lipi IW' I 1 11 g>tflQII 111 it tTTriiffl|ii"<»"'»tHUiHHii[tuiJinmHniirriTTTrnnii; r..ii.r.yi?:o^«j— to count, to judge, to reckon— a word the signification of which is generaUy, and, as far as we know, exclusively inteUectual. AND TO WHAT IT MAY LEAD. 7 bring those who, in a certain thing, were otherwise minded from Paul, to a right and full understanding of it. (Phil. iii. 15.) And yet, anterior to such revelation, they were, to a certain extent, and up to a given point, of one opin ion; and the lesson here given is, that up to that point they should walk together. In so fax as men think together, let them act together. Whereunto we have already attained, to that let us walk.* And we might here refer to the case of christian and mere worldly philanthropists acting together — but only at present for the purpose of illustration, not for the pur pose of deciding upon its merits. There are goodly examples of men who, apart from Christianity, or fi'om the dfrect influence of the gospel on thefr own hearts, would, under the impulse of a natural humanity, most wilhngly lend themselves to the prosecution of objects connected with the amehoration, in as far at least as concerns the temporal happiness, of om* species. It is thus that we have seen enhsted in the same association, pleading side by side from the same platfoxm, and la- bouxing with conjunct assiduity and zeal in the same committees — on the one hand, the most devoted of our spuitual men ; and, on the other, men who, though of temperament altogether secular, are nevertheless to be found in considerable force and number, among the patriots, and the educationists, and the general philan thropists of our day. They are of one opinion^ and so of one feehng, as to the desfrableness of freedom for the * We have here given Phil. iu. 16, only as far as Griesbach has ad mitted it into his text, or about the first half of it. The omission of the other half, for which, however, the authorities are nearly equal on both sides, does not affect the lesson — ^the words left out being chiefly words of ampUfication. Any deficiency arising from the want of them is fiiUy made up in PhU. ii. 2, and Phil. iv. 2. » HOW UNION MAY BEGIN slave, of knowledge for the ignorant, of health for the diseased ; and of greater economic comfort and enlarge ment for those who, oppressed by penury and sore labour, occupy, and with ever-increasing multitude, the lowest places in the scale of society. It is thus that both men with, and men without rehgion, may be often descried in close fellowship, making a common cause of schools, and of medical charities, and of schemes for the mitigation of all sorts of poverty and distress, and of joint enterprises, beyond reckoniug, for the removal of grievances and the rehef of life's innumerable hardships and ills. It would take us far and keep us long fi'om the purpose of this brief Essay, did we attempt to discuss, in all its bearings and influences, the subject of such combinations aS' these. Let me only advert to the few glimpses of light which scripture seems to throw upon it — when it tehs us of the Saviour, that as He looked to the young man of many vfrtuous observances He loved him, though he came short of eternal life ;* and of the apostle who loved Phile mon in the flesh as weU as in the Lord t — and when it bids us do good unto all men as we have opportunity, where, though it adds, ' especiaUy unto them who are of the household of faith,' yet by this very addition marks all the more strongly that others, or the species at large, must not be excluded from the regard of christians | — and, lastly, when it enjoins us not to shun all intexcouxse with those who axe without, but to walk in wisdom towards them ;§ and so fax from laying an interdict on occasional conviviahties with these would deprecate it as an evil, at least as an impossibility, because inferring this necessity that we must needs go out of the world;]) — aU marking, we think, that the disciples of the Lord Jesus * Mark x. 21. f PhUemon 16. J Gal. vi. 10. § Col. iv. 5. II 1 Cor. v. 10- AND TO WHAT IT MAY LEAD. 9 may unite with the men of the world in schemes and enterprises of general well-doing. But we can now afford to say no more, either to con firm this argument, or to meet the controversy that might perhaps be awakened by it. This is obviously not the sort of conjuction adverted to in the text — a conjimction between those who were and those who were not chris tians. The walking together that is enjoined here, is of men who were christians, and who, though not yet per fect, were at least on the way to perfection — so that Paul could tell them, both those who were like-minded with himself and those who were otherwise, to proceed onward in that way. The men whom he addressed were the ' saints in Christ Jesus who were at Phihppi,' and not the men of whose walk he here tells them, and whom he denounces as ' enemies of the cross.' They were Christ's friends, and thefrs behoved to be another walk than that of Christ's enemies — a walking together by the same rule, even though they differed somewhat among themselves. If asked. How can two walk together except they be agreed ? * our reply is, that they walked together as far as they were agreed. They walked together up to that point, or ' whereto they had afready attained.' There was thus a diversity, and at the same time a oneness, between two parties in the church of Phihppi, whom yet he ahke recognises as christians ; and the question is, If there be not a hke diversity and a like oneness among certain parties of professing christians in the present day ? Nothing more frequent, we are sure, than the acknow ledgment of a common Christianity between such — and this not in the form of an empty compliment, but an honest and cordial admission, that, with all their differ- * Amos iii. 3. 10 HOW UNION MAY BEGIN ences, they were at one in all the essentials of the faith. Can any path be devised, then, on which the men who so agree and so differ might walk together by the same rule, and be intent on the same things ? The solution of this question has often been attempted, and practiceilly too, in various ways, but as yet it is certain with very partial, and often with but temporary success. The Bible Society, several Missionary Societies, and other enterprises of rehgious benevolence have been tried — and with some service, we doubt not, to the cause of christian charity. Yet all have fallen short of the aim, immeasurably short of the fulfilment of our Saviom''s prayer,* which was for the estabhshment not only of such a zeal but of such an ostensible unity among christians as could be seen by the world, and as might lead the world to believe in the mission of our Saviour. We as yet see no perceptible advances towards such a consummation. The sects and subdivisions of Christendom continue as numerous as before ; nox axe we sure that there is less of jealousy and alienation, and heart-burning among the different branches of this great, but withal disunited family. It were weU if christians could be made more ahve to the serious evil, either of multiplying differences, ox of magnifying these diffexences beyond the xeal dimensions of the woxth and impoxtance which belong to them. By so doing they put themselves into conflict with the object of oux Savioux's pxayer, which imphes that the world's xegenexation hinges on the palpable unanimity of His disciples. It is txue that we axe bidden to contend eax- nestly fox the faith once delivexed to the saints ; and that whatevex is not of faith is sin. Such is the defexence to the right of pxivate judgment that each man should be * John xvii. 21. AND TO WHAT IT MAY LEAD. 11 left to beheve in the light of his own understanding ; and if he act not according to his behef, he acts sinfully. It is very possible, however, that there might be a particular matter of faith in his mind which foxms no pait of the faith once dehvexed to the saints — neither opposed to it, nor yet belonging to it, just because the bible, or record of this faith, says nothing distinct or authoritative on the subject. The apostle Paul enjoined the very opposite of this earnest contending in the question of meats and days, for his was an earnest persuasion to mutual forbear ance, and this, that the men who differed in these matters might continue members of the same church, and recog nise each other as disciples of one and the same faith. It is truly unfortunate, then, when an undue stress is laid on certain distinctive pecuharities, by such as teU us that they must stand up for every pin of the tabernacle. If scripture made it clear that thefr peculiarity was indeed a pin, there could be but one choice in regard to it on the part of all enhghtened christians. But if not, it were truly desfrable that each man who had a faith in such pecuharity should be satisfied with having it to himself before God. We have known several instances of those who could not conscientiously eat blood, but never once thought of erecting this peouharity of thefrs into a term of communion, or of erecting a separate church because of it. Now, are there no other points and pecuharities which have most unnecessarily and most perniciously been made points of sectarianism, and so as to have given, in the eyes of the world, the aspect of a motley and parti- col oured thing to our common Christianity? — though des tined to be the religion of the species, because truly a rehgion not of points but of principles. To persist in keeping up these as points of distinction, and so to post pone the condition on which we are told that the world 12 HOW UNION MAY BEGIN shaU be converted, is truly to strain at so many gnats, and to swallow a most enormous camel. But let us be done with these generalities, or rather let us leave them to be expanded and added to by the other writers of this volume. We desfre, in what remains of our share, to be exclusively practical, and this with the view of doing some justice to our own part of this joint publication on the subject of union amongst christians of different denominations, — which was to show, according to the title of our chapter, ' How such a union may begin, and to what it may eventually lead.' Let us at once announce, then, that having had our position assigned to us at the outset of this argument, we are disposed to fix oux point of depaxtuxe, and to take oux dfrection, from a valuable expexience of foreign mission aries — who have very generaUy found that, whUe engaged in the work of christianising the heathen, thefr deno minational differences were forgotten. It has been the testimony, we beheve, of the most devoted among these labourers, that throughout the whole piocess of conduct ing an idolatex, ox a savage, from his state of incipient rudeness to the eve of his baptism — these diffexences nevex once come into view, ox at least were never prac ticaUy called for as being of any use or necessity in the operation. This we hold to be a most instructive find ing. If, in the work of christianising men, there are certain denominational differences which might all the whUe be set aside as of no practical importance, can these differences belong to the essence of Christianity ? But this is not all. In this conjunct operation of evangehsing the heathen, not only do men cease from thinking of thefr diffexences, so that the negative ox ad- vexse influence against thefr union is fox the time kept in abeyance, but the charity of a common entexprise, and AND TO WHAT IT MAY LEAD. 13 that an enterprise of the purest and highest benevolence, sets at work a strong af&rmative and efficient influence in the opposite dfrection, or in favour of union. The very counsel and converse which they hold with each other on the subject of thefr great task, of its difficulties, and its encouragements, and its prospects — above all, thefr united prayers for its success — must powerfully tell on the side of a closer and more cordial affinity between them. When they begin to discuss and controvert on the subject of their sectarian peculiarities, there comes into play the knowledge which ' puffeth up.' When they join in sweet counsel together on thefr work and labour of love, there comes into play the charity which harmonises, which cements, which ' edifieth.' The living stones are brought into contact and firm concatenation with each other, and a goodly spiritual edifice is the result of it. But to obtain this cement, this precious and sacred commodity, this medicine for the church's sorest dis tempers, we need not to go in quest of it to distant lands. It might be had at our vexy dooxs. The materials fox woxking it axe at hand — so that it might be obtained by a home manufacture, without being fetched from abroad. In other words, there can be home as well as foreign missions; and, in the pxosecution of these, thexe is loom fox the vexy highest effoxts of christian philan- thxopy. Such is the spuitual destitution of oux laxge towns and recent manufacturing villages, as well as many of our rural districts — that, let us be placed any where within the limits of our own territory, and with little ox no expense of locomotion, might we find oux way to hundxeds of families, at as gxeat a moial distance from the light of Christianity, as the men of remotest lands yet untrodden by the footsteps of missionaries. Everywhere, in fact, within or without Christendom, is nature to be B 14 HOW UNION MAY BEGIN met with in its most xudimental foxm — in the txeatment of which we shoifld have to begin at the beginning, ox with the fixst elements of Christianity, and long befoxe it had divexged into its pxesent endless xamifications of name and of sectary. In othex woxds, thexe is a woxk of pxesent xehgious benevolence, which the ministexs of evexy denomination that holds the Head, and who love the Loid Jesus Christ in sincerity, might lay thefr imme diate hands upon. More especially in populous cities might an instant commencement be made — where each congregation could assume its own local district; and its agents might forthwith operate by tracts, and offers of education, and a thousand offices of christian attention, on households where the inmates were wilhng to xeceive them. The necessity of concext and a common undex- standing in the allocation of districts, and the requisite means ox methods of pxoceduxe, might at once bring ministexs in xepeated intexviews together — when, whether in the hall of common deliberation, or, closer or more cordially still, in the houses of each other, the amalga mating power of christian charity would tell upon thefr hearts. Meanwhile, and when engaged in this great woxk, all thought of their differences would be suspended. In earnest dealing with human souls on the question of their salvation, it might well be said that they are in busy occupation with the weightier matters of our faith ; and why relinquish this for those smaller matters which belong not to the essence of faith, however magnified they may have been in the mists and din of controversy ? If tempted by eager partizans to make such a descent, they might well say, in the language of Nehemiah, ' We are doing a great work, and why should we come down unto you?' WhUe thus employed, things wiU come to be viewed in juster proportion; the large and the little wUl be made to AND TO WHAT IT MAY LEAD. 15 stand in thefr right and proper relation to each other, both the principles in which they agree and the points on which they differ — the one seen in the magnitude, and the other in the insignificance, which natively and inher ently belong to them. There is nothing that wUl more surely guide christians to the same just discernment in these things, than thefr being engaged in some common enterprise of well-doing. The habit of acting aright is one of the most powerfrU auxihaxies to the faculty of thinking aright. Speaking of this matter subjectively, such is the aUiance between the moral and inteUectual parts of oux nature; ox speak ing of it objectively, such is the alliance between right eousness and truth. The one expedites the other. To be one in practice, is the likehest way of becoming one in faith; and if a right practice, it will, with the help and under the guidance of that Spfrit who is given to those who obey him, become a right faith. Such is the affinity between the good and the true. A common desire and common effort for the one, is most fitted, of all othex things, to clear up the intellectual vision, and to lead onward to a common perception of the other. And when men come to see things in their real dimensions, it will save the church from a twofold mischief — not only the mischief of extenuating that which is great, but the mis chief of exaggerating and distending that which is little. The former evil has most called forth the vigUance and zeal of the church's friends; as, for example, in the strenuous vindication of Christ's divinity and atonement, against the men who lightly esteem either the person or work of the Saviour. We have not been so alive to the lattei evU ; and so, whUe contxoversy has stalked abroad, without restraint or hesitation, in the work of multiplying and exasperating our differences, charity has done little 16 HOW UNION MAY BEGIN or nothing in the work of healing them. It is for a commencement to this work, that a co-oj^eration among christians of different denominations in something good is so desfrable ; and this not merely that they may act aright, but that they may act together. There is a mighty charm in this latter cfrcumstance. Let us enter on some work of righteousness in peace ; and who knows but the effect of such righteousness wiU be quietness and concord for ever ! The probable, or at least and most certainly the desfr able, issues of such a co-operation, we shaU leave to be sketched by other hands ; both in ftdlex detail, and with especial xefexence to Scotland. The incoxpoxation to which it might eventuaUy lead should not be pxecipitated, howevex much the co-opexation that we have now ven tured to recommend must smooth the way to it. If one in theology, we might co-operate in a thousand diffexent ways ; but we must be one in govexnment eie we can in- coxpoxate. But if the lattex obstacle do not prevent the one, let us cherish the hope that it will not long stand in the way of the other. Would that the whole Indepen dency, and perhaps some of the Episcopacy, of Scotland, could be prevailed on to resign those external pecuhari ties by which we are separated ; for in soul and substance, or in all the inner and essential characteristics of the faith, they seem most thoroughly at one with us. At all events, it is Presbytery which forms the gTeat bulk and body of our various denominations. And it is a grave question, in what way the incorporation between these shoifld be effected — whether by a corporate move ment on the part of each of the uniting bodies, or by separate congxegations being left to merge individually into one or other of them. Let us pray for more light, and wait the further leadings of Providence, ere we decide AND TO WHAT IT MAY LEAD. 17 upon this question. And meanwhile may the spirit of love prevail over us, and keep at a distance those un seemly contentions which have brought such grievous dishonour on the christian name, and been the plague of the church in all ages. And we confess ourselves san guine of a union even stUl more comprehensive than that which we are immediately aiming at, and by which not only the smaller but the larger differences of the chris tian world will at length be harmonised. There is a bril- hant perspective before us, which we doubt not will in time be reahsed. There seems both an intellectual and a moral comergency towards it. In as far as controversy originated in the spfrit of a rash and unbridled specula tion, this is a source which, with our now sounder philo sophy and better understanding of the limit between the known and the unknown, is fast drying up. And there is, partly intellectual and partly moral, a profounder re cognition of the authority of scripture as paramount to aU other authority ; and, perhaps on aU sides, a greater moral fafrness in the interpretation of it. When these habits are consummated controversy will cease, because the provocatives to controversy will then be done away. The Theologia Elenctica, after having accomplished a most impoxtant temporary service, will then be dispensed with. Its technology wiU fall into desuetude ; because, framed as it was for the special object of neutrahsing the heresies which then. wUl no longer exist, its employment wUl be uncaUed for. God's own truth, expressed in God's own language, wUl form the universal creed of in teUigent, and harmonised, and happy Christendom. Men's faith and thefr affections, when this intexmediate and tempoxary apparatus is at length taken down, will come into more dfrect contact with Heaven's original revelation; and the spuit of goodwill to man, which B 2 18 HOW UNION MAY BEGIN, ETC. pronipted Heaven's message, wiU be felt in all its fresh ness and power — when the uproar of controversy is stiUed, and its harsh and jarring discords have died away into everlasting silence. There wUl be system and generahsa- tion still, but founded on the generahsations of scripture ; and the doctrines, in which many now terminate as il they were the ifltimate truths of the record, wiU be found themselves to be subordinate to the one and reigning expression of Heaven's kindness to the world, by which the whole scheme of our redemption is pervaded. " I'm apt to think, the man That could surround the sum of things, and spy The heart of God and secrets of His empire, Would speak but love. With him the bright result Would change the hue of intermediate scenes, And make oue thing of all theology." Gambold, a Moravian Poet. ESSAY II. THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. By ROBERT BALMER, D.D. PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY TO TIIE UNITED SECESSION CHURCH. ESSAY II. THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. In the most comprehensive sense of the term, the chiis- tian chuich includes all genuine saints, ox believexs; — all in every land, who receive Jesus Christ as their Prince and Saviour, who submit to him as theix supxeme and infaUible guide in mattexs of xeligion, who xely fox paxdon and salvation on his atoning sacxifice, and who sincexely consecxate themselves to his sexvice. AU such pexsons, howevex widely sejoaxated in xespect of place, and howevex divexsified by external cfrcumstances, ox even by minox distinctions in xeligion, axe xepxesented in sciiptiu'e as ' being not of the woiid, but called out of the world,' and as component members of the same spi ritual and heavenly association. Of this holy society, unity is fi-equently specified as an impoxtant charactexistic ; and to illustiate this unity comparisons the most beautiful and instinctive axe em ployed. The church is represented as a 'house' and a 'temple,' as a 'city' and a 'kingdom;' and her mem bers are described as constituting 'one fold under one Shepherd,' one 'family" or 'brotherhood,' under 'one Father,' 'one new man,' 'onebread'orloaf, and 'one body,' She is 'the bride, the Lamb's wife," of whom he says. 22 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. ' My dove, my undefiled is but one, she is the only one of her mother.' While almost all these comparisons sug gest the idea of oneness, or of unity in contradistinction to plurality, some of them convey the notion of union in the strict sense of the term, that is, of connexion and har mony, of the combination of parts into one whole. Not only is unity represented as an essential attribute of the church ; any schism or division in it is spoken of as a thing not less unnatural and unsightly than would be the spectacle presented by the human body, if its organs were in a state of discord, if ' the eye were to say to the hand, I have no need of thee, or the head to the feet, I have no need of you.' That unity which is predicated of the church may be regarded as twofold. All her members, in consequence of thefr union to Christ, are united to each other by ties most sacred and intimate. They are characterised by a community of views and feelings and conduct, of aims and interests, of perfls, of privUeges, and of destiny. ' There is one body and one spfrit, even as ye axe caUed in one hope of your caUing : one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of aU, who is above aU, and through all, and in you aU.' In reference to that union among christians, which is the necessaxy xesult of theix common xelation to Chxist, it may be xemaxked, that while cases may occur in which the prospect of it operates as a subsidiary motive in prompting to the reception of him, cases also may occur in which this union is formed, while yet the formation of it may not be the subject of dehberate reflection and pur pose to the individual entering into it. Occupied at the moment in thinking with intense interest of the glorious Head, and of the ineffable importance of connexion with him, the person beheving the truth, thinks but little, if THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 23 at aU, of the relation into which this connexion will bring him with the members. There is thus a relation or union among the Saviour's disciples which may originate, and, to a certain extent, subsist, independently of their own consent and concurrence: it is a union which is invisible; it can be severed only by their separation from Christ ; and in regard, therefore, to its formation and maintenance, the question may be fitly proposed, ' What thank have ye ?' This unity forms the natural basis of a farther union ; and it may therefore be remarked, that besides that invisible and indestructible connexion among the fol lowers ofChrist, which results inevitably from thefr relation to him as thefr common Redeemer and Lord, it was in tended that there should subsist among them a union of a visible and palpable kind. ' By this,' said the blessed Jesus — ' by this shall all men know that ye are my disci ples, if ye have love one to another ;' thus not merely en joining mutual love, but constituting it the badge of dis- cipleship, the characteristic mark by which his foUowers should be distinguished. When, in his intercessory prayer, he requested that his disciples 'might aU be one,' the union referred to was not a union which, though real and vfrtual, was indiscernible, but a union open and manifest ; for it was to furnish a glorious and resistless demonstration to convince the unbeheving world of the divinity of his mission. Christians are required to be ' like-minded one toward another,' that not only with ' one mind,' but with ' one mouth, they may glorify God, even the Father of thefr Loxd Jesus Chxist.' They axe to take caxe ' to speak aU the same thing, that thexe be no divi sions among them ;' and they are to ' endeavoux to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.' When the question is put, ' Is Christ divided ?' it is assumed that discoxd ox separation among his foUoweis are things in- 21 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. congruous and monstrous, as well as criminal. And if there be among them ' envying, and strife, and divisions, they are carnal, and walk as men.' They give reason to suspect that they have revolted from Christ, and returned to the world ; that chiistian principles are displaced from the throne of their hearts, and that the principle of depra vity has regained the ascendancy. From the passages of scripture now referred to, and from others to which it is unnecessary to refer, it ap pears that it was the intention of the Saviour that there should subsist among his disciples a visible union, corre sponding to the spiritual and invisible ties by which they are connected. And it appears farther, that this visible union was to be a union of faith and love ; that it was to consist chiefly in their united behef and profession of ' the truth as it is in Jesus,' thefr communion, as far as exter nal circumstances would admit, in the ordinances of Christ, their co-operation in advancing the great interests of his kingdom, and in the exexcise of that xecipxocal affection which it becomes them to cherish and manifest as childien of the same Fathex, and members of the same sacred fraternity. ' Saints by profession,' says a document, entitled perhaps to as much respect as is due to any un- inspfred production — ' saints by profession are bound to maintain an holy fellowship and communion in the wor ship of God, and in performing such other spfritual ser vices as tend to their mutual edification : as also, in relieving each other in outward things, according to their several abilities and necessities. Which communion as God offereth opportunity, is to be extended unto all those who in evexy place caU upon the name of the Lord .Jesus.' * * Westminster Confession of Faith. THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 25 Even in the apostohc age there were churches which were distracted by controversies and divisions ; and there were others in which gross and dangerous errors had begun to make thefr appearance. On the whole, however, that union which has just been delineated, and which it is dehghtful to contemplate even in theory, was then to a great extent realised. Those christians who resided in the same town, or in the same district, being incorporated into one holy association, regarded each other as brethren in the Lord, and observed in conjunction every christian ordinance. Considering themselves as a component part of ' the holy cathohc church,' they welcomed to their communion the members of every other church, when accredited by ' letters of commendation ;' and were admitted in thefr turn to similar privUeges by every other christian society. The spectacle presented by the followers of the Lamb in the primitive age, was thus a counterpart, in some respects, though in others a contrast, to the standing miracle so long exhibited by God's ancient people. Dif fused among aU the nations of the world, they were yet distinct from all ; but they were distinguished not by an earthly and sordid, but by a character altogether unearthly ; by intense brotherly kindness, by ardent philanthropy, by purity and righteousness, by thefr contempt for sublunary, and their attachment to celestial things. The society which they composed, formed thus a sort of imperium in imperio — a kingdom in the world, but not of it — a spi ritual edifice, constructed from materials originally unfit and discordant ; destitute of all the elements of pohtical and secular cohesion, yet firmly cemented by the princi ples of faith and love ; an edifice embelhshed with the ' beauties of hohness,' and the colours of heaven ; and every accession to which, instead of destroying its unity, c 26 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. or impafring its comely proportions, served to augment its strength and its grandeur. * Painful as it may be, it is necessaiy to tum our eyes from this beauteous and dehghtful spectacle, and to fix them on one of an entirely opposite chaxactei, on the spectacle pxesented by the church in modern times. The disputes, which were the natural consequences of the spirit of free inquiry excited by the reformation, soon settled into hopeless differences of opinion ; these differ ences, though often of very inferior importance, were per mitted to divide the church into distinct sects and parties ; in process of time, sects and parties multiphed to an extent almost incalculable ; so that for centuries the kingdom of Christ has been ' divided against itself,' broken down into numberless confederacies, maintaining towards each the attitude, and holding the language of jealousy, recrimination, and defiance. In the Shulamite has been seen, as it were, the company of many armies, all opposed to each other. Doubtless it is but reasonable to presume that in every Protestant denomination there have all along been indi viduals who have mourned over these divisions, and who have cherished sentiments of fraternal affection for their christian brethren of other communities. It is also to be acknowledged, and acknowledged with devout gratitude, that in consequence chiefly of the missionary and other similar enterprises, undertaken within the last fifty years, the asperities of party have been considerably abated — that more liberal views and more kindly feelings have begun to be cherished, and that among the truly good of almost every sect, there has been manifested a tendency towards * Here, and in a few other instances, the author has availed himself of some remarks on Terms of Communion, published in the Christian Repo sitory many years ago. THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 27 a mutual approximation. StUl, however, it is not to be denied, that even in our own highly favoured and much- loved land unseemly dissensions keep asunder those who ought to be united. 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the chUdren's teeth are set on edge.' The garden of the Loxd pxesents still,- to a lamentable extent, an invei- sion of the beautiful descxiption of the prophet. Instead of the fir tree has come up the thorn, and instead of the myrtle tree has come up the brier. Our national churches, as if determined to ' glory in thefr shame,' prefer a state of absolute insulation and complete non-intercourse, scorn ing to recognise formaUy any other section of the Sa viour's foUowers ; and the time is not long gone by, when some other societies acted on the same unhallowed and detestable maxims, beheving that they were ' doing God service.' Nor wiU it be till our divisions are not only mitigated, but extinguished, that the church wiU realise the scripture emblems of her unity : ' a city compactly buUt together ;' ' one fold under one shepherd ;' ' one body' under one head, the members of which ' have the same care one for another.' These divisions have no doubt been overruled so as to produce some good; but in themselves, and in their genuine tendency and thefr natural results, they are an evU of colossal dimensions and deadly malignity. It has often been remarked, and truly remarked, that they have confirmed the prejudices of unbehevers, hardened them in impenitence and infidehty, and caused ' the way of truth to be evil spoken of,' and ' the name of God to be blasphemed.' StiU farther, they have retarded, in a degree almost incalculable, the extension of the gospel ; for long ere now the nations of the world might have been irradiated with the light of revelation, and subjugated to the peaceful sceptre of the Saviom', if those energies and 28 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. resources which his professed foUowers have wasted on intestine warfare, had been employed in promoting the prosperity, and enlarging the boundaries of his kingdom. Besides these, there are other evUs necessarUy involved in the divisions of the church, or inseparably connected with them, which, if less conspicuous, or comparatively latent, are of stiU greater magnitude. These, divisions have exerted a most mahgnant and most potent influence in corrupting the purity of the church — a quality intimately connected with her imity, and scarcely less important ; for by engendering and nursing a spirit of unholy rivafryj they have proved a perpetual incentive to her different sections to sweU theix ranks by the admission of the unworthy, that they might thus outnumber their neigh bours. But perhaps the greatest of all the evfls involved in these divisions, though that which attracts least atten tion, remains yet to be specified. They almost always originate in ahenation of affection; and this ahenation they consummate and perpetuate. But ' love is the fnl- fiUing,' or completion ' of the law,' ' the end of the com mandment;' and of the law of love, the most sacred branch is that which respects our ' brethren in the Lord.' Of this branch of ' the royal law,' divisions in the church are therefore httle less than a virtual repeal, in so far as concerns the majority of its objects; for they not only tempt, but almost constrain us to regard with jealousy and dislike those who are entitled to our cordial esteem and our fi-aternal affection. For ' the fruits of the Spirit, love, long- suffering, gentleness, goodness,' they substitute ' the works of the flesh, hatred, variance, emulations, and wrath.' They infroduce ' bitter envying and strife, the wisdom that is earthly, sensual, devihsh ;' and banish ' the wisdom that is from above, and which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.' THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 29 Such is the necessary tendency of divisions in the church ; such are the disastrous effects which, to a great extent, these divisions have actuaUy produced. As an aggravation, and no shght aggravation of these evils, must be mentioned, the insensibUity to thefr criminal character and their ruinous consequences, evinced by many who have witnessed them, as well as by many who have contributed largely to thefr production. Like the apathy with regard to the spiritual miseries of the heathen world, and the disregard of the departing Saviour's last injunction, manifested for centuries after the reformation, the insensibUity to schism and its necessary concomitants, presents a phenomenon somewhat hard to be explained — a phenomenon which furnishes a decisive proof that religion was in a low and torpid condition, that ' the things which remained were ready to die,' and that, as one of our old divines expresses it, with many there reihained so httle of spiritual life that they did not feel the advances of spfritual death. As the man who is accus tomed to breathe a tainted atmosphere becomes insensible to its nauseousness and its noxiousness, and as the most revolting scenes of pollution and blood cease to shock those who are every day doomed to witness them, so something analogous occurs with respect to moral and spfritual objects. The statement of the poet, when he tells us that ' Vice is a monster of so frightful mien. As, to be hated, needs but to be seen,' must be understood with limitations ; but experience amply corroborates his assertion when he adds, ' Tet, seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace.' C 2 30 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. Thus, certainly, it has happened with regard to the evils under our more immediate consideration. We are so familiarised with the hideous spectacle of animosities and separations, that it faUs to excite those emotions of amazement, and grief, and horror, with which it would undoubtedly be contemplated, if our ideas of the church were copied correctly from the ' pattern shewn in the mount.' Many there are, accordingly, whose piety it woifld be imreasonable to question, to whom these ani mosities and separations are seldom the subject of painful reflection, or who regard them as evils which it is doubt less proper to lament, but which it would be chimerical to attempt to remedy, and who seem to have forgotten what the church once was, and what she is destined yet to be. What, then, shall we say to these things ? We wUl not say that they afford any presumption against the heavenly origin, or the pacific character of the rehgion which has occasioned them. We wUl recollect, that in the inspfred records of that religion these strifes and divisions are expressly foretold. We will recoUect that it was announced by the Author of Christianity, and the great Head of the christian church, that 'offences must needs be,' and 'that he had come to give not peace on earth, but rather divi sion,' and that one of his apostles declares that ' there must be heresies,' or sects, ' that they which are approved may be made manifest.' Keeping in view such declara tions, we conclude, that if these evUs had not occurred, we should have had good ground to question the truth of the rehgion of Christ, and the divinity of his mission. But we wUl no more take occasion, fi-om the cfrcumstance that these evUs were predicted, to -rindicate or extenuate them than we wUl attempt to exciflpate the murder ofthe Prince of Life — the most shocking crime ever perpetrated on THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 31 earth — because it too was explioitiy predicted. We will admit, then, without reserve, that division in the church is in itself a fearful evU — ^that no two parts of this holy society can be completely separated from each other, but one or both must be chargeable with the giult of schism ; and we will admit, that division draws in its train number less other evUs of appaUing magnitude. 'This is a lamen tation, and shall be for a lamentation.' ' To deplore the malady,' it has been said, ' is often easier than to discover the cure.' This may be true ; but no consistent Protestant, no man who admits the suffi ciency of scripture as a rule of faith and conduct, but must admit, that if visible and external unity be prescribed as a characteristic of the church, the principles on which that unity may be maintained, and aU divisions prevented, or healed, must also be prescribed. What, then, are those principles ? In other words, what is the scripture basis of unity among the followers of Christ ? ' Hie labor, hoc opus est.' This is the grand problem, which it is the object of the present essay to solve ; a problem which, if a difficult, is also a most momentous and interesting one. In rehgion, as in secular science, the detection and exposure of an erroneous but specious hypothesis, con stitute often an important step towards the discovery of the true theory. It may therefore be useful, before pro ceeding to the statement and proof of what is believed to be the system of union prescribed in scripture, to set aside formaUy two or three fallacious and unscriptural schemes, not wholly destitute of plausibility, and on the basis of which a general union has been sometimes attempted. It may be observed, then, first, that the scripture principles of union, whatever they may be, must be such as are perfectly compatible with the fundamental principle 32 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. of protestantism — the right of private judgment. Reason and scripture concur in teaching, that it is at once the privUege and the duty of every man to investigate the truth for himself — to employ on rehgion, as on other subjects, the mental faculties which his Maker has be stowed on him, and the bestowal of which is a sufficient indication that they were intended to be exercised. Hence, too, we meet with such injunctions as the following — injunctions addressed to all men without exception : — ' Search the scriptures.' ' 'Let every man be fuUy per suaded in his own mind.' 'I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.' ' By faith,' by an inteUigent belief of the truth, christians 'stand;' and even apostles dis claimed ' dominion over the faith ' of thefr converts. How monstrous, then, and intolerable the tyranny of those who demand a dominion disclaimed by apostles. Any scheme, indeed, which interferes vrith the prerogative of every individual to judge for himself in matters of rehgion, is at once irrational and impious; — irrational, as prohibiting the employment of reason on the most momentous of all subjects, anfl turning man into a brute; and impious, as destructive of the very nature of religion, as rendering it not ' a reasonable service,' a mental employment, a hom age rendered with 'the understanding and the spfrit,' and suited to the nature of the Being to whom it is rendered, and of the being who renders it, but a mere bodily service, a mechanical exercise. If the Supreme Ruler had delegated to any man, or any set of men, the right to think and judge for others in religion, he must, in equity, have delegated at the same time the responsibility necessarUy attaching to that right ; and they who were divested of a prerogative so noble would not have been accountable for thefr sentiments and conduct. But no such exemption will be admitted by the 'Judge of all,' in THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 33 awarding the retributions of the great day. 'Every one of us shaU give account of liimself unto God.' ' Every man shall hear his own burden.' The truth is, that the right to think for himself is a privUege which no man can transfer to another, and of which no created power can divest him; it is one of Ms natural and inahenable rights : nor would it have been necessaxy to assert it thus formally, had it not been that in some proteatant churches, as weU as in the Church of Rome, the denial of it has been assumed as an indispensable basis of christian union. It may be remarked, in the second place, that nothing can be requfred as a term of union in the christian church that is at all incompatible with 'simpUcity and godly sincerity,' or with the strictest morahty. If knowledge and faith be essential elements in the rehgion of Jesus Christ, integrity and probity are ingredients, not less in dispensable. Our ' God is a Spfrit, and tiiey that worship him must worship him in spfrit and in truth.' The king of Zion is 'first king of righteousness, and after that king of peace.' 'The wisdom that is feom above is first pure, then peaceable.' Peace, then, however valuable and de sfrable, must not be sought at the expense of truth or purity; nor can any man, in order to prevent discord and division, be reqxifred to compromise his conscientious convictions — to profess with his mouth what he does not beheve in his heart. This remark naturaUy suggests another, namely, that the scripture principles of union, whatever they may be, must be compatible with every reasonable degree of freedom, and particularly vrith the right of every man to profess his opinions. Precious as is the blessing of peace, it must be recoUected that, by a church, as well as by an earthly commonwealth, peace may be too dearly purchased ; and it is too detiily purchased, if it is pur- 34 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. chased at the expense of truth, or righteousness, or freedom. It is said that when a deputation from the Baptist Mis sionary Society, on occasion of the renewal of the East India Company's charter, waited on a late influential statesman, with a request that he would exert his influence to ensure hberty to preach the gospel in India, he rephed, ' I wish every man to have hberty to think for himself in rehgion.' 'Liberty to think,' exclaimed Mr Fuller, one ofthe deputation, 'Liberty to think is no hberty at all; that is a privUege we wfll ask from no man ; the greatest despot cannot take it from the meanest slave ; what we ask, is hberty to propagate our thoughts.' WhUe it is one of the natural and inalienable xights of man to exa mine and judge fox himself in rehgion, it may be regarded as another of these rights, that he is entitled to profess and propagate his sentiments. Christianity is a rehgion of knowledge and purity ; and it is also, and pre-eminently, a reUgion of hberty, of per fect openness and undisguised frankness. It has no esoteric doctrines, like the systems of heathen phUosophy^ — no mysteries or secrets reserved exclusively for the initi ated, hke the systems of heathen superstition. Its motto is, 'What I teU you in darkness, that speak ye in hght; and what ye hear in the ear, that proclaim upon the house-tops.' Such being its genius and character, it may confi dently be presumed that the principles which it prescribes for the preservation of union, and all its principles and an-angements, must be compatible with the natural right of evexy man to pxofess, as well as to form his opinions — a right, it may be added, belonging to men both individ ually and as organised into societies or churches. Not but that the privilege may be grossly abused, and that, by the abuse of it, a man may render himself obnoxious THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 35 to ecclesiastical censure, or even to civil penalties; but that no man, who is accounted worthy to be a member of a christian community, can be requfred, as a condition of fellowship, to suppress entfrely what he deems important truth, or to sanction what he believes to be error or to act on the preposterous principle ingeniously recommended some years ago in the ' New Model of Christian Mis sions.' There may be matters in reference to which, for the sake of the peace and edification of the chm-ch, a man may be requfred to act on the maxim, ' Hast thou faith, have it to thyself before God.' But when any vital truth is endangered, no man can be requfred to be silent. Such a requfrement would have come with singular infelicity from him who said in allusion to such an occurrence, 'To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour.' Obvious and incontrovertible as may seem the preceding principles, the present state of opinion in some sections of the Protestant church makes it necessary to state them fully and distinctly. Besides the principles and schemes already set aside, as wholly inadmissible, there is another scheme, somewhat more plausible, to which it is requisite briefly to advert. It may be observed, therefore, in the last place, that the scripture plan of unity and concord cannot be based on absolute uniformity of opinion and practice. This is the basis on which the church of Rome maintains her pretended unity — a basis which may perhaps be consistently assumed by a church claiming infalhbihty, and denying the right of private judgment. It is a basis which may seem to be countenanced by some expressions in scripture, if we attend to the sound rather than the sense of them. It has often been attempted to be acted on ; it was the favourite scheme, the idol of the framers pf the Solemn League and Covenant, about the middle of 36 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. the sixteenth century ; and it is a scheme to which, even in recent times, some exceUent persons have clung with fond affection or obstinate pertinacity. Among these may be mentioned the late Dr M'Crie. " clarum et venerabile nomen.'' Postponing for a httle the question, whether scripture facts and principles give any countenance to this scheme, it may be observed that the slightest knowledge of the constitution of human nature, and the slightest attention to the history of the human race, may convince us that it is a scheme utterly hopeless and chimerical. The schemes formerly mentioned would be unlawful, or undesfrable, if practicable ; this woifld be impracticable, even if it were desfrable. On all other subjects on which they think at all, men entertain different opinions. But there is 'no subject so likely to occasion a variety of sentiment as rehgion ; for though its fiindamental doctrines are com paratively few, and abundantly obvious, there is no subject which presents in its subordinate details such a multiph city of intricate and difficult questions, none that has been so much perplexed by controversy, none more hkely to awaken prejudice and passion, and none for the investiga tion of which the human faculties labour under a stronger indisposition or inaptitude. Reasoning a priori, then, we might confidently have anticipated, that on many points in rehgion men would adopt various and even opposite sentiments. Nor can it be necessary to add that, in point of fact, such has been the case. Even in the purest and happiest ages of the church, the friends of rehgion have not been entfrely of one mind ; and if at times there has been something hke an approximation towards complete uiuformity, it has probably been when the spfrit of free enqufry has been THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 37 extinguished, when the faculties of the human mind were in a state of utter torpor, so that the uniformity that has prevailed has resembled the state of peace described by the Roman historian, a peace effected by the extexmina- tion of the inhabitants of the countxy : ' Solitudinem faciunt, pacem adpellant.' If, then, on taking a hasty glance at this scheme, we axe chaxmed by its goodly aspect, and axe disposed to say of it, as the pxophet said of Jesse's firstborn, ' Surely the Lord's anointed is before him;' on looking at it more attentively, we feel compeUed to do what he did under a supernatural impulse — to alter our judgment, and with draw our preference. The more, indeed, that we con sider it, the deeper wiU be our conviction that no man who is not monstrously ignorant of human nature and human histoxy, ox who is not the hopeless victim of some feaxful haUucination, wiU expect it to be xeahsed on earth. Since, then, we are constrained to reject all the plans of union afready mentioned, as destructive of the still higher interests of truth, or purity, or liberty ; since we must say of them, as the prophet said of Jesse's elder sons, ' Neither hath the Lord chosen these,' the question recurs. What is the scripture plan for maintaining the unity of the Saviour's mystical body ? To that plan we are afready in some measure ' shut up,' by finding all others to be either unwarrantable or impracticable. Of that plan, the characteristic feature is forbearance ; and the essence of it may be expressed in a single sentence. All true christians ought to walk together in all things in which they are agreed ; and as the points on which they differ, though some of them may be very important, can not be essential to salvation, they ought to make these points matters of forbearance. There are some other D 3'S THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. principles which are either these cardinal maxims ex pressed in diffexent woxds, ox which axe necessaiily deduci- ble from them ; and which it may be pxopex to specify. Such are the principles that no man, or set of men, has a light to add to the truths and laws of Jesus Christ, or to jDrescribe other Conditions of communion than those ap pointed by Christ ; that no church ought to requfre any thing as indispensable to fellowship which the New Testa ment does not require as indispensable to salvation ; and that all christians ought to be considered as admissible in every church to all christian privUeges. • The scheme of union now described must not be con founded with the lax and latitudinaiian plan pxoposed by the celebxated Mx Locke, and advocated, if I mistake not, by Mi Robinson of Cambxidge. The foxbearance which it will be the object of the following pages to recommend, is not unlimited ox undefined. All genuine chxistians, as their very name implies, and as has already been stated, have ' one faith.' There are certain truths in which they are united, truths which it is not necessary and which it woifld not be wise to attempt accurately to enumerate ; but which may be characterised generally as relating dfrectly to that remedy which it is the gxeat object of the gospel to disclose, to the person and work of the Saviour, and to the two cardinal blessings of the new covenant — justification through the blood of Christ, and sanctification by his Holy Spiiit. These may be xegaided as the essential ox central principles of the christian sys tem ; and they, it may be added, who are united in these entral principles, will be united substantiaUy in their views of the truths which axe immediately contexminous. It may be fai-thex added, that when we speak of foxbeai- ance, in xefexence to things which axe secondaxy ox non essential, the term does not imply approbation or sanc- e THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 39 tion ; for, strictly speaking, the opinion or practice which is the object of forbearance, is always understood to be more or less erroneous. Of the plan of union now stated, it is not necessary to say that it is not propounded as a novelty ; as something which has not before been promulgated and demonstrated. It coincides nearly with the weU-known aphorism of Witsius : 'In necessariis, unitas; in non necessaxiis, libeitas; in omnibus, charitas. In things necessaxy, let thexe be unity; in things not necessaxy, libexty; in all things, charity.' Of this scheme of unity the funda mental piinciples wexe luminously stated, and conclu sively established, by Baxtex and Howe, and otheis of the Nonconfoxmists in the seventeenth century; and the eloquent and masterly exposition of them by Robert Hall, in our own times, has rendered them extensively known, and done much to recommend them to general accept ance. But in the northern division of the island there are many intelligent persons by whom these principles are very imperfectly understood, and many more who are in some degree acquainted with them, but who con sider them as altogether impracticable, or as liable to other insuperable objections. A brief statement and Ulustration of the chief argu ments furnished by scripture for these principles cannot therefore be considered as an unnecessary ox unimpor tant service. After what has just been stated respecting the discussion which these principles underwent in the gxeat contxoversy between the Nonconfoxmists and the divines of the Church of England, and the exposition given of them by HaU and Mason, and other recent authors, the reader will not be so unreasonable as to expect the foUowing statement to possess much origi nality or novelty. 40 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 1. Ffrst, then, we may appeal to the fact, established by various passages of the New Testament, that in the apostolic age, as soon as men embraced the gospel, and were regarded as genuine saints, they were forthwith admitted to the communion of the church. Of this fact we have a signal iUustration in the case of the first con verts from among the GentUes. When ' the gift of the Holy Ghost was poured out' on Cornehus and his friends, ' Peter answered. Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we ? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.'* On his return to Jerusalem, ' they of the ofrcumcision contended with him,' and in strong terms disapproved of his conduct. ' But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and ex pounded it by order unto them ;' and what was the conse quence? 'When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.' f The preju dices entertained by Peter, and by his brethren of the circumcision, against the admission of the Gentiles to intimate intercourse in private, and to the feUowship of the church, were exceedingly strong; and, considering the partition-wall which for ages had sepaxated the Jews from other nations, it would have been strange indeed had it been otherwise. It may well be supposed, too, that these new converts were not all at once freed from their former errors; that their views of the gospel were comparatively crude and confused. But no sooner did Peter and his beheving brethren of the cfrcmncision per ceive that God had ' granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life,' than their Jewish prejudices gave way; and ¦* Acts X. 47, 48. f Acts xi. 18. THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 41 they hastened to imitate the divine example, by recognis ing as brethren those whom God had recognised as his chUdren. What, then, are we to think of those ministers and christians, in subsequent times, who have never had to struggle with such prejudices as perplexed Petex and his counti-ymen, but who xefuse to imitate thefr conduct, by decUning to admit to communion in the chuxch pexsons whom yet they acknowledge to have ' leceived the Holy Ghost,' and ' repentance unto life,' as well as theraselves ? The whole strain of the New Testament is in entfre accordance with the conduct of Peter on the occasion now referred to; but it may suffice to quote another passage proving the fact, that in the primitive age all true christians were regarded as entitled to all the privi leges of the church: ' I wrote unto the church, but Dio trepbes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious woxds : and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddetb them that would, and casteth them out of the church.' * Here is an instance of a man who, under the influence of an arxogant and domineering tempex, refused to xeceive the acknowledged servants of the Saviour, and who expelled from the church those that did receive them. But how strong and emphatic the terms in which the beloved apostle reprobates his conduct? The remark is surely too obvious not to occur to many readers, that there are some in our own days who woifld feel indignant to be ranked with Diotrepbes, but who imitate his conduct in its spfrit and almost in the letter, by refusing to receive * 3 John 9, 10. D 2 42 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. those who are ministers of Christ, and by casting out of the church persons who give satisfactory evidence of saintship, and who must of course hold every essential truth, but who differ from them on points of subordinate importance or of dubious evidence. It may possibly be aUeged that the examples now ad • duced axe not perfectly relevant, and that, with the excep tion perhaps of the advocates of the absurd dogma of 'apostohcal succession,' no christian community would refuse altogether to acknowledge the ministers of Christ of other denominations. It may be alleged that the GentUe converts admitted by Peter into the church, and in whose admission his Jewish brethren so cordiaUy acquiesced, held no erroneous opinion, and foUowed no unscriptural practice. And it may be aUeged yet farther, that in every church in the primitive age, in which visible unity was maintained, the members, hke ' the multitude of them that beheved' in Jerusalem, were ' of one heart, and of one soul,' united in opinion as well as affection. But, supposing that differences of sentiment had existed in any church, would not its members have been necessi tated to separate, and consequently would not they have been justified in sepaxating from each othex, and in oxganizing themselves into distinct associations? In such cfrcumstances, what can be done fox any chuich but that which Paul did fox the church at Corinth, namely, to exhort its members to ' speak aU the same thing, to take care that there be no divisions among them; but that they be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment;' — an exhortation which seems to proceed on the assumption, that perfect unanimity of behef and profession is an indispensable basis of union? The conclusion, it may be replied, is rash and unwar ranted. In proof of this assertion, and in corroboration THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 43 and Ulustration of the principle of forbearance, we may appeal, 2. To the dfrections given for regulating the conduct of christians who differ in thefr rehgious sentiments. From the epistie to the Romans, it appears that there prevaUed in that church a diversity of opinion respecting meats and days : ' One beheveth that he may eat all things ; another, who is weak, eateth herbs. One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day ahke.'* What, then, is the conduct prescribed by the apostle Paul, in reference to these differences ? Not that the majority should expel the minority — not that the minority should withdraw — not that either party should attempt to produce a compulsory uniformity — not even that the more enhghtened should set themselves to reason thefr weak brethren out of their conscientious scruples. Widely difi'erent from all these is the expedient prescribed by the inspfred apostle, for maintaining the peace and unity of the church amid these differences of opinion. That expedient is the mUd and reasonable one of mutual forbearance : ' Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth : for God hath received him. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmi ties of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.'t In accordance with a practice not infrequent with him, Paul takes occasion, from a specific occurrence, to prescribe a general rule, and to enforce it by a general reason. * Rom. xiv. 2. f Rom. xiv. 1,3; and xv. 1, 7. 44 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY, The general rule which he prescribes to christians, in the circumstances referred to, is, ' Receive ye one another.' This reception seems naturally to comprehend two things : that they should admit their brethren who differed from them, first to thefr affectionate intercourse in private ; and, next to communion with them in the Lord's supper, and in all the other privileges of the church. To the argument for forbearance, deduced from the directions given to the christians at Rome, it would be futUe to object, that the practice of neither of the parties involved anything sinful — that it was equally allowable to eat ox to abstain, to» observe the day or to disregard it. This may be true, but the apostle intimates with sufficient plainness, that the views of the one party were less en lightened than those of the other ; that, for their misap prehensions and prejudices, the former were not free from blame ;* and, accordingly, he chaxactexises them as ' weak in the faith.' Scxiptuxe is the best interpreter of scripture, and, in confirmation of the statements just made, let us turn to the first epistle to the Corinthians (chap, viii, and X.) and we shall find that the expressions, ' weak in the faith,' ' weak brother,' and ' weak conscience,' are descrip tive not only of those whose consciences were unneces- saxUy scxupulous, but of those whose consciences wexe mis- infoxmed and mistaken. In one instance, the epithet ' weak' is employed to denote those GentUe convexts who were still so far enslaved by the fooleries of their former superstition, as to beheve that the idols adored in the heathen world were subordinate or tutelary deities. ' How beit, there is not in every man that knowledge,' (the knowledge that an idol is nothing,) 'for some with con science of the idol,' with a latent behef of its power, ' eat * Fatetur quidem hoc in illis esse mtioswin, sed ad tempits veniain dart postulat. — Calvin. THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY, 45 the sacrifice as a thing offered to an idol, and their con science being weak is defiled.' Thus comprehensive was the class of persons denoted by the expressions, ' weak in the faith,' and ' weak brethren.' But, with regard to aU such weak believers, to all who really held the faith of the gospel, though adul terated in some degree by admixtures of Jewish preju dice or Pagan superstition, the apostolical canon to their more enhghtened brethren was, 'Receive them.' Such was the rule ; and what was the reason on which it was founded ? One most potent and satisfactory. ' God had received them,' — ' Christ had received them.' They had obtained remission of sins, and reconeUiation to God, through the death of his Son, and had been made par takers of the regenerating Spirit. Such is the rule prescribed for regulating the con duct of christians, who, as such, must be imited in the faith of aU that is essential to salvation, but who disagree respecting things which are either indifferent or of inferior importance. And such is the reason adduced to enforce the rule. But if the reason be valid in one case, it will apply in all cases exactly similar. Wherever, then, the reason exists, the rule must be acted on ; in other words, wherever men have found acceptance with God, wherever Christ has received them, their fellow-christians are bound, by the example of their common Father and theix common Savioux, to xeceive them ; to love them as bxeth- xen, and to admit them to communion in the chuxch. It might well be expected that the xule and the xeason now Ulustxated, would commend themselves frxesistibly to the judgment and the conscience of every man. Does it not savour of intolerable presumption and impiety, to reject those whom God has received ? If they axe qualified for communion with Him, are they unfit fox communion 46 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. with US ? Are we holier than He ? If we decline to make his conduct a model for ours, how is it that the question of Peter faUs to force itself upon us, and to fill us with amazement and dismay ? — ' What am I, that I should withstand God?' How is it that the question, put even by a man who had not a proper regard for the divine authority, and who ' loved the wages of unright eousness,' does not convince us that such conduct is at once most preposterous and most criminal ? — ' How shall I cuxse, whom God hath not cuxsed? ox how shall I defy, whom the Loxd hath not defied ?' 3. The passage next to be adduced is one so vexy impox tant as to merit separate and ample consideration. It might almost seem as if it had been intended to antici pate and obviate all the obstacles to the preservation of union which might arise in every successive age, and to furnish a rule incapable of being misapprehended. The passage referred to, it is scarcely necessary to add,isPhUip- pians in. 15, 16 : 'Let us, therefore, as many as be per fect, be thus minded ; and, if in anything ye be other wise minded, God shaU reveal even this unto you. Never theless, whereto we have afready attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.' On this passage the following remarks axe submitted to candid considexation. Fixst, Though the exhoxtation which it contains is addressed moxe immediately to those who axe chaxactexised as 'perfect' — that is, to saints of superior attainments, or to those who had arrived at clear views of christian liberty — it may be regarded as indfrectly apphcable to all christians ; since it is obhgatory on all to aim at perfection. Secondly, It is perhaps scarcely ne cessaxy to obsexve, that the oxiginal expiession xendered ' othexwise minded,' shoifld have been txanslated 'variously THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 47 minded,' or ' of different minds.' It imphes, not that the persons spoken of differed from the apostle with regard to the propriety of pressing forward in the christian course, (for that would have been incompatible with the christian character,) but that they might differ in thefr senti ments respecting some paxticulax point of religious behef or practice. Thfrdly, The grand requfrements specified in the passage are plainly these, that while christians are ' to press toward the mark,' or along the course, ' for the prize of the high caUing of God in Christ Jesus,' they are to take special care, with respect to ' things already at tained, to walk by the same rule, and to mind the same thing.' They must walk together in whatever things they are agreed, and not extend thefr separations in conduct a single hairbreadth beyond their differences in opinion or belief Fourthly, The passage declares that if chris tians walk together in the things in which they are agreed, their differences will diminish : ' God wiU reveal to them the things about which they are variously minded.' And, of course, it is only whfle complying with the precept, that they are warranted to expect the fulfilment of the promise. Such seem to be the grand requirements contained in this important passage ; and such is the precious and animating promise by which these requfrements are enforced. On reviewing the passage, it wUl pro bably occur to the inteUigent reader, that of late years it has often been quoted by persons who had httle more than a glimpse of its meaning; or who, at least, had no adequate conception of the wide and varied range em braced by the leading principle which it inculcates. Often has it been quoted, or referred to, by scrupulous advocates of Bible and Missionary Societies, as justifying thefr con duct in co-operating, on such occasions, with christian 48 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. brethren of other communities. Unquestionably it justi fies such co-operation ; but, had these persons considered the passage attentively, the question with them would probably have been, not, Do we act right in going thus far ? But, Why do we stop ? Why do we not go much farther? Why not, in our character, as membexs of organised churches, act on the same principle ? And why do not churches act on it in their conduct toward each other ? The latter is a department of action not less sacred and important than that to which the principle is so frequently applied ; and, as the principle is expressed in universal and unrestricted terms, it must be regarded as obligatory wherever it is applicable. ' Whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule.' Whatever then be the doctrine, or the ordinance, or the precept re specting which the foUowers of Christ are of one mind, they must unite, as they have opportunity, to maintain that doctrine, to observe that ordinance, and to obey that precept. Some will probably be startled or amazed at these statements; but, hard as they may bear on our sectarian sentiments and piaotices, they axe necessary and obvious xesults from the apostolic canon. 4. Another argument to prove that christians axe bound to act towards one anothex on the pxinciple of foxbear ance, may be deduced from numerous exhortations in the New Testament, in which forbearance is explicitly men tioned or naturaUy imphed. Of these exhortations the foUowing may serve as a specimen : ' Charity suffeieth long, and is kind; — beareth aU things, beheveth aU things, hopeth aU things, enduxeth all things.'* 'Beax ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.' f * 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 7. ¦f Gal. vi. 2. THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 49 'Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, for bearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.'* 'Above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves; fox charity shall covei the multitude of sins.' t To asceitain the bearing of these, and of simUar exhor tations, on the subject of more immediate discussion, two tilings must be determined. Ffrst, Do these exhorta tions inculcating forbearance, either implicitly or ex pressly refer to intellectual mistakes as well as to infirmi ties of temper and conduct? And, secondly. If they refer to both, how far ought forbearance to be extended ? That they were meant to comprehend both, may be con fidently presumed from the following considerations : That the language employed is unrestricted, and ap phcable to both; that on all other subjects, on politics, on the various branches of literature and science, and even on their secular business, men find it requisite to exercise forbearance; that in religion, if anywhere, it might be expected to be necessary, both from the intrin sic grandeur and difficulty of the subject, and from the natural inaptitude of the human mind for religious inves tigations; that ' now we know but in part, and see through a glass darkly,' and that therefore it is chimerical to suppose that on everything in religion we should see exactly alike; that perfection in knowledge, or absolute freedom from errors in judgment, is no moxe to be ex pected in the pxesent state than peifection in hohness; and that as mattexs of behef and opinion axe often intxi- cate and obscuxe, whfle those of a moxal and pxactical nature are comparatively plain and clear, and as mistakes * Ephes. iv. 1, 2. t I Pet, iv, 8. 50 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. in reference to the former are generally less criminal than sins of the heart, the temper, and the conduct, inteUectual errors and infirmities seem to be the most proper of aU objects of forbearance. To aU this it may be added, that the forbearance inculcated in scripture must include such errors and infirmities, since it is inculcated as the means of 'maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.' Were it not that the subject is so important, and one which many excellent persons are slow to understand, an apology would be necessary for remarks so obvious. This question is one, indeed, which common sense and uni versal experience might easily determine. The next is somewhat more difficult, though it admits also, it is pre sumed, of a satisfactory solution. How far ought for bearance to be extended, whether in reference to errors of judgment, ox to sinful infixmities of tempex and pxactice? To answex this question, we have only to consider atten tively who are the persons on whom the duty is enjoined ; and who are the persons towards whom it is to be prac tised. In reference to both parts of the question, the answer must be, chxistians ; and aU genuine christians without exception. The pexsons addressed are addressed as ' saints,' as ' faithful,' or believers, as ' brethren in Christ Jesus;' and none of them are exempted from the obligation to exercise foxbearance toward others, or from the benefit of having it exercised toward themselves. This foxbearance, then, is to be exeicised not only in xefexence to things aUowed on both sides to be indiffer ent, (for this scarcely deserves the name of forbearance,) but in reference to opinions deemed to be unscriptural, and to practices considered to be wxong, pxovided these opinions and pxactices axe not thought incompatible with a state of grace and salvation. Not but that we are to THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 51 use assiduously aU legitimate means to reclaim our chris tian brethren from thefr errors, and to induce them to relinquish practices which to us seem sinful; but that we are not to eject them from the church, or to exclude them from oux private intercourse or our fraternal love. If they 'hold the head,' they cannot be chargeable with vital or essential error; and, though the points in which they agree with us may be few in number, they must be greater far in magnitude and importance than the par ticulars, however numerous, in which they differ from us. If, then, we separate from them, or compel them to separ ate from us, by making our differences terms of com munion, we are guflty of schism — of a causeless and unwarrantable rupture in the Saviour's mystical body. ' When the lovers of Christ,' says a late excellent author, who wiU not now be suspected of unscriptural laxity, ' When the lovers of Christ cannot sit down at the same holy table, the blame of schism must rest with those whose sentiments or behaviour is the cause why they cannot do it.'* It woifld unduly pxotxact this discussion — othexwise it might have been useful to xeinforce these remarks — by showing that the reftisal to exercise forbearance, and the attempt to ensure a complete uniformity, tend necessaxily to pxoduce, and, in the past histoxy of the chuxch, have actually produced, consequences the most injurious and deplorable. WhUe the conduct in question involves an audacious invasion of the prerogatives of Jesus Christ, by making new laws for his church, it tends inevitably to introduce those very strifes and divisions which it pro fesses to avert ; it checks free enqufry, and nurses a spirit of tame and slavish submission to human authority ; it * Dr Lawson. 52 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. leads the professors of rehgion to fix thefr regards chiefly on subordinate topics and sectarian peculiarities, to the neglect of the vital truths of the gospel and ' the weightier mattexs ofthe law;' it ariests the cuixent of biotherly love, or tm-ns it into a wrong channel, by diverting it towards those who reflect our own views and sentiments rather than towards those who exhibit conspicuously the hneaments of the Saviour's lovely image. AU these baleful effects it has actuaUy produced to a frightful extent ; and, in addition, it has sometimes occasioned the pxactice of an unprincipled laxity ; for the members of the same church have con tented themselves with an agreement in a form of words, whUe yet they differed, and knew that they differed, in sentiment; thus tolerating or practising vfle dissimifla- tion to avoid an avowed and honest forbearance. Wexe it not that thexe axe topics to which it is stiU moxe necessaxy to advext, various additional pxoofs and considexations might be adduced. As a natural sequel to that last illusfr-ated, we might deduce an argument of no small weight fr-om that brotherly love so frequently and impressively enjoined on the Saviour's disciples. The injunctions to cultivate this sentiment must, of course, be understood as enjoining all those acts which constitute its natural fruits and appxopxiate expxessions, — such as the xelief of the tempoxal wants of oux bxethxen, sympa thising with theix sorrows, mutual advice and encourage ment, union and co-operation in works of benevolence, and in the services of reUgion. Now, of aU rehgious ser vices, thexe is none bettex adapted to nouxish and expxess the fraternal affection of christians than the Lord's sup per — an ordinance in which they are requfred to profess thefr- attachment to all thefr- feUow- disciples, as weU as their gratitude to then- common Redeemer and Lord. Contemplating the ordinance in itself, we might naturally THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 63 expect that it would be the first in which christians would unite, and the last in which they would separate ; for it relates exclusively to those grand and central facts and truths which they hold in common, and partakes in no degree of a sectarian character. How singular, and how melancholy, that by so many rehgious denominations this order of procedure has been completely reversed ; and that the Lord's supper, instead of being made a bond of union, and a medium of holy feUowship among all the followers of the Lamb, has been converted into a badge of party, — a centre not of attraction and cohesion, but of divi sion and repulsion ! How singular, and how melancholy, that nowhere are the members of the same family so re luctant to meet together as at the table of their common Father ; that the privUege in which they are most averse to unite is the paxticipation of the memorials of his boundless love ! It is a just and striking remark, which has been made by some writers on Moral PhUosophy, that in ethical, and even in metaphysical speculations, the instinctive prin ciples of human nature, and the indestructible sentiments of the heart, are often a surer guide than the ratiocina tions of the intellect; and that the former sometimes keep the enqufrer right when the latter would lead him astray. A remark somewhat simUax wUl apply to the question befoxe us, and to many othex theological ques tions. Thexe axe cextain piinciples and affections which may be regarded as christian instincts — as natural and unreasoning propensities of the 'new creature;' and, however incompetent in themselves to guide their pos- sessoi, they wiU sometimes point towards the path of duty when his learning and his leasonings are apt to perplex or mislead him. Among these instinctive prin^ ciples one of the most remarkable is christian love — a E 2 54 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. principle which prompts spontaneously to rehgious inter course with christian brethren. Unless 'the love of many had waxen cold,' there had been fewer divisions among the foUowers of Christ, and their divisions had not been disgraced by such bitterness and fierceness. And if christian love glow in the bosom of any man, he wiU feel irresistibly convinced that the present divided state of the chuich is a tremendous evU, though he may not discern distinctly the means of cure ; he wUl probably feel, too, that it is at once unnatural, preposterous, and sinful to avoid aU fellowship on earth with those with whom he hopes to be associated for ever in heaven; and he wiU cherish an unutterable longing for that bright and blissful day when ' Jehovah shall bind up the breach of his people, and heal the stroke of their wound.' More particular notice might have been taken also of an argument of gxeat foxce foxmerly hinted at; that, namely, which may be diawn from the unity of the church. That all teue christians are members of the catho hc church, or mystical body of Christ, is almost an iden tical proposition, and wfll not be disputed. Nor wiU it be disputed, that all its members are entitled to its com munion, and to aU its privUeges which they are capable of enjoying; and more especially that the injunction, 'Do this in remembrance of me,' imposes on all the dis ciples of Christ the obhgation, and imparts to them the right to come to the sacramental table. But if these things axe admitted, and if it be admitted farther, that unity is prescribed as an essential feature of the chuich, it wiU foUow, that the gate of admittance into any paitieu- lax chiistian society ought to be exactly of the same dimensions as that of admittance into the chuich at large; that since aU genuine saints have a right to the communion and the pxivUeges of the chm-ch, nothing THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 55 ought to be demanded as a condition of their admission to any section of it but satisfactory evidence that they are saints; that, consequently, where this evidence is fur nished, they ought to be received to that communion and these privileges; and that forbearance ought to be ex tended to their mistakes and deficiencies, however great and manifold. And, with regard in particular to the sacrament of the supper, it wfll foUow, that to debar others from our feUowship for any reason which does not cancel completely thefr title to the ordinance, and render it unwarrantable for them to celebrate it by themselves, is to withhold a privUege, the right to which is confened on them by thefr Saviour — to violate unnecessarily the unity of his body, and to inflict a punishment most cruel and unjust. ' I would ask,' says the great John Howe, ' whose is this table? Is it the table of this or that man, or party of men ? Or is it the Lord's table ? Then cer tainly it ought to be free to his guests, and appropriate to them; and who should dare to invite others, or forbid these?' To these remarks it may just be added, that the prin ciple now contended for, namely, of communion in the things in which christians agree, and of toleration in those about which they differ, is a principle perfectly in teUigible in itself; and, though the practical application of it may not always be free from difficulty, yet if the unity of the church is to be maintained at all, it is the only principle on which that unity can be maintained, every other scheme being either impracticable or unwar rantable. Besides this, there seem, indeed, to be only two others conceivable. The one is that of absolute uni formity — a scheme so completely chimerical, that, as has afready been shown, he who hopes to see it realised may he regarded as beyond the reach of reasoning. The other 56 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. is substantially that of Mr Locke, namely, to receive into the church aU who admit the divine origin of Christianity, however widely they may differ as to what Christianity is ; a scheme utterly unlawful, and evidently absurd, as pro ceeding on the assumption that Christianity contains no fundamental principles, and as attempting to combine into one society materials the most discordant — those who may not be agreed even as to the object of worship, or the basis of hope, or the medium of acceptance; and who ought, therefore, to be regarded as the disciples of religions radicaUy different. The limits within which this Essay must be restricted, render it inexpedient to dUate on these arguments, or to introduce others which might have been noticed. I must, theiefoie, content myself by leferring the reader to the works of Baxter and Howe, and to the treatises of Hall and Mason, by whom this branch of the subject has been discussed with great abUity, and at great length. It will be perceived, that in so far as the discussion has yet proceeded, it is occupied with union, viewed chiefly in reference to the ordinary members of the church, and to the terms of what is caUed christian communion. But those who acqiuesce in the conclusion at which we have already arrived, wiU be prepared to acquiesce in a simUar conclusion with regard to the office-bearers of the church, and the terms of what has been denominated ministerial feUowship. As the conduct of Christ constitutes our model in the former case, it ought, doubtiess, to consti tute our model in the latter. If, then, there be persons whom we are persuaded he recognises as his ambassa dors and servants, we not only may recognise them we ought to recognise them in that capacity; recoUecting that he who receiveth the messenger receives him that sent him, and that he that despiseth the servant vfrtually THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 57 despiseth the master. And in spite of the multitudinous and vexatious controversies which have been agitated respecting ' the proper channels for conveying, and the legithnate mode of vesting' the office of the christian pastor, the subject would not occasion much perplexity in practice, if professing christians were but duly sohci- tous to foUow the example, and to comply with the in junctions of Christ. It is the dfrection of Paul to his son Tunothy — 'The things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.' In this passage there are two qualifications specified as indispen sable to a christian minister — piety and abUity. He must be a 'faithful man;' he must be himself a behever; and he must have correct and enlarged views of ' the truth as it is in Jesus,' together with a capacity and a dis position to communicate instruction, so as to be ' able to teach others also.' In judging of the reahty and the de gree of these indispensable requisites, there is room, of course, for a considerable diversity of opinion. If, how ever, it is ascertained to us, either from personal know ledge, or competent testimony, that any minister belong ing to another department of the christian church, pos sesses undoubtedly these qualifications, we cannot greatly err in acknowledging him; but we may greatly err in refusing to acknowledge him as ' a servant of Christ,' even though he should dissent from us on many points of ecclesiastical polity, and even on the minor detaUs of chris tian doctrine. It was formerly observed, that there is something ex ceedingly incongruous in the conduct of those christians who refuse to sit down together at the table of their com mon Father ; and that to exclude from the supper of the Lord those whom the Loid himself invites, seems mani- 68 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. festly repugnant not only to the enactments of scripture, but to the natm-al perceptions and the instinctive feehngs of the new creature. We may pause for a moment to re mark a similar incongruity in reference to ministerial communion. There is surely something unnatural in refusing to acknowledge as servants of Christ, and min isters of his word, persons who are evidentiy accredited by Christ himself. And yet, how extensively has this in congruity been exemplified in our own country ! Few evangehcal ministers of any denomination, (and it is only of them that we now speak,) but are glad to consult the excellent commentary of Matthew Henry, when preparing for their weekly expositions of scripture ; and few of them butwould recommend in the highest terms Dr Doddridge's invaluable treatise on ' The Rise and Progress of Rehgion in the Soul.' But, suppose that Henry or Doddridge had appeared in Scotland a few years ago, how would they have been treated ? Five years ago, Henry would with difficulty have been allowed to deliver one of his inimi table expositions, or Doddridge one of his beautiful and tender sermons, in a pulpit belonging to the estabhshed church, many as were the excellent ministers it then con tained. And fifty years ago, each of these admfrable in dividuals would probably have experienced simUax tieat- ment in both blanches of the United Secession. Is there not something not only sinful and absurd, but monstrous and shocking in such exclusiveness and intolerance? Can that, we are ready to ask, be a chm-ch of Christ, which refuses to 'receive' the most honoured of Christ's servants ? How was it that conduct so unchristian was not universaUy execrated as an intolerable disgrace to the christian name ? Is ft not lamentable to think, that though there were ministers in these churches who felt that this part of their ecclesiastical system was inde- THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. ~ 59 fensible, and who wished for greater freedom, there were many who hardly felt the pressure of thefr fetters, and not a few who gloried in the yoke of bondage, as a badge of superior strictness and sanctity ? What, then, let us now ask, what are the leading prin ciples to which we have been conducted by the preceding observations? They are these: That no church is at liberty to add to the terms of christian and ministerial fellowship prescribed by Jesus Christ; that every church therefore is bound to admit to its communion all who give credible evidence that they are his disciples, and to acknowledge as his ministers aU whom he evidently acknowledges ; and that, walking together in the things in which they agree, christians should exercise mutual toleration and indulgence in reference to the things about which they difi"er. Before considering the practical bearing and apphcation of these principles, and before enquiring how far they would, if acted on, restore the unity and peace of the church, it may not be improper to advert to two additional considerations, which serve not a httle to reinforce and recommend them. In the first place, the great maxim of co-operating with others, in so far as we agree with them, approves itself to natural reason as proper and advantageous. It has been observed by some authors, that many, both of the doctrinal and practical principles of Christianity, which at first view seem questionable or absurd, are found, on mature exami nation, to be eminently wise and reasonable; and that thus ' the fooUshness of God is wiser than men.' It has been remaiked, too, of the doctrines and arrangements of Christianity, that though many of them are such as would never have suggested themselves to the human inteUect, yet all of them, if carefuUy studied, wUl be found to be in 60 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. perfect unison with the dictates of enUghtened reason and of genuine philosophy; and that the more they are studied, the more wiU they be admfred. That the principle of christians walking together in so far as they are agreed, seems on a superficial view improper or unreasonable, need not be asserted ; but unquestionably it is a principle which the better it is understood, the more reasonable wiU it appear. It is, in fact, only an example of a more comprehensive principle which the common sense, or a perception of theii common interests, has forced pn the convictions of mankind at large, and on which they act every day, either in the ordinary business of life, or in the more dignified and important enterprises of political improvement, or of general philanthropy. It would argue little less than insanity were a man to decline the com pany of a friend because they could travel together only fifty mUes, and must take a separate route for a mile or two farther. We do not think for a moment of joining with Socinians oi Roman Cathohcs in thefr rehgious services ; but without hesitation we co-operate with So cinians, and Roman Catholics, and even with infidels, in exertions for the abolition of slavery and of the slave- teade, or foi the vindication and enlargement of our civil liberties. The xeason is obvious. Co-opexation in such mattexs involves no sacrifice of principle. We axe undex- stood to concui with such pexsons in opinion, only in the things in which we unite with them in action. Why then should christians exhibit in their conduct an exception to a maxim so obviously proper ? Why extend theix sepa ration in conduct beyond the boundary of thefr- diffexences in sentiment? Why scrapie to join in those oxdinances and services about which they entertain the same views ? or why encumber these ordinances and services with exteaneous appendages which render communion im- THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 61 practicable ? Alas ! it would seem that in this matter, as unhappily in many others, ' the chUdren of this world are in thefr generation wiser than the chUdren of Ught.' It may serve yet farther both to iUustrate and corro borate the conclusions at which we have arrived, if, in support of th'em, we adduce some human testimonies or authorities, if we may so denominate them. There are several important particulars which entitle these authori ties to great weight. They may be found in abundance, even in quarters where they are hardly to be expected ; and they are distinguished by thefr vast number, and by thefr high value. It is a remark of Leibnitz, with which some philoso phers have been much dehghted, that ' truth is more generaUy diffused in the world than is commonly ima gined ; but it is too often disguised, and even corrupted, by an alloy of error, which conceals it from notice, or impafrs its utihty.' How far this remark wiU apply to subjects of secular science may admit of dispute ; but there can be no doubt that it is peculiarly applicable to the sen timents entertained among genuine christians respecting the vital doctrines of rehgion ; and it seems not inappli cable to the topic of present discussion. Some of the leading principles, which it is the aim of the preceding reasonings to estabhsh — the principles that nothing ought to be made a term of communion which the scripture has not made a term of salvation, and that every church ought to receive all whom Christ receives — have been admitted by writers who, from thefr ecclesiastical connexions, or from other cfrcumstances, might have been expected to be reluctant and tardy to admit them. They have been unequivocally acknowledged, for example, by writers belonghig to the church of England — that chuxch which imposes various things confessedly indiffeient as indis- 62 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. pensable conditions of communion, and many of the ministers of which unchm'ch the ministers and members of aU other Protestant chm-ches. In an Essay on ' Unity in Rehgion," by Lord Bacon — an Essay which of itself would have given us an exalted idea of the judgment and sagacity of that extraordinary person — we meet with the foUowing observations : — ' Both these extremes (the ex tremes of party zeal and lukewaxmness) are to be avoided; which wUl be done if the league of christians, penned by our Saviour himself, were in the two cross clauses thereof soundly and plainly expounded : " He that is not with us is against us ;" and again, " He that is not against us is with us ;'¦ that is, if the points fundamental, and of sub stance in religion, were truly discerned and distinguished from points not merely of faith, but of opinion, order, or good intention. . . . Men ought to take heed of rending God's church by two kinds of controversies. The one is, when the matter of the point controverted is too small and hght, nor worth the heat and strife about it, kindled only by contradiction ; for, as it is noted by one of the fathers, Christ's coat indeed had no seam, but the church's vesture was of divers colours; whereupon he saith, " in veste varietas sit, scissura non sit," they be two things — unity and conformity. The other is, when the matter of the point is great, but it is driven to an over great subtUty and obscurity, so that it becometh a thing rather ingenious than substantial.' ' No man,' says Jeremy Tayloi, ' is to be separated from the church of God, but he that has separated himself from God, and has left his duty; and for a trifling cause to cut a man off from the communion of the church, is to do as the man in the fable, that espying a fly on his neighbour's fore head, went to put it off with a hatchet, and struck out his brains,' Listen next to a writer stiU better entitied to be THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 63 heard on such subjects than either Bacon or Taylor. 