general terms. Two types,
more or less distinct, do, however, clearly appear — the
small locality, in which a single "community church" is
sufficient, and the city, in which a federation of churches
now appears to afford the most practicable step toward
unity. We shall consider the two types of communities
separately.
I. The Movement toward Church Unity in Small
Communities
The tendency toward the unifying of the Christian
forces in small communities is one of the most charac
teristic phases of the general movement toward the union
of the churches. This tendency has been quickened by
the increasing shifting of emphasis, particularly during
the last quarter of a century, from narrow sectarianism
to a broader and more inclusive theological content. Es
pecially in towns and villages where the population is
sufficient to support adequately only a single church has
the problem of union been urgent.
This movement toward the unifying of Christian forces
in small communities has found expression in several
forms, each of which we need to examine in some detail.
96

THE PRESENT SITUATION 97
I. Early Efforts to Stop Waste of Resources
First in historical order has been a recognition of the
waste of resources due to the competition of small
churches and the maintenance of sectarian groups. The
tragic failure of denominational competition in rural com
munities has been most clearly demonstrated in the state
of Ohio, through studies carried on by Rev. C. O. Gill,
and published under the joint authorship of Mr. Gill and
Hon. Gifford Pinchot, under the title "Six Thousand
Country Churches.'" All over the nation this waste and
failure have been noted. It was in the state of Maine,
as early as 1890, that the first organization was formed
to seek a distinctly cooperative plan, by reciprocal ex
change of exclusive responsibility for certain communi
ties, as a substitute for wasteful and destructive compe
tition. After thirty years of testing, the principles then
laid down are acknowledged to be still sound and valid as
far as they go. In fact, they are even clearer today, for
men who have been ministered to in war by Protestant
chaplains of many churches, to say nothing of Catholics
and Jews, are not prepared to support needless churches
duplicating one another's efforts.
2. The Union Church
As a remedy for the ills of sectarianism, communities
have tried the "union church." When a church bears no
denominational name, has no connection with denomina
tional organizations and enterprises, and in creedal posi
tion avoids distinctions and tests, or is neutral toward
them, or endeavors to be inclusive of all, it is in effect a
union church, whatever may be the name it carries.'

'Macmillan Co., New York, 1919. The volume can be secured
from the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America,
IDS East 22d St., New York.
Many are now using the name "community church," meaning
oftentimes in reality the same as "union church," despite the dif
ferent designation.

98 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Against the union church have arisen out of experience
certain serious criticisms which have to be taken into
account :
a. Without the usual associational fellowships and
friendships, which Christian organizations require, it
often lacks occasion for the expression of allegiance,
loyalty, and devotion to the larger bodies and movements
that include a vision of the whole country or the world.
It tends to become impoverished in its religious ideals,
because it has no agencies carrying on the great enter
prises of home and foreign missions in its behalf.
b. It lacks adequate outside advice and supervision,
with expert and technical help and guidance at critical
periods, from bishop, superintendent, secretary, or other
denominational leader. It is also subject more than other
churches are to deception and abuse from unprincipled
and unworthy pastors and preachers, because often
obliged to secure ministers from the foot-loose variety.
c. The union church promotes no institutions for edu
cation, religious or secular, in any large and statesmanlike
way. It does not have, therefore, within itself certain of
the incentives toward learning which other churches
have. Neither for itself, nor for its Sunday school, does
it have a literature which is produced by its own asso
ciates ; and it helps to produce none.
d. Frequently the union church lacks a well-rounded
system of truth, due to the fact that in its desire to in
clude all and offend none it does not care to express, and
so fails to cultivate, deep religious convictions.
Despite the shortcomings considered above, the union
church has grown into the affection and confidence of
many people and is satisfactorily serving some communi
ties. In the state of Massachusetts are reported more
union churches, frankly so-called, than in any other state.
These, about two score in number, hold an annual con
ference, and, under the guidance of the Massachusetts
Federation of Churches, seek to secure the advantages of

THE PRESENT SITUATION 99
joint fellowship. Their success, however, has not been
such as to remove entirely the charges of weakness
against the union church as at present organized. So
long as the churches at large function denominationally,
a church which is isolated from this fellowship is under
a handicap. Yet it is only fair to say that under certain
conditions a union church seems most fully to meet the
needs of the community.
3. The Federated Church
A third step which has been taken is in the form of an
experiment with what is called "the federated church."
To be clear on this point we must distinguish between
three uses of the term "federated church." First, there
is the proper use, when two or more churches, each pre
serving its own organization and connection with its own
denomination, unite in some or all of their functions un
der the pastoral care of one man or one staff of raen.
Second, there is the looser, less exact use of the term,
to describe an organization of individuals who, while
retaining membership in earlier churches of their
choice,' unite in a new church, usually as a temporary
expedient, perhaps while in a foreign city, as in the cap
itals of Europe where many reside for a time, in student
communities, in camps, or in cities like Cristobal and
Balboa of the Canal Zone. Such churches as these un
questionably meet a genuine need under conditions of
temporary residence. In their localities they are equiv
alent to "union churches" and frequently so-called, yet
differ from them in the important respect of being inter
related, rather than unrelated, to denominations. In
stead of being called "federated churches," they should,
strictly speaking, be called "churches of federated
Christians." In the third place, the term "federated church" has
been applied very loosely to almost any kind of a church-
combination in which different elements have been con-

100 CHRISTIAN UNITY
solidated, even though the result is in fact an ordinary
denominational church. A kind of trade value is thought
by some people to inhere in the name. In what follows
we are considering only the federated church in the
stricter sense of a body within which two or more
churches unite under one pastor but preserve their own
organizations. There has been a very strong impulse toward the for
mation of local federated churches. The overhead move
ments of the last twenty-five years among the denomina
tions have been in this direction ; and the development of
that community consciousness which during the war
brought all people, even of the most diverse types, to
gether in cooperative movements has helped to empha
size the tendency. There are doubtless several hundred
federated churches in the United States, in varying stages
of activity and inactivity. In the office of the Home Mis
sions Council is a Hst of about three hundred. And the
federated church has no doubt been a most useful expedi
ent, at least temporarily, for promoting the spirit of
unity and expressing practicable union in workable form.
Yet the federated church has been on trial long enough,
and fairly enough, to satisfy many of its friends that it is
not the final step toward unity in the local community.
The considerations urged against the federated church
would probably be somewhat as follows:
a. At best it is a kind of makeshift and not a final
settlement. It is in a state of unstable equilibrium, be
cause of various fluctuating conditions and influences.
The question of the pastorate involves recurring adjust
ments of denominational connection and influence. More
over, new members must decide which denominational
church they will join, and then the balance of strength
is disturbed; or if they elect to join the "federation"
itself, an anomalous and unplanned for "union church"
is projected into the midst of the several denominational
churches, with a resulting confusion and uneasiness.

THE PRESENT SITUATION loi
And if the federated church gets happily by the perplex
ities of changing pastors and receiving new members, it
may come at any moment upon the pitfalls of readjusting
denominational benevolences and financial responsibili
ties, because of varying needs, new campaigns, or be
quests, or because meeting houses burn, or must be re
paired, or other material and temporal exigencies emerge.
Or some outside influence, unreckoned with and unan
ticipated, may intrude at any moment, by the decision of
an ecclesiastical official of one of the denominations.
b. A verdict against the federated church often rests
upon the suspicion that behind it is the intention of one
of the parties to take advantage of the others, and by
strategy bring them all into a single denominational camp,
with obvious gain to that one denomination. When a
suspicion of ulterior motives lingers in any mind, enthu
siasm for the enterprise and fidelity to it vanish.
c. There is also the difficulty — some would call it an
impossibility^of keeping up a divided allegiance with
impartiality. The federated church requires of many
people a continued poise of judgment and protracted
practice of equity and fair play, for which not all people
are adequately equipped. The one pastor who serves two
or more organizations, blended as one congregation, must
deal impartially with all. If bias or prejudice or predilec
tion tincture his ministry, the sense of injustice may de
velop into resentment and revolt. Committees in the ad
ministration of their different duties, and influential
people as they serve and lead, must likewise evince the
spirit of thorough equity, else the federation may ulti
mately fail. So long as denominational loyalties remain,
the utility of the federated church will fluctuate with the
varying degrees of judicial-mindedness and good will to
be found in different communities. The federated church
is not in itself a cure-all for the ills of denominational
rivalry. In many communities, however, it is agreed that
it is at present serving a useful purpose.

I02 CHRISTIAN UNITY
4. The Denominational Church Functioning for the
Whole Community
The phrase, "the community church," has lately come
into prominence. Great community enterprises, unpar
alleled in the history of our country, occasioned by the
war, have prepared men for working together. If they
can meet together, plan together, conduct great drives
for patriotic service, can they not also worship together ?
If the people can function in a community Red Cross,
and a community enlistment bureau, why not in a com
munity church?
We must look first to definitions.
The term "community church" is not yet definitely and
distinctly used. Sometimes it is applied to a federated
church ; sometimes it means nothing more than a denom
inational church which has institutional features ; at other
times it is naught else than the familiar "union church,"
given a new name ; again, church promoters sometimes
use the phrase as a trade mark to catch the good will of
people who are looking for a church of a broad and lib
eral type, imbued with social impulses.
We should limit the term to the functioning of a
church, not to its form of organization, or to its denom
inational connections or lack of them. That church
which seeks to minister to all the religious interests of a
community, gathering to its fellowship and its service
all the Christians of the community, of whatever name
or characteristics, is a community church. How it is
organized, or even how it is named, is less important than
the question as to how it ministers. A federated church
may be a community church, or it may fail to be a com
munity church, even though it be the only church in the
community, according as it does or does not serve all
the religious interests of the community and include in
its fellowship all Christians of the community. On the
other hand, a denominational church may be a community

THE PRESENT SITUATION 103
church, if it embraces in the scope of its ministries all
the religious interests of the community and includes in
its fellowship all the Christians there. It need not nec
essarily receive all Christians into full and equal mem
bership, but it must receive all into its fellowship, in
such ways as to be satisfying to the social instincts of
all and to call out the feeling of their corporate
responsibility. Here may be the difficulty, yet nevertheless here is the
goal — to serve all, of varying talents and varying points
of view, even as Jesus Christ would serve them, with a
toleration and a patience that are all-inclusive.
Many considerations may be urged in favor of the
community church :
a. It seems to have been the New Testament type of
church. The churches at Corinth, Thessalonica, Colosse,
Laodicea, and Rome appear to have been inclusive of all
the Christians in the city, although some of them met
in one house and others in another, and some of them
were even broken into factions, according as they fol
lowed more closely Paul, or ApoUos, or Peter. Yet
their Christian designation was one and their fellowship
was one.
b. Practical experience of the years shows plainly that
in the small locality the community church alone can ade
quately fulfill its mission. Others are wasteful of re
sources and foster division, thus sacrificing certain essen
tial characteristics. Communities have learned that it is
not only easier but also more Christlike to maintain
in a small population one church which tolerates within
itself every variety of Christian experience and attain
ment, than it is to maintain and tolerate different
churches, each of which exists for a different type.
Spiritual agreements can more readily be secured among
groups of CThristians meeting together than among separ
ated groups.
c. It has been becoming plain to the average man

104 CHRISTIAN UNITY
through a long term of years, and the effects of the war
have hastened the process, that the validity of the Church
does not consist alone in detailed doctrinal agreement.
The war has had an immense effect upon men in making
a few simple and far-reaching convictions controlling;
and these few fundamentals seem to them common to
practically all the churches. Consequently the question
of which church, amongst several, does not seem so im
portant as it did to men of former days. The justification
for the churches is regarded more as resting upon their
social functions than upon any doctrinal differences.
The common social functions of the Church which appeal
to men generally as justifying its existence, are that it is
a place of testimony to the reality of God in Christ, speak
ing to men of the deepest, the greatest, and the best things
of life ; that it is a social center for acquaintance and fel
lowship on the deeper levels of human experience; that,
however small it may be, nevertheless it is a great educa
tional institution, in which the proclamation of truth, the
interpretation of the meaning of life, and the inculcation
of personal duties are constant tasks ; that, however
meagerly it may be equipped, it is yet a place of worship,
where the most profound emotions are stirred in the sense
of awe and in expression of adoration and praise; that
it is a means of ministry and service to the community —
the combination of Christians in united good will and
good deeds, in order to Christianize all the community
Hfe. A perplexing problem, however, arises : How can the
community church serve its community adequately, and
at the same time not itself become limited to its commu
nity ? Can it be locally efficient without at the same time
becoming provincial? The mind of Christ cannot be in
men, unless they think and love with something of
His universal inclusiveness. Can a church be both local
and catholic ?
The answer to this question must be sought in two

THE PRESENT SITUATION 105
directions — in the spirit of the local church and in its
relation to outside organizations.
a. As regards its own spirit, the church that is to min
ister to the whole community must evince breadth of fel
lowship by allowing the right of private judgment, not
insisting upon absolute conformity to a single standard.
It will freely entertain varieties within its fellowship,
not seeking to reduce differences to the level of flat uni
formity but including variations within the richer unity
of a higher synthesis. The plan of the so-called "Con
cordat" between Congregationalists and Episcopalians,
in accordance with which a Congregational minister may
receive a second ordination at the hands of an Episcopal
bishop, in order to render his administration of the sacra
ments acceptable to Episcopalians, is a striving toward
such a higher synthesis. If the principles of the church
seem to preclude full membership for all the variant kinds
of Christian conviction and experience within the com
munity, then it will make some adequate provision for
satisfactory affiliation, which will permit it to be what a
church should be to every Christian of the community in
the social functions enumerated above. In the plan of
cooperation which was put into effect in the state of Mon
tana in 1919, it was fully recognized that those Christians
who ordinarily gave social allegiance to a church serving
alone a community for the sake of administrative effi
ciency, should have the care and compensation of occa
sional ministries by clergymen of their own choice. This
is the meaning of the principle enunciated in the follow
ing terms: "Occasional ministry by any cooperating de
nomination to small groups of adherents of that com
munion is not to be regarded as infringement on the one
hand nor as occupancy of fields on the other."
b. As far as its relations to outside organizations are
concerned, four attitudes may conceivably be taken by
the local church.
(1) It may take the attitude of self-sufficient isolation.

io6 CHRISTIAN UNITY
disclaiming afl responsibility for any person or any thing
outside its own community. But in this case, while it may
continue to perform the local functions of a church, it
will lose the missionary and generative spirit of Chris
tianity and will soon cease to be Christian in the fullest
sense of the word. A church which lacks a world vision
and missionary zeal, thinks only of itself, and ministers
only to the interests of its own immediate environment,
cannot remain Christian any more than a man can be
truly a Christian if he limits aU his interests to himself
and his family.
(2) It may respond to appeals of a spontaneous and
sporadic character — may pray for and give to such occa
sional needs as those brought to public attention by rea
son of floods, earthquakes, fires, pestilence, famine, and
other great calamities ; or may support societies which do
good solely on the humanitarian plane or push some par
tial propaganda. In much of the generosity thus elicited
there is no little real Christian benevolence ; but it is not
of the steadiest and strongest kind, nor does it possess
the vision and balance of those great missionary societies
which have grown up under denominational oversight
through the refining experiences of the failures and suc
cesses of many generations.
(3) It may endeavor, like a federated church, to yield
allegiance to several missionary societies, and groups of
societies — a society or a group for each of the denomi
nations represented in the federation. Its success may
be well proportioned and satisfactory, but the difficulties
and dangers as the years pass are not few. Special ap
peals and "drives" by one denomination or another may
disturb the balance and produce disquietude. Changes
of pastors and of committees may alter the emphasis and
destroy an equitable adjustment, or if the fixing of the
ratios comes up periodically recurring disputes may
impend. (4) The most secure and satisfactory way, so long as

THE PRESENT SITUATION 107
our missionary work is organized denominationally, is
for a community church to be connected with a single
denomination. But is this possible? Can a community church be a
part of a denomination and as such (a) serve well its own
community, meeting the needs of all of the Christians
there, and (b) at the same time through the channels of
a single denomination extend its interests, its devotion,
its prayers, and its benevolences unto all the religious
needs of the world ?
The answer is, yes — assuredly yes, if the denomina
tional authorities are favorably disposed to cooperation.
There are scores, hundreds, probably thousands of
churches meeting all of these conditions more or less com
pletely, both within the community and in relation to the
world's needs; and the prevailing type is the denomina
tional church which has become community-minded.
Men care less than formerly for the denominational name
of the church in which they worship, and more for the
character of its community service and the outreach and
vision of the denominational organizations.'
5. The Present Responsibility for Developing Commu
nity Churches
The present tendency toward unity in local communi
ties, therefore, seems toward that kind of unity which
embraces Christians of diverse types within the fellow
ship of a single church, directly related to one of the
denominations, but broad enough in sympathy and in
ministry to meet the needs of the entire community.
This situation lays a special responsibihty upon three
"As typical of community churches with denominational con
nection might be mentioned the strong "Washington Park Com
munity Church," in a new residential section pf Denver. Its
membership of five hundred represents eleven denominations.
While serving the whole community without denominational
designation or distinction, it has contacts with the Church as a
whole through connection with the Methodist Episcopal Con
ference.

io8 CHRISTIAN UNITY
groups: (a) members of local churches, (b) administra
tive officers next above those in the local church, and (c)
denominational leaders.
a. The time has come for all churches, particularly
those which stand alone in their communities, to enlarge
the terms of fellowship, if not the terms of membership,
by dropping any exclusive and sectarian tests which
would shut worthy Christians out of their companion
ship in work and worship. A church which will not in
clude in its fellowship all worthy Christians is challenged
when it claims the right to occupy exclusively a single
field. It should include all, else it should give way to a
church which will. There is a growing sentiment against
more than one church in a community of the one-church
size, and there is a tendency to agree that a population of
one thousand should have but one church. And when one
Christian church stands alone in a locality the necessity
upon it of serving every Christian interest of the place
seems apparent. No one should require the violation of
conscience by any church which has distinctive require
ments for admission to church membership, but such
churches can at least make their fellowship broad enough
and inclusive enough to receive all who should be re
ceived. Many such churches are doing this already.
b. A very large number of churches have the im
pulse and the purpose to serve their communities ade
quately but are hindered, if not entirely prevented, by
the administrative officers above them, the men who
care for the interests of the ecclesiastical organization
next above the local church — the district, the conference,
the association, the convention, the S)mod, the presbytery,
the classis, or the diocese. These men have other mat
ters in mind; they are thinking of associational and
denominational strength, of statistical returns, and the
recompense of faithful administration. Consequently
they are often less ready to recognize community condi
tions and needs than are pastors and resident church

THE PRESENT SITUATION 109
members. They, more than any other class of responsible
administrators of church affairs, prevent the needed ex
tension of Christian comity, for they insist upon the
rigors of denominational ties for the sake of holding
to denominational possessions, not recognizing that the
compensations of enlarged fellowship will be greater
than its losses.
To meet this situation the so-called plan of "recipro
cal exchange" has been employed, which helps to make
the fact of immediate compensation apparent. By this
plan when one denomination gives up its members and
work in one community to another denomination, another
community is sought in which conditions are reversed, so
that the denomination which before yielded may now
gain and the denomination which in the former case
gained may now make the concession. This plan, first
proposed and put into operation in Maine, has been
approved by many bodies, including the Home Missions
Council and the Commission on Councils of Churches of
the Federal Council, and has been put into operation in
several states. It is the very nerve center of the plans
which have been carried out so successfully in Vermont.
The resulting sense of fair play and equity takes away
a large share of the stings of concession and surrender.
c. Out of the experiences of the Church in moving
toward unity in local communities comes a message for
the leaders of the denominations at large. For no little
movement toward unity, even in a remote or apparently
insignificant place, fails to affect the strength and vitality
of the very head center of the denomination itself. And
from all these local movements, of which there is an
increasing host, comes a warning that the denominations
themselves as a whole must give heed to greater coopera
tion among themselves.
The little church, and the sum total of little churches,
are essential to denominational efficiency, and whatever
the little church does should be in accord with the larger

no CHRISTIAN UNITY
plans of the denomination. But when the small church
finds it needful, for the sake of fulfilling its true Chris
tian mission in its own community, to carry out policies
which are not exclusively sectarian or denominational,
then the denomination itself, to preserve its own integrity
and efficiency, must consider plans tending toward greater
unity. These movements of the little churches toward unity
require the leaders in the churches at large to think and
plan in their behalf. Community churches must not be
stopped. Indeed, they cannot be stopped ; but they should
now be anticipated and planned for, with wisdom which
discerns all needs and takes all factors into account. De
nominations now existing must therefore plan to
"mother" these community churches in a broad and chari
table spirit, else they may be sure that a new organization
will arise which will give them a fostering care and which
would probably be equivalent to the creation of a new
denomination of interdenominationalism.
The lesser parts are coming together. The time has
come for the heads to come together.
II. The Federation of Churches in Cities and
States
The increasing cooperation of churches in efforts to
Christianize the community in which they are located is
one of the most conspicuous expressions of the spirit of
unity. Such cooperation means the harmonizing of pur
poses, the coordinating of plans, the synchronizing of
efforts, in order to render a common service more effec
tively. It is the unity in deeds that is immediately pos
sible and universally needed.
The name commonly given to the organization by which
this cooperation has been made possible is the federation
of churches. A more correct name is the council of
churches. For a time there were nearly as many differ
ent names as there were organizations. This was strik-

THE PRESENT SITUATION in
ingly illustrated at the recent convention on the Church
and the Community.' Delegates from the Christian Coun
cil of Churches in Atlanta, from the Churchmen's Fed
eration in Louisville, from the Interchurch Federation in
Sacramento, from the Norfolk Federation of Churches,
from the Pittsburgh Council of Churches, were the guests
of the Federated Churches of Cleveland. At this gath
ering the name "council of churches" met with greatest
favor. But as the genius of the federation movement is
local' autonomy, no group rules for others on this or any
other matter. The churches of the community — city,
county, or state — which create the organization are the
sole authority in determining form, personnel, program,
and name.
I. The Development of Local Cooperation
The World War at first retarded and later accel
erated the organization of councils of churches in the
cities and the states. During the war all recognized
the need of the cooperation of the churches, a need which
was made painfully evident by the cooperation of all
other community groups. Yet we were so intent upon
winning the war, and the many demands for money were
so insistent, that we did not give the time, the thought,
the energy, and the money necessary for effective church
fellowship. Those who then tried to mobilize the
churches as churches to meet their opportunities unitedly
found it almost impossible to do so. In a period when
it would seem that the growth should have been most
rapid it was slow. Only a few councils or federations
were formed, financed, and manned, several of these
being in cities near training camps and industrial plants
engaged in war work.
At the close of the war there was a most noticeable
change in the progress of the federation movement. In
'Held in Cleveland, O., June, 1920, under the auspices of the
Federal Council's Commission on Interchurch Federations.

112 CHRISTIAN UNITY
the year 1919 the growth was more rapid and more
substantial than in all the preceding four years or in any
four years prior to the war. City after city swung into
line. The Commission on Interchurch Federations as
sisted in raising nearly $250,000 for budgets, the pohcy
having been adopted for large cities of not organizing a
council of churches until sufficient funds were assured
to meet expenses for two years. As a result of this
steady development more than forty cities now employ
executive secretaries, and a dozen more will probably do
so within a few months.
It is no longer a question of whether the churches will
form a council — it is only a question of when. Every
community that does not have it is in need of it; nearly
every community is ready for it. All that is lacking is a
nucleus about which opinion and desire and action may
crystallize, and crystallization in permanent organization
follows inevitably where there is strong local initiative.
The community consciousness that grew strong in the
days of the war is reacting on the minds and hearts of
all true churchmen. The result is a decided increase in
the number of councils which are functioning in many
lines of effective service. To appreciate the importance
of this, one should be familiar with the history of the
movement, the fundamental principles that underlie it,
and the programs that are being carried out.
The steady growth in the cooperation of local churches
has been in accordance with a simple principle: any com
munity having two or more churches can not adequately
provide for its religious needs, unless there is some com
mittee, council, federation, or other organization through
which the churches can function together.
The development of plans in accordance with this
principle has been gradual. It has not been due to any
particular person or organization. In the beginning it
was spontaneous. A few individuals, members of various
churches, undertook to meet some community need which

THE PRESENT SITUATION 113
challenged those who professed a desire to see the King
dom of God established on the earth. Out of these united
efforts came such institutions as the International Sunday
School Association, the Young Men's Christian Asso
ciation, the Young Women's Christian Association, the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Anti-Saloon
League, and many other kindred organizations.' Their
inception and growth were due to the desire of Christians
to do certain things which were not being done, and which
could not be done by individuals or by groups of individ
uals acting separately. The organization of ministerial
unions and associations was due to this same desire. In
addition to discussing subjects of mutual interest to
clergymen they often grappled with community condi
tions demanding the attention of the churches. Aside
from having union meetings and union evangelistic cam
paigns, the bond of interest was most often the fight
against the saloon and its attendant evils.
The next natural step was for the churches as churches
to undertake to attend to these matters. Committees
were formed whose members were appointed by the
churches. The life of such committees was generally
brief. The churches gained an unenviable reputation for
having spasms of evangelistic and reforming fervor. The
important fact is that in putting forth these efforts the
churches learned the value of cooperation and learned
how to cooperate. Church members were coming to real
ize that they must have a part in making plans and car
rying them out as church members, instead of being com
pelled to find an outlet for interest and energies in other
enterprises for which the churches as churches were not
responsible. With the organization of the Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America the application of the
principle of cooperation of churches became more gen
eral. A commission called the Commission on State and
°See Chapter VIII of this report.

114 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Local Federations was appointed, which, by means of
personal visits, correspondence, and literature, created
much enthusiasm for federations. Scores of them were
formed in states and cities from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
But the majority of these soon disappeared. They de
pended on good will and volunteer leadership. The good
will remained but the leadership disappeared. The offi
cers were usually clergymen who, in the course of the
natural events in a clergyman's life, moved to other cities.
This commission was eventually merged with the new
Commission on Federated Movements, appointed by the
Federal Council in 191 5, and was called the Commission
on Interchurch Federations (State and Local). It is
now called the Commission on Councils of Churches
(State and Local). The officers of this commission made
a careful study of the situation. This study revealed the
fact that in large communities the success of the work
depended very much upon having an employed leader
ship. In cities where a secretary had been in charge of a
central office, the cooperation of the churches had become
permanent and increasingly effective. These cities, and,
in Hke manner, the states that had adopted this policy,
were the laboratories in which the principles and methods
which give greatest promise of success were thoroughly
worked out. Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Indianap
olis, Atlanta, Louisville, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, and
other cities had passed through various experiences.
Other cities had met with good success though depending
on volunteer service, such as Hartford, Los Angeles, and
Milwaukee. Too much credit cannot be given to the
men who in all these cities and in the states of California
and Massachusetts were the pioneers in this movement.
The principles which they found to be fundamental and
the plans and methods which they proved to be workable
constitute the solid foundation on which this practice of
Christian unity rests today. In this field we have passed
from the days of experiment to the days of continuous

THE PRESENT SITUATION T15
achievement. To state some of the guiding principles is
to define and to describe this movement.
2. Principles Underlying Local Cooperation
In 1917 a Conference on the Principles and Methods
of Interchurch Work was held in Pittsburgh, in prepara
tion for which eight commissions, composed of the men
who had had the most experience in cooperative church
work, spent the greater part of a year studying what
had been done. Their reports, covering the various types
of work undertaken in different cities, were discussed
by nearly five hundred delegates representing more than
one hundred communities and twenty communions.' The
principles enunciated at that time are more generally
accepted and more firmly adhered to today than ever
before. The most serious delay to the movement at
the present time is caused by the misunderstanding of
them. It may be weH, therefore, to take time to empha
size them here.
a. The first principle, which is basic, is a definition.
"By a council or federation of churches is meant the
churches themselves as churches, consulting and coop
erating officially, through accredited delegates, for all
accepted common tasks." No association of individuals,
or of organizations of individuals, or of separate depart
ments in the churches, or of representative church mem
bers not accredited, constitutes a council or federation of
churches. The churches differ, of course, in the methods
by which delegates are accredited to such a council, ac
cording to the practices or rules of each denomination.
b. The churches, independent and differing in policy,
ritual, and creeds, cannot recognize in the organization,
or in the combined membership of a council, any superior

'The substance of these reports is published in "A Manual of
Interchurch Work," which can be secured from the Commission
on Councils of Churches, 105 East 22d Street, New York.

ii6 CHRISTIAN UNITY
ecclesiastical authority. Membership involves only the
maximum cooperation which the principles, policy, and
polity of each communion permit. The only force pos
sible in such a council, and the only force necessary to
secure practical results, is "that force which comes from
frequent discussion and consequent united opinion." The
council has no authority to assess the participating
churches. The acceptance of financial responsibilities
rests with the church that joins.
c. A council of churches is not another outside organi
zation, but a clearing house of the churches where they
consult together and then work in cooperation on common
tasks. One of the most common descriptions of a federa
tion is that it is to the religious life of the community what
the chamber of commerce is to the business life of a
community. d. Specific tasks may furnish the occasion for the or
ganization of a council of churches, but they do not con
stitute its limits, end, or significance. That significance
lies in the fact that a council of churches reveals and
makes effectual the unity of the churches as the great
Church of Christ, so far as such unity is possible under
our present denominational organization.
e. A council or federation of churches is an autono
mous body. It has no external official relationships with
other councils, local, state, or national. The churches
in the community determine the character of the organi
zation and the program of work, provide for all funds,
and direct the expenditure of the same. All fellowship
with other councils is voluntary. It is strictly a home rule
proposition, yet through fraternal relations it has the
benefit of the experiences and even the services of kin
dred organizations.
It has required ten years or more to discover these
principles which are now most generally accepted. They
are applicable to the community which has only two
churches or to the large city, to the county or the state.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 117
The failures that have come in the past have generally
taken place because one or more of these principles have
been ignored.
In June, 1920, another conference on principles and
methods, known as the Church and Community Conven
tion, was held in Cleveland.' The outstanding impres
sion made by this gathering, coming when the disap
pointment over the Interchurch World Movement was
so keen, was expressed in the words of one of the ad
dresses: "We have, first of all, such evidence as the
Christian Church has never had in any previous genera
tion that the movement of cooperation is absolutely unde-
featable." In the face of that disappointment there were
gathered the men and women, lay, clerical, and secre
tarial, who during the World War and the chaotic days
following had seen the program of local cooperation car
ried to successful issues in an enlarging field. As a factor
in steadying the judgment and in allaying the fears of
those whose faith was being shaken, the value of this
convention cannot be overstated. Yet it was just a quiet,
earnest study of what had been taking place during the
last years of the war and the first year of peace, and of
the plans by which greater progress could be made. As
the convention in 1917 had placed special emphasis upon
principles, this one presented the programs which had
been most fully tested and approved. It answered, more
satisfactorily than it has ever been answered before, the
question: What can the churches do together to Chris
tianize the communities in which they are situated?

'The Convention was held under the joint auspices of the Com
mission on Councils of Churches and the Association of Church
Federation Executive Secretaries. These secretaries, thus or
ganized, have an annual conference which is performing an im
portant part in the securing and training of executive secretaries.
The reports made by the nine commissions to the convention
are published under the title, "Community Programs for Coop
erating Churches," as a textbook or manual presented to the
churches. It can be secured from The Commission on Councils
of Churches, 105 East 22d Street, New York.

ii8 CHRISTIAN UNITY
3. What Is Achieved by Cooperation
The acid test of an institution is, what does it accom
plish ? It is not always possible to see the results ; some
times they can be felt but not seen. The results of church
cooperation through permanent interchurch organizations
are discernible both by the sense of feeling and the sense
of sight. In city after city the testimony is that the coun
cil of churches creates an atmosphere in which those who
refer to the whole community, especially those whose
ways are ways of darkness, speak more frequently of
the Church and less frequently of the churches. Those
who attended the convention in Cleveland who came from
communities where each congregation was going its own
separate way felt a something that was more vital to the
life of the community than what they saw. Church coop
eration grows because there is the spirit of Christian
unity, and Christian unity waxes strong because the
churches cooperate.
But there is plenty to see. In this chapter it is not
possible to do more than give an outline of the various
programs of cooperating churches by reporting a single
instance which must suffice to illustrate the whole.
Before the Baltimore Federation of Churches was
formed a group of interested laymen and clergymen be
lieved much could be done by the churches for the good
of Baltimore which was not being done, but they wished
a definite statement based on actual programs tested in
other cities. The failure of an early effort to do fed
erated work had made them dubious of future success.
War-time responsibilities, however, had brought them to
gether and they were willing to go on together, provided
worth-while tasks could be performed. The one ques
tion had to be answered, "What can the churches do
together ?" Or, as one layman put it, "How can an exec
utive secretary earn his salary?" The mental attitude
of Baltimore is the usual attitude of other cities at that

THE PRESENT SITUATION 119
stage in the development. The concise statement of a
suggested program for that city has served in a dozen
other cities and will probably serve in a hundred more,
as it is an epitome of successful undertakings for nearly
a decade in a gradually increasing number of communi
ties. It declares that the federation exists to fulfil the
following functions :
a. To make a continuous religious survey, to furnish
reliable information and a basis for intelligent action.
b. To prevent unnecessary overlapping and competi
tion between the denominations, and to see that all com
munities are adequately churched.
c. To endeavor to arrest the attention of the city with
the claims of Christ through a strategic program of
evangelism in all the churches individually, and unitedly
where possible, depending almost entirely on local
leaders. d. To study the great outstanding industrial and social
needs of the city, and to apply Christianity in an effort
at solution.
e. To effect a policy of recreation which will afford
to all the people as much as or more than the saloon has
given, and to make all the recreations wholesome and up
lifting. f. To present a program of Christian education that
will meet the needs of the city.
g. To interpret Christian democracy, especially to the
alien, non-English speaking groups in the city.
h. To give proper publicity to Christianity, to the
churches, and the religious interests of the city.
i. To make religion effective and attractive in the city,
and to apply to the work of the churches the best modern
business principles of efficiency and economy.
The churches have generally been brought together be
cause of the desire to rectify some civic or social condi
tion that was a detriment to the community, or to make
more effective the evangelistic work of the churches. The

I20 CHRISTIAN UNITY
single effort to deal with one or the other of these prob
lems very quickly leads out into other avenues of serv
ice.' Sometimes two or more groups have been organized
to do different types of work. The multiplying of the
groups results in confusion. Some councils and federa
tions resulted from the bringing of these groups into one
organization. This was noticeably the case in Pittsburgh.
Two very strong bodies developed from committees com
posed of clergymen and laymen appointed by the Union
Ministerial Association. The Council of the Churches
of Christ in Pittsburgh was organized to relate these
lines of work more closely, to give them more substantial
backing, and to have an organization which could deal
with other problems which were of common concern to
all the churches. A prominent clergyman moved from
Indianapolis where the Council had been operating for
five years to Portland, Oregon. He explained his deter
mination to have a council in Portland by saying, "Every
time we wish to do anything together we have to discuss
it at length in the ministers' meeting, then we appoint
the committee, work out our plans, do the work, throw
away the machinery we have constructed, and start all
over the next time. In Indianapolis we had an organiza
tion that included all the elements in the churches, not
just the ministers. We had responsible committees to
attend to different matters. Now I have to give so much
time to all sorts of committees that as a matter of self-
protection to preachers and churches we must federate."
The fact that bad social conditions were often the
factor that aroused the churches to a sense of their need
of united action led many to regard the federation move
ment as a social reform movement. The dominant fea
ture of the movement today, however, is the evangelistic.
'One of the outstanding activities of the Chicago Federation,
not specifically included in the tasks suggested above, is the
maintenance of ministries of preaching, teaching, and comfort, at
such public institutions as prisons, hospitals, courts, and asy
lums.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 121
One of the greatest services rendered by the federation
movement has been the development of the city-wide,
simultaneous, pastoral evangelistic campaign. This is
coming to be the universally accepted method, having
been tested year after year in a number of cities.
The plan and record of the work in Indianapolis for
the past six years along the line of "community evan
gelism" is illustrative of what can be done. This plan
comprehends a well organized campaign, beginning Sep
tember 1st of each year and continuing until Easter
Sunday. No evangelists are required. A strong evan
gelistic committee of ministers and laymen, including
representatives from the Young Men's Christian Associa
tion, Young Women's Christian Association, Young Peo
ple's Federation, City Sunday School Association, and
Adult Bible Class Movement, is appointed each May.
This committee prepares an outlined plan of cooperative
evangelistic work covering the entire period, each month's
program containing some outstanding point of emphasis.
This outline of evangelism is then submitted to the
Ministers' Association, where it is worked over and
finally approved, each pastor agreeing to make it the
working program of his church for the period designated.
At certain stated times throughout the year all the
churches of the city are open each night for intensive
evangelistic effort for two weeks or longer under the
leadership of the pastors. At the same time the Federa
tion conducts great noon downtown theater meetings,
where the attendance ranges from 800 to 2,000 daily.
This noon meeting is thoroughly interdenominational and
intensely evangelistic. Usually some outstanding pastor
is brought to the city to speak at these noon meetings and
also at the evening meetings in one or more of the
churches. This central meeting is the "hub" of the entire
campaign. The reports from the churches, gathered im
mediately following Easter and covering a year, show
additions to membership during the first year to be 3,500 ;

122 CHRISTIAN UNITY
the second, 7,000 ; the third, 8,000 ; the fourth, 8,000 ; the
fifth, 7,Soo. The present year promises the same results.
The fact that all the churches are moving together
simultaneously on a great program of evangelism in
which the responsibility rests altogether upon the pastors
and the laymen makes a deep impression upon the entire
city. By this means also the churches are becoming
trained to work together, under central leadership, in
religious education and in campaigns for civic and social
righteousness.

CHAPTER IV
THE PRESENT SITUATION IN THE CHURCH
AS A WHOLE
In the movement toward church unity four separate
lines of development have emerged. There is, first, the
group of movements aiming at unified action through
ignoring denominational lines. In the second place, there
are the movements seeking to secure a greater unity of
administration among official agencies of the denomina
tions. We have, third, the movement for a federation
of the denominations; and, finally, the movement for an
organic union of the churches in one body. In each case
we shall try, as fairly and impartially as possible, to inter
pret the significance of the movement and to appraise its
value for the future.
I. The Undenominational Movement
The attempt to hasten the unification of Christianity by
ignoring the questions at issue between the churches is a
possibility which has appealed to earnest spirits to whom
the slower and less dramatic methods of the patient edu
cation of the denominations seemed to involve an intol
erable delay. Instead of starting from the existing
church organizations they have thought it possible to
start from a new center, untrammeled by the traditions
and associations of the past. Such a center might be
provided by the existing Christian Associations of men
and women, or by some new organization of similar
nature modeled on their principles and making use of
their experience.
Those who are attracted by this idea recall the great
sticcess attained by the Young Men's and Young Women's
t?3

124 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Christian Associations during the war, and the generous
support which they received from all sorts and conditions
of people. This support was due to two factors which
are not present in equal degree in any of the other move
ments toward union which we are to consider: first,
their catholicity and, second, their simplicity. The Asso
ciations used in their work all kinds of men and women,
and they were able to do this because their platforms
ignored the differences which separate the churches and
proposed as the basis of union a program of common
Service. Why should not we do in peace what we so
successfully did in war? Why should we not deliberately
put behind us the divisive issues which now keep the
churches apart, and propose a union of all Christians on
the basis of common service ?
There is much that is attractive in this proposal, and
no plan of Christian union which covers the whole ground
can overlook the need of organization modeled after the
plan and doing the work of the present Christian Asso
ciations. But as a comprehensive solution of the prob
lem of Christian unity, the plan has fundamental defects
which no one perceives more clearly than the present
leaders of the Associations.
We have referred to the experience of the Associations
during the war as indicating a possible path toward Chris
tian union. But the experience points rather in the other
direction. The Associations could do what they did as
they did because the churches were there to do the things
they could not do. There was a time during the early
days of the war when it was seriously proposed to banish
the churches from the army and to commit all the reli
gious work to the Young Men's Christian Association.
But apart from the fact that the Christian Association
could assume this responsibility only by calling upon the
ordained ministry of the churches to enter its service
and function in its name, experience proved that there
were phases of religious need (and these not the least

THE PRESENT SITUATION 125
important) which could not be met in this way. For
good or for evil, the church consciousness — that is, loy
alty to the historic institutions of the Christian rehgion —
has too large a place in the experience of most earnestly
religious people to give promise of success to any plan
which does not fully recognize it.
What qualifies the Associations to succeed in the sphere
they have undertaken is, we repeat, precisely the limita
tions which will make impossible success in the other.
They have deliberately chosen a definite field — the one,
work for young men ; the other, work for young women
— and they have organized accordingly. They are or
ganizations of lay men and lay women, professing alle
giance to the Church and supplementing its activities in a
field where flexibility and initiative are essential. And
if it be said that a new organization could be formed,
more comprehensive in scope, more responsible in consti
tution, the same difficulties would reappear on a larger
scale. In the measure that the new organization included
the elements which now make up the organized Christian
churches, it would meet in the new membership the diffi
culties which now keep them apart. In the measure that
it excluded these elements it would be but a partial make
shift, leaving the larger problems with which we are con
cerned still unsolved. Our question, therefore, is not
whether the Associations can in themselves achieve the
kind of union that we seek, but how they should be re
lated to the churches so as to serve them most fruitfully.
Something of the same problem that arises in connec
tion with the Christian Associations meets us also in the
case of the Salvation Army. For certain lines of
work it undoubtedly has remarkable qualifications. The
question of its relation to the Church is, therefore, an
important one. We have already considered the ques
tion as to whether it is more correctly to be regarded as
a denomination or as an undenominational agency.' If
'Cf. p. 91 of this volume.

126 CHRISTIAN UNITY
it were to be the latter, we should need to consider here
how it ought to be related to the organized churches.,
Since the tendency seems to be for it to become practically
a denomination we shall do no more here than raise the
question and suggest that any solution that may be found
of the problem of the right relations between the churches
and the Christian Associations might have some applica
tion to the Salvation Army also.
I. The Young Men's Christian Association
The Young Men's Christian Association arose out of a
desire of Christian laymen to win to Jesus Christ young
men outside of the influence of the Church. In order to
fulfil its religious purpose more effectively its scope of
work was gradually extended until it included social, edu
cational, and physical activities. It has always insisted
that it is in no sense a substitute for the Church or inde
pendent of it, but its servant. It has maintained the rule
that its active members shall consist entirely of members
of evangelical churches. The declaration at the conven
tion held in Cincinnati in 1913 summarizes the Associa
tion's ideal of its relation to the Church :
"The most important agency for the promotion of reli
gious life is the Church. No other institution should be
permitted to supplant it or to ignore its primacy. The
Association reaffirms its historic policy of absolute loyalty
to the Church, and reasserts its intention to recognize in
all its activities the preeminence of the Church, the exten
sion of whose influence is the primary purpose of the
Association." The Association movement has been, in form of or
ganization, undenominational. It has had no official or
defined relationships to any denomination nor any ec
clesiastical character whatsoever. It has, indeed, repre
sented a certain type of doctrinal teaching, of mode of
worship, and of religious experience, but in its character
and government it has been undenominational. In its

THE PRESENT SITUATION 127
.membership and its influence, however, it has been in
effect practically interdenominational. Its active mem
bers and especially its leaders have been church members
and often lay officials of the churches. They have re
tained their denominational responsibility in connection
with their work in the Association. Many of them have
been made by their Association activity more intelligent
and zealous members of their own denominations, while
thdr contacts in the Association have widened their
church acquaintance and fellowship. The work of the
Association for the last fifty years has been a great school
of interdenominational comradeship among both laymen
and clergy. No small part of the strong cooperative spirit
of today is due to this influence.
The relation of the Association to the churches has
been a problem from the beginning and many discussions
and reports upon it are to be found in the records of the
forty International Y M C A Conventions. The problem
is more pressing and more perplexing today than it has
ever been. As we saw in a previous section of this re
port, it came into sharp prominence during the war. The
expansion of the Association work, the strong growth of
the cooperative spirit among the denominations them
selves, and the development of institutional churches and
social service of many types in the denominations and
local congregations are some of the factors which make
the problem of urgent present importance. How should
the Association be related now to the new denominational
and interdenominational consciousness and activities?
The Report of the Commission on the Relation of the
Young Men's Christian Association to the Churches made
to the Fortieth International Convention at Detroit in
1919, dealt with this question. It will be well to quote a
few paragraphs from its extended treatment:
"We must recognize at the outset that there has been
hitherto no organic connection between the organized
denominations and the supervisory boards or committees

128 CHRISTIAN UNITY
of the Association, yet the Association has always stren
uously claimed that it springs from the heart and life
of the evangelical denominations. As springing from,
nourished by, and working for these evangelical denom
inations, the Association has always claimed that it is not
outside of but within the Church. As the authoritative
historian of the movement, Mr. Richard C. Morse, has
put it, 'By intimate connection with these churches the
Association became an interdenominational organization
and happily avoided being classified with undenomina
tional societies outside of vital union with the churches.
It was outside only of the divisions separating these
churches. It was loyally within their membership and
fellowship.' "It is an obvious fact that there has never been any
official definition of the attitude of the denominations
towards the Association. So far as known, none of them
through its highest court or assembly has attempted to
set itself in -any positive attitude toward this movement.
Of some of the denominations it may be said that prac
tically all of their leaders have manifested constant sym
pathy with the work of the Association in general, even
though they have felt compelled to make criticism of some
of its operations in detail.
"On the other hand, there are certain denominations
whose leaders have always assumed an attitude, not of
active hostility, but of aloofness, which has been express
ive of their unwillingness to injure a good work but of
their doubt or conviction that it was a movement wrongly
related to the organized 'Church.' This attitude is trace
able to several convictions. In the first place, the exis
tence of the Association seems to contravene the theory
that no organized work should be carried on in the name
of Christian propaganda which does not derive its au
thority directly from at least one denomination.
"In the second place, this objection based on a theory
of church government passes over into an objection based
upon the fact that the Association inevitably becomes a
teacher of Christianity, and especially during the last
decade has deliberately set itself forth as an expounder
of Christian truth. This it does through its Bible classes,
its selection of speakers at conferences and discussion of
the fundamentals of Christianity, and now especially

THE PRESENT SITUATION 129
through the growing power of its publishing house. Asso
ciation Press. These operations, it is said, are carried on
for the most part by laymen attached to a self-accred
ited organization, who have rarely had special training
in the fields in which they are concerned either as them
selves authors and teachers or as selectors and judges of
other speakers and teachers.
"In the third place, certain denominations which cher
ish very deeply liturgical forms of worship view with
dislike the fact that the Association is manned most
largely by men from denominations which have no lit
urgies, and that therefore the religious meetings which
it conducts are spreading habits of communal worship
alien to those cherished by the denominations referred to."
Other criticisms may be added to these: the objection
that the Association draws both men and funds away
from the direct work of the denominations ; that it some
times represents its activity at home and abroad as su
perior to that of the denominations ; that, as in the war,
it sometimes bears a double character as both dependent
upon and independent of the churches. The Report of
the Commission to the Detroit Convention did not attempt
to answer or to qualify these criticisms. It was seeking a
constructive solution for the problem and it stated its
views as follows :
"Measures must be taken for establishing channels of
constant consultation between the denominations and the
Association. Its policies and its larger plans ought not
to be defined or undertaken without consultation with
those who are not primarily connected with the Asso
ciation but who do in some official manner carry the au
thority of the denominations. What shape these consul
tations should take, what provisions should be made for
their consistency, authority, and effectiveness, has not
been clearly defined by anyone. While some will not be
contented without a direct representation of the denomi
nations on the governing board of the Association in its
national and local forms, the majority of those who have
been consulted among the church leaders, many of them
clergymen of the highest standing, desire to see the As-

130 CHRISTIAN UNITY
sociation maintained as a layman's movement, possessing
freedom of initiative and the peculiar qualities which have
characterized its best work and its highest influence in
the past. They deprecate anything like ecclesiastical con
trol of the Association and disavow the desire that it shall
be dominated by clerical influences. They believe that
some way must be worked out for establishing coopera
tion that shall avoid the positive dangers suggested by the
words 'ecclesiastical control.'
"It should be pointed out as a fact of the utmost sig
nificance that when the Association has worked in the
most perfect harmony with the will and mind and spirit
of the churches it has been in those cases where it has
been able to consult with and to form something like
vital relations with interdenominational institutions ....
In fact, it is where the churches are themselves united
that effective vital union with the Association immediately
becomes possible. The suggestions of this most signifi
cant fact are illimitable. . . . Suffice it to illustrate the
urgency of the problem by citing steps which are being
taken in Great Britain and Canada for its solution. In
England there is to be an Association headquarters, a
regularly constituted advisory committee nominated in
conference with the respective authorities representing
the Christian denominations 'to advise with the leaders
of the Association from time to time on important mat
ters of high policy and to form a Committee of Refer
ence, to which difficulties (national or local) that may
arise between the churches and the Y M C A in actual
work may be referred.' The plans adopted by the War
Emergency Committee of the British Association further
include : "To ask the churches to receive deputations from
the Y M C A when plans may be tabled and cooperation
invited.' The English National Council has endorsed
these plans. The Scottish National Council has gone fur
ther and adopted the following resolutions :
" 'Resolved (First) To affirm its devoted loyalty
to the Church, and its determination to seek in
all its enterprises to serve the Church, and (Sec
ond) Humbly to crave the Venerable the General
Assembly to receive a Deputation to convey to the
Assembly its gratitude, and respect, and the assur
ance of its loyalty, and to request the Assembly to
appoint a Committee to confer with the Association

THE PRESENT SITUATION 131
with a view to discovering means whereby the influ
ence of the Church may be directly exerted in its
counsels, and whereby the Association may have a
recognized place in the life of the Church.'
"A joint Committee of the churches and the Associa
tion carried the matter further in these resolutions unan
imously passed and then adopted by the National Union
of the Association and later unanimously accepted by the
assemblies of the Church of Scotland and the United
Free Church :
'(a) It is agreed that, inasmuch as it is the desire
of the Y M C A that the influence of the Church
should be directly exerted in its counsels, it is desir
able that the various branches of the Church should
appoint representatives to the National Council of
the Y M C A, to act as members of the Council,
during the period and in view of reconstruction, and
in any case for a period not exceeding three years;
in the confident hope that a permanent representation
of the Church on the various Councils of the
Y M C A may thereby be secured, (b) It is agreed,
in order to meet the crave of the Y M C A in its
original motion that it should have a recognized place
in the life of the Church, that the various branches
of the Church should invite representatives of the
Y M C A to report on their work under the auspices
of a Standing Committee or otherwise as may be
found most convenient in the meetings of the Assem
blies, Representative Council, or other Supreme
Courts of the Church; it being understood that the
full place which the Y M C A will have in the life
of the Church cannot be determined until its relation
to the Church Guilds and kindred organizations has
been satisfactorily adjusted.'
"In Canada a joint Committee on the Relationship of
the Association and the Churches is now in process of
formation, having been initiated by the National Council
of Young Men's Christian Associations in February,
1919. This Committee is to be representative of the five
leading Protestant churches and of the Association. Up
to date action has been taken by four of these churches
and also by the Association, and when the convention of
the last of the churches meets it is expected that the
Joint Committee will be complete."

