some portions of Church History, or from those who stickle for caste, vestments, and ceremonies, as if the life of genuine religion was bound up in them. And so much fiery zeal has been manifested, by large bodies of professed Christians in every age, for the mere wood, hay, and stubble, that it is not to be wondered at, if those who were indisposed to appeal to the Bible, should have come to the conclusion that there was nothing else in religion worth contending for. The church in every age has had its Hamans who could not bear to see Mordecai sitting at the gate. There have been multitudes of great and petty Lauds who would rather have had the plague in their parishes than religious dissent, and who would sooner have tolerated drunkenness and uncleanness than the unpardonable sin of Puritanism and Nonconformity. The imprisonment of John Bunyan and thousands of men of less note, because they would pray without a common prayer-book; the outrage of refusing Christian burial to those who had not been baptized within the pale of a particular communion; the denial of the validity of any ordination but this particular one, or that particular one; the jealousy sometimes shown toward lay preaching, not lest error should be propagated, but lest the priest's office should be invaded; and the many ways in which the old proposition is openly expressed, or half-concealed, "out of our church, no salvation;" these, which are but the intolerances of erring, deluded, or proud men, have done incalculable injuries to that benignant work which is of God. "The prevalence of so in

tolerant a theory," says Isaac Taylor, when speaking of tractarianism, "and the bold avowal of it by those who are regarded as the best-informed expounders of Christianity, silently but extensively, operates to drive cultured and ingenuous minds into deism or atheism. What is this Christianity, say such, which, while professing to be a religion, not of bondage and forms, but of truth and love, nevertheless impels its adherents to violate all charity on the precarious ground of an elaborate hypothesis!"

The disciples may forbid a man to cast out demons in the name of Jesus, because he follows not with them. But the Lord, instead of sanctioning their conduct, rebukes them. It is enough for Him that the man is doing his work, and doing it in his name. "Such a church, or such a community," says Vinet, "believes that to follow Jesus Christ, it is necessary to be with it, form a part of its organization, join the society of which it is composed, espouse its interests, and hang out its banner." The Lord rebukes such

a spirit. He looks over all the hedge work of forms and ceremonies within which his professed followers have too often enclosed themselves, and says, "he that is not against us is for us." Let not Christianity, then, be made responsible for what it repudiates; but let it not be denied that an intolerance of different external forms and rites, on the part of churches, has been prejudical to the Gospel and strengthening to infidelity.

Spiritual Christianity, p. 99. 2 Vinet's Vital Christianity, p. 223.

CHAPTER VI.

DISUNION OF THE CHURCH.

Christ's Church really one-Scriptural illustrations of this-A truth often lost sight of-Disjointed state of the Church a common refuge of infidelity-An argument easily applied-Its influence on a man whose religious knowledge is merely superficial, and who has but a very lingering attachment to Christianity—The sophism repelled by a man of an opposite character-The refuge, however, remains-Deistical writers used it-A source of perplexity to the weak and inquiring, and an auxiliary to the hostile -Remark of Robert Hall-Unity not to be confounded with uniformity-Romish unity a huge fiction-Remark of WhatelyScriptural unity consistent with minor difference-Remark of Sir James Stephen-Mr. Ruskin's "Notes"-Difference between moral and mathematical certainty-Voltaire-Macaulay's remarks on Gladstone-Visible unanimity to be aimed at-Saviour's Prayer--Twofold influence of Christian unity-The exhibition of unity would tell mightily as a proof of the divinity of Christianity-Instanced in the early Church-The consequent unity of action would tell powerfully on successful propagation of Christianity--Primitive Church had unity of action so long as it had unity of exhibition--Noble things done since by combined Christian effort-God, in the signs of the times, is calling upon Christians to manifest their unity.

THE Church of Christ, amid all outward diversities and conflicting interests, is really one. What Cyprian, one of the most illustrious of the Fathers, said, with a too partial, if not an exclusive reference, to the existing church, is true of the great company

of the faithful, composed of men in all ages and lands, who hold the Head, even Christ :—“ The church is one, which by reason of its fecundity, is extended into a multitude, in the same manner as the rays of the sun, however numerous, constitute but one light; and the branches of a tree, however many, are attached to one trunk, which is supported by its tenacious root; and when various rivers flow from the same fountain, though number is diffused by the redundant supply of waters, unity is preserved in their origin." This essential characteristic of the Christian community is illustrated by several comparisons in Scripture. The church is represented as a building of which the Lord Jesus is the foundation, and believers in every place and age are living stones united to Him and to each other, and built up a spiritual house. It is spoken of as one fold under the care of the one shepherd, as a whole family or brotherhood named after the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and, not to multiply illustrations, it is described as one body, all genuine believers holding the same Head, and every one members one of another. Yet the church, in many of its branches, has often lost sight of this delightful truth, and acted a part directly contrary to its influence. The harmony has been broken, brethren have set brethren at nought, schisms have been made in the body, and member has been saying unto member, "I have no need of thee." The faithful have been ranging themselves under different leaders,

'Hall's Terms of Communion.

some saying we are of Paul, others, we are of Apol los, others, we are of Cephas; while their common Lord and Saviour has been saying unto them, “One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren."

The disjointed and disorderly state of the church has been notoriously one of the most common refuges of infidelity. At the beginning, the lovely manifestations of its inward unity often drew the unwilling homage from the world, "Behold how these Christians love one another!" And we may easily conceive how influential must have been the exhibition of Christian unity in disarming the prejudices and overcoming the hostility of those without. To see vast multitudes of individuals, men of every kindred and tongue, and nation and people, separated from each other by country and language, by a diversity of station and interests, all glorying in the same cross, bound by the bands of love into one Christian brotherhood, and harmoniously engaged in doing the greatest good to the world, must, in many cases, have been instrumental in producing the conviction that Christianity is of God. "It was this, indeed," remarks Neander, "which, in a cold and selfish age, struck the pagans with wonder." But the picture has been reversed. Modern Christendom has too often presented the unseemly spectacle of the several companies of the Prince of Peace contending against each other, instead of uniting their strength and advancing against the common foe. The unbelieving world has meanwhile looked on, and said, with a more deeply-rooted prejudice,