s

vr

ON DIVISIONS IN THE CHURCH.

SERMON,
PREACHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1846,
IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PAUL,
at t%t Visitation
OV THE RIGHT HON. AND RIGHT REV.
CHARLES-JAMES,
LORD BISHOP OF LONDON.

BY THE VENERABLE
JOHN SINCLAIR, M.A.
ARCHDEACON OF MIDDLESEX,
VICAR OF KENSINGTON, &C,

PUBLISHED BY COMMAND OF THE BISHOP.

LONDON:
FRANCIS & JOHN RIVINGTON,
st, Paul's church yard, and Waterloo place.
1846.

iondon :
(siliiert & uivington, printers,
st. john's square.

SERMON,
5fc.

1 Cor. xi. 18.

" I hear that there be divisions among you ; and I partly
believe it."
Division in the Church was looked upon by the
Apostle as so great a crime and so grievous a
calamity, that he received the report of it not
only with indignation, but even, as it appears,
with increduhty. He hoped that the case of
Corinth, bad as it certainly was, might have been
exaggerated ; and accordingly he limits his belief
to a certain portion only of the sad particulars
communicated. I partly, he says, believe it. At
the commencement of the Epistle he beseeches
the brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that they would all speak the same thing ;
that there should be no divisions among them ;
a 2

but that they should all be perfectly joined together
in the same mind and in the same judgment. He
assigns as the reason for this entreaty the testi
mony he had received, that there were contentions
among them — a spirit of discord which appears to
have involved the whole body of believers. Now
this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul,
and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ \
In the third chapter he renews the subject, repre
senting their contentiousness as an evidence of a
carnal mind; a proof that they were merely
babes in Christ, fit only to be fed with milk and
not with meat. Whereas there is among you envy
ing, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal ?
And once more adverting to the subject in the
chapter before us, he represents this disputatious
temper as not only betraying itself on ordinary
occasions, but in the services of the sanctuary,
and even in that especial feast of Christian unity
and concord, the supper of the Lord. For, he
says, first of all, when ye come together in the
church, I hear that there be divisions among you;
and I partly believe it. He then proceeds to
animadvert upon the conduct of the rich, who
consumed by themselves the portion they had
provided, and condemned their poorer neighbours
to go empty away. Thus, he observes, one was
1 1 Cor. i. 12.

5

hungry, and another was drunken. What ! he in
dignantly exclaims, have ye not houses to eat and
to drink in ? or despise ye the church of God, and
shame them that have not ? What shall I say to
you ? Shall I praise you in this ? I praise you
not. The uncharitable spirit here so severely repro
bated by St. Paul was checked, but not cured. It
broke out afterwards with aggravated violence ; and
we have still on record a warm remonstrance against
it from the pen of one of the earliest Christian
Fathers, St. Clement, whom St. Paul terms his
fellow labourer, and of whom he states that his
name was written in the book of life2. This holy
person, in a letter addressed to the Corinthians,
exhorts them to take into their hands the Epistle
of the blessed Paul, that through the grace of
God, they might be brought by it to a peaceable
disposition. The fault so deplorably exemplified by the
people of Corinth was not peculiar to them, nor
to their contemporaries. Through the corruption
of human nature, and the despite continually done
to the Spirit of grace 3 and peace, the same tendency
to strife and divisions has always more or less
prevailed throughout Christendom.
Without reverting to early times, or to the
2 Phil. iv. 3. 3 Heb. x. 29.

6

Eastern Churches, I may observe that the Church
of Rome has had its popes and anti-popes, its
councils and counter-councils, its Dominicans and
Franciscans, its Cisalpines and Transalpines, its
Molinists, Jesuits, and Jansenists, its disputes
regarding grace, free will, election, and per
severance, disputes conducted with uncompro
mising ardour, and calling forth from the contend
ing parties the most unqualified mutual anathemas.
On the other hand, among our dissenting bre
thren a spirit of division, still more conspicuously,
though not always more effectively, prevails. I
need not attempt to reckon up the numerous sects
which on various grounds, sometimes the most
surprising and unaccountable, have separated from
our own Church or from each other ; distinguish
ing themselves, like certain of their Romish bre
thren, by the name of some party leader, but not,
like the Corinthians of old, with the apology that
their leader was an inspired person.
In our own Church the same carnal or sectarian
humour has, in a greater or less degree, at all times
betrayed itself. It could hardly be expected, that
this evidence of the corruption and infirmity of
human nature should in our case be wanting.
And accordingly, notwithstanding all our helps
to unity, and all our daily prayers for this blessing
to the divine " author of peace and lover of con
cord," we have always lamentably suffered from