132 CHRISTIAN UNITY
The Commission concluded its discussion of the need
for a more definite relation between the Association and
the churches in America with this question :
"Ought we now to consider the wisdom of asking the
different denominations to join with the Association in
forming an advisory council like the council established
in London? Or instead of this would it be wise to ask
the larger denominations at least to nominate members,
in number to be agreed upon, upon the International
Committee, having due regard to the clear desirability
of maintaining fully the voluntary lay administration of
the movement, upon which the churches would be the
first to insist?"
The Convention approved the report of the Commission
and voted that the future developments of the Y M C A
"shall be worked out locally and nationally in positive
harmony and cooperation with the evangelical churches;
that in the selection and training of secretaries the Asso
ciation shall henceforth give due place to their thorough
instruction in the religious aims of the Association and
shall give thorough training in the Scriptures, Christian
doctrine, and the history and meaning of the Church and
of the churches to all of its secretaries, and advanced
work to those whose main service is to lie in the field of
the distinctively religious work . . . that the Convention
resolve that the time has come to open direct negotiations
with the leading denominations known as evangelical,
for a careful study of the relations obtaining between the
evangelical churches and the Association ; and that it au
thorize the International Committee to appoint a Com
mission that shall enter into these negotiations."
The way would therefore appear now to be open for
securing a better understanding and relationship between
the Association and the churches.
2. The Young Women's Christian Association
The Young Women's Christian Association in its or
ganization and its relationship to the churches parallels
in the main the Young Men's Christian Association and
need not, therefore, be discussed in detail. In the con-

THE PRESENT SITUATION 133
stitution of the National Association it is agreed that
local Associations affiliating with it shall require that the
active membership, that is, the voting and office holding
membership, be "limited to women who are members of
the Protestant evangelical churches."
At the national convention of the Association in April,
1920, action was taken permitting any student Associa
tions which, so desire to substitute for church member
ship as the basis of membership in the Association a per
sonal declaration of "sympathy with the purpose of the
Association" and of intention "to live as a true follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ." The taking of this action,
however, in no sense indicates any departure from the
avowed aim of the Association to serve the Church, since
in the same resolution its purpose is declared to be :
"i. To lead students to faith in God through Jesus
Christ ;
2. To lead them into membership and service in the
Christian Church;
3. To promote their growth in Christian faith and
character, especially through the study of the Bible;
4. To influence them to devote themselves in united
efforts with all Christians, to making the will of Christ
effective in human society, and to extending the Kingdom
of God throughout the world."
Provision is made that at least two-thirds of the cab
inet members and of the advisory board "shall be mem
bers of churches which are entitled to representation in
the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in Amer
ica, and only those delegates who are members of such
churches shall be entitled to vote in conventions."
There are now more than 2,000 local organizations of
the Young Men's Christian Association in North Amer
ica and more than 1,000 local organizations of the Young
Women's Christian Association. The men's organization
has more than 5,000 employed officers and the women's
more than 2,000. Until the war the scope of the activ
ities and program of the Y M C A was much more elab-

134 CHRISTIAN UNITY
orate than that of the Y W C A. It is evident, accord
ingly, that the problem of unity within itself and of
cooperation with the churches has been a much more
complicated and extensive problem with the Y M C A.
Any solution worked out in that field will be clearly help
ful in the other, although the situation in each case is
quite individual. The lack of ecclesiastical authority in
women's hands, the general coherence of the "women's
movement," the comparative lack of overlapping of wom
en's church activities and of the work of the Association,
the smaller volume of the Y W C A enterprise, the strong
emphasis of women like Miss Dodge upon the loyalty of
the Association to the Church and the intimacy of their
own church relationships have been some of the elements
which have perhaps simplified somewhat the problem of
relation to the churches in the case of the Y W C A.
But the problem of the right theory and working plan
needs to be solved here as in the Y M C A. Shall the
Associations be voluntary organizations of Christian
people seeking a channel of service beyond the worship
and sacraments of the churches, or shall they be recog
nized as responsible agencies of the churches entrusted
with a certain section of the churches' work? If the
latter, should they be related to some central cooperative
agency of the churches, or by some separate arrange
ment to each church? If the first of these, is there any
such adequate central agency? If not, how soon may
there be? If the second of these, would it be by action
from the denomination through responsible representa
tives, or by the Associations themselves seeking and
securing adequate contacts? These are questions which
will become more, not less, pressing as time goes on and
to which an answer must be found.
II. The Movement toward Administrative Union
While the Christian Associations have thus far repre
sented great attempts to secure an undenominational fel-

THE PRESENT SITUATION 135
lowship of members of all evangelical churches in Chris
tian service, other significant efforts have been made, as
we have seen, to bring the official agencies of the denom
inations themselves into cooperative relationships for a
more efficient performance of the Church's tasks. We
have next to consider, under the head of administrative
union, such plans as seek common action without provid
ing for that complete union which is possible only by the
formal action of the churches as a whole.
Such common action may proceed either from the top
or the bottom. It may originate in the local community
or be initiated by the boards of the church. A typical
example of local administrative union is the city mis
sions council, as it has developed in such centers as New
York and Chicago, creating an organization through
which Christians who are members of various missionary
societies can express their common ideal and make it
effective in action.
But we are here interested primarily in administrative
union on a national scale. An outstanding illustration
was the Interchurch World Movement, aiming, as it did,
to relate practically all the missionary and educational
boards of the participating churches. This movement,
however, was preceded by several other organizations,
which, although securing cooperation only within sep
arate fields of activity, made possible the more compre
hensive undertaking and therefore need to be considered
first. I. Administrative Union in Separate Lines of Activity
In this movement toward a greater unity in carrying
on the work of the Church the Foreign Missions Confer
ence of North America, established in 1895, has been an
exceedingly important development. It is an officially
representative body chosen by, and reporting to, the for
eign missionary boards. Provision is made for a sys
tematic study of missionary problems. An annual con-

136 CHRISTIAN UNITY
ference of the boards is held for deliberation and reports
on questions of common concern. A Board of Mission
ary Preparation promotes more effective training of mis
sionaries and prepares valuable material to this end. The
Committee on Reference and Counsel coordinates the
work of the various committees of the conference and is,
in general, a board of strategy for all the cooperating
organizations with respect to missionary policies and
measures. In some points the cooperating boards have
gone so far as to carry on certain activities through
merged instrumentalities. The Committee on Religious
Needs of Anglo-American Communities provides minis
ters and financial help, where needed, for the union
churches among the English-speaking residents in the
leading cities in Asia and Latin America.
The Committee on Cooperation in Latin America,
initiated by the Foreign Missions Conference, is com
posed of duly chosen representatives of the missionary
boards in the United States and Canada carrying on work
in Latin America. It is their central clearing house for
this field and their agency of cooperative action. Through
it they promote the production of Christian literature in
Spanish and Portuguese, foster Christian education and
evangelism, encourage the occupation of the entire field,
develop at home missionary interest in the Latin Amer
ican countries, and help to secure a place for the Chris
tian spirit in the relations between the North and the
South American people.
For a quarter of a century the Foreign Missions Con
ference has been a place of consultation, a bond of union,
and an agency of common action for the churches in their
foreign work. Its problem is the common problem of all
such cooperative agencies. How much authority, if any,
should be committed to it? How far, if any distance at
all, should it be authorized to go in responsible adminis
trative action in behalf of the churches ?
The Home Missions Council, organized in 1908, aims

THE PRESENT SITUATION 137
to serve the home mission agencies in the way in which
the Foreign Missions Conference serves its constituent
boards. Its purpose is "to promote fellowship, confer
ence, and cooperation among Christian organizations do
ing missionary work in the United States, Canada, and
their dependencies." It undertakes to secure such ar
rangements among the home mission agencies as will
prevent duplication of effort and provide for the more
adequate occupation of fields, by agreements to allocate
responsibility for certain areas to specified denominational
boards. Special committees deal with problems arising in
connection with city, immigrant, and industrial work, and
with work for special groups such as Indians, Negroes,
Spanish-speaking peoples. Mormons, and Orientals. The
chief contribution of these committees is in their collec
tive study and investigation, the results of which have
been available for all the cooperating bodies. Other com
mittees give attention to recruiting for home mission
work, publicity, and other questions that can be handled
together better than separately.
The general policy of the Home Missions Council is
to coordinate the activities of existing agencies rather
than to undertake tasks of its own, except such tasks as
can not well be carried on by a single denominational
agency. Such general tasks as these are increasing.
The war brought some of them to light in the war pro
duction communities. The presentation to the national
mind of home missionary problems as a whole, the re
cruiting of candidates for the ministry and other forms
of church service as well as for home missions, the work
of the Church among immigrant groups, unavoidable
relationships with governments — ^these, and many other
demands of a work which is indivisible have been draw
ing the churches together in cooperative action.
The Council of Women for Home Missions (1908)
and the Federation of Women's Boards of Foreign Mis
sions of North America (1916) are associations of the

138 CHRISTIAN UNITY
corresponding denominational women's boards, promot
ing conference among them and cooperation in such mat
ters as the preparation of literature and the promotion
of interest in missionary work.
The Council of Church Boards of Education, an or
ganization of the official educational agencies of the
churches formed in 191 1, undertakes to study their whole
field of work and to secure cooperation in carrying on
their tasks. Its Survey Department brings together im
portant material bearing on the work of the American
college, which is used to create interest in Christian edu
cation. A special commission considers the standardiza
tion of courses in church schools and colleges. Confer
ences of church workers in universities are held with a
view to a more effective carrying out of a common pro
gram. A beginning has been made in the cooperative pur
chasing of college supplies.
The Sunday School Council of Evangelical Denomina
tions was organized in 1910, as an association of the
officially appointed Sunday school agencies of the
churches, to confer together on matters of common in
terest, to give expression to common views and decisions,
and to cooperate in such educational, editorial, mission
ary, and publishing activities as might be agreed upon.
One of ito most important committees is an advisory
body on courses of study for Sunday schools, consider
ing the principles on which courses should be constructed,
the availability of existing and projected courses, and
the methods to be employed in securing courses to meet
observed needs and in cooperating with existing agencies
for making and publishing the courses. At a meeting in
June, 1920, steps were taken looking toward a merger
of the Sunday School Council with the International Sun
day School Association, an independent and unofficial
association aiming to promote Sunday school work.''
'For a fuller discussion of the bearing of the Sunday school
movement on church unity, see pp. 317-324 of this report.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 139
What may we hope for from the method of approach
illustrated by these various organizations for adminis
trative efficiency ? What are its advantages, and what its
limitations? In what way must we supplement it, or
change our present method of procedure, in order to
attain the largest measure of success?
It should be clearly recognized, in the first place, that
the kind of union for which these councils stand is of the
highest possible importance. To the missionary and
educational boards of the several churches is committed
responsibility for those phases of the Church's work in
which its unselfish and self-sacrificing character comes
to clearest expression. Their representatives are men
whose work brings them into closest and most direct con
tact with the evils of disunion and they have the experi
ence of local conditions which makes their counsel as to
what is practicable and desirable an indispensable con
dition of success. Nothing has done more to promote
the spirit of unity in the churches than the creation of
agencies through which the responsible leaders of the
different church boards are brought together at stated
intervals for common counsel, and in certain cases for
common action. However hesitant their policies may
have been, they have rendered invaluable service and
have provided the foundations on which more far-reach
ing cooperation may be built.
On the other hand, the relation of the boards to the
parent churches is such that the limits within which
they may wisely act without explicit reference to the
bodies from which they derive their authority is very
narrow. When we measure what has been done by what
we would wish to have seen done since the Home Mis
sions Council and the Foreign Missions Conference, to
mention no others, came into existence, one is impressed
with the fact that without more drastic action at the top
there is not much more to be hoped for from this method
alone than has already been attained. The more com-

I40 CHRISTIAN UNITY
plete an organization becomes, the larger the number of
units represented, the more difficult it becomes to move
the whole faster than the pace of the slowest members.
It was the desire to avoid such delays that gave rise to
the Interchurch World Movement.
2. Administrative Union on an Inclusive Scale
The Interchurch World Movement of North America,
originating in a conference of representatives of various
missionary and benevolent boards of the churches in De
cember, 1918, developed rapidly into the largest coop
erative effort yet undertaken. It went beyond all the
organizations above described by seeking to bring to
gether not only the agencies engaged in a common line
of work, but practically all the official agencies of the
churches. The movement was inaugurated as a volun
tary effort of the participating boards, the General Com
mittee being appointed without waiting for denomina
tional assemblies to give official authorization. As the
movement developed, the importance of representative
relationships became apparent. Consequently in Sep
tember, 1919, the General Committee voted to make itself
a more representative body by providing that at least
two-thirds of its membership should be composed of
persons approved by the various denominations.
The generally accepted point of view was that the
Movement, being brought into existence to meet the
urgent need for expansion in missionary work after the
war, was not a permanent organization, and that it was
not to be an administrative agency. The Cleveland Meet
ing of the General Committee declared :
"To meet the natural and proper inquiries of our
churches as to the character and purpose of the movement
we deem it wise to state: that the Interchurch World
Movement is a cooperative effort of the missionary, edu
cational, and other benevolent agencies of the evangelical
churches of the United States and Canada to survey

THE PRESENT SITUATION 141
unitedly their common present tasks, and simultaneously
and together secure the necessary resources of men and
money and power required for these tasks; that it is a
spiritual undertaking of survey, education, and inspira
tion ; that it is an instrumentality of cooperation and coor
dination of administrative agencies and designed to serve,
not to supplant them. It is this positive character of the
movement that we desire to exalt. At the same time, to
prevent misapprehension, we affirm our definite under
standing that this is not an ecclesiastical movement nor
an effort at organic union. It will not disturb the auton
omy or interfere with the administration of any church
or board. Neither will it undertake to administer or to
expend funds for any purpose beyond its own proper
administrative expenses. It has a definite and temporary
mission. It will not duplicate or conflict with other de
nominational agencies. It does not assume responsibility
or authority in questions of church or missionary policy,
recognizing that these belong to the cooperating agencies
and organizations. And we disclaim all statements, by
whomsoever made, contrary to this declaration of
principles." And the General Committee at Atlantic City in Jan
uary, 1920, said:
"It is further recognized that the Interchurch World
Movement is not organized for the purpose of adminis
tering missionary or educational enterprises, or for de
termining the policies of the several denominations, but
leaves all such matters in the hands of the churches and
the denominational or interdenominational agencies rec
ognized by them. In its surveys it confines its service to
ascertaining and portraying the facts, to calling the atten
tion of the churches and their agencies to the needs re
vealed by these facts and to encouraging the churches,
through cooperative effort, to work out the problems in
volved. The authority of the movement rests solely in
the challenge of the facts it is able to present. It is
therefore recommended that the determination and the
initiation of policies for meeting the situations revealed
shall be understood to be wholly with the churches and
their own regularly constituted agencies."
The Movement culminated in a "united and simulta-

142 CHRISTIAN UNITY
neous" financial campaign in May, in which each denom
ination sought to gather the fullest results from its own
field and in which the Movement sought to gather from
"friendly citizens," as they were cafled — 'that is, the ele
ment of the community sympathetic with the Protestant
churches though not definitely related to them — the sum
of $40,000,000, which was to cover the expense of the
Movement for the year just ending and for the year
ensuing, and to enable the churches to carry out advance
undertakings. For various reasons this general cam
paign almost entirely failed, with the result that for
financial reasons, if for no others, the Movement had to
end or undergo radical transformation. Most of the
denominational campaigns associated in the movement
met, however, with a large degree of success.
What lay behind the Movement and what it sought to
do are well set forth in the Report of the Committee on
Reorganization, presented to the General Committee of
the Movement on June 18, 1920:
"The Committee on Reorganization in submitting its
recommendations as to the future program and structure
of the Interchurch Movement desires first of all to recall
to the mind of the General Committee the principles and
purposes out of which the Movement sprang at its incep
tion eighteen months ago. Four chief forces lay be
hind it:
"The first was the growing sense of kinship among the
evangelical churches and the desire to give it expression.
"The second was the consciousness of the fragmentary
and inadequate effort hitherto put forth to carry out the
program of world service to which the Church is called.
"The third was the realization of the vast and urgent
tasks laid upon us by the effects of the Great War.
"The fourth was the hope and belief that by coopera
tive action larger enlistment of life and treasure could
be secured and better results obtained for energy exerted.
"With these aims in view it was agreed that the par
ticipating denominational agencies should associate them
selves in a concerted plan, by which on the one hand they

THE PRESENT SITUATION 143
should conduct upon parallel lines their respective for
ward movements and on the other should seek to accom
plish through the Interchurch Movement organization
certain things impossible to any one of them acting alone,
but wholly possible to all acting together. Among these
common undertakings the following were deemed of first
importance :
"i. To make a thorough analysis of the total world task
of the Church, locality by locality and item by item, to the
end that neglected fields might be discovered; important
existing work strengthened; unjustifiable work elimi
nated ; and helpful relationships between all agencies and
workers established.
"2. To conduct a continuous campaign of education,
making use of ascertained facts, projected upon broad
and varied lines and carried out upon a scale adequate
to secure the attention of the nations at large and if pos
sible to convince the judgment and awake the interest
of millions of people now wholly or largely untouched
by Christ's call to world service.
"3. To give cooperative leadership to the Church in
the fields of industrial relations, philanthropy, evangelism,
and education, to the end that the Church may more
wisely and amply meet her obligations in these areas of
service. "4. To conduct a campaign for recruits to the minis
try and mission service.
"5. To make simultaneous and united appeal for funds,
sufficient in amount to support the sort of effort at home
and abroad demanded by the conditions of the hour.
"Within the bounds of these aims the Movement has
proceeded substantially; a year was spent in fashioning
plans, enlisting the cooperating agencies, completing the
organization, and launching the world survey. Six
months were given to intensive work along the lines above
named. The undertaking has proved, as was anticipated,
huge and difficult. The prevalent shortage of workers,
scarcity of office room, and prohibitory scale of costs
have created obstacles at every step. Certain serious mis
takes in method are now seen to have been made. De
spite it all, there stands to the credit of the activities of
these months a volume of achievement which in the judg
ment of your Committee reveals the validity of the pur-

144 CHRISTIAN UNITY
pose of the Movement and its well-nigh boundless possi
bilities if carried out in full development. The survey
of hospitals and homes in America is largely completed
and will constitute a storehouse of information to all
denominations which wish to meet their duty in these
often neglected fields. The survey of educational institu
tions is also well toward completion. The religious edu
cation survey is also approaching completion. The for
eign missionary surveys will constitute the first compre
hensive picture of the non-Christian world which the
Church has ever possessed. The home mission surveys,
by far the most difficult and costly portion of the task,
are well under way.
"The work taken over from the Missionary Education
Movement and the Laymen's Missionary Movement has
been carried strongly forward, as has also the publica
tion of World Outlook, Everyland, and La Nueva De-
mocracia. In the field of educational publicity multiplied
conventions and conferences, local and state and national,
have brought to some millions of people a new sense of
the nature and urgency of the Church's task. Through
the pictured and printed page the Christian world mes
sage has been widely proclaimed and pressed home. The
appeal for life work recruits and for quickened evange
listic activity has been widely made.
"Various inquiries in the industrial realm have been
conducted and one in particular dealing with the steel
strike. A financial campaign has been conducted in which
nearly every participating denomination has registered a
marked advance on previous giving, in some cases such
advance being revolutionary in degree. Connected with
all these activities has been a wide leavening of the public
thought and a clearer realization of the unity and im
mensity of the responsibility of the Church of Christ."
On the basis of this statement this Committee on Reor
ganization recommended that the Movement should go
on but that its budget of expense should be cut down to
one-tenth or even one-twentieth of what it had been, that
there should be a "sharp limitation of the functions and
activities of the Movement to the fundamental lines orig
inally contemplated, these being of such nature as to

THE PRESENT SITUATION 145
afford a channel of cooperation for the participating
mission boards and denominational agencies," that all the
old officers having resigned a new official staff should be
formed, and that there should be "the establishment of
closely coordinated relations between all interdenomina
tional bodies (and) the use of every effort to articulate
the Movement in the closest way with the denominational
agencies which constitute it." Since the time when this
statement was made there has been a growing tendency
to believe that the Movement itself should be discontinued.
The means of conserving the values at which the Move
ment aimed have not yet been fully agreed upon.
This is not the place for any extended review of this
interesting experiment, but it is the place for an earnest
attempt to draw out some of its lessons for the future
with regard to movements of cooperation and union.
On the one hand, the Interchurch Movement repre
sented some right and necessary ideas and rendered a
useful service in bringing these ideas forward and reveal
ing their place in the kind of movements we are consid
ering in this report.
I. It recognized the existence of a spirit of cooperation
and unity in the churches, which was ready to go very
much further than it had been led hitherto and which
wanted larger forms of expression than had as yet been
provided for it. It rested on the fact that the great mass
of the Christian people have a common view, that they are
facing common needs with common resources, and that
there is only one program, the common program of
Christ, for meeting these needs. This is a unity which
demands some definite form of union.
2. It proposed to face the whole duty, to lay before
men the adequate scale of enterprise and endeavor.
Such ideas dislodge men's views from trivialities and
summon their best selves to loyalty and obedience. Great
undertakings are unifying.
3. It set out accordingly to gather the facts about

146 CHRISTIAN UNITY
human needs and the inadequacy of the effort which
men were making to meet them. It proposed to publish
these facts and to interpret their meaning and to reveal
afresh in this way the indispensable task of Christianity
in the world. This process is a welding process. The
churches could carry it on only in cooperation and all
its results add to the pressure for cooperation.
4. It provided a coordination of a score of denomina
tional forward movements, which were seeking by com
mon methods to accomplish common aims and which
needed to use each other's experience and to amass a
common momentum.
On the other hand, such lessons as these already
emerge which we need to learn from our experience in
the Interchurch World Movement :
I. The body of separatist, or immobile, or distrustful
spirits which must be reckoned with is immense. Some
for the sake of conscience, some from conviction, and
some from lethargy, are set against all forms of inter
denominational union. Others wish a brotherly and spir
itual cooperation but, disapproving of all forms of or
ganic union, fear any administrative union that may lead
in that direction.
2. In cooperative movements it is essential that the
principles and province of the cooperation proposed
should be clearly thought out and agreed upon, that all
that is done should be thought through as to its relation
to the accepted plan, that doubtful and inconsistent ele
ments and purposes should be eliminated or consciously
reconciled. These were among the difficulties of the
Interchurch Movement. Some joined the Movement
with the understanding that it was temporary; others
with the view that it was a beginning which must be car
ried forward into a new, permanent form. Some joined
on condition that it would be promotive only and not
administrative; others saw in it a chance to displace old
and, as they deemed them, slow and inadequate adminis-

THE PRESENT SITUATION 147
trative agencies. Some based their cooperation on the
assurance that denominational interests and prerogatives
would not be disturbed, and that the Movement could
operate through denominational grooves; others deemed
this an opportunity to transcend these. Sooner or later
these and other contrasted tendencies were sure to breed
difficulty and misunderstanding. ____^
3. The Movement began as an irresponsible and non- /
representative movement. Individuals launched it and
framed its organization. They sought to secure the en
dorsement of their boards, but even when this was gained
there were lacking the confidence and responsibility which
go with authorized representation. And it was soon seen
also that the endorsement of boards was not enough.
Such a movement committed the denominations as such
and involved their most vital interests, so that action by
the highest official denominational judicatories became
inevitable. But such submission to the judicatories came
too late. It ought to have been done before commit
ments had been made and courses of action embarked
upon about which the churches felt they should have been
consulted in advance. The whole Movement, difficult as
this course might have been, should have been built upon
such prior denominational acceptances. It is evident that
cooperation involving denominational life needs denomi
national authority.
4. The Interchurch Movement suffered greatly from
the pressure of inadequate time. The task which it un
dertook called for a much longer period than was allowed
by circumstances. Already several of the leading denom
inations had carried through their own denominational
campaigns, and could not enter freely into this Move
ment. Other denominations expected to do the same in
the spring of 1920 and could not delay. The Movement
was accordingly forced into a time schedule which was
impossible. It attempted to carry through a program of
common action on a scale that required the hearty coop-

148 CHRISTIAN UNITY
eration not only of the boards, but of the denominations
as a whole, without taking time for the preliminary edu-
ca.tion which alone could make success possible. Had
this education taken place, the failure of the financial
drive might not have led to withdrawal by cooperat
ing bodies, but only to a revision of plans which would
have brought the enterprise within the limits of the prac
ticable. All cooperative movements must go more slowly
than the fast are ready to go. If not, the slow will not
be carried along. Since growth is organic and all union
measures represent growth, they must be marked by the
necessary patience.
5. In cooperative action as in individual character,
money and ideas about money are a searching test. The
vast scale of operating expenditures ; the policy of financ
ing the Movement by loans; the assumption of the con
tinuance of the financial psychology of war times; the
appeal to givers, especially outside of the churches, on
the ground of bigness and in disregard of evangelical
motives; the expression of the Movement, both because
and in spite of itself, in money rather than in moral and
spiritual terms were sources of fatal weakness. Many
other cooperative movements have been made pitiful by
their niggardly financial aspect. This movement fell over
the precipice at the opposite extreme. Cooperative move
ments, it is seen, must protect their financial character
with the most exacting safeguards, even though such cau
tion is painfully hampering.
6. The wide scope of action proposed to itself by the
Interchurch Movement carried it into difficult fields,
where wide divergence of judgment separates equally
conscientious Christian men. If a movement must deal
with such issues it must be ready to take the conse
quences and must be sure that this is part of its primary
and unmistakable business. On the other hand, coopera
tive movements have a difficult task in limiting their field
without opening themselves to condemnation for timidity

THE PRESENT SITUATION 149
or evasion. Each of our great cooperative movements of
the present time is confronted with this problem in many
forms. 7. Both from the Interchurch Movement and from the
agencies combined in the war work campaigns, the Young
Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Chris
tian Association, the Knights of Columbus, the Salvation
Army, and others, as well as from the Federal Council
of Churches also, a grave lesson is to be learned as to
the character and limits of organized publicity. It is
a lesson for all agencies, denominational and interde
nominational — the lesson that good work is its own best
advertisement and that all excessive and self -exploiting
publicity is a boomerang. Publicity that is to be truly
Christian must be characterized by a certain institutional
disinterestedness, seeking the exaltation not of a given
organization but of the Kingdom of God.
8. The Interchurch Movement was led by earnest and
unselfish men who worked with all their powers, but who
essayed a task too great for any group. It was found
impracticable to get any sufficient number of business
laymen to act on the directing committees. Adequate
counsel of this kind is indispensable. Two or three such
men were left to carry a superhuman load. Cooperative
movements find the task of securing a leadership that will
please everybody well nigh impossible. The best amends
that can be made are to have directing committees
which are as far as possible actually representative, and
to enlist both the balancing judgment and the energy of
competent laymen.'
9. It is seen now that the difference between an inter
church movement and a super-church movement is not
always easy to keep clear and steady. A new movement,
if aggressive and energetic and aspiring, will seem to the
'The question may fairly be raised whether some of the lessons
of good and ill which have been suggested by the Interchurch
World Movement may not be drawn also from sorae of the sep
arate denominational forward movements.

ISO CHRISTIAN UNITY
..J conservative minds to be really a super- rather than an
inter-denominational movement, and it may easily in fact
become so, duplicating or ignoring or supplanting activ
ities which it regards as too cautious.
This was manifest to any one who followed the dis
cussion in the ecclesiastical bodies which withdrew from
the Movement. Apart from the justifiable criticism of the
Movement along the lines already suggested, there was
an undercurrent of dissatisfaction which proceeded from
those who felt that, under the guise of cooperation in an
enterprise of a modest and legitimate nature, pressure
was being brought to bear upon them to surrender the
autonomy they had hitherto enjoyed and to commit the
charge of the most important enterprises of the Church
to men not responsible to its authority or represented in
its counsels. Among churches with a strongly developed
self-consciousness, as among nations, freedom from ex
ternal control has ever been a most valued possession,
and no movement for Christian unity that does not rec
ognize this fact and deal with it intelligently can hope
to succeed.
What we must have, then, if we are to carry our prac
tical cooperation beyond the point which it has reached
today and develop an interchurch organization of a
strength and effectiveness commensurate with the great
ness of the task, is to marry the movement toward unity
to the denominational consciousness, so that the inter
church program, in whatever form it is finally approved,
shall be felt by each of the cooperating bodies to be just
as much its own as the work which is done in the more
narrowly denominational sphere. To create such a con
sciousness and to provide organs for its effective expres
sion is the aim of the third type of movement, which we
may classify under the head of federal union.
III. The Movement toward Federal Union
The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in

THE PRESENT SITUATION 151
America, as officially constituted by the action of the
highest judicatories of the churches, represents the effort
to go beyond administrative union alone by securing a
federation of the denominations themselves.
The Federal Council dates definitely from 1908, when
a plan of federation had been ratified by the national as
semblies of thirty denominations. This plan of federa
tion had been recommended in 1905 by the Interchurch
Conference on Federation at Carnegie Hall, New York,
made up of representatives appointed by the various
evangelical denominations.
The object of the Federal Council is declared to be :
"i. To express the fellowship and catholic unity of the
Christian Church.
"2. To bring the Christian bodies of America into
united service for Christ and the world.
"3. To encourage devotional fellowship and mutual
counsel concerning the spiritual life and religious activ
ities of the churches.
"4. To secure a larger combined influence for the
churches of Christ in all matters affecting the moral and
social condition of the people, so as to promote the appli
cation of the law of Christ in every relation of human life.
"5. To assist in the organization of local branches of
the Federal Council to promote its aims in their com
munities." The Constitution of the Federal Council provides that
it has "no authority ... to limit the full autonomy of
the Christian bodies adhering to it." No action is legally
binding upon any of the constituent bodies until its rec
ommendations have been ratified by that body.
The Council consists of about 400 representatives offi
cially named by the various denominations and meets
once in four years. The Executive Committee, which
acts for the Council between sessions, consists of about
100 members likewise designated. The Administrative
Committee, meeting monthly, which had hitherto been a

152 CHRISTIAN UNITY
subcommittee of the Executive Committee, was recon
stituted in 1919 so as to consist chiefly of direct repre
sentatives appointed by the constituent denominations.
It includes also representatives of the following affiliated
bodies: the Home Missions Council, the Council of
Church Boards of Education, the Sunday School Coun
cil of Evangelical Denominations, the Council of Women
for Home Missions, and the Federation of Women's
Boards of Foreign Missions. A consultative member is
appointed by the Foreign Missions Conference. A few
additional members of the committee are members at
large or appointed because of their connection with other
organizations which are carrying on important rehgious
work. The Federal Council serves as a clearing house for a
considerable number of denominational and interdenom
inational activities, speaks in a representative capacity
for the evangelical churches of the United States, and
acts for them in several lines of work through various
commissions. These commissions are of two kinds,
those which aim to coordinate the activities of existing
denominational agencies, such as the Commission on
Evangelism and the Commission on the Church and So
cial Service, and those which carry out tasks for which
separate denominational agencies do not exist, such as
the Commission on Relations with the Orient, the Com
mission on Interchurch Federations, and the Commis
sion on Relations with Religious Bodies in Europe. In
promoting united action on moral and social views, in
cultivating the spirit of fellowship and cooperation among
the churches, and in developing local federations, the
Federal Council has rendered a service of unquestion
able value and exerted a potent influence in furthering
Christian unity.
On the other hand, the experience of the Federal Coun
cil and of the churches in the Council during more than
a decade has made these points clear :

THE PRESENT SITUATION 153
I. The churches should entrust their central coopera
tive agencies with responsibility for a larger measure of
direct action in their behalf. The Federal Council has
hitherto pursued a course as careful and conservative as
the course of the Interchurch Movement was aggressive
and radical. It felt that so much was at stake that it
must not make a false step and imperil the cause of coop
eration by actions which might seem premature and un
warranted to the allied churches. The result has been
that it has been criticized because, to quote the words of
one of its friendly supporters, "It does little construc
tive work. It has many meetings, passes many resolu
tions, publishes many volumes, arranges many pleasant
international visits, but does not accomplish definite re
sults. Its main efforts are given to making the wheels
go round. The Council, while nominally representing the
churches, is not trusted by them with any responsibility
and therefore must feel around for jobs for itself in
order to keep busy. These surveys, pronouncements,
etc., when made, do not represent anyone in particular
and no one pays much attention to them except to criti
cize their claim that they represent the churches." This
criticism does not recognize the real achievements of
the Council, but it does indicate a limitation imposed by
the slowness of the cooperative bodies to entrust respon
sibility to it.
2. The Council has the great advantage of a clear con
stitution with a definite statement of its functions, but
it has also the accompanying disadvantages. Bodies
which deprecate any closer union of the denominations
welcome the Federal Council as a breakwater against
organic church union and as an expression of a sincere
spirit of fellowship which does not involve any real con
solidation of action. Our friendly critic says on this
point, probably exaggerating the case somewhat:
"Most of the churches continue their membership in the
Council because it signifies their belief in the principle

154 CHRISTIAN UNITY
of Christian cooperation, not because of any service they
expect from the Council or because they take it seri
ously as an organization that counts in the aggressive
program of the Church in the world."
3. The comment, sometimes heard, that the personnel
of the Federal Council tends to represent chiefly one wing
of the churches suggests that, although it is difficult, it is
necessary to secure in the directing force of cooperative
movements as wide a range of theological and social con
viction as the constituency embraces and to balance the
elements as nearly as possible in the proportions of that
constituency. It is also highly desirable to enlist in the
work of the Council a larger body of lay counsel, such
as has been gathered in the International Committee of
Young Men's Christian Associations and as is found in
the highest courts of our churches.
The existing situation with regard to the Federal Coun
cil may perhaps be fairly summarized somewhat as fol
lows : In its behalf it may rightly be urged that it is
always wise to make use of existing agencies before cre
ating new ones ; that the Federal Council is itself a body
which has been created by the official action of thirty
odd constituent churches; that it has a long record of
useful and constantly expanding service; that even with
those churches which are not formally members it has
cooperated effectively through its commissions on social
service, evangelism, and the like ; that during the war it
was the one agency which could take the initiative in
calling together for conference all the religious forces
of the country, except the Catholics and Jews ; that in the
War-Time Commission of the Churches and the Commit-
1 tee on the War and the Religious Outlook it has suc
ceeded in creating supplementary agencies through which
the Christian forces of the country worked together ami
cably and effectively, and which were financed through
a joint campaign in which no less than fourteen churches
participated; that it is today recognized by the churches

THE PRESENT SITUATION 155
abroad as the official organ of the united churches of this
country, and is acting as an agent not only in relief work
in Europe, but in planning with similar representative
bodies in other countries for calling a council of the
national churches of the different countries of Europe,
to see what can be done to promote a better unification of
the religious forces of Christendom and to repair the
ravage to religion caused by the war.
As at present organized, however, the Federal Council
has serious weaknesses which must be remedied before it
can realize the ideal which the churches had in view in
creating it. Apart from the fact that it does not include
a few important communions, it is so limited in scope
that its service is chiefly of a voluntary and educational
character. Its financial support from the cooperating
churches is practically negligible, and for what we do
not pay we feel little responsibility.* Its connection with
the central administrative agencies like the Home Mis
sions Council and the Foreign Missions Conference, while
intimate and friendly, is unofficial. Its work is done
mainly through commissions, several of which are only
collections of individuals, mainly privately supported and
having no definite standing with the ecclesiastical bodies
from whom their membership is recruited. It is clear
that if the Federal Council is to become the agent through
which the common life of the churches expresses itself,
effective changes must take place in its equipment, in
its support, and in the sphere of its activities. Above
all, there must be a change in the attitude toward it on
the part of its constituent churches. They must feel it to
be, as they do not yet, their chosen and official representa
tive in matters of common interest, and must accordingly
give to it the trust and support to which such a position
entitles it.

'It should be added, however, that recently some of the denom
inations have assumed a much larger financial support of the
Council.

iS6 CHRISTIAN UNITY
IV. The Movement toward Organic Union
I. The Philadelphia Conference on Organic Union
The fact that the Federal Council according to its pres
ent constitution has "no authority ... to limit the full
autonomy of the Christian bodies adhering to it" has led
to an effort to secure a federal union to which shall be
delegated at least some of the powers now retained by the
constituent churches. Such a step was sought in the
Conference on Organic Union held in Philadelphia in
December, 1918, at the invitation of the General Assem
bly of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. and at
tended by representatives of nineteen communions. At
that time an Ad Interim Committee was appointed to
prepare a definite plan for submission to the churches.
This plan, adopted at a second conference at Philadel
phia, February 3-6, 1920, provides that when six denom
inations shall have certified their consent a council may
be convened to function for what shall be known as the
"United Churches of Christ in America." While the plan
is federal in nature it is regarded by its proponents, and
.may easily be developed so as to become, a form of or
ganic union.
The proposed organization differs from the existing
Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America
chiefly in that it is definitely committed to organic union.
"In taking this step," the plan declares, "we look for
ward with confidence to that complete unity toward which
we beheve 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."
The constituent churches are to retain full autonomy
in all matters not specifically delegated to the Council.
Its purpose is declared in the following terms :'
"The full text of the "plan of union" is given in Appendix III.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 157
"a. The Council shall harmonize and unify the work
of the united churches.
"b. It shall direct such consolidation of their mission
ary activities as well as of particular churches in over-
churched areas as is consonant with the law of the land
or of the particular denomination affected. Such con
solidation may be progressively achieved, as by the unit
ing of the boards or churches of any two or more con
stituent denominations, or may be accelerated, delayed, or
dispensed with, as the interests of the Kingdom of God
may require.
"c. If and when any two or more constituent churches,
by their supreme governing or advisory bodies, submit to
the Council for its arbitrament any matter of mutual
concern, not hereby already covered, the Council shall
consider and pass upon such matter so submitted.
"d. The Council shall undertake inspirational and edu
cational leadership of such sort and measure as may be
proper, under the powers delegated to it by the constitu
ent churches in the fields of Evangelism, Social Service,
Religious Education, and the like."
It is only in the two functions designated by (b) and
(c) above that the proposed Council goes beyond the
constitutional functions of the existing Federal Council.
The Federal Council is not a final court of appeal for
any of the churches, nor has it any authority over them.
The new plan definitely contemplates transferring to a
central council certain functions which the separate de
nominations are now exercising. The plan of union
does not, however, define any specific functions which
must be thus delegated. "Such consolidation" (that is,
of missionary activities or of local churches), the plan
says, "may be accelerated, delayed, or dispensed with, as
the interests of the Kingdom of God may require." The
distinctiveness of the new plan, therefore, is in the goal
which it anticipates rather than in any concrete respon
sibilities which would necessarily be assumed by the cen
tral body at the outset. It positively commits the
churches adopting it to the establishment of a new judica-

158 CHRISTIAN UNITY
tory, which, within the limits of authority delegated, will
have the same kind of power over the constituent
churches as their own governing bodies now have. It
proposes particularly to grant to the delegates who shall
assemble at its biennial councils the responsibility for
working out a real merger of the various missionary
agencies. For the proposal of the Philadelphia Conference this,
first of all, is to be said — that it springs from an earnest
desire to deal with the root of our present difficulty,
namely, the divided consciousness of the different
churches themselves. It springs from a feeling that this
state of things should cease. What it proposes, there
fore, as its goal is organic union, a union such that each
of its constituent members can say: I belong to the one
Church of Christ. Corresponding to the advantages of
the plan are its difficulties, chief of them being the diffi
culty of persuading the larger Christian churches to make
the surrender of power which the plan contemplates.
But even supposing this to have been successfully over
come, there is the problem of the relation of this newly-
constituted council to the existing Federal Council of the
Churches. Unless all the bodies represented in the Fed
eral Council accept the new proposal, there will still
remain for the churches that form the new and more
compact organization the problem of relating themselves
to the bodies that lie without, and for this some agency
like the existing Federal Council will be necessary.'
In any case the importance of seeing to it that the pro-
°The churches represented in the Philadelphia Conference were
the Armenian, Baptist, Christian, Christian Union of U. S., Con
gregational, Disciples, Evangelical Synod of North America,
Friends (two branches), Methodist (Primitive), Methodist Epis
copal, Moravian, Presbyterian in the U. S. A., Protestant Epis
copal, Reformed Episcopal, Reformed in the United States,
United Presbyterian, Welsh Presbyterian. The Baptist body has
subsequently voted to v/ithdraw from the Movement. The South
ern Presbyterian and the Southern Methodist, the Lutheran, and
the Reformed Church in America, were araong the churches not
represented.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 159
posed Council does not detract from the strength of the
Federal Council now existing is very great. The action
of the United Presbyterians at their General Assembly in
May, 1920, is significant :
"Jt is evident that the Council of Churches of Christ
in America and the Federal Council of the Churches of
Christ in America are mutually inclusive in intention,
and, though now working together rather harmoniously,
ultimately will conflict with each other, and can not long
exist side by side; indeed it is the declared purpose of
the Council of the Churches of Christ in America to dis
place the Federal Council. Each of these Councils is
now in reality only a federal union of churches, and each
is capable constitutionally of development into a closer
federation and ultimately, when ecclesiastical sentiment
in America permits, into organic union. The Council
of the Churches of Christ in America proposes at the
present time a little further advance toward real organic
union, but has as yet not accomplished anything practical
in the field of Christian activities; the Federal Council
has made less progress toward organic union, but,
through its many organizations, has already accomplished
much practically for Christian activities throughout the
United States.
"It is recommended :
"That the United Presbyterian Church discontinue its
relation with the Council of the Churches of Christ in
America and continue its relations with the Federal
Council of the Churches of Christ in America."
It is clear that care will need to be exercised to prevent
the unfortunate contrasting, or colliding, of the ideas
represented in this movement and in the Federal Council.
If this movement were to succeed it would no doubt
absorb the Federal Council. The greater activity would
include the lesser. It would be most unfortunate, how
ever, if the efforts to secure a future larger coordination
should diminish the zeal of the churches in making use
of the coordination which they already have or imperil
the cooperation already achieved. It would be likewise
unfortunate for a present good to impede a future bet-

i6o CHRISTIAN UNITY
ter. The wise solution would be for all who believe in
the larger union to throw themselves heartily into the
present union and for those who are satisfied with the
present measure of union to recognize the entire pro
priety of the actions of those who believe that they are led
of God's Spirit to go beyond the existing stage and to
lead the churches further on.
2. The World Conference on Faith and Order
The eventual reiinion of all Christendom — ^not only
Protestant but Catholic, both Roman and Eastern — is
sought by the proposed World Conference on Faith and
Order. This movement, initiated by the Protestant Epis
copal Church in 1910 as an outgrowth of the proposal for
union made by the Anglican Bishops in the well-known
Lambeth Quadrilateral,' aims to bring together official
representatives of "all Christian communions throughout
the world which confess our Lord Jesus Christ as God
and Saviour." It proceeds on the principle that reunion
is to be secured on the basis of agreement concerning es
sential doctrines. The purpose of the proposed confer
ence, therefore, is "to facilitate mutual understanding by
a candid and loving comparison of positive beliefs . . .
striving to discern what is true and vital in the position
of each communion in the hope of attaining to a common
mind, in which everything that is precious shall be treas
ured and given its just and proportionate value.'"
"No joint debate, after the fashion of past polemics,
is proposed. No one is to be asked or permitted either
to submit his own principles to attack or to assail the
convictions of others. He will be expected to listen to
the statements of his brethren, not to consider how they
may be controverted, but to see if there be not at least
a grain of truth in them. . . . But even if there be no
'See pages 250-251 of this report.
'Quoted from an official statement by the Joint Comraission of
the Protestant Episcopal Church for a World Conference on
Faith and Order.

THE PRESENT SITUATION i6i
grain of truth in a statement neither the conference nor
any member of it is expected, nor will he be permitted,
to do more than recognize wherein that statement differs
from others."*
The conference, in a word, is to be an effort, on the
part of the churches represented, really to understand
and appreciate one another, in the hope that a better un
derstanding of divergent views of faith and order may
result in a deepened desire for reunion and subsequently
in official action on the part of the various communions
themselves. This proposal differs from all the others which we have
considered in that it contemplates a meeting which is liter
ally ecumenical, that is, a council which includes repre
sentatives not of all nations only, but of all branches of
the Christian Church within each nation. It includes in
its scope those who refuse to recognize the existence of
any other church than their own, as well as those who
admit the existence of other churches, even though they
regard their existence as unfortunate and temporary.
Thus the Greek and the Roman Churches have been in
vited to participate as well as the group of communions
familiarly known as Protestant, and until recently many
of those interested in bringing about this gathering really
believed that such a meeting was possible.
Experience has shown, however, that this is not the
case. The Roman Catholic Church, true to the logic of
its own position, has declined to participate in the coun
cil, intimating to those who conveyed the invitation that
there was one way to achieve the end desired by the pro
moters, and only one — ^that all who desire membership
in the one true Church should submit to the authority of
him whom our Lord has designated to be its head,
namely, the Pope of Rome. It appears, then, that if the

•"The Conference Spirit," by a Layman, p. 7. Issued by the
Joint Coramission of the Protestant Episcopal Church for a
World Conference on Faith and Order.

i62 CHRISTIAN UNITY
council is to be held it must be less than ecumenical, con
fining itself to that part of Christendom which believes
that, however formidable the difficulties which separate
Christians, they are not too great to be discussed. More
than seventy commissions have been appointed to coop
erate in preparing for the conference. A preliminary
meeting of a few representatives of a large number of
the commissions was held in Geneva, Switzerland, last
summer to consider further procedure."
There is something splendid in the ideal which the
conference proposes, and there can be little doubt that
the holding of such a gathering, even under the limita
tions above outlined, will be a distinct contribution to the
cause of Christian unity. Contact between men who dif
fer always tends to better understanding, and when that
contact is inspired by a genuine desire to get together
only good can result. Quite apart, moreover, from the
direct effect upon the participants, the indirect effects of
such a conference may be of great importance. It will
be an impressive demonstration to the imagination of men
that the unity of which Christians are frequently speak
ing is an actual fact, even if it be only a fact in the ideal
world. As the greatest thing about the League of Na
tions is the fact that men have cared enough about inter
national unity to create it at all, so the greatest fact about
the conference will be the fact that it has seemed worth
while to bring it about.
When we have said this, however, we must in fairness
go on to say that, as a method of bringing about actual
union among Christians, this method when taken by itself
has serious limitations. For one thing, the size of the
conference and the number of participating bodies render
it exceedingly cumbrous and unmanageable. The mere
convening of it is an affair of decades and the difficul-

"For an account of this meeting see Appendix IV of this
volume.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 163
ties of space and time, to mention no others, will make
it difficult, if not impossible, to secure the attendance of
all those persons whose presence is essential to a gath
ering of Christians which is to be really ecumenical.
Again, the diversity of interests will make it difficult
to give the discussions of the conference the definiteness
which is necessary to avoid superficiality. The real
work, as those who are interested well realize, must be
done in the preliminary discussions which prepare the
way and in the later conferences which follow. But for
a conference which proposes no action, it is difficult to
create the sense of reality which will command the pre
liminary attention necessary to make this preparation
efficient and concentrated. The more, therefore, one
believes in the Conference on Faith and Order the more
he should interest himself in those more definite, even
though more limited, movements which bring unity down
from the clouds into everyday life and express them
selves in practical proposals for action.
This has, unfortunately, not always been the attitude
of those who have been interested in this mode of ap
proach to the problem of union. They have been so
fearful that men might be satisfied with some lesser goal
than an all-embracing catholicity that they have some
times discouraged action along other and more practicable
Hnes, and themselves abstained from participation in such
movements. Thus the Conference on Faith and Order, in
the name of the larger union still to be attained, has
acted in certain quarters as an obstacle to the coopera
tion that is now possible. It is a matter of encourage
ment that this earlier attitude has now been generally
abandoned, and it is recognized that the more men experi
ment in possible unions, even on a narrow and limited
scale, the more their minds will be prepared for the larger
union of the future. It is particularly interesting to note
that the 1920 Lambeth Conference adopted a resolution
recommending that "councils representing all Christian

i64 CHRISTIAN UNITY
communions should be formed ... as centers of united
effort."" For the difficulty of the attitude of indifference to the
immediately practicable steps goes deeper than a mere
postponement of action. It cuts men off from the experi
ence in the light of which alone wise action is possible.
How can we tell whether men are at one in essentials?
Least of all, by what they say. For words mean different
things to different men and different things to the same
men at different times. If there is to be understanding,
the words must be interpreted by the life which they de
scribe and inspire. And this takes time and contact and
sympathy. The most fatal of all the obstacles to union
is the refusal to meet one's fellow-Christians half way.
For it is only through the contacts which half measures
make possible that we can tell whether the whole which
is desired is attainable, and, if so, in what way.
"See p. 366 of this volume.