'If men would be themselves,' says ChiUingworth, ' and be content that others should be, in the choice of thefr reh gion, the servants of God and not of men ; if they would aUow that the way to heaven is no naa-rower now than Christ left it, his yoke no heavier than he made it — that the belief of no, more difficulties is required now to salva tion than was in the primitive church — that no error is in itself destructive and exclusive from salvation now, which was not then ; if, instead of being earnest Calvinists, rigid Lutherans, they would become themselves, and be content that others should be plain and honest christians ; if all men would believe the scripture, and freeing themselves from prejudice and passion, would sincerely endeavour to find the true sense of it, and hve according to it, and requfre no more of others but to do so, nor denying theix communion to any that do so, would so oxdei theii public service of God, that all which do so may without scruple or hypocrisy, or protestation against any part of it, join with them in it ; — who doth not see, that seeing all neces sary truths are plainly and evidently set down in scripture, there would of necessity be among all men, in all things necessary, unity of opinion? and notwithstanding any other differences that are or could be, unity of communion, and charity, and mutual toleration ?' It is remarked by another writer belonging to the same church, and the remark is not the less just that its author afterwards acted in opposition to it, that ' without all controversy the main inlet of aU the distractions, confusions, and divisions of the christian world hath been, by adding other conditions of church communion than Christ hath done.'* Not only may human testimonies or authorities in sup- * Stillingfleet's Ireneoum. 64 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY port of the leading principles of this Essay be found in abundance, even in quarters the most unhkely, in the works of individuals connected with churches which sys- tematicaUy violate them ; but the authorities which might be adduced, are recommended by thefr vast number and thefr great respectabiUty. To give specimens would be easy, and would not be uninteresting or uninstructive. It must suffice, however, for the present, to refer to Dr Mason's valuable 'Plea for CathoUc Communion — a work in which the learned author has triumphantly demon strated that the principles which constitute the basis of such communion were recognised and acted on in the fiist and pm-est ages of the chiistian chuich ; that they weie adraitted into the symbohcal books of most of the Pio- testant chuiches at the eia of the Refoimation ; and that, since that period, they have been unequivocally recog nised by a host of distinguished authors, both in om' own country and in foreign lands. It may not be unimportant to add, that of the distinguished writers who have written in support of the ' principles in question, some, as Howe, and Baxter, and Hall, have been Ulustrious for sanctity as well as genius ; that to these principles they have attached the highest value ; and that on approaching them, they have felt the kindling influence of the theme, and have written with more than thefr wonted energy and ability. It may be observed, too, that some authors, such as Leighton and Doddridge, who have been stUl more conspicuous for piety and charity than abUity, and who have not written professedly, or at length, in defence of these principles, have vfrtually or formally recognised them; and this they have done apparently under the guidance and impulse of christian instinct rather than of intellectual conviction. ' The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him ; and he wiU show them his covenant. THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 65 The meek wiU he guide in judgment ; and the meek will he teach his way.' Nor is it uninteresting to remark, that the principle of admitting all teue christians to the privi leges of the church (from which that of forbearance fol lows as an obvious corollary) is occasionaUy recognised even by those rehgious communities which attach the greatest importance to their denominational peculiarities. Accordingly, in the statement of the ' terms of commu nion' — which it was once a frequent practice in Scotland to give on sacramental occasions — the particulars usually specified were, a * competent portion of christian know ledge, a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a conduct becoming the gospel.' In other words, neither more nor less than satisfactory evidence of the essential elements of the christian character. A similar recognition is generaUy made in the service still retained in many churches, styled ' the fencing of the tables ;' a service in which the character of the Saviour's genuine disciples is briefly dehneated, an affectionate invitation given to them, urging them without distinction to come to his table, and in which his enemies, but his enemies only, are solemnly debaxxed. It may be added, that while thexe have been individuals of consideiable abihty and of undoubted piety, who have written in opposition to the principles here expounded and advocated, their numbei has been comparatively small; and the fact of thefr opposition may probably be in a great measure accounted for from constitutional severity of temper, or from the operation of external cfrcumstances singularly unpropitious to senti ments of hberahty and love. Having thus endeavoured to ascertain and establish the fundamental principles prescribed in the New Testament for the conservation of the unity of the christian church, F 2 66 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. amid the differences of sentiment which may occur among its members, and having glanced at the number and character of the human authorities by which the view given of these principles is sanctioned and recommended, it is now time foi us to proceed to the consideration of the practical bearing and appUcation of these principles. This is an inquiry which may seem to involve a teespass on the field of a neighbour. That field, however, is so very extensive that it may be permitted to take a hasty glance of it. The trespass may be allowed the more readily, that it is necessary fox the fuller development of the principles which it is the object of this Essay to expound and defend ; and that with regard to the appli cation of these principles — ^perhaps with regard to the principles themselves — the views of the present writer may not be in entfre accordance with those of some of his esteemed associates. It may be asked, then, whether, in order to act out these principles, it would be requisite for the various sections into which the church is divided, to resolve themselves into thefr integral elements, and to attempt the forma tion of one vast community, comprehending the good of every name and every sect? Supposing it practicable, would it be desirable to demolish all existing christian structures, that out of their ruins might be reared one spacious and magnificent temple ? to throw aU oui present churches into a crucible, as it were, in which they may be fused and purified, and out of which they wiU come forth consoUdated into one form of surpassing beauty and love liness ? To this question, it may be answered, that nothing so extravagant is contemplated for a moment. Though all genuine christians are united, as thefr very name im phes, in all essential tenths, there subsists among them an almost incalculable diversity of sentiment with respect THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 67 not only to secondary truths, but to christian ordinances, and to ecclesiastical pohty and discipline ; and untU this diversity be removed, or at least greatiy diminished, there wiU exist an insuperable barrier to a perfect visible union, and a necessity for separate sects or associations. But notwithstanding this, the great principle afready so often stated, would, if honestly and fuUy acted on, go far towards the extinction of our present unsightly divisions, and the restoration of harmony and unity. Let us glance hastily at some of the changes and results which it would neces sarUy ensure. Ffrst, This principle, while it would leave each church individually fuU liberty to adopt that form of govern ment and that mode of worship which seemed to itself most scriptural or expedient, would consteain it, at the same time, to open the door for the admission of all genuine saints. It would thus put an end to the unscrip tural and tyrannical conduct of many christian societies, who demand as conditions of communion what the scrip ture has not prescribed as conditions of salvation ; and would compel them to receive individuals whom they now reject, not because these individuals are not saints, but because they differ from the office-bearers, or from the majority of the members on some subordinate points of religious docteine, or of ecclesiastical polity. In the next place, this principle would lead to an im portant alteration in the conduct of many rehgious deno minations with respect to the character and qualifications of the office-bearers as well as of the members of the church. Any man aspfring to the office of the christian ministry, will naturally prefer to connect himself with that society, whose views of church order and christian insti tutions accord most nearly with his own. Assuming an accordance on these matters, the only question to determine 68 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. his qualifications would seem to be — Is he a 'faithful' oi beheving ' man, and able to teach otheis also ?' Is he a peison whom Jesus Christ lecognises as a seivant ? And if satisfactoiy evidence be affoided on this point, no church ought to refuse to acknowledge him. Were this rule adopted, it would decide, so far as the peace of the chuich is concerned, almost all the questions which foi more than a century have agitated and divided the Saviour's foUowers in the northern division of oui countey. In that case, the oidinance of covenanting, and the covenants swoin by our ancestoxs, the powex of the civil magistiate in matteis of xeligion, ihe jus diviiium of a paiticulai foim of chm-ch government, the extent of the atonement, and a host of othei subjects, would appear at once to be matters, not unimportant or insignificant, but matters with regard to which no man had a right to 'judge his brother, or to set at nought his brother.' Hitherto the principal question in reference to religious doctrines and opinions has been— Are they true ? and if teue, an assent to them has forthwith been made imperative. But if the principle of 'receiving aU whom Christ receives were adopted, there is another quahty besides the truth of religious doctrines and opinions, which it would be necessary to ascertain ; and that is, their importance. Are they of such magnitude that any church is warranted to make them terms of ministerial or christian communion ; and to declare that an enor respecting them disqualifies for the pastoral office, or is incompatible with salvation ? If this question were proposed, many persons of unim peachable orthodoxy and piety would probably discover, to their amazement and grief, that they had been invading the prerogatives of the King of Zion, adding to his laws, establishing terms of communion, and tests of ministerial character, at variance with those estabhshed by himself; THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 69 and that thus, while pleasing themselves vrith the idea that they were ' very jealous for the Lord God of hosts,' they had been acting with an arrogance and an intolerance better suited to the lofty pretensions of the Pope of Rome than to the humble character of Protestant pastors. The preceding remarks refer more especially to the maxims to be acted on by churches in the admission of ministers and members. The next point which presents itself for inquiry is this — How the principle of co-opera- . tion and communion, in so far as christians are agreed, would determine the conduct which different religious denominations ought to pursue towards each other — the existence of distinct denominations being assumed, as for the present at least, altogether unavoidable ? Would that principle sanction, or requfre what has been called ' free' or ' open communion ?' It would. Would it requfre, then, unrestricted intercommunion among the various societies into which the church is now, or may at any time, be divided ? Some readers, who may be prejudiced against the principle as lax and unscriptural, wfll perhaps be surprised to be told that it sanctions no such intercom munion. There may be churches which encumber the ordinances of Christ — the Lord's Supper for example — with ceremonies regarded by many enhghtened christians as unauthorised, perhaps as positively sinful ; and so long as these appendages are made indispensable, it is obvi ously impossible for such persons to communicate with such churches in that ordinance, without countenancing spfritual tyranny, or perpetrating an offence stiU more aggravated. There may be churches in which discipline is systematically disregarded, and to communicate with which in what are called seahng ordiuances, would be to erase the hne of demarcation between the church and the world, and to sanction the incorporation of the holy and 70 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. the profane — the hving and the dead. What the principle requfres is, communion among christians and churches, only in so far as such communion can be practised or enjoyed without doing or sanctioning what is sinful. It is only, therefore, where this indispensable prerequisite is attended to, that the ministers and members of one chris tian denomination are at hberty to observe the ordinance of the Lord's Supper in a church belonging to another community. But where this prerequisite is ensured, such occasional intercommunion seems not only lavrful and expedient, but obhgatory and imperative. In the ordinance of the Supper, the foUowers of the Lamb are admitted to a fellowship both with himself and with each other, which is pecuharly sacred, intimate, and endearing. And hence this ordinance is emphatically designated, 'the communion.' It is matter of regret, however, that so many christians are accustomed to con ceive of christian and church communion as consisting chiefly, if not solely, in the joint observance of the sacra ment of the Supper. There are other institutions and ser vices in which they may hold mutual feUowship, and in all of which they ought to walk together in so far as they are agreed. And if they did so, how numerous and important are the services in which they would unite, and how few and unimportant in comparison are those in which they would be separated ? An Episcopalian, a Presbyterian, and a Congregationalist minister could not co-operate in matters of church government ; but to these matters thefr differences in opinion may be restricted ; and if so, they ought in all other things to unite in practice. Not only might they meet together, as they now do, with signal advantage, to advocate the claims of Bible and Missionary, and of other reUgious or benevolent institutions, but they might occasionaUy interchange pulpits, and hold feUow- THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 71 ship in the holy eucharist, and in aU the solemiuties of rehgious worship. A Baptist and a Peedobaptist cannot have feUowship in the ordinance of baptism ; but they may be equaUy attached to evangehcal tenth, and equaUy zealous for strictness of disciphne ; and their difference on one point need not separate them on all other matters; or, rather, it ought not to separate them in any ordinance or practice with respect to which thefr views are in unison. If this rule apply to the ministers of religion, it vriU apply also to churches and congregations. It is almost superfluous to add, that as a difference of sentiment on one point, or on a few points, ought not to prevent com munion among ministers and organised societies tn those other things about which they do not differ, stUl less ought it to prevent friendly intercourse or rehgious com munion in private hfe among christians of difi'erent deno minations. And if christians belonging to diflferent congregations, or different denominations, instead of cherishing a sectarian and proselytising spirit, would cultivate frequent intercourse in prayer, and in those pious and phUanthropic labours in which they might combine without any compromise of principle or con science, they would soon find that it was both ' good and pleasant for brethren to dweU together in unity.' Besides the things afready specified, there are many others in which ministers, and christians, and churches, differing in some subjects, might advantageously co-ope rate or communicate with each other. Why might not they, for example, have occasional or regular meetings for devotional exercises, and for consultation relative to their common interests and duties, and for the dissemination of thefr common Christianity ? Even where christians and churches are not necessi tated to separate in some things by differences of sentiment. 72 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. regular and intimate intercourse maybe rendered exteemely difficult, or wholly impracticable, by geographical distance, or other physical obstacles. Surely, however, churches situate in different or distant regions, and thus precluded from personal intercourse, do not act in the social and sympathetic spirit of thefr religion if they have no inter course whatever ; if they do not, by letters, or-deputations, ask and impart information respecting each other's welfare, and do what they can to strengthen each other's hands in the work of their common Lord. The preceding observations wiU enable us to estimate the value of ceitain maxims bearing on the subject of chiistian unity, and vrith which the reader is probably not unacquainted. Somewhat more than twenty years ago, when a union betwixt two of the principal dissenting communities in Scotland began to be projected, (a union soon after auspiciously consummated,) it was a maxim steenuously inculcated on the one side — ' No communion without union.' Like some other aphorisms in rehgion and morals, this maxim is exceedingly vague and am biguous, and may be regarded as proper or improper, according to the sense in which it is understood. If it mean, that rehgious communities ought to have no fellow ship unless they are united, and know each other to be united in the faith of the gospel, the maxim is indisputably just, and highly important. But if it mean, and at the time referred to it was very generally understood to mean, that there ought to be no communion in pleaching, or in the Lord's Supper, or in any christian ordinance, except among chuiches which are agreed in church government, and incorporated into one association, the maxim, so far from being valuable or teue, is dfrectly repugnant to the scripture principle of christians walking together so far as they are agreed. THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 73 It is not a httle remarkable, that vrithin the last twelve month a maxim exactly the reverse of that just mentioned has obtained considerable currency — ' Co-operation with out incorporation.' This aphorism has the advantage of being comparatively clear and definite ; and it is an aphorism on which religious communities, known to be at one on matters of doctrine, ought in certain cfrcum stances to act. But the great rule of walking together in so far as they are agreed, wiU impel them to proceed farther than this maxim suggests, or seems even to permit. If they are agreed in thefr views not only of doctrine but of ecclesiastical order and discipline, in these also they ought to co-operate ; in othei woids, they ought to coalesce into one general society, to incorporate. The alteration proposed on the maxim must therefore be regarded as a decided improvement — ' Co-operation immediately, vrith a view to incorporation hereafter.' In connexion with this topic it may be added, that the problem. How far the incorporation of churches — that is, the combination of particular societies under the super intendence of one representative assembly— ought to be carried, is a problem which scripture does not determine. and which must be decided chiefly by considerations of expediency. It may be observed, however, that there are many who at this moment seem disposed to carry this incorporation to an undue and injurious extent. There are many, for example, who seem to imagine that if all, or almost all, the denominations of evangelical Presby terians in Scotland weie to coalesce, (a consummation not improbable,) it would be thefr interest and thefr duty to subject themselves to the control of one general assem bly. Judging from experience, we may pretty confidently assert that such an arrangement would be the reverse of beneficial. A court so large, and invested with an authority G 74 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. SO extensive, would probably be a tyrannical one; it would be a most cumbrous engine for the teansaction of business ; its proceedings would almost always be exceedingly dUa- tory; and its decisions would probably be not seldom absurd or unjust. Were the consummation referred to reahsed, it would, in aU probabihty, be more conducive to the great interests of truth, and righteousness, and freedom, if these churches were to form themselves into four or five sister communities, grouped as their local situation would suggest; disclaiming aU authority over each other; but holding regular consultations by delegates or representatives. Arguing, indeed, either from the essential principles of human nature, or from the past history of nations and churches, it would seem that as the bulk of mankind become more enlightened, and better qualified of course for the exercise of power, they wUl claim a degree of influence incompatible with thefr exist ence in the form of enormous masses, either pohtical or ecclesiastical, and wiU naturally subdivide into smaUer societies. ' But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment' Is it seriously intended then, some wfll now ask, to recommend to aU the christian communities in the king dom, the immediate practical adoption of the principle of communion in aU things in which they agree? The answer to this question seems abundantly obvious. If the principle be a scriptural one, the sooner it is adopted the better ; nor can the adoption of it be postponed for a year or a month but guUt must attach to tiiose who cause the delay. It is, however, equaUy obvious that the con duct of men, to be acceptable to God, must be the result of enUghtened conviction ; and that tUl the office-bearers and members of a church are convinced of the scriptural authority of a principle, they ought not to act upon it. THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 75 But at present many axe not persuaded that the principle in question is a scriptural one; and, therefore, what duty more immediately demands is this. That they who have doubts on the subject should set themselves instantly to the careful and honest investigation of it ; and that they, whether ministers or private christians, who think that they have attained to more enhghtened views than others, should endeavour to remove that ignorance and those prejudices on the part of weaker brethren, by which their own movements are probably cramped and impeded. Let us now tty to picture to ourselves the spectacle which the church would exhibit, if the principle of co operation and communion among christians were univer sally, or even generaUy acted on ; and the results which such co-operation and communion might be expected speedUy to produce. And, first, it is evident that were such a state of things realised, the divisions of the church would be almost entfrely healed, and her unity re-estabhshed. There would stiU exist distinct denominations ; but whatever is most mahgnant and hurtful in such divisions would be exterminated. It could not perhaps be said that ' there was no longer Greek and Jew, cfrcumcision and uncir cumcision, barbarian and Scythian, bond and free ;' but it might be said that ' they were all one in Christ Jesus,' and that ' Christ was all, and in all.' There might still be the Episcopahan, the Presbyterian, the Congregation- ahst, and the Methodist; the Baptist and the Psedobaptist; the Voluntary and the advocate of Estabhshments; but they would be perceived to belong to one heavenly com munity, and would be separated by a distinct hne of demarcation from 'the world of the ungodly.' Amid complexional differences, which would impart to them variety and beauty rather than deformity, they would 76 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. exhibit conspicuously a famUy hkeness ; and the influence of thefr common Christianity, though shghfly modified by thefr individual pecuharities, would be unequivocaUy stamped on them all. ' Varied in all, and yet in aU the same.' ' Non omnibus facies eadem, neo tamen diversa.' What has been said in reference to the worshippers in the celestial sanctuary, and wiU be fully reaUsed only in them, would thus be in no small degree exemplified also in the worshippers on earth; — ' Ten thousand thousand are their tongues. But all their hearts are one.' In the next place, the union now described, imperfect confessedly as it might be, would yet affoid a glorious pioof of the touth and divinity of the gospel of Christ — a pioof fax moie satisfactoiy than would be afforded by that absolute uniformity or identity of sentiment among chris tians, after which some good men have so fondly, but so preposterously sighed. Absolute uniformity, indeed, so far from affording a strong proof, or any proof at all, of the tenth of Christianity, would afford steong ground for suspecting that it was a ' cunningly devised fable,' or that, even if true, the Son of God had no longer any dis ciples on earth. It would prove that Christianity, instead of invigorating and expanding, paralysed completely the human faculties; that it bereft men, and was intended to bereave them, of the powers of thought and reasoning; since, if they think and reason at aU, they cannot be expected in the present state to think exactiy alike. But if, under the influence of the gospel, the foUowers of Christ were prevailed on to walk together so far as they were agreed, never extending thefr separation in prac tice beyond the hmits of their differences in sentiment. THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 77 they would afford a proof of the truth and efficacy of their rehgion, plain and palpable, and which even the irreligious could hardly fafl to appreciate. It would be perceived that they loved each other with an unearthly affection — an affection ardent and disinterested, and which could surmount the most formidable obstacles ; not with that sectarian attachment which is hmited to those who think and act in all things like the individual himself, and which is usuaUy combined with no little enmity towards aU who think and act differently. It would be perceived, that where they separated, it was not from caprice or jealousy, but with reluctance and grief, and only in obedience to the high and peremptory require ments of principle and conscience. Their conduct would thus exhibit a most atteactive combination of holiness and charity, of conscientiousness and forbearance; a most inste'uctive exemphfication of that ' wisdom which is from above,' the first attribute of which is purity, and the second peaceableness — an exemplification likely to produce the happiest results. While thefr separation, in certain things, evinced on the one hand a scrupulous regard for the divine authority; thefr union, on the other, would be so conspicuous as in a great measure to absorb thefr differences, and to reahse the object of thefr Saviour's intercessory prayer, that ' his disciples might be all one in him and in the Father ; that the world might believe that the Father had sent him.' But, thfrdly, if such would piobably be the beneficial effect of the conduct undei consideration on those who were without, it would exert also a most salutary influence on those who were vrithfri. It would soon diminish their remaining differences, and pave the way for thefr consoli dation in a more perfect union. Considering the pro bable inequalities of the faculties and attainments of the G 2 78 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITl'. saints in heaven, it may appeal somewhat pioblematical whethei diffexences of sentiment wUl even theie be whoUy unknown. Such diffexences, indeed, seem necessaiily to imply some degree not only of uncertainty and imperfec tion, but of misapprehension and mistake, and would appear, therefore, to be incompatible with a state in which ' that which is perfect is come, and that which is partial is done away;' and in which the saint shall 'know, even as he is known.' One thing, however, is certain, that it is absurd to expect that such differences will be altogethex unknown in any state of the chuich on earth, not except ing even hex mUlennial condition. But, notwithstanding the useful purposes to which they axe lendeied subsei- vient, they are an evil in themselves ; the fewer they are in numbei, and the less in magnitude, the bettei; and in piopoition as christians of all paities approach nearer to the tenth, they will approach nearer to each other ; and their differences will diminish both in number and mag nitude. Now, what can be bettex adapted to accomplish these effects, than to act on the jjiinciple heie explained and lecommended ? Let them be united in affection, and walk togethei in the things in which they agiee, and theie will be 'gxeat searchings of heart' on account of those things in which they aie compelled to separate. Separa tion will then be felt to be a souxce not of pleasure, but of anguish. Tiuth, also, wUl have a much bettei chance to gain the victoxy ovei evexy remaining exxox ; foi it will be examined with compaiative candoui, as emanating not from rivals oi enemies, but from fiiends and brethren. Such would be the natural tendency of co-operation and communion among christians, to facflitate the progress of truth, and to accelerate a more perfect union. But our expectation that these would be the auspicious results, rests on something more than the natural tendency of THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 79 things. Natural tendency would infaUibly be reinforced by supernatural influence. Christians would then occupy that position, in which, if scripture be true, the misappre hensions which divide them would be dissipated by divine illumination. They would be complying with the precept which enjoins them, ' Whereto they have afready attained to walk by the same rule, to mind the same thing ;' and ' the God of love and peace' would not be tardy to fulfil the promise of ' revealing to them the things about which they were vaxiously minded.' If the leading positions of this Essay be accoidant wilh scripture, it wUl follow that there has been something fearfuUy wrong — ' that there is utterly a fault' in the sen timents and practice of various religious communities in this country. This remark, hke many of the preceding observations, is intended to apply more especially to the churches in Scotland; foi, whatever may be our superiority, in some respects, over our dissenting brethren in England, it hardly admits of dispute, that they have decidedly the advantage in regard to clear views and scriptural conduct in matters of church-fellowship. Much has lately been spoken and written, in this part of the island, respecting the sole headship of Christ, and the rights and privUeges of his people ; and, unquestionably, much has lately been done towards the dissemination of more accurate views on these important subjects, and on the kindred subject of the right of every man to profess and practice his religion, without being subjected on account of it to any pecuniary mulct, or any political disability. This last right forms a branch of natural or civil liberty ; but clear and correct as may be the ideas which have lately begun to be generally entertained regarding it, yet, at the risk of giving offence, it may be affiimed, that of chiistian oi leligious hbeity, in the strict sense of the term, ideas the most crude have 80 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. long been, and stiU aie, extensively pievalent. We speak of Jesus Chxist as the only head and king of the chuich, and of the power entrusted to its office-bearers as being ministerial or executive, not legislative. We disclaim all authority to add to his enactments ; and we regard it as one of the most impious assumptions of ' the man of sin' that he arrogates this authority ; that ' as God, he sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.' But have there not been Protestants who have virtually, if not avowedly, claimed the power of ecclesiastical legisla tion — who have added (unintentionally, it may be hoped,) to the terms of ministerial and chiistian communion pie- sciibed by Christ himself, lefusing to lecognise as chiis tian ministexs persons whom, it was allowed, he recog nised, and demanding as quahfications for his table more than he demands ? The fact now stated may be mortifying, but to those who are conversant with the history of the church, it will not seem surprising; for almost every age presents in stances of simUar ignorance and enor. The injunction of the departing Redeemer — ' Go into all the woild, and pieach the good news to eveiy creature,' is abundantiy plain and explicit ; and yet for nearly three centuries aftei the Reformation, the Protestant churches, with a few inconsiderable exceptions, made no effort to fulfil this injunction, and seemed scarcely aware of its existence. The declaration of the apostle, disclaiming the aid of ' carnal weapons,' is not obscm-e ; and yet, for fifteen centuries, the majority of professing christians have not hesitated to avaU themselves of force, when in thefr power, for the propagation or support of their xehgion. These are specimens of inattention and apathy, oi of ignorance and misappiehension, which we contemplate with amaze ment and regret. But whatever be the complacency with THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 81 which we survey our own attainments, let us not imagine that we are exempt from aU such omissions and mistakes. Such are the fulness and riches of scripture, that there are many important principles in it — some of them pro bably at no great distance from the surface — ^which remain yet to be discovered; and such is the weakness of the human mind, and such its inaptitude to discern spfritual things, that even the wisest and best of men labour under much ignorance and many misapprehensions. It is, then, eminently probable, that there axe opinions enteitained, and practices foUowed by chxistians, and by christian churches in the present age, which at no distant period wUl be viewed vrith emotions of wonder and sorrow, simUax to those vrith which we survey the former apathy of the Protestant churches to the spfritual miseries of heathen nations. What those opinions and practices are, is a question which weU deserves attentive consideration — a question to which, of course, it would be presumptuous to undertake to give a fuU answer; but without much presumption, we may rank among them the sentiments and conduct of many churches in reference to christian union and fellowship. Against the preceding views and reasonings numerous objections — some of them not destitute of plausibUity — wUl be urged. If time and other cfrcumstances had per mitted, it might have been proper to consider these objections at some length ; but as this is impracticable, I shall advert only to a few of the moie specious. 1. It has been said that the New Testament enjoins on christians perfect unanimity of sentiment, and that it seems to enjoin this unanimity as necessaiy to the unity of the church, and to feUowship among its members. But, not to recur to what has afready been said respecting the 82 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. antecedent improbabiUty of this unity and fellowship being suspended on a moral impossibUity, it may be observed, that if absolute unanimity of sentiment be prescribed as necessary to these objects, scripture must contradict itself; for it has been shown, that it permits a difference of opinion on some points among christians, and enjoins mutual forbearance. It may be observed farther, that in some passages where union is mentioned, the union spoken of is union of heart rather than of opinion ; and that in others, where unity of opinion is referred to, it is recommended, not as an indispensable prerequisite to feUowship among christians, but as an attainment which) like perfection in hohness, ought to be the incessant object of thefr desfres, their prayers, and thefr efforts- Of the primitive church at Jerusalem, it is said that ' the multitude of them that beheved were of one heart and of one soul;' or, hteraUy, 'were one heart and one soul.' It is probable, that at the period referred to, differences of opimon had not yet appeared ; but the union described seems to have been a union chiefly of affection and love ; for in illusteation of it, it is added, ' Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had aU things common.' It was the prayer of Paul for the members of the church at Rome — ' Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus ; that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,' But this prayer foUows and precedes an earnest exhortation to forbearance and love ; and if forbearance and love be exercised — if, as is intimated in the context, christians, like thefr master, seek to please not themselves, but ' every one his neighbour, for his good to edification,' they wfll be able, in vfrtue of their union in the vital THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 83 truths of thefr rehgion, to ' glorify God with one mind,' or soul, and ' vrith one mouth,' vrith concord both in sen timent and language. To the Corinthians, says the same apostie, ' Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye aU speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions,' or schisms, ' among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.'* The contentions and divi sions which prevaUed in the church at Corinth, originated not in differences of opinion respecting the tenths of Christianity, but in exteavagant predUections for particu lar teachers. This is the evU against which the enteeaty of the apostie is dfrected. Allowing a united attachment to Jesus Christ, and to the cardinal doctrines of the gos pel, to be the remedy prescribed for the cure of this evfl, it wUl not foUow that absolute unanimity in reference to every article of behef is necessary as a ground of church- feUowship ; for, if so, absolute holiness and sinless per fection must be equaUy requisite ; since they too are en joined in peremptory terms on all the Saviour's disciples. Indeed, if any such principle as that alluded to had been inculcated in any part of the Bible, it might weU have staggered and confounded us ; but especiaUy must it have had this effect, if it appeared in a letter in which those who knew an idol to be an utter nonentity, and those who beheved it to possess some sort of supernatural power, are requfred to hve together in peace and concord. SimUar to the passage just quoted, is the beautiful and affectionate exhortation to the PhUippians : ' If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any feUow ship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded ; having the same love, being * 1 Cor. i. 10. 84 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. of one accord, of one mind.' Or, as it is rendered and paxaphxased by Dx Doddridge : 'In this view I am desfrous, beyond expiession, that ye may aU be unanimous, main taining the same love, howevei your sentiments, and, in some instances, your practice may be divided ; stiU having your souls joined together, and all thefr ardour combined in attending to the one great thing, which ought to be the leading concern of every christian — the advancement of vital, practical hohness.' 2. It may be objected that the scheme here recom mended proceeds on the pxinciple that theie are certain truths in scripture which are essential, and others which are not essential. But this, it has been said, is a principle utterly unwarrantable; and a principle which, even if conceded, could not be employed as a rule of conduct, since the scripture furnishes no infallible test by which to distinguish the one class of truths from the other. This objection introduces to a field of much interesting and profitable discussion ; but, tempting as is the topic, it is necessary to pass it over with a very hasty survey. It may be observed, however, in the first place, that in the different opinions which have been entertained on the distinction referred to, we have a curious and instructive exemplification of the common adage, that ' extremes often meet.' To those who are conversant with the great controversy between Protestants and the members of the church of Rome, it must be known, that whUe the latter deny the distinction, great importance was at one time attached to it by the former ; and, accordingly, it is vindi cated most teiumphantiy, and at great length, in ChiUing- worth's inestimable treatise : ' The Rehgion of Protestants a Safe Way to Salvation.' Strange, however, as it may weU appear, the distinction was denied by several writers in Scotland during the last century, who have laid THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 85 claim to superior steictness and orthodoxy. Those who have admitted it, have been charged with lax and unscrip tural notions ; and a formal condemnation of it may be found in what are called the ' Testimonies ' emitted by some most respectable denominations of christians. Secondly, It seems but candid to aUow, that the dis tinction has not always been expressed in terms the most happy or unexceptionable ; and this has occurred partly through culpable carelessness, and partly through the unavoidable poverty of human language. When it is asserted that some things in religion are fundamental, vital, and essential, and that others are not — that some are of piimaiy, and others only of secondary or subor dinate importance, the inference is apt to be drawn, that it is intended to represent the latter as being of no impor tance whatever; and more especially is this impression likely to be conveyed, if these latter are characterised by such epithets as cfrcumstantial, non-essential, &c. But the fact is, that there is no christian doctrine, or institute, or precept, that is absolutely unimportant, or even of little importance. The statutes of God axe aU moie pxecious than gold. None, it may be charitably hoped, whose authority is entitled to any weight, evei meant, ia employ ing the distinction, to insinuate that anything in xehgion is of small impoxtance. The idea to be conveyed is, that whfle thexe axe some facts and txuths in chiistianity which, in oidinaxy cases, must be known and beheved in oxder to salvation, there are others which, though conducive to edification and comfort, are not thus essential ; ignorance of which, or the misapprehension of which, is not incom patible with a state of grace. Thfrdly, The distinction, when thus explained, seems so evident as to be altogether incontrovertible ; and the denial of it wUl lead to consequences the most appaUing ; H 86 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. and of which, obvious though they be, the pexsons making the denial are httie aware. If there be no essential truths in Christianity — none, the belief of which is necessary to salvation — it wUl foUow, conti-ary to the peremptory de clarations of scripture, that men may be saved without faith. On the other hand, if all truths are thus essential, it wfll follow, that no man has yet been saved^ and that no man is ever likely to be saved ; for it hardly admits of dispute, that no man has ever yet known and believed, and that no man, at least on earth, is likely to know and believe all the facts and principles of Christianity without a single exception. Whether, then, we can distinguish them or not, there are in religion certain things which are essential to salvation, and others which are not thus essential, though, in their proper place, they too may be of great value and importance. In the fourth place, allowing that the distinction can not be diawn with uneiring piecision, it wiU not follow, either that it is purely imaginary, ox that the pxinciple implied in it is one on which it would be unifoimly impos sible 01 unwaixantable to act. The colouxs of the lainbow run into each other, so that no human eye can determine with infallible accuracy where one ends and another begins. But does it follow from this, that we are unable to dis tinguish red fi-om green, or that to make the distinction is of no practical utility? The night and the day are divided by the twilight, which partakes of the nature of both. But does it foUow from this, that theie is no dif- feience between light and daxkness, or that it would be as safe and agreeable foi a man to walk in the night as in the day ? Somethuig similai holds in xeligion. Thexe axe txuths which, in reference to our powers of perception, occupy an intermediate position between those which axe fundamental and those which axe not; we know not THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 87 whether to class them among the former or the lattex. But thexe aie otheis, with lespect to which we feel no such peiplexity, and with lespect to which it is of high impoitance to make the distinction. It may be lemaiked, fifthly, that the distinction in question is one which, in geneial, may be asceitained with sufficient accuiacy fox all pxactical puiposes. Chiistianity is the levelation of a lemedy fox the spiiitual maladies of mankind; and hence it foUows, that its vital doctrines must all be intimately connected with the lemedy. In oidei, then, to determine whether an individual possesses that knowledge which is indispensable to salvation, the great question evidently is. Has he correct and affect ing views of his personal guUt and depravity, of the character and work of the Saviour, and of the nature of the christian salvation as a scheme not only of forgive ness but of moral renovation ? Do his views impel him to disclaim aU self-dependence — to rely humbly on the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God for pardon — to look to bim for dehverance fr-om the pollution as weU as the punishment of sin — to love him, and to hve to him ? If so, we are warranted to xegaid him as a tiue believei, and bound to xeceive him in that capacity. Nor is it incon sistent with these statements to add, that there may be truths, or views of truths, which are essential to one man and not to another, in consequence of the diversity of thefr means and privUeges; and that it is essential to the character of a christian, to receive with docility every doctrine distinctly discerned by him to be a docteine of Christ, and to aim at a cordial compliance with every requirement clearly perceived to be a commandment of Christ. Still farther, it may be observed, that the very persons who reprobate the distinction between those things in 88 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. religion which are essential and those which are not, vfr- tuaUy recognise it, and act upon it. In admitting to the communion of the church, these persons universally, or almost universaUy, demand as a necessary quahfication, what they are accustomed to designate a competent mea sm-e of Christian knowledge. They assume, then, that there are things in Christianity necessary to be known, and things not thus necessary. Now, by what criterion do they ascertain that exact amount of knowledge which constitutes a competent measure ? If an appUcant, whose attainments weie exceedingly slender, gave satisfying proof that he possessed the faith and love of Christ, would they reject him ? And if not, on what ground do they receive him ? Let them answer these, and some other kindred queries equally obvious, and they wUl solve all the difficulties connected with the distinction which they condemn. And not only so ; they will also go far to demonsteate that aU who bear office in the chuich axe compeUed to act upon the distinction in theix ecclesias tical managements. On this objection it may be obseived, finaUy, that we may see the Divine wisdom in withholding what many aie apt to desideiate — a catalogue of necessary oi essential tiLiths. Not to insist on the exteeme difficulty, perhaps the absolute impossibflity, of furnishing such a catalogue, from the cfrcumstance that some truths may be necessary in one case, which are not necessary in another; but assuming the possibUity of such a catalogue, what would have been its probable effect ? From the inevitable ambi guity of human language, the terms employed in it would have been susceptible of various interpretations; and thus we might have been even more at a loss than we are now to determine what is indispensable or essential. And again, if such a catalogue had been furnished, men THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 89 would naturaUy have fixed thefr attention almost exclu sively on it, and would have undervalued and disregarded every thing else in scripture, and consequently would have undervalued and disregarded much that was ' profit able for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.' Instead of providing us vrith an enu meration of essential articles, the great Prophet of the church has chosen ' a more exceUent way.' Such descrip tions are given of these necessary things, and such sig natures of thefr grandeur and importance are visibly im pressed on them, that we may easUy make a sufficiently near approximation towards an accurate list of them, while at the same time the most powerful incentives are afforded to induce us to study the whole body of christian truth, and to comply with the whole system of christian institutes and precepts. Here is a medicine, some of the ingredients of which are indispensable to the restoration of health, and the prolongation of life ; but though all of them may not be thus indispensable, aU of them are beneficial, conducive to strength and comfort. Let every man take the whole, or as much of it as he can, and he may rest assured that he takes all that is essential, much in addition that is salutary, and nothing at all that is injurious. Here, then, as in other instances, ' the fool ishness of God is wiser than man.' What at first seems a desideratum and a defoimity in his woik, is found on accurate examination to be an advantage and an excel lence. Let us mark, therefore, with devout gratitude and admfration, his wisdom and kindness in what he has with held as weU as in what he has communicated. ' The law of the Lord is perfect.' In reference to the objection now examined, and to some others which remain to be discussed, it may not be irrelevant to remark, that the design of this Essay requires h2 go THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. US to determine, not what are the indispensable qualifica tions either of the members or the office-bearers of the church; but, simply, what is the treatment to which they are entitied from thefr brethren in the Loid. When this cfrcumstance is consideied, it wiU peihaps be thought that an undue space has been aUotted to the pieceding objection, since that objection does not apply exclusively to the scheme of union heie lecommended. An adequate apology for what may be deemed unnecessary proUxity, may be found in the intrinsic importance of the topic, and in the ignorance and misconceptions which stfll prevail respecting it. 3. I now proceed to a thfrd objection which may be urged against the principle of union advocated in the pre ceding pages. That principle, it may be aUeged, requires us to sanction error and sin. It requfres us to receive into the chuich, and to retain in it, persons holding notions, and following practices, which to us appear unsciiptuial and pernicious. This is an objection which has been fi-equently urged against the system of what is called ' fi-ee communion,' and by many excellent persons it is regarded as perfectly unanswerable. It deserves attention, as affording a curious and insteuctive example of that verbal ambiguity by which almost every question in religion has been less or more perplexed; and as showing that even acute and vigorous intellects are often swayed by the sound lathei than the sense of woids. In leply to this objection, it may be observed, first, that the principle against which it is diiected, does not lequfre us to toleiate any opinion oi piactice inconsistent with vital godhness ; for it does not require us to receive into the church, or retain in it, any who fail to give satis fying evidence of saintship. But, in the next place, opinions and actions are moraUy good, bad, or indifferent. THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 91 Those belonging to the first class are the proper objects, not of forbearance but of approbation ; those belonging to the last are not the legitimate objects of either senti ment ; and, therefore, nothing but what is supposed to be erroneous or sinful is the just object of forbearance oi toleration. Hence it follows, that, in the strict sense of the term, forbearance, so far from implying approbation or sanction, imphes the reverse. It imphes that the opinion or practice in xefeience to which it is exeicised, is legaxded as less 01 moie criminal; but that it does not involve such an amount of criminahty as to render the individual holding or following it, deserving of expulsion from a christian society. This forbearance is not only perfectly compatible vrith the employment of all legitimate means for convincing and reclaiming our erring brother, but if exercised from christian motives, it wUl frresistibly insti gate to the assiduous and affectionate employment of all such means. It must be observed yet farther, that even those who argue the most fiercely, or who declaim the most loudly, against forbearance, are necessitated to prac tise it. Perfection is not the attainment of humanity in the present woild; and choose what chuich they may, the peisons lefeired to wfll not find in it a single member who is not chargeable vrith misconceptions and enois in opinion, and vrith sinful infiimities of tempei and conduct. Forbearance, then, they must exexcise, if they are to be connected vrith a christian church at aU ; and the only question is. How far may forbearance be carried? In answer to this question, no consistent or inteUigible prin ciple has yet been propounded but that here recommended ; and that is, to extend our forbearance just as far as Jesus Christ extends his, and no farther — to receive all whom he receives, and none else. In taking leave of this objeotion, it may not be unin- 92 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. stiuctive to add a supplementary remark relative to the confused notions entertained by many on the subject of forbearance, and to the vague sense in which the term is often employed. Frequently in works of rehgious biography we meet with the statement, ' He could not tolerate error or sin.' This statement is intended to be highly lauda tory; but from the ambiguity of the principal term, it may express either a high comphment or a seveie censure. If it be intended to intimate that the person spoken of could not witness error vrithout striving to reclaim from it, or sin without testifying fearlessly but affectionately against it, it describes the character of a christian at once 'merciful and faithful,' and eminently resembhng the Saviour. But ifthe statement be intended — and often it has been intended — to convey the idea that the person described would not tolerate in the chm-ch those who held opinions which seemed to him in the slightest degree mistaken, howevei unquestionable their peisonal piety, it is descriptive, not of an eminent saint, but of an ignoiant and odious bigot. 4. But would not the system now lecommended con- veit the chuich that should attempt to act on it, into a scene of perpetual strife and confusion ? There might thus be introduced into it individuals who differed from the office-bearers, and from the majority of the members, on many topics which agitate and divide the rehgious world, — baptism, ecclesiastical estabhshments, chuich government, covenanting, not to speak of docteinal topics perhaps stiU more important. And thus, too, peisons might be occasionally admitted to preach who might openly assail the recognised principles of the society, ox bling in pririly thefr own sectarian pecuharities. In answering this objection, it may not be impeitinent to remind the reader of what was before explicitly ad- THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY, 93 mitted — that in the present divided state of opinion, a complete amalgamation of rehgious parties is not to be expected; that the diversity of sentiment which exists respecting various questions of ecclesiastical order and disciphne necessitates the continuance of separate, though not hostUe, associations; and that every christian, and every christian teacher, vrill natmally connect himself vrith that society vrith whose sentiments on these matteis his own coincide. And hence it foUows, that the intei- mixture of persons of discordant sentiments in the same society, which is assumed in the objection, would be reahsed only to a very hmited extent. In. the next place, it must not be forgotten, not even for a moment, that the system objected to requfres the admission into the church of none but those who give credible evidence of saintship; and, consequently, whatever nunor differences may diride its members, they must be united in cardinal truths, in ' holding the Head.' Now, granting that, from the infirmity of human nature, there may be some danger of these minor differences producing strife and confusion, these unhappy consequences wUl not follow, provided the members of the church attend to the inspfred injunctions and expostulations, dehvered for the very purpose of regulating thefr conduct in reference to such differences : ' Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. And thou, why dost thou judge thy brother ? and thou, why dost thou set at nought thy brother?' Let these apostolic directions and cautions be attended to, and not only will the evU apprehended from diversities of opinion be averted ; these diversities, though painful, and, in some respects, prejudicial, wiU produce good as well as evil. They wiU promote the humility, the faith, and the love of those among whom they are tolerated; for they wUl check 94 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY that propensity to dictation and tyranny in reUgion which seems natmal to men ; they wiU turn the attention of the members of the church from things comparatively insig nificant to those vital truths which form ' the core of the gospel,' and to the truths immediately contiguous to these ; and thus they wiU augment knowledge, inrigorate faith, and promote hohness. They wiU afford scope for the exercise, and supply materials for the nourishment of brotherly love ; and they wih pave 'the way for farther harmony, by predisposing the mind for the admission of evidence, and for the reception of more abundant com munications of illuminating influence. It may be aUowable to add, that if the apostoUcal direc tions now referred to be forgotten even in a church where there prevaUs unanimity of sentiment on almost all minor, as well as on all essential points, consequences little less deplorable than intestine strife are likely to ensue. The membexs wUl be in imminent hazaxd of sinking down into a state of spfritual apathy and inaction ; and instead of the expansive charity of the gospel, they wiU be apt to cherish a feehng of unchiistian dislike towaxds almost every other branch of the christian family. After the remarks already made, it will not be difficult to dispose of that part of the objection which relates to the occasional employment of ministers belonging to other denominations, and entertaining sentiments on some points regarded as not wholly accordant with scrip ture. Let it be recoUected, that the principles here defended requfre, or rather we should say permit, the employment of none but those who are beheved to be ministers sanctioned by Christ himself ; thatis, of persons possessed of undoubted piety, of a competent portion of talent and learning, of prudence, humiUty, and charity, and who are sincerely attached to the grand peculiarities THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 96 of the gospel. Such persons, it need scarcely be added, if inrited to officiate occasionaUy for brethren of other christian denominations, are not likely to ' abuse thefr power in the gospel' by unnecessarUy obtruding their own pecuharities, or by unnecessarily assaihng the pecu liarities of otheis. Common sense and honouiable feel ing, not to say christian couitesy and piudence, will lead them to dfrect the attention of thefr heareis on such occa sions to themes more appropriate and moie useful for edifying — to the cardinal doctrines of the gospel, and ' the weightier matters of the law.' It is readily aUowed, at the same time, that it may often be difficult to draw the hne of demarcation between those ministers who are worthy, and those who are not worthy, of being invited to such intercommunion. But a difficulty precisely paraUel meets us in many other instances, both in religion and in the ordinary business of hfe. Of the candidates for chuxch-membeiship who agree with us on all minor points of ecclesiastical order, many give but doubtful evidence of faith, and love, and ho liness ; so that it is often exteemely difficult to say whether or not they ought to be admitted ; and a similar difficulty may be experienced in judging of qualifications for office. In the riew of Omniscience, the worthy and the unworthy are sepaxated by a hne discerned infalhbly, at a single glance ; but to human vision this line is often so faint as to be almost indiscernible. In such cases, howevei, if they whose piorince it is to decide, decide accoiding to the best of thefr judgment, they scrapie not to act on theix decision, though they well know that they axe liable to be mistaken. Exactiy similar in kind, and not gxeater in degree, is the difficulty we have to encounter in determining the question of occasional intercommunion with ministers of 96 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. Other denominations. Of many of them we may ' stand in doubt,' they occupy an intermediate position between the obviously qualified and the obriously incompetent ; and we know not whether to regard them as 'having taken the honom- of office to themselves,' or as ' called of God.' In such instances we must just do the best we can to form a correct judgment, and act accordingly. Can it be necessary to add, that it would be preposterous to infer from the occasional, or even the frequent, occurrence of cases thus ambiguous and perplexing, that we ought to have no feUowship with other ministers of the same com munity ? As well might we afBrm, that there is no distinction between hving and inanimate substances, between animals and vegetables, because there are zoophytes — objects which naturalists know not whether to class with the former or the latter, as they seem to possess the properties of both. Of the teachers belonging to other societies, there may be some who are so glaringly deficient in talent or information, in prudence, or orthodoxy, or piety, that we feel persuaded they are prophets whom Jesus Christ has not sent. If such be our persuasion, let us not ' bid them God speed.' Let us countenance no man in any undertaking farther than we beheve him to be countenanced of heaven. But there may be many of them of whom we have no doubts whatever; thefr labours may be stamped by unequivocal marks of divine appro bation ; and though we deem them mistaken on some points, they may be vastly superior in almost aU minis terial gifts and qualifications to many belonging to the society with which we are more immediately connected. If so, it wUl be at our peril if we virtuaUy forbid them, because in all things they foUow not with us; ox if, having the oppoxtunity, we lefuse to own and to honom them as ' good ministexs of Jesus Christ,' and as faithful ' stewards of the mysteries of God.' THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 97 5. It may be objected, that the scheme proposed in the preceding pages would relax the discipline of the church, and aggravate one of the most fearful calamities that has ever befaUen her — impurity of communion. Must not jurisdiction and privUege be reciprocal ? But how is it possible for any society to exercise a rigUant superinten dence over those who are not permanent members ? And if the gates of a church are to be opened for the admission of strangers to occasional fellowship, will it not inevitably happen that many doubtful and many unworthy charac ters must be received ? The partition wall which ought ever to separate the church from the world will thus be undermined; and the former, instead of being composed exclusively of the sheep and lambs of ' the good Shep herd,' will become a motley multitude, like the flocks of the patriarch — ' ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.' This objection has frequently been urged against the system of ' free,' or ' open communion ;' and it is not im probable that some communities, who have adopted and acted on that system, may have received strangers to occasional feUowship with undue facUity, and may thus have created a prejudice against the principle on which they based their practice. But of all the objections ad vanced against that principle, that now mentioned is the most futile and inept. The truth is, that that principle is a two-edged sword ; for while it requires us to admit to the privileges of the church all whom Christ receives — that is, aU genuine christians — it requfres us to refuse and to exclude all others. And what more reasonable than that, in this instance, as in every other, we should imitate the example of Christ ? If the sacramental table in the church with which we are more immediately con nected, ' be the table not of this or that man, or party of men, but the Lord's table,' what more reasonable than I 08 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. that 'it should be open to the Lord's guests, and appro priate to them ? ' And if this principle be apphcable to the private members of the church, wiU it not equally apply to office-bearers ? From this principle it foUows, as a necessary coroUary, that jmisdiction and privUege are reciprocal; that no man is entitled even to occasional communion in any chuich who does not, to a ceitain extent, submit to its control. To that privUege he is admitted only in consequence of his peisonal piety being known to those who administer its affairs, or in consequence of being satisfactorUy attested to them by others in whose faithfulness and discernment confidence can safely be reposed. If, then, by any mis conduct, he bring his piety into just suspicion, or in any way act unsuitably to his christian profession, he forfeits the privUege to which he had been admitted, and can re-estabhsh his claim to it only by decisive evidence of repentance and reformation. The objection under immediate examination may be regarded as a proof that the principles here advocated axe as yet vexy geneially misappiehended ; foi so fax from it being theii natural tendency, oi thefr necessary effect, to xelax the discipline and impaii the purity of the chuich, they would, if honestly and fearlessly acted on, pioduce xesults directly the reverse. They would elevate the stan dard of qualification for church membership, and would compel almost aU paities in the noithexn division of the island to expel from thefr feUowship many who axe now letained in it. Not to speak of those communities in which gross heiesy is toleiated, and disciphne systemati- caUy neglected, is theie not a considerable piopoition of the membeis of almost eveiy evangehcal denomination who are irregular in their attendance on the sanctuary — who neglect entirely, or perform but seldom, the duties of TIIE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 99 domestic devotion — who 'mind earthly things;' and who, instead of ' keeping themselves unspotted from the world,' confoim fiequently to its conupt maxims and piactices ? ' These are not the spots of God's children ;' and it may contribute to soften prejudice against the principles here pleaded for, to repeat, that if they were faithfuUy acted on, few such persons would be found within the pale of our churches. But the fact is, that more than one deno mination in our country have erred by being rigid where they should have been tolerant, and lax where they should have been strict. They have been rigid in matters of docteine and opinion — that is, in things obscure and dif ficult ; and they have been lax in matters of practice and disciphne — that is, in things comparatively plain and clear. And it is not by persisting in this procedure, but by reversing it, that they will promote the purity and unity of the church. Much, then, as intercommunion among all christians is to be desired, it is not desirable that intercommunion among all christian denominations should be commenced, unless they first agree on the sub stance, at least, of a common system of discipline to be fearlessly and scrupulously enforced. Some such condition, it need scaxcely be added, is not only perfectly compatible with the principles of union and communion defended in this Essay, but indispensable to insuie a puie and efficient application of them. In faithex conoboration of these principles, a fact may here be adverted to, which might have been more appro priately inteoduced before, but which is too important to be omitted altogether, as it may contribute powerfully to recommend them in some quarters, while it is not likely to excite a prejudice against them in any. These prin ciples were virtuaUy recognised by the venerable Ebenezer Erskine and his associates, who left the Church of Scot- 100 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. land a century ago ; and the practice here recommended, as sanctioned by these principles, is merely an extension of the practice which they avowed themselves prepared to pursue. They declared unequivocaUy, that they were ready to hold communion with all the pious members and faithful ministers of that church, fi-om which, or rather from the corrupt majority of which, they seceded. It will naturally occur to almost every reader, that there are at present many churches in our countey, both Pres byterian and Congregational, far more pure in doctiine and discipline than the Chuich of Scotland was then, or ever has been ; and that it is a better reason for holding fellowship vrith ministers and private individuals, that they belong to the chm-ch of Christ, than that they belong to any section of professing christians. Seveial topics both interesting and important have been unavoidably omitted; and several discussions and illustrations would require to be greatly condensed. Alto gether, the Essay is much longei than was wished, oi intended ; but I may say with a popular author, ' I send a long letter, because I have not time for a short one.' In sending it to the piess in such cfrcumstances, and in the company of such associates, I seem to myself guilty of an act of great temerity and presumption. ' Dum relego, scripsisse pudet, quia plurima cerno, Me quoque, qui feci, judice, digna lini.' Let me exjDxess a hope that the circumstances to which I have alluded, will induce the reader to peruse the performance with some degree of indulgence. Of the truth and importance of the principles maintained in it I have the fullest persuasion; but the reasonings and iUus trations (to use the beautiful language of Mr Bmke) ' are THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. 101 not fitted to abide the test of a captious controversy, but of a sober and even forgiving examination : they are not armed at all points foi battie, but dressed to risit those who are vrilUng to give a peaceful entrance to truth.' Let me express also the hope and the prayer, that, through the Dirine blessing, the volume, of which this Essay forms a part, will contribute somewhat to allay that party spirit which has long been the bane and dis grace of christians, and to restore the peace and unity of the church. These are objects well worth the exertions and prayers of all good men; and if, in the present aspect of things, there be tokens of an inauspicious and menacing character, there are also tokens in abundance fitted to strengthen our hopes and stimulate our efforts. The rainbow of the covenant may be seen in the cloud. But ' the signs of the times,' however auspicious, are not the objects to which we should principally look, in order that our faith may be invigorated, our hope animated, and our exertions stimulated. 'We have a, more sure word of prophecy, whereunto we do well to take heed.' The promises of scriptuie waiiant us to expect a period when ' Ephraim shaU not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ei^hraim;' when 'the sticks of Judah and of Joseph shall become one ;' and when, ' as there is one Shepherd, there shall be one fold.' And how devoutly to be wished is that state of the chuich, when peace shall pievail in aU her borders — a peace dictated by that brotherly love which originates in a common relation and resemblance to a common Saviour and Lord ! ' 0 how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity ! ' ' The precious ointment that was poured upon the head of the high priest, diffusing its fi-agranee over all his robes ; the dew of Hermon — the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion — hanging its I 2 102 THE SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY. countless gems of oxient pearl and gold in the morning ray on every blade, and bush, and tree ; — presents not so grateful an image, pioduces not so puie, and lefreshing, and delightful an impiession, as the scene which the chmch exhibits, when " the multitude of them that be lieve axe of one heait and of one soul." And it is when thus united that the chmch is powerful and piosperous. The maxim of the enemy hitherto has been, "Diride, and so weaken ;" and the pohcy has been oft, alas ! but too successful. May we at last see the dawn of a happier day, when the church shaU look forth as the morning — fair as the moon, clear as the sun, tenible as an axmy with banners ; and then the promised conquest of a world to a wilhng and happy subjection to her glorious King shall be rapidly achieved.'