religious factions and division. The terms high
church and low church, Puritan and Cavalier,
Orthodox and Evangelical, Arminian and Cal-
vinist, Tractarian and anti -Tractarian, are no
sooner pronounced than they suggest to many
minds antagonist associations of bitterness and
dislike. These tendencies to disunion amongst us have,
as I observed, existed more or less at different
periods. Within the last few years, however, to
the grief of all right-minded men, they have been
greatly aggravated, and, to use the words of St.
Paul, have increased to more ungodliness*. Our
differences have for some time past been greater
in degree, and have led to keener exasperation,
than at any period during the last two hundred
years. Symptoms of reaction towards a better
and more charitable temper have recently ap
peared, but the inveteracy of the disorder is still
lamentably apparent in tracts and pamphlets, in
journals and periodicals, in sermons and speeches,
in public and private life, among clergy as well as
laity. And it is a humiliating reflection, that the
amount of this controversial acrimony is some
times in inverse proportion to the importance of
the points in debate.
My intention in this discourse is to enter gene-
4 2 Tim. ii. 16.

rally upon the subject of divisions, whether among
the lay members of the Church or among our
selves, endeavouring to explain the causes of them,
and to suggest effectual remedies.
I. One cause of division is, that we do not
sufficiently estimate the value of unity ; and con
sequently are not always prepared to make the
sacrifices of temper, interest, vanity, or caprice,
which are necessary for maintaining it. And yet
to restore unity was the purpose for which our
Saviour was manifest in the flesh. He is the great
Pacificator, not only between God and man, but
also between man and his fellow-men. He was
announced by the Prophets as the Prince of Peace ,
in whose days the wolf should dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard lie down with the kid; and they
should not hurt nor destroy in all God's holy moun
tain : for the earth should be full of the knowledge
of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea 6. At his
birth a choir of angels sang, Peace on earth, good
will towards- men 7. When He opened his public
ministry, He pronounced a blessing upon the peace
makers, for they, He said, shall be called the children
of God. His injunction to his Apostles was : Have
peace one with another \ At his departure from
the world He left them a legacy of peace. Peace,
5 Isaiah ix. 6. " Ib. xi. 6. 9.
' Luke ii. 14. s Mark ix. 50.

He said, J leave with you, my peace I give unto you 9.
And his prayer in their behalf was, that they all may
be one ; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that
they also may be one in us ' ; adding for our comfort
and admonition, Neither pray I for these alone, but
for them also which shall believe on me through their
word 2.
Without quoting further exhortations to unity
and concord from the Apostolic writings, I may
observe, that as Christians, and still more as
Christian ministers, our especial obligation and
profession is to cultivate a peaceable disposition,
to acquire the charity which suffer eth long, and is
kind ; is not easily provoked ; beareth, believeth, and
hopeth all things 3 ; and without which " whosoever
liveth is counted dead" before God. We are
bound therefore to suppress acrimony and division,
if we would please God, resemble our Redeemer,
fulfil our high vocation, and acquire fitness for
the abodes of everlasting peace and charity in
heaven. These all-powerful motives and considerations
are in general most inadequately felt, and these
rules of charity most imperfectly applied for
the purpose of self-examination, either by the laity
or the clergy, otherwise our state, with regard
to unity and concord, would be very different.
9 John xiv. 27. ' lb. xvii. 21.
1 Ib. xvii. 20. 3 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5. 7.

10

Allow me to add, my reverend brethren, that
one source of the evil I am now deprecating is pe
culiar to ourselves as teachers of religion. There
is always danger to a teacher that, without frequent
self-examination, he may be led to think more of
others than of himself; to be more studious of their
improvement and edification than of his own ;
more solicitous to impress on them the precept he
is inculcating, than to apply it for the regulation
of his own conduct. His very earnestness in ad
monishing and warning others may be a snare to
him, and lead to the pernicious habit of turning all
he reads or hears into materials for private exhor
tation, or discourses from the pulpit, rather than
for self-improvement. Let us, therefore, keep in
view, that the prayers and admonitions of our
Lord with respect to unity were addressed to the
Apostles in their public character as ministers of
the Church, and are, therefore, more applicable to
us than to our lay brethren. It is to us especially
that He directs the precept, Be at peace among
yourselves ; it is in our behalf especially He prays,
that we may all be one, as he is in the Father and
the Father in him ; and it is under the deep im
pression produced upon our minds when we bring
home to ourselves the Son of God intreating, ex
horting, and praying us to be united, that we shall
be best prepared to profit by such warnings as I
am now attempting against division.

