In observing the different forms which error may assume, it is well to remember, that in every case, it is the combined result of many influences; often indeed dissimilar, and apparently opposed to one another, yet each tending to the same point, and slowly and silently it may be, though surely, working towards the same end. In the individual it is the product more or less of the special circumstances and principles of the period in which he lives; so that the character of an age is stamped in its general features, with whatsoever diversity of detail, upon those who are born in it. Instances of peculiar aberration unconnected with the general spirit of the time are of comparatively rare occurrence. In like manner, the errors which belong to any given period of the history of the Church or of the world, date their origin from causes which do not immediately meet the eye, but may be traced back through a long series of circumstances which have gradually conspired to produce the final consummation. Each generation, in its principle and character, is the moral result of the whole succession of those which have flowed onward, gathering fresh additions from the succeeding epochs, until the entire exhibition of the mystery, which has been working unsuspectedly, is visible in the completeness of manifested evil. And when it is remembered from whom all error emanates, even the father of lies—his power of deceiving is placed in a fearful light, by the consideration that it extends not only to individuals but to generations; and that in the prosecution of his destructive schemes (limited of course by God’s overruling power,) he can cause each successive age of the world, as it passes onward to converge gradually towards the same point; and in such a manner, that the degree in which each era is contributing to the future evil, shall be unnoted at the time from its apparent insignificance.
The declension from original truth has always been so gradually effected by the silent operation of centuries, that the actual movement is almost imperceptible to the eye of an individual, which can only comprehend within its view a very limited portion of time; and it is only by putting out of sight the intervening facts, which have been the progressive evidences of departure from God, and by a direct and plain comparison of the state of things at any period with the original source of truth, that the magnitude of the deviation from it can be estimated. It was the slow work of the agency of evil, which, in the case of the apostasy of the nations,. gradually obliterated from man’s mind the knowledge of the living and true God; each generation, as it arose, became heir to the waywardness and perverse imaginations of the preceding, and transmitted them together with its own to its successors; until one after another the fragments of revelation were entirely dissolved, or altogether lost sight of, under the power of the dark and fearful alchemy which “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things,” Under a form more unsuspected, because not characterized by the grossness of pagan abominations, the apostasy of the last dispensation is presented to us, in a nation delivered from the idolatry which had polluted their ancestors, and distinguished by every outward circumstance which could mark purity of religious observance—in short a religious world. Yet the word of the Just One declared that they were, even then, filling up in themselves the measure of the guilt of the whole line of mankind from the beginning; and therefore were to be visited for their own deeds and for their fathers’ also. “That the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation.” The apostasy had been gradually progressing from the day their fathers came out of Egypt; the enmity against God had been working throughout the whole mass, and wanted but the occasion to be exhibited—an occasion which was afforded by the presence of God Himself on earth, whose light made their evil manifest. Most instructive is it also to observe that, as a nation, they were departed from God, notwithstanding the several partial and temporary reformations in different reigns. The burden of the denunciation of Jehovah against their apostasy is not the less directed against them in the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah, when apparently almost an entire purgation was wrought; nor did their second temple remove the character branded upon them. They were apostates—and a dispensation which has once apostatized is ever regarded as such, whatever may be the revivals of religion at any given place or time; not because God has precluded return, for He has continually sent the warning “by His messengers, rising up betimes and sending;” but because of the continued operation of the same unhindered evil which brought it into apostasy.
The connection of these remarks with the present state of things in the professing Church, is sufficiently obvious. One dispensation indeed never learns by the experience of the past; or the perfect analogy which exists between the circumstances of the present and the preceding, would be more generally acknowledged. Thus much however is undeniable, that there is the historical fact of a general apostasy from the principles of this dispensation, and the certainty, from the precedent of the Jewish, that any partial return to truth does not a whit rescue the Gentile body from the general charge, The Spirit of God has indeed been poured out in a measure here and there, with different degrees of power; followed in each instance by speedy declension, as in the Jewish revivals. But as with them, so with us—the full tide of apostasy has been setting in from the beginning. Israel “served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord which He had done for Israel;” and when their testimony was removed, followed after idols. In the same manner, during the watchful care of the elders that had known the true Joshua, the Church as a whole, was maintained in its position of obedience; though the latter writings of the apostles give clear intimations that the mystery of iniquity was already working, which after their departure gradually corrupted the Church from its purity. The progress of evil has been so slow and deceitful, that each century in its ease and carelessness, forgot to note the gradual descent of the stream which was carrying the Church further and further from its original position; and thus the present age manifests the result of all the destructive influences which have been in operation from the days of the apostles downward. The deceitfulness of the human mind will indeed discover various ways of defense and explanation, such as difference of circumstances, and accommodation of scriptural principles to the present state of the Church; but the startling width of separation by which we are removed from the primitive exhibition of truth in the Church, is only seen by simply bringing the oracles of God—the charter, as it were, and statutes of the dispensation, to bear upon the circumstances of the day— “Remember how thou hast received and heard,” and “repent and do the first works.” is the only message from the Lord; He can take no lower standard, nor can we if we would form a right judgment.
