o they ask that their people should desert
their own ordinances for those of the Established Church. Their people
indeed have no such desire. They love the simplicity and homeliness of
their own communion services and would not exchange them if they could.
But they do feel that to be debarred from communicating when there is no
church of their own order available is a real hardship, and they know
that nothing would make for comity among the churches so surely as an
occasional interchange of pulpits. They recognise that it would all have
to be carried out in due order and under conditions, and as long as the
conditions cast no reflexion on their orders, or on the Christian
standing of their members, they would loyally accept them. Under
exceptional circumstances and given due authorization on both sides, it
might be possible to do openly what is often now done in a more or less
clandestine way. There is a growing body of opinion on both sides which
would be favourable to such a course and it is certain that more will be
heard of it after the war.

This leads up to another consideration which our ecclesiastical
authorities would do well to bear in mind. For a long time past younger
men and women in all the churches have been accustomed to meet together
in the various Fellowships and the Student movement. They have learnt to
work and pray together, to know one another's mind and to realise their
fundamental oneness of spirit and aim. It must be remembered that these
are the men and women in whose hands the future of the churches, humanly
speaking, lies, and they will not tolerate an indefinite prospect of
sectarian division and strife. While loyal to their own denominations
they have seen a wider and more glorious vision, and they are already
prepared for very definite steps in the direction of closer relations.
The new and better spirit which they represent is spreading rapidly
among the rank and file in the churches, and has been strongly
reinforced by experiences at the front. There, under the rude stress of
war, denominational exclusiveness has frankly broken down and attempts
to maintain it have excited universal resentment and disgust. There is
no doubt that after the war there will be a strong public opinion in
favour of better relations among the churches, and no church or section
of a church that clings to the old exclusiveness will be able to retain
any hold upon the people. In this case at least it may be assumed