CHAPTER V
PRESENT PROBLEMS IN THE MOVEMENT
TOWARD UNION
Our survey of the present state of the movement
toward union has revealed to us a wide variety of influ
ences now at work, and a bewildering number of agen
cies through which the impulse in this direction is seek
ing, and in large measure is finding, expression. Apart
from the movements toward fuller unity within the dif
ferent denominations, expressing themselves through new
forms of ecclesiastical organization, and the efforts —
more or less successful — to reunite in a single communion
the divided members of the same or of closely allied
ecclesiastical families, we have found at least five dif
ferent types of movements to consider. There is, first,
the movement for union between Christians of the same
locality, which in smaller communities expresses itself
in the so-called community church and in larger centers
in the federation of churches. There is, in the second
place, the group of movements which, while closely affili
ated with the Church and definitely professing to serve
its interests, are yet in their organization and control
purely voluntary bodies, responsible, apart from the
general influence of public sentiment, only to their own
officers and members, such as the Young Men's and
Young Women's Christian Associations and a large num
ber of other agencies to which no small part of the prog
ress and enthusiasm of the last generation of Christian
effort is due. There is, in the third place, what we have
called the movement toward administrative union, which
has its impulse in the desire for greater economy and effi
ciency in the necessary work of the Church. There is,
165

i66 CHRISTIAN UNITY
finally, the group of movements which contemplate offi
cial relations of union between the different denomina
tions as such. These in turn fall into two groups — those
which restrict their aims to cooperation, recognizing the
autonomy and parity of the cooperating bodies, and def
initely excluding from their programs any effort to realize
what is ordinarily called organic union ; and those which
regard the existence of separate denominations as itself
a temporary and unfortunate fact, and look for the time
when all Christians shall belong to one Church, which,
in its organization, doctrine, and worship, shall be cath
olic enough to make place for whatever is good and true
in the doctrine, polity, and worship of the existing
churches. This fivefold classification is of course only approxi
mate. In baffling and surprising ways the lines cross
and recross. The movement for local federations is con
nected with the larger national movement through the
Federal Council's Commission on Councils of Churches
(State and Local). An intermediate step between official
ecclesiastical union and the unofficial bodies of the type
of the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian As
sociations is furnished by the Commissions of the Fed
eral Council, which, created by a body itself officially
responsible, have a considerable range of activity in which
they function more freely. The .A.ssociations them
selves are brought into close touch with the administra
tive organs of the churches in the Continuation Com
mittees and similar bodies in which they meet for counsel
with the leaders of the church boards. The constantly
increasing responsibility thrown upon the Associations
and the enlarged sphere in which they are operating
lead them to approximate their activities to those of the
regular missionary organs of the churches and cause
overlapping and confusion which require careful study
in order to define responsibility. Moreover, midway be
tween the local units, whether ecclesiastical or voluntary,

THE PRESENT SITUATION 167
and the national organizations to which they are ulti
mately responsible, the exigencies of practical work are
creating new administrative units, such as the county and
the state, which present problems of unity of their own.
Finally, even in the largest sphere of all, which is con
cerned with the relations of the denominations them
selves, the Hne between federal and organic unity proves
by no means easy to draw. What exactly is meant by
organic unity, and what by federal unity ? May there not
be a federal unity which is itself organic, even as the
United States is a unit of federated states? Here is a
whole group of problems, raising important questions of
theory to which we must address ourselves if we are to
base hope of progress upon a secure foundation. It
is clear, therefore, that further definition is in order as
to the nature of the union which we seek and the reasons
for which we desire it.
That outer union presupposes an inner Christian unity
goes without saying. Unless those who call themselves
by the name of Christ are really one in the Spirit, no
device of organization will avail. Beneath all outward
unions, whether official or unofficial, there must be one
ness of conviction, aspiration, and loyalty, of which all
external activities are fruits. By their success in foster
ing and expressing such a spirit all plans for formal
union must be judged.
But we are thinking here of something more than this.
As the spirit of the nation finds expression in its institu
tions, so the Christian society finds social expression in
the Church. It is the existence side by side of organiza
tions with different creeds, polity, and form of worship,
each naming the name of Christ and claiming to speak
with the authority of His Church, which gives rise to
our practical problems. It is only, therefore, as we are
clear concerning the present hindrances and helps toward
union as found in the existing churches, and concerning
the various views of their relation to one another and to

i68 CHRISTIAN UNITY
the spiritual society which expresses itself through them,
that we can make progress in achieving the practical
union that we need.
I. Factors Which Impede the Movement toward
Union
And first of the factors that impede the movement.
They are of two kinds — those which grow out of differ
ences of conviction and quahty of spirit, and those which
are due to practical difficulties arising out of the past
history of the churches and the interests which their sep
arate existence has created. We shall begin with the
latter, not because they are inherently more important,
but because they are so obvious and immediate.
I. Factors Growing Out of the Past History of the
Existing Churches
In the first place, then, we must recognize the fact
that the existing churches are here and have to be reck
oned with. We sometimes speak of our denominational
divisions as negligible factors perpetuating the memory
of some ancient controversy which has long lost its
meaning for intelligent modern men, but even if this
fact were true, and it is far from being true, it is still
undeniable that the churches today are very much alive
and, so far as we can see, growing more active and self-
conscious every day. However they came into being and
whether or no they ought to have broken away from the
parent stock to which they owe their original life, the
churches today exist as powerful, intelligent, self-govern
ing, and self-supporting units — each conscious of a his
tory and traditions of its own, each committed to definite
responsibilities in which it takes pride and for which it
demands sacrifice, each commanding the service of a
large number of persons whose livelihood and interests
in life are wrapped up with its service and success. No
one who has attended the meetings of a Methodist Gen-

THE PRESENT SITUATION 169
eral Conference or a Presbyterian General Assembly or
other denominational convention and lived through the
days in which the work of that church in home and for
eign missions was presented, but must have realized that
he was dealing with a very real and potent factor in the
religious life of America.
This independent life of the denomination includes a
number of different factors, each of which must be taken
into account if we are rightly to measure its significance.
There is, first of all, what we may call the institution
itself, with its whole complex of associations, habits,
loyalties, and interests, which have crystallized into defi
nite forms of procedure and action, having the sanction
of law. A church, we repeat, is an independent and self-
governing body, having its own constitution and methods
of procedure, and any structural change which affects the
church as a whole is possible only through the method of
constitutional action, which takes time and involves delay.
But quite apart from the limitations imposed by the
constitution and laws of the church itself, there are
obstacles imposed by the relation of the Church to the
State. A church is not only an independent, self-govern
ing society which within proper limits may act as it
pleases : it is a corporation, recognized by the state in
which it exists and held to modes of action which incor
poration makes necessary. Each denomination as a
whole, as well as its several congregations and societies,
is a property-holder, subject to the laws of the state un
der which it holds its property, and the aggregate of
these holdings runs into the millions and even hundreds
of millions of dollars. Any change in the constitution and
control of any one of the existing churches affects its
title to its property and creates difficulties, which those
only can measure whose studies or whose experience
have led them into the "no man's land" of the relation
of Church and State. In matters of spiritual enthusiasm
it is easy to ignore minorities but in property questions

170 CHRISTIAN UNITY
these are anything but a negligible factor, as the history
of church legislation abundantly attests. Witness the
experience of the United Free Church of Scotland, or
the more recent experience of the Presbyterian Church
in the U. S. A. in its union with the Cumberland Church.
In each case the union consummated was the parent of
a new division and in each case what would otherwise
have been an unimportant secession was rendered for
midable by the magnitude of the property interests
involved. But quite apart from the question of law or of prop
erty, there are personal interests to be considered, which
require time and patience. An institution means office
holders and, in the case of the existing churches, these
are numerous, able, and devoted to the church to which
they belong. Any comprehensive plan for organic union
will mean for many of these not only change of habits and
mode of life but, in many cases, actual loss of position
or at least the exchange of a more for a less influential
place. One need not attribute to the ministry of our
churches base or selfish motives, but they would be more
or less than human if they did not view such a change
with grave concern and wish to be assured that the new
alignment which is to replace the old is really a step for
ward and not simply the substitution of one new form
of organization for another, with its resulting change of
personnel. But above and beyond all these definite and measurable
factors there are certain imponderables which move in
the region of emotion and sentiment. One does not live
and worship in a church with the sincerity that goes with
genuine piety without acquiring certain feelings of loyalty
and affection, which it is not easy to define but which yet
weigh powerfully in leading one to resist change. As the
home in which one was born means something which can
not be replaced by any later habitation, however com
modious and beautiful, so the church in which one first

THE PRESENT SITUATION 171
heard the Gospel preached and learned to pray and work
for the coming of Christ's Kingdom has a meaning and
a value not easily to be transferred to any other institu
tion. These unseen ties of loyalty and affection we must
take into account when we measure the obstacles to union
which grow out of the existence of the present churches
as separate institutions.
2. Factors Growing Out of Differences of Religious
Conviction
But these difficulties, serious as they are, lie on the
surface. Far more formidable are those which grow out
of differences of inner conviction as to the nature of the
Church itself and its function in society.
The theological disputes between Christians have long
been a subject of ridicule on the part of opponents of
Christianity. We recall the famous remark by Gibbon
about the debate over the person of Christ as having
divided Christendom on the question of a single Greek
iota. But, reprehensible or not, these differences are a
factor which must be taken into account, for Christianity
is not, in the belief of its adherents, a mere matter of
private opinion and interpretation, but a divine revelation,
and the Church receives its unique mission in the world
from the fact that it is the bearer of a Gospel on which
world-wide issues depend. Where sympathy might incHne
one to yield one's personal preferences, loyalty may re
quire uncompromising firmness in witnessing to the truth.
The importance of such fidelity is reenforced by the
fact that the message of which the Church is the bearer
does not consist of abstract propositions about truth in
general, although it has sometimes been represented as if
this were so, but of a Gospel of redemption from sin and
of personal salvation for the individual and of the estab
lishment of the Kingdom of God as a new world order,
made possible through divine initiative and requiring on
the part of those who are to be sharers in its benefits loyal

172 CHRISTIAN UNITY
acceptance of the conditions laid down. This common
acceptance of divine revelation as to the momentous issues
involved in the Church's ministry gives to the divisions
between Christians a significance which they would not
otherwise have. Other than human factors are concerned
and other than human loyalties involved. In proportion
to the greatness of the benefits is the greatness of the risk.
Hence the rigid and unyielding character which has
caused so much of the theological controversy of the past
and which has left its traces in the divisions of the
present. It is not the place here to tell the story of these con
troversies or to dwell on the differences of conviction
which now exist among Christians. We are concerned
only with their effects upon the present divisions of the
Church and their bearing upon the possible reunion of
Christendom. This, then, is to be noted first of all, that they trans
form existing differences of polity and worship into dif
ferences of religious conviction, which can be resolved
only in the forum of theological discussion. Were the
difference between Episcopalians and Presbyterians and
Baptists -simply a difference as to the form of organiza
tion, it might not be difficult to hit upon a mode of ad
justment. Each form of government has its advan
tages, which can be retained without sacrifice of the
others, and the ideal form of church government will
doubtless be found to include elements from all three;
but to those who hold these respective polities, or at least
to a group within the churches which hold them, they
are more than this. To them they are a part of that di
vine deposit of revelation which the Church is charged
to transmit unimpaired to succeeding generations. To
abandon or modify this divine deposit would be no light
or forgivable matter. It would mean direct disobedience
to our Lord Himself.
This attitude meets us in the view of the Church itself.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 173
That the Church as an institution has divine significance
we find the great majority of all Christians to agree. But
on this common basis there are far-reaching differences.
On the one hand are Christians who believe that the one
invisible Church may express itself in many external
organizations. To many Christians, on the other hand,
the very idea of the existence of more than one organ
ized Church is a contradiction in terms. The Roman
Catholic finds this one all-embracing body in the Roman
Catholic Church; the High Anglican, in the group of
churches, now unhappily but it is to be hoped only tem
porarily divided, which agree in accepting the historic
episcopate, the Catholic creeds, and the traditions of the
undivided Church of the first six centuries; the extreme
Southern Baptist, in the group that sees in the local con
gregation the final ecclesiastical authority. But all three
hold that the only possibility of union is that those who
are outside the bodies thus defined should surrender their
present false position and come into the one true Church.
It is true that the existence outside the boundaries thus
defined of many persons who show in their character the
fruits of the Spirit of Christ constitutes a problem which
is acutely felt by the more sensitive consciences and which
has been dealt with by the theologians of the respective
bodies in various ways. Into this by-path of ecclesiasti
cal history we do not here need to enter, for those who
still insist that the only way to union is the complete
submission of all who are outside what seems to them
the one true Church, will not be open to the considera
tions urged in this report.
The insistence on an unchanging point of view meets
us also in the two extreme conceptions of the ministry —
in the high churchman's view of the episcopate and
equally in the stricter Baptist's view of the local congre
gation. To the former the episcopate is of the essence
of the Church in the sense that without a minister epis-
copally ordained there can be no valid administration

174 CHRISTIAN UNITY
of the sacrament, which is itself the mark of the exis
tence of the true Church. For the latter the local con
gregation is so truly the fons et origo of ecclesiastical
authority, that where it is absent, there can be no Church,
were every bishop in the episcopate present. So much is
this the case that many Southern Baptists did not even
desire their chaplains to purchase communion services
lest they should be tempted in the presence of dying men
to celebrate the Lord's Supper apart from the local con
gregation, an act that would render the sacrament invahd.
What is true of the ministry of the Church is equally
true of its creed and of its sacraments. There are
branches of the Church to which the repetition of the
Trinitarian formula in the creed is so of the essence of
Christian worship that they could conscientiously hold
no communion with Christians who omitted it, no matter
how much in their lives they might hold fellowship with
God the Father, follow Christ in humble discipleship,
and illustrate in their character the graces of the Spirit.
There are Christians on the other hand — at least those
who call themselves such — who would regard the repeti
tion of the Trinitarian creed as a departure from prim
itive Christianity so radical as to involve betrayal of a
trust, in which they could not acquiesce without disloyalty
to Christ. So of the sacraments of baptism and the
Lord's Supper. As to their nature and the modes of ad
ministering them, there are differences of conviction so
fundamental that up to the present time they make inter
communion impossible. Where a certain method of bap
tism, like immersion, or a certain mode of observing the
Supper, is made the articulus stantis aut cadentis ecclesiac,
those who hold other views are by the very fact excluded
from membership in the visible Church and the prospect
of Christian unity is correspondingly diminished.
What makes these differences so serious is that they
tend to perpetuate themselves by making impossible the
one method by which they might be removed. That

THE PRESENT SITUATION 175
method is contact. Creed, sacraments, and ministry exist
not for themselves, but as channels through which the
grace of God is conveyed to needy men and women ; but
if we differ in our view of the nature of these channels
and the mode by which their ministry is effective, how are
we to resolve our differences ? Clearly, only in one way.
We must put the matter to the test of experience. We
must try the different ways in which our fellow-Christians
claim that grace has come to them, to see whether we
ourselves share something of their experience. But this
the existing attitude of the high churchman on either side
makes impossible. There is a conflict as to facts which
can be resolved only by experience, but each party is so
confident that he already possesses the whole truth that
he is unwilling to make the test in the only way in which
that test is possible.
3. Factors Due to Permanent Differences in the Type
of Religious Experience
When we ask for the source of the differences of con
viction which we have analyzed in the preceding section,
the answer is in part historical. Long association with
the different forms of belief and worship practiced in
each branch of the Church has given each a sacredness
and authority that make it seem of the very essence of
the Gospel. And when this is reenforced by the con
ception of divine revelation as the impartation of un
changing truth, which is characteristic of all the churches,
the thought of change is rendered correspondingly diffi
cult. But, quite apart from this, there are subjective
reasons in the nature of the rehgious experience itself.
There are different types of rehgious life which recur
from age to age — in part the results, in part the cause of
the differences we have described. These permanent
differences in the type of religious experience make the
mode of approach to God which one man finds natural
and congenial, impossible or repellent to another.

176 CHRISTIAN UNITY
That mysterious factor which we call temperament,
of which we know so little although we experience its
effects so intimately, has been a great factor in the history
of religion. The mystic, the authoritarian, the sacramen-
tarian, the radical individualist, these — to mention only
a few of the more outstanding types — must be reckoned
with in any comprehensive program for Christian unity.
Especially important for our present purpose are the
two contrasted types which we have called the sacramen-
tarian and the radical individualist. Each emphasizes
an element in the Christian experience to the exclusion
of the other. The sacramentarian magnifies the signifi
cance of the institution for human life. To him the
organized Church is the very center and core of Chris
tianity. In the rites handed down to us from the remote
past, performed by the priest who has received his com
mission from Christ Himself, and partaken of in rever
ence and faith, he is conscious of receiving a mystical
grace by which his whole nature is renewed. Tyrrell
has expressed the type of experience for which the sac
ramentarian stands, when he describes the infinite dis
tance between the altar as the Catholic churchman con
ceives it and the Lord's table conceived as a memorial
symbol or the center of a common meal. How can a man
with such an experience as this find himself at home in
a Baptist revival service or a Presbyterian prayer
meeting ?
To the individualist, on the other hand, the central
fact of the religious life is the presence of God's Spirit
in the soul of the believer. This is, in the case of each
man or woman who ever lived, an individual and unre
peatable experience. God, who reveals Himself through
Christ and the Gospel, is received by faith by the behever,
works a transformation through regeneration which ap
pears in a sanctified life, and leaves a sense of freedom
and joy which makes him who possesses it independent
of all that is external or historic. The Church consists

THE PRESENT SITUATION 177
of all who share in this experience. Its continuity is the
body of redeemed lives, and the sacraments are rather
signs of a life that has been directly created by God than
agents in its creation.
There seems little doubt that in each of these cases
we are dealing with a permanent human type. There is
equally little doubt that as we meet them at present they
are serious obstacles to union, for it is characteristic of
each of these types of the religious life that it takes its
own experience as authoritative and finds it difficult to
detect in the other what it regards as the marks of essen
tial Christianity.
There is, however, a quality in the individualistic type
which differentiates it from the other and demands
special consideration. The sacramentarian may conceive
church union narrowly, but it is at least a part of his ideal
for Christianity. The individualist, however, has suffered
so much from -ecclesiastical tyranny in the past that he
questions whether church union, in the sense in which
it is usually discussed, is desirable at all. He recalls the
experience of Europe under the undivided Roman
Church. He points to those countries where today Rome
has full sway. He contrasts the state of religion in the
United States, with its many free churches, or in Eng
land, where nonconformists divide the field with the
establishment, with that of Germany under a state church.
Where there is but one church he finds stagnation, uni
formity, deadness ; where there are many, life, movement,
progress. He is inclined to beheve that there is a reason
for this, which we shall ignore at our peril. He sees in
the desire for a single all-embracing Church a sign of that
aristocratic and imperialistic conception in religion which
the modern democratic spirit is trying to banish from the
State. Above all, he fears that too great insistence upon
outward union may divert attention from those inward
unities of spirit which are all-important, and in seeking
to create a single all-embracing organization may force

17B CHRISTIAN UNITY
those who believe in liberty and variety to withdraw from
even that measure of cooperation which we have so far
attained.
4. Factors Due to Lack of Clear Perception of the
Question at Issue
Apart from these major and permanent differences
growing out of history, conviction, and temperament,
there are certain minor obstacles which are not the less
formidable because unrealized and unconfessed. There
is the natural inertia which opposes change. There is lack
of interest, due to lack of contact. Above all, there is the
very real difficulty which grows out of confusion of
thought as to the real issues involved and the significance
of the steps that are proposed. There are so many dif
ferent forms of the movement for union that it is not
strange that this confusion should arise and that men
whose support would be secured if the real issue were
made clear are alienated because they suppose other mat
ters to be involved to which they are not yet ready to
commit themselves. Most important, then, if progress
is to be made, is a clear definition of the thing to be
reached and the method to be followed in reaching it.
Above all, we must distinguish between the nearer and
the more distant goal and see to it that we do not sacri
fice the joint action that is immediately possible because
there are later and larger matters on which we may
disagree.
II. Factors Which Further the Movement toward
Union
We have considered the obstacles which block the way
to union. It remains to consider the influences that are
working in its favor. These we can treat more briefly,
since our previous discussion has already made us famil
iar with them. It is necessary only to classify them and
to estimate their significance.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 179
I. Factors Growing Out of the Nature of the Christian
Religion Itself
First in importance are those which grow out of the
nature of the Christian religion itself. From the first,
Christianity has proclaimed itself a world religion. The
redemption it brings is freely offered to all mankind.
The Kingdom into which it invites men is an all-embrac
ing society in which existing differences of race, nation
ality, class, and education are transcended. In the Cross
God has broken down once and for all the middle wall
of partition between man and man and made even widely
separated and rival groups one new man in Christ Jesus.
Clearly, then, the Church which proclaims such a Gospel
and such a salvation must be one, and the unity of spirit
in which all Christians alike believe must find some visible
expression if it is to convince the world of its existence.
The high-priestly prayer of Christ, "that they all may
be one . . . that the world may believe," only expresses in
words that which is the very heart of the situation. The
more one contemplates the nature of the Christian reli
gion, the more one enters into the greatness of the task
which Christ has laid upon His Church, the more irra
tional and unintelligible must become the present condi
tion of our divided Christendom.
This unity, implicit in the Christian religion, becomes
apparent the moment we consider more in detail the
nature of the Christian Gospel. It appears in the Chris
tian conception of God who, as the universal Father,
desires the salvation of all men and their union one with
another in the family of God. There are many points
in which Christians differ in their thought of God, but
these sink into insignificance in comparison with that in
which they are agreed. In the midst of a world in which
many have made selfishness the law of their life, sur
rounded by men engrossed in narrow and petty aims and
indifferent to ideal interests, all Christians beheve in the

i8o CHRISTIAN UNITY
Father God, righteous, wise, and loving, who, in spite of
the infinite distance by which He is removed from man
in character and in power, is yet in a true sense akin to
him, and who in Jesus Christ has given man a revelation
of what he should be and what he may become.
The unity of the Christian religion appears further in
the Christian attitude to Jesus Christ whom all Christians,
in spite of their differences from one another, unite in
confessing as their common Lord, their Saviour, and
their Guide. Face to face with the mysteries of life, en
compassed on every side with unanswered questions.
Christians of every name see in Christ the way,
the truth, and the life, God's solution of the mystery of
life and His answer to its unanswered questions. In
Him they see at once the revelation of God and of
man, the window through which they look into the face
of God, their Father, and the mirror in which they see
reflected that which they shall become. And not only
this: they see in Him their Captain in the daily struggle
against evil, the one who upon the cross has taken upon
Himself the burden of their sin, and not theirs only, but
that of the whole world, and who is the Lord of that
Kingdom which is to be established upon the earth, the
Kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy, in which
he is to be greatest who is minister, and he is to be chief
who is servant of all.
The unity of the Christian faith appears further in
the Christian experience of the Holy Spirit. In a world
which is full of failure, weary and discouraged because
its hopes have been baffled and its plans have gone astray,
all Christians believe in a present power able to transform
and to renew. Their faces are turned forward, and not
back, to that new world which is to be formed when God
shafl have His way in men's hearts and the creation which
groans and travails together in pain untfl now shall be
delivered from its misery through the revelation of the
sons of God.

THE PRESENT SITUATION i8i
It appears finafly in the common acceptance by Chris
tians of the great commission. Themselves children of
God, redeemed by Jesus Christ and renewed by His
Spirit, they recognize His call to share that which they
have received with others. The custodians of a great
trust, which they interpret, to be sure, in different ways,
they are at one in recognizing that what has been given
to them has been given not for themselves alone, but for
all mankind. From the first, Christianity has been a mis
sionary religion and the missionary ideal is by its very
nature an ideal of unity. As there is only one Christ and
one Spirit and one God and Father of all, as there is only
one family into which all the nations of the world are
called, so in the nature of the case there can be only one
Church through which the unity of this new social order
must be proclaimed, expressed, and realized.
This consciousness of the unity in the Christian reli
gion has become increasingly prevalent among Christians.
The story which in this report we have passed in review
is the story of deep-seated spiritual convictions finding
their way to expression in spite of obstacles apparently
insuperable. Men may differ in their definition of this
goal. They may differ in their view of the way this goal
is to be reached, but they agree that Christianity is a
world religion, rightfully claiming the allegiance of all
men and that the time is coming when this common alle
giance will find public and outward expression.
This deepened consciousness finds expression in the
growing disposition to make the unity of Christ's Church
the object of Christian prayer. Not simply in formal
petitions ecclesiastically approved, not simply as part of
the stated prayer offered up from Sunday to Sunday
in divine worship, but in prayer circles and other infor
mal groups. Christians are meeting to pray for union.
Such prayer is not only a sign of the oneness of spirit
which already exists; it is a powerful means of increas
ing it by creating the spirit and temper of mind in which

i82 CHRISTIAN UNITY
men hitherto strangers can come together. The God in
whom Christians believe is a God who answers prayer,
and Christ who taught men how to pray aright made the
unity of all Christians the subject of His own high-
priestly prayer.
2. Factors Groiving Out of the World's Need of a
United Church
This impulse inherent in the nature of the Christian
religion itself is powerfully reenforced by the revelation
of the greatness of the world's need. There was a time
when men's conception of Christianity could be parochial
because their vision of the world was bounded by the
community in which they lived ; but this time has long
passed. Steam and electricity — those twin wizards of
the modern world — have broken down the barriers that
used to separate the peoples and have made the whole
world a unity. Trade and commerce — in all ages intro
ducers of people to one another — have made distant
peoples dependent upon one another, not simply for lux
uries and conveniences but for the very food they eat.
But with the contact they have brought new dangers.
Disease knows no barrier of race and ideas fly faster
even than germs. Out of this closer contact rivalries
and suspicions are born, the strong exploit the weak, and
the ignorant become the prey of the well-informed. In
our life as citizens of the world we are proving the truth
of the apostle's saying that none of us liveth to himself
alone. We are members one of another, and if one mem
ber, even the weakest, suffers, all the others suffer with
him. This sense of world-wide unity has been mightily re
enforced by the war. We have learned that in the greater
issues, such as those of war and peace, we are no longer
arbiters of our own destiny. What we shall do and suffer
is decided for us by others. It is for us only to determine
in what spirit and to what end we shall do what we do

THE PRESENT SITUATION 183
and endure what we endure. We did not desire war. We
went to the limit to avoid it. But war came and claimed
its toll of our men and our means and we could not
withhold them if we would. And as the war taught us
our unity in dependence and in suffering, so it taught
us unity in resolution and in action. Had ten times more
been asked of us, it would have been forthcoming, for the
need brought forth the will and in need and will alike the
nation found itself at one.
What happened to the nation as it faced the tasks of
war is happening to the Church as it faces the tasks of
peace. For here again we face a great need and see that
only the greatest possible degree of unity can suffice.
What that need is, and the nature of the appeal, we have
already been forced to consider in the course of the pre
ceding pages. It is the need of a united witness to a
world which out of the experience of suffering has come
to doubt the reality of the things for which the Church
stands. This need meets us in the field of Christian missions in
the widest sense of that term. We have never seen the
situation in the non-Christian world as clearly we see
it now.' We know not only the need but also the oppor
tunity — the open doors of invitation and appeal. From
every country of the world they come asking for our help,
our sympathy, our service. We can meet the call ade
quately only by meeting it together. We know this be
cause we have tried to do it separately and failed. So
from the mission field, in the most direct and insistent
way, comes the call for union, and in ways outlined else
where in this report we are beginning to respond.
It comes to us from our own country, as we face the
industrial and social unrest which gives us such serious
food for thought. In another report we have studied this

'See the earlier report of the Committee on the War and the
Religious Outlook, entitled, "The Missionary Outlook in the
Light of the War," Association Press, 1920.

i84 CHRISTIAN UNITY
challenge and found that it is one that only the Church of
Christ can meet.' For what the labor movement is asking
today is not primarily wages and hours and insurance,
but understanding and sympathy and brotherhood. It
wants its share in the decisions that determine its own
destiny and make or mar the lives of the workers. But
this is the sphere of personal relations, with which the
Church by its very nature has to do. Till Christ's prin
ciples come to be recognized as the law of society, as
well as of the individual, and His will be done in earth as
in heaven, there can be no permanent industrial peace.
But how shall these principles prevail and this will be
done till Christians, now divided, find some way to plan
and act more effectively together? A just and harmoni
ous social order cannot be the product of a divided
Church. When we pass from our own country to the field of
international relations, we find the same conclusion reen
forced. The war that was to have brought world peace
has proved the parent of new wars. Wherever we look
we find rivalry, suspicion, fear. Men long for a better
world, but they despair of realizing it, and here, as always,
hope deferred has made the heart sick. The very League
of Nations which is proposed as a remedy for the world's
illness is rejected by some because it yields too much to
idealism and by others because it gives too little. What
might be done is left undone because the mutual trust
which is the condition of common action is lacking. Is
there not here a call to Christian union which transcends
in importance all other issues? For it is Christianity
which proclaims the very ideals in the name of which any
League of Nations must function, and with these ideals,
what is far more important, promises power to realize
them. But how shall men believe in the power, and so

'The report referred to is "The Church and Industrial Re
construction," Association Press, 1920.

THE PRESENT SITUATION 185
bear the sacrifice for which the ideal calls, unless Chris
tians themselves shall, in manifest and visible form, give
a demonstration of the power of God's Spirit to dispel sus
picion, cast out fear, and unite in common love and serv
ice those who have given their allegiance to the God of
Love ? What the nature of the Christian religion reveals,
the need of the time demands — a common spirit express
ing itself in common service through a common Church.
3. Factors Growing Out of Past Experience of the Prac
tice of Cooperation
The third help in the effort to realize Christian unity
is the experience already gained of the practicability of
working together. What this experience has been and
the forms which it has taken we have elsewhere discussed
so fully that it is not necessary for us to repeat the story
here, but it may be worth while to recall for our encour
agement how recent much of this experience is and how
great the change in sentiment of the rank and file of
Christians which has resulted from it.
The movement for union, of course, is not of recent
origin. In every age men have longed and prayed for it,
and for more than two centuries the story of the differ
ent movements for union has constituted a considerable
part of the history of American Christianity.' But cer
tainly the extent and power of the movement have greatly
increased. The attitude of the rank and file of Christians
toward their fellow-Christians of other names differs
widely today from what it was a half century or even a
quarter of a century ago. Things seem possible now
which were then almost beyond the range of discussion,
and things natural which then would have seemed too
much to hope for. In this growing familiarity with the

'The whole historical study which constitutes the second part
of this report makes this unmistakably clear. This historical
study, moreover, is of great value for those who are con
cerned about church unity today.

i86 CHRISTIAN UNITY
idea of union, which is the result of a generation of work
ing together, we have an asset the value of which it is
difficult to overestimate.
This disposition to live and work together was
mightily reenforced by the war. The war, as we have
seen, not only revealed the nature of the unity already
attained, but created new organs through which this unity
could find expression. The foundations already laid by
the Federal Council and its commissions made possible
the General War-Time Commission of the Churches,
which carried these principles a step further, and made
possible also the more ambitious attempt of the Inter
church World Movement. In the momentary reaction
from the disappointed anticipations for this movement,
the danger is that we shall underestimate its great serv
ice to the cause of Christian union. To how many to
whom the idea was unfamiliar it has been brought by the
propaganda of this movement, we shall probably never
know, but in the wide publicity given the idea and, above
all, the many conferences which brought men of all com
munions into personal contact, there was laid a founda
tion of experience which is rich in promise for the
future. One phase of our war experience already referred to
deserves special emphasis — namely, the fact that in the
organization which expressed the unity of the Christian
forces, the General War-Time Commission, a way was
found to include churches like the Episcopal and the
Lutheran, which had hitherto found it impossible to
take their full place with other churches in the Fed
eral Council. Here it is sufficient to say that in the
chapel at Camp Upton, for example, a building erected
on government ground for the use of the religious forces
of the Camp, financed cooperatively by seven different
communions and used by all with the utmost fraternity,
we have an experiment in Christian cooperation which
deserves study and may well find imitators,

THE PRESENT SITUATION 187
4. Factors Growing Out of a Better Understanding of
the Nature of the Union to Be Sought
One more influence needs to be noted to make our
analysis complete, and that is the help which has grown
out of a better understanding of the nature of the union
to be sought. We are coming to see the falsity of the
"either, or" type of union. Comprehension, not uniform
ity, is the idea at which we aim. Instead of trying to
erect barriers to keep out of the Church those whose reli
gious experience differs from pur own, we ask ourselves
whether there is not something wrong with a system
which separates us from those who, however different
in experience, are yet manifestly moved by the spirit of
Christ. Paul's picture in the twelfth chapter of the First
Epistle to the Corinthians is recovering its rightful place
in our definition of the ideal of the Church and we realize
that in the Catholic Church of the future all types of
experience and practice which have appeared in the great
ages and sections of Christian history must find a home.
In this conclusion we have been greatly aided by the
result of recent studies in church history. We realize,
as we did not before, how much more complex and many-
sided is the history of the Church than we had supposed,
how many different forms of belief and practice it re
veals, how widely its later developments differ from its
earlier and simpler forms. What seems strange and out
of place judged solely by its present surroundings be
comes natural and intefligible when interpreted in the
light of its history. Instead of writing as lawyers vv^ho
hold briefs to prove the case of their own section of the
Church, scholars of all the churches have joined in im
partial research from the results of which all Christians
alike are gaining. As a result a new temper has been in
troduced into our discussions — a temper of sympathetic
and openminded inquiry — which is full of promise for the
future.

i88 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Further help has been afforded by the comparative
study of religions. As we have come to know other reli
gions of the world better, many misconceptions have been
cleared away. We understand their similarities to Chris
tianity but also the wide gap which separates them from
it, and in the knowledge of that which distinguishes Chris
tianity from them in spite of its similarities we find a
point of contact with our own fellow-Christians from
whom we have hitherto been separated. If Christ be,
as modern critical study establishes, the distinctive fea
ture in the Christian religion and the point by which it is
separated from all others, then those who alike own alle
giance to Christ and work for His Kingdom have a bond
of union more potent than any differences.
Nor must we overlook the contribution of the psychol
ogy of religion, with its better insight into the nature of
religious experience. This is teaching us how impossible
it is to divorce doctrine from life. It shows us that
growth is a law of religion as of all life, and that truth
drives out error step by step as light drives out darkness.
Progress we see to be a fact in Christian history — prog
ress in the appreciation and in the application of truth—
and this insight has its reflex influence upon our defini
tion of Christian union. In an expanding and self-renew
ing religion like Christianity, the Church can never be a
finished thing. There must be space in its capacious
structure for ever new rooms, in which free men may
try new experiments to add to the beauty and richness of
the whole.
So modern science is teaching us sympathy. It is help
ing us to enter into the meaning of other types of experi
ence than our own and so providing contacts out of which
the larger experience of the future is to be born. What
we need above all is that this new insight should be
shared. The vision that has come to the few should
become the property of the many, so that that common
Christian consciousness may be reached which shall make

THE PRESENT SITUATION 189
possible the Church of the future. Surely the time has
come when the whole Church, no less, should be the
study of each part of it, and in this many-sided and fas
cinating history no part deserves more careful attention,
or win repay it better, than the story of the movement
toward more complete unity which forms the subject of
the present report.
III. Points of Contact between Differing Atti
tudes toward the Existing Churches
We still find, however, even among those who believe
in cooperation and admit the possibility of union, a dis
agreement as to whether anything like a corporate union
is desirable. There are those who regard the presence
of separate churches side by side as unfortunate and un
desirable, but there are others who regard it as a normal
and even a desirable situation. Upon an understanding
of this difference and the reasons which lead to the posi
tions on either side depends our definition of the aim of
Christian union, and therefore our judgment of the spe
cific steps to be taken to secure it.
On the one hand we find those who believe that the
existence side by side of different bodies calling them
selves churches of Christ, each having complete auton
omy and independence in the sphere of belief and prac
tice, and often competing with one another for the sup
port of Christian people within the same territory, con
stitutes so flagrant a violation of the ideal of Christ as
to become a public scandal which all Christians should
unite to put a stop to. They are ready, of course, to
admit that in the Providence of God the existence of the
different churches as separate bodies has been the means
of preserving aspects of Christian truth which, apart
from this separate existence, might have been imperiled,
if not lost sight of altogether. But they believe that the
lessons taught by the separation have now been learned,
that new issues have arisen which demand the union of

190 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Christians, and that to perpetuate this separation after
the reasons for it have ceased to exist is to act wrongly
and to imperil weighty interests. To this conclusion they
are impelled by the various motives that we have dis
cussed. Most important of all, they are convinced that
the spiritual unity which underlies the Christian religion
requires some external and organic expression, not only
for its revelation to the world but even for its fufl reali
zation and adequate functioning among the members of
the Church themselves. To men of this temper organic
union, or the existence of some one comprehensive or
ganization in which all members of the Church of Christ
are in some manner embraced, becomes the supreme
object of Christian effort and prayer.
To others, however, equally earnest and sincere, the
matter appears in quite a different light. To them the
existence side by side of a number of different churches
seems entirely natural and fitting. They recognize, to
be sure, the disadvantage and scandal of the existing
situation, but they regard these as due to other causes
which can and should be corrected. No less convinced
than their fellow-Christians of the other school as to the
importance of Christian unity, they regard this primarily
as a matter of inward spirit and temper, and they fear
that insistence upon outward organization will divert
attention from this essential matter. They recall the
fact that the ages of outward unity were not the ages
of greatest spiritual sympathy, and they point to coun
tries where a single state church holds sway as ex
amples of the deadening effect of ecclesiastical uniform
ity. Mankind, they feel, is composed of men of very
different natures and points of view. Our present sys
tem provides for these differences in the easiest and most
natural way. Provided only we recognize that our fel
low-Christians of other names than we are, as truly as
ourselves, members of the one Church of Christ, pro
vided we arrange through proper agencies for confer-

THE PRESENT SITUATION 191
ence and understanding as to those methods by which it
is essential that all Christians should work together,
there is no reason, they say, why our present independent
organizations should not be continued. As many states
may make up one nation, so many churches may compose
one Church. Federal union, therefore, as distinct from
organic union, constitutes the ideal toward which this
group of Christians believes we should strive.
For convenience, we have expressed the difference
above described in the form of a sharp contrast. As a
matter of fact, however, the line of demarcation is by
no means as clear as our description would seem to imply.
Each side is coming increasingly to recognize the force
of the arguments to which the other appeals, and to make
place for them in its statement of the case.
Thus those who consciously set organic union as their
ideal conceive the union they would attain as embracing
lesser unities, which shall express and conserve the values
which have given rise to the existing churches. They no
longer look upon them as mere perversions and errors,
but as legitimate affirmations of neglected aspects of
Christian truth. They do not ask or desire any surrender
of principle on the part of those to be embraced in the
larger unity, but rather such mutual recognition of truth
and gift as shall make it possible for all aspects of Chris
tian grace and experience to find free expression within
one Catholic Church. As Roman Catholicism makes
room through its monastic orders for widely different em
phases of doctrine and types of experience, so within
the comprehensive Church to which these advocates of
union look forward, the doctrinal emphasis of the Pres
byterians, the order and dignity of the Episcopalians, the
fervor and missionary zeal of the Methodists, and the
insistence upon personal freedom and initiative for
which Congregationalist and Baptist stand, will all
find expression. Union is to be attained by addition,
not by subtraction — by comprehension, not by surrender.

192 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Those, on the other hand, who value the flexibility and
variety of our present system are increasingly aware of
its limitation and weakness. Conscious though they are
of the essential spiritual unity of believers, they real
ize that our present system of church organization pre
sents practical obstacles to the expression of unity in
action. We have seen how within those denominations
like the Congregationalist and Baptist, which insist most
strongly on the autonomy of the individual. congregation,
the exigencies of the missionary appeal have given rise
to powerful boards through which the denomination as
a whole functions on a nation-wide scale. But the same
motive applies also to interdenominational activity.
Through organizations like the Federal Council, the
Home Missions Council, and others, common action on
the part of a large number of Christian churches has
become a familiar idea. The war greatly increased this
tendency to common activity. The task of Christianizing
the world is now seen to be too complex and difficult to
be successfully accomplished by a divided Christendom,
and, in spite of the protest of the individualists of all
schools, the sentiment for union is unmistakably gaining
ground every day.
Thus whfle the advocates of organic union are coming
more and more to recognize the importance of variety
and freedom in the organizations of the Church, those
who insist on freedom are using their liberty to come
together. Even where differences of theory remain, the
field of common action is constantly enlarging. And
here as always practice and theory act and react, and
experience, that supreme teacher of charity, now puts
into names that used to divide a more generous and
congenial meaning.
IV. Bearing on the Different Kinds of Union
Proposed
In the light of the foregoing discussion we are prepared

THE PRESENT SITUATION 193
to consider what is involved in the different types of
union that have been proposed.

I. Administrative Union
Administrative union — which we have defined as any
union of official boards or other agencies of the Church,
as distinguished from a union of the denominations them
selves as corporate units — is related to the more complete
types of union (federal and organic) in two ways: first,
it provides the machinery through which these more
thorough-going unions may function; second, since it
depends for its existence on the sanction (expressed or
implied) of the parent bodies whose agencies unite, its
extent is limited by their attitude to the larger question
of federal or organic union. Those churches which are
not willing to enter into federal or organic union com
monly limit the freedom of their boards to cooperate
with others in administrative union. Hence the larger
question becomes important not for its own sake merely,
but because of its bearing upon the possibility of coop
eration in nearer and more practicable matters.
Separate as the paths they seem to follow, the move
ments toward organic union and toward federal union
are drawing ever nearer and nearer together. Those who
believe in organic union are coming to see that for the
Church, as for the nation, federal union may be not only
the path to organic union, but at least one among other
possible forms which organic union may take. Those,
on the other hand, who have refused to go beyond federal
union are discovering that in the measure that federation
is really effective, it is because it expresses and promotes
that consciousness of common unity in Christ which it is
the aim of organic union fully to realize. In spite of
this approximation, however, there is still a difference
which in order to clarity of thought it is important for
us to recognize.

194 CHRISTIAN UNITY
2. Federal Union.
By federal union we have understood any form of
official union between denominations as a whole which
leaves their original organization unimpaired and re
serves for each of the units thus united a large field of
independent power, authority, and initiative. The best
known example is the Federal Council of the Churches
of Christ in America, a body constituted, as we have seen,
by the action of no less than thirty cooperating de
nominations, each of which makes a moderate contribu
tion to the support of the Council and is represented in
its executive and administrative committees by duly ap
pointed delegates.
It is this retention of the individuality of the uniting
churches unimpaired which differentiates federal union
from other forms of corporate union. Even if the con
stituent bodies in a federal union delegate their powers
to a central agency, they are able to resume them at any
time. But organic union carries with it a note of irrevoc
ableness, such as exists in the relation of the several states
in our nation to the central government.
The analogy of the states of the Union is a helpful
one, because it shows not only the difference between
federal union and organic union, but also their points of
contact and transition. The theory of the southern states
before 1861 was the theory of federal union in the nar
rower sense. They had surrendered powers, but for the
time only. What they had given they believed they could
resume. But to the North this alternative no longer
existed. Federal union to them meant organic union :
not because they denied the right of the separate states
to existence and sovereignty within the sphere of rights
reserved, but because they believed that the rights that
were surrendered when the Union was constituted were
surrendered irrevocably.
In distinguishing organic union from federal union,

THE PRESENT SITUATION 195
therefore, this is the point on which we must insist. Or
ganic union is not a matter of degree only, but of kind.
It is union which may be more or less extensive but
which, so far as it extends, is in its nature irrevocable,
or at least is believed to be so by those who enter into it.
Applying these distinctions to the existing or proposed
forms of federal union we see that a double distinction
must be made: first, as to the extent of the union; sec
ond, as to its significance. What powers have the unit
ing bodies delegated? How far do they regard this
delegation as final or revocable?
In the case of the existing Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America we see that at both these
points it stops far short of organic union. The powers
that are delegated are so slight that they do not seriously
affect the life of the cooperating organizations. No com
prehensive administrative machinery is provided ; no ade
quate scheme of finance is undertaken. Neither in or
ganization nor in resources is it furnished to undertake
on behalf of the churches common action on a scale as
imposing as was proposed by the Interchurch World
Movement. This limitation of powers, however, is not inherent in
the plan of the Federal Council. It is quite conceivable
that the bodies which form the Council might have de
cided to enlarge the powers given to their representa
tives, so as to enable them to do together as a Council
the things that the Interchurch World Movement pro
posed. Had this been done, certain weaknesses in the
Interchurch World Movement would have been avoided.
Contact with the existing denominations would have been
closer and more responsible, and while the procedure
would have been slower, it is a fair question whether in
the long run larger results would not have been attained.
As it was, for reasons into which we need not enter here,
the Interchurch World Movement developed through an
other center, lacked any permanent, responsible, central

196 CHRISTIAN UNITY
executive agency, and left its relation to the existing ad
ministrative agencies of the Federal Council and other
organizations undefined.
Still more noticeable is the limitation imposed upon the
Federal Council by the definition of its objective. The
Federal Council includes churches which look to organic
union as the goal of their effort, but also churches which
as at present constituted would refuse the surrender of
whatever sovereignty such union would require. Hence
they reserve the right to withdraw from the Federal
Council whenever it shall take action they disapprove,
and in at least one important case such withdrawal was
only narrowly averted.
Yet it is clear that there is nothing in the idea of fed
eral union as such which requires this double restriction.
It is possible, as we have seen, to carry the delegation of
powers so far as to make possible effective administra
tive union. It is equally possible through the experience
of years of working together to acquire such a common
corporate consciousness that the thought of withdrawal
would seem to those who constitute the Council to involve
such serious consequences for the unity of the Church
as to be unthinkable. Certainly, if organic union is ever
to come about, it would seem as though it could only be
through some such intermediate stage.
The analogy of the Federal Government in the years
immediately preceding and following the Civil War is
instructive. In this case men of conflicting theories
agreed upon common action and lived and suffered to
gether, until experience finally convinced even those who
had regarded the federal union as temporary and rev
ocable that it was in truth, and of right ought to be,
indissoluble. Yet the analogy, while it shows how federal union
may pass into organic union, makes clear also the rea
sons why so many who believe in the first are suspicious
of the second. We speak of the South as convinced by

THE PRESENT SITUATION 197
the North that the federal union of the states was irrev
ocable, but this was not accomplished without the expe
rience of civil war. But to many Christians freedom
is the essence of Christianity, and a union brought about
from without by the force of a central authority would
seem to them the negation of the ideal for which their
fathers fought and died. Protestantism itself arose as a
protest against such a conception of the Christian Church,
and any proposal which even seems to look toward the
surrender of the powers regained at the Reformation
would be resented to the uttermost.
We may further illustrate the relation between federal
union and organic union by the example of the "Phila
delphia plan" already described. This plan retains the
separate existence, organization, and rights of the uniting
churches, but proposes a council representing the differ
ent uniting churches which, within certain definitely pre
scribed limits, shall possess powers legislative, executive,
and judicial. More especially it will have power, by the
consolidation of boards and the like, to create the appro
priate machinery to secure effective administrative union.
This is clearly federal union. Is it or is it not organic
union? This depends, first, upon the nature of the
powers assigned; secondly, upon the irrevocableness
of the assignment. Are the churches prepared to assign
to the new council so large a part of their existing powers
of legislation and action that the council will henceforth
be the body to which the uniting churches will feel that
they owe their major allegiance? Secondly, will this
assignment be so definite and permanent that in case the
action of the new council conflicts with the preferences
and habits of the individual denominations they will abide
by its -decisions, as the loyal states obeyed the decisions
of the National Government ? Or, will they count them
selves primarily Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and
the like, and feel free whenever they desire to withdraw
from the union? If the former be true, it is clear that

198 CHRISTIAN UNITY
we have a case of organic union ; if the latter, it can be
at most only a step in that direction.
From what has been said it is clear that what differ
entiates organic from federal union is not simply or even
chiefly the nature of the action proposed, but even more
the attitude of mind which accompanies such action.
There is, as we have seen, in the one case a feeling of
irrevocableness and inevitableness which is absent in the
other. 3. Organic Union
If what we have said thus far be correct, it is clear
that two things enter into the definition of organic union :
first, the nature of the union proposed ; second, the state
of mind which accompanies it. Organic union is, in the
first place, the corporate union of two independent and
sovereign corporations in such a form that within limits
agreed upon there is now but one body where formerly
there were two. It is, in the second place, the acceptance
of this action as final. Organic union takes place when
the center of allegiance is transferred from the older
bodies to the new, so that in case of a conflict between the
two conscience requires that one follow the latter rather
than the former.
Organic union is, in the first place, corporate union, a
surrender of certain powers to a new and inclusive or
ganization. How far must this surrender go? How
much must one give up in order to bring about organic
union? This is a question difficult, if not impossible, to
answer apart from the considerations already referred
to. One might give up for the time being all one's powers
of decision and action. One might achieve complete ad
ministrative union. Yet if one retained at heart the
belief that this was only temporary, and was prepared at
any moment when one disliked or disapproved the action
taken by the newly constituted body to take back the
surrendered powers, it is clear that we would not have

THE PRESENT SITUATION 199
organic union. On the other hand, one might retain very
large powers, as the states retained such powers in the
Federal Union, or as the monastic orders in the Roman
Catholic Church, but if the powers conceded to the cen
tral body were recognized as of supreme importance, so
that one's major allegiance was to the united Church
rather than to the denominational units that compose it,
organic union would have been reached.
It is clear, then, that there can be more than one kind
of organic union, as there can be more than one kind of
federal union. We have seen that there can be federal
union which, while extensive, is not organic, because the
units concerned retain all their original powers unim
paired. So there can be federal union which is organic
because within the sphere affected it is irrevocable.
But there may also be organic union which is not federal
at all, in that it involves the complete disappearance of
the original units. Organic union may be attained by the
entire dissolution of the existing denominations and the
fusion of their elements in one new organization of such
form that the former identity of each is lost. Or it may
take place through the absorption of the rest of the unit
ing bodies in some one of their number, which thus re
tains its organization and powers unimpaired. It is such
a complete surrender and absorption of the existing de
nominational bodies in their own church which is con
templated by many high churchmen of every denomina
tion. When they speak of organic union they mean the
inclusion of all persons who desire to be recognized as
Christians in a single authoritative Church. It is fear of
such absorption and surrender which explains the strong
opposition of powerful groups of Christians to organic
union in any form. It is important, therefore, to remind
ourselves that, however prominent such a conception may
be made in contemporary discussion, it is but one of sev
eral possible forms of organic union and that federal
union in the sense in which we have defined it may become

200 CHRISTIAN UNITY
as truly organic in all the essential senses of that term as
that proposed by the Church of Rome itself.
What is essential in the matter of organic union, we
repeat, is not so much the form of organization as the
attitude of mind involved. Underlying all differences of
attitude toward the practical questions involved are deep-
seated differences as to the conception of the Church
itself. What do we mean by the Church of Christ? What
is its nature and authority? Above afl, what is the rela
tion between that oneness in spirit and experience which
we have agreed to call unity and the outward forms of
organization to which we have reserved the term union?
Are these separable or do they necessarily go together?
Which is dependent upon the other ? How far may spir
itual unity coexist with differences of external organiza
tion? According to the way in which one answers this
question wifl be his attitude to the question of organic
union. The importance of this psychological factor may be
illustrated by recent discussions of the complete organic
union which is sought by the World Conference on Faith
and Order, looking toward the reunion of all Christen
dom. To many of those who have been active in promot
ing this movement the existence of more than one or
ganized Christian Church is a contradiction of terms.
They believe that it was Christ's purpose to found one
visible Church. They believe that He has given to this
Church a definite constitution and laws. They believe
that He has endowed it with certain powers and graces.
Those who are outside its protection may be very esti
mable people judged by the world's standard, but they
lack the essential marks of the complete Christian. Much
as he would desire to do so, it is impossible for the high
churchman to associate with them on equal terms or rec
ognize them as members of the visible Church of Christ.
To those who hold such a view of the Church it is clear
that organic union is all-important. It is not only the

THE PRESENT SITUATION 201
consequence but the condition of that spiritual unity on
which all depends. Organic union in the sense of cor
porate union is necessary because without it the experi
ence of complete fellowship in Christ is impossible.
To Christians of the independent or Congregational
type, on the other hand, the matter presents itself very
differently. To them the true Church is the company of
the regenerate, and this already exists in the persons of
living men and women. It is not coextensive with any
single church or with all together, though it includes
Christians in all. Those who take such a view of the
Church may believe in corporate union and work for it
for a variety of reasons, but it will have a very different
meaning from that which it has to men of the other type.
It may express an existing unity but it cannot create it,
for this unity exists already and is independent of any
organization. Indeed, according to this view, the effort
to create an external union among Christians may defeat
its own end, for no institutional boundary can correspond
exactly to the requirements of spiritual geography, and
the danger is that in our effort to fence good Christians
in we may bar equally good Christians out. If men of
this type believe in the organic union of the Church and
work for it, it must be for some other reason than that
spiritual unity depends upon it.
Such a reason exists in the intimate relation between
form and spirit. What we are we desire to express and
for expression organization is necessary. Conversely,
what we do reacts upon our spirit. If in spirit the Church
is one, it is natural that this inward unity should find
some outward form of expression. Conversely, the fail
ure to provide the agency for such common expression
will react in division of sympathy and alienation of spirit.
What is true from the point of view of Christians
themselves is even truer from the point of view of the
men and women to whom Christianity brings its message.
They judge spirit by act and draw conclusions accord-

202 CHRISTIAN UNITY
ingly. If they see Christian denominations acting inde
pendently, competing for members and influence, making
the individual denomination the major interest and loy
alty, they will naturally conclude that Christianity is a
local and parochial thing. Only a world Church can
effectively embody to the world a world religion. It is
this consciousness which inspires the movement for
organic union in its broader and saner form.
Those who take this view will not desire to obliterate
the distinction between the existing Christian churches
or to unwrite their history. They recognize that the
unity to be sought must be unity in variety and as variety
is found among Christians in the inner spiritual life, it
should reappear in the institutions of the Church. But
the variety must be variety in unity. In the one case as
in the other, whatever place may remain for denomina
tional freedom and local initiative, the major loyalty must
be to the Church as a whole.
What is true of organic union on the large scale as it
affects Christendom as a whole is true of all its lesser
and more circumscribed forms, as these affect groups of
denominations of the same or closely related families.
In each case two distinct factors need to be considered:
the form of organization proposed and the spirit which
prompts it. Only when both are present can we have
union which can be said to be really organic. When the
will to unite is present there may be great latitude in the
forms to be followed and within the new organization
lesser units, valuable in their place, may find a home.
Indeed no movement for organic union on a large scale
can hope for success which is not preceded and accom
panied by similar union of various branches of the unit
ing denominations. For each denomination is in its
history and traditions almost an epitome of the Church
as a whole. It includes the same contrasts in temper and
spirit ; the same differences in theory and conviction ; the
same varieties in organization and activity. Highly or-

THE PRESENT SITUATION 203
ganized churches, like the Protestant Episcopal, are lim
ited in their power of cooperation with other Christians
by the lack of close coordination among the different
dioceses. Loosely organized churches like the Baptists
are hindered by the strength of their consciousness of
the spiritual unity already existing. In each case there is
need of a period of education and experiment, not only
in understanding the point of view of other Christian
bodies, but in mastering the limitations and weaknesses
of one's own. This will involve, among other things, the
improving of the denominational organization. Machin
ery must be devised through which united action can be
taken when the conscience of the denomination is ready
for the step. Such machinery is lacking today in most
of our larger churches, or if it exists it is in forms so
cumbrous as to be practically unavailable.
More important, however, is education in the realm of
sentiment and feeling. Existing obstacles to union, as
we have seen, are of two kinds : those which spring out
of the exaggeration of the importance of external union
and those which spring from its undue depreciation.
Each group of extremists fears and distrusts the other,
but between them they are strong enough to hamper the
action of the more moderate elements which both desire
union and think they see how it can be attained.
For this situation there is only one remedy and that is
contact. The men who differ must get together and this
contact must begin with the doing of the things as to
the possibility and importance of which all agree. That
there are such things experience abundantly demonstrates.
All that is necessary is to recognize them, to classify
them, to devise agencies for doing them, and to bring
home to the consciousness of all whose cooperation is
necessary the facts and the urgency of the case.
In this work of interpretation such definitions as we
have attempted here have their justification and their
place. In itself definition cannot take the place of action.

204 CHRISTIAN UNITY
but it can help to make action possible by clearing away
misunderstanding and pointing the way along the line of
greatest present promise and least resistance. Such a
line of least resistance, because of its intimate connection
both with administrative union on the one hand and or
ganic union on the other, federal union would seem to be.
In this direction, then, it would seem that the next steps
in the path of Christian union must be taken.

PART II
THE historical BACKGROUND

CHAPTER VI
DIVISIVE AND UNITIVE FORCES IN THE
CHRISTIAN CHURCH PRIOR TO THE
AMERICAN PERIOD
I. The Apostolic Period
The early Christians were a community of men and
women called of God and ruled by His Spirit. They
lived in the world but were not of it. They were no
longer Jews or Gentiles but Christians, representatives
of the Kingdom of God. They lived in the power of a
new hope, a new faith, and a new love, which grew out
of a new attitude and disposition Godward, man ward,
and worldward begotten in them by Jesus Christ. They
were known as a "brotherhood," a "fellowship," "be
lievers," "disciples," "saints."
Each of these names signifies unity of spirit, which
is symbolized in the New Testament by the family, the
human body, the flock and the shepherd, the vine and the
branches. It is the unity of life and of an organism;
not the uniformity of law or of a mechanism.
The apostolic ideal of unity presupposes diversity.
There is one body but many members.' There is "one
God and Father of all . . . but unto each one . . . was the
grace given according to the measure of the gift of
Christ.'" The diversity consisted in "gifts,'' "ministra
tions," "workings" which are "for the perfecting of the
saints," for "the building up of the body of Christ.'"
The Church was in danger of losing its unity in diver
sity either through uniformity or through division.
Against these Paul warned the congregations. Uni
formity is death to unity because it destroys diversity.
'Ephesians 4:4. 'Ephesians 4:6,7. 'Ephesians 4:11-16.
207

2o8 CHRISTIAN UNITY
"And if they were afl one member where were the body?'"
Division is death to diversity because it destroys unity.
"God tempered the body together, giving more abundant
honor to that part which lacked ; that there should be no
schism in the body.'"
Time came when Christian practice did not match
the apostolic ideal. Some in their zeal for unity sup
pressed diversity and got uniformity. Others, eager to
keep diversity, abandoned unity and got division. Para
doxical as it may seem, uniformity bred division and divi
sion reenforced uniformity. Catholicism and sectarian
ism followed in the wake of primitive Christianity. Thus
the body of Christ was divided.
The Christians in Corinth were rent into factions
through "jealousy and strife" about leadership in the
congregation. "One of you saith, I am of Paul; and I
of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.'" Prefer
ence for men in the leadership of the Church has been
a divisive force from that day to this.
A more serious and far-reaching division arose in
reference to the scope and the way of salvation which
involved, also, the person and the work of the Saviour.
There were at least three groups or parties: (a) The
narrow Jewish (Christians; (b) the liberal Jewish Chris
tians; (c) the Pauline Christians. The first insisted on
the necessity of law and Gospel for salvation. "Except
ye be circumcised after the custom of Moses, ye cannot
be saved.'" The second kept the law and the Gospel for
the circumcision, the Jews, but recognized the adequacy
of the Gospel alone for the uncircumcision, the Gentiles.
"When they perceived the grace that was given unto me,
James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to
be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of
fellowship, that we should go unto the Gentiles, and they
unto the circumcision.'" The third, led by Paul, boldly
'I. Corinthians 12 : 19. °I. Corinthians 12 : 24, 25.
"I. Corinthians 1:12. 'Acts 15:1. 'Galatians 2:9.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 209
proclaimed the sufficiency of grace for the salvation of
Jew and Gentfle, without the works of the law. "We
being Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of
the law, but only through faith in Jesus Christ, even we
believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by
faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law.""
These divisions came out of different answers to two
fundamental questions: What must I do to be saved?
and What think ye of Christ? The different answers
resulted in corresponding parties, often in bitter contro
versy with one another. For in their own way, in the
light of their heritage and surroundings. Christians had
to turn their religious experience into doctrines and work
out their lives through organizations. The differences
in definitions and in institutions were largely determined
by such varying factors as the genius of the nation, the
character of civilization, the nature of political, social,
and religious ideas, the degrees of culture, the influence
of theological and ecclesiastical leaders, and the tempera
ments of individuals and groups.
Thus the same Gospel originally proclaimed in Pales
tine, and later borne to Syria, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and
North Africa, was interpreted not only in different
tongues but in different doctrines and wrought out in
different institutions. And the same factors and forces
which divided the Christians in the beginning have con
tinued to operate in various lands and times to the pres
ent day.
In the second century an attempt was made to adjust
the Gospel to the religious and philosophical ideas of the
pagan world — Syrian, Greek, and Roman. This resulted
in a number of gnostic sects, each with a leader, a doc
trine, and an association of its own. Notable among
them were the Cerinthians, the Basilidians, the Saturnin-
ians, and the Valentinians. The simplicity of the religion
'Galatians 2: 15, 16.