11

II. As we do not sufficiently estimate the im
portance of unity, so neither are we fully alive to
the natural difficulties of maintaining it, and are,
therefore, less disposed to examine ourselves upon
the subject. If the minds of men had been origi
nally constituted alike, and if the same opportuni
ties of information had been afforded to all, all
might be expected to arrive at the same conclu
sions ; but since the greatest possible differences
exist naturally in those respects, diversities of opi
nion must necessarily result, together with corre
sponding trials of temper. When men form oppo
site judgments on any point, each thinks his
neighbour in the wrong, and is more or less an
noyed that his neighbour should think him to be
so : each is anxious to vindicate himself, and, per
haps, also to find grounds for censuring his oppo
nent ; each is tempted to account for his neigh
bour's error, and, unless prevented by Divine
grace, will naturally explain it in such a manner
as shall lower him and elevate himself in propor
tion. Haste or prejudice, vanity, interest, spleen,
or obstinacy, occur to each as not improbable
hypotheses to explain the otherwise unaccountable
mistakes of the other : each, but for this convenient
solution, would be astonished at the other's blindness
to the truth. And in proportion to the importance
of the truth denied or doubted, and the offensive-
ness of the motive imputed, will be the degree of
impatience and irritability in the disputants. Hence

12

it is, that in controversies upon the most solemn
and engrossing of all questions, the danger of acri
mony and division becomes more imminent. An
excuse, such as haste or inadvertency, which would
be admissible on ordinary occasions, is not unrea
sonably disallowed when the interests of eternity
are concerned. We are shocked to think, that
when truths affecting the immortal soul are in
volved, any feeling short of the most wakeful
anxiety should have been evinced. We suspect,
also, that the individual who has thus allowed him
self to go astray will endeavour to mislead others :
he will try in other instances, as in our own, to
make proselytes, and thus endanger the stabihty of
many who might otherwise have stood fast ; and
in our irritation at the mischief he is doing, we
forget that he is still all the while imputing, very
naturally, to us the same inadvertency or prejudice
which we ascribe to him ; that he considers our
mistake as mischievous, and our zeal to propagate
it as offensive, as we consider his ; and that he
suffers the same annoyance and vexation from us
as we endure from him.
It is clear, therefore, that temptations to breach
of unity must continually beset us. It must needs
be that offences come11. If, therefore, we are not
conscious of having made any serious effort in
ourselves to resist these tendencies to division, to
1 Matt, xviii. 7.

13

bear these trials of temper, and maintain a spirit
of charity and self-control, we have reason to sus
pect, not that we are exempt from temptation, but
that we have offered no resistance, — not that we
were without provocations, but that we made no
struggle to preserve our equanimity. Our duty is
to ask ourselves, whether we are not indulging un
restrainedly the jealousies and irritations which we
ought to have suppressed.
III. Another reason why unity is so often
broken is, that we do not always sufficiently con
sider with what parties unity is to be maintained.
We may be in charity with all men, but we cannot,
from the very nature of things, be in unity with all.
There are some with whom, as regards the highest
interest of all, we can have nothing in common.
With infidels, for example, with Jews, Mahome
tans, and idolaters, we can have no religious sym
pathy. We pray for their conversion, we endea
vour to promote it, we interchange good offices
when opportunity is afforded us, but we cannot
shut our eyes to the distressing fact, that although
partakers with ourselves of one common humanity,
they are not members of Christ, nor of the Church
and household of God.
In the case of believers in Christ belonging to
other communions, greater degrees of unity may be
maintained. We hold in common with them a
larger amount of divine truth, and in proportion to

14

that amount is our approximation towards them.
With some Christian communities, however, the
Greeks and Armenians, for example, we have
scarcely any intercourse, and can only pray, and
hope, and endeavour, that whatever errors they
have fallen into, may in good time be removed.
Not being in juxtaposition with them, and pre
cluded by non-intercourse from personal disputa
tion, we have no difficulty in regarding them with
charity. We should be very irritable indeed, if we
raised a quarrel against them.
The case is very different as regards religious
communities with which our own is in contact and
in controversy ; from which our own has received
injuries, and is perhaps in danger. Here a strenuous
effort to keep alive our charity is indispensa
ble. I readily admit, that if we are indifferent to
our own communion, we have no effort to make.
But if we really regard it with affection, if we look
upon it as the purest form of Christianity in the
world, if we esteem it a chosen instrument in the
hand of God for the salvation of men, no ordinary
effort of forbearance is required towards parties
labouring for its destruction. Still, however, even
with these parties we have something more or less
in common, some points of doctrine, of discipline,
or of morals, in which we cordially agree. So far
we may unite. We may feel mutual kindness and
charity, and preserve neighbourly intercourse, and

