inference must be that, although the belief may be held as firmly as
ever that the Spirit of God inspired that Order which so early took
shape in the Church, and that He worked through it and continues to do
so, yet that also, when men have failed rightly to use the appointed
means, He has found other ways of working. This view, when it has had
its due influence upon thought, can hardly fail to affect profoundly the
measures proposed for healing the divisions which have arisen.

Then, again, on the other side--the side of those separated from the
Church of England--there is more appreciation of the point of view of
Churchmen in respect to their links with the past and their idea of
Catholicity. This is due partly to a broader interest in the life of the
Church in former ages and the heroic and saintly characters which they
produced than since the Reformation has been common among those English
Christians, who are, in a special sense, children of the Reformation;
partly, perhaps, to a growing doubt, as views of Christian truth have
become larger, whether after all a single doctrine or opinion, or
reverence for the teaching of one man, can make a satisfactory basis for
the permanent grouping of Christians. At the same time in regard to
fundamental Christian belief, the meaning which the revelation of God in
Christ has for them, they are and are conscious of being at one with the
Church.

Striking evidence of these new tendencies of thought on both sides is to
be seen in the movement originated by the Protestant Episcopal Church of
the United States for a World-Conference on Faith and Order, and in the
manner in which the proposal for such a Conference has been received in
England, and the steps already taken in preparation for it. A body of
representatives of the Church of England and of the Free Churches has
been appointed, and a Committee of this body has already published
suggestions for a basis of union. These have still, I understand, to
come before the general body of English representatives, and it is
intended (I believe) that the proposals of the Committee, after being
examined and possibly amended and supplemented by the larger body,
should, with any proposals that may be made from similar joint-bodies in
the United States and in the British Dominions, be considered by a body
of representatives from the whole of this vast area. Any conclusions
which are thus reached must then lie, so to speak, before all the
d