tihtary of t:he t: heological ^mimvy 
 
 PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 Mr, Spmuel Agnev 
 of Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
Digitized by tlie Internet Arcliive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://arcliive.org/details/twodiscoursesonuOOmcri 
 
T 
 
TWO DISCOURSES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 UNITY OF THE CHURCH, 
 
 HER 
 
 DIVISIONS, AND THEIR REMOVAL. 
 
 TO WHICH IS SUBJOINED, 
 A SHORT VIEW OF THE PLAN OF RELIGIOUS REFORMATION 
 ORIGINALLY ADOPTED IN THE SECESSION. 
 
 BY THOMAS M'CRIE, D. D. 
 
 MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, EOINBURCU. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 
 PRINTED FOR WILLIAM ItLAtKWOOU, EDINBURGH ; ANI> 
 T. CADELL, AND W. DAVIES, STRAND, LONDON. 
 
 182]. 
 
Caw «Sc Elder, Piijitcn. 
 
DISCOURSE I. 
 
 EzEKiEL xxxvii. 19. — " They shall be one in 
 ** mine hand." 
 
 T HE reduction of the Jews from the Babylo- 
 nian captivity was one of the most signal deliver- 
 ances wrought in behalf of the ancient people of 
 God. It was not, indeed, immediately effected 
 by miraculous power and the exhibition of visible 
 signs and wonders, like the eduction of their fa- 
 thers from the House of bondage ; but it was 
 attended with the most convincing proofs of 
 extraordinary providential interposition. And 
 such was the magnitude of the mercy itself, 
 the change on the national character which 
 accompanied it, and the connection in which 
 it stood with the ulterior plans of Heaven, 
 that it so far threw into shade, and took the 
 place of that deliverance which had hitherto 
 been commemorated in the sacred invocations 
 of every pious and patriotic Israelite. " Behold, 
 the days come, saith the Loiin, that it shall no 
 
2 
 
 more be said, The Lord liveth that brought up 
 the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt ; 
 but, The Lord liveth that brought up the child- 
 ren of Israel from the land of the north, and 
 from all the lands whither he had driven them*." 
 
 This joyful event had been announced by the pro- 
 phet Isaiah, who named Cyrus as the prince who 
 should " say to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, 
 and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid." 
 The period at which it would happen was defined 
 in the prophecies of Jeremiah, which contain a 
 magnificent description of the overthrow of Ba- 
 bylon. The predictions of Ezekiel, while they 
 confirm those which had been previously given 
 out, add to them facts which are deeply inter- 
 esting and permanently instructive. In the pre- 
 ceding chapter we are told that God would not 
 only restore Israel to their own land, but also 
 produce a change on their hearts and conduct. 
 The whole house of Israel were polluted with 
 guilt, and especially with the sin of idolatry. 
 Neither mercies nor judgments had hitherto 
 been sufficient to divorce and separate them from 
 their idols. But their captivity and release 
 should be sanctified and blessed for producing a 
 real and lasting reformation. They ehould be 
 made the objects of pardoning mercy, and the 
 subjects of renewing grace. " Then will I 
 sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be 
 clean ; from all your filthiness and from all your 
 idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will 
 
 * Jcr. xvk 4, 5. coinp. Isa. xliii. IS, 19. 
 
3 
 
 I give you, and a new spirit will I put within 
 you : and I will take away the stony heart out 
 of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of 
 flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, 
 and cause you to walk in niy statutes, and ye 
 shall keep my judgments and do them *." 
 
 Two objections of great force would present 
 themselves to the minds of the Jevvswhen toldthat 
 their captivity should be turned back; and these 
 are removed in the chapter before us. Crushed 
 under the irresistible power of their conquerors, 
 trodden under foot, scattered, exanimated, they 
 could only sigh out, " Our hope is lost ; we 
 are cut off for our part !" To enable him to meet 
 this objection, Ezekiel was " carried in the spi- 
 rit"' into the midst of a valley full of bones, 
 bleached and dry; and whileheprophesied to them 
 bydivinedirection, "behold, the bones came toge- 
 ther, bone to his bone," and on a sudden the ap- 
 j)earance of the valley was changed from that of 
 a field of slaughter, into the site of a grand mili- 
 tary review. Those whose " bones were scatter- 
 ed at the grave's mouth" stood up not only in 
 the attitude of living men, but " every man in 
 his own order," and all together united and mar- 
 shalled — " an exceeding great army." The pro- 
 phet then addressed the captives in God's name, 
 "Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, 
 and cause you to come up out of your graves, — 
 and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live. 
 This emblematical vision went far to solve the 
 
 * Chap, \xx\i. 25 — 2". 
 
 a2 
 
4 
 
 second objection, which is completely removed in 
 the words of our text. He who believes in the 
 resurrection of a dead people will not despair of 
 the cuie of a divided people. He who has seen 
 " the bones come together, bone to his bone," is 
 I)repared to witness the congregating of living 
 men, every one to his fellow. The second ob- 
 jection was founded on the dissention which had 
 subsisted among the people of Israel since the 
 death of Solomon, when ten tribes were violent- 
 ly rent fi'om the royal house of David, and form- 
 ed themselves into a separate and independent 
 kingdom. What was at first a political division 
 soon produced an ecclesiastical schism, and led 
 to the establishment and practice of a worship at 
 Dan and Bethel, difierent from and opposite to 
 the worship of God at Jerusalem. This dissen- 
 tion between the families of Judah and Israel 
 still remained ; and was there not reason to fear, 
 if they were restored to their own land, that, 
 like " a root bearing wormwood and gall," it 
 would again " spring up and trouble them r"" 
 Against the fears of this, the prophet was in- 
 structed to comfort the " prisoners of hope," first 
 by exhibiting a sign, and then by explaining its 
 meaning. In the instructions which God has 
 been pleased to convey to men, sublimity is blend- 
 ed with condescension : the emblem formerly 
 presented to the prophet was grand ; the sign 
 which he now shewed to the people was fami- 
 liar. He was directed to take two sticks, or, as 
 the word also signifies, thin jilates of wood, so 
 fashioned as that, when brought into cqntact, 
 
5 
 
 tbey should unite into one piece, and having in- 
 scribed on them severally the distinctive names 
 of the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel, he 
 was to join them in his hand before the people. 
 To their inquiry, " Shew us what thou meanest 
 by these," he was to answer : " Thus saith the 
 Lord, Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, 
 and put it with the stick of Judah, and they 
 SHALL BE ONE IN MINE HAND ; they shall be no 
 more two nations, neither shall they be divided 
 into two kingdoms any more at all." They 
 were to become one nation in respect not only 
 of civil polity, but also of religious communion 
 and privileges. For it is added, " I will set my 
 sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore : — 
 my tabernacle also shall be with them ; yea, I 
 will be their God, and they shall be my people." 
 
 This promise was fulfilled on the restoration 
 from the captivity, when the inveterate schism 
 between Judah and Israel was perfectly healed. 
 Some interpreters regard it as a prediction of 
 what was to happen in New Testament times; 
 and we can scarcely doubt that the blessings 
 promised, in all their extent, could only be en- 
 joyed during this peiiod : For it follows, " David 
 (a name often given to Messiah by the prophets) 
 my servant shall be King over them, and they 
 shall all have one Shepherd and again, " My 
 servant David shall be their prince for ever." 
 But without resting on this, we mean to take 
 the primary application of the passage as a 
 foundation for the subsequent discourse. There 
 is a wonderful analogy in the divine dispensa- 
 
6 
 
 tions towards the Church at different periods. 
 The duties, the temptations, the sins, the punish- 
 ments, and the deliverances of the people of God 
 in former times, are all instructive and admoni- 
 tory. The Spirit of wisdom has selected for in- 
 sertion in the inspired records, with more or less 
 detail, those facts which were calculated to be 
 most generally and permanently useful. In the 
 New Testament the name of Babylon, and the 
 language and imagery employed by the prophets 
 in describing the power and the overthrow of 
 that idolatrous and persecuting empire, are trans- 
 ferred to the reign and ruin of the Antichristian 
 kingdom ; and upon the same principle, are not 
 we warranted to apply, for doctrine, for reproof, 
 for correction, and instruction in righteousness, 
 the description of a contemporary mercy bestow- 
 ed upon the Church of God, which was inti- 
 mately connected with her internal and most vital 
 interests ? 
 
 On a text of this kind there is a danger of 
 tracing analogies that are more fanciful and in- 
 genious than real and solid, and of rearing gene- 
 ral principles on the basis of accidental circum- 
 stances. W e shall endeavour to guard against 
 this, by keeping in eye the analogy of faith, and 
 the lights thrown on the subject of our text from 
 other parts of Scripture. The subject of dis- 
 course is the divisions of the Church, and the re- 
 medy of this mournful malady. I propose not 
 to treat it at large, but only to lay before you a 
 few observations, which, through the blessing of 
 the Divine Spirit, may be useful for establishing 
 
7 
 
 your faith, and dkecting your exercise. The 
 subject is not only of great extent ; it is also of 
 very delicate discussion. When we are beside 
 the uaters of strife, O how needful the Perfect Il- 
 lumination — the mystic Urim and Thummim 
 which was upon Levi, whom God " proved at 
 Massah, and strove with at the waters of Me- 
 ribah !" May we have our ears attent to " the 
 word behind us,"" the Daughter of a voice *, say- 
 ing, " This is the way, when we turn to the right 
 hand, and when we turn to the left ;"" and may 
 you have wisdom to " consider what we say," and 
 to " judge of your ownselves what is right." 
 
 For the sake of order I shall arrange what I 
 have to say under the following heads : 
 
 I. Of the Unity of the Church. 
 
 II. Of its Divisions. 
 
 III. Of the Removal of these, and the Res- 
 toration of its violated Unity. 
 
 I. I begin with the consideration of the Uni- 
 ty of the Church. For ages previous to the an- 
 nouncing of the oracle in our text, Judah and 
 Israel had been divided into two nations in res- 
 pect of civil concerns and of religious faith and 
 practice ; but God at first made them one. The 
 Church of Christ has been divided for a still 
 longer period, and to a still greater degree ; but 
 " from the beginning it was not so." Originally 
 
 * The Jewish writers say, That God revealed liis mind dur- 
 ing the standing of tlie tabernacle by Urim anil Thummim ; dm: 
 ing tlie lirst tcin|)le by the Prophets ; and duriiif; the second by 
 Bath-kol, oi- the Daughter of a voice. This lust, tijcy suppose, 
 is referred to in Isa. xxx. 21. 
 
 A 4 
 
8 
 
 it was one, and it ought still to be one, according 
 to Divine will and institution. 
 
 The Unity of the Church is implied in the 
 most general view we can take of its nature, as a 
 society instituted for religious purposes. True re- 
 - ligion is essentially one, even as God, its object, is 
 one. It, as its name imports, binds its professors 
 to one another, as well as to the sole and common 
 object of their supreme homage and service. It 
 is indeed the great bond of human society in all 
 its various and graduated relations ; preserving 
 the unity and peace of families, neighbourhoods, 
 and nations, strengthening the subordinate ties by 
 which they are connected, and preventing men 
 from becoming a prey to each other, "as the fishes 
 of the sea and as the creeping things that have no 
 ruler." Hence, from the violation of the bonds 
 of humanity, consanguinity, and mutual faith, so 
 general among his countrymen, a prophet infers 
 that they must have previously renounced the re- 
 lation in which they stood to their Common Pa- 
 rent : " Have we not all one father ? hath not 
 one God created us .'' why do we deal treacher- 
 ously every man against his brother by profaning 
 the covenant of our fathers* If such is the re- 
 mote, and (if I may so call it) extrinsic influence 
 of religion, what must its direct operation be 
 within the pale of its own sacred enclosure 
 
 Consider the Church, again, in its more specific 
 form, as a society consisting of men called out of 
 the world lying in wickedness ; and it will be still 
 
 * Mai. ii. 10. 
 
9 
 
 more evident that oneness is its attribute. It is 
 founded on supernatural revelation — on the pro- 
 mise of a Saviour, and a divinely instituted wor- 
 ship. By their profession of faith in the former, 
 and their observance of the latter, " the sons of 
 God" were united in the patriarchal age. AVhen 
 an extensive system' of ceremonial and sacrifical 
 service, intended to prefigure the redemption to 
 be procured by *' the seed of the woman" and 
 " of Abraham," as well as to preserve the know- 
 ledge of the one true God in the world, was su- 
 perinduced on the original revelation ; the nation 
 of Israel was embodied into a Church or sacred 
 confederation, to be a peculiar people unto God, 
 a holy nation, a kingdom of priests. God de- 
 lights to speak of that people, as well as of him- 
 self, in the singular number : " Hear, O Israel, 
 the Lord thy God is one Lord. — Thou shalt fear 
 the Lord thy God, him shalt thou serve, and to 
 him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name V 
 "I will say, It is my people, and they shall say. The 
 Lord is my God -f-." The stranger who embraced 
 the true religion, in "joining himself to the Lord," 
 did at the same time " cleave to the house of Ja- 
 cob," and " surname himself by the name of Is- 
 rael;]:.'" " One law, and one manner, and one or- 
 dinance, shall be for you of the congregation, and 
 also for the stranger that sojourncth with you ; 
 as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the 
 Lord§."— By the death of Clirist,"the middlewall 
 
 « Dcut. vi. 4. X. 20. t 7.ccli. xili. 19. t ^i- Ivi. 3. 
 comi), clmi). xix. 1. xliv. 5. §Nuiiib. xv. 15. IG. 
 
 a5 
 
10 
 
 of partition — thelawof commandments contained 
 in ordinances,'" which was at the same time a 
 token of the enmity between God and sinners, 
 and an occasion of distance and alienation be- 
 tween Jews and Gentiles, was abolished ; and be- 
 lieving Jews and Gentiles were reconciled to God 
 and united into one body. But by being diffused 
 the Church was not divided; she did not lose her 
 unity by becomingecumenical,andbeing no longer 
 confined to a single nation. When she received a 
 command to " enlarge the place of her tent, and 
 spread forth the curtains of her habitation"", to re- 
 ceive the converts who came under her shelter, 
 she was at the same time instructed to " lengthen 
 her cords and strengthen her stakes*." Divine 
 wisdom made such changes on the external form 
 of her worship and communion as were adapted 
 to the extended and continually enlarging ground 
 which was now allotted to her. There was no 
 lonaer to be a sacred house to serve as a visible 
 centre of unity; nor a material altar on which 
 jilone it was lawful to sacrifice ; nor a single fa- 
 mily whose right it was exclusively to minister 
 in the temple and at the altar. Hut still there 
 remained visible bonds and badges of unity among 
 the members of the Christian Church. " 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 allf." "For 
 
 * Isa. liv. 2. 5. t EpU. iv. 4— C. 
 
II 
 
 we being many are one bread and one body ; for 
 we are all partakers of that one bread*." 
 
 The unity of the church, in profession, wor- 
 ship, and holy walking, was strikingly exempli- 
 fied in the primitive age of Christianity. Those 
 who " gladly received the word were baptized 
 and added to the church," consisting of the Apos- 
 tles and other disciples ; and they " continued 
 stedfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, 
 and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." And, 
 after their number was still farther augmented 
 by the addition of many thousands, '* The mul- 
 titude of them that believed were of one heart 
 and of one soulf." This union was not confined 
 to those who lived together, but all of them in 
 every place formed one sacred " brotherhood." 
 How solemn, earnest, and reiterated are the 
 apostolical injunctions to preserve this unity, 
 and to avoid every thing that has a tendency 
 to violate or mar it ! " Now 1 beseech you, 
 brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that 
 there be no divisions among you ; but that ye 
 be perfectly joined together in the same mind 
 and in the same judgement |." " I, the prisoner 
 of tlie Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of tJie 
 vocation wherewith ye are called, with all low- 
 liness and meekness, with long-sufiering, for- 
 bearing one another in love ; endeavouring to 
 keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of 
 peace§." " If there be any consolation in Christ, 
 
 • 1 Cor. X. 17. + Acts ii (\, 42. iv. 32. \ 1 Cor. 
 § Epli- iv. 1 — 3. 
 
12 
 
 if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the 
 Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, 
 that ye be like-minded, having the same- love, 
 being of one accord, of one mind : — that ye 
 stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving^ 
 together for the faith of the Gospel*." " Now, 
 the God of patience and consolation grant you to 
 be like-minded one toward another according 
 to Christ Jesus, that ve may with one mind and 
 one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ -f-." 
 
 It will assist us in forming correct notions on 
 this subject, if we attend to certain distinctions 
 which are commonly made in treating it. We 
 usually speak of the Church of the Old and of the 
 X^ew Testament, or the Jewish and Christian 
 Churches. But the difference between these is 
 only in degree, not spccifical or essential. The 
 change made on her external form and institu- 
 tions, at the coming of Christ, though great, did 
 not destroy the oneness of the Church ; just as 
 our personal identity is not affected by the 
 changes which we undergo, in body and mind, 
 while we pass from childhood to maturity. 
 She remained the same ; as the heir does after 
 reaching majority, although no longer under 
 tutors and governors ; and as the olive tree 
 does after a great part of its natural branches 
 have been broken off, and others, taken from a 
 wild tree, have been grafted in their room J. 
 — Again, it is usual to diftinguish between the 
 
 » PUIp. i. 27. ii. 1. + Rom xv 5, 6. t Gal' «v- 1—3, 8, 9 
 Rom. xi. 17—24. 
 