But it has been rightly said, “When truth becomes important, it begins to be questioned;” and the accuracy of the remark is forcibly seen at the present period, when the necessity so extensively beginning to be felt, of recurring to the scripture alone for everything relating to the ordering of the Church of God, is met sometimes by denying that we are in possession of the whole word of God at others by the assertion that we can have nothing to do With regulations dependent upon the presence of the Spirit, and by every possible attempt to sustain their present position, by maintaining the authority of things appointed since the apostolic age, and which therefore whether good or evil in themselves, are little more than way-marks in the road, down which the professing Church has been receding from its appointed standing, each indicating a farther progress in declension. This is simple matter of history, for none but the apostles were ever authorized to make enactments for the Church of Christ; and all that was ever entrusted to the Church itself, was to carry into effect those already made — the actual ministry of present order, according to the principles, and by the enactments laid down by them. Every step beyond this is necessarily evil; for either it is the virtual assertion that the provision made by the Lord and His apostles is insufficient—that is, that the word and Spirit of God are not enough; or, it is the proof that the Church is no longer in circumstances to be governed by Christ. But the fearful truth is, that the declension of the professing Church is such, that if it were possible for one who had known it in its first estate, at once to be set down in the midst of the present anomalous state of things, He would scarcely recognize a vestige of the character which formerly belonged to it; and would see only an entire perversion of its constitution, ministry, ordinances, and practice, but above all, of its position in the world; yea, a perversion so strange, that even now, upon a recurrence to scripture, it is at once seen that the apostolic addresses have no collective application to anything now called a Church. We look through the various exhortations in the epistles, and wonder how they cannot in the present day be acted upon, except in limiting them entirely to individual practice, which of course affords but a partial representation, and takes away almost all the force of their application. And the inquiry naturally arises—how came the Church into a position where she cannot exercise in any corporate shape the functions of the body of Christ? A question to which the history of the last seventeen centuries must supply the answer. The idea of an inspired epistle to any of the bodies of the present day, in the terms and character of addresses of those which were of old written in the Churches of God, would strike any one as an absurdity. Whether addressed to the Church of England or to the Church of Rome, they would he equally disregarded, because equally inapplicable to either—equally useless, for neither could act upon the commands. But there is no need to make a supposition, for the actual case is, that the Church is not in a state to be ruled by the apostolic directions which it has, and by the Spirit of God which is the only true and rightful sovereign. It is not governed by Christ as the bend of the Church. God indeed rules in it by His providence, as He does in any earthly system, as He does in the world at large, but the Holy Ghost does not order it; a distinction riot sufficiently adverted to by many who would affirm a system to be of God, because He has allowed it to continue. There is order indeed, if an order in the flesh may he so called, which continually produces the greatest disorder in the things of the Spirit; and of which all the arrangements are but contrivances to sustain the system without his presence. A special proof of this has been seen in the Church of England, when, for the greater part of the period since the reformation, according to the acknowledgment of many of her own spiritual members, the doctrines of grace were preached in scarcely a single pulpit; and the awakening which had taken place had subsided into a general spirit of slumber. And yet there are perhaps, not a few, who glory in their own shame, because the system itself was maintained— that is, it did not fall, although the Spirit of God, by their own confession, had altogether gone from it. A roman catholic might, with more show of justice, argue for God’s approval of popery, because the true and apostolical Church had stood its ground for so many centuries. According to such reasoning, if the system of the Church of England had been suggested to the apostles, there never could have been an apostasy. All the Churches might have slumbered and slept, and dead works have taken the place of living faith— every kind of secularity and worldly corruption might have flowed in—ungodliness might have borne the chief rule in the ordering of the body, and the Spirit of God have been utterly shut out; but still they could not be held apostate, but “pure and scriptural,” because they had framed certain confessions of faith to which, on any criminating charge, they had only to point in proof of their soundness. But Christ has made this point clear to His followers. It was not the doctrine, but the confession of the doctrine, that He was “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” which was the foundation of the Church, and the proof of its being His; the confession in the heart and life, not in dead writings, which evidenced it to be builded upon Him. Would the Church of Rome be otherwise than apostate, were all the decrees of councils and popes committed to the flames, and the formularies of the Church of England adopted in their stead, or, all the confessions of faith which have ever been composed? Nay, verily, no more than the Jews were not apostate, when the idols had been purged from amongst them, and they to all appearance, were serving the God of their fathers, in all the strictness and formality of the most devout worshippers. For what is apostasy? Not merely the maintenance of false doctrines, or superstitious and heathen observances: these may all be wanting, and yet a Church be apostate. Apostasy is in the Church, what it is in an individual, a turning back from Christ, and losing the special characteristics of His holy calling, by being again mixed up with the world out of which it was taken to be a peculiar people, a witness for His name. It is in short as to its result, identity with the world. Corruption, in doctrine may more or less abound in such a state of things, or there may be a perfect form of orthodoxy; but where this one character is found, there is the irretrievable mark of apostasy.
