("LIBRARY ^ 
 
 cK&TYOF 
 
 1 KMM : 
 
 SAN DIEGO
 
 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY
 
 JOACH1M 111.. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE
 
 AN 
 
 EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF OUR TOUR WITH 
 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS ON 
 THE UNITY OF CHRIS- 
 TIAN CHURCHES 
 
 BY 
 SILAS McBEE 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 
 
 NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA 
 
 IQII
 
 COPYRIGHT, IQII, BY 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 THE PLIMPTON PRESS 
 
 [ W D O ] 
 NORWOOD MASS U S A
 
 TO 
 
 THOSE WHO SENT AND TO THOSE 
 WHO RECEIVED ME
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 I. NEW YORK TO BERLIN 3 
 
 II. RUSSIA 14 
 
 III. RUSSIA TO ITALY 45 
 
 IV. EGYPT 58 
 
 V. PALESTINE AND SYRIA 69 
 
 VI. ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE .... 98 
 VII. CLOSE OF OUR TOUR FRANCE AND 
 
 ENGLAND 126 
 
 VIII. CONCLUSIONS 148 
 
 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 
 
 THE FAMILY OF GOD 169 
 
 CO-OPERATION AND UNITY 176 
 
 RELATIONS BETWEEN CHURCHES . . . . 182 
 
 THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE LAITY . . . . . 190 
 
 ADJUSTING THE CHURCH 198 
 
 THE UNITY OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES . . . 205
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 JL HE tour through Europe and the Near 
 East, the impressions of which are the occasion 
 and form the larger part of this volume, was 
 not an isolated experience. It was one in a 
 long series of efforts, covering many years, to 
 know the mind and genius as well as to under- 
 stand and to feel the spirit of the dismembered 
 sections of Christendom. These efforts have 
 now brought me in touch with representatives 
 of practically every type of organized Chris- 
 tianity. I have talked to others and they have 
 talked to me with an unusual measure of frank- 
 ness which has been the more unreserved be- 
 cause I have had the privilege of worshipping 
 with them. This principle of action is very 
 far-reaching and is not without its difficulties 
 and grave dangers. Not the least of these is 
 the danger of allowing, for the sake of the end 
 in view, the wearing away of clearly marked 
 lines of principle and conviction, for to reduce 
 principle and conviction to indifference by
 
 x INTRODUCTION 
 
 compromise is worse in effect than to yield 
 them in open conflict. But where the integrity 
 of the Church is at stake difficulties and dan- 
 gers are invitations to action, rather than 
 warnings to be heeded by running away. To 
 stop short of seeking this higher and truer 
 knowledge of other communions is in reality 
 to rest in the letter and to miss the spirit to 
 allow attention to be concentrated on differences 
 and to lose sight of agreements that are vital. 
 The real content and spiritual value of the dis- 
 membered Communions of Christendom will 
 only be understood and appreciated in the 
 worship which represents their spiritual ideals 
 and aspirations. 
 
 This principle I have acted on for years and 
 it has opened more doors than one could have 
 hoped for. It is positive and constructive. 
 It demands a knowledge of others at their best, 
 and a faith in them at their best, without in 
 any degree failing to take account of differ- 
 ences far less of ignoring them. The right 
 to differ is an essential condition of growth and 
 it is equally an essential condition of vital 
 unity. The deprivation of the right to differ 
 would mean the destruction of variety and the
 
 INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 establishment of uniformity and that would 
 mean a death blow to all growth. Unity as 
 the primary note of the Church connects and 
 relates the life of the individual with that of 
 the whole Christian community and is the only 
 sure guarantee of individual and collective 
 liberty. Unity in variety is the gift of God. 
 It safeguards the right to differ and to hold 
 sacred differing and different convictions so 
 long as these differences are kept in their true 
 perspective, so long as they are limited to the 
 sphere of human knowledge and power, and 
 are not projected beyond that sphere as if man 
 could place limitations upon God. This princi- 
 ple calls for the living application of the love 
 that believes all things in the face of having to 
 endure all things. It seeks to apply the family 
 idea to a broken and dismembered Christendom 
 as the governing principle of the Church's life 
 and as an essential condition of manifesting 
 Christ to the whole world. 
 
 It matters not where or in what direction, 
 ecclesiastically or geographically, this principle 
 is presented, it commands attention. The 
 individual and the institution are made for 
 each other, they are bound together as irrevo-
 
 xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 cably in God's purpose and plan as is His 
 creation everywhere. But "individualism" and 
 "institutionalism" would divorce this union of 
 God's making and force the battle of one against 
 the other to the increasing damage of both. 
 The unity of life in its infinite variety, the 
 oneness of the Church, not merely in spite of, 
 but rather because of the variety and richness 
 of individuality of personality, is the govern- 
 ing principle of Christianity and is in reality 
 shaping the life of nations and of peoples. 
 
 When nearly seven years ago wholly unex- 
 pected circumstances gave me the privilege of 
 an audience with His Holiness, Pius X., I was 
 prepared in a peculiar sense for this new experi- 
 ence, an experience at the opposite pole of that 
 of my earlier life. It came at a time when my 
 interest in Protestant Christianity was deepest 
 and most hopeful because of its amazing mis- 
 sionary initiative. Moreover I had come to 
 believe that many of its greatest students were 
 recognizing the divisive principle involved in 
 the negative side of Protestantism, and were 
 feeling on the positive side the absolute neces- 
 sity of a constructive, historic basis for a com- 
 mon, a universal Christianity. My attitude
 
 INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 was fully understood by those Roman Catholics 
 whose hospitality I shall never forget. My 
 reception by the Pope and the formation of 
 intimate friendships with representative Roman 
 Catholics in Italy and France closed no ave- 
 nues and, so far as I know, raised no serious 
 prejudices in the minds of friends in the Prot- 
 estant Churches at home. My impression is 
 that the friendships in both directions far from 
 being interfered with were enriched and in- 
 tensified by these experiences, because, in the 
 intervening years, those acquaintances and 
 friendships have been extended widely in both 
 directions at home and abroad. 
 
 It will thus be seen that Bishop Bonomelli's 
 statesmanlike letter which I read to the Edin- 
 burgh Conference was not an isolated or spas- 
 modic act either on his part it was in line 
 with the development of his long and wonder- 
 ful life nor on my own. Circumstances and 
 conditions that had been shaping and directing 
 my efforts for years made it a perfectly normal 
 thing for me to ask the Bishop of Cremona, a 
 Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, to 
 address a letter to the World's Missionary 
 Conference at Edinburgh.
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 Of my latest experience the "Impressions" 
 speak for themselves. This tour added some 
 of the richest experiences of a lifetime in afford- 
 ing the privilege of knowing the Russian Church 
 and most of the Eastern Orthodox Churches 
 as well as the Coptic and Armenian Churches. 
 These papers were written with no thought of 
 their appearance in a volume but as impressions 
 made upon one who was endeavouring to look 
 at the whole of Christendom as a unit in Christ, 
 having a common Father and a common Saviour, 
 into whom all had been born by baptism. 
 They are here collected in deference to the 
 wishes of those in many countries who have 
 laid me under such lasting obligation by their 
 cordial co-operation that their simple request 
 is equivalent to a command. 
 
 I have nowhere advocated a scheme for unity. 
 I know of none that would be or could be made 
 adequate. Surely no man-made plan or sys- 
 tem can be substituted for the organic law of 
 the one Church, of the one Christ, for the whole 
 of mankind. It was because of the creation 
 of systems that isolation and separation began. 
 It is by systems that Christendom continues 
 divided. Wherever I went and wherever ways
 
 INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 were opened they were opened to the principle 
 for which I stood, the unity of the Church as 
 the fundamental principle of the Family of 
 God for an open door of understanding and 
 better feeling and closer co-operation no matter 
 how infinitesimal the beginnings may be. This 
 principle and this principle alone, I am per- 
 suaded, accounts for the fact that so many 
 doors were opened, that receptions were so 
 cordial, the interchange of ideas so frank and 
 unreserved, so sympathetic and so vital. I 
 shall revert to this principle with certain con- 
 crete illustrations in the concluding chapter of 
 this volume.
 
 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY
 
 NOTE 
 
 J. HE Impressions that follow were originally 
 written for The Churchman, New York, of which 
 the author is the editor. The introduction and 
 concluding chapters are new. The journey was 
 undertaken at the instance of Dr. John R. Mott 
 and in connection with the World's Student 
 Christian Federation at Constantinople.
 
 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 NEW YORK TO BERLIN 
 
 R party Dr. and Mrs. John R. Mott, 
 the Secretaries, Messrs. Jenkins and Fields, 
 Mrs. McBee and I sailed from New York 
 January 18, 1911, at 9 A.M., on the "Lusitania." 
 The voyage proved a record-breaking one for 
 the ship sailing eastward. It was quicker by 
 one hour and twenty minutes than any former 
 trip, in spite of two days of stormy weather, 
 while her last day's run of 608 miles was seven 
 miles faster than any former day, and only three 
 less than the "Mauretania," that holds, at 611 
 miles, the record. The weather and the great 
 ship combined to give us one of the most com- 
 fortable and delightful crossings in our experi- 
 ence. We also had on board the Secretary of 
 the Continuation Committee of the Edinburgh 
 Conference, Mr. Oldham, and Mrs. Oldham. 
 With three members of that committee on the 
 3
 
 4 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 ship the Chairman, Dr. Mott, the Secretary, 
 Mr. Oldham, and myself, there was ample 
 occasion for full and frank discussion of the 
 grave responsibilities and inspiring opportunities 
 that the committee must face. 
 
 On Monday, January 23, the captain invited 
 us to his room. After giving us the record for 
 the trip, and that day 's run of 608 miles (it had 
 not yet been posted), he asked us to tell him of 
 our mission. Captain Charles listened with 
 interest to our story, but with no signs of en- 
 thusiasm, till we reached the subject of united 
 effort on the part of all the Churches of Chris- 
 tendom. That, he said, is the subject of the 
 future. His whole manner changed as the 
 whole manner of Christendom will change, 
 when once the duty of bearing a united witness 
 to the whole world is accepted and attempted. 
 We took that incident as an earnest of our work 
 for the coming months. 
 
 The anchor was cast at Fishguard at 3:30 
 P.M., and we were in our hotel in London before 
 eleven that night. The next three days in Lon- 
 don were full to overflowing, but they were 
 days to be remembered. The weather was such 
 as we have seldom seen there in winter, and
 
 NEW YORK TO BERLIN 5 
 
 the company of men gathered for the various 
 meetings for conference (there were no public 
 meetings or speaking) is not often seen except 
 at world gatherings. Not to mention Americans 
 and Englishmen, Dr. Richter, the authoritative 
 writer on Missions in India and the Near East, 
 was there representing Germany on the Execu- 
 tive Committee of the Continuation Committee, 
 and Count von Moltke, Chamberlain to the late 
 King of Denmark, representing his country in 
 the same capacity, while Dr. Karl Fries came 
 from Sweden to attend a meeting of the 
 Committee of the World Student Christian 
 Federation. 
 
 Dr. Mott and I had a conference with the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury covering two sub- 
 jects the work of the Continuation Com- 
 mittee and our tour. Archbishop Davidson 
 gave his full and hearty sympathy and approval 
 in both directions. His discussion of the 
 Edinburgh Conference and its Continuation 
 Committee was vigorous and courageous and 
 hopeful. I never felt the elements of essential 
 greatness in the Archbishop so strongly. It 
 was more than advice, more than abstract and 
 general approval. It was a clear outline of
 
 6 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 constructive policy looking to the steady develop- 
 ment of better understanding, better feeling 
 and better relations between Christian Churches 
 everywhere. 
 
 Through the courtesy of Mr. Innes, first 
 secretary of the British Embassy in Washing- 
 ton, who had served for years under him in 
 Egypt, Lord Cromer invited me to his home 
 and gave information that will be of value in 
 Egypt and in all judgments of Egyptian affairs. 
 With the understanding that the interview was 
 not to be published, Lord Cromer spoke with 
 a frankness he could not otherwise have done. 
 His long and brilliant experience is of inestimable 
 value without regard to whether one agrees or 
 disagrees with his point of view. It was more 
 than gratifying to hear his estimate of some 
 American missionaries. Of the late Dr. Harvey 
 and of Dr. Watson he spoke in strong terms. 
 "Dr. Watson," he said, "has the confidence of 
 everyone and will be of more help than I could 
 be in your work." 
 
 At the Bible House I met Bishop Tucker, of 
 Uganda, through the thoughtfulness of Dr. 
 Ritson, secretary of the British and Foreign 
 Bible Society. The bishop left a committee
 
 NEW YORK TO BERLIN 7 
 
 meeting and gave me time enough to feel the 
 power and inspiration of his rare personality. 
 He used stirring words about Mr. Roosevelt's 
 visit to Uganda. There is no courage greater 
 and no cheerfulness brighter or happier than 
 that of a truly great missionary, and there is 
 nothing strange about it. He is in will and 
 deed working with God in Christ reconciling 
 the world, and he knows it. 
 
 Dr. Mott and I visited Sir Edward Grey at 
 the Foreign Office. I had often seen and heard 
 Sir Edward in the House of Commons. It is 
 one thing to see from the gallery of the House 
 and quite another to see face to face. The 
 combination of charm and force in the man at 
 once explains the respect in which the Foreign 
 Office is held by men of all parties at home and 
 abroad. For about forty minutes he entered into 
 our plans and purposes and has taken steps that 
 will be simply invaluable to the work in hand. 
 Ambassador Bryce, he told us, had also written 
 him at length and most sympathetically of 
 our journeyings. When we were leaving Sir 
 Edward asked that he be informed in advance 
 of our return to London in May in order that he 
 might arrange to hear a report of the tour.
 
 8 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 There are others to whom we owe much but 
 of whom it would be difficult to speak without 
 being too personal, and a record of all our doings 
 in those three days would outrun the limits of 
 this correspondence. 
 
 Mr. Phillips, in charge of the American 
 Embassy while Mr. Reid is in America, had 
 not received President Taft's letter, which in 
 some unaccountable way had miscarried, but 
 did everything for us in his power. He even 
 cabled the President and got the day we left 
 England a cable from Mr. Taft repeating what 
 he had written before we left New York. We 
 were put under lasting obligations to Mr. 
 Phillips, whose initiative did so much to set 
 forward our work now and to prepare for that 
 which is to come in May. 
 
 To President Taft, members of the Cabinet, 
 and the British and German Ambassadors we 
 are indebted for letters and other help that it 
 would be futile to attempt to estimate. 
 
 One further matter commands attention. 
 The night before leaving London I was invited 
 to dinner by Baron von Hiigel, the distinguished 
 layman of the Roman Catholic Church, and one 
 of its great scholars. He is not a new friend.
 
 NEW YORK TO BERLIN 9 
 
 His health has greatly improved since my visits 
 to him last year and he seems a new man. That 
 evening, January 25, 1911, will remain a self- 
 reviving memory. When the Abbe Bremond 
 first gave me a letter to Baron von Hiigel he 
 said, "You will find on his shoulders the most 
 Teutonic head you have ever seen." My 
 readers will readily believe I found what the 
 Abbe described. When I arrived the Baron 
 had only a few minutes before received a letter 
 from the Bishop of Southwark thanking him 
 for his congratulations on the bishop's transla- 
 tion to Winchester. The friendship between 
 these two scholars and unflinchingly loyal 
 Christians is a type, a very high and rare type 
 I admit, of what is coming to pass in all parts of 
 Christendom. The leaven is at work and all 
 the powers of evil cannot withstand it. Von 
 Hiigel may be persecuted, and that by honest 
 men in his communion (it requires honest 
 men to do persecution to perfection), but I 
 venture nothing, nor will anyone else who 
 reads his great book, "The Mystical Elements 
 in Religion," when I say that the Roman 
 Catholic Church probably never had a son 
 more loyal to catholicity, nor a more unwaver-
 
 io AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 ing believer in Jesus Christ, Son of God and 
 Son of Man. 
 
 IN HOLLAND. From London we went via 
 Harwich and the Hook of Holland to meet the 
 students of Holland and the Netherlands at 
 Utrecht, on January 27. 
 
 When I reached Utrecht the selection of six 
 students to represent Holland at Constantinople 
 had been made, and I was invited to meet them 
 with Dr. Mott. A sturdier body of men in 
 mind and character it would be difficult to find. 
 Dr. Rutgers had taken his D.D. in course before 
 applying for ordination, and Mr. Gunning, 
 whom I met at Edinburgh, has a reserve force 
 combined with a patient enthusiasm that com- 
 pels a sturdy faith and sure hope. And the 
 others seemed cast in the same mould. Mr. 
 Gunning has just graduated and has planned a 
 campaign covering three years, in the confident 
 expectation that he can organize a Laymen's 
 Missionary Movement in Holland. 
 
 Edinburgh was a living influence in the lives 
 of the men who came together at Utrecht. 
 
 IN GERMANY. A night's travel brought us 
 to Berlin, where another interesting body of
 
 NEW YORK TO BERLIN n 
 
 students and scholars had gathered for con- 
 ference. Prince Bernadotte, of Sweden, the 
 Admiral of the Swedish Navy, came to our 
 hotel hi Berlin for a short visit. He is a great 
 influence in the Christian life of Sweden, and 
 is a member of the World's Committee of the 
 Y. M. C. A. On Sunday night we visited at 
 Potsdam Dr. Lepshis, the director of the Orient 
 Mission, which is devoting itself almost exclu- 
 sively to work among Moselms hi Turkey, 
 Bulgaria, Persia and southern Europe. He is 
 recognized here as one of the foremost authori- 
 ties on questions pertaining to Moslem missions. 
 Certainly he is a stimulating thinker and his 
 institution for training missionaries is in many 
 ways unique. On Monday night, Dr. Mott 
 left Berlin of necessity in order to keep engage- 
 ments in Switzerland which could not be delayed. 
 On Tuesday evening I had a long and never- 
 to-be-forgotten talk with His Excellency, Dr. 
 Dryander, the court preacher and one of the 
 great preachers in Germany. In his striking 
 figure, tall and commanding, he is not unlike 
 von Hiigel. He is more erect and direct in 
 thought and speech because he is primarily a 
 preacher, while von Hiigel is essentially a
 
 12 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 scholar, and sees life in long perspective. The 
 two belong together. They are nearer than when 
 I last saw Dryander, and God and time are on 
 the side of their growing closer together. 
 
 On Wednesday night February i I attended 
 the Court Ball having been honoured with an 
 invitation from the Emperor and Empress with 
 the notice that the American Ambassador would 
 present me to the Emperor. President Taft 
 had, because of his profound interest in our 
 mission, requested Dr. Hill to ask for an audi- 
 ence for our deputation. Our stay was too 
 short to make a private audience possible, 
 and so the invitation came for the Court Ball. 
 Dr. Mott would have received the same invita- 
 tion if he had been in Berlin. Presentations 
 are not generally made at Court Balls and the 
 unusual exception showed the Kaiser's readiness 
 to comply with Ambassador Hill's report of the 
 President's wishes. The Emperor promptly 
 and most interestedly granted our request, and 
 has entrusted us with a message to the confer- 
 ence at Constantinople. 
 
 Of the Ball itself I may only say that it was 
 difficult to realize that military efficiency could 
 lend itself to a drama of grace and infinitely
 
 NEW YORK TO BERLIN 13 
 
 varied colour without the loss of simplicity and 
 dignity and order. There was not a suggestion 
 of the inflexible law of the soldier. Clothed 
 in his wondrous new garb as President of the 
 Senate of Scholars lately created by the Em- 
 peror, I scarcely recognized Harnack. He was 
 wandering about alone avoiding the crowd 
 when I spoke to him. He remembered me at 
 once and entered into a stimulating talk on 
 unity. His parting words were, "All good 
 wishes in your work."
 
 CHAPTER H 
 
 RUSSIA 
 
 WE left Berlin on February 2, at 1:26 P.M., 
 and crossed the Russian border about noon on the 
 third, arriving at St. Petersburg at 8:45 A.M. on 
 the fourth, which was Saturday. There is one 
 thing about my going to Russia to be noted 
 here, because it is the key to what followed and 
 explains a unique experience. It was at the 
 suggestion of the Russian Archbishop of North 
 America that I decided to make this visit in 
 connection with our tour in the Near East. It 
 had been my privilege to meet Archbishop 
 Platon last fall. A short acquaintance indeed, 
 but the circumstances under which it was made 
 freed the acquaintance from dependence on 
 time for its maturity. It was a discussion of 
 unity as effected by the Orthodox Eastern 
 Churches with Professor Johnson, at the Quill 
 Club in October last, that led the professor to 
 introduce me to the Archbishop. His Grace's 
 ideals, and his definite faith in their slow but 
 14
 
 RUSSIA 15 
 
 sure application to the conditions of divided 
 Christendom was as impressive as the holding 
 of such ideals with a definite purpose to put 
 them into practice seemed surprising in an Arch- 
 bishop of the Russian Church. I felt at once 
 the value of such statesmanship in our midst, 
 and now that I have been in Russia, I know 
 that the Archbishop does not stand alone, but 
 that he is a prophet to us of his own Communion, 
 and that with our frank co-operation he may 
 become a prophet of our Communion to the 
 Russian Church. 
 
 Archbishop Platon imposed one condition 
 namely, that I should go with his letters of 
 introduction and with no others to the Russian 
 Church. I went, therefore, under his patronage 
 and became in effect his guest in the Russian 
 Church, and I was made to feel the hospitality 
 of his own people. I appreciated the signifi- 
 cance of such an invitation at the time it was 
 given, but its fuller meaning has been growing 
 upon me ever since. The Emperor himself 
 congratulated me on being in Russia under 
 such unique conditions and expressed the hope 
 that every advantage would be given me in 
 the studies that I was making. This inner
 
 16 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 relation and the frankness that followed from 
 it enabled me to see things as they are to an 
 extent that would hardly have been possible 
 otherwise. Something of what is meant will 
 appear later. This is, I know, a poor expres- 
 sion of what Archbishop Platon did in helping to 
 a better insight into his own Communion and his 
 own people, but he will understand more than I 
 would venture to say, or than he would have me 
 say, just here. Officially and personally I owe 
 him more than I would attempt to express, and if 
 I do not make full use in the future of what he 
 made it possible for me to learn, to feel and to 
 believe, it will be my own fault or incapacity. 
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. THE MONASTERY OF 
 ALEXANDER NEVSKY. On the afternoon of 
 Saturday I called on Bishop Tikhon, and pre- 
 sented my first letter from Archbishop Platon. 
 His Grace appeared at once, having heard at 
 greater length from the Archbishop himself, 
 and for two hours gave himself to the dis- 
 cussion of my visit and the work for which I 
 had come. His secretary, who had been in 
 charge of the music in the Russian cathedral 
 in New York during the years of Archbishop
 
 RUSSIA 17 
 
 Tikhon's official residence there, together with 
 our valued friend, the former Consul- General 
 in New York, Mr. now the Honourable 
 Nicholas N. de Lodygensky, aided the Arch- 
 bishop in mapping out a plan for a part of my 
 stay. On Sunday morning we attended the 
 celebration at the Cathedral of the Monastery, 
 his Grace being the celebrant, and for the first 
 time heard a great Russian choir. This choir 
 contests with the Cathedral of the Assumption 
 in Moscow the honour of being the finest choir 
 in Russia. By special invitation I stood "in 
 the altar." The singing at the monastery 
 differs from that at the Assumption in Moscow 
 in several ways, but the most striking difference 
 is that one entire side of the choir is occupied 
 by the monks, whose singing is magnificent. 
 The service was of special interest because of 
 the ordination of a priest. It was made more 
 intelligible by the secretary, Mr. Greofsky, 
 who never left my side and was constantly inter- 
 preting and explaining the service and the 
 music. A rare musician himself, he sang much 
 of the service, and under the spell of his leading 
 I was able to sing parts of it myself. I used 
 an English translation, called the Service Book,
 
 i8 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 by an American, Miss Hapgood, which book 
 was presented to me as a memento of the occa- 
 sion. The music came as a sort of awakening 
 both in kind and degree. Of course I had heard 
 voices without instruments, but never such 
 voices, blending and moving with a grace and 
 power that reminded one of the waves of the 
 sea. Here was a great organ of human voices. 
 What need had they of the imitation? 
 
 In the Russian Church surely the organ has 
 no place. Their choirs we heard later the 
 Assumption choir at Moscow and many others 
 in both cities seem the ideal for their voices 
 and their worship. Again I cannot think that 
 their Church music would ever be taken for 
 anything other than that of worship. The 
 music of their litanies might at times seem 
 terrible, if it were pessimistic, but it is not. It 
 carries a solemn expectation in keeping with 
 their rendering of the Eucharist. Of their 
 worship, as a whole, no one should feel compe- 
 tent to speak without opportunity to enter into 
 the spirit, the power, the imagination, the faith, 
 the mystical element and all those qualities 
 that have combined to create the genius of this 
 great people, with its even greater problems.
 
 RUSSIA 19 
 
 Each nation, as each race and each individual, is 
 entitled to its individuality. This right is as 
 absolute as the obligation upon every nation, 
 race, and individual to fulfil their relation to 
 the whole of humanity in the whole world is 
 absolute. None can be justified, either indi- 
 vidually or collectively, in pursuing a course of 
 individualism which isolates it from the whole. 
 None can be justified in a socialism or an insti- 
 tutionalism that deprives nations, races, and 
 individuals of their individuality in performing 
 their individual part in the work of the whole. 
 Even with my brief experience I venture to 
 express my profound conviction that the Russian 
 Church seems normal in its worship in the setting 
 in which it is found, and that it must develop 
 and reform under its own conditions. And as 
 profoundly I believe it has within it the power 
 to make contributions to the catholicity of 
 Christendom when once the claims of all the 
 Communions of Christendom are fully recognized 
 in the catholic claims of Him Who died and rose 
 again for the saving of the whole world. Unity 
 will never come in the adjustment of the claims 
 of Russian, Roman, Anglican, or any other 
 Communion by way of covenant or agreement
 
 20 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 or adjustment among themselves. They must 
 work together till all recognize the primary 
 and infinitely superior claims of Christ upon 
 the loyalty of those who work in His name, and 
 that loyalty must be expressed in One Uni- 
 versal Church. The primary, fundamental issue 
 is not our claim but Christ's claim for the unity 
 of His disciples in order that the world may 
 know that the Father sent Him into the world. 
 Finally, it is a happiness to be constrained to 
 say that while I found many who, with entire 
 frankness, refused to see the obligation to put 
 this principle into practice, even they were 
 unable to controvert the principle. But more 
 than this I found in high places among ecclesias- 
 tics as well as among laymen, among scholars 
 and among men of average information, an 
 assent not only to the principle, but the accept- 
 ance of a pressing obligation to apply it in life. 
 
 A VISIT TO THE METROPOLITAN. From the 
 cathedral I was taken immediately to the Palace 
 of the Metropolitan, who was ill and was not 
 receiving visitors. The call was intended to be 
 formal and for the purpose of leaving a card. 
 To our surprise the Metropolitan received me,
 
 <ti 
 
 THE METROPOLITAN OF ST. PETERSBURGH
 
 RUSSIA 21 
 
 apologizing for not being in his official dress. 
 He stood, though it was pain to do so, and spoke 
 with a calm dignity and force becoming his 
 great office, and evidently growing out of a great 
 experience. He showed a depth and breadth 
 of sympathy which seem generally possible 
 only to those of increased years, whose "wisdom 
 increases with their years." He gave me his 
 blessing and added his best wishes for what I was 
 trying to do. As we were leaving Mr. Lodygen- 
 sky told him that I was going to the Holy Land. 
 The Metropolitan, looking me steadily in the 
 face, said with simplicity and emotion: "When 
 you stand at our Lord's tomb, pray for me." 
 
 ADDRESS TO THE THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS 
 OF THE ACADEMY. Before leaving the subject 
 of this monastery, with its great foundation, 
 its churches, and its wealth of associations, it 
 is well to record another and last visit there. 
 My readers will not be more surprised to hear 
 of an invitation to address the theological 
 students of this "High Church" Academy, than 
 I was to receive it. The spirit that prompted 
 the invitation was as gracious as it was stimu- 
 lating. I hesitated to seize the opportunity,
 
 22 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 having no possible time for preparation, but 
 it was urged, "go and speak out your mind and 
 heart frankly and unreservedly." We ap- 
 proached the monastery at 8:30 P.M., with the 
 thermometer below zero, to find the great 
 gateway closed. The impressiveness of the 
 entrance through a side door into that great 
 court, as we walked past the cathedral and the 
 famous cemetery suggestive of the solemn, silent 
 scene surrounding us, will remain always. In 
 the inner court of the Academy members of the 
 faculty and students awaited us and conducted 
 us to the hall where the principal, a bishop in 
 full brown habit, received us. I was immedi- 
 ately introduced to the body of students, all 
 standing during the exercises. I stood between 
 the bishop and Mr. Lodygensky, who acted 
 as interpreter. The faculty and the student 
 body stood in a semi-circle about us, pressing 
 eagerly forward to hear every word. I spoke 
 first of the word "Protestant," because I had 
 been introduced as a member of the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church, and because I knew that 
 the word carried a meaning in Russia different, 
 at least to a degree, if not in kind, from that 
 put upon it in any other country, not excepting
 
 RUSSIA j 23 
 
 those under the influence of the Roman Com- 
 munion. To many here Protestant is synony- 
 mous with infidel or sceptic, or enemy of historic 
 Christianity. It was no time for argument 
 nor explanation. I did not feel the need of it. 
 I stated, without reserve, that Protestant was 
 not a characteristic, essential and permanent, 
 of our conception of Catholicity. The protest 
 was an accident and an incident in the historic 
 struggle for the purity of the Church's order and 
 doctrine and life. I think I surprised both 
 faculty and students by stating that we were 
 so sure of our historical position that we did 
 not seek either from the East or the West a 
 confirmation of the validity of our Orders in 
 order to make us more sure. But we were 
 coming to believe what many in all Commun- 
 ions were coming to believe, that our separation 
 and isolation as historic Churches was a stand- 
 ing witness against the effectiveness of Catholic 
 Christianity because our divided witness con- 
 tradicted the prayer of Our Lord that His 
 disciples should unite in bearing witness to 
 Him throughout the world. I then gave the 
 actual situation in plain facts as to the millions 
 who had never heard the Gospel and in all
 
 24 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 probability could never hear it under the pres- 
 ent conditions of a separated and isolated 
 Christianity. The effect of these statistics 
 was striking, but I think not more striking 
 than when the Laymen's Movement first used 
 them at home and later in England, and as I 
 have used them frequently on the continent. 
 
