CHURCH UNITY ON NEW YEAR SUNDAY. (To ewe Emma or
Tat " Sescrawa.") Son,—Twelve months ago I was permitted to write in the Spectator on the progress of religious unity. We are now on the eve of the finest expression of that increasing some and spirit of unity that England luta ever witnessed. Quito voluntarily the Nonconformist Churches, on New Year Sunday, appointed by the King DS a special day of prayer and thanksgiving, will ems certain prayers in common with the Church of England. Although this may be a small matter, it is a very pleasing sign of the times. The arrange- ment seems to Imve been set up as between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the officers of the National Free Church Council. It is no secret that the Free Church Council bad published a form of meek* before the consultation with the Archbishop took place. The issue was promptly recalled and a revised edition sent nut. The Publishing House of the Wesleyan Methodist Church enjoyed a similar experienoe.
May not this little adjustment within the world of religion be claimed as one of many incidental fruits of the war ? It indicates sue loyalty to the Throne and our consciousness of the high and inevitable war aims which inspire the nation. One cannot believe that the aloofness which used to hold, all too frequently, between " Church' and " Chapel " will ever again obtain in decent society. The men who, having suffered and faced death together for the same dear land, are permitted to return to us will have small patience with ecclesiastical and social distinctions which the trenches obliterated, if, indeed, they were ever observed. It is quite possible that the State has not even yet realized fully what it owes to the Churches of all denominations for the high part they have played in creating and eustaining the moral of the King's troops abroad and the spirit of the nation at home. Depreciation of all forma of organised religion has become an easy convention in some quarters. But this will pass. It is for the Churches to get together still more closely in devotion and in unselfish work for the common good. Let the people of England, of all creeds and classes, answer the call of the King on the first Sunday of what we all hope will be the year of victory, and go to church. The leaders of religion are leading. Will the people follow ?—
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