For what is a Church—the Church of God? Scripture testifies of what it once was—a gathering together of believers upon the ground of the common salvation, (for this was the simple bond of union which knit them together,) and ordered by the power of the Holy Ghost. The Churches at Corinth, Thessalonica, and in Asia, whatsoever the special need of rebuke might have been for each, were thus distinct from the ungodliness around them; and were in a position where Christ could exercise His administrative power. The only signification of a “Church” in scripture, is a union of Christians; it is not represented as composed of written documents, but of living individuals—and, as a whole, a union of believers as such; and in this manner the pillar and ground of the truth, a speaking, acting testimony for God. To this corresponds the Church of England’s own definition of the visible Church, (often urged and as often disregarded,) as “a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word of God is preached,” &c., a definition by which she utterly destroys her own title to be considered a Church; and by her own words her members must of course abide. For the common benefit of believers in every nation, doctrines most important were rescued from the rubbish of the papal system, by individuals of different countries, views, and characters; but there was nothing framed in England corresponding to the preceding definition. The removal of a part of the abuse of popery, and the exhibition in her documents of certain truths of scripture, did not clear her from the apostasy, for the essence of that was preserved in the fact of identity with the world; nor could anything have redeemed her from it, for a body which has become apostate, cant not restore itself, for the plain reason that the world has gained the majority And whatever may he alleged respecting corruptions elsewhere, or in times past, there is all the difference imaginable between a body, as in the primitive Churches, proceeding upon the principle of recognizing as its members, Christians only, gathering the Church out of the world; and a state of things which systematically and designedly includes, without the slightest attempt at discrimination, all sorts and degrees—godly and ungodly; in short which is framed, theoretically and practically to include THE WORLD. She is not A Church according to her own rule. In THE Church she can only be included as a part of the apostate Church of christendom.
For a Christian mind therefore, not taking for granted that things are as they should be, but judging by the plain truth of God, there is but one course, and that is to separate from the evil. And such separation is not schism, on the contrary, it is nothing more than is due to God’s glory, to Christ’s honor, to purity of conscience, and to the fairness of the Christian name.
It has been sometimes said by unshrinking apologists, that whatever be the corruptions of a Church, yet if it be a Church, it is a sin to leave it. But this argument, if good for anything, would prove that we ought to have remained until this day in the bosom of the Romish Church; for as far as nominal order and constitution go, she has a much more ostensible title to obedience than the Church of England; for it is at least derived from a purely ecclesiastical source, whatever that might be; whereas the Church of England receives the whole of her power at the hands of the state; by which she was actually organized at the reformation, and which appoints all her hierarchy, and has otherwise a large share in directing her.
Nor is the argument drawn from the Jewish dispensation more sound—that an individual is bound to the national Church now, in the same manner as of old the Jew to his own. For let it be considered, that the Jews were a single family chosen out of the earth. But what family is called now by the principles of the dispensation? They were a nation taken out of the world not to be mixed with other nations; but what nation or people is now recognized by scripture, but the “holy nation,” the “peculiar people,” composed “out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation?” The points on which the last dispensation and its covenant rested were, a land and a people. But that which was the leading principle of the constitution of the last, when acted upon now, destroys the principle of the present; for the Jewish was the precise representation in outward carnal order, (see Hebrews) of what the Christian one is now spiritually. The two dispensations correspond by analogy, but are not coincident; and to copy the last dispensation, is to mistake the character of the present, and necessarily to lose sight of it. For the Church now to be identified with the nation or the world, is the same sin as it was for the Jews to give up their separate standing, and to mix with the surrounding nations. It is apostasy in both cases. The Church as such, in its present identification with the world, comes indeed under God’s administration. But how? Not for ordering through his Spirit, that cannot be—but simply for judgment. It has all the responsibilities of the Church of God, without one of its rights or claims. Doubtless the rending of Christ’s body is a deep sin; but where is that body now, so as to be recognized? They who maintain the charge of schism, must first prove that they are the true Church, and the onus probandi lies upon them. The command is to keep the unity of the Spirit. But where is this spiritual union, where is the union of believers, as such, that it can claim the title of the only true and apostolic Church. transmitted to them from the apostles? Such a body alone, ruled by the Holy Spirit, would have a claim on Christian men; for in spiritual things God has appointed obedience to be rendered only to Luis own Spirit; entire subjection to that, whether in individuals, or in many, is imperative but to this alone. It is the distinctive character of the dispensation, because it is the dispensation of the Spirit; and to godliness alone is any one requited to render clue and loyal fealty. But this may be in testimony or in office—that office being the exercise of spiritual energy in the sphere which God has appointed for His Spirit, for the individual so endued by the Spirit for that purpose.