 Taking advantage of their living interest in 
 the condition of the world and the divided state 
 of Christendom which was instinct in every 
 face before me, I insisted that it was the duty 
 of our Communions to know each other better 
 in order to understand the common ground 
 on which we stood as well as intelligently to 
 appreciate the character of the things in which 
 we differ, and further that to understand one 
 another it was necessary that we should do 
 something in common, no matter how small the 
 beginning might be. For students a beginning 
 could be made in a common study of the history 
 of Christianity in the light of the condition of 
 the world which actually faced them. Then if 
 we began to do things together, and to feel 
 things together, and to think out things to- 
 gether, we would become the more competent 
 to realize how incalculably precious and funda-
 
 RUSSIA 25 
 
 mental are the things on which we are agreed, 
 and also we should, without sacrificing those 
 individual characteristics which made them 
 Russian and us American made them mem- 
 bers of the Russian and us members of the 
 American Church we should be able to put 
 these lesser things in their true perspective 
 without sacrificing them simply because they 
 were different in the two Churches. I told 
 them that I knew no place where this work 
 should be done more earnestly and more per- 
 sistently than by students who are in prepara- 
 tion for Holy Orders, that such work was being 
 done in our country and that I was persuaded 
 from the manner in which they had received 
 what I had said they would make it a study of 
 the first importance in their Academy. 
 
 When I ha'd finished a member of the student 
 body stepped forward and in English, with a 
 good accent, made the following response 
 which, at my request, he wrote out afterwards: 
 
 "MOST HONOURABLE MR. McBEE: 
 
 "In behalf of the students of the Theological Academy 
 of St. Petersburg, I have the honour of greeting you 
 on your visit to our Academy. We sincerely thank you 
 for your kind words and kind opinions of the Russian
 
 26 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 students, and while opening before you the gates of the 
 Academy we throw wide open also our hearts. Greeting 
 your Honour, we greet not only a most welcome guest, 
 but also a highly esteemed worker and representative 
 of the Episcopal world, the world that keeps in its depths 
 the real tendency and faith and the union of the 
 Churches. The importance of this wide world question 
 needs no commentary. Especially we students of the 
 Theological Schools are to comprehend it. Our Church 
 prays for this union, and it is required in us that all 
 be gathered in one body the Body of our Lord. 
 Therefore it is our sincere hope and faith that the time 
 is really coming when all are to say there is one flock 
 and one Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ. Concluding 
 these few words, we must pray you to accept our warm 
 farewell on your further journey. May God bestow 
 upon you all His blessings and encrown your mission 
 with love and peace and success. 
 "(Signed) 
 
 "The Students of the Theological 
 Academy of St. Petersburg." 
 
 It developed later that this Russian student 
 had been born in San Francisco, hence the ease 
 with which he spoke in our language. The 
 principal followed in a few earnest words, and 
 among other things said that being only a 
 bishop and not in higher authority he could 
 take no liberties. Therefore, as an Orthodox 
 bishop, he could not give his blessing to one 
 who is not an Orthodox, but he said he would
 
 RUSSIA 27 
 
 pray for the success of my mission, and that 
 they were grateful for my coming to them, and 
 he wished me all good things on our journey. 
 I valued this discrimination because it showed 
 plainly that their hospitality was not getting 
 the better of their convictions. It was only 
 one of many evidences I had in Russia of a 
 frank statement of their position and the nec- 
 essary consequences to those holding it. 
 
 OFFICIALS OF THE HOLY SYNOD. I was 
 received by the Over-Procurator, by the Vice- 
 Procurator and the Ex-Procurator of the Holy 
 Synod. There was less of sympathy and of 
 faith in any approach toward unity in these 
 three laymen than from any other source. The 
 Over-Procurator is a man, I am told, of rare 
 scientific attainment and I can well believe it, 
 because of the ease with which he puts the 
 situation into a syllogism. Put with ability 
 and easy dignity the sum total of his first state- 
 ment was practically this: It was necessary 
 to be Orthodox; they were Orthodox, and there 
 was nothing for them to do unless others became 
 Orthodox. I am putting the matter, of course, 
 in a few words. It was stimulating to find such
 
 28 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 frankness and it was encouraging to see that 
 even a scientific mind had to modify a position 
 of such finality. He had not, I think, realized 
 the real issue. Possibly he thought I was only 
 another person seeking recognition of my Com- 
 munion at the hands of the Russian Church, as 
 though we were not certain of our position and 
 needed to have ourselves validated by an Ortho- 
 dox Church. I have not the remotest idea that 
 his view of Orthodoxy underwent any change, 
 but I do think he came to realize that the ques- 
 tion at issue was greater than the claims of the 
 Russian Church or any other branch of the 
 Christian Church. The Vice-Procurator was 
 not scientific so much as literary, and he was 
 really concerned about the historical status of 
 our Communion. He seemed surprised that 
 even we believed in our Orders. He said, "I 
 am more than an ordinary man and have had 
 more than ordinary experience, and if I do not 
 know, what must be the attitude of the average 
 member of the Russian Church?" I replied 
 by saying, "The Pope is a man of more than 
 average intelligence and has had rare oppor- 
 tunities for wide observation" (it was as inter- 
 esting as it was a revelation of his own frankness
 
 RUSSIA 29 
 
 to see the amusement in his face when he saw 
 what was coming), "and yet should the Pope 
 deny the validity of your Orders, would that 
 settle finally the question of the validity of your 
 Orders?" He was quick to say "No;" and so 
 I insisted that, though he and the Russian 
 Church and the whole world should rise to 
 deny it, we were convinced of the validity of 
 our Orders and desired careful examination of 
 the historic basis upon which they rested; that 
 my point was that all of us were too near an 
 average intelligence and too full of theological 
 strife and prejudice and had too far departed 
 from the fundamental Christian idea of one 
 family of God, to be in a position to pass judg- 
 ment finally, each upon the other; and that 
 what I was in Russia for was to urge fuller 
 understanding, more active co-operation, in 
 order that we might produce an ecumenical 
 Christianity which was an essential condition 
 of ecumenical decisions and definitions. He 
 seized my hand as we were leaving and said, 
 "It is a great ideal, and with all my heart I will 
 pray for its realization." 
 
 The Ex-Procurator's position was something 
 like this: We recognize the Orders of the
 
 30 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 Roman Church and the Roman Church does 
 not recognize your orders, and, therefore, we 
 cannot recognize them. But I said, You 
 recognize Rome but Rome does not recognize 
 you, and we have the advantage of recognizing 
 the validity of both of your Orders, and we are 
 persuaded that if both you and Rome will study 
 our Orders with the same impartiality, it is 
 possible that you may come to agree with us 
 in the validity of the Orders of all three of the 
 historic Churches. Nothing that I have said 
 ought to convey because it would not be 
 true to my experience the idea that there 
 was anything but the most cordial good feeling 
 throughout these and all other discussions. I 
 have given these with some brusqueness because 
 they were talks with laymen and in order that 
 my readers may share with me the point of 
 view of the State and Church officials in Russia. 
 Just before my engagement with the Over- 
 Procurator, the Holy Synod was in session, and 
 it was hoped that I would arrive in time to see 
 it in session, but we were delayed and only saw 
 the Metropolitans, Archbishops, and others 
 departing, and I was immediately ushered into 
 the Over-Procurator's office. It was most
 
 RUSSIA 31 
 
 interesting to see the Archbishops and others 
 talking in groups and leaving the hall. The 
 same afternoon the Metropolitan of Moscow 
 received me at his palace and talked with rugged 
 force and earnestness for nearly an hour. Un- 
 doubtedly he is a great moral force. He was 
 the personification of moral energy girded for 
 the battle of the Russian Church with the forces 
 that he believed are threatening it and the 
 Christianity that it represents. When once 
 he was diverted to our American conditions his 
 questions were searching and rapid. He evi- 
 dently desired to see if there was anything that 
 we had to give that would be of value in Russia. 
 Perhaps he knows more than most men of what 
 the problem is in its multitudinous form, and 
 perhaps his victory is yet to come. In one great 
 moment he exclaimed, "Sometimes I feel that 
 the work is so great and the problem is so vast, 
 that Christians might leave their differences 
 aside in the shadow, not to sacrifice them but 
 to keep them in a truer perspective until, as a 
 united body, we have done more in overcoming 
 the evils that face us." What this strong man 
 sometimes feels is, I believe, becoming more 
 and more the permanent state of heart, soul
 
 32 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 and mind of increasing numbers of Christians 
 in every community. 
 
 The Metropolitan gave me his benediction 
 and expressed the deepest interest in the princi- 
 ple of action for which I was contending. I left 
 his home, feeling that it had been good to be 
 there, and that I should never lose the concep- 
 tion he had given me of a great, good man, 
 struggling with problems which throughout the 
 world demand for their solution, under God's 
 guidance, the co-operation and unity of the 
 whole of Christendom. 
 
 THE PALESTINE SOCIETY. On the day after 
 this rich experience with the Metropolitan of 
 Moscow I was taken to the offices of the Russian 
 Palestine Society by Mr. Lodygensky and in- 
 troduced to the vice-president and his secretaries. 
 This will perhaps prove an epoch-making day 
 in its preparation for our tour through the Holy 
 Land. The whole staff put themselves immedi- 
 ately to work, giving information, supplying 
 maps and giving letters of introduction. They 
 wrote at once to their representatives, giving 
 our dates in Palestine and asking them to extend 
 every courtesy in the power of the society. In
 
 RUSSIA 33 
 
 addition they wrote to General Stepanof, at the 
 Kremlin, Moscow, instructing him to ask the 
 Grand Duchess Elizabeth who is the presi- 
 dent of the Palestine Society, and who has 
 founded a deaconess' home in Moscow to 
 receive me. 
 
 It is hardly possible to enumerate all of those 
 whose cordiality and helpfulness put me under 
 lasting obligations. It is a special tribute to 
 Archbishop Platon that his letters should have 
 accomplished so much in so brief a time, and 
 I beg here to assure him and the friends I made 
 in Russia that it is my great desire to return for 
 a longer stay, that I may tell more of American 
 Christianity and get more from Russia to tell 
 to my own people. Of Mr. Lodygensky's un- 
 failing courtesy, sympathy and efficiency I must 
 speak without reserve. Few of us in New 
 York realize how much he was doing while 
 there to get at the genius of our Church and to 
 know the spirit of America and, therefore, none 
 of us can imagine the work that he is able to do 
 now because of what he acquired while in 
 America. I hesitate to do more than to make 
 acknowledgment to Archbishop Tikhon for the 
 warmth with which he received us on the first 
 
 3
 
 34 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 day of our arrival, making us feel at home in a 
 way that he probably could not have done ex- 
 cept for his life as Archbishop in America. The 
 work he is doing on the Commission appointed 
 by the Holy Synod to deal with the relations 
 between the Russian Church and the Anglican 
 Communion could not have been done by one 
 who had not come in direct contact and had 
 years of experience with our Communion. Mr. 
 Lodygensky is also a member of that Com- 
 mission. It would be rash to look for spasmodic 
 action on either side, and it requires more cour- 
 age and more faith to lay foundations than to 
 build the superstructure. It this be true as a gen- 
 eral principle it is more fundamentally true when 
 the work in hand is not laying of the foundations 
 of a material structure but building into one fam- 
 ily the living members of divided Christendom. 
 
 STOLYPIN. The very name of the president 
 of the Council of Ministers creates interest 
 wherever it is mentioned, no matter how diverse 
 in degree and kind that interest may be. When 
 in response to his invitation which had been 
 extended at Archbishop Platen's request I 
 called, he received me with a dignity and sim-
 
 RUSSIA 35 
 
 plicity and frank cordiality that indicated power 
 in repose. The responsibilities of his great office 
 were clearly and consciously apparent. One 
 could detect neither depression nor exultation, 
 but rather evidences of a readiness to meet those 
 responsibilities and that he had given himself 
 fully to doing it. It is not my province to 
 discuss political conditions, nor to endeavour 
 to interpret anything that the minister said 
 with regard to them, but one statement, which 
 in a slightly different form had been made by 
 Archbishop Platon to Mr. Roosevelt when I 
 took him to call upon the ex-President, sur- 
 prised and interested me. He introduced it 
 by saying that the heart of America and the 
 heart of Russia had always been true the one 
 to the other, no matter what differences and 
 difficulties may have arisen. That, I had always 
 been led to believe, was true; the surprise came 
 when Stolypin added, They are the two great 
 democracies, the one under a republican form 
 of government and the other under a monarchy. 
 Later his Excellency, Mr. Paul S. Monsouroff, 
 of Moscow, a professor, I believe, in the Uni- 
 versity of Moscow, explained what was meant. 
 The claim was, he said, that unlike the rest of
 
 36 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 Europe, Russia was composed of a number of 
 smaller republics until they were solidified into 
 one great nation by Peter the Great, and that 
 certain characteristics of that evolution still 
 remained. Among them he mentioned the 
 fact that the peasantry owned about three- 
 fourths of the land in Russia, which he took to 
 be of incalculable promise for the future, pro- 
 vided they were protected in their ownership. 
 Until recently a peasant could not dispose of his 
 land without the consent of the community in 
 which it was held. There is a change, or there 
 is about to be a change, giving the peasant the 
 right to sell on his own initiative. Monsouroff 
 seemed anxious lest this might change the demo- 
 cratic status of the peasant so far as the owner- 
 ship of land was concerned by enabling wealthy 
 individuals or corporations to absorb large 
 areas. 
 
 His Excellency Stolypin was thoroughly in- 
 formed as to my object in coming to Russia, 
 and asked interestedly whether I had met those 
 whom I had desired specially to see. He 
 expressed a warm interest in what I was under- 
 taking and indorsed unreservedly my expressed 
 wish that our Churches and our Nations should
 
 RUSSIA 37 
 
 come more intimately in contact with each 
 other, should be bound together more nearly in 
 a common effort, and thus be enabled to make 
 a contribution to the unity of Christendom and 
 to the better understanding between nations 
 everywhere. Through the courtesy of our Am- 
 bassador and the Minister of Foreign Affairs the 
 Emperor received me on February n at the 
 Tsarskoie-Selo Palace, about twelve miles from 
 St. Petersburg. Archbishop Platon had asked 
 Stolypin to give me this privilege. 
 
 THE EMPEROR. The Emperor received me 
 cordially and sympathetically. In a moment 
 I saw that he had been fully informed as to 
 the object of my mission, and no preliminaries 
 were necessary. For about forty-five minutes 
 the conversation was devoted wholly to the 
 question of a better understanding between 
 our Churches and Nations, and the vital im- 
 portance of it as a contribution to the unity of 
 Christendom. I found myself impressed with 
 his deep religious convictions and feelings, and 
 without hesitation he authorized me to express 
 his interest and sympathy in the movement 
 for unity and also to give a similar message to
 
 38 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 the World's Student Christian Federation Con- 
 ference in Constantinople. 
 
 Moscow. It is difficult to refrain from 
 attempting some description of one's feelings 
 and impressions in seeing Moscow for the first 
 time. Its picturesqueness is indescribable. The 
 combination of architecture and art in the 
 Kremlin is more varied, more complex, more 
 seemingly contradictory and yet more perfectly 
 a whole than anything I have seen. I suppose 
 it is the combination of power, in the great wall 
 and towers, with a mass of colour in which it 
 would seem that the artist had drawn the 
 divergencies and antagonistic elements into an 
 affectionate bond of union. Surely looking at 
 the Kremlin from a distance, and then study- 
 ing it more in detail, one can scarcely refrain 
 from taking it at least as a crude symbol of the 
 infinite variety in unity which one is longing 
 to see for the good of the world and for the 
 fulfilment of its destiny. It is a crude symbol, 
 and if it were not for that element of tenderness 
 and relationship which colour represents, it 
 would not be right to suggest the symbol. But 
 I feel, as I recall my impressions while there,
 
 RUSSIA 39 
 
 
 
 that what colour does to bind those conflicting 
 elements, tragic and comic alike, into one whole, 
 so love active and realized in closer contact 
 will do and can do to bind the raging and con- 
 tending elements of races and nations into the 
 one family of God. 
 
 THE GRAND DUCHESS ELIZABETH'S DEACON- 
 ESS HOME. Every one who knew that I had 
 received an invitation to meet the Grand 
 Duchess exclaimed, "She is a saint." Her 
 name and her work in this home are well known, 
 perhaps throughout the world. After her great 
 sorrow she went down into that part of the city 
 across the river which was in the old times called 
 the Tartar's field, and has given her life to the 
 formation of an Order of Deaconesses which 
 she hopes will develop into the kind of work 
 which the Scriptures record as being done by 
 the deaconesses in the early Church. When I 
 entered the Home I had a few moments for 
 reflection in the reception room. I felt a differ- 
 ence from any religious Order that I had ever 
 come in contact with. The house was as free 
 from ostentatious plainness or poverty as it 
 was from any signs of luxury or indulgent com-
 
 40 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 * 
 
 fort. The religious symbols were there and 
 yet in a sense they were not there, because they 
 were so reverently and naturally there. It was 
 a religious home, but it seemed primarily a 
 home as if religion was an attribute of the 
 home and not home an accident of religion. 
 If I felt this of the home I felt it a hundredfold 
 more in Elizabeth, the deaconess, and I felt 
 it still more when I found her heart, soul, and 
 mind a reflection of herself. It is not her pur- 
 pose to develop a monastery but to recover the 
 simple service of humanity and the power and 
 loving care of God in Jesus Christ which is the 
 life of the children of God. There would neces- 
 sarily be a very few exceptions, if indeed any 
 at all, when I say that I have met few persons 
 who more absolutely look for and seek the unity 
 of the family of God through the preservation 
 of the infinite variety of humanity, in all of its 
 varied integrities. She realized that it would 
 be as impossible to ask Russia to give up her 
 type and genius of Christianity as it would be 
 to impose that type and genius upon some other 
 nation. Why may we not, she said, retain all 
 of our local colour and all the appeals to our 
 own people and our own nations, and yet be
 
 RUSSIA 41 
 
 one in the Lord Jesus Christ in His One 
 Church? 
 
 Her interest in the deaconess work in America 
 was such that I promised to secure all available 
 information about the work of our several Orders 
 and forward to her for their library. It is 
 hardly necessary to say that as president of the 
 Palestine Society she complied with the request 
 of the vice-president and has authorized her name 
 to be used on our behalf throughout Palestine. 
 She has taken the cause of unity as a special 
 object of prayer and effort. I was glad that 
 from this house I left Russia. I had come to 
 feel, as I had never imagined, the problems of 
 this vast nation problems that will require 
 generations to solve. I had found men in high 
 and low stations of life who are not afraid of 
 these problems, because they are facing them 
 with God as their dependence, and now on 
 leaving I felt the influence of one whose charac- 
 ter in scope, in sure faith, and in abounding 
 love will remain as an inspiring influence always. 
 
 COUNCIL AND DUMA. I was given the 
 opportunity to visit the Council of the Empire. 
 Time did not permit, but I met members of
 
 42 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 the Council and I would especially recall Senator 
 Wladimir Sabler, 1 whose fluent English made 
 discussion a delight. His catholic attitude 
 toward the Roman Church and his desire for 
 better relations with it made it easier for him 
 to take a similar position toward the Anglican 
 Communion. He entered whole-heartedly into 
 the idea that unity was a primary principle and 
 obligation. It would be cause for gratitude if 
 more American and English Christians were 
 like-minded. 
 
 I visited the Duma under the guidance of 
 Mr. Tsanoff, who represents the Associated 
 Press in Russia. A Bulgarian by birth, edu- 
 cated at Harvard, and an enthusiastic student 
 of Russian language, art, and history for a 
 number of years, the Duma meant more in that 
 one visit under his direction than it could have 
 meant in many visits without such help. I have 
 had occasion to observe for some years the 
 representatives of the Associated Press abroad 
 and the type of man chosen is a witness to Mr. 
 Melville Stone's judgment and knowledge of 
 men and governments. There is no part of 
 
 1 Senator Sabler has since become Over-Procurator 
 of the Holy Synod.
 
 RUSSIA 43 
 
 the administration of the nation's affairs that 
 calls for more constructive and aggressive 
 development than the diplomatic service 
 abroad. We claim to be above all nations a 
 representative government, and yet we have 
 failed to represent the American people and 
 American institutions in their integrity to other 
 peoples. A change has been inaugurated and 
 is being pushed with vigour. But the people as 
 a whole should encourage the President to feel 
 that they are behind the movement and that 
 they mean to have their cordial feelings toward 
 all other nations and their desire for full and 
 fair inter-relations known to every country. 
 It ought to become impossible for any diplo- 
 matic post to be held by one who cannot inter- 
 pret America to the country to which he is 
 sent, not merely in its language, but in its art 
 and literature and principles of government, 
 and on its economic and social sides. It is 
 due to ourselves, but even a higher standard 
 should obtain when we reflect upon our obliga- 
 tions to others. No body of men feel this more 
 than our representatives abroad, who have been 
 so long hampered by the old parochial system. 
 I have not departed from my appointed mission
 
 44 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 in saying all this. If the fulfilling of all relations 
 of life is righteousness and unity, then Chris- 
 tianity should be the greatest motive power for 
 perfecting the machinery of government neces- 
 sary to a better understanding and better service 
 between nations, which means better feeling 
 and a nearer approach to peace. With no 
 discouragement to anyone who works for peace, 
 it is a truth that cannot be evaded that righteous 
 relations, which mean righteousness, offer the 
 road, and the only road, to permanent peace. 
 When we left the Duma we realized that both 
 the assembly and the palace in which it meets, 
 without claiming more, which is unfair, represent 
 a wonderful growth in five years. The building 
 itself is a fine piece of architecture and in its 
 simple dignity suggests democracy. Its foyer is 
 the finest hall we saw in Russia.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 RUSSIA TO ITALY 
 
 W ITHIN less than a week we came from 
 the severe winter of Moscow, thirteen degrees 
 below zero, to the most beautiful, the most 
 continuously delightful weather I have ever 
 experienced in Rome. Yet we would not have 
 changed the temperature in Russia if it had 
 been possible. We saw Russia in "the driven 
 snow," we witnessed its victory over the ele- 
 ments, and felt its power to make one comfort- 
 able and to increase the delight of the eye with 
 colour as the mercury fell for surely the 
 wraps and robes in warmth and variety of rich 
 and mellow colours are unexcelled, and the 
 horses I have never known such speed, dash, 
 and grace combined. The driving is a wonder. 
 The abandon, the furious rush with the finer 
 breeds and the magic accuracy with which they 
 take a thoroughfare is not surpassed by the rush 
 of motor cars on the boulevards in Paris. Yet 
 the warning calls and the ease with which the 
 
 45
 
 46 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 driver avoids an obstacle, though but by an 
 inch, reminds one of the gondoliers of Venice, 
 the city that Peter the Great attempted to 
 reproduce in the far north. The canals and 
 the prevailing Italian architecture, notably in 
 the vast palaces, constantly suggested the great 
 monarch's model. 
 
 To return to the severe cold. I did not see 
 an intimation of thaw while in Russia. There 
 is a sense of security against disease, even 
 against taking cold, if one but remembers u to 
 keep warm"; for one can keep warm if their 
 methods are followed. Not once did we suffer 
 inconvenience from cold on the railroads. And 
 then, the matchless purity and beauty of the 
 snow in its soft, dead whiteness! 
 
 When we first saw the Kremlin from across 
 the river in the full glory of sunlight and clothed 
 in this soft whiteness except the vast vertical 
 wall-spaces in colour, instinctively I felt the 
 gulf that separates the principle of uniformity, 
 which would encase the whole of life in one 
 shining frigid mass, and that true and universal 
 principle of life which would fulfil and not 
 destroy the life of men of every type by relating 
 them to God and to each other in His Family.
 
 RUSSIA TO ITALY 47 
 
 The seemingly endless plains of Russia impose a 
 sense of wonder and mystery a definite con- 
 sciousness of power, power in the past and 
 greater power to come a feeling that they 
 will prevail and become a mighty influence in 
 shaping the world's history. 
 
 We could have but a few hours at night in 
 Warsaw. But a long drive through the city 
 and across the river revived many memories 
 and gave the impression of a city growing along 
 modern lines without sacrificing its earlier char- 
 acteristics. In Vienna we were more fortunate, 
 as we saw the city by day and the opera at 
 night. The opera was not a great one, but a 
 brilliant comedy was greatly done. The or- 
 chestra is unique; where others strive and 
 struggle this orchestra rejoices in its work, not 
 vainly, but as the fruit of inheritance and life 
 work. It is a priceless privilege to be able to 
 lighten the sobering work of a life too imperfect 
 to do all things by entering into the harmonies 
 of those poets and prophets of life who in long 
 and far perspective see and feel the perfections 
 as well as the frailties of life. I rejoice that 
 Vienna is one of the appointed stops on our 
 return journey from Constantinople.
 
 48 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 ITALY. The ride from Vienna to Venice 
 was new to us and for the first time since sailing 
 from home a day was spent in the mountains. 
 The same night we went to Milan and on Friday 
 visited the Countess Parravacino at Villa Revel, 
 Como, the home of her father, General Revel, 
 who died last fall. He was a very distinguished 
 man and the villa shows the dignity and ele- 
 gance of his tastes, while from its location one 
 gained a new conception of the lake and its 
 mountains. The countess gives herself almost 
 wholly to the Church's work and her influence 
 is widely exercised. It was she who guided 
 me to Bishop Bonomelli last year and acted as 
 interpreter. Since that time the countess has 
 been a constant reader of THE CHURCHMAN. 
 She translated into Italian and printed in a 
 review which she edits much of THE CHURCH- 
 MAN'S reports of the Edinburgh Conference. 
 She said that the letter of Bishop Bonomelli, 
 with a part of my address introducing it at 
 Edinburgh, was printed in a Jesuit Review and 
 the conference highly commended. Father 
 Genocchi, the great scholar whom I met later 
 in Rome, said that the bishop's letter had been 
 printed and widely read and approved in Italy,
 
 RUSSIA TO ITALY 49 
 
 and no word of criticism had appeared against 
 it. Ambassador Bryce's statement that Mon- 
 signor Bonomelli's letter was epoch-making 
 was abundantly justified by what I heard from 
 many sources. When I quoted Mr. Bryce's 
 words to the King of Italy I added quite inno- 
 cently, "author of 'The American Common- 
 wealth.'" With a perceptible twinkle in his 
 eye the King added, "And 'The Roman Em- 
 pire." Unguardedly, I said: "Of course, but 
 we are more familiar with our own history." 
 The twinkle became a hearty laugh when 
 His Majesty replied: "And we with our own." 
 From the King, from the Prime Minister, in 
 fact from statesmen in Church and State, I 
 heard but one judgment of the Bishop of Cre- 
 mona, namely, that he is a great spiritual in- 
 fluence spiritual in its comprehensive and 
 real sense. 
 
 To my great disappointment Bishop Bono- 
 melli was ill with the prevailing influenza, and 
 so was Fogazzaro, and a visit to them has been 
 necessarily delayed. In Milan I met Count 
 Scotti. I was not prepared to find so open- 
 minded and profound a student of life. I was 
 impressed, above everything, by the great
 
 50 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 guiding motive of his life. Von Hugel has the 
 same, Genocchi has the same, but this young 
 man, only thirty, has it with all his life before 
 him. Christ is their power and what must 
 follow, when once all Christians understand it 
 Christ in the Church of His Incarnation. 
 Loyalty to Him and His Church means and 
 can only mean loyalty to His purpose for the 
 world and the oneness of His disciples for 
 the sake of the world. I told Scotti of Baron 
 Sonnino's tribute to the Pope five years ago 
 the highest I have ever heard from any one 
 and Scotti said he believed it to be a true inter- 
 pretation. In Rome a few days later, I told 
 Baron Sonnino of my visit to Scotti and of the 
 deep impression his interpretation of the Pope 
 had made upon his fellow-countryman. The 
 Baron said, "I have not changed my mind." 
 Genocchi and Bonomelli speak in the same 
 loving and loyal spirit. I emphasize these 
 estimates from different, quite different, points 
 of view, because out of my limited experience 
 I have formed the same judgment. The 
 Roman Communion possesses this note of world- 
 wideness of one Church to an extent that no 
 other communion does, and sometime I believe
 
 RUSSIA TO ITALY 51 
 
 it will be generally recognized. It is this that 
 enables men of the widest divergence to hold 
 on with a life and death grip to their commun- 
 ion, no matter what betides. Let us pray and 
 strive that the same necessity shall be upon us. 
 It is the surest way of helping ourselves and 
 them to the knowledge of a fuller and richer 
 catholicity. 
 
