[From the Telegram, Portland, Ore., Nov. 3, 1923]

During the war David Lloyd George, then Premier of Great Britain, spoke as a prophet of the days when "man to man the world o'er shall brithers be," and spoke in words that even yet warm the heart with their memory. A common cause, a common larder, ... common shipping, a common struggle, and a common triumph he believed would bring about a common brotherhood which would be a sure guarantee of peace on earth and good-will among all races, creeds, and nationalities to the end of time. If only this Golden Age could come about with no more of sacrifice in life and joy and treasure than that demanded by the World War, it would be a gift indeed. But Lloyd George knows, as we do, that a common brotherhood will never be brought about solely by a common emergency and a common pot. These provide the soil in which a common brotherhood may sprout and grow, if the seed of love to God and love toward our fellow-men is first planted there. In war we fight; in peace we quarrel, and all over the division of goods that perish with their using and grow stale with storage. There is no brotherhood of man without a compelling wish to help the other fellow at our own expense.

[From the Mercury Herald, San Jose, Calif., Oct. 25, 1923]

William G. Alexander says that no great achievement can be accomplished without cooperation. There can be no successful cooperation without confidence. Confidence is based upon faith, and faith is inspired by character. In other words, we have no confidence in the man who has no character or one who has no sense of honor. Confidence is based on a common purpose with common aims and ideals; and when men have the same ideals, and are willing to work them out, they have reached a basis of cooperation. The spiritual side of one's business cannot be overlooked. ... If the sole aim is to make money, the highest purpose is not accomplished. Each individual must cooperate to work for the ideals of the organization and, in order to make this possible, the organization must be such that its members are willing to cooperate. I am fully conscious of the necessity for individual action, and that every man is entitled to his own opinion; but I submit that there can be no cooperation save as the individual yields his personal advantage for the good of all; for in the final analysis the best interests of each individual are in the advancement of the common good. That there is a need for organization cannot be questioned. Every line of business, every craft and trade, has its organization.

[From the Literary Digest, New York, N. Y., Oct. 13, 1923]

Creed and ceremonial, the nonessentials of religion, ... must give way to consecration of service, if the church is to be made of real use to the community. Heretofore, ... forms of workship ... have been made the essentials, when what Christ Jesus wanted was, not a particular form of ritual, but "righteousness, justice, and love." This is the view of the Rev. Charles P. Fagnani, D. D., professor of Hebrew in the New York Union Theological Seminary. ... The God that can salve the hurt soul of humanity ... "must be a God supremely concerned with human brotherhood, with the reign of justice and love on earth, rather than in the forms and rituals and the arbitrary dogmas of yesterday. It is the emphasis on worship and on the forms of worship, as being of divine origin and appointment, and obligatory, that has divided mankind into hostile, hating groups, and prevented combination and cooperation for the common good." If the world could be brought to acknowledge this God, and relegate the forms of worship to the nonessentials, believes Dr. Fagnani, the barrier which has prevented a unity consecrated to the kingdom of God on earth would be removed. ... There has been no crime, no lust, no uncleanness, no cruelty that men have not at one time or another predicated of their gods; and this has in no wise interfered with their fervent worship by their partisans. Even the Christian God has fallen far short of being humane. We do not have to go back to ancient butcheries for this. There was the theology of Jonathan Edwards, and specifically the doctrine of infant damnation, to doubt which proclaimed a man a heretic not so very long ago. If the church will devote less of its time and energy and fervor to cantankerous contention for the divinity of Christ, and will direct all its tremendous power to proclaiming the humanity of Christ and the consequent humaneness of God, then ... the church may have something to say in every land that will give pause to governments and politicians, and voice the protests of the common people.

[Rev. John Stephens in the Tribune, Oakland, Calif., Oct. 22, 1923]

Every valuable thing in this world has its counterfeit; and the religion of Jesus Christ, which is heaven's most precious gift to the world, is no exception. There are still men and institutions "that wear the livery of heaven to serve the devil in." But just as there are certain marks by which you can distinguish counterfeit money from the genuine, so there are infallible tests by which you may discern between the true faith and spurious imitations of it. These tests, whether stated by Jesus himself or by any of his apostles, all resolve themselves into this one,—the test of holy living. As stated by the Apostle John, the argument runs like this: A man who knows God will love Him; and one who loves Him will do His will; and His will is that every man should love his brother-man, with the inevitable deduction that whoever says he knows God and hates his brother is a liar! In other words, the only religion that is genuine is that in which the knowledge of God descends from the head to the heart, ... making a man think and feel and act rightly. Such a religion is ever the world's greatest need. It is no wonder that thoughtful men despair of help from any other source in the present-day emergency, and are turning to the Christian Church as the custodian and herald and exemplar of the gospel of brotherly love based upon the supreme truth of a fatherly God.