There would be schism in separation from “a congregation of faithful men,” to which the nominal Church does not answer; the visible Church has been broken up or blended with the world. But schism from the world is always right; for a system thus associated and organized is but the world, though the people of God may many of them he connected with it. The word of God is clear— “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God, &c.; wherefore come out from among, them,” &c., (2 Cor. 6) But it is sometimes said, you may separate from what is worldly and ungodly in the Church scripture however contemplates nothing of this kind, nor gives any command about it. It is for the Church “to withdraw themselves” “to put away that wicked person” “to purge out the old leaven.” But, it is replied, how can we do this, when those who are merely nominal Christians, are the ruling number? Assuredly it is an impossibility; but then you prove your own guilt, you confess yourself placed in a position where you cannot help doing wrong, or tolerating iniquity. Is a disciple then to follow the multitude because the multitude cannot but do the evil? The command is, “avoid such.” Does the command therefore cease to be binding on those who see the evil, because the Church cannot help herself, and those who have light persist in having fellowship with it? The first command to a Christian is, “Be not partakers of other Men’s sins, keep thyself pure.” That which the apostle so often urges on Timothy must be of equal obligation upon all Christians; “From such withdraw thyself.” (1 Tim. 6:55Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. (1 Timothy 6:5).) “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use,” &c. (2 Tim. 2:19-2119Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. 20But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. 21If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. (2 Timothy 2:19‑21).) The apostasy, though its germ was already visible, had not then manifested itself, and therefore there was no command to leave that which had not sank into the world; but it is anticipated, and the Christian’s course provided in that anticipation, so that whatever may be the fair appearance of rituals and confessions, he is not left in any delusion as to his own duty. The description given of the future evil is thus summed up, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof,” —the command consequent upon it, “from such turn away.” (2 Tim. 3:55Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Timothy 3:5).) I would add one further warning from scripture. The last command to the followers of the Lamb, and given in reference to that mystery of evil which includes everything connected with the world, is “come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Rev. 185For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. (Revelation 18:5)) —Yea, though the world and the visible Church be identified with each other, it is “come out of her.” So far from being schism, thus to act is the imperative duty of a Christian; and to advocate an alliance which brings him into direct fellowship with the world and forces him to recognize nominal Christianity, is both to manifest a practical contempt of all that scripture testifies concerning the world, and a disregard for the souls of the multitude who, as every day’s experience shows, are deceived into a belief of their own Christianity by the system which calls them Christians, and unreservedly admits them into the privileges of such. That cannot be right which prevents, a distinct disclaimer of worldliness. There is indeed such a thing as schism, but it is not in a Christian’s refusing his sanction to that which is the world, and which is governed by the world’s rulers.
What then is schism? This is a question which must needs bring a crowd of painful thoughts into the mind of any one who has learned from scripture what the Church once was: when all were of one heart and of one soul. So fearfully different are our present circumstances that the possibility of such an union is now, so to speak, scarcely credible. Time was when it could be said of the visible Church, standing as it did, as God’s witness in world—the first fruits to His name— “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:”—a sevenfold unity which appertains indeed to all the children of God scattered throughout the world, in virtue of their union in the heavenly places in Christ, a unity which was not hidden as it now is, but visible and open union, manifested in meeting as members of that body, into which they were all baptized by one; a fellowship of which no forms of outward union can make us partakers. But this was speedily lost as soon as the interests of Christians were separated from the one object wherein their desires met, whilst they forgot that their “citizenship was in heaven;” worldliness produced division, until all, with the exception of the remnant, sunk back into the world again, to be built together by Satan into a fitly framed union of his own.
The external unity of Romanism was perfect as far as outward conformity would go so perfect as to shame believers, for the “children of this world” are much more single-eyed in their common desire and therefore more strongly knit together than the “children of the kingdom;” but such conformity and fellowship was but the “friendship of the world,” and therefore “enmity against God.” It did the works of its father the devil, and perverted all the truths of God.
This, at the reformation, was shivered into a number of smaller masses; but the separate fragments of the Church owned by God were never reunited. And now the very idea of unity seems altogether lost. If ever it is inquired for, the answer sometimes is, that all believers are one in heart; at others, that it means conformity to whatsoever the ruling powers are pleased to make the Church which is no other than the principle of Romanism. And on all sides the perverted use of the right of private judgment has split the union of believers, and severed them from each other, in a hundred different ways, each asserting its own claim to pre-eminence, and denying its own share in the charge of schism.