15

promote objects of patriotism and common philan
thropy ; but the distressing fact still remains, that
they are estranged from our household of faith,
that they prefer another communion, and are
assiduous to promote it at the expense of that
which we consider to be the best. We can only,
therefore, co-operate with such persons cautiously
and to a limited extent.
The attempt to bring about an entire co-opera
tion, an actual union or alliance with such, would
inevitably produce the worst of all divisions, by
disuniting us from our own brethren.
I have yet to add, that even with members of
our own communion, we cannot always be of one
mind and of one judgment. Although appealing
to the same Scriptures as an infallible guide, al
though instructed from the same Catechism, recit
ing the same Creeds, using the same Liturgy,
acknowledging the same Canons, and subject to
the same Ecclesiastical Government, we cannot,
nevertheless, be always identical in our views and
opinions. To repeat the words of our Lord : It
must needs be that offences come. And it is painful
to reflect, that the very points of agreement I have
mentioned, render our remaining differences the
more annoying. We are surprised to find, that
individuals who have so many points of agreement
with us, should have any points of dispute. We
are surprised to find that they can subscribe along

16
with us the same Creeds and Articles, but subscribe
some articles in a different sense from ourselves.
We are tempted to suspect them of negligence or
dulness, if not of prevarication. Our opportuni
ties of intercourse being frequent, afford frequent
opportunity for discussions. Excitement and irri
tation follow, and we become, perhaps, more hos
tile to individuals within our own communion, than
to those without. We impute to them greater
obstinacy, prejudice, sectarianism, carnality, fana
ticism, or ignorance of vital godhness, than to the
most decided Romanist or Nonconformist.
But surely these antipathies must be subdued.
We must not suffer ourselves to lose sight of the
points of unity before adverted to. We must keep
in view continually the many principles of action
which we hold in common with all members of
our own communion. We should endeavour on
all occasions to be fellow-workers with our
brethren. If, for example, I am invited by any member of
our pure and apostohcal communion to contribute
towards the erection or endowment of a church or
of a school, my presumption naturally ought to be
in favour of his application. I know that his
school, as a Church school, will be placed under
clerical superintendence. I know that in his
church the Holy Scriptures will be read, the
authorized Creeds will be recited, the appointed
forms and prayers of the Liturgy will be used,

17

the Psalms of David sung, and the sacraments and
services duly celebrated by a regularly ordained
minister, under full responsibility to his ecclesias
tical superiors.
Nor is the case materially altered if the appeal
to me for support should not proceed from an
individual, but from a number of individuals,
either voluntarily associated or incorporated by
royal charter. In this, as in the former instance,
my presumption should be in favour of the appeal.
I ought to prefer co-operation to neutrality or
opposition. To this desire of unity and united action, I am
led first of all by the reflection, that divisions upon
the subject of charity and charitable institutions,
are of all divisions the most scandalous and inde
fensible. No doubt I may conceive improvements in the
constitution of the society applying to me for aid.
I may desire to see within it an increase of epis
copal authority, or of clerical direction, or of lay
influence ; or I may desire that the whole frame
work of the institution should have originated in a
Canon of the Convocation. But the questions for
practical consideration are, whether good is not
effected by the society underwits existing constitu
tion, whether I have any prospect of effecting the
changes I desiderate, and whether the best and
highest and most sacred authority, from which

18

under present circumstances a society could ema
nate, is not the Diocesan in the case of a diocese ;
the Bishops supported by the Crown, in the case of
the Church at large. Of course where these
sanctions are not given, my co-operation is less
called for.
But again, I may wish for improvements in
the distribution of the funds at the disposal of a
society. I may assume that a greater amount of
good would be effected if certain rules, which I
have myself devised for that purpose, were adopted
by its directing committee. But I must not be
dictatorial and overbearing. I must not expect
that my suggestions, however valuable I may
consider them, are of necessity to be acceded to.
If actual good is done, if the operations of the
society tend to the benefit of the Church and the
furtherance of the Gospel, I must demand no more.
I must keep in view, that my brethren, both laity
and clergy, must be satisfied as well as I, and that
my support would be dearly purchased by a change
of measures to which other members and sup
porters of the institution should be opposed.
But further, I may suspect the society to be
influenced by some sectarian bias. I may imagine
that its object is not to benefit the Church at large,
but to extend the influence of a certain party, and
that co-operation, therefore, is precluded. These
suspicions, if well founded, would be serious. But

19

I must not lightly or uncharitably take for granted
that -they are so. I must pause ; I must deliberate.
The society was instituted for a general purpose, in
which all the members of the Church were expected
to co-operate. Its measures are directed, and its
officers appointed, by the heads of the Church. It
professes impartiality, and is bound to be impartial.
Its declared object is to carry out the views enter
tained by the great body of the Clergy. Rumours
to the contrary may have arisen. Whispers not
inaudible, nor unacceptable to the public, may be
spread abroad, that the society has become secta
rian, either too high or too low, in its religious
principles, and a cry may be raised to come out of
it and be separate. But before I yield to this
imperious cry, I ought calmly to ascertain that the
undertakings of the society are of such a kind as
to admit of partizanship. In contributing, for
instance, to build churches or schools, partizanship
is out of the question. Building materials cannot
surely be supposed to savour of partizanship.
There are, however, other operations carried on
by several of our Church societies, to which this
remark does not apply, and in which a party bias
might be exercised. But am I immediately to
infer that it has been exercised, because it has been
imputed ? or that it has been exercised to that
extent which would justify me in withholding my
co-operation and establishing a rival institution?
b2

