no longer classify these divisions as units, but as families of units. The Presbyterians are not simply one of these divisions, but a whole family. The Methodists, who were a sort of ecclesiola in ecclesia in Wesley's day in England, are now an ecclesia ecclesiarum the world over. According to the scientists, no atom is so small that it may not be conceived of as consisting of halves. It may be divided. into halves, and these halves may in turn be divided, and so on ad infinitum. No denomination has thus far proved to be too small for division. Denominations appear in the list given in this volume with as few as twenty-five members. I was reluctantly compelled to exclude from the census one with twenty-one members. The reason was, that while they insisted that they were a separate body and did not worship with other churches, they had no organized church of their own. Twelve of them were in Pennsylvania, divided between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, six in Illinois, and three in Missouri. They were so widely scattered they could not maintain public worship.

It is not easy to define clearly and to apply discriminatingly the term "Evangelical." It comes, of course, from the Greek word "evangel," for which our Anglo-Saxon "gospel," or good news, is the close equivalent. In a general way, we mean, I suppose, when we say certain denominations are Evangelical, that they hold earnestly to the doctrines of the gospel of Christ as found in the New Testament. Evangelical and non-Evangelical are terms used generally to designate classes of churches in the Protestant division. The Evangelical churches are those which hold to the inspiration, authority, and sufficiency of the Scriptures; the Trinity, the deity of Christ, justification by faith alone, and the work of the Holy Ghost in the conversion and sanctification of the sinner. The non-Evangelical churches are those which take a rationalistic view of

the deity of Christ and the doctrines of grace, of which the Unitarians may be taken as an example. There are some denominations which have the word "Evangelical" in their title, and yet are thoroughly rationalistic and therefore non-Evangelical. Practically, we may distinguish as Evangelical all those bodies which are members of the general organization known as the Evangelical Alliance, or in harmony with its articles of faith; and as non-Evangelical all other Protestant bodies.

V.

DENOMINATIONAL TITLES.

The numerous divisions make modern ecclesiastical history an interesting study. It is interesting because it necessarily deals with so many distinct phases of religious thought, so many diverse denominational movements, and so many divergencies, great and small, in usage, discipline, and polity. But it is a peculiarly difficult study, because of the multiplicity of denominational divisions, and the labyrinth of details which must be mastered. No worse puzzle was ever invented than that which the names of the various denominations present.

We have, for example, the "Presbyterian Church in the United States" and the "Presbyterian Church in the United States of America"; the "Reformed Church in the United States" and the "Reformed Church in America." Which is which? There are doubtless many members of these bodies who could not tell. The only apparent distinction in each of these cases is geographical. But what is the difference between the "United States" and the "United States of America"? How is anybody to distinguish between the "Presbyterian Church in the United

States" and the "Presbyterian Church in the United States of America"?

There are, no doubt, theological distinctions between the "Reformed Church in the United States" and the "Reformed Church in America." But what precisely are these distinctions? They cannot be of fundamental importance, because both churches accept the same symbol, the Heidelberg Catechism. We should expect the theologians of the two churches to know; but what about the body of ministers? Many may have known once, but might find it difficult to recall the exact shades of difference. As to the laymen, few of them have probably ever heard the difference described. The way we learn to distinguish between the two churches is by identifying the Reformed Church in America as the "Dutch" body, and the Reformed Church in the United States as the "German" body; and so when we want to use these titles intelligently we bracket the words "Dutch" and "German" in connection with them.

Among the Presbyterians there are four bodies of the Reformed variety. I have always had great difficulty in distinguishing between them. One is called the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States of America; another, the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America. One has a synod and the other a general synod. But it is not always easy to remember which has the synod and which the general synod. I have found in their monthly organs a more sure method of distinction. of these organs has a blue cover and the other a pink cover. The blue-cover organ represents the general synod, and the general synod represents the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America; the pink-cover organ represents the synod, and the synod represents the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.

One

About a century ago a number of ministers and churches

seceded from the Kirk in Scotland and organized the Secession Church. Soon after, half of this Secession Church seceded from the other half, and in process of time the halves were quartered. Then, as a matter of course, there was a dispute among them as to who were the first seceders. Those who thought their claim best prefixed the word "Original" to their title and became Original Seceders. Then there was a union of Seceders and Original Seceders, and the result was the United Original Secession Church, or, more properly, the Church of the United Original Seceders. This is probably the only instance

in which the ideas of division and union are both incorporated in one title. This title being neither ecclesiastical nor doctrinal, and not even geographical, we may properly term it mathematical, and think of the church as the Original and Only Addition-Division Church in the Presbyterian family.

There are twelve bodies of Presbyterians to be distinguished, and seventeen bodies of Methodists; and Methodist titles are scarcely more helpful than Presbyterian. We have the Methodist Episcopal, which we recognize as the parent body, and which we sometimes distinguish as the Northern Church, though it covers the South as well as the North. We have the Methodist Episcopal, South, which resulted from the division in 1844. We have the African Methodist Episcopal, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion, the Colored Methodist Episcopal, the Union American Methodist Episcopal, the African Union Methodist Protestant, the Zion Union Apostolic, and the Evangelist Missionary—all colored bodies. We have also three bodies of Congregational Methodists, none of which are Congregational in fact, with Free, Independent, Protestant, Primitive, and other varieties of Methodists, the why of which must forever remain an inscrutable mystery to the

mass of mankind. The word "Protestant" in the title of the Methodist Protestant Church does not, at least historically, mean Evangelical or anti-Catholic, but really antiEpiscopal. The Methodist reformers of 1830 protested against the episcopacy of the parent body as a barrier to the reforms they advocated. " Methodist Protestant" does not, therefore, indicate that there is a Methodist Catholic Church from which this is distinguished, but that there is a Methodist Episcopal Church from which this is distinguished as a Methodist anti-Episcopal Church. In the title Free Methodist Church the word "Free" does not mean free from State control or patronage, as it means in Presbyterian parlance in Scotland, but free from the pew system, free from worldliness, free from instrumental and choir music, and free from unsound preaching. This we ascertain from the history of the body, not from its title. The Primitive Methodist Church does not, of course, claim to belong to the age of Primitive Christianity, nor to be the original Methodist Church. It dates from 1810, and sprang from a revival of the early Methodist practice of field-preaching.

Of Baptist bodies we count thirteen, including the Regular, North, South, and Colored; the Freewill in two varieties; the General, Separate, United, Six-Principle, Seventh-Day, Primitive, and Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian; also the Baptist Church of Christ, which claims to have descended direct from the apostles. Beginning with the three principal bodies, called "Regular,' we might, following the old classification of verbs, describe the Baptists as "Regular, Irregular, Redundant, and Defective." The most curious of all Baptist bodies is the Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian. Here we have a title that is definitive. It describes and distinguishes. These Baptists are Predestinarian. They believe that