* * Theological Magazine, vol, iii. p. 79. ESSAY III. CHRISTIAN UNION IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. By ROBERT S. CANDLISH, D.D. ESSAY III. CHRISTIAN UNION IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. That ' union is steength,' is a maxim universally admitted ; with which, however, ' the children of this world ' are more famUiar — or at least they act on it more faithfully — ' in their generation, than the chUdren of light.' The god of this world claims the principle as his own ; and in his policy, this fea ture ofthe wisdom of the serpent is peculiarly conspicuous ; presenting, too generally, in this lespect, a melancholy con- tiast to the disoidei leigning in the opposite ranks. Our Lord gives the great enemy full credit for this wisdom, when he speaks of Satan as too sagacious not to know ' that a house divided against itself faUeth,' and that internal division must be fatal to his kingdom ; while, in reference to his own followers, it might almost be thought that the law, as well as the explanation, of thefr present state, was to be found in that ominous oracle, ' Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scatteied.' This element of weakness in the chiistian cause is no new discovery, — having been a frequent subject of lamen tation ever since Paul had occasion to complain of the factions springing up in the church at Corinth, It would seem, however, that in the jiresent crisis and exigency of 106 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH spiritual affairs, the attention of men is more anxiously turned to this scandal or stumbling-block in the way of the Lord's progress, and a more intense desfre is felt for its removal. There is a yearning for unity, such as has not been hitheito experienced, at least in the same degree ; — a glowing impatience of those divisions and separations, in which many were accustomed to acquiesce, as inevitable incidents in the free march of mind, if not even valuable and desirable, as proofs of that very freedom ; and every where there is a disposition to ask, if this chequered aspect, this paxty-colouxed blazonxy, this crossing and re-crossing of conflicting lines and clashing ranks, be indeed the spectacle which the Captain of Salvation de signed his field of battle to exhibit. And hence the solicitous inquiry, if no means can be found to rally the broken army by some ti-umpet no longer of uncertain sound, and by some other name than either Paul, or ApoUos, or Cephas. This general longing is, perhaps, in a religious view, one of the most remarkable signs of the times : and it would be ingratitude to Him who is the author, not of confusion but of order, were we not to hail it as a token fox good. It is the instinct of bxotheily love, implanted and xevived in christian bxeasts, by the Loxd himself, the Spixit ; and the vexy awakening of it, at any time, to unwonted eneigy and intensity, is an indication that its gratification may be expected to be within leach. Foi the Loid does not whet any spiiitual appetite, merely that it may suffei the disappointment of a tantalising delay : his having whetted it is, of itself, an evidence that he has its appiopiiate aliment at hand. Thus, in the six teenth century, a general sense of the necessity of a refor mation, accompanied by the desire of it, and a convic tion that, in some way or other, it would come, preceded THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 107 and paved the way for Luther's republication of the word of God, and the gospel of his grace ; and if, as has heen said, the necessity of the case now, in the nineteenth centuiy, demands an apostolic missiononbehalf of John's chosen theme, love, and the Divine feUowship of love — similai to that which Luthei, following in the steps of Paul, accomplished on behalf of faith, and the free justi fication which faith appiopriates, — the feeling of that necessity, in so fai as it is of God, is the suie presage of its being speedily and adequately met. For it is in the Idngdom of God, as it is usually in the more secular movements of this woild : when the houi comes, so also does the man. Events, foi a time, seem to shoot ahead of the agents, and insteuments, and avaUable resources that may be reckoned on ; they get beyond the manage ment of the ordinary run of statesmen and churchmen, who, whfle at home, in dealing with the every-day com monplaces of self-interest, and the mechanical routine of politics and priestcraft, are at a stand when any spiritual element, whether satanic or divine, asserts its command ing power over the goaded despafr of starving multitudes, or the holy enthusiasm of souls true to their God. Then comes the feeling of a void — a sort of desiderium — with hope, moreover, that when the set time arrives, there will be fitting men and means, and a patent door and way. Nor need any surer sign be asked of a revolution, or a reformation, being nigh, even at the gate. Something like this sign may be observed in the civil horizon, — the red and lowering sky betokening foul weather, and occa sioning already ' on the earth, distress of nations, and perplexity.' And, considering aU the circumstances, we are inclined to regard the present feeling of the church on the subject of union as a similar and corresponding indication, but of happier prognostication ; being like a 108 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH streak of red, however faint, breaking the evening and western clouds, and giving some promise of ' fair weather' on the morrow. But the very hopefulness of these symptoms, as indi cating a preparation for the appointed and appropriate cure, may awaken anxiety lest — as often happens in the physical frame when empfrical tieatment is impatiently resorted to — the influence of wholesome remedies, and of nature's healing energy, {vis medicatrix natures,) be marred and hindered in the body ecclesiastical. For, as it is true of those human passions which occasion ' strifes, divisions, heresies,' in the church, that ' the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God;' so also it may be said of that human policy, fertile in expedients and intolerant of difficulty or opposition, which would have its plausible scheme of compromise, or its concordat of enforced silence and forbearance, swaUowed, on the instant, whole, by hesitating and reluctant consciences, — that in this work, pre-eminently, of making the church one, as in the work of making a church at all, ' the wisdom of God is foolish ness with men,' and the wisdom of men foohshness with God. Too often, by such patching, the rent is made worse. The experiment tried in Britain by the house of Stuart, and lepeated, in bettei faith and by a moie Pio- testant king, in oui own day, pioves how little the ciaft or might of statesmanship can do in such a task ; for assuredly, though conventicles, field-meetings, the signing of covenants, and the raids of dragoons, have not been heard of in Prussia, her church — of which it can scarcely, in apostohc sense, be said that it is ' fitly joined together' from the Head, and ' compacted by that which every joint supplieth' — would seem to be anything but quiet and at rest. For, in such instances, the cementing glue haring failed to draw the parts together within, or to form any THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 109 internal cohesion of mutual affinity among them, it needs but the relaxing — or, which wUl do equally weU, the tight ening a little — ofthe cords ofthe external force that com presses them, to cause, with more or less of noise and violence, as the case may be, the faUing — or the bursting — asunder of materials, too incompatible, as it tmns out, to be formed into one mass, unless indeed it be by their being melted down anew, and welded together, in the holy fire of Divine love — the pmifying and perfecting furnace of Him who is to sit as a Refiner. Nor have schemes of voluntary aUiance and incorporation, proposed by sections of the church themselves, always, or often, succeeded much better than the attempts made to impose uniformity by authority. At least as often have they caused new breaches, as healed, and that but shghtiy, the former hurt. For it would seem that the metal of which the church, as the image of Christ, is consteucted, is of so pure and fine an ore, — ^fashioned, tried, purged, and proved by Him whose baptism is not with water, but with the Holy Ghost and vrith fire, — that, when once it is unhappily broken, no artificial bandages can be contrived, nor any patent cement, of tenacity enough, to keep the shivered fragments together. The whole must again be cast, not into any feeble and formal crucible of pohtical or eccle siastical alchemy, but into the steong heat of the burning love of God himself, and that vrill make them one. Thus, whUe the policy of man is to bring the parts of the broken vessel to one another, to adjust and fit them accurately together, to make out a close correspondence among them, and to apply such influences as may effect a combination ; the plan of God may be very much the reverse, — to begin anew, as the potter at the wheel, re solving all the fragments, and fusing them down, into their original and elementary state of plastic clay, and so 110 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH to reconsteuct, with all the freshness of its first beauty, without the seam or scar of a single chink, ' without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing,' the vessel fitted for the Master's use, which is to be ' presented faultless before the presence of his glory, with exceeding joy.' We are far, indeed, from undervaluing the importance of a good understanding among the various sections of the church of Christ : every movement tending to bring them more closely together is to be hailed with gratitude, and faithfuUy improved and followed out; and the re moval of causes of offence and obstacles to union is a labour worthy of the highest style of Christian phUan- thropy. To see the different bands of the Lord's volun teers, ' the people made wUhng in the day of his power,' no longer taking up thefr several positions for a cross fire on one another's ranks, but falling into compact order and array for encountering the common enemy, would inspfre with new courage the whole army of the faithful, and might go far to change the cuiient of the fight. The merging, also, or blending into one massier column, of two or more detached companies, when the distinctive emblems of thefr respective banners are incor porated in a common standard, is a pure and peaceful triumph of bxotheily love. At the same time, while ' the best gifts,' of this sort, aie ' to be coveted earnestly,' the word of God seems to ' show a more excellent way;' for here, as in every department of the kingdom of God, ' his ways are not as om ways, noi his thoughts as om thoughts.' The unity, oi union, with which we find holy scriptme connecting the piogiess and tiiumph of the tenth, is something diffeient from co-operation, or com bination, or incorporation. To a large extent it may be consistent, even now, \rith much honest diversity and many conscientious divisions ; and, in its ultimate perfection. THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. Ill it may be ushered in, not by new alliances, but by new separations — not by agglomeration, if we may use the word, so much as by a process of decomposition ; a pro cess which shall begin vrith taking down existing struc tures, that the choicest of their materials may be taken out for a new and better building; melting and re- solring into their elements the bodies which now mutu- aUy atteact and repel one another, that the present economy, with its general mixture of the heavenly and the earthly, being dissolved, a holier system may emerge, wherein aU shall be one, even as God is one. It is the subtle artifice of popery — that masterpiece of Satan's policy — to gather together into one all sorts of discordant principles and energies ; and, through the power which its usurped control of both worlds gives it, not only over ignorance and blind fear, but over the secular shrewdness that would purchase indulgence, and the philosophic wisdom that would compound for secret scorn by open ceremony, and mask the sardonic smile of universal scepticism under the cloak of a feigned or formal homage to whatever worship may be the least exacting of the heart's sunender, — popery can subordi nate all its various tools and instruments to the unifor mity of a common routine, and the unity of a common aim. But true Christianity has no such facihties ; and it would be but a poox and clumsy imitation — a bungling mimicry, of that mystery of iniquity, were we to attempt to place the protestant and evangelical brotherhood on anything like the same footing with the enforced and artificial compact ness of the great army of ' the man of sin.' The free fol lowers of the Lamb of God must be otherwise bound and knit together ; and the principle which makes them in a measme one, even amid all their separations, now, and which wiU make them more completely one at last, when. 112 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH after stiU farther sifting, the littie flock, scattered and dis persed, it maybe, fr-om many of thefr present combinations, shaU come together as stricken sheep in the storm, — the principle of that unity which alone, as it is more or less reaUsed and developed, can be expected to tell on the world, is that which is refened to in the Sariom's prayer : ' that they aU may be one ; as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us ; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.' We are here brought to the passage of scripture which most directly bears upon our present subject — the seven teenth chapter of John's gospel ; and before proceeding farther in the practical discussion of that subject, it may be aUowed to us to attempt a general analysis of the doctrine xespecting the union, ox unity, of his people, which may be held to be implied in this most piecious specimen of the Loid's inteicession. The principal objects piesented in it to om view, are the world and the church ; and our attention is called to thefr respective characteristics, and mutual relations. The world, respecting whose belief in his own mission and knowledge of his Father's love, the Lord Jesus, in the close of this prayer, manifests so much concern, is the same society or system which has been repeatedly refened to and identified in the preceding portion of it. It is there described, first, as the quarry out of which the church, as consisting ofthe elect ofGod, is hewn (v. 6-8) ; secondly, as the dross left out of the refiner's reckoning, when he is anxious about the preservation and purification of the true metal — the real and genuine ore (v. 9, 10) ; and thirdly, as the furnace that is to try the gold ; oi lather, more exactly, as the chemical residue, oi giossei diegs, with which the ethereal element, when fried, lefuses to combine, — thereby manifesting and proving that higher affinity which recoils from the alliance (v. 11-16). THE PROPAGATION OF the GOSPEL. 113 Yet, into this very rook the Lord would have a wedge in serted; on the very dross and dregs he would have a whole some influence exerted, and a salutary impression made. For he constitutes his church on earth a missionary society, and lays upon it the burden of prosecuting and carrying out his own ministry, when he is gone to the Father. He establishes, in fact, the true apostolic suc cession — the real chain of authority and official title — the only waxxantable tradition, reaching from his own advent to the end of time. In the first place, he speaks of his own apostlesbip — his own peisonal commission, when he says to the Father (v. 18), 'Thou hast sent me into the woiid' — thou hast made me thine apostle — given to me, personally and indi vidually, an apostolical, oi in othei woxds, a missionary, commission. Hence Paul, wxiting to the Hebrews,* calls Jesus 'the apostle of our profession.' And "this office or apostlesbip requfres a peculiar consecration, a special dedication or sanctification, internal as well as external. The commission of him who sends is not enough : there must faithei be the sanctification of him who is sent. And this must be real, not formal. It must be no mere outward act, but the inward sanctification of the heart and of the will, implying consent and full devotion on the pait of him who receives the commission, concurring with the seal and sanction of him who gives it. Accord ingly Chxist says, in xefeience to his own apostlesbip (v. 19), 'I sanctify myself Thou hast sent me, or made me thine apostle and missionary, into the world, and, in that character, I sanctify myself — I devote, I consecrate myself to this office, and to all that its execution includes ; for when thou preparedst for me a body — when mine ears * Heb. iii. 1. 2 K 114 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH were bored by thee — when I became a voluntary servant, did I not say, ' Lo, I come, I deUght to do thy will, 0 my God; yea, thy law is within my heart?'* Such is the apostle of our profession, sent by the Father into the world — foi ' him hath God the Fathei sealed 't — and sanc tifying himself, through his willing obedience to the Fathei ; — through the law, oi the txuth, or the wiU of God, abiding within his heart, — and, above all, through his offering of himself as a consecrated victim to the Father— a holy, spotless, and all-sufficient sacrifice, in the room and stead of the guilty. And now, secondly, he appoints his successois in this office, and he makes his own apostlesbip, in all lespects, the model of thefrs. Heie, as it weie, we have the official appointment and the oidination piayex (v. 17-19), 'Sanc tify them through thy truth : thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.' I have given to them a commission similar to that which thou gavest me ; or rathei, identical and the same. I have made them apostles and missionaries into the woild, as thou didst make me. I have sent them, as thou hast sent me. And now, as I sanctify myself, so let them be sanctified. My sanctification of myself is foi their sakes. It is the model of their sanctification — of that consecra tion which they need to qualify them for the ministey which I now delegate and hand over to them ; it is more — it is the means of it. My sanctification of myself is tiue and real; it is through thy law within my heart — through thy word and will which I willingly embrace, and which I delight to do. And it is the prelude and preliminary * Ps. xl. Heb. X. t John vi. 27. THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 116 to theirs. It makes thefr sanctification possible, and pro vides, moreover, the agency and instrumentality, the might {subjectively) and the motives {objectively) by which it is effected. For, as it is ' through sanctification of the Spirit and behef of the truth that they axe chosen, from the beginning, to salvation' — and to this apostlesbip, as a chief part of that salvation, — and as the sanctifying Spiiit testifies of me, and the tiuth to be believed is the truth as it is in me — ('I am the truth')-^are they not — these whom thou hast given me, 0 Father — most inti mately associated and identified with thy Son, alike in his very act of sanctifying himself, as thy servant and their surety, and in its blessed and holy fi-uits — -the cleansing from all sin which it secures, and the all-renouncing self- devotion to thee which it at once demands and inspfres?* Thus, 0 Father, (if we may venture, without irreverence, to prolong this paraphrase of words so sacred) — thus, my holy and spontaneous dedication of myself to thee, in all that thou requfrest of me for accomplishing the ends ofthe mis sion on which thou hast sent me, wiU become to them the pattern, the principle, the creative cause, of a similar dedication of themselves on thefr part, thxough the txuth : thy woid wiU be to them what it has been to me ; thy law wUl be vrithin thefr heaits, as it has been within mine ; and thou wUt make them as ready and obedient servants, as thou hast found that I have made myself. Sanctify them, 0 Father, as I sanctify myself: let the same mind be in them, which has ever been in me, in reference to the work, and service, and sufferings of the apostlesbip, which they now receive from me, as I received it from * 2 Thess. ii. 13. See Hebrews x. 5-10, where a very intimate con nection is established between Christ's sanctifying of himself, in the terms ¦ there quoted from the 40th Psalm, and our being sanctified, i. e. cleansed and consecrated, by the will of God, which Christ came to do. 1 ] 6 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH thee : let my people be wUhng in the day of my power, as wiUing as I myself have been. As the Lord named successors to himself in his apostlesbip, so also, in the third place, did he name suc cessors to the eleven who were then with him ; or rather, he left a blank deed or charter of nomination, to be after wards filled up, from age to age, until his second coming. And where does he teach us to look for the successors of the apostles ? Not in any broken line of popish or pre- latic bishops — not in any privileged order of clergy — not in any narrow and exclusive cfrcle of falsely-called Catho licism, within which the charm of the baptismal water, and of the unbloody eucharistic offering, may be dispensed by the hands of a duly sanctioned and surpliced priesthood — but among those whose only qualification is that they be lieve on Jesus, and that they believe on him through the sole and simple insteumentality of the word or doctrine which the apostles taught. ' Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word,' (ver. 20). Wheresoever, therefore, thexe is a poox sinner, moved to beheve through that Uving word, of which Peter speaks,* — there may we hail, with no blasphemous worship, but with right bxotheily welcome, a successor to Petei in his apostlesbip moie genuine than any that evex woie his triple crown at Rome. No doubtful pedigree of episcopal ancestry, no searching of endless genealogies, is needed to warrant my interest in this apostolic fellow ship, nor any sacramental vfrtue dependent on the priestly benediction ; but only faith — the faith which cometh by hearing, as the hearing does by the word of God.f Thus, then, the church is formed, distinct and separate from the world, towards which, nevertheless, it is to sus- * 1 Peter ch. i. f Romans x, 17. THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 117 tain the character and aspect of an apostolic ormissionaiy institution. Jesus, first, himself not of the world, but sent by the Father as his apostie into the world ; next, the men then before him, whom the Father had given him out of the world — not now of the world, even as he was not of the world — but sent by him as apostles into the world, as he was sent by the Father, and sanctified through the truth, even as he sanctified himself, to be, in and vrith him, the vrilhng servants of the Father ; lastly, all everywhere who believe on him through their word ; — such is ' the apos tles' fellowship,' in which we read that the eaxly christian converts ' continued stedfastly.' * Over against this fellowship of the apostles, is to be set the feUowship of the world ; for we know, says the apostle John of himself and all beUevers, ' that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. 'f Does John say this in the spirit of complacency or contempt, exulting in the safety of himself and the handftfl who then received Jesus, and regarding with satisfaction or indifference the general ruin of the multitudes all around ? If he did, he would not be the disciple whom Jesus loved, having so httie of the mind of his Master. For few things are more striking, in this remarkable prayer, than the manner in which the Lord speaks, towards the close of it, of the unbeliering world. It is, indeed, in the mass, or as it were in its coUective capacity, reprobate and doomed. The world, as such, has no effectual interest in his salvation. It is not to the world at large, but to men given him out of the world, that he giveth eternal life (v. 2), and manifests the Father's name (v. 6), and giveth the words which the Father gave him (v. 8) . It is not for the world that he prays, but for them which the Father hath given him : the world is expressly excluded * Actsii. 42. t 1 John V. 19. 118 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH (v. 9). It is not to the woild that he looks for any sympathy or favom-, towards himself or towards those whom he is learing behind. On the contrary, his chief cause of anxiety on their account is, that whUe he is to be no more in the world, they are still in the world, ex posed, as he was, to the world's hateed (v. 14), and need ing aU the mighty power of the Father's holy name, and all its blessed influence, as a principle of unity and union (v. 11), to keep them together while he is gone, and pre serve them from being lost, like 'the son of perdition.' And yet it is for the purposes of a mission into this very world that he associates himself, and his apostles, and aU be lievers to the end of time, into one holy feUowship or family. And how, in connection with this mission, is his bosom fiUed with the largest and most expansive benevo lence towards the very world which had hated him, and which he knew would hate all that should ever be his ! No exclusive regard for his own, whom the Father hath given him, — not his exultation over them, as he sees in them of the travail of his soul and is satisfled, nor the assiduity of his continual intercession on thefr behalf, — no, nor all his resentment of their sufferings and wrongs, as the reproaches of such as reproach them fall on him — can shut up his bowels of compassion from the world, such as it is, impenitent, unbelieving, ungodly, — even the whole world which heth in wickedness. Foi it is of the woild, such as it is, in the very condition of opposition to himself, his people, and his cause, which he has so strongly described, — it is of this very world that he once and again expresses his desfre that it might by any means be made to know that the Father had sent him ; while he pours forth over its obstinate unbelief no other reproach than the pathetic complaint — '0 righteous Father, the world hath not known thee.' (v. 25.) THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 119 Have we not here the very mind of Him who wept over Jerusalem — who declares that he has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth — ^who would have all men everywhere to be saved ? And, O my soul, is it not this very aspect of tender solicitude and concern towards the world as such, and lying in wickedness as it is, which makes Jesus such a Sariom as thou needest — thou who art chief of sinners — and gives thee courage to close vrith and embrace him as thine own ? The saying (v. 9), ' I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me ; for they axe mine,' has a dark side towards thee. Even the entfre freeness with which thou art permitted — as a believerin Jesus, through the word of his apostles — to fill in thy name in the charter or deed which admits thee to their feUowship, may seem to imply a liberty which thou canst not venture to take. Thou canst claim, as yet, no certain interest in his prayer, which he makes not for the world, but for those given to him out of the world ; for thou canst not say assuredly — scarcely even hopefuUy — that thou art one of these. But as one of the very class which he seems to repu diate and disown — the most worldly ofthe world — the chief of sinners — shut out, as thou feelest thyself but too pro bably and most righteously to be, from his prayer, thou art not shut out from his pity. Even towards the guilty and doomed world, and towards thee, as involved in all the world's guUt and doom, he turns an eye of infinite com passion and goodwiU. He would have the world — he would have thee — to know the Father — to know his name, or his real character-^to know the love imphed in the mission of his Son — a love which would make the woild, and would make thee, if thou wouldst but believe, par taker of aU — aU that is his. And is ^it not this veiy aspect and attitude of tenderness in which thou seest Christ yearning over a guUty world — a lost race of sin- 120 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH ners — is it not the very plaintiveness of such expostu lations as these :— ' Oh that they had heard my voice !' ' If thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace,' — which, brought home to thy broken heart, by the power of the Holy Ghost, makes thee wUling, and gives thee comage, as the vUest of the vile, to cry out, sinking as thou art, and ready to be overwhelmed, ' Lord, save me, I perish ' — ' Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.' Still, the hne is clearly and sharply drawn between the apostohc fellowship and that of the world. The very solicitude of Christ that the world should have knowledge and assurance of his Father's name, and of his own mis sion, requires this separation ; for it is to this feUowship of the aposties and thefr successors that he looks for the prosecution of the high end of his own coming into the world, and for the production in the world of that con viction which he desfres to see wrought respecting the truth and righteousness of God. How much, in reference to this great object, depends upon the httle flock of Christ, and especially upon their being of one mind in the Lord ! For their own pre servation amid the world's assaults, this is of the utmost consequence, as in a previous part of this prayer the Lord intimates, when anxious about thefr safety while he is absent, he affectionately commends them to the keeping of his Father: ' And now I am no more in the world, but these axe in the woild, and I come to thee. Holy Fathei, keep thxough thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are,' (v. 1 1 ) . It is by mnon and unity that they axe to be pieserved. But, in addition to this personal consideration, connected with thefr own safety in the midst of a hostUe world, another motive is suggested, in the close of the prayer, for the cultivation of THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 121 this unity, derived from its bearing on the condition of that hostile world itself Not only for their own sakes, that they may be secured against the deteriorating influ ence and the dangerous enmity of the woild, does he piay that they may be kept togethei, but foi the sake also of the woild itself, — that the woild may know the Father's name, and may beUeve in the divine mission of the Son. In this view, it is not difficult to perceive generaUy the propriety and force of the remarkable comparison which the Lord makes between the visible union of his people on earth, and his own mysterious relation to the Father in heaven : ' Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word ; that they all may be one ; as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us : that the world may be lieve that thou hast sent me,' (v. 20, 21 .) 'As thou. Father, ART IN ME, AND I IN THEE !' What a type or pattern is here presented to us ofthe unity of the church ! It is to be after the fashion of the unity of the Godhead ; ' one in us, AS WE ARE one ! ' The mutual indwelhng of the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Father, is to be shadowed forth in the mutual love of believers to one another. What a model, what a measure, of brotherly kindness, — ' of the unity of the Spfrit in the bond of peace ! ' The Divine Sonship of Jesus is to have its counterpart in the brother hood of his beUeving people : the bosom of the Father, which is His own proper home on high, is opened wide, in Him, to be the home also of the ' whole famUy in hea ven and earth' which bears His name ; and in that home, even here below, the household may be seen to be one ! What profanation is it to bring down this high title and this sacred analogy to the level of any merely external and formal framework, or any artificial apparatus, by which discordant elements, and particles stUl mutuaUy r-epellant, 122 union IN CONNECTION with may be bound togethei in apparent unifoxmity ! What impiety to dignify any clerical institute which may pre sume to anogate to itself the exclusive character of the church, nay, to dignify the very mother of harlots herself, with the appellation of the Sariom-'s holy home ! His home is in the bosom of the Father ; and it is only in so fax as the unity of his believing people leflects the unity of the Fathei's bosom, — which assmedly is not foimal, oi foiced, 01 fictitious, — that it can be instiumental in accom plishing the end which the Saviom has in view, ' that the woxld may know that the Fathex has sent him.' Foi, let us considei moie closely what it is that is to be exhibited and exemplified in this aspect of unity which the chm-ch is to piesent to the woild. In the fiist place, what is the Loid's great cause of legiet lespecting the woiid ? It is the woiid's ignoiance of the Fathei. ' O righteous Fathei, the woiid hath not known thee ! ' Would that we could bettei and moxe fully entex into the tenderness of this pathetic exclamation ! It is almost hke the language of complaint, the ciy of bitter disappointment, that the righteous Father should not be known in his own world ! Nay, but, adds the Sariour, ' I have known thee.' Thou art not to be quite unknown, — altogether without any to understand thee, — in this world of thine. Here am I. I, at least, for one, — ' I have known thee.' And if it be asked, how? Let the Saviour himself answer, — ' by the love wherewith thou hast loved me ;' by that, ' 0 righteous Father,' I know thee. Yes, and by that, I make thee known to some at least ; — for there are some who will acquaint themselves with thee. These, — these whom thou hast given me, out of the igno rant and unbelieving world, — these have known that thou hast sent me ; these I can make to know thee, even as I have known thee, by the same token, and in the same THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 123 spfrit, for ' I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it ; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them,' (v. 26.) Here, then, let it be observed, above aU things, that the Father is known by the love wherewith he hath loved the Son. It is thus that the Son himself has ever known the Father ; and it is thus that through the Son, the Fathex is made known ; thus is his name declaied. Foi the name God is his natuie, his chaiaotex, ox, as it weie, his heart; and even as an earthly father's heart, his true nature, or what he really is, is best understood from his disposition towards his son, and his treatment of his son, ' — so is it with the Eternal Father in heaven. The veriest outcast, the most abandoned and depraved among men, if there be any remnant of sensibility at all, can better stand this, than any other, test; and bankrupt in repu tation as to everything else, sunk in infamy and lost to his own self-esteem, the miserable victim of profligacy and crime, may yet give forth, from the daik despafr within him, one gleam of lingering light, — one last sign of a noblei natuie, — by which, if it weie possible, he might be favomably, or at least tenderly, judged, — in the pang that shoots through his seared and withered heart, and the unwonted tear that starts from his eye, as the image of the child he used in other days to love rises to his view, and he seems to hear, as of old, the prattling voice, and to feel again the fond caress. Hardened by sin and selfishness in all his feelings, he is soft and ten der here ; and transformed, as it might be thought, into the very image of a fiend, — by this one gush of parental feehng, he may be known to be stUl a man. Among the happier households of purity and peace, this criterion of character may be more safely apphed ; for, with all the fuU flow of a good man's affections, over the whole field 124 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH of the charities of life, — the spring and fountain of love, in his inmost soul, the unsealing and unlocking of his heart, is reserved, as it would seem, for the feUowship of that relation, which, of all earthly rela tions, is the most godlike,' — the relation of a father to his son. Thus, if I am a father, I feel that no man knows me as I would desire to be known; no acquaintance, or fiiend, does me justice, or undeistands me; who does not enter into the feelings with which I regard my chUd, so as to apprehend and appreciate all the tenderness of the love which I lavish upon him, and aU the fulness of that credit, and confidence, and renown with which I delight to honour him. And if I, ' being evU,' would thus be known by my affection to my son, and the ' good gifts' which I would fain bestow on him, how much more our 'Father in heaven,' who is 'per fect,' ' even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ! ' From all eterruty, that God, whose name is Love, has ever been a Father, haring with him in his bosom the Eternal Son ; and the great end of all his decrees, and of all his works, — of creation, proridence, redemption, and judgment, — has ever been, and will ever be, to manifest the love which he bears to the Son, and the glory which He giveth Him. In the possession of this love, and in the re ceiving of this glory, from everlasting to everlasting, the Son knoweth the Father. So it was in the beginning : ' The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. When he prepared the heavens, I was there : when he set a compass upon the face of the depth : then I was by him, as one brought up with him : and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always befoxe him.'* And so it will be to the end, even fox evex : ' Then cometh the end, * Prov. viii, 22, 27, and 30. THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 125 when he shaU have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father ; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power. And when all things shall be sub dued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.'* Forboth creations — the old creation and the new — are by Christ Jesus, with a view to this very end,-^that the Father might be known. ' I have known thee,' says the Lord Jesus, ^speaking as the Eternal Son, and yet speaking also as the 'Word made flesh,' ' God manifest in the flesh,' — ' I have known thee.' In that first creation, I was thy delight, and now, in this second, and more glorious, as well as more terrible, work of creation, I know thee, as that Father who hath said of me, ' Behold my servant whom I have chosen, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth.'t ' Thou , lovedst me from before the foundation of the world, and thou gavest me glory.' Ah! who shaU enter into the depth and fulness of the meaning of these words, ' 0 righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have KNOWN THEE ! ' But this is not all ; for. In the second place, the Lord desires and intends that the very same knowledge of the Father which he himself has should be communicated to his disciples, — and in the very same way, through thefr participation in his owu relation to the Father, who hath loved him and given him glory. For, immediately after his complaint of the world's ignorance, — ' O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee,'-^and the appeal which he makes to his own acquaintance vrith the Father, — 'but I have known thee,' — as if mindful of the great end of his mediatorial minis try, he who alone 'knoweth the Father,' J hastens to asso- * 1 Cor. XV. 24 and 28. f Isaiah xlii. 1. J Matt, xi, 27. 2l ]26 [TNION IN CONNECTION WITH ciate with himself aU ' to whomsovei the Son wiU leveal him,' — ' I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and wiU declare it,' (v. 26, 26.) Thus, in the experience of all who are given to Christ, and kept by him, the knowledge ox belief of the Son's mis sion from the Father, is the condition oi cause of his declar ing to them, with evei incxeasing clearness, the Father's name. Receiving the Son, as sent by the Father, they are admitted to an acquaintance with the Father's character; for ' the secret of the Loxd' — the seciet (may we partly say ? ) refened to in that question ' What is his name ? and what is his Son's name ?'* — ' is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant.'t Thefr knowledge, also, of the Father's name is ofthe same kind with the knowledge which the Son himself has of the Father. LUte his, it is not cfrciiitous, and, as it were, at second hand, but dfrect and personal; neithei is it speculative, as the knowledge of a spectator, but expeiimental, leal, and piactical. In this lespect, the knowledge which even the angels obtain of the Fathex, thxough his covenant with the Son, — ox, in othex woids, through the love which he bears to him, and the glory which he confers on him, — must yield to that of the ledeemed. The angels ' desfre to look into this gieat salvation,' and all the paiticulais connected with it ; and it is one great design of the whole economy, — includ ing ' the creation,' as well as the redemption, of this world, by the Son, — that ' to the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the chuich the mani fold wisdom of God.' J But the deep interest which the angels take in all that relates to Him whose lowly birth they hailed with songs of congratulation, to whom, in * Prov. XXX. i. f Ps. XXV. 14. | Ephes. iii. 9, 10. THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 127 his temptation and in his agony, they delighted to minis ter, and at whose resunection and ascension they were glad attendants, — and the vast enlargement which must, in this way, be imparted to their capacity of insight into the name, or nature, of God, — must fall short of what is the privilege of his own people. Foi high as is the steain which the angels raise, when the echoes of all heaven ring with their song, — ' Worthy is the Lamb,' — there is a deeper sense — a more rapturous and ecstatic apprehen sion — of all that this gieat doxology involves, in the bieast of the veiy least and lowest among the mighty multitude, out of eveiy kindied, and tongue, and people, and nation, who can add to the loud acclaim, — ' Worthy is the Lamb, for he was slain,' — the more hushed and thrilling note of wondering gratitude, — 'and he hath redeemed us unto God.' For this very end, indeed, aie the Divine nature and the human united in the man Christ Jesus, — that, as he became one with us, in all that is ours, — in our sin, our suffering, om death,^ — so we might become one with Him in all that is his, in his righteous obedience to the Father, as well as in the fruit of that obedience, — bis pos session of the Father's love, and the glory which the Father giveth him. And this union is real. It was a real union and identification of himself with us to which he consented, when, by the power of the Holy Ghost, he was born into this world, and when, through the eternal Spirit, he offered himself without spot unto God. Nor is it less a real union or identification of us with himself to which he admits us, when, by the same Divine agency, we axe boxn again into his kingdom, and are ' buried with him into his death, that we may rise with him to newness of life.'* And even as He knew all the particulars of our * Rom. vi. 4. 128 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH relation to the Father, not speculatively or by report, or as a spectator, but personally and experimentally, when, becoming our surety and substitute, he, ' his own self, bare our sins, in his own body, on the tree,'* — so are we, ' being made partakers of the Divine nature,'t admitted to the knowledge of His relation to the Father, in the very same sense, — the same fulness of significancy, — in which he was brought to the knowledge of ours. Ours was a rela tion implying wrath and judgment; his is one caiiying along with it only love and glory : and as whatever theie is of terioi and agony in the formei lelation, was known and pioved by him, in the wilderness, in the garden, and on the cxoss, — so, whatevex tenderness and joy, — tendex- ness unmeasured, — joy unspeakable, — can be imagined to leside in the lattei lelation, — all — all is shaxed with us. Fox, haring feUowship with him, by faith in his suffering foi om- iniquity, we become one vrith him in the love where with the Father hath loved him, and the glory which the Father hath given him. ' For He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God, in him.' J Now, let it be observed, in the thfrd place, that what the Lord would have the world to know is, the reality of that relation in which he stands to the Father, and in which he admits his beUeving people to a participation with himself For it is the light of the same knowledge that is to pass or be transmitted through successive media, if we may so speak, or means of communication. It is the Father that is to be known. Now, primarUy and directly, the Father is known to the Son alone ; for ' no man knoweth the Father but the Son :' — a Father's name ox natme, — his ' heaxt of hearts," — is known to none as it *lPet, ii. 24. f 2 Pet. iii. 4. J 2 Cor. v. 21. THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 129 is to the Son whom he loves and delights to honour. Next in order to the Son, is ' he, to whomsoever the Son shall reveal the Father.' They whom the Father hath given him, and whom he receives as paxtakeis with himself in his own lelation to the Fathex, have the same knowledge of the Fathei which the Son has. And it is the same knowledge of the Fathei that they aie to be insteumental in conveying to the woild. This is cleaily intimated in the thxee expiessions which the Loid uses to specify what he woiUd have the world to apprehend ; — ' that the world may believe that thou hast sent me ;' (v. 21) — ' that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me ;' (v. 23) — and his complaint ofthe world's ignorance (v. 26, 26) brings out, by imph- cation, the same views, respecting the kind of knowledge which alone he cares or desfres to see imparted to it. In aU schools, it is of capital importance that the teacher should understand precisely what it is that it is his business to teach : and this is especiaUy necessary in the school of Christianity. The church is appointed to teach the world. Believers are, one and all of them, ordained as missionaries, to give instruction in the know ledge of God. Nor are they left to thefr own discretion as to the kind of knowledge which they are to impart. It is to be the same kind of knowledge which they them selves have acqufred : — or, which is the same thing, the very knowledge which the Son has of the Father. Has the church recognised and understood this high calhng ? Has she comprehended hex function as the teachei of the woild ? If this question be asked of any of those sects, oi sec tions, — whethei Gieek, Roman, ox Anglican, — who, moxe 01 less consistentiy, profess to cany out the chuich prin ciples of the age that foUowed the death of the apostles 130 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH and the closing of the inspired canon, — let the reply be found, not meiely in theii own ignoiance of apostolic tiuth, and the real apostolic fellowship, but in theii cautious jealousy of holy scriptuie, and theii systematic doctrine of Reserve. Like the pillar of old, between the camp of Israel and the pursuing host of the Egyptians, — the light, such as it is, shining from the Dirine glory, is dimly reflected on a favoured few within, whUe to the multitude without it is a cloud and darkness. Thus every false church intercepts, instead of transmitting, the direct beams of heavenly love ; content blindly to keep the world in subjection, or at bay, by force or flatteiy, — by feai oi favour, — instead of seeking to make aU intelh- gently one, in the Father and the Son. The same remark may be applied, with some shght modification, to the more refined sort of church principles, wbich, in deference to Piotestant feeling or prejudice, concede a fuU pubhcation and free cfrculation of the bible, and even give no small measure of prominence to the peculiar doctrines ofthe gospel; while, at the same time, through the stress laid on the external rites and symbols of Christianity, they make the aspect which the christian society is to present to the world, too much like the face of Moses, still seen through the veil. TeU men that the Father's love, in the Son, is conveyed and communicated through the sacraments, and that the fellowship of this love is to be ascertained by the ecclesiastical genealogy of those who administer them ; and immediately you en shrine and shroud, in a tabernacle of form, that name or character of the Fathei, which he intends should be open without a covering, and accessible without a condition, to all. The casket becomes the object of attention and attraction, instead of the jewel which is in it : the ministry of men, instead of the heart of God himself For it is THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 131 his very heart that the Father has laid bare in the mis sion of the Son of his love ; and important as the office of declaring it unquestionably is, and precious the sacra mental seals of it, — if either be unduly magnified, there is the utmost risk of a sacerdotal class and a comely cere monial being held to be what men are chiefly to admfre in the church ; as if her function were to make the world acquainted with her own relation to the Saviour, as the object of a kind of exclusive favouritism, on his part, rather than with his relation to the Father ; whereas, the Lord says nothing of all this, but only intimates, that through the men whom the Father had given him, and all who should beheve on him through their word, he would have the world to know that the Father had sent him, and had loved them, even as he had loved him. The evangelical communions might be expected to act more faithfully and more freely, — their principle being entirely, and, to a large extent, their practice also, in accord ance vrith the right relation that should subsist between the Creator and his creatures, — the Sovereign and his subjects, — the Saviour and his redeemed. Even they, however, seem but imperfectly to realise the true object of thefr mission into the world ; at least, they might shine more effectively as Ughts in the world, were their aim more deflnite and precise. GeneraUy, there is an acknow ledgment of the obhgation lying upon christians to ' adorn the doctrine of God thefr Saviour in all things, and to let their hght so shine before men that they, seeing their good works, may glorify thefr Father which is in heaven.' But may it not be observed that this obligation has been felt and recognised somewhat too vaguely, — as a mere general excitement to good conduct, — a motive binding and persuading them to holy living, and to a punctual discharge of all the relative duties ? Personally, and 132 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH individually, many a believer, walking humbly with his God, and being blameless and harmless, as a chUd of God, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, — has presented, in the charms and graces of his daily example, and in the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit that dis tinguishes him, so attractive and lovely a picture of true chiistianity, that the tongue of calumny has been sUenced, and even the cold heait of unbehef has been constrained to envy and admire. And this is much. To give to the world a finished model of what the gospel can make man, — to let them see a specimen of the high endowments, and pure and excellent accomplishments, which meet in the character of an enhghtened christian,-^ — to disarm pre judice, by the gentle manifestation of all that is amiable, as well as to awaken conscience, by the stern advocacy of truth and righteousness, in the fellowship of oidinary life, and the intercourse between man and man, — is an impor tant service rendered to Christ and his cause, and may go far to recommend that more hidden life of spirituahty and devotion, and that mystery of faith, — that adherence to a mystical cieed, — with which such beauties of prac tical hoUness are seen to be associated. Would that such instances were multiplied! At the same time, it might give preciseness and additional weight to the influence and exertions of beUevers in this direction, were the end which they are to have in view more specially and exactly defined. That end, as we may now see, according to what is implied in the Lord's prayer, is not merely, in general, that the world may be brought to have a favour able opinion of christians and thefr Christianity, — but that the world may know the Father in the mission of the Son, — or, in other words, may know how the Father hath loved the Son and given him gloty, — how the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father,-^how the Father and the Son are one. THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 133 This unity, it may be proper here to remark, in the fourth place, is dependant on the agency ofthe Holy Ghost. For it is not the doctrine ofthe Trinity, or the union ofthe Three Persons in the One Eternal Godhead, that is chiefly the subject of the Saviour's argument in this prayer ; — although that doctrine is throughout, and necessarily, in volved in it. The very absence of all dfrect allusion to the Holy Ghost proves this. In the farewell discourses of our Lord, as recorded in the three preceding chapters, the agency of the Holy Spirit is the topic on which he delights to dwell : in his prayer to the Father, the Holy Spirit is not once expressly named or noticed. And the reason is, that the Lord, as Mediator, is praying ' in the Spirit;' — 'the Spirit making intercession for him.' In addressing his disciples, he speaks much to them of the Spfrit ; in his address to his Father, the Spirit indeed is with him, — standing by him and accompanying him in his supplications ; but, as is usual in all the work of the Spfrit, without speaking of himself. It is plain, there fore, that the Lord sustains throughout this prayer the character of Mediator, — that he speaks not as God, but as God maiufest in the flesh, — the angel or ambassador, the missionary or apostle of the Father ; and the union between himself and the Father to which he points, as the type and model of the unity of his church, is not merely that which is implied in the great truth, — ' that there are three persons in the Godhead, and these three are one God,' — though but for that eternal union, this mediatorial union, if we may so caU it, could never be described in the lan guage here used, — but rather, the feUowship of love which subsists between the Father and the Eternal Word, — — especiaUy as ' made flesh and dweUing among men, full of grace and tenth.' In that fellowship, the agency of the Holy Spirit has M 134 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH ever been conspicuous. The communications of the Father's love were thus conveyed to the Saviour, in such scenes as his baptism and transfiguration, when the Spirit descended upon him, and a voice from heaven proclaimed him to be the only-begotten Son of God ; and the fre quent expressions used by the evangelists concerning Jesus, — as that he waxed strong in spirit, — that he was led by the Spfrit, — that he groaned in spirit, — and so on, — oonspfre with the whole tenor of his walk with God in tbe world, in indicating, as it would seem, unequivocally, the presence and power of the Holy Ghost. For it was by the anointing of the Holy Ghost that He, like every servant of God, was fitted, not only for doing the Father's will, but for keeping up and realising that intimate com munion with the Fathei, in lespect of which it might be said that 'he was in the Fathei, and the Fathei in him.' The same Spirit is impaited to those whom he identifies with himself in this piayer, — whether presently, as point ing out the eleven then befoie him, or prospectively, as embracing such as should believe on him, through their word ; — and it is, therefore, by the Holy Ghost dweUing in them, that they become one in the Son, even as the Fathex and the Son axe one. From all this, it would appear, that the unity, or union, so earnestly commended and made the subject of such pathetic supplication in this prayer, is fax less dependant, than is sometimes thought, on external oiganization; and is, in fact, much moxe simple and divine. It is txue, it must be a visible union, — apparent as well as real, — patent and palpable to spectatois, — and such as the woild may know and xecognise : — otherwise it could nevei lead to a know ledge of the Fathex. At the same time, in whatevex measm-e and in whatevex mannei it is thus open to ob- seivation, it must be as a union, not of man's contrivance, but of God's inspfralion. THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 136 Foi, let it be observed, this manifestation of union among believers is not given in mere deference to the world's careless oi presumptuous demand of a sign; and, in fact, in so far as it is a sign at all, it is a sign which, when given, and in proportion as it is given, will gene rally be found to be more weighty than it is welcome, — more vexing to the uneasy conscience than acceptable to the unrenewed heart. ^Thus, for example, it is notoriously the common refuge of infidelity, whether practical or speculative, to upbraid the gospel with the manifold divisions of its disciples. First agree among yourselves, says the sceptic, and then present your claims to us, with some reasonable prospect of having them allowed. Now, give the sceptic what he asks. In haste to take him at his word, let a general convention be called, or, with less stir, let a general peace be assumed. The voice of discord is hushed, or, at least, is not heard by ears profane ; over aU the strife of the schools, sUence broods and reigns; discordant parties entertain proposals of for bearance, — or of submission; terms of mutual compro mise and indulgence are ratified ; and, every mmmm of dissent being hushed, — or stifled in the cell, the college, or the cloister, — aU the faithful now stand, in compact anay, on common ground, one and indivisible. And now the rash speculator in unbelief, — the com mitted gambler in scepticism, — ^is summoned to redeem his pledge. He said he would beUeve, if those who chal lenged his faith would only come to an agreement and understanding among themselves. And now, does he not perceive, — must he not confess, — that they do under stand one another ? Yes! and he too understands them. It is a union after his own heart that is formed and exhibited to him. 136 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH It is a wise mastei-stroke of pohcy, — such a combination of forces as transcendant genius or consummate talent can command. He owns himself out-generalled and out manoeuvred, — caught and held by his own chaUenge, which he never thought would be met. He has got the sign he wanted; — these christians have contrived to make out the case of a common interest and a common cause, overbearing all personal and party jealousies ; and this, he always said, would convince him. And, on the terms proposed, he is not very unwiUing to be convinced : or, at least, to join, for his own part, in any general scheme of compxomise and compiehension. Union of this kind he can compiehend ; and he can deal with it acooxdingly. It affoxds the basis of a convenient truce, and allows him to veil undei a decent lobe of out- waid confoimity, his own private and pecuUax modes of thought, — so that he may well consent to cease from being openly and piofessedly a foe to Christianity, when he finds that the aUiance to which he is expected to accede amounts to no more than his appearing, whatever his secret sen timents may be, to be openly and professedly its fiiend. Now, take the same man, if he have intelligence and feeling at all, to the separate abodes of any two of the most vehement controversialists that have ever, with real Chris tianity on both sides, most painfully scandalised the christian community, and given the greatest occasion to the enemy to blaspheme. Let him visit their closets, — thefr studies, — the homes in which their hearts dwell, — tbe sanctuaries in which they hold fellowship with God, and with kindxed spirits, befoxe God's thxone, — the walks of theii business and theii daUy occupation, in which they se verally gloxify God; — let him sit successively at theix tables, and become in tmn, to each of them, the man of his coun sels; — oilet him even make thefr acquaintance by authentic THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 137 report and accmate personal observation ; — and, with all that he may detect, in either or in both of them, of that wrath of man which worketh not the righteousness of God, still, his conscience, whether he may choose to acknowledge it or not, wUlbe more impressed with a sense ofthe reality of things divine, and he will stand more in awe of that mys terious divine unity, into which all that beheve in Jesus are admitted, — than if he saw all the myriads of Christen dom bowing at one shrine. Paul and Barnabas may have a sharp contention : Luther and Calvin may misunder stand one another, and the unspaiing denunciations of the German Reformer may fall thick on the head of his Genevan brother, — who could take even the unjust smiting of such a 'righteous' man, as 'an exceUent oil;'* and, to * ' See Life and Character of Calvin,' by Dr Smyth, of Cliarleston, United States : — ' Against whom did Luther and his coadjutors utter se verer language than against Calvin in reference to the Sacramentarian Con troversy ? And whom did Calvin more delight to honour than Luther ? How did he study to cover the coals of this pernicious discord, and, if possible, entirely to quench them ?' (P. 34, &c.) 'I wish,' he says, writing to BuUin- ger and the other pastors of Zurich, against whom Luther had used an inex cusable wantonness of language, reproach, and anathema — ' I wish you to recall these things to your mind ; how great a man Luther is, and with how great gifts he excels ; also with what fortitude and constancy of mind, with what efficacy of learning, he hath laboured and watched to destroy the kingdom of antichrist, and to propagate, at the same time, the doctrine of salvation. I often say, if he should call me a devil, I hold him in such honour that I would acknowledge him an eminent servant of God.' ' And does not the whole Protestant world now,' adds Dr Smyth, ' including the Lutheran church itself, acknowledge that the doctrine of Calvin on the Lord's supper is true, scriptural, and catholic, and that Luther's was as certainly extravagant and wrong ? ' Again, • Keep your smaller differences,' says Calvin, addressing the Lutheran churches, ' let us have no discord on that account ; but let us march in one solid column, under the banners of the Captain of our salvation, and with undivided counsels form the legions of the cross upon the territories of darkness and of death.' ' I should not hesitate to cross ten seas, if by this means holy communion might prevail among the members of Christ.' 2m 138 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH come to a more recent example, Wesley and Whitfield may indignantly draw off from one another, and make even the calm and peaceful air of a religious revival resound with the din of a controversy not the mildest or most measured : and the infidel may affect to make his boast of these things. Nevertheless, it is the apprehension, which he cannot evade, of tbe real, living, dirine and spiritual union, which, after all, subsists among all these holy men, and makes them all most emphatically one, — through the Father's love to the Son, impaited by the Spirit to them all, and glowing in them all, — a union which he cannot ascribe to human policy, since he perceives that it exists in very despite of human passions, — it is the sense of this union which galls and frets the infidel more than all the un- bioken unity evex vainly boasted of by Rome. That unity he can understand and explain. He can see through it. He can account for it on worldly principles : and as a scheme of worldly wisdom, he can tolerate it. But the othex union is a mystexy to him: it txoubles his con science : it cairies home to his soul an iiiesistible impies sion of something moxe than human being at the bottom of it: of some heavenly txuth and some heavenly agency being concerned in foiming and maintaining it. Do we make these lemaiks for the purpose of vindi cating or excusing the disputes of christians ? God forbid. We know whence come wars and fightings, spiritual as well as carnal. But it is important to perceive clearly and piecisely, what it is that the world needs for its conviction, and what tbe church should seek to realise. For, after all, there axe in substance but two theories of chiistian union, which, with vaiious modifications, have been actually manifested to the woild, and which, it would seem, in these last days, are to be developed in more marked antagonism than ever. The one, having THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 139 as its leading idea and central point of unity, the church, and for the cementing together of its various parts, the mystical and sacramental virtue of the church's priestly ministry : the other, taking Christ alone, and setting him in the midst, with such as are converted and become as little chUdren around him, — and recognising as the moulding and melting influence, which running over and pervading the whole circle, is to make them all one, the ' unction of the Holy One,' the living energy of that Spirit, which, even as a little child, Christ himself received with out measure. The former is the merely human (if it be not rather the Satanic) plan of gathering up many scat tered limbs into one artificial head : the latter is the divine plan of original unity, flowing directiy and imme diately from God himself, but, alas ! too soon and too easily broken up, as it comes in contact with the rude human materials on which it must necessarily fall. Hence, the first of these methods, is second, in the order of na ture and of time, to the other ; as if it were the enemy's device, — or that of injudicious friends, — for repairing the faUure of the Divine Ideal, — and for doing so, by an ingenious imitation of it, or a better and more practicable scheme substituted plausibly in its place. Nor is there anything surprising, or that might not have been anticipated beforehand, in the relative position of these two plans. For if the union or unity of the church or people of God be indeed, as we have ventured to call it, A DIVINE IDEAL, — having its source or origin in the Divine mind, and, what is more, its type and model in the Dirine nature,^ — what more likely than that so exquisite and delicate a steucture, thrown down, as it were, from heaven, amid the coarse and uncongenial masses of earthly matter, and exposed to the rude hand ling of earthly artificers, should suffer fracture and fall in 140 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH pieces ? And, on the othei hand, what moie natuial than that they, by whose awkwaidness it has been bioken, should clumsfly attempt to adjust the fragments, and collect them again into one ? The vase of perfect beauty, hea venly and divine, caught, as it falls, in stiange hands, unaccustomed to any buiden more piecious than their own shapeless idols, which no lOugh usage can huit, is shatteied and shivered in their grasp. Through the tears which a- catastrophe so untoward occasions, the thought of mending what has been thus marred occurs, and the tempter being at hand to encourage the experiment, the scattered pieces are elaborately brought and fitted to gether; some subtle sort of glue is interposed, — some artificial heat, or gentie pressme from without, applied, — some gaudy colouring and gorgeous crown put on, — and, thus repaired and renewed, the broken vessel makes even a greater show than it did before ; so as to impose upon all except the chosen few, who can detect, amid a thousand counterfeits, the fresh tint of heaven's bright ness and beauty, and the fragrance of the sweet odour which all that is heavenly breathes. The whole history of the church is one continued com mentary on this xemaik; and successive eias might be selected fox Ulustiating it — eias of levival and lefoima- tion, foUowed by some sad lecoils. In primitive times, foi instance, the unity ofthe apostolic feUowship seemed such that one might afready hail the descent of the heavenly city on eaith. What more perfect exhibition of divine love has ever been given among men, than that which followed the memorable day of Pente cost ? Alas ! how long did it continue ? Almost in the same breath, we read of 'murmuriugs' in that home of peace ; as there had been previous indications of false hood and its swift punishment, and of a worldly spirit THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 141 interfering sadly with the simpUcity of the gospel. Then, afterwards, accounts thicken upon us, of questionings and disputings, crowding upon one another : difficult cases of conscience requfring to be settled, gave birth to party spfrit and sectarianism; erroneous doctrines blighted the charity which never thrives but round the stem of truth ; rival teachers and leaders appeared ; and already, ere the pen of inspfration was laid aside, it had to teace a sad picture of the disordered ranks and broken unity, even of infant Christendom. Thus, at the withdrawal of his miraculous gifts, did the great Head of the chmch seem to leave her, as if about to be broken up in the world. Soon, however, a re-uniting, and what might seem to be a re-forming, process began to be apparent. Presby ters coalesced and became absorbed in one bishop ; bishops in one patriarch ; patriarchs, ultimately, in one primate or pope : at the expense of freedom of thought, opinions were tortured into one prescribed form, — at tbe expense of freedom of action, the people were reduced under one privileged order; and the issue was the rise of that vast hierarchy, which calmly elevating its head above the troubled waters of the faUing Roman empire and the invading barbarian tonents, took its seat, at last, and erected its purple throne, on the seven Italian hills. So also, at the date of the Reformation, when the papal system itself appeared, for a time, in danger of dissolu tion, from the very rust and canker of its inherent rotten ness and conuption,— a reviring impulse from above, gave occasion to a counter - reaction from beneath; and the heavenly union, manifested anew, in the fresh bursting forth of the pure and free gospel among the nations, forced on a reconsteuction of the earthly scheme of unity, which is the mimic and rival of the true. At the begin ning, the Reformers were "all of one mind, and a blessed 142 UNION IN CONNECTION WITH harmony reigned throughout all the company of thefaithful. Everywhere, and by all, the same truth was proclaimed, — the truth which Luther caught or inherited, through Au gustine, from Paul; and the fires of persecution in Ger many and in Britain, as well as in Italy, France, and Spain, were all kindled at the same antichristian shrine against which, with one voice, they cried; — even as it was the same live coal from off the altar, which purged alike the lips of all the holy maxtyis. It was surely a union and unity immediately from God. And, because it was so, it was not long unbroken in the hands of men. Errors, heresies, strifes, divisions, — jealousies unnumbered, and misunderstandings manifold— speedily interfered to blast the fair promise of that happy springtime ; and tiie cap tives emancipated from Roman tyranny, whom the com mon raptm-e and surprise of their first deliverance had kept together, — singing the same new song, — struck, ere long, discordant notes, and parted into many bands. Such was the fate of the Divine plan, left to be worked out by human agents. Meanwhile, the other plan was once more success fully plied. Rome had taken the alarm in time ; the Refor mation, which threatened her downfal, served to rally hei ranks. Loyola was to be a match for Luther; the decrees of Trent were to give a new body and form to the fluc tuating superstitions and doubtful dogmas of the middle ages; unseemly abuses were to be amended, and unpopu lar grievances redressed; the urgency of a general crisis was to suppress particular eruptions; and by a convulsive effort, Rome, mistress of nations and mother of inven tions, was to be more than herself again. It is a sad contrast which is thus presented, deeply humbling to the ti-ue followers of Jesus. It is melancholy to think that Satan, as it would thus seem, should con trive to keep his teoops together in the world, so much THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 143 more effectually than Christ himself. And yet, in re ference to the impression of divine tenth and love to be made on that very world, what intelligent mind would, for a moment, compare even the waning union of the Protes tant ranks, vrith the increasing unity of Rome ? Her own servants, it is notorious, have been made infidels by Popeiy; an unbelieving priesthood haunts the veiy Vati can; and, if a frivolous and supeificial age is beginning to think weU of her, is it not manifestly because she can shake hands with philosophic scepticism, and whiten even the sepulchre itself? On fhe other hand, the consent of evangehcal Protestantism, throughout all her denomina tions, even with aU the disadvantages of the uncertainty of her trumpet-sound, has ever been an offence and an enigma to infidehty ; and, if now the time is come, when, not by artificial contrivances, but by the Spiiit pouied out from on high, new hfe and mutual love shall leani- mate them all, — tried, it may be, and diminished in the teial, — how gloriously may it yet appear, that they are all one, as the Father and the Son are one ! For surely this dispensation of the Spirit is not to close, without an ampler and wider fulfilment of that pro phecy of Joel, which began to be accomplished on the day of Pentecost. ' This,' said Peter, of the scene then exhibited, — ' this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel : and it shaU come to pass in the last days, saith God, I vrill pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.' But did that scene fully exhaust the whole prediction? Is there no instalment due ? Nay, was it more than an instal ment that was then made good ? Amid wasting judg ments, darkly ushering in the glorious dawn, is there to be no effusion of the Spirit ' before the great and notable day of the Lord,' — such as may present to the world a spectacle of universal brotherhood among all who shall 144 UNION WITH THE GOSPEL. then be found lefusing the maik of apostasy, having le- ceived the seal of God ! Let this hope giow brighter of a new spiritual revival, yet to be experienced, before the end come ; and, as the time is short, let it be settled that it must be soon. It is a hope which will do more for the great cause of christian union than any plan the wisdom of man can devise; for it will make true believers, how ever now separated, live as if they were one day, and that light speedily, to be one. The elements of this union, moreover, being exclu sively spiritual — not political or formal — whatever pro motes the growth of spirituality, in individuals oi commu nities, must tend to its development. Election out of the world, by the choice of God, — separation from the world, to the fellowship of God, — sanctification by the truth for a holy mission into the world; identity, also, with the Eternal Son, in his knowledge of the Father, and his com mission from the Father; — these constitute the unity of which we speak. It is a unity whose beauty and whose blessedness a single, isolated, and solitary believei may himself experience, and exhibit to the conviction, oi con fusion, of some poition of the woild's unbelief. Any two or three, agreeing together, may make it moie pal pable. And, as the branches of the visible chmch be come moie pure in disciphne, and more cathoUc in com munion, and the thick-coming and thick-crowding events of these last days force them more and more to coalesce : and, above aU, as the Spirit is poured out from on high; — growing up into the Head, they will grow into one another; and thus at last a preparation may be in pro gress for the more open harmony of mUlennial glory ESSAY IV. CHRISTIAN UNION VIEWED IN RELATION TO THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. By rev. j. A. JAMES. ESSAY IV. christian UNION VIEWED IN RELATION TO THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. Lord Brougham closes his ' Historical Sketches of Statesmen who had flourished in the reign of George the Thfrd,' with a figure, in which he compares his work to a picture gaUery, where the portraits are ananged on the two opposite sides of the room ; and he then supposes a steanger coming from another hemispheie, oi anothei world, to survey the spectacle. ' Here,' would that stranger say, ' stand the choicest spfrits of their age ; the greatest wits, the noblest orators, the wisest politicians, the most Ulustrious patriots. Here they stand, whose hands have been raised for their country, whose magical eloquence has shook the spheres, whose genius has poured out strains worthy the inspfration of the gods, whose lives were devoted to the purity of their principles, whose memories were bequeathed to a race grateful for benefits received from thefr sufferings and their sacrifices. Here stand all these " hghts of the world and demi-gods of fame ;" but here they stand, not ranged on one side of this gaUery, having served a common country! With the same bright object in riew, thefr efforts were divided, not united. They fiercely combated each other, and did 148 UNION IN RELATION TO not together assafl the common foe. Thefr great exer tions were bestowed, thefr more than mortal forces were expended, not in furthering the general good, not in resisting thefr country's enemies, but in conflicts among themselves ; and aU their triumphs were won over each other, and all thefr sufferings were endured at each other's hands.' Alas ! that this beautiful, yet affecting representation, should in any measm'e apply to the parties that have struggled with each other in the christian church ; and that a steanger, upon the supposition of such an one coming from another world, should, upon studying the page of ecclesiastical history, and surveying the portraits of our theologians, polemics, authors, and preachers, which there confr-ont each other, be compelled to endme the same painful surprise, and to indulge in the same sorrow ful reflections. True it is — -and it is some relief to make the concession — that in the latter case the selfishness of party is not so unmixed, nox the defect of right pxinciple so gieat, while, at the same time, theie is undoubtedly a moie sinceie legaid to the common object which all piofess to seek ; but still, aftei eveiy abatement has been made, thexe xemains fax too dire a resemblance between the parties, for thefr own honour or the credit of rehgion. Under the distress occasioned by this unseemly spec tacle, there are two sources of consolation : First, the delightful fact, that the true church, the inrisible commu nity, is reaUy and indivisibly one. Amidst all this divi sion and disruption, beneath these angry and conten tious elements, theie is an essential unity, which, though limited to no age, confined to no countiy, xestrained to no party, and seen in its entireness by no eye but that which is omniscient, really and always exists ; a uiuty which nothing can impafr, and which, whUe it is ever THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 149 gathering up into itself the redeemed of the Lord, of every age, country, and communion, equally rejects the unre- generate of all of them. God, in the methods of his grace, and the dispensations of his providence, by plans incomprehensible, and methods inscrutable to us, is ever working out the archetypal idea of the unity of his church, as it existed from eternity in his own infinite and unerring mind ; and as nothing can disturb bim in his operations, so nothing can defeat him in his design ; and from all the seemingly heteiogeneous and discoidant elements of the various religious parties, he will no doubt at length bring out his own glorious church, haring neither rent, blemish, spot, nor any such thing. All true believers admit that they are one in Christ. ' There is one body, and one spfrit, even as ye axe called in one hope of your calhng ; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through aU, and in you all.' There is and can be but one chmch, even as thexe is but one head of the chuxch. The Lord Jesus Christ came ' to gather together in one all things in himself, both which are in heaven, and which are in earth, even in him.' He is the one head, of which all behevers are the membeis ; the one vine, of which they are the branches ; and thus all axe membexs one of anothei. Diride as they may, into separate, visible com munions, they cannot bxeak away from the fellowship of the one inrisible communion of saints ; into whatever number of distinct churches they may anange themselves, they axe feUow membeis of the holy catholic chmch ; and in thefr holier and happier moments they feel it, and re- i oice in it, when from the exercise of that faith which unites them to Christ there arises a love too fervent and expan sive to be confined within the nanow limits of thefr own party, and which, bmsting through all sectarian barriers, n2 160 UNION IN RELATION TO flows in one mighty stream of holy sympathy to all who love om Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. The renewed heart cannot be shut up within any bounds nanower than the amphtude of the universal church. Exulting in the idea of belonging to a famUy circle in the universe, of which God is the only centre and parent, and which has no members or relations of remoter consanguinity than children, it overlooks the distinction of time, country, and colour, and searching among aU countiies and aU chuiches foi its objects, feels that it is nevei satisfied tUl it has discoveied and embiaced all that in the same spirit as its own can ciy, 'Abba, Fathei.' Eveiy real christian, theie foie, is, and must be, united to all other real christians, and has that in his nature, which, though obsti-ucted and counteracted by opposing influences, struggles to make that union palpable and visible. This is delightful ; we are members of each other in spite of opinions and reason ings, and can separate from one another only by separat ing from Christ. This infrangible unity, yet, alas ! invi sible to mortal eye, shall one day be seen, when all the non-essential, though not altogether unimportant, circum stances of the church, in matters of ceremony and of government, having fallen away from her heavenly form, as so much earthly and worn-out, or needless attfre, she shall be seen in her own inimitable, imperishable, and divine beauty, as having the glory of God. But a second som-ce of consolation under the divisions and distractions of the church of Christ, is found in the attempts which are now being made to heal them, and the effusion of the Spirit, in which we would fain believe these attempts have originated. True it is, that the voices which are calling for union and peace, are but as whispers amidst the roar of artiUeiy, oi the thundeis ofthe heavens; still it is something that they aie sent forth, however THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 151 feeble their testimony may seem to be, and that they are grovring louder and more general, tUl at length, when these fearful explosions shall have spent thefr riolence, the still smaU voice alone shaU be heard, and the reign of love and gentleness commence. In no part of Christendom are the divisions of chris tians more numerous, or the spirit of party more viiulent, than in England. How fieice is the contioveisy now laging. within the Chmch of England, between the Evan gelicals and the Tiactaiians 1 Puseyism has effected a feaiful schism, and the rent is growing wider and wider ; while both parties, notwithstanding then- determined hostiUty to each other, axe combined against the Noncon formists of all parties. Independents and Baptists are canying on thefr inteiminable waxfaxe with each other on the subjects and mode of the initiatory ordinance of christiaiuty ; whUe both parties have grown, I am afraid, somewhat angry with each other of late. The Methodists are composed of various sections of very unequal strength, and by no means actuated towards each other by the most friendly or amiable feeling. A new sect, professing to disclaim all sects, though as sectarian in its spirit as any other, has lately risen amongst us, with the high-sound ing but hopeless ambition of swallowing up all denomi nations in the endearing name of 'Brethren;' thus usurp ing that title, and designing to withhold it from others. But apart from actual contention, and even among those who have least of party animosity towards others, how little is there of christian union ! The peace which should exist between christians was never intended to be an armed neutraUty. It is not enough that there is no direct enmity; there ought to be love. Nor is it sufficient that there is no fighting; for there ought to be feUowship. We should be brethren, and not steangers, much less 162 UNION IN RELATION TO enemies. But it is consolatory to know that a desfre is felt, and that efforts are being made to brmg about a closer union among these contending parties, or among as many of them as can be persuaded to enter into the scheme. An inqufry is coming forth from many quarters at once, ' Why cannot we be one ? Is there no spot to be found, no means to be devised, by which we can come nearer to each other ? Shall the divider of the brethren ever triumph in the success of his schemes ? Shall the infidel ever point the finger of scorn to the church of Christ, possessed, and rent, and tom by the unclean spfrit of sectarianism ? Is thexe not faith enough left among us to have this demon cast out ?' Happily these inqufries are engaging the attention of holy and reflecting minds, in all parties of the church; and blessed results may con fidently be expected to follow, though we may not yet be able to define the shape they wiU assume, nor the issues to which they wiU grow. All who stand prominently forward in the promotion of any scheme of agreement, ought to be prepared to state with precision and clearness, what kind of unity it is they seek to establish, and for what purposes it should be formed. What we want, then, is & formal, visible union of par ties — an approximation to each other, of which not only our own hearts shall be conscious, by a perceptible decay of om prejudices and a growth of love, but which shaU be apparent to others by some means of which they are able to take cognisance. It is not merely, though this is a part of our design, that as ministers and as christians we should cultivate more assiduously the obhgations of bro therly love ; but that by some kind of agreement, organ ization, or means of pubUc intercomse, we should give visibility to this state of om hearts towards each other. THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 153 Without this, we faU to let om hght so shine befoie men as we should do. The diffused lays of love that are scattered abroad in the civUities and comtesies of life, are too faint to be seen, or at any rate to be seen in that intensity and force, which they would gain when collected into the focal-point of a pubhc organization. If we do not meet in public in some way, either because we wiU not, or cannot, the world wUl be slow to credit our profes sions of secret, though it may be, sincere love. Secret love is always suspicious, and is virtuaUy prohibited by the precepts of the New Testament, which axe given to regulate our intercourse with each other : ' By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another.' This language of our dirine Lord seems to requfre a visible union ; and in the present state of Chris tendom, we cannot have risibility without organisation or pubhc intercourse of some kind. I need scarcely say, that the visibihty we seek bears no analogy to that contended for by Popery, by which the church is made to form one vast society — one mighty pyramid, of which the base shall be laid in all nations, the officers of which shaU be innumerable, and distinguished by various degrees and gradations of authority, culmi nating in an infaUible human head. Nor do we aim at amalgamating aU denominations into one. This could only be done by a sacrifice of principle which we axe not piepared, and ought not to be wUhng, to make. The scheme that would be wide enough to com prehend all, can in fact be satisfactory to none, and would involve a compromise which a due regard to truth should not allow us to make. The wisdom that cometh from above is &cst pure. It is the union of many independent bodies, stiU remaining independent, and not the mexging of aU in one that we advocate. In fact, it is union — not the absoxption of all into one. 154 UNION IN RELATION TO There are two terms very commonly used, and some times convertibly, which are by no means synonymous, at least in the conventional meaning which is attached to them. lrrLe3.'Q.,denomitiational&ndi sectarian. The former is employed as simply indicating certain pecuharities of opinion, and in this sense implies nothing Avrong ; but the latter is generally used to express the uncharitable spirit with which those pecuharities are maintained and professed. Denominational distinctions must exist as long as differences of opinion do ; for, in fact, they are nothing more than the names of these opinions ; but the sectarian spirit should not, and need not, exist at aU. I admit, that with hearts so imperfect as ours, it is some what difficult to be denominational without being sec tarian ; but this temptation to uncharitableness, so rarely and so partiaUy overcome, is not so much to be traced to the names we bear, as to the pride and passion with which they axe borne. Nor is it the existence of denominations as such, that has scandahsed the infidel and the man of the world, but the sectarian and uncharitable spirit with which they have been kept up ; for if, on the ground of preferences and shades of opinion common to many christians, difi'eient collective bodies arise in the church, and hold a permanent existence, nothing takes place in rehgion which does not take place among men natmally, and even beneficially, in relation to every great and common concern — such as law, government, science, or education. And why need the distinctive existence of such bodies in the chm-ch form a banier to harmonious inter course and co-opexation, any moxe than the sepaiate existence of any learned bodies ? When a community of chxistians assumes an afr of infaUibUity, ox denies to otheis the same liberty of forming thefr opinions which it has exercised for itself; or so exalts its pecuhar opinions THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 155 as to overshadow the essential points on which aU chris tians are one; or looks vrith envy, jealousy, and all uncharitableness on other denominations ; there is the odious element of sectarianism, forming in hideous encrus tations around denominational pecuharities. It is well to understand the true barrier to union as well as the trae basis ; and the former is not denominationalism, but sec tarianism. What good would be effected by abandoning the names of opinions, as long as we retained the sectar ianism they engendered ? and what harm vrill they do if this sectarianism be renounced ? I am far from denying that denominational terms have not been injuriously employed to ahenate the hearts of professing christians from each other; but this is the abuse of them, and not thefr legitimate purpose — which is, simply, to indicate an opinion. And in consequence of this too frequent abuse of them to aU the worst tenden cies of sectarianism, I long and pray for the time when they shall be no longer necessary, because believers shall be of one mind; or when they shaU be maintained in perfect forbearance through the increase of the spirit of love. Let it, however, be inqufred, when denominational distinctions are in one view considered as the result of human conuption, and in another the cause of its increase, whether it is not an evU which God has overruled for the greater good and purity of the church upon the whole ? Checks and stimulants have been thus reciprocally applied; a rivalry (which, when purified from mahgnity, is emi nently beneficial) is set up ; a tendency to stagnation is counteracted; and thus, in the order of Providence, till the glory of the mUlennial age shaU arrive, the combined operations of different denominations are eliminating a purer and happier consummation than could, in our pre sent cfrcumstances of imperfection, be attained by any 156 UNION IN RELATION TO formal, nominal, and external uniformity. Hence, then, we see what is our duty, and what hes vrithin the horizon of om hope, and therefore within the scope of om efforts; and that is, not to attempt, as a direct and proximate object, to amalgamate the denominations, but to defecate them, as far as possible, of sectarianism ; to hold them in the unity of the Spfrit, which is the bond of peace; to forbear one another in love ; and by the severe and difficult exercise of charity, which consists in thinking differently, yet feeling alike, to prepare them for that blessed world, where, contemplating truth in the same clear light, they wiU see eye to- eye; and regarding it with the same pure affection, all ground, and therefore all possibiUty of mutual condemnation vriU be removed, and they wUl love each other with a perfect and everlasting love. We do not forget, much less attempt to deny, that all attempts to bring christians into a closer public and vis ible approximation to each other, which are not attended with equal sohcitude and effort to draw thefr- minds and hearts closer together, are chimerical and ridiculous. We want not merely the show, but the reality of union; a real union made risible ; a junction of parties, based upon a junction of hearts. It is therefore clear, that each section has much to do within itself, to exclude from it the repel- lant forces of prejudice and bigotry, and to increase the atteactive powers of love. But stiU, as these two act and react upon each other — as private efforts to make om- selves moie cohesive piepaxe us foi public associations, and pubhc associations dispose us more coidiaUy to cany on our separate labours for a more catholic spirit — ^it is weU to pursue both these together. With such measme of love as we now have, let us unite; and that very union wiU tend to the increase of om love, by bringing its pro- THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 167 per objects more prominently and more frequently before us. In viewing the subject of Christian Union with refer ence TO England, I shaU, — Demonstrate that, desirable and important as union is for every part of Christendom, it is pre-eminently so for this kingdom, on the following accounts. 