 While in Rome I called on Cardinal Merry del 
 Val and was received most cordially. I wished 
 especially to acknowledge his past courtesies. 
 Finding him an interested listener, I told him 
 of the conference in Constantinople, of my visit 
 to Russia, and the ideal of unity that is, as I 
 believe, the controlling principle of Christianity. 
 When the visit was over the Cardinal said: "I 
 wish I might accompany you on your journey. 
 I have never been to Jerusalem or to Constanti- 
 nople." I also paid my respects to Monsignor 
 Bisleti and found his courtesy as unfailing as 
 in the past. His interest in the Russian visit 
 was active and real, and we hope to discuss it 
 further later. 
 
 Just here I am reminded of three points of 
 view in Russia that should be recorded. The 
 first I heard from an eminent layman of the
 
 52 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 Holy Synod. He thought it possible that the 
 severe attitude of Rome toward the Orthodox 
 Churches of the East might suggest the wisdom 
 of seeking an alliance or union with Anglicans 
 rather than Romans. He did not feel sure that 
 such a revulsion had set in, but that such an 
 influence was or would be at work seemed a 
 probability. I did not hear this from other 
 sources and it is to be hoped that such a move- 
 ment for such reasons will not come. To go 
 against or to go further from some Christians 
 in order to unite with others is not a promising 
 road to unity. Affinity for those you like, or 
 prefer, is not a Christian principle and lies at 
 the bottom of many of our divisions. 
 
 The second point of view, I heard expressed 
 in many directions, namely, that the Anglican 
 and Eastern Churches had perhaps more in 
 common than Rome had with either, and that 
 a union between them might impress Rome 
 with their Catholic power of uniting and so 
 lead to better feeling and understanding. A 
 third point of view had, I think, many supporters. 
 This is that the greatest possibility of approach 
 lies between the Russian Church and the Ameri- 
 can Episcopal Church. I heard no word of
 
 RUSSIA TO ITALY 53 
 
 antagonism to the English Church as such, but 
 there was a feeling that any sort of approach to 
 the English Church would necessarily involve 
 state questions. When the suggestion was 
 made that Russia would enter on such an 
 approach as a State Church there were two 
 replies: first, that in the case of the Russian 
 Church dealing with the American Church, 
 State questions would, at least to a degree, 
 disappear; and second, that many in Russia 
 looked for the day when the Church would be 
 self-governing and self-supporting. 
 
 For myself, if any one thing has emerged 
 distinct and clear, it is that the time has not 
 come for corporate planning, discussion, or 
 conference. An enormous change of heart is 
 taking place everywhere through interchange of 
 thought, courtesy, and personal touch. These 
 points of contact should be multiplied without 
 reserve, and corporate pressure should not be 
 used to discourage them. The letter still kills 
 the spirit still makes alive. Men in great and 
 small positions are consciously, and many more 
 are unconsciously, helping forward this goodly, 
 because godly, sense of fraternity. Let Chris- 
 tians recognize goodness wherever they see it,
 
 54 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 knowing that it is of God, and not as unbelievers, 
 who think there are other sources of good 
 besides God, demand a certificate of their own 
 theological systems as a test of "goodness" 
 that is "Christian." 
 
 At the request of our ambassador in Rome 
 the King received me and recalled seeing me 
 several years ago. He asked at once of our 
 present mission to Constantinople and from the 
 first words entered earnestly into the matter of 
 Italy's representation at the conference. This 
 discussion led to comment upon the growth of 
 better feeling and understanding between Chris- 
 tians and between nations. It is impossible 
 to speak with His Majesty on the betterment of 
 humanity without realizing the essential good- 
 ness and nobility of his life. His words carried 
 seriousness and weight when in response to the 
 suggestion that he might desire to send a message 
 of interest and good- will to the Christian students 
 in conference at Constantinople he said: "I 
 shall feel honoured to have you deliver such a 
 message in my name." 
 
 The Prime Minister (for whose invitation to 
 visit him I am indebted to Mr. Meyer, the 
 Secretary of the Navy) received me with a
 
 RUSSIA TO ITALY 55 
 
 flood of questions about the United States. He 
 was especially concerned, quoting from Mr. 
 Bryce's "American Commonwealth," that in 
 the face of our great Federal Constitution 
 guaranteeing religious freedom, a number of 
 the States practically limited the Constitution 
 by local laws imposing religious tests. The 
 case is not quite as bad as Premier Luzzati had 
 supposed, as we were able to see by a more care- 
 ful reading of Mr. Bryce's words, but it is 
 strange, Luzzati thinks "enormous," that in 
 the face of the Constitution and the action of 
 European States, and that of the vast majority 
 of the States in the Union, such laws should be 
 allowed to remain on the statute book. This 
 question removed, I was not prepared for his 
 eager, searching questions about the conference 
 of students at Constantinople. But his elo- 
 quence was mighty and at white heat when Mr. 
 Cortesi, who attended me, suggested that the 
 unity of Christendom was my ideal. He is 
 interested in the unity of the religions of the 
 whole world and spoke with power in word and 
 gesture on this subject, which is the inspiring 
 principle of his life. He has written what I 
 am told is a great work on religion. Finally he
 
 56 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 said: "Yours is a great mission. Unite the 
 Christian Churches and you will do a grand 
 work. But we will not stop there. We will 
 unite all in the end." He asked that THE 
 CHURCHMAN should be sent him regularly and 
 added: "I will send you what I have written." 
 Later the King, Genocchi, and others spoke of 
 the Prime Minister as a deeply religious man. 
 
 It was a privilege indeed to renew my ac- 
 quaintance with Baron Sonnino twice Prime 
 Minister and always working for the social 
 and economic betterment of his people, especially 
 the submerged masses in the South. Count 
 Scotti is a co-worker with him in this great 
 reform, and it would be difficult to say who made 
 the other out the greater man, after one had 
 heard Scotti speak of Sonnino and Sonnino of 
 Scotti. It is the beginning of life to have 
 religion; it is life, self -renewing life, to lift others 
 into Christ's religion. 
 
 I looked in upon Boni, the archaeologist of 
 the Forum, and found him "lost" in his work. 
 He looked up in a dazed sort of way, but, had 
 I not known him and his ways, I should have 
 been yet more dazed. When I said, "You don't 
 know me," and he replied, utterly unmoved
 
 RUSSIA TO ITALY 57 
 
 and seemingly immovable, "Yes; it is Mr. 
 McBee. What is it? What do you want?" 
 "Nothing," I said; "only called to see you 
 good-bye." "There are some things here you 
 may care to see," he said, leading the way. 
 As he began to handle his latest discoveries, 
 the daintiest pieces of pottery imaginable, 
 the smile that his friends know well came over 
 his face, changing the whole man. That smile 
 remained as we wandered from room to room, 
 as if all time was at his disposal. I am no 
 archaeologist, not even a student, but I owe 
 Boni more than he will ever know, for what he 
 has opened to me of the early Christians and 
 their worship. "It is almost like creation," 
 I said, "to bring back the things of the great 
 long past." "A little," he replied, and, with 
 his smile as a benediction, we parted. 
 
 Rome has never seemed so wonderful to 
 me as on this visit. The weather has been 
 matchless, friends old and new more than kind 
 but perhaps with years life is more filled 
 with the power to receive. Certainly the Rome 
 of which I speak, its ancient architecture and 
 art have not changed.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 EGYPT 
 
 W E first reached Egypt at the end of Febru- 
 ary and saw it again on our return from Pales- 
 tine and Syria, leaving Alexandria on March 29 
 for Italy. The day after we rejoined Dr. Mott's 
 party in Cairo several of us went to the pyramids 
 at Gizeh. A storm was threatening, but Mr. 
 Fields and I began the ascent. Mr. Fields 
 reached the top; I went but half-way, but even 
 from that height I gained a conception of the 
 desert that was new and overpowering. A 
 sand-storm was approaching and when it was 
 "full on" there was a suggestion of power 
 added to desolation and isolation that was 
 terrific. There had been grandeur in the 
 Sphinx, which we had seen before the storm, 
 but there was a power in the storm which seemed 
 even greater than that amazing symbol of 
 unchangeable and unchanging continuity had 
 expressed. At Luxor and Karnak we saw the 
 temples and the royal tombs and by a happy 
 58
 
 EGYPT 59 
 
 coincidence were able to visit Mr. J. P. Morgan 
 on his house-boat there. He was inspecting 
 the excavations he is having made in the 
 desert near-by and was much gratified by the 
 results already attained. All the objects found 
 are, he said, to be sent to the Metropolitan 
 Museum. He expresseed keen interest in the 
 coming conference at Constantinople, as in all 
 things that make for Christian co-operation and 
 unity. 
 
 We visited the American Mission School at 
 Luxor and addressed a body of Arabs there on 
 men's work. Dr. Mott then went to Assiut 
 to address the Synod of the United Presby- 
 terians which was being held there, while I 
 returned to Cairo to meet the authorities of the 
 Coptic Church and others who could give me 
 information as to its present condition and 
 outlook. Arrangements had already been made 
 for Dr. Mott to give lectures to students in a 
 theatre at Cairo, and it was thought that it 
 would be in many ways helpful in encouraging 
 the attendance of Mohammedans if we were 
 received by the Khedive. This was arranged 
 by our Consul-General, Mr. Jay. The Khedive 
 expressed his interest in such work as we were
 
 60 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 attempting among young men. It would, he 
 thought, tend to give them higher conceptions 
 of life and strengthen them morally for the 
 duties of citizenship. 
 
 A VISIT TO THE COPTIC PATRIARCH. Our 
 visit to the Patriarch of the Coptic Church was 
 made doubly interesting by the presence of the 
 Archbishop of Alexandria. The Coptic Arch- 
 bishop spoke with great frankness in answer to 
 our questions about missionary work as the 
 test of the Church's life, and said finally: "We 
 are living almost in the dark ages, and we need 
 to get out ourselves before we can go to others." 
 Here, indeed, was the old creed that we must 
 save ourselves first, but this good man spoke 
 with humility, and with a conscious need of 
 help. Meeting us later in Alexandria he said, 
 "Your visit here has given me new ideas and 
 new hopes." The Patriarch authorized us to 
 address the students at the Theological School 
 at Cairo, and both Patriarch and Archbishop 
 showed plainly how much they were affected 
 by our interest in their Communion. At the 
 Theological School, both student body and 
 faculty gave the closest attention, questioning
 
 CYRIL V., PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA, iiara SUCCESSOR 
 OF ST. MARK
 
 EGYPT 61 
 
 us keenly. The photograph of the group by 
 Mr. Fields aroused so much interest that a 
 copy of it was presented to each auditor, about 
 ninety in all. Two of the faculty are Moham- 
 medans, teachers of Arabic. 
 
 The ancient Coptic churches in old Cairo 
 were visited under the friendly guidance of a 
 Copt, Professor Sobhy of the University, whose 
 aid was secured by the kind intervention of the 
 British Agency. This professor is a specialist 
 in Coptic ecclesiology and has been for some 
 time engaged in a history of that Church and 
 its doctrine under the patronage of the Bishop 
 of Salisbury. He made us fe'el that if the life 
 of the Coptic Church could be revived, its 
 loyalty to faith and order could surely be justi- 
 fied. A scientific man, proud of his Church and 
 loyal to it, he showed himself thoroughly con- 
 scious of the present deadness of his Communion, 
 and yet more full of faith for the future than any 
 other Copt that we met. Certain that the 
 native Church must vitalize itself with a living 
 Christianity, he was unshaken in his conviction 
 that Egypt could only be Christianized by its 
 native Church. The ablest men in the Ameri- 
 can Mission share that conviction. The leader
 
 62 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 of that mission, Dr. Watson, had been com- 
 mended to us by Lord Cromer as a wise man 
 and one who had the confidence of everyone; 
 his belief that the native historic Church is the 
 medium through which Egypt will become 
 Christian is most significant. 
 
 FINE EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE UNITED 
 PRESBYTERIAN MISSION. The Coptic Church 
 is in a pathetic state. It needs, and it should 
 have, the aid of its sister Churches. The 
 United Presbyterians are showing the possi- 
 bilities of such aid. One of the smallest com- 
 munions in America, numbering but about one 
 hundred thousand, it has, in addition to its 
 missions in India and elsewhere, done a larger 
 work in Egypt than any other Church, except 
 the Roman Catholic. Its schools in Alexandria, 
 Cairo, Assiut, Luxor and elsewhere include 
 almost every type of Christian and Moham- 
 medan; its graduates are at work in almost 
 every walk of life. In Alexandria the new 
 Coptic school, a fine modern building with 680 
 pupils, has a graduate of the American Mission 
 School a Protestant for its head. Ten 
 of its twenty-four teachers are also American
 
 EGYPT 63 
 
 Mission School graduates. The Archbishop 
 had deliberately selected the principal, although 
 a Protestant, because of his administrative 
 ability, but, as he said, after much hesitation. 
 If the Churches of England would do propor- 
 tionately anything like what this small body 
 of American Presbyterians is doing, Christianity 
 might be manifested to Mohammedan Egypt, 
 not as sectional, isolated, and divided, but in 
 its fulness and truth. Christianity as Chris- 
 tianity has not yet been brought to bear on the 
 Mohammedan world in Christ's way. The 
 Church must witness solidly, unitedly. It 
 must claim all faith in God, as Christ did, 
 and build on it. Christians must go to the 
 11,000,000 Mohammedans in Egypt as a unit, 
 with power, in patience, and with unbounded 
 sympathy. Under Mohammedan influence 
 Egypt cannot advance beyond a certain point. 
 Mohammedanism never has risen and never 
 under its inherent fatalism can rise to the self- 
 controlling, self-renewing and creating civiliza- 
 tion of the Christian nations. If Egypt be 
 hopeless under Mohammedanism, it will be 
 only in degree less so under a foreign power 
 that accepts Mohammedanism as a settled fact
 
 64 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 and seeks to control it for governmental and 
 economic purposes. 
 
 When we were visiting the Mosque of Sultan 
 Hasan, and came to the great open court, we 
 found large halls with lofty barrel-vaulting 
 occupying the four ends of the cross open 
 toward the court, each facing the fountain. I 
 asked the Mohammedan guide what this repre- 
 sented. He answered, "Our four sects," and 
 added with a wicked twinkle in his eye, "You 
 Christians know what sects are, but we hold 
 ours together." The comment was more subtle 
 than true. They have more sects than four, 
 and the sects are not united in any positive 
 work. And yet the Mohammedan's criticism 
 of sectarian Christianity stands. He has no 
 fear of that kind of religion. It was from a 
 window of this mosque that we got a rare 
 view of the Mosque of Mohammed Ali, exter- 
 nally a noble pile, modelled after the Chris- 
 tian Church of St. Sophia and speaking of 
 aspirations wholly beyond the power of Mo- 
 hammedanism to fulfil, a prophecy perhaps of 
 what is to come. 
 
 From Egypt we went to Syria and Palestine. 
 I hope to write later of our experiences there.
 
 EGYPT 65 
 
 Leaving Beirut on March 27, we reached Alex- 
 andria the next day. Friends had arranged 
 that we should visit Abdul Baha, the aged and 
 gifted son of the prophet of the Bahais. The 
 Bahai religion is a tremendous advance from 
 Mohammedanism, and the number of its fol- 
 lowers shows that that faith is not impervious 
 to change and growth. He received us with 
 rare simplicity and dignity, and with a hearti- 
 ness that assured full and frank fellowship. 
 Of his faith I may say only that it marks a long 
 step from Mohammedanism toward the Chris- 
 tian conception of God, though it is very far 
 from any adequate conception of Christ and 
 His revelation. I left Abdul Baha with an 
 intensified conviction that Christians have 
 everything to gain by sympathetic and discrim- 
 inating participation in every struggle for truth 
 and life. Abdul Baha makes a strong appeal 
 for life with God in men and showed a deep 
 interest in the work we are doing both on this 
 tour and at home. 
 
 The day after the interview with Abdul Baha 
 
 I visited and addressed Coptic, Armenian, and 
 
 American mission schools. Of the director of 
 
 the Coptic school I have already spoken. The 
 
 5
 
 66 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 head of the Armenian school is a man of 
 ability and character who has suffered for his 
 convictions by banishment and in other ways. 
 His school presented many striking features, 
 among them the singing of a class of boys and 
 girls which was very beautiful. The American 
 Mission School in Alexandria, most ably con- 
 ducted by Dr. and Mrs. Finney and a competent 
 staff, renewed my admiration for the work of 
 the United Presbyterians, a body to whom, as 
 may be recalled, the Laymen's Missionary 
 Movement is indebted for the enthusiasm and 
 leadership of Mr. J. Campbell White. The 
 day dosed with a last visit to the Archbishop of 
 Alexandria, who expressed once more his deep 
 interest in the work of co-operation and unity. 
 March 31 saw us in the harbour of Corfu, 
 with enchanting views on all sides, especially 
 that toward the quaint old town. The imperial 
 German yacht, " Hohenzollern " was in the 
 harbour and the Emperor and Empress waved 
 a welcome from the bridge to our fellow-passen- 
 gers, the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess. 
 The next morning we passed beneath the 
 shadow of Mount Etna and through the Straits 
 of Messina.
 
 EGYPT 67 
 
 Our plans called for visits to so many lands 
 that Dr. Mott and I have been little together, 
 even when in the same country. I can report 
 but in barest outline the great work that he has 
 done; I had to leave Cairo for Jerusalem before 
 his lectures began, but I know that hundreds 
 and even thousands crowded to hear him in 
 Cairo, as they had done in Switzerland. His 
 world-wide experience in enlisting and organiz- 
 ing the active co-operation of young men, 
 especially students, gives him unique power, 
 which he uses with a rare judgment and with 
 an ever-increasing sense of the comprehensive 
 character of Christian life and practice. In 
 Palestine and Syria we were more than usually 
 together. At Constantinople we shall have 
 time to combine for common use what each has 
 seen and learned, as we shall later at the annual 
 meeting of the Continuation Committee of the 
 Edinburgh Conference in May. That com- 
 mittee have been invited to meet at Auckland 
 Castle as the guests of the Bishop of Durham. 
 The Archbishop of York had desired to have 
 the committee as his guests at Bishopthorpe, 
 but the date, May 16 to 20, conflicted with that 
 of the York Convocation.
 
 68 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 I have said that Egypt would be hopeless if 
 left to Mohammedan influences. It is not so 
 left, for every part of the life of Christ has in 
 it power to save, and that life is in Egypt in 
 the mission work of the few who have done 
 wonders in their sphere and in the impact of 
 Christian civilizations, which, however im- 
 perfect, are having an effect. But Moham- 
 medanism as a whole remains untouched, and 
 what I wish I might have the gift to say with 
 compelling power to millions in Christian lands 
 is that the impact of a united Christianity, 
 the Christianity of Christ, and the Christianity 
 for which He prayed, will alone lift Moham- 
 medans into the fulness of life.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 
 
 J. HE struggle to hold these papers strictly 
 to the purpose of our tour seems greater than 
 ever as I seek to reproduce impressions of that 
 part of the world which, it may be said, "con- 
 centrates the sympathy as it constitutes the 
 identity of nations." My task, almost exclu- 
 sively, has been to acquire from representatives 
 of Christian Churches a fuller knowledge of 
 the genius and spirit of their institutions and 
 to lay ground for a better understanding be- 
 tween them and us on the principle of daring 
 to believe in one's best self and in the best in 
 others. This principle would, indeed, lead to 
 worse than mere dreaming, it would lead to 
 folly and weakness if one did not realize that 
 the daring consists in knowing the bad in our- 
 selves and in others, and yet believing in the 
 best. 
 
 I hesitate to write of things seen in Pales- 
 tine, for I am in haste to tell of the people who 
 69
 
 70 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 welcomed us and discussed the great question 
 of unity as if they had been awaiting good news 
 of progress toward this great end. But this 
 I will say: The eastern shores of the Mediter- 
 ranean brought back vividly the studies of 
 childhood and youth. As we drew near to 
 Jaffa with its forbidding rocks and dangerous 
 seas the records of the Old and New Testaments 
 seemed to blend in a chorus of description of 
 the dangers of the shores of this little town. 
 Our landing, however, in spite of appearances, 
 was easy and comfortable. But when later we 
 took ship from Jaffa the sea was at the danger 
 limit, and our boat, with its twelve oarsmen, 
 had to take the greatest waves I have ever 
 encountered, and to take them in an opening 
 between rocks that certainly were not over 
 twenty feet apart. But the oarsmen struck 
 the centre with precision, enlivening their work 
 with a song that gave a weird charm to the 
 experience. The crown of our adventure was 
 to come later. We approached the ship, but 
 no gangway was lowered for us. It seemed 
 impossible that anyone could get aboard. I 
 was about calling to the captain to lower the 
 gangway when, on the tip of a wave, the boat
 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 71 
 
 rose high, and before my anxious exhortation 
 for help could be uttered, two strong men from 
 above and two from below had deftly landed 
 me on the deck. Breathless, I turned to warn 
 them not to handle the women like that 
 and behold my wife stood by my side, having 
 been landed in the same way! 
 
 But now of Jerusalem. If there be untruth 
 in the distressingly sad things that one hears of 
 the city it must be because the whole truth of 
 that sadness has not been told, and yet, the 
 full glory of the truth of the good things in it 
 can never be told. We arrived Saturday night 
 and went on Sunday morning to the Church at 
 the Sepulchre. I must be allowed to think of 
 it as "The Sepulchre" without any descriptive 
 word. When the first money-changer shook 
 his soiled tow bag with its jangle and called out 
 "Money changed!" it would be impossible to 
 describe the associations aroused. As we went 
 down the narrow, sordid streets with the shops 
 displaying their wares, and met an ass with a 
 colt by its side, and finally came to the little 
 court facing the entrance with the touchingly 
 pitiful wares of people too poor for a Westerner 
 to imagine, scattered along to the very door of
 
 72 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 the church, one wondered in what era we were 
 living. On entering we found the Armenian 
 Church exercising its privilege of worship by 
 taking its turn with the Greek, the Latin, and 
 the Coptic Churches, with so many lamps 
 allotted to each. Multiplicity of ownership 
 seemed to take the place of the common inheri- 
 tance of mankind. 
 
 From the Sepulchre we went out of the city 
 to the Russian Church and then to the English 
 Church, wondering at the loneliness of the one 
 without the other. In the afternoon we were 
 starting out again alone (for it is my long and 
 deliberately formed habit to get first impres- 
 sions without a professional guide, in order that 
 they may be mine), when in some way, which I 
 cannot recall, a young Syrian, Gelak, a graduate 
 of the American College at Beirut, offered to 
 attend us to the Temple area. He tendered 
 his services, he said, because it would be an 
 honour to serve one who was a friend of Dr. 
 Bliss, the president of the college to which he 
 owed more than he would ever be able to repay. 
 He proved an invaluable companion and a true 
 friend. He was a Roman Catholic and, there- 
 fore, his tribute to Dr. Bliss and the Protestant
 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 73 
 
 College at Beirut was all the more real and worth 
 while. We found our way through the same 
 streets to the Temple area and visited the great 
 Mosque. Before leaving for a drive to the 
 Mount of Olives, I walked to the parapet and 
 looking through the pierced wall was overcome 
 by the suddenness of the drop and the depth 
 of the Valley of Kedron. It was that sense of 
 awe which the perpendicular line imposes, 
 whether looking up or down. At my exclama- 
 tion our friend said, pointing through the 
 opening, "Over there is the Garden of Geth- 
 semane." I did not see the formal garden. I 
 was not interested to locate the actual spot. 
 I realized that no device of man could remove 
 the indestructible facts in human history, for 
 which valley and hillside, garden and moun- 
 tain-top stood witness. The reality of the 
 Way, the Truth, and the Life was the most nor- 
 mal, the most vivid experience that had ever 
 come to me. Returning after the visit to the 
 Mount of Olives, the accounts in the Scriptures 
 were read aloud during the evening, and they 
 seemed indeed the record of the Word. Scrip- 
 tures, human life, divine life, seemed perfectly 
 at one.
 
 74 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 On the journey to Bethlehem for I will 
 not attempt to describe the uplifting and in- 
 spiring return from Bethany by evening light 
 a few miles out from Jerusalem as the road sur- 
 mounts the hill, and Bethlehem is seen, the 
 effect is startling. Great, barren, rocky hills 
 rise on the left against the inconceivably won- 
 derful marine blue atmosphere of the Jordan 
 valley, with the Dead Sea a little further beyond. 
 In the foreground is the sloping hill on which 
 rests the City of the Nativity, surrounded by 
 terraced gardens that fill the picture with 
 shadow and bring out the greenness of the 
 grass and the colour of the flowers. On a still 
 greater ascending slope to the right a large 
 forest of olive trees reaches squarely to the sky. 
 As I looked at all these the wonder of the vision 
 increased and I realized that it was not within 
 the power of man to efface the combined power 
 and glory of this earthly witness. 
 
 THE PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM. There are 
 more patriarchs than one in Jerusalem. It is 
 of the Orthodox Greek Patriarch that I speak. 
 The English Bishop of Jerusalem, Dr. Blyth, 
 to whom I bore a letter from our Presiding
 
 THE PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM
 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 75 
 
 Bishop, had arranged with the Patriarch to 
 receive me. After I had explained the object 
 of my journey, His Beatitude responded in a 
 way that showed that he was oppressed with a 
 great need, not merely the need of religious 
 and political freedom, but need arising from the 
 consciousness that a united Christianity could 
 alone secure the fulfilment of Christ's mission 
 to the world. That conception of unity met 
 us again and again with cumulative force in 
 Palestine and Syria. It arises, doubtless, from 
 the helplessness of seemingly hopeless divisions 
 of Christians under an alien government and 
 in the face of a Mohammedan population united 
 not in any positive or aggressive propaganda, 
 but in dead opposition to progress. Their 
 consciousness of the need of unity, both among 
 themselves and in the great Churches of the 
 world, is surprisingly real, and its intensity 
 seems increasing. I told the Patriarch of signs 
 of promise in the Russian Church that might 
 result in better understanding and more fra- 
 ternal relations between that great communion 
 and our own, but I called his attention also to 
 the fact that under the traditional understand- 
 ing with the Patriarchs of the other Orthodox
 
 76 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 i 
 
 Churches nothing could be done until the 
 various Patriarchs had given their consent. Im- 
 mediately and with evident conviction His 
 Beatitude replied: "Whenever the Holy Synod 
 in Russia and the Patriarch at Constantinople 
 agree upon a step toward unity you may rest 
 assured that the other Patriarchs will quickly 
 follow their lead." The same afternoon I 
 called on him again with Dr. Mott, who had 
 arrived in Jerusalem from Egypt. On behalf 
 of the Edinburgh Committee Dr. Mott pre- 
 sented to the Patriarch the nine volumes of the 
 Edinburgh Conference Report. His Beatitude 
 was impressed by the gift, and having heard of 
 it in advance presented a handsome volume of 
 the flowers of Palestine as a return gift to Dr. 
 Mott. We went again into the question of 
 co-operation and Dr. Mott, after emphasizing 
 the significance of the Edinburgh Conference, 
 spoke briefly but very forcibly of the Student 
 Movement in all countries and of the world 
 Congress to be held in Constantinople. The 
 Patriarch spoke earnestly, as in the morning, of 
 unity. When asked what suggestions he would 
 make as to practical steps to that end, his reply 
 was very significant: "I must take time to
 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 77 
 
 think that matter out, and if you will name an 
 hour at which I may find you at your hotel to- 
 morrow, I will then answer your question." 
 His Beatitude called promptly at the hour the 
 next day, and answered our questions through his 
 priest as interpreter, essentially in these words: 
 
 "The propagation of Christianity among the 
 heathen by modern missions will be successful 
 if Christianity is propagated by the same 
 methods as were used in the first days of the 
 Christian era, and the mission will progress in 
 proportion to the means they have; that is to 
 say: (i) Christianity will be extended among 
 pagans if they understand that the Christian 
 societies or communions are morally better and 
 live in love and concord. Therefore, the great 
 necessity is the union of the Churches and then 
 the moral improvement of the societies through 
 the united Churches. (2) The co-operation of 
 all missions and the submission of them under 
 international protection, so that in case of any 
 harm or offence an international interference 
 could be exercised against the offenders. Other- 
 wise, when one mission undermines another, 
 and a Christian communion is not keen in the 
 fortunes of another mission, in such a case they
 
 78 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 will meet great obstacles in the way. (3) The 
 missions must be free of any political aspirations; 
 for as long as the pagans think that the missions 
 intend to create political conquests the suspicion 
 of the pagan will be aroused. (4) The missions 
 must work for the civilization and enlighten- 
 ment of the people wherein Christianity is to be 
 propagated." 
 
 The Patriarch and his priest, Themelis, 
 remained with us for more than an hour dis- 
 cussing these points, as bearing on co-operation 
 and unity. Their courtesy was generous in the 
 extreme. Many delicate courtesies were ex- 
 tended to us, none showing more finely the spirit 
 of unity than when Priest Themelis conducted 
 me, according to an arrangement that he had 
 previously made, to the early Eucharist cele- 
 brated by the chaplain of Bishop Blyth, in the 
 Greek chapel just above Golgotha, the use of 
 which had been tendered to the Anglican bishop, 
 with true Christian fraternity, by the Patriarch. 
 Our discussions with the Patriarch gave the 
 strongest evidence of the advantage to all com- 
 munions of a better understanding of the grounds 
 of agreement, and a clearer conception of what 
 the differences are and in what classification
 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 79 
 
 they belong. It becomes clearer to everyone who 
 puts the theory of unity into practice and who 
 believes it to be irreverent if not something 
 worse, not to attempt that for which one prays, 
 that the things in which all are agreed are of 
 God and are, therefore, first things, and that 
 practically all disagreements lie in the domain of 
 man's effort to express in human terms God and 
 His Christ. 
 