2IO CHRISTIAN UNITY
of Jesus and Paul was jeopardized by confusion with
the myths, mysteries, laws, and philosophies of Baby
lonians and Syrians, Jews and Egyptians, Greeks and
Romans. To offset gnosticism and to preserve the purity of orig
inal Christianity, Marcion proposed a restoration of the
Pauline doctrine of salvation by grace alone. But he
was, in other respects, too much like the gnostics to fur
nish an antidote to counteract the disease. Marcionism,
however, became a distinct sect and flourished for at least
a century. The Phrygian Montanus led a puritan reaction toward
primitive charismatic Christianity against the growing
worldliness of the Church, and raised a democratic pro
test against the assumptions of episcopal authority. In
vain did he attempt to revive the prophetic gifts, the ad
vent hopes, and the moral purity of apostolic days. Mon-
tanism could neither cure the Church of gnosticism nor
save it from Catholicism, because it was shot through
with errors in doctrine and excesses in practice and ran
counter to the process of historical development, which
could be stayed neither by protest nor by reaction.
The only way of saving Christianity from submergence
under the flood of paganism surging without and from
disintegration through heresy and schism arising within,
was by a consolidation of the Christian congregations
scattered throughout the Roman Empire into a single
organization with tangible standards and tests. While
gnostic, Marcionite, and Montanist appealed to apostolic
tradition in vindication of their views, the more moderate
congregations, in self-defense, were driven to define the
authoritative norms of the Church of the apostles. These
were the Rule of Faith, the Canon of the New Testa
ment, and the Episcopal Office. They were more the
product of the common will than of the conscious volition
of separate individuals. Yet towering persons were not
wanting who with zeal and energy labored to establish

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 211
the new criteria of Catholicism — Polycarp of Smyrna
(f 156), Justin Martyr (f 165), Hegesippus (visited
Rome 160), Dionysius of Corinth (c. 170), Irenaeus
(t202). The rise and general acceptance of the three
norms, about 180 A. D., marks the completion of the
foundations of the Catholic Church. It claimed to be
both apostolic and orthodox, the divinely authorized
guardian of grace and truth.
The divisive factors and forces of the first two cen
turies of Christianity may be summarized as follows:
I. The liberation of the individual and the group by
the Spirit of the Lord from bondage to the prevailing
legalism in religious thought and practice.
2. The rise and leadership of dominant persons who
attracted followers into competitive and hostile parties.
3. Different interpretations of the way of salvation and
of the scope of work, purpose, and person of the Saviour.
4. Earnest but often erroneous attempts to adjust the
Gospel to the religious and moral ideas of the nations,
Jew and Gentile.
5. Persons and groups, through protest and reaction,
seeking to save original Christianity from modification
and corruption.
The unitive tendencies during the same period were:
I. The possession of a common Spirit including one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all
who is over all and through all and in all.
2. The sense of fellowship in a common life and pur
pose, sharing in the work of faith, in labor of love, and in
patience of hope. "Between the congregations there was
a constant exchange of guests, of missionaries, of aids,
of counsels, of edification, of affectionate control.""
3. The growing feeling of distinctness from Jew and
Gentile. "Bound together into a new people in Jesus
Christ, their head, they were filled with the high con
sciousness that Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and Barbari-
"Battifol, "Primitive Christianity," p. 32.

212 CHRISTIAN UNITY
ans would through them become one, and that the last
and highest stage in the history of humanity had thus
been reached.""
4. The gradual emergence, from the rudimentary, un
defined, and unorganized stage of primitive Christianity,
of a legally defined, organized, and official institution,
with divine sanctions, both for defense against sect and
schism and for aggressive advance in the world.
II. The Catholic Period
The establishment of One Holy CathoHc Apostolic
Church made it easy to separate "true" from "false"
Christianity. Heresy and schism stood out in bold relief
against the fixed standards of the Church. While Catholi
cism was intended to suppress diversity, it failed to main
tain unity. For strong-minded men dissented to the
breaking point from its despotism and its dogmatism.
Sects ran parallel with Catholicism from the Fathers to
the Reformers. They gathered strength under the more
rigorous Hildebrandian uniformity until the protest of
the sixteenth century divided the Church of the West.
As in the apostolic, so in the Catholic period, the
primary cause of heresy was the doctrine of the person
of Christ and of the nature of the Godhead, vitally re
lated to the conception of salvation. Arianism sprang
up in the Orient from Greek soil. It was controverted
by Athanasius and condemned by the Council of Nicea.
It ended in a schism which ran its course in the sixth
century. The Christological heresies grew out of attempts to
define the relation between the divine and the human in
Jesus. For centuries the Church was shaken and shat
tered by bitter controversies with Eutychians, Nestorians,
Monothelites, and Monophysites. Each of these parties
was put under the ban by Catholic councils which raised
"Harnack, "What Is Christianity?" p. 189.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 213
the Creed of Nicea and of Chalcedon as standards of
infallible orthodoxy. Two of the heresies, the Nestorian
and the Monophysite, have been perpetuated in the East
as separate churches to the present time. They are in no
closer communion with the Orthodox Church than with
the Roman Catholics or the Protestants. They do not
even recognize one another, each professing to be the
only true Church of Christ.
The schisms from the third to the sixth century came
out of efforts to maintain the original purity of the
congregations by rigorous discipline; to preserve the
primitive democracy of the believers against the growing
authority of the bishops; to continue the leadership of
charismatic persons in place of chosen officers ; to safe
guard the holiness of the Church, jeopardized by an easy
restoration of those who were guilty of mortal sin or
who betrayed their faith under persecution; to deny the
validity of sacramental acts performed by priests or
bishops who were classed as apostates or lapsed. Some
of the leaders of the more notable schisms in this period
were Hippolytus, Felicissimus, Novatus, Meletius, and
Donatus. They and their followers were either brought
back into the Catholic Church or ruthlessly exiled, im
prisoned, or slain. As a rule, in the course of a century
after their origin they disappeared from history.
The division of Catholicism into Orthodox and Ro
man, commonly known as Greek Catholic and Roman
Catholic, was most far-reaching in its effects on the future
history of Christianity. The breach became fixed and
final in the eleventh century (1054), but was in process
of preparation for a thousand years. Among the divisive
forces were personal quarrels between the patriarchs of
Rome and of Constantinople and disagreement on a subtle
point in the definition of the relation of the three persons
in the Godhead ; but the ultimate causes were far deeper
than personal ambition or doctrinal distinctions. Deep,
internal, slowly moving, gigantic forces operated for

214 CHRISTIAN UNITY
centuries and worked with the inevitability of fate. We
have space only to summarize these factors :
a. Difference in race and genius of Greeks and Ro
mans, Orientals and Occidentals. They dwelt in differ
ent lands, developed a different spirit, and spoke a differ
ent language. Each received into itself different alien
elements. The Greeks blended with Slav, Syrian, Egyp
tian, and other Eastern nations. The Latins mixed with
Celts, Goths, and Teutons. Withal the more cultured
Greek harbored an age-long scorn for the more barbar
ous Roman.
b. The political division of the ancient Roman Empire
into an Eastern and a Western half. This naturally
widened the breach between the churches of each division.
c. The rivalry between the patriarchs of Rome and
Constantinople, each claiming supremacy over the
Church as a whole.
d. The acceptance of the term filioque in the West
and its rejection in the East.
e. The omission of rites and ceremonies by the Roman
Church which were considered essential by the Greek
Church. In an encyclical of the Patriarch Photius (866)
the errors of the Romans were enumerated as follows :
(i) Saturday fasting; (2) the confirmation of the bap
tized by the Bishop only; (3) priestly celibacy; (4) the
filioqu^. In 1054 Pope Leo IX and the Patriarch Cerularius
mutually excommunicated each other. The papal legates
laid upon the altar of St. Sophia a document denouncing
eleven erroneous doctrines and practices of the Eastern
Church with the following imprecation upon Cerularius
and his followers :
"Let them be anathema Maranatha, with Simoniacs,
Valerians, Arians, Donatists, Nicolaitans, Severians,
Pneumatomachi, Manichees, and Nazarenes, and with
all heretics; yea, with the devil and his angels. Amen,
Amen, Amen."

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 215
It is needless to say that the schism between the East
and the West was now consummated.
In vain have been the attempts to reunite the two
churches. Under the stress of political necessity, when
the Eastern Empire was hard-pressed by the Turks, a
conciliatory spirit was shown by the East. Representa
tives of the two churches met in the Council of Lyons
(1274) and in the second Council of Florence (1439).
Although each council adopted a concordat, the actual
union was defeated because there was no change of heart
in either church and political necessity alone was not
sufficient to drive men into ecclesiastical union.
Even Protestants have made advances to the Orthodox
Church in the hope of cultivating friendly relations, if
not of attaining organic or federal union. Among these
efforts the most noteworthy were (a) the correspondence
of theologians of Tiibingen (1576) with the ecumenical
Patriarch Jeremias II ; (b) the letters exchanged between
Cyrill Lucar, Patriarch of Alexandria (1602), and Arch
bishop Laud; (c) the English Non-Jurors in open cor
respondence with the Eastern Patriarch through Peter
the Great (1717). But all of these approaches proved
abortive. The Old Catholics, who seceded from Rome
after the Vatican Council (1870), held two conferences
at Bonn (1874 and 1875) in which representatives of the
Old Catholic, the Anglicans, the Orthodox Catholics of
the East, the Lutherans, and the Reformed were pres
ent. The purpose, in the words of Dollinger, was "to
find out to what extent there could be a friendly and
peaceful approach and a mutual recognition between
them ; and how differences in doctrine and practice might
be reconciled by interpretation and by concessions." The
conferences, however, were fruitless.
In the West the Medieval Catholic Church, notwith
standing the rise of the Holy Roman Empire, could
not suppress dissent and schism. In the second half of
the eleventh century heretical movements appeared in

2i6 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Milan, Orleans, Strassburg, and Cologne. These grew
in power in the twelfth century and spread so widely that
the Church turned to measures of forcible suppression.
An intolerant and colorless uniformity was bound to
provoke protest and to breed division. The people them
selves became dissatisfied with the barren formalism, the
arrogant tyranny, and the flagrant immorality of prel
ates, priests, and monks. Their hearts longed for the
simplicity of the Gospel and the purity of the apostolic
life. They cried out for the living God and were weary
of ordinances and ceremonies. They nurtured their souls
with the Bible, to which at least some of the more intel
ligent laymen began to have access. The thriving bur
gers, prosperous and successful merchants, and bankers
developed a spirit of independence which could not be
held in check by ecclesiastical canons. The more lively
intercourse between men and nations of the East and the
West, brought about by the Crusades and by commerce,
quickened the minds of men and inspired courage to pro
test against an order of life which ignored the right of
the individual and demanded unconditional surrender to
authority. These conditions and tendencies prepared the
way for the medieval sects, some of which were the pre
cursors of the Reformation.
The most prominent among them were the Albigenses
and the Waldenses in the twelfth century and the Wyclif-
ites and Hussites in the fourteenth century. We must
not forget, however, that there are extant lists of as
many as nineteen, seventy-two, and even one hundred and
thirty heresies in this period. The Church dealt harshly
with them and used fire and sword to destroy them. The
Waldensians are stifl to be found in Italy and the Mora
vians trace their lineage to the Hussites of Bohemia.
When we survey the first fifteen centuries of Chris
tianity we see clearly that church unity was an ideal
which was never actualized. The theory of unity in
diversity in the New Testament never became a fact.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 217
In the first five centuries ancient Catholicism was in
control of the field, but there were vast multitudes
who called themselves Christians that disputed the
claims of the dominant church, and dwelt apart in
conventicles of their own. In the Middle Ages
Catholicism itself was divided into two sections, each
about equal in geographical extent and numerical
strength. In the territory of each section there were
separate churches which refused to recognize the claims
of Greek or of Roman Catholicism. The popular view,
therefore, that before the Reformation all Christians
were united in one holy Catholic Church is a fiction that
cannot be sustained by historical facts. Church unity
is a hope to be fulfilled in the future, not an achievement
that has been lost in the past.
III. The Protestant Period
The Reformation freed the individual and the group
from the age-long domination of Roman Catholicism.
The newly acquired right of private judgment and the
exclusive authority of the Scriptures in faith and prac
tice lent themselves to interpretations of the Gospel
differing so widely that numerous divisions were in
evitable. The original Reformers, Luther and Zwingli, agreed
in their protests against Rome, but they differed in their
affirmations on the teachings of the New Testament.
The result was a division of Protestantism on the Con
tinent into two branches — the Lutheran and the Re
formed. Men of radical views followed in the wake of
the conservative reformers and insisted on a reformation
of the Reformation, a more thorough-going reconstruc
tion of the Church than either Luther or Zwingli desired.
Thus there were three types of reform on the Continent
— the Lutheran, the Reformed, and the Radicals, includ
ing the Anabaptists, the Socinians, and the Mystics. Two
churches of the radical sort were organized and exist

2i8 CHRISTIAN UNITY
today — the Mennonites and the Schwenkfelders. The
Socinians were the forerunners of the Unitarians, and
the Anabaptists, as the name implies, of the Baptists.
On the Continent three churches were "by law estab
lished," the Lutheran, the Reformed, and the Roman
Catholic. The other churches were considered dissent
ing sects which were tolerated or, if the civil authorities
were so disposed, were Hable to be harassed to the point
of exile or death.
The English Reformation had a character of its own.
The churches that came out of it were the Episcopal,
the Presbyterian, the Congregational, the Baptist, and
the Quakers. Episcopacy became the Church of England,
Catholics and Puritans were classed as dissenters. They
frequently suffered the civil penalties of nonconformity.
Only after more than a century of conflict, including civil
war, was legal toleration granted (1688) to the Presby
terians, the Congregationalists, the Baptists, and the
Quakers. In the eighteenth century the rise and spread
of Pietism in Germany and of Evangelicalism in Britain
resulted in the organization of the Moravians and the
Methodists. Both churches were active in missionary
work and since 1840 have played an important role in
American Christianity.
The divisive forces in Protestantism may be sum
marized as follows : Differences in nationality, in the
genius and temper of the Reformers, in the interpreta
tion of the Gospel depending upon religious experience,
education, and social condition, in theological formulas
and church polities wrought out in the heat of contro
versy, in the attitude toward the historic Church, the
authority of its doctrines and ordinances, one class seek
ing merely reform of the old Church, the other demanding
a new Church beginning with re-baptism or with a cove
nant, and conforming in everything to the New Testa
ment. Add to these forces the privilege of every believer
to read and interpret the Bible for himself and the irre-

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 219
pressible conviction that loyalty to the truth could be
maintained in many instances only by separation from
the existing church and by the organization of an inde
pendent sect.
The sects in Europe were bodies of Christians not
"by law established." They differed in form and spirit
from the state churches. They were essentially biblical
and individualistic. Their biblicity appeared in the strict
conformity of life to the letter of the Scriptures, their
antipathy to historical creeds, and their stubborn disa
vowal of compromise with the world. In daily living,
in their relation to the State, society, riches, pleasures,
and to one another, the sects were controlled by the pre
cepts of the Sermon on the Mount, by the communism of
the Acts, by the freedom of the spirit taught by Paul, and
by the advent hopes and other-worldliness of the early
Christians. They rejected with more or less consistency
whatever was not commanded in the Bible and felt more
keenly than the conservative Reformers the difference
between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of the
world. To be at peace with the world was to be at war
with God. Their individualism was evident in their claim
to immediate personal illumination of the Spirit, in the
layman's right to interpret the Scriptures, in the opposi
tion to official and confessional control of thought and
action, and in the persistent demand for holiness of per
son and life instead of holiness of institution and sac
rament. The nobler spirits of the age deplored sect and schism
as both unprofitable and unchristian. The gains of
Protestantism were not without serious losses. For
diversity and freedom men paid the price of sectarian
warfare. Catholic against Evangelical, Lutheran against
Calvinist, Anglican against Puritan, conformist against
dissenter. For deliverance from paralyzing Catholic uni
formity, men paid the price of the loss of collective action
and cooperation. For freedom from external authority.

220 CHRISTIAN UNITY
from the grip of the dead hand, they paid the price of the
excesses and follies of private judgment running into
autocracy or anarchy. Attempts were made in the first
decades of the Reformation to heal the schism in the
Church before it became hopelessly fixed.
The Diet of Augsburg (1530) was called in the hope
of "restoring the unity of the holy empire of the German
nation in the one true Christian religion and church."
Melancthon wrote the Augsburg Confession in terms
so irenical that the Catholics were surprised at its mod
eration. The doctrinal articles close with the follow
ing declaration : "This is the sum of doctrine among us,
in which can be seen nothing which is discrepant with
Scripture, nor with Catholic, or even with the Roman
Church, so far as that Church is known from the writ
ings of the Fathers." Melancthon and the Lutherans,
however, learned to their sorrow that the Catholics would
grant no concession and would listen to nothing but abso
lute submission. The Augsburg Confession became the
doctrinal standard of the Lutherans and served to fix
definitely and finally the breach between Catholics and
Protestants. In 1541 a colloquy of Catholics and Protestants was
held at Regensburg at the instance of the Emperor. The
papal legate Contarini was in a conciliatory mood and
Melancthon, as always, was ready to make concessions.
They prepared the Interim of Regensburg as a basis of
reconcfliation. But Luther's inflexible attitude and the
negative vote of the Diet of Regensburg in 1546 defeated
it. Equally fruitless were the Interims of Augsburg and
Leipzig in 1548. The concessions made by Melancthon
in the latter in regard to Catholic ritual, polity, and doc
trine failed to conciliate the Catholics and precipitated
the adiaphoristic and synergistic controversies among the
Lutherans. The Queen Regent of France, Catharine de Medici,
recommended to the Pope (1561) that he effect a recon-

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 221
ciliation between Catholics and Protestants by correct
ing abuses and simplifying the doctrines of the Catholic
Church. A similar proposition was laid before the Coun
cil of Trent by the Emperor Ferdinand. Though neither
Pope nor council took any cognizance of these proposals,
three Catholic theologians, Frederick Staphylus, George
Wicel, and George Cassander, drew up a comprehensive
statement in order to bring about the desired union, at
least in lands ruled by the Emperor. The latter's death
in 1564 ended further negotiations. The propositions of
Cassander and his colleagues are considered especially
noteworthy because they propose union between Catho
lics and Protestants by a return to the original simplicity
of the New Testament.
The codification of Catholic doctrine and law in the
Council of Trent necessarily ended further efforts at
union with the Protestants. All colloquies held or pro
posals made after this were merely unsuccessful attempts
to convince Protestants of the error of their ways and
to lure them back into the Catholic fold.
Conferences of this sort were held in Germany at
Baden in 1589, at Emmendingen in 1590, and at Regens
burg in 1601 ; in France at Nimes in 1599 and at Fon-
tainebleau in 1600. Bishop Spinola (c. 1676) tried to
win the Lutherans for Rome. Correspondence for the
same purpose was conducted between Bossuet and Leib
nitz (1699-1701). Archbishop Wake of Canterbury and
certain GaUican theologians (from 1716), also, exchanged
letters, prompted by the desire of the Galileans to enlist
the support of the English Church, through its return to
the Roman, in their defense of national liberties. But
the Archbishop refused to lend himself to their proposal.
The Reformers felt as keenly the losses incurred
through the divisions in Protestantism as the disadvan
tages of separation from Catholicism. For schism begot
intolerance, hatred, and persecution. It brought reproach
upon the evangelical cause and weakened its forces both

222 CHRISTIAN UNITY
for defense and attack. Calvin in his reply to Cranmer
(1552) described the situation in general when he wrote:
"But this also is to be reckoned among the greatest evils
of our time, that the churches are so estranged from each
other that scarcely the common intercourse of society has
place among them ; much less that holy communion of the
members of Christ which all persons profess with their
lips, though few sincerely honor it in their practice."
The first effort at union, or at preventing division, be
tween the Protestants was made by Phflip of Hesse. He
was moved as much by political as by religious reasons.
For, as a statesman, he felt the necessity of a united
Protestantism both to maintain its ground against the
secret and open attacks of Romanism and to gain new
territory. He invited Luther and Zwingli to a colloquy
at Marburg in 1529. The failure of the Reformers to
come to an agreement on the doctrine of the Lord's Sup
per is too well known to need more than mention. When
they left Marburg, each going his own way, the division
of the Evangelicals into two churches was an inevitable
consequence. The Wittenberg Concord, effected through the media
tion of Martin Bucer in 1536, seemed for the time to have
satisfied the Swiss and the Germans. But it proved only
a temporary armistice, which was made void by the
rigid attitude of Luther and his associates at Witten
berg. After Luther's death (1546) the irenic Melancthon
became leader of a movement which is known as Phil-
ippism. It was a well-meant effort to unite the Luther
ans and Calvinists by modifying the article in the Augs
burg Confession on the Lord's Supper, so as to enable
Calvin himself to sign it in its modified form. The Phfl-
ippists, however, aroused the ire of the rigorous Luther
ans and were considered traitors to their cause. The ripe
fruit of the Melancthonian, Zwinghan, and Calvinistic
tendencies was the Heidelberg Catechism, a blend of the
three and a means of uniting the diverse and befligerent

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 223
Protestant groups in the Palatinate. The Catechism,
with its irenic spirit, became both the book of instruction
and the confession of faith of the German Reformed
Church. Under the influence of the Philippism of Wittenberg,
the Polish Lutherans entered into union with the Re
formed and the Moravians at Sendomir in 1570. But
after the ultra-Lutheran party in Germany came into
control, through the general adoption of the Formula of
Concord, the Polish union was dissolved by instigation
from German sources.
At the opening of the seventeenth century the Melanc
thonian spirit revived in Calixtus, a professor at Helm-
stadt ( 1614). Whfle he professed to be a loyal Lutheran,
he none the less believed that the doctrines necessary for
salvation were found in all the churches. Catholic and
Protestant. He concluded that essentials were sum
marized in the Apostles' Creed and proposed it as a basis
of union for all churches. His liberality found no favor
with the Lutheran dogmaticians. Instead of working
peace and harmony, he provoked discord and strife.
In 1630 Rupertus Meldenius, a German Lutheran the
ologian, published a book on the peace of the church.
It has become historical for no other reason than that
it contains the sentence now universally quoted by ec
clesiastical pacificators : "In necessary things unity, in
unnecessary things liberty, in all things love." (In nec-
essariis unitas, in non necessariis libertas, in omnibus
caritas.) About this time the King of Poland invited Catholic
and Protestant divines to meet in friendly conference at
Thorn (1645), i^^ the hope that mutual acquaintance
would mitigate differences and promote agreement. Rep
resentatives of the Lutherans and Calvinists accepted the
royal invitation. The latter proposed to the former that,
in the presence of a common foe, each should sink his
differences and unite in one communion. But the Lu-

224 CHRISTIAN UNITY
therans could not be induced to listen even to a temporary
truce. At the request of the Great Elector, Wflliam of
Brandenburg, Calixtus appeared in the conference, but
the Lutherans repudiated him and he was driven to join
the Reformed.
The last and the most successful effort at church union
in Germany was the constitution of the United Evangeli
cal Church of Prussia by Frederick Wifliam III in 1817,
on the three-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation.
The Lutherans and the Reformed united in one body in
Prussia and in other German provinces. But there was
a dissenting remnant of both confessions which refused
to enter the union and continued independent organi
zations. The union movements in Germany were paralleled in
one form or another in other lands. Zwingli of Zurich
was not disposed to permit doctrinal differences to inter
fere with the fellowship of believers. His hand, ex
tended to Luther at Marburg, symbolized his attitude and
that of the Reformed Churches toward other commun
ions. They assumed that in things essential the Luther
ans and the Reformed were sufficiently agreed to permit
mutual tolerance and to make common cause against the
Catholics. This relation Zwingli was the first to desig
nate as "Syncretism." The Lutherans, however, were
repelled by the Zwinghan hand and were disposed to
consider the doctrines of the Reformed Church as an
obstacle rather than a help to salvation, a disposition
which was nurtured and strengthened by the victory of
the Formula of Concord and conservative Lutheranism.
In the first generation of the Reformation the Swiss
were divided into Zwinglians and Calvinists. Their dif
ferences were reconciled in the Consensus Tigurinus of
1549, in which Calvin of Geneva and Bullinger of Zurich
came to agreement on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper.
While not all of the Reformed cantons, as for example
Berne, accepted the formula, the Consensus was hafled as

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 225
a victory for union by Bucer, Lasco, and other evangeli
cal leaders.
In the seventeenth century John Henry Heidegger
(b. 1633), a Swiss theologian, showed marked tolerance
toward the Lutherans and with fervent enthusiasm
worked for the union of the two churches. In the same
spirit Samuel Werenfels (1675-1740), professor of theol
ogy at Basle, advocated the union of Protestants and, if
possible, the reunion of Catholics and Protestants. In his
preaching he put all the emphasis on those truths of the
Gospel upon which Christians of all ages were agreed
and which served to edify and comfort men in daily life.
He deprecated theological controversy because it spread
the spirit of bitterness among Christians and usually
ended in strife and division. Others of the same type in
Switzerland were Friederich Osterwald of Neuenberg
(1633-1747) and Alphons Turretin (1671-1737).
The Protestants in France were comparatively few in
number, and yet they played no small role in the history
of evangelical Christianity. They, through the influence
of Calvin and Geneva, were prevailingly Reformed but
always made friendly advances toward the Lutherans.
The National Synod at Gap (1603) expressed the desire
for a conference on church union between the churches
of all lands and resolved to write, with this end in view,
to the orthodox universities in Germany, England, Scot
land, and Geneva. They received approving replies, but
there the matter ended. The Synod of Tonneins, 1614,
proposed a new plan of union, which the Synod of Vitre,
1617, undertook to perfect through a commission. The
outbreak of the Arminian controversy brought this effort
to an end.
An historic letter in the cause of union came from
Archbishop Cranmer, dated March 20, 1552, and ad
dressed to John Calvin of Geneva. He urged Calvin,
Melancthon, and Bullinger "to deliberate among your
selves as to the means by which this synod can be assem-

226 CHRISTIAN UNITY
bled with the greatest convenience." The purpose of the
synod was for "learned and godly men" to come to agree
ment on the doctrines of Christianity. Calvin, in his
reply to Cranmer, expressed hearty sympathy with his
proposal, saying: "As far as I am concerned if I can be
of any service, I shall not shrink from crossing ten seas,
if need be, for that object." Cranmer's project, how
ever, never reached beyond the stage of a devout wish
and an interesting exchange of letters between the Prot
estant Fathers.
In the following century the Englishman John Dave-
nentius (1642) pleaded "for a restoration of fraternal
communion between evangelical churches, based on the
fact that they do not differ on any fundamental article
of the Catholic faith." Another prophet of church union
came from Scotland and preached in the English church
at Elbingen, Germany. He was John Dury (Duraeus),
a Scotch Presbyterian minister. Through his personal
experience and studies he concluded that the differences
between the churches were not of primary significance
and that Christian fellowship is not to be based on the
ological doctrines, but on worship and life in spirit and
in truth. In all churches he recognized worthy and un
worthy members. For fifty years he traveled over the
Continent, exhorting men to think more of their common
faith in Christ than of their differences in opinion. He
wrote letters and books and held conferences with many
leaders of the churches, but the death of his chief patron,
Gustavus Adolphus, cut short further developments. He
wrote with a touch of sadness before he died at Cassel
( 1680) : "The only fruit which I have reaped from all
my toils is that I see the miserable condition of Chris
tianity and that I have no other comfort than the testi
mony of my conscience."
Among the witnesses to the same cause by word and
pen in England in the seventeenth and eighteenth cen
turies were Richard Baxter, John Milton, Jeremy Taylor,

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 227
Edward Stillingfleet, John Owen, William Chillingworth,
and Robert Hall. As there were reformers before the
Reformation, so these men may have been unionists be
fore the union.
The Pietist, in shifting emphasis from dogma to the
experience of conversion and union with Christ through
faith, furnished a new basis for the fellowship of Chris
tians. Zinzendorf put into practice the precepts of
Spener. Three families from Moravia led by Christian
David (1722), were given asylum on the Count's estates
near Berthelsdorf. Here men of various creeds settled
and called the hill upon which they located Herrnhut.
In 1727 Zinzendorf succeeded in inducing Moravians,
Lutherans, and Reformed to unite in the Lord's Supper,
notwithstanding their doctrinal differences. The ground
of fellowship was living union with the Saviour and con
secration to His word. The new community was appro
priately called Unitas fratrum, the unity of brethren ; and
its influence for the closer relation of churches has been
felt throughout the world.
IV. Bearing on the Present Situation
From this rapid survey of the history of church union
since the Reformation certain inferences as to motives
and methods may safely be made.
The motives for union were: (i) The securing of
the unity of the Church; (2) defense against Roman
Catholicism and against rationalism; (3) the mainte
nance of religious uniformity in the interest of civil and
political peace in European states ; (4) the furthering of
harmony and brotherhood among Christians of different
persuasions. Appeals for the union of churches to hasten the evan
gelization of the world or to avoid the waste of men and
money through the overlapping of denominational work
are not heard before the latter part of the nineteenth
century.

228 CHRISTIAN UNITY
The various methods for effecting union were: (i)
The calling of a council of representatives of the churches
to come to an agreement on a common doctrinal basis;
(2) the action of the civil authority, prince, king, or par
liament, ordering a union of different Christian groups
in a province; (3) differentiating the essentials from
the non-essentials and stressing the things held in com
mon by all rather than the things that are distinctive of
each; (4) shifting emphasis from dogma and institution
as tests of fellowship to religious experience, the experi
ence of conversion, and of union with Christ; (5) tolera
tion rooted in religious indifference which considered all
churches equally good and equally bad. This was the
way of many of the rationalists. Frederick the Great
held that each one should have the privilege of going
to heaven in his own way.
Specific kinds of closer relation between the churches
such as alliance, council, federation were not considered
before the second half of the last century. Only corpor
ate union was then thought of. Nor was the dissenting
sect recognized in councils and colloquies in the interest
of church union.
This general view of the history of the Church makes
it clear that there has been a gradual change of attitude
from hostfle competition to friendly recognition, from
sectarian intolerance to denominational alliance or fed
eration. It would also seem clear that so long as rigidly inter
preted dogmas and unchanging institutions are the chief
criteria of the true Church and the test of feflowship, the
divisions of Catholicism and of Protestantism must con
tinue. For no church, accepting these premises, can con
sistently enter upon negotiations for union save for the
purpose of converting the other churches to its specific
faith and order. But a conception of Christianity which
regards it as primarily a new life in men, begotten by the
Spirit of Christ through His Word and His Church, rec-

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 229
ognizes the validity of the varying forms of Christian
experience in which the one Spirit finds expression.
This new life will naturally be embodied in intellectual,
moral, political, and social forms, which will vary in
different ages and lands and groups. While there is
unity of spirit and life, there must also be diversity of
form and operation. Religious experience will differ
as the Oriental mind differs from the Occidental, the
Jewish from the Greek, the Latin from the Teutonic,
the ancient from the modern. The modes of worship will
vary as much as the degrees of culture and the tempera
ments of groups. Church polity may be episcopal or
congregational and yet each is jure divino, providing it
serves to establish the Kingdom of God in men and in
nations. The forms of Christianity not only differ but they are
subject to change — the change which all organisms un
dergo in the process of growth and in adjustment to
their surroundings. Divisions and sects that at one stage
were an historical necessity may thus be outgrown. By
historical development, then, we may realize the unity in
diversity which other days have seen in vision but never
reached in fact. Catholic uniformity will pass away and
Christian unity will take its place. Protestant divisions
will be abolished and Christian diversity come instead.
There will be one body with many members, unity of
spirit with diversity of operations.

CHAPTER VII
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DENOMINA
TIONS IN AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY
When the territory of the United States was occupied
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by pioneers of
different nations and denominations of Europe, the
church, or churches, of each country followed its flag.
The seafaring and colonizing powers then were Spain
and France, Roman Catholic lands; England, Holland,
and Sweden, Protestant lands.
The southern border of the United States was traversed
and settled by the Spaniards, whose towns and missions
under the oversight of Franciscan monks extended from
Florida to California. In the seventeenth century there
were fifty missions in ninety pueblo towns of New Mex
ico and Arizona alone.
The French explorers and missionaries of the Jesuit
Order established trading posts and missions from the
Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico by way of
the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, and the Mis
sissippi River. French statesmen dreamed dreams and
saw visions of a colossal empire in the West. Mr. Ban
croft reminds us that if by 1750 the continent had been
divided into twenty-five equal parts, the French would
have claimed twenty, the Spaniards four, and the Eng
lish one. About the middle of the eighteenth century a
prophet could have predicted without contradiction that
the destiny of the Western world north of the Gulf of
Mexico would be at the disposal of the King of France
and the Pope of Rome. But by 1763, when the Treaty of
Paris was signed, the French territory, from the Arctic
Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, and the Spanish territory
230

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 231
of Florida were transferred to the English crown. North
America then passed from Romance to Anglo-Saxon, and
from Catholic to Protestant, control.
The Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida was settled
largely by the English. The Dutch on the Hudson and
the Swedes on the Delaware laid foundations of colonies,
but England took possession and built upon them. Each
nation, and the different groups of each, brought with
them and perpetuated in the New World the religious
divisions of the Old. From Great Britain came the Ro
man Catholics, the Episcopalians, the Congregationalists,
the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Quakers, and, in the
eighteenth century, the Methodists. From Holland came
the Dutch Reformed and from Sweden the Swedish
Lutherans. From Germany came the German Lutherans,
the German Reformed, the Mennonites, the Schwenck-
f elders, and, in the eighteenth century, the Dunkards and
the Moravians. The Reformed churches of Switzerland
and France sent not a few pioneers who found a home in
English colonies, but instead of establishing Swiss or
French churches in America they united with churches
of the Reformed faith.
The Church of England, till the Revolution, remained
the undisputed state church of New York and the south
ern colonies. The churches of "the standing order" in
New England were congregational in polity and Calvinis
tic in doctrine. In Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and New
Jersey there was no church "by law established," but
each communion was given freedom to abide by its own
faith and order. In New England the churches not of
the congregational type and in New York and the South
the non-episcopal churches were in the sight of the law
dissenters and nonconformists. In Rhode Island, New
Jersey, and Pennsylvania, in the absence of an established
church, the distinction between conformity and dissent
lost its point. These colonies, accordingly, from the be
ginning were in a position to practice religious toleration

232 CHRISTIAN UNITY
to an extent not possible in the other colonies of New
England or the South.
While the original churches on American soil were
in their belief and practice European churches trans
planted, they were none the less in a new land and clime,
under new social and political conditions, which in time
were bound to work a variation of type and to produce a
distinctively American Christianity. For our purpose we
shall consider the relation of the churches to their new
surroundings, their attitude toward one another, the divi
sive and unitive factors and forces, the actual divisions
in the denominations, and the attempts both to heal
schisms and to unite churches.
I. The Influence of the New Surroundings on the
Churches
The original differences between the churches in
Europe were not at once abolished in the colonies. Epis
copalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists,
and Quakers conformed as rigidly to type in America as
in Europe. Their mutual suspicions and prejudices did
not die out in the voyage across the Atlantic, nor were
memories at once blotted out in the wilderness. There
was no oneness either in jurisdiction or in confederation,
as in the political sphere, nor even by diplomatic recogni
tion or correspondence.
Tendencies like the following worked for disunion:
I. Freedom from the coercion of civil authority, and
the independence which always goes with pioneering, re
enforced the determination of each group to teach its own
doctrine and to worship in its own way.
2. In America there were no age-long traditions, no
princes and no prelates, no canons and no customs to act
as deterrents on religious individualism and sectarianism.
In Europe the tradition of Church and State had a re
straining influence on the Protestant founders and fol
lowers. They were hampered in the consistent applica-

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 233
tion of their ideals in cultus, polity, and piety, if not in
doctrine. The divisive tendencies, strong as they were,
were held in check by the grip of the dead hand. Only
in the New World was it possible in the course of three
centuries for more than one hundred and fifty indepen
dent churches, larger and smaller, to arise and win
support. 3. The forcible establishment of the English state
church in several colonies and of the churches of "the
standing order" in New England naturally provoked sect
and schism, as did similar procedure in Europe.
Yet after all the factors favoring division have been
mentioned, one cannot fail to discern that there were
counteracting forces working for closer relations among
the churches, which would not have been possible in
Europe. I. With their differences in polity and cultus, there was
a marked agreement in fundamental doctrines. They
were at one on the Trinity, the Person of Christ, total
depravity, expiatory atonement, justification by grace, the
authority of the Bible, and, as a rule, on an educated
ministry. 2. They were all pioneers in a wilderness with common
dangers, sorrows, tasks. The struggle for existence often
compelled them to unite in one way or another. They
felt the responsibility of Christianizing a people rapidly
extending the border from the AUeghanies to the Mis
sissippi. For the immigrant, moving westward, they
built churches, opened schools, erected benevolent institu
tions, and conducted missions. All of them were con
vinced that the destiny of the country was inseparably
bound up with the spread of the Gospel. An uncon
scious growth of a common type of religious life followed
the common experience in subduing a new country.
3. Even the existence of multitudinous sects had its
compensations. The law granted them equal rights, an
equality which engendered mutual tolerance and regard.

234 CHRISTIAN UNITY
"The habit of respecting one another's rights cherishes a
feeling of mutual respect and courtesy. If, on the one
hand, the spirit of independence fosters individualism,
on the other it favors good fellowship. All sects are
equal before the law. Hence one great cause of jealousy
and distrust is removed; and though at times sectarian
zeal may lead to rivalries and controversies unfavorable
to unity, on the other hand the independence and the
equality of the churches favor their voluntary cooper
ation.'" 4. The Great Awakening of 1740 deepened diyisions,
and yet aroused the consciousness of a national religious
unity. Whitefield became a messenger of mutual fellow
ship between the colonies. "Churches far apart exchanged
offices of service. Tennent came from New Jersey to
labor in New England; Dickinson, Burr, and Edwards
were the gifts of the northern colonies to the college at
Princeton. The quickened sense of a common religious
life and duty and destiny was no small part of the prep
aration for the birth of the future nation."
Thus without conscious effort and by gradual process
American Christianity wrought out of its common ex
perience in a new environment and in an original form
certain distinctive principles which were recognized for
the first time in any land by all the churches. They were :
(a) separation of Church and State; (b) equality of the
churches; (c) religious toleration; (d) voluntary support
of the churches by their constituents. The first amend
ment to the Constitution codified a new national and ec
clesiastical ideal. It forbids Congress to make any law
"respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof."
The almost paradoxical influence of religious freedom
for Christian unity was defined in prophetic words by
John Robinson. The Pilgrims reported that he said
'J. P. Thompson, "Church and State in the United States,"
pp. 98-99.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 235
to them that "many of those who both wrote- and
preached against them would practice as they [the
Pilgrims] did if they were in a place where they might
have liberty and live conformably." ' "And so," says
Edward Winslow, "he advised us to close with the godly
party of the Kingdom of England, and rather to study
union than division, viz: — how near we might possibly
without sin close with them rather than in the least man
ner to effect division or separation from them."'
II. The Attitude of the Churches toward One
Another in the Colonial Period
The prophecy and the precept of John Robinson were
fulfilled when the Pilgrims at Plymouth agreed with the
Puritans at Salem upon a new form of church organiza
tion, the first instance of church union in America.
The Puritans when they left England disavowed sep
aration from the English Church, but sought to "separate
from the corruptions in it." "We go," said Mr. Higgin-
son, "to practice the positive part of church reformation
and to propagate the Gospel in America." But after
their settlement at Salem two questions confronted them,
their relation to the Church of England and their rela
tion to the church at Plymouth.
As to the former, it was generally conceded that for
the new commonwealth which they were erecting in the
wilderness they needed also a new church. For they no
longer considered themselves a branch of the English
Church. Following the New Testament, they concluded
it to be "necessary for those who intended to be of the
Church solemnly to enter into a covenant engagement
one with another, in the presence of God, to walk to
gether before Him according to His word." Suiting their
action to the word, thirty persons entered into covenant
relations and founded the first American church. They

'Leonard Bacon, "American Christianity," p. 93.

236 CHRISTIAN UNITY
proceeded also to choose new ministers. For in their
view the ministry of the Church of England had no au
thority in the church of God at Salem. Two recognized
candidates were elected and solemnly inducted into office
with prayer and the laying on of hands.
Before the services of the day were concluded. Gov
ernor Bradford arrived from Plymouth and in the pub
lic assembly in the name of the Pilgrims he gave his
"approbation and concurrence," extending the right hand
of fellowship to the first-born church in America. Thus
they separated from the Church of England and united
with the church at Plymouth. The union was based on
mutual concessions. The Puritans became separatists
and the Pilgrims became nationalists, and both recognized
the covenant as the basis of the new fellowship. They
had the same simplicity in their order of worship and
preached the same Calvinistic theology.
"The successive companies of immigrants," says Leon
ard Bacon, "each with its minister or college of minis
ters, followed with almost monotonous exactness the
method of the organization of the church at Salem."
These became the churches of "the standing order" in
New England, not unlike, and yet different from, the
established churches of Europe. Their uniformity,
though at first voluntarily accepted by each community,
bred dissent. The Puritans did not shrink from exclud
ing those who, through their doctrines or practice, dis
turbed the peace of the colony. They affirmed the right
to pick their own company. When John and Samuel
Browne, brothers and members of the colonial council,
refused to abide by the new order of the church of Salem
and defiantly set up a separate worship according to the
Book of Common Prayer, the Governor after vainly rea
soning with them deported them to England, on the
ground that "their speeches and practices tended to mu
tiny and faction."
Roger Williams is described as a "learned, eloquent.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 237
sincere, and generous man," highly respected by those who
differed from him. Yet he was clearly out of his element
in a community where religious and civfl authority were
so closely related. He was a separatist of separatists to
the point of refusal, for conscience sake, to join his wife
in family prayers. After long patience the government
advised him that he would have to find room for his kind
of conscience in another place. He sought refuge in
Rhode Island. Mrs. Ann Hutchinson suffered a similar
fate and went to the same place. Two adventurous and
by no means quietistic Quaker women were sent to the
Barbadoes, and a law was enacted against "all Quakers,
Ranters, and other notorious heretics." Penalties of flog
ging, imprisonment at hard labor, and death were pro
vided for offenders of this sort.
There were, also, widely diverging tendencies on ques
tions of polity under cover of uniformity. John Eliot
leaned hard toward Presbyterianism and John Wise to
ward democratic independency. For larger freedom in
building his ideal New Jerusalem, Thomas Hooker led
forth his flock a second time into the great and terrible
wflderness. John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton, in
spite of many importunities to remain in Massachusetts,
turned toward Connecticut and laid the foundations of
New Haven.
The primary cause for the divisions in the early New
England churches was not theological, but contention be
tween separatists and nationalists as to form of church
government. The separatists opposed any form 9f union
between Church and State. They denied the authority
of the State to enforce the first table of the Decalogue,
to support the church by taxation, or to make religious
restrictions for suffrage or for holding office. They also
refused to recognize any visible authority above the con
gregation, whether it be town council or presbytery, king
or prelate. The nationalists insisted on union of Church
and State, a Church supported by the State, and a State

238 CHRISTIAN UNITY
directed by the Church. Through both the will of God
in His word was to prevail in the community.
The policy of exclusion adopted by the churches of
Massachusetts and Connecticut called forth an experi
ment of toleration in Rhode Island. Hither came Roger
Wflliams and Ann Hutchinson, Quakers and Baptists,
the distressed and discontented. They were protected by
the provision in the charter of 1644, that " all men may
walk as their conscience persuades them."
Their dissent, however, bore fruit after its kind. Sep
aratists separated from one another. The Providence
Baptists divided in 1652 into the "five principle Baptists"
and the "six principle Baptists." The centrifugal ten
dencies were so strong that it was with difficulty that a
sufficient number of men and women joined in an assem
bly for common worship. After a century there were not
more than eight or ten churches of any denomination and
these were mostly in a feeble and precarious state.
Strange as it may seem, here men were imbued with
the spirit of toleration and they became its prophets in
the New World. Though the churches of the "standing
order" at first despised them, they could not escape the
infection of the new spirit. The towns of Massachusetts
first endured and then embraced "the peace and love
which societies of different modes of worship entertained
toward each other in Rhode Island." In 1714 the Bap
tists of Boston were invited to join the other churches
in a service of thanksgiving, the invitation having been
written ,in courteous style by Cotton Mather and ad
dressed to "my worthy friend, Mr. Ellis Callender, elder
of a church of Christ in Boston." In 1718 the Baptists
of Boston reciprocated the courtesy by inviting Cotton
Mather to preach the ordination sermon for Elisha Cal
lender. The theme of the sermon was "Good Men
United." In it he defined his theory of fellowship among
the different churches, when he said: "Let good men go
as far as they can without sin in holding communion with

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 239
one another. But where sinful terms are imposed, there
let them make their stop; there separation becomes a
duty; there the injunction of heaven upon them is, 'Be
ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing and I will receive you.' "
The spirit of toleration also prevailed from the begin
ning in the colony of Penn, who made it one of the
primary features of his "Holy Experiment." It spread
through all the states and was furthered in various ways.
We need but mention the growth in influence of the dis
senting churches, the rapid spread of Methodism with
its infectious enthusiasm, the sense of national unity
born of the Revolution, the recognition of leaders of
state regardless of denominational affiliations in assembly
halls and on battlefields, the liberalizing of thought, the
abolishing of religious qualifications for voters and office
holders, the disestablishment of the Episcopal Church in
New York and in the South, the withdrawal in the New
England states of taxes for the support of the Church,
and the common interest in humanitarian reforms such
as temperance, the abolition of slavery, and the improve
ment of prisons.
III. Causes of Divisions in the American Churches
The causes for the divisions that have arisen in the
American churches have varied and, of course, have not
all been active in each division. They may be summa
rized as differences of view on (i) relation of Church
and State; (2) revivals; (3) slavery and secession; (4)
doctrine; (5) discipline and rites.
I. When the principle of a free Church in a free State
was codified in an amendment to the national Constitu
tion, the controversy about the relation of Church and
State, which disturbed and divided the pioneers, closed.
Yet the issue was revived in a different form when in
1831 the Covenanters divided on the attitude of the
Church toward the Government. It was one of the main

240 CHRISTIAN UNITY
reasons also for protest and separation of the Presby
terians of the South, who established a General Assem
bly and became the Presbyterian Church in the Confed
erate States of America, now known as the Presbyterian
Church in the United States.
While this question may not provoke further division,
it is still a vital issue in negotiations for union between
the northern and southern churches and requires serious
consideration. 2. The Great Awakening had its beneficent effects on
all the churches of the colonies. Yet it was not an un
mixed blessing. While it converted men, it also divided
churches. In New England the division was more in
ways of thinking than in the forming of independent
sects. Those who in their new zeal went out of the
"churches of the standing order" either joined the Bap
tists, who profited greatly by the revival, or laid the foun
dations of M,ethodism, which spread rapidly throughout
the colonies. The Synod of the American Presbyterian
Church could not withstand the divisive influence of the
Awakening. Two bitterly hostile sections, the Old Side
and the New Side, could not walk together, because they
were not agreed. The latter impeached the spiritual
character of the former. Uninvited evangelists went into
other men's parishes and delivered scathing invectives
against an unconverted ministry. In churches and in
private houses the "hot gospelers" held their meetings
and uttered their inflammatory speeches. The outcome
was a schism, when, after a short and easy process of
discipline, the presbytery of New Brunswick was ex
scinded from the synod, and the presbytery of New York
joined with it in organizing a new synod.
The Cumberland Presbyterian Church grew out of the
revival of 1800 in Kentucky. Certain doctrines were
preached which did not fully accord with the standards
of the Synod of Kentucky. This led to a virtual sus
pension of the revival ministers and the dissolution of

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 24I
their presbytery. Through the organization of a new
presbytery in 1810 the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
had its origin.
The impact of Methodism upon the German Reformed
and the German Lutheran Church, and the lack of re
sponse and in some quarters even opposition to the influ
ence of the movement within these bodies, were the prim
ary cause for the rise of the United Brethren in Christ
and the Evangelical Association. The leaders and the
original members of these sects came largely from the
(Iferman churches which had little sympathy for the new
measures. Revivalism at present arouses opposition, but not to
such an extent as to call for synodical action or to pro
voke schism. The churches which once by a large major
ity opposed the whole system are now hospitable toward
evangelists and heartily cooperate in revival movements.
They are more of a unitive than a divisive factor in con
temporary American Christianity.'
3. When, through the Revolution, the political and ec
clesiastical ties to Europe were severed, the different
churches vied with one another in the establishment of
national organizations through general assemblies, synods,
councils, or conferences. They felt a new sense both of
ability and responsibility and girded themselves for their
task. The home mission field extended westward toward
the Rockies. They heard and responded to the call of
the foreign field. They turned their attention also to
moral and social reform.
But new political and religious questions arose which
divided not only the nation but the churches. Foremost
among these issues was the abolition of slavery, which
was indeed a moral question but had far-reaching politi
cal bearings. It involved the relative rights of the states
and of the national government. In the heat of contro-
'Cf. pp. 258-262 for a discussion of the unifying effect of
revivals.