The only way then of deciding the question, what is schism? is to refer at once to that which is given in the scriptures of the principles and character of the Churches. And these, by the evidence of all the apostolic scriptures, were each, as before said, simply a union of believers upon the ground of the common salvation; “congregations of faithful men,” ordered by the Spirit of God. Nor does it appear that anything, beyond the mere ascertaining, as far as it was possible, that they were believers, was necessary to make them partakers of this fellowship. The whole tenor of the accounts given for our instruction prove this, and that the terms required were none other than those which make a man a member of the body of Christ, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” I repeat that this ground of the common salvation is the only one which is sanctioned by Christ; that it is meeting as believers only which is a spiritual union, or which can be owned by Him. The question is not now as to whether evil may or may not exist among them, but as to the principle on which, as the preliminary to obedience, Christians are bound to be united, and that is as Christians, and Christians only. Any union which has not this principle as its basis, which is brought together upon a point of secondary importance, (and all else is secondary) or which enjoins anything which might prove a stumbling-block to the conscience of the weak, is contrary to the mind of Christ, and is inevitably schism, because the unity of the Spirit, the only one which scripture contemplates, can only exist when those who confess Christ are brought together upon this simple ground. Nay, it is a paramount and immutable obligation upon believers so to meet, and it only proves how little of the Spirit is now in the Church, that the children of God are content to be divided from each other, and seek not union. The power of the Spirit, if greater, would necessarily draw together all who are partakers of it, as to a common center, in the common joy. “The glory thou hast given me, I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one:” but they meet not in the glory, therefore are they divided. It is the sad proof that the Church has lost its glory. “Whereas there are divisions among you, are ye not carnal and walk as men?”
And since it cannot be gainsayed that this was the actual standing of the Church, it is manifest that any addition to the requirements of Christ, which may in the smallest degree affect the conscience of another, is a deep sin against the Spirit of God. Nor has the power to frame such enactments ever been given to the Church, and therefore she has not the slightest claim upon others with regard to them. And when tried by the true and actual simplicity of Christian union, it will appear that the Church of England, setting aside the fact of apostasy, has been more guilty of the sin of schism than any other communion since the days of the apostles. Let us consider a very few points which amply prove it. She is guilty then of schism—
1st.—In acting with invariable contempt of the apostle’s command “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.” (Rom. 14) Her assumption on the contrary has been, that in things indifferent the Church hath power to frame requirements, and to make them binding upon her members—a power never given to the Church; for in things indifferent, no one has any power from God to make laws ecclesiastical, or to enforce those things which He hath declared to be immaterial. The apostle’s statement is most distinct, he enjoins “that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.” And wherefore? The thing in itself may be indifferent, but one man’s conscience cannot be the rule of another’s, “to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” (see Rom. 14:1414I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. (Romans 14:14).) To disregard this is to walk “not according to charity,” and the consequence must be disunion. “We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” It is a strict command and a fearful warning. “Take heed that ye offend not one of these little ones.” But the Church of England has made them submit, for her own pleasure, to an endless list of additions to the word of God, in things wholly indifferent. As for example—all those ceremonies which in the reign of Elizabeth were imposed by her on the Church, (not by the Church, be it observed, but by the civil power alone,) as of equal authority with the ordinances of Christ. The consequence of which was, that the consciences of the weak, and even of the greater number of the most spiritual, were disquieted, whilst the careless and ungodly found no difficulties. The real schismatic was doubtless the Church of England, which thus disjoined many of her most spiritual members; and both then and at other periods, she has been the cause of all the schism which from time to time her unscriptural requirements have necessitated; for each sect, as it separated itself, was a testimony against some error which she would not, or could not alter.
But the Church’s own manifesto is unequivocally set forth in her canons, which prove her to be more bitterly schismatical than any other collective body. Nor let it be said that some of them are virtually obsolete, and not now enforced, and that therefore it is not fair to judge of her spirit by them in the present day; for the argument might admit of a destructive application. If the charge of corruption in practice is answered by pointing to the purity of her articles, with equal justice may the assertion of her mild and tolerant spirit be met by a reference to her canons. Both stand together as her statements, and the one is no less accredited by her than the other. The assertions made by the anti-catholic party, in the debates of late years, that popery had changed its character in modern days, were always met, and justly too, by a reference to the unrepealed decrees of the council of Trent. Now it is not possible to conceive of a set of regulations more opposed to the spirit of Christianity than these canons; they are full of the severest penalties against conscientious objections to mere human inventions, and exalt the enactments of men into equal importance with the ordinances of Christ. As for instance – “whosoever shall hereafter affirm that any one of the nine and thirty articles are in any part superstitious or erroneous, or such as he may not with a good conscience subscribe unto, let him be excommunicate, ipso facto, &c.,” so that, strange as it may seem, a large portion of the Church of England is probably excommunicated, as there is perhaps not a single individual who assents to every statement in the articles, and every one who affirms that any article is in part erroneous, is IPSO FACTO excommunicate.
