GENERAL PRINCIPLES 17 



would be a mere sentiment or notion, if 

 even conceivable. It is in the sphere of 

 organic unity that our duty and privilege 

 lie. And there we may attempt little or 

 much. Indeed, we shall attempt nothing 

 at all if we simply accept the present 

 condition of the visible Church as normal, 

 necessary, and perpetual. We shall only 

 continue to exhibit the mystical body of 

 Christ to the world as seemingly mutilated 

 or deliriously dismembered. Nor shall we 

 attempt very much more, if we are content 

 to give the invisible unity, our common 

 Christian oneness, merely some faint and 

 transient expression, as in united missions, 

 united charities, evangelical alliances, and 

 denominational leagues and federations for 

 social, civic, and national reform. Too 

 much cannot be said in praise of such 

 Christian associations, when viewed as to 

 their own beneficent aims and results. 

 But after all that may be said, it still re- 

 mains to be said, it is not their distinctive 

 mission to promote church unity. They 

 may even obscure and thwart such unity, 

 if put in place of Scripture ideals and pre- 

 cepts and allowed to exhaust the Christian 

 instinct and effort toward oneness. 

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