242 CHRISTIAN UNITY
versy every phase of life, individual and social, was
affected. The feeling in the churches ran as high as in legis
latures and in Congress. Schism was as unavoidable
as secession. The Southern Baptist Convention was or
ganized in 1845. The conferences of the Methodist
Church in the South met in a general convention in 1845,
and according to "The Plan of Separation," prepared in
1844, they proceeded to organize the Methodist Episco
pal Church, South. The General Assembly of the Pres
byterian Church, in 1861, adopted a resolution which in
part reads as follows: "That this General Assembly . . .
do hereby acknowledge and declare our obligation to
promote and perpetuate . . . the integrity of these United
States, and to strengthen, uphold, and encourage the
Federal Government in the exercise of all its functions
under our noble Constitution." The southern presby
teries considered this action an attempt to coerce the
Presbyterians of the South to the support of the Federal
Government, as over against the governments of their
several states. Protests were raised on every side and
the demand for severance from the General Assembly
became irresistible. Following a convention at Atlanta in
August, 1861, consisting of twenty delegates from eleven
presbyteries, the first General Assembly of the Presby
terian Church, South, met in December, 1861. The
Protestant Episcopal Church, however, was only tem
porarily divided on account of secession. The division
was effected in a convention at Montgomery, Alabama,
cafled by the bishops of South Carolina, Georgia, Mis
sissippi, Florida, and Texas. But as early as 1865 the
bishop of North Carolina and the bishop of South Car
olina attended the General Convention at Philadelphia.
They were cordially received and took their places among
the other bishops.
The schism in the other churches continues to this
day. Proposals for reunion have been made and are

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 243
now under consideration. So far there has been no suc
cessful outcome. While the casual observer naturally
regards the original causes for division as no longer co
gent, the leaders, especially in the southern churches,
find points of sufficient difference to make them tread
softly in their advance toward reunion.
4. The two doctrinal systems, (Calvinism and Armin-
ianism, which divided the Protestants of Europe, contin
ued to divide them in America. Not only were the
European divisions perpetuated here, but new divisions
arose. The Baptists split into an Arminian and a Cal
vinistic group. The Cumberland Presbyterians leaned
toward Arminianism and were not in good odor with the
orthodox Presbyterians. The presbyteries of the General
Assembly were divided into the Old School and the New
School largely on doctrinal grounds. In 1837, in the
interest of sound doctrine and strict church order, an
Old School majority in the Assembly exscinded four
synods with 533 churches. These synods organized an
assembly of their own and continued a separate existence
until the reunion of the two schools and their assemblies
in 1870.
A more radical tendency in New England resulted in
the Unitarian separation. As early as 1785 James Free
man, pastor of King's Chapel, the oldest Episcopal
Church in New England, became a convert to Unitarian
views. He was inducted into the ministry of the congre
gation without the presence of a bishop, and thus "the
first Episcopal Church in New England became the first
Unitarian Church in America."
The Universalists were organized about the same time,
1779, at Gloucester, Mass., by Mr. Murray. In 1785
Elhanan Winchester, a thoroughly Calvinistic Baptist
minister, led forth a hundred of his excommunicated
brethren and founded a "Society of Universalist Bap
tists." The two differing schools fraternized in a conven
tion of Universalist Churches at Philadelphia in 1794

244 CHRISTIAN UNITY
and set forth articles of belief and a plan of organization.
In 1827-8 the Friends separated into Hicksites and Or
thodox. In 1854 the Wiiburite separation followed. Both
these divisions were due to doctrinal differences.
The earlier distinctions in doctrine may have lost their
original significance, yet they have hardened into lines
of cleavage between the churches which are not easily
abolished. Besides these hereditary doctrinal distinc
tions, there are two schools or tendencies in American
Christianity today, which have not yet resulted in sep
aration or in the founding of new churches. They are
the liberal evangelicals and the premillenarians, each a
more or less pervasive influence in all the denominations.
The liberal evangelicals may in time find closer fellow
ship in the churches, and yet there is always the pos
sibflity of a new schism. The premillenarians are avowed
enemies of all liberalism. They beheve themselves to
possess the original Gospel of Jesus and the apostles and
to be ardent champions of the Christian fundamentals.
Their strength is in the Bible schools, which practically
all teach premillenarian doctrine.
5. An apparently minor, and yet an effective, cause of
divisions has been the matter of. discipline, rites, and cer
emonies. Questions of this kind are of great moment
among those who seek to conform life and worship to
the letter of the Bible, one of the main characteristics
of the sects. The Baptists of Providence, Rhode Island,
divided on the laying on of hands ; the Dunkards in Penn
sylvania on the observance of the Sabbath, community of
goods, and marriage. The contention between the Regu
lar and Separate Baptists was about love-feasts, laying
on of hands, feet-washing, anointing the sick, devotion
of children, and weekly communion. When Bishop
Cummins joined with the Dean of Canterbury in cele
brating the Holy Communion in a Presbyterian Church
in connection with the meeting of the Evangelical Alli
ance in New York in 1873, he gave grave offense to the

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 245
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. He
was deposed in 1874 and became the founder of the Re
formed Episcopal Church.
In the first decades of the nineteenth century Alex
ander Campbell by word and pen pleaded for a restora
tion of the original Gospel and the apostolic order of
things. He stood for the Bible alone, without any human
addition in the form of creeds or confessions of faith.
Upon this basis, the pure teaching of the apostles, he
hoped for a union of Christians of every name. Both he
and his father Thomas were convinced that the only
valid baptism in the New Testament was by immersion.
They and their followers were immersed and joined a
Baptist Association. But in 1827 the Baptist Churches
withdrew fellowship from those who contended for the
Bible alone, and the foflowers of Campbell became an
independent church now known as Christians or Dis
ciples of Christ.
In all these divisions, whether they are regarded as
justifiable or not, one must recognize the sincerity and
loyalty of their leaders. They were invariably possessed
with the conviction that they had discovered the way of
Christ, as it was not held in any of the surrounding
churches. It was this that constrained them to start new
organizations to glorify God and to serve their fellowmen.
IV. Attempts at Union of American Churches
The nineteenth century may be characterized as the
century of endeavor for church union. The widespread
desire for it is evidenced by publications, conventions,
addresses, proposals, and plans of union. These have
come from unexpected sources and have awakened uni
versal interest. All this proceeds from the inner life of
American Christianity, which is deeply moved by new
ideas felt rather than defined.
Among the unitive forces which have thus been at
work are the following :

246 CHRISTIAN UNITY
I. A quickened sense of the essential oneness of the
Church of Christ and of the consequent wrongness of
sect and schism. Once Christians gloried in their divi
sions, now they seek to overcome them. Professor John
W. Nevin of the Reformed Church in the United States
published a tract in 1847, entitled "Anti-Christ," which
he described not as Nero or the Pope but as the spirit of
sect and schism. Reference is now frequently made to
the sin of a divided Protestantism.
2. The historical study of the Scriptures and of the
history of Christianity. This has delivered men from
dogmatic and ecclesiastical prejudices which divide them,
and has given them new unifying bases of thought and
action. 3. The recognition, which is growing, that there is a
difference between essential Christianity and its denom
inational forms. It is seen that there is that which is
common to all churches which makes them Christian,
and that which is distinctive of each which makes them
sectarian. 4. The necessity of a combination of forces for the
accomplishment of the Lord's work — evangelism, foreign
missions, home missions, religious education, moral and
social reforms. Such combination works in the interest
of economy of men and money as well as of efficiency of
work. Here, also, are to be mentioned organizations for
charitable work, which unite the gifts and personal labors
of the Christians of the- whole continent.
5. Cooperation in certain forms of religious propa
ganda, such as the American Bible Society, the Interna
tional Sunday School Association, the American Tract
Society, summer Bible schools, Chautauquas and confer
ences, the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian
Associations, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
the King's Daughters, the Christian Endeavor Society.
6. An ever-growing conception of the Kingdom of
God as wider than any church and as the goal for all

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 247
churches. Once denominations with good conscience
worked for their own interests and through the denomi
nation for the salvation of souls. Now men work pri
marily for the salvation of souls in the interest of the
Kingdom of God. Denominations are thought of as a
means to a higher end. When men come under the
power of this vision of the Kingdom, the things which
divide the Church diminish and the things that unite the
Church increase.
Two kinds of church union have been pursued. The
one had for its purpose the healing of a schism in a de
nomination ; the other, the union of two or more churches
either of the same name or of different names. The
forms of union have varied from a temporary alliance
for a specific purpose to permanent organic union. In
proportion as a proposed union was comprehensive and
inclusive its basis was generic, with a brief statement of
essential doctrines and wide room for diversity in wor
ship and work. A union between churches of the same
name was usually based on a standard of doctrine ac
cepted by each, or on the recognition of the confessions
of the one as the equivalent of the other. In case of
alliance or federation scarcely any perceptible change in
doctrine, cultus, or polity was required.
Even in the colonial period definite measures were
taken for the healing of the schisms which had been im
ported from over the sea. As instances of this tendency
Leonard Bacon cites "the commingling of Separatist and
Puritan in New England ; the temporary alliance of Con
gregationalist and Presbyterian to avert the imposition of
a state hierarchy; the combination of Quaker and Roman
Catholic to defeat a project of religious oppression in
Maryland; the drawing together of Lutheran and Re
formed Germans for common worship, under the saintly
influence of the Moravian Zinzendorf ; and the Plan of
Union by which New Englander and Scotch-Irishman
were to labor in common for the evangelization of the

248 CHRISTIAN UNITY
new settlements.'" These were sporadic efforts, which in
the next century were to become epidemic.
The spirit of reunion has wrought effectively in the
American churches during the last century. The Regu
lar and the special Baptists led the way in 1787. The
Northern Baptists and the Free Baptists in 191 1 united
their general work preparatory to organic union, into
the fuller realization of which they have since been mov
ing. The churches of the Presbyterian order have come
under the power of the same spirit. Witness the reunion
of the Old School and the New. School in 1871 ; of the
Cumberland Presbyterians with the Northern Presbyteri
ans ; and at intervals the joining of seven larger or smaller
bodies with the Southern Presbyterian General Assem
bly. Minor Methodist bodies have either united with
each other or have joined the General Conference of the
North or the South. The Lutherans have recently con
summated the union of three of their largest Synods and
Councils in what is now known as "the United Lutheran
Church of America."
Thus far we have cited examples only of the union or
reunion of churches of the same group or name. This
ought not to have been so difficult to accomplish. Yet
it is symptomatic of a change of heart in the churches
from polemical antagonism to friendly recognition. Men
are beginning to recognize not only the Christians in
other churches but the churches of other Christians.
Voices are heard and methods are proposed from different
sources for the union, federal or organic, of all the Chris
tian churches in America and even of all the churches of
Christ in the whole world."
One of the first of the prophets of a larger union was
Leonard Bacon in an article in The New Englander for
April, 1844: "Why might there not be, ere long, some
'"American Christianity," p. 406.
'The foreign field has raore *han kept pace with the home field,
as a later section shows.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 249
general conference in which the various evangelical
bodies of this country and Great Britain and of the Con
tinent of Europe should be in some way represented — a
council not for legislation and division, but for union and
communion and for the extension of the saving knowl
edge of Christ?"
In 1861 the Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian
Church addressed a letter to "afl the Churches of Jesus
Christ throughout the earth" expressing a desire to culti
vate peace and charity with all fellow-Christians through
out the world. In 1866 the same Assembly appointed a
committee of "chosen brethren" to bear the Church's
desire for fellowship, as far as practicable, with all true
disciples of our common Lord and Saviour in all the world
" to such Christian Churches and Societies in the kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland and, if it be deemed best,
on the Continent of Europe also."
Alexander Campbell, a founder of the Disciples, was
apprehended by the spirit of union and saw clearly, as
did few of his time, the necessity of a united Church for
a saved world. "The union of Christians," he wrote,
"with the testimony of the apostles is all-sufficient and
alone sufficient to the conversion of the world. Neither
truth alone nor union alone is sufficient to subdue the
unbelieving nations ; but truth and union combined are
omnipotent." Contrary to his purpose he became the
founder of a new church which, however, has ever since
been a witness in its way to the ideals of its great leader."
In their General Convention at Topeka, Kansas, in 1910,
the Disciples of Christ revived the "Christian Associa
tion" first organized by Thomas Campbell in 1809. The
new organization took the name "Association for the
Promotion of Christian Unity." It "recognizes all Chris
tians as members of the Body of Christ — Greek Ortho-

°A more detailed study of the rise of the Disciples as an effort
to secure organic union is found on pages 298-302.

250 CHRISTIAN UNITY
dox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Protestants, and aU
others who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour."
The Protestant Episcopal Church also has had its seers
preparing the way for proposals and plans of union that
have come during the last decades from that body. As
early as 1792 Bishop Madison in the General Convention
offered a resolution looking toward conferences for union
with Christians of other denominations. When the House
of Deputies did not look upon it with favor, the Bishop
withdrew the proposal.
In 1853 a Memorial was addressed "To the Bishops of
the Protestant Episcopal Church in Council Assembled."
It breathed the spirit of William Augustus Muhlenberg,
who with ten others signed it. It expressed the convic
tion "that our church, confined to the exercise of her pres
ent system, is not sufficient to the great purposes above
mentioned ["the work of preaching and dispensing the
Gospel to all sorts and conditions of men and so adequate
to do the work of the Lord in this land and in this age"]
and a wider door must be opened for admission to the
gospel ministry . . of men who could not bring them
selves to conform in all particulars to our prescriptions
and customs, yet sound in the faith." So far as immedi
ate results were concerned the Memorial was a failure,
yet it raised questions and provoked discussions which,
without question, had profound effect on the future action
of the Church.
Thirty-three years after the Memorial movement, the
House of Bishops of the General Convention in Chicago
issued in 1886 a Declaration Concerning Unity. In re
sponse to it a committee was appointed "to consider the
matter of the reunion of Christendom." In its report
the committee defined, in the so-called "Quadrilateral," the
four points "essential to the restoration of unity among
the divided branches of Christendom," as follows:
"i. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testa
ments, as the revealed word of God.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 251
"2. The Nicene Creed, as the sufficient statement of the
Christian Faith.
3. The two Sacraments, baptism and the Supper of the
Lord, ministered with unfading use of Christ's words of
institution, and of the elements ordained by Him.
4. The historic episcopate, locally adapted in the meth
ods of its administration to the varying needs of the na
tions and peoples called of God into the unity of His
Church.'" A later official utterance of the Episcopal Church
was made by the General Convention of Cincinnati in
1910, which appointed a commission to arrange for a
world conference on faith and order. The resolution ask
ing for such a commission read in part as follows: "We
beheve that the time has now arrived when representa
tives of the whole family of Christ, led by the Holy Spirit,
may be willing to come together for the consideration of
questions of Faith and Order. ... It is our conviction that
such a conference for the purpose of study and discus
sion, without power to legislate or to adopt resolutions,
is the next step toward unity." Whfle the Convention at
Cincinnati was in session, the Congregationalists and the
Disciples were constituting similar commissions and these
have cooperated with the Episcopal Commission. The
Executive Committee of the Alliance of Reformed
Churches holding the Presbyterian System also signified
their approval. The churches of America, Europe, and
Asia, with the exception of the Roman Catholic, have
received with favor the proposal for a conference.
The Quadrilateral of the Episcopal Church called forth
a corresponding declaration from the General Convention
of the Disciples of Christ in 1890. In its report the Com
mittee on Church Union "proposed to unite the divided
'This Declaration, with slight modification, was adopted by the
Lambeth Conference of the English Church in 1888. The articles
are now known as the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral. The
raost recent and most significant Anglican-Episcopal stateraent
is that of the 1920 Lambeth Conference. It is printed in full
as Appendix III of this report.

252 CHRISTIAN UNITY
people of God" on the foflowing bases: "(i) The original
creed of Christ's Church; (2) the ordinances of His ap
pointment; (3) the life which has the sinless Son of man
as its perfect exemplification."
The Presbyterian Church through a committee entered
into negotiations with a committee of the Episcopal
Church after publication of the Quadrilateral in 1886.
The Presbyterian committee took the ground that they
could not continue negotiations for union unless each
party recognized the ministry of the other as on equal
terms. In 1896 the Northern General Assembly sus
pended correspondence with the Episcopal commission,
until it might "be reopened by the acceptance by that
church of the doctrine of 'mutual recognition and reci
procity.' "
The Roman Catholic Church is prepared to negotiate
union only in one way, as expressed in the words of Car
dinal Gibbons : "Jesus Christ has pointed out the only
means by which this unity can be brought about and
maintained, namely, the recognition of Peter and his suc
cessors as the Head of the Church."
The Oriental Orthodox Catholic Church is in close
sympathy with the Lambeth Quadrilateral. It submits
two conditions for the reunion of Christendom: (i) The
catholic teaching of the undivided Church of the early
centuries, summarized in the Nicene Creed; (2) the
restoration, by the reformed non-episcopal churches, of
that primitive apostolic hierarchy of bishops, presbyters,
and deacons, "rejected and repudiated too hastily by their
Puritan forefathers."
None of these plans of union have been accepted by the
churches generally, though they have been courteously re
ceived and considered. Each church has practically in
vited the other churches to unite with it, to share its
priceless heritage and to accept its distinctive character
istics, which as a rule were most objectionable to the
founders of the other churches. Experience clearly

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 253
teaches us that union in this way, the way of compromise,
would be bought at too dear a price and would be a loss
instead of a gain. It would be a union by betrayal, in
stead of a union by mutual growth in a more comprehen
sive conception of Christianity.
Another way of union has been followed in the latter
part of the nineteenth century- — that is, by alliance or
federation. Its purpose is to abolish the vices of sec
tarianism and to preserve the virtues of denominational
ism, to recover united action without losing individual
and group freedom.
The earliest form of this type of union was the
Evangelical Alliance, organized in England in 1846 and
in the United States in 1867. Churches of the same fam
ily have also entered into alliance. One of the most
notable is "The Alhance of the Reformed Churches hold
ing the Presbyterian System throughout the world." The
most comprehensive and effective federation, including
more than thirty denominations, is the "Federal Council
of the Churches of Christ in America," in existence since
1908. More recently missionary and educational agencies
of the evangehcal churches of the United States under
took for a time a plan for cooperative survey and effort
known as "The Interchurch World Movement of North
America." Since the close of the World War, and because of the
spirit of unity and cooperation which it inspired in men
of all creeds, parties, and classes, a deep longing has been
felt in many quarters for closer union of the churches
than that of alliance, council, or federation. It has found
expression in an invitation of the General Assembly of
the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. to the evangel
ical churches in the United States to a conference on
organic union. Two such conferences were held, in
1918 and 1920 respectively. A Plan of Union has been
formulated and is now before the supreme judicatories
of the evangelical churches for final disposition.

254 CHRISTIAN UNITY
From this historical survey it would seem that we might
fairly draw the following conclusions :
I. The apostolic ideal of unity in diversity symbolized
by the human body with many members has not yet been
realized. The Catholic Church has gained uniformity but
has lost diversity. The Protestant Churches have won
diversity but have tended to lose unity. Neither Cath
oHc nor Protestant can claim unity in diversity.
2. The scope of the attempts at union has ranged
widely, including reunion of divisions in the same denom
ination, union of churches of the same family, union of
all the evangelical churches in one country or in the
world, union of all the churches. Catholic and Protestant,
throughout the world. So far success has been limited to
the healing of schisms within denominations, the reunion
of churches of the same family, and the loose federation
of evangelical churches generally.
3. Thus far the most fruitful form of union has been
the alliance, council, or federation, with a view to coop
eration in the work of Christ.
4. Whatever form of union may be proposed in the
future must make provision at the same time for the free
dom of the individual and the group, and for the collec
tive action of the constituent bodies in aggressive and
defensive work. In the language of the Encyclical Letter
of the Anglican Bishops in 1908 : "We must consequently
desire not combination but comprehension, not uniform
ity but unity."
5. Organic union, if it is to be attained at all, can be
reached not on the basis of the faith and order of any
single church, but must be effected by the power of a
conception of Christianity so comprehensive that it will
logically unite. Clearly such union cannot come by
reversion to the doctrines, polity, or cultus of any one of
the churches, nor even by the proposal of a new form of
faith and order. Organic union is unthinkable save as
it comes by organic process, not by mere legislative ac-

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 255
tion. A new organism must evolve, taking into itself
all the essential Christian elements of all the old denom
inations and eliminating their ephemeral historic forms.
Denominational names represent groups which, with
more or less success, have attempted in different ways
to express in intellectual and institutional forms the com
mon evangelical experience of God in Christ. Each of
them has only relatively succeeded and so far each has
relatively failed. When we have a deeper and broader
experience of the changeless evangelical realities that we
hold in common, our ecclesiastical forms and formulas
may be found inadequate and irksome, and we may be pre
pared to lay them aside as garments that are then out
grown.

CHAPTER VIII
UNDENOMINATIONAL MOVEMENTS IN THE
UNITED STATES
While the natural development of Christianity since
the Reformation has for the most part taken the form
of denominational activity and expansion, this has not
been the only method by which the religious spirit has
manifested itself. The shattering of formal church unity,
following the activities of Martin Luther and other lead
ers in the quest for freedom of conscience, led inevitably
to a growing variety of denominational units and forms
of worship and work. To a notable extent through the
earlier generations of the post-Reformation period the
Christian impulse was confined to these denominational
expressions and even to the present time they form the
leading examples of the religious interest. A great prob
lem now confronting organized Christianity is the sub
ordination of the ambitions and objectives of any sep
arate parts of the Church to the general progress of the
Kingdom of God in the world. The clearer emergence
of this dominating interest stimulates the growing desire
for coordination and unity wherever possible among
these otherwise divergent and even rival denominational
movements. Yet it is not alone in the growth of cordiality and coop
eration among the denominations that the spirit of good
will has been exhibited. Quite apart from conscious in
terdenominational effort, many movements intended to
promote the religious life and practical Christian service
have taken form independently, and have contributed
greatly to the achievement of cooperative ends. Al
most numberless when viewed in detail are the ex
amples of this unifying spirit. In a summary as brief
256

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 257
as the present one it is possible to mention but a few
of them. The mere enumeration of these few will sug
gest to the student of modern religious history a multi
tude of similar agencies, and wifl serve to illustrate in
how many ways the Spirit of God has moved upon the
hearts of His people in bringing about that unity of
sentiment and that coordination of effort which lie in
areas beyond the dividing lines of denominationalism.
The movements chosen for brief consideration in this
section are such well known agencies as the Young Men's
Christian Association, The Young Women's Christian
Association, The Student Movement, The Evangelical
Alhance, The Stewardship Movement, The Laymen's
Movement, the Young People's Movement, the great re
vivals, and the more outstanding practical social reforms.
Two aspects of these undenominational movements
attract attention as soon as they are studied in perspec
tive. The one is the fact that, like most other religious
and social impulses that have taken form during the past
two centuries, many have had their inception to a certain
extent in European lands, especially Great Britain, and
have attained a later and a somewhat different develop
ment in America. This is true of the revival movement,
the Evangelical Alliance, the Young Men's Christian As
sociation, and several of the efforts in behalf of social
reform. Others of these agencies have owed little to
European influence, and some have been exclusively of
American origin. But in all cases they are examples of
that growing sentiment of cooperative good will which
has resulted, even when not consciously so intended, in re
pairing some of the damage wrought by the centrifugal
tendencies that separated Christians into a multitude of
isolated groups after the Reformation.
An important aspect of this effort to include men of
like spirit in worthful Christian enterprises is the gradual
transfer of emphasis in many of these movements from
the more strictly spiritual concerns of conversion, faith.

258 CHRISTIAN UNITY
devotion, and the stimulation of the holy life, to the prac
tical phases of Christianity, such as missionary expan
sion, efficiency in church ministries, social service in the
name of religion, and the overthrow of the great unsocial
forces that plague the world. Some of these movements
are characterized almost wholly by the first motive, like
the great revivals and the Evangelical Alliance during
almost its entire course. Others, like the Young Men's
Christian Association, the Stewardship Movement, the
Laymen's and the Student Movements, began with em
phasis on faith and devotion, but came later to recog
nize the importance of practical Christian ministries as
an expression of the inner life of holiness. Others still,
like the Young Women's Christian Association and the
great reforms, dominated as truly by the spirit of devo
tion to the spiritual life, have sought from the outset to
meet the practical problems of particular groups in the
social order with a ministry of helpfulness.
In studying the entire movement toward a closer coor
dination of Christian forces one is impressed with
the conviction that perhaps as much has been accom
plished by these attempts to bring Christians of differ
ent names together for various worthful purposes, even
when the problem of unity was not consciously or only
semi-consciously in mind, as by the more formal and am
bitious attempts to unify creed, ritual, and organization
for the attainment of the longed-for unity of the Church.
At least they have had a value which must be assessed
with due appreciation in the final account.
I. The Revival Movements
The revival, in its more general features, is not of
modern origin. Probably there have been few periods in
the history of the Church in which something correspond
ing in a broad manner to this form of Christian interest
has not had a part in the program of the Church. Waves
of religious fervor have swept over Christian lands, and

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROU.XD 259
those only partially Christianized, as in the case of the
widespread terror and conversions at the approach of
what was supposed to be the end of the world in the year
1000 A. D. ; the Crusades, which in many aspects were
revivals of religion in spite of their brutal and futile
features; the mass conversions wrought by missionaries
like Xavier in the Middle Ages ; the sweeping effects of
the work of Whitefield and Wesley in Britain and Amer
ica; the great Christian movement in Korea in the open
ing years of the present century ; and the still more recent
manifestation of the same spirit in Wales.
The unifying effects of movements of this character,
whether local or extensive, cannot be doubted. A com
mon spirit pervades the entire population subject to the
prevailing influence. The outstanding features of the
enterprise become a common interest. Differences for
merly prevailing among those who are under the spell
of the enthusiasm fade out. Where the fervor of the
religious appeal is deeply and widely felt, even denom
inational variations cease to have significance. It is true,
of course, that where the influence of the revival is felt
only in a limited area, the prejudices of class and sect
are frequently intensified. In most instances, however,
the great revivals have clearly had a unifying effect.
The spirit of the revival came naturally to America
from the parent lands. Such displays of emotional zeal
in behalf of the rehgious life were not unknown in Great
Britain and on the Continent in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. Yet it was in America that the
foundation was laid for the entire modern enterprise of
revivalism. The preaching of Jonathan Edwards in
Northampton, Massachusetts, began to attract wide atten
tion about the year 1734. It was clear, thoughtful, stir
ring, marked by Httle of the emotional, and was strik
ingly effective in bringing men and women to the accept
ance of the Christian life. Its influence was widespread
and stimulating. It made a strong appeal to the minds

26o CHRISTIAN UNITY
of the New England colonists, who were essentially reli
gious, but in many cases had suffered the loss of the
higher qualities of Christianity through the influence of
sectarianism or indifference. It arrested the decline of
faith, and was of notable value in organizing anew a
standard of religious conviction and behavior.
The influence of Edwards was not confined to New
England or even America. The accounts of his work
were effective in awakening new interest in evangelism
in Great Britain. In a very true sense Whitefield and
Wesley were both stimulated by his example. In per
sonal characteristics and method they differed greatly
from him, but they had the same passion for the con
version of men and women to the life of faith. Their
appeal was made with intense power and persuasiveness.
Great multitudes gathered to listen to their preaching of
the Gospel. The Great Awakening, as it was called, was
the result in large measure of the message of Whitefield.
In many instances those curious physical manifestations
of emotional excitement, associated with great religious
gatherings from the days of the apostles, were in evi
dence. By many, and apparently by the preachers them
selves, they were regarded as the work of the Spirit of
God. The methods, and in some measure the results, of
these revival efforts were carried out into wider regions
by many preachers of the various denominations.
A very notable revivalistic movement had its origin in
Kentucky and Tennessee at the opening of the nineteenth
century, an outstanding figure being Barton W. Stone.
It reached its height of interest and excitement in August,
iSoi, at Cane Ridge, Kentucky. People came long dis
tances to attend the great gatherings. The physical man
ifestations prevailed to a marked degree. A profound
impression was made upon the entire region by the meet
ings. The preaching was biblical and practical. Out of
these evangehstic efforts at least two important religious
movements had their organizing impulse, the Cumberland

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 261
Presbyterian and the Christian, the latter of which was
specifically marked by an interest in Christian unity.'
Another important figure in the history of American
revivalism is President Charles G. Finney, whose work at
Oberlin was the center of great evangelistic impulses and
to whom was due in large degree the widespread revival
of 1857 and 1858. In this series of ingatherings many
of the ideals of later evangelistic effort appeared, such as
the organization of valuable prayer circles, the closer
fellowship of members of various churches in the com
mon task of winning others to Christ, and the discovery
of the importance of women's ministries in connection
with such work.
Probably the name best known in the history of modern
evangelism is that of Dwight L. Moody. During the sev
enth and eighth decades of the last century he was one of
the most familiar figures in the rehgious life of America
and Great Britain. A layman, who abandoned a business
career to devote himself increasingly to the task of evan
gelism, he became a leader in the field of revivalism, hold
ing great meetings in most of the larger cities of the
United States and Canada, and making frequent trips to
England and Scotland with the same urgent and winsome
message. Out of these directly evangelistic activities grew
the institutions at Mt. Hermon, Northfield, and Chicago
which have had as their purpose the perpetuation of his
spirit and ideals. The last years of Mr. Moody's life
were devoted to a considerable extent to evangelistic
institutes in various parts of the country, less for the
purposes of direct revivalism than for the stimulation
of the spirit of evangelism in the ministry and the
churches. In recent years the work of revivalism has taken two
divergent forms. The men who have followed the voca
tion of evangelists have developed a very efficient tech-
'For certain divisive aspects of some of these revivals, see
pp. 240-241.

262 CHRISTIAN UNITY
nique, and for a time the groups of those called into
service about the persons of men of striking success in
this field came to be sizable, and their methods very sys
tematic and efficient. Campaigns extending over months
of time were not infrequent, and converts in great num
bers were brought into the churches. Increasingly, how
ever, as the values of religious education have found rec
ognition, the more picturesque and professional forms of
revivalism have yielded among the churches to a vital
concern for a more constant and fundamental type of
evangelism, pastoral, educational, persistent. This move
ment recognizes as truly as the other the essential place
of evangelism in the Church, and the immeasurable sig
nificance of the service rendered to Christianity by the
great revivahsts. But it is taking increasing account of
the pervasive and universal character of true evangelism,
and particularly the religious education of children and
young people, as the function of every minister and every
congregation at all seasons of the year.
The unifying values of these evangelistic activities,
whether of the revivalistic or the educational type, are
obvious. A great common concern lays hold of the
churches and minimizes the divisive factors. Experience
has demonstrated the fact that today no interest is more
likely to stimulate the cooperative spirit in a community
than the development of a genuine, community-wide en
thusiasm for the preaching of the Christian message and
the extension of the kingdom of God. It is of no smafl
significance that the most unifying aspect of the work
of interchurch federations in the present day, as noted
elsewhere in this report, is their program of evangelism."
II. The Evangelical Alliance
The growth of missionary interest in the eighteenth
century, with the various though modest forms of cooper
ation attempted in the furtherance of that cause, and the
"Cf., pp. 120-122 of this report.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 263
inception and strengthening of the tract societies and
other Christian agencies, suggested the possibility of in
terdenominational effort among Protestants on a much
wider scale. The sentiment that there were much more
extensive areas of cooperative activity than had yet been
cultivated led to repeated conferences of those interested.
At length in August, 1846, after careful preparation, a
gathering was held in London, with eight hundred repre
sentatives present from fifty different evangelical bodies
in Europe and America. At this meeting an organization
was perfected and the name "The Evangelical Alhance"
was adopted. Branches were to be organized throughout
the world, on an independent though cooperating basis.
Very soon such branches were established in France,
Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy,
Hungary, Greece, the United States and Canada, and in
the missionary lands of Japan and India. Naturally the
British branch had a certain priority and precedence in
the movement, though the other national organizations,
especially that in the United States, attained encouraging
strength and efficiency.
The objects of the Alliance as stated in the constitution
adopted at the London meefing were : To promote evan
gelical union with a view to greater success in Christian
activity; to maintain and exhibit the essential unity of the
(Thurch of Christ ; to counteract the influence of infidehty
and superstition, especially in their organized form; to
assist the cause of religious freedom everywhere ; to hold
up the supreme authority of the Word of God ; to urge
observance of the Lord's Day; to arrest the immoral
habits of society; and to act as a bureau of information
and suggestion. The Alliance put itself on record as de
siring to avoid dogmatic or legislative utterances, and to
endeavor to preserve the unity of the spirit. As a further
interpretation of the sentiment of this initial gathering,
the following may be quoted from its declaration of prin
ciples : "We have no intention or desire to give rise to a

264 CHRISTIAN UNITY
new denomination or sect, nor to effect a new amalgama
tion of churches, except in the way of facilitating personal
Christian intercourse, and a mutual good understanding;
nor to interfere in any way whatever with the internal
affairs of the various denominations ; but simply to bring
individual Christians into closer fellowship and coopera
tion on the basis of the spiritual union which already ex
ists in the vital relation of Christ to the members of His
body in afl ages and all countries."
It was deemed necessary, however, to formulate a doc
trinal basis for the new organization. Therefore a "sum
mary of the consensus of the various evangelical confes
sions of faith" was adopted by the London Conference,
embracing the following items: (i) The divine inspira
tion, authority, and sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures;
(2) The right and duty of private judgment in the inter
pretation of the Holy Scriptures; (3) The unity of the
Godhead, and the trinity of persons therein; (4) The
utter depravity of human nature in consequence of the
Fall; (5) The incarnation of the Son of God, His work
of atonement for sinners of mankind, and His mediatorial
intercession and reign; (6) The justification of the sinner
by faith alone; (7) The work of the Holy Spirit in the
conversion and sanctification of the sinner; (8) The im
mortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, the
judgment of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, with the
eternal blessedness of the righteous and the eternal pun
ishment of the wicked; (9) The divine institution of the
Christian ministry, and the obligation and perpetuity of
the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. This
summary was regarded as important "as an indication of
the class of persons whom it is desirable to embrace with
in the Afliance."
It was the plan that each of the branches of the Afli
ance should hold meetings annually, or as frequently as
possible, and that afl should unite in a general confer
ence once in four or five years. General conferences were

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 265
held in London, 1851; Paris, 1855; Berlin, 1857; Geneva,
1861 ; Amsterdam, 1867; New York, 1873; Basel, 1879;
Copenhagen, 1884; Florence, 1891 ; London, 1896 and
1907, eleven in all. Three lines of activity were followed :
the holding of conferences, sectional and general, the
promotion of the Week of Prayer, and the encourage
ment of religious liberty. The last-named interest was
directed to the championing of the cause of those who
were persecuted for conscience sake, like the Lutherans
in the Baltic provinces which belonged formerly to
Sweden and Poland, but at the time to Russia. In this
case representations were made by several of the national
branches, and a deputation from the United States visited
Russia in 1870 and secured the promise of remedial steps
on the part of the Government. Successful efforts were
also made by the Alliance to improve the condition of
Christians in Italy, Spain, and Sweden. In the mission
fields like Japan and Turkey influence was brought to
bear on the government to accord missionaries more con
siderate treatment.
The Evangelical Alliance for the United States was not
organized until January, 1867, although there were Amer
icans present at the London conference of 1846 and it
had been planned to launch the American branch soon
after that time. The objects of the organization were
cooperation with the other branches of the Alliance, the
strengthening of Christian union and fellowship, the
effort to 'Counteract infidelity and superstition, and the
promotion of religious liberty throughout the world. The
first official act of the American branch was the sending
of representatives to the General Conference at Amster
dam. Annual and sometimes semi-annual conferences
were held, and regular reports were issued. At the Am
sterdam meeting the American representatives invited the
Alliance to meet in New York in 1869. This date was
found impossible by some of the European delegates, and
1870 was agreed upon. Meantime, however, difficulties

266 CHRISTIAN UNITY
arose over questions of jurisdiction and authority, and
only by the skiflful mediation of Dr. Philip Schaff, who
made four journeys to Europe for the purpose, was the
plan carried through. The conference finally met in New
York in 1873. The high purpose set for this gathering
was "to bring Europe and America together in Christ for
closer union and fellowship, for a united testimony
against unbelief and false behef, for the promotion of
peace and good wifl among the nations of the earth, and
for the encouragement of every good work of the Mas
ter." The results apparently met the most ardent hopes.
Notable among the conferences held by the American
Alliance were those in Washington in 1887, on the general
subject of "National Perils and Opportunities," with
from twelve to fifteen hundred delegates in attendance;
Boston in 1889, on the topic, "National Needs and Rem
edies," with some five hundred delegates, representing
sixteen denominations ; and Chicago in 1893, a meeting
which was one of the leading features of the great pro
gram of the World's Congress Auxiliary held in connec
tion with the World's Columbian Exposition. The lead
ing theme of the gathering was '"Christianity Practically
Applied," particularly in international relationships. This
meeting brought forth expressions of surprise and admi
ration from men like Lord Kinnaird and Henry Drum
mond as the most significant in their experience.
Many phases of cooperative work were undertaken
in different parts of the country under the auspices of the
Evangelical Afliance. Among them were efforts to pre
vent the use of public funds for sectarian purposes, the
study of conditions in communities where there was dan
ger of overlapping among the churches, the conduct of
surveys in New York state in 1890, and the promotion of
city and town alliances to serve in local communities the
general purposes attempted by the national Afliance.
These achievements were much more important at that
time than they would be considered at present, when the

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 267
cooperative spirit is more widely realized. It was a pio
neer effort in a great cause. It was the beginning of many
forms of unified endeavor, and served to interpret the
sentiment of fellowship to all the denominations. If its
limitations are perceived, at the same time it is surpris
ing that as much was accomplished as the record shows.
With the last decade of the century the work of the
Evangehcal Alliance in the United States declined, and
was in large measure superseded by other agencies. Its
work was educational and in a measure preparatory. The
twenty years and more covered by this movement were of
the greatest value to the churches. In 1901 there was
formed "The Federation of Churches and Christian
Workers," and in 1908 "The Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America" came into being. The
spirit and values of the Evangehcal Alliance largely
passed over into these new and more modern organiza
tions, especially the latter. The causes of the decHne of
the Alliance were various, including the financial basis
of the membership, depending upon money payments ;
the doctrinal basis, which failed to appeal to a large pro
portion of the friends of cooperation ; the failure to pro
vide adequately for lay influence and leadership ; and the
outgrowing of the original interest of the movement
in the matters of religious liberty and superstition as at
first defined.'
III. The Young Men's Christian Association
The moral and spiritual condition of the nominally
Christian world at the beginning of the nineteenth cen
tury was serious. The Napoleonic wars had left their
disastrous influence upon society. Europe was paying
the penalty which all times of war exact. In Britain infi-
'For full accounts of the Evangelical Alliance see the reports
of the various conferences, especially "Conference on Christian
Union : being a narrative of the proceedings of the meetings
held in Liverpool, October, 1845," and the report of the Nev/
York raeeting in 1873.

268 CHRISTIAN UNITY
delity and social unrest were everywhere in evidence. The
growth of city life and the new interests of machinery
drew great numbers of young men to the industrial cen
ters. They were crowded into living quarters wholly
strange and inadequate, where companionship was diffi
cult or of the worst character. Dissipation and low ideals
were the constant temptation. No suitable provisions
were made to meet the new emergency. For such a situ
ation the methods of the churches were antiquated. The
home of Protestantism — whether in its Anglican, Puritan,
or Wesleyan form — was in a state of moral and religious
decline. In these conditions there was little promise of in
spiring the new generation of young men with a passion
for high ideals or sacrificial effort.
But it is the nature of Christianity to disclose new evi
dences of its potency at the very moments when it appears
most in danger of collapse. A vital organism puts forth
fresh manifestations of life in the times of need. It is
this quality of self -renewal which makes Christianity the
wonder of history. At the period of which we are speak
ing sources of power were released through the rise of
the Young Men's Christian Association, with George
Williams as the leader of the great movement.
Soon after beginning his artisan career as a worker in a
drapery establishment at Bridgewater at the age of fif
teen, he was converted, and from the first took very seri
ously the obhgations of the Christian life. Engaging in
Sunday school work, he gathered about him a small
group, only two or three at first, for purposes of prayer
and conversation on religious themes. Not content with
the opportunities which the town afforded, he went out to
neighboring communities and held meetings to which any
interested persons were invited. In 1841, now twenty
years old, he went up from the provinces to London, and
became a junior assistant in an estabhshment near St.
Paul's in Ludgate Hifl. It was a notable year, for the
Oxford Movement- was then in the height of its power;

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 269
but the life of the young manhood of the various trades
seemed in no degree touched by the forces of religion or
morals. In the mercantile house of Hitchcock and Rogers
Williams found more than eighty clerks, whose hours
were long and whose pleasures were few and of the least
uplifting nature. It was not easy in the atmosphere of
the shop and in the unsatisfactory living quarters to
maintain a life of ideals, rriuch less to influence others to
the same purpose. But with the energy and fervor of
his Bridgewater days he went among the boys of the es
tablishment and gradually gathered a group that devel
oped into a prayer company, a Bible class, a missionary
society on a modest scale, and the beginnings of a liter
ary club.
The influence of Finney's message on Williams during
this period was definitive and inspiring. He read his
"Letters to Professing Christians" and "Lectures on Re
vivals," and found in them suggestion and encouragement
for the great enterprise that was beginning to take form
in his mind. He took his employer, Mr. Hitchcock, into
his confidence about his plans for the young men of the
establishment, and secured from him not only the prom
ise of larger quarters for the meetings, but his own per
sonal enlistment in the Christian life. Not content with
the movement as it was taking form in the one commercial
house in which he was employed, he arranged to extend
the enterprise to all other houses in the same line of bus
iness. On June 6, 1844, an association was formed with
twelve men as members, and the name given to it of "The
Society for Improving the Spiritual Condition of the
Young Men Engaged in the Drapery and Other Trades."
Ampler quarters were secured for the growing enter
prise in a coffee house in Ludgate Hill and in July of the
same year letters were sent to a large number of young
men in London to acquaint them with the plans of the
association. A regular series of fortnightly meetings was
organized, in addition to the group meetings for prayer

270 CHRISTIAN UNITY
and Bible study. Evangelistic services were soon started
in Sargeant's Inn and about the same time Christopher
Smith, one of Williams's most consecrated associates,
proposed that the enlarged enterprise should be called
the "Young Men's Christian Association," by which name
it has been known ever since.
The growth of the movement was rapid and consistent.
In November of the same year a young man was selected
as assistant secretary and missionary, the first of that
great company of employed workers in the Association.
Into all parts of Great Britain the work was carried and
Associations organized. In December, 1851, the first
beginnings were made in the United States, with the or
ganization of an .\ssociation at Boston, wliich numbered
1,200 in its membership the first year. Like other move
ments which have been named, beginning in Great Brit
ain and coming later to this country, it here found instant
recognition and welcome as one of the most effective
forces for the enlistment and training of boys and men in
Christian service. From the first it has been largely a lay
man's movement, though ministers have had no inconsider
able part in its activities. Its fourfold program of physi
cal, intellectual, social, and religious instruction and activ
ity has stimulated the young men of multitudes of com
munities to the attainment of nobler things. For though it
began as a purely religious institution, for the promotion
of the life of faith and prayer among young men, it has
added to its plans the practical and efficient ministries of
applied Christianity in all social and redemptive service.
This is in entire keeping with the ideals of service which
modern Christianity has been concerned to affirm and
illustrate, and is no less the expression of the spirit of
Christ than are the more formal aspects of church
activity.' 'For a full account of the Y M C A in this country see Richard
C. Morse, "History of the North American Young Men's Chris
tian Associations," New York, 1913.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 271
It is inevitable that a work of this character, now no
longer confined to English-speaking lands, but a mighty
missionary force throughout the world, should operate as
an aid to unity of religious interests. Men of all Chris
tian creeds have joined in enthusiastic commitment to the
programs of the Association for physical, intellectual,
social, and religious betterment and therein have learned
the value of Christian cooperation. Its activities in indus
trial centers, in railroad groups, in educational institutions,
in mercantile circles, and wherever manhood is employed,
have made it a vast unifying agency for moral progress
and religious improvement. It has been a great helper of
the churches in all the ministries in which men and boys
can be assisted to the larger life. For these reasons its
value as a promoter of Christian unity is beyond ques
tion. It has been able to serve in behalf of the Church in
many circumstances in which the churches themselves,
by reason of their divisions or limitations of their pro
grams, were unable to do the most effective work.'
IV. The Young Women's Christian Association
Among the papers left by George Williams there was
found an outline of an organization for women similar
to that of the Young Men's Christian Association. This
plan was probably drafted before 1850, but the time was
not yet opportune for such a movement. In the fifties,
however, the need of providing some sort of social and
religious atmosphere for the young women employed in
business and industry stimulated men and women of good
will in various parts of the United States to provide suit
able homes or other places of recreation and improve
ment. So much was being undertaken in behalf of young
men by the Association that something of like nature was
felt to be due to the young women of the land.
In November, 1858, a meeting was held in the chapel
'For the work of the Y M C A and its relations with the
churches today, see pp. 123-132 of this report.

272 CHRISTIAN UNITY
of the University of New York and an organization
formed known as the "Ladies' Christian Association,"
for the purpose of providing needed opportunities for
social life, instruction, employment, and recreation to
young women away from home in cities. The first
"branch" was formed in 1859 in Boston and in the fol
lowing year a house was opened for those ministries
which have since become so definite a part of the program
of the institution. These included a restaurant, an em
ployment bureau, a loan library, a program of social and
religious activities, a Sunday afternoon Bible class, a
Thursday prayer meeting, a monthly missionary meeting,
and open and cordial hospitahty. This became the stand
ard of activities for the other houses that were opened.
By 1861 there were four such centers.
But it was not until 1866 that the Boston organization
took the name of the "Young Women's Christian Asso
ciation," with the declared purpose of promoting the
"temporal, moral, and religious welfare of young women
dependent on their own exertions for support." The basis
of membership was that "any Christian woman who is a
member in regular standing of an evangelical church may
become an active member of this Association." The
movement spread rapidly over the United States. In
1867 the Pittsburg Association was formed, and enter
tained the third annual conference of the Young Women's
Christian Associations. In 1868 similar branches were
formed in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and St. Louis. From
that time onward it was only necessary for the enterprise
to be interpreted to secure entrance into afl alert com
munities. The standard activities have continued, varied
as local conditions demand. One of the most important
departments of the organization is its student section,
represented in nearly all the institutions of education to
which women have access."
'For a fuller discussion see Elizabeth Wilson, "Fifty Years of
Association Work among Young Women," New York, 1916.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 273
To a certain degree this movement has repaid the serv
ices of Great Britain to America in the matter of the
inspiration and beginning of important religious projects.
For the work of the Young Women's Christian Associa
tion, even before it received that name, was transferred
to Great Britain, or at any rate it furnished suggestion
and impulse for the enlargement of a work already begun
in behalf of the nurses in London. Soon after the or
ganization of the Boston home it was decided to enlarge
the scope of the Home for Nurses on the lines later fa
miliar under the direction of the Y W C A.
So convincing has been the program of the Association
that it has gone into most of the lands in which Christian
effort has been expended. In 1894 a World Association
was formed, with the United States and several European
countries as members. The unifying value of a work so
widely distributed and so effective as this cannot fail to
be impressive. Its prayer leagues have stressed the com
mon heritage of worship in the lives of all behevers,
without regard to sex or creed or race. Its training
schools have sent forth workers imbued with a spirit of
united service. Its ministries of human helpfulness have
carried to multitudes of young women, in industry and
in college, the values of practical Christianity and have
been another living proof of the unfailing vitality and
unity of the Christian faith.'
V. The Student Movement
What is now known as the Student Movement is com
posed of several organizations, through all of which there
runs a unity of purpose and method that gives them the
reality as well as the appearance of being one great enter
prise. There are three major organizations which consti
tute the heart of the movement, the Young Men's
Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian As-
'For the work of the Y W C A during the war and its rela
tion to the churches, see pp. 22 and 132-134 of this report.

274 CHRISTIAN UNITY
sociation, and the Student Volunteer Movement. The first
student YMCA was formed in 1858. From that time
on scattering Associations were formed among the col
leges. In 1877 at the International YMCA Convention
at Louisville the student members discussed the possibil
ity of a Christian intercoflegiate movement, which was
soon after organized and under secretarial direction
spread rapidly.
The purpose of the Student Young Men's Christian
Association is declared to be "to lead students to become
intelligent and loyal disciples of Christ as their Savior
and Lord ; to help them in their encounter with the temp
tations of student life; to build up strong Christian faith
and symmetrical Christian character; to train them in
individual and associated Christian work in order that
they may be useful in the Church ; to place upon them a
burden of responsibility for the extension and upbuilding
of the kingdom of Christ throughout the world, and to
influence them to place their lives where they can best
serve their generation." The movement includes in its
field all universities and colleges, theological seminaries,
law, medical, dental, pharmaceutical, agricultural, and
veterinary colleges, institutes of technology and engineer
ing, military and naval academies, normal schools, pre
paratory schools, academies, and high schools.
The student Y W C A is the smallest department of
the International Young Women's Christian Association.
The first college organization of this nature was formed
in 1872 in the Middle West. For years separate state
organizations guided the student work among women.
Not until about 1910 did the International Y W C A
undertake supervision and form a separate department
for the student members. It is interesting to note that
the recent controversy in the Y W C A convention at
Cleveland was concerned solely with the student depart
ment. An alternative basis of membership, resting upon
profession of faith in Christ rather than upon church

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 275
membership, was put into effect in this department be
cause it was felt that the student work was sometimes
hindered by the more formal standard of membership.
The Student Volunteer Movement was inspired by the
leadership of Mr. D. L. Moody and Luther Wishard as
far back as 1886, when a conference lasting four weeks
was held at Mt. Hermon for Bible study. In the course
of this conference the theme of missions was prominently
presented. Interest in the subject grew rapidly and be
fore the conference ended one hundred volunteers had
dedicated themselves to missionary tasks. From this have
grown the widespread activities and values of the Student
Volunteer Movement until it has become a vital force in
university and college life. Its value in calling forth into
missionary service men and women who have become
imbued with the ideals of broad Christian fellowship is
immeasurable. The World's Student Christian Federation, organized
in 1895, aims to unite the three student Christian move
ments in various lands and to promote relations among
them; to collect information regarding religious condi
tions among students in all lands; to promote disciple
ship and deepened spiritual life and to enlist students in
the extension of the Kingdom. The student movement
as a whole shows evidence of great vitality and enthusi
asm. Much has been done to safeguard Christian faith
in students through the period of change wrought by sci
entific and philosophical studies, and to prepare the way
for new developments of Christian thought and service.
Most important of all, perhaps, is the unifying effect of
the movement upon the future of the Church, bringing
together, as it does, in Christian service so many young
men and women who are to become leaders in the Church.
The unifying effects of this type of interest are expressed
in the following statement by one of its conspicuous rep
resentatives : "The world-wide student movement has
revealed to the Christian students of all nations and races

276 CHRISTIAN UNITY
and climes with greater fullness and attractiveness their
oneness in Jesus Christ. It has emphasized that high
over all the peculiarities and differences that divide us
is our common faith and above all our common Lord.
In the ranks in the colleges and theological seminaries are
the leaders both clerical and lay of the Church of to
morrow. They are working together in harmony and
sympathy and with power on the basis of agreement on
the essentials of Christianity. So they will continue to
do as they leave college walls. This already presents the
most telling object lesson in Christian unity that the world
affords. Never after the years of Christian fellowship
and associated efforts within the college will these men
cease to demonstrate to the world that there is one body
and one spirit, even as they were called in one hope of
their calling.'"
VI. Laymen's and Young People's Movements
The strong impulse toward greater consecration of
life and greater efficiency in church activities has led to
the inception and development of several lay enterprises
of a union nature, and others in which laymen have had
at least a very large share. These were in large measure
the result of the conviction that the ministries of the
churches are confined too exclusively to the clergy and
do not enlist sufficiently the practical business experience
of men who are equally desirous of rendering devoted
and united service to the Kingdom.
A significant movement of this character in the last
century was connected with the idea of a deeper sense of
stewardship in the use of possessions. It was known as
the American Systematic Beneficence Society, founded
in 1857. The circular announcing its formation declared
'For a fuller account of the present significance of the student
movement, see the 1920 report of the World's Student Christian
Federation, which can be secured frora the International Com
mittee of Young Men's Christian Associations, 347 Madison
Avenue, New York.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 277
that it was established "by clergy and laity of the various
evangelical denominations" and that its object was "to
promote this great work of systematic beneficence ac
cording to the Christian principle." The statement
added: "We hope to do something to elevate the tone of
Christian principle and action throughout the whole coun
try without regard to geographical or ecclesiastical dif
ferences." The president of the organization was Mat
thew W. Baldwin, the distinguished layman so promi
nently known in connection with the Baldwin Locomotive
Company. Its first agent was Sheldon Jackson, later to
become the greatest home missionary of his generation,
who was commissioned "to present the cause of sys
tematic beneficence by addresses and public assemblies,
by holding conferences with pastors of churches and
friends of scriptural liberality and by other proper addi
tional methods as may be most feasible.'" In England
the movement seems to have been more extensive than
in this country. For some time it published there a
quarterly journal called The Benefactor. How much
was hoped for from the movement may be judged from
the English report of 1864-1865 which even said: "Nor
are we to limit the effect of this movement of God to the
pecuniary results. . . . Freedom of thought, freedom of
worship, freedom of organization, and freedom of con
tributions, will yet restore the long lost love and unity
of the Redeemer's people."
Although the Systematic Beneficence Society disap
peared, the emphasis on the stewardship of possessions
has been revived in many forms and has deepened the
sense of Christian fellowship and service. The Tenth
Legion in the Christian Endeavor Society and the
stewardship departments in various churches are among
its many expressions today.

'See R. L. Stewart, "Sheldon Jackson," New York, 1909,
Chapter II. For the moveraent in England see Henry Lansdell,
"The Sacred Tenth," Chapter 36, London, igo6.

