40 CHURCH UNITY 



prophetic visions, whether cheerful or 

 gloomy, but rather to open the way for two 

 important inferences from the whole sur- 

 vey, for which we are now ready. I can 

 only state them without fully developing 

 them. One of them is, that the ecclesiasti- 

 cal unification of Protestant Christianity 

 on the Lambeth basis must precede the 

 general reunion of Christendom. At least, 

 for Anglo-Saxon Christians this is the 

 first step and condition precedent. The 

 Greek Church is still unreformecl and over- 

 grown with accumulated errors. The 

 Latin Church, even more erroneous, is not 

 only unreformed, but hostile. To indulge 

 in wasteful attempts at unification with 

 such communions is to begin at the end. 

 We shall more wisely begin at the begin- 

 ning, if we first seek unity where it is most 

 needed and most hopefully pursued, in our 

 own country and among our own divided 

 churches and denominations. In com- 

 bining them organically by means of the 

 four ecclesiastical principles of a common 

 rule of faith, a common creed, common 

 sacraments, and a common ministry every- 

 where to be recognized as legitimate, we 

 shall heal the sectarian diseases of Protes- 



