“In what are Christians to be united?”
They are to be united _on Christ_—on _being Christians_. This embraces
the entire revelation from God to man, all the truth uttered, the
commandments given and the promises made by our heavenly Father. The
truth must all be believed, the commandments obeyed, and the promises
must be hoped for. This includes the entire faith, obedience and hope
of the gospel. _In this_ we must be united.
II. “What are the essentials of Christianity which can not be
compromised?”
_Christianity itself_, as a whole and in all its parts, is essential.
All that is in it is essential, and all that is not in it is not
essential. We are for christianity itself, not in part, but the whole
of it, as it came from the infallible Spirit of all wisdom and all
revelation. It is all essential. Nothing may be added to it or taken
from it. The “doctrines and commandments of men,” the doctrines of
“expediency,” of “deductions” and “inferences,” from _principles_,
are not essential; but these are not christianity, nor any part of
it. Nothing in christianity can be compromised except at our peril.
The wisdom of God gives us no non-essentials. If the wisdom of man
pronounces anything given by the wisdom of God, or, which is the same,
any part of christianity, non-essential, such wisdom of man must be set
aside as presumptuous.
What an idea for men to sit on the _grave_ question of _essentials_
and _non-essentials_, in the divine institution given by our Lord and
confirmed by the most indubitable signs and wonders! What part of that
which has been given by the wisdom of God is essential, and what part
is not essential? It is all essential, or the wisdom of God would not
have given it, and the authority of God would not have required it. The
very circumstance that the infinite wisdom devised it and the infinite
authority required it makes the whole of christianity binding. There is
not a non-essential in it.