13 
 
 invisible and the visible Church. The former con- 
 sists of such only as are true believers and real 
 saints ; the latter of all who make a public pro- 
 fession of the true religion. But this does not 
 imply that there are two Churches, but only that 
 the same society is considered in a different point 
 of view. Nor is it a division of the whole into 
 its parts. It does not mean, that one part of the 
 church is visible and another invisible ; but it 
 means, that all who make a profession of the 
 faith compose the church considered as visible, 
 while those among them who are endued with 
 true faith constitute the church considered as in- 
 visible. The former includes the latter; and it is 
 sometimes spoken of in Scripture under the one 
 and sometimes under the other view. But 
 whether the church of Christ be viewed in its 
 internal or external state, unity is still its attri- 
 bute. All genuine saints are invisibly and vitally 
 united to Christ, aud to one another, by the in- 
 dissoluble bond of the Spirit and of faith; and in 
 virtue of this it is that they increase in love and 
 holiness, and are at last made " perfect in one." 
 Some of the particulars specified in the passages 
 of Scripture quoted above refer more immediate- 
 ly to this invisible union; but others of them 
 are as evidently deccriptive of the character and 
 privileges of a visible society, actuated by the sj)i- 
 rit of true religion, and subsisting in a state of 
 due subjection to I he word and laws of Christ.— 
 Again, the church may be considered either as 
 catholic or &n particular.' This distinction is not 
 inconsistent with its unity any mure than the for- 
 
14 
 
 mer. The visible church considered as catho- 
 lic or universal, consists of all those throughout 
 the world who profess the true religion, together 
 with their chihiren. The variety of particular 
 churches, when regularly constituted, does not 
 imply any separatiofi from or opposition to one 
 another. The catholic church subsists in and is 
 composed of the several particular churches, of 
 larger or less extent, in the difFerent parts of the 
 Christian world ; and none of these are to be ex- 
 cluded from it as long as they retain the true and 
 distinctive characters of such a society as the word 
 of God describes it to be. That these particular 
 churches should be sometimes found disunited, 
 and in many respects opposed to one another, is 
 an accidental circumstance arising from their im- 
 perfect state and corruption. So far us this is the 
 case catholic unity is marred ; yet this does not 
 prevent them from having still some common 
 points of union, and a common relation to the 
 universal body — the one great diffusive ilock, 
 family, and kingdom, of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Christianity being intended for general diflu- 
 sion through the world, must in its nature be 
 adapted to all countries and people. It would 
 be extreme weakness to suj)pose, that its being 
 embraced by people of dilferent garbs, colour, 
 and language, of diflerent manners and cus- 
 toms, barbarous or civilized, or foi'med into 
 distinct civil communities and living under dif- 
 ferent forms of government, produces dificrent 
 religions, or a diversity of churches, provid- 
 ed their faith and practice are intrinsically the 
 
15 
 
 same. Their formularies of faith and religious 
 service may be differently expressed or arranged, 
 and they may vary from one another in differ- 
 ent circumstances in external administrations, 
 which are not, and could not be, prescribed by 
 positive rule in Scripture, and which (to use a 
 much abused word) may be called circumstan- 
 tial, without marring that unity of faith and that 
 fellowship which belongs to different Christian 
 societies, as parts of the same general body. 
 Nor is simple ignorance in some and know- 
 ledge in others, with respect to some things which 
 belong to theChristian system, or greater and less 
 degrees of advancement in different churches, or 
 in the members of the same church, necessarily 
 inconsistent with religious unity and peace. But 
 there must be no denial or restriction of the su- 
 preme authority by which every thing in religion 
 is ruled ; no open and allowed hostility to truth 
 and godliness ; and no such opposition of senti- 
 ments, or contrariety of practices, as may en- 
 danger the faith, or destroy the constitution and 
 edification of churches, or as may imply, in diffe- 
 rent churches, or in different parts of the same 
 church, a condemnation of one another. 
 
 As there were synagogues among the Jews, 
 so there must be assemblies among Christians 
 for divine worship and instruction, ami for the 
 exercise of discipline. The unity of the church 
 requires that we join in communion with our 
 fellow Christians, in the place where provid- 
 ence has cast our lot, provided they are found 
 walking by the common rule of Christianity, 
 
16 
 
 and as long as no sinful bar is laid in the nay 
 of such a conjunction, And our statedly holding 
 communion with a particular church is the or- 
 dinary way of manifesting our communion with 
 the catholic church. But as individual Chris- 
 tians are not at liberty to walk and act singly, 
 so neither are particular congregations at liberty 
 to act as independent and disjointed societies. 
 For the ordinary performance of religious duties, 
 and the ordinary management of their own in- 
 ternal affairs, they may be said to be complete 
 churches, and furnished with complete powers. 
 But extraordinary cases will arise among them- 
 selves from time to time; and there are, besides, 
 duties, dangers, and interests, wliicn do not pro- 
 perly or exclusively concern one congregation, 
 or a few congregations, and which require the 
 joint cognizance and co-operation of many. This 
 is taught by tlie liglit of nature itself, it flows 
 from the oneness of the Church of Christ, and 
 is clearly exemplified in the New Testament. 
 Being similar parts of the same general body, it 
 is the duty of particular churches to draw toge- 
 ther, to combine, and to co-operate, according 
 as this may be practicable, and as providence 
 may open a door for it, with a view to mutual 
 help and the promotion of the common cause in 
 which they are all engaged. They may agree in 
 explicitly approving of the same articles of faith 
 and rules of discipline, and in yielding a scriptural 
 subjection to a common authority in the Lord. 
 Such confederations, on the presbyterian plan, 
 are fully warranted by the word of God, and 
 
I 
 
 17 
 
 are most congenial to the spirit of Christ- 
 ianity, which is catholic and diffusive ; they 
 may include all the churches in the same 
 neighbourhood, in the same nation, or even in 
 many nations ; and by means of them that unity 
 which belongs essentially to the whole church 
 of Christ is formally recognized, and its bonds 
 are strengthened and drawn more close. 
 
 Is it then asked, What is the bond of unity in 
 the church? the reply may be given in one word— 
 The true religion. Religion, as communicat- 
 ed by God to men in the Bible, is its grand com- 
 prehensive bond. This specificates and distin- 
 guishes it from the unity which belongs to other 
 societies. The sacred Scriptures not only exhi- 
 bit the model after which the church is to be 
 constructed ; they also furnish that which gives 
 it substance, and stability, and order, and pro- 
 portion and unity. It is " built on the foun- 
 dation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ 
 himself being the chief corner-stone, in whom all 
 the building, fitly framed together, grovveth into 
 a holy temple in the Lord *." But, before leav- 
 ing this part of the subject, it may be proper to 
 specify more particularly some of the scriptural 
 bonds of unity in the Church. 
 
 1. This unity consists in her having one Head 
 and Lord. This is Jesus Christ, whom the " one 
 God and Father of all" has appointed over his 
 house. " Holding the head, from which all the 
 body by joints and bands having nourishment 
 
 * u. 20, 21. 
 
18 
 
 ministered, and knit together, increaseth with 
 the increase of God*." All real believers are in- 
 ternally joined to the Lord, and derive their spi- 
 ritual life and growth from him ; and in like 
 manner must Christians, in their associated ca- 
 pacity, be in professed subjection to him, in 
 his divine mediatorial authority, as the one 
 Universal Pastor, and sole Head of government. 
 To admit a temporal head of the Church, Avhe- 
 ther pope or king, to call any man master in re- 
 ligion, or to enlist ourselves under the banners 
 of any human leader, is to sin against the first 
 precept of Christian unity. 
 
 2. The unity of the faith. " There is one 
 body," because there is " one faith.'^ A system of 
 faith or of revealed truth, as well as of duties, has 
 in every age formed an essential and important 
 part of true religion. By embracing this the 
 Church is distinguished from other societies, 
 and it belongs to her faithfully to confess and 
 hold it forth to the world. An owning of the 
 whole faith is implied in lierreception of the Scrip- 
 tures ; she is bound to obey the calls of provid- 
 ence in explicitly confessing and contending for 
 particular articles of it ; and there is no article of 
 divine truth that may not at one time or another 
 become the object of this duty, and consequently 
 a test of her fidelity. Hence, she is called " the 
 city of truth", as well as " the habitation of right- 
 eousness;" her gates are open to receive " the 
 righteous nation that keepeth the truth i" and truth 
 
 « Col. ii. ly. 
 
19 
 
 is inscribed on her columns, and on the banners 
 which float on her walls and bulwarks. When 
 this is not the case, Christian societies are des- 
 titute of the unity of the Church of Christ, by 
 whatever ties they may be kept together. 
 
 3. " One baptism," and fellowship in the same 
 acts of worship. Baptism is a solemn badge of 
 Christian profession, as well as a sign of the 
 grace and privileges of the New Covenant. Ac- 
 cording to the proper and original design of this 
 ordinance, and the profession accompanying it, all 
 the baptized are made one, and a foundation is 
 laid for their mutual fellowship in all acts of wor- 
 ship. The institutions of the Gospel were in- 
 tended as a bond of union among Christians, and 
 by the joint celebration of them their commun- 
 ion is maintained and expressed. " By one Spirit 
 we are all baptized into one body." " And being 
 many we are one bread and one body, for we are 
 all partakers of that one bread," in the sacramen- 
 tal communion*. It is not necessary to this un- 
 ity that Christians should all meet for worship 
 in the same place. This is physically impossible ; 
 nor are we to conceive of church communion as 
 local. It consists in their celebrating the same 
 holy ordinances — in their performing acts of wor- 
 ship the same in kind, wherever they assemble, 
 and in their being disposed and ready to embrace 
 every proper occurring opportunity to join with 
 all " those who in every place call on the name 
 of Jesus Christ, the Lord, both theirs and ours." 
 
 • 1 Cor. X. 17. xii. 13. 
 
20 
 
 Thus it was, as we have seen, in the primitive 
 Church ; and thus it would still be, if catholic 
 unity were preserved, and if the institutions of 
 Christ, along with the faith to which they re- 
 late, were every where preserved pure and en- 
 tire. 
 
 4. Unity in respect of external government 
 and discipline. Christ, the head of the Church, 
 "gave pastors and teachers — helps, governments, 
 for the work of the ministry, for the gathering 
 together of the saints, for the edifying of the 
 body, till they all come in the unity of the faith, 
 and knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect 
 man*." The exercise of authority andgovernment 
 is necessary as a bond of union and a basis of 
 stability, in all societies. By means of it the larg- 
 est communities, and even many nations, may be 
 made to coalesce and become one, under the same 
 political government. And can any good reason 
 be assigned for supposing that the Church of 
 Christ should be destitute of this bond, or that 
 it should not be necessary to her union as a vi- 
 sible society? If every family has its economy 
 and discipline, if every kingdom has its form of 
 government and laws, shall we suppose that the 
 most perfect of all societies, " the liouse of Iho 
 living God," and " the kingdom of heaven," 
 should be left by her Divine Head without that 
 which so evidently tends to the maintenance of 
 her faith, the purity and regularity of her admin- 
 istrations, and the ordei', subordination, unity, 
 
 ♦ Ei.li. iv. 11—13. 1 Cor. xu. 28. 
 
21 
 
 and peace which ought to reign among all her 
 members? Whatever is necessary to her go- 
 vernment, and the preserving of her order and 
 purity, either is expressly enjoined in Scripture, 
 or may be deduced, by native inference, from the 
 general rules and the particular examples which 
 are recorded in it. 
 
 S. The bond of mutual charity and peace. 
 This is the silken cord which ought to be thrown 
 over all the others, and which makes Christian 
 union complete. Hence, charity, or love, is call- 
 ed by an Apostle a perfect bond : " Above all 
 these things put on charity, which is the bond of 
 perfectness *." A vague and erratic charity, 
 which soars above fixed principles of belief, 
 Icclcs down with neglect on external ordin- 
 ances, and spurns the restraint of ordinary ^ 
 rviles, whether it seeks to include all Christians 
 within its catholic embrace, or confines itself to 
 those of a favourite class, is a very feeble and pre- 
 carious bond of union. True Christian Charity is 
 thedaughterof Truth, and fixes on her objects *'for 
 the truth's sake which dwelleth in them." On the 
 other hand, a bare and cold agreement in the arti- 
 cles of a common faith, andexternaluniformity in 
 the acts of worship and discipline, will not pre- 
 terve the unity of the church. To " be perfectly 
 joined together," Cliristains must be of "the same 
 mind", or alleclion, as well as of *'the same judge- 
 ment." It is by " speaking the truth in love," 
 that they " grow up in all things to their head, 
 even Christ." Love must cement the union which 
 
 * Col. iii. u. 
 
22 
 
 faith has formed ; and it is by the joint influence 
 of both that Christains " cleave to the Lord," and 
 to one another In him, " with purpose of heart." 
 Without mutual affection, and its kindred graces, 
 mutual consideration and condescension and 
 compassion, forgiveness will not be extended 
 towards injuries, forbearance will not be exer- 
 cised towards unavoidable infirmities, offences 
 will arise, alienations will be produced, and 
 " the brotherly covenant will not be remem- 
 bered." Hence, the frequency and the fervour 
 with which the cultivation of a loving and peace- 
 ful temper is enjoined upon Christians. " Put on 
 therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, 
 bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, 
 meekness, long suffering ; forbearing one ano- 
 ther, and forgiving one another, if any man have 
 a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave 
 you, so also do ye *.'" " Let all bitterness, and 
 wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speak- 
 ing, be put away from you, witli all malice ; and 
 be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, for- 
 giving one another, even as God for Christ's sake 
 hath forgiven youf." " Let nothing be done 
 through strife or vain-glory; but in lowliness of 
 mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 
 Look not every man on his own things, but 
 every man also on the things of others :j:." " Fi- 
 nally brethren, — be perfect, be of good comfort, 
 be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of 
 love and peace shall be with you 
 
 » Col. iii. 12, 13. + Epli. iv. 31, 32. 
 
 \ I'liili]). ii. 3, 4. 5 2 t or. xiii- 11. 
 
23 
 
 II. I now go on to speak of the Divisions by 
 which the unity of the church is marred. Ju- 
 dah and Israel, originally one, and bound to- 
 gether by the most sacred ties, were rent asun- 
 der, and foi-med into two independent nations, 
 divided in worship, as well as in secular and poli- 
 tical interests. And this was followed by the 
 usual eflfects of such breaches — rivalship, hatred, 
 and mutual hostilities. " Ei)liraira envied Ju- 
 dali, and Judah vexed Ephraim The same 
 thing has happened to the Christian church. 
 
 1. God has permitted the unity of his church 
 to be broken in different ways. It has been 
 marred and interrupted when her members con- 
 tinued to meet together, and to keep up the ex- 
 ternal forms of fellowship as one society.. This 
 is the case, wlien, instead of glorifying God with 
 one mouth, and striving together for the faith of 
 the gospel, they entertain jarring and discordant 
 sentiments about the articles of religion, and one 
 is eager to destroy what another is building ; 
 when they do not walk by the same rule nor 
 mind the same things ; when they fall into fac- 
 tions and parties, and when contention and every 
 evil work — hatred, variance, jealousies, heart- 
 burnings, and evil surmisings, rage among 
 them. The Spirit of Division had begun to pro- 
 duce these bitter and pernicious fruits in the 
 church at Corinth, even in apostolical times. " It 
 hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, 
 that there are contentions among you. Every one 
 
 * Isaiuli xi. 13. 
 
24 
 
 ot you salth, I am of Paul ; and I of Apollos ; 
 and I of Cephas ; and I of Christ. Is Christ 
 divided ? was Paul crucified for you ? or, were 
 ye baptized in the name of Paul * ?" " Firs, of 
 all, when ye come together in the church, I hear 
 that there be divisions among you, and I partly 
 believe it." — " I fear, lest when I come, I shall 
 not find you such as I would, — lest there be de- 
 bates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, 
 whisperings, swellings, tumults -f." 
 
 Disorders and animosities of this kind may 
 abate and gradually settle into a calm, without 
 the restoration of true peace. When a church 
 no longer holds the Head, but suffers the supreme 
 authority of Christ in bis spiritual kingdom to be 
 invaded or shared by any creature, when the li- 
 berties and immunities which he has conferred on 
 her, as an independent society, are usurped or sur- 
 rendered, when her faith is subverted, her worship 
 corrupted by human inventions, or her order and 
 discipline overthrown, in such a case the bonds 
 of scriptural unity are dissolved. Resistance 
 may he overcome by the despotical exercise of 
 usurped authority, opposition may die away un- 
 der the paralizing influence of an irreligious in- 
 difference and neutrality ; but the union which is 
 brought about by such means is an ungodly con- 
 federacy, and the tranquillity which is enjoyed by 
 sucb a society is like the calm which binds the 
 stagnant and deleterious waters of the Dead Sea. 
 At other times, the dissenlions which arise in 
 
 * 1 Cor. i. 11,'12. t chap. xi. 16, tu\d 2 cp. xiii. 20. 
 
25 
 
 the church prevail, and grow to such a height as 
 to produce an open rupture, and the formation of 
 separate and opposing communions. Even those 
 ivho live in the same place, and who had former- 
 ly taken sweet counsel together, and wallced to 
 the house of God in company," no longer join 
 in the same acts of public and social worship. Al- 
 tar is reared against altar, as if they did not serve 
 the same God. One house can no longer con- 
 tain them. One name can no longer serve tliem ; 
 but they must be distinguished from one another, 
 as well as from the world. This has hitherto 
 been the state of the Christian Church almost in 
 every age. In reviewing her history she appears 
 not as one great army marshalled under the ban- 
 ner of " the Captain of Salvation," but as " the 
 company of two armies," yea, often of many ar- 
 mies, with banners bearing different and opposite 
 inscriptions, and engaged in hostilities with one 
 another as well as with the common enemy of 
 the church of the living God. Thus, in ancient 
 times, not to mention various lesser sects, the 
 church was divided into Greeks and Latins ; in 
 more modern times, protestants have been divid- 
 ed into Lutherans and Calvinists, and in our own 
 land into Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Li- 
 dependents, with a great variety of other denom- 
 inations, which it would be painful and impossi- 
 ble to enumerate. 
 
 While wesurvey these mournful facts, my breth- 
 ren, we must not overlook the hand of God ; and 
 it is proper to advert to this before proceeding to 
 inquire into the immediate and proper sources of 
 u 
 
26 
 
 the evil. The Malignant Spirit could not sow 
 the seeds of dissension and division, nor could 
 they grow up and spread, without the permission 
 of the Lord of the vineyard. He has wise and 
 holy ends for permitting them ; and among others 
 we ought to be deeply aflTected with this, that 
 he sends them as a punishment to a people call- 
 ed by his name. Do any ask, How comes it 
 about that those who are joined by so many sa- 
 cred bonds, should be so broken and divided in 
 judgment and affection The answer is : " The 
 anger of the Lord hath divided them Yes ; 
 when they fall from their first love to the gos- 
 pel, receive the grace of God in vain, do not 
 bring forth fruit unto holiness under his ordin- 
 ances, become conformed to the world, and have 
 little more than a name to live — when they 
 become vain of their numbers and their strength, 
 and convert a holy union into a criminal com- 
 bination, he permits the Demon of discord to 
 enter among them, " confounds their language, 
 that so they cannot understand one another's 
 speech," — " divides them in Jacob and scatters 
 them in Israel."" " It is in my desire, (says he) 
 that I should chastise them, when they shall bind 
 themselves in their two furrows f alluding to 
 the practice of the husbandman who corrects a re- 
 fractory steer when caught in the situation des- 
 cribed in the metaphor which "is employed. The 
 conduct of God toward his ancient people is des- 
 cribed under a beautiful allegory in the prophe- 
 
 *Lam. iv. 16. tHo«-s lO. 
 