20

No ; here, again, I must pause. I must wait to
examine fairly the actual circumstances before
me. I must not hastily give heed to vague accu
sations, which possibly have been devised, propa
gated, or exaggerated by the enemies of the Church.
I must not precipitately admit the rulers of the
Church to have been neghgent or partial. I must
show some confidence in those to whom confidence
is due : a confidence which, although not alto
gether blind, is not easily shaken by every idle
rumour. I must inquire whether opposing parties
do not assail the society upon opposite grounds,
thereby affording a presumption that the charges
on both sides are unfounded. I must consider
that the whole case cannot always be communi
cated to the public : that in many instances the
motives of the directors for a particular measure,
cannot be divulged ; that a partial disclosure might
create new difficulties, and exasperate the suspi
cions which it was intended to allay ; that in many
cases a step once taken cannot be retraced, though
it will never be repeated ; that sometimes the cir
cumstance which has given a party colouring to
the proceedings of a society, is a misfortune rather
than a fault, and could neither be foreseen nor
averted ; and that a great and numerous public
body, including among its members all that is
dignified in the Church and in the State, cannot
always stoop to answer charges and evil surmisings

21

alleged against it by private persons, perhaps ob
scure and anonymous. I must consider, also, that
there is in human nature a disposition to carp at
everything which men desire to manage, but are
not allowed to manage, and that if I think the
management of the directors injudicious, my pro
per course is to suggest, to entreat, to exhort, to
remonstrate privately, rather than begin at once
by open and virulent assault. I ought also to
bear in mind, that in a pubhc appeal the spirit
of controversy may be kindled within me ; ambi
tious of victory, eager to gain my point, and
therefore for the moment reckless of prudential
considerations, I may stir myself up to utter many
things which, in my cooler moments when after
wards too late I see the consequences, I may have
reason all my lifetime to deplore. One more point
for self-examination is, whether the party spirit
which I am imputing to any body of my fellow-
Christians associated for charitable purposes may
not be really in myself; and whether I may not be
asking leave to take the mote out of my brother's
eye without considering the beam that is in mine own
eye5. All these considerations, and many others equally
appropriate, will occur to every candid mind, and
will prevent a hasty determination to risk division
in the Church, by refusing to co-operate with the
5 Matt. vii. 3.

22

great body of its rulers and members in measures
for the common good.
I may observe, before concluding this division
of the subject, that the greatest obstacle to this
general and effectual co-operation, is a tendency in
many persons to form, as it were, lesser circles for
themselves within the greater sphere of the Church
at large ; to connect themselves, by peculiar ties,
with certain individuals in a small brotherhood,
from which their brethren of the Church at large
are to be excluded. Under such circumstances, the
interests of this limited fraternity are naturally pre
ferred to the good of the whole body. The excluded
persons become objects of jealousy and distrust.
The reason for their exclusion is unavoidably
dwelt upon, and perhaps exaggerated. They are
suspected of feeling annoyance at their own non-
admission among the chosen few. And this sus
picion is too likely to be well founded ; often
giving rise to the establishment of some rival
association, equally select and equally uncom
promising, by which lamentable result the bonds
of peace and unity in the Church are effectually
and hopelessly broken.
It is for this reason among others that I rejoiced
in the establishment of Ruri-Decanal Chapters, in
which all the Clergy are invited to meet as brethren.
I am persuaded that such meetings powerfully
tend to unity. Misunderstandings are removed,
jealousies allayed, explanations afforded, friend-

23

ships formed, and a common interest awakened in
all that concerns the welfare or the credit of the
several members. I have had the gratification of
presiding at many such meetings, and have never
failed to observe, that they have contributed to
cement more closelv those ties of concord and
brotherhood, which are so essential to the well-
being of all communities, whether civil or ecclesi
astical. IV. Another cause of division is the natural pro
pensity in many minds towards extremes. This
propensity is not confined to religious matters, but
is quite as prevalent in matters of taste, literature,
politics, and philosophy. It sometimes arises from
narrow views, from inexperience, from defective
knowledge, and inability to appreciate objections,
or make due abatements and qualifications.
Sometimes it originates in vanity, ambition, or
desire of notoriety, which it cannot hope to secure
without leaving the beaten path, and indulging in
eccentricities. Sometimes also it results from
want of sympathy, from incapacity to enter gene
rally into the feelings or comprehend the motives
of others ; or from slowness to perceive the reasons
why a particular line of conduct must be regarded
by all the world as absurd, singular, and un
natural. It thus appears that ultra views are some
times sincere and sometimes affected. In the
former case, where the man of extremes is sincere,