 THE LATIN PATRIARCH. I was invited by 
 a native, a member of the Latin Communion, 
 who had come to know what I was attempting 
 to do, to visit his own Patriarch, but I felt it 
 important to consult Bishop Blyth. He, with- 
 out the slightest hesitation, urged me to do so, 
 and gave me a personal letter of introduction 
 speaking in the highest and friendliest terms of 
 him. I was received the next morning with a 
 heartiness as generous as it was unexpected. It 
 quickly developed that Father Genocchi, who 
 had already proved a good and stimulating 
 friend, had been the superior of His Beatitude 
 many years before. At the mention of Mgr. 
 Bonomelli's name the Patriarch's face lighted 
 with joy, and I found it easy to tell of my travels
 
 80 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 and of my conviction that unity was funda- 
 mental, the first of first things. The reception 
 room was filled with people who had engage- 
 ments with His Beatitude, yet he not only made 
 a place for me but invited me at once into his 
 private reception room. He spoke frankly of the 
 pressure upon him, and as frankly said that he 
 desired to hear what I had to say. He expressed 
 his sympathy with the effort to create that 
 spirit of unity which can alone come in a living 
 way by praying, and thinking, and doing to- 
 gether the things that can be done in order that 
 the things that cannot yet be done may become 
 possible. 
 
 THE RUSSIAN ARCHIMANDRITE. The word 
 that preceded me from Russia, together with 
 the letter I brought myself, assured a warm 
 welcome from the Archimandrite, but the very 
 hearty greeting of His Excellency carried me 
 back with a sort of home feeling to Russia. The 
 Russian compound is one of the most impres- 
 sive at Jerusalem. Already about two thou- 
 sand pilgrims had arrived and it was certain 
 that the number would increase to six thousand 
 before Easter. The significance of this ever-
 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 81 
 
 flowing tide of pilgrims from far-away Russia 
 is variously interpreted; but their conduct in 
 the Holy Land and their devotion is most im- 
 pressive. They do not come for a hurried visit, 
 but visit, generally on foot, every sacred spot 
 in Palestine, going to many of them, I was told, 
 many times over. As a rule they are elderly 
 men and women, strong in body the men, 
 with great beards and long hair, tramping with 
 the steadiness and evident power to endure of 
 the seasoned soldier. Though for the most 
 part ignorant, they seem certain of their way 
 and of the objects they seek, and rarely show 
 signs of uncertainty. As we went to the Sepul- 
 chre on Sunday morning we passed hundreds 
 of them returning. They go as a rule many 
 together, but it is common to find small bands 
 and now and then a solitary pilgrim. They 
 are unmistakable because of their stature and 
 the character of their clothing. Type and num- 
 bers were especially marked at Bethlehem. I 
 was particularly drawn to two very old men who 
 were bartering for the common brown bread. 
 When they had finished I offered my hand to 
 each. I could not understand a word of their 
 
 language nor they of mine, but the smile that 
 6
 
 82 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 accompanied the warmth of the handshake 
 demonstrated what I had felt all along, that they 
 felt themselves in the land of universal brother- 
 hood. The bond was as strong, the intelligence 
 as perfect as on the day when under the power 
 of the descending Spirit dwellers from the utter- 
 most parts of the earth understood each the 
 language of the other. I wrote to the Metro- 
 politan of St. Petersburg and to the Grand 
 Duchess Elizabeth that the Russian pilgrims 
 showed the possession of a deep religious sense 
 which, when aroused and enlightened, would 
 mean much for Russia and much for the Chris- 
 tian world. I talked with the Archimandrite 
 of this common and universal character of Chris- 
 tianity, and when His Excellency returned my 
 visit we talked even longer. When just before 
 leaving I saw him once more we had an even 
 more extended discussion, which culminated in 
 his urging me to remain for the great Easter 
 celebration. I felt in his enthusiastic hospi- 
 tality as if I were again in my old home in the 
 South, under the training of our beloved rector 
 and priest for the Easter service which he had 
 not failed to hold exactly at sunrise for forty 
 years before he died. When His Excellency
 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 83 
 
 left the room to inscribe his photograph as a 
 souvenir of my visit, his secretary, a Syrian 
 layman who had been educated at Kief in 
 Russia, said in response to my expressed anxiety 
 lest I had kept His Excellency too long, "Not at 
 all. His Excellency regrets that you are leaving, 
 for it has not often been our privilege to talk so 
 much of the great question of unity." I mention 
 this fact because it would be impossible to re- 
 port the many conversations with laymen of 
 low and high degree, as well as representatives of 
 the clergy, on this vital question. There is va- 
 riety at almost every turn, there is hesitancy 
 in lesser or greater degree in every direction. 
 But the subject compels attention and ensures 
 interested discussion wherever it is raised. 
 
 THE ANGLICAN BISHOP IN JERUSALEM. It is 
 a question in my mind whether anyone in the 
 English Church or our own has adequately 
 estimated the work of Bishop Blyth in Palestine. 
 With a patience equal to his spirit of peace and 
 friendship, he has gone on from year to year 
 till his relations with practically every Com- 
 munion represented at Jerusalem indicate the 
 power of the spirit of unity when put into simple
 
 84 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 practice. The whole of divided Christendom 
 seems to be represented at Jerusalem. The 
 first impression is that they have gathered there 
 to emphasize their differences and to contend 
 for their particular points of view. But it 
 seems safer, surely wiser and fairer, to recognize 
 the fact that all have had a common object in 
 going there. They have gathered there around 
 the historic places of our Lord's Life on earth 
 in order that they may know Him, the Christ 
 of God, better and more intimately. Certainly 
 this is the point of view of Bishop Blyth; and 
 as a letter from him was a passport to the heads 
 of Churches as well as to others, so from all 
 sources one heard of the eirenic character of his 
 administration of the trust committed to him, 
 a trust surrounded by difficulties, traditional 
 and otherwise. After a long talk with Dr. 
 Mott and me, which covered many questions as 
 to the condition of the Christian Churches, and 
 of the Mohammedan population and their 
 religion, Dr. Mott, out of his long experience 
 said: "I think the bishop gave us the sanest and 
 most complete analysis of the situation I have 
 ever heard." The bishop's letters to the Ortho- 
 dox Metropolitan of Beirut and to the Patriarch
 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 85 
 
 of Antioch were accepted in the same spirit in 
 which his letters in Jerusalem were received. 
 I but reflect the mind of those with whom we 
 came in contact in making this acknowledg- 
 ment to the bishop in Jerusalem on behalf of 
 ourselves and of many who, knowing the cir- 
 cumstances, would be glad to pay the same 
 tribute. Bishop Blyth has persisted in the face of 
 opposition, and when many in whom he put the 
 surest confidence were faint-hearted. Yet with 
 simplicity and humility he claims not power, 
 personal or official, but the work of the Spirit. 
 
 A MASS MEETING ON UNITY. Dr. Mott did 
 not reach Jerusalem until three days after we 
 got there, and could remain only two nights, 
 as the trip through the country to Nazareth 
 and to the Sea of Galilee and on to Damascus 
 had been planned for all of us. We both had 
 severe colds and it was necessary to give up our 
 part in this trip. It was a serious disappoint- 
 ment, but it gave us four days more in Jerusalem. 
 On one of the two nights Dr. Mott spoke to a 
 body of missionaries on the devotional aspect 
 of missionary work. On the other he and I 
 spoke to a mass meeting which overflowed the
 
 86 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 building, so that many were turned away. The 
 meeting, we were told, was unique in that 
 practically every Communion was represented 
 Latins, Greeks, Protestants, Armenians, and 
 others even Mohammedans. I spoke first 
 on the subject of the unity of Christendom and 
 its mission to fulfil Christ's prayer for the whole 
 world. Dr. Mott followed with a telling appeal 
 for the organization of a Young Men's Christian 
 Association in order to begin the work of co- 
 operation among laymen of every kind and thus 
 make a foundation for co-operation as a step 
 toward unity. I have never seen conditions 
 that more clearly demand just such an organi- 
 zation. It is difficult to conceive of the depriva- 
 tions and the isolation of young men in 
 Jerusalem. It would be idle to attempt to say 
 what such an opportunity at such a place meant 
 to both of us. It was sobering and inspiring, 
 simply to look over the audience; here in the 
 front row was Themelis, the Patriarch of Jeru- 
 salem's priest, in full sacerdotal garb; near him 
 sat two Latins; in the rear of the hall was seen 
 Dr. McKenzie, the noted archaeologist, and by 
 him another Scotch Presbyterian who was just 
 then travelling in Palestine. There were mem-
 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 87 
 
 bers also of the C. M. S. and of the S. P. G., 
 consular representatives of different countries, 
 and many other types. 
 
 A VISIT TO THE DOMINICANS. There is no 
 more impressive body of men at Jerusalem than 
 the Dominican Fathers. Their church, their 
 buildings, and they themselves in their white 
 flannel robes, speak of a cleanliness and purity 
 not usual, to speak with the greatest caution 
 in Palestine, and all men speak of the purity 
 and holiness of their lives. The church is not 
 a great one, but it has dignity and induces a 
 spirit of reverence and of normal worship. They 
 are a band of scholars, and exercise the utmost 
 freedom, however difficult and delicate the 
 situation may be. They are loyal, and respect- 
 fully so, to the authorities of their Church ; they 
 are, however, sustained largely by the French 
 Government. Of course, their great scholars, 
 Pere Legrange and Pere Vincent, are known the 
 world over. I had in one of my visits the 
 privilege of an earnest talk with Pere Legrange, 
 and later we met him on the train leaving Jeru- 
 salem. It was indeed a privilege and one felt 
 stimulated, by his faithful and fearless scientific
 
 88 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 research, to a greater holiness and consecration 
 to the truth. A little incident will tell its own 
 story of how these Dominicans keep in touch 
 with the world. I had been talking with a 
 young Englishman, a graduate of Oxford, and 
 had mentioned in view of some questions he had 
 asked, Dr. DuBose's "Gospel in the Gospels." 
 He was doubtful whether he would be able to 
 read this and other books by the same author, 
 and I suggested that he should read in the 
 Journal of Theological Studies a review of Dr. 
 DuBose's theology and philosophy, by Mr. 
 Moberly, of Oxford. It so happened that this 
 young man took me to call on Pere Barker 
 one of the youngest of the Dominicans the 
 next day, and we were shown through the church 
 and the other buildings and finally through the 
 library. I asked Pere Barker if he knew Dr. 
 DuBose's writings. He did not know much of 
 them, he said, but he knew that "The Gospel 
 in the Gospels" was in the library. The Eng- 
 lishman, just then, saw lying at hand a copy of 
 the Journal of Theological Studies and on Pere 
 Barker's handing it to him it was found to con- 
 tain Mr. Moberly's article. The coincidence 
 was interesting; the incident was typical.
 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 89 
 
 WORK AMONG THE JEWS IN JERUSALEM. It 
 would be a manifest injustice not to speak of 
 a body of people who constitute the great 
 majority of the population of Jerusalem, and 
 yet there is not a great deal to be said of the 
 work among the Jews and I am not sufficiently 
 informed to use other than very general terms. 
 It is not surprising that Christians accomplish 
 little in the way of converting the Jews in Jeru- 
 salem, because that is the story practically 
 everywhere. I looked sufficiently into the 
 medical mission of the London Society for 
 Promoting Christianity among the Jews to know 
 something of that work. It had its beginning 
 in 1824 but did not get on a permanent foot- 
 ing until 1842, when Dr. MacGowan arrived in 
 Jerusalem in company with Bishop Alexander, 
 the first Anglican bishop in Jerusalem. Dr. 
 MacGowan opened the first hospital for Jews, 
 Christian or otherwise, in Palestine in 1844, 
 and that work has continued until to-day. Four 
 medical superintendents cover its administra- 
 tions for nearly seventy years: Dr. MacGowan, 
 Dr. Chaplin, Dr. Wheeler and Dr. Masterman, 
 the present superintendent. The Jewish popu- 
 lation in the beginning was under ten thousand;
 
 9 o AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 to-day it is at least sixty-five thousand. The 
 new hospital was opened in 1897 and the work 
 consists of "one of the best built and most 
 beautiful mission hospitals in the world," with 
 an average of 1,550 in-patients annually, dis- 
 pensaries for out-patients, which treat some 
 33,800 patients each year, and the home visits, 
 which average about 3,500 annually. It is 
 calculated that some fifty different languages 
 are spoken daily in Jerusalem, of which far the 
 larger part are spoken by Jews. In addition to 
 this medical work for the Jews there are excel- 
 lent hospital accommodations for the Moslems 
 and native Christians, also the Russian, French, 
 Greek and the Municipal Hospitals are well 
 equipped and are open to Moslems or Christians, 
 while the British Ophthalmic Hospital provides 
 in- and out-patient treatment for eye diseases 
 and the excellent Moravian Hospital treats any 
 cases of leprosy. I have given these facts to 
 show how well-equipped Jerusalem is to deal 
 with the diseased and the suffering. Yet in 
 the face of the distinctly mission character of 
 the medical work of the London Society it is 
 said that very little impression is made upon the 
 Jewish population from a Christian standpoint,
 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 91 
 
 and it seems a vital point to make clear, as I 
 endeavoured to do in the case of Mohamme- 
 dans in Egypt, that no department of Christi- 
 anity, however efficient, and no sect or section of 
 Christianity, however devoted and consecrated, 
 is equal to doing the work of Christianizing the 
 Mohammedans and the Jews, or the great mass 
 of mankind. The world-embracing love of 
 God was what Christ came to make plain to man- 
 kind. From the beginning He taught this and 
 concentrated all His teaching in His last prayer 
 when he declared that the unity of His disciples 
 was the one evidence that would convince the 
 world that God had so loved it that He had sent 
 Him to save it. It is an unreasonable demand 
 upon missionaries to expect them to convince the 
 world without that evidence when, in fact, 
 they are sent out by isolated sects to make plain 
 to mankind God's love without the evidence 
 which Christ said was necessary to make the 
 Gospel believed. 
 
 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE AT BEIRUT. We 
 joined Dr. Mott's party again in Beirut. Here 
 he gave a series of evangelical addresses to a 
 conference of students from various parts of the
 
 92 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 Levant in the American College under the presi- 
 dency of Dr. Bliss. My trip to Damascus pre- 
 vented my attending the whole of the conference 
 and I had to leave Beirut the day before it closed. 
 I was asked, however, to speak on unity, and 
 a whole morning session was devoted to the 
 address. All reports of the conference indi- 
 cate that a profound impression was made upon 
 the students gathered there as well as upon 
 the large body of students in the college. The 
 addresses that I heard by Dr. Mott were calcu- 
 lated to awaken students to a meaning of life 
 that would remain with them forever. Mr. 
 Jenkins, whom I also heard if I may judge 
 from the effect of his words on me will have 
 a share in the life of many of the students who 
 heard his effective appeal for a full equipment 
 for a man's work. Dr. Hodgkins, secretary of 
 the Friends' Missionary Society in England, 
 always clear-cut and consecrated in what he 
 has to say, was singularly effective in the address 
 that I heard. The other speakers it was not 
 my privilege to hear. It was a great help to 
 the conference that it was held in the American 
 College. Travel where you will in Egypt, 
 Palestine or Syria and you either meet the
 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 93 
 
 graduates of that college or you hear of them as 
 effective public servants, whether they are 
 Christians or Mohammedans, whether Roman, 
 Orthodox or Greek. To Dr. and Mrs. Bliss and 
 to their faculty and students, we together 
 with the Conference of Students are indebted 
 for many courtesies. The hospitals of the 
 college are really remarkable, the operating 
 rooms being equal except in size to the 
 best in our great cities at home. 
 
 THE LATIN ARCHBISHOP OF BEIRUT. My 
 letter of introduction to the Archbishop of 
 Beirut was from the Countess di Parravicino di 
 Revel. Under no circumstances could a heartier 
 welcome have been given. His Grace had 
 delayed for three days his departure for a long 
 visitation in order to comply with the request 
 of the countess to receive me. I was quite at 
 ease when he said he had read Mgr. Bonomelli's 
 letter to the Edinburgh Conference in an Italian 
 Review which had taken the letter from THE 
 CHURCHMAN, and that he had heard somewhat 
 of THE CHURCHMAN itself. His mind and soul 
 seemed vitalized with the question of unity as 
 the question of the future. In the past, he
 
 94 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 said, when differences arose, the tendency was 
 to fight over them and to contend each for his 
 own point of view, and it was this spirit of con- 
 tention and strife that had caused the divisions 
 in Christendom. He believed that the time 
 was coming, and had partly come, when dif- 
 ferences in human apprehension and interpreta- 
 tion were becoming subjects of legitimate liberty 
 and of fair and fraternal discussion. He looked 
 for a time when differences would be recognized 
 as difficulties to be dealt with in the Family of 
 Christ and not as occasions for rending the 
 Church into separate and isolated parts. 
 
 THE ORTHODOX METROPOLITAN OF BEIRUT. 
 I have already referred to the manner in 
 which the Metropolitan received Bishop Blyth's 
 letter of introduction. I had scarcely stated 
 the object of my visit when the Metropolitan 
 announced that he had in his office photo- 
 graphs of the Bishop of New York and of the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, which had been 
 sent him because of an article he had written 
 on the unity of the Greek Church and the 
 Anglican Communion. I named Archbishop 
 Davidson to him and Bishop Potter. He knew
 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 95 
 
 the sees but not the names. In the course of 
 an extended visit, in which much ground was 
 covered, the Metropolitan developed several 
 original points of view. He has promised to 
 write them out for me and I shall defer further 
 mention of the discussion. 
 
 THE PATRIARCH OF ANTIOCH. The trip to 
 Damascus proved intensely interesting. The 
 train climbs on cogs for twenty miles, rising, 
 within sight of Beirut, to a height of 4,880 feet. 
 From sea level the run was through olive groves, 
 blossoming fruit trees and a rare variety of wild 
 flowers upward till, leaving the more tender 
 foliage behind, at length the barren limit was 
 reached, and then the snow line. Two tunnels 
 carried us to the other side of the range and 
 down toward the hill plain, 2,300 feet above the 
 sea, between Lebanon and Anti-Libanus; with 
 one mountain in the Lebanon over 8,000 feet 
 and the other on the Anti-Libanus not quite so 
 high. After crossing this long plain we rise 
 again to nearly the same height, about 4,600 
 feet, and then descend upon Damascus, which is 
 over 2,300 feet above the sea. 
 
 Many of my readers will understand the poetry
 
 96 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 involved in visiting the Levant for the first time 
 and meeting first the Patriarch of Jerusalem and 
 at the last the Patriarch of Antioch. I had 
 two visits with His Beatitude, one on the day I 
 arrived and another on the following morning, 
 lasting probably two hours. And then came the 
 return visit made on behalf of the Patriarch 
 by the Bishop of the Hauran, the mountain 
 district to which the Bedouins have been assigned, 
 and a priest, who came as his representative. 
 The Patriarch and the Bishop of the Hauran 
 gave me a fair opportunity to photograph them, 
 and the Patriarch's priest made an attempt at 
 a group of peasants who had come from the 
 Desert to call on the Patriarch, one of the most 
 picturesque groups I saw. Unfortunately the 
 priest's picture made no impression on the plate 
 and mine showed only a silhouette in black of 
 the Patriarch and of the Bishop of the Hauran. 
 The Bishop of the Hauran told me that in spite 
 of the reputation of the Bedouins they never 
 harmed him or his priests, and that although 
 they had no religion whatsoever themselves, 
 they were the most truthful people he had ever 
 known. Of the Patriarch himself, I desire 
 especially to record one statement. "I do not
 
 PALESTINE AND SYRIA 97 
 
 believe," he said with great solemnity, "that 
 there is any justifiable reason for the divisions 
 in Christendom. Fundamentally, the things 
 that we believe in common are enough to hold 
 us together. Of course," he continued, "the 
 Latins give us a lot of trouble, but not enough 
 to justify our separation. I believe it is the 
 world that keeps us apart." The summing up 
 of everything in that one word "world" was 
 most suggestive; it was clear that His Beatitude 
 intended to concentrate in that one word the 
 evil of allowing the things of time to supersede 
 the things of eternity. This is the most stirring 
 and exhaustive statement I have yet heard. It 
 affirms the sufficiency of first things and their 
 right of way over all temporal and human 
 differences.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE 
 
 A HE trip from Rome to Constantinople, 
 through Italy, Austria, Hungary, Servia, Bul- 
 garia and Turkey, was perhaps the most varied 
 and picturesque continuous journey I ever made. 
 But it is not of these lands or the characteristics 
 that make them separate and different nations 
 that I am to write. Nor do I mention these 
 unique cities to describe, contrast or compare 
 them. My purpose is to report briefly certain 
 impressions of men who stand as representatives 
 of the Eastern and Western Churches men 
 who are shaping the tendencies that make for or 
 against the healing of the wounds that have so 
 long maimed and weakened Christendom. It is 
 as impracticable as it is unnecessary to mention 
 all those who have contributed to the formation 
 of these Impressions. I select some who are 
 representative in themselves, and who hold 
 positions that are representative. I deliberately 
 connect Rome and Constantinople in order to 
 9 8
 
 A 
 
 CARDINAL CAPECELATRO, ARCHBISHOP OF CAPUA
 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE 99 
 
 show their relation a relation that is real and 
 essential. Enough has been done to emphasize 
 their separateness. Their differences are vast. 
 Exhausting, if not exhaustive, efforts have been 
 made to prove that these differences are funda- 
 mental and permanent, and already too many 
 efforts have been made to justify separation 
 because of what are felt to be hopeless differences. 
 In order to avoid any possible misunderstand- 
 ing, I do not hesitate to say that these differ- 
 ences appear to me now greater, more real and, 
 humanly speaking, more ineradicable than any 
 writer or speaker has ever made them to appear 
 to me before. Indeed, I do not believe that 
 the human mind will ever adequately measure 
 the heights and depths of these differences when 
 treated merely as differences. They are self- 
 renewing engines of destruction when once they 
 are recognized as legitimate causes for isolation 
 and for the dividing asunder of the Visible Body 
 of Christ. But this is only true where life is 
 treated from the negative standpoint. Once 
 we turn to a constructive philosophy of life, 
 where variety is acknowledged to be the essen- 
 tial condition of unity, where unity is accepted 
 as the constructive principle of the Church of
 
 ioo AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 God and variety its essential expression, then 
 differences are transformed from destructive 
 principles into constructive agencies of life. 
 
 The experiences of the past few months would 
 have tempted me to become a gloomy pessimist 
 had I not seen this transforming and constructive 
 principle at work in every nation and in every 
 Church that I have visited. The tendency 
 everywhere is to build and not to destroy to 
 hold together and not to separate. In a deep 
 and convincing sense I got this impression in 
 Rome and Constantinople, and I got it in the 
 face of, and in spite of, corporate conditions that 
 tend to prove that my impression is a false one. 
 But shall we not some day learn what history 
 has enforced with such continuous iteration 
 and re-iteration, namely, that great movements 
 and changes come without observation? Cor- 
 porate action follows and gives expression to 
 great forward movements and changes; it does 
 not cause them or produce them. Undoubtedly, 
 if what I am about to report of actual changes 
 that are taking place were to be formulated into 
 a concordat or agreement and it were presented 
 to the legislative bodies of the Churches, it 
 would be voted down. But this would only
 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE 101 
 
 mean that the change has not yet been accom- 
 plished it would not mean that it is not 
 coming, that it is not actually taking place. 
 
 In a broad and rugged way, it may be said 
 that the Christian Church had come to mean as 
 many different things as there were Churches 
 in the world to mean something that tended 
 to separate groups of men from one another and 
 from the world. The impression I have received, 
 and which I am prepared to defend as a fair and 
 true one, is that these separated Churches are 
 now coming to mean something that binds men 
 together in Christ for the purpose of bringing 
 together and binding together the whole world. 
 Though not primarily concerned with proving 
 a case, I am profoundly intent on giving indica- 
 tions that will satisfy the average man that this 
 change is at work. I have found no Commun- 
 ion quite so full of error and so bad in itself as 
 others have described it. Neither have I found 
 any Church that had discovered all of its errors 
 and sins. It is not a paradox, but only a state- 
 ment of complementary and supplementary 
 facts, to add that there are in every Commun- 
 ion those who know the limitations and sins 
 of their own Communion better than anyone
 
 102 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 outside of it knows or can know them. And 
 those who are seeing and appreciating and even 
 emulating the virtues in other Communions 
 are increasing, I believe, from day to day in 
 all communions. 
 
 THE ROMAN CARDINALS. It was my privi- 
 lege to have more than ordinary talks with four 
 eminent and representative Cardinals of the 
 Roman Catholic Church in Italy, namely Car- 
 dinals Capecelatro, Rampolla, Maffi and the 
 Secretary of State, Merry del Val. When I 
 called at the old, old palace at Capua on Cardi- 
 nal Capecelatro, I was received with a gracious 
 dignity and warm-heartedness that may be felt 
 in his writings but cannot fully be appreciated 
 until one has come under the influence of the 
 spirit of the man who has been called the grandest 
 cardinal of them all. It would surely misrepre- 
 sent all that he is in himself and all that he prays 
 and hopes for as a result of his long life of eighty- 
 eight years, if one did not assert that he longs 
 for a better understanding between Christians 
 and for more of the unity of the spirit. His 
 readiness to help onward in every way in his 
 power, to the bond of peace, is evident in all
 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE 103 
 
 that he says and does. The inscription which 
 he wrote with his own hand on his photograph 
 speaks for itself, and is an earnest of what he 
 hopes for. 
 
 In Cardinal Rampolla I found a masterful 
 personality, sustained by a scope of intellect 
 and statesmanship that easily justifies the 
 estimate in which he is held far beyond the 
 borders of the Roman Catholic Church, whether 
 that estimate be sympathetic or critical. When 
 he realized that Bishop Bonomelli's letter to 
 the Edinburgh Conference had been addressed 
 to me, a new light came into his eyes as he 
 exclaimed: "Bonomelli sent me a copy of 
 his letter, and I immediately wrote thanking 
 him for his utterance." 
 
 At Pisa I was received by Cardinal Maffi, the 
 astronomer who is the president of the Astro- 
 nomical Society of the Roman Church through- 
 out the world. He is a young man, evidently 
 under fifty, and occupies an eminent position 
 in the scientific world. He is a type of car- 
 dinal that is little known to the world and 
 one that may yet make solid contributions to 
 statesmanship in his Communion. 
 
 I was most graciously received by Cardinal
 
 104 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 Merry del Val a second time on my return from 
 Palestine and Syria. As his Excellency had 
 shown interest in the visit to Russia, I wrote 
 offering to tell him of my experiences in Egypt 
 and Palestine and Syria. On receiving an 
 appointment I called again, and after reporting 
 some of our experiences the great question of a 
 better understanding between Christians was 
 discussed quite frankly. While discussing B ishop 
 Bonomelli's letter and its effect at Edinburgh 
 and since, I mentioned what Dr. Alexander 
 Whyte had said of it and described the wonder- 
 fully catholic prayer with which Dr. Whyte had 
 opened the Conference. At the mention of 
 Dr. Whyte's name Cardinal Merry del Val 
 exclaimed with intense feeling: "Oh, but he 
 is a rare man! His writings are beautiful." 
 This was not the only occasion on which I 
 wondered how little Christians knew of each 
 other. How many non-Romans, or Romans for 
 that matter, have imagined the Cardinal Secre- 
 tary of State reading and appreciating the writ- 
 ings of the great Scotch Presbyterian? Or, 
 from the other side, how many Anglicans and 
 Protestants are familiar with the wonderful 
 writings of this Scotch statesman and saint.
 
 CARDINAL RAMPOLLA, DEAN OF ST. PETER'S. ROME
 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE 105 
 
 My readers will understand the necessity of 
 restraint in speaking of conversations with great 
 personages. But I have said this much in order 
 to say more, namely, that it is enlightening to 
 discuss world-problems with statesmen who are 
 shaping the destinies of the largest and most 
 powerful Communion in the world, and especially 
 when one is forced to recognize an independent 
 personality and individuality in each and all 
 of them. The fact is unmistakable that they 
 are not in themselves the creatures of a dead 
 uniformity, however great may be the rigidity 
 of the discipline that controls them or the sense 
 of loyalty that constrains them. I have known 
 no one to laugh more heartily than did Cardinal 
 Merry del Val when I repeated the Patriarch 
 of Antioch's words: "There is no fundamental 
 justification for the division of Christians; the 
 Latins do give us a lot of trouble, but not enough 
 to justify division." I am conscious of the fact, 
 after talking with the Cardinals and with a host 
 of others, of difficulties and differences more far- 
 reaching than I had ever imagined. But this 
 depressing fact has its counterpart in the other 
 fact of a growing consciousness in all of them that 
 there is an absolute necessity for bringing the
 
 io6 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 whole impact of the followers of Christ to bear 
 upon all the enemies of righteousness in order 
 that the vast mass of humanity who have never 
 yet been told the good news of their salvation 
 may receive the Gospel with power. 
 
 As I passed north from Rome on my way to 
 Constantinople I received a salutation from 
 Fogazzaro, sent only a few days before he died, 
 recalling my visit to him last year with words 
 of encouragement for all work in behalf of a 
 better understanding. Curiously enough, I met 
 Dr. Luzzi, the head of the Waldensian Seminary, 
 in Florence, who, out of his rich experience 
 strongly endorsed my impression that change is 
 taking place and that Christians are under- 
 standing each other better, no matter how 
 untoward and contradictory much of the leg- 
 islative and corporate action of historic and 
 Protestant Churches may appear to be. 
 