[Dr. Carl Wallace Petty, in the Chautauquan Daily, Chautauqua, N. Y., Aug. 22, 1923]

Let us glance at the past history of denominations and the Protestant Church in general. In the seventeenth century, persecution was endured by the church. Then came antagonism between denominations; to be followed by a period of toleration. ... Thus in two centuries we have advanced from persecution to hand-in-hand cooperation. ... What difficulties stand in the way of church union? First there are established traditions in all denominations which each cherishes. There is the human nature factor, the æsthetic beliefs of men, and their intellectual variations in relation to concepts of God. If you were to write a creed for the intellectual Christian, what more could you say than "God is Love"? What is the new alignment? Christianity will be either conservative or progressive. Just as in politics you have the conservative and progressive, so you must have it in religion if it is to grow. Then what is the immediate answer to "Church Unity—Do We Want It?" We must all love Jesus Christ. ... We can do it if we will—and I think we will.

[Dr. Noel Porter, in the Mercury Herald, San Jose, Calif., Oct. 23, 1923]

One of man's greatest quests is the quest for peace. Peace in the heart is one of the conditions of good work. We cannot do our best in anything if we are fretted and anxious. The Master possessed peace in all its fullness. He lived in the midst of annoyances, turmoil, and strife, yet the peace "which passeth all understanding" was in his heart. However turbulent his surroundings, inwardly he was at repose. It was this inner peace that made him conqueror over outer unrest. He lived in harmony with the Father's will; he walked with God, and hence perfect peace flooded his soul and set his life to heavenly music. There can be no peace of heart until there is righteousness of life, the righteousness that comes through comradeship with the eternal. We are in the care of One who neither slumbers nor sleeps. We miss peace because we do not meet the conditions. These conditions are: "Abide with me;" let "my words abide in you;" "Keep my commandments;" "Love one another as I have loved you;" "Bear much fruit;" "Be of good cheer;" "Ask, and ye shall receive."

[From the Christian Guardian, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Oct. 12, 1923]

A man is responsible for his own immediate job, of course, but he is also responsible for helping other folk with theirs, and getting other folk to help him; and what he does in these two latter regards will tell much of the story of the real achievement of his life. This thing of "plowing a lone furrow" is, even at its best, generally a very poor business, and at its worst it is a foolish and wicked narrowing of a man's influence and usefulness in the world. Real comradeship in the work and duty of life is the only way to make that work and duty count in a far-reaching fashion; and when, through selfishness or conceit, ... we refuse to cooperate, we are spoiling things very badly. And though these reasons we give for failure to cooperate do not exhaust the list, we shall not find many more worthy ones even if we go through it all.

[Rev. Edward Constant, in the Oregonian, Portland, Ore., Oct. 2, 1923]

The world is talking about community interests and collective bargaining. It is considering leagues and associations of nations and international courts. The tendency of the age is toward combination or association. The world seeks fellowship. A like tendency we notice in religious life. Christianity has a common life, in which we must all share. No church has the right to isolate itself. Churches must get rid of the parochial mind. Forward-looking men refuse to be separated in Christian or social activities by sectarian barriers. They yearn for a larger fellowship than that of their own party. They see no reason why there may not be unity in diversity.

[Sir Hall Caine, in the Sunday Times, London, England, July 29, 1923]

Where, then, lies the hope of the world against the prolonged and ever threatening martyrdom of man by war? ... I humbly think ... that the salvation of the world from the after effects of the war, from the miseries of poverty and loss, the wounds of bereavements, the economic chaos, the hard problems of reparation, of passive resistance and of active coercion, of armament and disarmament, lies in getting back to the moral ideal of Christ—the ideal of human brotherhood, of mutual trust and help and sacrifice.