From the standpoint of four-score I propose in this chapter to take a retrospect of some of the moral and religious movements that have occurred within my memory--in several of which I have taken part--and I shall note also the changes for better or worse that I have observed.
If as an optimist I may sometimes exaggerate the good, and minimize the evil things, it is the curse of a pessimist that he can travel from Dan to Beersheba and find nothing but barrenness.
The first change for the better that I shall speak of is the progress I have seen in church fellowship.

The division of the Christian church into denominations is a fixed fact and likely to remain so for a long time to come.

Nor is it the serious evil that many imagine.

The efficiency of an army is not impaired by division into corps, brigades and regiments, as long as they are united against the common enemy; neither does the Church of Christ lose its efficiency by being organized on denominational lines, as long as it is loyal to its Divine head, and united in its efforts to overcome evil, and establish the Kingdom of Heaven.

Some Christians work all the better in harness that suits their peculiar tastes and preferences.