1. Our national greatness gives extraordinary publicity to our conduct, and weight to our example. I neither make, nor intend, any invidious comparison of this country with any other member of the imperial empire ; but it is claiming no more than wfll be readily conceded, when I speak of England as the greatest and most influential kingdom of our federal body. With a population of eighteen miUions, and a commerce whose sails whiten every sea, and lands its merchandise on every shore ; great in learning, science, and the arts ; tenible in power, and generous in spirit, she is feared by many, envied by more, and respected by aU. Her colonies are infant nations ; her language is likely to become the chief medium of intercomse to the civUised world ; and her institutions will be transplanted from the equator to the poles. How much, therefore, is it to be desiderated that such a nation should set an example to aU others of christian union ? Blessed vrith hberty, and tenaciously fond of it, how desfr able is it that we should prove that the most perfect freedom is compatible with the purest and most compre hensive charity — that the diversity of our creeds does not desteoy the unity of our religious brotherhood, nor impair the steength of om national bond ? From what country on earth vriU such a lesson go forth vrith equal emphasis and force as from this ? It seems om very caUing. Provi dence surely has placed us on this pinnacle for this among other purposes— to be a religious Pharos to the world, 0 158 UNION IN RELATION TO How high and sacred an honom would it be, if we could say to all the bigoted and intolerant nations of the globe, '¦ Look on us, and see that the most umestricted hberty leads neither to anarchy nor to infidelity; for whUe we hold fast each his own views of tenth, yet we hold the tenth in love !' How blessed a report would it be to go forth from hence, that in England, free England ! great and mighty England ! the different denominations of professing chris tians had agieed togethei to letain theii principles, but to abandon their piejudices, and had detexmined to subscribe the apostle's declai-ation, that of the christian graces, the most eminent is charity ! And is it expecting too much to anticipate that such an union woiUd bring about more pohtical approximation of parties, and make our country greater and mightier in its moral influence than it is afready ? At any rate, it would have a tendency, and perhaps an influence, in checking the repellent action, — the centeifugal force of political animosities. It is the intention of God that his church should exert a beneficial influence, apart from what is dfrectly reUgious, upon the nations in which it is placed, and be upon them as a dew, and among them as salt. In a free country like ours, where difi'erences of opinion on all points of politics must exist, party spiiit of the most bittei and vfrulent kind is continuaUy genexated and sustained. And cannot the pohtician plead in his defence, the xancoui of the piofessing chiistian and the polemical dirine ? Is contention less fieice on the arena of xehgion than on that of pohtics ? Are the -wiangleis in one, less pugnacious than the wiangleis in the other ? Christian union, did it extensively prevaU, would not only set a bright and beautiful example to the men ofthe woild, of diffexences in lessex matters and agreement in greatei ones, but inasmuch as xehgious bodies are characterised THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 159 by prevailing pohtical opinions, religion would soften the asperity of discordant sentiments in secular matters, and prepare men to make concessions of their prejudices in one thing, even as they had made them in another. The man vrith whom I am in the habit of meeting and praying in the convocation of saints, though in some things of religion I differ from him, I shall be likely to meet also as a citizen vrithout a particle of venom, though here also I am at issue vrith bim on some question of pubhc in terest. How momentous it is that the church should hold out the law and the example of union to the world, and by helping to soothe, and quiet, and tame the furious spirit of poUtical partisanship, should thus consolidate the steength of the empfre, and make this great nation stfll nughtier than she is afready ! 2. The importance of union among evangehcal Protes tants in England, wiU be stUl more apparent, if we consider the potency, the subtlety, and the strength of those foes by which their common principles and interests axe as saulted. True it is, that om countey is not the exclusive object of Popery — for her field is the world, and -most earnestly and industriously is she going forth to cultivate it — but it is the supreme one, and that, by the subjugation of which she hopes to vanquish and possess the rest. Eversince the Reformation,Englandhas been the chief bul wark against the endeavours of ' the man of sin,' to regain his lost doTuinion. Hence no object lies so near the hearts of all Romanists, none enters so deeply into the policy of the Vatican, none engages so much the piayeis of its devotees, ox the zeal of its ambitious ecclesiastics, as the re-annexation of this nation to the see of Rome. We need not be thrown into a paxoxysm of dismay by the subtle aits and pxodigious efforts of the papists; this would be a cowardice and disteust unworthy of om cause. But, on 160 UNION IN RELATION TO the other hand, we ought neither to be ignorant nor indif ferent when their schools and coUeges, thefr chapels and cathedrals, their monasteries and convents, axe eveiywheie incieasing. By the slow appioaches of a siege England is now assaUed, and though the tioops at piesent may seem compaxatively few, and the lines of cfrcumvaUation distant, yet the attacking parties axe fuU of stiatagem and courage, and are elated with hope. The reunion of Pro testant christians would fiU them with dismay, and be a death-blow to their policy. Nor is it Popery alone that endangers the moral and spfritual interests of om- country; but Puseyism, its legiti mate offspring, is still more threatening. This banthng of Rome, though vrithout acknowledging its parentage, bears too much of its mother's image, and is animated by too much of her spirit, to leave its pedigree for one moment in doubt; and amidst that mother's smiles, caresses, and blessings, is obviously going forth to do her work, and to promote her interests. England, be it remembered, is not the only scene of the Oxford heresy, but it is the widest and the most hopeful. It is the centoal fountain fi-om which the poisonous streams are flowing foxth to om remotest colonies. Our cities, our towns, and our villages are full of it, or are on the way to become so. Hundreds of young academics, flushed with all the high notions, the spiritual pride, and the ghostiy despotism of that second-hand Popery, are swarm ing forth yearly, eager to try thefr priestly skill in regen erating souls and forgiving sins by thefr sacerdotal manipulations ; and no less eager to extinguish the light of the Reformation, to silence the preaching of its doc trines, to break up the churches founded on its principles, and to bring the whole multitude of the people under their priestly sway and soul-destroying docteines. Non- THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 161 conformists of every denomination, as weU the Presby terians of all bodies in the north, as the Methodists and Dissenters in the south — all, in fact, who have not the benefit of that enormous ecclesiastical figment, apostohcal succession — you axe afready the devoted victims of this damnatory and ruthless spirit : the vahdity of your minis try is denied ; the constitution of your churches is de nounced ; the safety of your souls in the simple truth of Christ is denied ; and, one after another, yom several and coUective bodies axe to be looted out. This whole land, but foi the lesistanoe offeied by the evangehcal paity in the chuxch of England, and the stiU moxe extensive and powerful opposition of the various bodies of Noncon formists, is in danger of being inundated with a flood of superstition ahnost as foul as that which ' the great dragon' is represented in the Book of the Apocalypse as casting out of his mouth, to drown the woman who was the object of his rage. Nothing is too anogant in power, or too* insolent in pride, to be claimed ; nothing too monsteous or absurd to be asserted in the way of ecclesiastical tyranny ; nothing too ridiculous or puerUe in the form of priestly ceremonial to be prescribed, as if it were the object of these infatuated Tractarians, and thefr coadju tors, the high churchmen, by laboming to subvert the constitution on the one hand, and to put out the lights of Protestantism on the other — to reunite all classes of freemen, and all denominations of evangehcal christians, against their daring aggiessions. What dismay and consternation would be cfrculated through Christendom if these designs should seem to be of even probable accomplishment ! I can imagine that the eyes of all foreign Piotestant nations are turned at this moment with intense anxiety to England; that our colonies in aU parts of the world are joining in the painful suspense ; that the o2 162 UNION IN RELATION TO New World on the other side of the Atlantic sympathises in the deep sohcitude, whUe the conflict is going on here for the vital interests of Protestantism ; that all christian ministers from the various parts of Christendom, and aU christian missionaries from the remoter fields of Pagan ism, are watching the conflict with palpitating hearts; and that even the spfrits of departed reformers and martyrs in glory are looking down with sympathy and deepest interest upon this modem battle-field of the Reformation. Oh, should it be seen from afar, as well as nearer home, that the strife was becoming doubtful ; that the standard of the cross was lowering before that of the crucifix ; that the troops which had been accustomed to gather round the former had become wavering through fear, ox weak thxough deseition, and that thefr hope of victory was growing weaker; how great would be the alarm that would go foith from this country to every nook 'and corner, yea, to every sound heaxt, in Piotestant Chris tendom ! ' If England be lost to the Reformation,' would be the universal cry, 'we cannot but tremble for the ark.' To prevent a catasteophe so dfre, to stop everything that threatens to bring it about, to check the progress of attempts which axe being made to leahse the most blissful vision of the 'man of sin,' and gxatify his most fondly cherished hopes, let all evangehcal Protestants come into a closer confederacy ; let them make common cause of their common principles ; let them fraternise to the utter most ; let them countenance, encom-age, and cheer each other on. Let the news go fortluupon the wings of the wind, and be heard in every land, that the sons of Pro testant, enUghtened England, have entered into a covenant of love and amity with each other, and that England has confederated with Scotland. Let Rome hear it, and be dismayed, that the spfrit of unity is spreading through THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 163 that land which has been most divided and ahenated. Let it be seen by a new zeal for our principles, manifested in the form of a real and hearty union — that whatever symptoms of disease may appear on the surface of this great nation here and there, its heart, which may almost be caUed the heart of Protestantism, is sound, and stUl beats in the healthy pulsations of an inteUigent, yet charitable zeal; that it is as ardent and as strong as ever in the cause of religious liberty, as determined as ever in its detesta tion of ecclesiastical despotism. Our appeal, therefore, is made to aU evangeUcal Protestants — Is it not time to unite? Does not your situation require it? Strike hands, then, in a covenant of love and friendship, and form a holy league, aggressive and defensive, against a system which is aiming to destroy you utterly, that it may be left at liberty to pursue its unobstructed course through the world, the consummation of which would be reached in overthrowing evangelical religion, and planting everywhere a baleful superstition in its place. While Popery and Puseyism are attacking the people of this land in one direction. Infidelity is assailing them in another. Fearful is its success among our better educated operatives, among whom the various forms of unbehef are eagerly embraced. Scepticism has of late years grown somewhat condescending: learing the heights of society as the chief scene of its labours and its hopes, it has descended into the vaUeys to solicit the sufliages of the poor, and to win over the masses of the people to its standard. Such converts are to be gained, not so much by the subtleties of logic and absteactions of metaphysics, as by appeals to facts, and the use of popular sophisms; and none is more adapted to their purpose, or more fre quently employed and found successful, than the dirisions and the discords of the christian world ; and yet, as I 1 64 UNION IN RELATION TO have afready remarked, it is not so much the differences of opinion among christians that form the infidel's argu ment against our holy religion, as the sectarian bitterness, the spirit of partisanship, vrith which they are maintained. It is upon the stone of stumbhng, cast in his way by the bigotry, hatred, and uncharitableness of the different sects of professors, that he sharpens his swoid and points his arrows for his impious warfare against the faith. Union among christians would go far to render him powerless, by depriring him of his main argument, as weU as by presenting a spectacle which he would be both afraid and ashamed to assaU. The taunt so common and so cutting, 'Agree among yourselves before you ask me to join you,' would be taken from his hps, and the ancient commendation upon christians, now used by him only in frony and derision, 'See how these christians love one another,' would be restored to its original meaning and appUcation, and he would be compeUed to admit its trath and admfre its beauty. He knows that whatever feUow ship of iniquity and of mischief there may be among infidels, there is no communion of love; and let him only see this unity of spirit and bond of peace restored to the church, and his objections would vanish, even if his heart remained cold and unrenewed. 3. But there is another consideration, arising out of the cfrcumstances of this country, which renders it impe rative upon its rehgious population to come into a closer association with each other; and that is the great work of Christian Missions to which they are caUed. Here again I would premise that this is not pecuhar to England; Scotland, Ireland, and Wales axe all compre hended with us in this work of the Lord, but on account of the more numerous population and greater wealth of this nation, the largest share by far of this grand enter- THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 166 prise devolves upon us. Viewed only as a distinction put upon us, and an honour we are called to enjoy, it is a rich and noble one ; but this is light compared vrith it as a most solemn responsibihty to seek the world's conversion to Christ. How anxious, even to fear and trembUng, ought we to be, that nothing should be aUowed either to disqualify us for the work or to hinder our success! What a jealousy should we exercise over our selves, lest a commission so sacred and so momentous should be inteusted to us, for which, through want of due care or the right spirit, we should be found unprepared ! How should we deprecate everything which would, in the least degree, weaken our efforts in restoring a revolted world to God ! Now, it requfres no great skiU to prove, nor sagacity to perceive, how much our dirisions and alienation must have this effect. They tend to keep alive the spfrit of party, and to corrupt our zeal ; to make us more concerned to advance our own cause than that of the Redeemer ; more anxious to diffuse our peculiarities than the common salvation. Our views are contracted, om- spirit is resteained, our aim is lowered. We are in danger of losing the nobleness and amphtude of the true missionary spirit, and of sinking down into the littleness of party. The lofty inspfration of the hope of converting the world to Christ, gives way to the lower impulse of differences about peculiar forms of ecclesias tical pohty, or of sacramental administration. And, after aU, what aie foims of chuich government, oi modes of sacramental administiation, as a means of conveiting the heathen, compaied with the gospel of om common salvation ? Be it so, that they may be as the bottle that canies the medicine, the casket that bears the jewel, the pole that lifts up the brazen serpent; this is the highest importance with which they can be invested. 166 UNION IN RELATION TO And yet, is there not a danger, as long as we axe kept asunder by such matters, of transferring our zeal from the greater to the lesser object of our pm-suit ? It is not by Episcopacy, Presbyterianism, Independency, Immer- sionism, or Methodism, but by the faithful preaching of the gospel of Christ, ' That the wfldemess and the sohtary place vrill be glad, and the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose.' The empfre of darkness wiU yield to no other name than that of Jesus, and to no other power than to that of his cross. Nox is this all ; fox it is not meiely that oux spiiit does not contain all the elements of gxeatness, noi the means of power, which the work requires, but we are apt to allow something that is positively wrong to creep in and to distemper our zeal. I mean those petty rivalries and jealousies which axe the result of sectarian feehng. In difference would be criminal ; but how much more envy ! We, are too much like soldiers in attacking a foe, who fight in regiments and brigades, but not as an army, each seeking its own success and renown, and each jealous of the other, without any general combination and generous feehng. This not only enfeebles us, but is displeasing to God, who in consequence withholds his blessing ; and since we are so much concerned for ourselves, and so httie for him, leaves us to om own unaided efforts. That there axe exceptions to all this, I admit, and not a few ; men of catholic feeling, who look upon the whole mis sionary cause as thefr own, by whomsoevei maintained — who as coidiaUy lejoice in the success, and as deeply lament the failures of other missions as they do those of their own — to whom it would seem a restraint upon their sympathies and their zeal which they could not endme, to shut them up within the hmits of their own denomi nation, and who can find scope for their prayers and their THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 167 sensibUities only in the amplitude of the whole field of missions: but with the bulk, I am afraid, it is not so; the partition walls vrithin which they dweU confine their missionary spirit; thefr zeal and interest are measured by the limits of thefr denomination, and thefr banner is more conspicuous by the emblazonment of the peculiarity which distinguishes them, than by that ' cross of Chiist,' in which all should fiist and supiemely gloiy. Om mis sionary prayer meetings, and our missionaxy platforms, ought to be representations of the whole missionary body. Our various societies should be regarded only as so many inevitable subdivisions of the same general executive, employed in accompUshing the same great object, though in diffeient departments of action, and by somewhat dif ferent means ; and all actuated by our common views of the ultimate result. But this can never be, while so much sectarianism remains ; and instead of this oneness of obj ect and interest, the diflferent institutions wUl appear to others, and be felt by themselves, to be so many rival companies, each pursuing its own end, to the neglect, if not to the depreciation, of the rest. We must have, of course, our separate organisations, but we ought at the same time to have a catholic and comprehensive feehng. I cannot help thinking there is something that hinders the communication of the Divine Spirit — some stone at the well's mouth, which needs to be loUed away befoie the refreshing steeam can flow forth. I am not bhnd to the success which in many parts of the world has foUowed our missionary operations. I am not forgetful of the glorious aggregate of usefulness, which, when aU the items are carried into the account, and the total is summed up, appears to our dehghted mind. I do not need to be re minded that, when first difficulties are removed, om progress may be expected to be more rapid. But, with 168 UNION IN RELATION TO aU this, I am still led to the conclusion, that after miUions of property have been expended, thousands of hves have been sacrificed, and half a centmy consumed, much more might have been expected, and would have been accom plished, had the temper and spfrit of the church of Christ been what it ought to have been. A dispensation has come upon us, and we have not made ourselves ready. God has called us to a high and holy enterprise against heathenism, and we have forgotten that 'this kind goeth not forth but by fasting and prayer.' The chm-ch is not yet purified and fitted for her great work of converting the world to Chiist. She must have more of the spfrit of faith, and piayei, and hohness, and espe cially of love. Without this, it has not the mind of Chiist. Abstract tiuth, without love, identify it as we may with OUI seveial opinions, pioves in operation but as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. It cannot meet the hearts of sinners, because it has not first clothed itself in the garb of love, and has not essayed its high behest in the all-moving, all- comprehending spfrit of Him who is love. A divided, alienated church cannot convert the world to Chiist. God wiU not employ her ; she must come to a better mind before she is an instrument which he dehght- eth to honom-. It is Satan's object to keep us separated at home, that he may reign unmolested abroad. His strongholds there are not in danger, as long as we axe not united heie. A new spfrit would be infused into the gieat missionaiy entexprise ; a puiei zeal would be caught by om missionaxies, who evex caxxy abioad the tempei which pievaUs at home ; a moxe intense spirit of believing pxayei would be stirred up in the hearts of the faithful, by a closer approximation of christians to each other. We must lay aside om envies and om jealousies, oui suspicion and distiust, om uncharitableness and evil THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 169 speaking, if we would have God's blessing upon us. Sec tarian zeal, like the paroxysms of a man in a fever, may be more violent ; but the labour of love, and the work of faith, like the moderate and well-directed energies of sound health, wUl be more efficient. Christian union will make us neither timid nor weak; but it wUl tend greatly to sustain ' the spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind.' We shall aU be prepared to go forth with greater steength, and joy, and confidence, to our separate labours, by the comfort of love and the feUowship of the Spiiit, just as labourers on the same farm more cheerfully depart to their different and sohtary fields of action, by uniting at intervals in the home of thefr common em- ployei, and feehng that they are all woiking foi him. How much moie interest should we feel in each othei's success 01 failures ; how tender should be our sympathies ; how cordial should be our joy! The God of love, and the giver of concord, would then delight to behold us reflecting his own image, and drinking into his own Spirit, and would pour out his blessing upon our efforts. The effects of our union would be felt in every part of the earth, and the approach of the mUlennium be accelerated. Let us not, then, be wholly occupied in surveying the desolations of the distant regions and dreary wilds of paganism, but turn our attention more to Christendom ; for a united church must precede, and will soon introduce, a converted world. I shaU now give — A short historical survey of the prin cipal attempts that have been made in England to bring about a union of christians; in order, by pointing out their faUures and mistakes, still more clearly to show what kind of confederation may be successful, and should be sought. Enghsh christians have not been more slow p 170 UNION IN RELATION TO than others to perceive, or more backward to acknowledge, the desirableness and importance of a closer approxima tion than has hitherto existed of the various members of the body of Christ ; and if the object of their wishes has hitherto eluded their pursuit, and is stUl a pleasure of hope rather than of fi-uition, the repetition, and espe ciaUy the perseverance of the effoit, affoids some giound to expect that it wUl yet be accomplished. The Act of Untfoimity, as it is called, which was passed in the fiist yeai of Ehzabeth, and leconfiimed at the Re. stoiation, can scarcely be taken into the account, since this was not intended to unite all parties, but to suppress aU but one, and to produce, under the compulsion of pains and penalties, an external agreement in rehgious profes sion and practice, rather than any actual spiritual feUow ship. It was the great Popish blunder adopted by Protestantism, and continued ever since, of confounding christian unity with external and ceremonial uniformity. The feUowship of the chmch of Christ is not that of a company of slaves, manacled together by the iron chains of legal enactments, and moving under the fi-owning aspect and threatening lash of an inexorable slave-driver ; but the affectionate and confidential inteicomse, the sponta neous sympathy and social impulse of free men and free minds, united, of thefr own choice, upon common princi ples, and for common objects, yet peihaps all the whfle differing from each othei, and allowing each other to dif fer, on minor points. Acts of uniformity may prohibit the expression of differences of opinion, but cannot prevent them ; may unite men in bodily exercises, but they never can become the links of love, the cords of the heart. Hence they constantly place in juxtaposition the most heterogeneous and discordant elements. StUl, the Act of Uniformity was a confession of the THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 171 desfrableness of union, though it was a mistake both of its nature and the way to obtain it; and it failed even in gaining what it sought, as all persecution which stops at anything short of actual extermination ever must. An attempt was made some time after, far more in the spirit of the gospel, by that exemplary prelate, Archbishop Usher, whom we delight to honour, as one of the bright est ornaments that ever graced the Episcopal bench. Exteemely moderate in all his ecclesiastical opinions, and occupying a position mid-way, if such can be found, between Episcopacy and Presbyterianism, he made an attempt to bring about a reconeUiation between the two bodies by which these systems are maintained. This oc curred in the time of Charles the Ffrst, to whom, while stUl imprisoned in Carisbrook Oastie, he proposed his scheme, after haring afready offered it to the parliament, of so far reducing the Episcopal authority and jurisdiction as to admit of Synodical government. However strongly the heart of this good bishop was set upon this labour of love, and work of peace, it met with no support, and utterly failed. It is quite unnecessary to entei into its detaUs, but it is impoitant to remark upon its general de sign, that it was a system of amalgamation ; each party was to concede something in order to thefr ceasing to ex ist as separate and hostile bodies, and to their becoming, in aU respects, as to government, one. Usher held by the idea of uniformity, and never dreamt of each body retain ing its separate existence, laws, and usages, and only being brought into some risible union, and living habitually in the spfrit of brotherhood. Soon after the Restoration some distinguished members of the church of England, among whom were the Lord Keeper Bridgman, Judge Hale, and others, lamenting the divisions among Protestants, and dreading the still 172 UNION IN RELATION TO great power of Popery, set about a scheme of comprehen sion, which, by remoring from the serrices ofthe Church of England the parts mostly objected to by Noncomformists, should bring them back into the establishment. Over tures were made and negotiations entered into for this purpose, by Bishop Morley and Ward, and Dean Tillotson, on the part of the church of England ; and Baxter, Pool, and Bates, on the part of the Nonconformists. This idea had first occuned to the Presbyterians, who, by a deputa tion, presented an address to the king in person for that pupose ; but thefr own proposal, as weU as the attempts of Bridgman and Hale, were rejected by the high-church party, and no relaxation in the forms of conformity was allowed. SimUar attempts were renewed some years afterwards, and vrith like results. StiUingfleet, before his cathohcism had been corrupted and destroyed by a mitre, entered warmly into the comprehension scheme, and published in support of it his ' Irenicum ;' but, alas for the consistency of StiUingfleet, and the honour of his order ! after his elevation to the Episcopal bench as Bishop of Worcester, he retracted his book, moxe peihaps out of compliment to the prejudices ofthe high-chm-ch party, than from his own convictions oi a legaid to his own reputation. The Nonconformists, whom it has ever been the object and dehght of their opponents to represent as a set of tur bulent schismatics, had from- the time of the Restoration expressed a desfre to continue in union vrith the Church of England, provided their conscientious scruples and objections could be met in a spirit of forbearance. Among these was John Howe; than whom a more noble or serene, a holier or a loftier spirit, never arose in later ages to throw its lustxe on the chmch of God. Howe had entexed, as it might have been expected his pacific and gentle mind would do, with gxeat axdoui into the THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 173 comprehension scheme. In furtherance of which, he preached and printed a sermon of incomparable excel lence, entitled ' Union among Protestants ;' and well would it serve the cause of charity and concord, if this admirable discourse weie printed in a cheap form and widely cii- culated. Aftei the Revolution, and when, by the Act of Toleration, the Nonconformists had liberty to meet, confer, and appear in public, they began to think of the subject of christian union. They had hitheito existed as two separate bodies — the Piesby terians and Independents; but conferences were now held to inquire into the pos sibUity and desirableness of becoming one. To this they were probably in some measure induced by the influence of Howe's sermon, and by a beautiful letter he published after the passing of the Act of Toleration; in which he showed, that he who had borne persecution with forti tude could now enjoy victory with moderation. No lan guage of mean and mahgnant exultation dropped either from his Ups or from his pen ; and amidst the triumph of his principles and his party, his only solicitude was to heal the wounds which had festered so long, and to pre vent the perpetuation of useless animosity. ' Heads of agreement,' as they were called, were now adopted by the two parties — Presbyterians and Independents— and they became formaUy one. In consequence of this agreement, they had stated meetings, both in London and in the coun try, for the advancement of their cause. The good effect, however, of this scheme is somewhat doubtful ; and it is probable that Howe, who had a laxge share in the laboms and hope of preparing it, was somewhat disappointed in the result. Perhaps had the parties stUl continued sepa rate instead of actuaUy coalescing, and have united as independent bodies for fraternal recognition and inter course, there would have existed more of real unity than they were happy enough to find. p2 174 UNION IN RELATION TO In modern times the same desire after union has shown itself in various ways, and by different denominations of professing christians. In some counties, as Bedford and Bucks, for instance, there are annual meetings of Baptists and Independents, at which a sermon is preached by a minister of each body, and agreeable intercourse is held by the members of thefr respective churches. And what are the monthly missionary prayer meetings held in our large towns, and composed of Baptists, Independents, Lady Huntingdon's connexion, and in some instances of Methodists also, but christian unions of a minor kind ? Here is the germ of religious association made risible to the world, and which when expanded and extended in other dfrections, and for other purposes, would be what we seek. In Bfrmingham we have one of these united prayer-meetings, at which ministers and members of four denominations are found blending thefr sympathies and sensibilities, monthly, at the throne of the Heavenly Majesty, and drawing closer and closer the bonds of christian fellowship. The public meeting, which is usuaUy a vety laxge one, is pxeceded by a moxe private meeting of the ministeis, who spend two ox thxee houis in devotional exeioises and leligious confexence. The foxmation of some of om public societies, the London Missionaxy Society, the Religious Tiact Society, and the Bible Society, axe all so many christian unions, fox single and specifio objects indeed ; but may they not be accounted as so many feelexs put out by the chmch aftei the moie excellent way — haibingeis of an approaching eia of a stUl moie comprehensive and a matm-ex chaxity, and means of piepaxing the foUowexs of Chiist to be of one mind and of one heart ? The London Missionaiy Society was originally com posed of a laige numbei of Episcopalians, as weU as of THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 175 various bodies of Dissentexs, and to this day it tenaciously holds by what is called its 'cathohc pxinciple,' of ad mitting and inriting the co-opeiation of all sections of the chmch; and although most of the members of the Church of England have, since the extension of their own missionary society, left it, and it is now supported almost entirely by Dissenters, its dfr-ectors will not strike the union flag that floats over thefr mission-house, and which sends forth a note of inritation to all the followers of Christ to come and unite in the single, and simple, but sublime object of spreading an unsectarian and substantial Christianity. The Religious Tract Society is one of the most beautiful specimens of christian union of which any countty, or any age, could boast. It is composed and supported, with equal ardour, by Churchmen and Dissenters, Indepen dents and Baptists, Congregationalists and Presbyterians, who meet to conduct its affairs in the sweetest spirit of brotherly confidence and love, and who have never known a discordant note. This holy confederation is pouring forth a flood of hght, not only over our own land, but to the very ends of the earth. If anything beyond union, foi union's sake, weie intended by the present movement, and an object and a model weie sought foi amongst om various institutions, I could almost peisuade myself it might be found in this invaluable society, which is, in fact, an association of chiistians, of various opinions in minoi matters, for the purpose of diffusing those evangelical sentiments in which they aU agree. What can be con ceived of more striking than a society which, by the united zeal of all denominations, has put into circiflation nearly four hundred miUions of rehgious publications, in each one of which vast aggregate, the method of a sinner's salvation is so stated, that if he never shall see another 176 UNION IN RELATION TO book, or hear a sermon, he shall know how to flee from ' the wrath to come ;' and yet, in not one of which shall the minor points which distinguish christians from each other be discovered ! If I do not dilate on the British and Foreign Bible Society, it is not because I am insensible to the gloiy and success of that wonderful institution. A society that has sent foith more than sixteen mUhon copies of the word of God, in more than a hundred and fifty languages, of which nearly a hundred had never been so employed before ; which has multiphed itself in all parts of Chris tendom, by leading to the establishment of similar insti tutions, — needs no eulogium of mine : its own works praise it in the gates, and its witness is not only in ahnost every country upon earth, but its record is on high. And how has it been able to accomplish these mighty deeds, but by its catholic principle, which furnishes ground where all denominations can unite without compromise ? To me it appears the noblest, subhmest thought that ever entexed the mind of man, to unite aU denominations in the sole woik of ciiculating the woid of God. It seems the veiy consummation of one object of the Refoimation, and the moming stai of the mUlennium. But to resume and pursue our historical sketch, it is to be noticed that, by many of the clergy of the Church of England, the same desire after a closer approximation of christians has been expressed and made pubhc. Some years since, that distinguished scholar, and humane and catholic man, the late Dr Arnold, head-master of Rugby school, pubUshed a pamphlet on ' Church Reform,' in which he took up the long abandoned and impracticable idea of comprehension, and set forth a scheme for bring ing all denominations of professing christians within the limits and provisions of the state chmch — a scheme which THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 177 reflects much credit on his benevolence and his candour, if it does not upon his sagacity. I have before me at this moment a far more feasible project, by another minister of the Church of England, in a toact entitled ' The British Protestant Declaration,' first pubUshed in the 'Christian Observer,' and afterwards printed for private cfrculation. This beautiful document, after showing the substantial agreement of aU the reformed churches in the fundamental docteines of divine truth, and in thefr renunciation of the Roman See, proposes the very plan of union which it has been the object of all the modern advocates of christian association to promote ; and that is, such a recognition of common principles and common relations, as, whUe it leaves each separate body intact and independent, shall unite them all in a fellow ship of fraternal love, sympathy, confidence, and harmony. The necessity for such an approximation between the parties, is therein stated to he in their common defence against the aggressive movements ofthe Papacy, and the immense importance of supporting the Protestant cause. Much is it to be wished that the truly christian and protestant spfrit and sentiments of this able document were univer saUy held and expxessed by aU the ministeis of the Chmch of England, as well as by aU those who dissent from it. There is stUl another ornament, and a bright one, too, not only of the Enghsh establishment, but of the holy catholic church — a man who is the common property of the whole christian community, and who, by his conduct, as well as by his writings, has proved himself the friend and the advocate of union — I mean, the Honourable and Reverend Baptist W. Noel. Several years ago he pub lished his fiist tract, entitled ' The Unity of the Church,' of which nearly forty thousand have been cfrculated; and by the aridity with which it has been purchased, plainly 178 UNION IN RELATION TO proves how deep an interest has been felt on the subject by the rehgious pubhc. Mr Noel has lately put forth a second tract, which he has designated ' The doctrine ofthe word of God, respecting Union among Christians,' and in which he has coUected a vast amount of scripture testi mony, ananged under different heads, on the subject of which he treats. And who has not read, and felt too, the exquisitely beautiful production of a minister, late of the other established church of our empfre, but now of the Free Presbyterian Chmch of Scotland, which answeis sc^ weU to its title, and which falls upon us as softly and as copiously as ' The dew of Hermon ?' This little pamphlet of the Rev. James Hamilton, minister of the Scotch Church, Regent Square, in London, has made its readers feel not only as if they could, but must, unite with their fellow-christians of every name. Perhaps it wUl not be out of place to notice also another effoit to promote chiistian union, which was made by that cathohc and pubhc-spirited, as weU as tiuly christian baronet. Sir CuUing Eardly Smith, who in the year 1837 offered a premium of one hundred pounds for the best Essay on Schism; the arbitrators appointed to make the award having been the Rev. Baptist Noel, and the Rev. James Sherman, minister of Surry Chapel. This offer brought from the press two admfrable volumes — one entitled ' Schism as opposed to the unity of the church,' by the Rev. Professor Hoppus, of the London University, which gained the prize ; and the othei by Di Harris, entitled ' Union, oi the dirided chmch made one.' It wiU not be consideied, I tiust, any infraction of modesty, if, as a part of this general sm-vey, I now intro duce my own name and humble doings in the cause of union. Having been strongly impressed, during a season of private devotion, vrith the necessity and importance of THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 179 more love, harmony, and peace, among the redeemed, regenerated family of God, I ventured to bring forward the subject for consideration at the approaching meeting of the Congregational Union for England and Wales. As the time was much occupied, I could only allude to it ; when Dr LeifchUd, who was present, struck by the sug gestion, requested me to take an opportunity to propose my views to the pubhc more at large, and in detail. This I did, in a letter addressed to the Secretaries of the Con gregational Union, through the medium of the ' Congre gational Magazine.' This letter attracted attention, and drew forth a recommendation of the plan, in the same periodical, from the esteemed minister at whose suggestion it was penned. I afterwards printed it in the form of a circular, and sent it to many ministers of various deno minations both in England and in Scotland, and received numerous very gratifying replies, expressive of high satisfaction with the proposal, especiaUy from many of the influential members of the Wesleyan body. The mind and heart of Dr LeifchUd were engaged in the subject,* and he determined upon making the experiment of a meeting in the spacious scene of his labours at Craven Chapel. That meeting was held on the morning of 1st January, 1843, of which nothing higher or better could be said, than that it reminded all present of Watts' version ofthe 133d Psalm — ' Thus, on the heavenly hills, The saints are blest above ; Where joy like moming dew distils, And all the air is love.' * Dr LeifchUd has since publifshed an admirable tract, entitled ' Chris tian Union ; or practical suggestions for promoting the exercise and mani festation of brotherly love among the various denominations of evangelical christians.' — p. 48, price 6d. 180 UNION IN RELATION TO Addresses were delivered by the Rev. Mr Bunting, of the Wesleyan body; the Rev. James Hamilton, of the Scotch Chmch; the Rev. Dr LeifchUd, Independent; and prayers were presented by ministers of three other deno minations. These gentlemen, with a few others belonging to the Congregational Union, to whom, and especiaUy to its inestimable Secretary, the Rev. Algernon Wells, the matter had been entrusted, called a meeting of ministers of different denominations, for conference upon the subject, at the Wesleyan Centenary HaU, the use of which was courteously granted for that pmpose. At that meeting, which was characterised by the most christian feehng, a committee was ai^pointed to ascertain what further steps could be taken, and what other measures adopted, for promoting the object and effecting a union ; to which Mr WeUs, on behalf of the Congregational Union, surren dered the sacred trust. The result of their deliberations and determinations was the grand meeting at Exeter Hall, on the 1st of June, 1843, which was conducted upon the plan of the previous one held in Craven Chapel. The Rev. Thomas Mortimer, an Episcopal clergyman, read one or two appropriate prayers from the liturgy of his church ; the Rev. George Clayton, an Independent ; the Rev. Mr Lateobe, of the Morarian body; and the Rev. Dr Steane, a Baptist, severaUy presented extempore prayer, between the addresses dehvered by the Rev. Drs LeifchUd, Independent ; Alder, Wesleyan ; Cox, Baptist; Messrs Hamilton, of the Scotch Church; Baptist Noel, of the Church of England, and the author of this essay. Such was the intense anxiety of the pubhc to be present, that twelve thousand tickets were issued, the dispenser of of them choosing rather to leave it to those who obtained them to secure admission by early attendance, than to THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 181 refuse any of the applicants. Of course, far more were excluded than could be admitted ; and among the former were ministers of all sections of the church, some of whom had teavelled far to be present on that solemn oc casion. Never had that spacious building been so densely crowded, never so occupied or so honoured. On that ever-memorable morning it contained a fafr representa tion of the Holy Cathohc Church, as assembled for the two-fold pmpose of acknowledging and exhibiting their unity. It was the most illustrious triumph of truth and love, over sectarian prejudice and the selfishness of party, that any age or any country had ever witnessed. What was said of the disciples at Jerusalem might be said of that vast congregation : ' The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.' Clergymen uttered the language of brotherly love ; Dissenting ministers re sponded to the sentiments, language, and feelings of Churchmen; whUe Methodists echoed the harmonies of both the others : and it is not too much to imagine, that angels, in hstening to thefr o-wn song ascending in cho rus from the regions of sin, division, and discord, tuned thefr harps afresh, and again ' shouted vrith joy,' ' Glory to God ; on earth peace, goodwill to men ! ' Since then, a sacramental serrice was held at Suney Chapel, on the 1st of January this year, at which all accredited persons, members of evangelical churches, were invited to attend ; when the Rev. James Sherman, the esteemed and excel lent minister of that spacious place, presided, and multi tudes found, at the table of the Loxd, how good and how pleasant a thing it is fox brethren to dweU together in unity. What next may be done to promote this cause, it is not easy to say. God wUl dfrect. It is worthy of remark, and at the same time is matter Q 182 UNION IN RELATION TO of encouragement, as indicating the mind and wUl of God on the subject, that, as we have already remarked, it has been laid simultaneously upon many hearts, in dif ferent places and sections of the christian church. To the Dissenters in England it affords matter of joy and thankfulness, to perceive that their brethren of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, while stragghng to throw off the yoke, and break the fetters of state-bond age, and achiering the spfritual independence of their chuxch, are cordiaUy disposed to enter into friendly and fi-aternal intercourse with their brethren of the voluntary churches, both in the north and in the south ; and well IDiepaied aie theii biethien, in geneial, coxdially and con fidentiaUy to lecipiocate evexy sentiment of affection, and evexy offex of intexcouise. We have witnessed with delight the tiuly catholic scheme, proposed, I believe, by Di Candhsh, to the Com mission of the General Assembly befoie the disruption, and the enhghtened determination to rescind the act of interdict, that excluded Dissenters from the pulpits of the Scottish Estabhshment. Everything that has transpfred in the spfrit and conduct of that noble band of witnesses for the spfritual rights of the church, who have lately given so pubhc and emphatic a testimony to the supre macy of Christ in his kingdom, and to the power of con science over all that is sordid and selfish, encourages a hope that the bands of ,union are about to be drawn closer round the body of the faithful. Haring first tmned to the state, which would have enslaved them, and cried ' Separation,' they then turned to the churches, who, though differing from them on the subject of establish ments, were prepared to hail them as bxethxen, and, with a voice as loud and as fixm, uttexed the woid ' Union.' Those chuiches have welcomed them to theix houses, THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 183 their pulpits, and their teeasmies ; and thus, it is to be hoped, the basis of a cordial and constant confederation is laid, which the remaining dtfiferences of opinion on church pohty shaU never be allowed to ruptme or dis turb. Let us now advance to take, A review of the religious parties in England, with which it may be desfred and ex pected that union should be foimed. In seaxchingfox these, we cannot widen the cfrcle of feUowship beyond the line of oxthodox doctiine. Seeking, as we do, a christian union, and not meiely a civil association, we can confedeiate only with those who agree with us in what may be called substantial Christianity, or saring truth. It is not Pro testantism, in the aspect of its ciril relations merely that is the basis of the fraternization which we seek ; but in its great fundamental rehgious truths — the justification of the sinner by faith, and the regeneration of his heart by the power of the Holy Spirit The agreement among christians that we desire, is such as is founded on those doctrines which make them christians ; it is the faith in which salvation lies, and which has been consideied as the oithodoxy of all Protestant churches. Beyond these we cannot go ; it would be to defeat our purpose, and to make om association wider than what we wish it to be. Substantial Christianity is a sufjicient basis, and is in fact the only right basis, of christian union. By substantial Christianity is meant that sum of revealed tenth which is essential to individual salvation ; or, in other words, the reception of which is practically essential to the progress and universal triumph of the kingdom of God in the earth. And it is a profitable, joyful, love-inspiring, peace- piomoting employment, to analyse the creeds and con fessions of the estabhshed and unestabhshed chuiches of 184 UNION IN RELATION TO the Reformation ; to compare the articles of Episcopacy, Presbyterianism, and Independency, and see their agree ment in all the fundamental doctrines of the gospel in saring tenth — in substantial Christianity. The prevaUing body in this country is, of course, the Church of England. It would be considered as quite conteary to her principles to enter into any kind of asso ciation or fellowship with the various communities that have separated from hex lanks ; the absoiption of them all into heiself is the only kind of junction which would be heaikened to for a moment. Regarding aU who have seceded from her communion in something of the hght of rebels, she disdains to enter into any sort of negotia tion with them, and aims to reduce them aU into entire subjection. The present condition of the English Estab hshed Chmch is remarkably critical and poitentous. With nominal and external uniformity, it has no real internal unity. It is divided into three parties — the Tractarians, the High Churchmen, or Old Orthodox Party, and the Evangelicals. It is obvious that no accession to any scheme of cathoUc union can be looked for or desfred from either of the two former ; in thefr estimation it would be like associating loyal men with rebels. Inflexible in their claims, based upon a personal and official succes sion from the apostles, to be the sole and exclusive dis pensers of dirine grace, they look with ineffable contempt upon the men who, whether Presbyterians, Independents, or Methodists, propose to stand side by side vrith them in a holy league. I am afraid that httle is to be expected, in the way of visible union, from the Evangelical portion ofthe National Establishment. It was, indeed, a painful proof of the reluctance of the Evangelical cleigy, to be seen in any association whatevex with Dissentexs beyond the plat- THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 185 form of a Bible Society, that only two could be found to take any part in the proceedings of the great meeting at Exeter Hall on the first of June last year.* Many, we beheve, are united vrith us in spfrit, and in prayer, who confide in om sincere and simple attachment to the gospel of Christ, and who vrish well to our labours, but who, for reasons which they think they can justify to themselves, do not deem it expedient to join in any scheme of visible association vrith us. I have no doubt of the purity of thefr motives, and the conscientiousness of thefr conduct, and that they axe convinced that they can better serve thefr own chmch, and our common Chris tianity, by standing aloof feom any scheme of catholic union, and therefore I feel that I have as httle right as I have inclination, to act the part of a censor, or to use the language of condemnation; but no one, I trast, will blame me for expressing my heartfelt regret. For such men I cherish a pure and ardent affection ; and whether in visible confederation with them or not, wiU continue to pray for them and love them, although they wUl let me do it only in secret. Thefr very excellences, so great and so obvious, make me regret the more, that any sentiment of their own, or any view of the confederation of others, should prevent them from coming into visible christian union with thefr brethren of the various Protestant com munions. The invisible, and yet, stiU real union, they cannot, and would not prevent, but are as wiUing and as able as any others to enter into the cordial fellowship of the Holy Catholic Chmch. I advert next, and with joy and hope, to the large and influential body of Wesleyan Methodists. Differing as I do in some matters, both of doctrine and disciphne, from * This, be it remarked, was before the formation of the Anti-Church and State Conference. Q2 186? UNION IN RELATION TO this community, I bear wilhng testimony to theix well- eained and well-directed influence ovei multitudes of the population of this countiy. With an axdoui that never cools, an actirity that never tires, and a polity that finds both place and work for almost every member of thefr body, they have spread themselves over the land, and are to be found carrying the light of salvation into every nook and corner of the kingdom. If, in the opinion of some, their zeal partakes rather more of the esprit de corps, and savours more of Methodism than is desirable, no one can deny that they have canied the lamp of life into thousands of villages and myriads of hovels, which but foi theii effoits would have been shrouded in the gloomy shadow of spfritual death. Bearing in lemem- biance the woids of our dirine Loid, that ' the pooi have the gospel preached to them,' they have made the lowly and desolate vale of poverty to be vocal vrith the song of salvation, and covered with the beauties of holiness re gions once hideous with the deformities of vice. Let me not, however, be supposed to insinuate that the poor only are found in thefr communion : their splendid chapels and literary institutions, the annual income of their missionary society, and the nearly quarter of a mUlion sterling raised for the centenary fund, teU a different tale. No union could be formed with effect, and none should be attempted in England, which did not include, or whose principles did not invite, this powerful and influential body of professing Christians, and there is growing evi dence that they axe piepaied to entex into any plan of feUowship that wUl not involve a compxomise of thefr denominational principles ox pxactices. Fox leasons which to them, no doubt, have appealed satisfactoiy, they have been thought, only peihaps because they have nevei THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 187 been properly invited to associate vrith others, to have been too exclusive, and somewhat coy and retiring with relation to other bodies. Possessing among themselves the most complete practical system of pohty in existence, which is worked with great power, and, upon the whole, with surprising harmony, they have felt no need, and therefore little desfre, of association with other denomina tions. Influenced for a long time by the example and the injunctions of thefr iUustrious founder, and courted and flattered by EpiscopaUans, they have, till lately, cherished, from pohcy as weU as respect, a greater deference towards the Church of England than any ofthe other bodies of Non conformists. Taught, however, by events that have lately occurred, especiaUy by the rise and spread of Puseyism, which has assailed them with a spfrit no less vfrulent and contemptuous than that which is directed towards other seceders from the Establishment, they see that neither thefr numbers, nor thefr piety, nor their respectabUity, can concUiate the favour, or mitigate the hostihty of the dominant party of the Anglican Chmch, and axe, there fore, more prepared than before to confederate pubUcly with Dissenters. They have now assumed the name and the position of a distinct and nonconforming church, and have nobly declared, by thefr series of teacts, that if Pu seyism is to be the accredited interpretation of the Angli can Estabhshment, they can hold no feUowship, and re main in no terms of amity vrith it. Puseyism is too ar rogant, and too independent, to hold in respect any body, however numerous, or however useful, that is not found within the magic cfrcle of Episcopacy, and is not con nected with it by the hnk of apostohc succession. The theological differences of the Wesleyans, and other evangelical bodies, ought to be no obstacle in the way of union. Calrinism and Arminianism have many points 188 UNION IN RELATION TO of dissimUarity, the great importance of which, as a de cided though moderate Calrinist, I would not for a moment deny, but they have stiU more important points of agreement. No man vrill venture to put the doctrines of election and the perseverance of the saints upon a level, as to thefr bearing upon personal salvation and holy char acter, vrith justification by faith and the regeneration of the heart by the Spfrit of God. Surely any christian might steike out from each creed all the peculiarities of both, and find enough left to afford ample scope for his reli gious sympathies, and sufficient ground for such christian union, as neither asks these parties to break up thefr re spective systems, nor to abjure the pecuhar opinions upon which these systems axe founded, but meiely to acknow ledge each othex as brethren in Christ, and as far as may be, to act together for common interests. What Calrinist can have read the beautiful address, I may call it con fession of faith, of the Rev. WiUiam Bunting, delivered at the first union meeting in Craven chapel vrithout saying, ' If this be Arminianism, or Methodism, I see nothing which should prevent me from associating vrith such an Arminian.' I, for one, wUl never advocate any christian union which shall not be open to the Wesleyan body. The idea of refiising to stand in risible association with such men as the apostohc Wesley, and the seraphic Fletcher, were they now ahve — and they live in some of thefr successors — is so repugnant to my notions of what I owe to the Holy Cathohc Chmch, and the communion of saints, that I cannot for a moment entertain the idea. Besides, so far as England is concerned, we axe com mitted to each othex. The original pmpose included the Methodists ; they have been vrith us and we with them, in all the prehminary steps ; one of thefr most esteemed ministers took part in the proceedings of our fixst meet- THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 189 ing, and another took an equaUy conspicuous part in our second. Here, then, in England, it is too late for Calvinists and Arminians to find out that they cannot unite, for they are united; and may the bond of that union be drawn closer and closer around them ! But be sides the larger body of the Wesleyan Methodists, there are others, by no means inconsiderable either for numbers or usefulness, which it might be desfrable to see included in this feUowship. The exercise of a httie christian for bearance, and a disposition to forget the past in the con templation of the prospects that are opening in the future, wiU smooth the way, it is hoped, for aU that is sought for in reference to these, in our scheme of union, which is merely the recognition of each other as brethren in Christ, vrithout declaring our approval of all that is theoretic or practical in the paities associated. Next come the various bodies of Piotestant evangehcal Dissenteis. Of my own denomination, the Independents or Congiegationahsts, I can speak with confidence. In dependents though they be, thefr independency is not of that repeUent kind which makes them essentiaUy and in curably anti-social. They are not bigots of isolation. They have, I am happy to think, not only the attraction of cohesion to bind them to each other, but the atteaction of gravitation, to draw them to a common centee. Nothing could be a more eoixyvsicva^g prima facie argument to con vince me that my system of ecclesiastical polity, what ever it was, were unscriptural, than the perception that it did not allow me consistently to associate vrith christians of other denominations. I never could persuade myself that the system, be it what it might, could be a scriptural one, which threw a bar across my path, and prevented me from visibly joining my feUow christians in acts of fra ternal intercomse; or which impeded the answer of the 190 UNION IN RELATION TO Saviour's prayer for the oneness of his disciples, and which, by thus hindering the completeness of the evi dence of his divine mission, tended to keep the world in a state of unbehef The Baptists, fr-om thefr numbers, their respectabihty, their piety, and thefr zeal both for home and foreign mis sions, are entitled to most lespectful and affectionate men tion. The denomination, which once enjoyed the labours, and still enshrines the memory, of such men as Hall, Ful ler, Foster, and Ryland, and which could boast of such venerated names as those of Carey, Marshman, and Ward, among their missionaries abroad, to say nothing of the numbers that stUl live and labom for the cause of Chiist and om holy lehgion, is eminentiy entitied to con sideration when looking lound foi the materials of chris tian union. The denomination which has done as much neaily as all others together, to furnish, by thefr teansla- tions of the scriptures, the elements of hfe, and the lamp of salvation, to the teeming nations of Hindostan, may weU be coveted by us aU as an integral member of om great confederation. One with aU orthodox denomina tions in thefr riews of christian doctrine, and separated from the Independents only by thefr peculiarity on the subject of baptism, what hinders thefr uniting with others, or others vrith them ? Considerable changes have come over their body of late on the subject of sacramental com munion with other christians who differ from them on the subject of baptism, effected, it may be piesumed, by the laboms of Mr HaU. The controversial pamphlets of that extraordinary man have infused a more hberal spfrit into many of the chuiches of his denomination, who, led on by his mighty shade, have moxe closely examined the subject, and have axxived at his conclusion, that whom Chiist has received we are bound to receive also. Mixed THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 191 communion churches, as they are called, which aUow of fellowship between Baptists and Independents in the Lord's Suppei, are, it is believed, incieasing in the body; and, in many instances, this principle is held by the pas tor, though as yet opposed by the chmch. Towards their brethren of other sections of the church, the Baptists have ever shown, in all respects but this one of com munion in the Lord's Supper, the most fiiendly, cordial, and fraternal disposition. They and the Independents have been more closely united by joint prayer meetings, and exchange of pulpit services, than any two bodies be sides in the christian world. Sorry should I be if anything were to arise to interrupt the harmony ever happUy sub sisting between them and us ; and, with these feehngs, I have observed with apprehension, certain indications in some quarters of a httle increase of the asperity with which the baptismal controversy is canied on. It is not to be asked, and if it were, it is not to be granted, that the combatants should letfre from the field, sheath theii swoids, and ' hang the txumpet in the hall,' for no peace can be made with eiioi ; but, then, let thexe not be an ovexweening impoitance attached to the points in dispute, and let the conteoveisy be conducted accoiding to all the rules of honourable warfare, in the spirit of christian charity, and without the assumption of infaUibihty. What is denominated. Lady Huntingdon's Connection, comes too near the Independents in their discipline, while in doctrine they are one, to require a distinct and separate consideration. With a college, now undei the piesidency of the eloquent authoi of 'Mammon' and ' the Gieat Commission,' and who, among his other and widely-cfrculated works, has included a beautiful teeatise on christian union, it may be fully expected that this denomination, as it may become more useful and more 192 UNION IN RELATION TO extensively diffused, will cherish still more warmly, and promote more extensively the associative principle. No thing, it may be confidently anticipated, vrill be wanting on the part of Dr Harris, either in the sphere of his duties as a professor, or in the way of the great influence he can exercise both from the pulpit and the press, to work out his own idea, and make the ' divided church one.' Such are the materials for union fmnished by this countey ; and from which none, surely, can say it is too sanguine a hope to entertain, too flattering a conception to be realised, that there might be gathered such a risible association of christians as shall conrince the world, that, amidst circumstantial difference, there is substantial agree ment, and that beneath the troubled and billowy surface of the ocean of rehgious opinion, there is stiU comming ling an unmeasurable depth of quiet water, which no storm can reach or disturb ? Is it the mere speculation of a fervid, though charitable imagination, a mere bubble, which, though inflated with the breath of love, and re flecting the beautiful colours of the bow of peace, is still nothing but a bubble, that must of necessity burst when touched by the finger of experiment ? ShaU we aUow omselves to think that these various communities of pro fessing christians, though aU professing to be gathered round the cross of om Lord Jesus Christ, and to be feel ing the centripetal force of that all- attractive centee, have yet so much of mutual repulsion, that they cannot in any form, and to any extent, cohere ? Shall it be told to this world, perhaps to others too, that there is more in mat ters of chmch government and rehgious ceremony, or outward symbols, to keep us apart, than in the adorable Trinity, the divine character of God, the covenant of grace, the scheme of our Saviour's mediation, the justifi cation of the sinner by faith, the regeneration of the heart THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 193 by the operation and baptism of the Spirit, the adoption of behevers into the family of God, and the prospect of one heaven of hohness, happiness, and love, iij all of which we axe agreed, to cement us at any time, or for any purpose, into one body? And what makes the matter more surprising is, that we profess to be one in Christ, we profess to acknowledge each other, and even to love each other secretly. Are we then ashamed of our com mon relationship ? ShaU we blush to come out of our seclusion, to step over the line of om separation, and confess one another before men ? Can it be pleasing to our common Father to see his chUdren thus shutting themselves up in thefr separate rooms in the great house of the Holy Catholic Church, and never coming into one common hall to own thefr relationship and indulge thefr affection ? WiU the fear of sanctioning what we deem wrong in our brethren justify this alienation ? But sub stantial union does not imply universal approbation. Difficulties, I admit, though I hope not insuperable ones, lie in the way. It will be difficult, in some cases, to say what parties shall be admitted to the union ; and the jealousies, the piejudices, ox the dissensions of some, may obsteuct the admission of otheis, to which the great body may feel no objection ; oi there may be some so inegulai and peculiar, as to make the rest doubt the pro priety of any countenance being given to them by any association whatever. It vrill be difficult to determine whether anything further than mere recognition of each other, and more extended intercourse, should be attempted, or whether a common object of co-operation shaU be sought for; and if so, what that object shaU be? It will be difficult to allay the jealousies and concUiate the fa vour of the more strict, or, at any rate, the more cautious members ofthe different bodies; and some of these, per- R 194 UNION IN RELATION TO haps, may be influential members. It will be difficult to give satisfaction to all parties in the progress of the cause, to avoid furnishing occasions of discontent and disruption, and thus, by the very attempts to promote union, to be unwittingly the cause of widening old breaches, and making new ones. Other difficulties may be foreseen, or may soon start forth. But what good cause was ever without them ? What great object was ever accomphshed without opposition ? None greater than are ordinarily met with will be found here, and none but what, with prudence, caution, and especiaUy by God's blessing, we may reasonably hope vrill be ultimately sur mounted. On the other hand, signs of encouragement are not wanting. Here and there along the dark horizon of party prejudice, lights, though yet but glimmering and scat tered ones, are kindhng, which the eye of hope should not be slow to perceive and follow. The disruption of the Scottish Estabhshment, though, in one view, it may seem to furnish another cause of discord, by adding one more to the divisions which afready exist, yet, in another as pect, is eminently favomable to christian union, by set ting free from the trammels of state domination five hun dred ministers of Christ and their flocks, who, in their former condition, were neither so wilhng nor so able to associate with others, but who are now employing their newly-acqufred liberty to form fraternal confederations with their brethren of other denominations. Local and partial divisions wUl, in this case, aid the cause of general association, by hberating large masses which wUl become fi-ee to enter into new combinations. The influence of this great event upon the South remains yet to be seen. That such a convulsion and disruption should have no influence beyond the immediate scene of thefr own locali- THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 195 ty, is next to impossible. The shock has been felt in this country, and may tend to open the eyes of the good men of the Episcopalian Estabhshment, and prepare many of them, if not for learing their own church, yet for uniting with the members of others. It may have made no stir upon the surface of our English National Chmch; but what incipient and concealed movement it may have ori ginated in the minds of observing and deep-thinking men, is not for any one to say. Hundreds of reflecting and far-seeing inteUects may be surveying it from the watch towers of observation in theix own closets and studies, and indulging in processes of thought, which are preparing them, unconsciously, perhaps, to themselves, for some change which shall bring them into closer union with their christian brethren of other bodies. The great amount of piety which exists in the Church of England, but which is now pent up, and compressed by the exclu siveness of their own ecclesiastical pohty, will not, can not, always endure this state of isolation, but, with an expansive force ever increasing, and aided by what has occurred in the North, wUl one day burst its barriers, and seek the visible fellowship of the universal chmch. Anothei hopeful sign is, what has been afready moie than once adveited to, the simultaneous desfre aftei union which has risen up in many quaiteis, and the efforts which have been commenced to obtain it. ' Whence is it ; from heaven, or of men ?' Is it a device of Satan ? Impossible ! His pohcy is to divide and conquer. We cannot hesitate to believe that it is the work of God. The reader, perhaps, may deem it a fond conceit; but many of us cannot help comparing it to the first movement of the Sarioui, when, awakening from his slumbeis on the sea of GalUee, he piepared himself to hush the storm, and say to the winds and the waves, ' Peace, be still !^ 196 UNION iSr RELATION TO Nor is it undeserving of special attention, that the re ligious bodies which were supposed to be least susceptible of union among themselves, — I mean those which maintain the independence of each separate church, are gradually becoming more united vrithin their own respective com munions. Both the Baptists and Independents are losing their jealousies of the union of churches, and acquiring a steonger disposition for denominational association. To some this may appear to be opposed to catholic fellow ship ; but it is not so. The law of our new nature, which makes the individual christian yearn for feUowship with otheis, makes one chmch desfrous of union vrith otheis ; and in its last and most perfect opeiation, makes one collection of chuiches to desixe fellowship with all othei collections of chuiches. The love of union, whethei viewed as a pxinciple ox a taste, hke other appetites, craves the largest possible measme of gratification ; and in propor tion, therefore, as the diflferent bodies are closely associated together, not upon denominational pecuUarities only, but also upon the basis of doctrinal tenth, the moie aie they piepaxed to unite on common txuths vrith each other. A famUy or a state, at peace, in harmony, and weU united within itself, is better prepared for union, and more cap able of it, with othei states oi families, than one which is altogethei dissociated, and of which the various parts recognise nothing of a common nature, and nothing of essential unity, but are jealous and suspicious of each other. The process preparatory for general union, there fore, is afready going on, where that of more Umited ones is pursued, if on right grounds, with the greatest vigour. The actual attempts, however limited and feeble, which are being made are encouraging. The subject is not only discussed in essays and enforced in sermons; is not only speculated upon in the study and in the closet ; is not THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 197 only matter of contemplation and desire ; but is at length reduced to practice ; the experiment has been made, first in Craven chapel, and afterwards upon a grander scale in Exeter Hall. For the first time in the history of parties, these parties have met, and sat, and sung, and prayed, and spoken together, as different denominations, recog nising each other as brethren. It was a new thing in the earth — a sight on which, we may soberly assume, heaven looked down with joy, and which hell regarded with dismay. A proof was then furnished, of which the ad vocates of charity among christians wUl not be slow to avail themselves, that not only means and opportunities may be found for feeling, owning, and exhibiting the sub stantial oneness of the church, for the exeicise of holy sympathy, and the mingling of common sensibilities, but that good men of all paities will be found also to avail themselves of future opportunities for such blessed occa sions. A new responsibility has come upon us, in conse quence of these meetings, inasmuch as it is now not mat ter of argument merely, but of fact, and of experience, that visible union can be formed, without the compromise of cherished peculiarities, between christians of different denominations. A darker cloud of reproach wUl now cover us aU, if we do not foUow up the work of reconcili ation and intercommunion. But, while England has scaxcely any difficulties and obstacles in the way of union, altogethex pecuhax to it self, it has some advantages •si'hich. other parts of the em pire do not possess, at any rate in such abundance. The various bodies of professing christians in this kingdom have been already, perhaps, more in the habit of inter communion, for specific objects, and to a certain extent, than elsewhere. Their public inteicom-se has been moie frequent, by exchange of pulpits, by lecipiocal services, r2 198 UNION IN RELATION TO by oxganised confederations for the defence of common rights, by fellowship in bible society, and tract society, and town mission operations, by united prayer-meetings, and fraternal associations. They are in the habit of meeting and of worshipping together to such extent, that some contend, enough of union, or at any rate as much as can be expected, is afready reahsed. The fact I joyfully admit, though I dispute the inference. All that we have yet realised, done, oi enjoyed in this way, is a preparation, — yet only a piepaiation, foi a farther advance into the region of peace, a highex ascent into the element of love. If we have gone thus fax, why cannot we move onward ? if we have sipped the cup of communion, why not drink deepei of it ? We have been teaining foi union, fox we are not steangers to each other. We have grown famUiax with one another, not by report, but by observa tion and experience. We have become acquainted, it may be, with each other's failings, and have seen some things to lament, but we have seen others, and perhaps greater ones, to admire. The space between us is not an unbroken ground, nor an unbeaten teack; on the contraxy, there are pathways, and well trodden too, where no grass grows ; and why, therefore, should we not be formally and visibly associated ? Why not agree that there shall be some mid way spot where we shall occasionaUy meet and hold still closer communion than we now do ? The extent of our population, and the number of our large cities and towns, give us facilities and advantages for association of which we should be neither unwiUing nor backward to avail om-selves. Ours is not only the age, but the country, of great cities ; I do not allude merely to our metropolis, but stUl I may speak of it with great pro priety, as being not only the nation, but the world, in mini- atme. No country on earth has such a city. It is the THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 199 centre of the civUised and christianised earth. Among that mighty population, all sects, and in aU their abun dance, axe to be found, and found also vrith thefr usual poxtion of both good and bad qualities. It may be said, that whatevex is done in London, is done upon a stage of which not only the nation, but the woxld is the theatie. The woids spoken upon that stage take wing and fly to the ends of the eaith ; the scenes thexe exhibited axe con templated, and the music there performed is heard, in a comparative sense, by the population of the globe. The man who talks at a public meeting there, may be said in a figure, to be heard at the antipodes. No such publi city is given, by what is said and done in the prorinces. Their's is a limited cfrcle, compared to that of mighty London. Now, what an advantage is this ; what a vast help to everything good, and among other good things, to the promotion of christian union ? How many men, and good men of aU denominations too, may be convened, and united in prayer, dehberation, and action, upon one spot, in a few hours ! What facUities for intercommunion of minds, and exchange of thought ! What an apparatus for sending lound the wide circle the electric spark of holy zeal! What noble confederations have been formed in London — what institutions have been born there, or, if born elsewhere, have been earned there to be nmsed to manhood, and educated foi action! What a concentia- tion of hght, and love, and zeal, is to be" found theie, throwing its focal splendours over the countiies and the world ! And then, in addition, we have vUlages that axe, as to population, consideiable towns, and towns that axe largei than most of our cities. Om land is studded aU over with these crowded haunts of human beings. We might draw scores of circles of territory, and find for each some large 200 UNION IN RELATION TO town or city for a centre. We have ample room for ef fective meetings, where the thing would not be done in a corner, or the Ught shine in a nanow place, but where the scenes of love, and peace, and concoid, would be witnessed by myriads, and the report of what is done be instantly talked of by pious multitudes. We could make the subject of christian union teU upon the vast masses of the population in a short time ; and there wheie infi delity chiefly dwells and exeits its influence, for this is a city, and not a imal demon, could weaken its foice, by depriving it of its most powerful weapon. It is of im mense impoitance that all moial means — and chiistian union is one of them — should be made to beai- poweifiUly on our laige towns. Jesus Christ commanded his gospel to be fiist preached at Jerusalem. His own ministey was devoted very much to laxge towns and cities ; in his in- stiuctions to his disciples, he diiected theix attention prin cipaUy to such localities ; these wexe the theatees of the Holy Spfrit's fiist and most iUusteious achievements ; in them the powex of Satan is steongest ; they fumish pecu Uax advantages foi the promotion of religion ; and they exert a special influence upon the country and the world. Hence everything should be done for their benefit, and among other things their christian population should be drawn closer together. Nor can it be said, that we have many towns and dis tricts where a sufficient number of christians of the vari ous denominations that may be expected to enter into the scheme, could be collected so as to present an im posing aspect to the public. The Methodists, Baptists, and Independents are so widely spread over the country, that there is scarcely even a small town in which some of all these bodies are not to be found ; and as to the large ones in our manufacturing districts, in these they abound. THE- RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 201 What impressive scenes of union might be exhibited in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Bfrmingham, Sheffield, Bristol, York, Newcastle, Norwich, Bradford, and many other towns, where congregations of considerable magni tude and of various religious bodies exist ! The impres sion produced by numbers might be felt in all these locaUties, for numbers there exist. But it is not only the existence of the various de nominations in England that gives to it a peculiar advantage for effective and impressive muon, but thefr existence also in proportions, as to numbers, so nearly equal. It must be obvious, that, where one denomina tion so far preponderates over another as to render the smaller one hardly visible, thefr conjunction is scarcely seen, at least with any advantage ; just as the flowing in of a smaU ri-vulet into the channel of a mighty river is scarcely observable, and therefore littie noticed ; or as the addition of a star of the sixth magnitude is lost in a consteUation, when it is muted vrith others of the first, or second. In Scotiand the predominant denominations are Presbyterians, and all others are comparatively small. The same remark apphes to Iieland as regards the bodies that may be expected to unite. In those king doms, theiefore, however desfrable it may be for the vari ous sects to be associated, it could not be done with the same good effect, the same steong impression as in Eng land, where the Methodists, the Baptists, and Indepen dents, though not absolutely «qual, yet approach to it. This cfrcumstance checks the discouragement that a sense of weakness produces in the smaUer body, which is apt to fear it would be regarded, in such an association, as a mere appurtenance to the other. Nor does the proportion stop in mere numbers, but extends to gifts, graces, and respectability. I am, of 202 UNION IN RELATION TO course, speaking now of the various bodies of noncon formists. Each of these has ministers whom, in respect of talent, piety, and usefulness, it has no need to be afraid of bringing into comparison with those of other bodies. Each has places of convocation large and elegant; each possesses members of wealth and influence. None, there fore, has occasion to fear it wiU be lost in the greater magnitude, or be eclipsed by the brighter splendour, of the others. It is teue, such fears ought not to exist at aU; but it is well to see there is no ground for them. Let us not be slow to avail ourselves of such advantages, any more than duU to perceive them. The children of this world, wiser in thefr generation than the children of light, are sagacious enough to perceive how all these things may be made conducive to their schemes. They have laid hold of our large towns as the chief scenes, and as affoiding the fittest agents, and most numeious insteu ments of their operations, in the way of political, com mercial, and scientific unions. Let all these facts be taken into consideration, and it wUl thus appear that we want nothing in England but the disposition to exhibit to the whole earth, to the greatest advantage, ' How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dweU together in unity! ' I come now to consider the means by which we may hope, and should endeavour, to promote the object of this volume. In order to bring about the desfred union, it should be taken up, not only by aU parties, but by aU persons. It must come upon the individual conscience of every chris tian, as his duty, according to his station and measure of influence, to promote it. We ought not to sink ourselves, and our personal obhgations, in the mass. It is evexy THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 203 one's concern. All the great interests which are hindered by our divisions, or aided by our agreement, belong to each of us ; the edification of the church, the credit of religion, and the moral improvement of the world. We must not stand gazing at this work, saying, ' Who shall do it?' but mus£ say, 'Here is something for me to do.' I am quite aware that it is the becoming duty of christian ministers to promote union ; their responsibUity in this, as weU as in every other subject connected with trae reli gion, is teuly tremendous ; and God wiU require this matter at their hands. It is they who kindle or quench the flames of contention ; that strengthen or relax the bonds of union ; that alienate or conciliate the affections of the brethren. The power of the pulpit, and the influ ence of ministerial example, are prodigious. If the pas tors could be brought to associate, the flocks would instantly follow ; and it is a solemn and a serious con sideration for those to whom the Sariour has granted an office of such influence, whether they can best discharge its duties by perpetuating or healing the wounds of the universal church. If the chord of charity were struck by a firm and skilful hand in the pulpit, from time to time, it would produce an instant vibration throughout the whole congregation ; and the words of peace going from thence, would be returned in ready and joyful echoes by the listening hearers. The minister of religion cannot be fuUy acting out his duty as a servant of Christ unless he is a promoter of peace, and doing all he can to har monise the discoidant elements of the christian chmch. His ministey is emphatically one of leconcUiation; andhe has mistaken his commission if he be employing himself in any way that is opposed to this, or even if he be neglecting it. But christian union belongs not to ministers only, it should press upon the conscience of every one of thefr 204 UNION IN RELATION TO hearers. No man is doing his whole duty as a christian, who is doing nothing to repafr the breaches in the walls of Zion. On the return of the Jews from captivity, it was thus the desolation of Jerusalem was removed ; Nehe miah appointed officers and master buUders ; but, in ad dition to this, ' thepeople had a mind to work ;' and ' we retmned all of us to the waU,' said the historian, ' every one of us to his work.' Let us, then, not wait for others, nor suspend our efforts tiU we can get them to co-operate with us, but let each denomination, each minister, each individual christian, commence the work of pacification, and the attempt to unite the people of God. 