27 
 
 cies of Zechariah. When he saw his flock a 
 prey to their possessors, and sold by their own 
 pityless shepherds, he exclaimed "I will feed the 
 flock of slaughter, even you, O ye poor of the 
 flock. And I took unto me two staves ; the one 
 I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands ; 
 and T fed the flock." But they requited him un- 
 gratefully ; their soul abhorred him, and his soul 
 loathed them. " Then said I, I will not feed you ; 
 that that dieth let it die ; and that that is to be 
 cut off, let it be cut off ; and let the rest eat 
 every one the flesh of another. And I took my 
 staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I 
 might break my covenant which I had made with 
 all the people." And a little after : " Then I 
 cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that 
 I might break the brotherhood between Judah 
 and Israel *." The grand schism by which ten 
 tribes were rent from the house of David was ex- 
 pressly denounced as a punishment for the sin of 
 Solomon and his people in forsaking God -f. And 
 when the flame, instead of being extinguished, has 
 fresh fuel added to it, and continues to spread and 
 burn from age to age with increasing fury, it is a 
 proof that God's " anger is not turned away, but 
 his hand is stretched out still," as it was when 
 " Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim 
 Manasseh, and they together Judah |." 
 
 2. Divisions in the church are owing to va- 
 rious causes. In permitting them God overrules 
 the instrumentality of men who are actuat- 
 
 * Zech. xL 7— U. f 1 KiiiKs xi. 11. xii. 15. 1 Isa. ix. 21. 
 
 b2 
 
28 
 
 ed by different motives and principles, for 
 which they are entirely responsible. It is incum- 
 bent on all Christians to " endeavour to keep 
 the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." The 
 violation of it must be traced to a sinful cause. 
 When dissensions arise in the Church of God, 
 and it is divided into parties, whatever the oc- 
 casion or matter of variance be, there mvist be 
 guilt somewhere. The rules of truth, peace, and 
 holy fellowship, have been transgressed; and those 
 who are justly chargeable with this cannot be 
 blameless. Amid the keen contests and opposing 
 pretensions of parties, it may often be difficult 
 to determine where the blame lies ; but it must 
 attach to one side or another, and perhaps to 
 both. It will not always attach to the minority, 
 or those who may be forced to withdraw from 
 the assemblies and external communion of parti- 
 cular churches : the major and prevailing party 
 may be the real schismatics, though not the for- 
 mal separatists. This, however, we know, that 
 Scripture has affixed a mark of disapprobation on 
 those who " cause divisions and offences contrary 
 to the doctrine which we have received *." 
 
 The dissensions which prevail in the Church, 
 like those which distract and break the peace of 
 other societies, may be traced in general to the 
 workings of human corruption. " Whence come 
 wars and fightings among you ? Come they not 
 hence, even of your lusts that war in your mem- 
 bers-}-.''" They spring from the ignorance, error. 
 
 * Rom. xvi. 17. f Jmuci iv. 1. 
 
29 
 
 unbelief, prejudice, pride, passion, selfishness, 
 carnality, whicli are predominant in the minds 
 of some of the members of the Church, and are 
 but partially subdued and mortified in the minds 
 of the best. To specify all the ways in whicli 
 these principles operate to the disturbance of the 
 peace of the Church is impracticable. 
 
 They lead to the adoption and patronage of 
 errors, by which the purity of the faith and in- 
 stitutions of Christ is depraved. This in itself, 
 as we have seen, loosens the scriptural bonds of 
 union. But as the faithful consider themselves 
 bound to resist every thing of this kind, the pro- 
 pagation of errors cannot fail to excite contention 
 and strife in the bosom of the church. Some of 
 these errors strike against the principal and lead- 
 ing articles of the faith, and are in their very na- 
 ture damnableand destructive tothe souls of those 
 who embrace them. Others consist of uncertain, 
 vain, and unprofitableopinioiis, the ofTspringof an 
 unsanctified fancy or of the love of novelty, cal- 
 culated to unsettle the minds of the hearers, and 
 inducing perverse disputings and endless ques- 
 tions. Others again strike more immediately 
 against tiie unity and peace of the church — loose 
 and extravagant notions respecting private judg- 
 ment, conscience, and Christian liberty, by which 
 these rights, invaluable when duly understood 
 and regulated, are explained and stated in such a 
 way as to convert all religion into a matter of in- 
 dividual belief and concern, to render union an(f 
 co-operation among its professors impracticable 
 or precarious, and to contradict the important 
 
30 
 
 truth, that " the powers which God hath ordain- 
 ed, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased, 
 are not intended by God to destroy, but mutually 
 to uphold and preserve one another This is 
 the case, when the duty of Christians at large is 
 explained in such a way as to encroach on the 
 office of a regular gospel ministry : When the 
 lawfulness of confessions of human composure, as 
 public declarations of the faith of a church, and 
 their usefulness as tests of orthodoxy, though 
 conformable in their matter to Scripture, and 
 necessary in times of abounding error among 
 })ersons professing Christianity, are impugned : 
 "iVhen ecclesiastical office-bearers are stripped 
 of that authority which is competent to them, 
 and necessary for preserving order and subor- 
 dination, and the supreme power of finally de- 
 termining every cause is lodged with the whole 
 people in everv worshipping congregation : 
 When the combination of particular congre- 
 gations, as parts of an extended and organized 
 body, with a duly limited submission to a com- 
 mon judicatory for taking cognizance of differ- 
 ences which may arise in any part of that bo- 
 dy, and judging of what concerns the good of 
 the whole, is opposed : And, in fine, to pass over 
 other tenets of a similar description which are 
 rampant in the present age, when the lawfulness 
 df the settlement of a system of i-eligion in a na- 
 tion, by the joint concurrence of ecclesiastical 
 and civil authority, and with the general consent 
 
 ♦ WesUn. C'onf. of Fuitli, clinp. sx. § 4-. 
 
31 
 
 of the people, is contradicted and opposed. Sec- 
 tarianism, as the class of opihions referred to is 
 usually called, is inimical to the unity of the 
 church, as it has a direct tendency to foster di- 
 versity of sentiment and practice in religion, and 
 to multiply schisms. If the common sense and 
 experience of mankind did not check its opera- 
 tion, and prevent its keenest abettors from act- 
 ing rigidly and consistently on their on^n princi- 
 ples, it would lead to the dissolution of all reli- 
 gious society, or at best to the rearing of a Ba- 
 bel, the foundations of which would be laid on 
 its first-born, and the gates of it set up on its 
 youngest and most favourite son. To these may 
 be added rigid notions respecting ecclesiastical 
 communion, incompatible with the imperfect 
 state of the church in this world, whether these 
 manifest themselves in requiring that all Chris- 
 tians should reach the same degree of the scale in 
 their acquaintance with divine things, or in with- 
 drawing from the communion of a church on ac- 
 count of particular acts of maladministration, or 
 because discipline may not, in some instances, be 
 exercised on offenders with faithfulness, or with 
 all that severity which they may think propor- 
 tioned to the nature of the oflencc; which was 
 the error charged on the ancient Novatians and 
 Donatists. 
 
 Divisions in the church may often be traced to 
 a spirit of vanity, pride, and ambition. Than this 
 nothing can be more repugnant to the spirit of 
 Christianity, or prejudicial to ecclesiastical peace. 
 It is ofien found combined with a spirit of error, 
 u 4 
 
32 
 
 and has formed a very prominent feature in the 
 character of heresiarchs and the founders of sects. 
 It displays itself sometimes in an overweening 
 fondness for their own private opinions, and at 
 other times in the love of pre-eminence, or an im- 
 patience of contradiction, by which they are in- 
 stigated to the adoption of factious and divisive 
 courses. — Others are impelled to divide the church 
 by the base desire of gratifying their avarice, 
 and procurmg a livelihood from the disciples 
 whom they draw after them. Such are the " un- 
 ruly and vain talkers and deceivers," described 
 by Paul, " who subvert whole houses, teaching 
 things which they ought not for filthy lucres 
 sake," and those whom another apostle charges 
 " with beguiling unstable souls, following the way 
 of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages 
 of unrighteousness *." 
 
 Tyranny and unreasonable imposition has been 
 one fruitful source of division in the church. 
 To gratify the lust of dominion, those calling 
 themselves clergy have assumed a power of decree- 
 ing articles of faith and imposing forms of wor- 
 ship, contrary or additional to those enjoined in 
 Scripture; have, like the Pharisees, "bound heavy 
 burdens and grievous to he borne, and laid them 
 on men's shoulders, while they themselves would 
 not move them with one of their fingers;" and 
 have enforced the rigid observance of these com- 
 mandments of men, by all the force and terrors 
 which they possessed or could command. Like the 
 shepherds of ancient Israel, they have scattered 
 
 « Til. i. 11. 2 Tct ii. 15. 
 
33 
 
 the flock by ruling over it " with force and witli 
 cruelty." Forgetting the nature and limits of the 
 power with which they have been entrusted, and 
 their own complaints against papal and prelatical 
 usurpations, protestant and presbyterian courts 
 have acted " as Lords over God's heritage," 
 trampled on the sacred rights of conscience, 
 stripped the Christian peojjle of liberties which 
 their divine Master had conferred on them, and 
 which they were in the undisputed possession of 
 for several centuries after his ascension, intruded 
 hirelings on them for overseers, and driven those 
 who resisted their arbitrary measures to seek the 
 food of their souls in separate communions. — The 
 policy of statesmen has often combined with the 
 ambition of churchmen in measures which have 
 tended to divide the church. Jeroboam erected 
 his schismatical worship at Dan and Bethel to 
 keep himself and his family on the throne of Is- 
 rael ; for, said he, " if this people go up to do 
 sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, 
 then shall the heart of this people turn again unto 
 their lord, even Ilehoboam king of Judah, and 
 they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboani 
 king of Judah *." The support which civil 
 rulers have given to corrupt systems of religion 
 and to oppressive administrations in the church, 
 may very frequently be traced to this origin. 
 
 ANMiile the church has been fretpiently divided 
 by a spirit of unwarraotable and arbitrary imposi- 
 tions, so, on the other hand, the same efTect has 
 
 • 1 Kinf;s xii. 27, 
 B 5 
 
34 
 
 been sometimes produced by aversion to the 
 strictness of ecclesiastical communion, and im- 
 patience of that submission which is fully war- 
 ranted by the word of God. When a church has 
 been constituted conformably to the Scripture 
 ])attern, makes a faithful confession of the truth, 
 and maintains good order and discipline agree- 
 ably to the laws of Christ, a divisive spirit is 
 evinced by those who factiously exclaim against 
 its severity, enter into schemes, open or covert, 
 for relaxing its bonds, or form themselves into 
 another society connected by looser and more 
 general ties; whether this be done to obtain 
 greater latitude to themselves, or with the view 
 of uniting persons of opposite religious sentiments 
 and practices in one general and catholic com- 
 munion. This follows from the doctrine already 
 laid down respecting the true bonds of ecclesias- 
 tical unity. In like manner the peace of the 
 church may be broken by the insubordination 
 and turbulence of the Christian people, refusing 
 subjection to those pastors who are regularly set 
 over them, and who act within the due limits of 
 their authority, and setting up the ancient cry, 
 "All the congregation are holy, every one of them." 
 In this case the event often remarkably ve- 
 rifies the prediction of the apostle : " The time 
 will come when they will not endure sound doc- 
 trine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to 
 themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they 
 shall turn away their ears from the truth to 
 fables*.^' 
 
 « 2 Tim. IT. 3, 4. 
 
35 
 
 3. Divisions in the Cburcli sometimes become 
 inveterate, and it is a work of extreme difficulty 
 to heal them. It is easy to divide, but not so 
 easy to unite. A child may break or take to 
 pieces an instrument which it will baffle the most 
 skilf ul to put together and repair. If Rehoboam 
 had listened to the advice of " the old men that 
 stood before Solomon his father," he might have 
 preserved his kingdom entire, but all their wis- 
 dom and authority could not cure the schism 
 which had been caused by his following the rash 
 and foolish counsel of " the young men who were 
 grown up with him." 
 
 Attempts to reunite must encounter the resist- 
 ance of those corrupt principles and passions 
 which led to division. The force of these is some- 
 times greatly increased by indulgence, and par- 
 ties become more and more alienated from one 
 another by mutual injuries and recriminations ; 
 for " the beginning of strife is as when one let- 
 teth out water If time has served to allay 
 the heat and fierceness of controversy, and to 
 smooth down the harshness and asperities of 
 personal animosit}', it has perhaps contributed 
 to widen the breach in another way. It has add- 
 ed to the original grounds of difference and se- 
 paration. Parties at variance are inclined to re- 
 move to a distance from each other. They are 
 apt not only to magnify the real point in dispute, 
 but also to create or discover new ones, with the 
 view of vindicating their separation, and enlarg- 
 ing the charges which they bring against their 
 
 * Piov. xvii. li. 
 
36 
 
 opponents. The adoption, too, of one error, and 
 the defence of one sinful practice, leads to the 
 adoption and defence of another, and that of a 
 third ; so that when an individual or a society 
 has turned from the right way, every step they 
 take carries them farther astray, and removes 
 them to a greater distance from those who have 
 been enabled to keep the path of truth and duty. 
 The consequence is, on either of these supposi- 
 tions, that, when proposals of accommodation 
 come to be made, and a treaty of re-union is set 
 on foot, the original cause of the breach forms 
 perhaps the smallest matter of difference between 
 the parties, and instead of one point twenty may 
 require to be disposed of and adjusted in the pro- 
 gress of the negociations. This was striking- 
 ly verified in the attempts made in the seven- 
 teenth century to reconcile the Lutheran and 
 Calvinistic Churches. If the law of Patronage 
 had been abrogated soon after its imposition, the 
 peace of the Church of Scotland might have 
 been preserved, and many of those dissensions 
 and separations which have since occurred would 
 have been prevented ; but who that knows any 
 thing of the state of matters will say, that the 
 adoption of such a measure at this late period, 
 however desirable on many accounts, and what- 
 ever good results it would lead to in the issue, 
 would put an end to our present divisions, or 
 even unite all those who are the friends of 
 evangelical doctrine and presbyterian principles 
 
 Sometimes, indeed, matters take a different di- 
 
 x-eciion. Two parties, after separating and pur- 
 
37 
 
 suing for sometime opposite courses, receive a 
 new direction from the common impulse of the 
 spirit of the age, and the prevailing current of re- 
 ligious sentiment and feeling, by means of which 
 they are made gradually to approximate, and at 
 last to meet at a point very remote from that 
 from which both of them set out. In this case, 
 if they were right before they parted, they must 
 now be wrong. When defection from the pur- 
 ity of religion has become general, and indifTer- 
 ence about truth abounds, such coalescences are 
 easily brought about. If political considerations 
 had not intervened, it would have been no dif- 
 ficult matter to have joined Judah and Israel in 
 religious fellowship during the reign of Ahaz. 
 It is upon a principle of the same kind, I am 
 afraid, that we must account for the union which 
 has lately been effected in some parts of the Con- 
 tinent between the two great bodies of Protest- 
 ants. 
 
 It is particularly difficult to heal the divisions 
 which subsist among those who are intermingled 
 and live together in the same country and vici- 
 nity. If distance of place, by preventfng inter- 
 course, keeps Christians in ignorance of one ano- 
 ther's sentiments and characters, and fosters mis- 
 apprehensions and groundless prejudices, neigh- 
 bourhood gives rise to other and greater evils. 
 It is a species of intestine warfare which is car- 
 ried on between religious parties who reside to- 
 gether. The irritation produced by the frequent 
 opportunities which individuals find for agitating 
 their disputes is an evil which ordinarily cures 
 
38 • # 
 
 itself in process of time. But their interests as 
 separate societies, founded on opposite princi- 
 ples, necessarily interfere and clash. A spi- 
 rit of proselytism is engendered. They draw 
 disciples from one another; mutual reprisals are 
 made ; advantages are oftentimes taken which 
 would be held not the most honourable in politi- 
 cal warfare ; and each may be said to flourish 
 and grow by the decay and decrease of the rest. 
 
 The subject of litigation among Christians, 
 and even the relation which they stand in to one 
 another as such, render the adjustment of their 
 differences more delicate and embarrassing. It 
 is always a work of difficulty to reconcile hostile 
 parties, whatever the matter of strife may happen 
 to be. Once involved in litigation about civil 
 rights and property, men, not of the most con- 
 tentious or obstinate tempers, have been known 
 to persevere until they had ruined themselves 
 and their families. When unhappily discord and 
 contention arise between those who are allied by 
 blood, or who were united by the bonds of close 
 friendship, their variance is of all others the 
 most inveterate and deadly. *' A brother offend- 
 ed is harder to be won than a strong city, and 
 their contentions are like the bars of a castle 
 If " love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as 
 the grave." Of all the tics which bind man to 
 man, religion is the most powerful, and wlien 
 once loosened or burst asunder, it is the hardest to 
 restore, llelisious differences engai'e and call 
 
 O O CD 
 
 * Prov. xviii. VX 
 
39 
 
 into action the strongest powers of tlie human 
 mind. Conscience comes to the aid of con- 
 victions of right, and zeal for the glory of God 
 combines with that jealousy with which we 
 watch over every thing that is connected witli 
 our own reputation. It has often been remarked, 
 that religious disputes are managed with uncom- 
 mon warmth and acrimony ; and this has been 
 urged as an argument against all controversies 
 of the kind, and even as an argument against 
 religion itself. It cannot be denied, that, amid 
 the din of disputation, that important truth, "The 
 wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of 
 God," has often been forgotten by the contend- 
 ing parties; and the personal altercations, the rail- 
 ing accusations, the uncharitable judgments, the 
 rash censures, the wiU^'ul misrepresentations, the 
 injurious calumnies, which have too often infus- 
 ed their malignant and poisonous virus into these 
 debates, have, it must l)e confessed, conti ibuted 
 to bring great scandal on religion ; though 
 this sacred cause can never justly be made respon- 
 sible in any degree for excesses so inconsistent 
 with its spirit and its precepts. But let us not be 
 unjust in seeking to be liberal. Genuine moder- 
 ation and candour are not to be confounded with 
 indifference and lukevvarmness. Religion is of 
 paramount importance, and we ought not to won- 
 der that those who are in earnest about it should 
 display a M'arm and fervent zeal in the cause. 
 They do not feel themselves at liberty to make 
 the same sacrifices to peace in the " matters of 
 the Lord," which they may be warranted and 
 
40 
 
 willing to make in their own. They must " buy 
 the truth, but not sell it." True religion is an 
 entailed inheritance, which they are bound to 
 preserve and transmit, unalienated and unim- 
 paired, to their posterity, " that the generation 
 to come may know it, even the children that 
 shall be born, who shall arise and declare it to 
 their children." They are only " stewards of the 
 mysteries of God, and it is required in stewards, 
 that they be found faithful. ' In proportion, 
 therefore, as they are persuaded, that the honour 
 of God, and the interests of truth, and the welfare 
 of souls are concerned in the subjects which are 
 litigated, and enter into the grounds of difference 
 between them and other Christians, it may be 
 expected that they will shew themselves firm 
 and tenacious. And, as this must be supposed 
 to be the persuasion of persons of difierent par- 
 ties, and indeed of all who maintain a separate 
 communion on conscientious principles, it is easy 
 to perceive what an obstacle it presents in the 
 way of conciliation and union. 
 