24

there is hope that as soon as he discovers or is
informed of the sources to which his error is
traceable, he will acknowledge and amend it, and
thus be brought to moderation, — not the moderation
of indifference, but the moderation of a devout, an
earnest, judicious, and independent mind.
It is a fact well known to all the world, but
seldom applied by the enthusiast as a warning to
himself, that from one extreme there is but a single
step to its opposite. He that has indulged ultra
views on one side, whether of politics or religion,
is apt from the natural fervour of his character to
become, if he alters them, equally immoderate and
extravagant on the other. If he has been inordi
nately high, he becomes inordinately low. Finding
that he has deviated to the right hand, he at once
deviates to the left, but seldom or never thinks of
going straight forward, and consequently is no
more likely than before to reach his journey's end.
But, my brethren, this aversion to the safe course
recommended by common sense is preposterous.
It is quite unnecessary because a man has been a
Sadducee, and has rejected more than half the
Scriptures, that he should therefore become a Pha
risee, and accept, not only all the Scriptures, but
all the traditions of the Elders. In hke manner,
it would not be absolutely indispensable for a He-
rodian, after having zealously maintained the au
thority of Csesar and the customs of the Romans,
to take Judas of Galilee suddenly for his leader,

25

and insist as a Gaulonite on the duties of murder
and insurrection. It would surely have been better
for him to take a middle course, and become a
Christian ; rendering unto Casar the things which
are Ccesar's, and unto God the things that are
God's6. The application of such cases to modern
life will be readily made.
Nor should the circumstance be overlooked by
the votary of extreme opinions, that one extreme
invariably begets its opposite, which otherwise
might never have been thought of. In the exam
ples just given of the Pharisees and the Sadducees,
the Herodians and the Gaulonites, it is notorious
that if the one party had not arisen the other
would not have existed ; and in like manner
among ourselves, the nearer any prominent indivi
dual approaches either to Popery on the one hand, or
to Nonconformity on the other, the more certainly
will he drive his weaker brethren, through distrust
and apprehension, into the contrary principles
which he abhors. By his own want of judgment
he will defeat his own object, bring obloquy on the
cause he has espoused, and infuse life and vigour
into the party which he is conspiring to extermi
nate. V. The next source of division in the Church, is
want of care to avoid being misunderstood. Many
persons who do not really go into extremes, allow
5 Matt. xxii. 21.

26

themselves to be suspected of doing so, because
they are too indolent or too reserved to give the
necessary explanations, thus provoking discord
and hostility, which they might otherwise by open
ness and condescension have avoided. The indis
cretion I now complain of frequently arises, in
persons of ardent temperament, from their desire
to be eloquent, to make startling statements, and
to arouse us by the boldness and comprehensive
ness of their views. For this purpose it is found
convenient to omit distinctions, to overlook objec
tions, and to pass over cautions and limitations.
Should the orator, with due regard to truth and
just reasoning, trace out to us precisely how far he
means to go and no further, we are in danger, as
he conceives, of remaining calm and tranquil, and
of not supporting him with the vehemence which
it is his object to excite.
For instance, in the controversy respecting divine
grace, when the advocate of divine sovereignty is
expatiating on the omnipotence of God, and on
the feebleness of man, exhibiting mankind as clay
in the hands of the potter, insufficient of themselves
to think anything as of themselves, he may power
fully affect his auditory so long as he keeps the
question of human responsibility out of view. But
the moment he begins to show when and how far
grace may be resisted, in what way and in what
degree human co-operation is required, his state
ments become correct and logical, but declamation

27

ceases : no scope is left for oratorical display. On
the other hand, when the advocate of good works
and human responsibility is urging on his hearers
to abound in fruits of righteousness, and to lay
up treasure in heaven 7, he is tempted to omit the
qualifying truth, that without the grace of God we
can do nothing ; that by grace we are saved through
faith 8 ,• that even if we should do all that is com
manded us, we must confess that we are unprofit
able servants ; we have done only that which it was
our duty to do.
I may draw another instance from the doctrine
of regeneration. It is very easy to declaim with
grandiloquent indistinctness on either side. But
oratory is at an end the moment we begin to dis
tinguish between the new birth and renovation,
between the washing of regeneration and the renew
ing of the Holy Ghost 9 — the moment we begin to
show precisely what the benefits of Baptism are, as
well as in what manner and to what extent they
may be either lost or regained.
The same remark may be extended to want of
caution with regard to conduct and ceremonial
observances. Actions are as liable to be misin
terpreted as words; and the mischief in either
case is the same. We provoke jealousy ; we rouse

