they have ceased to work. Let provision be made as in Canada-perhaps by the several Conferences for the commutation of the annuities of such as break down after but a few years of service, or of such as take a certificate of location. Let the distribution of the funds be in accordance with the present Discipline, except that more generous provision ought to be made for the widows. Instead of one half, as it now stands, the fraction would better be two thirds, as in Canada, or seven eighths, as in Great Britain.

It would perhaps be better for the General Conference to stop with the simple provisions for the payments, on the part of the ministers, and for the distribution of the funds, and leave all minor details to the Annual Conferences severally. The adoption of the above suggestions would not unduly burden the preachers, but it would give great relief to a large number of very worthy persons, and would cheer every toiling minister with an assurance as to his future temporalities which but few now have. Its business air would command the admiration of laymen, and would doubtless be the means of attracting to the fund many donations and bequests.

R.S. Borland,

ART. V.-UNIFYING FACTORS IN METHODISM. THIS paper seeks simply to inquire into those things which make for the unity and therefore the strength of Methodism. In the past she has been a unit She is such to-day. May this unity intensify in the future, and this peculiarity of our fellowship become the more apparent as the years go by! Some of the unifying factors of Methodism-what are they?

1. Methodism is a unit on the Bible. God is our Father; Christ, the Son, our federal Head; the Holy Ghost, our Guide and our personal Comforter; the word of God the man of our council; evangelizing the world, our mission; heaven, our aim. The twenty-five Articles of Religion bind us fast to the Bible, to a common interpretation of the Scriptures, to a common faith. To every candidate for reception into full connection in the ministry, of whom annually we have about nine hundred, these questions are put: "Have you studied the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church? After full examination do you believe that our doctrines are in harmony with the Holy Scriptures?" The answers must be in the affirmative. And to every member seeking fellowship in our communion there is this question publicly put, whose answer must also be in the affirmative: "Do you believe the doctrines of the Holy Scriptures as set forth in the Articles of Religion of the Methodist Episcopal Church?" Thus do we voluntarily bind ourselves together. And it is a matter of remark that there never has been a secession from our Church on doctrinal grounds. The great withdrawal of 1844 was not for doctrinal reasons. But, whatever the primal cause of that great defection, certain it is that it was upon other grounds. Again, very few ministers have fallen from our ranks because of doctrinal disagreements -possibly not half a hundred in the history of our Church On doctrines the Methodist Episcopal Church must ever remain a unit, or cease to be. For, by one of the six restrictive rules limiting and defining the powers of the General Conference, our legislative body, there shall be neither revocation, alteration, nor change in our Articles of Religion. Nor shall there be "any new standards or rules of doctrine con

trary to our present existing and established standards of doctrine." All other rules, usages, and customs may be revoked, altered, or changed. But these-our doctrines-stand unaltered and unalterable!

Such a decree as this was a stupendous thing for the founders of Methodism to take upon themselves. Was it an assumption born of prescience, of inspiration? They builded better than they knew. The more we reflect upon it the more we see the hand of God in it. The revision of our creed does not then even admit of discussion. If, in the future, the state-ment of Scripture truth embodied in our Articles of Religion seems unsatisfactory or incomplete to one or to many, the only remedy is to go off and organize a new Church, with a new statement of doctrine. Sometimes we think questionably of this feature in our economy-no admission, even the slightest, of change in our statement of truth. But, on the other hand, we thank God continually for the fact that no change seems necessary. The men who have deserted us because of our tenets have, sooner or later, repudiated, as a rule, the Holy Scriptures themselves. Until we again hear God in revelation and have a new Bible we shall need no change. So far from the necessity of a new statement or a restatement of doctrine, all Protestantism is swiftly approaching our doctrinal views, and will soon be constrained to give official indorsement to what Methodism has all along taught, defended, and verified. Surely God has been in this, unless some one of another fold shall say, "The assumption of the early fathers hath become complacency in the later sons."