 Feelings of personal offence and injury form 
 no inconsiderable obstacle in the way of remov- 
 ing divisions in the Church. In cue degree or 
 another these are unavoidable, when religious 
 differences arise and grow to a height. They 
 are no proper ground of separation, and the re- 
 collection of them ought not to be allowed to stand 
 in the way of a desirable re-union. If in any in- 
 stance personal injury has been combined with in- 
 juries done to truth, those who have been the suf- 
 ferers need to exert the utmost jealousy over 
 
41 
 
 flieir own spirits. Self-love will lead us insen- 
 sibly to confound and identify the two; and 
 what we flatter ourselves to be pure zeal for re- 
 ligion and hatred of sin, may, in the process of 
 a rigid and impartial examination, be found to 
 contain a large mixture of resentment for offences 
 which terminated on ourselves. Perhaps we have, 
 while endeavouring to act faithfully, been evil- 
 entreated by those with whom we were connected 
 in church fellowship. If we permit a sense of this 
 to rankle in our breasts, or even to live in our 
 recollections, if by recurring to it in our conver- 
 sations, although without any angry or revenge- 
 ful feelings, we transfuse it into the minds of 
 others, this will infallibly operate in preventing or 
 embarrassing any negociation for peace, however 
 fair and promising in itself. Or, let us reverse 
 the case. Perhaps we have behaved ourselves 
 unkindly and harshly to our brethren, we may 
 have been instrumental in spoiling them of their 
 goods for conscience' sake, we may, from mistake 
 or misapprehensions of them, have cast out their 
 names as evil, reproached, misrepresented, ca- 
 lumniated them. Let not the consciousness of 
 this keep us at a distance from them; let us not 
 do them farther injury by harbouring the thought 
 that they cannot forgive or forget the offences 
 which they have received. They are men " of 
 another spirit;" they know how much need 
 they themselves have of forgiveness ; and will be 
 forward to prevent our acknowledgements, and 
 dissipate our apprehensions, by saying to us, not 
 in the spirit of assumed superiority, but in tlio 
 
42 
 
 bowels of brotherly kindness, " Be not grieved, 
 neither be angry with yourselves." 
 
 In surveying the causes which obstruct a de- 
 sirable re-union of Christians, we cannot over- 
 look the influence of party-spirit, and unreason- 
 able respect to the credit of particular sects and 
 denominations. The only thing that can warrant 
 the establishment of separate communions is their 
 being necessary for asserting and maintaining 
 the purity of the truths and institutions of Christ. 
 As soon as this object is gained, they become 
 unnecessary and useless, and ought to cease and 
 disappear. It is not the name of any parly, or 
 of its founder or leader, but the name of Jesus 
 Christ, that must " endure for ever,*" and every 
 true lover of him will be disposed to say with 
 his harbinger, *' He must increase, but I must 
 decrease," and will rejoice in seeing the saying 
 verified. Provided the scriptural doctrines which 
 they have been honoured to maintain be acknow- 
 ledged and embraced, the enlightened friends of 
 religion will cheerfully consent that the names 
 of Protestants and Calvinists, and Presbyterians 
 and Seceders, together with the parties desig- 
 nated by them, should be forgotten and sunk in 
 the more lionourablc and catholic name by which 
 " the disciples were lirst called at Antioch."" 
 But is this spirit common, even in an age ad- 
 vancing high claims to liberality ? How ready 
 are we to associate our own honour with that of 
 the religious society to which we belong, and un- 
 der the influence of this compound feeling to for- 
 get the paramount homage we owe to that "Name 
 
43 
 
 which is above every name that is named, not 
 only in this world, but also in that which is to 
 come !" How much does this enter into our pub- 
 lic contendings ! What regard is often shewn 
 to it in negociations for union ! Victory, not 
 truth, is too often the object of litigant parties, 
 and provided they can gain this, though it should 
 be achieved by over-reaching one another, and by 
 practising the low tricks of a worldly policy, they 
 will boast of a religious triumph. Every candid 
 andobserving person will admit, too, that, in tiiose 
 religiousdenominationswhichhavetruth and right 
 on their side, there are persons whose choice has 
 not been determined by enlightened views of the 
 importance of the cause which they have es- 
 poused, and who would stoutly resist every con- 
 ciliatory measure from attachment to certain ve- 
 nerated names, from early associations, and pre- 
 ference of some external forms, which have va- 
 ried in dilFerent periods and places without any 
 infringement of the laws of Christ or any real 
 injury to Christian edification. Even those who 
 are not averse to sacrifice truth to peace often 
 shew themselves keen sticklers for the credit of 
 a party, and rather than compromise it in the 
 slightest degree, or admit the most distant reflec- 
 tion on themselves or their associates, would 
 break olT or endanger the success of the most 
 promising and reasonable overtures. With them 
 the question is not. Can we make such conces- 
 sions and accede to such terms, without relin- 
 quishing truth, and acting unfaithfully lo God ? 
 but, Can we do this without constructively con- 
 
44. 
 
 fessing tliat we have been so far in an error, and 
 acknowledging that others have been more righte- 
 ous, or honest, or intelligent than we? My breth- 
 ren these things ought not so to be. So long as 
 a spirit of this kind prevails, every attempt at 
 liealing divisions in the Church will prove abor- 
 tive, or will lead to sucIj general, ambiguous, or 
 contradictory arrangements, as merely cover 
 over the disease, while they plant the seeds of 
 future disquiet and disunion. 
 
 In fine, self-interest will be found a hinderance 
 to this desirable event. How general the influ- 
 ence of this principle is among professed Christi- 
 ans in the best of times, aj)pears from the Apos- 
 tle's exclamation, " All seek their own, not the 
 things of Jesus Christ!" When undefined and sin- 
 ful schemes of union and comprehension happen 
 to be popular, self-interest will prove a powerful 
 temptation to unfaithfulness. But it has, in every 
 age, clogged the wheels of those noble undertakings 
 which had for their object the public good of hu- 
 man society. When religious parties are establish- 
 ed in great numbers, and have subsisted for a long 
 period of time, the interests of individuals may 
 come in various ways to be involved in their sup- 
 port and maintenance. Liberal notions often float 
 in the head, while the heart is contracted with sel- 
 fishness; and many who exclaim loudly against bi- 
 gotry would not disarrange their connections, 
 nor sacrifice their worldly interest, to promote a 
 measure, the most decidedly advantageous to re- 
 ligion, and to the general welfare and peace of 
 the Cliurch of Christ. 
 
45 
 
 If tliese considerations be duly weighed, we 
 will not be greatly surprised that so little pro- 
 gress has been made in the work of composing 
 differences among Christians. Since the period 
 of the Reformation, attempts of this kind have 
 been frequently made in reference to various par- 
 ties; some proposing to unite the denominations 
 commonly called evangelical, or which differ only 
 as to forms of government and worship ; others 
 extending their views to Arminians and Calvin- 
 ists ; while others have engaged in the prepos- 
 terous undertaking of effecting a reconciliation 
 between Papists and Protestants. But though 
 these designs have been prosecuted with great 
 zeal, and sometimes by men of acknowledged ta- 
 lents and piety, whose exertions have been back- 
 ed by those who had great influence with the con- 
 tending parties, they have generally failed altoge- 
 ther, or led to no permanently good results ; and 
 sometimes they have tended to inflame the quar- 
 rel, to place the parties at a greater distance 
 from one another, and to create new confusions 
 and divisions. 
 
 Sensible of these difficulties, and despairing of 
 being able to remove them by the ordinary mode 
 of conference, explanations, and discussion, many 
 have come to adopt the opinion that there is but 
 one way of putting an end to the divisions of the 
 church; that is, by abstracting totally the points 
 of difference, consigning all the controversies 
 which have arisen to oblivion, and bringing to- 
 gether the separate parties on the undebatabic 
 rroiuid which is common to all. A remedy which 
 
 t 
 
46 
 
 would prove worse than the disease — an ex- 
 pedient which would lay the basis of union on 
 the grave of all those valuable truths and insti- 
 tutions which have been involved in the disputes 
 of difterent parties, and which constitute the firm 
 and sacred bonds of ecclesiastical confederation 
 and communion. 
 
 Is this desirable event, then, altogether hope- 
 less? Is it vain to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, 
 or to make any attempts for its restoration ? Is 
 there no balm by whose virtue, no physician by 
 whose skill, the bleeding wounds of the Church 
 may be closed ? Every person who " loves the 
 truth and peace" will reply, God forbid that this 
 should be the case ! 
 
DISCOURSE 11. 
 
 EzEKiEL xxxvii. 19. — " Theij shall be one in 
 " mine hand." 
 
 H AVING taken a view of the scriptural unity of 
 the church, and of the nature and causes of those 
 divisions by which it is broken, let us now turn 
 our eye to a more agreeable and cheering pros- 
 pect. 
 
 III. Of the Removal of the divisions of the 
 church, and the Restoration of her violated 
 unity. 
 
 1 . A happy reunion of the divided church is pro- 
 mised in the word of God. It is implied in those 
 promises which secure to the church the enjoy- 
 ment of a high degree of prosperity in the lat- 
 ter days — in which God engages to arise and 
 have mercy on Zion, to be favourable to his 
 people, pardon their iniquity and hear their 
 prayers, cause their reproach to cease, and make 
 them a praise, a glory, and a rejoicing, in all the 
 
48 
 
 earth; in one word, in which he promises to pour 
 out his holy Spirit and revive his work. God can- 
 not be duly glorified, religion cannot triumph in 
 the world, the church cannot be prosperous and 
 happy, until her internal dissensions are abated, 
 and her children come to act in greater unison 
 and concert. But when her God vouchsafes to 
 make the light of his countenance to shine upon 
 her, and sheds down the enlightening, reviving, 
 restorative and sanctifying influences of his Spirit, 
 the long delayed, long wished-for day, will not 
 be far distant. It will have already dawned. 
 
 But there are, in the Bible, promises that bear 
 directly on this part of the Church's felicity, and 
 pledge the divine faithfulness for the restoration 
 of her lost peace and violated unity. Some of 
 these I shall lay before you as grounds of your 
 faith, and encouragements to your hopes and en- 
 deavours. I begin with the declaration of the 
 evangelical prophet, which has been often re- 
 echoed in the prayers of the friends of Zion, and 
 which deserves your particular attention from its 
 occupying a place in the midst of promises re- 
 ferring immediately to the times of the New 
 Testament : " Thy watchmen shall lift up the 
 voice ; with the voice together shall they sing ; 
 they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall 
 bring again Zion The divisions and distrac- 
 tions of the church have, in every age, been 
 greatly owing to the conduct of her overseers and 
 guardians. If they " follow their own spirit, and 
 
 * Isa. lii. 8. 
 
49 
 
 see a lying divination," how can it he expected 
 that they shall " go up into the gaps, to make 
 up the hedge, or stand in the battle in the day 
 of the Lord • ?" If in giving forth instructions 
 respecting sin and duty, danger and safety, 
 their voices be dissonant and contradictory, must 
 they not cause great distress and perplexity 
 to their people, and prove, instead of messen- 
 gers of peace, " the snare of a fowler in all their 
 ways, and hatred in the house of their Godf P'' 
 How cheering, then, the assurance that they 
 " shall see eye to eye" in the matters of God, 
 and lift up their united voice in " publishing sal- 
 vation, and saying to Zion,ThyGod reigneth !" — 
 To this may be added another passage from the 
 same prophecy which bears an equally undoubted 
 reference to the latter days, although clothed in 
 Old Testament language : " He shall set up an 
 ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the out- 
 casts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed 
 of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The 
 envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the en- 
 mity X of Judah shall be cut ofl": Ephraim shall 
 not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Eph- 
 raim." Then, instead of waging an unnatural 
 war, and forming ungodly alliances to enable 
 them the more effectually to harrass one another, 
 they shall, with united strength, assail the avow- 
 ed enemies of religion : " They shall fly upon 
 the shoulders of the Philistines ; they shall lay 
 
 • Ezek. xiii. ?— 5. flMic. vii4-. IIos. ix. 8. 
 
 t Sec fiithup Low'lh's note on the passage. 
 
so 
 
 their hand upon Edom and Moab ; and the chil- 
 dren of Ammon shall obey them The re- 
 mark made as to the period referred to in the 
 above predictions may be applied to the follow- 
 ing, although some parts of the description re- 
 late more immediately to the deliverance from 
 the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities: "At the 
 same time, sailh the Lord, will I be the God of 
 ALL the families of Israel, and they shall be my 
 people. — For there shall be a day that the watch- 
 men on the mount Ej)hraim shall cry, Arise ye, 
 and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our 
 God f." — " Behold I will bring it health and 
 cure, and I will cure them ; and will reveal un- 
 to them the abundance of peace and truth. And 
 I will cause the captivity of Judah and the caj)- 
 tivity of Israel to return, and will build them as 
 at the first j." Suffice it to add these two evange- 
 lical promises : " Then will I tni'n to the people 
 a pure language, that they may all call upon the 
 name of the Lord, to serve him with one con- 
 sent 11." — " It shall yet come to pass, that there 
 shall come people and the inhabitants of many 
 cities ; and the inhabitants of one city shall go to 
 another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray be- 
 fore the Lord : I will go also. Yea, many peo- 
 ple and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord 
 of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before him.— 
 And the Lord shall be king over all the earth : 
 in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name 
 
 ONE 
 
 * Isa. si. 12, 13. t Jcr. xxxi. 1, 6. t Jcr. xxxiii. 6, 7. 
 I Zeph. ui. 9. § Zecb. viii. 19—22. xiv. 9. 
 
51 
 
 These, brethren, are " exceeding great and 
 precious promises;" and do they not amply secure 
 the attainment, in due time, of the blessing to 
 which they all so evidently refer ? Yes : " these 
 are the true sayings of God'" — of Him who can- 
 not lie nor change nor call back his words. 
 They are the sayings of him " that frustrateth 
 the tokens of liars, and maketh diviners mad, 
 that turneth wise men backward, and maketh 
 their knowledge foolish, that confirmeth the 
 words of his servants, and performeth the coun- 
 sel of his messengers *." They are " written 
 for the generation to come, and the people that 
 shall be created shall praise the Lord"" for the 
 fulfilment of them. Give him glory by placing 
 your hope and confidence in his promises ; and 
 let the cheering prospect which they hold forth 
 console and animate your hearts, amidst all the 
 distress which you feel in contemplating the pre- 
 sent disordered and divided state of the church. 
 Are you still disposed to say, " How can these 
 things be ?" Do you find it difficult " against 
 hope to believe in hope ?" Consider what I have 
 farther to say. 
 
 2. The removing of divisions, and the restor- 
 ing of unity and peace to the church, is the work 
 of God. What « the mouth of the Lord hath 
 spoken," his hand will perform. He has not 
 only predicted that the event shall haj)i)en, but he 
 has promised to bring it to pass. He may em- 
 ploy men as " workers together with him," but 
 
 « Isa. xliv. 25, 26. 
 c2 
 
52 
 
 he has not left the success to depend on their ex- 
 ertions, and with his own irresistible and all-pow- 
 erful arm will he redeem the pledge which he 
 has given by the interposition of his sacred and 
 in\'iolable word : " I will take the stick of Jo- 
 seph which is in the hand of Ephraim — and put 
 it with the stick of Judah, and they shall be one 
 in mine hand, I will make them one nation in 
 the land;' 
 
 God is the great Pacificator, and Repairer of 
 the breach. This is the name by which he is re- 
 peatedly called, and the truth of which he will 
 evince, " The Lord God who gathereth the out- 
 casts of Israel.'" The disorders which break out 
 among Christians, and which destroy the unity 
 and peace of the Church, are, as we have seen, sure 
 marks of his divine displeasure. Because they 
 have moved him to jealousy and provoked him 
 by their vanities, he permits the hot burning 
 bolts of mutual jealousy and provocation to be 
 thrown among them. It is impossible that the 
 fire thus kindled can be extinguished — it will 
 continue, in spite of all exertions, to " burn with 
 a most vehement flame," until he is reconciled, 
 and shall have pardoned their sins. " O God, 
 thou hast cast us off ; thou hast scattered us ; 
 thou hast been displeased : O turn thyself to us 
 again. Thou hast made the earth to tremble ; 
 thou hast broken it : Heal the breaches thereof ; 
 for it shaketh When he has " taken away 
 all his wrath, and turned himself from the fierce- 
 
 ♦ P»al. Ix. 1, 2. 
 
53 
 
 ness of his anger," he will " speak peace to his 
 people and to his saints he will smile success on 
 those measures which he formerly blasted with 
 his frown ; and those who wept to see the city 
 of their solemnities," a scene of confusion and 
 strife, shall behold it " a quiet habitation" — the 
 city of peace. " He that scattered Israel will 
 gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth 
 his flock *." 
 
 He will establish unity on the solid and im- 
 movable basis of immutable truth and eternal 
 righteousness. This distinguishes the work of 
 God from the coalitions formed by the wit and 
 policy of men. They are often so intent and 
 eager to reach the end, that they overlook and 
 pass by the means proper for gaining it, and are 
 ready to sacrifice truth and communion with 
 God, for the sake of peace and fellowship with 
 creatures. But his " eyes are on the truth," 
 and he bears an invariable love to judgment and 
 righteousness. " The prophets" of the church 
 may be " lightand treacherous men, and herpriests 
 may do violence to the law ; but the just Lord 
 is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity ; 
 every morning doth he bring his judgment to 
 light : he faileth not f." 
 