7 Matt. vi. 20. 8 Eph. ii. 8.
9 Tit. iii. 5.

28

opposition and cause divisions, as much by the
opinions imputed to us, as by those we actually
maintain. How exemplary was the conduct of
St. Paul upon this point ! If meat, he says, make
my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the
world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend ' .
Instead of declaiming in unmeasured terms against
idolatry, which no man could have done more
eloquently, he checks with praiseworthy self-denial
his natural ardour ; he interposes, with exemplary
patience, prudential restrictions and limitations
upon the general rule he is establishing, and ex
plains with logical nicety how far, and in what
cases, it was lawful for a Christian to eat things
offered in sacrifice to idols.
VI. 1 have one further and very obvious source
of division to remark upon — asperity of language.
This fault, it may be useful to remark, is not
peculiar to men holding extreme opinions. Such
men are sometimes, though not, perhaps, in
general, quiet in their manners, and courteous in
their phraseology. They promote divisions by
their opinions merely, rather than by their me
thod of enforcing them. On the other hand, it is
a painful truth, that persons of middle views may
be ostentatious of their moderation, and yet
engender strife by their immoderate and bitter
1 1 Cor. viii. 13.

29

words. They may regard their generally acknow
ledged character for temperate sentiments, as a
security against intemperate expressions.
In most cases, asperity of language proceeds
from a natural imperfection which I before ob
served upon : I mean defective sympathy. A man
is angry with his neighbour from want of candid
feeling towards him ; from inability to enter into
his views and sentiments ; or from incapacity to
anticipate how his neighbour will be affected by
contumely or sarcasm. It is singular how many
persons seem unconscious of the violence of their
own language ; and therefore are quite unprepared
for the reprisals which they provoke. They are
astonished at the retaliation which they ought to
have foreseen.
I may here remark, that the temptation to
asperity of language, strong enough in most cases,
is still stronger in the case of writings or publi
cations to which the name of the writer is not
appended. The same individual, who, speaking
or writing in his own name, would be decorous or
even courteous in his phraseology, betrays a dif
ferent character when composing articles anony
mously for the public press. While he is in
dulging his own spleen or vanity, and pandering
to the appetite of a scandal-loving public, he for
gets, that although the eye of the world is not
upon him, and the victims of his abuse cannot

30

detect him, there is one reader whose eye is upon
his pen, and within his heart, and who for all these
things will bring him into judgment 2.
Having now, my brethren, enlarged upon the
sources from which divisions and offences may
arise, together with such remedies as have occurred
to me for each, I have only, in conclusion, to
entreat that you will candidly apply these re
medies, and any others which may increase their
efficiency. Appreciate the importance of unity.
Keep in mind the necessity and the difficulty of
maintaining it. The want of it is our besetting
sin. On other points we are as strong as we are
weak on this. Few men, I may be permitted to
observe, have had better opportunities than myself
for ascertaining the acquirements and qualifications
of the Clergy. I have examined several hundred
candidates for holy orders, and I know the large
amount of information which they have in general
attained. I have also corresponded with several
thousand pastors of the Church on the subject of
education, and I am well aware of the sacrifices
which to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond
their power3, they were willing of themselves to
make for the instruction of the children of the
poor. I have also had the privilege of conferring
personally with numbers with regard to plans for
2 Eccles. xi. 9. 3 2 Cor. viii. 3.

31

parochial usefulness in general. I have had oc
casion to admire and venerate the humble and
self-denying zeal of persons widely differing from
each other, and perhaps separated by mutual pre
judice ; and I have naturally endeavoured, some
times not without success, to promote a better
understanding, by suggestions in conversation, such
as I have been here submitting to you in a more
connected form. And why is it, my reverend
brethren, that I have here ventured to address
you so freely on the subject of divisions? It is
because I do you justice on other points, and may
therefore speak without reserve on this. I can
apply to you the argument of the Apostle to the
Corinthians : As ye abound in every thing, in faith,
in utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and
in your love of him who, in the room of the Apostle,
is set over you in the Lord, see that ye abound in
this grace also , the grace of charity ; not merely
the charity which feeds the poor, but the charity
which thinketh no evil, and is not easily provoked.
Can you want a motive for the effort which the
practice of this heavenly excellence requires, when
you think of your high and peculiar responsibilities
as ministers of this Church and of this Diocese?
The Church of England, combining Evangelical
truth with Apostolic order, and like the vine from
* 2 Cor. viii. 7.

