possible for honest and competent
inquirers to hold different opinions. But no such doubt hangs over that
End which was also the Beginning, of the Church's life, that conception
of what she is, or ought to be, as the society of those who confess the
Name of Jesus Christ, and who are His Body. I insist upon this because I
think that amid discussions on the origin of the Christian Ministry, the
significance of that more fundamental question, namely, the right
conception of the Christian Church, is apt to be too much lost sight of.
About this, though men still do not, they ought to be able to agree, and
it should be our common inspiration, both impelling us and guiding us in
seeking our goal.

We need it to impel us. The obstacles to the reunion of Christendom at
the present day are such that a motive which can be found is required to
induce and sustain action in seeking it, whenever and wherever the
opportunity for doing so presents itself; such a motive is to be found
in a deep conviction of the sacredness of this object, so that our eyes
maybe kept fixed upon it even when there appears to be no opening
through which an advance toward it can be made, and there is nothing to
be done save to wait and watch and pray. But in order also that the
result of any efforts that are made may be satisfactory, it is necessary
that our minds should be under the guidance of a great and true idea,
and that we should not simply be animated with the desire of meeting
immediate needs. These are the reasons which I think justify me for
having detained you so long over the consideration of the fundamental
conception of the Church which is rooted in the Christian Faith itself
as it first appeared and spread in the world.

I will now, however, before concluding make a few remarks on one part of
the complicated problem of reunion facing us to-day. The part of it on
which I desire to speak is the relations between the Church of England,
and the Churches in communion with her in various parts of the British
Empire and in the United States, on the one hand, and on the other
English Nonconformists, the Presbyterians of Scotland, and all
English-speaking Christians allied to or resembling these. It will, I
think, be generally felt that this is a part of the subject which for
more than one reason specially invites our attention. There are, indeed,
some, both clergy and laity, of the Church of England, though they are
but a very small number in compar