 And as he cannot, consistently with his moral 
 perfections, do what is prejudicial to truth, or 
 injurious to any of his laws and ordinances, so 
 he is never reduced to the necessity of having 
 recourse to methods which involve this, in order 
 
 • Jcr. xxxi. 10. f Zeph. iii. i. 5. 
 
 c 3 
 
S4 
 
 to fulfil his designs and promises. " Won- 
 derful in counsel and excellent in working," he 
 can devise and execute a plan for accomplishing 
 the highest ends by the best and holiest means. 
 Call to your minds the amazing plan, conceived 
 l)y " wisdom dwelling with prudence," for recon- 
 ciling the world to himself, and for repairing and 
 closing up the wide and tremendous breach open- 
 ed by the apostacy of man from his Maker. 
 Survey thiu " wisdom of God in a mystery," as it 
 is now unfolded by the gospel. Consider the dis- 
 position of its parts, the perfect adaptation of the 
 means to the end, and the nice adjustment of each 
 of these means to the rest. See how it tends to 
 vindicate the authority of the divine law, to as- 
 sert the honour of the supreme lawgiver, and to 
 stamp heaven's broadest, blackest brand of in- 
 famy on sin, at the same time that it provides a 
 way of escape and salvation to the rebellious sin- 
 ner. See those attributes of Deity, whose claims 
 were apparently conflicting and irreconcilable, 
 harmonizing and conspiring together to promote 
 the gracious design, reflecting lustre upon one 
 another, mingling their rays and concentrating 
 their lights, until at last they burst forth in one 
 united blaze of glories, more effulgent and over- 
 whelming than is to be seen in all the olher works 
 of God. See " Mercy and Truth meeting to- 
 gether ; Righteousness and Peace kissing each 
 other; Truth springing out of the earth, and 
 Righteousness looking down from heaven 
 
 * Psivl. Ixviii. 15, 16. 
 
55 
 
 Surely the God of Peace, who has displayed such 
 " manifold wisdom" in restoring us to his favour 
 by Christ Jesus, can be at no loss to reconcile 
 his followers, and to terminate their minor dif- 
 ferences, in such a way as shall be fully consistent 
 with the claims of truth and holiness. 
 
 3. God will bring about this happy event un- 
 der the administration of his Son, and by the in- 
 fluences of his Spirit. 
 
 " I will make them one nation ; and David 
 my servant shall be king over them, and they 
 shall have one shepherd*." Christ is " the Prince 
 of Peace ;" and '* having made peace by the blood 
 of his cross," it is fit that he should have the 
 honour, and he is qualified for the task, of ter- 
 minating all the variances which may arise 
 among those whom he has reconciled to God. 
 As the High Priest of our profession, his prayer 
 for them that have believed on him is, " That 
 they all may be one, as thou. Father, art in me 
 and I in thee, that they also may be one in us f 
 and when at any time, in their present imperfect 
 state, they kindle the anger of God against them 
 by their discontents and seditions, " he stands," 
 like Aaron with his golden censer, " between 
 the dead and the living, and the plague is stay- 
 ed f." As the King of the church he will confer 
 this blessing on her. Though we do not yet see 
 that " abundance of peace" which was predicted 
 of his reign, we have the best grounds to believe, 
 that, in the progress of his wise and righteous 
 
 ♦ Ezek. xxxvii. 22, 24. f Num. xvi. 18. 
 
 c 4 
 
56 
 
 and beneficent administration, the ecclesiastical 
 feuds which have prevailed among his followers, 
 and even the political wars which have raged 
 among the nations, will gradually subside, and is- 
 sue in a state of peace, concord, and amity, which, 
 though not so perfect and uninterrupted as some 
 have sanguinely anticipated, has hitherto been un- 
 exampled in the world. " He shall speak peace 
 unto the heathen *." " He shall judge among 
 many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; 
 and they shall beat their swords into plough- 
 shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks ; na- 
 tion shall not lift up a sword against nation, 
 neither shall they learn war any more -f-." 
 
 He will accomplish this chiefly by the influ- 
 ences of his Spirit, accompanying his word;~ 
 enlightening, regenerating, humanizing, puri- 
 fying the hearts of men, and thus uniting them 
 in love to himself, and subjection to his laws. 
 The conversions, the revivals, the reformations, 
 the unions, the enlargements of the church, are 
 all ascribed in Scripture to this secret, irresist- 
 ible, all-subduing agency. When God had be- 
 gun to bestow on his people the blessings promis- 
 ed in our text and context, the prophet Zechar- 
 iah was presented with the sight of a golden 
 candlestick, having a bowl on its top, with seven 
 lamps and seven pij)es, and two olive trees which 
 furnished the bowl with a constant supply of oil. 
 And this is the explanation of the emblem, as 
 given by the angelical interpreter who stood by 
 
 * Zcch. ix. 10. t Mic. iv. 3. Isa. ii. i. 
 
57 
 
 it, " Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, 
 saith the Lord of hosts *." The " briars and 
 thorns" of contention, and all thebitter fruits that 
 have sprung from the old curse, will continue to 
 " come up upon the land of God's people," " un- 
 til the Spirit be poured upon us from on high -f.'* 
 When, at his ascension, Christ shed down the 
 Holy Spirit, and " the appearance of cloven 
 tongues, as of fire, sat on the disciples," the strang- 
 ers who were collected heard each in his own 
 language the wonderful works of God, and " the 
 multitude of them that believed were of one 
 heart and one soul." Nor is it to be expected, 
 my brethren, that we shall emerge from our con- 
 fusions, worse than those which invaded man- 
 kind in the plain of Shinar, or that we shall re- 
 gain primitive unanimity, until we are blessed 
 with a new and liberal effusion of the influences 
 of that Spirit who descended on the day of 
 Pentecost. 
 
 In order to our becoming again " one body," 
 we must be " all baptized by one Spirit, and all 
 made to drink into one Spirit J."" It is the unity 
 of the Sjjirit" that we are to " endeavour to keep 
 in the bond of peace." Without his gracious 
 aid we shall not be able to regain it when lost: our 
 counsels will be foolish and carnal, and our en- 
 deavours feeble and abortive. Without this, it 
 will want the essential cliaractei-s of a scriptural 
 and godly union. Ought it to be a union in the 
 
 • Zech. IT. G. t Jtxxii. 13—15. } 1 Cor. xii. 13. 
 
 c5 
 
58 
 
 truth ? He is " the Spirit of truth,"" and it is his 
 work to " lead unto all truth." Ought it to be 
 holy ? He is " the Spirit of holiness." In fine, 
 it is he who produces and cherishes all those dis- 
 positions by which Christian union is cemented, 
 and who counteracts all those principles which tend 
 to its dissolution : " The fruit of the Spirit is 
 love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, good- 
 ness, faith, meekness, temperance." " If we live 
 in the Spirit," we shall " not be desirous of vain- 
 glory, provoking one another, envying one an- 
 other 
 
 4 God prepares the way for union by refor- 
 mation, and the revival of real religion. Abuses, 
 and a course of corrupt administration, in a civil 
 state, excite discontent and sedition, and some- 
 times lead to open rebellion and anarchy. The 
 corruption of the word and ordinances of God 
 is one great cause of divisions and oflTences in 
 the church. The only way of effectually curing 
 the evil is to remove the cause. Hence, the false 
 prophets are severely reproved for " healing the 
 hurt" of God's ancient people " slightly," and pro- 
 mising peace to them, while they remained im- 
 j)enitent and unreformed. When a wicked king 
 asked, " Is it peace ?" the only reply which he 
 could obtain was, " What hast thou to do 
 with peace ? what peace, so long as the whore- 
 doms of thy mother Jezebel, and her witchcrafts 
 are so many f !" If religious societies are in a 
 corrupter declining state, their conjunction could 
 
 * Gal. V. 22—26. 
 
 t 2 Kings X. 19, 23. 
 
0 
 
 59 
 
 only tend to aggravate their corruption and ac- 
 celerate their decline. 
 
 When God intends to restore unity to his 
 church, he begins with reforming her, and remov- 
 ing those evils which are offensive to himself, 
 and to his faithful people. He gives command- 
 ment to " cast up, to prepare the way, to take 
 up the stumbling-block out of the way of his 
 people He, as " the Breaker, goes up before 
 them." He enters his house, and his eyes, as a 
 flame of fire, survey every apartment and every 
 corner in it : he sees what is awanting and needs 
 to be supplied and set in order, as well as what 
 is superfluous and ought to be removed — all er- 
 ror, will-worship, prostitution of sacred things, 
 tyranny, disorder. He ascends his judgment-seat, 
 fences his great court of inquest and review, calls 
 his servants before him, and institutes an inquiry 
 into their conduct ; reproving their mismanage- 
 ment, reversing their unjust sentences, correcting 
 every abuse, redressing every wrong, and decid- 
 ing impartially and finally every quarrel and con- 
 troversy that may have arisen among the mem- 
 bers of his household. This judicial process is 
 often very severe — to many it may prove ruin- 
 ous and destructive; but to his church its issue 
 is most beneficial and salutary. " Who may 
 abide the day of his coming or, who shall stand 
 when he appeareth ? He shall sit as a refiner and 
 purifier of silver; he shall purify tlie sons of Levi, 
 that they may ofFer a pure oflcring in rigliteous- 
 
 « isu. iv;i. u. ixii. 10. 
 
60 
 
 ness : Then shall the offering of Judah and Jeru- 
 salem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days 
 of old and as in former years*." 
 
 Examine those promises which hold forth the 
 prospect of re-union to the church : you will find 
 this in every instance associated with her refor- 
 mation. Does God promise, " they shall all 
 serve me with one consent ?" This is the fruit 
 of a previous promise, " I will turn to the peo- 
 ple a PURE language." Does he say, I M'ili give 
 them one heart ?" He will do so, when " they 
 shall take away all the detestable things and all 
 the abominations from thence fJ" Does he say 
 that " Israel shall be the third with Egypt and 
 Assyria .'^ It is in the way of these two heathen 
 nations being made to " speak the language of 
 Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts ;" that is, 
 profess the true religion, and devote themselves to 
 the service of God |. I ask your attention particu- 
 larly to the predictions of the event immediately 
 referred to in our text. The following declara- 
 tion summarily announces the divine plan : 
 «' Thus saith the Lord, In the day that I shall 
 have cleansed you from all your iniquities, I will 
 also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the waste 
 places shall be built |[." How this purification 
 shall be effected is declared in these words : " I 
 will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall 
 be clean; — a new heart also will I give you; — and 
 I will put my Spirit within you The per- 
 
 « Mai. iii . 2— f Ezck. xi 18, 19. { Isa. xU. 18, «1, 2t. 
 [| Exck. ixxvi. 33. § vv. 25 — 27. 
 
61 
 
 raanent effects of this reformation are predicted 
 in a verse subsequent to the text : " Neither shall 
 they defile themselves any more with their idols, 
 nor with their detestable things, nor with any of 
 their transgressions ; but I will save them out of 
 all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sin- 
 ned, and will cleanse them ; so shall they be my 
 people, and I will be their God *." The process 
 is described in different language, but of the same 
 import, in a preceding part of the prophecy : " I 
 will cause you to pass under the (tithing) rod +, 
 
 * yer. 23. 
 
 t This is, I believe, commonly understood of the rod of correc- 
 tion : I am inclined to think that tlie allusion is to the rod of 
 the tithing master. (Lev. xxvii. 32.) Tlie following is, in my 
 opinion, the meaning of the passage. The persons more imme- 
 diately refcn'ed to are those Jews, who, before the final destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, had fled and taken re- 
 fuge in Phoenicia, and other countries bordering ui>on Judea, 
 who flattered themselves that they should soon be able to return 
 to their own land, though they still cherished their idolatrous 
 inclinations, and who had sent their ciders to Ezekiel to obtain, 
 if possible, a response from God favourable to their wishes, (ver. 
 1. corap. chap. xiv. 1 — t.) The prophet is directed to inform 
 them tliat what " comcth into their mind shall not be at all" — 
 that they shall be forced out of the countries where they now re- 
 side, and brought into " the vvilderaess of the people," (Chal- 
 dea), and there God will plead his controversy with them, as he 
 had done with their fathers " in the wilderness of the land of 
 Eg)pt," or into which they came after being brought out of 
 ^SyP^ (*cr. 33 — 36.) More particularly, he will " cause 
 ihem to pass under the (titliing) rod," setting aside a tenth 
 part of them for himself, and for this part he will " remember 
 his covenant in the days of their youth, and i stiiblish unto them 
 an everlasting covenant." (chap xvi. 6"0 — ()3. ) The nine parts 
 he will treat a* he had treated the bulk of the (generation that 
 came out of Egypt: he will " purge ihcni out as rebels" — they 
 shall not " enter into the land of Israel," bul nuiy " go serve every 
 
62 
 
 and I will bring you into the bond of the cove- 
 nant ; and I will purge out from among you the 
 rebels, and them that transgress against me — they 
 shall not enter into the land of Israel." Wheu 
 this has been executed : " In mine holy moun- 
 tain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, there 
 shall all the house of Israel, all op them in the 
 land, serve me; there will I accept them *." It 
 shall be as of old, " The tenth part shall be holy 
 to the Lord." Sometimes, indeed, the process 
 of refinement is not carried so far, and the re- 
 sidue is reduced only to a third. " It shall 
 come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, 
 two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but 
 the third shall be left therein. And I will brinji 
 the third part through the fire, and will refine 
 them as silver is refined, and will try them as 
 gold is tried ; they shall call on my name, and I 
 will hear them ; I will say, It is my people ; and 
 they shall say, The Lord is my God f." 
 
 Run over the page of the church's history, and 
 you will find the facts corresponding to the lan- 
 guage of prophecy : her unions have been pre- 
 ceded by reformations. This was the case in the 
 days of Hezekiah. That pious and reforming mo- 
 narch not only removed the monuments of idola- 
 try, but also " brake in pieces th'^ brazen ser- 
 ene lus idols," wlicic he chooses, (vv. 38, 39.) But the tenth 
 part, whicli remiiiiis aiXvr " tlic rebels mid muisgressors huvo bet-u 
 jnirged out from among lliem," slmll be restored to J udca, and 
 " .ill of them in the land ' shall serve (."od uceeptably, and lie 
 Mill be " sanctified in them bel'ore the hculhen." (vcr. 10— 4*.) 
 * Ezek. XX. 35—40. t '--tech. xiii. 8, U. 
 
63 
 
 pent that Moses had made," because " the child- 
 ren of Israel did burn incense to it *:" he opened 
 the house of the Lord, and excited the priests and 
 levites to sanctify it, to offer the burnt offering up- 
 on the altar, and to celebrate the praises of God, 
 "according to the commandment of David, and of 
 Gad the king's seer, and of Nathan the prophet." 
 After this he sent " posts with letters through 
 all Israel and Judah," inviting the people of both 
 kingdoms to turn again to the Lord, enter into 
 his sanctuary, and keep the solemn passover which 
 he had indicted. The following is the account 
 of his success : " Diverse of Asher and Manas- 
 seh, and of Zebulon, humbled themselves, and 
 came to Jerusalem. Also in Judah, the hand 
 of God was to give them one heart to do the com- 
 mandment of the king and of the princes, by 
 the word of the Lord. So there was great joy 
 in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the 
 son of David, king of Israel, there was not the 
 like in Jerusalem f." — This was the case also 
 at the return from Babylon, when the schism be- 
 tween Judah and Israel was about to be complete- 
 ly ciired. They were both cured of their disposi- 
 tion to idolatry ; " the altar was set upon his 
 bases ;" the temple built " after the manner 
 thereof and " whatsoever was commanded by 
 the God of heaven diligently done for tiie house 
 of the God of heaven j." — It was at a period em- 
 phatically called " the time of reformation," 
 that Jew and Greek, Barbarian and Scythian, 
 
 * 2 Kings xviii. i. j 2 Chrou. xxx. 11, l.i, 26- f Ezra, passiiu. 
 
64 
 
 bond and free, were made one, after tlie labours 
 of the greatest of all Reformers as well as Peace- 
 makers, and of his Forerunner, of whom it vras 
 said, " Many of the children of Israel shall he 
 turn to the Lord their God ; and he shall go be- 
 fore him in the spirit and power of Elias, to 
 turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and 
 the disobedient to the wisdom of the just ; to 
 make ready a people prepared for the Lord 
 — Subsequently there have been times of re- 
 formation in the Church, and especialh in our 
 land, which were accompanied by a happy and 
 uncommon spirit of unanimity and conjunction 
 among the friends of religion. And to those 
 measures which once and again put a premature 
 stop to the progress of religious reform in Eng- 
 land, and which at one time overturned, and af- 
 terwards defaced and marred, a more perfect re- 
 formation attained in Scotland, must we princi- 
 pally attribute those ecclesiastical divisions and 
 feuds which have arisen at different periods, and 
 still prevail in both countries. 
 
 The ways and thoughts of the Almighty are 
 very different from ours. We seek great things : 
 He seeks those which are good. We look on 
 the outward appearance of a cause or a measure : 
 He looks into the heart of it. We " despise 
 the day of small things," and nothing will sa- 
 tisfy us but an attempt upon a great scale : He, 
 on the contrary, delights in a work which is in its 
 "beginning small;" in its progress, gradual, noise- 
 
 * Luke i. IG, 17. 
 
65 
 
 less, and often imperceptible ; but in " its latter 
 end doth greatly increase." We would unite large 
 masses, and afterwards set about reforming them: 
 His plan is the reverse. " Turn, O backsliding 
 children, and I will take you one of a city and 
 two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion ; 
 and I will give you pastors according to mine 
 heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and 
 understanding. And it shall come to pass when 
 ye be multiplied and increased in the land — they 
 shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, 
 and all nations shall be gathered unto it to the 
 name of the Lord *." 
 