 THE PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE. Soon 
 after my arrival in Constantinople I was received 
 by the venerable Patriarch. I had attended the 
 Easter service in his cathedral and had heard his 
 address from the gallery of his palace to hun- 
 dreds of Greek soldiers assembled in the court,
 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE 107 
 
 because they were unable to reach the church 
 on account of the great crowd. It was a stir- 
 ring sight and it was more than stirring it 
 was inspiring when his words were interpreted 
 to me. Under the new Constitution Christians 
 have for the first time been required to serve in 
 the army. They have done so cheerfully and 
 loyally, but they feel that great injustice, if 
 not outrage, is done them by denying them 
 religious privileges. The denial of the right to 
 cross themselves and to have their priests to 
 serve them is a trial too great to bear. The 
 Patriarch was saying to the soldiers that he 
 was doing everything in his power to secure their 
 religious privileges and would continue to do 
 so, but that his success would depend upon their 
 loyal obedience to the commands of their 
 superiors, no matter what the sacrifice. The 
 shout that went up from that great mass of 
 soldiers was soul-stirring and when, with the 
 cross in his hand, the venerable Patriarch gave 
 them his benediction, the solemnity of the occa- 
 sion was most impressive. 
 
 Only a few weeks before I had read the Patri- 
 arch of Constantinople's letter in reply to the 
 very severe letter from the Vatican to Prince
 
 io8 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 Maximilian. The severity of the letter was as 
 great against the Orthodox Eastern Churches 
 as it was against the Prince Maximilian's own 
 position. The Patriarch had replied in a very 
 able and powerful argument, condemning as 
 unfair and unhistorical the position taken by 
 the Vatican, and then he had turned to deal with 
 Prince Maximilian, condemning him for having 
 raised an issue at a time so inopportune as not 
 only to defeat the purpose that he had in hand, 
 but actually to put whatever of truth there was 
 in his letter in such perspective as to prevent 
 its being recognized as truth. The Patriarch's 
 letter made a deep impression upon me and I 
 told His Holiness how I had felt about it. It 
 was clearly the writing of a strong man, but 
 I was unprepared to find so great a man as I 
 believe him now to be. He told me that nine 
 years ago he had written a letter to the Patriarchs 
 of the Orthodox Eastern Churches urging that 
 they should all combine to change their antago- 
 nistic attitude toward both the Roman Catholics 
 on the one side and Protestants on the other 
 into one more in accordance with Christ's mind. 
 He had not been encouraged by their reply, but 
 he had not changed his mind. He felt, as the
 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE 109 
 
 Patriarch of Constantinople, that he should do 
 what was in his power to bring about that 
 fraternal attitude which alone represents the 
 mind of Christ. Again three years ago he had 
 asked his Synod to join him in the effort to have 
 the "Calendar" referred to a commission of 
 scientists chosen from the universities of the 
 world in order that that question of difference 
 between the Eastern and Western Churches 
 might be finally settled. It was, he said, a 
 purely scientific question and not in any sense 
 a theological or ecclesiastical one. His Synod 
 refused to adopt his recommendation. He pre- 
 sented the matter again this year, and while 
 it was not refused in the same emphatic manner 
 it was put off and no action was taken. These 
 two facts in themselves, which I have not seen 
 noted and upon inquiry have not found known 
 outside of Constantinople, show two things: 
 first, how little the Christian Churches know of 
 each other, and, second, how great a responsible 
 leader may become under the most adverse cir- 
 cumstances. His Holiness was suffering from 
 a severe cold when I called, and after a prolonged 
 conversation, which grew in interest with each 
 moment, I rose to go, explaining that I was
 
 no AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 taxing his strength too much. With a vigour 
 that surprised me, he motioned me to be seated 
 and asked the interpreter to say that "Godly 
 converse overcomes physical disease." 
 
 The Patriarch then discussed at some length 
 the outlook for Christianity. He was convinced 
 that there was coming, and that, in fact, had 
 already begun to come, a great turning toward 
 religion on the part of the common people 
 throughout the world. His impression was 
 that many would turn to the Protestant religion 
 because of its simplicity. He spoke as a student 
 of contemporaneous history and seemingly 
 without the slightest religious prejudice, though 
 of course he could only have studied Protestant- 
 ism at a distance, as he had never come in direct 
 contact with it except on a very limited scale. 
 A member of the Greek Church told me that he 
 had never heard of the divisions of Protestants. 
 He had always thought of them as a unit. I 
 expressed the conviction that a common Chris- 
 tianity for the average man would need a greater 
 and truer simplicity than Protestantism offered 
 because, while in its separate denominations 
 there were simple platforms, the multitude of 
 denominations presented the most complex
 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE in 
 
 forms of Christianity and that they were feeling 
 after, because they had experienced the need of, 
 a cohesive, catholic and historical basis upon 
 which to unite. 
 
 The Patriarch felt that all work for a better 
 understanding and a greater unity of spirit 
 should be cultivated in order that at least the 
 historic Churches might be able to agree as to 
 the "mysteries." There was more in his face 
 than the words conveyed, and so I drew him out 
 by further questioning and I got the impression 
 that if we could more nearly approach to the 
 unity of the spirit, which Christ had made plain 
 in the Incarnation, it would be possible then to 
 see what were the primal mysteries or foundations 
 which were common to the needs of all who 
 sought salvation in Christ, and that, anchored 
 on these foundations, a liberty would be allowed 
 and encouraged which would give free play 
 for individuality and variety to make their 
 full contribution to a catholic Christianity at 
 one with itself and with Christ as He in His 
 Incarnation had made at-one God and man. 
 
 THE EXARCH OF BULGARIA. I next called 
 on the Exarch of the Bulgarian Church at his
 
 ii2 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 home in Constantinople, and was introduced by 
 Mr. Charles R. Crane, of Chicago, who has long 
 known the Exarch and was therefore a stimu- 
 lating and helpful interpreter. I cannot men- 
 tion Mr. Crane's name without saying that he 
 is thoroughly informed on Oriental and Near 
 Eastern problems, and is devoting and conse- 
 crating himself to increasing his knowledge for 
 the purpose of rendering the best possible ser- 
 vice to America and to our right relation to 
 these countries. I found the Exarch a most 
 interesting and stimulating leader of his people, 
 informed in matters ecclesiastical and as well 
 in those vital matters of statesmanship that 
 have made the Bulgarians what they are. 
 Separation from the Patriarchate of Constanti- 
 nople seems to have been almost wholly political 
 and is only another evidence of how accidental 
 and incidental things have been allowed to take 
 the place of the family idea of the Church of 
 God and so to produce division. The Exarch 
 assured us that if those political differences were 
 removed there was nothing in the Constitution 
 or the worship of the Churches to keep them 
 apart. Under the influence of the Patriarch 
 and the Exarch and many others in Constanti-
 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE 113 
 
 nople, of the cardinals and of many others in 
 Italy, the impression deepened that it was the 
 things of men that separated the East from the 
 West, the East from the East and the West 
 from the West. And yet, over against the 
 seemingly impregnable walls of separation, the 
 outstanding fact is that Roman, Orthodox, 
 Anglican and Protestant hold in common as the 
 source of all their hope the things revealed in 
 Jesus Christ. This common inheritance must 
 prevail against all the local, racial and merely 
 human differences that are alone responsible 
 for the walls of separation. Too many Roman 
 Catholics believe that Roman Catholicism and 
 even the abuses of the Papal system are pre- 
 destined to blot out Protestantism and all non- 
 Roman systems. But the same admission and 
 the same knowledge must be confessed with 
 regard to too many Protestants who believe 
 that Protestantism is predestined to convert 
 Roman Catholicism and that its only hope of 
 salvation consists in becoming Protestant. This 
 is less true from both standpoints than it has 
 been in the past, but it is astounding, and noth- 
 ing less, to find how many men holding eminent 
 positions on both sides of this vast issue, at 
 8
 
 ii4 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 least theoretically, hold to that idea still. I am 
 not blind to all this, nor do I believe that I over- 
 state it but I am profoundly convinced that 
 the leaven of a true Catholicism is at work every- 
 where, and that those who believe in that 
 leaven, though the whole world should rise to 
 deny its existence, hold the future in their 
 hands. It is entirely possible that there may 
 be encyclicals from Rome more drastic than 
 in the past, that there may be Protestant posi- 
 tions taken in response to these encyclicals more 
 radical than in the past; but these will be the 
 conventional expiring groans of a defeated cause, 
 while the movement toward the unity of the 
 family of God will be steadily winning its way 
 and as steadily extending that family throughout 
 the world. 
 
 THE WORLD'S STUDENT CHRISTIAN FEDERA- 
 TION CONFERENCE. It was a bold step on the 
 part of the General Committee to hold a Con- 
 ference in Constantinople. I did not say a 
 bold experiment, because this Committee does 
 not experiment it goes about its work care- 
 fully and scientifically. While its members 
 may act daringly, they always act preparedly.
 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE 115 
 
 There was practically no student movement 
 in the Near East, no local committees to pre- 
 pare for the Conference and no constituency 
 in the usual sense to entertain it. But a few 
 miles away was Robert College, with its Con- 
 cession, its traditions and its noble location on 
 the Bosphorus. Without Robert College such 
 a Conference could not have been held. Dr. 
 Mott and other members of the Executive Com- 
 mittee went to Constantinople in advance, and 
 when the day for the Conference arrived, with 
 the aid of Robert College and friends in Constan- 
 tinople, the Conference was held as if Constanti- 
 nople were designed for it. It was stated that 
 more than thirty nations were represented, and 
 certainly this Conference differentiated itself 
 from any that has been held by its wider eccle- 
 siastical representation and its catholic inclusion. 
 The direct and indirect influence of the 
 Orthodox Churches of the East and of the Roman 
 Church in Italy and the Levant undoubtedly 
 contributed to this end. In the past the Federa- 
 tion has been practically confined in aim and 
 in fact to the members of Protestant Churches. 
 The following resolution, passed at Constanti- 
 nople, marks an epoch in the history of the
 
 n6 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 Federation, and is another indication of the 
 spirit of unity that is at work in the world: 
 
 "The General Committee puts on record its 
 opinion that it is desirable that no student, to 
 whatever branch of the Christian Church he 
 may belong, should be excluded from full mem- 
 bership in any National Movement within the 
 Federation if he is prepared to accept the basis 
 of the Federation or whatever equivalent test 
 is approved of by the Federation. The Com- 
 mittee requests such national Movements as 
 may be effected by this resolution to consider 
 the possibility of making their basis conform 
 to this principle." 
 
 But there was another fact and another factor 
 that contributed to the larger outlook of the 
 Conference, and with telling effect forced the 
 members of the Conference to recognize the neces- 
 sity of including all Christians and uniting all 
 Christians if the witness of Christ was to be 
 effective to that vast Mohammedan world at 
 whose very door the Conference was sitting. 
 The sobering effect of such a problem was tre- 
 mendous. It caused men to realize the pov- 
 erty of their efforts and the weakness of their 
 own plans and so to fall back upon God with
 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE 117 
 
 absolute dependence and a new faith. But it 
 did more than this. In their nearness to God 
 I believe that Conference realized that the 
 ecclesiastical attitude of Christendom was not 
 the attitude of the Father who gave His Son 
 to save the world. One heard less at this Con- 
 ference than perhaps at any similar gathering 
 of the denunciatory and destructive criticism, 
 not to say abuse, of the vast mass of humanity 
 to which the Church of Christ has been sent 
 but has never really gone less, too, of destruc- 
 tive criticism of those religions that have helped 
 millions out of the very depths of human de- 
 pravity but are totally inadequate to save 
 humanity from itself. The result of this upon 
 the most thoughtful and reverent was, I think, 
 to deepen, rather than to weaken, the sense of 
 absolute obligation to bring the Gospel of Christ 
 home to these inadequate and, beyond a certain 
 point, helpless religions. This attitude is more 
 Christian, and it makes Christianity real and 
 concrete in a way that no merely critical and 
 negative attitude toward these religions could 
 ever do. Moreover, it imposes upon Christians 
 the necessity of preaching Christ in His full 
 integrity as perfect God and perfect man. It
 
 n8 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 demands a loyalty to His Person which is abso- 
 lutely impossible if we are not loyal to His plan, 
 namely, the bringing together the whole of the 
 Family of God in order to save the whole world. 
 
 It will be clearly and quite unequivocally 
 understood by my readers that these are my 
 impressions, and that no member of the Federa- 
 tion is in the slightest degree responsible for 
 what I write. 
 
 If I feel constrained to give full utterance to 
 the effect of the Conference upon me it is be- 
 cause in my judgment the Federation has already 
 done much to unite students of many nations 
 and many Communions in a common effort to 
 make Christ known throughout the world, and 
 is destined to do vastly more in this direction. 
 It therefore deserves the consideration and 
 support of all who would bring to bear upon 
 the student world the sense of corporate and 
 personal responsibility for preaching the Gos- 
 pel and making it a living, social force in the 
 institutions of learning everywhere. The student 
 body in whole sections of the world has only 
 begun to come under the influence of these 
 movements, and the ablest and most influential 
 class of scholars will only be reached when the
 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE 119 
 
 Federation approaches them upon a thoroughly 
 catholic basis. The importance, therefore, of 
 the Resolution which was passed by the General 
 Committee at Constantinople cannot easily 
 be overestimated. 
 
 The full report of the Conference will appear 
 early in June. It would be out of place for me 
 to attempt to make even a resume of the pro- 
 ceedings. But there are several outstanding 
 impressions that I must give. As at Edin- 
 burgh, there was a reality about the appeals 
 from China and Japan that one rarely finds in 
 convention addresses. This is saying much, 
 and yet the incisive statement of China's need 
 of Christ made by Mr. Chengt'ing Thomas 
 Wang of Ningpo, China, and Yale, '10, was in a 
 unique sense powerful and concrete. It was 
 not the cry of a human soul for its own salva- 
 tion. It was rather the clear and unmistakable 
 appeal of a representative Chinaman for the 
 Christ that China needs. The address was an 
 evidence that China is awakening to a conscious- 
 ness of its need. It was not exaggerated, it 
 was not sentimental, but it was as concrete and 
 fundamental as it was intense in its reality. It 
 reminded me of what Vice-Admiral Uriu, of
 
 120 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 the Japanese Navy, said in his address to a 
 small body of men in New York on his visit 
 there a few years ago: "Japan needs Christ. 
 She does not need our ' isms/ but she does need 
 Christ in order that she may have that moral 
 foundation which alone will form the basis of 
 a true civilization." 
 
 Another address which will remain as a perma- 
 nent contribution was that of Dr. Patrick, 
 President of the American College for Girls in 
 Constantinople. To me it was a revelation of 
 the position of woman in the Mohammedan 
 world and specifically in Turkey; not a word 
 was wasted, and her paper was completed before 
 her short time expired. There was a scientific 
 treatment of the matter from a historical stand- 
 point which was only exceeded by the definite 
 and certain grounds which she gave for a confi- 
 dent outlook as a result of educational mission- 
 ary work under the influence of united Christian 
 effort. It is to be hoped that the paper will be 
 printed in full in the Report and that it may 
 have the widest possible circulation. I am not 
 dealing in comparisons, and there were many of 
 the addresses I could not hear on account of 
 my double duty in Constantinople and at
 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE 121 
 
 Robert College. It is hardly necessary to say 
 that the millennium was not reached at this Con- 
 ference. One heard here and there on the plat- 
 form and elsewhere echoes of a predestinated 
 Protestantism which could alone save the world 
 and that were quite worthy of a true fatalism I 
 will not say Calvinism, because I do not believe 
 that Calvin was really controlled by his theory 
 of necessity. But these only prove what I have 
 endeavoured to make clear as the rule of the 
 Conference. Its mind was greater and its faith 
 was fuller and richer, and its vision more 
 catholic than had been true of any former Con- 
 ference, judging by what I was told of preceding 
 Conferences. 
 
 Members of the Conference were invited to 
 make addresses in the institutions of learning 
 of the Orthodox Churches, in the Mohammedan 
 University and in public places in Constanti- 
 nople. Everywhere they were heard with respect 
 and evidently with appreciation and sympathy. 
 Our minister, Mr. Carter, gave a dinner at the 
 Embassy to which he invited the Grand Vizier 
 to meet a few members of the Conference. His 
 Highness came and was most cordial and in- 
 teresting in his discussion (in English to our
 
 122 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 comfort) of the Conference. Thus the Govern- 
 ment gave expression to its readiness to receive 
 and welcome the Conference to Constantinople. 
 Dr. John R. Mott's closing address, as Gen- 
 eral Secretary of the Federation, was easily 
 the most constructive and comprehensive state- 
 ment I have heard from him, and in this I found 
 general agreement. It would not have been 
 possible for Dr. Mott to have made this address 
 without the experience of the Edinburgh Con- 
 ference. It would have been equally impossi- 
 ble for him to make it after the Edinburgh 
 Conference if he had not had the rich experiences 
 that have come to him on this tour in meeting 
 Patriarchs of the Orthodox Churches and com- 
 ing directly and indirectly in contact with rep- 
 resentatives of the Orthodox Churches and the 
 Roman Church. The address made a profound 
 impression upon the Conference, and I am per- 
 suaded that the experiences of this tour and the 
 Conference itself have laid the foundations for 
 multiplying Dr. Mott's organizing power for 
 the future. There is a sanity, an open-minded- 
 ness, an aggressiveness constrained by conserva- 
 tism, that enables him to keep in touch with 
 those whom he is leading which is an invaluable
 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE 123 
 
 asset in the work that he is called to do with 
 students and young men, and with those who 
 make it possible for him to work on so large a 
 scale. It is this that gives more than a personal 
 value to his summing up of the work of the 
 Federation in his closing address. It was not 
 merely his own utterance, for, while un- 
 doubtedly, he went far beyond what the Confer- 
 ence itself had realized with regard to itself, it 
 was clear that the members of the Conference 
 accepted his prophetic interpretation of the 
 mission of the Federation. 
 
 CONSTANTINOPLE. It would be vain to 
 attempt to give expression to the manifold im- 
 pressions that one gets of Constantinople on a 
 first and hurried visit. The combination of 
 races and tongues and religions and colour in 
 earth and sky even under the depressing influ- 
 ence of a rainy season would require a great 
 artist to portray and a philosopher to interpret. 
 The first four days were gloomy and rainy. The 
 mystery deepened and the wonder of it all 
 increased, but with no suggestion of the colour 
 of the Bosphorous, the city and the sky, until 
 the last two days of brilliant sunshine when
 
 124 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 everything seemed transformed into a picture 
 so rich and varied and wonderful that the glory 
 of creation seemed to be revealing itself. Stand- 
 ing on the heights of Robert College one mar- 
 velled that this key to Russia, to Asia and the 
 East should have been so long turned against 
 civilization and christianization because of the 
 contending jealousies of Christian nations. Why 
 should Russia have been bottled up so long, 
 and why should civilization stop just here, and 
 why should Christian nations misrepresent 
 Christianity by making this matchless water- 
 way a playground of contest for self-aggrandize- 
 ment. As I stood one day watching the endless 
 number of ships turn suddenly around the 
 great heights marked by two great towers on 
 the grounds of Robert College and disappear 
 on their way to the Black Sea, I could but 
 wonder if the time was not coming when this 
 would be the highway of civilization instead of 
 a blockade, and when the light of Christianity 
 would find the same expression in the people 
 as is seen in the sky and sea and mountain 
 range. My respect for the Turks grew when I 
 thought of the Young Turk Movement and the 
 establishment of a constitution by the Turks
 
 ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE 125 
 
 themselves when Christian civilizations were 
 setting them such an example of selfishness and 
 jealousy. It is true that everyone seems to 
 expect a reaction from the Young Turk Move- 
 ment, and doubtless a reaction will set in, but 
 why should civilized nations be trading upon the 
 uncertainty of Turkish rule and taking advantage 
 of their helplessness and need in order to secure 
 concessions instead of also helping them to self- 
 government and self-control. Undoubtedly, in 
 spite of the selfishness of the nations that are 
 contesting for every concession, the opening up 
 of Turkey and the building of thoroughfares to 
 the Farther East will, in the end, act as a civiliz- 
 ing force. And yet, I cannot but believe, that 
 the protests of those great statesmen of the past 
 against trading in the passions and ignorance of 
 lesser favoured peoples, were voices that should 
 have been heeded and should be heeded now. 
 They will be heeded when once Christian peoples 
 and Christian Churches come to realize, that 
 personal religion is worthless, if it does not express 
 itself in social and political organization and 
 when once governments are held to Christian 
 standards as individuals have been held in the 
 past.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 CLOSE OF OUR TOUR FRANCE AND ENGLAND 
 
 of the results of the Conference at Con- 
 stantinople was the formation of student move- 
 ments in Turkey, Greece and in the Balkan 
 States, Roumania, Bulgaria and Servia. This 
 is direct evidence of the influence of the larger 
 basis adopted by the Conference and shows 
 how quickly these orthodox Churches responded 
 to a more catholic standard. The campaign 
 that followed the Conference was most effective 
 in the formation of new movements, and in 
 educating those who took part in it for similar 
 campaigns in other countries. 
 
 THROUGH FRANCE TO ENGLAND. I failed 
 to reach France in time to take advantage of 
 plans made to enable me to study more fully 
 the conditions in the French Church than had 
 been possible for me in the past. I was fortu- 
 nate enough, however, to meet for a very short 
 while with a brilliant company of scholars in 
 126
 
 FRANCE AND ENGLAND 127 
 
 Paris. This brief exchange of thought on present 
 conditions only deepened already formed con- 
 victions that the French Church has a contri- 
 bution to make toward the unity of Christian 
 Churches which will prove richer in culture and 
 in sacrifice than the outside world is yet prepared 
 to acknowledge, or even to desire. Happily, 
 the plans that had been made are only delayed, 
 for the new friends made in this brief visit have 
 only increased the assurance of a more extensive 
 acquaintance and of closer study of actual 
 conditions in the future. English-speaking 
 Christians seem as a rule, and almost on the 
 whole, to be out of touch with, and largely 
 ignorant of, what the Christians on the continent 
 of Europe are doing, as they on the continent 
 are out of touch with, and ignorant of, what is 
 going on in our midst. These impressions have 
 been accentuated by my recent visit to France 
 and England, and hence the emphasis and signifi- 
 cance given to them here. It seems incon- 
 ceivable, for instance, that in countries so 
 intimately related the religious life of the two 
 nations could be kept in such water-tight com- 
 partments. Yet this seems to be the situation 
 throughout Christendom, not only in different
 
 i 2 8 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 nations but in different Churches hi the same 
 nation. The Christian Communions are living 
 hi different worlds and are just awakening to 
 a sense of what such isolation means. 
 
 The loss to Christendom in power, hi effec- 
 tiveness and hi truthful witness, because of 
 this ignorance and lack of touch, is truly fearful. 
 But there is something more fearful hi the 
 fact that because of this isolation Christianity 
 is not presented as Christianity, but is misrep- 
 resented as a divisive and dividing religion. 
 These depressing facts, however, only form a 
 background which brings out hi bolder relief 
 the growing discontent with division which is 
 being generated hi every part of Christendom 
 and is finding expression in terms more definite 
 and more convincing than at any previous period. 
 This discontent is not confined to organized 
 Christianity, but is finding expression hi the 
 social and political life of nations. 
 
 KING GEORGE. The King received Dr. Mott 
 and me at Buckingham Palace on Sunday, May 
 21, the American Ambassador accompanying 
 and presenting us. His Majesty asked immedi- 
 ately for some account of our journeyings. He
 
 FRANCE AND ENGLAND 129 
 
 showed keen interest in the outline of our entire 
 tour and did not in the least curtail the account 
 of it. When Russia and the Russian Church 
 were under discussion he took the liveliest 
 interest and spoke of his own experiences in 
 Russia with the utmost freedom. He had been 
 impressed by the religious character of the Rus- 
 sian people, and that impression had been 
 deepened by what he saw later of the Russian 
 pilgrims in Jerusalem. The simple fact that 
 the World Student Christian Federation had 
 held a conference in Constantinople surprised 
 him and stimulated him to ask many questions, 
 and our answers seemed to increase his interest. 
 He took the initiative not only in asking ques- 
 tions but he freely expressed his own convic- 
 tion with regard to the great question of a 
 better understanding between Churches and 
 nations. 
 
 It was plain that His Majesty was thinking 
 much on religious divisions and their effect on 
 peoples and countries. At one point he said 
 that in looking over Whittaker's Almanac he 
 had found that there were fifty-six different 
 Churches in England. It was clear that such 
 a condition was causing King George, as it is 
 9
 
 i 3 o AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 causing the heads of nations in other parts of 
 the world, as well as responsible cabinet officers 
 and peoples almost everywhere, the most 
 anxious and careful thought. The easy dignity 
 and the democratic simplicity, together with the 
 eager interest in the political, social and religious 
 betterment of the people, which characterized 
 the King's reception of us, made a deep impres- 
 sion, that will remain to stimulate us to greater 
 efforts. 
 
 THE TYRANNY OF DIVISIONS. The age of 
 the tyrant, spiritual or temporal, has really 
 passed. There is no fear that such a tyrant 
 will arise to menace the progress of civilization. 
 The danger is in another direction. Happily 
 Christianity is so much wider in its reach and 
 in its controlling influence than the sum of the 
 sections of Christendom that nations are heeding 
 that danger as the Communions of Christen- 
 dom are beginning to feel constrained to do. 
 That danger is to be found in the tyranny of a 
 multitude of religions and specifically for the 
 Christian nations in a multitude of sects. In its 
 largest sense, men of business, of affairs, may 
 think and work in world terms and on a world
 
 FRANCE AND ENGLAND 131 
 
 basis, but Christians and those public servants 
 who are dependent on the suffrages of Chris- 
 tians suffer under the tyranny of denomina- 
 tional boundaries that cramp the minds, contract 
 the hearts and limit the souls of men. Thus a 
 divided Christianity is not only a danger to 
 Christianity but a damage to the possibilities 
 of the nations and peoples which it would help 
 and save. I have now met and talked with 
 some degree of frankness with representatives of 
 every general type of organized Christianity, 
 from the extremest Protestant to the extremest 
 Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, and 
 also with representatives of the Governments 
 under which they live. My impression is clear 
 and I think ineradicable, that in all Communions 
 there are those, great and small, leaders and 
 followers, who are beginning to see that the 
 tyranny of division shuts out a world- vision, 
 strikes at the root of liberty and tends to sap 
 the foundations of love and brotherhood. If 
 this be true, its truth is not confined to these 
 world ideals, but applies equally to the smallest 
 circle of human society, for Christ's religion, 
 like Christ Himself, is equally the foundation 
 and the satisfaction of every individual mem-
 
 i 3 2 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 her of His Family as of the whole Family in 
 heaven and on earth. The profoundest and the 
 most inspiring impression I have in all that I 
 have seen and heard and felt is that the people 
 of God are drawing nearer to each other in 
 Him, and that in the exercise of this first prin- 
 ciple Christianity will, like its Master, be self- 
 perpetuating and recreative in its power. 
 
 THE WAY OUT OF DIVISIONS. Certainly 
 the compartment idea of religion is the legitimate 
 offspring of that age-long effort to find Christian 
 unity through definitions of faith. This effort 
 seems to have been continued since the time of 
 Constantine, when he sought to secure the unity 
 of the Church through a definition of the faith. 
 He secured practically unanimous agreement on 
 the Creed of Nicaea, as there was a similar agree- 
 ment on order, but the effort at unity failed 
 then, and it fails now. It fails because defini- 
 tions of Faith and Order have not in them the 
 power of life, they are not the Divine Dynamic 
 which produces and is ever capable of repro- 
 ducing the unity and the life of the Church of 
 God. These definitions were made by and for 
 the use of the living organism, and were made to
 
 FRANCE AND ENGLAND 133 
 
 serve not to control it. Wherever, therefore, 
 the effort has been made to secure unity through 
 Faith and Order, it has failed and must fail. 
 Wherever, as in the primitive Church, the living 
 society was leavening and saving the world, 
 the Church used its Faith and Order, its Sacra- 
 ments and its power of prophecy, its open- 
 mindedness and open-heartedness to receive 
 the Holy Spirit for the extension of that society 
 which Our Lord had instituted to continue His 
 work on earth. The life and the unity of this 
 society enabled it to take advantage of every 
 means, divine and human, for the preservation 
 of that life and that unity by the use of its life 
 and unity for the service of its Master. Plainly 
 the Christian world is coming under the neces- 
 sity of a return to this primary and funda- 
 mental principle of Christianity. It is being 
 brought under this influence by the missionary 
 activities of the present age and by the demands 
 that are being made upon the Church to give 
 to the world what it believes that God in crea- 
 tion and Christ in His incarnate love intended 
 it to have. The impatient attitude within and 
 without the Church toward forms of Faith and 
 Order is not to be construed as an opposition to
 
 134 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 Faith and Order in their proper place: it is rather 
 that men have come to a fuller knowledge of 
 Christ and His purpose for the world, and they 
 feel that when the Church gives them Faith and 
 Order without giving them the Life of Christ 
 and the opportunity to serve Him, they are 
 being given a stone when they are asking for 
 the Bread of Life. 
 
 This is vividly illustrated by the fact that 
 those Churches that repudiated much of what 
 is called Historic Christianity are, in their 
 efforts to preach Christ to the whole world, 
 feeling the need of much that was thrown over- 
 board, and are studying more carefully and 
 appreciating more fully the invaluable work of 
 the Ecumenical Councils which so perfectly 
 denned the Faith. Nothing could more power- 
 fully show the place of Faith and Order in the 
 Church's economy or make higher tribute to the 
 incomparable work of the philosophical and 
 theological work of the ecumenical period. The 
 work of definition was so well done that so far 
 it has been practically impossible to improve 
 on it. 
 
 If, therefore, the divided Communions of 
 Christendom are to be brought up to the con-
 
 FRANCE AND ENGLAND 135 
 
 ception contained in Christ's prayer for His 
 people, it seems absolutely necessary that a 
 change should be made, that practically a 
 revolution must be worked in order that the 
 controlling and fundamental principle of Chris- 
 tianity may be given its rightful place in the 
 progress toward a better understanding, a 
 truer unity of spirit, which shall prepare the 
 way to the bond of peace. 
 