A word may be said here upon the subject of formularies and creeds. Of these it may be truly affirmed—converted men do not want them; unconverted men break through them. The question is not whether they may be good in themselves, but whether their ostensible purpose is effectually answered by them. It may be fearlessly asserted then, that on the one hand they have disturbed the conscience of many a godly mind, as being utterly unsanctioned as requirements by the word; whilst on the other, they do not hinder shoals of unconverted men from pressing into the ministry every year. It is not intended to undervalue the intrinsic value of creeds, as expressions of Christian belief. I may be very thankful that the early Church did compose these confessions, and fully allow the value of the exhibition of Christian doctrine comprehended in them. But they are not depreciated by being placed in their true scale of importance; and that which is here maintained is, simply that they are no security for godliness; and that on the other hand an individual may be a Christian, and give evident proofs of it in his life, who yet may not be prepared to sign confessions of faith which he may not understand, or the mode of expression of which he cannot agree to, though he will make a similar confession in other words. For example—I acknowledge the full worth of the Athanasian creed, and the value of the astonishing strictness and accuracy of terms, far above the power of the present day, in which the most profound and important essentials of the Christian faith are conveyed, every proposition of which strikes at the root of a heresy. But all which is there stated in metaphysical language and exactness of position, an unlearned believer in the gospel apprehends as to its vital truth, by the intuition of faith. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are practically everything to him which they are there stated to be but it is obvious that he may be unable to assent to the creed, and his faith be not a whit less sound. Moreover it is a fact that man; conscientious men have been excluded because of their objection to signing anything, and as it is not required by the word of God, the requisition of signature becomes schism. The real evil is, that the principle of union becomes merely one of knowledge, an assent of the understanding to certain propositions, which may be utterly unconnected with vital godliness, and which requirement therefore is unscriptural, and tends only to divide the true body of Christ.
The actual duty of a Church, is to ascertain, as far as it can, that its members have the Spirit of Christ, that their belief and life are Christian; but this the Church of England has never done, and could not; and yet these feeble safeguards are vaunted of as her strength, and the proof of her apostolicity. It has been said that they secure from heresies, but they did not hinder the Church of England, with scarcely an exception, from preaching the popish heresy of justification by human merit, for nearly two centuries; and persecuting those who declared salvation by the righteousness of Christ. For a long and dreary period the stillness of death reigned throughout the Establishment, for there was no blessing in lifeless forms and ceremonies. And when the truth was revived, was it through her articles, or was it not that the Spirit of God was poured out, proving that it was the Spirit alone which could work? Every day’s experience exemplifies this. If there is a godly man who gives his whole soul to the ministry, good is more or less affected through him—he is blessed there, as he would be blessed any where; if a false teacher or idle shepherd, the forms are but the shelter for formality and worldliness. Nor have these devices produced the slightest approximation to the conformity which they profess to aim at. All indeed subscribe to them, but no where is there more discordance or division, than within the walls of the Establishment. Every variety and shade of doctrine is preached by those who profess to “speak the same thing.” Thus within herself, and this of necessity, she is full of schism, in the true sense of the word, whilst according to the strewing of many of her spiritual members, nay, by the testimony of the world itself, she comprehends in her ministry a vast majority of those who are Christians but in name.
2nd.—She is guilty of schism in her requirements for her ministers. The principle of the Christian ministry was, “as every man hath received the gift (χαρισμα; see 1 Cor. 12) even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” (1 Peter 4:1010As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. (1 Peter 4:10)) The Spirit of God, in the variety of his distributions, alone gave authority, and He “bloweth where He listeth,” “dividing to every man severally as He will,” without respect of persons. But the practice of the Establishment, is a proof of the manner, in which the most direct and open violation of scripture and rejection of the Spirit of God, is received without questioning, because it has been ordered and settled by those who have had authority in the world. If it were the rule of an insignificant sect, that none should be considered as competent to minister among them, but those who were found to have answered such qualifications as the following—to belong to a certain rank in society—to be possessed of means sufficient to go through a routine of expensive requirements —to be placed for several years immediately preceding their entering upon the ministry, in circumstances where they would be actually exposed to temptations more in number, and more perilous, than could be found in any other, and where the preparation for the sacred work in which they were to be engaged should consist almost entirely of science and profane learning—such a system would be universally regarded as the result of the absurdest and narrowest sectarianism. Yet this on the whole, is the unrebuked practice of the Establishment; the ministry of which acts in two ways. It is accredited as a profession for a gentleman, and therefore occupied by the higher classes. It is open to talent and learning, and many a one makes a gain of godliness by getting a step in society from being So accredited. Moreover the preparation, for it is mainly human learning, acquired in circumstances necessarily of a character the most unfavorable to spirituality. And what is this but to assume that God hath given His Spirit, for the instruction of His people, to the rich and learned alone; and that, reversing the principles of the dispensation, the mighty things of the world are now chosen to confound the weak; and the wise things of the world to confound the foolish. Surely such a system could not have been named in the days of the primitive Church. In truth, it is an utter rejection of the Spirit of God; for whilst the ungifted, it may be, ungodly individual, who has answered these requisitions, is accredited hereafter as a minister of Christ; the Spirit of God in Paul or Apollos would find no admission, unless it had passed through these purely human requirements. Is this indeed God’s order for His Church, or is it not, however sanctioned by numbers and authority, altogether schismatical, and a grieving of the Holy Ghost?