278 CHRISTIAN UNITY
The Laymen's Evangelistic Movement was less a for
mal and organized interest than the response of Christian
leaders in various churches and different parts of the
United States to the need for deeper concern for the
immediate and urgent preaching of the Gospel in ways
less formal and fixed than in the usual methods of evan-
gehsm. Its purpose was also the encouragement of all
the churches in the utilization of such evangelistic powers
as they possessed, without depending too much upon pro
fessional assistance. The value of this impulse was very
great and though the Movement as a formal activity is
less conspicuous now than formerly, its results abide.
The Laymen's Missionary Movement, dating from
1906, was in reality an outgrowth of the Student Volun
teer Movement. It was an effort to capitalize lay effi
ciency in the promotion of missionary enthusiasm and
activity. Under its direction several series of notable
conventions were held in the chief cities of the nation,
a large amount of missionary information disseminated,
and new enlistments of personnel and finances secured
for missionary boards. These conventions had the
value not only of stimulating interest in the cause of
missions, but as well of deepening the spiritual life of
the communities in which they were held, and pro
moting the spirit of unity and the practice of united en
deavor among Christians of many names.
The Men and Religion Forward Movement, another
expression of the sense of responsibility on the part of
the laymen in the churches, took form about 1912, and
for a time was prominent in the thought and programs of
the American churches. It embraced members of all
the denominations, in so far as they were moved to
participate in so promising an enterprise. In a very true
sense it laid the foundation for those promotional activ
ities which have taken form in nearly all the Christian
bodies in the way of new and urgent efforts to enlist the
entire Church, laymen and ministers, in efficient and com-

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 279
prehensive plans for the achievement of the Christian
objectives. During recent years several of these lay activities
have been in some measure discontinued, some of them
in deference to the extended program of the Interchurch
World Movement. But in one form or another they are
permanent assets of the Church of Christ, both as efficient
aids in its. ministry of good in the world, and as pro
moters of the spirit of cooperation and unity.
An influence on Christian unity that deserves more
than passing attention has sprung from the young peo
ple's movement, particularly as it has found expression
in the Christian Endeavor Society. Founded in 1881
in Portland, Maine, by Rev. Francis E. Clark, it took
root so rapidly that within four years it had been carried
to India by a missionary and also to other lands. In
1885 the United Society (the national union of the United
States and Canada), was organized and within a quarter
of a century there were 50,000 societies. Local and
state unions were also developed, bringing together the
societies in various churches. National conventions have
inspired thousands of delegates with a vision of a com
mon task and with enthusiasm for united work. The
gathering in Boston in 1895 was attended by more than
50,000. The movement gathered great force in England also,
beginning about 1888, and spread to practically every
land where Protestant churches were at work. Its con
stitution has been translated into about a hundred
tongues. A World's Union of Christian Endeavor socie
ties was organized and has held several conventions. At
the convention in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1906 a plat
form of principles was adopted, including the foflowing,
which suggests the bearing of the movement on Christian
unity :
"Christian endeavor stands for Loyalty and Fellow
ship. Its loyalty to the local church and its work is guar-

28o CHRISTIAN UNITY
anteed by its covenant pledge, which embodies its motto,
'For Christ and the Church'; its fellowship is guaranteed
by its insistence only on fundamental Christian prin
ciples, which has enabled it already to find a home in
every Christian land and denomination."
Many other impulses to good works and the enrich
ment of the spirit, some of them taking form in less
conspicuous manner but with most valuable results, have
had a definite effect on unity through increasing mutual
acquaintance among Christians and a realization of the
value of joint endeavors. The Brotherhood Movement
has released new lay effort in Christian service. The
whole field of women's work in the Church has been wid
ened during the past few years. Prayer leagues have
sprung up, less by formal effort than by common impulse,
uniting Christians everywhere in intercession to the one
Master of them all. The fellowship of Christian people
as expressed in hymns and other utterances of Christian
worship has brought a deeper consciousness of the com
mon character of our heritage. Many undenominational
agencies for the distribution and more adequate study of
the Holy Scriptures have made their appearance. All of
these activities are greater aids than is often realized to
the sense of comradeship which all Christian people en
joy with those who have obtained like precious faith.
VII. Movements for Social Reform
In the vast field of practical effort in which men and
women of Christian spirit and vision have wrought for
the overthrow of the social wrongs that have distressed
the world it is possible here to give only a hint of the
influence that has been brought to bear on Christian
unity. An embodied task, challenging men of kindred
minds to a common effort, has always been a potent fac
tor in minimizing differences on lesser points and creat
ing a consciousness of essential oneness in the things that
profoundly matter.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 281
The history of the Church in connection with the aboli
tion of slavery is one of mingled light and shadow. Judge
Birney even called "the American churches the bulwarks
of American slavery," and it is undeniably true that the
churches as a whole were often influenced by the slave
power. Yet it was mainly Christian sentiment that finally
broke up slavery. In both England and America the
earliest bodies in modern times to declare against it were
the Quakers. As early as 1671 George Fox had de
nounced it and as early as 1696 the Pennsylvania Quakers
advised their members against the slave trade. In 1774
all persons who engaged in the trade and in 1776 all who
refused to emancipate their slaves were excluded from
membership among the Quakers. In other churches also
there soon came to be protests. Wesley and Whitefield
preached against the slave trade. In Rhode Island Dr.
Hopkins, a Congregational minister, was so vigorous in
his opposition that he had a large part in leading to its
abohtion in the state in 1784. And although the Quakers
were the only religious body to exclude slaveholders,
others took strong action. In 1787 the Presbyterian
Synod urged the people "to procure eventually the final
abolition of slavery in America." Other bodies also later
took clear-cut attitudes.
More important than such official utterances, no doubt,
was the work of individual Christians. "Nearly all,"
says Wilson, the historian of the slave power, "who en
gaged in the formation of antislavery societies were mem
bers of Christian churches." WilHam Lloyd Garrison
and Wendell Phillips were profoundly influenced by
Christianity. Another pioneer, Elijah P. Lovejoy, who
was killed by a mob for his abolitionist efforts, was a
Presbyterian minister. Channing and Whittier and the
Beechers are other names that bear witness to the Chris
tian influence." The Abolitionists were, of course, de-
"See the "Encyclopedia of Social Reform," New York, 1910,
under "Slavery," "Abolition," "Christianity and Social Reform."

282 CHRISTIAN UNITY
nounced from hundreds of pulpits and finally when the
irrepressible conflict came the churches divided over the
issue. But in ths North, at least, it is clear that the moral
passion called out by the antislavery issue bound to
gether thousands of men from all the churches in a great
common endeavor.
Of a different character and less widely known, but
significant as illustrative both of the possibilities of united
service and of its bearing on the movement for unity,
was the movement which culminated in the "United
States Christian Commission," organized to care for the
social and religious needs of the soldiers during the Civil
War. Originating at a convention of the Young Men's
Christian Association in 1861, a commission of twelve
Christian men from various churches was organized to
represent the Association and the Christian public in
serving as a medium of communication between the men
in the army and their homes. Under its direction Chris
tian literature was provided, personal religious work car
ried on, and other measures taken for alleviating the hor
rors of war. As in the case of the chaplains in the re
cent World War, the representatives of the Christian
Commission, called to serve men of all shades of religious
experience and belief, came into a new appreciation of
the essential oneness of their Christian faith.
The whole history of the modern temperance move
ment is the most conspicuous example of the mutual
influence of the churches and social reform movements
on each other. The way has been long and difficult,
marked by efforts of men who seemed to be calling to
an unresponsive generation. Up through the stages of
the Washingtonian Movement, the Blue Ribbon Move
ment, the work of such individuals as Gough, Murphy,
and Father Mathew, the Woman's Christian Temper
ance Union, the Prohibition Party, the Anti-Saloon
League, and a score of other agencies, the movement
has gone on its way till its goal is in sight. Few things

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 283
more astonishing in the history of human betterment
are to be recorded. In the movement the churches have
directly and officially had a great part through their
temperance boards or societies, and, on the other hand,
the drawing together of members of all churches who
were devoted to the cause has contributed to the devel
opment of a consciousness of unity. Some of the
temperance movements have been outside the churches
as such, but it is confessed on every hand that the Church
was the source of their power. The W. C. T. U. and the
Anti- Saloon League have always had an avowedly Chris
tian basis. And it would be difficult to find any factor
that has had a greater effect in cementing the interest
of Christians. The stupendous and cohesive strength of
the forces of evil, against which these organizations have
been aligned, has made more vivid the necessity of united
effort and has afforded a new demonstration of the power
of Christian sentiment, when effectively welded and de
liberately expressed in common action.
Many other movements for social betterment, such as
prison reform, the movement for social purity, the social
settlement enterprise, and organized charities, are the re
sult, directly or indirectly, of Christian teaching and
largely supported by members of the Church. And in
all such cases there is a reflex influence on the Church.
Thus drawn together in joint endeavors regardless of
denominational lines, the unity of those who are touched
by the Spirit of the one Lord becomes increasingly rec
ognized as a present reality.
When one passes in review the host of agencies that
may be characterized as undenominational — movements
that have sought to secure united action on the part of
Christian men and women through ignoring the differ
ences at issue among the denominations — he is pro
foundly impressed by the strong influences that have been
set in motion in the direction of unity. The Evangelical

284 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Alliance, the Young Men's and the Young Women's
Christian Associations, the Laymen's Missionary Move
ment, the Men and Religion Forward Movement — rto
mention only a few of the outstanding enterprises —
have broken down provincial points of view, eliminated
prejudices and misunderstandings, developed a spirit of
fellowship in which Christians of various names knew
themselves to be really one. This far-reaching, even
though indirect, influence on the denominations has been
a powerful factor in making possible the growing official
cooperation among the denominations themselves.

CHAPTER IX
INTERDENOMINATIONAL MOVEMENTS IN
THE UNITED STATES
The preceding chapter has considered significant at
tempts that have been made to bring church members
together through ignoring denominational lines. The co
operation thus secured has been that of individuals as
Christians rather than of churches as churches. During
the same period, however, other movements have been go
ing on which aimed at a closer official relationship be
tween the denominations themselves, and are, therefore,
to be regarded as interdenominational in the strict sense
rather than undenominational. They have been referred
to briefly in Chapter VII, but some of them were so
important as to deserve more detailed treatment here.
I. The Cooperative Movement in the Early Part
OF the Nineteenth Century
I. Cooperation between Congregationalists and Presby
terians in the "Plan of Union"
American Presbyterianism had two main sources, Eng
lish Puritanism and Scottish-Irish immigration. Between
the Puritanism that settled New England and became
Congregational and the Puritanism represented in the
Middle Colonies there was always doctrinal sympathy.
The Congregational Churches of New England, repre
sented in the Cambridge Synod of 1648, approved the
Westminster Confession as "very holy, orthodox, and
judicious in all matters of faith." Ministers from New
England supported the preaching of the Scottish-Irish
founder, Francis Makemie, and joined with him in or-
28s

286 CHRISTIAN UNITY
ganizing the first American presbytery, that of Phfladel-
phia, in 1706. This association in sympathy was in
creased by the discussions consequent upon the "Great
Awakening." Those in New England and the Middle
Colonies who favored the revival, of whom Jonathan
Edwards was a leader, known as "New Lights" and "New
Sides," felt that their cause was essentially one. They
founded what is now Princeton University in 1746, and
ultimately cafled Jonathan Edwards to its presidency.
In New England they were opposed by the "Old Lights,"
from whose radical minority the "liberal" element which
became Unitarian in the early nineteenth century devel
oped. In the Middle Colonies the opposition was known
as the "Old Sides," who then represented an opposite
tendency, insisting on rigid confessional uniformity,
strongly suspicious of afl that was English in its origin,
or even derivatively English by way of New England,
largely Scottish-Irish in spiritual ancestry, and at first
having their center about Philadelphia, but soon strongly
represented also in western Pennsylvania.
Under these circumstances, "New Lights" and "New
Sides," feeling themselves essentially one, regarded dif
ferences in polity as little more than local peculiarities.
Closer ties were soon woven between them. Fear of the
possible establishment of episcopacy by Parliament led
to a joint convention of representatives of the Synod of
New York and Philadelphia and of the Associations of
Connecticut, which met annually, from 1766 to 1775, to
devise measures of protection. Even before the Revo
lution settlers from New England and the Middle Col
onies were pouring westward, and with the cessation of
that struggle were rapidly making new homes in New
York, western Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Congregational
ists and Presbyterians were awake to the spiritual needs
of these nascent communities and were soon sending
missionaries and founding churches among them, and
none were more forward in this work than those of "New

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 287
Light" and "New Side" lineage. By 1774 the Connecti
cut (general Association was committed by vote to this
evangelism, and in 1798 formally organized itself as a
missionary society; nor was Presbyterianism behind.
Similar associations for what would now be cafled home
missions were springing rapidly into being throughout
older Congregational and Presbyterian territories at the
dawn of the nineteenth century.
Being thus at one in aim and in doctrinal outlook, and
laboring in communities whose settlers were drawn
equally from Congregational and Presbyterian sources,
it was natural that the thought of yet closer association
in a common work should arise. Led, it would appear,
by Jonathan Edwards, son of the famous divine whose
name he bore, the Connecticut General Association raised
the question of definite cooperation with the General As
sembly of the Presbyterian Church, with the result that
the latter body in 1801 formulated the famous "Plan of
Union," which the Connecticut body promptly ratified.
By the provisions of this agreement, which applied to
home missionary soil, each member in a mixed church
should have the privileges of the polity of his choice.
Each church should choose a "standing committee" which
should exercise the ordinary rights of a session, and the
delegate of such a standing committee should have full
recognition as a ruling elder if sent to a presbytery. Pres
byterian and Congregational ministers could be indiffer
ently pastors of Presbyterian, Congregational, or mixed
churches, but should be answerable for discipline accord
ing to the polity they represented. The whole plan was
drawn in the utmost spirit of good will and was as equi
table an arrangement as the wisdom of the time could
devise. American Christianity has no more sincere effort
for cooperation to show. For more than a generation it
was faithfully employed. It was cordially supported by
the more local missionary societies of the older states, and
determined the action of the "American Home Mission-

288 CHRISTIAN UNITY
ary Society," when that was organized on a national scale
in 1826. Under it a large portion of what are now strong
churches of western New York, Ohio, Michigan, and Illi
nois were founded.
Time, however, made evident certain factors which
were not in the view of those who formulated the "Plan
of Union." They had in mind frontier conditions, but
the regions where these churches were planted soon grew
strong in population, influence, and local consciousness.
What was adapted to nascent communities proved less
suitable for established and self-sufficient common
wealths. Yet what they could least have anticipated was
a growth of denominational consciousness, that rendered
the situation by 1835 very different from what it was in
1801. This consciousness had many roots. It has been
pointed out that all along there was a Scottish-Irish ele
ment in the Presbyterian Church which looked askance
at all that was English, whether so by orig^in or deriva
tion. This element was tenaciously conservative in doc
trine and polity. It had been strongly reenforced by the
growth of Presbyterianism in the South, where no plan
of union was in force. Moreover, western Pennsylvania
and the adjacent regions were developing a marked mis
sionary and educational quickening. There was not a
little in the theological discussions of New England, even
in the line of strictest Edwardean descent from Bellamy
to Taylor, with their various "improvements" on tradi
tional Calvinism, to arouse the distrust of extreme Pres
byterian conservatives. These "improvements" had their
champions among Presbyterians who traced their spirit
ual, and often their physical, ancestry to New England.
Now forgotten controversies regarding the extent of the
atonement, the nature of imputation, and the divine pur
pose in the permission of sin, led to trials for heresy
which increased the tension. And the Congregationalists
were not without their criticisms of the results of the
"Plan of Union." A growing denominational conscious-

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 289
ness claimed, probably justly, that a majority of the
churches formed under it ultimately preferred Presby
terian to Congregational affiliations.
The breach came in 1837. The control of the Presby
terian General Assembly had been for some time in dis
pute, but that year the conservatives had a majority.
They used their power. The "Plan of Union" was repu
diated by a narrow vote of 129 to 123; several synods
composed largely of churches formed under it were ex
cluded from the Presbyterian Church, and the American
Home Missionary Society was condemned. Such a
wholesale overturn, by so close a vote, could result only
in division. The Presbyterian Church was rent into "Old
School" and "New School" denominations. The "New
School" still adhered to the "Plan of Union" and coop
erated in missionary labors at home and abroad with the
Congregationalists. Yet the growing denominational con
sciousness of the Congregationalists was rendering even
this cooperation difficult, and at the Albany Convention
in 1852 they, too, withdrew. The "Plan of Union" was
now at an end, for not even the happy reunion of the
sundered "Old School" and "New School" divisions of
Presbyterianism, in 1870, awoke any desire to renew it.
With the failure of the plan terminated one of the most
promising efforts ever made in the United States to
associate two great religious denominations in a common
enterprise of evangelization. Estimates of its worth will
vary with denominational prepossessions. It is evident,
however, that it was not so wrought out as to adapt it
to permanent conditions, however fitted to the temporary
exigencies of frontier life. It is also clear that denomi
national assertiveness, though absent from the minds of
those who formulated the plan, had not so permanently
diminished in the participating bodies as a whole as to
make its permanent success possible. Yet that it did
much for the development of the Protestantism of the
older Middle West there can be no question.

290 CHRISTIAN UNITY
2. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions as a Cooperative Enterprise
The "Plan of Union" of 1801, in accordance with
which the Congregationalists and the Presbyterians un
dertook to cooperate in carrying the Gospel to the settlers
of the then new West, was a conspicuous illustration of
missionary interest at the beginning of the last century.
So also were the even earlier efforts that were made at
Christianizing the American Indians, carried on by John
Eliot and the Mayhews as early as 1646, and subsequently
by David Brainerd, David Seisberger, and many others,
culminating at the end of the eighteenth century in such
organizations for this purpose as the New York Society,
organized in 1796 by members of the Presbyterian, Bap
tist, and Reformed Dutch Churches.
So although missionary work across the seas had
hardly been more than thought of in 1800, it needed but
information and example to turn a portion of the exist
ing missionary impulse toward the heathenism abroad.
That fresh impulse was furnished to the United States
by the contagious example of Great Britain, where the
zeal of William Carey had resulted in 1792 in the forma
tion of the Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel
among the Heathen. That had been followed in 1795 by
the creation of the London Missionary Society, through
the united efforts of Congregationalists, Episcopalians,
Methodists, and Presbyterians. Four years later the
Church Missionary Society came into being. News of
these significant efforts and accounts of their early labors
crossed the Atlantic, and found eager readers in the
United States. It was inevitable that zeal for foreign
missions should before long be awakened in America.
Yet at first foreign missions was a cause that did not
appeal to the majority of the Christian denominations as
a whole. The small Moravian body had been dedicated
to missions since the time of Zinzendorf, but it was an

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 291
exception. The missionary obligation as incumbent on
the whole Church, or whole denominational sections of
the Church, was not yet felt. The appeal of missions was
at first to those interested. The cause seemed to demand
unusual faith, as well as more than customary sacrifice.
Missions were too remote, the people to whom they min
istered too strange and too unknown, to force the sense
of duty upon the Church as a whole. A process of edu
cation before these results could be achieved was almost
everywhere needed.
So it came about that when the Massachusetts General
Association of Congregational ministers, meeting in
Bradford in 1810, gave favorable hearing to the appeal
of Judson, Nott, Mills, and Newell, then students in the
recently formed Andover Theological Seminary, to be
sent as missionaries, it authorized not an appeal to the
churches grouped in denominational lines but the organ
ization of an American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions, naming in the first instance five from
Massachusetts and four from Connecticut, who should
enlist those interested, find ways and means for the work,
and superintend it. Yet it was thought at first that the
cause could be best furthered by a similar organization
among Presbyterians. With this object in view the
Commissioners, at their meeting in 181 1, suggested to
the Presbyterian General Assembly parallel action. It
was at the time of close cooperation between Congrega
tionalists and Presbyterians in home missionary endeavor.
The "Plan of Union," already described, had been in
apparently successful operation for a decade. Under
such circumstances it is not surprising that the Presby
terian General Assembly answered the overture in 1812
by cordially offering cooperation, as opportunity offered,
in the work of the Board just estabhshed :
"As the churches under the care of the Assembly re
joice in the foreign missions organized, or about to be
organized, by the American Board of Commissioners, so,

292 CHRISTIAN UNITY
as opportunity favors, they ought to aid them, as they
have in a measure already aided them. . . . That, as the
business of foreign missions may properly be best man
aged under the direction of a single Board, so the numer
ous and extensive engagements of the Assembly, in regard
to domestic missions, render it extremely inconvenient,
at this time, to take part in the business of foreign
missions." The Board promptly met this offer of cooperation by
choosing, in 1812, eight additional commissioners, rep
resentative of the Presbyterian sympathizers of New
York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Less definite invi
tation, but a knowledge that such action would be gen
erally acceptable, led to the choice by the Board of a
commissioner from the Associate Reformed (now United
Presbyterian) Church in 1813 and in 1815 of one from
what was then known as the Reformed Protestant Dutch
Church in North America. By the year last named the
American Board was clearly a widely recognized inter
denominational missionary agency. Even then its con
stituency was far from inclusive, for the wholly inde
pendent American Baptist Missionary Union was founded
in 1814, and the Missionary Society of the Methodist
Episcopal Church in the United States in 1819. The rela
tions of the Board with Presbyterians were peculiarly
intimate. In 1826 the General Assembly, by formal vote,
again recommended the Board "to the favorable notice
and Christian support of the church and people under
our care." Even as late as 1862, the Secretary of the
Board, Rufus Anderson, could say that it was designed
"for all who should choose to employ it; for individual
Christians, churches, denominations, whoever saw fit
to act through the agency it had to offer." That, in prin
ciple at least, was an instance of extreme interdenomina-
tionahsm. Long before the declaration just quoted was penned,
however, the separations had begun which were to confine

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 293
the American Board practically to the patronage of mem
bers of a single communion. One evidence of the re
markable spiritual awakening which was in progress
among the conservative Presbyterian forces in western
Pennsylvania was the formation by the Synod of Pitts
burgh, in 1831, of the Western Foreign Missionary So
ciety. The region in which this new missionary body
came into existence was the focus of that opposition to
all New England modifications of traditional Presbyterian
doctrine and polity, the center of what may be called the
Scottish-Irish tradition, out of which the "Old School"
party in the Presbyterian Church was to come. That ele
ment triumphed, as has already been noted, in the Gen
eral Assembly of 1837, with the result that the Presby
terian Church was rent in twain. The victorious "Old
School" party, opposed to all association with New Eng
land and its alleged doctrinal laxity, declared against the
American Home Missionary Society as "exceedingly in
jurious to the peace and purity of the Presbyterian
Church," and withdrew, as far as it could, the support
of the Christians under its charge from the American
Board. Yet a far nobler motive played a large part in the
transaction. The sense of missionary obligation had
markedly increased in a generation. One of the con
tentions of the new Western Foreign Missionary Society
had been that missionary effort is the duty not of inter
ested individuals and congregations alone, but of the
whole Church as such; and, being so, should have direct
and responsible denominational supervision and support.
It was undoubtedly a step in the progress of the sense of
missionary obligation. The "Old School" Assembly,
therefore, promptly adopted the Western Foreign Mis
sionary Society as its denominational agency, putting it
under the charge of the Assembly and renaming it the
Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church.
On the other hand the "New School" wing of divided

294 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Presbyterianism continued its previous cooperative rela
tions with the American Board.
To a similar growth of the inclusive sense of mission
ary obligation was due the separation of the Reformed
Protestant Dutch Church from the American Board. Its
relations had never been quite as intimate as those of the
Presbyterians, though it contributed the president of the
Board from 1841 to 1857 in the person of the honored
Theodore Frelinghuysen. The efforts of the Dutch
Church, though superintended by the American Board,
had been concentrated on a small group of missions
largely manned by its own sons. By 1857 the feeling
had grown, as expressed by the General Synod of that
Church, that it is "the duty of the Church, in her dis
tinctive capacity as such, to take charge of these mis
sions." The result was an amicable withdrawal from
cooperation with the American Board, and the organiza
tion of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed
(Dutch) Church.
Thus gradually deprived of important sections of its
constituency, the American Board continued the joint
missionary agency of the Congregational and . "New
School" Presbyterian Churches. The reunion in 1870
of the two wings of divided Presbyterianism led to the
friendly withdrawal of the latter. The "New School,"
as one of the conditions of reunion, gave its allegiance
to the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian
Church. Yet individual Presbyterians continue their
support of the American Board to the present, and they
furnished a vice-president to the Board as recently as
1897-1900. Thus reduced practically to a Congregational
constituency, the growth of the sense of universal mis
sionary obligation in the Congregational Churches as
elsewhere has led the Board, without altering its legal
form, to attempt closer relationship to the churches as
such, by allowing their representative bodies an ever
increasing share in the nomination of commissioners or

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 295
as they are usually termed, "corporate members." The
process was completed by the acceptance by the Board of
the new constitution approved by the National Council
of the Congregational Churches in 1913, by which the
vast majority of the Voting membership in the American
Board are now the representatives chosen by the churches
as their delegates to the National Council itself. The
ancient independent society has thus become fully the
agent of and responsible to the Congregational Churches.
The story of this failure of a cooperative interdenom
inational agency to maintain its original status is not at
all discreditable, for, as has been seen, the reasons for
most of the successive withdrawals which have marked
its history have been a growing conviction of the uni
versality of the missionary obligation as a duty of all
the churches. Present attempts at cooperation must fully
recognize this change. They cannot be associations sim
ply of those, many or few, who are interested in the
cause, for the cause has become that of the churches as
a whole. The question now is whether the time has not
come for a united effort, based not on the voluntary ef
forts of individuals of various churches but on the official
action of the denominations themselves.'
3. Cooperation in the American Bible Society
While the story of the American Board of Commis
sioners for Foreign Missions is that of a cooperating
agency of several Christian bodies becoming, by succes
sive withdrawals, the missionary instrumentality of a
single denomination, the history of the American Bible
Society exhibits association in Christian effort continuing
to the present. As in the development of organized mis
sionary activity, so in the formation of Bible societies,
English example was powerfully influential. Not a little
'The influence of the work on the foreign field itself upon the
movement toward union will be considered in a subsequent part
of this chapter.

296 CHRISTIAN UNITY
was achieved in the eighteenth century in furthering the
circulation of the Bible by the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge, founded in 1698, and the Naval
and Mflitary Bible Society, organized in 1780. Of far
greater importance was the establishment in London in
1804 of the British and Foreign Bible Society, an inter
denominational body whose work has gone forth in ever
increasing measure to the present.
The fame of the British and Foreign Bible Society
soon led to similar efforts in the United States, though
these were at first local in their fields. The earliest to
come into being was the Phfladelphia Bible Society,
formed in 1808. In May, 1809, Connecticut caught the
contagion; in July of the same year Massachusetts fol
lowed; New York in November, and New Jersey in De
cember. The roll of similar organizations had passed
one hundred by 1815. It is evident, however, that much
as these local organizations could do to promote the cir
culation of the Scriptures, the publication of the Bible
in the quantities demanded by such a circulation was
beyond the means of any but the most fortunate. Their
local scope made no adequate provision for the needs of
the newly settled portions of the country. It is clear,
also, that the publication of the Scriptures in the lan
guages of the mission fields would have been beyond the
powers of local societies. Nothing smaller than a gen
eral Bible society could accomplish these results. So it
came about that, chiefly through the zeal of Elias Boudi-
not. President of the New Jersey Bible Society, and in
the face of some opposition from the stronger local soci
eties, the American Bible Society came into being in New
York in May, 1816. Delegates from thirty-one local so
cieties participated in its foundation, among them adher
ents of the Baptist, Congregationalist, Episcopalian,
Friends, Reformed, and Presbyterian Churches. It was
speedily widely recognized as an undenominational
agency to which the various local societies became auxil-

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 297
iary, though some were slow in so doing, the latest con
spicuous local body to become thus affiliated being the
Philadelphia Society, which maintained its independence
till 1839. Some criticism of an undenominational enter
prise was heard, but the American Bible Society soon
won well-nigh universal Protestant approval.
At first the Society issued Bibles in English, French,
German, and Spanish, feeling that its prime obligations
were to residents of North and South America, but its
constitution pledged assistance to heathen lands, and the
Society was not ten years old before, like its British pro
totype, it was assisting in the publication of missionary
translations. Out of this extension of its work its only
considerable schism grew. Baptists had been from the
first cordial supporters of the Bible Society. The aid of
the Society was sought, in 1835, in printing a translation
of the Bible made by Baptist missionaries into Bengali,
in which the word "baptize" had been rendered by the
equivalent of "immerse." The Society refused to sanc
tion the grant as divisive. The result was the withdrawal
of many Baptists from the American Bible Society and
the organization by them, in 1837, of the American and
Foreign Bible Society. The seceding organization was
in turn rent, in 1850, over the question whether revision
should extend to English versions. Those favoring the
latter course organized the American Bible Union. These
Baptist societies had a checkered career, and, in 1883,
their work was absorbed by the American Baptist Mis
sionary Union and the American Baptist Publication So
ciety. Yet not all Baptists deserted the American Bible
Society, and that body has always been ready to aid
Baptists in work at home and abroad.' In practically all
of the other denominations no effort has been made to
establish agencies for the circulation of the Scriptures.

^It may be noted that the present president of the Araerican
Bible Society is a Baptist.

298 CHRISTIAN UNITY
The American Bible Society has been included in the
official benevolences of the Presbyterian and the Meth
odist Churches, both Northern and Southern, for many
decades and has become their official or semi-official or
gan in this field. More recently it has also become an ac
cepted benevolence of other denominations, including the
Reformed Church in America, the Reformed Church in
the United States, the Congregational Churches, the
Church of the Brethren, and the Methodist Protestant
Church. Although the American Bible Society thus stands as a
great interdenominational agency, holding the adherence
of the greater part of Protestant American Christianity,
its fate might easily have been like that of the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. A
doctrinal test led to a serious schism. That it main
tains an interdenominational character would seem to
be due to the facts that its circulation of the Scriptures
without note or comment has aroused no question of doc
trinal bias in any great American Protestant communion
save one ; that its labors have been of equal usefulness to
nearly all churches ; and that by its resources it has devel
oped an economy in the costs of its work that no denom
inational agency could surpass.
4. The Rise of the Christian Denomination (Disciples)
as an Effort to Secure Organic Union
Thomas Campbell, the founder of the Disciples, was a
minister of the Secession Presbyterian Church of the
north of Ireland, who emigrated to western Pennsyl
vania in 1807 and connected himself with the Secession
Presbytery of Chartiers. In this region of intense sec
tarian rivalries Campbell, whose attitude was broadly
sympathetic, soon ran counter to the general feeling by
inviting Christians somewhat widely to the Lord's Sup
per. His action was given censure by the Presbytery of
Chartiers, which an appeal to the Associate Synod did

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 299
not remove. Campbell therefore withdrew and was soon
laboring independently in western Pennsylvania, pro
claiming as his principle, "Where the Scriptures speak,
we speak; and where the Scriptures are sflent, we are
silent." It was not a new denomination that he had in
mind, but a union of all willing Christians by a return to
the principles and practices of the apostolic Church. On
August 17, 1809, Thomas Campbell and his sympathizers
founded "The Christian Association of Washington," so
named from the county of their principal residence in
Pennsylvania. For this Association Thomas Campbell
wrote the "Declaration and Address," which has ever
since been regarded as the fundamental document of the
Disciples' movement. It affirmed that "nothing ought to
be inculcated upon Christians as articles of faith, nor
required of them as terms of communion, but what is
expressly taught and enjoined upon them in the Word
of God."
Whfle Thomas Campbell was printing this document,
his son, Alexander, was on the ocean. On his arrival in
October, 1809, he threw himself into hearty support of
his father's movement, and with such ability that until
his death in 1866 he was its most conspicuous leader.
The elder Campbell now applied to the Presbyterian
Synod of Pittsburgh for recognition of the principles
enunciated in the "Declaration and Address." This was
refused and, therefore, in spite of their undenominational
intentions, he and his associates formed a church in Bush
Run, Pennsylvania, in May, 181 1. It began at once the
observance of the Lord's Supper every Sunday. In the
minds of some of the members doubts as to the validity
of infant baptism and sprinkling speedily arose, and by
July of the same year Thomas Campbell was practicing
immersion. In June, 1812, he and his son and their fam
ilies were immersed. The original "Christian Association
of Washington" was divided on the issue. Under these
circumstances, it is not surprising that in 1813 the Bush

300 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Run church became a member of the Redstone Associa
tion of Baptist Churches.
The Campbells and their friends, however, found
themselves speedily in disagreement with the majority
of the Baptists. While refusing to be classed as Cal
vinists or Arminians, they found Calvinism characteris
tic of the Baptist Churches. They were disposed to give
less weight to the Old Testament as a guide for Chris
tian conduct than were their Baptist neighbors. Though
essentially Trinitarian, the Campbells' refusal to employ
any but Scriptural expressions regarding the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, led to criticism. Their sharpest
dispute with the Baptists was in regard to the significance
of baptism itself and its place in the divine plan of re
demption. To the Baptists it was a pledge of loyalty and
a privilege of the already regenerated and pardoned sin
ner. To the Campbells it was part of the divinely ap
pointed condition of forgiveness and, with the antecedent
confession of faith in Christ, constituted an essential part
of a true regeneration. Under circumstances of increas
ing friction the Campbefls and some of their associates
obtained dismission from the Bush Run church in 1823,
and organized a new church in Wellsburg, West Virginia,
which was received into the Mahoning Baptist Associa
tion of Ohio. This action put them beyond the reach of
the Redstone Baptist Association. The separation of the
Disciples and the Baptists was a gradual and informal
matter and may be considered as completed when the
Mahoning Association, already largely permeated with
the new views, though against the personal wish of Alex
ander Campbell, gave up its organization on account of
want of scriptural warrant for such unions.
These separations were compensated for by a consid
erable union. The great revivals in Kentucky at the dawn
of the nineteenth century had been marked by much res-
tiveness under older creedal and educational limitations.
The needs of the time seemed to many to demand the

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 301
service of preachers of power, whether technically edu
cated or not, and an insistence in public appeal on a hu
man ability to respond to the call of the Gospel that
seemed to the old Calvinism Arminian. Both tendencies
were resisted especially by the Presbyterianism of the
older type. Among those greatly moved by the Kentucky
revival was a Presbyterian minister. Barton Warren
Stone, then pastor at Cane Ridge. Out of the general
discussions then engendered the Cumberland Presbyte
rian Church was a little later to arise. Stone was to
move, however, in another direction. One of his revival
istic ministerial associates having been censured by the
local presbytery for departure from the Westminster
Confession, in 1801, he, with Stone and several brother
ministers, protested and raised the question of the author
ity of all human creeds, organizing the short-lived Spring
field Presbytery. They soon went further under Stone's
leadership. In 1804, he organized a church in Cane Ridge
having the Bible as its only creed and taking "Christian"
as its only name. The movement grew, though most of
the original leaders except Stone fell away. It had not
the strength of the movement initiated by the Campbells.
But in 1832 Alexander Campbell and Stone came into
association. The two streams, though not technically
united, now practically flowed together. Stone preferred
the name "Christian," Campbell "Disciple." Both have
since been used largely interchangeably.'
With this association the Disciples may fairly be said
to have been launched as a denomination. They have
had a marvelous growth and are a factor of great and
increasing importance in American religious life. It is
but fair to say that at all times in their history they would
repudiate the denominational ascription. In their own

'The use of the term "Christian" to designate the Disciples
should not be confused with its application to the separate de
nominational body known as the Araerican Christian Conven
tion.

302 CHRISTIAN UNITY
thought they have always been both a protest against sec
tarianism and a union on the basis of a return to simple
and apostolic Christianity, in which all who hold the
Christian name should follow them.
There can be no doubt as to the sincerity arid purity of
purpose which animated the founders of the Disciples'
movement. They were worthy of afl respect. They be
lieved that in literal adherence to biblical teaching and
example the solution of all ecclesiastical discussion is to
be found. What their movement almost immediately
revealed, and their history has constantly illustrated, is
that the supposedly clear teachings of the Bible are sus
ceptible of most various and antagonistic interpretations,
in which men of equal honesty of intention will widely
disagree.II. Foreign Missions and Christian Unity
In no phase of the Church's work have there been
greater incentives to cooperation and union than in for
eign missions. In proportion as the Church has come to
appreciate the greatness of its missionary task has it
become conscious of an underlying unity. With this has
come a new sense of the need for an effective embodiment
of that unity in external form, for it is seen to be impos
sible for a divided Church to Christianize the world.
When the Church awoke to its obligation to give the
Gospel to the world and undertook to send out mission
aries for that purpose, denominationalism was extended
to the foreign field. This could hardly have been other
wise. Each communion naturally took it for granted that
the churches which its representatives were to establish
should be identical with its own. The missionary, as a
matter of course, worked along the lines in which he had
been trained and built up the new churches on the model
with which he was familiar. The inevitable consequence
was that the sectarian divisions of Christendom were
reproduced in the Orient.

The historical background 303
During the earlier period of missionary endeavor no
great harm resulted. The missionaries were so few in
number and so widely scattered that there was little over
lapping. In many great areas only one church was rep
resented. The problem of denominational adjustments
did not arise until the work had grown to such an extent
that missionaries and churches on the foreign field came
into close contact with one another. '
That time has long been here. There are today no
fewer than 350 foreign missionary boards and societies
at work, with more than 24,000 missionaries on the field.
There are 93 boards at work in China, 46 in Japan,
loi in India. In most of the large cities many denomina
tions are carrying on their efforts side by side. Tokyo and
Shanghai have over 300 missionaries each. In Madras
there are 125 ; in Calcutta 185. Under such circumstances
the question of unity is a vital one. In many places over
lapping and duplication of effort are well nigh inevitable,
while other great areas are entirely unoccupied.
The divisions of Western Christianity, moreover, are
largely meaningless to the Christians of the East. Dif
ferences that arose out of a past history of which Chi
nese, Japanese, and Indian Christians know nothing can
not but be hopelessly confusing and stand in the way of
the development of strong, united indigenous churches of
their own. So long as the unity of Christianity is thus
obscured, it cannot make the strongest impression upon
the non-Christian world. There is a growing conviction,
therefore, that the task of building up the Kingdom of
God in all the earth can never be accomplished untfl the
Church addresses itself to the problem in a united way.
The incentive to cooperation and union on the foreign
field is not merely a desire for administrative efficiency.
There is also a keener realization than in the West
that there is nothing fundamental to keep the churches
apart. It is easier to discern what the vital tenets of
Christianity are when we are in the midst of populations

304 CHRISTIAN UNITY
that do not know Christ at all. When we find ourselves,
not among Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and An
glicans, but among Hindus, Buddhists, Mohammedans,
and Animists, some things that formerly seemed impor
tant shrink into relative insignificance, while others ex
pand into majestic proportions. The essential and saving
truths of our faith are found to be not in terms of denom
inational differences but in terms of Christianity con
trasted with the other faiths of mankind. So, as a matter
of fact, most missionaries, whfle accepting the tenets of
their respective communions, do preach a common Gospel
which practically transcends all sectarian barriers. We
find, then, on the foreign field precisely what we might
expect — a definite and unmistakable tendency toward co
operation and union. Particularly since the Edinburgh
Conference in 1910 progress has been nothing less than
phenomenal. In as brief a compass as possible we shall
try to indicate what has been happening.
I. Cooperation in Missionary Work
In cooperative undertakings of various kinds in local
communities this spirit of unity has found vigorous ex
pression. Christian educational institutions have offered
a particularly wide field for union efforts. Clearly there
is no sufficient reason for three or four denominational
colleges in one city when the whole number of pupils
could be educated more efficiently in one. Especially
after governments began to establish amply equipped in
stitutions was it necessary that the Christian institutions
should have better facilities than denominational schools
could usually give. In China alone there are over twenty
educational institutions under interdenominational con
trol, including the five union universities in Peking, Nan
king, Tsinan-fu, Chengtu, and Foochow. In India there
are a score. In Latin America, where at the time of the
Panama Congress in 191 6 there was not a single union
institution, there are today no fewer than twenty-two.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 305
In Shantung University there is a remarkable instance
of a union even of the High Church Anglican Mission
with the Northern, Southern, and Canadian Presby
terians, the English Baptists, the English and American
Congregationalists, and the Lutherans. The (Christian
Coflege for Women in Madras represents a dozen mis
sions. The new Women's Christian University in Tokyo
is under the joint direction of Baptist, Methodist, Epis
copal, Presbyterian, Reformed, Congregational, and Dis
ciples boards. And all these are but striking illus
trations of a host of others. In general it may be
said that union in higher educational work has be
come the established policy of practically all lead
ing missionary societies. Even interdenominational
theological instruction, begun about fifteen years ago,
has been found to be entirely practicable. There are
interdenominational theological seminaries or train
ing schools for Christian workers in Manila, Seoul,
Peking, Nanking, Canton, Shantung, Fukien, Bangalore,
Mexico, Porto Rico, Chile, and Brazil. In one or more
of these institutions Northern, Southern, and English
Methodists, Northern, Southern, Canadian, and Scotch
Presbyterians, English and American Congregationalists,
Disciples, the Church of England, English and American
Baptists, Reformed, Lutherans, United Brethren, and
Friends participate.
In medical work union effort is likewise common. In
various cities there are union hospitals and medical col
leges. The medical college at Tsinan-fu, for example,
represents three bodies of Presbyterians, the English Bap
tists, and English Wesleyans. The new medical school
for women at Vellore, South India, is jointly supported
and controlled by twelve British and American societies.
The Severance Medical College and Hospital in Seoul
is the medical center for practically all the missions in
the southern part of Korea.
In literary work the American Bible Society and the

3o6 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Christian Literature Societies of Japan and China carry
on significant united efforts. In Korea the Korean Re
ligious Book and Tract Society is the agency of all the
missions. In Latin America union book depositories,
publishing houses, and journals have been developed in
several of the leading cities.
Probably the most far-reaching line of cooperation of
all is the work of the so-cafled Continuation Committees.
In afl the continuation conferences held in the Orient in
1912-1913, as a result of the Edinburgh Conference, the
need for greater cooperation and unity was urged, and in
some of the larger fields definite agencies for inter-mis
sion conference and cooperation were formed. In India
the National Missionary Council and Provincial Councils
were established. As a result valuable surveys have been
made and common counsel taken toward public questions
affecting all the missions, such as temperance and educa
tion, including the question of the conscience clause.
Principles of comity have been developed and the activi
ties of the various agencies more closely coordinated in
many ways. During the war it was recognized as the
agency with which the Government would deal in regard
to missionaries of alien nationality. The National Coun
cil has recently been making a survey of mission prob
lems and work which surpasses anything yet undertaken.
In China the Continuation Committee is made up in a
less official way, being composed of individuals (one-
third of them Chinese) from various missions. As in
India, it studies common problems from the standpoint
of the work as a whole, promotes cooperation in educa
tional, literary, evangelistic, and medical work, and car
ries on surveys. It has been making valuable studies of
the right attitude for the Church on such issues as polyg
amy, ancestor worship, and mission organization, and
serves also as a needed link between the home base and
the field. In Japan the Continuation Committee is made
up by the appointment of eight persons by the Federa-

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 307
tion of Japanese Churches, eight by the Conference of
Federated Missions, and eight others designated by the
sixteen thus chosen. Its special significance is in its thus
bringing the Japanese churches and the missions into a
close relationship in promoting evangelism and making
surveys of social conditions. The Conference of Feder
ated Missions, just referred to, is also an important
agency of cooperation in Japan. It embraces practically
all the Protestant missions except the Anglican. It es
tablished the Christian Literature Society, publishes the
Japan Evangelist and the Year Book known as "The
Christian Movement in the Japanese Empire." More re
cently in Latin America several interdenominational
committees have resulted from the Panama Congress,
including the Committee on Cooperation in Mexico, the
Committee on Conference in Cuba, and the Committee on
Cooperation in Brazil. All these are related to a central
body, the Committee on Cooperation in Latin America,
representing all the boards carrying on work in these
fields. In general it may be said of all these Continuation
Committees that their functions are advisory, their au
thority resting on their experience and their intrinsic
value. They provide a most valuable central organiza
tion which can speak for the missionary movement in a
field as a whole and study its common problems.
Division of territory is an expedient which has been
widely adopted to minimize the evils of denominational
ism in the interest of increased efficiency. The adjust
ment in the Philippine Islands affords one of the earliest
examples of a carefully worked out plan. As soon as
Commodore Dewey's victory was announced in 1898 one
of the missionary societies in New York sent out a call
for a conference of all societies contemplating work in
the Islands, with a view to securing the most effective
distribution of work. For the first time in history, rep
resentatives of various boards before occupying a new
field sat down fraternally to consider how it could be

3o8 CHRISTIAN UNITY
done to the best advantage. Work was begun before the
plan was initiated, but eventually "The Evangelical Union
of the Philippines" was organized, by which Baptists,
Congregationalists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and United
Brethren were assigned distinct fields, so that in each
place only one church is being developed and a united
front is presented to the people.
In northern China, after the destruction of many
mission plants by the Boxer uprising, two missions
reached an agreement which assigned to one mission that
portion of the city of Peking and its suburbs north of the
Forbidden City, together with three counties north and
east, and assigned to the other mission a similar area in a
different part of Peking and its adjacent country. Sim
ilar adjustments were made elsewhere in China, arid an
all-China conference of missionaries at Shanghai in 1900
voted that, while ports and cities of prefectural rank
should not be considered the exclusive field of any one
board, as they are usually strategic bases for outlying
regions, in other cities it should be the rule not to enter
fields where other communions were already established.
In India also extensive areas have been mapped out to
prevent overlapping. By one adjustment, effected in
1913, the three districts of Etah, Manipuri, and Furruka-
bad were given over to the Presbyterian Mission, the
Methodists, who were the later body to enter these dis
tricts, transferring 10,000 baptized Christians to it and
being assigned in turn thirty-five villages in contiguous
districts. Korea and Madagascar have likewise been
divided into spheres of influence, and there are many
other illustrations of the same practice.' In Mexico a
year ago the final consummation of territorial allotments
was reached, resulting in almost the remaking of the
'Further illustrations can be found in the Report of Coramis
sion VIII to the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in
1910, in annual reports of the Foreign Mission Conference of
North America, and in the annual surveys in the International
Revieiu of Missions.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 309
missionary map of the country, with a view to eliminat
ing overlapping and making possible the occupation of
new fields.
2. Building Up a United Church in Foreign Lands.
Such territorial adjustments are valuable practical ex
pedients in the midst of our present divisions, and by pro
moting mutual understanding may be steps towards a real
union. They prepare the way for it by virtuafly assum
ing the equality of the churches and an identity of essen
tial teaching. Obviously, however, such a division of ter
ritory cannot be regarded as in itself a solution of the
problem presented by denominationalism in the foreign
field. The dividing of Christians geographically into sep
arate bodies may mean the development of sectional feel
ing and provinciaHsm and a consequent serious sacrifice
of national unity.
The inadequacy of territorial adjustments as more than
a temporary solution has led to the organizing of several
federations of churches on the foreign field. The Federa
tion of Churches in Japan, formed in 191 1, is an outstand
ing example. It now comprises twenty-four commun
ions and includes four-fifths of the Protestant Christians.
Its purpose is "to secure united action for the spread of
the Gospel, for increase of friendly relations and of gen
eral interest in Christianity, to insure that the members
stand together for the general good when special occa
sions arise." A Federation of Christian Churches in
India, growing out of a conference in 1909, includes
all the Methodist, Presbyterian, and South India United
Churches, the Missions of the Friends and Disciples of
Christ, and the American Marathi Mission (Congrega
tional). Its object is declared to be "to attain a more
perfect manifestation of the unity of His disciples for
which the Redeemer prayed, by fostering and encourag
ing the sentiment and practice of union." The federating
churches "agree to recognize each other's discipline and

3IO CHRISTIAN UNITY
to welcome members of other federating churches to
Christian fellowship and communion." China has several
provincial councils. Korea has a Federal Councfl of
Missions. Africa and Madagascar have several district
federations. In fact, almost every important field has
one or more such organizations, which, while having no
ecclesiastical or legislative power, exert considerable in
fluence. But the movement toward unity has gone further than
local cooperation in educational and medical work, gen
eral division of territory, or federation. Organic unions
of denominations have in several instances been effected.
The Methodist Church in Japan, established in 1907, in
cludes all branches of Methodism. The Church of Christ
in Japan has long been made up of six Presbyterian
and Reformed communions. The English, Canadian,
and American branches of the Anglican Church have been
united in China, India, and Japan. So also have the
Presbyterian and Reformed Churches in varying de
grees in India, China, Korea, Mexico, and Brazil. In
China the Federal Council of the twelve churchoe of the
Presbyterian order, established in 1907, has now resolved
itself into a provisional General Assembly. The Lu
therans in India are united. In China the Lutheran mis
sions of the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland,
Denmark, and Germany are now considering a definite
"Constitution of the Lutheran Church of China."
Even in uniting different denominational groups prog
ress has been made, although in many cases the consum
mation of present tendencies lies in the future. In Japan
as early as 1872 a convention of Protastant missionaries
adopted a resolution agreeing to use their influence "to
secure as far as possible identity of name and organiza
tion in the native churches." In 1887-1889 a more per
sistent effort was made to unite the Congregational and
Presbyterian groups of Japanese churches. Neither of
these efforts, however, came to fruition, and the lines of

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 311
denominational cleavage among the missionaries were
perpetuated among the Japanese, although a strong desire
for union still prevafls.
In China several local unions have been formed, one of
the most striking being that at Tsinan-fu between the Eng
lish Baptists and the American Presbyterians, begun in
1906. An agreement provides :
"That there be one united Protestant church for the
whole Tsinan-fu city and suburbs . . . that entrance to the
church shall be by either of the recognized modes of
baptism at the option of the candidate . . . that the Union
Church shall be affiliated with the Presbyterian and Bap
tist Churches in the following manner :
I. That delegates be sent to Tsinan-fu Presbytery and
Baptist Union with voting powers, provided these bodies
are willing so to receive them.
2. That the spiritual affairs of the church shall be ad
ministered by a Council consisting of the pastor and
other church officers and, in addition, two ordained min
isters, o»e appointed by the Tsinan-fu Presbytery and the
other by the Baptist Union.
3. That cases of appeal shafl be referred for decision
to a commission to be appointed by the Presbytery of
Tsinan-fu and the Baptist Union.
4. That statistics of the Union Church be reported to
the Tsinan-fu Presbytery and the Baptist Union."
A significant organic union reaching over a large area
of the Presbyterian and the Congregational Churches in
South Fukien was decided upon in 1918. The churches
established by the missions of the Reformed Church in
America and the English Presbyterian Church have from
the beginning been united in an independent Chinese
church, with a presbyterian form of government. The
new union will result in the inclusion of about 8,000
communicants of the three denominations in one united
church. The Centenary Missionary Conference in Shanghai in
1907 declared: "In planting the Church of Christ on

312 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Chinese soil, we desire only to plant one Church." In the
same year the National Councfl of the Presbyterian and
Reformed Churches of China expressed the "earnest de
sire that all branches of the Church of Christ in China
may ultimately come together ... in the manifested unity
of the body of Christ on earth." In April, 1918, a defi
nite step in that direction was taken when a group of Con
gregationalists from both American and British societies
were sent by their bodies to the Provisional General As
sembly of the churches of the presbyterian order to ex
press a desire for federation with them, the object being
"such comparison of views and adjustment of practice
as shall prepare the way for ultimate organic union."
A doctrinal basis and plan of union are now under
consideration. In India the South India United Church was formed in
1908 by a union of the missionaries and Indian Christians
of missions of the American Board (Congregational),
the London Missionary Society (Congregational), the
Reformed Church in America, and the United Free
Church of Scotland. The declared object of the union
was "to bind the churches together into one body with a
view to developing a self-supporting, self-governing, and
self-propagating Indian Church, which shall present a
united living testimony, and worthily represent to the
world the Christian ideal." A constitution was adopted
which included a confession of faith and provision for
administration through local churches, district councils,
and a General Assembly. Thirty thousand Christians are
now included in this church. So satisfactorily has this
union stood the test of time that a similar union of Pres
byterians and Congregationalists in Western India has
been proposed.
Within the past year a movement even more far-reach
ing has begun in India. It contemplates nothing less than
the organic union of the three leading churches of South
India— the Anglican, the South Indian United (already

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 313
including Congregational, Reformed, and Presbyterian
bodies), and the Syrian.' The plan grew out of a con
ference of Indian Christian ministers at Tranquebar in
May, 1919. The leaders of the three bodies have unoffi
cially agreed upon forming a truly Indian Church, in
which the Congregational, Presbyterian, and Episcopal
polities shall be united into one and which will represent
the three great divisions of Christianity — the Western
Church, the Eastern Church, and the Free Protestant
Churches. If the union should be consummated it would
be the first time since the Reformation that the breach
between the episcopal and the non-episcopal churches has
been spanned, and the first time since the division between
the East and the West in the eleventh century that bodies
related to these two great branches of the Church have
ever come together.
The widely discussed Kikuyu Conference in 1912 pro
posed a scheme for federating Presbyterian, Anglican,
and other societies working in British East Africa. Vig
orous opposition by the Bishop of Zanzibar led to a refer
ence of the matter to the Archbishop of Canterbury. At
a second conference at Kikuyu in 1919 a proposal for an
alliance more along the lines of the Archbishop's concilia
tory statement was put forth. A constitution was drawn
up by official representatives of the Church Missionary
Society (Anglican), the Church of Scotland Mission
(Presbyterian), the Africa Inland Mission, the United
Methodist Church Mission, and the British and Foreign
Bible Society. It recognized that "in existing conditions
inter-communion between Episcopal and non-Episcopal
communions is not yet possible," but they definitely af
firmed the need of a united church and say they will not
rest until they all share one ministry. In the meantime,
'The Syrian Church in India traces its history back to the fourth
century and tradition even says that it was founded by the Apostle
Thomas in the first century. During the last century it has been
quickened to new life. Bishop Abraham, one of its outstanding
leaders, was educated at Wycliffe College, Toronto.