 My impression is that it was this universal 
 turning to Christ's way and turning away from 
 the effort to secure unity through definitions of 
 Faith and Order that made the Edinburgh Con- 
 ference a possibility, and that increasingly 
 commends that Conference and its Continua- 
 tion Committee to the judgment of leaders of 
 every Communion in Christendom. The Con- 
 ference represented only a small part of the 
 Christian world, it was not essentially great in 
 its composition, and surely no one would claim 
 any phase or form of infallibility for its Continu- 
 ation Committee. Yet the Edinburgh basis 
 and the Edinburgh idea has touched the imagi- 
 nation and won the respect and sympathy of 
 Christian leaders in almost every part of the 
 world. Its very name is a most happy descrip-
 
 136 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 tion of its mission the Continuation Com- 
 mittee. Its mission is to this extent successful, 
 hi that if another Edinburgh Conference were 
 to be held next year a larger proportion of Chris- 
 tians would be represented, and Communions 
 which were not even expected at Edinburgh 
 would, under wise action, most surely be repre- 
 sented. The committee is to gather information 
 from all mission fields of all the Churches, and, 
 as far as may be, to give a wider circulation to 
 this information; it is to maintain and to extend 
 the atmosphere of the Edinburgh Conference 
 without in the slightest degree attempting to 
 interfere with the autonomy of the different 
 Communions. 
 
 THE CONTINUATION COMMITTEE AT AUCK- 
 LAND CASTLE, ENGLAND. Twenty-eight mem- 
 bers of the Continuation Committee, which 
 numbers thirty-five, met at Auckland Castle as 
 the guests of Dr. Moule, the Bishop of Durham, 
 on May 16. Durham Cathedral and Auckland 
 Castle were in themselves at once a tower of 
 strength and a virile admonition to the Com- 
 mittee. There was no room for small concep- 
 tions or petty work at this bulwark of the
 
 FRANCE AND ENGLAND 137 
 
 Northumbrian dioceses. The hospitality, the 
 gracious conversion of this castle home into 
 our home was a stimulus and a prophecy of our 
 duty to make God's Family the home of hu- 
 manity. All of the ten American members of 
 the Committee and all the ten members of the 
 Committee from the Continent were present. 
 Of the British members eight of the ten were 
 present the Bishop of Winchester and the 
 Rev. Dr. George Robson were prevented from 
 coming by illness. It was not . practicable for 
 the other five members in the far-distant fields 
 to be present. So large an attendance is a 
 sufficient evidence of the importance which the 
 members of the Committee attach to their 
 trust. The Committee sat for four and a half 
 days, meeting each morning, afternoon and 
 evening. In addition to morning and evening 
 prayers in the chapel of the castle, a period at 
 the close of the morning session was set aside, 
 as at Edinburgh, for intercession. Nine special 
 committees which had been appointed at the 
 meeting held immediately after the Conference 
 at Edinburgh reported, and these reports were 
 examined and discussed with the view to testing 
 their efficiency and the lines along which they
 
 138 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 should carry forward their work. Special com- 
 mittees on Survey and Occupation, Education, 
 Christian Literature, Training-schools for Mis- 
 sionaries, and Uniformity in Statistics were 
 continued in order that their investigations might 
 be carried further, while several new special 
 Committees were appointed, viz., on Co-opera- 
 tion and the Promotion of Unity, the Church 
 and the Mission Field, Medical Missionary 
 Work, the Mohammedan Problem, and for the 
 preparation of a statement of recognized princi- 
 ples underlying the relations of missions and 
 Governments. A definite set of rules was pre- 
 pared to govern the action of the Special Com- 
 mittees with a view to promoting the efficiency 
 of their work, preventing overlapping and de- 
 termining their relations with the Continuation 
 Committee. 
 
 Undoubtedly the two most important actions 
 taken by the Committee were the decision to 
 issue an International Review of Missions with 
 Mr. J. H. Oldham, the secretary, as Editor, 
 with an International Advisory Editorial Board, 
 and the further decision to urge Dr. John R. 
 Mott, the chairman of the Committee, to give 
 a large portion of his time in an honorary capacity
 
 FRANCE AND ENGLAND 139 
 
 to putting the aims, methods and work of the 
 Continuation Committee before Mission Boards 
 of Europe and America and before missionaries 
 and leaders of the Church in the mission fields. 
 This will necessarily involve extensive visiting 
 in the mission field for the purpose of acquaint- 
 ing missionaries and leaders with the work and 
 plans of the Continuation Committee and of 
 studying how missionary bodies on the field 
 and the Continuation Committee may be 
 brought into the most mutually helpful rela- 
 tions. Such visits will also be of the greatest 
 assistance to the investigation of the Special 
 Committees. 
 
 The responsibility for these decisions was 
 thoroughly and frankly faced and discussed. 
 The dangers and the advantages were presented 
 from almost every standpoint. The judgment 
 of the Committee was overwhelming that both 
 steps were necessary if the atmosphere and the 
 spirit of the Edinburgh Conference was to be 
 continued and extended to the widest possible 
 limit. 
 
 The increased work demanded of Dr. Mott by 
 the unanimous will of the Committee is one 
 for which he has had extraordinary preparation
 
 140 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 and training. For twenty-three years he has 
 been steadily developing in Student Christian 
 movements, in missionary enterprises the 
 World Idea as the only goal that could satisfy 
 the demands of membership in the Christian 
 Church. His powers of organization and his 
 capacity to comprehend in these organizations 
 almost every type of mind and character mark 
 him out as one capable of bringing the Continu- 
 ation Committee in touch with missionaries 
 and missionary work in every part of the world; 
 his open-mindedness has enabled him to come 
 in touch on this tour with the Orthodox Churches 
 of the East, not merely in a friendly and fraternal 
 way, but with vast profit to his own widening 
 vision, and has increased his desire for still 
 wider knowledge of the Churches of Christen- 
 dom in order that he may perform his part in 
 bringing about a better understanding and closer 
 co-operation, in order to promote the unity of 
 Christendom. 
 
 The Review will serve as the means of com- 
 munication between the Continuation Com- 
 mittee and the increasingly large body of leaders 
 throughout the Christian world who are inter- 
 ested in its work. Its pages will also be opened
 
 FRANCE AND ENGLAND 141 
 
 for the free discussion of important missionary 
 questions. It will include a bibliography of all 
 missionary books and pamphlets in all languages 
 and also of important articles on missions in 
 current periodical literature. The Review will 
 be published quarterly, and the subscription 
 price will be 6s. net, post free. The first num- 
 ber will be issued at the beginning of 1912. As 
 secretary of the International Committee that 
 planned the Edinburgh Conference, as one 
 intimately associated with the work of all eight 
 commissions and as secretary of the Conference 
 itself and of the Continuation Committee, Mr. 
 Oldham was the unanimous choice of the Com- 
 mittee as the Editor of the Review a task 
 for which all of his association with the work 
 of the Conference had so thoroughly equipped 
 him. 
 
 The Continuation Committee in these deci- 
 sions, as well as in the appointment of special 
 committees, has, I believe, been true to its 
 commission to continue the atmosphere of the 
 Edinburgh Conference. The Chairman is to 
 aid the Committee in coming in touch and 
 sympathy with all efforts to preach the Christ 
 of God and to extend His Kingdom to the
 
 142 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 utmost parts of the world. The Review is to 
 report the work of the entire mission field 
 not a part of it, but all of it. It was impos- 
 sible to sit through these sessions of the Contin- 
 uation Committee without feeling one's vision 
 expanded and his consciousness of the necessity 
 for the unity of the Church of God deepening 
 into a sacred and permanent conviction and 
 obligation. 
 
 The Committee lived up to its commission from 
 the Edinburgh Conference and recognized that 
 it was to serve and not to dictate to, or attempt 
 to control, the Communions it was appointed 
 to serve. In any survey of the Christian world 
 as it is to-day the basis and aim of the Edinburgh 
 Conference and the Continuation Committee 
 seem to offer the way that leads steadily and 
 surely to a better understanding, to a truer 
 unity of the spirit and to those acts of co-opera- 
 tion which can only end in the bond of peace, 
 for which increasing millions of Christians are 
 praying and who will increasingly endeavour to 
 work, for the fulfilment of the end for which 
 they pray. 
 
 The Continuation Committee is to meet in 
 America in September, 1912.
 
 FRANCE AND ENGLAND 143 
 
 LAST DAYS IN ENGLAND. The Continua- 
 tion Committee felt itself weakened by the 
 absence of Dr. Talbot, the Bishop of Winchester, 
 and of Dr. Robson, of Edinburgh, who had been 
 associated with the Edinburgh Conference from 
 the first meeting of the International Committee 
 at Oxford. Both had been sources of strength 
 and from quite different standpoints: Dr. 
 Robson, speaking with authority for Scotch 
 Presbyterianism and the Bishop of Winchester 
 in the fullest and deepest sense representing the 
 English Church and its position. Dr. Mott and 
 I were unwilling to leave England without seeing 
 Bishop Talbot, who was at Harrow confined 
 to his bed with some trouble of the knee. We 
 visited him on the Sunday after the conference. 
 He had heard of the conference from Mrs. 
 Creighton, and when we had gone over quite 
 fully the action of the Committee, the bishop 
 expressed himself as in the fullest accord with 
 what had been done. He had been with us in 
 his prayers and in his thoughts, he said. Then, 
 with all the strength of his great soul, he de- 
 clared his faith in the work of the Committee 
 and the service it was capable of rendering, pro- 
 vided only that it kept to the patient yet
 
 144 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 progressive work of creating an atmosphere of 
 fraternity such as had characterized the Edin- 
 burgh Conference itself. He was in the most 
 complete accord with the mind of the Committee 
 in the conviction that there was hope for great 
 things if the Edinburgh Conference and its basis 
 were adhered to loyally, and equally that there 
 was every danger to be expected in any depart- 
 ure into the domain of Faith and Order, which 
 by agreement had been eliminated from the 
 work of the Edinburgh Conference. These points 
 of view were unqualifiedly sustained and en- 
 dorsed by the Archbishop of Canterbury at 
 long talks which he had with Dr. Mott and me 
 at different times. 
 
 On Monday afternoon, at 3:15, we called at 
 the Foreign Office by invitation of Sir Edward 
 Grey, who had expressed a desire to have a 
 report of our experiences. For about an hour 
 Sir Edward Grey entered searchingly and inter- 
 estedly into the most significant events of our 
 tour and dwelt especially upon the holding of 
 the Federation Conference in Constantinople. 
 It seemed impossible that the Foreign Secretary 
 could at a time of such pressure receive us, but 
 nowhere did we find a more keenly analytic and
 
 FRANCE AND ENGLAND 145 
 
 yet sympathetic treatment of the causes we 
 had in hand than on that afternoon. Sir 
 Edward Grey expressed the opinion I had heard 
 in Russia, Italy and throughout the Levant, that 
 America had a unique opportunity and there- 
 fore a grave responsibility in that it could enter 
 into great religious and humanitarian enterprises 
 without being suspected of any ulterior political 
 motive. Nothing in our entire experience has 
 moved me more deeply than the universal 
 expectation that the solution of certain world 
 problems must and ought to begin in America. 
 The matter was too serious and too real on the 
 part of those who spoke to give place even for a 
 moment to national pride. In leaving we said 
 to Sir Edward Grey that the sense of responsi- 
 bility, growing out of such expectations from 
 the position in which we found ourselves in 
 America, would send us home with a determi- 
 nation to work harder than we had ever done 
 to perform our part in the world problems 
 demanding solution. 
 
 At 5:30 on the same afternoon I was the 
 speaker at the annual meeting of the London 
 Diocesan Board of Foreign Missions under the 
 presidency of the Bishop of London. The
 
 146 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 invitation had come to me in Rome in April and 
 with it came the suggestion that Bishop Ingram 
 desired to make that Board the greatest power 
 for foreign missions in his diocese. The Bishop 
 of Stepney informed me on arrival that the 
 Board was composed of a hundred selected men, 
 clergy and laity. The subject was, "How to 
 Interest Men in Foreign Missions." What I 
 had to say was based on the interdenominational 
 principle in order to interest men. I said that 
 men of every Communion in Christendom 
 could work together in any worldly work, 
 but could not unite in the supreme service of life 
 for God and His purpose for the world; and that 
 it was the interdenominational element that 
 gave to the Laymen's Missionary Movement its 
 power. I was questioned freely and after the 
 discussion was closed the Bishop of London made 
 a telling appeal for the establishment of laymen's 
 organizations on the interdenominational basis. 
 The missionary societies, S. P. G., S. P. C. K., 
 and C. M. S. were represented and the response 
 to Bishop Ingram's appeal seemed unanimous. 
 It was long and loudly applauded. 
 
 On Tuesday, May 23, our party, which sailed 
 from New York on January 18, together with
 
 FRANCE AND ENGLAND 147 
 
 Bishop Lambuth, of the Southern Methodist 
 Church, and Dr. Brown, of the Presbyterian 
 Board, members of the Continuation Commit- 
 tee, and Mr. Richard Morse, sailed on the 
 R. M. S. "Caronia," which brought us to 
 New York, on Wednesday, May 31.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 CONCLUSIONS 
 
 A HE transformation in the attitude of Chris- 
 tendom toward unity is assuming the pro- 
 portions of a historic revolution. It will be 
 interesting to examine some of its aspects from 
 the positive side. There is a possibility of 
 agreement on positive lines, but there is no pos- 
 sibility of agreement on negative lines. A great 
 teacher was once brusquely interrupted while 
 lecturing on Heaven by a student, who asked: 
 "But, doctor, what about Hell?" Quick as 
 lightning came the reply and with an indigna- 
 tion never before shown, "I am not here to 
 teach you the way to Hell." Noting the crush- 
 ing effect upon the student, the teacher relented 
 and said, "But I will tell you something about 
 Hell. If you miss Heaven, you will have all the 
 Hell you need." The way to unity leads along 
 positive lines. It is along these lines that I 
 shall speak, it being perfectly understood that 
 negatives are not ignored, but only left in the 
 background. 
 
 148
 
 CONCLUSIONS 149 
 
 Protestant Christianity based its right to 
 exist on the right to separate in order that the 
 pure Gospel might be preached. The plan of 
 division was deliberately accepted as a condition 
 of finding and keeping the truth. With varying 
 conceptions of truth, increasing divisions fol- 
 lowed. Division became in a sense a means to 
 truth, a method of meeting the demands of 
 conscience. The right of separation became 
 inwrought in the life of the Protestant Churches, 
 but it did not stop with them. Their claim of 
 the right to protest against error, and to set up 
 a new church for the preservation of the truth 
 was, from a wholly different standpoint, asserted 
 by those who forced them out of communion, 
 in order to protect and preserve the truth. The 
 right to protect truth by driving out and the 
 right to seek truth by going out combined to 
 write division in large letters over the whole 
 face of Christendom. 
 
 The passion of Protestant Christianity for 
 the truth and for the liberty to tell the truth 
 created that intensity of conscience, that driving 
 force which, accepting full responsibility for pro- 
 claiming the Gospel to the whole world, has 
 resulted in a proclamation of the Gospel over
 
 150 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 territory unmatched in the history of Chris- 
 tianity. Within a few centuries and in spite of 
 multitudinous divisions, Protestant Christians 
 have grown to 150,000,000, and their missionary 
 enterprise, with an annual outlay of about $20,- 
 000,000, is a wonder in history. Into great 
 heathen lands the many Protestant Churches 
 have sent missionaries until they are stunned 
 alike by the magnitude of the sum of their 
 operations and the impotence of a multitude of 
 isolated proclamations of the Gospel. The 
 damage of division, of the conflict of witnesses, 
 of the helplessness of a divided army against 
 age-long religions and endless masses of ignorance 
 is forcing consideration. The awakening has 
 been as sudden as it is overwhelming to the fact 
 that there is something more than a proclamation 
 of the Gospel needed, something more than a 
 personal relationship with God needed, and that 
 some corporate unit is absolutely necessary to 
 a successful witness to Christ and to the estab- 
 lishment of His Church, not as a foreign mis- 
 sion but as an indigenous home of the people to 
 whom they have proclaimed the Gospel of life. 
 Thus it comes about that the Protestant world 
 is feeling after that which was lost by division.
 
 CONCLUSIONS 151 
 
 Perhaps nowhere in the world is the need for 
 unity more keenly felt than by the Churches 
 of Protestantism because in a sense they have 
 created the need for themselves by a passionate 
 obedience to a great part of the great commission. 
 Slowly but steadily division is being discredited. 
 The apologists for division are disappearing 
 from religious literature and the advocates of 
 unity are taking their place. Any vision of 
 unity that leaves out the truth and power that 
 have made the progress of Protestantism what 
 it is, is a vision that leayes out God as the sole 
 source of all good and all truth. In the great 
 synthesis the truth and the whole truth of Prot- 
 estantism will be conserved and built into and 
 made a part of the reunited Family of God. 
 
 Roman Catholic Christianity based its right 
 to exist on organic union and communion with 
 Christ and His Apostles and on an exclusive 
 commission and therefore exclusive jurisdiction 
 from Christ. Under the constraining power of 
 this claim the Roman Church has developed a 
 worldwide and united communion, numbering 
 about 250,000,000. It has evolved a centralized 
 administration with its strength and weaknesses. 
 It is probably the most thoroughly developed
 
 152 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 and in certain ways the most powerful organiza- 
 tion in the world. It is strong where Protestant- 
 ism is weak; it is weakest where Protestantism 
 is strongest. Taking the world as it is, with its 
 classes and its masses, its membership is prob- 
 ably the most representative among the Churches 
 of Christendom. It has not only developed the 
 capacity but it actually ministers to every grade 
 of human society, human intelligence, language 
 and political form of government. In spite of 
 the tyrannical form of much of its rigid disci- 
 pline, the Church holcjs a greater variety of 
 people in kind and degree, with a greater 
 diversity in thought and action than any other 
 communion. Theoretically holding absolute 
 authority and power over its members and at 
 times using in practice what is held in theory, 
 it has shown its capacity to adjust itself to the 
 most adverse conditions, as is seen to-day in the 
 fact that while Nations are steadily resisting 
 and throwing off the power of Rome, there is a 
 great body within the Roman Church not only 
 preparing for but longing for the time when the 
 Church will be thrown wholly upon its spiritual 
 resources and become a representative and self- 
 governing system. Through all its changes and
 
 CONCLUSIONS 153 
 
 chances and dire mistakes it is the one Church 
 in Christendom that has maintained throughout 
 that Unity and Universality are essential notes 
 and absolute conditions of the Christian Church. 
 
 In 1905 when Pope Pius X had read the edi- 
 torials reprinted at the end of this volume, I 
 received with his gracious message of apprecia- 
 tion an intimation that his Holiness had sug- 
 gested that Rome would always be ready in the 
 interest of Unity to yield anything except 
 essential dogma. When it was intimated that 
 the crux of the whole question would be, What 
 is essential dogma? the Pope's reply showed 
 that it would depend upon the attitude of those 
 seeking unity. If the attitude was one of con- 
 troversy, of conflict, of war, then every defense, 
 every out-post intended to protect dogma must 
 be regarded as essential; but if the attitude was 
 one of friendliness, if the spirit of unity prevailed, 
 then the fundamental mysteries of the Faith 
 would be found to be simple and few. Could the 
 way to a better understanding be more simply 
 or more fundamentally stated? 
 
 The Holy Orthodox Eastern Churches base 
 their right to exist on their unimpaired Apostolic 
 Order and an unchanged and unchanging Creed,
 
 154 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 older and more catholic than the Creeds of 
 Western Christendom. Their capacity to hold 
 the loyal allegiance of their followers, even in 
 those countries where active discipleship is at 
 a minimum, is unique, while the Holy Orthodox 
 Russian Church's capacity to preserve its exist- 
 ence as the National Church with practically 
 the whole people of the Russias putting into 
 practice to the extent of their limited capacity 
 their membership in the National Church, is 
 probably without a parallel in history. The 
 latent power of the laity in Russia is incalculable 
 because of the universal participation of the 
 people in the work of the Church. But it is 
 something more than latent. There are leaders 
 who see in the recovery of the place of the laity 
 in the Church a way to a better understanding 
 and a closer co-operation with other churches. 
 Again an element that is full of promise is the 
 family character of worship, the almost childlike 
 participation as if the Church only gathered the 
 community as a family for the combined wor- 
 ship of God. Many of those things which are 
 regarded from the outside as most superstitious 
 are in fact the result of the use of necessary 
 symbols through which alone the ignorant may
 
 CONCLUSIONS 155 
 
 be reached, and yet without the loss of the 
 artistic element so necessary to suggestion in 
 worship. 
 
 Perhaps no Communion is less known in 
 the larger part of the world and in a way 
 more left out of account than the Russian 
 Church. Yet the Russian Church has accom- 
 plished one thing that has proved impossible 
 to every other. Islam is the staggering prob- 
 lem of the Churches. Practically nothing has 
 been done in a corporate way, and certainly no 
 great corporate effects have been produced upon 
 Islam. The Roman Church almost avoids it, 
 the Protestant Churches are so dazed by it and 
 yet so constrained to work at it that their pro- 
 gramme is practically one of tearing down in 
 order to build up. The work of the Dutch 
 missionaries in the Island of Java is the 
 encouraging exception. The Anglican Com- 
 munion does both. It avoids here and it at- 
 tempts destructive methods there. But I 
 have been informed by others as well as by 
 officials of the Russian Church that that Church 
 has developed a corporate mission policy, a 
 united mass movement that has proved a corpo- 
 rate success. It has developed a special litera-
 
 156 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 ture, a special type of missionary and a college 
 for special training that have resulted in the 
 conversion of thousands of Mohammedans who 
 have been assimilated as members of the Rus- 
 sian Church. This fact in itself gives to the 
 Russian Church a position of leadership in this 
 incalculably difficult problem. 
 
 Few outside of Russia and those immediately 
 associated with her know the enormous strides 
 she has been making in modern times and against 
 what enormous odds she has to contend. With 
 less than 25,000,000 able to read and write out 
 of a population of 162,000,000, there are admin- 
 istrative difficulties which are hard to imag- 
 ine and impossible to parallel save in some 
 provinces of the British Empire. The isolation 
 of Russia is not of her own seeking, but Euro- 
 pean Nations have denied her access to the 
 Mediterranean and must carry the responsibility 
 of this crime of the past as well as its continu- 
 ance in the present and for the future. Russia 
 desires a better understanding with the world 
 that can only come with more complete inter- 
 change of commerce and all that goes to make 
 civilization. There is a revival of missionary 
 responsibility and activity in the Russian
 
 CONCLUSIONS 157 
 
 Church and with it there is coming into the 
 literature and the heart of Russia a living 
 interest in unity. 
 
 I have been greatly impressed in my associa- 
 tion with Archbishop Platon, the Russian Arch- 
 bishop for North America, to note his frank 
 desire to understand our people and to be under- 
 stood by them. Nothing has struck me more 
 favourably than his courageous frankness. He 
 fully realizes and has said in his lectures in 
 Philadelphia and elsewhere that there are 
 differences which humanly speaking are insur- 
 mountable, but nevertheless he persists in the 
 conviction that they are not impossible with 
 God. I do not feel that I am free to keep 
 back the following extracts from a letter, dated 
 July 31, 1911, New York, which His Grace has 
 addressed to me. The whole letter would make 
 his statements even stronger, but some parts 
 omitted are too personal for publication. 
 
 "I was highly gratified," he writes, "by 
 reading all that you have written about my 
 native land and my native Holy Church. And 
 what pleases me most is that through your notes 
 the Americans will become acquainted with the 
 actual orthodox reality, in regard to which
 
 158 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 the American press publishes not infrequently 
 nonsensical statements, which horrify and make 
 one feel indignant. It is time, high time, for 
 us Americans and Russians to become closer 
 and more earnestly acquainted with each other. 
 Nothing but good will emanate from this ac- 
 quaintanceship. ... It is not without reason, 
 as you say, that the religiousness of the Russian 
 people and its orthodoxy have interested also 
 the English King, the head of many millions of 
 noble people, who sends this coming Fall to us, 
 in Russia, a large deputation of his representa- 
 tives, with, they say, the Archbishop of York 
 at the head. Glory and thanks to our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ, Who, it seems, in our days 
 of egotism and destruction, commences to lead 
 Christian peoples towards mutual understand- 
 ing, harmony, friendship, charity and union in 
 faith in Him. You are one of the most energetic 
 pioneers in this cause. You are endeavouring to 
 present our Church in the eyes of the whole 
 world in its mighty force and vitality. ... I 
 will say that by this way of action you in the 
 most tangible way solve the question which was 
 offered to me at the meeting in Philadelphia as 
 the topic for my second lecture; you correctly
 
 CONCLUSIONS 159 
 
 point out that position which may be occupied 
 by laymen in the destinies of the Church of 
 God." 
 
 The Churches comprising what is called the 
 Anglican Communion base their right to exist on 
 the historic continuity of Apostolic Order. They 
 have endeavoured to avoid the centralizing ten- 
 dencies of Rome and the disintegrating processes 
 of Protestantism. In this policy of avoidance 
 they have almost of necessity developed an 
 aristocratic constituency whose membership 
 exercises an influence out of all proportion to 
 its numbers. They have escaped the extrava- 
 gances of both extremes only to realize that 
 they have lost touch with the vast masses of 
 humanity whose need is as vast as their 
 helplessness, and whose claims are justified in 
 common with all humanity in Christ and His 
 salvation. But if in the past this eclectic 
 policy has tended to exclusion in two directions, 
 the present generation has seen a transformation 
 taking place which has enabled the Anglican 
 Communion to arrest the attention of the world 
 by its proclamations in behalf of unity. These 
 proclamations have at last aroused Anglicans 
 themselves to realize that a policy of exclusion
 
 160 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 is a policy of failure, but that they possess a 
 point of vantage in opportunities, which, if 
 seized as a reconciling instead of merely a self- 
 preserving mission, will enable them to make a 
 unique contribution to the Unity of Christen- 
 dom. As a matter of fact the Churches of the 
 Anglican Communion have already begun to 
 make this contribution. They are creating an 
 atmosphere of hospitality to truth in all direc- 
 tions. In proportion to their numbers, about 
 30,000,000 of Anglicans are reported, they are 
 doing an immense missionary work in quality 
 especially, and, in great measure, in quantity. 
 There is a positive, constructive, corporate 
 character to the work of the Churches of the 
 Anglican Communion at home and in the Mis- 
 sion Field that is an incalculable asset, but which 
 will not fully express itself or be realized in these 
 churches themselves and by others until the 
 negative and defensive character of Christianity 
 is relegated to its proper sphere in all parts of 
 Christendom. It is not too much to claim that 
 the genius and character of the Anglican Com- 
 munion commands respect and confidence and, 
 when allowed to do so, wins affection from both 
 extremes. What an inspiring opportunity such
 
 CONCLUSIONS 161 
 
 a Communion has and what a mission it is called 
 to perform! 
 
 These general statements are necessarily 
 inadequate. They really understate the posi- 
 tive virtues of the different but component parts 
 of the Christian Church. In spite of my in- 
 sistence that I have not ignored negatives, but 
 only left them in the background, there will be, 
 of necessity, those in all communions who will 
 insist that the negatives are so great as to practi- 
 cally obscure, if not obliterate, the virtue of the 
 positives, and that to admit even the value of 
 the positives in certain Communions is to give 
 countenance to the negatives. To all such, of 
 course, any adjustment would naturally be dis- 
 tasteful, if not undesirable. But even this class 
 is diminishing both in numbers and in the rigidity 
 of its judgments. Even they are coming to 
 realize that the continuance of a divisive 
 policy means a denial of the Gospel to the 
 thousand millions who have not yet even heard 
 it. The tendency of the day is, I must believe, 
 to count as of more value than all human dis- 
 agreements our common dependence on Christ. 
 The insistence on the disagreements as neces- 
 sarily involving contradictions will never lead
 
 162 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 us out of the darkness of division, while common 
 dependence on Christ will save all differences 
 that have virtue in them as a part of the Glory 
 and Beauty of the one Family of God. Amidst 
 all the damage and disaster of a divided house- 
 hold one thing has been demonstrated past all 
 discussion, and that is, that any truth, any part 
 of the truth as it is in Christ, has to its extent 
 within it power to save, and has in it life that 
 is indestructible. 
 
 The world is not disturbed by differences but 
 it is confused and confounded by a divided 
 church. Unity will never come through mini- 
 mizing the faith, circumscribing the tastes or 
 curtailing the liberty of men. Christian comity 
 and co-operation, common confidence and com- 
 mon courtesy in readiness with Christ to rec- 
 ognize a cup of cold water given in His name, 
 is the spirit that must prevail and be cherished 
 as the heart and the life of Christianity, as the 
 common practice of the Christian churches, 
 long before any real unity will be wrought out 
 of the disastrous divisions of Christendom. 
 
 The Edinburgh Conference is an object lesson 
 of the principle I have been trying to enforce. 
 There assembled at Edinburgh in 1910 Protes-
 
 CONCLUSIONS 163 
 
 tants of almost every type from all parts of the 
 world, and with them, members of the Anglican 
 Communion from the Churches of England, 
 Scotland, Ireland, Canada and the great sister 
 Church in America. They assembled in order 
 to study together how better to extend the 
 knowledge of Christ throughout the world. 
 Primarily a missionary conference was called, 
 but the Conference ended in a practical demand 
 for a united Christendom. 
 
