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sympathetic attention to every proposition looking to the reunion of Christendom. Frequent conferences, more or less formal, looking to such an adjustment of differences between them and their Baptist brethren as will enable them to coöperate in giving the word of life to those who are dead in sins have been held. Nor is there reason to doubt that there is between Baptists and Disciples an increasing desire for such a union, with a growing probability that sooner or later such a result will be secured. This expectation is entertained, not because we are good enough or wise enough to bring it to pass, but because it is the will of God, and he will bring it to pass. And there will be a much more extensive union for this beneficent work, the preaching of the gospel to the whole creation. There is not a word in the New Testament on the subject of church union, but there is much about Christian union. Believers are exhorted in the New Testament to deavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (Eph. iv. 3.) Those who are called saints are told to mark" those who “cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine of Christ," and "avoid them." (Rom. xvi. 17, 18.) Members of the Church of God are exhorted to speak the same things and to be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. (I Cor. i. 10.) Divisions among those who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord are evidences of remaining among those who ought in all things to be led by the Spirit of God. (Rom. viii. 14; 1 Cor. iii. 1-4.) The Christ prayed that his personal friends and followers might be united as the Father and the Son are one. (John xvii. II.) And this prayer was answered, for we read that after the departure of our Lord for heaven his friends returned from the place of the ascension to an upper room in Jerusalem, where they "continued with one accord in prayer and supplication

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THE PROBLEM OF UNION.

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(Acts i. 14) until "the day of Pentecost was fully come,' when "suddenly" "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak," in such a manner that "the multitude came together and were confounded," becoming at length, as they heard of "the wonderful works of God," "pricked in the heart" (Acts ii. 2, 4, 6, 37), exclaiming at length, "Men, brethren, what shall we do?"

The Christ also prayed for those who would believe on him through the testimony of those whom he ordained to be his witnesses, "both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts i. 8), that they might "be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." (John xvii. 20, 21.) And this prayer also received an answer in the apostolic age, for we read that "the multitude" of those who "believed" on Jesus as the Messiah in Jerusalem "were of one heart and of one soul" (Acts iv. 32), and that as a result of this unity "a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith." (Acts vi. 7.) The Holy Spirit places sectarianism in a list with adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, contention, envy, murder, and drunkenness. (Gal. (Gal. v. 20.) All these things belong to the flesh and are opposed to the Spirit. On the contrary, "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control." (Gal. v. 22, 23.)

There can be no reasonable doubt as to the desire of the Head of the Body, Jesus Christ our Lord, concerning the relation in which his disciples should stand toward him and toward one another.

Let us now consider the Disciples in their relation to the proposition made a few years ago by the Protestant

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Episcopal Church looking toward the reunion of Christendom. The facts are as follows:

In the year 1853 the bishops of the Episcopal Church appointed a commission to confer with the Christian bodies in the United States which were desirous of promoting union and concord among all who love our Lord Jesus in sincerity and truth. This commission did formally set forth and advocate sundry suggestions and recommendations intended to accomplish the great end in view. In 1880 the bishops set forth a declaration to the effect that in virtue of what they were pleased to characterize as "the solidarity of the Catholic Episcopate," "it was the right and duty of the episcopates of all national churches holding the primitive faith and order to protect in the holding of that faith and the recovering of that order those who had been wrongfully deprived of both." The special reference was to Christians in foreign countries who are struggling to set themselves free from the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome. In view of these things, and also in view of the fact that "many of the faithful in Christ Jesus are praying with renewed and increasing earnestness that some measure may be adopted at this time for the reunion of the sundered parts of Christendom," the following declaration was published to the world:

"The bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America in council assembled, as bishops in the Church of God, do hereby solemnly declare to all whom it may concern, and especially to our fellow-Christians of the different communions in this land, who, in their several spheres, have contended for the religion of Christ:

"(1) Our earnest desire that the Saviour's prayer ‘that we all may be one' may, in its deepest and truest sense, be speedily fulfilled.

PROPOSITION OF THE BISHOPS.

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(2) That we believe that all who have been duly baptized with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost are members of the Holy Catholic Church.

"(3) That in all things of human ordering or human choice, relating to modes of worship and discipline or to traditional customs, this church is ready, in the spirit of love and humility, to forego all preferences of her own.

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(4) That this church does not seek to absorb other communions, but rather, coöperating with them on a basis of a common faith and order, to discountenance schism, to heal the wounds of the body of Christ, and to promote the charity which is the chief of Christian graces and the visible manifestation of Christ to the world.

"But furthermore, we do affirm that the Christian unity now so earnestly desired by the memorialists can be restored only by the return of all Christian communions to the principles of unity exemplified by the undivided Catholic Church during the first ages of its existence; which principles we believe to be the substantial deposit of Christian faith and order committed by Christ and his apostles to the church unto the end of the world, and therefore incapable of compromise or surrender by those who have been ordained to be its stewards and trustees for the common and equal benefit of all men.

"As inherent parts of this sacred deposit, and therefore as essential to the restoration of unity among the divided branches of Christendom, we account the following, to wit:

"(1) The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the revealed Word of God;

"(2) The Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith;

"(3) The two sacraments, baptism and the Supper, of

the Lord, ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution, and of the elements ordained by him;

‘(4) The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of his church.

"Furthermore, deeply grieved by the sad divisions which afflict the Christian church in our own land, we hereby declare our desire and readiness, so soon as there shall be any authorized response to this declaration, to enter into brotherly conference with all or any Christian bodies seeking the restoration of the organic unity of the church, with a view to the earnest study of the conditions under which so priceless a blessing might happily be brought to pass.

By resolution a commission, consisting of five bishops, five clerical and five lay deputies, was appointed to communicate to the organized Christian bodies the declaration set forth by the bishops, above quoted, and to express a readiness to enter into brotherly conference with all or any Christian bodies seeking the restoration of the organic unity of the church.

This commission in 1887 communicated the foregoing facts and request to the General Convention of Disciples of Christ at its annual meeting held in Indianapolis in the month of October of the same year.

The following is taken from the minutes of the General Convention:

66 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON CHRISTIAN UNITY.

"The commission of the Protestant Episcopal Church on Christian unity, having sent a communication to the General Christian Missionary Convention at Indianapolis, inviting a conference on this question, accompanying the