CHAPTER II.

The Church described in the New Testament as one-proved by Ephesians 4: 4.

It is proper to remind the reader, in the very beginning of our reasonings, that there is but one Church recognized in the Scriptures, and that in the apostolic age there was no such person known as a Christian who was not a member of this one Church; the terms were then synonymous. When, at the very first, the doctrines of Christ were preached, and men became converts to his faith, we learn that "the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2: 47); and, at the close of his long and laborious life, St. Paul writes to the Christian believers: "We are all baptized into one body" (1 Cor. 12:13); and he tells us, in many passages of his epistles, that "the Church is the body of Christ" (Eph. 1:23; Col. 1:24; 1 Cor. 12:27). It is clear enough, from these and other similar passages, that St. Paul and the other writers of the New Testament did regard the Church as one external society in the midst of the world, testifying to the one Christ and Lord; and that they never contemplated but one, except as it consisted of local congregations in the unity of one external fellowship.

To dwell upon only a single passage, which is de

cisive, and is enough, as the Word of God, to compel our assent, we refer to that which is our motto: "There is one body" (Eph. 4:4). St. Paul was exhorting the Ephesian disciples to Christian unity: "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." This exhortation he enforces by several powerful considerations: "There is one body, and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." Here are no less than seven reasons, supposed to be familiar and admitted, for the enforcement of Christian unity. At the head of these stands our motto, " There is one body."

There was, then, but one Church recognized by these Ephesian disciples, and in this fact was a constraining motive to unity. The phrase "one body has reference to the external organization of the Church, its outward unity and discipline; for the word "body" is never employed in reference to any internal emotion or affection; and, besides, it is followed by the assertion, "there is one spirit," as a separate and independent idea. For still another reason, it cannot mean one body" in respect of affection, because the fact of there being "one body" is adduced for the very purpose of recommending a unity of affection, and there would be no argument at all, if the apostle is supposed to say: "Be ye all united in affection, because ye are all united in affection." St. Paul was never so weak, so

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inconsistent, as this. The phrase refers to the external unity of the Church, and thus the argument has great force: "There is one body, that is, one Church. Christ intends to have only one body, and his disciples must therefore keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, and not divide or rend the body by dissensions, and thus thwart the purpose of Him who is the one Head over all things to the Church, which is His body." Thus this passage is unanswerable evidence that in the inspiration of St. Paul there is not, and ought not to be, but one outward visible Church.

Reminding the reader that the Sacred Scriptures recognize but one Comprehensive Church, and that what the inspired apostles and founders of the Church maintained as great principles of duty have lost none of their force by the lapse of time or by the prevalence of discords (for "heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word," says the Lord, "shall not pass away"), we invite him still to accompany us in the further course of our reflections.

CHAPTER III.

Definition of Sectarism-what it is not-what it is essentially hostilenot realized.

THE Word of God declares that there is not, and ought not to be, but one Church. We propose to show that only one Church is necessary; and indeed, that more than this one, or rather that divisions of this one, prevent entirely the fulfillment of the objects of the Church. We propose then to show, what would otherwise have been appropriate in this place, the principles upon which the one outward and visible body of Christ -the one Comprehensive Church-must be organized.

In the mean time, we wish to illustrate in the present chapter that which is the opposite of the one Christian Church, to define what is meant by sectarism.

What is sectarism?

It is not diversity of religious opinions. This may co-exist with unity.

It is not diversity of religious customs. This may co-exist with unity.

It is not the association of "elective affinities"-i. e., the intimate communion of persons of similar habits and feelings and characters. This may co-exist with unity.

It is simply a departure from the unity of Christ's

one Church; a forming of a new fellowship of believers, separate from the united fellowship of the previously existing body of believers; the establishment of a new model of a Church.

No body of men can be called sectaries in any reprehensible sense, until they have proceeded beyond protestation, and even beyond non-communion, to the overt act of constructing a new Church. In this is the essence of sectarism—the rending or dividing of the "one body" of Christ, by the formation of another and (not only separate, but in its nature necessarily) opposing ecclesiastical organization.

Sectarism originates in a most gross and grievous misapplication and abuse of the Scriptural principle, and the natural desire of unity. It looks for absolute unity, in disregard of the causes which limit the operation of the social principle. It tends to continual separation, in order to secure the most exact assimilation. It looks for agreement in all things; and when carried out in theory, as it is carried out in fact, it would make each man the single representative of his own sect, whose unity would be a unit.

Contrariety or opposition, hostility, destructiveness toward others, are included in the very nature of sectarism, as may be easily proved. For there is but "one body." The sect is designed to be the model of this one body. The sect is the perfect model; for if any other had been perfect, there had been no occasion for it. All other churches are defective, unfit to accomplish the legitimate objects of the Church of Christ; so much so, that all the inconveniences and dangers of a universal change are to be encountered in order to supply the de