314 CHRISTIAN UNITY
the statement says, the several bodies "resolve to form
an afliance with a view to moving along agreed lines of
action appropriate to each society so as to prepare the
way for further organic unity. To the council thus es
tablished each of the constituent bodies is to send rep
resentatives, and it proposes to organize united educa
tional, medical, and social work.'
These are but a few illustrations of movements toward
organic union on mission fields, and new ones are arising
almost every year. It is becoming increasingly clear that
the divisions of the West, growing out of old controver
sies of which Eastern Christians know nothing, mean
little or nothing to them. What possible reason is there
why the Christians of Korea should be separated into
Northern Presbyterians and Southern Presbyterians be
cause a civil war was waged in the United States half a
century ago? Why should the Christians of India be
labeled English Wesleyans, German Lutherans, and
American Baptists? Of such negligible significance are
our denominational lines to them and of such hindrance
to the development of a strong Christian Church, that it
is not improbable that the Christians of Asia wfll unite
whether we want them to or not. In a communication
from the Marathi Mission of the American Board to the
Western India Mission of the Presbyterian Church, pro
posing an organic union, this striking sentence occurred :
"It is absolutely certain that the difference between the
Congregational and Presbyterian Churches cannot hold
Indian Christians apart, unless foreign missionaries con
tinue to perpetuate such divisions." These Oriental
Christians may divide later, but if they do, it should be
on issues that are of vital significance to them, not on
alien ones imposed from the West.
From what has been said it is clear that the missionary
"For a fuller discussion of the movements toward church union
now taking place in India, China, and Africa, see the Inter
national Ret/ic'w of Missions, January, 1920.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 315
body as a whole has developed a unity that is consider
ably in advance of that which prevails in the lands frora
which the missionaries come. That this vigorous move
ment for unity, nourished both by the urgency of the
task and by the relative meaninglessness of our divisions
on the foreign field, should exert a strong reflex influ
ence on our missionary societies at home, and conse
quently upon our churches, is a natural consequence.
This has manifested itself particularly in conferences on
foreign missions that have been of far-reaching effect.
The first of such conferences were held in New York
and in London as long ago as 1854. In 1900 there was
convened in New York the memorable Ecumenical Mis
sionary Conference, the sixth in number, representing
forty-eight countries. In 1910 all previous gatherings
were eclipsed by the World Missionary Conference in
Edinburgh, unique both for the catholicity of its repre
sentation and for the spirit of unity that pervaded it.
Its membership was drawn from every communion ex
cept the Roman and the Greek Churches. Its work still
went on after the Conference through its Continuation
Committee, representing no fewer than thirty commun
ions, including AngHcans and Nonconformists, the Es
tablished and Free Churches of Scotland, the State and
Independent Churches of the Continent, and half a dozen
communions in the United States. This was not an ec
clesiastical body and had no jurisdiction over the
churches, but it has had an unmistakable influence in
promoting the spirit of united approach to common tasks.
During the war it was inactive, but the so-called "Emer
gency Committee of Cooperating Missions," temporarily
composed of representatives of countries outside the
Central Powers, was constituted, in order that there
might be a body to correlate plans for dealing with com
mon interests. In June of this year, 1920, the Inter
national Missionary Conference at Crans, Switzerland,
merged these two committees into a new International

3i6 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Missionary Committee, whose members are to be elected
by the respective national missionary conferences. The
Congress on Christian Work in Latin America, held at
Panama in 191 6, was another epoch-making interde
nominational gathering, resulting in the estabhshment
of the permanent Committee on Cooperation in Latin
America, which represents all Protestant boards carry
ing on missionary activities there.
It would not be too much to say that with but one or
two exceptions the leading missionary boards are thor
oughly committed to a policy of cooperation and that
most of them heartily desire one united Church in each
of the foreign fields. Commission VIII of the Edinburgh
Conference declared that "the divisions within the Chris
tian Church weaken its testimony and confuse the total
impression made by Christianity on the minds of the non-
Christian peoples. The question necessarily forces itself
on those immediately engaged in the work of Christian
izing the great nations of the East, whether they are con
tent to plant in these countries a multitude of Christian
sects, or whether the real purpose of missionary effort
is not rather to plant in each land one united Church of
Christ, penetrating and strongly influencing the national
life of the people and at the same time bound in the unity
of the spirit to the Church throughout the world."
A conference of seventy-five representatives of twenty-
eight North American boards having work in China in
1912 adopted the following resolution:
"This Conference desires to assure the missions in the
strongest possible manner of its unreserved approval of
the efforts to accomplish the union of the Christian
Church in China and promises the missions that they will
have in such efforts the hearty support of the members
of this Conference."
In many permanent missionary organizations at the
home base the principle of cooperation is applied. The
Foreign Missions Conference of North America, founded

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 317
in 1893, together with the Committee of Reference
and Counsel and such agencies as the Board of Mission
ary Preparation initiated by it, is the outstanding
example. The Missionary Education Movement, founded
in 1902, and the Federation of Women's Boards of For
eign Missions, established in 1913, also carry on impor
tant work, particularly in connection with promoting mis
sion study and preparing literature therefor. On all
sides, however, there is a growing recognition that far
greater harmony of effort is imperative. The world task
before the Church is so enormous and is confronted by
such tremendous obstacles that nothing less than the full
est degree of unity that can possibly be attained can ever
be counted enough.
And this development affects not only the mission
boards at home, but also the churches themselves. We
cannot hope that this movement will advance to the de
gree that all agree to be essential for the foreign field
unless the churches at home can keep pace with that de
velopment. The Church in China and the Church in
America being one Church, we shafl not long be able to
develop united churches there if we have disunited
churches here. The truth of the statement made by
Commission VII of the Edinburgh Conference becomes
constantly more apparent: "In the matter of unity the
mission field is leading the way, but it does not seem that
the movement can advance far with safety apart from
the cooperation of the Church at home."
II. Religious Education and Christian Unity
The Sunday school movement in America had its be
ginning in an effort that was regardless of denominational
lines. For purposes of historical record it should be re
garded as dating from the organization of "The Society
for the Institution and Support of First Day or Sunday
Schools" in Phfladelphia in 1790. The society was a
voluntary one, made up of Christians of various churches.

3i8 CHRISTIAN UNITY
outside of official ecclesiastical sanction. This was fol
lowed by the organization of the "New York Sunday
School Union" in 1816 and the "Philadelphia Sunday
School Union" in 1817. The rapid spread of the move
ment and the multiplication of "union" societies for its
further promotion and support led in 1824 to the found
ing of the "American Sunday School Union." Its stated
objects were "to concentrate the efforts of Sabbath-school
associations in different sections of the country; to
strengthen the hands of the friends of pious instruction
on the Lord's Day; to disseminate useful information; to
circulate moral and religious publications in every part
of the land; and to endeavor to plant a Sunday school
wherever there is a population."
I. The Development of Cooperation
Beginning soon after this union effort and thereafter
parallel with its development was the growth of denomi
national organization of Sunday school work. Among
the first churches to establish denominational Sunday
school societies were the following: Protestant Episcopal
(1826), Methodist Episcopal (1827), Congregational
(1832), Presbyterian, U. S. A. (1833), and the Northern
Baptist Convention (1840). Others followed in rapid
succession. At the initiative of the American Sunday School Union
there was held in 1832 the first national convention of
Sunday school leaders, which in 1869 became an estab
lished triennial feature (since 1914, quadrennial) of the
organized cooperative work in this field. Beginning with
1875 these gatherings assumed international scope, and
have since been designated International Sunday School
Conventions. Parallel with the development of these
conventions was that of Sunday school teachers' insti
tutes, dating from 1861 and patterned after similar gath
erings of public school teachers. The organization of
state and county Sunday school associations began in

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 319
1856. The National Convention of 1869 created a per
manent Executive Committee, out of which and around
which has grown up the larger association which since
1872 — the date of the adoption of the International Uni
form Sunday School Lessons and the appointment of the
International Sunday School Lesson Committee — ^has
been known as the International Sunday School Asso
ciation. Both the American Sunday School Union and the In
ternational Sunday School Association have been purely
voluntary agencies with no organic relationship to the
official denominational boards and societies. Strictly
speaking, therefore, both organizations should be desig
nated as undenominational rather than interdenomina
tional. Both, however, deserve great credit for pioneer
work in Sunday school promotion and extension. The
American Sunday School Union has devoted itself prin
cipally to the organization of so-called "union" Sunday
schools in frontier and out-of-the-way communities, and
in supplying these schools with inexpensive lesson helps
and other literature. The work of the International and
State Associations has been confined principally to the
holding of institutes and conventions and to the promo
tion and administrative supervision of cooperative Sun
day school activities in local communities. One other
notable service rendered by these voluntary agencies has
been the stimulation of more aggressive organization, the
rapid development of which during the past two decades
has made imperative a closer cooperative relationship
between the various denominational Sunday school boards
and societies themselves. The Sunday school and reli
gious educational work of all of the leading evangelical
denominations in the United States and Canada has for
some years been thoroughly organized and the denomi
national Sunday school organizations and publishing
societies are now thoroughly committed to the principle
of interdenominational cooperation.

320 CHRISTIAN UNITY
The urgent need for closer official cooperation resulted
first in the organization of the Sunday School Editorial
Association in 1901, which in 1910 became the Sunday
School Council of Evangelical Denominations, the first
organization representing the two fundamental principles
of, first, denominational autonomy in matters of Sunday
school administration and instruction, and, second, direct
cooperative control by the denominations of union activ
ities. The importance of the Sunday School Council for
all subsequent developments of cooperative work in this
field is suggested by the preamble to the Constitution and
by the statement of aim:
"Recognizing the responsibility of each denomination,
through its properly constituted Sunday school authori
ties, to direct its own Sunday school work, and believing
that much Sunday school effort is common work, there
fore, for the sake of economy, educational betterment, and
Christian brotherhood, we organize ourselves into a body
under the following constitution. . . .
"The object of this organization shall be to advance the
Sunday school interests of the cooperating denomina
tions :
(i) By conferring together in matters of common in
terest. (2) By giving expression to our common views and
decisions. (3) By cooperative action on matters concerning edu
cational, editorial, missionary, and publishing activities."
During the ten years of its existence the Sunday School
Council has been instrumental in the establishment of
definite educational standards in Sunday school work
covering the items of organization, curriculum, teacher-
training, and administrative supervision. It has placed
at the disposal of each denominational board and society
the experience and programs of the other boards, and
has given impulse and direction to the further growth of
the cooperative movement in Sunday school work. The
personal contacts established through the organized asso-

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 321
elation of denominational Sunday school editors, secre
taries, and publishers led promptly to the undertaking of
cooperative publishing enterprises through syndication
on a large scale. The introduction of the International
Graded Sunday School Lessons (1909-1914) and the
subsequent rapid development of teacher-training courses
and textbooks gave further impetus to such syndication,
which has uniformly resulted in improved quality of
pubhcations, reduced costs, wider circulations, and a
general advance in standards and ideals.
Since the organization of the Council the denomina
tions of the United States and Canada have steadily been
drawn closer together in every department of Sunday
school work. One by one cooperative activities in this
field have been transferred from the supervision of
purely voluntary or undenominational organizations and
placed under the joint control of the organized Sunday
school agencies of the denominations. In 1912 the
World's Sunday School Association, until then an inde-
pendeaatbody (engaged particularly in promoting Sun
day school work on the mission fields), changed its
constitution so as to admit to its executive com
mittee the official representatives of both Sunday
school and missionary boards, the denominational Sun
day school representatives being appointed from and
by the Sunday School Council. The reorganization of
the International Sunday School Lessons Committee upon
the same general principles occurred in 1914. During the
past four years negotiations have been in progress be
tween the International Sunday School Association and
the Sunday School Council, with a view to establishing
some effective method of coordinating all cooperative
efforts in Sunday school work under a unified plan of
overhead supervision which would give to the respon
sible denominational boards full representation both in
planning and executing all union activities, while at the
same time conserving the elements of democratic volun-

322 CHRISTIAN UNITY
tary cooperation represented in the plans of organiza
tion of the International and State Sunday School Asso
ciations. During the early months of the year 1920 final
agreement was reached by the International Sunday
School Association and the Sunday School Council with
regard to the reorganization of both of these bodies.
Their actual reorganization on the basis of the agree
ment reached was begun at a meeting in Buffalo in
June. In accordance with the provisions of this reor
ganization, the denominational Sunday school boards will
hereafter appoint, and have since appointed, half of
the members of the Executive Committee of the Inter
national Association. The other half will be elected as
heretofore by states and provinces. The same division
of representation applies to membership in the reorgan
ized state associations, and by implication to county and
city associations also. At the same time the Sunday
School Councfl, which heretofore has consisted wholly
of the official Sunday school representatives of denomi
national boards and societies, has now admitted into its
membership field representatives of organized Sunday
school work, both denominational and interdenomina
tional. This procedure is understood to be a first step
towards a complete merging of the two organizations,
the Association and the Council, "under a new charter
and with a new name." Meanwhile the reorganized As
sociation and Council provide two effective agencies for
cooperation, one in the field of Sunday school promotion
and extension, the other in the field of intensive develop
ment of an educational program for the Sunday school."

'Any full consideration of the bearing of the moveraent for
religious education on Christian unity would have to deal with
the significant influence of the Religious Education Associa
tion. We are here, however, concentrating attention upon the
official agencies of the churches. For the work of the Council
of Church Boards of Education in the college field, see p. 138
of this report.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 323
2. The Present Necessity for Greater Cooperation.
The significance of these adjustments in organization
arises from the fact that they have been deliberately
made in the interest of Christian unity and greater effi
ciency in service. They have been consummated at a
time when the churches, after the World War, are all
alike facing both a national crisis and a world opportu
nity in religious education. The preservation and fur
ther increase of the moral and spiritual values that the
war has set in clearer light depend upon programs and
processes of religious education. The American churches
have not yet discovered the possibilities inherent in a
program of Christian teaching that shall succeed in en
listing the religious purposes and training activities
of united Christianity for the aggressive worldwide pro
motion of Christian democracy, which is the democracy
of service. That discovery needs now to be made and
a more adequate program of religious education for the
new age attempted. In the formulation of such a pro
gram and in its execution the Sunday school forces of
North America may rightly be expected to lead the way.
They can do so adequately only as they are effectively
united. Much has already been accomplished by way of prep
aration. The principles and ideals of religious nurture
and training are gradually becoming fairly well estab
lished. The better tools and equipment that ar^ neces
sary, including materials of instruction, are rapidly gain
ing recognition and acceptance. The development of the
curriculum is proceeding satisfactorily. The type of ar
chitecture, housing facilities, and equipment are yielding
to the demand for educational efficiency. Trained
teachers are increasing in numbers and will soon be con
sidered indispensable. With these gains made, with the
entire program of the church school upon a sound reli
gious and educational basis, the larger mission and re-

324 CHRISTIAN UNITY
sponsibility of the Church to the whole community should
once more be made a focal point of intelligent effort.
Concretely, this wfll mean a revival of religious nurture
in the home. It will mean a new appreciation and a fuller
appropriation of the religious values in public school sub
jects and the opportunities for character formation
through the public school. It wifl mean interchurch co
operation in providing church school facilities with sys
tematic religious instruction for all the children of the
community, so distributed with regard to time and place
as to make this instruction easily accessible to all. It will
mean the prompt extension and supplementing of the
work of the Sunday school through week-day classes in
religious education. But this approach to the community
and this impact upon it cannot be made by the churches
separately. A united program is simply indispensable.

The bearing of the foreign missionary enterprise and
the Sunday school movement on church unity are only
typical of other great phases of the Church's work.
The problems of developing a more effective program of
evangelism, of enlisting life more adequately in Christian
service, of Christianizing our social relations at home, of
bringing Christian principles to bear on economic life,
of infusing our whole educational system with the reli
gious ideal, of permeating our international relations with
the Christian spirit — all these and other tasks that have
been increasingly laying hold of the conscience of the
Church are chaflenging us to a degree of united endeavor
never yet realized. To the conviction of the inner one
ness of the Church of Christ has been added a growing
vision that only the outward expression of that unity in
the most effective way can meet the world's appalling
need.

PART III
THE FUTURE

CHAPTER X
PRINCIPLES WHICH UNDERLIE FURTHER
PROGRESS
This committee has been given no commission to out
Hne any plan of church union or of larger Christian coop
eration. Its function has been to examine our present
situation and the historic background behind it and in
this concluding section of its report to draw out such
observations and principles as its examination has sug
gested. Yet we would be untrue to our own conviction
and the unique opportunity which this privilege of com
mon study has afforded if we did not add to this general
formulation of principles some indication as to the lines
along which we believe that the movement for church
union must develop in the immediate future and the na
ture of the steps which need now to be taken. We shall
present no program requiring adoption or rejection in
detail, but only suggestions as to what such a program
should contain and certain considerations which should
influence those who are shaping it.
At the outset we desire to record the conviction, which
has been formed in us as a result of this investigation,
that the movement toward union is an irresistible move
ment. It may be delayed, it cannot be permanently
checked. The historical sections of this study make it
clear that the struggle of the Christian spirit to express
its inward unity in outward forms of Christian union is
as old as Christianity. From the beginning earnest men
have been dissatisfied with their divisions and have sought
to draw together as one all those who acknowledge Jesus
Christ as Lord. The hope of such union is manifestly
a deathless hope. Whether or not men have agreed as
327

328 CHRISTIAN UNITY
to the divine ideal for the Church, or indeed have had
any sure conviction as to what that ideal might be, they
have stifl been moved by an irrepressible longing for
something that should embody more richly than any ex
perience which they had yet had the prayer of Christ,
"that they may afl be one." If these men of the ages
past were warranted in their continuing hope, surely we
are right today in seeking something further than we as
yet possess. The situation that we face today is indis
putably unstable and transitory. None of us may dog
matize as to the path of future development, but all of us
are warranted by the history of Christian thought and by
the conditions of our day in looking for some way that
shall give larger expression to the true mind of Christ.
But this confidence in the sure development of church
unity, however well justified, is not of itself a substitute
for clear thinking or earnest effort. Union when it comes
wfll be what we who unite make it. What, then, can we
say to describe its character and to define the methods
by which it is to be realized?
In what follows we shall consider in succession :
I. The principles which define the nature of the union
to be sought.
2. The principles which define the method by which
it is to be attained.
3. The conclusions which follow as to some of the next
steps to be taken.
I. Principles Which Define the Nature of the
Union to Be Sought
I. The union that we seek must be a positive, not a
negative, union, that is to say, a union which grows out
of definite convictions held in common and definite pur
poses shared. Nothing can stand or satisfy that is not
bulk on the truth. And the central truth for the Chris
tian is the revelation which God has made of Himself in
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. To the Christian

THE FUTURE 329
Jesus Christ is the first and the last, the center of afl
things. Hence the forms of union for which the spirit of
unity is seeking must rest upon definite convictions con
cerning Him, grow out of real experience of life with
Him, and utter themselves in common purposes of unsel
fish and ministering action in His service. No other prin
ciple of union can avail because no other does full justice
to the truth. There may be truth in other principles, but if
so it is only because such principles are partial expressions
of the truth which is in Christ and which He is. The
deepest impulse to the larger union for which the Chris
tian spirit is seeking is the necessity of such a union as
the condition of a further experience of Christ by the
Church and a fuller expression of Christ to the world.
2. It must be a union which is the expression of
freedom. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
The Church that would be truly Christian must increase,
not abridge, the freedom and power of its members. It
is because all our existing forms of organization, whether
denominational or cooperative, either contract Christian
freedom or provide inadequately for its exercise that the
Christian spirit is discontented with them. The fear
which is often expressed that new measures or forms of
union will hamper freedom and impose restraint is an
honorable and just fear, but it needs to be brought un
flinchingly to bear also upon all existing institutions. Our
denominational organizations can not be exempted from
its test. Do they limit Christian fellowship? Do they
exclude any whom Christ accepts? Are they narrower
than "the communion of the saints," in which all Chris
tians affirm their belief ? Is there truth or are there pro
portions and relations of truth beyond their formularies?
If so, are they not found inadequate before the legiti
mate Christian demand for "perfect liberty," the freedom
wherewith Christ would make us free? The American
colonies found more freedom, not less, by uniting. That
experience may be even more true of the churches.

330 CHRISTIAN UNITY
3. It should be an inclusive, not an exclusive, union.
It must recognize and make room for the richness of his
toric tradition and of religious experience which the vari
ous groups of Christian behevers can bring. The whole
must be as great and rich as any of its parts. More than
this, the whole must be greater and richer than any of
its parts. And more even than this, the whole must be
more than all its parts. The body is more than the mere
mathematical or physical total of its members. It has a
life which animates all its members while they bring their
service to it. It is this fulness of life and power of the
whole and complete body which we lack today, and which
the movement toward unity is seeking. We must aim,
therefore, at comprehension, not at omission and elision.
It is an old saying that men are usually right in what they
affirm and wrong in what they deny. No doubt, it is a
saying of limited truthfulness, since every affirmation in
volves a denial. But it is a saying of substantial truth
fulness, nevertheless. Our human affirmations are often
half-truths, partial apprehensions, side glimmers. They
are not the truth, but only part of it, and what they leave
out is another part of it. The full truth is something more
than the total of what we affirm and of what those affirm
who need to join us and whom we need to join, that to
gether we may be richer than we were apart, and together
seek for the truth that is still beyond us all. Whoever
holds his truth in Christ is needed in the union which the
Christian spirit has ever sought after, bringing his truth
with him.
And there is truth in Christ which all whom this union
would unite have not yet apprehended and will not appre
hend until they "all attain unto the unity of the faith, and
of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ ; that we may be no longer children, tossed to and
fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but

THE FUTURE 331
speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him,
who is the head, even Christ; from whom all the body
fitly framed and knit together through that which every
joint suppheth, according to the working in due measure
of each several part, maketh the increase of the body
unto the building up of itself in love." There is no prin
ciple of exclusion, or impoverishment recognized here,
but an ideal of common wealth won by common life and
united experience and service. Let every company of
Christians and every church which bears Christ's name
bring in whatever it has and prizes of doctrinal view, of
ritual, of devotion, of principle of well-doing. Let it hold
it fast; only let it share it in the Christian spirit with all
who wish to share it. And still there wfll be room for
new discoveries of the truth and grace and beauty of God
in Christ, discoveries which will only then have been
made possible.
4. It should be a union, therefore, which makes room
within the central organization for lesser but still highly
developed unities which can function, within the sphere
allotted to them, with the same freedom and responsibil
ity with which the whole functions in its larger sphere.
It cannot be too often or too clearly shown that unity
is not uniformity. It never has been ; it is not now ; it
will not be in the Church of the future. Unity of spirit
and truth actually prevails widely today among Chris
tians. It is found among men of the most diverse names
and associations. Even though they disavow one another,
their disavowal is vain ; for anyone who looks upon them
from without perceives that what they have in common
is vastly more than that which divides them. But this
existing unity does not mean uniformity. And if a Chris
tian unity already exists among men whose religious Hfe
expresses itself through different Christian organizations,
there would seem to be no reason why the same freedom
and diversity may not mark the comprehensive Church of
the future. Indeed, it may well prove to be the case that

332 CHRISTIAN UNITY
in the larger union which the Christian spirit seeks there
will not only be room for all the varieties of forms and
views which are now possible in Christ, but that provision
may be made for expressing these varieties in ways which
do not involve the narrowing and limiting effect of our
present divisions.
We must never forget that whatever losses may have
been involved in the past divisions of the Christian
Church, there has been on the other hand a compensating
and enriching gain. As we look back over history,
whether in the Church or in the State, we see a develop
ment of alternating tendencies. For a period the move
ment toward unity prevafls, and then for another period
the movement toward freedom. But these movements
are not ultimately exclusive. Each exists for the other.
The periods of separation and of divisive Hberty have had
as their result the enlargement of the contribution that
each group may make to the common and corporate life.
The thirteen colonies brought each a distinctive offering
to the united national stock. The union which we seek will
be rich and essential in proportion as the forces and insti
tutions which will compose it have developed to the ut
most the possibilities of the trusts committed to them and
bring these to the common store. For that reason the
srongest denominational life and energy is to be rejoiced
over, if only it conceives itself in terms not of exclusive
privilege but of common responsibihty. Those who have
experienced most will have most to give. This is the law
of life and power throughout the Kingdom of God.
5. It should be a union which is based upon the spirit
of Christian unity already existing and which grows nat
urally out of it. It is often said that new experiences of
Christian unity will spring from the effort to go beyond
our present divisions and to provide new forms of union ;
but it is equally clear that we shall go forward only as we
clearly recognize the spirit of unity already here. The
breadth and pOwer of this existing spirit of unity must

THE FUTURE 333
be acknowledged. They are recognized by this Commit
tee with deep gratitude and joy. Our own experience in
working together is unanswerable evidence to us of the
depth and reality of the underlying unity which now pre
vails among the churches. And this evidence is before
everyone's eyes. Let there be a gathering anywhere of
clergy or laymen or women from the evangelical churches
to consider the testimony or work of the Church in the
world today, and no one unacquainted with those who
have gathered could tell to which body of Christians each
speaker belonged. The body of common Christian doc
trine, of common modes of action, of common Christian
experience and devotion, of common apologetic, of com
mon practical appHcation of Christianity to human life
throughout the world today is so great that it is perfectly
true to say that in spirit we are one now. There is room,
of course, for a still deeper unity of spirit, but that is
not our most pressing lack. Primary among our duties
is the duty of providing adequate forms to express the
unity which we already possess.
In this attempt, no doubt, we shall encounter difficul
ties. Nothing is to be gained by ignoring the fact that
there are bodies of Christians who are now unwilling to
unite with other Christians. Some extend this unwilling
ness further than others, and decline practically all forms
of cooperative action. It must be recognized, also, that
some Christians who hold the idea of union define the
conditions essential to it in such a way that others are
unable to assent to them. Yet all these Christians rec
ognize as in the body of Christ Christians who are not
members of their own communions. Are not these
two attitudes inconsistent with each other? Is it really a
tenable position to regard others as in the body of Christ
and yet to refuse to unite with them ? Can it be right to
demand as necessary to Christian union more than is nec
essary to Christian unity? More may be desirable, no
doubt. Yet even the present lines of church membership

334 CHRISTIAN UNITY
are so drawn as to include much that is recognized as not
fully Christian. If it be true, as all admit, that men can
be in Christ and yet be far from perfected, it is equally
true that men can be in a church which claims to have all
the essential marks and credentials of a church, and yet
be far from perfected. Surely, the union which Chris
tians seek ought to correspond as closely as possible to
the fundamental Christian facts, and is not the fundamen
tal Christian fact the fact of individual and corporate re
lationship to Christ, our Lord? And ought not those
things only be regarded as fundamental and essential to
union which are fundamental and essential to Christian
discipleship and to that life in Christ which all are pre
pared to recognize as true? Of course those who wish
more than this must not be prohibited from it in a true
and comprehensive Christian union. But can any who
have this be rightfully excluded ?
We may learn a clear lesson here from the family.
Unity prevails there far more fully than in any other part
of our social experience. The unity of the family is an
indestructible fact. A father cannot unson his son, nor a
brother unbrother his brother. Moreover, the family is
the fundamental human institution, to which Christianity
has given a new sanctity. And the State and the Church,
the other two great institutions in the divine order of
human society, cohere to the extent that they are able to
realize the kind of unity which exists in the Christian
family. The deepest element of union within each de
nomination is the measure in which the denomination em
bodies the family principle, recognizing the legitimacy
of differences in gifts and views but allowing no differ
ence to break the bond of the common life. Why may
we not work far more boldly and extensively with this
principle? The whole Church is a family, and ought to
be conceived as such. We should refuse to recognize
division or exclusiveness as anything else than a vain and
impossible denial of facts that cannot be altered by refus-

THE FUTURE 335
ing to recognize them. How can those who cafl God
Father and who recognize one another's right to do so
escape the family impHcations and obligations of this
common prayer?
Such, then, are some of the characteristics of the union
which is to be sought. It must be, first, a union which is
positive and not negative, founded in loyalty to Christ
and in God's revelation in Him. Secondly, it must be a
union which is consistent with freedom, a union which
conserves the truth for which each of the uniting groups
has contended in the past. And to that end it should be,
in the third place, an inclusive, not an exclusive union,
providing for the variety of interpretation and of experi
ence which we find in the existing churches. It must then,
in the fourth place, make room within its central organi
zation for lesser but still highly developed unities, which
can function within their own spheres with a large degree
of freedom and responsibihty. And, finally, whatever
union we are to reach must be based upon the spiritual
unity already existing and must grow naturally out of it.
Such being the nature of the union to be sought, how
is it to be brought about ?
II. Principles Which Define the Method to Be
Followed
I. If we have correctly defined the character of the
union to be sought it is clear, in the first place, that no
attempt to solve the problem by approaching it solely from
the point of view of the relations between the denomina
tions can hope to be successful. There is a parallel proc
ess of importance which must go on within the existing
denominations. They, too, must learn to think and feel
and work as one, and to that end they must provide the
appropriate organs through which this growing con
sciousness of denominational unity may find expression
in effective common action. In many cases this is not the

336 CHRISTIAN UNITY
situation today. Many denominations are diffusely and
inefficiently organized for their own work. The war ex
perience showed how unprepared some of them were for
the stress of a sudden emergency. For both missionary
and educational work some churches are unprovided
either with the requisite machinery, or with adequate
ideals of obligation and capacity, or with both. Others
do not have such a central agency continuously function
ing in the name of the denomination as a whole as could
readily cooperate with other denominations. Weak ele
ments like these could only form weak units in a larger
union. The union would indeed give them a great deal
that they lack, but it would give them more if they
brought more as their contribution. Since the whole de
pends for its strength on the strength of its parts, no
union composed of elements which are themselves inef
fective can be efficient.
It is true that in the past this strengthening of denom
inational machinery has too often proved an increased
obstacle to Christian cooperation and fellowship. It has
tended to make the group more satisfied with its own life
and its own achievement, apart from the life of the rest.
But once put the individual denomination in its place as
part of the one great Church of Christ, and the entire
significance of the movement for denominational unity is
altered. The motive becomes no longer a seeking of its
own growth but the growth of the Kingdom of God.
Each communion, then, makes itself strong in order that
it may do effectively that part of the whole work which
may be assigned to it to do.
2. In the second place, the union to be attained among
the denominations must take its departure from whatever
cooperation and union already exist, and bufld definitely
on this foundation. There must, of course, be a will
ingness to discard any part of our present -machinery
which experience shall show to be unnecessary. But we
cannot make progress by ignoring what has already been

THE FUTURE 337
achieved. We must, therefore, strengthen the existing
agencies for united action wherever they are weak and
supply them where they are lacking, whether in the com
munity or in the Church as a whole.
And it is essential to simplify and unify as much as
possible the existing agencies of cooperation. We do not
mean that there is not room for the richest expression
of individual temperaments and ideals of service and
duty. Of all the forces in the world Christianity is and
should be the most affluent in such varieties of personal
and group action. We do mean that the standard coop
erative activities, the normal and necessary corporate
combinations of Christian endeavor, might wisely be
made both more simple and more unified. At the present
time many intelligent Christian people are greatly con
fused. They do not know the differences and the relation
ships between the interdenominational movements that
are seeking church unity by various roads. They do not
know the respective spheres of work of various existing
cooperative agencies. In some cases these differences
and relationships and spheres of work have not been ade
quately defined. In other cases those who are directly
engaged in the movements and agencies concerned may
understand them quite clearly, while the Christian public
does not.
This difficulty is largely due to the fact that the coop
erative movement has been so largely the expression of
the voluntary effort of individuals or small groups. It
has not as yet back of it the definite and sustained support
of the churches themselves, either in men or in money.
This situation must be changed. Where agencies of co
operation have been established and accepted by the
churches, as is the case of many of those which we have
been studying in the present report, it is surely desirable
to trust to them as much activity and service as possible.
To set up such agencies and not to commit real respon
sibility to them, to authorize them to operate in certain

338 CHRISTIAN UNITY
fields of service and at the same time to aflow the sep
arate organizations which are parties to the cooperation
to continue the same full measure of action which they
would carry on if there were no agency of cooperation,
is simply to multiply machinery and to duplicate motion
without increase of economy or efficiency. We ought to
discover how much work we can do cooperatively and
then do it cooperatively. Our cooperative committees
should be trusted to do for us, or rather we should do
through them, what we should otherwise have to do alone,
but what we can thus save ourselves from doing alone.
We shall make long progress if within the next few
years we actually commit enlarging tasks to our present
cooperative agencies, and if these agencies warrant our
trust by doing service for us which we could not do
separately. But such effective responsibility can be secured only
if our agencies of cooperative action are made frankly
and fairly and officially representative. This principle
involves at the present time many limitations which un
representative or non-responsible action would escape,
but it is the only method of sure and substantial progress.
It is true that it is difficult in many movements to calcu
late a just basis of representation and to create a truly
representative character for them. It is even more diffi
cult to go forward rapidly or to seize unforeseen oppor
tunities when the action taken must command approval
from a wide and varied and conservative constituency.
These difficulties must be candidly recognized and ac
cepted. They are the unavoidable conditions of advance.
If we could ignore them we might seem to be building
more rapidly for a time, but should inevitably discover
that we had been fatally at fault in neglecting the foun
dations of the structure.
3. Pending the consummation of the larger unity which
is the final goal, afl lesser unities should be effected by the
way. The union of separate famihes within a single de-

THE FUTURE 339
nomination, of groups of closely related denominations,
and of philanthropic and missionary agencies in continu
ation committees and councils is all clear gain. At the
present time there are many such projects of union under
consideration by cognate or affiliated churches. The Meth
odist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, are working together upon plans of com
plete organic union. The Presbyterian and' Reformed
Churches have before them various plans, some of organic
ecclesiastical union, some of federal union, some of union
of their missionary agencies. These movements are only
illustrative of others. Some who are opposed to schemes
of general union favor these unions in kindred denomi
nations. Among those who believe in the ideal of the
largest union two views are found. On the one hand are
those who disapprove these partial unions, fearing that
they will satisfy those who are involved in them and so
create a stronger denominational barrier to wider union.
On the other hand are those who favor these unions as
right in themselves, and as preparing the way for the
larger end. It seems to us that the latter is the wise
view. Whatever unites men more corporately and more
visibly and more truly in Christ appears to us to be good
and right. And experience seems to show that progress
toward larger union is hindered not by the consumma
tion of these preliminary unions but by their unconcluded
discussion. So long as such plans are under discussion
but undetermined, the attention of the denomination is
naturally absorbed in them and the view prevails that
other questions must await their decision. Let all such
unions be hastened for their own sake and for the sake
of the larger unity still to be.
4. It must be recognized that in the matter of church
union as elsewhere the path of knowledge leads through
action. It is by working together at the tasks which we
all agree are set us by Christ that we shall discover and
develop that inner unity of spirit that will make possible

340 CHRISTIAN UNITY
larger changes in organization and polity. Action is al
ways educative. The moment Christian men set out to
gether for the accomplishment of any great Christian
tasks they enter upon new illuminations. They begin to
see what had not been clear before and new apprehensions
lead to new purposes. If any lesson has been taught us
clearly by the war it is this. We need to apply what we
have learned to the new tasks of peace. We are facing
great problems that are manifestly impossible for any of
us alone and soluble at all only as we face them together.
The task of Christian education in a day when our pub
lic education is practically divorced from definite reli
gious content, the task of Christianizing all phases of
our social life, the task of fulfilling our missionary re
sponsibility to the non-Christian world and of securing
international brotherhood — all these and others are com
mon obligations resting clearly on us all. Definitely to
undertake together such indivisible tasks is the obvious
pathway of advance toward union.
5. In the meantime certain habits of mind and of tem
per must be sedulously cultivated — the habit of thinking
of others' interests as if they were our own, of trying to
enter into the nature of their experience and to see things
as they see them, of inculcating in those whom we can in
fluence this catholic and sympathetic spirit and of making
place for it in our educational program and in our reli
gious pubhcations; above afl, of complete frankness and
confidence in our dealing with one another. The end we
seek cannot be furthered by anything calculated or poHtic
or reserved or managed. It can be furthered only by
candor, unselfishness, sincerity, openness, and absolute
good faith. All discussions and projects and arrange
ments, all movements and associations, must rest and pro
ceed upon perfect honesty and clear understanding. There
must be no hidden devices or secret schemes, no smoke
screens under which agreements are stretched beyond the
wifling purpose of those who entered them, with the re-

THE FUTURE 341
suit that men find themselves committed to liabilities of
expense or project which they had not accepted but from
which they cannot escape. In all our effort we must ex
ercise full good faith toward one another, attributing to
others the same honesty of motive of which we are con
scious in ourselves and illustrating in all our ecclesiastical,
practical, or human relations that higher sense of honor
and charity which alone becomes the disciples of Christ.
To this end we should seek to multiply in every pos
sible way our points of contact with one another, not
simply as individual Christians, but as organized Chris
tian bodies. The increase of interdenominational ac
quaintance and friendship and of the oneness of motive,
temper, and viewpoint among believers, due to many in
fluences, is leading us onward to a unity of mind and of
procedure which often makes the maintenance of our
divisions difficult or even anomalous. We should trust
more fully this great body of unified life and method
which we possess in common. We should provide at
once for fufler mutual conference as to our denomina
tional plans and programs. We should all be able to
plan more efficiently and sensibly in consequence. De
nominational secretiveness and the separatism and isola
tion of denominational policy are an injury to the body
which falls into such courses and to the whole body
of Christians, who should act together in fufl mutual
confidence and with the power of one comprehensive plan
of action. To do so would abridge no liberties and it
would avoid wastes and duplications and immensely in
crease the power of the impact of Christianity upon
the world.
To sum up, then, the method of our approach to the
problem of union: We should take our departure from
the union which already exists and with that in view
should strengthen the existing agencies for united action,
whether denominational or interdenominational, so that
they may become fully unified, representative, and re-

342 CHRISTIAN UNITY
sponsible. While looking for the consummation of the
completer union we desire, we should welcome and pro
mote the effecting of afl lesser unions by the way. We
should recognize that the way to fuller union is through
common action on behalf of the ends upon which we now
agree and in the spirit of the unity we now possess. In
aU our dealings with one another as individuals and as
Christian communions we should cultivate frankness,
sympathy, and mutual acquaintance, sharing with each
other our plans and programs, and to that end should
multiply our points of contact, so that misunderstanding
may be avoided and that common consciousness be cre
ated which shafl prove the parent of still closer union
in the future.
III. Consequences for the Future
If what we have said above be true, three things at
least are necessary in order to make progress toward our
goal. We must see clearly what needs to be done; we
must provide the agencies for doing it; we must inspire
the will to use these agencies with a whole-heartedness
and enthusiasm which will guarantee success.
I. First and most important as an influence in pro
moting union wfll be a clear vision of the goal for the
sake of which union is sought. A comprehensive under
standing of the world's need in the light of the resources
of the Church as a whole is thus the precondition of
any adequate program of united endeavor. This involves,
of course, sympathetic study. And the results of such
study and survey must be made part of the common con
sciousness of the Church as a whole. Such a result can
not be attained by the efforts of a limited group of men,
however well trained and devoted. All Christians must
form the habit of systematic study of afl the problems in
volved in this whole complicated matter of the union of the
Hfe and power and experience of the Christian Church.
Knowledge and love are the remedy for ignorance and

THE FUTURE 343
misunderstanding, and there are few more serious ob
stacles in our pathway toward fufler unity than the mis
conceptions which prevail among Christians as to the
ideals, experience, and plans of their fellow-Chris
tians. This lack of understanding must be removed and
it can be removed only by open-minded study of the facts
and by the contacts of Christian fellowship. How this
is to be done in detail is not for us to say. It cannot, how
ever, be too strongly insisted that the ideal of a common
facing of the world task of the Church, which the Inter
church World Movement proposed, should not be aban
doned, but be carried forward to a success that has not
yet been attained.
2. Although organization alone cannot accomplish what
is needed, it has its necessary place. Four kinds of
agencies are now at the disposal of the Church, each
of which has an indispensable part to play, in moving
toward the goal of unity — the denomination, the interde
nominational agency, the affiliated organizations of an
undenominational character, and the local church. That
each may function to its fullest effectiveness the follow
ing steps would seem desirable.
Within each denomination the unifying agencies now
in existence should be strengthened, and where they do
not exist should be supplied, so that there can be some
body which has authority to cooperate with similar bodies
in other churches in such common utterances and action
as all 'agree to be necessary. The interdenominational
cooperation which now exists as a fact in various agencies
should be made explicit, and adopted by each denomina
tion as a definite and fully recognized part of the denom
ination's program. Between the existing interdenomina
tional organizations there should be conference as to
their respective spheres and responsibilities, with a view
to building up a single responsible federal council, or
other central agency, through which the different inter
ests of the churches should be cleared. This council

344 CHRISTIAN UNITY
should consist of official representatives of the different
churches, definitely chosen for the purpose, and in a
position to give to the work all the time and thought
that may be needed. Their relation to the central authori
ties of their respective churches should be like that of
the liaison officers in the army, whose function it was to
interpret the cooperating bodies to one another and to
secure unity of plan and procedure. The expenses of this
central council should be borne by the cooperating
agencies. It should represent the churches on all mat
ters of common interest, except those provided for by
such specialized agencies as the Home Missions Coun
cil, the Foreign Missions Conference, the Council of
Church Boards of Education, the Sunday School Coun
cil, and others which are charged with special responsi
bility in particular spheres. These should be definitely
related to the central council, should have representation
upon it, and be recognized by it as acting for the churches
in the field assigned. For the territory not covered by
these agencies, but now occupied by the commissions of
the Federal Council, provision should be made by com
missions similar to those now in existence, but having
more official and representative character, consisting of
members appointed for the purpose by the cooperating
bodies and financed by them.
While such a central organization works from the
center of the movement toward unity, and is the agent
through which the united purpose of the churches
would find expression as far as developed, it would
not necessarily cover the whole field. There would re
main a territory to be occupied by voluntary agencies,
closely related in sympathy to the central body, and
sharing in its counsels from time to time, but retaining
a freedom in experiment not possible to it. Most im
portant of these would be the Young Men's and the
Young Women's Christian Associations. Through
these agencies new experiments are continually being

THE FUTURE 345
tried, and new experience gained which in time may
affect the policy of the central body. Their program
and that of the interdenominational agencies should be
jointly agreed upon, to avoid duplication and rivalry.
And while these movements are proceeding in the
larger field of the church life of the country as a whole
a parallel development must be taking place in the local
communities. When all is said and done it will inevitably
be found that we cannot build a better structure than we
have laid the foundation for in the local church. Unless
the problem of unity is being solved theire, through such
movements as those represented by the community church
in the small villages and the federation of churches in
the cities, it is not likely to be solved satisfactorily any
where. Cooperation and union between denominations
can never become really vital except as they grow nat
urally out of a spirit of unity which is created in the
church home where men and women are being trained in
their understanding of the meaning of the Christian life
and the nature of the Church.
Less easy to define would be the relation of the feder
ation movement to the proposal for organic union in the
narrower sense. In view of differing attitudes toward the
latter, the relation would have to remain informal and
unofficial. Complete organic unity would remain the aspi
ration of those whose eyes were fixed on the distant goal.
Federal union would form the means through which the
goal may be ultimately realized, if the contacts and the
feflowship thus developed make organic union seem desir
able and practicable. In the meantime both those who
seek organic union and those who do not believe it wise
can meet in entire good faith in such an organization as
the Federal Councfl, existing for the one purpose of
expressing the degree of unity to which we have already
attained. Such membership provides the opportunity for
those increasing contacts through which the spiritual unity
of believers can be revealed and enlarged.

346 CHRISTIAN UNITY
3. For this expanding program of unity, a common
consciousness must be developed on the part of the rank
and file of Christians. This would involve more adequate
educational agencies for carrying the spirit and the mes
sage of unity into all the churches. Such a program
of education it is certainly not for us to outline in formal
detail, but it would seem to us to include such features
as the following:
a. A joint program of study of the principles and
practice of church unity similar to that carried on by the
Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook, but
on a larger and more representative scale.
b. An organ, perhaps similar to the International Re
view of Missions but covering the whole sphere of coop
erative work, through which the results of this study and
the facts concerning interdenominational movements
could be made known to the whole Church.
c. Provision for the treatment of church cooperation
and unity in the educational program of colleges and
seminaries, and in various conferences of Christians held
from time to time, especially the student conferences.
d. A deeper spirit of consecration, due to the facing
of the Church's whole task in all its length and breadth.
As the war through its appeal to definite consecration
to a specific task called forth reserves of unselfishness
and self-sacrifice hitherto unsuspected, so in the world's
need, when clearly apprehended, there is a dynamic which
will supply the appeal we need for the united effort of a
united Church. And out of our experience of doing the
will of Christ we shafl find our way to the answer to His
prayer for the Church.
But we must be ready to pay the price of unity. Every
good is costly. The redemption of the world cost the life
of the Redeemer. The foundation of the Church was
laid in toil and pain, in the life and death of prophets,
saints, apostles, martyrs. Every step forward in the

THE FUTURE 347
achievement of the divine will for man has had to be
paid for with a great price. Each of the great religious
movements so dear to us, and each of the denominational
traditions which we cherish, cost more to begin than it
costs the present generation to maintain. The next
advance step will perhaps cost even more heavily. The
mistakes which are likely to be made will be expensive
and the successes will not be less so. Individuals must
be ready to enter into larger experiences and to suffer
the wrenches and breakups necessary to make room for
richer relationships and fuller life. Prejudices which
have passed themselves off as principles must yield
to principles which are true. Denominations must pre
pare themselves for such a fulfilment of their mission
as came to John the Baptist. Their names are not found
in the New Testament. They have no claim to per
petuity. The New Testament Church was described by
none of our adjectives, neither Catholic, Roman, Protes
tant, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, nor
Episcopalian. We must be ready, when the time comes,
to yield our adjectives for the sake of the one substantial
Church which is not many but one.
If we are ready to take this attitude we may be sure
of the result. This is the final conclusion to which we
have been led by our study. At every stage of it we have
been conscious of having been in touch with a great
living movement which nothing can stop. If anything
could end it, the weaknesses and errors and failings of
men would have ended it long ago. They would end
it today. But it is a movement whose origin guarantees
its ultimate success. Our Lord prayed that all Qiristians
might be one, in the deepest and most vital unity of
which we can conceive. That for which our Lord prayed
cannot fail.

APPENDIX I
MOVEMENTS TOWARD UNION IN OTHER
COUNTRIES
The desire for church union and attempts to secure
it are more pronounced than ever not only in the United
States but also in practically all parts of the world.
Some of the movements abroad are associated with sim
ilar ones in our own country, and in many other cases
afford at least a close parallel. They need, therefore,
to be considered in any account of progress toward union
in the United States.
We may take as a date for beginning the present ac
count the year 1886, when the House of Bishops of the
Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States made
a declaration of four general articles as "a sufficient
statement of the Christian faith." In the following year
this "Quadrilateral" was adopted with some minor
changes by the Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops.
As modified, it reads as follows :
"i. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testa
ments as 'containing all things necessary to salvation,'
and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith. 2.
The Apostles' Creed as the baptismal Symbol, and the
Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian
faith. 3. The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Him
self — Baptism and the Supper of the Lord — ministered
with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution and of
the elements ordained by Him. 4. The Historic Episco
pate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration
to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called
of God into the Unity»of His Church."
During the following decade this Quadrilateral occa-
349

350 CHRISTIAN UNITY
sioned much discussion, which, however, graduafly sub
sided without having led to any practical steps for re
union. Yet its influence has not been lost in subsequent
conferences and efforts for church unity. Succeeding
Lambeth Conferences have adopted general declarations
urging efforts and prayer for union, notably that of the
Lambeth Conference in the year 1908 inviting members
of different communions to hold conferences for the
mutual consideration of their relations and the cause of
reunion. In this utterance these words occur, which have
been caught up and often repeated as a rallying cafl:
"We seek not compromise but comprehension, not uni
formity but unity." In the following year there came
from the United States the cafl for the World Confer
ence on Faith and Order, the development of which has
been discussed elsewhere in this volume.
The National Council of the Evangelical Free Churches
in England has for twenty-five years served to facflitate
fraternal intercourse and cooperation among the Free
Churches. It has brought church leaders together in a
most useful way but in a non-representative capacity.
It seems to be agreed, therefore, that while it has played
a large part in stimulating and inspiring the movement,
its present organization is not such as to be adequate for
the future. The possibility of Free Church Union has
therefore been proposed, and an official deputation was
appointed by the Free Church Council three or four years
ago to hold conferences with accredited representatives
of the churches on the subject. A basis for federal union
was put forth which has now been adopted by most of
the leading evangelical denominations. It is known as
the Federal Council of the Evangelical Free Churches
of England. The first meetings have already been held.
The movement for the reunion of the Free Churches
and the Church of England is growing in influence. A
joint committee of Anglicans and Nonconformists has
held several unofficial conferences. In the Second In-

APPENDIX I 351
terim Report of the committee' discussing matters of
faith and order, there was, on the one hand, a recognition
of Nonconformist communions as churches by the An
glican members, and, on the other hand, a statement by
the Nonconformist members that in the united Church
there would be a place 'for an episcopacy if it took a con
stitutional form. It was agreed that acceptance of the
fact of the episcopacy and not any theory as to its char
acter was all that should be required.
What promises to be a landmark in the movement to
ward organic union not only in England but elsewhere
was .the recent pronouncement of the Lambeth Confer
ence (August, 1920) on the subject of reunion.' It
manifests a more generous appreciation of the Free
Church point of view than any former Lambeth state
ment. It recognizes all baptized Christians as members
of the Church universal, saying that "the one body needs
not to be made, nor to be remade, but to become organic
and visible." The repudiation of any past ministry or
the absorption of any communion is disavowed. The
plea for the episcopate is put forward in a conciliatory
way, urging that it is the method for giving the authority
of the whole Church to the ministry and that "the office
of a bishop should be everywhere exercised in a repre
sentative and constitutional manner." It is suggested
that in order to secure a general acceptance of one min
istry, Anglican bishops and clergy would probably "will
ingly accept a form of commission or recognition" from
the authorities of other churches, and it is hoped "that
the same motive would lead ministers who have not re
ceived it to accept a commission through episcopal ordi
nation." If it could be made entirely clear that this in
volves only extension of the existing ministry and not

'For this report and other significant pronouncements on the
subject of reunion, see "Approaches towards Christian Unity,"
edited by Newman Smyth and Williston Walker, New Haven,
1919. ^The statement is printed as a whole as Appendix III.

352 CHRISTIAN UNITY
reordination, a long step ahead may be in sight. The
vexed question of state-establishment in England is not
raised. The terms of the new Lambeth proposal are expressed
as follows : "The Holy Scriptures, as the record of God's
revelation of himself to man, and as being the rule and
ultimate standard of faith; and the creed commonly
called Nicene, as the sufficient statement of the Chris
tian faith, and either it or the Apostles' creed as the bap
tismal confession of belief; the divinely instituted sacra
ments of baptism and the holy communion, as expressing
for all the corporate life of the whole fellowship in and
with Christ ; a ministry acknowledged by every part of
the Church as possessing not only the inward call of the
Spirit but also the commission of Christ and the authority
of the whole body."
One point deserving special attention in connection
with the Lambeth Conference is the resolution urging
the churches to join in councils for united effort along
various lines of service :
"The Conference recommends that, wherever it has
not already been done, councils representing all Chris
tian communions should be formed within such areas as
may be deemed most convenient, as centers of united
effort to promote the physical, moral, and social welfare
of the people, and the extension of the rule of Christ
among all nations and over every region of human life."
The action of the Lambeth Conference is, of course,
merely an expression of opinion and has no binding
authority. But that such opinion should have been ex
pressed almost unanimously by the archbishops and
bishops of the whole Anglican Church can hardly help
having far-reaching effects.
In Canada a vigorous movement for the organic union
of the Presbyterian, the Methodist, and the Congrega
tional Churches has been in progress since 1902. In
1909-1910, after preliminary conferences in previous

APPENDIX I 353
years, the approval of the three churches was sought for
a basis of union for "The United Church of Canada."
In all three churches a substantial majority of the
members voted in the affirmative, but the Presbyterian
Church, in which the majority was smallest (being about
sixty-five per cent), felt that it was wiser to wait for the
consummation of the union tifl sentiment for it might
become more widespread. Here the matter now stands
awaiting further action by the Presbyterian Church.
Meanwhfle interdenominational cooperation, both in such
national agencies as the Social Service Council and
in local union or federated churches, is increasing.
In Australia in 1906- 1907 committees on union of An
glicans and Presbyterians formulated a series of resolu
tions looking toward union, by providing for the recip
rocal conferring upon the clergy of the two bodies "all
the rights and privileges necessary for the exercise of
their office in the united Church." This attempt to find
a solution of the problem of orders has not, however,
resulted in any definite step.
A more promising movement in Australia today seems
to be for the organic union of the Methodist, Presby
terian, and Congregational Churches. A basis of doctrine
and polity was agreed upon at a conference in Septem
ber, 1918, then submitted to the General Assembly of
the Presbyterian Church, the Congregational Union of
Australia and New Zealand, and the Methodist General
Conference of Australia, and approved (with some res
ervations and suggested amendments) by each of these
bodies for submission to the local congregations. The
voting thus far by the smaller units — state assemblies,
presbyteries, quarterly meetings, etc. — of the three
churches reveals large majorities, except in the case of
the Presbyterians where the majorities have usually
been by small margins. The opposing Presbyterians in
certain areas, however, are promoting the idea of an
effective federation in the place of present organic union.

