ew chapels built by tenant farmers. But these phases of
worship are peculiar to the times of transition in which we live. The
immaturity of our economic processes, and the greater immaturity of our
economic knowledge, explain the failure of worshiping people to assemble
by communities; but the process which assembles men of kindred mind to
worship together now is capable of bringing men together in larger
wholes.

The spirit of federation is in the air. The longing for religious unity
is a response to the stimuli of common experience in the same locality.
Men who meet throughout the week, if they worship at all, discover a
desire to worship together. The coming of great occasions and the
celebrations of anniversaries, train them in some common assemblies. I
remember how the tidings of the death of President McKinley brought
together all the people of the community in an act of worship. Their
response to a profound sense of danger was a community response, and the
church which was prompt to open its doors, found men of all faiths
within.

At a recent meeting of the National Body of one of the greatest
Protestant churches, proceedings were halted by the moderator, who read
a telegram announcing the friendly action of another religious body.
This action looked toward union of the two denominations. It was a
response to overtures from the body there in session. Instantly the
whole assembly sprang up, applauding and cheering, and led by a clear,
musical voice, broke out in a hymn. That hymn is profoundly sociological
in its language, and its use is increasing among Christian people. It
expresses that worship which is a consciousness of kind. Its words are

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love:
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.

Before our Father's throne
We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims, are one,
Our comforts and our cares.

We share our mutual woes,
Our mutual burdens bear,
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

It would be hard to find a member of a Protestant church in America,
among the older denominations, who does not know these words, and is not
accustomed to use them in response to the stimuli of kinship with other
Protestant Christians.

The cons