[ p. 79 ]
From what has thus far been said it must be clear that organic unity in religion no more involves uniformity of belief, or of worship, or of church government, than does the organic political unity of the United States involve uniformity of statutes, or of rights, or of customs. In both unities the existence of diversities is as essential as in the case of the tree with its branches, twigs, and leaves. The very last thing to be desired by believers in a fellowship of faiths is a uniform religion in which all distinctive features that are fine and helpful in the historical religions have been obliterated. Much less is the effacement of the separate religions themselves desirable for unity. The thirteen colonies did not efface themselves when they agreed to unite in the new nation of the United States. Neither will the historical religions efface themselves when the hour of their organic union shall have arrived. A sectarian [ p. 80 ] death each of them must die, of necessity, but in spiritual substance will they all survive.
“One religion for everybody” is surely a shallow and vain expectation. On the other hand it is reasonable to believe that there will be a steady increase of agreement on debated religious questions, just as in the field of natural science unanimity has already been reached on many a disputed issue. Through the conflict of opinion among minds governed by respect for scientific method, a body of accepted truth has been established among scientific men. And when theologians shall have risen to the plane of scientific men, then theology, the science of religion, will take a place among the sciences, which it has hitherto held only in theory. But no one need fear universal uniformity even then, for no matter what measure of unanimity be reached, there will always be, in a growing world, a residuum, in theology as in physics, upon which agreement remains to be realized. Certain it is that a finite being living in an infinite universe can never hope to say the last word on any subject.