 I know full well, for I have suffered in acquir- 
 ing the knowledge, that this Conference built 
 wiser than it knew. From the day its Inter- 
 national Committee decided to call it a "World 
 Conference" there was an almost irresistible 
 effort, much of it unconscious, to limit it to a 
 Protestant Conference. The Conference itself 
 however at Edinburgh won the victory over 
 itself, and even received warmly and generously 
 a great message from the Roman Catholic Bishop 
 of Cremona in Italy, and with generous endurance 
 listened to very plain talk from High Church 
 Anglicans. The letter from the Roman Bishop 
 would not have been sent, and the High Church 
 Anglicans would not have been there, nor would 
 the Protestants have endured either, until now
 
 164 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 in this present period, when Churches are so 
 plainly seeing the mind of Christ and are trying 
 to obey the will of God. 
 
 In the two meetings of the Continuation Com- 
 mittee of the Edinburgh Conference similar 
 pressure was brought to bear to qualify the 
 universality of the policy of the Conference, but 
 at each meeting its Catholic character has been 
 preserved. That character is still in danger, 
 as real character is always in danger, but its 
 victory is, I believe, sure because the mind of 
 Christendom is becoming more like the mind of 
 Him who is "the Desire of all Nations," and 
 the determination is growing to give Him to 
 the Nations, as the King in his Kingdom, and 
 not merely as an isolated individual Personal 
 Force. 
 
 What I have said in these pages I endeavoured 
 to say with even greater frankness to the repre- 
 sentatives of the various communions that it 
 has been my privilege to meet and to know, and 
 everywhere the growing conviction is expressed 
 that life must correct thought, and that liberty 
 like authority is of God. The words of the 
 Bishop of Cremona find a welcome in every com- 
 munion in Christendom: "Authority that does
 
 CONCLUSIONS 165 
 
 not issue in liberty is tyranny, and liberty that 
 is not supported by authority is license." 
 
 My conclusion is, that the Churches of Chris- 
 tendom must deal the one with the other and with 
 mankind as Christ has dealt with them and with 
 humanity. He has not shut us out of His love 
 because of our negatives nor yet because of 
 our positive sins. His mercy and His love are 
 beyond our ken, and He saves us by His love 
 for us, and His faith in us. There are those 
 in every communion who feel this, and who 
 desire that their churches shall work upon this 
 principle and along these lines of faith and love. 
 In spite of everything we must believe, and act 
 upon the belief, that as Christ is One His Church 
 is one. The great revolution that is taking 
 place is not only making clearer the Deity of 
 Christ and intensifying allegiance to His Person, 
 but it is revealing the fact and the reality of the 
 Incarnation, and the absolute necessity for the 
 Church of the Incarnation as a visible witness 
 of the invisible God.
 
 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS
 
 THE FAMILY OF GOD 
 
 Address at World's Student Christian Federation, 
 Constantinople, April 26, 1911. 
 
 JL HE supreme fact of life that for which 
 and to which all things were created and move 
 
 is the Family of God. In this Family the 
 first cause, the final cause, the enabling cause 
 is the Christ of God, perfect God and perfect 
 man. To fulfil all the relations of the Family 
 of God is Eternal Life. To isolate oneself 
 deliberately and permanently from the Family 
 is death. I am not concerned to discuss these 
 alternatives further than to say that the choice 
 between them is the condition of character 
 of "Righteousness" that bond of perfectness 
 which is the character of the Family of God. 
 Righteousness cannot be contained in an indi- 
 vidual or in an isolated part of the Family. 
 It is a whole-family virtue. Our Lord stated 
 this principle perfectly for Himself: "For their 
 sakes I sanctify myself." God's words are things ; 
 they are what they represent. Our Lord not 
 only did not, but the more profound truth is 
 
 that He could not have perfected Himself if He 
 169
 
 170 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 had sought to do it for His own sake. Just here 
 is to be found Christ's revelation. He was ever 
 and always trying to make plain the Father's 
 love; and His earthly work culminated in His 
 prayer that His disciples might be one as He 
 and the Father were one and thus prove to the 
 world that the Father had sent Him. 
 
 The Family of God is the only adequate 
 explanation of God as it is the only satisfying 
 answer to the infinite needs of man. Can we 
 wonder that Christians have groped and stum- 
 bled and yet struggled on through the centuries 
 in the effort to present Christ in His fullness to 
 mankind ? 
 
 Saint John represented to our Lord that he 
 and the disciple had forbidden one who was 
 working in His name and yet the whole purpose 
 of Christ was to draw all men to Himself. He 
 came to reveal a divine family, to impart a 
 divine life, to fulfil all righteousness in the 
 Family of God. His own disciples following 
 Him daily could not understand the scope of 
 His love. The universality of His claims St. 
 Paul understood better later when in amaze- 
 ment at divisions amongst the disciples he ex- 
 claimed, "Is Christ divided?" The Apostle
 
 THE FAMILY OF GOD 171 
 
 saw then what Christians are coming to see now, 
 that a divided Christianity witnesses to a divided 
 Christ. But let us be fair to the ages that are 
 gone and to all sections of Christendom that 
 have by their struggling for what they believe 
 to be true contributed to our better understand- 
 ing. Let us use with our might with absolute 
 loyalty to the person of Christ the little that we 
 now see of the glory and fullness and power of 
 His revelation of the Family of God. Let us 
 claim all that is ours, in natural membership 
 because of our creation by the Father, because 
 of rebirth through re-creation in the Incarnation 
 of the Son of God, because of our free recognition 
 and acceptance of our full inheritance. 
 
 There is no apologetic for a divided Chris- 
 tianity. A divided Family of God is unthinkable. 
 It is a manifestation of God's infinite love and 
 mercy that His Family like Himself is indivisi- 
 ble. We have separated from each other and 
 in that separation are bearing false witness 
 against the unity of Christ and the unity of His 
 Body. It was surely because in the honest effort 
 to preserve and to preach the whole Gospel as 
 each saw it that Christian Communions lost 
 their perspective and were able to justify to
 
 1 72 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 themselves separate organizations on the ground 
 that these were necessary in order to preserve 
 their conception of the Gospel. But Christ 
 and the Family of God are infinitely greater 
 than any or all human conceptions of them. 
 Therefore unity can never come through human 
 agreement as to definitions of Him and His 
 Body. Unity must come through loyalty to 
 His Person in His Body. 
 
 Are not Christians learning this? Else why 
 or how has this extraordinary Conference 
 been assembled from more than thirty nations 
 and from so many types of religion? Are we 
 not learning that our conceptions are not essen- 
 tials of the Gospel? Are we not coming to see 
 that precious and helpful as our traditions, our 
 preferences and our ideals are to us, and right- 
 fully ours for ourselves, we cannot impose what 
 is only ours upon others or deprive others of 
 what is only theirs? And are we not coming 
 slowly but steadily and surely to see that the 
 Gospel is in deed and in fact the good news of 
 our inclusion with all mankind in the love of 
 the Father in His Family and that we are called 
 to love and to serve the whole Family as He 
 loves and serves it? Everything is from God.
 
 THE FAMILY OF GOD 173 
 
 He first loved us. He gave us our place in 
 the Family. He gave us His Son who is suffi- 
 cient for all things. He sent His Holy Spirit to 
 perfect us. 
 
 What is our part and what shall this body of 
 students do in order to make known to every 
 man his place and part in the Family of God? 
 Surely the world idea was never so great, the 
 whole world was never so tangible, the inter- 
 national ideal never so real and so realized as 
 now. Let us make no mistake. All good gifts 
 are of God. He is the source of all good. He 
 does not wait on organized Christianity for His 
 saving work in humanity. But He does require 
 that spiritual things shall be spiritually dis- 
 cerned and He knows that the witness of His 
 Family united, loving, and expressing its love 
 in service, is necessary to the conversion of the 
 world. We must seize the opportunity, and we 
 can only seize it adequately, by realizing and 
 acting upon the realization that all who name 
 the name of Christ are, in spite of their own 
 sinful divisions, included in Christ. On this 
 principle we must pray and serve and sacrifice 
 until the Supreme Fact of Life becomes the 
 supreme motive not merely in our own lives
 
 174 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 but in the corporate life of our Communions. 
 We are to seek the conservation of variety as a 
 condition of living unity. Uniformity is the 
 enemy of unity. It would stifle liberty and 
 destroy initiative. A uniform Church would 
 be a dead Church. It would not have the breath 
 of life in it. Variety, liberty, initiative, au- 
 thority are not the enemies of unity, nor are 
 they antagonistic in themselves they are the 
 conditions of unity. "Authority that does not 
 issue in liberty is tyranny. Liberty that is not 
 supported by authority is license." 
 
 The simplest principle on which to begin to 
 practise the spirit of unity is this search out 
 the virtues in other Communions and emulate 
 them, and dig up the hidden sins in your own 
 and repent of them. My limited experience 
 leads me to say that I have found no body of 
 Christians as full of error and as bad as others 
 have described them as being. Equally I 
 would say that all Communions have more sins 
 than they have found out and confessed. 
 
 The unity of the Spirit, the Scriptures so 
 state it, must precede the bond of peace and 
 the bond of peace is the condition of righteous- 
 ness of life. The unity of the people of God
 
 THE FAMILY OF GOD 175 
 
 in His Christ, and in Christ's Body, is something 
 more than a good and right thing, more than a 
 source of multiplied and multiplying power. 
 It is all this and something infinitely more. It 
 is the condition of righteousness which is salva- 
 tion the complete fulfilling of all relations 
 in the Family of God.
 
 CO-OPERATION AND UNITY 
 
 Address at World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh, 
 June 21, 1910, when Mr. McBee read the now famous letter 
 from the Bishop of Cremona to the Conference. 
 
 JL HERE is one characteristic of the Report 
 of the Commission that I desire to emphasize. 
 The Report I think reflects the mind of the 
 International Committee that formed the basis 
 for this Conference as well as the mind of the 
 Conference now that it has assembled in this 
 respect the Report is positive, constructive, 
 synthetic. It has embraced in its purview in- 
 formation, or it has reported that it has not 
 secured information, from practically all the 
 fields of the world. The conclusions have not 
 been analytical. They have not placed partial 
 truths in opposition. They have avoided that 
 law of exclusion which is so far foreign to the 
 family of God that it has forced much of the 
 division of Christianity from which we are now 
 suffering. Inclusion and not exclusion seems 
 to have been in the minds of every one who 
 176
 
 CO-OPERATION AND UNITY 177 
 
 contributed to the Report. And the Report is 
 remarkable in another respect. While the other 
 Commissions have had information from all 
 parts of the world, and while it has been more 
 or less true that the Commissions have over- 
 lapped and got information one from the other, 
 this Commission has possibly had more contri- 
 butions and more matter turned over to it from 
 the other seven Commissions than has been 
 turned over to any other Commission, so that 
 one may speak of it as the joint contribution 
 of the eight Commissions. I believe, if the lines 
 of the Report are followed, if inclusion prevails 
 and negatives are kept in the background, and 
 we hold to positive truth wherever we find it, 
 a new day will dawn, not only for the mem- 
 bers of this Conference and the Churches that 
 they represent, but it wilt influence the whole 
 Christian world, and in doing so, influence the 
 whole world. For, after all, I think we must 
 remember that there are some things wholly 
 beyond our power to deal with, and I think we 
 may learn something of a new language in the 
 foreign field and at home in remembering that 
 all the children of men were created by the one 
 God and Father of us all, and made in His
 
 178 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 image, and that He loved that World so that 
 He gave His Son, who in His incarnation has 
 included in that mystical and infinite act the 
 whole of humanity. So that we do not go in a 
 real sense to heathen, we do not go to aliens 
 from God's standpoint or that of our Lord, but 
 we go as Bishop Brooks once said in one of his 
 eloquent appeals to a meeting of young men, 
 we go to find God's people. We go to feel after 
 every race, to feel after them if haply we may 
 find them. Once more our Lord's Incarnation, 
 His satisfaction and suffering for the whole sins 
 of the whole of humanity, the power of His 
 resurrection, His "ascension and His sitting at 
 the right hand of Almighty God is for the whole 
 of humanity, and when He sent out His Church 
 He did not send His disciples merely to proclaim 
 Him but to baptize into the name of the Father 
 and the Son and the Holy Ghost. We can 
 never get rid of that sacramental element in the 
 Commission, which would be powerless as a 
 mere proclamation. It binds us together in 
 that one Body of the one Christ which, let us 
 understand again, was not made by us, is not 
 dependent on what we think, or do, or feel, but 
 was made by Christ. It is His body, not our
 
 CO-OPERATION AND UNITY 179 
 
 Church; it is His Kingdom, not our denomina- 
 tion. The most blessed truth that this assembly 
 feels, and has felt at every mention of it, is that 
 though separated from each other, we have not 
 been able to separate ourselves from Christ. 
 We have been many centuries in getting 
 apart. It has not been an easy thing to escape 
 the prayer of our Lord. It has been through 
 much suffering, and great heroes and martyrs 
 mark the line of division. All honour to those 
 who stood for their convictions because con- 
 victions are the standard of action, and a man 
 darkens the way and saps the foundation of 
 character, of man or of Church, if he tampers 
 with its convictions. But we have need to 
 learn that our convictions are not the standard 
 of truth, and that our convictions are open to 
 the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit. 
 The Holy Spirit has been irresistible and we 
 have been powerless to escape His blessing in 
 disguise. Let us be sure that we do not erect 
 our conviction into the infallibility either of 
 the Pope in Rome or of the Pope in the 
 individual's own bosom and thus make our 
 convictions a cause of division. Let us not 
 insist on uniformity which has been so justly
 
 i8o AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 condemned here, but aim rather at that unity 
 which characterises God's action everywhere. 
 There is not a truth for which suffering has been 
 endured, there is not a small item of the truth 
 that is held by the smallest body of the Christians 
 in the world that is not present in, and constitutes 
 a part of, that which is called Catholic, and it 
 must be held as part, and no effort for unity 
 must be too ready to run over it or in any way 
 impair it. We must not get ahead of our own 
 convictions, but be true to them to the end. 
 We have attained a large measure of the unity 
 of the Spirit. Its witness here has been amaz- 
 ing. It is manifesting itself throughout the 
 world and throughout the denominations of 
 Christian people. We must not only have 
 that unity of the Spirit, but we must act in that 
 Spirit if we would make the next step into the 
 bond of peace. 
 
 I have taken rather seriously my responsibility 
 as a member of this Commission. I have not 
 been satisfied with written enquiries; I have 
 visited every body of Christians that it has been 
 within my power to reach. I have had a corre- 
 spondence so extended that it would be of the 
 richest value if there were time to discuss and
 
 CO-OPERATION AND UNITY 181 
 
 to read some of it. I have chosen one letter 
 which was especially written to be read at this 
 Conference, and let me say here, it is no new 
 utterance for a man who is nearly eighty years 
 old; it is no new experience for him. I have 
 been familiar with his writings for years, and 
 I regard him as one of the great evangelical 
 preachers of the world. I regard him as one 
 of the great bishops of the world, a beautiful 
 character, and in conferring with him in his 
 own palace in Cremona within the last two months 
 I found he was so much in agreement with the 
 feeling of this Conference that I got him to 
 write a letter specially to be read at this Con- 
 ference.
 
 RELATIONS BETWEEN CHURCHES 
 
 Address at Pan- Anglican Congress, London, June 22, 
 1908. 
 
 JL HE titles and publications of Section F 
 assume the existence of an Anglican Communion 
 as an organic whole. It is discussed in itself, 
 in relation to others, in relation to its parts. The 
 phrase describes certain Churches that are in 
 communion. But duly appointed representa- 
 tives of these various independent Churches 
 have never met even to discuss and formulate 
 an organization, much less have the existing 
 Churches been organized by mutual consent. 
 There has been no sovereign power to limit or 
 to bind, in principle or in fact, the parts. The 
 papers of this section, assuming that there is a 
 whole, look in the main downward to parts. A 
 section of Christianity is thus assumed to be a 
 whole and is treated as having authority to 
 act in that capacity toward others. 
 
 I wish to present another point of view. I 
 
 desire to think of Anglican and American 
 182
 
 RELATIONS BETWEEN CHURCHES 183 
 
 Churches as themselves, parts of the Church 
 Catholic, accountable to that whole as the only 
 whole in Christ; I desire to think of Anglican- 
 ism attempting to constitute itself a whole 
 exactly as we think of Romanism attempting 
 to do the same thing; I desire to think of Angli- 
 canism attempting to justify its isolation by 
 protests against the errors of Romanism exactly 
 as we think of Protestantism's effort to justify 
 its isolation by protests against the errors of 
 Anglicanism; I desire to think of the exclusive 
 assumption of Anglicanism to preside over God's 
 heritage exactly as we think of Rome's exclusive 
 claim of authority and jurisdiction. I believe 
 we must think of the one Body of Christ as His, 
 of every one baptized into His name as His, of 
 every attempt to divide His one Body as sin. 
 I believe Roman, Protestant, Anglican, or any 
 other isolated human system is in a state of 
 sin, to be repented of only by minimizing human 
 differences and magnifying oneness in Christ. 
 Any attempted organization of the Anglican 
 Communion would mean limiting the horizon 
 rather than extending it, would tend to sec- 
 tarianize and not to catholicize the Church. 
 Many writers are examples of this trend. They
 
 184 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 wish to use at once whatever central power 
 might be created to limit the liberty of inde- 
 pendent Churches as already exercised. They 
 wish to take advantage of the existence of such 
 a central body to secure narrower definitions 
 of dogma and discipline. What all Churches 
 need is to look out of themselves and away 
 from themselves to a catholicity embracing all 
 whom Christ has included by baptism and 
 seeking all whom He has included in His 
 sacrifice. England and America have had a 
 large and honourable part in creating a new 
 ideal of representative authority for the world. 
 The highest expression yet to be found for that 
 ideal is the Hague Court. The two English- 
 speaking powers were able to render this service 
 because they had worked out in themselves 
 and with each other friendly relations based 
 upon the responsibility of each as an indepen- 
 dent nation, and upon the responsibility of all 
 nations in common for the progress and moral 
 health of the world. Such service would have 
 been impossible if the two English-speaking 
 peoples had formed an "Anglican compact." 
 Their horizon as peoples would have been 
 contracted; their purpose would have been
 
 RELATIONS BETWEEN CHURCHES 185 
 
 self-centred, if not selfish; and the great world 
 problem of racial differences would have been 
 intensified. Who would check the progress 
 toward righteousness and peace by obstructing 
 this co-operation of the independent nations of 
 the world? What is true of our nations is 
 true of our Churches. Their value to the world 
 depends upon their independence as Churches 
 and the friendships they are able to form. 
 Their value to their respective nations depends 
 upon their capacity to unite the Christian 
 peoples of those nations. The English and 
 American Churches, as we call them, are not 
 co-extensive with English-speaking Christianity; 
 they represent only sections of it. They have 
 shown little capacity to produce union among 
 English-speaking Christians. Where they are 
 most strongly entrenched the lines of difference 
 are most sharply marked. The formation, 
 therefore, of an Anglican Communion would 
 be a notice to national Churches that English 
 and American churchmen had combined to 
 propagate their differentia; and it would be 
 a very distinct notice to Christians at home 
 that the combination was made to force 
 the battle for Anglicanism. Taken at its
 
 186 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 worst, such a combination would mean more 
 narrowness, more bitterness, more strife. Taken 
 at its best, it would mean either an effort to 
 maintain Anglican Christianity as a via media, 
 or to represent it as a model catholicity as against 
 Romanism on one side and Protestantism on the 
 other. The via media, if not the worst form of 
 sectarianism, is certainly one of the most ob- 
 noxious in its fruits. It walls off the extremes 
 from each other and itself from both. It lacks 
 the courage of conviction and the boldness of 
 initiative of either extreme and combines the 
 exclusiveness of each. As to the other alter- 
 native of a model catholicity, Anglican can no 
 more be universal than Roman. To organize 
 Anglicanism would be to imitate the mistake 
 of Romanism on a smaller scale. All national 
 and religious types must be brought to a Hague 
 Court. They will not come. So said wise and 
 unwise men of the nations. But England and 
 America believed differently. By showing to 
 the world the possibility of close friendship 
 between independent unallied nations, they have 
 helped the world to believe differently. 
 
 As independent and yet in close friendship, 
 the English and American Churches have the
 
 RELATIONS BETWEEN CHURCHES 187 
 
 same opportunities for influencing Christen- 
 dom that our nations had for influencing the 
 world. The question is, Do churchmen believe 
 in the Universal Church, or only in an Anglican 
 form of it? The Lambeth Conference has con- 
 tributed to inter-Church understanding and 
 friendship. And this Congress, because it 
 represents the whole Church and not merely 
 one order, will contribute still more to friendship 
 and interdependence . B ut the American Church 
 cannot take part in organizing an Anglican 
 Communion. It cannot combine with a State 
 Church because it believes self-government to 
 be an essential principle of the Universal Church. 
 It cannot combine with a Church in whose 
 administration the laity are not represented, 
 because it believes that the whole body of the 
 Church is essential to its healthy life. It can- 
 not combine with a Church in which non-elective 
 ecclesiastical precedence prevails without com- 
 promising its conviction that representative 
 authority and government are conditions of 
 universality. These, however, are incidental 
 and temporary objections which conceivably 
 will be removed in time. The fundamental 
 objection is the necessity for preserving the
 
 i88 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 individuality of national Churches in order to 
 organize Christendom as the Catholic Church. 
 Isolated and unrelated Churches, like isolated 
 and unrelated men, are in an un-Christian 
 attitude. Take away from the creeds of 
 Christendom the assertion of oneness, and 
 you take away Christianity from them. Holi- 
 ness, Catholicity, Apostolicity, cannot exist 
 without oneness. They result from oneness. 
 They are not the cause of it. 
 
 The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral failed 
 just because it did not recognize this fact. 
 It set forth the results of unity as the con- 
 ditions of unity. It separated essential facts 
 and principles from the life that produced 
 them. The four essentials of that declaration 
 grew historically out of the oneness of Christ's 
 Body. It is inconceivable that they could have 
 produced it. It is a ruinous error to confuse 
 the possessions and instruments of the Church 
 with the Church itself as the Living Body of 
 Christ. The historic Churches hold the Quadri- 
 lateral, yet it is these Churches that are most 
 fundamentally separated. They have forced 
 practically all the divisions of Christendom by 
 forcing the alternative between Christian liberty
 
 RELATIONS BETWEEN CHURCHES 189 
 
 and un-Christian authority. The idea of mo- 
 narchical rule is taken over from human dynas- 
 ties. It is not inherent in the Church, but is 
 antagonistic to it. The kingdom of Christ is a 
 universal democracy. Its King is among His 
 people as One who serves. The exercise of 
 autocratic authority destroyed unity. The re- 
 covery of representative authority can alone 
 restore it. In the great crises of the Church 
 from which divisions arose, it was not the whole 
 voice of the Church but the proclamations of 
 official Christianity which erected barriers be- 
 tween those whom Christ declared to be brethren. 
 Those barriers will only fall away when the whole 
 voice of the Church is heard again.
 
 TEE PRIESTHOOD OF THE LAITY 
 
 Address at Pan- Anglican Congress, London, June 17, 
 1008. 
 
 I 
 
 T was said long ago that political economy 
 differed from Christian economy, in that in 
 political economy the demand creates the supply, 
 while in Christian economy the supply creates 
 the demand. God first loves us and creates in 
 us out of our great need a demand for Himself. 
 The mission of His Church is to follow His mind 
 and method and to create a demand in mankind 
 for Christ. From what we have heard already 
 in this Congress, and from what we hear from 
 all parts of Christendom, the demand for minis- 
 tration is greater than the supply. This con- 
 dition is unnatural; it is something more than 
 a mere economic calamity and more than a 
 temporary breakdown of the machinery; it is, 
 I believe, the natural fruit of a long-continued 
 policy that is not in accord with and cannot be 
 reconciled with the divine constitution of the 
 Church. Speaking generally, organized Chris- 
 tianity is not keeping pace with the growing 
 faith of mankind in Christ. It is not holding 
 190
 
 THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE LAITY 191 
 
 believers together in the spirit of unity, in the 
 bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. 
 Why? Undoubtedly, the answer would seem 
 to be the divisions in Christendom, which in 
 themselves contradict the gospel they preach 
 of one Christ and one Body of Christ. But 
 these divisions result from another cause, and 
 that cause is involved in the subject of our dis- 
 cussion to-day. How it has come about I shall 
 not stop to discuss; but throughout Christen- 
 dom, and especially throughout the historic 
 Churches, a professionalized ministry has been 
 substituted for Apostolic Order, and an official- 
 ized religion has been substituted for the family 
 religion of our Lord and His Apostles. 
 
 The restoration of the family ideal and family 
 life of the Church will alone enable the Church 
 to keep the supply in advance of the demand, 
 demonstrating that like God the Church loves 
 man first and would have him in her one fold. 
 The restoration of the family life is the only 
 promise of the reunion of the Family of God. 
 I know of no priesthood of the laity apart 
 from the ministerial priesthood; but, equally, I 
 know of no ministerial priesthood apart from the 
 priesthood of the laity. One speaker in this
 
 192 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 section has already quoted Canon Liddon's 
 statement that the priesthood of the clergy and 
 laity are not different in kind but only in degree. 
 There is but one priesthood in Christ how can 
 there be more in His Body? We are bora by 
 baptism into His Body and share His Priesthood. 
 Hostile critic and faithful Christian are alike 
 agreed as to the place of baptism in the his- 
 tory of Christianity. The creation of the uni- 
 versal priesthood is the act of Christ. The 
 development of the ministry is the act of the 
 Church, as we see in the creation of the order 
 of deacons. Baptism is God's act. The words 
 of the Church, "This child is regenerate," is 
 a simple statement of actual fact. That the 
 fact may be converted into the life of Christ, 
 He Himself instituted the other Sacrament of 
 life in brotherhood. Here, as in baptism, God's 
 power is absolute. He is present as the author 
 and finisher; we feed on Him. Let us not stop 
 to discuss how; let us not stop in symbolism. 
 Let us accept absolutely that He alone is our 
 life. He is present, we feed on Him; He it is 
 into Whom we have been incorporated that we 
 may fulfil our priesthood representing God to 
 man and man to God. The universal priest-
 
 THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE LAITY 193 
 
 hood, including ministry and laity, one and 
 indivisible, is created to fulfil the universal 
 mission of the Lord and Saviour of mankind. 
 Upon this foundation all else is built. The 
 ministerial or representative priesthood in all 
 its fullness and richness is not the whole but 
 only a part of Apostolic Order. The Body of 
 Christ is a united family; the mission and the 
 end are the same; it is a religion of unity. The 
 compartment idea of religion does not enter 
 into it. 
 
 When this social aspect of Christianity was 
 sacrificed for professionalized and officialized 
 Christianity, the first seeds of division were 
 sown. The voice of the laity, said Bishop West- 
 cott, with rare exception, has been silent in the 
 historic Churches for many centuries. What 
 the effect of this silence has been is strikingly 
 shown in Archbishop Benson's "Cyprian." 
 Cyprian began his episcopate with a resolution 
 to do nothing without the presbytery, the 
 deacons, and the laity; but he departed from 
 this apostolic principle and "his later Baptismal 
 Councils failed doctrinally," the archbishop tells 
 us, because they were composed exclusively of 
 bishops. Archbishop Benson was not one calcu-
 
 i 9 4 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 lated to sacrifice or yield one iota of the aposto- 
 late. The archbishop describes those Councils 
 as composed of men of rare piety, intelligence, and 
 knowledge of the world. He says they were not 
 acting under State pressure or trying a teacher, 
 or judging a leader, but were looking for princi- 
 ples. Seldom could selfish elements be so nearly 
 eliminated. "Such," he said, "was that House 
 of Bishops. The result it reached was unchari- 
 table, antiscriptural, uncatholic, and it was 
 unanimous." The cause he finds in these simple 
 words "the laity were silent." "The mis- 
 chief of these Councils," Archbishop Benson 
 says, "was healed by the simple working of the 
 Christian society. Life corrected the error of 
 thought." 
 
 Archbishop Benson and Bishop Westcott alike 
 appeal for the restoration of Apostolic Order, the 
 recovery of the place of the laity in the Church. 
 They speak as having authority, but they do 
 not speak more frankly or more nobly than the 
 Roman Catholic Bishop of Cremona in his 
 pastoral to his diocese two years ago. Speaking 
 in behalf of the separation of Church and State 
 in France, this Italian bishop challenged the 
 attention of the world by maintaining that the
 
 THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE LAITY 195 
 
 Church needed to be thrown absolutely upon its 
 spiritual responsibility and freedom of action 
 which had been committed to it by Christ Him- 
 self. He said, in effect, that we Christians hold 
 to tradition and authority, and we hold to it 
 too much. The people of the world are coming 
 to believe in and to claim liberty, and they will 
 have it, and ought to have it. The Church 
 must learn that authority and liberty are alike 
 of God. He realized that authority which does 
 not issue in liberty is tyranny, and that liberty 
 which is not controlled by authority is license. 
 The latent power of the vast body of Chris- 
 tians throughout the world is incalculable, indeed 
 it is unimaginable. How shall it be aroused? 
 There are men in our communion alone who are 
 shaping the destinies of nations, who direct the 
 industries, and in a measure control the lives of 
 untold thousands, and yet nowhere on our 
 continent or yours do these men exercise an 
 influence for Christianity in the smallest degree 
 comparable with that which they exercise in the 
 world. As our Christianity is constituted to- 
 day, if such men were to offer themselves and 
 their genius to the Church, what could be done 
 with them? Turning to the vast mass of
 
 196 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 humanity, whom we have left practically un- 
 touched by our officialized Christianity, what 
 use should we be able to make of their lives of 
 incomparable sacrifice and faithfulness, if they 
 should offer themselves in large numbers for 
 service in their Lord's family? The time is past 
 to speak to the layman in economic language. 
 He is a priest; he partakes of the priesthood of 
 Christ, and his manhood, his talents, and his 
 genius must be called out, and these will never 
 be called out without giving him the work and 
 the responsibility of a priest. Charles James 
 Wills, while working in the slums of New York, 
 asked a little boy, " Is your father a Christian? " 
 The boy replied, "Yes, Mr. Wills, but he does 
 not work at it much." The world is saying 
 that of the Churches. We are not working at 
 our religion. Certainly we are not working 
 with that initiative, boldness and power that 
 characterize the work of men in great corporate 
 life, whether in finance or other enterprize, 
 or in international co-operation. Nations are 
 regarded as selfish and unworthy if they isolate 
 themselves to-day. It is admitted that the 
 Church has a message of a world religion, of a 
 world family, of a universal home, and it is
 
 THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE LAITY 197 
 
 time that we put ourselves to work, realize our 
 priesthood, and in doing so prove the divine 
 character of the ministerial priesthood. We 
 will thus justify the priesthood of the ministry 
 we have received from the apostles, and which 
 we profess so loudly but deny so effectually in 
 life.
 