'Let us each do our part, so as we may be able to say. Per me non stetit; it was not my fault but christians had been more combined and entirely one -with each other, but they had been more thoroughly christian, and more entfrely united with God in Christ, that Christianity had not been a more powerful, hvely, amiable, and awful thing. If the chris tian community moulder and decay, be enfeebled, broken, dispfrited, and ruined in great part, this ruin shall not rest under my hand.' * But as we shall not attempt to accompUsh an object, especially if it be attended with some difficulty, which we do not covet, there must be a prevaihng desire before there vrill be a general effort. Desfre ! and can any man, whose mind is enlightened by the Spirit of God, and whose heart is renewed by his grace, be without such de sfre ? WUl any one who surveys the disteactions of the christian chmch, who sees the parties into which it is spht, the vfrulence by which they are actuated, the angry conteoversies they maintain, the discredit they bring upon Christianity, the force they give to infidel objections, the * Howe on Union among Protestants, THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 205 gratification they afford to demons, the obstructions they throw in the way of the world's conversion, not desire the union of the church ? Can any person pretend to the christian character, with the paralysis of such a cold and deadly indifference at his heart ? What ! survey the di rided state of that church with indifference, for which Christ gave his tears, his prayers, his blood, his life, to make it one, and yet pretend to piety! To see that church a battie-field, which should be a sheepfold, and those members of it, which should be feeding together as lambs, fighting with each other as gladiators, and shed no tears for its divisions, cherish no desfres for its union ! Is the church, which is the centre of God's cares and counsels, the purchase of Christ's blood, no more to us than this ? Had we seen even the seamless garment which once covered the sacred person of the Saviour rent and torn by violence, we could not have looked on the mutilated robe without emotion ; and shall we see his spiritual body torn by faction, and disfigured by bigotey, and yet be indifferent to the melancholy spectacle ? A person in such a state of mind as this, surely cannot be a lively stone 'in the spfritual house,' but a mere icicle hanging to its exterior. And if to be indifferent to risible union is criminal, how much more to be hostile ? Opposition to any well- concocted scheme of union involves in it great responsi bUity. It must be left, of course, to every one's judg ment to determine, whether any scheme which may be presented for public approbation and support answers to this character or not ; and no man can be blamed for withholding his countenance from a plan, or even for op posing it, which appears to him to compromise any of the principles of divine truth, or to be nothing more than a risionary and impracticable speculation. But the hos- 206 UNION IN RELATION TO tUity heie condemned, is a disposition to lest satisfied vrith things as they are ; a mind contented with the present relations and feehngs of parties ; a leluctance to do any thing to bring them neaiei to each othei, coupled with such an aveision, from the veiy attempt, as leads to a fastidious and somewhat contemptuous lejection of every plan that may be pioposed foi that object. Such op ponents, I legiet to say, may be found, who, not satisfied with theii own silent and individual lejection of the piof- feied olive-branch, use their influence, for reasons which, no doubt, appear sufficient to satisfy thefr own minds, to induce others also to abjure union on any other terms but those of perfect identity with themselves. Is it too much to ask such peisons to place themselves in com pany with thefr divine Loid, and to foUow him through aU the scenes of his incarnation, foi the purpose of ask ing from what action, or from what expression, they can feel authorised to treat with hostility, and to leject with scom, the effoits that aie being made to steengthen the bonds of brotherhood between his disciples ? Is it from his sermon upon the mount, when he poured his bene dictions upon the peace-makers, and caUed ihem the chUdren of God ? Is it from his frequent rebukes to his too htigious foUowers ? Is it from his conversation with the woman of Samaria, and his labours on that occasion, among a people hated and shunned by his own kindred ? Is it from his inimitable parable of the good Samaritan ? Is it from his lepioof of the distempeied zeal of his dis ciples, who would have stopped the man that cast out demons, because he foUowed not them ? Is it from his foibeaiance with his apostles undei theii cloudy appie- hensions of his doctrine and his wUl, thefr impure mo tives, and thefr defective sanctity? How wide the intei- val which sepaiated his rehgious knowledge and attain- THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 207 ments from those of his disciples ! he, the fountain of illumination; they, encompassed with infiimities: but did he lecede from them on that account ? No : he diew closer the bond of union, imparted successive streams of effulgence, tiU he incorporated his spirit with theirs, and elevated them into a nearer resemblance of him self Or, is hostUity to union learned from that touching intercessional petition, afready refened to, when the agony of his labouring heart found relief in a burst of impor- tunate'supplication for the unity of his church ? WiU men take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus in these scenes of his ministry, and have hstened to those gracious words that have flowed from his hps, till we have caught his own spirit and have been moulded into his image, if we are not only indifferent, but opposed, to risible union? WUl such hostility identify us most closely and most obviously with him who came to make us aU one in himself? It is readily admitted that we should have fixed and definite ideas of the nature of the union which we con ceive to be both desfrable and attainable; and here I vrill acknowledge at once, that it is desirable, if it were practicable, to obtain unity of religious sentiment, even in those minor matters on which we are not now agTeed, and to be of one mind, as well as of one heart. I could never be brought, like some, to compare the differences of opinion among professing christians to the varied coloms of the rainbow, and as thus presenting an instance in the spiritual world analogous to that steUiing phenomenon in the world of nature, of a beautiful variety in perfect har mony. This aUusion may do well enough to adorn a speech upon a platform, and has often secured for the orator who employed it the applause of his admiring, but uncritical hearers. The analogy is, in an important 208 UNION IN RELATION TO sense, a false one. The different colours of the bow in the cloud, are all a part of creation ; they axe, so to speak, all natmal tiuths, optical leaUties ; no one coloui being more 01 less tiue than another-, but are all perfectly con- foimable to the great law of thefr pioduction, all essen tial parts of the one pure element of hght, having an original and common somce. This cannot be said of om different religious opinions ; these cannot all be true, in asmuch as they are opposed to each other. Truth is uniform, though enor is multiform. Much enor must therefore be in existence; which, of course, as error is an evil, it is desirable, when it has accomplished the end for which it was permitted to enter, should be subdued, and the whole chmch subjected to the leign of unmixed tra|h. ' This, howevei, must be expected as the lesult of some thing moie heavenly and divine than legal lestiaints and angiy contioveisies. Unless an angel were to descend for that purpose, the spirit of division is a disease which will never be healed by troubhng the waters. We must expect the cure from the increasing prevalence of reUgion, and from a copious effusion of the Spirit of God, to pro duce that event. An awful fear of God, and an exclusive desfre to discover his mind, will hold a torch before us in our inquiries, and strangely illumine the path in which we are to tread. The New Testament is surely not so obscure a book, that, weie its contents to fall into the hands of a bundled serious and impartial men, it would pioduce such opposite conclusions as must necessaxily issue in the foiming of two oi more sepaiate communions. A largei communication of the Spfrit of tenth would insensibly lead christians into a simUax teain of thinking ; and being under the guidance of that infallible Teacher, they would graduaUy tend to the same point, and settie in the same conclusions. Without such an influence as THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 209 this, the coalescing into one communion would probably be productive of much mischief; ' it certainly would do no good, since it would be the mere result of intolerance and pride acting upon indolence and fear.' * While, therefore, it is quite lawful and propei foi us ever to keep before our minds, as the ultimate object of our desire and pursuit, an agreement in lesser matters as weU as in greater ones; ovx proximate one is only such an association as shall include in it the exercise of a more intense brotherly love than at present exists — the public and formal recognition of each other as brethren, on a basis mutually agreed upon, and, if possible, a co-opera tion in the furtherance of some common object, could such an one be found, which is equally important to us all. If thfe baniers that separate us into different communions shaU ever be removed, so as to bring about a general coalition into one visible church, it will not be by a direct attack upon them, or any attempt to subvert them by the arm of power or the manoeuvies of party; so neithei will it be by calling upon those who are shut up within theii separate enclosures, by one simultaneous and general assault fi'om within to demohsh them, but by leaving them to crumble away under the influence of the Spirit of God upon the spread of truth and charity, and by so raising the importance of our common-sentiments, that our peculiarities shall exist no longer; or if, in any degree, they shall still remain, it shall be not as fortifica tions drawn along hostile frontiers, but as verdant path ways in the same beautiful garden ; which if in one sense they divide the parts, axe in anothei the means of com munication between them all. All hope of olosei union that is not founded on a ¦* Mr Hall's Strictures on Zeal without Innov.ition. s 2 210 UNION IN RELATION TO sincere and general determination to make the word of God the sole arbiter of our rehgious differences, is vain and delusive. It has been by following other guides than this — the ignes fatiii of human authority — that we have been led astray from each other and from the truth. Our divergence and division fi-om each other have arisen from om leaving this common centie of religious sentiment; and theie is no way of coming back to each othei, but by coming back to this sole and supreme Judge in matters of doctrine, discipline, and piactice. Chillingwoith's immoital aphorism, ' The Bible, and the Bible alone, is the leligion of Piotestants,' has been far more admired and applauded than it has been acted upon. When once this grave and weighty declaration shall be thoroughly understood, deeply felt, and universally acted upon, the effect in drawing christians closer to each other will be surprising. It is human authority that has to a very considerable extent sepaxated biethien, and that still keeps them apart. It is the names and systems of men that stand in the way of union ; just as the chuich at Corinth, instead of gathering in one body round thefr common Lord, was seen in separate divisions, each clus tering lound the name of Paifl, ApoUos, oi Cephas. The multitude have nevei searched the scriptures for them selves, and are therefore foUowing in the tiack of their leadeis ; but when they shall turn from these to the lively oiacles, and shall be found listening to theii inspfred and infallible lesponses, instead of piosteating thefr under standings before the creeds, catechisms, and articles of falhble men, they will be astonished to find how rapidly and how closely they can be made to approximate to each other. They will then discovei that during the long night that has fallen upon them, and by the deceptive lights of human authority that have glimmered on thefr path, they THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 211 have all more or less mistaken their way. The entire submission of our minds to the teaching of the truth and its divine author, wUl be like the rising of the sun upon our wanderings, to conduct us all back to the right road. Next to this is a due estimate, never yet, perhaps, cor rectly made, after aU that has bfeen said upon the subject of the incomparable superiority of those points of doctrine in which we are agreed over those on which we differ ; and connected with this, a disposition to make the former, rather than the latter, the topics of our habitual and delighted reflection. We hold, in common, truths of such surpassing magnitude, that our distinctive pecuharities dwindle down before them to almost invisible points. When gazing upon the cross of Christ, the amphtude of the covenants of grace, the method of justification, the work of the Spirit, the common adoption here, and the common glorification hereafter, we should feel, in regard to our distinctions, pretty much as two co-heirs of an immense estate which was bounded by the Alps, and was situated on their lovely slopes, would of the diffeient heights and accommodations of theii lespective dweUings; 01 as two tiavelleis who weie looking at the pyramids would of the diffeient heights of the little eminences from which they viewed those stupendous masses. Give to chuich government all the impoitance that can be desiied foi it, and to the diffeient opinions enteitained of the subjects and mode of baptism all the value that belongs to them — and it may be admitted that this is not small — stiU, what axe they as compared with the method of om justification and the means of oux sanctification ? If it be necessaxy to multiply oompaxisons, and it be lawful to compaxe the doctrines and discipline of chiistianity to Nebuchadnezzar's image in his dream, would not the former appear as the head of gold and the breast of silver. 212 UNION IN RELATION TO while the lattei would seem but as the legs and feet of iion and clay ? Let us all considei what it is that justifies, sanctifies, comforts, and, in fact, saves us; what it is that is the satisfactory evidence of om salvation; what it is that unites us to Chiist, and binds us to the heart of God ; what it is that enables us to oveicome the woild, and to set our affections on things above ; and we shall find it is not Episcopacy, Presbyterianism, Independency, or Bap tism. How little do these things avail us when guilt presses upon the conscience, or care corrodes the heart, or sorrow drives sleep from the eyes, or death deprives us of our fiiends, or the last enemy lays his cold hand upon our frame. Do we in such scenes and seasons betake our selves to these lesser matters for comfort, or to the essen tial and glorious traths of our common salvation ? It is because we are believers in Christ Jesus that we feel our selves safe for eternity ; and this safety we cannot but concede to om brethren of all orthodox sects, as truly and as confidently as we feel it for ourselves. Let us then keep within sight of the cross, by dwelUng more upon the essential doctrines of the gospel ; and look upon our brethren of other denominations, as assembled with us round that common centie of attiaction, and partaking with us in all the gracious effoits and etemaUy glorious results of that great sacrifice which is there presented to our view. There shoifld be in us such an ineffable delight in the fundamental truths of Christianity, such an exaltation of their glory and importance, as shall make us deter mined to know nothing among men but Jesus Christ and him crucified. This wiU make us love with an unquench able and truly fraternal affection all who partake with us in the same views. We shall feel towards each other much as loyal regiments of soldiers do when gathering THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 213 round the royal standard, who then forget the distinctive emblems of their own ensigns, and regard each other for thefr attachment to that one common emblem of thefr monarch's and their countey's cause ; or, to borrow a more sacred aUusion, we, like the different tribes of Israel, ananged and marching through the wilderness under thefr respective banners, yet all collected round the ark of the covenant, shaU appear lovely and venerable in each other's estimation, on account of our proximity and attachment to that system of dirine truth of which the Jewish pro pitiatory, with its shechinah and cherubims of glory, was but a type. But we must go stUl faithei and higher, and prepare for closer union by more eminent piety. A cold and un- influential orthodoxy, which leaves us still worldly and undevout, however it may give us an inteUectual sympa thy with each other, and lay the basis of a courteous and general esteem, wiU do but little in the way of drawing our hearts together. All who have written upon the sub ject of christian union agree in the opinion, that it is an increasing spirit of sincere and fervent piety that will alone be found equal to the work of subduing our prejudices, and conciliating our affections The apostle's question, 'From whence come wais and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of yom lusts, that wax in your membeis ?' shows the cause of dirisions, and suggests the natme of the remedy. The contentions in the church flow from the same source as those of the world. In om nature there axe yet remains of conuption, mixed up vrith divine sentiments and holy affections ; and thus, in every heart, there are principles of affinity and repulsion. Grace atteacts grace, and conuption repels it : in propor tion as grace prevails over conuption, it will be drawn to wards its corresponding principle in other hearts; while. 214 UNION IN RELATION TO on the contrary, as conuption prevaUs over grace, it will make the less sanctified heart repellant and dissocial Thus, as piety becomes more purified and strengthened, it will draw, and must of necessity draw, all classes of chris tians nearer to each other, until an external and visible unity, as well as an internal one, shall be formed, and all its expected results shaU be accomplished. This atteactive power of true piety is a law, the force of which has been afready in some measm-e developed under various forms ; and is a law which, when complete in its operation, will as sm-ely bring round it aU christian bodies, and keep them in harmonious movement, as the solar gravitation will caxxy xound, in thefr fifll cycle, the whole system of the planets. The piety that draws us neaiex to Christ, must draw us nearer to each other, as bodies that press closei to a common centie piess closei at the same time to one anothei. The chuich is not yet holy enough for very close union. It is too worldly, selfish, and malig nant in its spfrit : and it is to this immoderate attach ment to things secular and earthly, to a want of moxe ardent love to God, and of more reverence for truth, rather than to the obscurities of revelation, that we must impute the unhappy contentions among christians — maladies which nothing can conect, as already stated, but a deeper and more practical piety. Any cm-ative process which does not go to purify and strengthen the spfritual consti tution, will be only the administration of palliatives ; or, at best, will produce only an external appearance of con valescence, whUe the whole mass of the blood is impure and unhealthy. Heaven is perfectly harmonious, because it is perfectly holy : thexe is no discoid theie, because theie is no depravity which can occasion the jaxiing note. If diffeiences of opinion could exist there, they would oc casion no bittemess of feeUng, no alienation of heaxt. THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 215 because perfect love casts out all wrath as well as all feai. Not, howevei, that it is meant there should be no attempts after union tiU we have anived at something like perfection, for then the chuich must give up all hope of appioximation till the millennium. ' Whereunto we have afready attained, let us walk by the same lule, let us mind the same thing.' But let each christian, and especially eveiy ministei, seek a new baptism of the Spirit, and a laigei measme of the mind of Christ ; for in vain wUl the note of charity be steuck, however loudly or pubhcly, if there be no chord of piety in the church to vibrate in unison to the music of that bhssfiil sound. If, as by mfracle, the discords were all to be hushed at once; yet, if the great body of professing christians were no holier than they axe now, the haish dissonance would soon be heard again. There can be no harmony from instruments whose strings are broken or relaxed; and such are our hearts. We must, therefore, begin vrith the tuning of these to a higher degree of piety, as the only preparative for the richer and the deeper symphonies of the redeemed church. From this state of our hearts wiU spring up, as an essential element of rehgion, a larger measure of love. An inspfred apostle has taught us, in a chapter that has been too httle studied, and still less practised, that a religion of which love is not a prime ingredient, whatever else it may contain, is no rehgion at aU. This is the soul of piety, ' all else but her tenestrial attire, which she will lay aside when she passes the threshold of eternity.' Our constant labour should be, not to add to the habili ments of which we shall then divest ourselves, but to separate from om spfrits, every tempei and disposition which wUl not go vrith us to heaven, and which suits as 216 UNION IN RELATION TO little the means as the end ; and to carry on our education for our Father's house above, by progressively assimUating -ourselves on earth to the mind and temper of the blessed immortals. Without sincere and cordial love between the parties, as the cement, there is no union worth the trouble of procuring it ; for, however specious may be its appear ance, from the variety, magnitude, or splendour of its component parts, it has an internal principle of disruption and decay, which wiU, sooner or later, reduce it to a heap of ruins. This love must be as vride in its compass as the circle which we proposed for our union. To love only those of our own denomination, however intense may be the affection, so fax from piomoting the end we seek, lesists and defeats it : instead of fmtheiing union, it is the veiy cause of dirisions ; it is the loot of bittei- ness, which grows not in the soU of charity but of selfish ness, and has sprung up to bring forth the poisonous fruits of bigotry and all uncharitableness, whereby many have not only been defiled, but destroyed. Such a factious, schismatical war as this, instead of collecting, scatteis ; instead of embodying, disseveis the chmch : and puts the greater paxt of its members beyond the pale of Chris tianity. What is wanted, then, is a spfrit of impartial, universal, and inrincible love, which acknowledges, values, and accepts the image and superscription of Christ, stamped upon a truly renewed heart, whatevei may be on the obveise side of the coin : a love which demands nothing else as a passport to its heait, and a wanant foi the exeicise of its legaxd, but the evidence of a ' hke piecious faith,' and 'the common salvation;' and which, feehng that it would be an indignity to our divine Lord to have his attestation treated with suspicion tUl endorsed and accredited by the stamp of Episcopacy, Presby terianism, or Independency, generously exclaims, ' Grace THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 217 be -with all them that love om Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ! ' Men have been busy, in the eagerness of thefr misguided zeal, and the selfishness of thefr vricked hearts, to improve upon inspfred wisdom, by inverting the apostohc order of the graces, and making love the last and the least of the three ; nay, their mischievous attempt has not stopped here, for, in effect at least, they have endeavoured to blot it out altogether, and to reduce reUgion from the divine triphcity that St Paul has given it, to a mere duahty, and to make it consist exclusively of faith and hope. And since we axe everywhere taught that rehgion is God's image in the soul of man, what does all this come to, as the last reach of its turpitude, but to rifle the dirine char acter of love, its ineffable glory, and to make Jehovah simply a God of truth and justice ? Learing, then, the number and order of the graces as we find it in scripture, and practicaUy submitting to the truth of the apostolic declaration, that ' the greatest of these is charity,' let us sit down again at the feet of this inspfred teacher, and, studying afresh the genius of Christianity as it is por- teayed in his elegant and beautififl personification, let us put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness ; and, thus attired, be prepared for union with all om brethren. Is there, then, notwithstanding om differences, a prin ciple known — a principle attainable by us all — a principle which is an integral part of our religion — a principle which, if it were more cultivated and in fuU exercise, would subjugate all that is low, and selfish, and malevo lent in our nature; and which, whUe it fiUed our own bosom with peace, would give us peace with om feUow- christians of every name ? There is. It is love — holy love — heavenly love — christian love. But where is it to be found ? In the heart of God, in the bosom of Jesus, T 318 UNION IN RELATION TO in the minds of angels, in the spfrits of just men made perfect, and in the pages ofthe New Testament, we know: but where on earth shaU we find it ? It ought to be seen in beauty and in vigour in the chmch of Christ ; this is buUt to be its mansion, and for its residence. But how little is it to be found in this its own and appropriated abode ? How frequently is it driven away by the strifes, divisions, and clamours of other spirits, that have ob truded into its proper domicile, and rendered that habi tation, which was intended to be the seat of uninterrupted peace, and of untroubled repose, a scene of noisy conflict and fierce contention? Let us aU join our efforts to cast out the unclean spirits that have driven away love from her abode ; and, reinstating the heavenly tenant in her own possession, let us yield up our hearts to her holy and benignant sway. Men have tried aU kinds of methods, except the only right, effectual, and divinely appointed one, for gathering into union the broken and scattered fragments of the church, and for tuning to harmony its discordant voices. They have fried the compulsion of law, the power of logic, the persuasion of eloquence, the subscription of articles, the application of tests, the authority of teadi tion, and yet all these means have signally failed, not only to procure internal unity, but external uniformity. Emper ors and kings, popes and prelates, councUs and convoca tions, cabinets and senates, dirines and lawyers, have aU employed thefr- wits and exerted thefr hands in this great woxk of unity; and yet, whatever have been their schemes, and with whatever dUigence they have been applied, how ever they may have appealed to the fears, the reason, or the cupidity of the opposing parties, they have all left the chuich as divided and inharmonious as they found it, and in the language of despair have confessed that THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 219 union among christians was a state of things never to be expected in the present world. And yet theie, upon the veiy surface of levelation, wheie eveiy eye can see it, lies, and has lain foi neaily eighteen centuries, a principle so simple that a chUd may understand it, which, if pro perly felt and judiciously appUed, would have effected that which has ever been consideied so necessaxy, and yet so difficult — 'Forbearing one another in love.' Dirinely inspfred, heaven descended, godlike sentence ! How simple, yet how sublime ! By what machination of Satan — by what cunning artifice of 'the father of Ues' — by what operation of the deceitfulness of sin — or by what treachery of the desperately wicked heart of man, has the beauty of this precept been concealed, its force evaded, or its efficiency prevented ? If theie be one piactical piecept which we could wish to be printed in stany chaxacteis on the daik page of the nightly sky, wiitten in sunbeams on the tablet of the earth, and uttered both night and day in voices from the heavens, that the attention of men might be inesistibly tmned to it, and thefr hearts unavoidably impressed by it, this is the injunction ; and yet, what greater clearness, or more importance, or higher authority, would this splendid method of publication give to it, beyond what it already possesses as a portion of holy writ? 'Forbearing one another in love.' This one short precept, universally obeyed, would set all right, and reduce all to order. It would not at once reconcile all minds, but it would harmonise all hearts. It would not amalgamate all churches into an external uniformity, but it would combine them all in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. It might not hush the voice of conteo- versy, but it would take from it the harsh dissonance of human passion, and cause it to speak in the melhfluous tones of divine charity. 220 UNION in relation to But we may now justiy ask by what mighty power tiiis great consummation is to be brought about? Who can step forth, and with a voice that can not only command, but ensure obedience, say to the boisterous elements of human passion and rehgious prejudice, ' Peace, be stUl T This is the sole work of Him who gave order, beauty, and harmony to the primeval elements of om world. In vain do we make om appeal to the rehgious bodies themselves to come to a better state of feeUng, if we stop there. The storms that are stUl raging round the bark of the tempest- tossed church wUl no more yield to the voice of argument or persuasion from men, than would the winds and the waves of the sea of Galilee have submitted to the command of the affrighted disciples. What saved them? That which must save us, if we are saved at aU. They awoke the sleeping Sariour by the prayer of faith ; and in answer to thefr importunate supphcation, the calm supervened. He is stfll on board his weather-beaten vessel, and though not asleep, is waiting to be asked to put forth his tran- quiUising power. Let the whole church, haring first deeply humbled itself for its sins of ahenation, dirision, uncharitableness, and unbrotherly feeling, go to Him in the earnestness and in the prayer of faith for a fresh out pouring of his Spfrit of hght, love, holiness, and peace. He only waits to be asked, so to replenish us with his benediction, as to make Zion a quiet and peaceable habi tation. It was when the harmonies of voices and of hearts ascended to heaven at the dedication of the temple, that the cloud of the divine glory came and fiUed the house. It was when the disciples were met together in one place, and with one accord, to make their common supplications known, that the Spirit of God came down in coronets of fire upon their heads, and fiUed the place where they were sitting. The breath of piayei is the THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF ENGLAND. 221 atmosphere in which the Spirit comes to hover over his chmch, and shed heahng from his wings. That divine agent can set all things right. He can cause us to see and to feel alike; he can expel from om minds all enoi, from our hearts all pride, prejudice, and passion, and so fiU us vrith meekness, love, and tender forbearance, that we shaU be inesistibly drawn towaxds each othex, and be enabled to bring about fai moie than the visible, foimal union we now seek. He is able to do exceedingly abun dantly above aU that we ask or think. And now, 0 my country ! which I love with a pateiot's affection, and bless with a christian's prayer; for whose welfare, in part, I have wiitten these pages, so unwoithy to be associated with the pioductions of noblei minds and abler pens ; may my efforts be accepted and blessed of God, to aid in rolling away the cloud of reproach that hides thy grandeur and echpses thy glory. I am not insensible to thy greatness in power, in commerce, in wealth, in Uterature, in science, and the arts ; and some times I feel the dangex of undue exultation in the con templation of thy majesty ; yet is my ambition far moxe intense fox thy moial and leligious fame, now too feax- fuUy affected and too humblingly obscmed and diminished by the party spirit, so rife and so vfrulent among thy divided and ahenated subjects. 0 come the day, when thy awful form shall no longer reflect the lurid glaxe of fieiy zeal foi sectarian distinctions, but when thou shalt shine forth in the mild radiance of an ardent yet well- tempered concern for substantial Christianity ; when thy commanding voice shall be heard to the ends of the eaith, uttering, not the woids of bittei intolerance oi pxiestly exclusiveness, but of chaxity and foibeaiance; and when, by whatevei is hbeial in policy, thou shalt be a pattern T 2 222 UNION IN RELATION TO, ETC. to all countries of national generosity, and by whatsoever is associative and affectionate among thy diflferent deno minations of religion, be no less a pattern to them of christian union ! May it be thy honour — and no brighter one can be allotted thee — to teach all countries and all ages that the most unresteicted rehgious hberty, though it gives full scope for diversities of opinion among chris tians, serves only to exhibit more clearly in its power, and more brightiy in its glory, the cementing principle of theix common chiistianity ! Amen. APPENDIX. Since the foregoing Essay was written, I have received a letter from my esteemed friend, Dr Patton, a Presbyterian minister of New York, from which I give the subjoined extracts, premising that my correspondent was not led to the subject on which he writes by any knowledge of the present scheme, but by the state of things in his own country. Popery, and its new ally, Anglo-Catholicism, are rapidly diffusing themselves over the United States. The American Protestant Episcopal Church is fast sink ing under the spell of Tractarianism, notwithstanding the intelligent and zealous efforts of Dr M'llvain, bishop of Ohio, and some others of the clergy ; and clerical assumptions, ill suited, if not actually dangerous, to the sim plicity of a republican form of clvU government, and cast of general society, are now put forth in that land of democracy. Komanism, aided by a tide of emigration, consisting of thousands of Irish Papists, is making prodigious efforts to seize the great Western Valley, watered by the Mississippi, and which, at no distant time, must be the very heart of the United States. It is matter of little surprise, therefore, that the Protestant ministers of that country should survey this state of things with anxiety, not unattended with alarm, and should desiderate, for the defence of the principles of the Reformation, a general, close, and hearty union among its friends : — ' The providence of God,' says Dr Patton, ' is most singularly moving in the reUgious world. The Romanists and the Prelatists are becoming quite sympathetic, and unite in denouncing all but themselves as not be longing to the church ; as being no ministers, and the like. This is pro- 224 APPENDIX. ducing stronger sympathy among the non-prelatic christians, and a greater disposition to make common cause. It appears to me, that the time can not be distant when it will be most proper to call a Convention of Delegates from all Evangelical Churches, to meet in London, for the purpose of setting forth the great essential truths in which they are agreed. I know of no object which would awaken deeper interest than such a Convention. It would command the attendance of some of our strongest men from all evangelical denominations ; and the result would be, a statement of views which would have the most blessed effect. Such an invitation should, with propriety, come from your side of the water. But if you think it desirable to have certain men here unite, in such a case, I have no doubt I could procure a goodly list of names to any paper you and your brethren might send over. Will you consult your brethren, perhaps of the Congi'e- gational Union, as also such of other denominations as might unite in the matter. The Convention might be held in July of 1845, in London. Dele gates could come from the Evangelical Churches ofthe Continent, of America, of Scotland, Ireland, etc. etc. etc. The document calling that meeting should be well drawn up, clearly setting forth the object of the Convention, as lifting up a standard against Papal and Prelatical arro gance and assumption, and embodyi-ng the great essential doctrines 'which are held in common hy all consistent Protestants. Peculiarities of church order to be excluded. I am persuaded that such a Convention would meet with the hearty concurrence and co-operation of .i vast multitude. It would exhibit to the world an amount of practical union among christians of which they little dream. It would greatly strengthen the hearts of God's people, and would promote a better state of feeling among the denomina tions. I trust, my dear brother, that you will act in this matter ; and, be fore you are called home to your rest and your reward, strive to secure such a meeting. Open a correspondence with Dr Chalmers, Dr Wardlaw, and others of Scotland ; with prominent men among the Baptist, Methodist, Moravian, and other denominations : Sir CuUing Eardley Smith wiU go heart and soul with you. Now may our blessed Lord, who prayed that his disciples might be one, graciously guide you and others in this matter, and make you instruments of great good ! Should a document be published on your side of the water, calling such a Convention, our ecclesiastical meet- APPENDIX. 225 ings would sanction it, and our religious papers would forward it. I name July as the time of meeting, as at that time our clergymen could more readily attend, and only be absent from home during the hot season, when they can be better spared. Also, our pious laymen could then more readily leave their business. The Convention need not be together more than some ten days at most, but the result would be blessed for all future time.' The subject of this letter is of momentous consequence ; it presents a splendid conception of the human mind ; and I have thought this the best and most appropriate medium through which to exhibit it, for the con templation and examination of other minds. The letter shows the ear nestness of Dr Patten's solicitude to accomplish the object. The subject is not quite new to some of us ; we have looked at it, and conferred about it ; and with some it was a matter of regret that it had not been tried, in stead ofthe meeting last year at Exeter Hall. But perhaps it is an object that can be better approached, an end that can be more certainly arrived at, by slow and cautious steps, than by one mighty stride or bound of the public mind. It was in my own view, though but vaguely appre hended, when I sent forth the circular that led to the meeting in Exeter Hall. The publication of this volume, and Dr Patten's letter, fiir- nish an admirable opportunity for putting out feelers to try the public sen timent. Here, then, is the scheme, — ' A General Protestant Convention,' not for amalgamating aU Protestant bodies, but uniting them for the defence of their common Protestantism. Is it practicable ? — Is it desirable ? Will it be practically useful ? — Will it pay for the cost of money, time, and labour, that it will require ? — Will it check the efforts and the hopes of Popery ? or, if not, Will it confound and abash Puseyism ? or, if not even this. Will it give new life to Protestants, and new publicity, circulation, and power to their principles ? Who can doubt it ? But, how should it be brought about ? — Whence shall the grand movement begin ? ' 0 Thou who art light, and with whom is no darkness at all — Thou who art love, and delightest in everything like thyself — show us Thy will in this matter !' ESSAY V. UNION AMONG CHRISTIANS VIEWED IN RELATION TO THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. By eev. DAVID KING, LL.D. ESSAY V. UNION AMONG CHRISTIANS VIEWED IN RELATION TO THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. PART L GENEHAL OBSERVATIONS 0-V IHE PRESENT STATE OF EELIGIOHS PARTIES IN SCOTLAND. On a hasty suivey of Scotland, we might pionotmce it, beyond most countiies, a piey to leligious dissensions. Its ecclesiastical sects axe vexy numeious ; most of them have spiung from internal contioveisies, teiminating in open separation ; and though some of these associations axe laigei and moie influential than otheis, theie is none of them of such vast numerical superiority as to vrield an ascendant and equahsing powei ovei the nation.* The veiy names of the various ecclesiastical parties are indices and records of strife. The ' Estabhshed Church,' in being so called, reminds us of churches not established. The ' Free Church,' or ' Free Protesting Church of Scot- * Note I. U 230 UNION in RELATION TO land,' reflects, by its terminology, on another church as in a state of thraldom, and as chargeable with grievous enors to be protested against. ' The United Secession Church ' teUs, by its title, of a chmch from which it has seceded, and of divisions which arose among the Seceders themselves, but which have been happily concluded by a union of the belligerent forces. The ' Eelief Chmch ' proffers sympathy to a people suffering wrong, and pro mises to reheve them from their grievances by admitting them into its fellowship. The hke remarks apply to almost the whole of our denominational appellations; such as, 'Eeformed Presbyterian Church,' 'Primitive Seceders,' etc. These names do not intimate so much the principles and rules about which the persons wor shipping together are agreed among themselves, as the subject of difference between them and other professing christians from whom they stand apart. All this is very warlike, and exhibits the task of him who pleads for pacification as the opposite of promising. It would be very wrong to explain away, so as to understate ecclesiastical disagreements, and thus to heal the wound of schism hghtly. But it may be safely aflfrmed, that the Appearances of discord exceed in this case the reahty. To judge aright of the facts, it must be kept in mind, as dif ferent writers have forcibly shown, that there may be uniformity in religion without unity, and unity vrithout uniformity.* There may be uniformity without unity. We witness, for example, a sameness of church order in Sweden, where * The principle of ' Unity in Variety,' ' An Unity of Spirit in Variety of Form,' is illustrated with much amplitude and beauty in ' The Catholic Spirit of True Religion.' By the Rev. J. J. G. Macvicar, A.M., minister ofthe Scotch Church, Ceylon, East Indies. London : Scott, Webster, and Geary. 1840. THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 231 the Lutheran creed is established, and no dissent is allowed. In Eussia, the Greek Church has a kindred singleness of reign. Strangers are there indeed permitted some liberty of worshipping according to thefr own forms ; but a Eussian subject is of necessity a member of the Na tional Church, and for him to receive "baptism or the Lord's supper from another section of religionists would be a grave crime in the eye of the state, subjecting to heavy penalties. By such means, an external congruity is maintained; but, with lamentably few exceptions, there is no oneness of faith and affection, no junction of hearts knit together in love. Intenogate the worshippers on the subject of thefr behef, and they wiU return answers at least as conflicting as those of different sects in this country; and this discrepancy of sentiment is prevented from displaying itself in dissent and separation, only by the armed lepiession of civU law, oi by total apathy to aU doctrinal distinctions. The union existing in such cases is like that of the sand on the sea shore, where the particles have been detached from their native rocks by the dominant ocean, and lashed by its surges into a homogeneous mass. They are allied only by juxtaposi tion ; and if we should attempt to rear them into an edifice, they have neither mutual affinities nor adaptation of form to associate them in arohitectme.* On the other hand, there may be unity without uni formity. In the primitive churches, Jews and Gentiles were indulged to a large extent in their respective usages; and these dissimilarities, where they were not of funda mental importance, and where they were conscientiously and amicably entertained, were not regarded by the apostles as breaking up the unity of the Spirit, or ' Note II. 232 UNION IN RELATION TO severing the bonds of peace. 'In the apostolic age,' says an American writer, ' there existed dififerences of opinion and practice between Jewish and GentUe con verts far greater than those which divide some of the rehgious denominations of om land ; yet they did not divide the church under the guidance of the apostles. On the contrary, the apostles enjoined mutual forbear ance.'* The case is somewhat different where contra rieties of doctrine or practice have produced actual dis ruption. Yet the disciples wexe found censurable in pro hibiting one who walked not vrith them from casting out derils in the name of Christ, and were instructed by thefr Master to infer, from the very works which they inter dicted, that the person performing them could not be against them, and must, by consequence, be on thefr side.f If, then, a visible separation from the apostles, when they were presided over by the incarnate Saviour himself, con sisted with a spiritual and essential unity ; and if, even in these circumstances, a connection with the true chmch was more to be determined by a christian conduct than by a joint profession, it is easy to see that persons who walk not vrith us in our forms and regulations, but who are insteumental in casting out Satan from his sovereignty over men's minds, ought to be haUed by us as feUow- citizens in all that is essential to Zion's welfare; and, * Fraternal Appeal to the American Churches, with a Plan for Catholic Union. By S. S. Schmucker, D.D., Professor of Theology of the Lu theran Church, Gettysburg, P. A. The plan proposed in this appeal has seven features, of whieh the most important, perhaps, is the third, requir ing that a creed be adopted, including only the doctrines held in common by all orthodox christian denominations, to be termed ' The Apostohc Pro testant Confession ; and let this same creed be used by all denominations as the term of sacramental, ecclesiastical, and ministerial communion.' The work seems to have made a considerable sensation in America. ¦f Mark ix. 38, &c. THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLANI). 233 instead of being frowned upon as advexsaries or ahens, should be claimed, and encouraged, and honoured as brethren. The application of these remarks is obvious — That Scottish christians, all doing the work of Christ with more or less of fidehty and power, axe not to be held as leally disunited, because in doing the same work they walk apart, but are to be classed as on the same side, and as aU belonging to the one church of Christ in Scotland. Takiug the worst view of our dirided worship, there is union at least among the members of each individual sect ; and surely this limited exemplification of christian brotherhood is better than a prevalent heedlessness in which there is no union at aU. Eeligious bigotry is bad; but, with all its enmities and heaxtbumings, it is not, aftei all, so mournful as religious indifference. ' You see,' says a Eiench wiitei of high and just celebrity, 'of how much brutality on the one hand — of how much levity, bad faith, egotism, and hypocrisy on the other, indifference is com posed. Need we wonder at it ? Indtfiference amounts to a denial of aU moral principle. . . . Indifference in a soul is not malady; it is living death. Indifference in a people is natural death. It is in this horizon — it is in the hfe of a whole people that we must consider indUfer- ence in order to appreciate it aright. It is one of those principles which, to manifest thefr whole character, and display aU thefr effects, requfre to have space. An indif ferent person cannot exhibit to an observer any featme very revolting : but what is an indifferent people ? in other words, what is human society from which God has withdrawn ? Beyond the range of rehgious sentiment, what sentiment is there sufficiently powerful to consti tute such a society a real whole, a Uving unity ? Shock ing as the statement may appear, hatred is better u2 234 UNION IN RELATION TO than indifference. There is homage in hatred. It is a confession, at least, that one has felt those tenths of the gospel which condemn and wound.' * These observations are just, as weU as eloquent. It is dreadful when dirine truth is so little esteemed as to awaken no emotions at all, and when it arouses no opposition, only because no one cares to defend it. Give us ' divisive courses' rather than a heedless unbelief, a rent wall rather than loose rubbish ! Christian fellowship, however, has not been shut up in Scotland within the pale of the several sects. Evangeli cal christians have, to a large extent, co-operated both in devotional exercises and beneficent exertions. They have shown, in many ways less formal, but still more con vincing, a growing appreciation of good understanding — a disposition to narrow former occasions of contention, and a generous and elevated dehght in the interchange of kindnesses. It is txue, that oux sectaiian vocabulaiy is yet undiminished ; but its appearance is more formid able than its import. On examining the designations of the various sects, all contentious as they appeal at fiist view, they will be found, in most instances, to piesent a distinction without a diffeience. ' The Eiee Church' is not more fi-ee than othei unendowed Presbyterian bodies; nor can it protest more resolutely than they do against the Erastianism of the Estabhsment. ' The United Se cession Church' is no more in a state of secession than other Presbyterian Dissenters ; and, after the discussions which have taken place in its judicatories, there is room for questioning whether the attribute of superior union belong to it above others. ' The Eelief Chm-ch' reheves, no doubt, from the yoke of patronage ; but so do the * L'indifferentisme religieux, Discours par A. Vinet. The discourse is well worthy of being translated into English, and circulated in this country. THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 235 chmches afready named, and many moie who have not founded on this ciicumstance a distinctive appellation. We must not, then, be frightened by a schismatic nomen- clatme, oi imagine that dissensions and designations aie of commensuiate pievalence. Passing from meie names, and looking into principles, we find a maivellous accoid- ance veiy geneial in Scotland as to doctiine, discipline, and government. Of each of these it may be proper to speak somewhat particularly. PART IL PHEVAILIXG AGREEMENT IN SCOTLAND AS TO DOCTRINE, DISCIPLINE, A.\D GOVERNMENT. CHAPTER 1. The doctrine, aU but universally held in Scotland, is that of the Westminster Confession of Eaith and Catechisms. In this prorince, CongregationaUsts and Presbyterians are at one, and the parties who hold other views, such as So cinians, Arians, etc., are a mere handful relatively to the nation. There is a party, indeed, caUed Evangelical in the Estabhshment, as distinguished from another party who pxefei a system of doctiine leckoned moie moderate ; but these parties have differed of late more about church pohty than doctrinal belief Some are frightened at the mention of Calrinism, as synonymous, in thefr apprehen sion, with the austerest views of God's character and government. Few such persons, however, have learned the tenets of Calvin from his own writings, or those of other theologians entertaining the same sentiments. The doctrines of Calvinism, rightiy understood, are emphati cally those of free grace, denying aU praise to the crea- 236 UNION IN RELATION TO ture, and exhibiting God as the sole author of salvation. According to this system, man is utterly fallen. By na tme and piactice, he is the victim of guilt which he can not expiate ; and of depiarity, which he cannot eiadicate. Theie is no justification, no pardon and acceptance, but in the name of the Loid Jesus — on the giound, that is, of his ricarious fulfilment of a bioken law ; and, whUe obedience is requfred of us as good in itself and due to God, and the ceitain lesiUt of acceptance in his Son, yet it only indicates a justified state which it does nothing to piocuie. Salvation from sin is equaUy referable to God as salvation from its punishment : ' Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ; which he shed on us abun dantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.'* The Spiiit, .conferred for Christ's sake only, is the agent of our spfritual transformation ; and, while he never works in us without working by us, still our paxt is exclusively suboidinate and instiumental, and all the fruits of righ teousness spring from his special and efiicacious giace. These are some of the principles, which chaxacteiise a theology aU but univeisally pievalent in Scotiand. It is not so in almost any othei Piotestant countiy enjoying a measure of freedom. In England, for example, the Wes leyan Methodists hold, though in a modified form, the docteines of Arminius. The clergy of the Enghsh Church are, with few exceptions, decidedly Aiminian, wheie they have not become Puseyite in theii views; and the various sections of Unitarians are there proportionally more nu merous than in the other end of the Island. The Enghsh christians professing a strictiy Calvinistic creed, axe, in consequence, a decided minority of the whole population. * Titus iii. 6, 6. the RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 237 It may be said that unity of behef is httie better than nominal in Scotland ; and the Secession Church may be adduced in proof, as having been agitated for several years back by doctrinal controversies. A few indiriduals did attempt to innovate on the creed of that body ; but the result has been that they have been excluded from its communion. Such differences as remain have been always points of dispute between Calvinists themselves. The Secession Synod has come harmoniously to numeious and speciflc findings on the questions at issue ; which, instead of occasioning surprise at its divisions, rather fill con siderate observers with astonishment that a denomination so large in its extent, so varied in its elements, and so unfettered in its freedom, could, on these nice and criti cal subjects, be in so great a measure of one heart and one mind in the Lord. AU the Scottish denominations of any magnitude are equally attached to Calrinistic principles.* In so far, then, as doctiine is concemed, the leligious public in Scotland axe vexy neaily agieed. Theie is much in the docteines themselves, allied vrith the fact of thefr pievalence, to dispose foi amicable inteicomse. The doctrines of free grace are chaiacteristicaUy humbUng to the pride of om natme ; and theie is nothing of a schismatic tempeiament in genuine humflity. Such in dividuals as the leclafrned piodigal, or the publican in the temple, are not so likely to find faults and pick quanels as the elder brother, or self-righteous pharisee. The deeper we sink in our own estimation, the more do we view others as relatively elevated ; and we must natu rally account it an honour and a privUege to be associated * A section of the Independent body have recently declared for princi ples which are certainly not Calvinistic ; but these anti-Calvinistic prin ciples are disowned by that denomination in general. 238 UNION IN RELATION TO with those whom, in lowhness of mind, we leckon bettei than omselves. WhUe a free salvation pioduces humbling convictions of peisonal demerit, it inspiies the loftiest conceptions of dirine goodness ; it fills with adoring ad miration of that grace which, where sin abounded, doth much more abound; and it cannot be, that gratitude should so unite us to God, and faU to promote our union to one another. Hearts, which enmity hath hardened, may keep apart, ox may strike and biuise each othei in furious colhsion; but when these heaits have been melted by love — ^by the free, eternal, infinite love of God — they cannot meet without comraingling, to swell one stream of geneious sympathy. CHAPTER II. The christians of Scotiand aie veiy much agieed about discipline. They unite in acknowledging the duty of piotecting the church's communion, both in the admission and superintendence of its members. It is not thefr opinion that the church is the nation, and the nation the church ; nor do they hold that it should be left to the conscience of every individual to respect for himself the principle of selection, and observe or neglect seahng ordinances on his single responsibility. As guardians wexe appointed to test the xitual quahfications of Old Testament worshippers, they believe that a kindred guar dianship has been assigned to the office-bearers of the New Testament church, and that they are bound to requfre of church members those moral qualifications which accord with the natuie and privUeges of a spiritual dispensation. The practice of the aposties furnishes support to this opinion, since they required separation even from brethren walking disorderly, and were preternatmaUy endowed with the discernment of spfrits, the more effectuaUy to discri- THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 239 minate the true Israel of God. It is not pretended that we can pry into the heart and reveal its secrets, or that any man may sit in judgment on other men's consciences, and allow or deny them at pleasure ¦ the blessings of Christ's kingdom. It is not alleged that any carefulness on our part can always distinguish the chaff from the wheat, or that even, if it were possible, the privUeges of the church should be granted only to the best of chris tians — conferred only upon steong men, to the exclusion of babes in Christ. Every concession is made as to the need of gentleness, and caution, and charitable consteuc- tion. But vrith all this, it is avened, that if worshipping assemblies are to be christian societies at all, some reason able proof must be insisted on of christian attainment. 'As the object of association in this case is strictiy moral and reUgious, so no one can be deemed admissible to it with any appearance of propriety who is not a person of moral and religious chaxactei.*' Thus only is the chmch discriminated from the woild ; thus only is the piactical standard of knowledge, piety, and beneficence, elevated to scriptural requfrement; thus orJy do congregations be come nurseries and safeguards of othexwise neglected and imperUled vfrtue ; thus only is a powerful check inter posed on every deviation from christian consistency ; and when that check has been overborne, and offence has been given, thus only is the order of Christ's house made to bear vrith aU the constiaint of his love and aU the pei- suasions of his tenoi on the conscience of the offendei. The justice of such views is steongly conoboiated by the facts of chmch history in Scotland. Even evangehcal preaching is found of little avaU, where disciphne is neglected. EvU-doers may be xemonstrated with from * Religious Parties in England, by R. Vaughan, D.D., p. 9. 240 UNION IN RELATION TO the pulpit often and earnestly on the eril of their doings; but thefr undisturbed possession, with the preacher's sanction, of sacred and discriminating institutions, is accounted by them sufficient confutation of his censures and warnings ; and tUl his sermons are followed up by his superintendence — till he proceed, with a kind but firm hand, to separate the hving and the dead, he has done but little to meet the emergency and to stay the plague. All the leading denominations of Scotland maintain the principle of select communion. An EstabUshed Chmch, as many think, interposes serious or insm- mountable baniers to the fuU appUcation of the principle ; but StiU it is embodied in the standards of our National Chmch, and a proportion of its ministers may be found sincerely exerting themselves to give it effect. In other societies, it is more adequately exemphfied. If a minis ter speak vrith every appUcant for church membership apart, and in most instances repeatedly, in order to test christian knowledge and experience — ^if he ask refer ences to christian friends, and certification of good conduct from masters oi associates — if the aid of eldeis be caUed in, and they ascertain the character of the indiridual to the extent of thefr opportunities — ^if the case be then lepoited to the Session, and carefully decided on by the collective wisdom of its members — ^if this course be fol lowed, it exhibits an outhne of most, perhaps, that can be done by erring men to preserve the sacredness of the chmch of God ; and this is the plan acted on, though with manifold shortcomings, by the churches of the Secession. Where the system is defective in itself, or in its operation, let its defects be shown. ' Let the righteous smite us, it shaU be a kindness, and let him reprove us, it shall be an exceUent oU which shall not break om head.' Let simUar bints be similarly xeceived elsewhere. Let us all be in THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 241 earnest in promoting church purity, and when our churches have more of the character, they wUl have more of the communion of saints.* It is not so much difference that keeps us apart as dis trust. Misgivings are entertained by one denomination as to the healthful piety of another denomination ; and this obstacle to union can be removed only by each wor shipping society turning scrutiny in upon itself, and seek ing in earnest its own internal regeneration. Let it ap pear that this object is contemplated by us ; that it is looked to and laboured for ; and there is not in all our feuds and ferments a power sufficient to dissever approved christians, or to prevent their heavenly graces from asso ciating, hke metalhc surfaces when pmified and polished, with a close and adhesive contact. CHAPTER III. There is much accoidance as to chuich government in Scotland. The Estabhshed Chuich and the larger bodies of dissenters are aU Presbyterian. Presbytery is found in its most popular form among the unendowed churches. In them the people teansact much important business themselves, as in fixing the salaries of their office-bearers, erecting or repafring their places of worship, etc., etc. They choose from among themselves thefr ruling elders, a class of unsalaried but generally-speaking efficient as weU as disinterested functionaries. They choose the pas tor who presides over the elders in session assembled. The higher courts of Presbyteries, and Synods, and where representation is canied farther, of General AssembUes, all consist of ministers and elders thus freely appointed. In * That purity conduces to unity, is satisfactorily shown in ' Unity and Schism,' by the author of Hours of Thought, Part I. Sect. 4. X 242 UNION IN RELATION TO the Established Church simUar forms are observed, and the same names retained for them ; but the freeness of Presbytery is there stifled by pateonage, and the people have no voice whatever in the choosing oftheir instructors. StiU, the form of church government generally acknow ledged, and under certain modifications canied into effect, is Presbytery. Pubhc worship, too, is conducted on the same model of Presbyterian reformers ; and if, instead of looking into controversial books or meetings, an inquirer should enter successively the churches of different Presby terian bodies on as many first days of the week, he might never suspect that he had now worshipped with the 'Erastian Church,' and now with the 'Free Church;' now with the 'Eelief,' and now with the ' Secession ;' now with the ' Old Light,' and now with the 'Eeformed Presbyte rians ;' but might fondly imagine that he had found one land, at least, exempted from the feuds of conflicting church polities, and aU peacefuUy joyous in the same understanding and exemphfication of christian brother hood. Happy day which so far sinks our differences, and brings into view and action our essential agreements ! happy presage thus afforded of ultimate and perfected unity, when God shall resume all government into his own hands ; when he shall succeed a delegated and con tested authority by a purely divine administration ; and when, to his assembled servants, all space shall be temple, aU duiation Sabbath, and aU engagement woiship ! It is time now to look more directly at the question of a closer union among Scottish christians. The best ar rangement may be to consider those cases first in which union is of most difficult attainment ; and afterwards those eases in which it shoifld be attained more easily. THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 243 PART IIL THE QUESTION OF A CLOSER UNION AMONG CHRISTIANS CONSIDERED IN RELATION TO THOSE CASES WHERE UNION SEEMS TO EE OF MOST DIFFICULT ATTAINMENT EPISCOPAL CHURCH ESTABLISHED CHURCH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES. CHAPTER I. . THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. There is an Episcopal Church in Scotiand. It embraces comparatively few of the people, but a large proportion of the aristocracy ; and, in consequence of recent events, has been growing in favour with the upper classes. Its principal strength, however, has been always found in the nobility. ' The king bids me tell you,' said an English bishop to a Scotch bishop, shortly after the elevation of the Prince of Orange to the British throne, ' that he now knows the state of Scotland much better than he did when he was in Holland ; for, whUe there, he was made beheve that Scotland, generally all over, was Presbyterian ; but now he sees that the great body of the nobUity and gen- tey are foi Episcopacy, and it is the teading or inferior sort that are for Presbytery.' * The Scottish Episcopal Church lays claim to great anti quity, and regards itself as the veneiable lemains of the once national chmch estabhshed by law. Its office-beaieis weie, fox a long period, known by the name of non-jurors, because they adhered to the house of Stuart, and refused to swear allegiance to King WiUiam and Queen Maiy. * Annals of Scottish Episcopacy, by the Rev. J. Skinner — Preface. 244 UNION IN RELATION TO As many Episcopahans, especiaUy those holding office undei govemment, found a difficulty in attending on the ministrations of non-juring clergymen, a distinct class of Episcopal Churches was formed, presided over by clergy men who had received ordination from English or Irish bishops. After the death of Prince Charles Edwaid, in 1 788, the last of the Stuait family who laid claim to the Bxitish ciown, the Scottish Episcopal Chmch teansfened aUegiance to the Hanoverian dynasty; and as all ground for a separate Episcopal persuasion was thus removed, the congregations standing apart have nearly all acceded to the Scottish EpiscopaUans. There are, at the present time, six dioceses, each ruled by a bishop ; and upwards of ninety Presbyters having cure of souls. This church has much in common with the Church of England. For upwards of a century, no subscription had been required from her functionaries to any regular creed or confession ; but, by the act of parhament passed in their favour, in 1792, they were bound over to subscribe the Thfrty-nine Articles of the English Establishment. On both sides of the Tweed there is a like attachment to the docteine of apostolic succession ; and, in this province, the Episco palians of Scotland have rather outrun their Enghsh brethren. The pretensions of Prelacy are here as high as in any region of the globe. They have been some times, however, brought into jeopardy in the course of our chequered history; amid the troubles of Scotland the succession chain was sometimes in danger of being broken. Indeed, the Scottish fathers were at one time so far for getful of the value of this charm, that, when Episcopacy was fully and avowedly estabhshed, in 1672, the conse cration of bishops was strangely overlooked. But the wisdom and piety of James VI. conected this UTegularity, as well as the saddex innovations which followed it. In THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 245 1610, he called up three of the Scottish clergy to London, and had them regularly consecrated by Enghsh bishops, and so qualified to keep up and transmit the successional virtue ! About fifty yeais afteiwaids, the like expedient was adopted on the lestoiation of Episcopacy by Chailes II. ; and thus the Scottish Episcopal Chmch can cleaily show that it has the succession from England ; and the demonstration is entfre, if England can show with equal clearness that it has the same from the apostles ! Agreeing in such points vrith the English Church, the Scotch Episcopal Chmch differs from it in others. In consequence of being unestabhshed, it is evei-y way freer, purer, and more efficient in its administration, and holds, as some allege, higher views of the independence of the church on the state in things spiritual. That the differ ence is in favour of the Scotch Church has been frankly owned by English Episcopal writers; and Bishop Home is recorded by his biographer, Mr Jones, to have said, that, ' If the great apostle of the Gentiles were upon earth, and it were put to his choice vrith which denomi nation of christians he would communicate, the preference would probably be given to the EpiscopaUans of Scot land.' The natural inference from these testimonies would seem to be, that where Episcopacy is connected, as in England, with the state, its interests have not profited, but seriously suffered from the connection. UnhappUy the Scotch Episcopal Church is not superior to that of England in displaying a more hberal spirit. It professes to dififer from Presbyterian denominations in the same countiy ' on such giounds, that without a deiehction of principle on the one part or the other, there can be no spiiitual union oi communion between them.'* With * Adams' Rehgious World, vol. I. p. 119. X 2 246 UNION IN RELATION TO such a body we cannot of course unite ; they shut the door against aU negotiations on the subject. But we can join the Episcopal vrriter last quoted in the following congratulatory observations : — ' No longer exposed to the scorching lays of peisecution, the Scottish Episcopalians aie now reposing in the shade of royal protection, and enjoying all the benefits and blessings of religious free dom. Inestimable, doubtless, are the blessings of public tranquillity ; but a conscientious attention to religion and to religious duties are not always among the numbei. Be it their caxe, then, to avafl themselves of the pririleges which they now enjoy to exhibit such love to God and man, together with such zeal and earnestness in the cause of true religion, as would lead St Paul, were he actually torevisitBritain, to acknowledge them for fellow-christians, andto join thefr communion; and, in a word, to exemplify the purity of their church by the holiness of their lives.' CHAPTER II. THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. The Established Church of Scotland can never be incor porated with other bodies who disapprove of Establish ments ; or who favour the principle, but dishke, in this case, the pattern of state connection. Independently of this abiding feature of its constitution, it occupies, in these days, a position both new and extraordinary. Atthe present time it is a fragmentary church. Many of its ministers are entitled to the same respect which they have ever re ceived. They hold by the principles which they have always held, and stand by an Established Chmch of which they approve, which they consider a blessing to the land, and which they reckon themselves the more bound in duty to uphold for the perUs it encounters in its eventful histor-y. the RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 247 Many of the people cling to the Establishment with equaUy good intention. They beheve themselves to be acting a paxt woxthy of God's servants and Zion's citizens, when they take pleasme in hei stones, and favom the dust theieof As the Chuich of Scotland, it rivets their national predilections ; as the church of Knox, it recals the struggles of the Eeformation, and seems irradiated with their success ; as the church of pious forefathers, it is sanctified by the hohest remembrance of them, and appears venerable as the mouldering cathedrals in which they worshipped, and sacred as the adjacent burying- grounds in which their ashes are intened. Irrespectively of past services, they reckon the National Church of great present value. It seems to them a secmity for the main tenance of dirine ordinances in poor and remote localities, where spontaneous liberality might not introduce or permanently sustain them ; and when the constitution of the country under which it has risen to power, opulence, and glory, is menaced, as they think, by changes of un defined number and extent, they deem a state paid church allying the clergy with conservative principles a most desfrable breakwater to the deluge of innovation. These riews may be very sincere and benevolent, and yet inadequately founded. A confutation of them, how ever, is foreign to the design of this Essay. The Church of Scotland is now contemplated in relation to the question of christian union, and its aspect in this connection is far from encom-aging. If impediments existed before to a fraternal co-agency, they have been greatly augmented by recent events. Though many Dissenting ministers may feel themselves at equal liberty as before, to act in schemes of benevolence with such ministers of the Estabhshment as care for their alhance, yet it cannot be reasonably dis puted, that the present position of the National Chmch not 248 UNION IN RELATION TO only defers indefinitely the prospect of entire union among chiistians, but even seriously obstructs their cordial co operation. The impression of the case which extensively prevails is to this effect: — The Established Church is no longer what it was. That party whom evangelical Dis senters and serious christians generaUy looked upon as its life and hope, have mostly left it; and as secular in terest was all on the side of remaining, the obvious likeli hood is, that they had good reasons for their secession. These reasons, it is thought, are discoverable enough, and speak for themselves. Though many intricacies were involved in the Non-Inteusion Question, it was rendered perfectly palpable to the whole country, that the church, as an Establishment, is now adjudged to be a ' creature ofthe state,' and subject, even in such matters as ordination and the cure of souls, to ciril conteol. A biU has no doubt passed the Legislature, professing ' to remove doubts re specting the admission of ministers to benefices in that part of the United Kingdom called Scotland ;' but that bill does not annul, or affect to annul, the supremacy of the law courts, whUe it augments — in a measm-e which Dr Cook, a leader of the Moderates, pronounced most dangerous to the public welfare — the power of the clergy, and concedes nothing to the people, who are left entirely at their mercy. Those of the Evangelical party who remain in the Establishment have consequently placed themselves, by remaining, in a false position with their former professions. They have no longer the shghtest prospect of securing an ascendancy foi theii principles, and awaie, apparently, of thefr disabled and forlorn con dition, they are mostly retfring into the Moderate ranks. Even supposing that aU this could be made a matter of forbearance by others, the Estabhshment party have not made it so, or allowed it to be so made on their part. THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 249 They have repudiated aU christian feUowship, by re-en acting the Assembly's deed of 1799, which aUows none but the licentiates of the EstabUshment to preach in its pulpits.* The history of that act recals one of the darkest periods in our country's career. 'Little,' says a Free Church minister, ' was now wanting to complete the full development of Moderatism, and that little was not long in being suppUed. It had already done its utmost in driving the gospel out of its own circle — denying it equally to the heathen abroad and to the people at home; it had now nothing to do but to put an end to the chris tian communion of aU teue behevers, so far as its power could do so. The occasion of proceeding to this last act of degeneracy was furnished by the late celebrated Eow land HiU At Glasgow, Paisley, and other places in the West of Scotiand, he was freely admitted to preach in the chmches of the Estabhshment. After his return to England he published an account of his Scottish tom, in which he indulged freely in remarks and animadvei- sions upon the state of xehgion in Scotland. The Mode- late paxty wexe extiemely displeased that Eowland Hill had been peimitted to pieach in seveial chmches of the Estabhshment, and felt keenly gaUed by his pointed and seveie animadveisions upon thefr principles and conduct. And as it was known that he contemplated an early lepe- tition of his risit, they determined to prevent the possi bility that either he or any other evangehcal minister of any other church should be again permitted to preach within the pale of the Establishment.' Then foUowS an account of the act of 1799, which the author closes thus: 'By piohibiting all ministerial communion with other orthodox * By a recent enactment of the Assembly, ministers of other denomina tions may preach in its pulpits, if the Presbytery of the bounds be con sulted, and its consent be obtained. 250 UNION IN RELATION TO Protestant christian churches, the Moderate party vfrtually denied the doctrine of a "church universal," rejected the " communion of saints," and disclaimed the aU-peivading, heaxt- uniting, and love-bxeathing bxotheily affection, infused into all teue membeis of the household of faith by the piesence and eneigy of the Holy Spfrit.' * The lepeaUng of this act by the Geneial Assembly was one of the most populai measures evei passed by an ecclesiastical comt. Even those who had said nothing against it whUst it lemained in foice, or had apologised for it in the best way they could, ried with others in the expression of satisfaction that it was at last abrogated, and that Churchmen and Dissenters were no longer prevented by this middle-waU of partition fi-om interchanging official services. A better day appeared to be dawning, and charity seemed to awake at ' the bieezy caU of ' an ' incense bxeathing mom.' But the fail sky has been speedUy clouded; when a little lespect foi public opinion might have been thought sufficient to prevent a lecunence to abrogated exclusiveness, the Moderates have signahsed theii rictoiy at law, by a spontaneous lesump- tion of the no-feUowship policy. Aftei all, this pioceeding is only paxt of a system ; the Establishment is taking up giound in general which natmaUy and necessaiily pio- vokes opposition. Its adherents, though a minority, in sist on a monopoly of university professorships — snatch chapels from the parties who buUt them, and crave endowments from the state to maintain worship in these usurped and emptied edifices — ^refuse to reduce the number of town charges, when the revenue derived from them is nothing to thefr annual cost, and the imposition of addi tional burdens on the community foi ecclesiastical pur- * History ofthe Church of Scotland, by the Rev. W. M. Hetherington, p. 700, &e. THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 251 poses cannot be adventured on without infallibly produc ing exteeme exasperation. — These views are here stated as, justly or unjustly, entertained by multitudes : and if opposite views may be held and advocated, stUl the result is controversy, a general and bittei controversy, very un favourable to christian fellowship. Much may be looked for from the good sense and christian principle left in the Estabhshment for bringing these colhsions to an amicable issue. Ifthe population, as some predict, return to the Establishment, then it will seem a reasonable course for those who approve of the institution to preserve it as before; and no Dissenter can marvel at this result, or expect his own principles to be carried into effect before they have been generally adopted. But if the population do not return to the Establishment — if the National Church retain only a thfrd of the church- going population, then it is hopeless to think that any such state of things can be permanent. The Scotch wiU not bear what the Irish have borne. The right-minded ness of many churchmen themselves will interfere to pre vent the perUous experiment from being made, and the like results may take place here as in America under like circumstances, where endowments were quietly done away, and religious societies whom they had disturbed are now found walking together in loving harmony. CHAPTER III. THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES. Scotland owes much to the Congregational chmches. The Tabernacle was erected when there was need of its sti mulus — when the National Church was confessedly asleep, or oiUy awakening from its slumbers — and when Presby terian nonconformists themselves had ample room to profit 252 UNION IN RELATION TO from rivafry in well-doing. This body has produced a due proportion of distinguished men ; and there is per haps no other Scottish denomination which, in the mea sure of its numbers, has sent so many missionary agents into poor and neglected districts. Of course, the difference between Presbyterianism and Congregationalism, prevents the adherents of those systems from forming together one visible association. But the chasm is not reckoned by many so wide as it once was; and the prediction is some times hazarded that it may not be found impassable. Piesbyteiianism makes humblei pretensions, in those days, than in some pages of its past histoiy to spiiitual jurisdiction — deals more in counsels, and exhortations, andarguments, than peremptory commands — occupies less of its time with personal squabbles, and more with the invigoration of chm-ches and the extension of the gospel. The impression, indeed, of many is, that its authority is imperUled from being so sparingly exercised. On the other hand, there are distinguished Congregationalists in England who hesitate not to avow, that they might do a great deal worse than steal a leaf from Presbyterian pohty, for the more efficacious superintendence of the churches. This much is certain, that Independents and Presbyterians can love as brethren — can pray and praise together — can associate in the same benevolent institutions, and unite thefr benefactions in sending the same labourers to reclaim heathen wastes. All this they can do; for aU this they have done, and are doing ; and the only feeling occasioned by thefr difference has, in many cases, been one of heartfelt satisfaction to find agreement teiumphing over disagreement, and fraternal confidence over sectarian jealousies. Every peacemaker wUl be desfrous to pre serve and promote this co-operative fiiendship. It would be a scandal to the christian name, if it were intenupted THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 253 or impafred by the admission of suspicions and coldness between such followers of Christ. Once rehnquished, when would it be resumed ? But such misunderstandings must not arise, and they axe not anticipated. ' Let bxo theily love continue ;' and let it be both manifested and augmented by a piolonged and yet more perfected copart nership in the work of a common Master. These may serve as a sample of the cases in which entfre union is of difficult attainment. It was proposed to speak next of cases in which, to judge from appear ances, it should be attained more easily. Under this heading may be comprehended all the denominations of unendowed Presbyterians, and very specially, the Free Church, the Secession, and the Eelief PART IV. THE QUESTION OF A CLOSER UNION AMONG CHRISTIANS CONSIDERED IN RELATION TO THOSE CASES WHERE UNION MAT BE SUPPOSED OF MOST EAST ATTAINMENT IHE FREE CHURCH, THE SECESSION, AND RELIEF CHURCHES, CHAPTER I. THE FREE CHURCH. The Free Church demands peculiar attention — awakens a singular intexest. It is the fact of the times — a pheno menon in the lehgious world that has shamed confident prognostications — thwarted the generalship of human policy — and compelled many scoffers and formalists to recast their estimate of the sincerity of profession and the power of principle. We trace its origin to the Veto law, or popular negative gianted by the General Assembly on the appointment of ministers. Whatever may be ob jected to this enactment — and its own friends never pre tended that it was free from objections — there can be no Y 254 UNION IN RELATION TO question that the Evangelical party acted on views always avowed by them in limiting patronage, and enlarging the people's rights. The gxand question tmned finally on the independence of the chmch. This position was taken up by the Evangelical majority — that the chmch of Christ must be unshackled in obseiving Christ's institutions. To no pmpose was the leply uiged, that such freedom cannot be enjoyed in connexion with the state. In vain was the claim of independence constiued into a disguised exhibition of spfritual pride and papal- grasping at ine- sponsible powei; wholly without effect was pubhc and private histoiy xansacked to chaxge inconsistency on the abettois of Christ's headship ; equally fruitless were no minal concessions, and subtle negotiations, and tearful entieaties, and wrathful intimidations. There might be much or there might be httle in these showings; but the position remained clear and irrefragable, that the church of Christ must be free ; that its freedom, at whatever cost, must be maintained ; and that, be the consequences what they might, these consequences were in God's hand, and should be left unreservedly to the determination of his providence. The eventful day came ; negotiations were at an end, and could not be prolonged ; to submit or secede were the only alternatives. It was an important hom" to the character of public men, to the credit of christian stedfastness, to the honour of religion itself Had the advocates of ecclesiastical independence aU, or almost all, succumbed, the results would have been more disastrous to the interests of godliness than can now be realised. But they did not. Many had gone back, but a goodly multitude weie inflexible ; and where again shall we find as many, calmly and deliberately smiendering as much to religious conviction, quitting the favour of rulers^ a legalised preference to others, goodly emoluments, com- the RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 255 modious homes, endeared friendships, many members of loring and beloved flocks, a church hitherto idolised by them, and too much dividing thefr regards with a heavenly Jerusalem — and all to be cast on apparent' uncertainties and contingencies, of which none verified more painfully or had depicted more powerfully than they, the probable hardships ? This is a noble beginmng to a denomination ; and a society so commenced has only to act vrith a mea sure of equality to itself, in order to secure the wide and lasting esteem of the rehgious world. The Free Church, since it was instituted, has done much to command admiration. It would be rash to allege that aU its proceedings have been unexceptionable ; that in every case it has provided instruction where it was most needed ; that its decisions and language have been invariably in the best spirit towards other sections of christians ; and that the attitude it has assumed in the view of the world calls, in no respect, for modification. Such praise would be fulsome, and would not please the parties to whom it was addressed. But granting that instances of aggression have occuned admitting of no justification, are they moie in numbei oi magnitude than were to be looked for amid the imperfections of humanity ? Was it to be supposed that a new and large denomination could establish itself in the country, and nowhere impinge on pre-existing congregations, or that the half of an estab lished chmch could break off from the Establishment, and employ language from the very first agreeable throughout to the riews and feelings of Dissenters ? These considerations do not amend, perhaps they do not palliate, offence; but, at all events, they dissuade from hasty frritation, and recommend forbearance. On the othex hand, look to the vast and vaxied machineiy for well-doing which the Free Church has constructed, and the noble sums 256 UNION IN RELATION TO collected for bringing it into action. Missions, schools, and other beneficent institutions, are to be upheld as before, when state revenues weie enjoyed, and the only leduction seems to fall on the ministeis themselves by whom these libexal things axe devised.* A geneious people, howevei, will not see them suffex pexmanently foi thefr disintexested exeitions, but will lejoice to veiify the saying, that as the liberal deriseth libeial things, so ' by libeial things shall he stand.' It was a striking testimony that was rendered to the disestablished assembly, when deputies from so many evangeUcal bodies piesented themselves in its hall of meeting, and, on behalf of thefr constituents, bade it God speed ! Not only wexe these denominations led, in this way, to hold fellowship with it, but also with one anothex ; and those who thought not of meeting in theix own synods, found themselves allied and associated in the assembly of the Fiee Chuich. Be this the omen of the sort of influence which that chuich, undei God, is destined to exeit ! Most denominations have too much set out on the footing of claiming all tiuth and viitue for their own sect, and estimating their success by the measure in which other sects have been suppressed and lost in their extension. The Free Church has advantages for such warfare, and might, no doubt, win lamels in a denomina tional struggle. But far higher will be the glory of concUiating religious parties, than of combating, or even conquering them — the glory of annulling unscriptural * I observe, from a memorial addressed by elders of the Church of Scotland to Sir Robert Peel, that the whole annual contributions made within the church for missionary objects, in 1842, (preceding the disrup tion,) was £25,307, and it appears from the reported proceedings of the Free Assembly, that the Free Church alone raised, in 1843, for the same objects, £31,790. THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 257 distinctions, hastening the reign of Catholicity, and doing the work, while reflecting the character, of Him by whom the teibes of Israel are gathered into one. The only apparent hindrance of any consequence to the realization of these suggestions, is the importance attached by the Free Church to the principle of Estab lishments, and the acknowledgment demanded from all its office-bearers of that principle by an unquahfied subscription of the Confession of Faith. Happily this fact does not prevent co-operation. Even on the Estab lishment question, it admits of union in maintaining that the church, established or unestabhshed, must be fi-ee; and that all christians should combine in breaking the fetters of enthralled Christianity. But is this all that can be done ? If we were in earnest about union, could we accomplish nothing more ? Perhaps it might be found, in a friendly conference, that the difference was not so formidable as has been sometimes aUeged ; that the Free- churchman has no vrish to secularize rehgion by connect ing it with the state, and the Voluntary-churchman just as littie design, through a dissolution of this connection, to make Governments infidel. On both hands it might be allowed, that Christ is head over the nations ; and that, if there be any question, it does not respect the fact, but only the mode of his rule. It might be conceded, that supposing the 23d chapter of the Confession should admit of a good meaning, it is injudiciously and un guardedly worded, and that a good opportunity is hence afforded for bringing the whole subject of it under reriew.