_I_, _therefore_, _the prisoner of the_ LORD, _beseech you that ye
walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye are called_, _With all
lowliness and meekness_, _with longsuffering_, _forbearing one
another in love_; _Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace_.
IT was the prayer of our Blessed LORD—what an earnest prayer it was,
delivered in what solemn and affecting circumstances—that all His
disciples might be one, even as He and the Father were one. He had
laboured to secure this oneness, by teaching them that there was the same
truth for all to receive, and the same work for all to do. Individual
fancies and theories were not to be indulged, where the whole teaching
was of GOD; pride was not to exercise itself where everything was
received, and nothing earned; ambition was checked, by being told that,
by seeking, it should lose, that he who would be first should be last.
All were equal in position, all equal in privileges. In serving one
another, in preferring one another—by this alone could they please GOD;
in this way only could they reach unto eminence. Devoted to a common
LORD, directed by a common revelation, enabled by a common grace,
exercised in a common work, cheered by a common hope, surrounded with
common trials and difficulties—what could there be within, without, past,
present, or future, which should prevent them from all thinking the same
thoughts and doing the same works, sinking the individual in the company,
clinging to one another, labouring together, knit together in a holy
bond—“One LORD, one faith, one baptism, one GOD and Father of all, Who is
above all, and through all, and in all.” To think for oneself, what was
it but to reject GOD’S truth; to act independently, but to forsake their
appointed work; not to serve and love the brethren, not to serve and love
the LORD; to separate from the Christian company, to go away from CHRIST?
Even if the Spirit had not been given to effect this unity, if the Gospel
had not enforced it by the plainest denunciation of heresies and
schisms—crimes classed by it with the worst and lowest, and most certain
to exclude from heaven; even if CHRIST had never prayed for their union,
nor taught them that they were to be united, still, if the disciples of
religion were like the followers of any other cause, it might have been
expected—it would have seemed morally impossible that it should be
otherwise—that the remembrance and love of their Master, the cause which
they had taken up, the knowledge of the way in which alone it could be
furthered, their common relationship, and interests, and aims, and hopes,
would have kept them in one body, would have bound them fast to each
other in the bonds of peace. And, doubtless, it would have been so, but
for the influence and machinations of the evil one. There could have
been no other fruit from such seed, but that the enemy sowed tares in the
same field. In CHRIST, self had been denied and destroyed. His Church
was to be the embodiment and propagator of self-denial, self-submission,
self-devotion. Such a Church threatened antichrist with certain
destruction: for antichrist is the spirit of self—and selfishness
destroyed, where would be sin? Therefore, the Devil sought to break up
or mar and impair the Church; and, to accomplish his object, infused into
as many of its members as he could, the very spirit of self, which it was
commissioned to destroy. Alas! he was too successful in his fell work.
Soon self began to ask, “Why should I not choose what to believe—what to
do? Why should I not make to myself a name, and claim for myself
authority, and power, and reverence? Why should I not have private
views, and seek private ends? Why should I suffer, and forbear, and seek
another’s good, rather than my own?” The selfish question was father to
the selfish determination; and so, even in the Apostles’ time, the faith
was mutilated here and denied there—there were heresies, and schisms, and
strifes, and boastings of spiritual gifts, and withholding of temporal
substance from GOD, and indulgence of lusts, and hatings, and revengings,
and backbitings, and fightings, and denying of one another, among those
who were all called with one calling, enlightened and sanctified by one
Spirit, appointed to “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
And so it has continued to the present time. There is no such reasoning,
and questioning, and quibbling, and deciding for oneself what to believe,
about any other subject, as about the truth, which GOD has plainly taught
and has clearly defined. There are no other divisions so numerous, so
lamentable, so strife-begotten, and strife-engendering, as in the one
body of CHRIST. Pride, and ambition, and self-seeking, in all its worst
forms; evil suspicions, revilings, hatred, persecutions, have abounded,
and do abound, and boldly manifest themselves in that very community
whence self was to be expelled! Many antichrists are in the world, but
as many in the Church. The very heathen repel our attempts to convert
them, by bidding us first agree what to believe ourselves. The worst of
men say they have a right to despise us for our bitter jealousies and
disliking of one another; and the taunt is common, and has been in some
measure provoked, that religion is only a mask, a cloak to hide men’s
basest passions and worst deeds.
