method preferred by
the people is more desirable than that preferred by the officials. For a
man to leave his own denomination and unite with another often involves
action against the conscience. In some of the denominations, for example,
the members have been trained to think it undesirable to subscribe to a
creed. But creed subscription is required by the churches of many of the
denominations as a condition of membership. In such cases the church
officials may properly hesitate to urge a part of the people to do what
they believe is not right.

Another reason which often makes it impossible for the church member of
one denomination to unite with the church of another is a temperamental
distaste for the idea of submission to some special system of discipline.
To all Protestants this is clear so far as the Catholic Church is
concerned. To many it is just as clear in relation to some of the
Protestant bodies.

The official objections to the formation of federated churches involve no
questions of moral principle, but merely those of expediency and the
smooth running of existing ecclesiastical machinery. It is held by
certain officials that the federated church tends to promote autonomy in
the local congregations, and that it will impair the authority of the
denomination. But this increase of autonomy has already taken place in the
city churches, which, as a matter of practice, whatever the denominational
theory may be, manage their own affairs. There is here no loss to the
denomination, nor is there likely to be when the country churches are
strengthened by federation.

In the long run the officials who now entertain objections to the
federated church will doubtless not permit them to stand in the way of
rural church progress. Particularly will this be true when a minister of
their own denomination is to be made pastor of the federated church. It
would seem wise, therefore, for the denominational authorities to agree
that when federated churches are formed the choice of pastors should be
made, so far as possible, on the basis of interdenominational reciprocity.

In view of the urgent needs of the rural communities, as a rule, those
methods should be adopted which are most acceptable to the local people
whose interests are involved. When the people of a community come to
desire united Christian action in promoting community welfare, their zeal
will usually be strong enough to overcome the difficulties in the way. But
t