 5. God sometimes facilitates and prepares the 
 way for union by removing the occasions of of- 
 fence and division. In righteous judgment he 
 permits stumbling-blocks to fall in the way 
 of professors of religion, which he afterwards 
 mercifully removes. As long as the two king- 
 doms of Judah and Israel subsisted they were 
 rivals, and policy concurred with a passion for 
 idolatry in keeping up their religious dissensions. 
 In overturning the kingdom of Israel by the As- 
 syrians, he whose views are not limited to the ac- 
 complishment of a single end, intended not only 
 to punish tliat people for their defection from his 
 worship, but also to prepare the way for their co- 
 alescing with Judah into one holy society. " Yet 
 a little while (says he) and I will cause to cease 
 the kingdom of the house of Israel. Then shall 
 the children of Judah and the children of Israel 
 
 « Jcr. ui. U, 17. 
 
66 
 
 be gathered together, and appoint themselves one 
 head, and they shall come up out of the land*." 
 Even the kingdom of Judah behoved to be dis- 
 solved, that every obstruction might be removed 
 out of the way ; and that " the glory of the house 
 of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Je- 
 rusalem might not magnify themselves"" over their 
 brethren. A long and violent quarrel had sub- 
 sisted betveeen the Jews and Samaritans, which 
 turned chiefly on the question. Whether Jerusa- 
 lem or Mount Gerizzim was the divinely ap- 
 pointed place of sacred service. The Jews were 
 in the right on the merits of this question, though 
 they allowed their zeal to carry them to a vi- 
 cious estreme, in not only refusing to symbolize 
 with a corrupt worship, but in also declining to 
 have any civil or friendly dealings with the Sa- 
 maritans. This was our Saviour's judgment ; 
 and yet he intimated to the woman of Samaria, 
 that God was about to put an end to the dispute 
 in a way which neither of the contending par- 
 ties looked for. " Woman, believe me ; the hour 
 cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, 
 nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye 
 worship ye know not what : we know what we 
 worship ; for salvation is of the Jews. Biit the 
 hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor- 
 shippers of the Father shall worship him in spi- 
 rit and in truth -f*." It pleased God who " made 
 peace by the blood of the cross," at the same time 
 to reconcile Jews and Gentiles, and to abolish 
 
 * Hos. i. i, 11. 
 
 f Jo. iv. 21—23. 
 
67 
 
 the ceremonial law which was a wall of partition 
 between them, that they might become one holy 
 family. Though the virtual abrogation of this 
 law by the death of Christ set the consciences of 
 Christians free from its observance, their union 
 was not yet complete ; the temporary regulations 
 made by divine direction for preserving commu- 
 nion between Jews and Gentiles, though they 
 allayed, did not put an end to all ofTences- and 
 divisions arising from this quarter ; and there- 
 fore God provided for the consolidation of the 
 union by destroying the temple, and thus ren- 
 dering the peculiar service connected with it 
 physically impossible. 
 
 Instances of the same kind, or at least analo- 
 gous, might be pointed out in the subsequent his- 
 tory of the church. Dissentions, which had arisen 
 among the early Christians during the severe and 
 numerous persecutions which they suffered, were 
 terminated on the overthrow of Pagan Rome. 
 The law known by the name of the Interim, en- 
 acted in Germany soon after the Reformation, 
 was not only the cause of much sufFering, but 
 also of violent disputes and great disunion among 
 Protestants ; while some of them pleaded the 
 lawfulness of complying with its regulations, and 
 others, more firm and consistent, condemned this 
 as a sinful conformity. Of the same kind, dur- 
 ing the last and sorest persecution in this coun- 
 try, were the disputes among Presbyterians, ex- 
 cited by the various ensnaring oaths and tests 
 imposed by.government, aTid the indulgences and 
 tolerations which flowed from an Erastian suprc- 
 
68 
 
 macy, were clogged with sinful conditions, and 
 intended to pave the way for the establishment 
 of popery and arbitrary power. All of these were 
 abolished at the Revolution. I do not mean to 
 say, that the simple abolition of these or similar 
 impositions will in itself heal the divisions which 
 they had occasioned, or, that it is a sufficient op 
 proper reason for the immediate restoration of 
 interrupted communion and harmony. As no 
 external circumstance ought to mar the unity 
 and peace of the Church, nor can it have this 
 effect without the intervention of human imper- 
 fection and sin, so no change of external circum- 
 stances can restore what was lost without the co- 
 operation of the grace of God, inclining the 
 hearts of the parties to their duty and to one an- 
 other. All that is meant is, that this is one of the 
 means which providence is sometimes pleased to 
 employ and bless ; and that by removing tempta- 
 tions on the one hand, and occasions of offence 
 on the other, it has a tendency to facilitate ar- 
 rangements for peace, in which a regard to faith- 
 fulness and the public interests of religion is com- 
 bined with a due respect to the convictions of 
 brethren, and an enlightened consideration of the 
 circumstances in which they may have been plac- 
 ed. I cannot help viewing the present non-im- 
 position of that oath which at first occasioned a 
 breach in the Secession body, as a dispensation 
 of this kind, and which admits of being improv- 
 ed in the way just mentioned ; provided the par- 
 ties concerned were cordially attached to the com- 
 mon cause espoused by their fathers, and at one 
 
69 
 
 as to the great ends and objects of their original 
 association. 
 
 6. God prepares the way for union in his 
 Church by causing the divided parties to parti- 
 cipate of the same afflictions and deliverances. 
 Having described the judgments inflicted on the 
 kingdom of the ten tribes, God says to Judah : 
 *' Thou shall drink of thy sister's cup, deep and 
 large, thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and 
 sorrow, with the cup of thy sister Samaria 
 Both the punishment and the deliverance of Is- 
 rael and Judah are often spoken of by the pro- 
 phets as one; and as intended etpially for their 
 reformation and reunion. " By this, therefore, 
 shafl the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is 
 all the fruit, to take away sin. And it shall come 
 to pass in that day that the Lord siiali beat along-f- 
 the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt; 
 and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye chil- 
 dren of Israel I.'" 
 
 Providence blesses their communion in suflTerinor 
 to fit them for communion in love and holy living. 
 How can fellow-suflferers but have a fellow-feel- 
 ing for one another §? Having drunk of the same 
 cup of suffering, must they not desire to drink 
 of the same cup of blessing and thanksgiving ? 
 
 • Exck. xxiii. 32. 
 t A mctBplior borrowed from the practice of hunters wiio beat 
 tlic bushes alon;; the baiiku of rivers to rouse and dishxigc ihu 
 wild licasts wliich took refuge there. Hence the phrase, Ex- 
 eutere cubilibut feras. 
 
 } Isa. xxvii. 9, 12. Sec also Jer. 1, 17—20, 3J. 
 J2Cor. i. 7. 1 Thesi. ii. U. 
 
70 
 
 The process by which they are refined also pre- 
 pares them for uniting, by consuming or separat- 
 ing the dross and tin and clay of corruption, 
 which kept them asunder. " Putmany pieces of 
 metal together into the furnace, and when they 
 are melted, they will run together," says a pious 
 writer*. When the Hebrews in Egypt smote and 
 strove with one another, and spurned the media- 
 tory offices of Moses, who " would have set them 
 at one again," it was a proof that the time of their 
 deliverance was not yet come, and that they need- 
 ed to be kept longer in the iron furnace. It was 
 when the sons of Jacob were suspected as spies in 
 Egypt, and harshly treated, and thrown into pris- 
 on, that they remembered their treatment of Jo- 
 seph with whom they had dealt cruelly as a spy on 
 their conduct, and feelingly expressed their com- 
 punction in the presence of their offended, but 
 forgiving and tender-hearted, brother. Bishops 
 Hooper and Ridley had a warm contest in the 
 reign of Edward VI. but when, in the time of the 
 bloody Mary, they were thrown into the same 
 prison, and had the prospect of being brought 
 to the same stake, they lovingly embraced, and 
 Ridley readily professed his contempt for that ce- 
 remony which, with intolerant eagerness, he had 
 imposed on his reluctant brother. Tlie aflair of 
 the Public Resolutions, during the second refor- 
 mation in Scotland, caused a very hurtful schism 
 in the presbyterian church, and those who pro- 
 tested against the measure had church censures in- 
 
 * Henry on ICxckicl xxxvii. 21. 
 
71 
 
 flicted on them by the ruling majority ; but after 
 the Restoration, when the religion and liberties 
 of the nation were overturned, and the arm of per- 
 secution was stretched out against both parties, 
 some of the leading promoters of the Resolutions 
 had their eyes opened, and candidly confessed 
 that their protesting brethren had acted a wiser, 
 and more upright part than themselves. A con- 
 fession honourable to faithfulness, and a thousand 
 times more creditable to the persons who made 
 it, than if they had stood stiffly to the defence of 
 their conduct after the event had shewn its faul- 
 tiness, or if, covering self-love with the cloak of 
 forbearance, they had insisted on consigning the 
 affair to silence and oblivion. 
 
 When God grants a common deliverance to 
 those who were exposed to similar suiierings and 
 dangers, he throws around their hearts " the 
 cords of love," and draws them together as with 
 " the bands of a man." The powers of hell and 
 earth combined could not have severed the three 
 young captives, after they came up from the burn- 
 ing fiery furnace, linked together in chains of a 
 very diflerent kind from those which the flames 
 had recently consumed. " Lovely and pleasant in 
 their lives," what a spectacle must they have af- 
 forded, " in the midst of a crooked and perverse 
 nation among whom they walked as lights f In 
 the field of modern church history, I do not know a 
 spot on which the mind rests with u more pleasing 
 emotion, than that which- describes tiie deputa- 
 tion sent by the Waldenses of Bohemia to con- 
 gratulate and establish concord with the first re- 
 
72 
 
 formers of Germany and Swisserland ; the can- 
 dour with which that interesting and simple body 
 of Chrisian confessors stated the faith and reli- 
 gious practice which they had so long retained and 
 held fast in the jaws of persecution ; and the inge- 
 nuous and meek spirit with which they received the 
 advice and admonitions of their more enlight- 
 ened brethren. The Harmony of Confessions in 
 the protestant churches, and their mutual corres- 
 pondence and co-operation, evince the unanimi- 
 ty and good will by which they were actuated 
 at the era of the Reformation from Popery. It 
 is true that a dispute early arose between some 
 of the leading reformers, which was managed with 
 unbecoming violence and obstinacy by at least 
 one of the parties ; but it was confined to a sin- 
 gle article, and did not lead to an irreparable 
 breach, until after their death, when there had 
 arisen a generation which knew not the mighty 
 •works which the Lord had done in rescuing their 
 fathers from Antichristian darkness and bond- 
 age. I need not dwell on the effect which eman- 
 cipation from a popish and hierarchical yoke had, 
 at different periods, in uniting the friends of re- 
 ligion and reformation in our native land, and in 
 exciting them to seek the extension of this "bless- 
 ed union and conjunction" to other Christian 
 Churches' It were presumptuous to limit divine 
 sovereignty, or to prescribe an invariable mode of 
 action to the Almighty and All-wise; but, breth- 
 ren, as often as I reflect on these things, and sur- 
 vey the present state of the church of Christ, the 
 thought still recurs forcibly to my mind, Surely we 
 
73 
 
 must be made to pass through some fiery trial, 
 before we shall be refined from those corruptions 
 which have defaced the beauty and eaten out the 
 power of religion, and before we shall be fitted 
 for becoming " one in the hand of the Lord." 
 
 Lastly, In healing the divisions of the church 
 God has cemented and consecrated the parties 
 by disposing them to give the most solemn 
 pledges of their fidelity to himself, and to one 
 another. It was predicted that the return 
 from the captivity and the conjunction of Ju- 
 dah and Israel should be distinguished by such 
 exercises. " In those days, and at that time, 
 saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall 
 come, they and the children of Judah together, 
 going and weeping : they shall go, and seek the 
 Lord their God. They shall ask the way to 
 Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, 
 and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpe- 
 tual covenant that shall not be forgotten 
 How exactly the event corresponded to the pro- 
 phecy, you may see by consulting the books of 
 Ezra and Nehemiah. 
 
 Public vows and religious covenants formed 
 no part of Jewish peculiarity. They did not 
 belong to the ceremonial law ; and it would be 
 something worse than an absurdity to describe 
 them as oaths of allegiance to Jehovah, as the po- 
 litical head of the nation of Israel. They are not 
 more unsuitable to the character of the Christian 
 church than they were to that of the Jewish, Ac- 
 
 ♦ Jcr. 1. 4, 5. 
 
74 
 
 cordingly,it is expressly foretold in many prophe- 
 cies, that such solemn exercises shall take place 
 in New Testament times *. These predictions 
 have been verified and fulfilled at different pe- 
 riods and in diflerent countries. And in none 
 have they been more eminently fulfilled than in 
 our own land, especially in times of reformation 
 and union. When peace has been restored be- 
 tween contending nations, it is common for them 
 to renew their former compacts of amity, and to 
 repeat the solemnities by which they were ori- 
 ginally ratified. What more seasonable for those 
 who have long been divided by their own sins and 
 the divine anger, than to humble themselves be- 
 fore God, and to ask of him a right way ? And 
 what more fitted for expressing their gratitude 
 and cementing their union, than a joint dedica- 
 tion of themselves to God, accompanied with 
 solemn pledges of mutual fidelity ? 
 
 I shall now state some inferences from the doc- 
 trine that has been laid down. 
 
 1. You may see from this subject the extensive 
 and permanent utility of Old Testament Scripture. 
 Not only was it "given by inspiration of God," but 
 it still " is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
 correction, for instruction in righteousness •fJ" 
 Its utility is not limited to those parts which con- 
 tain prophecies relating to the New Testament, 
 or which afford us instruction by means of types 
 and figures. It abounds with direct information 
 
 * Isa. xix. 18, 21. xliv. 3—5. xlv. 23. Jer. iv. 2. ZecU. 
 ii. 11. xiu. 9. , t 2 Tim. iii. 16. 
 
1 
 
 75 
 
 respecting the great truths of religion, the wor- 
 ship of God, and the exercises and experiences, 
 the conflicts and comforts of a holy and godly life. 
 It conveys important instruction concerning the 
 divine dispensations to individuals, nations, and 
 the church; and concerning the duties which 
 men owe to God and to one another, in their in- 
 dividual or collective capacity, and in their dif- 
 ferent stations and relations, natural, civil, or 
 ecclesiastical. The permanent authority and use- 
 fulness of the Scriptures of the Old Testament 
 rest on such principles as these : that the au- 
 thor of both great divisions of the Bible is one 
 and the same ; that he has in all ages gov- 
 erned the world of mankind by moral laws, as 
 well as ruled over a peculiar people ; and that 
 true religion, and the church of God professing it, 
 have ever been substantially the same under sub- 
 ordinate varieties of external dispensation. Even 
 those parts of the inspired record which refer to 
 the Jewish, admit of an application to the Chris- 
 tian economy, in the way of analogy — by setting 
 aside whatever was peculiar to the former, and 
 seizing on the points of agreement or resem- 
 blance between the two economies, and on those 
 principles and grounds which are common to 
 both. This is a key to the Old Testament which 
 appears to be much neglected, and whose value 
 has not been sufhciently appreciated : although 
 our Saviour and his a|)ostles have set us exatn- 
 j)les of its use and importance *. 
 
 * Matt. xii. 3—8. 1 Cor. ix 8—11. x. 1—11. 17—22. 
 James V. 16 — 18 ; with niary other places. 
 
 d2 
 
76 
 
 Erroneous, mistaken, or defective notions on 
 this subject are very injurious to the unity and 
 peace of the Church. They are common in the 
 present time ; have given rise to " diverse and 
 strange doctrines," and an endless variety of no- 
 vel opinions; have produced distorted and partial 
 views of morality ; have sapped the foundation, 
 and impaired the evidence of many religious insti- 
 tutions^; and, under the name of Christianity, have 
 led to the adoption of a faith and practice not 
 only different from, but, in its genius and spirit, 
 opposite to that religion which God revealed 
 from the beginning, and which was professed and 
 followed by the fearers of his name for four thous- 
 and years. Many who maintain the divine ori- 
 gin and inspiration of this part of the sacred 
 volume, shew a disposition unduly to abridge 
 that authority which they acknowledge in general, 
 while tiiey resist, as impertinent and inconclusive, 
 every argument brought from it, unless it is sup- 
 ported and confirmed by the writings of the New 
 Testament. The principles, communion, and 
 practice of Christians must necessarily be defec- 
 tive and wrong, when they are formed and regu- 
 lated, not by the whole, but a part only of the 
 perfect and divinely authorized standard. How 
 can it be expected that parties will come to 
 one, if they are not agreed on what constitutes 
 the supreme judge of all their controversies, and 
 the infallible canon by which they are bound to 
 walk together ? 
 
 2. We may hence see what constitutes the 
 evil of schism, and wherein this differs from war- 
 
77 
 
 rantable separation. Though all parties nearly 
 agree in the general notion of schism, yet, when 
 they come to explain and apply it, they are found 
 to differ very widely in their opinions. Few 
 subjects have been involved in greater obscurity, 
 and have given occasion to such opposite charges 
 anti severe recriminations. Some, both in an- 
 cient and modern times, have described it in the 
 most exaggerated colours, and represented it as 
 the most heinous of all sins. Papists have gross- 
 ly perverted the meaning of the word, and made 
 it, along with heresy, a constant topic of de- 
 clamation and unjust reproach against all who 
 have left their communion ; and in this part of 
 their conduct they have been followed by the 
 warm admirers, and undiscriminating advocates 
 of some national churches among protestants *. 
 Others have erred on the opposite extreme, have 
 extenuated its evil, and narrowed the Scripture 
 meaning of the term, by confining it to one kind 
 or branch of it, and excluding or overlooking all 
 others. The original word in the New Testa- 
 ment translated schism or division, signifies any 
 rent or breach, by which that which was former- 
 ly one is divided ; and when applied to the 
 church, it is always used in a bad sense. Chris- 
 
 * In tlitir declamations against schism, such expressions as 
 the following liavcbci n used by Protestiuit writers (let tlicm tie 
 namelesk) : " An oflencc so grievous thut nolliing so much in- 
 censes God: — No rct'onniiliou caii be so iniporluut us the sin of 
 (cliism is pernicious :— No multitude of gootl works, no moral ho- 
 nesty ol'lifc, no cruel death, endured even for the faith, cau cxcu>e 
 any who are guilty of it from damnation." 
 
 D 3 
 
78 
 
 tians are reprehended for giving way to schism, 
 and exhorted to avoid those who cause it. It 
 is a relative terra, and cannot be understood with- 
 out just views of that unity and communion of 
 which it is a violation. 
 