* It might appear, that if neithei the Establishment prin ciple noi the Volimtaiy principle wexe made a term of office, a mutual forbearance respecting them would not obstruct the discharge of any present duty. * Note III. y2 258 UNION IN RELATION TO Weie a christian stranger to be told how far the evan gelical Presbyterians of Scotland are agreed, he would naturally ask, what then are the differences ? He might steive in vain to anticipate the answer — to divine with himself what, beyond docteine, discipline, and government, could overbalance agreement in these principal provinces- When informed that state alliance was tiie subject of dis pute, he would natmally think of two parties, one on each side of the question, this haring and that wanting a legis lative recognition ; and he would still inquire about what the unestabhshed chm-ches differed in sentiment, and so seriously differed as to rend the risible unity of Christ's kingdom ? It could only be stated in reply, that the Free Church, the Secession Church, the Eelief, the Eeformed Presbyterian, the Old Light, etc., etc., all took their stand primarily on some contested view of the lelative duties of chmch and state ; and that, although some of these bodies have considerably modified theii opinions on the point at issue, they still maintain that sepaiate existence to which it gave lise. Such is the account we would have to give of omselves; and let reason, let scriptme, detei-mine whethei it be satisfactoiy. How fai is the system to extend ? How long is it to last ? Aie we to steike and split foi evei on this question of the magistrate's powei; and even as an abstiaction, as a constituent of naked theoiy, is it to piolong and multiply om actual dismem- beiments ? * But some will say that chuiches should be witnesses foi Christ's txuth, and, even in the absence of piactical diffi culties, should lift up a testimony in behalf of gieat chris tian principles. The position is plausible, and withal very acceptable, since it flatters our self-esteem by assigning us the honourable task of standaxd-beaiing. Who would * Note IV. THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 259 not own noble tiuths to be owned by them, and be found theii select friends, thefr chosen champions, in the tioublous season of theii dethronement and exile ? But whithei wiU such riews lead us ? If we can do togethei aU that is commanded to be done foi the superintendence and extension of Christ's chmch, and yet stand apart in the execution of the work because we differ on a point haring nothing to do with actual duty, then how many schisms might not be worked out of such abstractions, and how many cycles run thefr course before christian harmony was perceptibly advanced ? There is one great principle among otheis to which we should beai witness, and the claims of which should nevei be foigotten — the unity of Christ's church ; and this principle is not to be vindicated by finding a place in hostile creeds, but in being acted out and openly exemplified; for then only shall all men see. and seeing, know that we are Christ's disciples, because we love one another. At all events, if we are to divide on this matter of abstract testimonies, it should surely be in testifying to our own duty ; and if the question were one of the church's power, a dirision regarding it might seem somewhat reasonable. But when we are agreed about the chm'oh's power, and equally hold that it must be free and independent, it appears somewhat strange that we must also testify for the magistrate ; and if we differ by less or more as to what he should do, become adversaries to each other — Judah vexing Ephraim, and Ephraim envying Judah. After aU, this plea of disseverance remains, that although the magistrate's power be an absteaction at present, it may not be always so ; that the state of society may alter, and a time may possibly anive in which Free-churchmen may give effect to thefr claim of right, and see the Church of Scotland become practically what they consider it to be in 260 UNION IN RELATION TO theory. If this epoch ever anive, it wUl bring with it many changes. Before such things can happen, there must be a general remoulding of society and of its institu tions ; and it is submitted to candid consideration whether the crisis, when it comes, vrill not marshal paities better than they can be distributed beforehand. We are all wflling to think that om church is to be the miUennial church, 01 the favoured cord at least around which its crystalhne purity and lustre are to collect and consolidate. What a teiumph, we say with omselves, to be so prefened amid the peerless glory ^ of the latter days! and should we not keep by our party, and stand remote from others, lest the prize to which we are no doubt entitled, holding, as we do, the tenth, and contending for it earnestly, may unhappUy elude om grasp ? Vam dreamings these ! Salvation was of the Jews, as a nation, when Chiist foi- meily appeared; andwhenhe shall appear in his gloiy to bufld again Zion, salvation wiU be of the spiritual Isiael, and not of any sect among its -wide-spiead community. The chuich of the miUennium wUl derive its membeiship from all chuiches, and be different from all its tiibutaries. ' They shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and fi-om the south, to sit down in the kingdom of heaven;' and they who are presuming and vain- glorious have need to beware lest the first become last and the last first. With the exception now considered, and perhaps too largely descanted on, there seems to be no subject of difference between the Free Chmch on the one hand, and the EeUef and Secession Chmches on the other, to cause lasting dissociation. It -wUl be a duty on all sides to be ware of multiplying or aggravating the impediments to union, of framing institutions or measures in such a way as to make them stumbhng-blocks to negotiation, and thus THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 261 defei the happy day, which there is so much need to hasten, when the God of peace and consolation shall giant us to be hke-minded one toward anothei according to Christ Jesus ; that we may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. CHAPTER II. SECESSION AND RELIEF CHURCHES. The Secession and EeUef denominations have so much in common that they seem almost one chmch. Even the magisteate's power does not furnish them with some shadowy and unsubstantial subject of strife to excuse thefr divisive attitudes, for they are agreed in holding the Voluntary pxinciple, and in not making it a teim eithei of communion oi of office. It was thought, at one time, that the question of free communion was likely to retard thefr junction, as the Eelief body have always held that pxinciple vexy stiongly, and given it much piominence, while the Secession was undeistood to view it with mis- tiust 01 positive disapproval. This wall of paitition, howevei, has fallen down in the simple pioving of its steength. Theie is not much difficulty in the principle of free communion. The position seems almost axiomatic, that we should acknowledge aU whom Chiist acknow ledges, and extend to all the hand of fellowship on earth vrith whom we have a leasonable hope of holding fellow ship in heaven. Such statements as these speak to the christian's heaxt, and pxoduce an assent, a delight, a thxiUing joy which he would with difficulty ascribe to any thing else than tiuth as its origin. Error is not wont to enlist such sympathies, nor to shed these benevolent 262 UNION IN RELATION TO legEirds on the cause and people of the Eedeemer. But, in applying the principle of free communion, a measure of perplexity is experienced through om imperfections, and not its faultiness. Who are the people of Christ ? vrith whom are we to meet in heaven ? Scripture fm- nishes no dfrect answei to the questions; and we do not leam the txuth in such a case by intuition. We must, thexefoie, apply tests and lules which, in oui hands at least, axe fax from being equally cextain as the subhme cathoUc principle to which they axe intended to give effect. How fax may chuiches en from the tiuth — on what doctiines and to what extent — till we lepudiate them as chaxgeable with damnable heiesies ? Admitting even that they are christian brethren, but erring brethren, when do they walk so disorderly that we should separate ourselves from thefr- society? If one christian society have confidence in the christian chaxactei of anothei society, then inteichange of communion can be easUy canied on, foi each wUl lespect the othei's attestation of membeiship. But if a chmch is viewed by another as httle better than a mixed multitude, then what course is to be foUowed in admitting its membeis to occasional communion ? Aie the same examinations, and attestations, and sessional sanctions to be gone thiough, as if the applicant wexe to be xeceived into full and pexmanent communion ? In that case, it may be feaied that few appxoved chiistians of othei feUowships would choose to avail themselves of the privilege fenced by such conditions. But are easiei teims to suffice foi occasional communicants ; and is a slight peisonal acquaintance with the ministei oi with an eldei to obtain thefr- admission ? then it seems difficult to vindicate the essential consistency of such a pioceeding, and easy to anticipate from it a possible lelaxation oi destmction of the RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 263 vigUant chuich oidei. These difficulties aie mentioned, not to impugn the principle of inter- communion among christians, but to show the need of consideration in giring it effect. When members of the Secession and Eelief Synods met in committee, and took this point, with others, under consideration, in the view of effecting a union between the two bodies, it appeared that the Eelief Church did not advocate fr-ee communion in the sense of loose com munion, and that the Secession Church did not advocate any steicter communion than is indispensable to render it the feUowship of saints ; and both parties seemed most wUhng to unite in devising the most efficacious means for securing the joint manifestation of charity and faithfulness. In a scheme of union sanctioned by the joint commit tees of the Eehef and Secession Synods it is said, 'The Eelief Church have, from their commencement, given great prominence to the doctrine of free communion ; that is, not loose or indiscriminate communion, but the occasional admission to feUowship in the Lord's supper of persons respecting whose christian character satisfactory evidence has been obtained, though belonging to other religious denominations. The same principle as that maintained by the Eelief Church, or a very simUar one, has been avowedly held and acted on by ministers and congrega tions in the United Associate Church from its formation. It is believed that neither they nor the Eelief Church would wish any new statement made on the subject, being perfectly satisfied vrith the terms of the Confession of Faith, chap. xxvi. sect. 2, as appearing to them to state very accurately the mind of Christ on this subject. And while they would claim to themselves what they have enjoyed in their separate communion, the right of acting on their conscientious convictions, they have no wish to 264 UNION IN RELATION TO impose their interpretation on those brethren who under stand the passage lefened to differently, and do not see their way clear to hold occasional communion with chris tians of other denominations. Here, as in the former case, there wUl be no compromise, no renunciation, no concealment of conscientious conviction,' But for the doctrinal discussions which arose in the Secession Synod, and which intenupted for the time negotiations about union, as well as other important business, it is likely that the Secession and Eehef churches would ere now have been incorporated. Move ments are again on foot to obtain this end. But whether the immediate accomplishing of it by synodical acts would promote, in the largest acceptation of the words, christian union, may be leasonably doubted. Theie is too much of that feehng on both sides which finds utterance in say ing, ' We cannot go back now ; we should not have gone so far, or we should go farther ; we axe completely com mitted, and it only xemains that we make the best of it.' It is not in this frame we should unite ; oui union, in the act of being instituted, should signaUy and impiessively be that of christians loving one anothei with a pure heart fervently. Numbeis are afready so minded — a great ma jority, we may trust, in both Synods ; and if others would cultivate hke acquaintanceship and co-operation, the leaven of that kingdom, which is not only righteousness but peace, would soon leaven the whole lump. The several Synods have recommended a more full and fre quent interchange of ministrations ; and therefore a dis play of biotheihood has the stiongest encom-agement. We aie free, in fact, beyond the pale of chmch comts, to act as if we were united ; and if there be a teue-heaited union without om judicatories, a like union within them must speedily ensue as a natmal and necessaiy sequence. Let THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 265 US follow up, then, the synodical recommendations ; let each minister and church member bethink himself how he can testify esteem for the sister church he is soon to call his own. Let the co-agency, by its generality and warmth, beget a positive and prevalent enthusiasm, and then these bodies will be united in fact before being one in form, and a legislative sanction wUl only give expression to a brotherhood already steong in its own steength, and rich in the fruits of its native luxuriance. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. The Free Church, the Secession, and the Eelief, have been selected as examples of churches who might enter into a union, without meaning to say that some other chmches axe not similaily situated. I considei the ob- seivations which have been made equaUy applicable to the Eeformed Piesbyterian Chmch — a most respectable body of christians. Whenever religious societies find a difficulty in devising distinctive names, the propriety of a distinctive existence becomes very problematical. The demarcation is clear between EstabUshed and Unestab hshed chmches, between Trinitarians and Unitarians, between Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Congrega tionaUsts; and in aU such cases the realities fmnish appeUations. It does not follow that every instance fall ing even under this nfle would justify separation. A society may name itself from peculiarities sufficiently ex plicit to be intelligible, and yet not important enough to excuse a divided worship. But when a society can de- rise no name for itself which might not be equally claimed by other sections of christians — when three churches are equally ' Free,' and in a state of ' Secession,' and compe- 266 UNION IN RELATION TO tent to grant 'Eelief from patronage, and all are so devoid apparently of an exclusive characteristic, that they must derive thefr designations from one or other part of a common property, — the question naturally arises. Why so great divisions for these small, these unnameable dif ferences ? To all this it may be replied, that unions should not be driven — that rash unions create much disunion — and that we do well to observe caution, were it only for the sake of expedition. The maxim may be urged as wise, ' Lente festina,' and the authority of Lord Bacon may be cited, who says in one of his Essays, ' Stay a httle, that we may make an end the sooner.' Such objections are in one aspect very sage and just, but, as often apphed, they are both false and mischievous. If it be meant that unions cannot be immediately consummated, the obser vation is lamentably true. But that does not hinder them from being immediately contemplated. That we cannot take the last step, is no reason for not taking the first step in the mighty movement ; and if, because we cannot do all, we choose to do nothing, and practically give the go-by to the whole question of christian unity, we may satisfy omselves by such evasions, but it is not so Ukely that we shaU satisfy Him who hath made peace by the blood of his cross. But what, it wiU be asked, aie the initiatoiy steps to union ? They aie summed up in the passage of scripture which foims the motto to this volume — ' Wheieto we have afready attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.' If we do all we can together without official amalgamation, and more in the form, peihaps, of individual friendship than thiough general societies, the union so commenced wUl woik out itself, or, lather, the blessing of God will descend on its working, and bring it to a happy issue. Oh ! to the religious PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 267 see even this much of holy biotheihood — to see chris tians and chiistian chmches rising above petty enmities and feuds, and consecrating heaxt, and soul, and strength to the one chmch and cause of the Eedeemei — to see each the guaidian of anothei's honom, and seeking no victory but to be the first in imparting kindness and for giring wrong ! Were such a spirit to come over Scot land: — were it to be so decisive as to leave no reasonable doubt of its genuineness and intensity, the happy influ ence of such inspiration — for what else, what less should it be called ? — would extend throughout Em-ope, and the world ! A new secession has done good, immense good, in commending the sincerity and power of religious con viction. But if christian principle be so efficacious as exemplified in sepaiation, what woifld it not be as equally mamfested in conciUation ? Here it wiU display itself in its own domains, and perform a work congenial with its own character. Who will arise to plead foi this catholi city ? It would be easy to name the twelve oi twenty men who have only to give half the eneigy to this good woik which they have devoted to otheis, in order to achieve, by that blessing of God which has hitherto rested upon thefr labours, the desired reformation. But such an honour must not be monopohzed by a few. Here we must be all reformers; and each must do his own part, be it ever so small, in healing the breaches of Zion's waUs. I am not overlooking scruples, or their causes. I hear many saying. You axe speaking against facts : you aie not aware of the wrongs done us by such a minister, or such a people, and the impossibUity of acting with them amicably. But supposing all these grievances to be as stated, the question remains — In what manner shall they be best overcome, and how shall a recunence of them be most 268 UNION IN RELATION TO securely prevented ? Do they not arise out of om divi sions ? WUl they not be increased and embittered by om divisions ? In the present cfrcumstances of Scotiand it is impossible for denominations hke ours to stand whoUy apart ; there must be co-operation or coUision between them, and is it not by co-operation that coUisions are to be averted ? There may be reasons for separation ; but they must be very momentous to outweigh those which plead for agreement. Standing in om paxty lanks, we are jealous of paxty honom- and paxty inteiests. We peisonify oui paxticulax xehgious society ; we speak of it as if it had a distinct and complete being, inespectively of othei chiistian societies, and weie not meiely a sub division of the one chuich of the Uring God. We hold omselves indebted to it; we declaie omselves pioud of it : it is ranked with a man's vfrtues that he loves his rehgious sect, and there is a tenor and shrinking in meddhng with denominational pecuharities, lest we should perU a distinctive ecclesiastical existence, and cease from being an independent tribe in the ecclesiastical Israel ! What perfidy to our own association, our own beloved Zion, thus to tamper with its fences tUl it may have nothing to mark it off from a general Zion, in which we have no separate rights, no superiority to biethien, no spoils and tiophies of sectaiian aggiession ! All this may appeal to be right and proper, or may be barely admitted to be wrong, whUe we stand by our comrades, and look at our creeds, and reriew our annals, and so fan the flames of sectarian consequence and jealousy. But let us change om position ; let us contemplate the same subj ect from other points of view. Let us station ourselves by the cross of Christ, and fix om gaze on that blood which speaks peace, and by which it hath pleased God to reconcile aU things unto himself. Hence, let us con- THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 269 template the church of this crucified Eedeemer, and say what we think of dirisions among those whom he died to unite, and on behalf of whom, in all the intensity of his dying love, he supphcates, ' Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall beheve on me through thefr word ; that they all may be one ; as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us : that the world may beheve that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them ; that they may be one, even as we are one : I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one ; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.'* Let us transfer ourselves to the depths of heathenism, and there reahse, in thought, the nothingness of om- single and unsupported efforts for the evangeUzation of mil hons; and, whUe we sigh and languish over isolated and inadequate toUs, let us look back to Christendom, and say what we would expect of its reUgious bodies in suspending or moderating thefr disputes in oidei to con- centeate on om aiduous post their sympathy and succour. Let us look around us on the advances made by Popery, both in continental nations and in Great Britain itself, and mark the easy conquest afforded by our rehgious dirisions to its pohtical unity, and say if we are any longer to quanel and fight only to facihtate the victories of the man of sin ? f In the exercise of that faith, which is the * John xvu. 11, 20—23. f In an address, delivered by Professor Gaussen at the opening of the ' Ecole de Theologic' of Geneva for the winter session of 1843, and reported in the 58th circular of the Societe Evangelique, I find that eminent man saying, ' We conclude, with certainty, that a great struggle approaches, in Z 2 270 UNION IN RELATION TO substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, let us ascend to the Jerusalem above, and par ticipate with its citizens in thefr serrices and bhss. If we are the people of God, how soon, how very soon shall this supposition be a reality ! The partitions we eiect and uphold may long define and fence up oui denomination ; but they shaU veiy shoitly be of no effect to ourselves individually. The highest of them do not reach to those thfrd heavens, where, far above their altitude, we shaU meet and rejoice with christians from whom they dissevered us. Can we realise this early this elevated superiority to all these shibboleths, and yet hold them in idolatrous respect ? If we are christians, our treasure is afready in heaven, and our hearts axe thexe also. Can it be, then, that this hom we hold anticipating feUowship with a church formed out of all churches, and derive exquisite dehght from its comprehensiveness of membership, and next hour deify the distinctions which we had just for gotten, and, in the absence of which, we saw a presage of glory ? The planets, as seen fi-om our remoteness, are so many brilliant orbs, and the disruptive inegularities of their surfaces are all lost in lustre. Our own earth, as contemplated from those distant heavens, would present the same appearance. So let its schismatic demarcations evanish as viewed by us from heavenly places, and, as we look upon it in verifying forethought from our seats of glory, let aU differences among its christian inhabitants appear to be absorbed in one flame of christian charity. which the Roman army, emboldened by our disunion, will throw itself upon us. Its first victory will be easy ; it will enter into our camp as did Csesar into that of Pompey, after the discomfiture of Pharsalia ; it will find us all in disorder, and soon have us trampled under its feet.' These are gloomy anticipations to be entertained by one of the most enlightened friends of continental Protestantism. THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES OF SCOTLAND. 271 Before we are yet glorified, let us feel and show that some rays of glory have extended even to this shadowy abode ; and that we are a blessed people, walking together in the light of God's countenance ! NOTES. NOTE I. The number of parishes in Scotland is 942. Classing together paro chial churches, parliamentary churches, and chapels-of-ease, there are above 1200 places of worship connected with the Establishment. The Free Church has erected, or is in the course of erecting, about 700; the Secession Church has above 360 in Scotland, besides those which belong to it in England and elsewhere : the Relief body has 120 ; the CongregationaUsts 85 ; the Reformed Presbyterians 36, etc. These num bers, however, do not give a very correct impression of the ecclesiasti cal statistics of Scotland. Many of the churches and chapels in the Estab lishment were built on the principle of providing accommodation for the whole community, whether they made use of it or not ; and are, therefore, no evidence of church membership or attendance. Since that time, also, aboiit a third of the most popular ministers of the Establishment have left it, and taken with them about a half of the communicants. In such a case it is impossible to be precise ; but we shall not be far from the truth in saying, that one-third of the church-going population belongs to the Estab lishment, another third to the Free Church, and the remaining third to the other bodies of dissenters. NOTE II. These remarks may be considered strong ; yet they are borne out by ample testimony. The following statements respecting Sweden are from the writings of a traveller whose accuracy is generally admitted. ' It is a singular and embarrassing fact, that the Swedish nation, isolated from the mass of the European people, and almost entirely agricultural or pastoral, having schools and universities in a fair proportion, and a powerful and complete church establishment, undisturbed in its labours by sect or schism is, notwithstanding, in a, more demoralized state than any nation 274 NOTES. in Europe. In the nearly eight millions of the Irish, there are 5844 fewer committals for criminal ofiences, and 8039 fewer convictions within one year, than in the scarcely three miUions ofthe Swedish nation.' Mr Laing, the author of these statements, has been severely taken to task for them, both by Swedish writers, and by at least one influential journal in this country. But he has himself told us all that is urged, so far as I have observed, in modification of his alleged facts, viz., that some deduction must be made for an order of petty trespasses which are registered as criminal offences in Sweden, but which are entirely omitted in our criminal records. That extenuating consideration cannot apply in a case Uke the foUowing : ' The proportion also of iUegitimate to legitimate births in this country leads to the same conclusion,' nearly one-third of the children in Stockholm being iUegitimate, and only 1 out of 28 iu London. WhUe the author has such melancholy facts to teU, he seems to be sanctioned in saying, — ' With all the means of a powerful church estabUshment, unopposed by sect or schism, to make it religious, it is evident, fi-om the official returns of crime, that in no christian community has religion less influence on the state of pubUc morals.' — Laing's Tour in Sweden in 1838. It has been usual to speak of dissent as tolerated in Sweden ; but the toleration amounts only to forbearance with private difference of sentiment, not displaying itself in any separate ecclesiastical organization. The estab Ushed church is the most influential body in the state, and the clergy form one of the chambers in the Diet : we need not marvel, then, that such a confederacy forbids the erection of any reUgious standard but its own. Mr LaingteUs us,however,of 'a religious enthusiasm spreading itself in the north of Sweden, which the clergy attempt to put down and extinguish. These religionists are called Laeseren — the readers — from their reading the scrip tures, and must keep themselves quiet.' They do not form a sect, having communications or internal regulation which would probably expose them to the law ; but they are numerous and increasing, and their preachings or meetings are attended by people from great distances. There was one chapel of the Wesleyan Methodist connection winked at for a time in Stockholm, but proceedings were eventually instituted to have it shut up ; and these have proved too successful. Mr Scott was the minister of the chapel ; and I observe a letter from him in the Montreal Register, of date February 15th, 1844, in which he says, ' Our chapel is stiU closed against NOTES. 275 us, and as the king has, in councU, confirmed the sentence of the governor, there appears no probability of my being allowed to return to my much longed-for scene of labours : nor is it likely that any foreigner wiU again be permitted to introduce Divine service in the Swedish language, at least until religious freedom is better understood in Sweden than is now the case.' The state of Russia is not much better, if, indeed, its condition be not StiU more lamentable. An Episcopalian writer has the following remarks on its church establishment : — . . ' This church bears a striking resemblance to that of Rome with regard to its government and discipline. Both are Episcopal, and in both there is the same division of the clergy into secular and regular, or parochial clergy and monks, the same spiritual jurisdiction of bishops and their officials, and the same distinction of offices and ranks. The supreme head ofthe Greek Church, is the Patriarch of Constantinople, whom they style the Thirteenth Apostle, and whose usual title, when he subscribes any letter or missive, is. By the Mercy of God, Archbishop of Constantinople, the New Rome and (Ecumenical Patriarch. The right of electing him is vested in the twelve bishops who reside nearest that famous capital, or rather in the representatives of the Greeks at Con stantinople ; but the right of confirming the election, and of enabling the new chosen Patriarch to exercise his spiritual functions, belongs only to the Turkish Emperor, who, says Cyril Lucan, disregarding the election, Coii- firmat ilium qui plus dederit — [appoints him who has paid most]. When a higher bidder appears, the possessor is often displaced.' What must be the condition of a church thus presided over by bribery and corruption ? Nor is the presidency an empty name. The Constanlinopolitan Patriarch appoints the three other Patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, with all the Episcopal dignitaries, and otherwise wields a. most extensive jurisdiction. This writer thinks the Greek Church, ' not so very corrupt as the Latin Church, though the former has departed widely from the faith which it once professed, and is now sunk into deplorable'ignorance and superstition. . . They have seven sacraments, or, as they term them, seven mysteries. The invocation of saints is practised in the Greek as well as in the Roman church. They have a secondary adoration to the Virgin Mary, to the twelve apostles, and to a vast number of saints with which the Greek Calendar .ibounds ; but they deny that they adore them 276 NOTES. as believing them to be gods- This church, at the celebration of the Lord's Supper, commemorates the faithful departed, and even prays for the re mission of their sins. Sermons being rarely preached among them, in many places never, or but seldom in Lent, and catechising being very much neglected, what knowledge they stUl have of Christianity is thought to be chiefly owing to their strict observation of festivals and fasts.' — Adams' Religious World ; Greek and Eastern Churches, 1st vol. It appears, from what is said by another writer, that comparatively few of the Russian clergy are in possession ofthe scriptures. ' In regard (he says) to the pro per object of my visit, the Archbishop Eugenius informed me that, since my previous visit, a Bible Society had been formed for the diocese ol Pleskof, — that they had stUl been unable to obtain copies of the scriptures in proportion to the demands made for them, for that the greater part of the clergy belonging to the four hundred and fifty parishes of the diocese were stiU destitute of the Bible.' A great part of the religion of the country consists in the homage paid to pictures, of which the writer just quoted gives a curious account : ' To supply the peasantry with sacred pictures , they are generally painted upon wooden boards and crosses. Old men travel about the country with them, bareheaded, and barter or exchange them ; for, according to their ideas of sanctity, no price can be put on them ; and therefore they are never sold. Nor are they ever burned or destroyed ; when too old for use, the sacred picture is given in charge to a running stream, which carries it away from the view of its former possessor ; and whosoever finds it returns it again to the watei-, till it is seen no more.' — Dr Pinkerton's Russia, pp. 25, 26. The same author informs us that the sale of spirituous Uquors is wholly an affair of the Government in Russia. At one time the traffic was farmed out, but in 1819 they took the management of it into their own hands. The Minister of Fmanoe is at the head of it, and the deputy-governors in the provinces are his chief agents. Through the assiduity of government officials in erecting spirit shops wherever there is population enough to support them, eighty-one miUions of gallons of brandy alone are drunk every year by the peasantry of this empire. The gain derived from this source amoimts to nearly one-fourth of the whole public revenue. Can we wonder if Russia be as demoralised as it is ignorant and superstitious ? The condition of these countries is a poor recommendation of religious NOTES. 277 uniformity. Papal states would furnish evidence still more decisive to the same effect ; but countries not Papal have been purposely selected as ex amples. NOTE III. The third section of this chapter has been the main subject of contro versy. It is thus expressed : — 3. ' The civil magistrate may not assume to himself the administration of the word and sacraments, or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven : yet he hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that aU blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corrup tions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed. For the better effecting whereof, he hath power to call synods, to be present at them, and to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be according to the mind of God.' NOTE IV. The Rev. Dr Cunningham, Professor of Theology to the Free Church, in a letter to the editors of the New York Observer, explained himself as having said in a speech previously mis-reported ; — 1. ' That, with the views we entertained, we could not say that we never would, in any circumstances, enter into alliance with the state, or receive state assistance. 2. ' That we never would receive state assistance upon any terms or conditions, expressed or understood, which were in the least inconsistent with the free and fuU exercise of aU our rights and liberties as a church of Christ. 3. ' That we could scarcely conceive anything more improbable than that the rulers of Great Britain, or of any of the kingdoms of this world, would be wiUing to give assistance and support to a church upon terms and con ditions with which it would fee lawful for a church of Christ to comply ; and that this improbabUity was so great as practicaUy to amount, in our judgment, to an impossibUity. 4. ' That even ifthe state were to make to us proposals which, viewed in themselves, involved nothing that was, in our apprehension, inconsistent with the full recognition of all our rights and liberties as a church of Christ, we would attach very great weight in deciding upon them, to the considera tion of the way and manner in which our acceptance or refusal would bear 2 A 278 NOTES. upon our relation to other churches of Christ, as there is good reason to beUeve that the maintenance of a strict relation between the churches of Christ in a community, would have a more important bearing upon the interests of religion, and the welfare of Christ's people, than anything the civil power could do. ' These propositions contain, I think, a correct summary of what I said. I might, perhaps, have put some of them more strongly than I did, without going beyond my own convictions, but I was anxious to avoid even the appearance of making unwarranted and exaggerated statements, for the purpose of removing the difficulties which some of my fathers and brethren must feel. ' The question of national establishments is, with the views and in the circumstances of the Free Church of Scotland, a purely theoretical one ; and of this I feel confident, that before the period arrives, if it ever come, when the rulers of Great Britain shall make to the Free Church proposals which she could for a moment entertain, the churches of Christ in that country will have attained to such a unity of sentiment and such a cordiality of affection for each other, as to secure united and harmonious action in regard to all important matters that may bear upon the welfare of each and all of them. ' I am persuaded that if the subject were carefuUy and deliberately inves tigated, it would be found that there is no material difference between the views of the American churches and those of the Free Church of Scot land, with respect to the great general principles which ought to regulate the conduct of nations and their rulers in regard to religion and the church of Christ.' The amount of difference between the Free Church and other unestab- lished Presbyterian churches holding evangelical sentiments, is stated in the pi-eceding quotation, with the usual point and clearness ofthe writer ; and the question should be seriously and candidly pondered by us aU — Does it justify such denominations in remaining separate ? ESSAY VL A CATHOLIC SPIRIT:— ITS CONSISTENCY WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. By EALPH WAEDLAW, D.D. ESSAY VL A CATHOLIC SPIRIT : ITS CONSISTENCY WITH CON SCIENTIOUSNESS. Such are the terms in which my part of the present volume has been assigned to me. I cheerfuUy adopt them, as expressing, with quite sufficient accuracy, the branch of the general subject which, when application was made to me, I happened hastily to suggest for myself. The title brings before our minds two principles per taining to the christian character,— a catholic spirit, and conscientiousness ; — and the method which, in this Essay, I intend to follow, is briefly to Ulusti-ate the na ture AND NECESSITY OF EACH, and the HARMONY OF THE TWO. SECTION I. THE NATURE AND NECESSITY OF A CATHOLIC SPIRIT. 1. What is a Catholic Spirit? — It may, I think, be defined — a spirit of love to the whole church of Christ, and fellowship of heart with ' all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.' The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in enumerat ing the special privileges of New Testament believers, 2a2 282 a C.4TH0LIC SPIRIT says — ' Ye are come unto the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and — to the spirits of just men made perfect,' (Heb. xii. 23.) The former of these two designations is very generally under stood of the entire church, in heaven as well as on earth. But this, I am disposed to think, is a mistake. The two are distinguished from each other. The one is pro bably used as comprehensive of all the saints on earth, who, though not yet themselves in heaven, are 'written there,' — ' their names,' as Paul elsewhere expresses it, being ' in the book of life,' (PhU. iv. 3) ; and the other as comprehending the more advanced and exalted por tion of the people of God, those who, ' through faith and patience, inherit the promises,' the saints in glory, — all, from ' lighteous Abel' downwards, of whom it had been said, in a pxevious chaptex, ' These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but haring seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth; desiring the better country, even the heavenly,' (Heb. xi. 13 — 16). As the writer is addressing himself to Hebrews, the designation ' the general assembly and church of the first-bom' may, with propriety, be con sidered as taken from the great conventions of ancient Israel at their sacred festivals. Jehovah himself gave that chosen people the high designation of his ' first-boin,' and his 'peculiax txeasuxe,' (Exod. iv. 22, xix. 5). But the designation is hexe applied in its highex sense, to the true spiiitual 'Isxael of God," — the 'holy nation" and 'peculiax people' of which ancient Isxael wexe but the type, — to the whole body of believexs, as, whexevex scat tered, forming one vast aggxegate, — one united ' assembly and chuxch.' Taken in its most enlarged acceptation, a ' cathohc CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 283 spixit' embraces both portions of 'the redeemed fi:om among men,' — the earthly and the heavenly. The two together are elsewhere designated ' the whole family in heaven and earth,' (Eph. in. 15). The unity of the two is one of the most animating and dehghtful subjects of contemplation to the believer's mind : — ' One family, we dwell in Iiim, — One church, above, beneath ; Though now divided by the stream. The narrow stream of death.' — But, although now thus divided, the locality of their everlasting union, wherever in the vride universe it may be, shall be ultimately the same, — when the ' multitude which no man can number' shall be assembled out of all successive generations, and out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, to fill and occupy for ever the ' house of many mansions,' prepared for them by their gracious Forerunner. A catholic spirit might, with perfect pro priety, be regarded as looking down through these suc cessive generations, and, vrith the eye and the heart of love, surveying the completed assembly of the just, and identifying itself with the innumerable whole. Thus, in truth, the apostle does identify himself, when, in speaking of the second coming of the Son of God, he says — ' We who axe alive and xemain' — ' We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.' Thexe is no explaining such language, but upon the principle of his feehng himself one of a people that was to exist to the end, — the same people collectively, though evex individually changing. It was on the same principle of collective identity in suc cessive ages, that David, many centuries aftex the passage thxough the Eed Sea, sang — ' They went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in Him,' (Psal. Ixvi. 6); 284 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT and it is phraseology to which every nation, in speaking of the events of its history, whether in the records of the past or the anticipations of the future, is famUiarly accustomed. On our present subject, however, it is unnecessary to take in the church in heaven. It is of the union and communion of feUow-beUevers on earth that we are called to treat ; of the true Bible spirit of that union ; and of the modes in which it may, consistently with other principles and obligations, exercise and gratify itself in coUective operation and enjoyment. In this restricted and yet still enlarged view of it, a cathohc spirit is the spirit which was breathed by the large-hearted apostle of the GentUes when, in writing to ' the saints who were at Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus,' — expanding his afi'ections, and teaching them to expand theirs, beyond the little circle of their own immediate feUowship, to the whole ' household of faith,' he prayed — ' Grace be with aU them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ! ' This prayer came from the apostle's very heart. There was both sentiment and feeling in it : — the sentiment — ' There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor fi-ee ; there is neither male nor female ; for we are all one in Christ Jesus;' and the feeling, in the terms of another apostle — ' Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the bxethxen, see that ye love one anothex with a pm-e heart fervently ! ' And he who held the sentiment, and cherished the feeling, and thus gave utterance to both, did not merely think, and feel, and pray. The principle was with him a practical one. He would have dehghted in personal fellowship with each, and in coUective fellowship with all, whom he thus designates. Nothing would have charmed him moxe (had such a thing been possible) than a con- CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 285 vention of Jewish and GentUe beUevers, from all the countries into which the gospel had penetrated, — consti tuting, at the time, ' the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven,' — around the table of their common Lord, partaking together, at the feast of christian love, the s}'mbols of his body and blood, — ^his body broken, his blood shed, for them aU ; thus pledging their union on earth, and anticipating its per fection in heaven. Now, if I have any right apprehen sion of a catholic spirit, it is a spirit that would relish such a meeting stiU ; — a spirit that not only says, and says from the heart, ' Grace be vrith all them that love oux Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ! ' — but with all whom it regards as sustaining the character, and on whom it implores the Divine favour, would take pleasure, could it have the opportunity, in holding actual communion, — com munion at the throne of a common Father, and commu nion at the table of a common Saviour. The bond that is regarded by a truly catholic spirit, as uniting those to whom it extends its christian affections, is the ' one faith,' — ' the faith once delivered to the saints.' I could not acknowledge that as a catholic spirit, which, while it owned as feUow- christians all who hold this faith, could yet go no further in its goodwill towards them than wishing, in regard to points of difference not affecting its essential articles, that they were brought to the same mind vrith itself, in order to its having freedom to hold feUowship with them. That is right, so far as it goes ; but a cathoUc spirit goes further. WhUe it seeks to bring all to agreement with itself in whatever it holds to be the Lord's mind and the Lord's wUl, it does not allow these differences to prevent immediate fellowship, or feel it necessary to wait for the desired uniformity, before it can enjoy it. The spirit that waits and vrishes for such uni- 286 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT formity in order to communion, is the very antipodes of catholicity. It is the spirit of party, wishing its own pecu harities universal, and keeping aloof tUl they may become so. — Into any notice of objections and difficulties, I do not at present enter. The NECESSITY of a catholic sphit may be placed in various lights ; each of these lights forming a reason for its universal cultivation. 1. The absence of it is a grievous defect in the believer's resemblance to his Lord. — Assuredly ' aU that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity,' are objects of that Lord's love. They have a place in his heaxt, as the childxen of ' his Fathex and theix Fathex,' — the people of ' his God and theix God.' He ' caUs them bxethxen.' He intei- cedes fox them, ' that they may be vrith him whexe he is, to behold bis gloxy.' He ' rests in his love' toward them. And he wUl at last welcome them, as the ' blessed of his Father,' to the inheritance of ' the kingdom prepared for them fi:om before the foundation of the world.' — It is the duty and the desire of the people of Christ to be like him. Here, then, surely, is one of the points in which they ought to study such conformity. Their recognition of discipleship should be co-extensive with his. It should not go beyond it, nor should it keep within it. Their heart's affections should be cast in the mould of his. They should shxink, with a tiembUng sensitiveness, from the idea of any one being owned by him, that is not owned by them ; of any one haring the place of a disciple in his heaxt, that has not the place of a fellow- disciple in theirs; of any having*^" paxt in his intexcession fox God's chosen, whom they, in theix intexcessions, class with the woxld ; of any being welcomed by him at last into the heavenly kingdom, whom they, in censoxious uncharitableness, are CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 287 excluding from it. There must be something far from right in the state of that christian's mind, to whom the thought of such discrepancy between his Lord and him self is not exceedingly revolting and painful. There cannot but be, in such a case, some gxeat mistake in pxinciple, ox some grievous aberration in spiiit. And by this I am led to notice — 2. That a cathohc spirit, fox the xeason mentioned, ought to be reckoned among Bible evidences of interest in Christ. — It is the solemn declaration of an inspired apostle — ' If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his,' (Eom. viu. 9). Now, how is it to be known by ourselves, or made apparent to othexs, that the Spirit which dwelt in Chiist dwells in us ? How, if not by confoimity, in mind and heaxt and chaxactei, to Christ himself? That Spirit which was given to him, ' not by measure,' but in the unlimited plenitude of his influence, must necessaxily, in piopoition to the measuie in which He is imparted by Jesus to us, effect in us xesemblance to himself It is in the pioduction of this xesemblance that we have ' the Spiiit witnessing with oux spiiits that we aie the chUdien of God.' — ' Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,' says Paul, ' and have not love, I am become as sounding biass, oi a tinkling cym bal : — and though I have the gift of piophecy, and undex- stand aU mysteiies and all knowledge, — and though I have all faith, so that I could lemove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing : — and though I give aU my goods to feed the pooi, and though I give my body to be buined, and have not love, it piofiteth me nothing,' (1 Cox. xUi. 1 — 3). The question is, WKa*nis the love thus, in terms so strong, pronounced indispensable to the existence of the christian chaxactei ? And the whole context shows that, specially if not exclusively, it is 288 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT love to the brethren. What, then, is the extent of that love ? It cannot, surely, be love to a part of the breth ren only, who happen to be of one mind with ourselves in differing from the rest on particular points of senti ment or of practice, that are not essential to the ' one faith,' — the faith that justifies and sanctifies, — the faith that saves the soul. This would not properly be love for God's sake, for Christ's sake, for the truth's sake. It would be love originating, not fi-om the grand charac texistic of the many, but from the distinguishing pecu liarity of the few. It would be the love, not of christians, but of episcopalians, of pxesbytexians, of congxegational- ists, of baptists. It would not be cathohc love, but paity love. Would such love, then, come up to the standaid of that which the apostle pionounces essential ? Let us test it. Oui Loid himself says — ' Hereby shaU all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to an other! (John xiu. 35). The love, then, by which his disciples were to be known, was love to their fellow- disciples. Unless, therefore, we are prepared to undis- ciple aU who do not in everything see as we see, and do as we do, and to deny them to belong to Christ, it must be obvious that this limited and party love is not the dis tinctive badge of connection with him which he requires, but something different from it in principle, and falUng far short of it in extent. — ^The apostie John says — ' Who soever beheveth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God : — and every one that loveth Him that begat, loveth them also that are begotten of Him,' (1 John v. 1). If the in ference in these words be correct, it will at once be appa rent that it must extend to all who are thus begotten of Him. So that, again as befoxe, unless we axe piepaxed to shut out from the family of God, as destitute of the mark of his chUdren, all who, though professing the one CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 289 faith, differ fi-om us on any point of the wiU of Him whom we both ' caU Master and Lord,' the same con clusion follows, — that it is the love of the whole famUy, and not the love of a paxt only, that is the divinely-recog nised mark of membership. — And to what does all this amount, but to the position, — that a catholic spirit — a spirit of love to the whole church of God — is one of the requisite eridences of our being ourselves true spiritual members of that church ? 3. A cathoUc spirit is required by a sense of justice to our fellow-christians. — I am aware of the distinction between justice and benevolence ; nor am I in the least disposed to question its correctness, or to confound the one with the other. Yet, in christian morals, they may so far be regarded as identical, that in the code of the New Testament the law of love is, at the same time, the law of equity. It runs in the universally famUiar words — ' Therefore, aU things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.' This is the law of love ; for it is the practical counterpart of — ' Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself:' and among chris tians, — the subjects of Christ's kingdom, — it is also the law of equity. Justice consists in giving every man his due ; and here is the dirine standard of what is due,— of what we mutually owe to each other. Love is a debt due, by the law of Christ, in a special kind and a special de gree, to all that are his. We owe it to all oui feUow- believeis; and all oui feUow-believeis owe it to us. Itis not a thing which we are at hbeity to give or to withhold at om- pleasure. If you ask me how it is possible for us to pay this debt in all cases, when in all cases there is not the amiable, and, firom the very nature of things, it is im possible to love what is not lovely; all subjective love necessarily implying objective amiableness: — my reply 2b 290 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT maybe twofold. First of all,ihe commands of Jesus should be taken in their harmony. He inculcates the amiable ness, as well as the love. He is infinitely amiable him self; and his lovely character is the standard to which his disciples should be conformed. Every disciple of his, without question, ought to be what his fellow-disciples can love. In proportion as he is deficient in the amiable ness, he is deficient in the eridence of his being Christ's, — just as really and as much, as when he is deficient in the affection. — And this leads me to notice, secondly, that there can be no disciple of Christ who has not something of his Divine Master in him. No one can be devoid of all resemblance ; for this would infer his being destitute of the Spirit of Christ, and therefore being ' none of his.' We may regret the deficiency, feehng how it ineritably interferes with and diminishes that complacential love which we should delight to indulge towards every mem ber of the christian family. Yet, deeply sensible that there may in ourselves be deficiencies, whether we are distinctly conscious of them or not, which operate as a drawback on the pleasure of others in their love to us, we should accustom ourselves to dweU more on the features of likeness to Clirist which the characters of others pre sent, than on those of dissimilarity; and, in the exexcise of the vexy love fox Christ's sake inspiied by the foimer, we should seek, by piayei and otheiwise, to coiiect the lattei. — But theie is one foxm in which, especially, justice to our fellow-believers demands the exercise of a cathohc spirit ; — I mean, confidence in their integrity, in regard to those parts of the mind and vrill of our common Mas ter on which they differ fi-om us. This is very commonly designated charity. But such charity, in all cases in which there is not the clearest proof of the absence of the integrity, is substantially y^s^ie^. For ourselves we CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 291 claim it as a right. We feel ourselves defrauded of what is our due, when it is withheld. We ought, therefore, to own the right in others. Theix claim on us is the same as ours on them. We may see more fully afterwards the extent to which this reciprocal confidence is the very principle of the union and communion of the followers of Christ, both individually and denominationally. All that I am seeking to estabhsh at present is, that, as the exer cise of it enters essentiaUy into a catholic spirit, — a catholic spirit enters essentiaUy into the justice that is due, on the part of feUow-christians, to one another. — Observe fur ther — 4. A cathoUc spirit is necessary to the perfection of the christian's happiness. — I use the word perfection, of course, as the apostle Paul frequently does, not in an absolute, but a comparative sense. The absolute perfec tion of enjoyment, from any of its sources, -wiU not be attained till we find it in heaven. But on earth, — in the church below, I never can think of a narrow-minded christian, — a christian who, instead of giving free scope to his christian afi'ections, opening and expanding his heart to the admission of the entire family of God, contracts his spirit, and hmits his communion of love to the denomina tion with which he is connected, — or of the man who actu aUy imagines that famUy of God to consist of no more than those who assent to the shibboleth of his little party, — I never can think of such a man otherwise than as one who, through the operation of a widely-mistaken prin ciple, is cheating himself of pleasure, — and of pleasure the highest, the richest, the most exquisite in its charac ter. Christian happiness hes, to a great extent, in the reciprocations of love; first between the renewed soul and the God who, by his word and Spirit, has assimilated it to himself, — and then between one renewed soul and 292 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT another. The latter may either be in fact or in fancy : in fact, when we actuaUy enjoy the company and the converse of ' the exceUent of the earth ;' and in fancy, with regard to all ' whose faces we have not seen in the flesh,' — ' the children of God that are scattered abroad.' As ' there is joy in heaven over one sinner that lepent- eth,' — so among the saints on earth, eveiy new convei- sion, witnessed oi lepoited, is an augmentation of their joy. The widei the field ovei which theix spiiitual affec tions can expatiate, the richer their dehght. The greater the number of hearts with which, in fact or infancy, theu- own can hold the fellowship of love, the sweeter the ante- past of heaven : — ' Their bliss still growing, when by miUions shared.' — I pity the bigot. I detest his bigotry; I pity himself He denies himself enjoyment; but it is not the self-denial which his Lord enjoins. Itis denyingbimsetf what the whole character and genius ofthe gospel farmore than warrant; — that of which the free indulgence is not appropriate to it merely, but by its principles imperative, and indispensable to the heart's being in txue harmony with its own nature, and with the example of its Divine Author. 0 let christians confine their self-denial to ' the lusts of the flesh and of the mind,' — and let them enjoy, in unstinted measure, as their Lord intends they should, the dehght imparted by the wide and unrestrained flow of their spiritual affections ! I would not fox the woxld be the man who thus locks up his heaxt in an ice-house ; — who puts the shoxt chain and the galling coUax of bigotxy on the neck of his chiistian chaxity; — who can look lound, with a naiiow sectarian satisfaction, on the members of his own little sect, and, with cold indifference, or something worse, towaxds all beyond the pale, can count, one by one, the number of CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 293 those whom alone he owns as his bxethxen, and expects to meet in heaven ; — who estimates the chiistianity of his paxty, and the evidence of its being the txue flock of Christ, by its diminutiveness, — finding in this his solace foi what otheis can tiace to fai diffeient causes, — to the wildness of its dogmas, and the unchaxitable censoxious- ness of its membeis ; — who is a vexy misex of his love,- — if indeed he can be called a misei who has no .stock in possession beyond what he gives away. The misei has his txeasuies ; and, if he denies himself the blessedness oi giving, he enjoys at least the pleasuie ot having. But the poox bigot has no stock of love in his heaxt, out of which, hke the misex, he deals his little pittances with a gxudging paisimoniousness, the effect of his vexy delight in the tieasuie, and of his leluctance to see it diminished. The little thathe gives, — his 'two mites' of love, 'which make a faxthing' — is ' all that he hath, even all his liv ing.' And his vexy mites themselves axe not steiiing. They axe not of the loyal mint. They aie the cuiiency of a party, not the coin of the kingdom. And if, in some points, the designation of miser may not be strictly ap piopiiate,- — ^yet in its original and etymological sense, it may be appUed in all its emphasis : — the bigot, if not positively, is at least negatively wretched. He is desti tute, save in a veiy stinted and fi-actional measuie, of the chief blessedness of the chiistian, — the blessedness of loving and being loved. 5. I may just add heie, that a catholic spiiit is the very spirit of heaven. — The highest authority tells us, that ' theie is joy in heaven ovei one sinnei that lepenteth.' The joy theie, then, is ovei all lepenting sinneis, — all sinneis that are brought ' from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.' And the love there must, in its comprehensiveness, be of the same extent 2b 2 294 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT with the joy. It must embrace all on earth who have been made partakers of the same 'precious faith' that has brought themselves to heaven, and who have thus become one with them by union to the same Saviour and Lord. Think you — can you think, — that the love cherished in heaven is love only to the converts of your particular sect ? — that it is bound in the fetters of any of those party predilections by which, on earth, the affections of chris tians are so often chained ? They may — and doubtless they do — know who amongst us is right and who is wrong, — what views and practices are in harmony with the mind of Christ, and what the contraxy. They had themselves diffexed, befoie they went to heaven; but they axe all of one sentiment thexe. The involuntaiy mistakes of those who weie wiong have been foigiven, with a smile of love, from the thione : — and the countenances of theix fellow-saints have caught the smile ; and all is love, and coxdiality, and joy: — ' Each finds in each a glowing friend. And all the God of all adore.' — If theie be anything of which those who had differed axe specially ashamed, it is the bitteiness with which theii diffeiences may have been maintained ; and this feeling, mutuaUy expexienced, only makes the gxasp of the hand of fellowship the firmer, and the pulsations of aff'ection the fuller and the warmer. What I wish to impress is this, — not that such points of difference axe unimpoxtant, and that they are so legaided in heaven. No. Theie the enlightened inhabitants, seeing in the light of God, discern matchless wisdom — the wisdom of theii exalted Lord — in all the institutions and aixangements of his chiu-ch below, — and, had they the oppoxtunity, they would rectify the erxoxs of theix biethien on eaith. But ' the CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 295 tiuth as it is in Jesus,' of which the faith has bxought them aU to heaven, and continues thexe the giound to each of his indiridual possession, and the bond to all of theii eveilasting union, is felt by them in its paxamount value; as so suxpassing eveiything else, that the sepaxating ten dency of eveiything else should be oveicome by its uniting powex. Theix love, like that of their Loid, is ' to the saints that aie upon the eaith, and to the excel lent, in whom is all theii dehght.' These they know are to be found, not in any one only of the sectional denominations of the chuich mihtant, but in them all. These they love, — love univeisally, — and expect to welcome in succession to their happy home. And all who find admission there, find all party diff'erences for ever at an end ; the whole of the vast and growing assembly, in the very highest and most perfect sense of the terms, ' of one heart and of one soul.' And when that assembly shall be completed, — when the ' multitude which no one can number' shall have been gathered in, ' out of all kindxeds, and peoples, and nations, and tongues,' — it wiU be still the same. What a catholic spirit will be thexe ! — ' all one in Chiist Jesus!' — Emmanuel the .centie of union! AU who ' looked unto Jesus' with the eye of faith on eaxth, 'look ing unto Jesus' with the eye of delighted and adoring love in heaven ! — and all loving one anothex fox his sake ' with a puxe heaxt feivently ! ' If, then, christians would have eaith Uke heaven, they must cultivate the spixit of catholic love. 0 let them not feel and speak and act, as if it wexe their puxpose to enhance the happiness of a heaven .of love by the chaims of contrast ! Let them xathex seek to enjoy foi themselves, and to impait to one anothei, a foietaste of that heaven, by cherishing and diffusing its spirit in the chuich below ! 296 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT SECTION II. THE WATOEE AND NECESSITY OF CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. There can be little difficulty to any mind in answexing the question — What is conscientiousness? — It may at once be defined — a sincere and earnest desire to know the mind and the will of tlie Lord, and to hold as truth what ever lie teaches, and practise as duty loliatever lie enjoins. — The teim, indeed, defines itself It consists in feeling the conscience bound by eveiy intimation of that mind and will. This is cleax. The source from which the knowledge of both — of tiuth and of duty — is to be de rived, is his woid. And both the one and the othex axe ahke binding, — the mind of Chiist, and his will. With legard to the former — It were an extraordinary position for any professed disciple of his, were he to avow that he saw anything clearly declared in the inspired word, and yet to profess the faith of something else. No genuine subject of Jesus can ever feel himself warranted to do this, with regard to even the smallest 'jot ox tittle' of Dirine truth. The mind of Chxist must, by evexy con scientious disciple of his, be held sacxed. His foUoweis, it must be evident, axe not in the same piedicament mth the foUoweis of any leadei in a meie school of human science. These lattei axe at pexfect hbeity. Theii mas- tex is a man like themselves. They may detect him in exioi ; they may get beyond him in discoveiy ; they may oveituxn his whole theoiy; they may substitute a new one, and, from having been followers of his, may become masters, and have foUowers oftheir own ; and they, too, in their turn, may repeat the process. It is thus that human knowledge advances. But the disciples of Jesus own him CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 297 as a Divine teacher. His lessons, therefore, are perfect and immutable. Touching the lessons of every human instructor, there are two questions which may be asked — What are they ? and, Are they true ? But with regard to the lessons of a Dirine teacher, the second of these questions would be blasphemy. ' God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,' (Heb. i. 1). He is the last teacher, the 'finisher' as well as the 'author' of the christian faith, — the beginner and the perfecter of revealed truth. Eespeoting the lessons of such a teacher there can be but one question — What are they ? — what does he teach ? When we have found an answer to that question, there is no option left us. Every lesson of his must be received and held as truth. We have no hberty even of selection. And what we are thus bound to xeceive and hold we axe bound to piofess. Conscien tiousness wUl not admit, in any one point, of oux behering one thing and piofessing anothex ; oi even of our putting any truth in abeyance, and withholding the profession of what we believe. Our business is, to search for truth ; never rehnquishing the search, but ' going on unto per fection.' And whUe we do so, we cannot be conscientious, or maintain ' a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men,' if in any one point we are either hiding or perverting what we believe to be his truth. Now, it is obrious, that the same thing holds good with regard to duty, as with regard to truth, — vrith regard to the will of Christ, as with regaid to his mind. The one and only inquiiy of eveiy true behever wUl be that of Saul at his conversion — ' Lord, what wUt thou have me to do ? ' For duty, as for truth, he wUl search the same source of information. He will do this in earnest ; extend- 298 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT ing the search to every point of duty, personal and rela tive. And, bearing his Lord's words in remembrance- — ' If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them,' — his seeking to know vriU, in every case, be in order that he may do. As one who ' has faith in God, ' he wUl pro ceed upon the principle that every precept, of whatever kind and in whatever department, that has the sanction of his authority, must necessarily work beneflciaUy, both for his own glory and for the interests of those who obey it. He wUl thus, if under the impulse of genuine conscientiousness, imitate the approved example of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh — ' following the 'LoxA fully.' Now, there is here a department of the Lord's wUl, that belongs more immediately than any other to our present subject: — I mean, what relates to the constitution and ordinances of the christian church. The obhgations of the Lord's will, in this department, are by many christians more lightly estimated than almost any othex. They seem as if they felt themselves moxe at libexty here than any where else, to take their own will and their own way, and to conform to what they deem expediency. — Let not the reader be alarmed. I know I am on the verge of delicate ground; but I am not going to cross the border. It would be as inconsistent as possible with the design of the present volume, and therefore it is as far as possible from my own, to enter into any discussions whatever rela tive to this department of New Testament discovery, — and especiaUy to set about any axgument in rindication of one 01 othei of the difi'eient schemes of church oidei. — But what I mean is this : — that on the subject just mentioned, as well as on othexs, thexe ought, among the tiue disciples of Jesus, to be conscientiousness : — that is, they should be as much in earnest in seeking to asceitain theii Divine Mastei's will lespecting this as lespecting anything else. CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 299 With legard to any point in the lange of moial duty, they would deem it a stiange position for them to take up, that every one might follow for himself the course which in his eyes appeared most expedient. And yet, on the subject before us, a position of this kind is far from un common. Now, although the distinction between moral and ceremonial is a quite inteUigible and fax from unim portant distinction, — the foimei involving the principles of immutable lectitude, the othei lesting on considexa tions of special and tempoxary utility, — ^yet it would be a vexy false conclusion, that to the observance of what is ceiemonial we are under no properly moral obhgation. We axe morally bound to do the will of God. That will is oux xule ; — and whethei his injunction be a peisonal commission, with which no one has to do but ouiselves, — 01 a ceiemonial institute, pxescribed to any hmited num bei of men fox a special puxpose and a limited time, — ox an ethical piecept addiessed alike to all mankind, — a moial obligation is violated, if obedience is not lendeied. The wUl of the Supreme Legislatoi is disiegaided : — there is a moxal offence, — a sin of omission. I am afraid that not a few of my fellow-christians axe fax from being suffi ciently impiessed with this. It is not sufficiently a mattei of conscience with them. I wUl not even affiim at pie sent (whatevei may be my pxivate opinion) that thexe is any foim of chuich- government explicitly laid down in the New Testament. But what I affiim is, — that it becomes eveiy professed subject of Jesus, if he would maintain the conscientiousness foi which I plead, to make himself suxe, eithei that theie is, oi that there is not, — so that he may conscientiously conform to it if there is, and conscientiously conform to whatever, in changing circumstances, he deems expedient, if there is not. Those of whom there is reason to complain are the 800 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT persons who proceed upon the assumption of there being none, vrithout any very anxious inquiry about the matter, — who do not, in truth, think inquiry on such subjects worth their whUe. These may be designated the indiffer- entists. And this spirit of indifference is not unfre quently, both by the persons themselves and others, mis taken for a catholic spirit. But between the two there is a wide and essential difference. Many a time, in the southern part of our island, where Watts is better known than here, and where, with paxticulax classes, not a few of his couplets have attained the xank of a kind of spiritual proverbs, — have I heard the hnes — ' Let names, and sects, and parties fall, And Jesus Christ be all in all ! ' quoted in such a manner as, along with love to Christ and love to aU his people for his sake, has clearly indicated, blending with this bettei feeling, a kind of lofty scom of all paxty distinctions, — as if the points from which they axose weie haidly, if at all, woxthy the considexation of those who wexe one in their acknowledgment of the gxeat principles of evangelical tiuth. They speak slightingly of them. They have ceitain favouiite phiases foi expiessing theii contempt of them. Of these — 'mint, anise, and cumin ' is the most pievalent : — a vexy unfoitunate one ceitainly; — ^foi, be it that the designation is appxopxiate when applied to the mattexs of external chuich oider as compaied with the elements of saving txuth, — just as the tithing of such heibs was infeiioi in impoitance to what oux Loxd caUs ' the weightiex matteis of the law — judg ment, meicy, and the love of God,' — yet they who so apply it ought not to foxget that the Saviour, whUe with regard to the latter he says, ' These ought ye to have done,' adds, with regard to the former, — yes, with regard CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 301 to the very tithing of the mint, anise, and cumin, — ' and not to leave the other undone.' ' Here is wisdom:' — the most important and weighty to be first minded, but the secondary not to be neglected. Yet the persons to whom I now refer can hardly muster patience to hear a word upon the secondary, — upon points of outward order. There is no persuading them to any sexious inquiiy on such mattexs. Now in this thexe is a twofold mistake : — thexe is a mistake in legaid to the manifestation of love to Christ; — and theie is a mistake in xegaid to the exer cise of love to fellow-christians. First: There is a mistake regaxAmg ihe manifestation of love to Christ. — I do not deny that thexe may be a love to Christ engendeied by the glorious discoveries that are given us of his peison, and chaiactei, and woik, such as absoibs the mind entirely, rendering it legaidless of eveiy thing else, — unwUling to come down from these elevated and entxancing views by which the love is kindled, to anything so fax inferioi as what lelates to the external oidex and observances of the chiistian chuich. I would use teims of gieat lenity in finding any fault with such a state of heaxt,— thexe being unquestionably, as alieady admitted, no comparison between these sublime though simple tiuths, which aie at once the basis of the believei's hope, the spring of his peace and joy, the ohaitei of his spiritual freedom, the impelhng motive of his obedience, and the bond of his union with the whole family of God, — between these and aught that xelates to principles oi piesciiptions of oidex, and rites of external ceiemonial. Yet theie is an eixoi. It is not the eiioi of excess ; foi theie can be no excess in love to Chxist. It is xathei an exiox of defect, — and of defect arising from inconsidera- tion of what true love requires, on the paxt of those by whom it is felt and chexished, towaxds its object. The 2 c 302 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT love that is piofessed, howevex deeply sinceie, must be undei the influence of some false principle, when it opeiates in the way of impairing conscientiousness in xegaid to the knowledge ox the peifoxmance of any part whatever of Christ's vriU. What is the test to which he himself brings the love of his people towards him ? It is brief but comprehensive : — ' If ye love me, keep my com mandments,' (John xiv. 15). The question, then, which I would put to the fellow- disciples with whom I now remonstrate, — is — Has true love any right to select, among his commandments, which it must observe and which it may neglect ? Or wiU true love ever be disposed to such selection ? Would you think your chUd had correct con ceptions of the way in which his love to you should be expressed, if he felt himself at liberty to pick and choose amongst your orders, doing such as he reckoned worth the doing, and leaving others undone, — saying to himself — These axe but httle mattexs, and thexefoie it is of no gieat moment whethex they aie done oi not ? If a paient, you would haidly, I ween, be satisfied with youi chUd's taking the liberty of so leasoning and so acting ; noi, if he did take it, would you think his heaxt quite in the right place. You would haxdly be pleased, wexe any one to offei and uige in his behalf the plea — that he loved you so well, aud was so taken up about your moxe impoxtant instruc tions and commands, that these minox matteis escaped his notice, — oi weie not consideied by him (dwindhng as they did into insignificance beside the otheis) as really woith his minding. You might tiy, peihaps, with the paxtiality of a paxent, to make the most of such a plea : — but it would not caiiy conviction with it. Tiue love will neglect no known commands of its object. The gieatex, of couise, it will be most eagei to do, and the most caxeful in doing ; -but it will not ' leave the smaUex un- CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 303 done.' Nay, in a ceitain sense, attention to the smallei is a stiongex and a suxei test of affection than the most zealous execution of the greatei. In the greatei theie is an intrinsic impoitance, which, discerned by the mind, foims of itself an uigent motive to thefr peifoxmance. But the smallei, wheie this desciiption of motive is absent, owe thefr fulfilment the moie simply and exclusively to the impulse of love ; and, when they have nothing what evei in them of a moial chaiactei, — nothing in theii own natuie dfrectly impUcating the conscience, — still moie pei- fect, peihaps, and unexceptionable is the indication of the uncompounded woiking of the one principle. In such cases, there is indeed conscience ; but it is not conscience pronouncing the act in itself to be obligatoiy, — but con science approving the exexcise of filial love; — and that love dehghting to do whatevei conscience does not actually inteidict as wxong. The one element of affection — the simple spiiit of obedience — is then, evidentiy, most puie and unmingled in its opeiation. These principles aie dfrectly applicable to the obedience of God's children to their heavenly Father, and of the fol lowers of Christ to thefr Divine Lord. The performance of duties, such as are enjoined in the first and second tables of the moral law, — of duties to God and duties to men, — duties moraUy binding, according to those eternal principles of lectitude which, existing in the Divine chaxactei, detei- mine the Divine wUl, — is, without doubt, a manifestation of that love to God which is the primaxy and pervading principle of his law, — and which, in the bosoms of all behevers of the gospel, must ever be in association with the love of Christ, whose character and whose will are the same with the Father's ; and, in order to the performance of the duties being such as can be accepted by the Supreme Judge, it must be the fruit ahd expression of this love. a04 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT But StUl, in legaxd to aU such duties, thexe is something in themselves that is owned and felt by the conscience as moially obligatoiy. When, on the contiaiy. Divine injunc tions aie entiiely of a ceremonial chaiactei, — being in theii own nature indifferent, the conscience having, in this respect, no sense of right or wrong in regard to them, feeling neither obligation to do them, nor compunction at the thought of not doing them, — then the authority of God stands the more manifestly alone ; and nothing whatever, save the consideration of that authority, can enter into the motive to thefr observance : — and such observance becomes thus the fafrex and moxe unequivocal test of love, and of the spixit of subjection.- — It is on this principle, amongst otheis, that we vindicate the Dirine pxopiiety of the originally piescxibed test of man's obedience to his Oxea- tox. It was a test, simply and exclusively, of subjec tion to God!s will; theie being nothing else, so fax as we can pexceive, in the piohibition of the inteidicted fruit, than the intimation of that will. The test was thus pie cisely what it ought to have been ; — and they who turn it into ridicule — than which nothing is moie easy — really ' undeistand neithei what they say, noi wheieof they affixm.' — If, then, it be at aU a coxrect pxinciple, that the less in intiinsic magnitude, and the less in impexative obligation, the piesciibed actions axe, consi deied in themselves, the cleaxex and the stiongei is the pioof of love in the conscientious doing of them, — those chxistians had need to set about the duty of self- examination, as to the indiffeience with which they tieat all questions lelative to the outwaid oidei of the chuich of Chiist. Chiistian conscientiousness should extend to every indication of the Mastei's wiU, whatevex its nature, whatevex the degiee of its impoxtance, and whatever the mode of its conveyance. And if love is to CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 305 be measured by conscientiousness, the more minute the inqufry, and the moie anxiously punctUious the obedience, the gxeatei axe both the conscientiousness and the love. And as thexe is a mistake xegaxding the manifestation of love to Chxist, thexe is — secondly, a simUai mistake in legaid to the exercise of love to fellow-christians. — I have no idea of aUovring any state of mind to assume the high designation of a catholic spfrit, which is founded in indif feience to any pait of the Loid's will. A tiuly catholic spfrit imphes the exeicise of charity and forbearance . Now, thexe can be neithei, wheie theie is indiffeience. If we have no conscientious convictions and felt obhgations of our own, what forbearance, what charity, can there be for those of others ? A catholic spfrit is a spirit of love, not to those oiUy who agree with us, but to those also, and especiaUy, who differ from us. Thexe is httle diffi culty in being cathoUc, when there is no difference ; — and in this respect, ^difference is much the same as no differ ence. If we do not so much as feel any solicitude about having convictions of our own, making light even of in qufry whether there be anything to warrant them, and holding aU the points by which christians are parted into various sections as nothing, — then forbearance and cha rity become words without meaning. They cease to have any scope for thefr exercise; and such catholicity of spirit hardly deserves the name. It can scarcely be honoured with the designation of a christian virtue, — any more than we should caU by the name oi self-denial a man's abstaining from that in which he has no enjoyment, or that which he has no inchnation to do. Forbearance may be said to be the self-denial of sentiment. We axe natuxally fond of what is OUI own ; and we xegaxd those who diffei from us as, in the veiy fact of theix so differing, impeaching the -sound ness of oux judgment, oi the candoui of oui investigation. 