32

Egypt in the book of Psalms, the vine planted of
God, stretching forth her branches unto the sea,
and her boughs unto the river 5, and overshadowing
with her influence every quarter of the earth where
the English language is spoken, is a communion
more adapted than any other to be the centre of
unity to universal Christendom. How glorious
the result, if all her ministers and people, instead
of lending themselves to the spoiler to break down
her hedge and pluck off her grapes6, would but
strive together with one heart and one soul for
her growth, and nurture, and advancement ! How
powerfully, how irresistibly would our example in
this great metropolis, unparalleled in history for
its wealth, population, and moral power, affect the
whole body of our Christian brethren, clergy as
well as laity, throughout the world ! Were we
but prevailed upon by the grace of God to lay
aside dissension, and to unite in terms of amity
and concord, the good result would not be limited
to Britain, or to Europe, or to the present gene
ration only of mankind, but would extend to the
remotest corners of the earth, and to the latest
ages. On the other hand, if we, my reverend brethren,
occupying this central, this conspicuous, influen
tial, and awfully responsible position, allow our
s Psalm lxxx. 11. 6 Ib. lxxx. 12.

33

controversies to increase and multiply, and become
embittered more and more; if we try the sad
experiment how far, without actual separation, we
can recede from one another towards Rome or
towards Geneva ; if we continue to divide and sub
divide, to run into new extremes, to find out new
subjects to debate , and invent new terms of con
tumely for the expression of our mutual antipa
thies, the mischief will not be limited to this city
or to England, but will pervade the globe. Charity
will be subverted, division multiplied, and contro
versy aggravated in America, in Hindostan, in
Australia; and our Church system, instead of
being blessed with the development for which
Providence has prepared the way, will sustain a
shock never to be retrieved. When the heart is
paralyzed, the whole body must be benumbed.
How appalling the prospect of rendering an
account in the day of judgment, for having con
tributed in any measure to bring on this disaster,
and to prevent the glorious consummation which
the God of peace and mercy had designed ! How
contemptible will then appear those temptations
to disunion, to which we now so blindly and heed
lessly give way ! How melancholy to look back
from that inevitable last hour, which must finally
and for ever allay our turbulence, upon the vanity,
the love of singularity, the party spirit, the
irritability, the censoriousness, the overbearing

34

temper, to which we sacrifice the unity of the
Spirit, the interests of our Redeemer's kingdom,
and the salvation of immortal souls ! How de
plorable to see the consequences of our fault
extending through time and eternity, and to see no
remedy ; to be incapable of averting the mischief
from others, perhaps thousands of others, though
through redeeming mercy we obtain pardon our
selves ; to have no resource but tardy and unavail
ing sorrow, and to find, in the unalterable decrees of
Providence, no place of repentance, though we seek
it carefully with tears 7. Is it wise to treasure up
unto ourselves the bitter reflection, not only that
we had allowed the prayers and exhortations and
warnings of our Divine Master to be lost upon us,
but that we had preached pathetically, and perhaps
successfully, against division among our people,
and yet had not endeavoured after unity among
ourselves ; that we had cultivated the other Chris
tian graces to the neglect of charity, the most ex
cellent of all, which we owed especially to one
another as ministers of the same Church, stewards
of the same mysteries, professing the same doc
trine, and acknowledging the same authority? Is
it possible that men who show themselves nobly
and manfully prepared, for the sake of Christ, to
sacrifice their time, their worldly substance, their
7 Heb. xii. 17.

35

comforts, their health, perhaps their lives, should
yet refuse to sacrifice the gratification of a few idle
humours, unworthy jealousies, and party interests ;
and to cultivate the meekness, the candour, the
forbearance, the brotherly love, which they conti
nually pray for ? If there be, therefore, any conso
lation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellow
ship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies ; fulfil ye
my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love,
being of one accord, of one mindi.
B Phil. ii. 1.

THE END.

Gilbert & Rivington, Printers, St. John's Square, London.

By the same Author.

DISSERTATIONS vindicating the CHURCH of ENGLAND
in respect to some essential points of Polity and Doctrine.

VINDICATION of the EPISCOPAL or APOSTOLICAL
SUCCESSION.
*** Extracted from the foregoing work.

MEMOIR of the LIFE and TIMES of the RIGHT HON.
SIR JOHN SINCLAIR, Bart.

QUESTIONS ILLUSTRATING the CATECHISM of the
CHURCH OP ENGLAND.

An ESSAY on CHURCH PATRONAGE.

A CHARGE delivered to the CLERGY of the ARCHDEA
CONRY of MIDDLESEX, in April and May, 1844.

A CHARGE delivered to the CLERGY of the ARCHDEA
CONRY of MIDDLESEX, in May, 1845.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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