3rd.—She is guilty again of schism, in excluding from the liberty of speaking and preaching all who are not in nominal office. Now, without entering into any question upon the nature of the offices mentioned in the epistles, it does not appear that there is any warrant from scripture for so confining the liberty of preaching; for though individuals might be set apart for the purpose of exercising the offices of elder or deacon, yet it by no means appears that the ministry of the word was confined to them alone, any more than there was a necessity for its invariably forming a part of their own work. Of a deacon’s office it clearly was not an essential part. The elders or rulers are distinguished, as those “who labored in the word and doctrine,” and those who did not. But the testimony of the word proves that many preached the gospel without being set apart for it; the gift being the only needful qualification. And in the only account given of a Church assembly, but given in that epistle which is left to us as a model of ecclesiastical order and usage, the line of distinction is drawn, not between ordained and unordained, but between men and women. In truth the Spirit’s power, subject to the judgment of those who were themselves gifted, was the only title to speak. It is therefore of the essence of schism, a fresh hindering of the Spirit, to preclude the exercise of the gift of God, in those who have received authority from the supreme source, even Christ Himself; and consequently either to quench the Spirit in those so precluded, or to drive them into schism; for as good stewards they cannot but exercise the grace of God which they have received. Yet the entire office of ministering, perhaps to many thousands, is frequently confined to me person, which is virtually to affirm that the whole of the Spirit’s power, for edification, and the exercise of every function of Christ’s Church, resides in the single individual thus authorized.
4th.—And hence the ground of another charge of schism. By confining the ministry to one individual, and by a fixed form of worship, entirely without warrant or precedent from the New Testament, the free manifestation of the Spirit is hindered in every assembly. Indeed the very purpose to which it serves, is to enable men to do without the Spirit of God. There may be an apparent order, pleasing to the natural mind, but this can present naught but confusion before Him who desires to be approached in spirit and in truth, and whose Spirit is sent forth into the hearts of His children to this end. But the presence of the Holy Ghost now, acting in others besides the minister, or in external gifts, would break up the entire system; a striking consideration to those who would extol merely human order. Yet so it is, the ritual is irreconcilable with the supposition of the Spirit of God being present. It is remarkable, that in the only place where the word “schism” occurs in the authorized version, the apostle is speaking of the interdependency of the members of the body, and their reciprocal communication of gifts exercised by all who had their, as being the means by which it is tempered together in order that this evil may be avoided — “that there should be no schism in the body.” (1 Cor. 12) It is perfectly true, that, in assemblies like those of the Church of England, the Lord’s order could find no place—could not be exercised; for we should have the world assuming the place of teachers to the Church of God; but this does but prove the desperate state of things. Schism however it is affirmed by the apostle to be, when the body is not thus tempered; and schism is the result: the body of Christ is disunited and broken; and yet men triumph in the show of so called order, and form, which is but a trophy of the exclusion of the insulted and grieved Spirit of God. The Establishment therefore is proved to be schismatical—
1st.—In offending the consciences of the weak, by assuming an unscriptural right of enforcing things not enjoined by the Lord.
2nd.—In imposing unscriptural requirements upon those who enter its ministry, and making these the test of their competency to be ministers of Christ.
3rd.—In exclusively setting up its own ordination as the sole title for preaching and teaching, nay, for addressing in prayer the one God and Father of all.
4th.—In services unwarranted by scripture, and which directly shut out the order of the Church of God—in each and all of these particulars, and others connected with them (for into the practical results we need not enter) is seen, most deeply marked, the sin of this dispensation, the rejection of the Holy Ghost. And thus, continuance in her communion not only identifies an individual with apostasy, but involves him in the guilt of schism in the Church of God.
Such being the character of the Church of England, she has of necessity, become herself the fruitful source of all the innumerable divisions, into which those who profess the name of Christ are separated; for God could not maintain the entireness of a system which presents so little of the features of His Church. But in the view of these results there is nothing for a Christian mind to glory, for by one who has in any measure entered in spirit into the once beautiful unity of God’s children, the present state of things can be looked upon only with feelings of the deepest shame and humiliation. No return to the principle of Christ’s Church is to be seen. Christian assemblies of old met for edification, communion, and mutual exhortation —but each sect now sets up an individual, and comes to be preached to by him—surely the fulfillment of the apostolic prediction, “they shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” a state of things which has grown worse and worse:—Ecclesiastical democracies Ministers, so called by the people, as in many cases to be inevitably controlled by them to such a degree, that if they preached the convictions of their souls, they would be left destitute. But I must hasten to a conclusion. Of the modern dissenting bodies it may be said, that their systems are on the whole more scriptural than the Church of England, but their practice worse, It is clear also that (speaking of them as a body) the same fact which gives the character of apostasy to the Establishment, —union with the world—stamps the same features upon modern dissent; and in a form more fearful, because, with infinitely less of spirituality among individuals, it is more connected with the irreligion and ungodliness of popular feeling. But passing by all the painful circumstances which in these days have changed the descendants of Howe, Baxter, and Owen, into a political body; let us return to the question before us. The nonconformists were not schismatical in the point of their separation from the Establishment, it being in general upon just and Christian grounds, though the succession was, for the most part, upon certain subjects of difference, of deep import indeed, but by no means comprehending the length and breadth of her actual dereliction of the true standing of the Church of Christ. But the character of schism has been acquired by the nature of the unions subsequently formed. The principles upon which the different Churches have been respectively gathered, have never been such as would comprehend all the children of God upon the great essentials of Christian belief; but some special point has been made the ensign of each party, and they who have gathered round it, have proved only their preference of the object in question, to the general unity of God’s people. In truth they are now united, not simply as children of God, but upon the particular sections of Christian doctrine, which give the names to their several divisions.