2 c 2 306 A C.iTHOLIC SPIRIT Heie lies the self-denial. It consists in the lepiessing of the tendency axising from this to xesentment, to disdain, to coldness and alienation, — and in the cherishing of the spixit of love, in spite of the existing diffexences. As thexe is little difficulty, so of couise there is compaxatively httle ciedit, in maintaining this love towaxds those who aie, in all points, one in sentiment with ourselves. The spirit of the question — ""If ye love them that love you, whatthankhaveye?' — might be faiily apphed to such' a case. The poet has said that — ' 'Tis a rule which always will hold trae — Grant me discernment, and I grant it you.' — Attachment to such, thus becomes little more than one of the vaxieties of self-love. It is attachment to that which is oux own, as existing in oui neighboui. It is when any one embraces a sentiment diffeient from oui own, and, it may be, from a favouiite one of oux own, — that the spiiit of catholicity is put to the test. That is the tiuly catholic spiiit, which, instead of immediately frowning such a one away, and banishing him beyond the pale of OUI inteicomse, continues to give him the heart of love and the hand of fellowship, foi the sake of ' the tiuth as it is in Jesus' which he stiU letains, and foi the sake of the veiy conscientiousness, which, as we leckon it a viitue in ouiselves, we cannot but approve of his hold ing sacred too. The author of the 'Decline and Fall of the Eoman Empire,' is pleased to eulogise the liberal and tolerant spirit of the Grecian and Eoman mythologies ; in tending thus to convey a reflection on what he wished to be regarded as the bigotry of Christianity. But the truth is, that in so fai as the spiiit in question did exist CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 307 in the superstitions of heathenism, it was the liberality of indifference. In these religions there was no exclusive ness. They were local. The gods of one country were not, in that country, regarded as the only gods. Their worshippers laid no claim in their behalf to a monopoly of divinity. The gods of another countiy had the same title to godhead vrithin their own territory, — the territory of which they were the tutelary deities. One country might thus pay a compliment to another, by admitting one or more of its gods into its own calendar. But Judaism and Christianity were necessarily exclusive. Je hovah was not a God merely, but the God, — the only God. The acknowledgment of Him undeified all else besides. The doctrine of the Divine unity precluded the possibility of the tolerance of other gods. And as there was one God, there was but one religion, — tiie worship and serrice of that one God. Everything else was — not reli gion, but frreligion, — profaneness, — the robbing of the true and only God of his due, — the ' giving of his glory to another.' Christianity was not merely the best of many rehgious, but the only religion. It admitted of no com promise, and no incorporation vrith others. Such incox- poiation was poUution. It would have destioyed its v6i-y natuie. It demanded, — and of necessity demanded, as being the leligion of the one and only God, — to be xe ceived alone, ox not at all. This was its gloxy. In othex lehgions, the acknowledgment of foieign gods by the people of any countiy did not at all imply the abandon ment of thefr own. But it was otheiwise with chiistianity. And this exclusiveness, — this demand, on the pait of its messengeis, of the lelinquishment foi it of whatevei else had gone undex the name of xeligion, — was, along with its obnoxious natuie, — the opposition of its piinciples and its lequiiements to the conupt piepossessions and pxo- 308 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT pensities of the human heaxt, — a cause of exaspexation and peisecution. It was fax wrong, and as inconsistent as possible with the true spfrit of the gospel, when chris tians availed themselves of any power they could obtain, to persecute in their turn. When they did so, they 'knew not what manner of spirit they were of;' they discovered thefr ignorance of the temper and genius of the very rehgion they professed. They behed the Master whose name they bore, and whose foUowers they caUed themselves. But still, whUe they ought never to have persecuted, they could not conform. WhUe there was no inconsistency on the part of idolaters in adding another and another, as circumstances might suggest, to the num ber of their ' gods many and lords many,' — they ' to whom there was one God the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ,' would have violated, by the acknowledgment of another God, the principle which was the very basis — 'the chief corner-stone' — of thefr entfre system. That which was only an addition to false religions, would have been the dereUction of the true. Polytheism could afford to be hberal in this way ; monotheism could not. The hberality of polytheism was that of ignorance ; the exclu siveness of Christianity was that of knowledge. Poly theism might have its catholic spirit in acknowledging and respecting the gods of all nations. But cathohcity, in any such sense as this, was, in the case of Christianity, necessarily out of the question. When Christianity set out in its career, it did not merely claim a place among other religions; it demanded thefr abandonment, and vowed thefr extermination. It did not merely ask for the God whom it proclaimed a niche in the pantheon of the world, but insisted that He should occupy that pantheon alone. Its doctrine was — ' One God, and one Mediatox between God and men, the man Christ Jesus : ' — one God, CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 309 one Savioui, one salvation, one way of obtaining it, one principle of acceptable obedience. My piesent subject is, christian catholicity and chris tian conscientiousness'. Of these, it is obvious, both the one and the othei must take thefr limits from the woid of God, — from the volume in which the prin ciples and the piecepts of Christianity aie authorita tively unfolded, and its spirit piesciibed and exem plified. The cathohcity of the chiistian must not have widei bounds, noi ought the conscientiousness of the chiistian to have naiiowei, than those which that lecoxd has fixed. The catholicity must not, of couise, go beyond the ciicumfeience of chiistianity ; and the question is, how compxehensive that cfrcumfeience should be; — in othei woids, to what extent a man may diffex from us in sentiment and piactice, without placing himself outside of it, and disfranchising himself of his title to be legaided as a fellow-chiistian. The conscientiousness ought, in om- own case, as afready remaiked, to embiace the whole of OUI Loid's xevealed wUl, obhging us to confoimity to that will, in the light in which eveiy part of it appeals to oui selves in his woxd ; — leaving us no hbeity, — no right, in one 'jot 01 tittle,' to deriate from its explicit prescrip tions, wheieinsoevex they can be asceitained : and the questions come to be, — to what extent we are bound to admit the claim of conscientiousness on behalf of those who diffei from us, — and, to what extent the admission of it lequiies oi waxiants our continuing to give them the right hand of chiistian-fellowship. Now, those who tieat with entile indiffeience the points by which diffeient paities of chiistians aie distinguished, have neithei pxo- peily-piincipled conscientiousness, noipiopexly-piincipled catholicity; — not the foimei ; foi indiffeience and con scientiousness aie quite incompatible ; — each, to the 310 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT extent in which it exists, precluding the other, — con scientiousness meaning that the things to which it relates are matters of conscience ; while indifference implies that conscience is not at aU bxought to bear upon them ; — and the man who should plead that he was conscientious in his indifference, would only show that he had a very in different conscientiousness : — not the latter ; for in true christian catholicity of spfrit, there is ever involved the idea of the exeicise of an enlarged and liberal-minded charity; whereas by indifference the exercise of such charity is precluded; — there being no room for charity to persons, where there is indifference about things; — nothing to overcome, — no effort of generous and ex pansive feeling, — where there is no colhsion of conscience with conscience, no requisition of mutual forbearance. It is evident, then, that in the case of these indifferentists, there is a mistake in the estimate of their love to the brethren; thefr indifference divesting their love of the exercise of any forbearing charitableness, and involving, instead of a commendable superabundance of catholicity, a reprehensible deficiency of conscientiousness. SECTION III. THE HARMONY BETWEEN A CATHOLIC SPIRIT AND COXSCIENTIOUS.VESS. The illustration of this has, to a certain extent, been un avoidably anticipated ; yet the remaining field is large, and must be Ulustrated with brevity. The terms in which our Lord expressed himself, in his charge to the twelve apostles, contained in the tenth chap tex of the gospel by Matthew, as well as in othex places, axe veiy lemaxkable, and not a httie staxthng :— ' Think not that I am come to send peace on eaxth : I came not CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 311 to send peace, but a swoid. Foi I am come to set a man at variance against his fathei, and the daughtei against hex mothei, and the daughtei-in-law against hei mothei- in-law: — and a man's foes shall be they of his own household,' (Matt. x. 34 — 36). With those to whom I now addiess myself at least, — (I might add with eveiy man of oidinaiy candoui,)— it is suiely unnecessaiy foi me to set about any pioof that the texms wexe not meant to expxess eithei design oi tendency, — the design of his coming and woik, oi the tendency of his doctrine, oi of the principles of his kingdom. At his incarnation, the angelic song which usheied him into the woild united ' gloiy to God in the highest' with 'peace on eaith, and good-will towaids men,' (Luke ii. 15). His eiiand into OUI woild was an errand of peace. He is the ' Prince of Peace.' His gospel is the ' good tidings of peace.' Thiough his mediation, God is the ' God of peace : ' — and the Holy Spixit is the ' Spirit of peace.' It is not of eithei design oi tendency that he speaks, but simply of consequences ; — and these consequences not imputable to his woik 01 to his woid, but solely to the paitial xecep- tion of his doctiine amongst men, and the collision thence arising between those who xeceived it and those who xeceived it not, — the lattei setting themselves in bittei hostility against the foimei; and the foimex, thxough the xemaining conuption of thefr heaits, not always letuining the hostiUty in the spfrit of theix Mastei, noi even always maintaining becoming agreement among themselves. The mode of expiession is one which em phatically conveys the idea of the certainty, the inevitable lealization, of the intimated xesults of the commencement and piogiess of the propagation of his gospel. They weie as suxe as if they had been included in the veiy design of his coming and commission. And, weie it 312 A C.-iTHOLIC SPIRIT necessaiy, it might be shown that it is not without paiallels. His language is of similai impoit in Luke xii. 49, 50 : 'I am come to send fiie on the eaxth : — and what wUl I if it be alxeady kindled ? But I have a bap tism to be baptized with ; and how am I stxaitened tUl it be accomplished ! ' Then there follow statements the same in substance, and quite as sfrong in expiession, as those just cited from Matthew. And these statements are exegetical of what he means by ' sending fire on the eaith,' — evidently the fiie of peisecution and discoid. When, accoiding to oui translation, he says legaiding this file — ' What will I if it be already kindled ? ' — some, letaining this veision of his woids, considei him as sup posing, 01 assuming, the fixe to have been ' alxeady kindled,' alluding to the violent heats and animosities which had been excited by his own ministxy, and the keenness of opposition which it had drawn upon himself and his disciples from the Pharisees and scribes, and thefr adherents ; and they intexpxet his question as equivalent to — ' Do I xegiet, seeing this fiie afready kindled, that I have been so open in my insteuctions, oi so shaxp in my xepxoofs ? ' — 01 — ' Do I, aftei seeing the commencement of such effects, and in anticipation of thefr continuance and extension, feel any inchnation to stop in my undei- taking, — to desist from my puipose ? ' — the foim of intei- logation being of couise undeistood as conveying moie stxongly than any othex a negative to the question. The whole subsequent context, howevei, lefeis, not to the past, 01 the piesent, but to ihe future, — to the effects which, in time to come, were to result from the fuU intioduction of the gospel dispensation. The woids, too, which imme diately foUow the question, aie by fai most naturaUy intexpieted as meaning that theie was an obstacle which lay in the way of the fulfilment of some desire which he CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 313 had expiessed — ' But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened tUl it be accomplished ! ' Now, OUI translation does not express a desire. ' What will I if it be alieady kindled ? ' axe teims which convey nothing whatevei that is explicit oi distinctly intelligible. Eendei the woids, as vaxious eminent cxitics have done — ' And what do I wish ? even (ox would) that it wexe alxeady kindled ! ' — -and aU is clear. By oui translation we aie left to supply the answei to the question fox oui selves, — to suppose what was in Christ's mind : — wheieas the othei lendeiing gives it expiession: — a desiie is uttexed, — ' even that the fixe, which he had come to send on eaxth, weie already kindled!' 'But' there lay an obstacle in the way of the immediate fulfilment of the desfre. He had ' a baptism to be baptized with.' He had yet to suffei. He had to be 'baptized with blood.' The vials of expiatory woe were yet to be poured on his self- devoted head. He must finish his work in death, ere his kingdom could be set up, and the general pro clamation of his gospel could commence. And for the sake of the ends which his baptism of suffering was to effect, his mind longed and pressed towards it. It was the longing of love to God and of love to men, — blended, as we are warranted by his language on other occasions to say, with a heait-appaUing anticipation of the 'houi and the powei of daikness.' The mysterious suffering — such in kind and in degiee as nevex had been endured before, as was never to be endured again, and as no one but himself was competent to sustain — was, in the prospect of it, overpowering to his holy human nature ; and yet the ends to be effected by it were so dear to piety and to benevolence, that the delay was as oppressively painful as the prospect. The import of his words mayperhaps, without presumption, be expressed in the foUowing paraphrase : — ¦ 2d 314 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT ' You imagine that, as your Messiah, I am come to restore the Jewish people to liberty and independence, and imme diately, as the result of the conquest and subjugation of their enemies, to establish on eaxth the peace of a tem- poial xeign. You axe widely mistaken. You quite mis apprehend the natuie of my kingdom. It is not of this woiid. And fiom its conteariety to the principles of this woiid, the erection of it will lesemble the kindling of a conflagiation. I foresee the opposition which inveteiate piejudice, and the enmity of the human heaxt, in Jew and Gentile, against my doctrine, wUl diaw from both upon my cause. I foresee the pexsecutions, in all theii variety and extent, which from these sources will arise in the first ages, — and, in later times, from the worldly- mindedness, the bigotry, the errors, and the false and unhallowed zeal, of my professed disciples. I foresee all the private dissensions and animosities to which the partial reception of my gospel will give rise, which will sever the bonds of intimacy and friendship, and desfroy domestic peace. I foresee all the dirisions, and heresies, and schisms, which will originate from the corruption of false professors, the ignorance of foolish men, the self- sufficiency of human pride, and the partial knowledge, and narrow prejudices, and remaining corruption, of even my true disciples, — all the ' perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds,' — all the bitter contentions kindled and kept alive by the mutual virulence of angry disputants ; — I have all these things fully before the eye of my mind : — and what do I wish ? Have I any satisfaction in the anticipation of such scenes, or in the principles from which they shall proceed ? Infinitely far from it ! But such is the gxandeur of the object which I have come into the world to accomplish ; so unspeakably important the knowledge of it to men ; so incalculably precious the CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 315 present and eternal blessings connected with its ftilfil- ment, — that I would the fire were even now kindled, seeing the kindhng of it is to attend the commencing propagation of the blessed and soul-saving txuth ! ^ But I must fixst be baptized vrith blood. I must fiist, by suf fering, ' finish the woxk given me to do.' This my hour is not yet come. When I anticipate its hoiiois, incon ceivable by any mind but my own, ' my soul is tioubled,' — ' Fathei, save me from this houi ! ' But when I think of the ends which my sufferings, feaxful as they axe des tined to be, are to accomphsh, I feel an axdent desixe and longing, such as oppiesses my spiiit even to pain, foi theix fuU accomplishment ! ' Of the evUs thus anticipated by the Sarioux, none of the least disteessing to his spiiit must have been the ani mosities foieseen amongst his own foUoweis. — And when I speak of these, let it be remembered, I mean, not the opposition between Christ and Antichrist, — although the sufferings to his chuxch axising from this source, so dieadful in thefr vaxiety and amount, weie of couise at the time piesent to his piospective vision, — but those animosities, moie especiaUy, that should be pioduced, by the xemaining evil passions of thefr coiiupt natuie, among the spfritual subjects of his own kingdom. There has too often prevailed a disposition, — and seldom, per haps, has it been stronger than in our own times, — to class antichristian errors among the forms of Christianity. But Antichrist cannot be Christ. The very designation implies the contrary. If evangelical protestants are right in regarding popery as the predicted system of antichris tian usurpation, or even as one among the several forms under which Antichrist should appear, — as the ' mystery of iniquity,' of which the elementary principles had be gun to ' work ' even in the days of the apostles, and 316 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT which was by and by to mature into all its hideous de formity, as the great antagonist power to Christ's spiritual reign, — then, surely, the further we keep ourselves from aU contact with it the better. With such a system all amalgamation must be pollution, and all acknowledgment of it, as within the pale of Christianity, a contradiction of the bible. That there are those connected with it who are better than thefr system, and who, if they lightly undei stood its natuie, would not be thexe, is xeadily gianted. Our business is to sound in thefr ears the solemn warning — ' Come out of her, my people ! ' The denunciations, in the divine word, against the system and its wUful abettors, are fearful. We must ' have no fellowship with the un fruitful works of darkness,' — no charity foi errors that are subversive of the fundamental principles of the gos pel, and of the kingdom of our Divfrie Lord, — no sym pathy with the sentimental hberahty which, by softening the odious features of the monster, -almost persuades it self to regard it with complacency. — Let me not be mis taken. I am far from meaning that we should have no toleration for it, or no good-will to its adherents. To leration ! I hate the word. It impUes a power or a right which nowhere has existence; and the man who tolerates, under the imagination that he possesses any such right, is only second in presumption to him who uses the imaginary right in actual intolerance and perse cution. No man has the right either to tolerate or not to tolerate another, in aught whatever which he may conscientiously think, or say, or do, in regard to what lies between him and his God — ^his religion. And as to good-will, it is due to all. We must wish well to every man. We have not ' the Spirit of Christ,' if we do not. But there is a charity which is the leveise of good-will. Such is the chaxity which makes light of destiuctive CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 317 errors, and which encourages those who hold them to fancy them less obnoxious to Heaven, and less perilous to themselves, than the woid of God represents them. — All that I mean is, that in speaking of a catholic spirit, it must not be forgotten that it has its Umits ; that the charity and forbearance which it involves have their ex- ti-emes. I speak of it as exercised amongst those who acknowledge one another as fellow-christians, — as em bracing (to use a former phrase) the circumference of Christianity, but not extending beyond it. The designa tion of EVANGELICAL is UOW tolerably well undeistood, as comprehending all who hold and advocate the doctrines of salvation by grace through faith in the merits of the righteousness and blood of a Divine Sariour, — a faith which ' worketh by love,' under the renewing influence oi the Holy Spirit. In the whole of this discussion, I have in view the various denominations into which those who hold these essential principles are divided. I need not, therefore, disguise, that from the pale of the Christianity within which the spfrit of catholic love is to be cherished, those must, of necessity, be excluded who hold and avow the principles of Sociniarusm. It is evident that the gospel must be something determinate. Doctrines that are at perfect antipodes, on the most essential points, cannot both be the gospel. If the principles which have just been mentioned be the gospel, — that cannot be the gospel too, which denies them all, and affiims their opposites ; which robs the blessed Eedeemer of his di vinity, and divests his death of its expiatory character; which makes heaven the reward of human virtue, instead of the gift of God to believers through the mediatorial merits of Christ; wliich denies the opposition of man's nature to God, and the consequent necessity of a dfrectly divine influence to his conversion. If the love which fellow- 2d2 318 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT christians are enjoined to bear to one another be love "for the truth's sake,' it is utterly absurd to understand a catholic spfrit as inclusive at once of the abettors of prin ciples so opposite and contradictory. If any set of opinions merit the designation of antichristian, they are such as these. And even among the denominations actually included, alas ! how much — how very much — has many a time mani fested itself of the spfrit of intolerance and uncharitableness ! — a spirit the very opposite of catholicity ! I trust a better day has been dawning of late upon the church of Christ, — and pray that it may brighten into a warm, and glorious, and fruitful noon. God grant that the volume of which I am now writing an unworthy portion may contribute to this happy result ! Were it necessary to cathohcity and union that these vaxious denominations should respectively abjure conscientiousness, it would of course be impossible for us to maintain a plea for them on any legitimate ground. Conscientiousness there must be ; and it must be first. It is every christian's primary duty. ' The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable.' Each must do the wiU of Christ to the utmost of his knowledge and abUity; and each must connect himself with the body in which he is conscientiously satisfied theie is the closest adheience to that wUl. And yet, while we insist upon conscientiousness, we do plead foi catho licity and union. Let us see, then, on what principles the two aie compatible. To assist us in airiving at a just conclusion on this point, it may be well foi us to glance at the state of things in what Paul calls ' the beginning of the gospel.' Observe, then, — 1. The gospel was fitted to unite — and it did unite — CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 319 the believers of it, and that extensively, in holy and happy concord. — Of those in Jeiusalem it is said (Acts iv. 82) — 'The multitude of them that believed weie of one heart and of one soul! The subduing powex of ' the truth as it is in Jesus' had brought a vast number into a state of reconciliation to God ; and these, in being recon cUed unto God, had become one with each other. In his inteicessoxy prayer, shortly before his last sufferings, Jesus had pleaded for as many as should ' believe on him through the word of his apostles,' that ' they all might be one in Him and in the Father, even as He and the Father were one — that the world might believe' (that is, might have a conrincing evidence inducing the belief) ' that the Father had sent him, ' (John xvu. 20, 2 1 ) . In the church at Jeru salem there was a beautiful exemplification of the fulfil ment of this prayer. There was a ' multitude' of them that beUeved. What a variety there must have been amongst them of previous character, and temper, and disposition, and habit ! — how many who before had ' lived in malice, and envy, hateful, and hating one another ! ' Yet here they axe — all ' of one heait and of one soul ' — hke one body, of which all the membeis are vivified by one prin ciple of life, and legulated by one piesiding inteUigent spirit. The piophetic language of Isaiah we axe accus tomed to lefei to a time stUl futuxe ; and no doubt its complete accompUshment is yet to come : — but even then ' the wolf dwelt with the lamb.' ' Fox some ages,' says Eobext Hall, ' the object of that pxayei was realised, in the harmony which prevaUed among christians, whose rehgion was a bond of union more steict and tender than the ties of consanguinity; and with the appeUation of brethren, they associated aU the sentiments of endearment that relation implied. To see men of the most contrary character and habits, the leamed and the rude, the most 320 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT polished and the most uncultivated, the inhabitants of countries alienated from one another by institutions the most repugnant, and by contests the most violent, foxget- ting theix ancient animosity, blending into one mass, at the command of a peison whom they had nevei seen, and who had ceased to be an inhabitant of this woild, was an astonishing spectacle. Such a sudden assimUation of the most discoidant matexials, such love issuing from heaxts natuxally selfish, and giving bfrth to a new lace and piogeny, could be ascribed to nothing but a divine inteiposition. It was an experimental proof of the com mencement of that kingdom of God, that celestial eco nomy, by which the powexs of the futuxe woild are imparted to the present.'* The bond of union is mentioned in the veiy statement of the fact : — ' The multitude of them that believed weie of one heaxt and of one soul.' It was the ' one faith.' They wexe united by the belief, appxeciation, and avowal of common principles ;¦ — by a common sense of sin and guUt, of unwoithiness and obhgation to meicy ; — by the concentiation of thefr affections on a common object of attachment, whose ' name was,' to each and to all of them, ' as ointment pouied foith;' — by subjection to one Master ; — by similarity of character, the same faith in spiring the same dispositions ; — by common objects of desire and pursuit, such as all might obtain and enjoy, not only without interference and without jealousy, but with reciprocal augmentation of each other's acquisitions; — by a common feeling of dependence and of obligation, and the united expression of it at the throne of a com mon Father;— and by common dangers, common pri vileges, common sufferings, common honours, and com- * Terms of Communion — Works, vol. ii. p. 84. CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 321 mon hopes. — O ! what a blessed and glorious thing would it have been, had the lovely picture of union continued to be a faithful portraiture of the church in later times I ' Milhons of persons, with every conceivable variety of opinions, tempers, habits, and interests, at tached to every class of society, filling all sorts of situa tions, speaking different languages, and inhabiting widely separated countries, all united in brotherly love, hving to promote the glory of God, in doing the greatest possible good to each other and to the world : — that is what the church should be.'* But we have to notice — 2. There did not long continue perfect unanimity. — Differences arose; and these diversities of sentiment in terfered vrith the cordiality of love. The union for which our Lord prayed was principally union of heart. To this, vrithout doubt, oneness of sentiment contributes ; but coincidence in every minute point, whether of doctrine or of duty, is fax from being indispensable to its main tenance. To the fact of diffeiences even among the beheveis in the apostohc chuiches, we find vaiious xe- ferences in the epistles addressed to them. To two of these I may advert a httle, as serving materially to illustrate our subject. The first of the two is — Phil. iii. 1 5, 1 6 : — ' Let us, there fore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded ; and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.' On this passage it is necessaxy to lemaik, that ' otherwise minded' cannot possibly mean otheiwise minded than he had just expiessed ; foi the sentiments, and desiies, and aims, which he had uttered in the pie- * The Unity of the Church — A Tract for the Times, &c. By Baptist Wriothesley Noel, M.A. 322 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT vious veises as his own, weie then, and are stUl, essential to any one's being a chiistian. All that is meant, ox can be meant, is, that U' on any paxticulax points, while ' thus minded' in what was essential to theii christian chaiactei, they did not see and feel in peifect haimony, they might look fox dirine iUumination to bxing them to agieement. "The original woid lendeied 'minded' is one which some times lelates to disposition, and sometimes to opitiion oi sentiment ; — and in the piesent passage it occuis twice, having, in the fiist of its occuxxences, the foxmei of these senses (chiefly at least), and in the second the lattei. In the fiist, it does not lefei to sentiment, oi to anything of which, with piopiiety, he could speak of God's ' revealing it to them.' Eespeoting all to whom he is writing, (all, at any rate, whom he includes undei the epithet of 'per fect!) he must be undeistood as assuming thefr being ' minded' oi disposed as he had just described himself to be ; — and then he pioceeds to say — ' If in anything' — in legaid to any paxticulax opinion ox riew of the mind and wiU of the Loid, — ' ye be still, in any degxee, of various minds, God vrill xeveal even this unto you ;' — that is, — if you entei fully into the spiiit of what I have now been saying, — if you feel and act as I have now been describ ing, — you may look with confidence foi the illuminating Spiiit of God, to bxing you, by his gxacious aid, to ' see eye to eye' on any such points of diveise judgment. — And it is erident from the passage, that the supposed diffeiences, so far as they existed, weie such as might have been expected to arise from their different degrees of advancement in divine knowledge, as well as from varieties in the strength of thefr faith, and in their natural grasp of mind : — ' Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.'" CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 323 The next passage is one in which there is not a mere xefexence to existing diffeiences, but a statement of the principles on which, notwithstanding theix existence, love and haimony weie to be maintained. It consists of the fouiteenth and pait of the fifteenth chaptei of the epistle to the Eomans; to which the leadei must be xefened, the passage being too long fox full inseition here. — " The discussion in it lespects the feelings to be lecipiocaUy cherished, and the conduct to be lecipiocally maintained, between two classes of fellow-christians, whom the wiitei xepeatedly designates the weak and the strong. These designations had immediate xefeience to the sentiments held, and the piactice foUowed, with legaxd to the Mosaic ceiemonial, and moxe especially its distinctions of meats and of days. The ' strong! I appiehend, consisted of those GentUe conveits to the faith of Chiist, who knew and felt thefr entfre independence of that ' yoke of bond age ;' and, along vrith them, of those amongst the Jewish conveits to the same faith, who, peiceiring in his finished woik the fulfilment of the typical and shadowy impoit of the law, weie satisfied of theii libeity, so fai as thefr own consciences weie concerned, to abstain from the fuithei obseivance of its ritual institutions and distinctions ; its authority having viituaUy ceased, and its tempoxary ox dinances haring been abiogated, by the anival of the ' good things that were to come,' and the establishment of the more spiiitual dispensation of the ' bettex covenant.' — The ' weak! on the othex hand, weie those disciples who (to use the same apostle's woids on a somewhat diffeient but analogous subject) ' had not this knowledge ;' who did not cleaily see the implied and vfrtual abro gation, and who consequently stUl felt thefr consciences bound by the dirine authority — in thefr apprehension un repealed — of the ancient economy. That the apostle felt 324 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT his own freedom, seems to me as clear as it is possible for words to make it, from what he says in the fourteenth verse of the fourteenth chapter — ' I know and am per suaded, by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him that esteemeth anything to be un clean, to him it is unclean :' — and it is evidentiy on this ground that, in the beginning of the fifteenth chapter, he classes himself with the strong — ' We, then, that are strong, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.' It would indeed discover an extraordinary inconsideration of the whole character of this writer, — even apart from his inspiration, by which what he says is invested with a higher sanction than his own, — to imagine him charac terising as weakness, even the strictest and most scrupu lous adherence to aught that divine authority xendeied obhgatoiy ; and as strength, the pxesumption that daxed to judge foi itself, and to tieat that authority, in any one point, with the lightness of neglect. No inspfred man could do so ; and least of all inspfred men, the apostle of the GentUes." . . " The apostle's object, in the whole context, is to lay down, between the two paities, the teims of mutual foibeaxance, and of conscientious and affectionate fellowship. The strong are authoritatively, though in the spirit of love, charged not to despise the weak ; and, vrith the same authority and the same love, the weak are admonished not to judge the strong. The former are warned against contempt; the lattei against censoiiousness : — the foxmei against self'Sufficiency ; the latter against a haish and hasty anticipation of the judg ment of the Loid : — and on the single giound of a mutual admission of each othei's conscientiousness in theii le spective views and pxactices, they are both enjoined to maintain the cordiality of christian communion : — ' Let eveiy man be fuUy peisuaded in his own mind.' " . , CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 325 " He commands the two paities to ' receive one another! — the stiong the weak, and the weak the stiong. The expiession, beyond all reasonable question, must be in- teipieted as meaning (not, it may be, exclusively, but fixst and chiefly) acknowledging and associating with one anothex, as biethien in Christ, — holding togethei the communion of love in the chuich of the hving God, as feUow-disciples of the same Divine Mastei and Loid. And the giound is most distinctly specified on which this mutual lecognition and feUowship wexe to pxoceed. It is contained in the same veise vrith the command it self — 'Eeceive ye one anothei, as Christ also received us.' It was evidently undei the conviction of Christ's having xeceived both, that they wexe to ' xeceive one an othex." * — The same thing appeals from the teims of chap. xiv. 3 : ' Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not ; and let not him who eateth not judge him that eateth : for God hath received him.' 3. Such being the state of things in apostolic times, and such the principles laid down by apostolic authority for xegulating the lecipiocal feelings and conduct of dif fering fellow-christians then, — oux next inquiiy must be, how fai these principles admit of application to the dif feiences existing among fellow-christians now. — And suiely it cannot admit of a doubt, that these principles aie not to be lesteicted in theii application to the one case which originally occasioned thefr statement and in culcation. As leasonably might we legaid injunctions as to discipline, when they happen to relate to any one * The passages marked between inverted commas are fi-om a Sermon on ' The Principles of Christian Communion,' not long since published by the author ; and the publication of which has somewhat embarrassed and fettered him, in so soon discussing anew topics so closely analogous to those there illustrated. 2e 326 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT paiticulai desciiption of offence, as admitting of applica tion only to offences of piecisely the same kind : the com mand, foi instance, in 1 Coi. v. to excommunicate the incestuous peison, as waxianting, so fai as that pait of scriptuie goes, the excommunication of no otheis than those who have been guilty of incest. And in that case, how limited would be the use which we could make of the New Testament sciiptuxes as the diiectoiy of oui con duct ! How little of ' the things Avhich were wiitten aforetime' could then be said with tmth to have been ' wiitten fox oux learning ! ' 'It cannot be denied,' says Mi Hall, ' that the passages we have adduced' (the same as those on which we axe now commenting) ' contain an apostolic canon foi the regulation of the conduct of such chiistians as agree in fundamentals, while they diffex on points of suboidinate impoitance. By this canon, they are commanded to exercise a reciprocal toleration and indulgence, and on no account to proceed to an open rupture.'* We have seen, then, that there must be mutual love, — social charity, — the communion of saints, — the xeception of fellow-christians by fellow-christians, ' as Chiist has le ceived them all ;' and we have seen the leasons why this love, this charity, this fellowship, should embiace the whole community of the faithfril, — the entire family of God. We have seen at the same time, that theie must be individual conscientiousness, — a desiie, on the pait of eveiy chris tian, pexsonally, to know his Mastei's will, and in legaxd to evexy pait of it, when known, a sacred detexmination, to the full extent of his oppoxtunity and ability, to do it. Now, were all chxistians of one mind xespecting all points of sentiment and of duty, theie would be no difficulty. This * Terms of Communion — Works, vol. ii. page 91. CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 327 vexy identity would of course contribute to love and union ; — such being its natural tendency. But it is otherwise. And, seeing there was to arise diversity of views among christians of later ages, we can hardly help regarding it as a providential and happy circumstance, that such differences arose in eailiei times, even in the days of the apostles themselves ; because, in consequence of this, we have principles laid down lelative to the fellowship of believeis in these circumstances, such as otherwise we might not have possessed, and without which we might have felt ourselves in an embarrassing dilemma. Nor is this the only instance in which the revelation of the mind and will of our exalted Lord has arisen, under his over ruling proridence, out of particular occurrences in the early history of his church. The principle, then, on which fellow-christians, entertaining diffeient sentiments on points which do not affect the foundation-tiuths of chiistianity, ought to cherish a catholic spirit, and main tain fiee communion with one anothei, is piecisely that on which Paul enjoins the maintenance of communion between the two paities — the stiong and the weak — in the church at Eome. It is simply this, — the mutual conces sion amongst them of the claim of conscientiousness. It is not that the weak should conform to the practices of the strong, or the strong to those of the weak ; — it is not that any one, of either party, should surrender his judg ment to another, — that the strong should aUow 'his liberty to be judged by another man's conscience,' — or that the weak should sunender their conscientious scruples to what appeared to them the unwarranted hberties of the strong : — it is, that ' every man should be fully persuaded in his own mind! In every case it was necessaxy that thexe should be this ' full peisuasion ; ' else the paiticulai case would have come undex the condemnation involved 328 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT in the apostolic maxim— ' Whatsoever is not of faith' (that is, whatsoever is not done from conriction— from a conscience satisfied of duty) ' is sin.' It is not, then, as formerly observed, the principle — or rather, I should say, the no-principle — of indifference, that the apostle recom mends, — the principle, or the no-princijUe, that conforms itself to cfrcumstances, and acts in the one way or in the other, as expediency may suggest. For this kind of lati- tudinarian laxity, indeed, the example of the apostle Paul himself has sometimes been cited ; or at least his words have been employed to express it. It is only ' becoming all things to all men! But never was example more mis understood. Paul was not the man thus to make light of any part of his Divine Master's wiU. He had a higher idea of the wisdom of that Master, than for one moment to harbour the fancy that his will could ever, in one jot or tittle, be at variance with his glory, or that, in any case whatever, it should be needful to deviate from his will in order to the advancement of any one of his ends. ' That he might, by all means, save sonie,' was the benevolent motive by which he was influenced in ' becoming all things to all men;' — 'to the Jew becoming as a Jew, that he might gain the Jews ; — to them that were without law as without law, that he might gain them that were without law, — to them that were under the law as under the law, that he might gain them that were under the law.' But not even to ' gain' a sinner to God, — not even to save a soul, — would he have departed from the minutest of his Lord's commands, — ^from any one point which his autho rity had rendered obligatory. BLe would not, in the least any more than in the greatest, ' have done evU that good might come.' In another place, he makes, in reference to this principle, the strongest supposition possible, — the supposition, namely, of the glory of God being pro- CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 329 moted by a deviation, on the part of any of his seivants, from truth ; and, even on that supposition, (a supposition only, made for the sake of argument,) he distinctly and indignantly disowns it : 'If the truth of God hath more abounded, through my lie, unto his glory, why am I yet judged as a sinnei? and not lathei (as we be slandei- ously reported, and as some affiim that we say). Let us do evil that good may come ? whose condemnation is just,' (Eom. in. 7, 8). And such seems the meaning of his paienthetic quahfication, — thiown in evidentiy foi the puipose of pieventing misappiehension, — ' being not without law to God, but undei the law to Christ.' The point to which he specially lefeis in the passage, is the veiy same as that which foimed the apple of discoid be tween the weak and the sfrong among the believeis at Eome. The ceiemonial of Judaism consisted of Divine institutes. During the whole period of that dispensa tion, the authority of God had been in them. They were not mattexs of indiffeience. The same God by whom they had been instituted had the sole right authoritatively to abrogate them. And he had the right to do that when and how he pleased. He might have issued an edict, immediately on his having ascended on high and pxe sented the blood of his sacrifice within the vail, pxo- nouncing all faxthex confoimity to them inadmissible and sinful. Oi, having virtually abolished them in 'finishing the woxk given him to do,' he might peimit thefr actual abolition to go on gradually, tolerating thefr obseivance, even among beheveis in him, fox a season, in accommo dation to the strength of Jewish piejudice; — while, at the same time, those who had a cleax discernment of the na tuie of the old and the new covenants, — of the foimer as infroductoiy to the lattei, and of the lattei as the con summation of the designs of the foimei, — weie aUowed to 2 E 2 330 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT legaxd themselves as leleased from the obligation to theii obseivance, but at libeity to confoim to them, in those cases in which theix abstinence would have shocked the piejudices, and so alienated the heaits and turned away the eais, of thefr countiymen. Such appeals to have been, in point of fact, the Divine anangement. The system was ' decaying — waxing old — and leady to vanish away.' The epistle to the Hebiews explained the prin ciples 01 gxounds of its abohtion ; — and the destxuction of the temple wound it finally up, and brought it to a close, by lendeiing its fuithei maintenance impracticable. The state of things, theiefoie, between the death of Chiist and the razing of the temple, was evidently quite pecuhax, and one of which the like can nevex occux again. When any one shall have succeeded in showing that the insti tutes of New Covenant celebiation are in the same pie dicament with the Jewish duiing that period, he may then make out a good case foi himself in applying to them the maxim, and acting upon it, of ' becoming all things to all men ;' — following a system of univeisal pliancy, and confoiming to whatevex by cfrcumstances may be xendeied, in his judgment, expedient foi the time. But this can nevei be ; and foi such pliancy and confoimity it wUl be in vain that any sanction is sought in the New Testament. Noi is thexe any necessity fox it, in oxdei to the spirit, 01 even, in no inconsiderable extent, to the practice, of chiistian union. Conscientiousness, on the one hand, binds us to do whatevei, from oiu- investigation of the scriptures, we see clearly to be the mind of Chxist. A catholic spirit, on the othex, obliges us to cheiish chris tian love towaids aU that aie his, — aU that believe in his name. The question, thexefoie, comes to be — Is it neces saiy to OUI acknowledging any as his, — as believexs in his name, — that in evexy point, of sentiment and of pxactice. CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 331 they think and act exactly as we do ? And this again comes to much the same thing vrith the question, whethei we should estimate chaiactei by the action, oi by the principle. It is manifest, that he who does not see as we see, and yet acts as we act, violates principle, — the principle of subjection and obedience; whUe he who, differing from us in his conviction of what the wUl of Chiist lequiies, acts accoiding to his conviction, is one with us in the principle, while the discrepance between us is only in the outwaid act. Suiely we axe not to give the piefeience to him who is right in action but a xebel in pxinciple, and leject him who is right in the principle, though, accoiding to oui views, wiong in the act. " The case is simple. We say we aie conscientious ; and we insist upon having ciedit foi it. Have we, then, any peculiai right to claim foi ouiselves that which we with hold fi-om othexs ?" Have we a monopoly of conscien tiousness ? Our fellow-christians assure us they are con scientious : — what better title have we to be beUeved by them, than they have to be believed by us ? It is veiy obvious, that foi a fellow-chiistian, so differing from us in judgment, to act as we do — woiUd be sin. The out waid act might be right; but in him, with his convictions, theie would be, in the doing of it, a violation of con science, the piinciple and spiiit of disobedience. The act might thus be right, but the doei of it wrong. Now, suiely it would be an extiaoidinaiy perveision of sound principle, weie we willing to hold feUowship with the man whom, in his confoiming to om- practice, we knew to be acting in opposition to his convictions of Chiist's will, while we declined it with him who could not, fox the sake of such confoimity, act othexwise than his conscience dictated. ' To mistake the meaning of a statute,' says an authority moie than once already cited, 'is one thing ; 332 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT not to levexence the legislatoi, anothei.'* In the case supposed, we should be lefusing feUowship with him who falls into the mistake, and holding it with him who fails in the leveience. Would this be right? But, it may be said, we cannot search the heait. We are not competent to judge of men's principles and mo tives. We must be content to foim oui judgments of them from theii actions. If they act diffeiently from what we conceive the will of Chxist to lequiie, we must con sidei them as, in so acting, doing what is sinful. It does not belong to us to look fuithei. — Does it not? Then aie we in a haid dilemma. Eeasoning on the same principle, they must, of com-se, come to the same conclu sion with legaid to us. And then, — faieweU charity ! You aie pexfectly conscious, you tell me, that you aie siuceie and upright in youi desiie to know the mind of Chxist, and in your inqufries aftei it; and, theiefoie, you must regard the conclusions to which anothei has come that are diffeient fr-om youis, as arising from the biassing influence of some predisposition against the tiuth. Well : suppose the othei declaxes himself to have the veiy same consciousness of integrity, must not he think the same of the conclusions to which you have come? Suppose it admitted, that there can be no such thing as perfectly innocent error. Is it safe, — nay, is it consistent with the self-diffidence and humiUty of the chiistian chaxactei, — to assume oui own infallibility — not oui own exclusive conscientiousness meiely — but the absolute impossibility of the eiiox lying with us ; as if we, of all chxistians on eaxth, wexe altogethex beyond the leach of any peiveiting or biassing influence ? Do not becoming disfrust of ourselves, and becoming chaxity fox othexs, unite in * Robert Hall— Terms of Communion. CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 33S lecommending a different principle on which to legulate OUX feehngs and oux conduct towaids oui feUow-chiis- tians ? Is there no allowance to be made fox the vaxieties, gieat as they are, even in mental peispicacity and rigoux, and none fox the powex of eaily habits and associations, — where the sincerity of the desfre to know and to follow the mind of Christ may be equal ? Is forbearance to be utterly forsworn, and ranked among sins against Christ? Are we to confine to the one special case to which it was originally applied, the apostle's indignant and testing question — 'Who art thou that judgest another man's servant ? ' If we are — then, indeed, is there no help for us. Divi sion, and subdirision, and sub-subdivision must go on ad infinitum, and at every step in the spirit of ' all un charitableness.' If you say, ' That is no fault of ours ; every man must think and act for himself;' — I grant you your position. AU I want is, that you do not insist on thinking and acting for others as well as for yourselves ; — that you do not look upon others as owing a kind of debt of submission to your superior judgment, taking them by the throat, and saying, ' Pay me that thou owest,' — and because you cannot make good the debt at law, so as to ' cast them into prison till it is paid,' disowning and proscribing them, and shutting them out from your society and your christian feUowship, because they refuse to ac knowledge the debt, and to aUow their judgments to rank as creditors of yours. This is the evU : — your forgetting that you hold no position towards others which they have not the same titie to assume towards you. If, indeed, perfect unanimity is to be assumed as the only admissible basis of christian communion, " where are the two indi viduals to be found, who, if they continued to exercise fi-eedom of thought, and, in doing so, did not take special 334 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT caie to tie theii tongues, and keep thefr thoughts to them selves, could long maintain consistent fellowship ? Nay, we might go fuither, and ask — Where is the man who could long be in communion with himself ? " His present self, at least, on every even the smallest alteration in his views, must repudiate his former self, as one vrith whom, notwithstanding his equally conscious integrity then as now, he could have no fellowship, were it possible for him to be of the two minds at once. His baptist self must excommunicate his peedobaptist self; his congre gational self must hold back the hand of fellowship from his presbyterian self! And yet, upon such changes oc curring, he could not deny his having before been a chris tian. So that, it is his present chiistian self refusing com munion with his foxmei chiistian self! If you stUl piess upon me the question — How axe we to know that a man who diffexs fi-om us, and whom we beheve to be in eiioi, is conscientious ? I answei at once — Just in the same way in which he is to know that you aie conscientious. " Not only ought we, in our senti ments of others, to be guided by the charity which think eth no evU, — ^which hopeth all things, and beiieveth all things, — there is, besides, a general principle, in con stant use on ordinary occasions — occasions of every-day occurrence, of which the application here is of first-rate consequence. How do we judge of the motives by which, in doing any particular deed, a man has been actuated ? We look to his general character. If, in the course of his daUy conduct, — in aU the variety of his transactions, and in aU the situations in which he is placed, — we see a man discovering the operation of principle, the influence of a tender conscience, and of a wish to know and to do his duty, — this, his general character, becomes a fair criterion by which to CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 335 test his motives in any single step he may have taken, of which we are disposed to question the propriety. In such a case, whatever be our judgment of the step itself, we take the general as the criterion of the paxticulax — the many, as supplying the xule fox the one — the chax actei, as the standaid foi the action. On the same prin ciple, then, (a manifestly natural and leasonable one,) when we' see a fellow-christian in earnest in his inquiries aftei his Mastei's will, — seaiching the scriptuies, seeking divine diiection, discovering an evident desfre to know what is right, and to the extent of his knowledge faith fully doing it, — we aie then wananted, nay, moie than waiianted, we aie bound to conclude, that the same con scientiousness has also, and equally, been in exeicise in legaid to those points on which he has anived at diffei ent conclusions fi-om oui own. We may marvel at those conclusions, — maivel gieatly at his not seeing what to us appeals so clear But we must not foxget, that his light to wondei is the same as ouis. The effect on both sides ought to be, — instead of pioud and indignant despite of each othei's judgments, the exexcise of self-diffident humble-mindedness, and the cultivation of lecipiocal chaxity. It is erident, howevex, that fox such charity theie can be no giound, unless there exist, on both sides, the conriction of each othei's conscientiousness ; that is, of an honest and earnest desiie to know and to do the Loid's wUl. Wheie a piofessed believei discoveis no such desfre, but, instead of inqufring foi himself in serious earnest, tieats the subjects of inquiiy with lightness, — turns into ridicule the conscientious doubts and question ing sciuples of otheis, and appears to feel himself at liberty to do the one thing, or the other, or neither, as expediency or his own caprice may dictate ; — this, I con fess, is a state of mind so very different from what the 336 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT bible requires in the subjects of Jesus, tbat I should have much more satisfaction and comfort in fellowship with one who, as the result of serious investigation, differed from me, than with him who, as the result of no investi gation, agreed vrith me, or was ready to act with me in whichsoever way I might prefer. I should say — Let me have the hand of the conscientiously zealous, if not fierce, conceited, and dogmatical opponent, rather than that of the accommodating indifferentist, — the man of India- rubber conscience, — the Mr Phable, — who keeps his mind easy, — and who can ' please all men in all things' to an extent which the apostle of the GentUes, instead of ap proving, would have indignantly disowned and repre hended. The man of aU principles is a man of none. I feel myself more one, in true christian affection, with the honest dissentient, than with the indifferent any -thing - you-please professor. The ground taken by Paul (for I must keep that case before my reader's mind) to justify and enjoin the christian fellowship of those who differed in principle as to the obligation of Jewish institutes, was, that the observance or non-observance of particular days, and the abstinence from or the free use of certain meats, was, in either case, ' to the Lord : ' — ' He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord ; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not re gaid it. He that eateth, eateth to the Loid, foi he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Loid he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.' The meaning evi dently is, that the principle from which the act is done in the one case, and is not done in the othei, is the same. In eithei case, it is ' to the Lord! — from a conriction of his authority, and vrith an eye to his glory. On the sup position, then, that there may be the same conscientious sincerity in the differences that separate true christians CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 337 from one another's feUowship now, — (and what christian can have the organ of self-esteem so largely developed as to question it ?) — then, are we not entitled, on the very same principle, to say — He that presenteth his child for baptism presenteth it unto the Lord ; and he that pre senteth not his chUd for baptism, to the Lord he doth not piesent it ?-^he who submitteth to piesbyterian govern ment in the chuich, to the Loid he so submitteth, foi he giveth God thanks ; and he who submitteth not, to the Lord he submitteth not, and giveth God thanks ? Assum ing that, with regard to paedobaptism, and with regard to church- government, there may be differences of senti ment as really conscientious as there were respecting the days and meats of Judaism ; then, although I do not plead for a perfect parallelism between the cases com pared, I do maintain such a parallelism in the principles by which, in the different cases, the parties are actuated. And it is on this ground that the apostle proceeds in his admonitions to the strong not to despise the weak, and to the weak not to judge the strong : — ' Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.' Here, then, is the principle that satisfactorily reconciles conscientiousness and catholicity. It only lequiies some little diffidence of self, and some little confidence in otheis ; — a portion of humUity, and a poition of charity. We must not sacrifice conscience,— but must keep it ' void of offence,' by ' following the Loid fully.' Neithei must we riolate charity, by either contempt or censo- riousness ; — but, claiming credit ourselves for ' sim plicity and godly sincerity,' apply, in our judgment of others, the principle of the ' royal law' — ' Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.' I should trench on the prorinces of other conteibutors to this volume, were I to enter into the discussion of the 2f 338 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT various ways in which chiistian union, — the union which the range of a catholic spirit embraces, — may and ought to be practically maintained and exhibited. It is mani fest, that it must not be a dead inoperative principle, — a mere sentiment,- — a state of mind and heart, — produc tive of no practical results. Wherever the catholic spirit exists in its genuine character and legitimate amplitude and steength, it will display itself in admitting and court ing the society of fellow-believers, without distinction of outward denomination; — the intercourse of personal com- pianionship, and fiiendship, and fire-side association, along with the exercises of christian converse and social communion with God; and the intercourse, too, still private though somewhat more enlarged, of those spfritual coteries, to which our forefathers gave the appropriate designation oi fellowship-meetings. It will display itself still further in combination for purposes of christian benevolence, and in co-operation for promoting their accomplishment, in every accessible way that does not teench upon conscientiousness, or demand any sacrifice of principle. And can any satisfactory reason be assigned, why it should not display itself in the more extended ' communion of saints,' as exemplified in the more public ordinances of divine appointment and christian celebra tion ; and above all, in the simple but delightful feast of love — the Lord's Supper ? In what capacity is it that we take our places there ? Is it as fellow-presbyterians, or fellow-congregationalists, or fellow-baptists, or fellow- jjsedobaptists ? Is it not rather as fellow-believers, — fellow-disciples , — -fellow -christians ? If a presbyterian and a congregationalist, or a baptist and a psedobaptist, object to sitting down with each other at the table of the Lord, — one of two inferences must follow : — either they must, on account of their difference of sentiment as to the CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 339 government or rites of the chm-ch, question each other's Christianity; — or it must be, not as believers — disciples — christians, but as presbyterians oi congregationalists, baptists 01 peedobaptists, that they, respectively, considei themselves as entitled to a seat at the feast ! — ^And is theie any one bearing the name of Jesus now to be found, who holds and wUl defend so antisciiptuial and nanow- minded a position ? Let it be remembered, reader, it is not our table, — it is the Lord's table ; — and shall we, then, consider ourselves as entitled to shut the door of admission to it against any whom, there is every reason to believe, the Dirine Master of the feast would himself receive ? Is there no presumption in this ? It is not a presbyterian table, or an itidependent table ; it is a chris tian table. And ought not all, then, who axe ' of one heart and one soul' in regard to the essential articles of evangelical truth, and who give evidence of thefr attach ment to these blessed truths by ' a conversation as it becometh the gospel of Christ,' — to welcome one another to a joint participation of the symbols of the same broken body and the same shed blood, which are the objects of their common faith, the ground of thefr common hope, the charter of thefr common freedom, and the spring of thefr common holiness and their common joy? And although it is a feast only for earth, — designed, while his people are here, to keep them in mind of that best friend, whom alas! they are so prone to foxget, and to be ob served by the chuxch below only ' till He come ; ' yet the blessedness of heaven is also set foxth undei the image of a feast : — we aie to ' sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God:' — and suiely theie is something veiy inconsistent and anomalous in oui de clining to sit togethei at the feast below with those whom we expect to be our feUow-guests, loring and loved, at 340 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT the feast above ! I cannot understand this. I can neither comprehend the principle, nor bring any one sympathy of my heart into unison with the feehng of it. If I see a feUow-believer who happens to be a presbyterian, mani festing in his hfe a larger amount of the exalted moral exceUences and the lovely beauties of the christian cha racter, than another fellow-beUever who is an independent, — I must, if my sentiments and feelings are in anything like harmony with the dictates of the word of God, expe rience a conespondingly larger amount of the love of com placency towards the one than towards the other. The character must stand higher in my estimation, and lie closer to my heart- And of what kind, then, must that principle be, — how am I to characterise, how am I to designate it, — according to which I am to be precluded from giving a place beside me at the christian feast to the more worthy, while I am bound to give it to the less worthy, of my brotherly affection ? — bound to leceive him who is less a christian because he is an independent, and bound to exclude him who is more a christian because he is a piesbyterian ! Is theie anything like this in all the bible ? ' I teow not.' And I do lejoice to think of the gTeat advance that has, of late yeais, been made, amongst the diffeient denominations of fellow-christians, in enlargement of heaxt, and xecipiocal libeiality and IrindUness of feeling. The time has been, when, with some of the ' most steictest sects of oui lehgion,' to have heaid a seimon, how sound soevei, beyond the pale of theix own body, ox to have joined in the act of public woiship with any who could not, without a lisp, pionounce theii shibboleth, — would have been numbeied among cognisable and punishable offences. That time has hap pily passed away. And I cannot but indulge the pei suasion, that the same expansion of mind and heait which CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 341 has blotted from the catalogue of indictable cximes •pro miscuous hearing, and promiscuous prayer and praise, will speedily exase from the same catalogue the sin oipro miscuous communion at the table of the Lord. Let it be obseived, howevei, that when I speak oi pro miscuous communion, I use the teim vrithin a ceitain limit. I object to exclusively piesbyterian oi exclusively congiegational communion, — but it must still be christian communion. It must not be the communion of the clean and the unclean, — ' of righteousness with unrighteous ness, of light with daikness, of Chiist with Belial, of the temple of God with idols,' — in one woid, of the chuich with the woild. — I am not about to entei on the subject of purity of chuich-fellowship. I wish only, from theii close connexion with my piesent subject, to give brief expiession to ceitain views which I long to see lealised, and the leahzation of which depends, mainly if not exclu sively, on the point to which I have just adveited. I cannot allow myself foi a moment to suppose, — conscious to myself as I am of the most fraternal and libeial feel ings towaids my fellow-chiistians of all denominations, — that any xemaik I am about to make can, to any one of them, give the slightest umbxage oi offence. What I say is meant in love, — and in love, I cannot doubt, it will be leceived. It is, indeed, in fuU accoidance with the avowed sentiments of othei esteemed feUow- seivants of Christ in diffeient communions ; sentiments, the spread of which, with thefr consistent reduction to piactice, will be the basis of a union of chuiches as extensive and satisfactoiy as the union of indiriduals. — " The chuxch of the liring God consists of legenexate men. A caxnal man in a spiiitual church is camal stUl : a spiritual man in a coi iupt chuich is spfritual stUl. He is the citizen of Zion — not who dwells within the stone walls of any eaithly 2f2 342 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT sanctuaxy, — not who dweUs with any sect ox party hexe, — but who ' dwelleth in God, and God in him.' AU such men axe actuaUy one. In heaven, aU such men aie visibly one ; — and it would be best fox the woxld, if even on eaxth all such men weie ostensibly as weU as vfrtually one. — The union fox which the Loid Jesus piayed, was a union of spiritual men, — a union not of meie piofessois, but of his tiue disciples, — a union in the Lord — ' in us.' Any othei union is little woith. — A union of piofessois with piofessois, — of one dead chm-ch vrith anothex dead chuich, — is but a filhng of the chainel-house, a heaping of the compost pile. A union of dead piofessois with living saints, this union of life and death, is but to poui the gieen and putiid watex of the stagnant pool into the living spring. It is not to giaft new blanches into the goodly vine, but to bandage on dead boughs that will but deform it. It is not to gathei new wheat into the gainei, but to blend the wheat and chaff again togethei. It is not to gathei new sheep into the fold, but it is to bonow the shepheid's biand, and impiint it on the dogs and wolves, and call them sheep. The identifying of chiis- tened pagans with the peculiai people, has done much dishonom to the Eedeemei, has deluded many souls, and made it much moxe difficult fox the chuich to conrince the woxld. It was not this amalgamation of the chuich and the woiid which the Saviour contemplated, when he piayed foi his people's unity. It was a union of spiritual men, — a holy unity — springing fi-om oneness with him self. Union with Christ is an indispensable piehminaiy to union with the church of Christ. An individual must be joined to Christ, before he can be a true member of the church of Christ. And those indiriduals and those churches which are the most closely joined to Chiist, aie the nearest to one anothei, and wiU be the fiist to coalesce CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 343 in fidfilment of Christ's prayer, ' May they all be one ! ' "* — In harmony with these forcibly expressed sentiments are the following, contained in a work which has just issued from the press, and which, as might be expected from the quarter whence it comes, is full of interesting information and salutary admonition and insfruction to the churches of Christ. — " What gain can accrue to any man from an ignorant or false profession of the rehgion of Christ ? What can any church gain by a crowd of such professors ? What it gains in numbers, it is evi dent it must lose in character and strength :- — a united body in name, its members are as widely separated, and as antagonistical in tenth, as Christ and Belial — the standard of character, of living religion, is depressed or confounded — the spirit of the true members of the church is vexed and discom-aged, and thefr efforts crampe'd and impeded, by the presence and resistance of these false brethren within — the life of the church languishes, her glory fades — her enemies laugh among themselves at the discordant spectacle she presents — her Divine Lord is dishonoured and offended, because his tem'ple is defiled — and his professed subjects, deceiving or deceived, or both, are miserably unprepared for the day of his coming, and their great account when he appeareth. ' Who may abide the day of his coming, and who may stand when he appeareth? — for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap; — whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and wUl gathei his wheat into the gamei; but he wiU bum up the chaff with unquenchable fiie ? '" t * The Dew of Hermon ; or, the True Source of Christian Unity. By the Rev. James Hamilton, Minister of the National Scotch Church, Regent Square, London. t Notices of the State of Religion in Geneva and Belgium. By II. Heugh, D.D. Chap. iii. pages 93, 94. 344 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT The extending prevalence, and the faithful reduction to piactice, of sentiments such as these, wUl speedUy bring about the 'consummation so devoutly wished' on my paxt, and in my wishes fox which I shall rejoice to find a coidial sympathy on the pait of my feUow-chiistians of othei denominations, — when, although in the government and disciphne of the chuxch necessarily remaining deno minational, there wiU be not only the acknowledgment of a common discipleship, and the cultivation of the chris tian affections and a catholic spfrit by private intercourse, but this acknowledgment and this spirit carried out into more open and public exemplification by free commu nion among them all ! — If it be so, that the more of the christian I see in my fellow-professor, considered indi vidually, the more pleasure must I feel in taking part with him in any or in all of the acts and exercises of christian feUowship, whether that individual be a presby terian or an independent; — then, upon the same principle, the greater the amount of true Christianity I see in any professedly christian society, the greater must be my satis faction and enjoyment in holding fellowship with that society collectively, — whethex it be pxesbytexian oi inde pendent. As my freedom and comfoit would be gieatex in the fellowship of the moxe spfritual, devout, and con sistent piesbyterian, than in that of the less spiiitual, de vout, and consistent congiegationahst, — so should my freedom and comfoit be- the gieatest in that chiistian community where theie was the laigest aggiegate of the spirituahty, the devotion, the consistency. I should take my place at the Loid's table with fai moie pleasuie, — with feelings fax moxe in haimony with the natuie of the observance, — amongst a congiegation of presbyterians in whose chiistianity generally I had leason to confide, than with a chuich of independents, lespecting any considei- consistent WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 345 able numbei of whom I had reason to stand in doubt. — As I dehght, then, in the communion of christians — simply as such — individually, I long foi the coUective communion of churches. If a diffeience as to chuich- goveinment does not prevent the fellowship of the indi riduals, there seems no reason why it should prevent the feUowship of the churches. There is nothing whatever necessary to the giatification of this longing (a longing in which I believe I have the sympathy of multitudes of my feUow-chiistians of othei denominations) but the adoption and the reduction to piactice of a common principle on the subject of chuich-feUowship. The principle is a veiy simple one. It is — that in oidei to auy one's being received and retained as a membei of a chiistian church, he, or she, should give satisfactory evi dence of being a true christian, — a believer in Christ, — a child of God ; — or, more shortly, that a christian church should be, what its name imports, a church of christians. If it be but granted, in the bible sense of the terms, that Christianity is a necessary qualification for communion, — and if this principle be so acted upon by the different denominations of christians, as that a certificate of mem bership may be held as a sufficient certificate of Chris tianity, or of a consistent christian profession, — the thing is done. There might then be a universality of occasional intercommunion, — the testimonial of an independent church satisfying the presbyterian, and that of the pres byterian the independent. There is no need for more ; and less, it is obvious, vriU not do. — 0 for the time when, by aU christian denominations, true Christianity will be requfred as a term of communion, — and when it wiU be the only term that is required ! It wUl be obrious to the readex, — and with the observa tion I must come to a close, — that in this there is nothing 346 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT in the remotest degree inconsistent vrith conscientiousness, or involring the slightest compromise of principle. I am not at all arguing for the breaking up of the distinctions between presbyterians and independents, or for their amalgamation into one body. It is quite manifest, that, retaining, respectively, their conscientiousness, this can never be. The two systems cannot, from thefr very na ture, be amalgamated. While there are conscientious presbyterians, there must be ^presbyterian denomination; and whUe there are conscientious independents, there must be an independent denomination ; it being impos sible that the same church can be governed upon both the presbyterian and the congregational model. Let them remain as they are, — though neither of them deaf to argu ment, but each with an open ear and an open mind to the reasonings of the other. Let each manage their own churches in their own way. But let them, at the same time, so act upon the principle of communion just laid down, as that, confiding in each other's practical atten tion to it, they may ' receive one another, as Christ hath received them both, to the glory of God.'* The more * It is not, then, proposed to bring about an amalgamation of sects. There is intended no breaking up of the partitions into which the church is divided ; no interference with the predilections or conscientious prefer ences of christians for their own modes of discipline, forms of worship, and external rites. Discussion upon these points is to be left to other pro vinces, yet with the full recognition that their existence is compatible with genuine piety, though without any expressed or implied judgment upon any of them, much less of the arguments by which they are severally supported or defended. It meddles not with the framework ofthe several evangelical churches already in existence ; it leaves each in the fuUest possession of its private judgment on these points ; but directs attention solely to something which all admit to be far greater and of higher importance. Instead of caUing for one community, one disciphne, one name, one form of worship, it caUs for one spirit, and that a spirit of esteem and affection, among all parties of different names and orders, as disciples of the same great Master, CONSISTENT WITH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 847 thoroughly christianised each church becomes, the more efficient wUl it be on the sunounding world, both by the influence of example and by the efforts of zeal. For it is with a christian community as it is with an army. In the latter, it is when aU the soldiers are leal-hearted to thefr general, their country, and their cause, that their united aidoux, and gallantly, and indomitable peiseveiance will tell upon the foe, and ensure the victoiy. The piesence in the host of even a few eithei false-hearted oi half- heaited men, may woik with a most pernicious influence, infecting with inesolution and timidity aU aiound them, and thus, it may be, spreading geneial panic, and ensuring discomfituie. Such numbeis, instead of being steength and secuiity, axe weakness and dangex. Thus it is, — and for appropriate means and occasions to give this spirit development. It asks only for such a manifestation of this spirit as would, at seasons and for a while, prevent these distinctions from appearing, without effacing them, — for the sake of bringing more prominently into view the grand Divine principles which all admit to be essential to salvation, and sufficient for its attainment. It is only asking that the bond of christian brother hood shall be acknowledged to its just extent ; that the recognition he no longer secret, silent, and personal, but open, public, and reciprocal. The diversities are important to each. They are the characteristics of his church — the church of his choice. But he feels that there is something more important, which he holds in common with his brethren ; and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which he rejoices to think they have and believe as well and as truly as himself. The characteristics of humanity stand higher than those of nationality. No good man can be content with loving his nation ; he loves man as man, and seeks to benefit the world as well as his country.' — ( Christian Union ; or Practical Suggestions for promoting the exercise and manifestation of brotherly love among the various deno minations of Evangelical Protestants ; respectfully and affectionately sub mitted to the ministers and members of the churches : — by J. LeifchUd, D.D.) — I take pleasure in thus quoting from different writers of eminence in our own day ; because, on the same principle with that which suggested the plan of the present volume, the number of these in the different deno minations of christians serves the more to evince the happy tendency to wards the desired result. 348 A CATHOLIC SPIRIT, ETC. thus it cannot faU to be, in eveiy chuich. It is not num ber that is steength, — it is union, — union in principle, — union in affection, — and consequent union in contribution and in effoit. And then, in proportion as such chuiches, though denominationaUy differing, axe in spfrit one ;— -in piopoition as, whUe sensible of the divellent foices that would keep them asundei, they feel the supeiioi and ovei- poweiing foice of the ' one faith that diaws and binds them togethei; — in piopoition as they thus exemplify to the woild this one faith ' woiking by love ;'- — in pio poition as they make common cause in all that they hold in common and value in common, and so piesent a united front to the common enemy, — striving, by combined exeition, in ' the good fight of faith,' — oi by such exei tions as, although distinct, axe yet aU carried on in the same spiiit, and bearing on the same end, ' Ephraim neithei envying Judah, noi Judah vexing Ephraim,' — and the end to biing an outcast woild into subjection to Chiist; — in piopoition as these desiiable objects axe lealised, may we anticipate the neax anival of that happy period in the woild's histoiy, — predicted and piomised in the divine woid, — when ' men shall be blessed in Jesus, and aU nations shall call him blessed,' — when theie shaU be one Loid, and his name one,' — when the divine assurance, confiimed by the dirine oath, shaU be veiified — 'As suiely as I live, all the eaxth shall be filled with my gloxy ! ' ESSAY VII. PARTY SPIRIT: ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. By GAVIN STEUTHEES, D.D. ESSAY VIL PARTY SPIRIT: ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. Party spirit is the opposite of charity, and schism of unity. They, howevei, often lun into each othei. Dis union naturally springs from ahenation, wiath, and strife. He who is guilty of a bieach both of charity and unity, in the communion of the risible chuich of Chiist, is a schismatic, oi sectary. ' Among the Jewish sects,' says Principal Campbell, ' if we except the Samaritans, there weie no sepaiate communities elected. The'same temple and the same synagogues wexe attended ahke by Phaiisees and Sadducees. Nay, theie weie often of both denomina tions in the sanhedxim, and even in the pxiesthood.' * But the woxd sect, ox sectaxy, has a gxeatei intensity of meaning now than in ancient times. We invaxiably use it of those who foim sepaiate communions, and do not associate with one anothei in religious woiship and cere monies. When modem authois speak of sects, oi of ' paity spirit,' theii language at once suggests the idea of sepaiate communions, torn asundex by violence, in which the laws of unity and love axe flagiantly tiansgiessed, and wheie alienation of heaxt, attachment to secondaxy mat- * Diss. ix. par. 6. 352 party spirit: teis, bigotiy, malignity, censoriousness, and clamour, greatly prevaU. Party spirit is the demon of discord, producing anarchy and subdivision in the visible church of Christ. An eril is sometimes best known by being contrasted with its opposite. Now, party spirit, as I have intimated, is the antagonist of unity and love. In a united church, all its members profess the same essential articles of faith, cherish mutual love, observe the same religious ordi nances, obey the same laws, and endeavour to promote each other's good. Christian union, that deserves the name, must both be internal in the sight of God, and external in the sight of man. Usher, speaking of the unity of the church, says, vrith his usual discrimination, — ' The Spirit knits the body to the Head by faith, and the members one into another by love ;' and the closer they are joined to the same Saviour, the closer axe they also united togethei. Faith, then, is the primaiy bond of union that draws chiistians aiound the same centee, and the magnetic influence of love is that by which they aie stiongly attracted towaids each other ' They axe looted and giounded in love.' This haimonious union of piofession, faith, and love, which led to the foxmation of the christian chuxch as a society, was, in a gieat measuie, a stxangei to this eaith, till the pleaching of Chxist and of his apostles Pxeviously theie weie no bonds of union, sufficiently steong to bind the sons of men into a holy biotheihood. The woxld was doting about questions and strife of woids. Stoics, Platonists, Pythagoreans, Epicuxeans, and othei classes of philosopheis in Greece and Eome, weie setting up each its own rival academy, and dividing the popula tion into little wxangling, disputatious paities. As a people, the Jews weie also divided into Phaiisees, Sad- ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 353 ducees, Heiodians, and othei sects, which, though they did not schismatically sepaiate from each othei in temple woiship, weie yet secietly so fuU of lancoux and venom, that they wexe fitly called ' a genexation of vipeis and seipents.' The woxld was then stoied 'with muidei, debate, deceit, malignity.' Natuial affection was neaily extinct. ChUdien were starving theii parents, because they were a buiden to them ; and haid-heaited parents weie casting out thefr childien ' to perish in thefr blood,' that they might be deliveied from the toil and expense of leaxing them to matuiity. It was thus, during a most adverse state of things, that the ShUoh came, to whom was to be ' the gathering of the people.' Everywhere there were points of repulsion, instead of atteaction. In the midst of party antipathies, he unfurled his standard as the Prince of Peace, and put in operation the rehgious and moral machinery by which the sons of men were to be reconcUed to God, and united into one fraternity : ' For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of par tition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances ; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace ; and that he might reconcUe both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby ; and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that wexe nigh. Fox thiough him we both have access by one Spfrit unto the Father'* He desteoyed the enmity of the human heart, against God and man, by his blood and Spfrit, piescxibed the cieed which was to be beUeved, the laws which weie to be obeyed, the institutions which weie to be obseived ; * Eph. u. 14—18. 2g 2 354 PARTY SPIRIT : and commanded his foUowexs to meet as friends, undex the supexintendence of theii pastois and deacons, to cany on the public woiship of God, and to have theii heaits diawn out towaxds each othex in acts of benevo lence and expxessions of sympathy. He ffrst made them lay aside then- wicked antipathies, and then, hke drops of dew, they fell into each othei's embiace. Jews and Gen tiles, Baxbaiians and Scythians, bond and fi-ee, were made one in Chiist Jesus. Nothing can suipass the pictuie which Luke has diawn of the unity and affection of the chuich of Chiist while yet simple in its faith, and pos sessed of its fiist love : ' Then they that gladly leceived his woid weie baptized : and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and feUow ship, and in brealdng of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul : and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were toge ther, and had all things common; and sold thefr pos sessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as eveiy man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accoxd in the temple, and bieaking biead from house to house, did eat theix meat with gladness and singleness of heart, piaising God, and having favoui with all the people. And the Loid added to the chuich daily such as should be saved.'* As the chuich of Chiist began to bianch out into many distinct societies, which weie located in diffeient cities, and fax distant piovinces, its appaient unity paxtially suffeied in the eye of the common obseivei ; yet stUl it continued, as one body, to acknowledge and seive the ' one Loid,' to hold and piofess the ' one faith,' dispense and submit * Acts ii. 41—47. ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 355 to the ' one baptism,' and woiship the ' one God,' — who was ' the Fathex of all," — who was ' above all' cxea- tuies, to govern them by his sceptic — and ' thiough aU,' to caxe foi them by his piovidence — and 'in all' his saints, to sanctify them by his Spirit, and fit them for heaven. The chuich, thexefoie, though sepaiated, like the blanches of a tiee, was still united into one teunk, and dependant upon the same root. A membei of the chuich of Ephesus was equaUy a membei of the chuich of Jemsalem, oi the chuich of Corinth, ox of any other church, where fox the time he sojourned, because he was a membei of Chiist. There was no schism in the body. This haimonious state of matteis did not long continue. The warmth of fiist love soon began to decline. Old pre judices and fresh heiesies spiang up. Antichrist speedily appealed. And whUe yet the apostles weie liring and labouring in the chuich, congregations weie distracted vrith divisions and factions, which thieatened to teiminate in a complete disiuption. The piompt inteiposition, and authoritative warnings, of ' men who spake as they weie moved by the Holy Ghost,' pievented such chuiches as Corinth and Peigamos from being actuaUy torn asundei, 01 becoming synagogues of Satan. Neveitheless, false teacheis had ciept in unawaies amongst them ; and even chuiches, founded originally on the doctrine of the apostles and prophets, weie in the utmost dangei of being bioken into fragments. If piofessing chiistians were not yet sectarians in the modem sense of the teim, it was not from any lack of paity spfrit, nor because steange heresies were not mooted among them ; but because the apostles, in thefr visitations of the churches, repressed the here siarchs, and either plucked up their false doctrine by the root, or cast out its advocates from the body of the faithful, as the troublers oflsrael. 