 ADJUSTING THE CHURCH 
 
 Address before Churchmen's Association of New York, 
 October 4, 1909, on the subject of Adjusting the Church to a 
 World of Thought and Life Different from that in which it 
 first Appeared. 
 
 HAT the question on the paper is really 
 intended to mean seems clear. Our discussion 
 of it, however, will be simplified by showing that 
 its apparent meaning is not its real or intended 
 meaning. Can man adjust the Church? He 
 is in fact the creature, not the creator of the 
 Church. The Church is not a machine which he 
 controls or adjusts, but an organism into which 
 he is born. The Church possesses man, not 
 man the Church. The Church is the divine- 
 human Body of Christ. 
 
 In His Incarnation Christ has included all 
 mankind, whether they will or no. In doing 
 so He precluded the possibility of man's adjust- 
 ing Hun or His Church to conditions past or 
 future. His Church includes in its mission the 
 
 whole of humanity for all time. It offers to 
 198
 
 ADJUSTING THE CHURCH 199 
 
 humanity its Sacraments of birth and life as the 
 divine means of realizing the fullness and the 
 wholeness of life in God. Our question then is 
 not the adjustment of the Church to present 
 conditions but rather the adjustment of our- 
 selves to the Church; or, truer still, the fuller 
 realization of our life in the Church; or, still 
 higher and truer, the fuller realization of the 
 Church as the community of saints, the com- 
 mon corporate life of Christians which Christ 
 instituted in and through the Sacraments. It 
 is this divine-human Church, to which we are 
 committed, revealed to us as the Body of Christ, 
 and not the sectarian conception of a Church as 
 an institution committed to man or made by 
 man, denned by man, adjusted by man and 
 controlled by man. 
 
 This latter creation is not the Church. It 
 is the caricature of the Church represented by 
 the many Churches of divided Christendom 
 not the one Body of the one Lord not the one 
 faith once for all delivered, which St. Jude de- 
 scribes as the living Christ, but many Churches 
 with many theologies (called faiths), divided 
 and contending for theories about Christ, His 
 Sacraments and His Church, but not standing
 
 200 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 in and for the Christ of history and for unity 
 with Him through the Sacraments of His ordain- 
 ing. Essentials cannot change. They are not 
 adjustable, because they are not mechanical; 
 they are living, universal in their application - 
 infinite in their reach. Because finite man is 
 born for an infinite existence, essentials are and 
 must be available and assimilable under an 
 infinite variety of means proportioned to his 
 infinite destiny. These means or accidents are 
 rightly used only in subordination to essentials. 
 Under no conditions are they ever rightly or 
 righteously used when they are put before or hi 
 the way of essentials. 
 
 We are in Christ by His own act. We are 
 included in Him through His Incarnation, 
 Atonement and Resurrection. Our salvation 
 is perfected, and perfectly complete from His 
 side. Because we believe in His divinity we 
 believe in the divine institution and character 
 of His Church. Relation with Him and with 
 mankind in His Church is the sole essential 
 Christianity. All else is means to the full 
 realization of membership in His Body. The 
 answer to our question is to be found just here. 
 The gift of the Sacraments the message of
 
 ADJUSTING THE CHURCH 201 
 
 the Gospel of Jesus Christ was committed to 
 His disciples, but the Church itself was not 
 committed to them. Our Lord charged His 
 disciples to do His work in His Church, as the 
 liturgy perfectly expresses it in the office for 
 the consecration of a bishop who is made a 
 "bishop in the Church of God," not a bishop 
 over the Church of God. I know of no more 
 complete answer to our question than is involved 
 in absolute obedience to the commissions of our 
 Lord to His disciples, Go ye into all the world 
 and preach the Gospel, baptizing in the name 
 of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 
 As my Father hath sent me into the world, 
 even so send I you into the world. 
 
 The means provided by Christ is birth by 
 Baptism into His Body and a common feeding 
 upon Him in the Sacrament of life. Obedience 
 through the common Sacraments of the common 
 Lord of our common humanity will recover the 
 corporate and social side of Christianity which 
 in Christ is essential Christianity. Union and 
 communion will find expression in the restora- 
 tion of the Sacraments to their true place in 
 worship. No liturgy is representative of essen- 
 tial Christianity which does not present as the
 
 202 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 central act of common corporate worship the 
 Eucharist, that does not dignify in the same 
 way, in liturgy and architecture, the great 
 sacrament of Baptism. 
 
 It is impossible that an elaborate form of 
 worship such as Morning and Evening Prayer 
 could ever be catholic in its appeal to "all sorts 
 and conditions of men." They do not under- 
 stand it. It is the flower of a local culture and 
 the fruit of a highly-developed taste. Such a 
 liturgy, which gives the sacraments of life a 
 secondary and incidental place, can never make 
 a universal appeal. Men however ignorant do 
 understand, and can be made to understand, 
 that they must be born and that they must be 
 fed if they would live. As the family meal is 
 the bond of union in all stages of human experi- 
 ence, even so the Lord's feast at the Lord's altar 
 is the common bond of all who accept or seek 
 after salvation in Him, who for their sakes 
 became man, and whose blood was shed for 
 them. Our system has no general conciliar 
 sanction, nor can its arrangement and derange- 
 ment appeal to catholic practice. It is often 
 not only modern, but protestant and negative. 
 Because Christ is all in all and the impartation
 
 ADJUSTING THE CHURCH 203 
 
 of His life is in His hands, men find and follow 
 Him, wherever and however He is preached; 
 wherever His Sacraments are administered those 
 who seek and find Him find something to grasp 
 in the idea of a common birth and a common 
 meal at the Lord's table. 
 
 As Hooker thought, the impartation of 
 Christ through the Sacraments is not dependent 
 upon what we think of them or dogmatize about 
 them, but upon the willingness and capacity of 
 our universal Lord to make Himself known and 
 to impart Himself to those who call on Him. 
 With all that hinders its work, and all that 
 obscures its truth, and all that tends to sub- 
 ordinate its Gospel message, the Roman Com- 
 munion holds its masterful place in the lives 
 of peoples and men throughout the world by 
 reason of the position it gives in its liturgy and 
 its worship to the Eucharist. The sacramental 
 life, the community and corporate life, the social 
 and family life is so essential in God's mind that 
 man made in His image responds, universally 
 responds, when this call from God comes as the 
 answer to his inmost need. This is true of the 
 utterly ignorant, who has only a partially defined 
 consciousness of his need, as well as of the most
 
 204 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 highly-developed man of civilization, who with 
 keener analysis and more comprehensive insight 
 feels the greater need. 
 
 It was for the creation of the Church as a 
 community of saints, to be perfected in a com- 
 mon life in Him, that Christ commissioned His 
 disciples to make Himself known, and to adminis- 
 ter His Sacraments to the utmost parts of the 
 earth. This is the adjustment to which in 
 reality we are called.
 
 UNITY OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES 
 
 HIS series of editorials appeared in THE 
 CHURCHMAN, New York, of which the author 
 of this volume is the editor, during September 
 1905. Translations were made into Italian 
 from some of these for His Holiness, Pius X., 
 who read them and graciously acknowledged his 
 appreciation. 
 
 I 
 
 UNITY AND PEACE. The attention of the 
 civilized world is concentrated upon those who 
 are striving to establish terms of lasting peace 
 between Russia and Japan. It is a noble spec- 
 tacle. Possibly at no period in history has so 
 large a part of humanity been interested in 
 finding a basis of union for contending nations. 
 Christians of every name are praying for peace, 
 and this is as it should be; yet their prayers are 
 weakened by the fact that the very Christians 
 who are praying for unity and concord among 
 
 nations are themselves divided and discordant. 
 205
 
 206 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 It is the most hopeful sign of modern civilization 
 that the hearts and thoughts of men and nations 
 are turning to unity and peace. So strongly 
 has this great Christian principle been impressed 
 upon humanity that its influence extends beyond 
 the bounds of those who profess Christianity 
 till Nations seem to strive more earnestly and 
 practically, than Churches, for unity and 
 peace. 
 
 The Church is in the world to gather all men 
 into the Family of God. God has predestined 
 men to become members of His Family, and the 
 very essence of a family is unity. How can 
 Christians then be slow to realize that the first 
 and the final note of Christianity is oneness 
 oneness, not the deadness of uniformity; unity 
 in diversity, and diversity in unity; the greatest 
 possible diversity in the most perfect unity; a 
 real, and not an artificial catholicity. Are 
 not Christians working too much upon the 
 principle that they will individually or denomi- 
 nationally acquire righteousness, and after that, 
 unity? There can be no perfect righteousness 
 except as the result of perfect unity; the right- 
 eousness of a people may be judged by the meas- 
 ure of their unity.
 
 UNITY OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES 207 
 
 It is not uncommon to hear, from practically 
 contradictory standpoints, the declaration that 
 there are principles which cannot be sacrificed 
 for the sake of unity. But those who take such 
 a position fail to realize that the principle of 
 righteousness is sacrificed when the principle of 
 division is admitted as right. It is one thing 
 to stand for certain truths and principles as a 
 condition of perfect unity, but quite another to 
 give up the fundamental principle of unity in 
 order to stand for some subordinate principle. 
 Nothing can come before the principle of unity. 
 Righteousness, holiness, truth itself, are the re- 
 sults of love. They do not produce love. Love 
 produces them. Oneness with the Father and 
 the brethren is the condition of the fulfilling of 
 all relations, which is only another word for the 
 fulfilling of all righteousness. The words of St. 
 Paul in the Fourth Chapter of Ephesians seem 
 written to emphasize and magnify the principle 
 of oneness. Yet they are constantly wrested 
 from their meaning and are used as a justifica- 
 tion for dividing the Family of God, if some of 
 the members of the Family are not perfect in 
 their knowledge of God, in their conceptions of 
 the Faith and of the Sacraments, whereas the
 
 208 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 teaching from beginning to end is that oneness 
 is of the essence and nature of God's purpose 
 for His people as members of His Household. 
 
 "I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, be- 
 seech you to walk worthily of the calling 
 wherewith ye were called, with all lowliness and 
 meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one 
 another in love; giving diligence to keep the 
 unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There 
 is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were 
 called in one hope of your calling: one Lord, 
 one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of 
 all, who is over all, and through all, and in all." 
 It is impossible to construe this passage so as to 
 put anything before unity. It behooves Chris- 
 tians of every name to recognize that in the one 
 baptism they are made members of Christ and 
 children of God, and that nothing can change 
 the fact of this birth, which represents God's 
 purpose and love. It stands as the charter of 
 our inheritance and as the guarantee of a 
 Father's protection and a Father's love. It 
 was for this cause that He so loved the world 
 that He sent His Son into the world to save it 
 unto Himself. 
 
 Christians of every name, individually and
 
 UNITY OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES 209 
 
 corporately, need to recognize that division is 
 not a mere weakness but a sin, that it is treason 
 to the Family of God. Let it once be recognized 
 that division is sin, that our obligation is to 
 reconcile the Family of God to itself, that it 
 may reconcile the world to Christ, that all differ- 
 ences, all ignorances, all imperfections, are to 
 be wrought out and overcome within the Family, 
 and the attitude of the Christian Church will 
 be transformed and transfigured. Then instead 
 of a prayer which is belied by the actual con- 
 ditions of a divided Christendom, content to be 
 divided and defending its divisions, the life and 
 prayers of a Christendom, united at least in 
 spirit, will combine to weld Churches and 
 Nations into the unity of the Spirit and the 
 bond of peace, and will go far toward producing 
 righteousness of life in men and in nations. 
 
 There is no room here for the claim that divine 
 principles will be sacrificed if unity is accepted 
 as the first and final note of the Christian Church. 
 Divine principles and divine institutions are 
 for the accomplishment of divine ends, and to 
 recognize all these as contributory to the great 
 principle of unity, which is the law of love, is 
 but to put them in their proper place and to
 
 210 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 use them for God's purpose, which is uniting, 
 and not for our purposes, that are divisive. To 
 so accept unity is but to acquiesce in the purpose 
 of God for humanity, is but to strive to fulfil 
 that for which He has predestined us, is but to 
 accept His way to the attainment of all faith, 
 of all knowledge, of all truth, and to the perfect- 
 ing of the whole Body of Christ. 
 
 II 
 
 SHOULD THE MINISTRY BE GIVEN UP TO 
 SECURE UNITY? A correspondent asks in 
 another column, Would you "give up the prin- 
 ciple and the fact of the Apostolic Succession 
 if thereby the unity of Christians . . . could 
 be secured to-morrow?" The question is repre- 
 sentative, and, whether in the form in which Mr. 
 Bailey asks it or in some other, causes wide and 
 deep anxiety whenever unity is discussed. In 
 its broadest aspect, it is equivalent to asking, 
 "Shall the ministry which has been committed 
 to the Church as a trust be given up?" The 
 answer is inevitable that such a betrayal of 
 trust is impossible. One cannot give up that 
 which is not his. The Church cannot give up 
 that which was committed to her in trust. The
 
 UNITY OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES 211 
 
 moral obligations of so simple a proposition 
 cannot be escaped. 
 
 But for what purpose was the trust com- 
 mitted? For what end was the ministry insti- 
 tuted? Will any one maintain that the ministry 
 is an end in itself? And if it is not an end but 
 only a means, can it be set over against the end 
 for which it and all Apostolic Order was created? 
 If a means can be so opposed to its end as to 
 make it an enemy of the end, then one of two 
 things must follow; either the means is not of 
 divine appointment, or, if so, it has been so 
 diverted from its proper function as to be used 
 to defeat the divine purpose. 
 
 Not only the ministry but the Church itself 
 exists for the sake of unity. In the simplest 
 and the profoundest sense, the Church is Christ's 
 normal method of making men at one with God 
 and with each other. If it were conceivable 
 that man could be forced to choose between the 
 ministry and the unity which it was created to 
 promote, then unity would of necessity be the 
 choice to the giving up of everything else. But 
 such antagonism between God's purpose and 
 His methods is not thinkable. Antagonism, 
 if and when it exists, must be of man's own mak-
 
 212 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 ing. Division has always resulted and must 
 always result when Christians oppose God's 
 methods to His purpose. His methods make 
 for unity when used or allowed to work in accor- 
 dance with His will. Our answer, therefore, to 
 Mr. Bailey, is that, as we believe the Apostolic 
 Ministry to have been instituted as a means to 
 the unity and continuity of the Church, we 
 could never give it up. But if the ministry 
 has become in our hands so inimical to the pur- 
 pose for which it was established, as to make it 
 possible for him to ask his question, we are per- 
 suaded that it is because the ministry is not 
 being used or allowed to work in accordance 
 with God's will. 
 
 Ill 
 
 "GIVING UP" WILL NOT PRODUCE UNITY. 
 Negative methods will not produce unity. The 
 unity for which Christ prayed and for which the 
 Church exists is dependent upon, but is infinitely 
 more than, methods. It is the right relation 
 between persons, between God and man, and 
 between man and man. "I came that they 
 may have life, and may have it more abun- 
 dantly," expresses at once the principle of unity
 
 UNITY OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES 213 
 
 and the only power that can produce it. The 
 question, therefore, is not what or how much 
 shall be given up, but to what extent will men 
 co-operate with Him Who came to fulfil and 
 not to destroy. So long as Churches stand aloof 
 and demand one of another that this doctrine 
 or this method shall be acknowledged to be 
 unessential and therefore given up, just so long 
 will they remain apart. The primary question 
 is not of method, but of life. Are we Christ's, 
 and are we willing to work with Him for the 
 relating of men to God and to each other? Men 
 are asking to-day what was asked in the begin- 
 ning, "Is Christ divided?" Their difficulty 
 with divided Christendom is not that one 
 believes in the Westminster Confession, another 
 in the Apostolic Succession, and another in an 
 infallible Pope, and so on. These are not the 
 grounds of complaint. The common conscience 
 of mankind is not satisfied that the separated 
 churches are doing the will of the Master. Con- 
 vince them on this point and they would tolerate 
 diversity of gifts and differences of administra- 
 tion. They would rejoice that men of all minds 
 and of all tastes and all conditions of sin and 
 ignorance were allowed to strive according to
 
 214 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 their light to perform their part as members of 
 Christ and children of God and inheritors of 
 the Kingdom of Heaven. A common conscience 
 has a common need and the need common to 
 humanity is the need of God and of fellow-men. 
 It is only by recognizing this common need of 
 the common conscience that divided Christen- 
 dom will find a common ground of agreement. 
 Not until this is secured will the churches be 
 able to estimate justly the validity and impor- 
 tance of their disagreements. How can one in 
 a state of disobedience hope to cast out the mote 
 of intellectual or other error with which another's 
 vision is clouded? 
 
 Unity will never come through minimizing 
 the faith, circumscribing the tastes, or curtailing 
 the liberty of men. In any true unity, liberty 
 in non-essentials will be guaranteed in the same 
 absolute way that unity in essentials is secured. 
 No member of a Christian organization and no 
 organized body of divided Christendom ought 
 to be made to feel that what has helped to a 
 knowledge of Christ should be given up, unless 
 it ceases to help and a better way is found. The 
 sacrifice of conviction, of principle, of anything 
 that a Christian man or a Christian body be-
 
 UNITY OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES 215 
 
 lieves to be of God, will never make for unity 
 but only for deadlier division in the future. 
 Christian comity and co-operation, common 
 confidence and common courtesy, the readiness 
 with Christ to recognize a cup of cold water 
 given in His name, is the spirit that must prevail 
 and be cherished as a part of the life of Chris- 
 tianity, long, long before any real unity will be 
 wrought out of the present disastrous divisions 
 of Christendom. We are not called upon to 
 sacrifice anything that is honestly believed to 
 be of God, unless and until we are led to realize 
 it is not. It is only required that those who 
 look for salvation in Jesus Christ shall count 
 this common dependence on Him as of more 
 value than all disagreements. 
 
 IV 
 
 THE UNIFYING MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 
 The Church is bound to apply all that has been 
 entrusted to it as a unifying and verifying force 
 to the world in which it exists. If this obliga- 
 tion is not recognized, the Church idea is sacri- 
 ficed. This idea is that of a kingdom, one and 
 indivisible, established by Christ for the salva- 
 tion of all men, into which they are to be re-
 
 2i6 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 ceived and in which with Him they are to work 
 for the salvation of all men. The conditions of 
 citizenship in this kingdom are so simple and so 
 essential that they apply and are capable of 
 being applied to men in all conditions and in 
 every clime. There are diversities of gifts and 
 differences of administration, but the principle 
 of oneness applies alike to the kingdom and to 
 the purpose for which it was established. So 
 completely has the Church idea been sacrificed 
 to some lesser idea that it is difficult for Chris- 
 tians, and vastly more difficult for Churches, to 
 realize, much less acknowledge, the primary 
 and fundamental principle of unity. So com- 
 pletely has this vital principle as a working force 
 been obscured that the institutional idea, the 
 national idea, and even the congregational, 
 parochial, and individualistic idea all neces- 
 sary parts of a greater whole have been 
 allowed to take precedence over the Church 
 idea until a divided Christendom is accepted 
 and defended as normal by many and is passively 
 acquiesced in by almost all. 
 
 Even where there is healthy discontent with 
 present conditions there is a disposition to lay 
 the blame on some other Church or body of
 
 UNITY OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES 217 
 
 men, and consequently there is failure to accept 
 and to act upon the principle that when one 
 member suffers all the members suffer. There 
 is an ever widening conviction of the necessity 
 for the Church idea, and there is a healthy long- 
 ing for it in every part of Christendom among 
 those who are most completely crystallized in 
 human tradition, as well as among those who 
 have been accustomed to distrust if not to 
 despise tradition. 
 
 All this is encouraging and stimulating, but 
 it is still too much a pious idea and not a working 
 principle; a thing that it would be well to do 
 some time rather than a thing to be done now; 
 whereas an end to which all energies must 
 bend if the mission of the Church is to be ful- 
 filled, and we are to be loyal to Him Who 
 commissioned the Church to represent Him 
 throughout the world. No conditions were 
 attached to His commission that could ever 
 justify yielding precedence to any other idea. 
 And yet Christendom is presented to the world 
 to-day divided into great organized bodies whose 
 vast resources and numbers are devoting much, 
 if not most, of their time to the propagation of 
 their organizations rather than the preaching
 
 218 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 of the Gospel of unity with God and fellow-men. 
 In a greater or less degree this applies to all 
 bodies of Christians. They are all contributing 
 actively or passively to division and therefore 
 deserve to be called sects, a name hateful to 
 each, and yet not offensive enough to cause any 
 to cease to be in fact sectarian. The name is 
 hateful and ought to become more so till it is 
 intolerable to every body of Christians. It 
 stands for enmity to the fundamental principle 
 of Christianity. The great need is that every 
 section of Christendom should concentrate atten- 
 tion upon its own responsibility for present 
 divisions and in judging themselves to learn 
 righteous judgment with regard to their fellows. 
 No one will claim that the full force of Chris- 
 tianity with its millions of adherents is effective 
 either locally or throughout the world to-day. 
 The antagonisms between Christians are not 
 only damaging within, but they are used by 
 those without as the strongest evidence of the 
 ineffectiveness of organized Christianity. 
 
 We need to grow up to the Church idea. 
 Without losing the individual, the parochial 
 and the national idea, we should get beyond 
 them into the greater idea of the Church. A
 
 UNITY OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES 219 
 
 Church which does nothing on a national scale 
 is not a national Church. A Church which 
 does nothing on an international scale is not 
 the Church of common humanity. Put 
 in this way, the essential weakness of parti- 
 san Christianity its entire want of finality 
 is plain enough. The present religious situation 
 of the -world is largely the result of long-con- 
 tinued conflicts between Christians. For cen- 
 turies a vast amount of intelligence and an 
 equally vast amount of practical skill have been 
 expended in a way which has resulted in pre- 
 senting Christianity as a magnificent disruptive 
 force. During this long period great examples 
 of Christian living and Christian teaching have 
 been produced, and the world has been made 
 better. The experiment has been a partial 
 success, for the inherent vitality of Christ's 
 religion cannot be destroyed by His followers 
 even when they go against its fundamental tenet. 
 He works on in His own way to His own great 
 ends, even when His followers misrepresent Him 
 as a divided force and frequently as having a 
 divided purpose. All that Christianity has 
 done its successes and its victories is only 
 an earnest of what it is capable of doing on a
 
 220 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 larger and more world-wide scale when it has 
 learned to keep faithful to its unifying mission. 
 
 THE CONGREGATIONALIST ON OUR VlEWS OF 
 
 UNITY. The following paragraph appeared in 
 THE CONGREGATIONALIST, Boston, Mass., in its 
 issue of September 23: 
 
 "THE CHURCHMAN recently had a powerful 
 editorial on the claimant need of Church unity, 
 and the evil of a divided Church at a time when 
 institutional religion is being treated with an 
 indifference more dangerous to it than open 
 hostility. In its admirable fervour THE 
 CHURCHMAN went so far toward making of 
 non-importance many things which Protestant 
 Episcopalians have stood for, that we wondered 
 just how far it would go if the issue of the Apos- 
 tolic Succession were raised. One of its readers 
 has raised it, and THE CHURCHMAN now replies: 
 'Such a betrayal of trust is impossible. One 
 cannot give up that which is not his. The 
 Church cannot give up that which was commit- 
 ted to her in trust.' It proceeds to argue in 
 justification of its position, that 'the primary 
 question in all discussion of the Church is not
 
 UNITY OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES 221 
 
 one of method, but of life.' Precisely so. 
 Spiritual life of the highest quality has proceeded 
 from and still comes from ministers of the Gospel 
 who are not of the Apostolic Succession as the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church conceives it. The 
 common sense and common conscience of man- 
 kind will never accept leadership in Christian 
 unity from a body which puts lineage above 
 character and the mark of the mint above the 
 intrinsic value of the metal." 
 
 We give this quotation in full in no spirit of 
 controversy. In the very nature of the case the 
 controversial spirit will never lead to unity. 
 We are in entire accord with our contemporary 
 in the position that "the common sense and com- 
 mon conscience of mankind will never accept 
 leadership in Christian unity from a body 
 which puts lineage above character." We are 
 prepared to go further, and to say that our 
 communion must bear whatever responsibility 
 attaches to it for holding to its lineage in such a 
 way as to make it possible for anyone to believe 
 that we do put lineage above character. But our 
 contemporary will doubtless agree with us in 
 the complementary statement that the common 
 sense and common conscience of mankind will
 
 222 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 never accept leadership in Christian unity from 
 a body which insists that lineage bears no rela- 
 tion to character and that the mark of the mint 
 does not affect the value of the metal. We assent 
 without hesitation to the further statement 
 that "spiritual life of the highest quality has 
 proceeded from and still comes from ministers 
 of the Gospel who are not of the Apostolic Suc- 
 cession as the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 conceives it." But our contemporary will surely 
 agree that whatever heights the individual may 
 gain in spiritual effort, the spiritual life of the 
 community, whether it be the village, the nation 
 or the world, can never reach its highest point 
 so long as numberless Christian bodies are at 
 war over what the spiritual life is and what 
 end it has to serve. 
 
 Just here should be found a common standing 
 for all Christians. In order to find such 
 ground it will be necessary for the moment to 
 eliminate all discussion of methods. It will be 
 absolutely hopeless to seek agreement in methods 
 unless the churches can agree that they have in 
 common a first and final purpose. Union with 
 God and with fellow-man is the one purpose for 
 which Christ established the Church. All
 
 UNITY OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES 223 
 
 Christians and all bodies of Christians ought to 
 be able to accept this one purpose as the end of 
 all their endeavour. From this starting point, 
 they will inevitably come to realize that all the 
 truth in all of Christendom, every part of it, 
 however wrested from its proper place and set- 
 ting, held by any section however small, is 
 necessary to the accomplishment of the great 
 end. The principle of inclusion must take the 
 place of the principle of exclusion; zeal must 
 cease to be the enemy of love. 
 
 With the unintentional and unconscious in- 
 ability fairly to interpret another, which char- 
 acterizes all Churches because of our divided 
 Christianity, THE CONGREGATIONALIST so quotes 
 us as to leave the impression that we would make 
 of the Apostolic Succession a barrier to the accep- 
 tance of this purpose; that we would insist not 
 only upon our own fidelity to our own trust, but 
 that we would insist upon imposing that trust 
 upon others who do not recognize it as of God. 
 With precisely the same emphasis that we 
 declared that we could not give up the trust 
 that we believed to have been committed to 
 us by God, we said that we could not ask, and 
 ought not to ask, other bodies of Christians to
 
 224 AN EIRENIC ITINERARY 
 
 give up what they equally believed to be of God. 
 We endeavoured to force home the principle 
 that unity would never be secured by the sacri- 
 fices of honest convictions. Convictions may 
 change, but integrity must never be sacrificed. 
 The initial step must be unity as to the purpose 
 of God for His Church. The steps that are to 
 follow that agreement must be taken under the 
 guidance of the enlightening and inspiring Spirit 
 of God. 
 
 We would not, if we could, absorb into our 
 own communion or into any other, as it exists 
 to-day, the whole of Christendom. No one com- 
 munion possesses in and of itself a spirit catholic 
 enough or a practice comprehensive enough to 
 meet the needs of humanity. That spirit will 
 come only by the inclusion of all the truth of all 
 the churches in one mighty enterprise for Christ. 
 
 Our whole contention is that it is useless to 
 discuss methods until agreement is reached as 
 to what purpose is sought by them; and that 
 no purpose is truly a purpose until it intends and 
 confidently expects to go on to its full end or 
 effect. That therefore until Christendom accepts 
 unity as its purpose, and means to accomplish it, 
 unity even in its beginnings will not be accom-
 
 UNITY OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES 225 
 
 plished. "Let us perfectly know that one fully 
 means a certain act or a certain part toward us, 
 and that fact establishes a status between us 
 as complete as though he had already fulfilled 
 it." The Churches, like individuals, content 
 themselves with trying to be at one with God. 
 They do not try in the sense of meaning to be 
 at one with each other. They do not yet 
 realize that they cannot be at one with God 
 unless they are at one with each other; there- 
 fore they are deceiving themselves and mis- 
 leading the world. 
 
 So great has become humanity's need of a 
 common religion that even those who are not 
 Christians are asking the question, What is 
 Christianity? Christ has an answer and His 
 representatives ought to be able to give it with 
 no uncertain sound. But a divided Church 
 cannot give a united answer. A discordant 
 Church cannot speak the truth with power. 
 "Back to Christ," is a demand for which no 
 Christian Church can escape responsibility; 
 back to Christ's purpose the union of men 
 with God and with each other; back to His 
 way the union of men with God and with 
 each other in His one Body.
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A 000 678 398 9