mate the
influence of common-sense in closing the era of religious wars, but I
cannot help thinking that an intense religious conviction of the duty of
toleration and a kind of philosophic liberalism, though entertained by
few, contributed to the triumph of the principle. For the Christian, the
duty has become clearer through the influence of the gospels. Some of
the Churches have begun to take to heart the rebuke of Jesus to the
disciples who wished to call down fire on the Samaritans. Nor is it a
question of a particular incident. A deep respect for individuality is
found to lie at the centre of the gospel. For the Christian, the
attitude of toleration, the reliance on persuasion, on the appeal to
every man's conscience, has become more and more clearly the
indispensable qualification of the ambassador for Christ. As the
acceptance of the principle of toleration is by no means universal in
the Church, its fuller recognition in some quarters may serve at first
to intensify division. It may emphasize, e.g. the continued necessity
for Protestantism, by bringing into clearer light the moral obstacle to
reunion in the Inquisition and disciplinary methods of the Church of
Rome. But in the long run, this development of thought must make for
better understanding and wider fellowship.

Still confining our survey to the Christian Church, there has been a
significant fastening of attention on those parts of the New Testament
in which the idea of Catholicity is fully developed. The epistle to the
Ephesians and the seventeenth chapter of John are beginning to haunt the
Christian consciousness as never before since the days of the
Reformation. It is clear that the present position of the Church, in
which divisions have crystallized into separate organizations, does not
reflect and envisage the ideal that 'they all may be one'. The unity of
the Church appears to be a condition precedent to the success of its
testimony. The scandal and the impotence of division are more acutely
felt. Unless the Church of Christ can heal herself or find healing for
herself, it is little enough which she will be able to contribute to the
healing of the nations.

There is hope then for closer fellowship within the Church, because the
problem is being more and more definitely laid upon the consciences of
her members. A further advance in thought which makes possible a closer
approximation of the severed fragments of the Christian Church, is to be
found