FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 77 



working model of what a true church ought to be, kept under a glass 

 case, provided with its own little boiler and its own little dynamo, the 

 admiration of all who look at it, but by no means and under no cir- 

 cumstances to be connected either by belt or cable with the throbbing, 

 vibrant, religious forces of the outer works through broad America, lest 

 they wreck the petite mechanism by the violence of their thrill. We sit 

 here debating these petty technicalities, devising the ingenious restraints, 

 and meanwhile out-of-doors the organization of the world goes on." 



CO-OPERATION NEEDED. 



Wherever the churches are endeavoring to unite to meet the demands 

 of the world's organization they do not find any basis for practical unity 

 in trying to think alike, or worship alike, or be governed alike. As the 

 bond of comity between themselves is the Christian spirit, so the basis 

 of their common service to the community is their co-operative unity. 

 How reasonably practical it is for churches in any community, large 

 or small, to co-operate for the common good, Washington Gladden long 

 ago set forth in his story of "The Christian League of Connecticut." The 

 churches in the state of Maine were among the first to form an inter- 

 denominational committee to act as a final court in preserving comity and 

 promoting co-operation. That state of rural communities is thus 

 beginning to find relief from the ungodly sectarian rivalry which is 

 dividing the forces of righteousness hopelessly and is over burdening 

 every little village with a multiplicity of paralytic churches. In New York 

 city' "The Federation of Churches and Religious Workers" has success- 

 fully set the type for the National Federation of Churches which is 

 pressing the cause of co-operative unity from its headquarters in the 

 Bible House in New York city. But prior to these newer movements the 

 foreign missionaries of all our churches have found it so necessary and 

 feasible to unite their forces in the overshadowing presence of the united 

 forces of evil, that the churches of the home-land are likely to receive the 

 boon of their own unity in return for their chivalrous service abroad. 



A working example and demonstration of the advantage of combining 

 our religious resources may be seen in many rural communities in the 

 consolidation of school districts, which makes one strong and effective 

 educational center possible. Why may not several denominational 

 churches, too small for any effective service, unite at least in a common 

 effort to inspire the people of their community with the highest ideals of 

 social and civic relationship, to educate the citizenship in organizing 

 progressive movements and in supplying the self-sacrificing spirit always 

 necessary to realize every hope of progress? 



The final test of the capacity and right of the churches to fulfil their 

 high function in the community is not the attitude of the people toward 

 the church but the willingness and capacity of the church to serve the 

 real interest of all the people. The country church which thus serves 

 its community the most will serve itself the best and, within the bounds 

 of its legitimate function, will be a center of rural organization in giving 

 ideal initiative and power to the people. 



