JULY 15, 1913 



507 



let it be said to the eternal praise of the 

 Roman Catholic half of Christendom that 

 it stuck together; and it must be said to the 

 eternal shame of the Protestant half that it 

 has divided and subdivided until it has re- 

 sulted in the veiy pulverization of the body 

 of Christ. The United States Census rec- 

 ognizes over 150 denominations, among 

 whom there are 14 different kinds of Bap- 

 tists. 17 different styles of Lutherans, and 

 17 different brands of Methodists ! Verily, 

 denominationalism has run riot and wrought 

 havoc I 



In the history of denominationalism we 

 may trace six distinct stag'es. 



First, separation. Whenever a man got 

 a new theological idea or a unique religious 

 experience, he felt called upon to start a 

 new denomination. It never seemed to oc- 

 cur to the leaders in those daj^s that the 

 tiling to do was to stay in the mother church 

 and bring the new idea to the church and 

 the unique experience to i;s members. The 

 whole trend was separation. 



The second stage was condemnation. 

 Each denomination said, " I am absolutely 

 right, all the rest are unconditionally 

 wrong." The churches actually " hated one 

 another for the love of God." Christendom 

 was divided into " Christian " and " Her- 

 etics," and no one was counted a good 

 " Christian " who had not slain his " Here- 

 tic." The usual denominational conscious- 

 ness expressed itself thus : " The members 

 of my denomination are Christians, all oth- 

 er denominations are heretics." 



The third stage was competition. Churches 

 stood on opposite sides of the street com- 

 peting in unholy rivalry for the converts 

 of the community. This stage was aptly 

 illustrated some summers ago in the city of 

 Lincoln, Neb., when the congi'egation of the 

 Presbyterian church sang, " Will there be 

 any stars, any stars in my crown ? " while 

 at the same moment the Methodist church 

 across the street was singing, " No, not one. 

 no. not one ! " 



The next stage was toleration. The 

 churches did not quarrel, but they let each 

 other strictly alone. " You in your small 

 corner, and I in mine " — but don't you dare 

 get near my corner! 



The next stage, in which we find our- 

 selves at the present time, is federation. 

 The churches are working together for the 

 common good, shouldering together the bui-- 

 dens of common problems. This is not only 

 true in communities locally, but even more 

 so in the country at large. The Federal 

 Council of the Churches of Christ in Amer- 

 ica includes 32 Protestant denominations, 

 and represents a church membership of no 

 less than 20,000,000. 



What is the next step? Combination. 

 Are there any rustlings in the tops of the 

 ecclesiastical mulberry trees showing that 

 combination is a near possibility and prob- 

 ability? There certainly are! In every 

 great religious gathering they are discuss- 

 ing church union. The Episcopal church 

 — mind you, not the Congi-egational church, 

 but the Episcopal church — is making seri- 

 ous arrangements for a world conference 

 on faith and order, looking toward a union 

 of all Protestant bodies. At the genera) 

 convention of the Protestant Episcopal 

 Church in the United States of America in 

 1910. the following resolution was adopted : 



" Whereas, There is to-day among all Christian 

 people a growing desire for the fulfilment of our 

 Lord's prayer that all his disciples may be one; that 

 the world may believe that God has sent him: 



Resolved, That a joint commission be appointed to 

 bring about a conference for the consideration of 

 questions touching faith and order, and that all 

 Christian communions throughout the world which 

 confess our Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior 

 be asked to unite with us in arranging for and 

 conducting such a conference. The commission shall 

 consist of seven bishops, appointed by the chairman 

 of the House of Bishops, and seven presbyters and 

 seven laymen, appointed by the president of the 

 House of Deputies, and shall have power to add to 

 this number and to fill any vacancies occurring be- 

 fore the next general convention." 



With the Episcopalians taking the lead 

 in such a world conference, who will. dare 

 to say that there is not a movement in the 

 mulberry trees which betokens the coming 

 of actual church union? 



3. There is another rustle in the tops of 

 the world's mulberry trees which sounds 

 veiy much like the coming of a universal 

 peace movement. 



It is not so \QYy long ago that war was 

 regarded as a permanent and prominent 

 factor in civilization, when the war-business 

 was deemed the only reallj- heroic calling, 

 and the war-path the only path that leads 

 to fame. 



It is only a few years ago that the gi'eat 

 German militarist. Von Moltke, wrote : " A 

 perpetual peace is a dream, and not even a 

 beautiful dream. War is one of the ele- 

 ments of order in the world established by 

 God. The noblest virtues of man are de- 

 veloped therein. Without war the world 

 would degenerate and disappear in a mo- 

 rass of materialism." 



It is only a few years ago that another 

 officer of the German army argued : " Deer 

 and antelope thrive best where there are 

 lions and tigers to kill them; eirilization 

 gets forward fastest on a powder-cart, and 

 enduring world-wide peace would mean 

 degeneracy and be a misfortune for the 

 human race." 



It is only a few years ago that the public 

 mind and conscience quite generally ac- 