It may be urged—it ought to be urged—that this is not altogether the
fault of Christians. It was the will of GOD that the goats should be
allowed to mingle with the sheep, that the tares should not be rooted out
from among the wheat, that the net should contain small as well as great,
worthless as well as good fishes. Hence they are “not all Israel, who
are of Israel.” And so the bad feelings and deeds, the things which are
an offence and a reproach in Christendom, are to be charged not
altogether to CHRIST’S true followers, but to those who only in name are
Christians—to the world, in fact, intruding into, and mixing itself up
with, the Church.
Yes; this is so. The world has sought and found scope in the Church for
the wild exercise of its reason, for profane speculations, and whimsical
fancies; for self-indulgence, too, in all its forms; for lusts, and
strifes, and false accusations, and enmities, and wickedness, of every
hue and measure. The worst heretics and schismatics, the fiercest
persecutors, the bitterest accusers of the brethren, are evidently not
true followers, even in intention, of CHRIST; they are not rebels and
traitors, “they are not of us,” they belong to the enemy, and have stolen
into our camp; and are now mixing themselves with us, and confounding,
and harassing, and misguiding us, as part of the subtle warfare which is
being waged by Satan against us. But still, alas! we are not clear. Too
many who deserve to be called something better than nominal Christians,
too many—ay, even of the best of us—make no endeavour—that is worthy of
the name—to keep the unity of the Spirit; or, if they strive for unity,
forget the bond of peace.
It is very common to find a man who has been at much pains to find out
for himself the doctrines and requirements of Christianity, who heartily
accepts every article of the creed, who is scrupulously exact in keeping
all the ordinances, who would think himself guilty of no ordinary sin, if
he frequented the place of worship of another sect, or contributed of his
substance to their cause, who is yet all the while utterly indifferent to
the fact that almost every article of his creed, and every ordinance of
his Church, is ignored, and even denounced by some one or other of the
many bodies of men calling themselves Christian communities. He thinks
it no business of his to defend the faith, or to vindicate the
ordinances. Let every man look to himself, is his maxim, and leave
others alone; or, perhaps, if he is momentarily interested in the matter,
if a wish springs up that it were otherwise, he soothes himself, and
spares himself further anxiety and labour, by suggesting that Christian
charity would not interfere with another’s liberty. “These others,” he
reasons, “have a religion, and follow it. It is not altogether the same
as mine, but it is in many respects like it, perhaps in all essentials.
At any rate, it is better than none; it would be presumptuous to suppose
that they may not be saved by it. Therefore, if I must help in
proselytizing any, it shall not be these mainly right, but the godless,
the followers of no religion!”
Now, brethren, such a man is utterly in fault: he is incurring the
Apostle’s reproach of being carnal, in allowing divisions; he is
offending against the very Christian charity which he thinks he is
exercising; he is unconcerned about the due honour of GOD; he is
disobeying the injunction to endeavour “to keep the unity of the Spirit.”
The question is not, whether a man can be saved in heresy or schism, but
whether any Christian, who honours GOD and loves the brethren, ought to
wink at heresy or schism? And the answer is plain—he ought not! Is GOD
honoured, is He pleased, when the creature, to whom He reveals Himself,
says, in effect, Thus much of the Divine account I will accept; the rest
I do not like, cannot reconcile with my private pre-conceived notions,
cannot see to be reasonable, therefore, I reject it? Is GOD obeyed, when
His servant, instead of fulfilling His whole will, sets aside
capriciously, or for some selfish reason, certain positive precepts of
that will? Is any Christian in a certainly accepted and safe state, or
in the way to it, who does not use, who ignores the need of, prescribed
means of cleansing and sanctifying? And if he is not, how far is it
charitable, to let him remain as he is, without concern? My brethren, we
all recognise it as the duty of every Christian to promote the knowledge
and acceptance of the truth. Can we be said to discharge this duty, if
we care not about the mutilation or distortion of the truth? We all
acknowledge that we ought to love one another, to have fervent charity
among ourselves. Is it charitable—is it not culpably selfish—to have, as
we believe, the best, if not the only, right faith—and not to be
concerned that others have it not? Is it not, too, strangely perverse to
admit, that those in separation are brethren, fellow-pilgrims,
fellow-heirs, to hope to meet them in heaven, and to think, and feel, and
live in perfect harmony with them for ever; and yet here not to be
concerned that we never can give them the right hand of fellowship—cannot
journey with them, and help, and make for the inheritance together—can
never even meet them in prayer and communion—must let them be as utter
strangers? In earthly matters none of this would be tolerated, could
possibly be. Why, then, can it be—why is it in religion? Because we are
not jealous enough for the honour of GOD, because we do not truly love
the brethren, because we do not endeavour to keep the unity of the
Spirit!