2. Methodism is a unit in its association under one grand supervisory form of Church government. We are one in legislation because all are there represented. The bishops, our executive officers, are a unit in administration. The Conferences-Quarterly, District, Annual, General, and Judicial— are all related. The Quarterly Conference, being the least but, after all, the primary one, meets four times as frequently as the Annual, and sixteen times as often as the General, Conference. The mighty Discipline is the bond and guide for each-to the imposing General Conference and the most unpretentious official board meeting; to the mightiest preacher

and the humblest layman; to the senior bishop and the last received probationer. To all of these it speaks the law, making of many one, solidifying and unifying. It utters forth for all the mandate of the Church. By others much decried, derided, misrepresented, it holds on the even tenor of its way. Made anew every four years, except in the important particulars already indicated, it is the same everywhere. To our episcopal administrators and our membership in Africa, India, Europe, and the Orient, it is the same Discipline of the same Church. If one traverses the civilized world over, he does not pass from the jurisdiction of this book; for in every quarter he will find the outposts of Methodism and, with Methodism, the Bible and the Discipline. If we know the law of the Church in the charge where we live, we know it everywhere. In this is Methodism a unit.

3. The hymn book is a bond of union. Our standard Hymnal is an important factor in this unification, more so than many are wont to suppose. Find a congregation that substitutes in public worship other than our authorized hymnals and song books, and we will find a congregation departing from the form of Methodism, and from the power as well. Our hymns are the exponents of our faith, our experiences, our fellowship. When God gave to the world the legislative John Wesley he gave at the same time the singing Charles Wesley, who sang God's love and God's law, his own and his brother John's deep love and rich experience, and his brother John's law into the hearts and lives of the people. The hymns of Methodism have grown with her growth and strengthened with her strength. Our hymnology is part and parcel of our theology. It is one of the strong bonds of union. And the action of the authorities in providing our congregations and Sunday schools with our standard hymnals and in strongly urging their use has contributed to this unity. Let us make more of our Hymnal as a bond of union!

4. Another important factor in our union is the Methodist Publishing House. This plant is owned by the Church at large, is managed by the Church, and is run for the benefit of the Church. We cannot compute its unifying value, nor can we fully realize its immense proportions. Its growth and

prosperity are phenomenal. The sales of the last quadrennium, notwithstanding the hard times, amounted to $7,950,096.64. All this is the property and the business of the Church; all members are shareholders. Our press is the center from which the whole Church is flooded with a wholesome, healthful Christian literature. Our official weekly and monthly publications, including two German issues, the books that are printed, and organs of the different benevolent societies, all are furnishing reading which edifies and saves. The books of the Epworth League Reading Course placed in the hands of the young, together with the three million Sunday school helps which are issued, teach the same doctrines heard in our pulpits, and thus lessen the chances for errors and schisms, adding to our homogeneity. This feature of our connectionalism needs constant iteration and emphasis.

5. Under a general grouping we may include other unifying factors in Methodism. Our colleges and seminaries, as well as our literature, are under the supervision of the Church. We have a common form of public worship. We are joined by our great benevolent interests. We are unified by our method of holding church property-amounting, in round numbers, to $100,000,000. Controlled as each property is by the local society, it belongs eventually to the Church at large. The wealth of the one is the wealth of the whole, and this is the reason why an appeal for any imperiled enterprise finds a hearing with the general Church. Our method of ministerial supply is also another unifying factor. The preacher rich in attainments, in spirituality, or in other special gifts is the property of the whole Church. And the less-favored minister is none the less the servant of all. The stars are to. give light. The glory of one is the glory of all.

6. Making no mention of disintegrating forces, the list of unifying factors so far reviewed has been largely an inventory of the machinery of Methodism-the externals, so to speak. But this is not enough. Deeper than all this must we go to find the true secret of our union, our strength, and our glory. After all, it is the spirit of Methodism that we must emphasize if we would know the secret of her power. What is the true spirit of Methodism? It is the burning, consuming