ABSTRACT
Voluntary discipline, basic to the integrity of Free Churches, had well-nigh disappeared by the end, of the Great Century of missions in North America. Those small religious bodies which had split off in defense of internal discipline were largely outside the main stream of Christian events and had little part in the efforts of councils of churches and co-operative missionary societies. Nevertheless, there were by the middle of the twentieth century evidences that the churches were headed for severe shocks in their happy afBrmation of the spirit of the times, and that this might in time produce a new emphasis upon disciplined witness.