 Schism does not consist, as some have pre- 
 posterously maintained, in separation from tlie 
 church considered as invisible. It is not to be 
 restricted to separation from the catholic body, 
 or whole community of Christians ; as if none 
 could be justly chargeable with this sin, for with- 
 drawing from the communion of particular 
 churches. It is often displayed in fomenting 
 factions within a church, and accompanied with 
 an uncharitable, bitter, or turbulent spirit ; but 
 there is no good reason for confining it to one or 
 both of these ; and neither the proper meaning 
 of the word nor the scriptural use of it, supports 
 the favourite opinion of some modern critics and 
 divines, that ' no person, who, in the spirit of 
 candour and charity, adheres to that which, to 
 the best of his judgment is right, though in his 
 opinion he should be mistaken, is, in the scrip- 
 tural sense, eitiier schismatic or heretic */ Dis- 
 honesty and uncharitableness aie not essential 
 qualities either of heresy or schism, but aggra- 
 vations which are sometimes found cleaving to 
 them. 
 
 * Dr CHmpbcll's Disscrtiition on Heresy and Schism ; prefixed 
 to his New Translalioii ol' lite Gospels. Some of tlie positions ill 
 that dissertation, indefensible, in niy ojnnion, on tlie principles 
 either of sound erilieisni or sound divinity, have been admitted 
 with surprisiug facility in tliis country. 
 
79 
 
 On the other hand, schism and separation are 
 not convertible terms, nor are the things signified 
 by them necessarily of the same kind. Schism 
 is always evil; separation may be either good«r 
 evil, according to circumstances. To constitute 
 the former, there must be a violation of some of 
 the scriptural bonds of unity in the body of Christ. 
 It presupposes a church formed and constituted 
 by the authority and according to the laws of 
 Christ, and an administration corresponding to 
 the nature, character, and design of such a so- 
 ciety, at least so far as that persons may belong 
 to it without sin, and hold communion with it 
 consistently with that regard which they owe to 
 their spiritual safety and edification. The Chris- 
 tian church is not an arbitrary institution of men— 
 not a mere voluntary association of any number of 
 people, for any purpose, and on any terms, which 
 to them may seem good ; nor has its communioa 
 been left vague and undetermined by the laws of 
 its founder. It is not schism to refuse submission 
 to human constitutions, though tlicy may be 
 called churches, and may have religion some way 
 for their object, nor to refuse conformity to such 
 terms as men may be pleased to impose without 
 warrant from the word of God ; whether these 
 constitutions and terms proceed from the lust of 
 power, or from the pride of wisdom, and whether 
 they be intended to forward the policy of states- 
 men, to feed the ambition of churchmen, or to 
 flatter the humours of the populace. 
 
 That churches, once pure and faithful, may de 
 generate so far, and fall into such a state as will 
 o 4 
 
so 
 
 warrant separation from them, is evident from 
 the injunctions and examples of Scripture, and 
 from facts compared with the nature and ends 
 of religious fellowship. Nor can this be denied 
 by any consistent protestant. To " cleave to 
 the Lord," to cultivate fellowship with him 
 in the way he has prescribed, and to " follow 
 him whithersoever he goeth," constitute the 
 primary object to be kept in view by Chris- 
 tians : to this, fellowship with men is secondary 
 and subordinate ; and we are bound to forego 
 and relinquish the latter, whenever it is found in- 
 compatible with the former. We are exhorted 
 to " follow peace with all men," not absolutely, 
 but so far only as it is consistent with " holi- 
 ness," and may be lawfully practicable. No 
 particular church has any promise securing her 
 continuance in the faith and in purity of com- 
 munion; and, consequently, none can have a right 
 to claim a perpetual or inviolable union with her, 
 or to denounce persons schismatics simply on the 
 ground of their withdrawing from her pale and 
 declining her authority. 
 
 Separation may be either negative or positive. 
 A negative separation consists in withdrawing 
 from wonted communion with a church, either in 
 the way of not participating with her in some or- 
 dinances, on the ground of corruptions attaching 
 to them, or in the way of suspending all public 
 communion with her. A positive separation con- 
 sists in the formation of another church, and the 
 holding of other assemblies, in contradistinction 
 from those with which we were formerly con- 
 nected. In all ordinary cases the former ought 
 
81 
 
 to precede the latter; as it is our duty to try every 
 means for removing evils before adopting the 
 last resource. But when the prospect of recover- 
 ing our Christian privileges, consistently with our 
 duty to God, may be distant and doubtful, v^hen 
 many may be placed in the same situation with 
 ourselves, and when the public interests of reli- 
 gion are involved in the matter of our grievances, 
 the same reasons which warranted a negative se- 
 paration will, by their continuance, warrant that 
 which is positive ; for none are at liberty to live 
 without public ordinances when they have access 
 to enjoy them. I need scarcely add, that if in 
 providence we can find a church already consti- 
 tuted to which we can conscientiously accede, 
 regard to the communion of saints, and aversion 
 to unnecessary division, ought to induce us to 
 prefer this course to the formation of a new so- 
 ciety. 
 
 I do not mean to determine the delicate ques- 
 tion, how far or how long communion may be 
 maintained with corrupt churches, nor to state 
 the causes which may render separation from 
 them lawful and necessary. The decision of such 
 questions must always depend much on the state 
 of particular facts and actual circumstances oc- 
 curring at the time. Some general points are 
 almost universally conceded, such as, that it is 
 warrantable to separate from a church which ob- 
 stinately maintains gross and destructive errors, 
 or is chargeable with idolatry, or adulterates the 
 ordinances of Christ, or exercises a tyrannical au- 
 thority over the souls of men, or has established 
 
 D O 
 
S2 
 
 sinful terms of commmnon, or whose fellowsliip 
 we cannot enjoy without being involved in sin, 
 and living in the neglect of some necessary duty. 
 When a church once reformed and faithful not 
 only departs from what she had professed and re- 
 ceived, and persists in this by a series of public 
 acts, but also restrains all due freedom in testify- 
 ing against her defection ; or when she adopts 
 doctrines inconsistent with her former scriptural 
 profession and engagements, and imposes these 
 by the perverted exercise of authority and disci- 
 pline, — separation from her communion is law- 
 ful. When the public profession and adminis- 
 trations of a church have been settled conform- 
 ably to the laws of Christ, and sanctioned by 
 the most solemn engagements, if the majority 
 shall set these aside, and erect a new constitution 
 sinfully defective, and involving a material renun- 
 ciation of the former, the minority refusing to 
 accede to this, adhering to their engagements, 
 and continuing to maintain communion on the 
 original terms, cannot justly be charged with 
 schism. 
 
 But while the lawfulness and duty of separa- 
 tion in certain cases is to be asserted and vindi- 
 cated, we must not overlook the evil of schism, 
 nor forget to warn you against unwarrantable 
 or rash separations. It caimot admit of a doubt, 
 that in the present time there is a strong tenden- 
 cy in the minds of many to run to this extreme ; 
 and to this they are inclined in no small degree 
 by the incorrect and loose notions which they en- 
 tertain on the subject. Many can assign no 
 
83 
 
 grounds for their leaving the communion of a 
 church which will stand the test of Scripture or 
 reason. They are actuated by mere arbitrary will 
 or obstinate humour, by selfishness or unsocia- 
 bility of disposition, by capriciousness or levity of 
 spirit, and bydislikes which they cannot explain to 
 others and perhaps cannot account for to them- 
 selves. Others are infiuenced by indifference to 
 the benefit of religious fellowship, weariness of 
 the offices and duties connected with it, love of 
 carnal liberty, aversion to some of the doctrines 
 or institutions of Christ, and impatience of faith- 
 ful admonitions and the due exercise of church 
 discipline. Others, who shew a regard for divine 
 ordinances, and profess a concern to preserve their 
 purity, may relinquish the fellowship of a church 
 from personal offences and grudges, from pride, en- 
 vy, or disappointed ambition, or on account of de- 
 bates and differences which have no immediate re- 
 lation to the terms of ecclesiastical communion. A 
 church which has received the doctrines of Christ, 
 and in which the office-bearers and ordinances in- 
 stituted by him, and all the pi'ivileges conducive 
 to salvation may be enjoyed, may nevertheless be 
 chargeable with various defects and evils. I think 
 myself warranted by Scripture, and supported by 
 the sentiments of the soundest divines who have 
 treated this subject, when I state, that separation 
 from such a church cannot be vindicated when it 
 proceeds on such grounds as the following : Per- 
 sonal olFences given by tlie misconduct of indivitiu- 
 al church members : \Vrong decisions in person- 
 al causes or particular acts of maladministration. 
 
84 H 
 
 when they are not of lasting injury to the whole bo- 
 dy: Differences of opinion among the members of 
 a church about matters that cannot be shewn to be 
 positively determined in the word of God, and 
 have not been received into the public profession 
 of that church: Diversityof practicein somepoints 
 of mere external order, or in prudential regulations 
 as to the form of divine worship : The venting of 
 errors by particular teachers, while the instances of 
 this are infrequent, ^nd not openly countenanced 
 by authority in the church, and the relaxation of 
 discipline by admitting improper persons into 
 communion in particular cases, or by not duly 
 censuring those who are guilty of scandals ; pro- 
 vided the ordinances themselves are retained in 
 purity, the rules of discipline are not set aside, 
 and there is access to have grievances on this head 
 heard and redressed in due time : In fine, irre- 
 gularities or abuses of different kinds in a church 
 which is panting after reformation, endeavouring 
 to free herself from restraints and hindrances that 
 prevent her attaining it, and disposed to allow 
 the use of those means which tend to further 
 this desirable object. 
 
 3. We may hence see ground for lamentation 
 on account of the dissensions and divisions which 
 at present abound in the Church of Christ. 
 When, of old, one tribe in Israel was divided 
 from the rest, or was prevented by intestine 
 dissensions from " coming to the help of the 
 Lord against the mighty," it was matter of deep 
 distress, and bitter regret to every lover of re- 
 ligion and the public welfare. " For the divi- 
 
85 
 
 sions of Reuben there were great thoughts of 
 heart : — for the divisions of Reuben there were 
 great searchings of heart And, surely, we 
 ought to be affected in the same way in contem- 
 plating the dissensions of the Christian common- 
 wealth, and of the particular provinces and sec- 
 tions of which it is composed. It is true, that, 
 in the complex and extensive arrangements of 
 divine providence, they are necessary ; and they 
 will be over-ruled for the production of ulti- 
 mate and superabundant good. But this does 
 not prove that they are not evil in themselves, 
 nor that they may not be productive of manifold 
 and great evils during a long series of years. It 
 is also true, that they have prevailed in every 
 age, and that the Church was not altogether free 
 from them when she appeared in virgin purity and 
 with angelical power on her head. The presence 
 of inspired apostles and the possession of miracu- 
 lous gifts did not prevent division ; nay, these 
 gifts became the occasions of fomenting the evil, 
 and by their abuse the members of the church 
 were " puffed up one against another." But at 
 no former period, and in no other country, has di- 
 vision prevailed to such an extent, as it does at 
 present in our own land, which exhibits a count- 
 less variety of religious persuasions, and groans 
 under endless divisions and subdivisions of par- 
 ties. We have societies maintaining contradict- 
 ory sentiments on almost every article of faith that 
 can be named, and pursuing opposite practices 
 
 * Judg. V. If), IG. 
 
86 
 
 respecting every institution of religion and every 
 form of its celebration. Nor are the members of 
 these societies in many instances more united 
 among themselves than the different parties are 
 with one another. Every one hath a psalm, 
 hath a doctrine, hath a revelation, hath an in- 
 terpretation. Such a wanton use have we made 
 of our liberty as to have almost brought the very 
 name into disgrace, and to tempt men to think 
 that there is no certainty in religion. Scotland 
 was long distinguished for her religious unity, as 
 well as purity. But, alas .' it is to be lamented, 
 that, in both respects, there is reason for saying, 
 " The glory is departed !" First the staff of 
 Beauty, and afterwards that of Bands, has been 
 broken in our land. We are now as much dis- 
 united as our neighbours ; sects have multiplied 
 among us ; and those who were most firmly 
 united, and under the highest obligations to abide 
 by a common profession, once solemnly embraced 
 by the whole nation, have been divided and sore 
 broken in judgment. 
 
 Whether we consider the causes or the conse- 
 quences of our divisions, they call loudly for 
 mourning. What reason have we to humble 
 ourselves under the mighty hand of God, whose 
 displeasure they so strongly indicate ! To inquire, 
 " What meaneth the heat of this great anger 
 To smite on our breast and say, each for him- 
 self, " What have I done'' to kindle or to kee[) 
 alive the flame .'' What a humiliating spectacle of 
 human weakness and depravity! To see Religion, 
 which is calculated to unite men together " even 
 
87 
 
 as with a band of iron and brass," and Christi- 
 anity, which breathes nothingbut " peace and good- 
 will," and the Bible, expressly given by God as a 
 common rule of faith and manners, become theoc- 
 casion of so much division and discord and strife 
 iu the world ! What matter of triumph to the 
 infidel and the idolater ! What cause of stum- 
 bling and ofTence to the weak and doubting 
 Christian ! How much has it contributed to mar 
 the influence of the gospel at home, and to ob- 
 struct the propagation of it abroad, or to weaken 
 the efforts that are made for this purpose ! But 
 I refrain from a theme which has been copiously 
 treated by many pious and eloquent writers. 
 
 Some, perhaps, may see no reason for such 
 deplorations. They rejoice in the mitigation of 
 that spirit of keenness and asperity with which 
 religious disputes were formerly carried on ; and 
 anticipate the happiest results from the asso- 
 ciations which have lately been formed among 
 Christians of almost all denominations. But a 
 little consideration may serve to lower the exulta- 
 tion which these facts are calculated at first view 
 to raise. The general object of some of these 
 societies, and the distant field of exertion chosen 
 l)y others, remind us of our existing difl'ercnces. 
 Under the combinations, too, which have been 
 forming, a process of decomposition has been se- 
 cretly going on in the mindsof Christians, by which 
 their attachment to various articles of the faith 
 has been loosened. A vague and indefinite evan- 
 gelism, mixed with seriousness, into whicii it is 
 the prevailing disposition of the present age to 
 
88 
 
 resolve all Christianity, will, in the natural pro- 
 gress of human sentiment, degenerate into an 
 unsubstantial and incoherent pietism, which, after 
 efTervescing in enthusiasm, will finally settle in- 
 to indiflference ; in which case, the spirit of in- 
 fidelity and irreligion, which is at present work- 
 ing and spreading to a more alarming extent than 
 many seem to imagine, will achieve an easy con- 
 quest over a feeble and exhausted and nerveless 
 adversary. " When the Son of Man cometh, 
 shall he find faith in the earth ?" Let wise men 
 judge whether these forebodings are fanciful. 
 
 4. The danger of latitudinarian schemes of 
 union and fellowship. Mournful as the divisions 
 of the church are, and anxious as all its genuine 
 friends must be to see them cured, it is their du- 
 ty to examine carefully the plans which may be 
 proposed for attaining this desirable end. We 
 must not do evil that good may come ; and there 
 are sacrifices too costly to be made for the pro- 
 curing of peace with fellow-christians. Is it ne- 
 cessary to remind you, that unity and peace are 
 not always good, nor a sure and infallible mark 
 of a true and pure church ? We know that there 
 is a church which has long boasted of her catholic 
 unity notwithstanding all the corru{>tions which 
 pollute her communion ; and that within her pale 
 the whole world called Christian once enjoyed a 
 profound repose, and it could be said, " Behold, 
 the peo|)le is one, and they have all one lan- 
 guage." It was a union and peace founded in 
 ignorance, delusion, implicit faith, and a base 
 subjection to human authority ; and supported 
 
89 
 
 by the arts of compulsion and terror. But there 
 are other methods by which Christians may be 
 deceived, and the interests of religion deeply in- 
 jured, under the pretext or with the view of 
 uniting its friends. Among these I know none 
 more imposing, nor from which greater danger 
 is to be apprehended in the present time, than 
 that which proceeds on the scheme of prin- 
 ciples usually styled latitudinarian. 
 
 It has obtained this name because it proclaims 
 an undue latitude in matters of religion, which 
 persons may take to themselves or give to others. 
 Its abettors make light of the differences which 
 subsist among religious parties, and propose to 
 unite them on the common principles on which 
 they are already agreed, in the way of burying 
 the rest in silence, or of stipulating mutual for- 
 bearance and charity with respect to every thing 
 about which they may differ in opinion or in 
 practice. Some plead for this on the ground 
 that the several professions of religion differ 
 very little from one another, and are all con- 
 ducive to the happiness of mankind and the hon- 
 our of God, who is pleased with the various and 
 diversified modes in which men profess their re- 
 gard to him, provided only they are sincere in 
 their professions; a principle of difformity, which, 
 however congenial to the system of polytheism, 
 is utterly eversive of a religion founded on the 
 unity of the divine nature and will, and on a re- 
 velation which teaches us what we are to believe 
 concerning God and what duty he requires of 
 us. liut the ground on which this plan is ordi- 
 
90 
 
 narily made to rest is a distinction made among 
 the articles of religion. Some of these are called 
 essential, or fundamental, or necessary, or prin- 
 cipal ; others circumstantial, or non-fundamen- 
 al, or unnecessary, or less important. The for- 
 mer, it is pleaded, are embraced by all true Chris- 
 tians ; the latter form the subjects of difference 
 among them, and ought not to enter into the 
 terms of ecclesiastical fellowship *. On this 
 principle some of them would conciliate and unite 
 all the Christian denominations, not excepting 
 Papists, Arians, and Socinians ; while others re- 
 strict their plan to those called evangelical, who 
 differ mainly in their views and practice as to the 
 worship, order, and discipline of the Church. 
 
 The distinction on which this scheme rests, is 
 itself liable to objections which appear insupera- 
 ble. It is not warranted by the word of God ; 
 and the most acute of its defenders have never 
 been able to state it in a manner that is satisfac- 
 tory, or which renders it subservient to any prac- 
 tical use. The Scripture, indeed, speaks of cer- 
 tain truths which may be called the foundation, 
 because they are first laid, and others depend on 
 them — first principles, or elementary truths, 
 which are to be taught before others. But their 
 
 • Tlie distinction is variously expressed. Some modem writ- 
 ers on the subjec t of conimuuiou adhere to the dis'.inction be- 
 tween what is essential, or not essential to sulvatiou. Otlicrs, 
 aware of what has been urged against it, ehnse to sub titutc the 
 word fundamental in the room of essential ; and, for seeurity's sake, 
 tliey would add a few other artieles to the fundaiueutal. But 
 what the one or the oilier arc they do not lell. 
 
