164 cnuRcn unity 



vain to disregard. As one consequence of 

 them I think we must all be conscious of 

 the existence of what may be called a kind 

 of " competitive Christianity," in which the 

 strife is not to "provoke one another to 

 love and to good works," but to provide 

 such superior " attractions " as are in 

 danger, often, of turning the sanctuary 

 into a place of more or less distinctly 

 theatrical display, and the worship and 

 the teaching into a practical exhibition 

 of the shopkeepers' legend, " We study to 

 please." What a pitiful travesty of the 

 august offices of religion, and of the solemn 

 business of the sacred ministry ! And yet, 

 there are those who do not hesitate to de- 

 fend it as imperatively demanded by what 

 they are wont to call " the exigencies of the 

 situation." It is because of this, I am pro- 

 foundly persuaded, that so many devout 

 minds are turned to-day to consider that 

 essential evil which is the source of such a 

 condition of things, — the evil of our mani- 

 fold divisions. 



II. Again: there is yet another con- 

 sideration that with many is even more 

 influential to-day in the hopeful direction 

 I have indicated. When one comes to read 