856 PARTY SPIRIT : The apostolic age was, indeed, the ciadle of almost eveiy heiesy which has evei since distuibed the peace of the church of Chiist, and filled it with bigotey, ' dirisive couises,' and peisecution. It is only necessaiy to open the New Testament, and glance at the heresies which spiung up, 01 thieatened to spring up, in the apostolic chuiches, undex the veiy eye of James, of John, and of Paul, to be convinced of the fact. The speculative spfrit of man was then eageily at woik, generating those elements which, aftei the death of the aposties, pioduced dirisions and disiuptions thioughout the christian community. As the human mind could not fathom how ' God could be manifest in the flesh,' two diffexent paities spiang up in the primitive chuich, that endeavoured to explain the fact by explaining it away. One party said that Jesus was teuly Divine, but that he was a man only in appear ance : whereas the other party said that he was really and truly man, but only endowed occasionaUy with a super natural agent called Christ. — It was in opposition to both these heresies, the one of which mihtated against the divinity, and the other against the humanity, of the Lord's Anointed, that John laid down his two great leading principles — 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.' — ' And the Word became flesh, and dwelt amongst us.' It is erident, from the episties of John, that one of the earhest ways in which Antichrist inteoduced division into the church of God, was by stirring up parties to deny that Christ, the Son of God, was come in the flesh. Another party laboured most assiduously to subveit the doctiine of a sinnei's justification by the righteous ness of Christ. They affirmed that the gospel economy contained no sacrifice for sin, and that pardon and justi fication could only be obtained through the sacrifices of ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 357 the law of Moses, which were the true sacrificial atone ments appointed and sanctioned by God ; and that, un less the Gentiles were cfrcumcised after the law of Moses, and through this initiatory rite got access into the Jewish church, they could not be saved: salvation was of the Jews. This plausible and pestUent heresy spread nearly over all the primitive churches, and infected them to the coxe. It subvexted the efficacy of Christ's death. It made the blood of beasts not the shadow of good things to come, but the xeal pxopitiation foi sin ; and to confute it, Paul wxote no fewex than three epistles — the epistle to the Eomans, Galatians, and Hebiews. In the face of all such subveiteis of the saving tenths of the gospel, he stated, and, with gieat cogency, suppoited the pioposi- tion — ' by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.' As the doctrine of justification by faith in the righteous ness of Jesus, without the deeds of the law, admitted, through the perverse disposition of man, of a gross per version against the claims of moraUty, a set of heretics speedily arose in the primitive church, who maintained that aU who beUeved in Jesus got the advantage of his obedience in such a manner that they did not require even to obey the moral precepts of the gospel. If they continued in its profession, whatever their life, they would certainly escape eternal punishment. Against this infamous heresy, so ruinous to the souls of men, and so contrary to the remedial scheme of the gospel, which works by love and purifies the heart, the apostles lifted up thefr voices in the strongest terms of condemnation. Peter, James, and John wrote epistles against it, and showed, in the most pointed mannei, that the faith which justifies also pioduces good woiks. A paity even appealed in the primitive chuich, who 858 PARTY SPIRIT : maintained the exteaoidinary doctrine, that there was no resunection whatever of the bodies of men. According to them, the resunection spoken of in the New Testa ment, was the resunection of the soul from sin to hoh ness ; and, as this had taken place at conversion, ' the resunection was past already,' and there would be no other. In opposition to these refinements of philosophy, falsely so called, the aposties taught, in the most unequi vocal manner, that ' all that are in thefr giaves shall heai the voice of the Son of God, and come foith, and live.' Besides these heiesies, which sapped the foundations of the great docteines of the gospel, many othei enoneous opinions weie broached and advocated in the apostolic age. The doctiine of the woishipping of angels — the haUovring of new moons, and seventh- day sabbaths — the moxahty of paiticulai kinds of food and drink, and such like matteis, distracted the infant chuich. The oxiginatoxs of these opinions became fieice and unreasonable in theii attempts to press them upon otheis, in piopoition as they weie matteis of whim and of empty speculation. The chuxch of Coiinth, which was one of the eailiest arenas of strife and debate, was bioken up into paities, from a meie contest about the gifts and compaiative eloquence of its teacheis. The chuxch of Eome was magnifying ' meats and diinks' into terms of communion, till Paul intei- posed, and showed that the communion of the chuxch of Chiist was not to be legulated by any such questions. The inspfred apostles, in vfrtue of that authority which was given them, to set up and settle the constitution of the chuich of Christ, dealt with great plainness and sevexity with these hexetical opinions and ' divisive prac tices.' They spake out unequivocally yet discieetiy. They laid down teims of chm-ch fellowship, which weie as stern and unbending on the gieat principles of chris ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 359 tianity as they weie mUd and foxbearing on the lessex mattexs of christian economics. Theix doctrine was, that a peison who lenounced the gieat principles of chiis tianity, 01 fell into gioss sins, and thus gave xeason to beheve that he was no chiistian, was to be cut off from the society of the faithful tUl he repented, so that the gangiene might not spiead ; but if the opinions which he maintained, oi the actions he had inadvertently com mitted, were consistent, in a spirit of charity, vrith his being still in a state of giace, then he was to be tieated vrith the gieatest foibeaiance, and dealt with as a weak, erring brother. Persons, according to the apostles, might differ about rites and ceremonies — cfrcumcision or uncircum cision— eating or abstaining from flesh — keeping particu lar hohdays, or the mode of obserring the Lord's Supper, and yet they were not to anathematise each other ; but to continue together in the same church, and seek for more Ught, so that they might yet see eye to eye on every point. The strong were to bear vrith the weak ; and, as every man's conscientious opinions were to be respected, and in lesser matters to be teeated with clemency, they weie to lefrainfrom ' vain janglings' and 'doubtful disputations.' Inthismannei the apostles stxove to xepiess and dxy up the bittei wateis of envy and steife at theii fountain-head ; and, though they could not repress them entfrely, as the wicked heart of man was continuaUy casting foxth ' mixe and du't,' yet, during thefr lifetime, they at least kept the well of divine tenth puxe and wholesome, and open to all. The apostles left the chuich of Christ one united body, in the fuU possession of the tenth. Those who had sepaxated from it had sepaiated from Christ the Head ; and weie, vrith piopiiety, excluded from the communion of the saints. The genuine disciples of Christ weie all risible membeis of the chuich univeisal, which was 360 PARTY spirit: now spiead ovex consideiable poitions of Asia, Afnca, and Euiope. The chuich was one, as the human lace is one. Theie was unity, and yet considerable vaxiety, in the outwaid foims and obsexvances connected with the institutions and woiship of each congregation. This di veisity, in lessex mattexs, axose from the diffeient habits, manneis, and ceiemonies which chaiactexised the diffeient nations that embiaced the doctiines of the cioss. The gospel did not remodel society, but grafted itself upon the civil institutions which it found existing, and suffeied men stiU to be citizens like otheis, while yet they became chiistians. This produced no discoid oi alienation of feeling. A chiistian of Asia, though Asiatic in his man neis and obseivances, was at once leceived into com munion with the chuiches in Euiope, without being lequiied to lenounce his pecuharities. Iieneeus says, that while each letained his own customs, ' they held com munion with each other' The bishop of Ceesaiea, in a lettei to Cyprian in the yeai 256, says that the chuich of Eome ' has many particulaxs of divine woiship, which axe not piecisely the same obseivances as pievail in Jeiusa lem.' ' So likewise,' adds he, ' in a veiy gieat numbei of othei piovinces, many things vaxy accoiding to the divei sity of place and people ; but, neveitheless, these varia tions have at no time infringed the peace and unity of the catholic (oi univeisal) chuich.'* As if to manifest, beyond all dispute, that schism was of man and not of God, the fiist lent that was made in the visible unity of the chiistian chuich was about a mattei of the meiest secondary impoitance, and which neithei paity evei pietended to found upon the woid of God. The thing itself was an empty ceiemony, and not * Quoted by Dr Mason in his Pica for Catholic Communion, p. 61. ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 361 woxthy of distuibing the mind of any lational being. The bishop of Eome, towaid the end of the second centuiy, bioke communion with the Asiatic churches, pxonounced them unwoithy of the name of brethren, and excluded them from the fellowship of the church, because they would not adopt the time of the Western chuiches as to the celebiation of Easter, of which feast there is not a shadow of evidence in the New Testament, so that the church split upon a rock of her own creation. For two hundred years, the Greek and Latin churches were filled with sharp and violent contests about a matter which was no better than ' an old wife's fable ;' and ultimately, in thefr unsanctified anger, they anathematised and de livered each other over to Satan. The point of ithe wedge being thus introduced by the schismatical procedure of the bishop of Eome, the rent soon became worse and diverged in aU directions. ' Those who called upon the name of the Lord Jesus,' (the original name of christians, as distinguished from Jews, infidels, and idolaters,) having become alienated from each other, they split into rival and opposing paities. The univeisal chuxch was thus bioken, by the pride and pas sions of men, into the Latin chuich and Gieek chuich ; and the gxeat original fissuie still lemains. The Byzantine ox Gieek chuxch, having been excom municated by the bishop of Eome, and his obsequious council at Nice, on the grievous diffeience about the pio- pei day of keeping Eastei, assumed, in its turn, atone of defiance ; answeied thundei with thundei, cuise with cuxse, and set up a chuxch with a sectaxian constitution, which became the fruitful ciadle of innumeiable sects and paities, all distinguished foi thefr keen paitisanship and close-communion principles. The Donatists, who spiung up within its bosom, did moie, peihaps, than any othei 2 H 362 PARTY SPIRIT : sect, eithei in Asia oi Africa, to bieak up the peace and unity of the church of Christ, and to fiU men's minds with hatred, bigotry, and sectarian distinctions. The ancient Greek church, in the course of a few hundred years, was sadly weakened by divisions, and overrun and corrupted by the grossest heresies. When Mahomet appeared, with his scymitar in his hand, he compelled them to coalesce under his delusion. In thefr ignorance and gross licentiousness, they received his Koran as a new and improved form of the religion of Jesus. Though the ancient Greek church has been trodden down to the dust by the Eastern antichrist, yet it has not been altogether destroyed ; there are still to be found, amid the ruins of the Asiatic churches, and within the gates of Constantinople itself, a few that prefer the scrip tures to the Koran, and look rather to calvary than to Mecca foi salvation. Fiom the modem Gieek church, which, in times comparatively late, has spiead itself in a veiy intoleiant foim ovei the immense empiie of Eussia, othei chuiches, both in Asia and Africa, have sepaiated, and set up rival communions, differing in doctrine, government, and ritual observances. The Abyssinian, Coptic, Syrian, Nestorian, and Armenian churches, axe all so many gxeat divisions in the visible chuich, which, as distinct religious communities, have spiead themselves ovei the Eastern regions. Besides these, theie aie amongst the Eastern chiistians a great numbei of lessei sects, paitiy imbued with Western religious peculiarities, which are all zealous for their own rites and dogmas, and who dwell in a great measure alone, schismatically separated fi-om the rest of the chris tian world. The Eastern sects being generally very ignorant, aie also veiy bigoted. The Latin oi Eoman chuich having, by hei illibeiality ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 363 and her excommunication of the Greek church, constituted herself a sect, though, without controversy, the largest one in the world, could not keep herself entire. She was soon infected by the Manichean and Gnostic heresies, which raged principally in Asia and Africa. They made their way also stealthily into Europe, and divided the faithful. Nevertheless, the first christian emperors, and the bishop of Eome, were awake to the evil; and, by com bining civil and ecclesiastical power for the suppression of heresy, prevented in a great measure the open mul tiplication of sects and parties throughout the western division of the Eoman empire. Severe laws and penal restraints made the Eoman christians disguise their opi nions, lest they should be steipped of their rights as citi zens, cast into prison, and burned as heretics. It was only when the pope, or the emperor, became infected with heretical opinions, and the principal clergy avowedly pro claimed themselves heresiarchs, as was the case in the Arian and Pelagian controversies, that the western world became convulsed, and religious parties sprung up to anathematise each other. The pope, under the pretext of suppressing pravity of doctrine, having, by the most nefarious means, got himself acknowledged as the visible head of the church thiough out the whole length and bieadth of Euiope, diew his coids stiaitei and tightei ovei the pliant mind of Christen dom, and compelled all to adopt the leligious sentiments of Eome, which he palmed upon his vassals as the cieed of the univeisal chuich. Foi hundieds of yeais, the ignoiant and slavish population of Euiope thought, and spoke, and acted, in a gieat measuie, accoiding to his deciees. No such spiiitual despotism evei befoie existed in the histoiy of the woild. The Inquisition, with its thousand eais, heard the shghtest whispei of heiesy, and the chicken- 364 PARTY spirit: hearted kings of Euiope immured theii loyal and indus trious subjects in dungeons at the ghostly dictation of piiests. What sects oi paities could possibly appeal and flourish, when men of independent minds were gagged, and when heietics, as they weie called, weie bumed along with theix books, that the one might scoxch the othei, and that both might perish togethei ? The chuxch of Eome made a desolation, and caUed it unity and peace. While, then, thexe was in geneial an extemal uni- foimity thioughout papal Euiope, it was a unifoxmity pioduced by compulsion. The mind of Euiope, in the chambei of the heait, xefused to be chained. Evexy now and then it was assexting its freedom, and displaying signs of vitality at the maxtyx's stake. At last it buist thiough all lestiaints, and huiied back defiance at the Vatican. The biave Saxon mind of Luther, at the period of the Eeformation, asserted its pierogative of foiming its own religious opinions, taking them fresh from the woid of God. The bible, and not the authority of the Eomish chuich, became the foundation of the leligious faith of a gieat part of Euiope, and eveiy Pio testant read the word of God, and ' compared spfritual things with spiritual,' and judged for himself This was an entirely new era in the Western church, and produced an immense number of sects and parties. It was sarcastically called by the church of Eome ' the age of schismatics ;' and, as if infected with the same plague, she became at this time also the greatest and proudest schismatic of all the Western chinches. Pievious to this, the chuich of Eome had adheied to the cieeds of the fiist six centuries, as hex distinguishing standaids, and had only now and then appealed to the stringent deciees of councils in the daik ages, when hei ambitious bishops lequiied their aid ; but now, peiceiviftg that she was at- ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 363 tacked on evexy side, she fenced heiself lound with new biazen walls of ciicumvallation, that she might show that she was diffeient from all otheis. The CouncU of Trent, in 1564, put the finishing hand to the woik of settling the faith of the Eoman chuxch ; and having liveted upon hex a numbei of dogmas about tiansubstantiation, the invocation of saints, the efficacy of indulgences, the supiemacy of the pope, not to be found in the eaily cieeds, hencefoiwaid hei distinguishing maiks and tenets became fixed and conspicuous, and all hei adhe- lents weie bound to believe them, on pain of etemal peidi- tion. All contiaiy opinions were condemned, lejected, and anathematised. Evexy Eomanist was made to pxomise, vow, and swear, thiough God's help, to hold and confess most constantly, to his last breath, the tiue catholic faith, as set foith in the decisions of the Council of Tient, xatified by Pope Pius IV., 'out of which none can be saved.' Paxty spiiit could not go faithei, and the chuich of Eome, calling heiself ' the mothei and mistress of aU chuiches,' became the most exclusive of all denominations — dealing peidition upon all otheis that diffeied from hei and xe fused to adopt hex cieed. The lefoimeis, though denounced as seotaiies by the impexious chuich of Eome, assumed excellent giound as to the natuie and constitution of the christian church. They held that the visible chuxch of Chxist, undei the gospel, was cathohc,*^ oi univeisal. It was not confined to one nation, as undei the Mosaic dispensation, but compiehended within it all visible saints ; and out of this chuich, in which the gospel was preached, and the sacia- ments dispensed, theie was no oidinary possibUity of sal vation. In this way the reformers drew a line of demar cation between the church and the world, whereas the 2 H 2 366 PARTY SPIRIT : chuich of Eome diew a sectaxian distinction between themselves and othei chuiches of Chiist. The lefoimeis fuithei held, that unifoimity Was not necessaiy to unity — that the chuich admitted of variety in lessei matteis, and that all wexe to be xeceived as biethien whom God vouchsafed to take foi sons. Said the chuiches of Fiance and Belgia, when addressing the othei lefoimed chuiches on the subjects of union and haimony — ' Theie hath scarce been any age which hatb, in such soit, seen all chm-ches following altogethei one thing in all points, so as there hath not always been some difference, either in doctrine or in ceremonies, or in manners ; and yet christian churches through the world were not, therefore, cut asunder, unless peradven ture then, when the bishop of Eome broke off all agree ment, and tyrannically enjoined to other churches, not what ought to be done, but what himself would have obseived. But the apostles did not so. Bamabas, in deed, departed from Paul, and Paul withstood Petex; and suiely foi no tiifle ; and yet the one became not theieby moie enemy, ox steangei, to the othei ; but the self-same spiiit which had coupled them from the beginning nevei suffeied them to be disjoined from themselves. It is the fashion of Eomanists to command, to enforce, to piess, to thiow out cm-sings, and thundei excommunications upon the heads of those that whispei nevei so little against them ; but let us, accoiding to the doctiine of the Holy Ghost, suffei and gently admonish each othei ; that is, keeping the giound-woik of faith, let us buUd love upon it ; and let us jointly lepaii the walls of Zion, lying in theii vexy luins.'* Connected with these libeial and enlightened views of * Preface to the Il.-irmony of Confessions, 1581. London reprint. 1842. ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 367 fiee 01 catholic communion, the lefoimeiS also held anothei principle, which, small at fiist, pioved to them a loot of much bitteiness, and geneiated a sectaiian spiiit, which, alas ! speedUy ovenan, contiaiy to theii expecta tions, all the chuiches of the Eefoimation. They held it suitable to the natuie of things, to the authority of the magistiate, and to the obligations of the pastoial care, that evexy nation should have an independent chuxch, acting uncontxoUed within itself; yet holding communion with all, in eveiy place, that caUed upon the name of the Loid Jesus, while the magistiate was to helj) and fuithei it. They taught that the caie and piopagation of leligion did chiefly belong, in viitue of his office, to the chiistian magisteate. The motives which led them to the adoption of these principles weie such as all men must xespect, though, in shunning one extieme, they wexe unfoitunately driven into anothei. ' Befoie the happy Eefoimation, the Popish cleigy had leduced civil luleis into mere tools foi executing theii pleasuie in religious matteis, and pietended that they had no power in judging on them. To free these luleis from such antichristian claims, the Protestant reformers everywhere, as their Confessions of Faith and other writ ings make evident, loudly maintained, that to magistrates themselves, independently of clergymen, belongs a dis tinguished power in the reformation w^di. preservation of religion.'* The reformers, for example, say, in the lat ter Confession of Helvetia : — ' We teach that the care of religion does chiefly appertain to the holy magistrate. Let him, therefore, hold the word of God in his hands, and look that nothing be taught conteary thereunto, — let him suppress stubborn heretics.' In the Confession of Bohemia, they declare — ' That the magistrate, by his * Brown on Toleration, p. 3. 368 PARTY SPIRIT : authority, should set forth the truth of the holy gospel.' In that of France — ' That the sword is delivered into the hands of the magistrates, that offences may be repressed, not only those which are committed against the second table, but also against the first;' — and, in that of Scot land, they affirm — ' That to kings, princes, rulers, and magistrates chiefiy, and most principally, the conserva tion and purgation of religion appertaineth, and they axe to suppiess idolatiy and supeistition.' Many declaxations of the same tenox may be found in ' The Haimony of Piotestant Confessions.' Eveiy supieme magistiate, ac coiding to them, was to lefoim his own national chuich, suppoit and pxesexve it; while, by his authority, he also suppressed 'stubborn heretics,' and purged out superstition. The problem of a universal church, holding communion in faith and love, and yet composed of a number of distinct national churches, all acting- independently of each other under their respective sovereigns, and allowing no toleration within their own limits, might be demon strated in theory by a plausible disputant; but in practice it was an impossibility, and it soon broke the chm-ches ofthe Eeformation into fragments. Asportions ofthe uni versal chm-ch, they were tobe tolerant; as sectional churches, they were to be intolerant. How sensibly could Causa- bon write to Caxdinal Penon, in Fiance, in the name and by the command of King James VL, on the geneial principles of union: 'The king thinks that the things that aie absolutely necessaxy to salvation axe not many; theiefoie, his majesty is of that mind, that theie is no shoitei way foi peace than fiist by severing necessaiy things fi-om things that aie not necessaiy, and then to laboui a full agieement in those : but as foi things not necessaiy, let them be left to chiistian liberty.'* Calvin him- * Irenicum, by Dr Burroughs, p. 68. ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 369 self was piactieally hbeial. He subscribed the Lutheran confession, and pionounced the peculiaxities of the Luthe- lan Chuich petty peculiarities, when compaied with the great things of the common salvation. Enox, vrith all his anti- episcopal feelings, ' officiated for a consideiable time in the Chuxch of England, and assisted in lerising the Book of Common Piayei.'* At the Synod of Doit, Episcopa lians and Piesbyterians met as ' associates ;' and the language of one of theii pieacheis. Hall (an Episcopalian), was, ' What have we to do with the disgiaceful titles of Eemonsteants, contia-Eemonstiants, Calvinists, Armi nians ? We are christians ; let us also be of one soul. We are one body; let us also be of one mind.'t And yet, when the universal church was so tolerant of each other's diversities of opinion in neighbouring nations, each was most inconsistently cropping the ears and slitting the noses of all vrithin its own tenitories, who would not adopt its formularies of worship, and attend the Estabhshed Church. They were all for religious liberty in the gene ral, though opposed to it in thefr own particular localities. In their vain attempts to shape and polish the stones into a national hkeness, before they began to build and cement their universal temple, they broke and disfigured the liv ing stones of the Great Mastei Buildei, and never were they permitted to rear up a universal church, nor even to lay the first stones of its foundation. The reformers never were permitted to hold a general council of their learned men, to fix the articles of universal faith, though it was the acme of their vrishes. Sects and heresies sprung up in every country among themselves, like weeds in a garden, and seemed to grow faster when attempted to * M'Crie's Life of John Knox, vol. i., p. 102. London, 1813. t Mason, p. 202. 370 PARTY SPIRIT : be trodden under foot, or nipped in the bud. Arch bishop Laud, by dint of royal authority, and the Cove nanters, by solemn oaths and bm-nished swords, could not root out what they called heresies, in their respective coun tries. The reformed nations of Europe, like thunder clouds meeting in the sky, had each in its bosom some war of elements which prevented them from joining and uniting as a whole. In one word, theii intemal peisecut- ing principles prevented them from forming a general friendly league in Christ. 'Everyman,' says Burroughs, 'is angry that others are not of his mind. Om- divisions have been, and still are, between good men. Even God's diamonds do cut one another. Good men cause afflic tions to good men. Every man is plotting, working, wind ing for himself Every man strives, like Apelles and Protogenes, who shall draw the subtilest line to attain his own ends, but few strive who shall draw the straightest — who shaU, in the most dfrect course, work himself and aU his ways to God and public good.'* The consequence of this was, that the religious mind of Europe, which had escaped from the intolerance of Eome, would not submit to the control of a smaller domi nant party in each nation. It claimed freedom of inquiry for itself, and that all the more sternly that it had been le- fused. Luther in Germany, Zwingle in Switzerland, Calvin in France, Knox in Scotland, Cranmer in England, were all burning and shining lights in their own spheres ; but as they had dared to think for themselves, with the bible in their hands, why refuse the same right to others in Germany, Switzerland, England, and Scotland, even though of inferior grasp of intellect? Was each of these men to be regarded as a little pope in his own district, and extirpate heretics, because he had at the time the ear * Preface, p. 1. ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 371 of the prince ? The thing was monstrous; and the hu man mind, in its love of liberty, and in the pride of its newly-acquired right of thinking for itself on religious subjects, spurned their trammels, and became more wild and sectarian, because ofthe despotic attempt to check it. Protestants were divided into persecuting sects, hating each other, because the sword was employed to bridle the liberty of human thought. Sects and heresies, after the Eeformation, for a season remarkably prevailed. Party spirit raged like a pestilence over the greater part of Piotestant Euiope. A veiy con siderable numbei of the smallei and moie extravagant sects and paities, at the distance of three hundred yeais, have become extinct, oi have changed theii name, and been meiged into otheis. As the Noith American States weie the asylum foi peisecuted Piotestants of eveiy name thioughout Euiope, they aie now seen theie to most advan tage, maintaining still theii original leligious peculiarities. Accoxdingto aliving and excellent authority,* the following axe the piincipal leligious sects in Ameiica. They mainly spiung from those European emigiants that found a hospi table welcome within hei spacious boidexs : The Piotestant Episcopal Chuich, the Congiegational Chuiches, the legu- laiBaptist Chuiches, the Seventh-Day Baptists, the Free will Baptists, the Oampbellite Baptists, the Presbyterian Church, the Cumbeiland Piesbyterians, the Associate Presbyterian Church, the Associate Eeformed Church, the Eeformed Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Epis copal Church, the Primitive Methodists, the Eepubhcan Methodists, the Coloured Methodists (moie than one party), the Protestant Methodist Church, the Calvinistic * Rev. R, Baird, author of Religion in the United States of America. See Book IV., pp. 498, 662, passim. 372 PARTY spirit: Methodists, the Eeformed Dutch Church, the Moravian Chuxch, the Lutheran Chuxch, the Gexman Eeformed Chuich, the Geiman Methodists, the Winebiennaxians, the Mennonists, the Fiiends oi Quakexs (divided into the Oxthodox and Hicksites), the Eoman Catholic Chuich, the Unitarians, the Chiistian Connection, the Univeisa- lists, the Swedenboigians and Tunkeis, the Jews, the Eappists, Shakeis, Moimons, Atheists, Deists, Sociahsts, Founierists, and othei small sects and paities that are con tinually fiying off, like sparks of fire, from the larger bodies. By far the greater number of this immense anay of sects and paities axe evangelical in thefr sentiments, so that the catalogue is moxe frightful by its numbei of names, than injurious by its opinions. It is calculated, that fouxteen out of seventeen milUons of the population of the United States axe undex the influence of evangelical denomina tions of diffeient designations. And farthei, that these sects aie the meie extension, by emigxation, of other xeh gious bodies in Europe. The native American sects axe few, and consist of separations from laigei bodies on meie points of infeiioi moment, wheie the passions, lathei than the conscience, have been exeicised. In England, wheie leligious libeity, aftei the bloody stxuggle of centuiies, is now in the ascendant, there is at piesent existing more leligious parties than a careless obseivei would at fiist suspect. From a culpable neglect, howevei, of Biitish leligious statistics, the list cannot be fully and accurately made up. The following is an ajD- pioximation to tiuth; and it moumfuUy shows the pieva lence of sectaxianism thioughout England : — The established foim of religion in England is Diocesan Episcopacy. The appaient majority of the inhabitants belong to this dominant party. Seven thousand one bun dled and ninety incumbents hold among them eleven ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 373 thousand thxee bundled and thixty-one pxefexments. Be sides these ecclesiastics, composed of deans, xectois, etc., several thousand cuiates are employed to peifoim woik and sexvice thioughout the chuich. Though the Chuich of England, howevei, is nominally one, it is in leality divided into two paities, meiely gfrded togethei by the State. The High Church paity aie computed to be foui-fifths of the whole; they axe opposed to the peculiai doctrines of the Eefoimation, and gloiy in confoimity to the canons of the chuich, apostolical succession, and the efficacy of the sacraments, dispensed by a lightly-conseciated epis copal ministi-y. The Low Church party aie the friends of evangelical leligion, accoiding to the Thiity-nine Aiticles, and place theii confidence xathei in being bom again than in antiquated canons and meie ritual foims. In each othei's eyes they axe schismatics, and hold little oi no ministerial intercourse. The Chuich of England, divided into these two gieat opposing paities, is yet united undei Eoyalty as its head ; and, by its pioud assumption of being the only tiue Piotestant chuich, unchurches the whole of Protestant Christendom. The Church of Eng land is nearly as sectarian towards other churches as Eomanism itself The unendowed sects in England are, to a great extent, the same as the religious parties in America: — Indepen dents, Particular Baptists, General or Arminian Baptists, Piesbyterians; English Scotch Chm-ch, Free Chuich, and Secession, Wesleyan Methodists, New Methodist Con nection, Primitive Methodists, Biyanites, Independent Methodists, Wesleyan Protestant Methodists, Warrenites, Calvinistic Methodists, Countess of Huntingdon's Con nection, Quakers, Moravians, Glasites and Sandemanians, Unitarians, Eoman Catholics, Chartists, Socialists, and other small fractional sections, all zealous for their own 2i 374 PARTY SPIRIT : peculiarities, and making themselves felt, to a certain ex tent, upon the public mind. These parties, in 1838, according to the Congregational Magazine, the editors of which were indefatigable in making up theii statistical tables, had eight thousand foui hundred and fouiteen congiegations; 'and, as many of these aie veiy laige, the gross numbei of attendants in them appioximate veiy near to, if they do not actually exceed, the numbeis adhering to the Established Church.' But even aUowing the Establishment stUl to have the pie- pondeiance, the fact we are wishing to establish by these details lies upon the face of English history — that the church of Christ is sadly broken up into sections and parties in England as well as in America.* These facts, as to England, might be followed with simUai statistical details as to Scotland ; foi every religious party in the one country soon finds a locality in the othei; but as the Scotch sects and parties will yet faU to be dis cussed moxe fuUy, and examined moxe searchingly, we, in the meantime, pass them over without recounting them. Having seen, by this array of names and designations in America and England, how parties abound, it wiU be necessary to considei how they, neveitheless, agiee in the gxeat essentials of faith, befoxe thexe can be a conect and full appiehension enteitained of the pievalence of a schis matical spfrit. If it shall be found, as it will be, on a close examination, that nearly the whole of the existing denominations axe agieed in the gieat essential doctiines of leligion, and yet that they excommunicate and teeat each othei as pubhcans and sinneis, because of some diffeiences * See the Rev. T. Timpson's British Ecclesiastical History, Book ix. 1 Oth century, where much valuable information as to the difi'erent parties in England is to be found, and to which I am mainly indebted for thes? facts. London, 1838. Its prevalence and insidiousness. 375 about the lessei matteis of chiistian docteine, — it wiU then appeal undeniable, that it is not principle, but paxty spiiit, which at fixst pioduced, and bigotiy which peipetuates divi sion in the visible chuich of Chiist. Putting out of OUI consideiation the sects and paities which aie unevangelical — which deny the doctiines of the tiinity, — the fall, — justification by the righteousness of Christ — and along with them, putting aside also the Chuich of Eome, and speaking of Piotestant Evangelical Chuiches in the aggregate, compiehending Episcopalians, Piesbyte rians, Congiegationahsts, Baptists, and Methodists, and the different filiations which belong to each, they will all be found, in the main, to agiee as to the gxeat doc tiines which entei into the question of a sinnei's salva tion. As a foim of sound woids they could all adopt that symbol, known by the name of the apostles' creed, so that they would not have broken from each other's communion at the early age when that document, which was extended piecemeal by the primitive christians, was lengthened, to embrace even its present number of par ticulars. They could even subscribe a creed more minute, and embracing more articles of faith, than the aposties' creed. The evangelical Protestant churches hold the same canon of scripture ; and farther, that the scriptures are the supieme rule of faith and manneis. They use teadition and the de cisions of councils only as helps, like other human means, foi airiving at the mind of the Spfrit in the wiitten woid. The bible, and the bible only, is the pure fountain from whence they draw thefr religion. In regard to the inspfration and transmission of the scriptures, in a state pure and entfre, they also agree. They all beheve in the unity of the Godhead, and in the divinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. They be- 376 PARTY SPIRIT : lieve that God, who is possessed of every perfection, was the almighty maker of heaven and of earth ; that man was created holy ; that he sinned against God, the • moral governor of the world, and feU from his primitive condi tion ; that the whole human race was involved in this apostacy ; that they are now weak, polluted, and guilty, and liable to death ; that an atonement was necessary to vindicate the moral government of God before sin could be pardoned ; that salvation is of grace, and that Jesus, who was both God and man, voluntarily became incamate, and made the necessaiy atonement by his humiliation, sufferings, and death ; that he xose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and sits enthioned to give lepent- ance to Isiael, and the lemission of sins ; that he sent the Comfoitei, the Holy Ghost, to operate upon the soul by the woid lead and pieached ; that he enables men to lepent and believe the gospel ; that whosoevei believes in Chiist foi salvation is paidoned, and justified, not foi his woik's sake, but fox Chiist's sake ; and yet not by that faith in Chiist which is alone without works; foi faith woxks by love, and purifies the heaxt; that he is renewed as to his motives and principles by the Spixit of God; that he acts hencefoxth undex the light of levelation, making piogiess in hohness by the assistance of Divine giace. Besides, all axe fiimly peisuaded of the happy death of the believei; the resunection of the dead; the second coming of Chiist; the univeisal judgment, when Chiist shall judge the quick and the dead ; a state of eternal happi ness fox the saved, and of misexy fox the lost ; * aftex the fixing of which Chxist shall delivei up his kingdom as Mediatoi into the hand of God. As to the extemal constitution and internal airange- * Baird, p. 658. See also Dr Price's first three Sermons. ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 377 ments of the chuich of Chxist, thexe axe also many points, and these by fax the most impoxtant, in which they aie agieed. All of them hold that Chiist is the supieme head of his chuich; and that eveiy doctrine, law, and institution, must have his sanction befoie it can be bind ing upon the conscience; that he has appointed the oidinance of the Loid's day, baptism, the Loid's sup pei, piaise, piayex, and pleaching the woid ; that he has instituted office-beaieis in his house, foi dispensing xehgious oxdinances, exeicising discijjhne, and attending to the pool ; that the membeis of the chuxch of Chxist aie visible saints, who ought to love each othei, and do good ; and that, if any openly thiow off theii christian piofession and return to the woild, they ought to be excluded from the communion of the faithful. In these essential matteis all evangelical christians aie agieed ; and thefr peculiarities axe of such a secondaiy natuie, that they veiy seldom appear in the discouises of theii ministeis. A leadei of a volume of theii sexmons lequfres to turn to the title page to leam whethei the wiitei is a Secedei, Chuichman, of the Eelief synod, oi Independent denomination. The same gospel, in its gieat general outlines, is taught by aU. Theie aie, howevei, not a few points, in what may be called the metaphysics of theology, and about the external government of the chuich, on which consideiable divei sity of opinion pievails, and which affoid ceaseless mattei foi theological waifaxe. All of them axe not equally impoitant; and, like particles of dust floating in the beams of the sun, now one, and again anothei, at distant intervals, and in pietty legulai succession, is seen briskly flying about. It is no easy mattei to describe these lessei doctrines and obsexvances with accuiacy, as they often turn upon some metaphysical subtUty, and the disputants 2 I 2 378 PARTY SPIRIT : aie continually complaining that they have been misie- piesented, oi misundeistood. With the aid of otheis I shall make the attempt. While all evangelical christians agree as to the bible being the only lule of faith and manneis, some give a highei place to confessions of faith and catechisms than otheis. Some say it is a good thing to have the faith of the chuich engiossed in standaids, that the rising geneiation may see what was the faith of thefr fatheis, and that candidates may be tested by them ; while otheis say, that confessions aie apt to make men hypocrites, and that it is bettei to heai a peison state his own faith, in his own woxds, and to leave the chuich to judge of it. All approve of a cieed ; but the one would commit it to writing, while the othei would allow it to lemain unengiossed in the mind of the chuich, and ajiply it discieetiy accoiding to cfrcumstances. The only point as to the Tiinity in which evangelical chiistians diffei, is the Sonship of Chiist. Some think he is the eternal Son of God by natuie ; and otheis, that he is the Son of God by office. Both paxties equally believe in his divinity. As to the deciees ofGod, thexe is also alittle diffeience. All believe that the deciees of God axe his deliberate puxpose, foxmed accoiding to the counsel of his own will as to futuie events ; but one paity believes that God has piedestinated the fate of angels and of men, even as to paiticulai individuals ; the othei believes that the deciees ofGod aie of a general, not of a paiticulai natuie. Both, howevei, agiee that the deciees of God aie eternal, and consistent with the free agency and moial accountabUity of man. Some think that all mankind aie guilty and depiaved, in viitue of the original apostasy of oui lace ; because ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 379 aU wexe in Adam, as the natuial root of his posterity, and fell in him as theii covenant head ; whUe otheis think that the fall only pioduced a piopensity to sin in the soul, which invariably displays itself when the infant mind begins to desiie, choose, and act, but that it entaUed no guilt. No one, howevei, denies that aU are now sinneis, and stand in need of an atonement. While all confess that the value of the atonement springs from the dignity of the suffeiei ; that its value is infinite ; and that believeis only wUl get the advantage of the death of Chiist ; yet they diffei as to the univeisal aspect of it. One party legards the atonement as a thing by itself, in which God removes aU bairieis to leconciliation between himself and a faUen woild; the othei consideis the atonement in connection with the salvation of man, and regards it as applicable, in the puipose of God, only to the elect, oi those that aie to be finally saved. Both, howevei, agiee that it is sufficient fox all, and only effi cient fox the elect; and both feel themselves at fuU libeity to make the freest offeis of salvation to mankind as sinneis ; while to those only who believe will the pxivi- lege be awaxded of being sons of God. As to the natuie of faith, in which the metaphysics of the human mind necessarily fall undei discussion, theie have been many disputes. Some would have it to be the simple behef of the tiuth by the undeistanding, in the act of passively leceiring the divine testimony as to Chiist ; otheis, the sinnei believing that Cliiist died for him, and having in its veiy essence the assurance of sal vation ; and otheis, that faith is an act both of the undei standing and heait — the understanding believing all the declaxations made about Chiist as the Savioui, and the heart lesting upon the piomises made of him as a Sa vioui to sinful men. The diffeiences about faith aie not 380 PARTY SPIRIT : so much as to the txuths to be believed, as they aie about the oidex and mannei in which they are believed by the mind, so that, while salvation is of faith, it may yet be felt to be of giace. The mode in which the Spfrit opeiates on the heait in xegenexation by the woxd, is also a mysteiious subject on which good men diffei. Some think that the Spiiit, having given ' the tiuths and motives ' contained in the bible by his inspiiation, leaves them to theii natural opeiation upon the human mind ; otheis, that the Spiiit opeiates also upon the heait, diiectly and immediately, and gives it a taste foi leligion, and a powei to feel and peiceive the great tiuths of the bible. Some think theie is meiely a geneial call by the Spiiit, and otheis a spe cial and effectual call ; and that this special call, by the grace of God, makes men to dUfei. StUl all confess that thexe is no xegenexation but by the Spfrit ; and that man, without the Spiiit, cannot legeneiate himself. As to the peiseveiance of the saints, some deny it alto gethei; and think that a good man may fall away and perish. Otheis think that he who is once received and pardoned will continue to persevere till death ; but they are not agreed as to the cause of perseverance. Some think they wUl persevere in holiness by the power of God, while others are of opinion that the perseverance of the saints is secured by the promise, oath, and covenant of God ; and that, if God is true, they cannot fall away. In condescending on these points of difference among evangelical christians as to doctrine, I am not sensible that I have misrepresented the opinions of any sect I have referred to ; and I leave these differences to make their proper impression as to thefr weight and impoi tance. I do not scrapie to say that, as to myself, I approve of the doctiines of the Shoitei Catechism ; but. ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 381 at piesent, I feel myself bound meiely to state, accoiding to the best of my abUity, without mingling up my own opinions, wherein evangelical christians diffei from each other It is about the extemal govemment and the xitual obsexvances of the chuxch that genuine christians diffex most widely and peitinaciously ; and yet theie is more of tradition and speculation on these points than on any othei. Disputants aie loudest and fiercest wheie God says least. All the foims of chuich govemment now existing among evangelical denominations aie xeducible to thxee — Episcopalian, Piesbyterian, and Independent 01 Congiegational, and no one of these, as it exists in all its minutiae, can be cleaily established from the woxd of God. The Episcopalian contends foi thiee gieat oideis — bishops, priests, and deacons. The bishop to get oidination fiom bishops — to be the head of a diocese, and to be ovei the cleigy, whom he oidains and superin tends. The Piesbyterian contends foi two oideis — eldeis and deacons ; but one of the eldeis is the teaching eldei 01 bishop ; sits as pxesident of the session, and when the eldeis, lay and clerical, of a district meet, they all meet upon an equality : but, foi the sake of oidei, elect theii own bishop, oi modeiatoi foi the time being. The Inde pendents also contend foi two oideis — pastois and deacons. They hold a Congregational Episcopiacy as the only apostoUcal system of chuich govemment in opposi tion to the diocesan episcopacy of the Chuich of Eng land. They oidain, like the Piesbyterians, only they do not lay on hands. Episcopahans, Methodists, Piesby terians, Fiiends, and Independents, all meet as convoca tions, 01 conferences, oi piesbyteries, oi unions, fox the puipose of co-opeiating fox the advancement of the king dom of Jesus in paiticulai localities, and thioughout the 382 PARTY SPIRIT : woild ; but they diffei as to the paiticulai constitution of thefr lespective assemblies, and the powei which an ecclesiastical couit can constitutionally claim, — whethei it should be legislative in lessei matteis, oi execu tive in aU the chuiches of the body, oi meiely lecom- mendatoiy. The EpiscopaUans have letained, in their chuich order, a number of ceremonies in connection with the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, which Presbyterians and Independents reject, because they spring, as they are persuaded, from a Popish origin. The foimei speak of baptismal regeneration ; the latter con sider it merely a sign of that change, and a means by which fresh communications of regenerating grace are given by faith. Neither party, however, consider that mere baptism wiU save after the person baptized in infancy has come to mature age, and has practically re jected his baptism unto God. One portion of tbe evange lical church holds, that the ordinance of baptism should be dispensed to the chUdren of beUering parents; and another, that believers only, come to mature age, should be baptized. Some think, that the dispensation of the Lord's Supper by pastors piopeily oidained thiough the laying on of the hands of bishops, necessaiily conveys, along with the elements, saving and sanctifying grace ; othexs, that the advantage of the Loid's Suppei flows not from any viitue in the oidinance itself, ox in him that doth administei it, but only from the blessing of Chiist, and the woiking of his Spixit in them that by faith xeceive it. Diffeiing a little as they thus' do as to the efficacy of the sacraments, yet no evangehcal christian wiU maintain that the meie paitaking of biead and wine from the hands of a piiest will save an infidel oi a bad man. Some piefei a liturgy ; and otheis, piayeis con ceived at the moment, and expressed diiectly fi-om the ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 883 heart. Some sing psalms only; and otheis, hymns, and othei poitions of the sacied scriptuies. Some employ insteumental, and otheis ordy vocal music. In legaid to the suppoit of leligious oidinances, evan gelical denominations axe also divided. Some think that evexy nation should have a national chuich estab lished by law, suppoited at the public chaige, and pos sessed of special privileges foi the dissemination of the tenth; while othexs think that ciril governments should let leligion alone — keep out of the region of conscience -:— protect all religious persons in the worship of God so long as they are peaceful subjects, and leave every sect and party to support its own religious ordinances. Both claim state protection, but both do not claim state sup port; both confess that the voluntary support of the gos pel is scriptural; the one, however, would also have it made compulsory, at which the other demuis. Such are the principal secondaxy matteis on which evangelical christians diffei from each othei, and on account of which they have lent the chuich of Chiist into rival denominations. It were easy, indeed, to find indi viduals and sections within the bosom of evangelical chuiches that cany paxty peculiaxities much faithei than I have stated ; but such peisons aie out of theii piopei place. They are unevangelical, and yet within the bosom of an evangelical chuich. Within the pale of the Chuich of England and of the Chuich of Scotland, and even of oithodox dissenting chuiches, it would not be difficult to single out ministeis — judging of them by theii printed discouises — that are Unitarians and Arminians of the veiy lowest school; aye, and Eomanists too, all but the name. Christian ministeis have lived and died in the most oithodox denominations, who had no more Christi anity than Cicero or Seneca. These are exceptions, and. 384 PARTY SPIRIT: alas! at times, very numerous exceptions. They axe aliens from their biethien and the standaids of theix own chuxch; and as such we dismiss them from oux considera tion, and content ouiselves with taking a view of the evan gelical chuiches at laxge, without fixing upon the flesh spots, which, if touched, would make the best and puiest chuiches wince. If I have given a conect summaiy of the diffeient points of doctiine and chuxch oxdei on which evangelical chuiches agxee, and on which they diffei, you will now be able to appiehend, in some measuie, the sectarianism which keeps them asundei, and makes them view each othei lathei as rival factions than as 'the vaiious coips of an army; which, though ranged in diffeient divisions, and each division having an oiganization pexfect in itself, yet foim but one gieat host, and aie undei the command of one Chief.'* Theie is one idea still which it is lequisite to notice in oxdeito bring out vividly the sectaiian spiiit ofthe evangeli cal chuiches. It is a common acknowledgment among them all, that the secondaxy matters on which they diffex do not touch the gxeat piinciples of chiistianity; and that a peison may conscientiously belong to any one of the evangelical denominations and still be a chiistian. They laboui to gethei at times as piofessed chiistians in bible, missionaxy, and txact societies ; and, while standing on the same plat- foim, they call each othei biethien. Nay, accoiding as they meige theii peculiarities, aie they esteemed sciiptuial and useful pieaoheis. An evangelical Episcopalian, oi Pies byterian, 01 Methodist, oi Independent, ox Baptist, who appeals in the pulpit bristling all ovei with his own pecu liarities, is, amongst all spiritually-minded chiistians, con- * Baird's America, p. 499. ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 385 sidered a bigot, who preaches for sectarian purposes, and not to win souls. It is the pastor that studies the bible, and takes his simple theological sentiments, without phi losophy, from the word of God — who plies the under standing and conscience vrith every scriptural motive that has a tendency to lead to faith and repentance, and who encourages the weak by the exhibition of promised aid, and consoles the sorrowfiU with the gi-eat and piecious piomises of the gospel, that is consideied 'a woikman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the woid of life.' Eveiy ministei who wishes to be populai, in the best sense of the teim, puts on a catho lic spirit, and at least pretends not to pieach his party, but Christ and the common salvation. Homage is thus paid to the bioad lineaments of scriptuie, and the wfre-diawn speculations of schismatics are cast into the shade. Notwithstanding, howevex, of the powex of public opinion in xestiaining on platfoims, and in the pulpit, the exhibitions of a wietched sectaiian and pioselytiz- ing spiiit, the demon is not cast out, and appeals even moie hoiiid when it is seen looking from beneath the veil of an angel. Paxty spiiit descends meekly fiom the pulpit, and takes its station at the head of the Loid's table, and from thence excommunicates many of the Loid's people, whom a few minutes befoie it pionounced to be biethien in Christ Jesus. The feast of love is made the feast of schism; and evangelical denominations, within the walls of theii own temples, are as much keen par tisans, excommunicating each other, as if there was no common ground on which they could meet, and as if all but themselves were given over to Satan. On the smooth and oUy tongue, brotherly love, to a cer tain extent, stUl prevails. Conscience even compels the acknowledgment that those who are one in Christ should 2k 386 PARTY SPIRIT : love each other. The enlightened opinions of the nine teenth centm-y have dispelled the outrageous maxim, that chiistians can do God service by persecuting and hating their neighbour ; and yet, to the men of this genexation, with theix eyes thus opened, belongs the known and pie- sumptuous tiansgxession of making new lents in the fel lowship of the chuich of Chiist, and widening and making more lagged the edges of those divisions that spxang from flagrant violations of the rights of conscience. The con tioveisies of foimei yeais aie, indeed, many of them dead and foigotten. It is now confessed, on aU hands, that the Chuich of England did wiong in compelhng the Puritans to letfre, by peisecuting theii conscience on trifles ; and that the Chiu-ch of Scotland did wrong in deposing and casting out the Eiskines and Gillespie, not to speak of otheis. Faxthex, it may be acknowledged that the Dissenteis have spoken haish things of the Estab Ushed chuiches and also of each other And yet, aftei all these acknowledgments, wheie aie the evidences of lepent- ance, and the symptoms of theii returning to each other in love ? Churches that call each other christian churches, are standing frowning upon each othex like the xocks spht at the flood of Noah ; while they aie turning fresh stieams of wxath into the channel which still continues open between them. Paxties aie nuising and keeping up paxty hatieds, and when they have the oppoitunity, they aie piessing foi fiesh enactments to humble, exasperate, and drive to a greatei distance sistei chuiches, who are essentially one with themselves in doctrine, woiship, discipline, and go vernment, and with whose membeis, because they aie paitakeis of the same faith, they expect to unite in the kingdom of heaven. I theiefoie hold this age, in many xespects, to be a most sectaxian age, and to be so, contiaiy to the avowed dictates of leason, conscience, the enact- ITS PREV.iLENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 387 ments of the state, and the word of God. It is no longei, as in foimex times, Cain slaying Abel, when he did not know that he was his biothei's keepei, but it is Esau seeking to kill his biothei Jacob in an eia of light. EvangeUcal chiistians, impiegnated and inflamed with the woist of passions, aie now fighting upon the gxave of piety, chaiity, and unity, at noon- day, and axe piofaning the veiy name by which they axe called, making it the watchwoid of strife, and not the symbol of peace. These geneial obseivations upon the pievalence of sectaxianism thioughout Ameiica, England, and the chiistian woild at large, wUl fit the leadei foi enteiing upon the consideiation of the jJievalence of paity spiiit in Scotland. In no countiy wheie leligious freedom is enjoyed, is paity spfrit moie pievalent. In some it is moie offen sively displayed, and moie deeply tinged with malevo lence ; but in none is it moie widely spiead, and moie tenacious of its little peculiarities. No Scotch clexgyman is so bigoted and schismatical as to affixm of the ministeis of anothei evangelical denomination, even in the heated afr of a pxesbytexy, what an English Episcopalian will coolly publish couceming his Nonconfoimist biethien. In 'Let- teis,' foi example, ' addiessed to a Dissenting Ministei of the Congregational denomination,' the authoi, who writes as an Episcopalian, says, with haughty schismatical assump tion, ' I do not beheve your societies to be churches of Christ, ox thefr membeis disciples of Chiist, oi in othei woids, chiistians — any moxe than I considei youx teacheis ministexs of Chiist. . . Dissenteis may, some of them, possibly belong to the invisible chuich; with that, howevex, as we cannot discern spiiits, we have nothing to do. . . Without bishops, priests, and 388 PARTY SPIRIT : deacons, thexe is no chuxch; and, theiefore, all the vaiious sectarian societies which are without the piesence and piesidence of a legulai successoi of the apostles, aie without the pale of the chiistian chuich.' * Such ano gant Episcopal pietensions, and damnatoiy declaxations, no peison in Piesbyterian Scotiand would foi a moment countenance. The keenest Scotch bigot would shrink from affiiming, that the renouncing of his denomination was the same as lenouncing Chiist himself. The leligious disputes in Scotland weai somewhat the appearance of family quanels, having at theix foundation a deep layex of affection, while, on the suxface, they kythe in gloomy looks, and bittei, spiteful expiessions. They caU each othei chiistians. Aiound the domestic altai they tieat each othei as disciples of the same Loid. In those religious oidinances, howevei, which aie obseived within the gates of Zion, they tieat each othei as heathens and publicans, and that in legaid to matteis often as trivial as the coloni of the cloak in which Paul, on Max's hill, pieached to the Athenians. The wearing of a gown, ox the singing of psalms without leading the lines in succession, ox the foxm of the communion table, have bioken up churches, and led to ecclesiastical piocesses of no oxdinaxy length and peitinacity. This hot and schismatical spirit, which, to a greatei oi less extent, pexvades all the xehgious paities in Scotland, does not spring fiom gxeat conscientious diffeiences as to doctiines oi chuich oidei. The Chuich of Scotland, the Eefoimed Synod, the Secession Chuich, the Eelief, the United Original Secedeis, and the Fiee Chuich, are all Piesbyterian in theii ecclesiastical pohty; agiee in theix doctiine, woiship, discipline, government, and ecclesias- * Quoted in IIoppus on Scliism, p. 360. ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 389 tical foims of pioceduie. The Westminstei Confession of Faith, and its two Catechisms, are the principal standaids of them all. It is only in a veiy few points, and these not points that touch a sinnei's salvation, that they aie at variance one from anothei. Nay, faithei, the Independents, Congiegationahsts, Baptists, Metho dists, and Moiavians, all teach the doctrine of justifica tion by faith in the atonement of Jesus ; so that it may be affiimed, that the doctrines of the cioss aie pieached, with moie oi less fidehty, by nineteen out of every twenty ministeis in Scotland ; and yet thexe is scaxcely such a thing as two ministeis of diffeient denominations ex changing pulpits with each other In the most of paities theie aie laws dfrectly foibidding it. Weie a ministei, in some denominations, to ventuie upon the extiaoidinaiy step, he would hkely be lebuked by his piesbyteiy ; and, if he did not confess a fault, he would be subjected to deprivation of office and benefice. Such bigotiy and sectarianism aie not like the manly chaxactei and national affection of Scotland, and the cause of them must be sought in something deeper than oidinaiy discrepancies of judgment. Besides, thexe is an anomaly about them which sets at defiance the oidinaiy lules of leasoning and judging of leligious dis putes. Seivants passing fr-om one family into anothei — young women at theii maniage — faimeis and meichants changing theii lesidence — have no gieat scrapie about changing thefr denomination, and they aie most gladly received as accessions by the chuich to which they apply foi admission. By this means, theie is a peipetual infu sion of new blood into the veins of evexy chuich in Scot land; and yet such is the sectaxian taint acquiied by every new intiant, that he would^ likely be shocked at the gioss impiopiiet)' of the veiy ministei whom he left foi the 2 K 2 390 P.-VRTY SPIRIT : meie sake of convenience, and whose spiritual chUd he is, appealing in the pulpit of his piesent pastoi. Such things must not be done in Isiael. Eveiy one must keep within the limits of his own ti-ibe, and lefrain fi-om break ing down the comely oider of God's house. The bands of the old national covenant, we think, aie still upon the neck of Scotland, and even those who dis claim its binding obligation, unwittingly weai the scai of its collar. In no othei country weie the Eefoimeis com pelled, by untowaid cfrcumstances, to covenant so fre quently befoie God, and with each othei, that they would strive unto the death in behalf of the tiuth. In the first Scotch covenant, the Eeformers mainly pledged themselves most solemnly to cany foiwaid the woik of refoimation against all opposition ; but, as the opposition still continued, theii covenant became moie intoleiant, stringent, and persecuting. After the king declared foi the loids of the congrega tion, he was often, like Phaioah, found bieaking bis pio- mise; and theiefoie they sought to bind down the sove- leign also, by a solemn covenant engagement, to extiipate heresy. At first, heiesy was synonymous with Eomanism, but it was gxadually extended till it embiaced Pielacy, Brownism, Quakerism, and eveiy kind of doctrine not sanctioned by the Scotch Confessions. The king was taken bound ' to loot out of the empiie all heietics and enemies to the trae woiship of God, who shaU be con victed by the trae kiik of God of the foresaid crimes.' The people solemnly swore, ' As they were to answer to Jesus Christ at the gxeat day, that all wexe punishable as rebellexs and gainsayeis who would not make piofession of the trae xehgion;' and, faithei, ' this national oath was made binding upon the piesent and all succeeding generations.' This covenant with the inhabitants of ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 391 Scotland was not a political oath, to be broken oi kept as expediency dictated. They weie sinceiely convinced of its being a moral and leligious duty enjoined by the woid of God, and which descended from fathei to son, like the titles of an estate, with undiminished and invio lable obhgation. The excommunication and extiipation of heietics weie thus bumt in, as with a branding iion, into the xehgious mind of the population of Scotland. When they afteiwaids began to sepaiate into leligious paities, each assumed that they weie the ' true church of Scotland! aiound which the covenant had been cast as a lampait, and all that diffeied fi-om them weie heietics, and ought not to be toleiated, but stripped of aU civil and religious privUeges. Intolerance was, in this way, genexated and handed down among a people who had shed theix best blood fox xehgious libeity. Un towaid cfrcumstances contributed, in a great degiee, to make them adopt the intolerant principles of the Chuich of Eome, against which they had been caUed to contend, even unto the death. The mind of Scotland thus became lamentably sectaxian on minox rehgious matteis; not because it was less genei ous than the public mind of othei nations, but because ciicumstances gave it an edge which it has evei since letained, and which is only slowly yielding to the meho- xating influence of civilization, discussion, and the mild doctrines of the gospel of peace. Scotland is a stxiking example of the fact, that aftei the mind of a nation is heated up to the white heat of peisecution, it is long befoie it is again cooled down to its natuial tempeiatuie. Bigotiy and sectaiianism axe still hot and scoiching, only they axe now ashamed of thefr xeal natuie, and have put on vaiious disguises, connected moie oi less with an assumption of extiaoidinaiy strictness and piety. These 392 PARTY SPIRIT : specious and insidious pietexts wUl be best undeistood aftei we have analysed the diffeient sects in Scotiand, and laid bale thefr human texms of communion. If I am not mistaken, thexe will be no gxeat difficulty in detecting an unseemly sectarian spfrit even in those Scotch denomina tions that vaunt and plume themselves upon thefr libe rality. In glancing at the party spfrit of the different Scotch sects, I shall take them up mostly according to their chronological order, and in this way endeavour to give offence to none, while yet, with unshrinking fidelity, I shall lay open the sectarian distinctions of all. 1. The Estabhshed Chuich of Scotland natuiaUy takes the piecedence of all othei denominations, and, without ransacking its eailiei lecoids, it is sufficient to glance at its presentconstitution, and thus to asceitain from its acknow ledged standaids and fundamental principles its hbeial or sectaiian spiiit. Its principal standaid book, wbich is engiossed among the statutes of the countiy by act of Pailiament, is the Westminstei Confession of Faith. As it was oonstiucted upon the basis of the Solemn League and Covenant, in which all those peisons who wexe ' malignants, ox evil instiuments, by hindering the lefor- mation of leligion . . . weie to be brought to trial and leceive condign punishment,' it naturally paitook of the same spiiit. It theiefoie maintains that ' peisons who are guilty of publishing such enoneous opinions, as eithei in theii own natuie, oi in the man ner of publishing oi maintaining them, aie destiuctive to the extemal peace and order which Christ has established in the church, may lawfully be called to account, and proceeded against by the censures of the chuich, and by the powei of the civU magistiate.' In * Chap. XX. 4th section. ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 393 the Larger Catechism, which is founded upon the Con fession, ' tolerating a false rehgion,' is one of the sins for bidden in its explication of the second commandment. In these, and such Uke expressions, there is not only bigotry, but the very essence of the rankest persecution. It is proper, however, to add, that the state having now rendered it imperative that every presentee should take the usual oaths to government before he can accept of a presentation to a vacant charge, or sign the Confession as a minister, his signature to the Confession is thus neces sarUy qualified by the oath of allegiance. Having sworn aUegiance to the Queen, as reigning and exercising her authority accoiding to the present constitution of the country, those parts of the Confession which are of an intoleiant and peisecuting chaiactei become theieby, to him, ' a dead lettei,' as being contiaiy to the piesent law of the land. The state does not now bind them upon his conscience, but exacts an oath to the contiaiy; and no chuich couit, acting by authority of the state, can bind them eithei. They aie, in effect, to him lepealed, so that the office-beaieis of the Chuich of Scotland axe now left moxe fi-ee and libeial by the constitution of the country than what is generally supposed. By theii signatuie they aie not now bound to peisecute. In its teims of communion, the Chuich of Scotland, accoiding to its standaid books, is apparently vexy hbeial. ' Saints by piofession, foi God only can judge the heait, aie bound to maintain a holy feUowship and communion in the woiship of God, and in peifoiming such othei spfritual seivices as tend to thefr mutual edification;— which communion, as God offereth oppoitunity, is to be extended to all those who in eveiy place call upon the name of the Loid Jesus.'* No fiiend of union among * Confession, chap. xxyi. 394 PARTY SPIRIT : the disciples of Chiist could have wished foi moie libeial teims of communion, had they not been nulhfied by othei acts and deeds. Undei geneial phiaseology, a limited communion was yet set up. The authois of the Confes sion would giant no tolexation to the Independents. The communion lefexied to was communion with foieign chuiches. Eveiy nation was to have its own chuich, and nothing but one chuich, and though these national chuiches had theix party peculiarities, stUl they weie to hold fellowship as oppoitunity offeied. Piofessoi Dunlop, in his pieface to the Confession, published so early as 1719, in answering the objection that the Church of Scotland, in virtue of adopting the Confession of Faith as a term of communion, is sectarian, and thereby excludes ft-om her feUowship many of the sincere followers of Jesus, who ought to be received, enters at consideiable length into the consideiation of the subject, and shows that ' theie is no act of Assem bly, noi even of any inferioi chuich judicatuie, estab lishing the Confession of Faith a teim of chiistian communion among the people, and appointing ministeis to lequiie an assent theieto from chiistian paients, in oidei to theii being admitted to all the privileges of chuich communion, and paiticulaiiy at the baptism of thefr childxen.' Taking these statements, as containing a conect ac count of the catholicity of the Chuich of Scotland as to hei laity, it is deeply to be legietted that she has, by hei own legislation, cut heiself off fiom aU ministerial com munion with the visible chuich of Chiist, and theieby lendeied the libeity of the christian people within hei pale little bettei than a name. So late as 1799, a law was made by the General Assembly, ' piohibiting aU the minis teis of the chuich, and the ministeis of all chapels of ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 395 ease connected theiewith, from employing to pieach, on any occasion, oi to dispense any of the othei oidinances of the gospel, within any congiegation undei the jurisdic tion of this chuich, peisons who weie not quahfied, ac coiding to the laws of this chuich, to accept of a piesenta- tion, and from holding ministerial communion, in any othei mannei, with such peisons.' By this act the Chuich of Scotland isolated heiself from all othei chuiches, both domestic and foieign, and took up a solitary and sectarian position. She now stands alone. This act has been both repealed and replaced upon her statute-book during the last three years. This yeai- (1844) it has been slightly modified; and now the church requfres, in every case when a minister of a different denomination preaches in one of her pulpits, ' that permission shall be asked and received from the presbytery of the bounds, or its com mittee, and only granted to those who, by the recognition and subscription to a creed, or symbol of faith, give un doubted evidence that they maintain with us the whole doctrines of the christian faith, and the principles which, as an estabhshment, we are bound to maintain.' This law is the mockery of ministerial chiistian communion. It excludes at once all the Independents who refuse con scientiously to sign cieeds; and eveiy ministei of any denomination that does not hold the establishment prin ciple, and even the ministexs of the few xemaining deno minations can only get access by a deed of piesbyteiy. This is setting the dooi a veiy little ajar, with the chain on, while the piesbyteiy stiU hold it in theii hand ready to slap it in the face of eveiy appUcant. Till this flagiant sectaiian law is rescinded, the Chuich of Scotland will meiely be a sect, and not a bianch of the visible chuich of Chxist ; and faithei, she wUl stUl, as the leading denomination, fostei and spiead a schismatical spirit thioughout the land. 396 PARTY spirit: 2. The Eefoimed Piesbyterian Synod aie the descen dants of those who testified against the Eevolution settle ment both in chuich and state, lefusing to yield aUegiance to the govemment as subj ects, and to j oin the chm-ch as mem beis. As citizens, they 'cannot even yet, without a bieach of theii testimony, hold fellowship with the civil govemment by composing pait of the legislature, oi by taking those oaths foi the maintenance and defence of the complex constitution which aie required of members of parliament, and others filling public offices both in chm-ch and state. Neither can they compose a part of the executive govemment, by holding offices under the crown, civil or military.'* They consider themselves merely as private individuals living among foxeignexs, and lefuse actively to maintain and defend the constitution of the countiy. As Chiistians, they neithei hold ministerial noi lay communion with any othei bianch of the visible chuich of Christ undei the canopy of heaven. Theii teims of communion aie ' the acknowledgment of the Westminstei Confession and Catechisms, as founded upon and agree able to the woid of God; the owning the divine right and original of Piesbyterian chm-ch govemment; the acknowledgment of the iDerpetual obligation of the na tional and solemn league; the owning of aU the scriptu ral testimonies and earnest contendings of Christ's faith ful witnesses, whether martyrs under the late persecution, or such as have succeeded them in maintaining the same cause; and especiaUy the owning of the judicial act, de claration, and testimony, emitted by the Eefoimed Synod.' Accoiding to them, ' the chuich must have expUcit teims of communion, to which eveiy membei must give his assent.' They ' do not admit into chuich feUowship on a * Testimony, 1S39, p. 222. ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 397 geneial piofession of what is alleged to be essential to salvation.' They disappiove of the distinction between ' essentials and circumstantials.' ' Cathohc communion,' they say, 'may, by an appearance of chiistian charity, commend itself to the feehngs, but it violates one design of the Suppei — the joint piofession of the name of Christ — the paitakeis of one biead being one body.' Fiom all these facts, drawn from theii own Testimony, lately pubhshed, the Eefoimed Piesbyterian Synod is litei- aUy a chuich which admits of no fellowship with any othei chuich. Thefr communion is steictly denomina tional, and the Loid's Suppei, with them, is spiead foi none of the Loid's people save those of them that belong to thefr own paxty, and hold thefr pecuUaiities. They now indeed mingle with othei sects and paities in cany ing on leligious and benevolent enteiprises, and teeat otheis as christians, and call them bxethxen. StiU, it cannot be denied that, in maintaining thefr close piin ciples of communion, they are glaringly puisuing secta rian and dirisive couises towaids the chuich iu geneial, — and sepaiating themselves from otheis on matteis which, accoiding to thefr own conrictions and piactice, are ndt essential to salvation; fox they even pxay and co operate, to a ceitain extent, with those who lenounce theii pecuharities, and call them saints. 8. The United Secession hold, in many lespects, veiy hbeial and eiUightened views on the article of communion ; and yet, hke othei Scotch sects, there is more of secta rianism in thefr denomination than what some of them selves pexceive. The eye does not see vexy cleaily when the object is biought too close to the oigan of rision. Thefr teims of communion aie, ' the Confession of Faith, Catechisms, and Summaiy of Principles.' They 2l 398 PARTY SPIRIT : adopt and sanction theii laigei Testimony meiely as a defence and illusteation of the design of the Seces sion. As they take not the oath of allegiance as a shield to scieen them from sanctioning peisecuting prin ciples, when they sign the Confession, they discieetiy qua lify theii subscription by a declaration that they do not appiove of anything in the Confession ox Catechisms ' which teaches compulsoxy, oi peisecuting and intolerant principles in matteis of leligion.' They make the ques tion of civil establishments of leligion a mattei of foibeai ance. They lequfre that ' the membexs of thefr diffeient chuiches shall be agieed with legaxd to the doctiine, woi ship, and government ofthe chuich; and also, that they shall make a ciedible piofession of theii faith, and main tain a conveisation becoming the gospel. As the Pies byterian foim of chuich govemment is the only foim which the Secession chuich acknowledges as founded upon, and agreeable to, the woid of God, a practical subjection to it is xequfred from all hei membeis.'* These principles aie ceitainly lathei of a sectarian, than of a catholic and comprehensive chaiactei ; stiU theie is among them a gieat advance in libeiahty. They do not now, as in the Testimony of the Geneial Associate Synod of 1804, testify against those who asseit, that ' the chuich ought to admit to communion with hei, in sealing oidinances, aU whom she may reckon saints,' — ' and that a piofession of faith in what is called the essentials of leligion, is all that is lequisite in oidei to chuich communion.' So fax from doing so, theii giving up theii laigei Testimony as a teim of communion, and adopting in heu theieof 'the Summaxy of Principles,' which is nothing else but a compend of the essentials of * Summary of Principles. its prevalence AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 399 lehgion, is a cleax pxoof that sectaxian principles of com munion have been, in a gxeat measuie, abandoned by them, and happily supeiseded by moie catholic and scriptuial riews. Theii principles and piactice as a chuich, aie now avowedly those of compiehension, and not of exclu sion. By far the majority of them (and a lapidly-incieas- ing majority) would liemble to exclude any one from thefr fellowship, whom, in the judgment of charity, they believed to be chiistians. 4. The Eehef Chuich adopts the Westminstei Confession as expiessive of theii views of bible doctiine. All theii pieacheis sign it on receiving Ucence, ' as founded on, and consistent with, the woid of God, except in so far as said Confession recognises the power of the civil magis trate to interfere in religious concerns! This qualifying clause they considei necessaiy, like the Secession, that they may sign it with a good conscience, and shield them selves from the sin of sanctioning intoleiance and peise cution. They also mal^e the question of establishments a mattei of forbearance. The opinion, howevei, is among them all but univeisal, that the state should in no way interfere as to endowing the chuich, and confei- ling ciril privileges upon it. The libeiality of GiUespie's principles, as to the teims of ministerial and christian- communion, aie well known. When he dispensed, foi the fiist time, the saciament of the Loid's Suppei, as a dissentei, he stated fi-om the pul pit befoie the tokens weie distributed — 'I hold communion with all that risibly hold the Head, and with such only.' This was evei afteiwaids the motto of the Eelief body. As a synod, iu 1773, they adopted an oveituie on ' minis terial and christian communion,' and were unanimously of opinion ' that it is agreeable to the woid of God and theii 400 party spirit: principles, occasionaUy to hold communion with those of the Episcopal and Independent peisuasion who are risible saints.' At the same time they declared, that the principle of the communion of saints was not, with them, such an essential mattei of chiistian faith as ' to subject any man to censure,' who, in paiticulai circumstances, would judge it most fox edification to piefei and follow denominational communion, — ' this oui sentence,' say they, ' does not so bind to confoimity as that diffeience in opinion and pxactice should make us decline communion one vrith another'* These enactments were liberal, and yet vexy guarded ; and, if faithfuUy acted upon in a spirit of love, would greatly further the real and visible unity of the church. In practice, the members of the Eelief Church have, no doubt, been often guilty of schismatical courses as well as others. It is one thing to approve of that heavenly wis dom which is full of love, and quite another thing to manifest it practically among conflicting sects and parties. It is not bearing false witness against them to say, that they have been more disposed to receive others into their communion who would externally conform to their church order, than to reciprocate the act of communion, by join ing with other churches who are sound in the essentials of religion, but who differ from them in secondary mat ters, and who are willing to make them matters of for bearance. Having got hold of a right principle, they axe too apt to gloiy in it, and to make too much of it as a sectaiian distinction. The best of things axe thus in dangei of being peiveited, and elevated out of theii place. No Eelief peison is able, in the sight of God, to wash his hands of the sin of sectaiianism ; and by ovenating his * Synod Minutes ( 1 774 ). ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 401 principles of libeity, he may not unfrequently have, inad- veitently, confiimed otheis in theii attachment to deno minational fellowship and paxty distinctions. Thexe is, at least, ample loom foi confessions and amendments as to bittei woids, angiy stiifes, and sectarian jealousies. Let the Eehef biothei who is without sin cast the fiist stone at the sunounding denominations. They aie guilty, but he is not innocent. It should be his to have all his sectaiian jealousies swaUowed up of love ; and, if neces saiy, to be ' a maxtyi foi peace.' 5. The Associate Synod of Original Secedeis acknow ledge, as thefr standaids and tests of chuich feUowship, the Confession, the Catechisms, and theii Testimony. It is ' a testimony to the tiuths of Chiist in opposition to the defections from the Eefoimation swoin to in Britain and Ireland.' It woiUd lequfre much space even to condense the paiticulais foi which the covenanteis, at that period, contended, and which they adopt as theii principles of communion. It may be sufficient foi oui piesent pui pose to notice, that they ' acknowledge the moiahty of public covenanting, — maintain the continued obligation of the national covenant of Scotland, and the solemn league and covenant of the thxee nations, upon all lanks in these lands, to the latest posterity,' — while they con demn the opinion of those ' who maintain the latitudina iian principle, that the teims of ecclesiastical fellowship should be limited to what they call essential oi funda mental points in lehgion, and that mutual foibeaxance shoiUd be exeicised respecting all othei points.' * The dooi of access into theii chm-ch, therefore, is not visible saintship, but saintship togethei with the profession of * Testimony, pp. 161, 175. 2l2 402 PARTY SPIRIT: all theix peculiaxities and opinions as to the doings and straggles of the covenanteis, which it would lequiie fax moxe laboui to discovei in acts of pailiament, and othei pubhc documents, than it does to discein the mind of Chiist in his woid ; so that, in the veiy natuie of things, they must shut out many from chuich fellowship whom Chiist has leceived into union with himself It is thus that paity spiiit bieaks into pieces the chuich of Chiist, and sets them ' sciabbling' accusations upon each othei's dooxs. It would be wxong to say that they axe feigning madness, like David, but ceitainly they axe acting any thing but a sane and peaceful part. WeU does Satan know that division weakens and disfigures the chuich of Chiist. The Original Secedeis aie not, indeed, a laige body ; and, theiefoie, it may be thought that theii secta rian opinions can do little haim. But it should be home in mind, that ' little chips may help to set laige logs on fire.' Eveiy membei is needed to tempei the body of Chiist, and to make it fail and lovely. 6. The Fiee Pxesbytexian Chuich of Scotland is the last Piesbyterian body which, in this shoit summaiy, I can notice. It wishes to be consideied an embodiment of the Church of Scotland in its best and puiest days ; but this deteimines nothing as to its peculiai principles, as theie aie othei Piesbyterian chuiches that do the same. It piofesses veiy commendable libeiality in associating and co-opeiating with all othex evangelical chuiches (except, peihaps, the Establishment) in matteis of general christian philanthxopy. It sciuples not to exchange pulpit seivices with othei evangelical ministeis. Its fellowship as a chuich, howevei, is veiy close, and guarded by subscriptions which will exclude from hei pale many of the best of men. ITS PREVALENCE AND INSIDIOUSNESS. 403 No peison can be a deacon, eldei, pieachei, oi minister within the Fiee Chuich, unless ' he own and believe the whole doctiine contained in the Confession of Faith — be peisuaded that Piesbyterian govemment and discipline axe founded on the woxd of God — believe that the civil magistiate does not possess juxisdiction, oi authoxitative conti-ol, ovex the legulation of the affaiis of Chiist's chuxch — and appiove of the geneial principles embodied in theii Claim, Declaiation, and Piotest, as declaring the views sanctioned by the woid of God and the standaids of this chuich, with respect to the spirituality and free dom of the church of Chiist, and hei subjection to him as hei only Head, and to his woid as hex only standard.'* These are the distinguishing principles of this new denomination. In many things they do not differ from other Presbyterian bodies ; but in regard to other matters, they have fi-amed iheix formula so as to give themselves a sectarian aspect. They have required assent to the 'whole doctrine' ofthe Confession, without making even its intolerant and persecuting principles matters of for bearance. They have, apparently, forgotten that they do not now take the oath of allegiance by the command of the state before they sign the Confession, and thus get their signature qualified by the civil constitution of the country. They have, apparently, allowed themselves to be carried back to an adoption of the iUibeial and sanguinaiy opinions that stained the histoiy of Britain two bundled yeais ago, when conflicting with Popeiy, and when she had not yet leamed the doctiine of toleiation. The principle — ' that the civil magistiate does not possess jurisdiction, oi authoritative contiol, ovei the regulation of the affaiis of Chiist's chuich,' is a sciiptuial * Acts(1844), pp. 25— 27. 404 party spirit : tenet. Many, howevei, such as the Secession and Eelief, think the veiy leveise of this is taught in the Confession ; and this is the main xeason why they subsciibe the Con fession with an exceptive clause. It had been weU, foi the sake of unifoimity, if this principle had been so expiessed by the Free Chuich as to quadrate -with the language of othei chuiches who cannot assent to the whole of the Confession, because they think it does teach the doctiine ofthe magisteate's inteifeience in leligion. The Eev. John Blown, the commentatoi, who is no mean authority, and who was anything but a voluntaiy, says, in a lettei addiessed to a fiiend, who was inclining to the notion that the magistrate should not inteifeie in religion — ' If you disciedit the doctiine, that magistrates ought to meddle with nothing in leligion, be so honest as openly to renounce youi oidination vows, and the Confession of Faith, and Catechisms, as well as the National Covenant and Solemn League.' * It is deeply to be legietted that the Fxee Chuich has made ' appioval of the geneial principles embodied in the Claim, Declaiation, and Piotest,' a teim of hei fel lowship, as these aie long legal pleadings, and not in spired oracles, and aie likely to embody many things which aie of man lathei than of God, and couceming which no definite opinion should have been demanded. In the Piotest, fox example, the Fxee Chuich piesents heiself — ' fiimly asseiting the right and duty of the civil magistrate to maintain and suppoit an estabhshment of leligion in accoidance with God's woxd.' A pxinciple like this, which is now undexgoing a sifting examination by statesmen, divines, and the public at large — which is not contained in the Confession — which is not essential * The Absurdity, 521 Loid destioyed the powei of Babylon ; his providence made special piepaiations, lemoving hindeiances and opening facilities; his Holy Spirit levived the diooping captives; Judah and Israel became one in his hand; and he makes them one nation, and one king to be king to them all — David, his seivant. The Loid's hand is not shoitened. Let us tiust and not be afraid. Babylon is neai to de steuction. The teuth and the piovidence of God aie pledged. His Spfrit will be given as a Spiiit of Ufe from the dead; a divided people shall be one in his hand, and one shall be King to them all. 0 foi the reviving visitation of the Spfrit of life, that a pxostiated chuich may stand up an exceeding gieat axmy, and a divided chuich become one in the Loid's hand, and in subjection to hei only legitimate King ! And let us look to the New Testament chuich. She has one Loid; he died to gathei togethei in one the chU dien of God that wexe scatteied abioad; he piayed that they all might be one; he gave the ministxy fox the pei- fecting of the saints, tiU they shaU all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man; the piesent economy is the dispensation of the fulness of the time to gathei togethei in one all things in Chiist. This was happily exemplified at the rise of the New Testament kingdom, when ' the multitude of them that beheved weie of one heait and of one soul' — a state which did not continue long ; but it was a miniature and earnest of good things to come. And letuming to om gieat axgument, let us not foiget to keep om eye on the heavenly chuich, and on the thione of God and the Lamb, its centie, and on the myriads gatheied, gathexing, and to be gatheied aiound it in hallowed concoid. With so many, and such indica tions of the Divine Mind on the subject of union, let us 622 ¦ #iSIITY OF THE HEAVENLY CHURCH, ETC. cherish the spiiit of it in om heaits, and piomote it by OUI piayeis, example, and effoits. In all the views and illustrations of it, it is to be remaiked we have one, and only one, centie. This is Chiist. He is the Sun of. Eighteousness, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the xoot and offspxing of David, the Lamb in the midst of the thione in heaven. He who is the centie of the heavenly church is fit and woithy to be the centie of that on eaith. He has no vicaxious head, no visible xepiesentative, no tempoial thione on the eaith. It is the gloiy of the chuich on the earth to have a Head in heaven. In faith in his one sacrifice, and in submission to his headship, the lesult of his death, the one piocming salvation, and tiie othei dispensing it, let his fiiends unite in piomoting the union of his Idngdom on the earth, and piepaxing foi his kingdom in heaven. Viewing these things in the light of heaven, and aiming to view them in the hghts in which it may well be conceived they shall be contemplated in the hom of death, let the chiistian pm-sue the sacied object. To have contributed to bring a soul to Chiist, and to bring those that aie Christ's moie neaily togethei must be mattei of pleasing leflection. And, although the chiistian should not survive to witness the auspicious days of the chuich's pacification and enlaigement, he shall not lose his lewaid. Let him anticipate a consummation foi himself, when, instead of seeking to find escape from bioils in the chuich on eaxth, by looking up to heaven, he shaU look down to paiticipate in the joys of its unity and peace. Thus, whUe in the day of oui grief, heaven is sending down the consolation of its unity to those who are looking up, earth shall send up the joys of its recon ciliation and peace, to add to the fehcity of those who aie looking down. The Loid hasten it in his time ! Amen, GLASGOW: Printed by S. & T. Dcnn, 48, Buchanan Street. 3 9002 08837 9632