every action, whether good or bad, of every person and every event was predestinated from the beginning; not only the initial sin of Eve and the amiable compliance of Adam and the consequent fall of man, but the apostasy of Satan. They are thoroughly Predestinarian; and not only Predestinarian, but they are Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarians. The two seeds are good and evil; and one or the other of them will spring up unto eternal life or eternal death, according to the nature of the predestination decreed in each particular case. There are four bodies of Brethren who object to any other designation. They are popularly known as (Plymouth) Brethren. By putting the word Plymouth in parenthesis we can distinguish them from other bodies of Brethren; but how shall we distinguish each of these four bodies of (Plymouth) Brethren from the other three? The device I was led to adopt for the census was that of Roman numerals, thus: (Plymouth) Brethren I., (Plymouth) Brethren IV., the word "Plymouth" being in parenthesis in each case. Much confusion often arises from the similarity of titles. There are, it will be noticed, several bodies called the Church of God, with only a slight variation in two instances. There are the Church of God and Churches of God in Christ Jesus, both Adventist; the Church of God, otherwise distinguished as the denomination founded by Elder Winebrenner, and the Church of God in Christ. The large body, which appears in the list given in this volume as Disciples of Christ, also often calls itself simply "The Christians." There is another denomination, with similar tenets and two branches, which uses the same designation, and is otherwise known as the Christian Connection. The authorities of the census in 1870 declared that in the results it was impossible to draw a line of separation between these denominations. A few years ago the Disciples were popularly distinguished as the body to which President Garfield belonged, and they are probably better known as Campbellites, a term which is offensive to them, than by either of their accepted titles. Since we have divisions, and so many of them, we need good definitive titles. But how shall we get them? Lord Beaconsfield waged a war to acquire a "scientific frontier" in India. Almost any means would be justifiable that would secure for us a scientific nomenclature. But there is this great difficulty: a definitive title cannot be given where there is no distinction to define. Baptist, Presbyterian, Congregational, Episcopal, are definitive titles; but between many of the Baptist and Presbyterian branches there is no difference which a title could be framed to designate. The only remedy I can suggest in such cases is reunion; and why such reunion has not taken place in scores of instances I cannot explain, except by the prevalence of the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. must be that the saints of the sects think they ought to persevere in sectarian division. It VI. THE CAUSES OF DIVISION. What is it that has caused so many divisions in our Christianity? The question is one of profound interest, whether considered as a matter of history, as indicating the course of controversy, or as affecting the influence, spirit, and power of organized religion. The differences in some cases between branches bearing the same generic name are important; in others they are not. How shall we explain the fact that there are six kinds of Adventists, thirteen kinds of Baptists, seventeen kinds of Methodists, etc.? The natural presumption is that the six branches of Adventists are six kinds of Adventists, the thirteen branches of Baptists thirteen kinds of Baptists, and so on. As a matter of fact this is not so. Different titles and separate existence, while logically implying distinct varieties, are in some cases simply the result of differences which have long ceased to exist. It would be a mistake, therefore, to say that every one of the 143 distinct titles of denominations represents a difference, either in doctrine or polity or form of worship. One of the most numerous of the denominational families is the Methodist. Methodism has had a marvelous growth in the United States, and yet we find it broken into seventeen divisions. There are no doctrinal differences to account for them. They are all Arminian in theology, agreeing in their opposition to the Calvinistic decrees; emphasizing the points of doctrine which Wesley made distinctive; and manifesting substantial oneness in the minor matters of usage. They are one in spirit, and each has the family resemblance in many characteristics. They differ, first, in church government. Some are episcopal; others presbyterian, with presidents of conferences instead of bishops; and one is independent. The oldest of the existing divisions, the Methodist Protestant, became separated from the parent body upward of sixty years ago in a controversy over the admission of laymen into the governing body of the church. Those who espoused this reform believed that bishops and presiding elders were autocratic, and when they formed a system of their own, they brought the laymen to the front and sent bishops and presiding This was a division on principles of elders to the rear. government. Eight of the branches became such because of color or race difference. All of these, I believe, except one, separated from a white body. Two other divisions, the American Wesleyan and the Methodist Episcopal, South, were due to the slavery question, which has been one of the most prolific causes, in the history of the last. fifty years, of ecclesiastical controversy and secessions. Another body, the Free Methodists, was the result of too little forbearance and too harsh exercise of discipline, on the one side, and to extravagances of preaching and behavior on the other. In other words, there was a misunderstanding, a quarrel, and a separation. The three Congregational Methodist branches are not really congregational in form of government. Two were caused by disciplinary troubles, and the third is a race church. The Primitive branch comes to us, not by division, but from England through Canada. To summarize, ten of the seventeen divisions were due to the race or the slavery question, and six to controversies over practical questions. Of course differences were increased, in some instances, by the natural process of development. The itinerancy, for example, has been modified in the Methodist Protestant Church, and the probationary system abolished in the Church, South. Leaving out the Independent and the three Congregational branches, which are very small, I doubt whether there is any difference between the various episcopal bodies that would be harder to overcome in any effort to unite them than that of race and section. There are five non-episcopal bodies which are not widely separated in practice or spirit. Of the twelve Presbyterian bodies all are consistently Calvinistic but two, the Cumberland and the Cumberland Colored, which hold to a modified Calvinism. All use the Presbyterian system of government, with little variation. What, then, is it that divides them? Slavery divided the Northern and Southern, the race question the two Cumberland bodies; one branch is Welsh, and the rest are kept apart by minute variations. They have close points of agreement, but they differ on questions that seem to others utterly insignificant. We may sum up the causes of division under four heads: (1) controversies over doctrine; (2) controversies over administration or discipline; (3) controversies over moral questions; (4) controversies of a personal character. We are a nation made up of diverse race-elements. All varieties of speech, habits of thought, mental, moral, and religious training are represented among us by the older and the newer, the European and the Asiatic, immigration. Here there is the utmost freedom for all forms of religion, with no exclusive favors to any. We must expect, from such a commingling, currents, counter-currents, and eddies of religious thought. Different systems of doctrine, different forms of worship, and different principles of discipline are brought into contact, and each has its influence upon the others. Calvinism affects Arminianism, and Arminianism Calvinism. The Teutonic element modifies the English and is modified by it in turn. Catholicism has been most profoundly affected by Protestantism, and some elements of Protestantism by Catholicism. Thus there are various forces acting upon religion in the United States, and producing phenomena in our religious life which the future historian will study with great interest. Without attempting to consider with any degree of thoroughness the tendencies manifested in the history of religion in the United States, I must refer to that toward liberal views. Most denominations have become much more liberal in spirit than they used to be. It was the growth of this liberal spirit which caused many of the divi |