[4] Per cent not shown where base is less than 100.
CHURCH UNION
If this world is ever taken for God and its sins overthrown it will be by the marching of all the hosts of God in solid column to attack. The sixteen kinds of Methodists will come under one wing, the ten kinds of Baptists must come under another wing, and the seven kinds of Presbyterians under still another wing. After all the branches of each denomination have united then the great denominations nearest of kin will unite, and this absorption shall go on until there shall be one great millennial church, divided only for convenience into geographical sections and as of old it was the “Church of Laodicea” and the “Church of Philadelphia,” and the “Church of Thyatira,” so it shall be the “Church of America” and the “Church of Europe,” and the “Church of Asia,” and the “Church of Africa,” and the “Church of Australia.” Of that world-wide Church there will be only one article of creed—Christ first, Christ last, and Christ forever. (Text.)—T. DeWitt Talmage, Christian Union.
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Table No. 3—Seating Capacity of the Churches (less a percentage not reporting.) (See [Church Statistics].)
| DENOMINATION | ORGANIZATIONS REPORTING SEATING CAPACITY OF CHURCH EDIFICES: 1906 | SEATING CAPACITY OF CHURCH EDIFICES REPORTED | ||||||
| Amount | Per cent distribution | Increase from 1890 to 1906 | ||||||
| Number | Per ct. of total reporting church edifices | 1906 | 1890 | 1906 | 1890 | Amount | Per cent | |
| All denominations | 179,954 | 97.3 | 58,536,830 | 43,560,063 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 14,976,767 | 34.4 |
| Protestant bodies | 167,884 | 97.4 | 53,282,445 | 39,896,330 | 91.0 | 91.6 | 13,386,115 | 33.6 |
| Adventist bodies | 1,431 | 98.4 | 287,964 | 190,748 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 97,216 | 51.0 |
| Baptist bodies | 48,042 | 97.9 | 15,702,712 | 11,568,019 | 26.8 | 26.6 | 4,134,693 | 35.7 |
| Christian (Christian Connection) | 1,221 | 98.6 | 383,893 | 347,697 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 36,196 | 10.4 |
| Church of Christ, Scientist | 245 | 97.6 | 81,823 | 1,500 | 0.1 | ([5]) | 80,323 | 5,354.9 |
| Congregationalists | 5,244 | 98.1 | 1,794,997 | 1,553,080 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 241,917 | 15.6 |
| Disciples or Christians | 8,702 | 97.8 | 2,776,044 | 1,609,452 | 4.7 | 3.7 | 1,166,592 | 72.5 |
| Dunkers or German Bapt. Brethren | 969 | 98.8 | 508,374 | 414,036 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 94,338 | 22.8 |
| Evangelical bodies | 2,461 | 98.1 | 659,391 | 479,335 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 180,056 | 37.6 |
| Friends | 1,088 | 99.4 | 304,204 | 302,218 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 1,986 | 0.7 |
| German Evangelical Synod of N. A. | 1,131 | 99.6 | 380,465 | 245,781 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 134,684 | 54.8 |
| Independent churches | 741 | 94.3 | 213,096 | 39,345 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 173,751 | 441.6 |
| Lutheran bodies | 10,493 | 98.1 | 3,344,654 | 2,205,635 | 5.7 | 5.1 | 1,139,019 | 51.6 |
| Mennonite bodies | 497 | 99.8 | 171,381 | 129,340 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 42,041 | 32.5 |
| Methodist bodies | 56,577 | 96.1 | 17,053,392 | 12,863,178 | 29.1 | 29.5 | 4,190,214 | 32.6 |
| Presbyterian bodies | 13,942 | 99.0 | 4,892,819 | 4,037,550 | 8.4 | 9.3 | 855,269 | 21.2 |
| Protestant Episcopal Church | 5,960 | 99.4 | 1,675,750 | 1,336,752 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 338,998 | 25.4 |
| Reformed bodies | 2,472 | 99.7 | 990,654 | 825,931 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 164,723 | 19.9 |
| Unitarians | 401 | 98.5 | 159,917 | 165,090 | 0.3 | 0.4 | [6]5,173 | [6]3.1 |
| United Brethren bodies | 3,637 | 94.4 | 1,060,560 | 991,138 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 69,422 | 7.0 |
| Universalists | 718 | 93.5 | 220,222 | 244,615 | 0.4 | 0.6 | [6]24,393 | [6]10.0 |
| Other Protestant bodies | 1,912 | 97.6 | 620,133 | 345,890 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 274,243 | 79.3 |
| Roman Catholic Church | 10,303 | 95.8 | 4,494,377 | 3,370,482 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 1,123,895 | 33.3 |
| Jewish congregations | 717 | 95.2 | 364,701 | 139,234 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 225,467 | 161.9 |
| Latter-day Saints | 837 | 99.1 | 280,747 | 122,892 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 157,855 | 128.5 |
| Eastern Orthodox Churches | 75 | 89.3 | 38,995 | 325 | 0.1 | ([5]) | 38,670 | 11,898.5 |
| All other bodies | 138 | 69.0 | 75,565 | 30,800 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 44,765 | 145.3 |
[5] Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.
[6] Decrease.
Table No. 4—Seating Capacity—Gain by Decades. (See [Church Statistics].)