Is Christ then divided? Was it as baptists, independents, or quakers, that the Churches were originally united, when in union they bore a witness to the world? Surely there is little conformity in these things to the mind of Him, who has given one simple mark by which His followers were to be recognized— “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
They have greatly sinned also, in requiring from their members assent to terms of communion which the Lord never enjoined—thus shutting out many of the weaker brethren; and by raising things of secondary consequence into the same virtual importance with faith in the atoning blood of the Lamb, each of which has been a stumbling-block. The case is not altered in the circumstance of individual congregations professing to admit others besides themselves to their communion, since the real question is, whether they themselves are united solely upon the ground of being Christians—for nothing short of this is a full recognition of the principle of Christian unity; and the point to be pressed again and again, is, whether believers are joined simply as members of the body of Christ? Nor can they escape the charge of rending that body, who place the slightest hindrance to Christians thus meeting together; and these bonds of union are all hindrances.
All the devices of man, while he has been exulting in fancied strength, have only shown his own helplessness and folly. “But the foolishness of God is wiser than men.” The Lord who knoweth whereof we are made, and the tendency of the natural mind to make every point a subject of difference among brethren, has left the cross alone as the center of union amongst His people—the one thing in which all true believers are agreed; and made that, which alone will make them one hereafter, the means of their union here. Where other or additional bonds are found, there is the spirit of sectarianism, there is schism in act, for the inevitable effect is to sever from each other those for whom Christ died. Again I ask was it not thus that Christians once met? Therefore if there were now but two individuals who met only in the name of their common Lord, these would be acting in obedience to the command to keep “the unity of the Spirit,” while the whole multitude besides who were gathered together, because called by this or that name—because they had assented to this creed or that confession, would be the causers of division, and be acting in disobedience; for it is evident that the question is not decided by numbers or accredited authority in the world—the principle alone must be kept in view.
To act on any other principle, is but to add another to the hundred sects which are around; and better, far better would it be with the prophet “to sit alone” (Jer. 15:1717I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation. (Jeremiah 15:17).) than to exhibit that, which, keeping the word of promise to the ear, is but a mockery of the desires of those who seek Christian communion. A gathering of believers should be nothing less than an available point for all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity; and when it ceases to be this, it ceases to have any value as a witness for Christian unity.
I have written plainly, it may be thought harshly, on these matters; but if they are true it cannot be possible to speak too strongly upon a state of things which must be most grievous to the Spirit of God It is indeed a dark sign of the state of the Church when we hear of vindications and apologies for non-continuance in union with anything which is contrary to God; but, if a judgment may be formed from the aspect of the times, a period is rapidly approaching when every conceivable degree of iniquity will be tolerated to enforce an external union, and all godly turning away from it denounced as schism. The consciences of many are becoming gradually seared. so that they are driven for consistency’s sake to vindicate many abominations in doctrine and practice, which were at one time a grief of mind to them; and not content with continuing it in themselves, they would hinder others from denying ungodliness. It is therefore the part of Christian love in all who know these things, if they seek the welfare of the brethren, not to withhold their protest against the overflowing evil, especially when the inconceivably rapid progress of false principles is considered, and the manner in which in the present day misapplied truth is made an effectual engine in the hands of Satan, to confirm multitudes, even of God’s children, in sanctioning iniquity. May they be warned in season.
In the meanwhile those who desire simply to act as disciples have a path before them in which they cannot err. There can be no pleasure in speaking of iniquity; the present broken and disordered state of the Church of God is the common shame of all His people. Nothing but sorrow and abasement of heart becomes them; and the more they have of His Spirit the more will it be their feeling. “Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation; our holy and beautiful house where our fathers praised thee is burnt up with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste.” But for the sake of others, faithfulness in testimony is required. To look for a restoration of that symmetry which has been so entirely destroyed—for the return of that Spirit which alone sustained it in power—would be a vain hope. But believers may still walk in obedience to such measure of the Spirit as they have, always indeed seeking increased grace and endeavoring to exemplify every principle of Christian doctrine. The word still remains, “these things I command you, that ye love one another;” and they who are sanctified by the same precious blood, may meet in the common hope of the same kingdom of glory. The power of the Spirit wheresoever it is found, if not hindered, will draw together those who seek communion; Satan will indeed endeavor to seduce them by the spirit of self-will and insubjection, (and this is the very spirit of Antichrist) but God is faithful—and the knowledge of real weakness is strength, when it brings His children into more simple dependence upon His unchanging love.