But it is possible to err—there are many who do err—on the other side;
who, in their zeal for the faith, insist that all shall think and do
precisely as they do, or shall forego the name of brethren: who have been
at no pains to search out the ground of their own faith, and see how much
of it is derived from GOD, and how much from man; who make no distinction
between important and unimportant misconceptions; who class together the
wilful teacher of error and the misguided learner, the originators of
schism and the inheritors of it; who blame for their faults those whom
they should rather pity for their misfortune; who would make the path of
orthodoxy as narrow as possible, and excommunicate all whom they could
detect treading on its borders; who not only see nothing right beyond
their own Church, but are impatient of much that is within it; who split
the Church up into parties, and bring about the worst of
schisms—divisions, misgivings, and oppositions, among members of the same
household, continuing in the same house; who would have undue prominence
given to certain doctrines; who fight for or against certain ceremonies
and vestments, and certain kinds of music; who are ever looking for
something to protest against, to blame, or to pity, in their
fellow-worshippers or their ministers. These men think that they do GOD
service (for I speak not now of the wilful); they are intent upon serving
Him; but it is like Saul before his conversion, with an ignorant and
persecuting zeal. They want to establish and keep, what they think, the
unity of the Spirit, but they care not for the bond of peace. If a
member of their own communion does not think as they do, they quarrel
with him, they bid him go, they would thrust him out: while, as for
members of other Christian bodies, they think worse of them, they speak
worse of them, they shun them more than they would an infidel or a
reprobate! Let not this be thought exaggeration; not always, nor very
often, let us hope, do they come to this growth; but of this kind, alas!
too nearly of this measure there are not a few among both High Churchmen
and Low Churchmen; and in this direction works all zeal that is not fully
enlightened by GOD, that is not warmed with love for CHRIST, and love for
those whom CHRIST died to save and win. Zeal is good, earnest contention
for the faith is imperatively required of every Christian, but so is
right knowledge and love. Right knowledge, I venture to say, while
condemning actual heresy and schism, would often be content with creeds
in general terms, and would make much easier, than many strict
religionists conceive, the terms of communion, so as to include as many
as were really desirous of being included; and love, Christian love,
would sigh and sorrow over differences, and yearn after separatists; and
would labour, and persuade, and spend, and be spent, and wrestle in
prayer, to cement, to convert, to bring in. O it is _self_ that is so
stern and strict in defining what is correct theology; it is antichrist
in his worst mood, that would thrust out or cut off a brother sinner!
My brethren, understand clearly that you are most solemnly bound to
accept yourselves, and to urge upon others, the whole teaching of GOD,
nothing less and nothing more; to render yourselves, to persuade others
to render, precise and perfect obedience. You may not be indifferent
about others, but you must not be overbearing. You are keepers and
helpers of the brethren, but you are not judges and avengers. It is your
duty to honour GOD, and to maintain His honour; it is your mission to
persuade others to honour Him also. GOD is honoured in unity, in
agreement, in faith, in union, in practice, and service, and worship.
You have then to promote this unity; but, as a pre-qualification, you
must have so entered into the mind of the Spirit, as to know—specially
for GOD’S missionary work—what liberty is allowed, and to feel, after
your poor measure, what CHRIST feels of love for each individual soul.
In the prosecution of your work, the text directs you—You are called with
one calling, the Gentile is included with the Jew; the aim is union, not
separation, that all may be saved. By all means, save whom you can. Be
lowly, let not self intrude, where CHRIST should be put forward; be meek,
let not self recoil where CHRIST would suffer; be patient, enduring,
long-suffering, slow to take offence, determined not to give offence,
bent upon returning good for evil, forbearing one another in love, making
every allowance for wrong training, for natural prejudices, for
individual infirmities—ay, and even perversities. Be very zealous for
the unity of the Spirit; but be sure that you are breaking, not
promoting, that unity, wherever you sever or endanger the bond of peace.
Follow this advice—and I do not say you will root out heresy, and heal
divisions, but you will do much towards it. Argument, and censure, and
ridicule, and remonstrance, and denunciation, and persecution, have been
trying, ever since the Christian era, to establish the unity of the
Spirit, and have rather destroyed it. Try you, whether he was not
enlightened and sanctified by the Spirit, who said, and acted upon it,
“that one ounce of love could do more than many pounds of controversy.”
Men may be repelled from you, by your orthodoxy, your zeal, your
reasoning, your stout remonstrance. They will be subdued by your
forbearance, and will come after you for your love!
To the best of you, I say, there is some indifference which you ought to
shake off. To the best of you, I say, get farther from bigotry and the
spirit of self.
SERMON XIII.
THE LAW IN THE GOSPEL.