354 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Besides these movements discussed in the foregoing
paragraphs, various consolidations of ecclesiastical bodies
of the same denominational family have been undertaken,
and in some instances accomplished, in Canada, Scotland,
and Australasia, as wefl as in mission fields. The union
of the several branches of Methodism in Canada ; of the
Free Christian Baptists, the Free Baptists, and the Bap
tists in Canada ; of the Methodists and the Wesleyans in
New Zealand; and of the Free and the United Presby
terian Churches in Scotland are cases in point. Some of
the unions on the mission field have been mentioned in
another chapter.'
Efforts for the recognition of Anglican orders by the
Roman Catholic Church took place between 1890 and
1896. Lord Halifax, the president of the English Church
Union Society, after obtaining encouraging responses
from Abbe Portal and a few other CathoHc scholars
sought to have the question of the validity of Anghcan
orders submitted to the Pope. They failed to obtain,
however, any official advances from the Archbishops of
England towards the Vatican, but they succeeded in lay
ing the matter before the Pope for consideration. He ap
pointed a Commission and directed them to make a thor
ough inquiry into all the matters involved. As a result
of their careful investigation, Leo XIII issued an Apos
tolic Letter (Apostolicae Curae) on September 13, 1896,
in which he declared that "ordinations carried out ac
cording to the Anglican rite have been and are absolutely
null and utterly void."
Whfle of recent years many things have conspired to
promote a better understanding and mutual good will
between Protestants and Catholics, no further approaches
toward reunion have been made, except in the case of
the Commission on Faith and Order, whose proposal for
an ecumenical conference was declined by the Pope.

'See pp. 310-314.

APPENDIX II
PLAN OF THE AMERICAN COUNCIL ON
ORGANIC UNION
The following is the plan of union adopted by the
American Council on Organic Union of the Churches
of Christ, meeting in Philadelphia, Pa., February 3-6,
1920:
Preamble :
Whereas: We desire to share, as a common heritage,
the faith of the Christian Church, which has, from time
to time, found expression in great historic statements;
and Whereas: We all share belief in God our Father; in
Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Saviour; in the Holy
Spirit, our Guide and Comforter; in the Holy Catholic
Church, through which God's eternal purpose of salva
tion is to be proclaimed and the Kingdom of God is to be
realized on earth; in the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testaments as containing God's revealed will, and in the
life eternal; and
Whereas: Having the same spirit and owning the same
Lord, we none the less recognize diversity of gifts and
ministrations for whose exercise due "freedom must al
ways be afforded in forms of worship and in modes of
operation :
Plan:
Now, we the churches hereto assenting as hereinafter
provided in Article VI do hereby agree to associate our
selves in a visible body to be known as the "United
Churches of Christ in America," for the furtherance of
355

3S6 CHRISTIAN UNITY
the redemptive work of Christ in the world. This body
shall exercise in behalf of the constituent churches the
functions delegated to it by this instrument, or by subse
quent action of the constituent churches, which shall re
tain the full freedom at present enjoyed by them in all
matters not so delegated.
Accordingly, the churches hereto assenting and here
after thus associated in such visible body do mutually
covenant and agree as follows :
I. Autonomy in Purely Denominational Affairs
In the interest of the freedom of each and of the coop
eration of all, each constituent church reserves the right
to retain its creedal statements, its form of government
in the conduct of its own affairs, and its particular mode
of worship.
In taking this step, we look forward with confident
hope to that complete unity toward which we believe the
Spirit of God is leading us. Once we shall have coop
erated wholeheartedly, 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.
II. The Council (how constituted)
The United Churches of Christ in America shall act
through a Council and through such Executive and Judi
cial Commissions, or Administrative Boards, working
ad interim, as such Council may from time to time ap
point and ordain.
The Council shall convene as provided for in Article
VI and every second year thereafter. It may also be
convened at any time in such manner as its own rules
may prescribe. The Council shall be a representative
body. Each constituent church shall be entitled to represen-

APPENDIX II 357
tation therein by an equal number of ministers and of
lay members.
The basis of representation shall be : two ministers and
two lay members for the first one hundred thousand or
fraction thereof of its communicants ; and two ministers
and two lay members for each additional one hundred
thousand or major fraction thereof.
III. The Council (its working)
The Council shall adopt and promulgate its own by
laws and rules of procedure and order. It shall define
the functions of its own officers, prescribe the mode of
their selection and their compensation, if any. It shall
provide for its budget of expense by equitable apportion
ment of the same among the constituent churches through
their supreme governing or advisory bodies.
IV. Relation of Council and Constituent Churches
The supreme governing or advisory bodies of the con
stituent churches shall effectuate the decisions of the
Council by general or specific deliverance or other man
date whenever it may be required by the law of a partic
ular state, or the charter of a particular board, or other
ecclesiastical corporation; but, except as limited by this
plan, shall continue the exercise of their several powers
and functions as the same exist under the denominational
constitution. The Council shall give full faith and credit to the
authenticated acts and records of the several governing
or advisory bodies of the constituent churches.
V. Specific Functions of the Council
In order to prevent overlapping, friction, competition
or waste in the work of the existing denominational
boards or administrative agencies, and to further the effi
ciency of that degree of cooperation which they have
already achieved in their work at home and abroad :

358 CHRISTIAN UNITY
(a) The Council shall harmonize and unify the work
of the united churches.
(b) It shall direct such consolidation of their mission
ary activities as wefl as of particular churches in over-
churched areas as is consonant with the law of the land
or of the particular denomination affected. Such consol
idation may be progressively achieved, as by the uniting
of the boards or churches of any two or more constituent
denominations, or may be accelerated, delayed, or dis
pensed with, as the interests of the Kingdom of God may
require. (c) If and when any two or more constituent churches,
by their supreme governing or advisory bodies, submit
to the Council for its arbitrament any matter of mutual
concern, not hereby already covered, the Council shall
consider and pass upon such matter so submitted.
(d) The Council shall undertake inspirational and edu
cational leadership of such sort and measure as may be
proper, under the powers delegated to it by the constitu
ent churches in the fields of evangelism, social service,
religious education, and the like.
VI. The assent of each constituent church to this plan
shall be certified from its supreme governing or advisory
body by the appropriate officers thereof to the chairman
of the Ad Interim Committee, which shall have power
upon a two-thirds vote to convene the Council as soon as
the assent of at least six denominations shall have been
so certified.
VII. Amendments
This plan of organic union shall be subject to amend
ment only by the constituent churches, but the Council
may overture to such bodies any amendment which shall
have originated in said Council and shall have been
adopted by a three-fourths vote.

APPENDIX III
AN APPEAL TO ALL CHRISTIAN PEOPLE
From the Bishops Assembled in the Lambeth Conference
of 1920
We, Archbishops, Bishops Metropolitan, and other
Bishops of the Holy Catholic Church in full communion
with the Church of England, in Conference assembled,
realizing the responsibility which rests upon us at this
time, and sensible of the sympathy and the prayers of
many, both within and without our own Communion,
make this appeal to all Christian people.
We acknowledge all those who believe in our Lord
Jesus Christ, and have been baptized into the name of
the Holy Trinity, as sharing with us membership in the
universal Church of Christ which is His Body. We be
lieve that the Holy Spirit has called us in a very solemn
and special manner to associate ourselves in penitence and
prayer with all those who deplore the divisions of Chris
tian people, and are inspired by the vision and hope of a
visible unity of the whole Church.
I. We believe that God wifls fellowship. By God's
own act this fellowship was made in and through Jesus
Christ, and its life is in His Spirit. We believe that it is
God's purpose to manifest this fellowship, so far as this
world is concerned, in an outward, visible, and united
society, holding one faith, having its own recognized
officers, using God-given means of grace, and inspiring
all its members to the world-wide service of the Kingdom
of God. This is what we mean by the Catholic Church.
II. This united fellowship is not visibly in the world
today. On the one hand there are other ancient episcopal
Communions in East and West, to whom ours is bound
359

36o CHRISTIAN UNITY
by many ties of common faith and tradition. On the
other hand there are the great non-episcopal Commun
ions, standing for rich elements of truth, liberty, and life
which might otherwise have been obscured or neglected.
With them we are closely linked by many affinities, racial,
historical, and spiritual. We cherish the earnest hope
that all these Communions, and our own, may be led by
the Spirit into the unity of the Faith and of the knowl
edge of the Son of God. But in fact we are afl organ
ized in different groups, each one keeping to itself gifts
that rightly belong to the whole fellowship, and tending
to live its own life apart from the rest.
III. The causes of division lie deep in the past, and
are by no means simple or wholly blameworthy. Yet
none can doubt that self-wifl, ambition, and lack of char
ity among Christians have been principal factors in the
mingled process, and that these, together with blindness
to the sin of disunion, are still mainly responsible for the
breaches of Christendom. We acknowledge this condi
tion of broken fellowship to be contrary to God's wifl,
and we desire frankly to confess our share in the guilt
of thus crippling the Body of Christ and hindering the
activity of His Spirit.
IV. The times call us to a new outlook and new meas
ures. The Faith cannot be adequately apprehended and
the battle of the Kingdom cannot be worthily fought
while the body is divided, and is thus unable to grow up
into the fulness of the life of Christ. The time has come,
we believe, for all the separated groups of Christians to
agree in forgetting the things which are behind and reach
ing out towards the goal of a reunited Catholic Church.
The removal of the barriers which have arisen between
them will only be brought about by a new comradeship of
those whose faces are definitely set this way.
The vision which rises before us is that of a Church
genuinely Catholic, loyal to all Truth, and gathering into
its fellowship all 'who profess and call themselves Chris-

APPENDIX III 361
tians,' within whose visible unity all the treasures of
faith and order, bequeathed as a heritage by the past to
the present, shall be possessed in common, and made serv
iceable to the whole Body of Christ. Within this unity
Christian Communions now separated from one another
would retain much that has long been distinctive in their
methods of worship and service. It is through a rich
diversity of life and devotion that the unity of the whole
feflowship will be fulfilled.
V. This means an adventure of good will and still more
of faith, for nothing less is required than a new discovery
of the creative resources of God. To this adventure we
are convinced that God is now calling all the members
of His Church.
VI. We believe that the visible unity of the Church
will be found to involve the whole-hearted acceptance of :
The Holy Scriptures, as the record of God's rev
elation of Himself to man, and as being the rule and
ultimate standard of faith ; and the Creed commonly
called Nicene, as the sufficient statement of the
Christian faith, and either it or the Apostles' Creed
as the Baptismal confession of belief:
The divinely instituted sacraments of Baptism and
the Holy Communion, as expressing for all the cor
porate life of the whole fellowship in and with
Christ :
A ministry acknowledged by every part of the
Church as possessing not only the inward call of the
Spirit, but also the commission of Christ and the
authority of the whole body.
VII. May we not reasonably claim that the Episcopate
is the one means of providing such a ministry? It is not
that we call in question for a moment the spiritual reality
of the ministries of those Communions which do not pos
sess the Episcopate. On the contrary we thankfufly ac-

362 CHRISTIAN UNITY
knowledge that these ministries have been manifestly
blessed and owned by the Holy Spirit as effective means
of grace. But we submit that considerations alike of
history and of present experience justify the claim which
we make on behalf of the Episcopate. Moreover, we
would urge that it is now and wifl prove to be in the
future the best instrument for maintaining the unity and
continuity of the Church. But we gready desire that the
office of a Bishop should be everywhere exercised in a
representative and constitutional manner, and more truly
express all that ought to be involved for the life of the
Christian Family in the title of Father-in-God. Nay
more, we eagerly look forward to the day when through
its acceptance in a united Church we may all share in
that grace which is pledged to the members of the whole
body in the apostolic rite of the laying-on of hands, and
in the joy and fellowship of a Eucharist in which as one
Family we may together, without any doubtfulness of
mind, offer to the one Lord our worship and service.
VIII. We believe that for all, the truly equitable ap
proach to union is by the way of mutual deference to one
another's consciences. To this end, we who send forth
this appeal would say that if the authorities of other
Communions should so desire, we are persuaded that,
terms of union having been otherwise satisfactorily ad
justed. Bishops and clergy of our Communion would will
ingly accept from these authorities a form of commission
or recognition which would commend our ministry to
their congregations, as having its place in the one family
life. It is not in our power to know how far this sugges
tion may be acceptable to those to whom we offer it.
We can only say that we offer it in all sincerity as a token
of our longing that afl ministries of grace, theirs and ours,
shall be available for the service of our Lord in a united
Church. It is our hope that the same motive would lead minis
ters who have not received it to accept a commission

APPENDIX III 363
through episcopal ordination, as obtaining for them a
ministry throughout the whole fellowship.
In so acting no one of us could possibly be taken to
repudiate his past ministry. God forbid that any man
should repudiate a past experience rich in spiritual bless
ings for himself and others. Nor would any of us be
dishonoring the Holy Spirit of God whose call led us
all to our several ministries, and whose power enabled
us to perform them. We shall be publicly and formally
seeking additional recognition of a new call to wider serv
ice in a reunited Church, and imploring for ourselves
God's grace and strength to fulfil the same.
IX. The spiritual leadership of the Catholic Church
in days to come, for which the world is manifestly wait
ing, depends upon the readiness with which each group
is prepared to make sacrifices for the sake of a common
fellowship, a common ministry, and a common service
to the world.
We place this ideal first and foremost before ourselves
and our own people. We call upon them to make the
effort to meet the demands of a new age with a new out
look. To all other Christian people whom our words
may reach we make the same appeal. We do not ask that
any one Communion should consent to be absorbed in
another. We do ask that all should unite in a new and
great endeavor to recover and to manifest to the world
the unity of the Body of Christ for which He prayed.
The resolutions adopted by the Lambeth Conference
on the subject of union (except those dealing with par
ticular communions) are printed below.
"10. The Conference recommends to tne authorities
of the Churches of the Anglican Communion that they
should, in such ways and at such times as they think best,
formally invite the authorities of other Churches within
their areas to confer with them concerning the possibility
of taking definite steps to cooperate in a common en-

364 CHRISTIAN UNITY
deavour, on the lines set forth in the above Appeal, to re
store the unity of the Church of Christ.
"11. The Conference recognizes that the task of ef
fecting union with other Christian Communions must be
undertaken by the various national, regional, or provin
cial authorities of the Churches within the Anglican
Communion, and confidently commits to them the carry
ing out of this task on lines that are in general harmony
with the principles underlying its Appeal and Resolutions.
"12. The Conference approves the following state
ments as representing the counsel which it is prepared to
give to the Bishops, Clergy, and other members of our
own Communion on various subjects which bear upon
the problems of reunion, provided that such counsel is
not to be regarded as calling in question any Canons or
official declarations of any Synod or House of Bishops
of a national, regional, or provincial Church which has
already dealt with these matters.
"(A) In view of prospects and' projects of reunion —
"(i) A Bishop is justified in giving occasional au
thorization to ministers, not episcopally ordained, who
in his judgment are working towards an ideal of union
such as is described in our Appeal, to preach in churches
within his Diocese, and to clergy of the Diocese to
preach in the churches of such ministers :
"(ii) The Bishops of the Anglican Communion will
not question the action cf any Bishop who, in the few
years between the initiation and the completion of a
definite scheme of union, shall countenance the irregu
larity of admitting to Communion the baptized but un
confirmed communicants of the non-episcopal congre
gations concerned in the scheme :
"(iii) The Conference gives its general approval to
the suggestions contained in the report of the Sub-
Committee on Reunion with Non-Episcopal Churches
in reference to the status and work of ministers who
may remain after union without episcopal ordination.
"(B) Believing, however, that certain lines of action
might imperil both the attainment of its ideal and the
unity of its own Communion, the Conference declares
that —
"(i) It cannot approve of general schemes of inter
communion or exchange of pulpits :
"(ii) In accordance with the principle of Church

APPENDIX III 365
order set forth in the Preface to the Ordinal attached
to the Book of Common Prayer, it cannot approve the
celebration in Anglican churches of the Holy Com
munion for members of the Anglican Church by min
isters who have not been episcopally ordained ; and that
it should be regarded as the general rule of the Church
that Anglican communicants should receive Holy Com
munion only at the hands of ministers of their own
Church, or of Churches in communion therewith.
"(C) In view of doubts and varieties of practice
which have caused difficulties in the past, the Con
ference declares that—
"(i) Nothing in these Resolutions is intended to in
dicate that the rule of Confirmation as conditioning
admission to the Holy Communion must necessarily ap
ply to the case of baptized persons who seek Com
munion under conditions which in the Bishop's judg
ment justify their admission thereto.
"(ii) In cases in which it is impossible for the
Bishop's judgment to be obtained beforehand, the
priest should remember that he has no canonical au
thority to refuse Communion to any baptized person
kneeling before the Lord's Table (unless he be excom
municate by name, or, in the canonical sense of the
term, a cause of scandal to the faithful) ; and that, if a
question may properly be raised as to the future ad
mission of any such person to Holy Communion, either
because he has not been confirmed or for other reasons,
the priest should refer the matter to the Bishop for
counsel or direction.
"13. The Conference recommends that, wherever it
has not already been done. Councils representing all
Christian Communions should be formed within such
areas as may be deemed most convenient, as centres of
united effort to promote the physical, moral, and social
welfare of the people, and the extension of the rule of
Christ among all nations and over every region of human
hfe. "14. It is important to the cause of reunion that every
branch of the Anglican Communion should develop the
constitutional government of the Church and should make
a fuller use of the capacities of its members for service."

APPENDIX IV
THE GENEVA CONFERENCES IN 1920
During the summer of 1920, three conferences were
held in Switzerland, which are of considerable impor
tance in the progress toward church unity. Each of them
was characterized by a very wide representation of Chris
tian communions. Taken together they probably form
the most representative assembling of Christian forces
known in the world since the Eastern and Western
Churches broke apart.
I. On Faith and Order
The most outstanding of the three was also the one
most directly pointed toward church unity. For some
years the Commission on Faith and Order, of the Prot
estant Episcopal Church in the United States, has been
steadily at work, promoting meetings and discussions at
which the various Christian bodies might set forth each
its own contribution to the treasury of the whole Church,
and through which these bodies might grow into more
of that mutual respect and understanding which precon
ditions further progress. The Commission has been mov
ing toward a great gathering of representatives of afl
Christian communions.
The conference held at Geneva August 12th to 25th was
not this proposed general gathering, but a preliminary
conference, to decide whether the projected meeting
should take place, and if so, at what time and with what
scope. A special committee had visited Europe in ad
vance, securing from all branches of the Christian Church
but one cordial expression of interest and promises to
send delegates to such a preliminary gathering. The
one exception was, of course, the Church of Rome, which
366

APPENDIX IV • 367
consistently refuses to discuss church unity except on
the basis of a return to its own fold.
Some forty nations and some eighty communions were
represented at Geneva. The addresses were all given in
three languages, English, French, and German. Greek
was not infrequently heard, as the interested (and inter
esting) delegates from the various divisions of the Ortho
dox Church of Eastern Europe took part in the sessions.'
Nothing could have been finer than the spirit of fellow
ship, cordial good will, and breadth of view which char
acterized the sessions. There was great plainness of
speech. There was little if any evidence of yielding to
the temptation to clothe ideas in language vague enough
to lead to a semblance of uniting, without real and deep
agreement. Much of the time was taken up with state
ments, on the part of representatives of the larger divi
sions of the Church, of their distinctive tenets and their
understanding of the problem of unity.
It was decided that a World Conference on Faith and
Order should be called at some time in the future, with
the widest possible representation; and a strong com
mittee to arrange for it was designated.
The best outcome of the conference, however, was not
any formal action taken, but the contact of men of many
minds and from many lands, and their discovery of a real
unity in Christ and in their love and loyalty toward Him.
The presence of Bishop Brent as Chairman was a great
asset to the cause. The quiet, gracious, persistent, con
secrated influence of Robert H. Gardiner, Secretary of
the conference, has made him the moving spirit in the
work of the Commission. The Continuation Committee
has sent out a letter propounding important questions
about the faith of the Church, and urging that discussions
be held and prayers offered for a united Church.
'A full report of the conference, entitled "Report of the Pre
liminary Meeting at Geneva, Switzerland, August 12-20, 1920,"
can be secured upon application to the secretary, Robert H.
Gardiner, Gardiner, Maine.

368 CHRISTIAN UNITY
II. On the Life and Work of the Church
Smaller, simpler, less elaborate in preparation and in
action, and quite different in scope and outlook, was the
special conference on the Life and Work of the Church,
held at Geneva August 9th to 12th. This grew out of the
conviction on the part of a small group gathered at the
Hague in October, 1919, that there would be great value
in a conference of the whole Church of Christ to con
sider unitedly its practical scope, function, and mission —
a conference to do for the whole task of the Church what
the Edinburgh Conference did for the one subject of
missions. The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ
in America took up the matter strongly, and, by general
action, in which the leaders were the Federal Council and
Archbishop Soderblom of Upsala, Sweden, this prelim
inary and brief conference in Geneva was arranged.
Little was done beyond resolving with great unanimity
and enthusiasm to hold, "in two or three years," a "Uni
versal Conference of the Church of Christ on Life and
Work,'' and appointing a commission to plan for the pro
jected meeting. The scope of the conference was dis
cussed. It was felt to be vital that the call to it should
come, not from this or any other informal body, but from
the responsible authorities of the various Christian com
munions; and the matter will be so presented and for
warded, in order to avoid the impression that a self-se
lected body, without any representative authority or
responsibility, is presuming to act for the Church.
This conference sends out a significant cafl to prayer:
"The members of this preliminary International Con
ference at Geneva, drawn together by a consciousness of
the painful and urgent need of the world, and by a con
viction that only the Gospel and spirit and leadership of
Jesus Christ can meet that need, and that only a church
united, consecrated, daring, and self-forgetful can form
the body through which this spirit may do His gracious
and healing work, earnestly and solemnly appeal to Chris-

APPENDIX IV 369
tians of every name and form, of every land and race, to
pray now and continually for the coming of a fuller unity
for the world; for a readiness on the part of all Chris
tians to make new ventures of faith, and to take more
seriously the implications of the Gospel; for the deepen
ing and broadening of love among all Christ's followers
toward all men; for the elimination of all passion and
prejudice, and the growth of peace and brotherhood; for
clearer vision of the will of God and of the work of
Christ in this day ; and for all that may further the com
ing of His Kingdom.
"Especially do we ask our fellow-Christians, every
where, to pray for the success of the Conference, which
is to consider the place and duty of the Church of Christ,
and the claims upon it of the Master and of mankind.
The united and unceasing intercession of all Christians
is asked, that, through this gathering of Christians from
all the world, the Church may come to clear realization
of its unity, its opportunity, and its responsibility; that
the spirit of Christ may fill and control His body, the
Church ; and that, through His mighty and gracious work
ing, mankind may be led into the larger life which is in
Him, and the whole creation, now groaning and travail
ing in pain, may be delivered from the bondage of corrup
tion and brought into the glorious liberty of the sons
of God."
III. The World Alliance for International
Friendship
The third conference differed from the other two in
being an official gathering of an organized movement, and
in addressing itself to a more limited end. It was the An
nual Meeting of the International Commission of the
World Alliance for Promoting International Friendship
through the Churches.
This World Alliance was started in the summer of
1914, just as the war broke out. Its aim is very simple
and practical — to get the churches in every country to
function strongly and enthusiastically as the chief agent
in the land for the promotion of good will toward other
nations and races. This it tries to do by establishing a

370 CHRISTIAN UNITY
council in every nation where there is a Christian church,
and binding these councils together by an International
Committee. Practically all the existing councils were represented
at the conference. Discussion was very free and very
friendly. Representatives of nations lately at war and of
contending creeds sat together on terms of good will,
and felt the present possibihty of a real unity on the basis
of this one simple aim. The Archbishop of Canterbury
was elected President of the Alliance. Various pro
nouncements were made, on missions, on the making and
keeping of treaties, on the rights of religious minorities,
and on disarmament. But here, as in the other gather
ings, the chief gain was not in any formal action, but in
the personal contacts, and the new influences thereby
started, making for better relations between the nations
and races. It is impossible to estimate the influence for
good which will be exerted if Christians of all commun
ions come to see as one of the vital aims and ends of
their religion the fostering of good will and friendliness
between nations and races, and the securing of justice
and fairness in international relations.
These three conferences bid fair to prove helpful in
the progress toward church unity, each in its own way.
They did not overlap and their future developments need
not. While only one of them aims specifically at the or
ganic union of the Church, the others contribute no less
vitally to that spiritual unity, without which organic union
would be meaningless. To set the Church at discuss
ing problems of faith and order, to summon it to a
united view of its function and tasks, and to get it to act,
at once and increasingly, as a great, united agency for
international friendliness — these are all important parts
of the great movement toward a Church that shall be one
in spirit and, eventually, one in real operation.

APPENDIX V
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON PRESENT
MOVEMENTS TOWARD CHRISTIAN UNITY
The following bibliography aims only to suggest a few
of the more important recent publications dealing with
the present situation in the movement toward greater
Christian unity. No attempt is here made to be exhaus
tive, nor are reading lists given on the historical and
doctrinal aspects of the question. For these almost the
whole range of church history and theology would have
to be considered.
I. Official Pronouncements of Churches or of Groups
of Christians
Africa Proposed constitution of Alliance of Missionary So
cieties in British East Africa. Adopted at the united
conference of Episcopal and Free Church mission
aries at Kikuyu, July 26, 1918. Discussed on pages
313-314 of this volume. Reprinted in International
Review of Missions, January, 1920. See also Kikuyu
Rediviva, Constructive Quarterly, June, 1919.
American Council on Organic Union of the
Churches of Christ. Plan of Union for the Evan
gelical Cliurches of the U. S. A. Adopted at Phila
delphia, February 3-6, 1920. Reprinted as Appendix
II of this volume. Discussed on pages 156-160.
Anglican I. The Lambeth Quadrilateral. Submitted by the
House of Bishops of the General Convention of
the Protestant Episcopal Church at Chicago in
1886 and adopted by the Lambeth Conference of
371

372 CHRISTIAN UNITY
1888. Reprinted on pages 250-251 of this report
in the form in which adopted at Chicago, and on
page 349 with the modifications made by the Lam
beth Conference.
2. Conference of Bishops of the Anglican Communion,
Holden at Lambeth Palace, July 5-/..ugust 7, 1920;
Encyclical letter from the Bishops, with the Reso
lution and Reports. Society for Promoting Chris
tian Knowledge, London, or Macmillian Co., New
York, 1920.
The now widely-known "Appeal to all Christian
People," on the subject of the unity of the Church,
adopted by the conference of bishops, is reprinted as
Appendix III of the present volume.
Australia Proposed Basis of Union for Presbyterian, Congre
gational, and Methodist Churches. Briefly summa
rized by George Hall in Christian Unity in
Australia, Christian Union Quarterly, July, 1920.
Canada Proposed Basis of Union of Presbyterian, Methodist,
and Congregational Churches in Canada. Reprinted
as an Appendix to Robert Campbell's Relations of
the Christian Churches, Toronto, 1913. See also E.
Thomas, Church Union in Canada, American lour-
nal of Theology, July, 1919.
China Proposed Plan of Union and Doctrinal Basis for the
United Church of Christ in China. Adopted by Con
gregationalists and Presbyterians in 1919. Referred
to on page 312 of this report. Reprinted in Inter
national Review of Missions, January, 1920.
"Concordat." Proposal for an Approach towards
Unity. Prepared by members of the Protestant Epis
copal and of the Congregationalist Churches in the

APPENDIX V 373
U. S., March, 1919. Reprinted as Appendix 5 in
"Approaches towards Christian Unity," edited by
Newman Smyth and Williston Walker, New Haven,
1919; also as an appendix to The Call to Unity,
by William T. Manning, New York, 1920. For a
sympathetic interpretation, see Newman Smyth's "A
Proposed Approach towards Unity in the United
States," Constructive Quarterly, March, 1920.
The so-called Concordat proposes that canonical sanc
tion be given by the Episcopal Church to the ordination
of any properly qualified minister of a Congregational
church, if he so desires and the ecclesiastical authority to
which he is subject consents, and provides that a minister
thus ordained may minister to both Congregationalists
and Episcopalians.
Declaration of Agreement between the Disciples
of Christ and the Presbyterian Church in the
U. S. A. Reprinted on page 74 of "Towards Chris
tian Unity," by Peter Ainslie, Seminary House,
Baltimore, 1918.
A statement jointly adopted in 1916 by the Committee
on Church Cooperation and Union of the Presbyterian
Church in the U. S. A. and the Commission on Christian
Unity of the Disciples of Christ, concerning points of
agreement between the two bodies. Statements as to
points of agreement with the Congregationalists and the
Christians are reprinted in the same volume.
Faith and Order, World Conference on. Report and
Resolution adopted at the General Convention of
the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1910 suggest
ing the Conference.
This statement and various documents issued by the
Joint Commission of the Protestant Episcopal Church
on Faith and Order may be secured on application to the
Secretary, R. H. Gardiner, Gardiner, Maine.
Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in
America
I. Constitution and By-Laws. Plan of federation

374 CHRISTIAN UNITY
recommended by the Interchurch Conference of
1905 ; adopted by the national assemblies of the
constituent bodies, 1906-1908; ratified by the Coun
cfl, December 2-8, 1908; amended 1912 and 1916.
2. Report of Committee on Methods of Cooperation.
Appointed on October 22, 1920, to review the pres
ent interdenominational situation and to present
recommendations to the Federal Council ; adopted
by the Council December 4, 1920.
The latter proposes steps which the Federal Council
should take in order to serve the churches more fully.
Either document can be secured from the Federal Coun
cil, 105 East 22d Street, New York.
India. South India Proposals for Church Union
I. Statement drawn up by members of the Anglican
and South India United Churches, May i and 2,
1919.
2. Statement from the Malabar Suffragan and other
members of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church.
Discussed on pages 312-313 of this volume. Reprinted
in International Review of Missions, January, 1920. See
also Sherwood Eddy, "(3hurch Union in the Orient,"
Constructive Quarterly, January, 1920, and A. L.
Warnshius, "Church Union in India," Christian Work,
December 4, 1920.
Interim Reports of Joint Anglican and Noncon
formist Committee. Reprinted as appendices to
"Approaches to Christian Unity," edited by Newman
Smyth and Wifliston Walker, New Haven, 1919.
The Second Interim Report, which is the more im
portant, is also reprinted in "The (I!hurches at the
Cross Roads," by J. H. Shakespeare, London, 1918;
in "The Call to Unity," by William T. Manning, New
York, 1920, and "Towards Reunion," London, 1919.
A record of conclusions of the conferences, referred
to on page 351 of this report, held by a committee of
Anglicans, appointed by the Archbishops of Canterbury
and York, and representatives of the English Free

APPENDIX V 375
Churches in connection with the proposed World Con
ference on Faith and Order. The first statement discusses
agreements and differences on matters of faith and
order. The second statement urges the "acceptance of
the fact of episcopacy and not any theory as to its char
acter" and suggests that it "reassume a constitutional
form, both as regards the method of the election of the
bishop, as by clergy and people, and the method of
government after election."
Lutheran. Declaration of Principles concerning the
Qiurch and its External Relationships: adopted at
the second convention of the United Lutheran
Church in America at Washington, D. C, October
26, 1920. United Lutheran Publication House, Phil
adelphia. Reprinted in The Lutheran.
An official statement of great importance, setting forth
both the Lutheran conception of the Church, and the
attitude of the United Lutheran Church to cooperation
and union with other Protestant churches. The substance
of the statement is given on pages 62-63 of this volume.
Mansfield Manifesto. Resolutions passed by a group
of Anglicans and Nonconformists meeting at Mans
field College, Oxford, January 6-8, 1919. Reprinted
in full as an appendix to "Towards Reunion," Lon
don, 1919, and in part as an appendix to "Pathways
to Christian Unity," London, 1919,
Recognizes the various communions as all valid Chris
tian churches and holds that this should involve recipro
cal participation in the Holy Communion ; agrees to a re
formed episcopacy and urges interchange of pulpits and
practical cooperation as a present procedure.
Reports of the Conferences between Representa
tives OF the Evangelical Free Churches of
England on the Closer Cooperation of the
Churches; held at Mansfield College, Oxford,
September, 191 6, and at London and Cambridge in
March, 1917. Reprinted as appendix to "The
Church at the Cross Roads" by J. H. Shakespeare,

376 CHRISTIAN UNITY
London, 1918, and also as an appendix to "Unity
and Schism" by T. A. Lacey, London, 1917.
Consist of statements by four sub-committees on Faith,
Ministry, Evangelization, and Constitution, suggesting a
basis for a federation of the Free Churches.
II. Undenominational Movements
Clark, Francis E. Christian Endeavor in all Lands:
a Record of Twenty-five Years' Progress, Philadel
phia, 1906.
Dwight, Henry Otis. Centennial History of the
American Bible Society. New York, Macmillan
Company, 191 6.
Mayo, Katherine. That Damn "Y." New York,
Association Press, 1920.
The story, told in popular style, of the service of the
Y M C A in the Worid War.
Morse, Richard C. My Life with Young Men: Fifty
Years in the Young Men's Christian Association.
New York, Association Press, 1918.
The autobiography of a great leader in the YMCA,
giving a summary of all that is most significant in the first
half century of its development.
Mott, John R. The World's Student Christian Federa
tion : Origins, Achievements, Forecasts. New York,
Association Press, 1920.
Report of the Commission on the Relation of the
Young Men's Christian Association to the
Churches. Pamphlet. Can be secured from the
International Committee of the YMCA, 347
Madison Avenue., New York.
Presented to the Fortieth International Convention of
Young Men's Christian Associations, Detroit, Michigan,
November 19-23, 1919. Reviews the historic relation of
the YMCA to the churches, the present relation of
the YMCA to the churches both in local communities

APPENDIX V 377
and in the nation as a whole, the spiritual work of the
YMCA and the war-time relation of the YMCA
and the churches. Excerpts from this important docu
ment are printed on pages 127-132 of this volume.
Report of the National Board of the Young
Women's Christian Associations of the United
States of America to the Sixth National Con
vention AT Cleveland, Ohio, April 13-20, 1920.
Can be secured from the National Board, 600 Lex
ington Avenue, New York.
Wilson, Elizabeth. Fifty years of Association Work
with Young Women. New York, National Board of
Y W C A, 600 Lexington Avenue, 1916.
An historical account of the first half century of work
of the Young Women's Christian Association.
Year Book of the Young Men's Christian Associa
tions of North America. New York, Associa
tion Press, 1920.
III. Administrative Unity
AsHwoRTH, Robert A. The Union of Christian Forces
in America. Philadelphia, American Sunday-School
Union, 1915.
Chapters VII and VIII discuss cooperation in home and
foreign missions.
Brown, Arthur J. Unity and Missions. New York,
Revell, 191 5.
A comprehensive study of the bearing of the foreign
missionary movement on Christian unity, with a survey
of movements in the direction of cooperation and union in
various parts of the world.
Council of Church Boards of Education in the
United States of America. Year book. C^n be
secured from 19 South La Salle Street, Chicago.
Published annually as orie number of Christian Edu-
tion, a monthly bulletin devoted to the work of the

378 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Church College, with special reference to cooperative
activities.
Minutes of Annual Meeting of the Sunday School
Council of Evangelical Denominations, Janu
ary, 1921. Can be secured from the Secretary, 99
Dundas Street, Toronto.
Interchurch World Movement of North America.
Handbook. 45 West i8th Street, New York, 1919.
The official guide for speakers and workers; includes
statement of plan of organization and full outline of its
contemplated work. The religious press for 1919 and
1920 contain a host of articles on the movement. For a
typical sympathetic evaluation, written in the light of
the discontinuance of its activities, see "The Truth
About the Interchurch," by a member of the General
Committee, Christian Work, New York, December 11
and 18, 1920.
Home Missions Council. Fourteenth Annual Meet
ing, January 13-15, 1921. Can be secured from the
Home Missions Council, 156 Fifth Avenue, New
York.
Includes also a summary of the work of the Council
of Women for Home Missions.
Foreign Missions Conference of North America.
Record of Twenty-eighth Annual Session, January,
1921. Can be secured from the Committee of Refer
ence and Counsel, 25 Madison Avenue, New York.
Foreign Missions, Cooperation in. Report submitted
to the Fourth Quadrennial Meeting of the Federal
Council of the Qiurches of Christ in America,
December 1-6, 1920. Can be secured from the Fed
eral Council, 105 East 22d Street, New York.
A brief summary of the existing cooperation both at
the home base and on the foreign field, with special refer
ence to progress between 1916 and 1920.
Ritson, j. H, The Growth of Missionary Cooperation

APPENDIX V 379
since 1910. International Review of Missions, Janu
ary, 1919.
Watson, Charles R. Foreign Missionary Cooperation
and Unity at the Home Base in America, Inter
national Reviezv of Missions, January, 1919.
IV. Federal Unity
I. Among denominations.
Ashworth, Robert A. The Union of Christian Forces
in America. Chapter V. Philadelphia, American
Sunday-School Union, 191 5.
Cross, George. Federation of the Qiristian Churches in
America: an Interpretation. American Journal of
Theology, April, 1919.
Macfarland, Charles S. The Progress of Church
Federation. New York, Revell, 191 7.
A brief interpretation of federal union and a nar
rative of the origin and history of the Federal Council
of the Churches of Christ in America.
Quadrennial Report of the Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America, Held in Bos
ton, Mass., December 1-6, 1920. Can be secured
from 105 East 22d Street, New York, as can also
the reports of the Quadrennial Meetings in 1908,
1912 and 1916, and annual reports of the Executive
Committee.
Sanford, Elias B. Origin and History of the Federal
Councfl, 1916. Can be secured from the Federal
Councfl, 105 East 22d Street, New York.
Shakespeare, J. H. The Churches at the Cross-Roads ;
a Study in Church Unity, London, 1918.
A typical statement of the progressive English Baptist
attitude, by an outstanding exponent of federal union
among the Free Churches. It holds that denominations
arose providentially to bear needed witness to neglected

38o CHRISTIAN UNITY
truths but that they must now find a way of securing
unity amid diversity, and that federal union is the next
step on the path of progress.
War-Time Agencies of the Churches. Directory and
Handbook. Can be secured from Federal Council,
105 East 22d Street, New York.
A record of the work of the churches in the World
War, with special reference to their cooperation in the
General War-time Commission of the Churches.
2. Among local churches.
Community Programs for Cooperating Churches.
Edited by Roy B. Guild, 1920, New York, Associa
tion Press.
The reports presented to the Church and Community
Convention in Cleveland, in May, 1920, setting forth
practical programs along evangelistic, social, missionary
and educational lines for local federations.
Guild, Roy B. Practicing Christian Unity. New York,
Association Press, 1919.
Manual of Interchurch Work. New York, 1917.
Can be secured from the Federal Council, 105 East
22d Street, New York.
A handbook on methods of practical cooperation of
the churches in a local community, based on the experi
ence of successful federations.
The material dealing directly with the "union," "fed
erated," or "community" church (discussed in the first
half of Chapter III of the present report) is rather
fragmentary. The following suggestions will illustrate
the type of sources available:
Gill, C. O., and Pinchot, Gifford. Six Thousand
Country Churches. New York, Macmiflan, 1919.
Chapters VI, VII, VIII.
Jackson, Henry E. The Community Church. Boston,
Houghton, 1919.

APPENDIX V 381
Practicing Church Unity in Vermont. Pamphlet,
summarizing the experience of the last four years
in allocating fields to exclusive occupancy by a
single church. Can be secured from the Home Mis
sions Council; 1 56 Fifth Avenue, New York. Sum
marized in "Interchurch Cooperation in Vermont,"
by Paul L. Vogt, Zion's Herald, Boston, January
12, 1921.
V. Organic Unity
Ainslie, Peter. If Not a United Church — What? New
York, Revell, 1920.
Representative of the strong interest of many of the
Disciples in organic union.
Ashworth, Robert A. The Union of Christian Forces
in America. American Sunday-School Union, Phil
adelphia, 191 5.
A liberal Baptist interpretation of the whole problem
of Christian unity, emphasizing the need for present co
operation and federation and suggesting the basis on
which the goal of an organic unity may ultimately be
reached.
Lacey, T. A. Unity and Schism. London, Mowbray,
1917.
Illustrative of the point of view which rejects the pres
ent movement toward federation on the ground that it
seems logically to imply the independence of the de
nominational units and so to contradict the idea of es
sential unity.
Manning, William T. The Call to Unity. New York,
Macmillan, 1920.
A very recent characteristic statement of an Episco
palian's interest in the consideration of questions of
faith and order with a view to organic union.
Gore, Charles. Steps toward Union. London, 1919.
Typical of the Anglican High Churchman's view.

382 CHRISTIAN UNITY
Headlam, a. C. The Doctrine of the Church and Chris-
tian Reunion. London, Longmans, 1920.
One of the best recent expositions of the liberal Angli
can view of the basis of organic union. It is primarily
historical, considering such subjects as the origins of the
Church, the Apostolic Church, the Catholic Church, and
the divisions of the Church, and the doctrine of the
Church. Urges the mutual recognition of the validity
of existing orders and, for the future, the establishment
of episcopal ordination as the common basis of church
order. Pathways to Christian Unity : A Free Church View.
London, Macmfllan, 1919.
A series of valuable papers by Free (Uiurchmen on
various aspects of the problem of Christian unity, urging
increasing contacts and understanding among the
churches by means of cooperation and federation, as a
preparation for a completer unity in the future.
Smyth, Newman, and Walker, Williston, Editors.
Approaches toward Christian Unity. 1919, New
Haven, Yale University Press.
A series of studies, chiefly historical, presented as
suggesting useful material for consideration in connection
with organic union. Other chapters than those by the
editors are by Raymond Calkins and Bishop Charles H.
Brent.
Towards Reunion : Being Contributions toward Mutual
Understanding. By Church of England and Free
Church Writers. 1919, London, Macmfllan.
A group of articles receiving their impetus from the
conferences at Mansfield Coflege, Oxford, in 1918 and
1919 between Anglicans and Free Churchmen. Typical
of the irenic spirit of the conference, as expressed in
the Second Interim Report, urging the "acceptance of
the fact of episcopacy and not any theory as to its char
acter."

INDEX

Abolition movement, effect of,
on unity, 281-282.
Administrative union, see union.
Africa, cooperation in, 310;
church union in, 312-313.
Alhance of Reformed Churches
holding the Presbyterian Sys
tem, 251, 253.
American Bible Society, coopera
tion in, 21, 30, 55, 246, 295-
298, 305.
American Board of Commis
sioners for Foreign Missions,
cooperation in, 290-295.
American Council on Organic
Union, see "Philadelphia
plan."
American Sunday School Union,
318-319-
American Systematic Benefi
cence Society, 276-277.
American Tract Society, 246.
Anglican Church, 87, 89, 90,
160; see also Lambeth Con
ference.
Anti-Saloon League, 49, 113,
282-283.
Anti-Slavery movement, 281-
282.
Apostolic period, divisive and
unitive forces in, 207-212.
Association for the Promotion of
Christian Unity, 54-55, 249-
250.
Australia, union movements in,
55, 66, 353.
Baptists, divisions and unions
among, 238, 243, 244, 248.
Baptists, Northern, referred to,
43, 49, 203, 297 et passim;
attitude toward unity, 70-77.
Baptists, Southern, 30, 72, 90,
173-174. 242.
Campbells, founders of Dis
ciples, 52, 245, 249, 298-300.
Canada, union movements in,
66, 130-131, 352-353, 354-

Catholic Church, see Roman
Catholic.
Catholic period of church his
tory, divisive and unitive
forces in, 212-217.
China, cooperation in, 304, 305,
306, 308, 310, 311; church
union in, 311-312.
Christian Commission, 282.
Christian Denomination, 56.
Christian Endeavor Society, 49,
245, 277, 279-280.
Church, differing views as to
nature of, i, 104, 172-175,
187, 189-192, 200-201; unity
of, see unity.
City mission work, cooperation
in, 135-
Clark, Francis E., see Christian
Endeavor Society.
Cleveland "Church and Com
munity" Convention, 1 17-1 18.
Commissions of the Federal
Council, see Federal Council.
Committee on the War and the
Religious Outlook, v-ix, 154,
346-
Community Church, 3, 1 02- 1 10.
Comprehension, not exclusion,
desired, 187-188, 191, 202,
207, 330-332, 350.
Concordat of Episcopahans and
Congregationalists, 3, 88, 105.
Congregational Churches, rela
tion of, to unity, 46-52, 55-56,
88, 105, 247, 251, 285-289,
291-294 et passim.
Cooperation, relation to tmion,
9, 52; need for today, 37-44;
during the war, 19-37, 186;
in local communities, 96-122;
past experience of, 185-186;
see also under unity and
union.
Corporate union, 12; see also
union, organic.
Council of Church Boards of
Education, cooperation in,
138, 152, 344-

383

3^4

CHRISTIAN UNITY

Council of the Reformed
Churches of America holding
the Presbyterian System, 80.
Council of Women for Home
Missions, 137-138, 152.
Councils of Churches, see fed
erations.
Cumberland Presbyterian
Church, union with Presby
terian in U. S. A., 79, 170,
240-241, 243, 248, 301.
Denominations, work of, in the
war, 24-28; present sense of
responsibility among, 38-44;
increased self-consciousness,
42-44, 72, 168-171; history of
developraent in U. S., 230-
255; significance of, 332.
Detroit, International Conven
tion of Y. M. C. A. at, 127-
132.
Disciples, relation of, to unity,
52-57, 245, 249-250, 251-252,
298-302.
Divisions in American Chris
tianity, causes of, 239-245.
Divisive and unitive factors in
the history of the Church,
207-229.
Eastern Church, 89, 160, 161,
213-215, 252, 367.
England, union movements in,
67, 130, 350-351-
Episcopal Church, relation of, to
unity, 26, 55, 83-90, 105, 160,
186, 203, 242, 250-251, 252,
366.
Evangelical Alhance, 244, 253,
262-267.
Evangelical Association, 241.
Evangelism, cooperation in, 120-
121, 262, 278; see also re
vivals.
Faith and Order, World Con
ference on, 3, 55, 76-77, 81,
88, 160-164, 200, 251, 350,
366-368.
Federal Council of the Churches
of Christ in America, 3, 21,
23, 28-30, 32, 38, 39, 50, 54,
55, 89, 90, 91, 94, 109, 113,
133. 149, 151-155. 156, 157,
158, 159, 166, 186, 192, 195-
196, 253, 267, 344, 345, 368.

Federal union, see union.
Federated churches in local com
munities, 99-101.
Federation of Woman's Boards
of Foreign Missions, 137-138,
152, 317-
Federations, local, 3, 50, 89, 93-
94, 1 10-122, 163-164.
Foreign missions and unity, see
unity.
Foreign Missions Conference,
cooperation in, 135-136, 152,
155, 316-317, 344-
Free Baptists, 72, 248.
Freedom, need for, in any union,
329-330.
Friends, 91, 244, 281.
General War-Time Commission
of the Churches, 6, 24, 28-35,
38, 39, 40, 87, 90, 94, 154, 186.
Geneva Conferences in 1920,
366-370.
Gladden, Washington, 49.
Great Britain, see England.
Greek Church, 89; see also
Eastern Church.
History of Christian coopera
tion and unity; in apostohc
period, 207-212; in Catholic
period, 212-217; in Protestant
period, 217-227; in early pe
riod in America, 230-239; of
causes of divisions in America,
239-245; of attempts at union
of American churches, 245-
255; of undenominational
movements, 256-284; of in
terdenominational m o v e-
ments, 285-324.
Home Missions Council, coop
eration in, 100, 109, 136-137,
152, 155, 192, 344-
Huntington, W. R., 88.
India, cooperation in, 305, 308,
309, 310; church union in,
312-313.
Individualistic conception of re
ligion, 176-178.
Interchurch World Movement,
3, 7. 73-74, "7, I35, 140-150,
186, 195, 253, 279, 343.
International Sunday School As
sociation, 113, 138, 246, 319,
322.

INDEX

385

International Sunday School
Lesson Committee, 319, 321.
Japan, cooperation among
churches in, 305, 306, 307, 310.
Jews, cooperation with, 32, 94.
Lambeth Conference, in 1908,
350; in 1920, 87n., 163-164,
351-352, 359-365-
Latin America, missionary co
operation in, 304, 306, 307,
316.
Laymen's evangelistic move
ment, 278.
Laymen's ' Missionary Move
ment, 144, 278.
Local communities, cooperation
in, 96-122, 344.
Lutheran Church, United, 43,
57-61, 248; attitude toward
union, 61-63.
Lutheran Commission for Sol
diers' and Sailors' Welfare,
60, 186.
Lutheran Council, National, 60.
Lutheran Synodical Conference,
59-60.
Lutherans, Norwegian, 59.
Maine, early experiments in co
operation in, 97.
Massachusetts, union churches
in, 98-99.
Men and Religion Forward
Moveraent, 278.
Methodist Episcopal Church, 3,
26 et passim; relation to ques
tion of unity, 63-70, 248, 339.
Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, 64-66, 242, 339.
Missionary Education Move
ment, 144, 317.
Montana, cooperation in home
missionary work in, 105.
Muhlenberg, W. A., 250.
Northern Baptist Convention,
see Baptists, Northern.
Old Catholics, 89.
Oriental Orthodox Catholic
Church, see Eastern Church.
"Philadelphia plan" of organic
union, 3, 55, 81-82, 156-160,
197. 253, 355-358.

Pittsburgh conference on inter
church work, 115.
"Plan of Union" between Con
gregationalists and Presby
terians, 46-47, 247, 285-289.
Presbyterian Church in the U.
S. A., referred to, 3, 43, 242,
252, 253, 281, 339; relations
of, with Congregational
Churches, 46-47, 48, 247, 285-
289, 291-294; attitude to co
operation and union, 77-83,
156, 170; union of Old School
and New School, 240, 243,
248, 289, 293-294.
Presbyterian Church in the
U. S., 3, 80, 240, 242, 248,
249, 339-
Principles underlying progress
toward unity, 327-347.
Protestant Episcopal Church,
see Episcopal.
Protestant period in church his
tory, divisive and unitive
forces in, 217-227.
Quadrilateral, Chicago-Lam
beth, 70, 160, 250-251, 252,
349-
Quakers, see Friends.
Reformation, effect of, on unity
of church, see Protestant
period.
Reformed Church in America,
80, 292, 294.
Reformed Church in U. S., 80,
241, 246.
Reformed Episcopal Church,
244-
Revivals, effect of, on unity,
234, 240, 258-262; see also
evangelism.
Religious education, bearing of,
on unity, see unity.
Religious Education Associa
tion, 322n.
Religious experience, different
types of, 175-178.
Roman Catholic Church, 10, 86,
90, 91, 160, 161, 213-217, 252,
354, et passim; recent co
operation with, 30, 32, 92-95.
Root, E. T., 49.
Rural communities, need for co
operation in; 97.

386

CHRISTIAN UNITY

Sacramentarian view of religion
vs. individualist, 176-178.
Salvation Army, 91, 125-126,
149.
Scotland, union of Presbyterian
churches in, 170, 354; status
of Y. M. C. A. in, 10, 130-131.
Social reform movements, effect
of, on unity, 280-283.
Southern Baptist Convention,
see Baptists, Southern.
Stewardship raovement, 276.
Student movement, bearing of,
on unity, 273-276.
Student Volunteer Movement,
275-
Sunday School Council, coopera
tion in, 138, 152, 320, 322, 344.
Sunday School movement, see
religious education.
Swedish Churches, 89.
Temperance movement, effect
of, on unity, 282-283.
Theological differences, bearing
of, upon union, 171-175, 179-
182.
Undenominational movements
today, 123-134; history of,
256-284.
Uniformity, dangers of, 177-178,
187, 202.
Union, administrative, lo-ii,
134-150, 193; federal, lo-li,
150-155, 191, 194-196, 204,
345; organic, 10-12, 52, 81-82,
156-164, 198-203, 345; factors
that impede, 168-178; factors
that promote, 178-189; among
denominations of same family,
202-203 ; see also under unity.
Union churches, 97-99.
Unitarians, 49, 90-91, 243.
United Brethren, 241.
United Lutheran Church, see
Lutheran.
United Presbyterian Church, 80,
159, 292.
Unity, church, distinguished
from Christian unity, 2, 9, 13,
167; distinguished from union,
9, 190, 201; essential to con
ception of Christianity, 8,
179-182; within the denomi
nation, 4, 6, 39-92, 335-336,

338-339; in the local cofflr
munity, 96-122; within the
Church as a whole, 123-164;
as influenced "by the war, 5-6,
19-44, 94, 104, 'II, 182-183;
relation to foreign missions, 7,
41, 73, 82-83, 135-136, 181,
183, 291-294, 302-317; rela
tion to social problems, 7, 41,
183-184; relation to Christian
education, 7, 41, 317-324; re
lation to international prob
lems, 184; extent to which it
aheady exists, 41, 332-333,
336-337; principles to be fol
lowed, 39-42, 327-347; see
under union, et passim.
Universal Conference on Chris
tian Life and Work, 55, 368.
Universalists, 243-244.
Upsala, Archbishop of, 56, 368.
Vermont, cooperation in, 109.
War and Christian unity, 5-6,
19-44, 94, 104, III, 182-183.
War commissions, 24-28.
Welsh Calvinistic Methodist
Church, 80.
Woman's Christian Temperance
Union, 113, 245, 283.
World Alliance for International
Friendship, 55, 369-370.
World Conference on Faith
and Order, see Faith and
Order.
World's Student Christian Fed
eration, 275-276.
World's Sunday School Associa
tion, 321.
Young Men's Christian Associa
tion, 3, 9-10, 149, 154, 246;
relation to the Church in the
war, 21-22, 32, 33, 34, 35-36;
relation to the Church today,
126-132, 165-166, 344; his
tory of, 267-271, 274.
Young Women's Christian Asso
ciation, 3, 9-10, 21, 149, 246;
relation to the churches in the
war, 22-24, 28, 36; relation to
churches today, 132-134,
165-166, 344; history of, 271-
273, 274-275.

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