_I maintain communion with the Church of England_, _because a separation
from her_, _without a sufficient reason_, _would_, _in my opinion_, _be a
great sin_.
“THERE is, undeniably, such a sin as _schism_, against which we are
precautioned in the New Testament, as being one proof of carnality in a
religious professor, (1 Cor. iii. 3.) and as being diametrically opposite
to the duty of ‘endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond
of peace’.”
“By _schism_ we are to understand a _causeless_ secession from our
Church, into the communion of which we have been solemnly admitted by
baptism. And that such a secession would be causeless on our part, is
evident from this simple consideration, that our Church neither proposes
to our faith any doctrine which is not evidently contained in the
Scripture; nor obtrudes on us any practice which the Scriptures forbids,
nor restrains us from the observation of any rule which the Scripture
enjoins.” {14}
It is not, in my humble opinion, a sufficient reason for a separation
from the general Church to which I belong, that the gospel is not
preached from the pulpit of the particular place in which I live. To
admit for argument sake, the worst case that can occur, viz. that a
Socinian clergyman had, through his own hypocrisy in subscription, got
possession of the pulpit of my parish; my removal from that parish to
another, if I could find no other way of remedying the calamity, would be
a less evil than the act of separation, and the encouragement of a spirit
of division in the Church of Christ. The word of God prohibits my making
such a division; but it no where forbids me to make any sacrifice of
temporal emolument or accommodation for the benefit of my own soul, or
the souls of my family.