91 
 
 priority or posteriority in point of order, in con- 
 ception or instruction, does not determine the re- 
 lative importance of doctrines, or their necessity 
 in order to salvation, far less does it determine the 
 propriety of their being made to enter into the 
 religious profession of Christians and Christian 
 churches. — There are doctrines, too, which in- 
 trinsically, and on diflierent accounts, may be said 
 to have a peculiar and superior degree of import- 
 ance ; and this, so far as known, may properly be 
 urged as a motive for our giving the more earnest 
 heed to them. It is not, however, their compara- 
 tive importance or utility, but their truth and the 
 authority of him who has revealed them, which 
 is the formal and proper reason of our receiving, 
 professing, and maintaining them. And this 
 applies equally to all the contents of a divine 
 revelation. The relations of truths, especially 
 those of a supernatural kind, are manifold and in- 
 comprehensible by us ; it is not our part to pro- 
 nounce a judgment on them ; and if we could 
 see them, as God does, in all their extent and at 
 once, we would behold the lesser joined to the 
 greater, the most remote connected with the 
 primary, by necessary and indissoluble links, and 
 all together conspiring to form one beautiful 
 and harmonious and indivisible whole. Whatever 
 God has revealed we arc bound to receive and 
 hold fast, whatever he has enjoined we are bound 
 to obey ; and the liberty which we dare not arro- 
 gate to ourselves we cannot give to others. It is 
 not, indeed, necessary that the confession or testi- 
 mony of the church (meaning by this that which is 
 
92 
 
 explicitly made by her, as distinguished from her 
 declared adherence to the whole word of God) 
 should contain all truths ; but then any of them 
 may come to be included in it, when opposed and 
 endangered ; and it is no sufficient reason for ex- 
 cluding any of them that they are less important 
 than others, or that they have been doubted and 
 denied by good and learned men. Whatever for- 
 bearance may be exercised to persons, " the 
 word of the Lord," in all its extent, *' must have 
 free course and be glorified and any act of 
 men — call it forbearance or what you will — which 
 serves as a screen and protection to error or sin, 
 and prevents it from being opposed and remov- 
 ed by any proper means, is contrary to the di- 
 vine law, and consequently is destitute of all in- 
 trinsic force and validity. — There are truths al- 
 so which are more immediately connected with 
 salvation. But who will pretend to fix those pro- 
 positions which are absolutely necessary to be 
 known, in order to salvation — by all persons — of 
 all capacities — and in all situations ; or say how 
 low a God of grace and salvation may descend 
 in dealing with particular individuals? Or, if we 
 could determine this extreme point, who would 
 say that it ought to fix the rule of our dealing with 
 others, or the extent of a church's profession of 
 faith ? Is nothing else to be kept in view in set- 
 tling articles of faith and fellowship, but what may 
 be necessary to the salvation of sinners? Do we not 
 owe a paramount regard to the glory of God in the 
 highest, to the edifying of the body of Christ, to 
 the advancing of the general interests of religiorj, 
 
93 
 
 and to the preserving, in purity, of those exter- 
 nal means, by which, in the economy of provi- 
 dence and grace, the salvation of men, both ini- 
 tial and progressive, may be promoted to an in- 
 calculable extent from age to age ? — In fine, 
 there is reason for complaining that the criteria or 
 marks given for determining these fundamental 
 or necessary articles, are uncertain or contradict- 
 ory. Is it alleged, that they are clearly taught 
 in Scripture ? This is true of others also. ' That 
 they are few and simple This is contradicted 
 by their own attempts to state them. ' That 
 they are such as the Scripture has declared to 
 be necessary Why then have we not yet been 
 furnished with a catalogue of them ? ' That they 
 are such as are embraced by all true Christians 
 Have they a secret tact by which they are able to 
 discover such characters? If not, can they avoid 
 running into a vitious circle in reasoning, by first 
 determining who are true Christians by their 
 embracing certain doctrines, and then determin- 
 ing that these doctrines are fundamental because 
 they are embraced by persons of that descrip- 
 tion ? 
 
 Many who have contributed to give currency 
 to this scheme have been actuated, I have no 
 doubt, by motives which are in themselves high- 
 ly eommendable. They wished to fix the at- 
 tention of men on matters confessedly of great 
 importance, and were anxious to put an end to 
 the dissensions of Christians by discovering a 
 mean point in which the views of all might har- 
 moniously meet, liut surely those who cherisli 
 
94 
 
 a supreme regard for divine authority will be 
 afraid of contemning or of teaching others to 
 think lightly of any thing which bears its sacred 
 impress. They will be disposed carefully to re- 
 consider an opinion, or an interpretation of any 
 part of Scripture, which seems to imply in it, that 
 God has given to men a power to dispense with 
 some of his own laws. And they will be cautious 
 of originating or countenancing plans of com- 
 munion that may involve a principle of such a 
 complexion. These plans are more or less dan- 
 gerous according to the extent to which they 
 are carried, and the errors or abuses which may 
 prevail among the parties which they embrace. 
 But however limited they may be, they set an 
 example which may be carried to any extent. 
 So far as it is agreed and stipulated, that any 
 truth or duty shall be sacrificed or neglected, 
 and that any error or sin shall be treated as in- 
 different or trivial, the essence of latitudinarian- 
 ism is adopted, room is made for further ad- 
 vancements, and the way is prepared for ascend- 
 ing, through successive gradations, to the very 
 highest degree in the scale. 
 
 Another plan of communion, apparently oppo- 
 site to the former, but proceedi'ig on the same 
 general principle, has been zealously recom- 
 mended, and in some instances reduced to prac- 
 tice, in the present day. According to it, the 
 several religious parties arc allowed to remain se- 
 parate, and to preserve their distinct constitution 
 and peculiarities, while a sj)ecies of partial or oc- 
 casional communion is established among them. 
 
95 
 
 This plan is liable to all the objections which lie 
 against the former, with the addition of another 
 that is peculiar to itself. It is inconsistent and 
 self-contradictory. It strikes against the radical 
 principles of the unity of the Church, and con- 
 firms schism by a law ; while it provides that the 
 parties shall remain separate, at the same time 
 that it proceeds on the supposition that there is 
 no scriptural or conscientious ground of differ- 
 ence between them. By defending such occasion- 
 al conformity, English Dissenters at a former pe- 
 riod contradicted the reasons of their dissent from 
 the establishment, and exposed themselves to 
 their opponents : for where communion is law- 
 ful, it will not be easy to vindicate separation from 
 the charge of schism. The world has for some 
 time beheld annually the spectacle of Episcopa- 
 lians, Presbyterians, Independents, Methodists, 
 and Seceders, sitting down together at the Lord's 
 table, and then going away and maintaining com- 
 munion, through the remainder of the year, on 
 their own separate and contradictory profes- 
 sions. Nay, it has of late become the practice to 
 keep, in the same church, an open communion- 
 table for Christians of difierent denominations on 
 one part of the day, and a close one for those of 
 a particular sect on the other part of the day ; 
 while the same minister officiates, and many in- 
 dividuals communicate, on both these occasions. 
 And ail this is cried up as a proof of liberality, 
 and a mind that has freed itself from the tram- 
 mels of party * ! 
 
 * In America, " A plan of Brotherly Correspondence" has ic- 
 
96 
 
 It is difficult to say which of these plans is 
 most objectionable. By the former, that church 
 which is most faithful, and has made the greatest 
 progress in reformation, must always be the loser, 
 without having the satisfaction to think that she 
 has conveyed any benefit to her new associates, 
 it behoves her profession and managements to 
 yield, and be reduced to the standard of those 
 societies which are defective and less reformed ; 
 and thus, by a process opposite to that mentioned 
 by the apostle, those w ho have built on the found- 
 
 cently been agreed to, between the General Assembly of the Pres- 
 byterian Church, and the General Synod of the Associate Re- 
 formed Church. The first ai-ticlc of agreement is " The Churclics 
 are to remain entirely separate and independent." By the re- 
 maining articles it is provided, that members of either church may 
 be admitted to communion with the other : and that the officers 
 in any congregation of either church, may invite to their pulpit 
 any Minister or Probationer in the other, " who preaches in their 
 purity the great doctrines of the gospel, as they are stated in the 
 common Confession of Faith, and have generally been received 
 and taught in the Kcformcd Cluuehes." Those under censure iu 
 the one church are not to be received into the otiicr. The mem- 
 bers of Presbyteries and Synods of one ofthe churches may be in- 
 vited to sit as corresponding members of the same judicatories of 
 the othei ; but if not invited they must not be olVcndcd. And (i 
 minister or elder from each ol the supreme judicatoiies shall sit iu 
 the other, but without a vote. 
 
 Though I consider this plan as obnoxious to the censures in the 
 text, I wo\dd not be understood as condemning all intercourse or 
 correspondence between sepai-atc churches. On the contrary, I 
 think that in some instances it may be of great utility, for paving 
 the way for the removing of subsisting diftercnces, and preventing 
 or remedying ollenccs, hurtful to the general interests of religion, 
 which may arise from the managements of cither party ; such as, 
 theTecciving into communion of those who have lied from discip- 
 line in the other. 
 
97 
 
 ation " gold, silver, precious stones,"" are the per- 
 sons who shall " suffer loss." By the latter, all 
 the good effects which might be expected from 
 warrantable and necessary separations are lost, 
 without the compensation of a rational and effect- 
 ive conjunction ; purity of communion is endan- 
 gered; persons are encouraged to continue in con- 
 nection with the most corrupt churches ; and a 
 faithful testimony against errors and abuses, with 
 all consistent attempts to have them removed or 
 prevented, is held up to odium and reproach, as 
 dictated by bigotry, and as tending to revive 
 old dissensions, and to defeat the delightful 
 prospect of those halcyon days of peace wiiich 
 are anticipated under the reign of mutual for- 
 bearance and charity. 
 
 5. We may learn from this subject what is the 
 temper of mind which becomes Christians in a 
 time of abounding divisions in the church, and 
 what are the qualities required in those who at- 
 tempt to heal them. All have it in their power 
 to contribute, in some degree, to the promoting 
 of tiiis work, and therefore ought to cherish the 
 dispositions which correspond to it ; although 
 this is in a more eminent manner the duty of 
 such as possess superior influence, or who, from 
 their station, may be called to take a leading 
 part in the negociations. And here I do not he- 
 sitate to name, as the primary qualification — an in- 
 violable love to truth and supreme regard to du inc au- 
 thon'ti/. That person is totally disqualitietl for 
 being a negociator, or for acting the most subor- 
 dinate part in such a sacred treaty, whose pulse 
 
 E 
 
 I 
 
98 
 
 does not beat high with this honourable and di- 
 vine feeling. He will betray those interests which 
 are in themselves the highest, and ought to be 
 the dearest to all parties, whenever they are 
 found irreconcilable with the attainment of an 
 inferior object which he is determined to gain. 
 When genuine, and pure, and enlightened, the 
 feeling which we are recommending, so far 
 from obstructing, as is often mistakingly ima- 
 gined, will greatly facilitate and forward any ne- 
 gociation to which a good man would wish suc- 
 cess. — The next place is due to — a pacific disposition. 
 He who has said, " Love the truth and peace," 
 intended to teach us, what we are sometimes dis- 
 posed to disbelieve, that a regard to the former is 
 not incompatible with a regard to the latter. In 
 settling religious differences, the nice and difficult 
 task is, to find out a way by which to adjust the 
 claims of the two — to " seek peace and ensue it," 
 without *' erring from the truth and who so fit 
 for this as " the peaceable and faitiiful in Israel," 
 who are endued with " the wisdom that is first 
 pure, then peaceable,gent!e, and easy to be entreat- 
 ed *." If in any surely in religious contests, the 
 maxim should be constantly kept in mind, Theend 
 of all war is peace. He is not a good Christian 
 who does not sigh for it in the heat of the conflict, 
 who does not court it in the moment of victory, 
 who does not enjoy a triumph in sounding the 
 trumpet which shall " bid the people return from 
 following their brethren -f." The man w ho loves 
 
 « 2 Sara. XX. 19. Jam. iii. 17. 
 
 t 2 Sam. ii. 26. 
 
99 
 
 to live in the fire of contention, who feeds on de- 
 bate and controversy, whose thoughts are never 
 turned to peace, but are " like the troubled sea, 
 when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire 
 and dirt,'" who is prepared to contest every point 
 of common order as if it concerned the common 
 salvation, is ever ready with his dissent, backed 
 with its many reasons, against any ordinary mea- 
 sure which may not have obtained the sanction 
 of his superior wisdom, and who flies off as soon 
 as he finds that he cannot obtain his will in all 
 things — this man is unfit for religious society, and 
 though he may pretend to a zeal for God and re- 
 ligion, his zeal, like his wisdom, is not from above. 
 — Christian candour is another quality which is 
 requisite. This displays itself in an openness of 
 mind to conviction, a readiness to hear whatever 
 may be advanced, a disposition to give and re- 
 ceive explanations, and to pay all becoming de- 
 ference not only to the reasons, but also to the 
 difficulties and scruples of brethren on the points 
 of difference, and to relieve these so far as may 
 be practicable, safe, and consistent with public 
 duty. It is also opposed to concealment, dissimu- 
 lation and all the crooked arts, by which worldly 
 politicians conduct their negociations, and endea- 
 vourtoobtain the best terms for their constituents. 
 Far from those who engage in this holy work be 
 ail such Italian and Romish stratagems ! Every 
 one ought to speak the truth to his neighbour as 
 he thinketh, without equivocation or mental re- 
 servation: thereought to be no masked proposals- 
 no ambiguous declarations — no secret articles — no 
 e2 
 
100 
 
 understood agreement among leaders — no im- 
 position on the credulity or the confidence of the 
 Christian people. Genuine and unaffected can- 
 dour has a powerful influence in inducing persons 
 to persevere in a treaty when there may be great 
 difficulties in the way of bringing it to a happy 
 termination ; whereas duplicity and art excite 
 jealousy in the breasts of the intelligent, and if 
 successfully practised, lay a foundation for future 
 repentance and disquiet. — The gift knowledge 
 and wisdom is requisite. This work requires a 
 union of the qualities of the men of Zebulon and 
 Naphtali who came to David, " to turn the 
 kingdom of Saul to him according to the word 
 of the Lord;" they were " not of a double heart," 
 and they " had understanding of the times to 
 know what Israel ought to do *." That dexterity 
 and knowledge of mankind which qualifies some 
 individuals for settlingordinarydisputes about the 
 things of this life or in the church, will avail little 
 in the work of which we speak. It requires an 
 accurate acquaintance with the subjects of dis- 
 pute in all their bearings — of the signs of the 
 times, their duties, sins, and dangers, — of the 
 real character and dispositions of the parties, and 
 other circumstances which may go to determine 
 the call we have to engage in such an undertak- 
 ing, or to persevere in it ; — not to mention 
 an acquaintance with attempts of the same kind 
 which havebeen made in former periods, with the 
 effects which they produced or the causes of their 
 
 * 1 Cbron. siL 
 
101 
 
 ill success. — Lastly, a public and disinterested 
 spirit is indispensably requisite. Those indivi- 
 duals whom God has raised up in different ages 
 to " do good to Zion in his good pleasure," have 
 been eminently endued with this disposition. 
 Such was Moses ; who shewed himself fit for 
 composing the strife of his afflicted brethren, 
 •when he " refused to be called the son of Pha- 
 raoh's daughter and proved himself worthy of 
 " standing in the breach to turn away God's 
 anger" from Israel, when he magnanimously de- 
 clined the offer of Heaven to " make of him a 
 great nation." Such also was Paul : who not 
 only " became all things to all men," and " a 
 servant to all," in things lawful and indifferent, 
 but *' could wish himself accursed from Christ 
 for his brethren." There are no sacrifices which 
 are in their power, which persons of this spirit 
 will not be disposed to make for accomplishing 
 so good and great a design — their worldly inter., 
 ests, their reputation and honour, their station 
 in the church of God, provided it prove an ob- 
 stacle, they will cheerfully relinquish and lay at 
 the feet of their brethren. 
 
 If these dispositions were more generally and 
 more strongly displayed, there would be no ground 
 for despairing of the abolition of many of our re- 
 ligious differences. Some of them no doubt im- 
 ply a diversity of views so radical and extensive 
 that it would be unreasonable to look for their 
 speedy removal. But the cure of others may be 
 said to be more within our own power. In vin- 
 dication of the perspicuity of the Scriptures, and 
 
109 
 
 of the certainty of the standard of religion, it 
 ought to be acknowledged that we often err from 
 the path of duty, not so much because we cannot 
 discover it, as because we are averse to it. *' The 
 light of the body is the eye ; if thine eye be sin- 
 gle, thy whole body shall be full of light *." If 
 those who were once united had been true to their 
 light and single in their aims ; if they had lived 
 together as became brethren ; if they had been 
 at one as to the ends of their Christian profession, 
 and continued resolved, through grace, to prose- 
 cute them, "notwithstanding of whatever trouble 
 or persecution they might meet with in essaying 
 the faithful discharge of their duty," fewer differ- 
 ences would have arisen among them, and these 
 would have been more easily composed in the spi- 
 rit of the gospel: — "whereunto they had attained 
 they would have walked by the same rule, they 
 would have minded the same things ; and if in 
 any thing they were otherwise minded, God 
 would have revealed even this unto them -f." 
 When we are brought to a proper sense of the 
 causes of our " divisions and offences," the cure 
 of them will be more than half effected. 
 
 In fine, I would improve this subject for warn- 
 ing you against a twofold extreme into which per- 
 sons are apt to run with respect to the present 
 movements towards union. Beware of indiffer- 
 ence to the object itself or to any scriptural means 
 for attaining it. You are under the strongest 
 obligations, not only to " pray for the peace of 
 
 * Mattli, vi. 22. 
 
 \ Philip, iii. 15, 16. 
 
103 
 
 Jerusalem," but also to be " workers together 
 with God," who has promised to bestow this 
 blessing. If others err by allowing this object 
 to engross their attention, this will not excuse 
 your lukeAvarmness, or your refusal to do what 
 may be in your power, in your place and sta- 
 tion, for promoting it in any degree. Hard- 
 hearted must he be who can look unmoved on 
 the wounds of the Church, or pass by, like 
 the priest and levite in the parable, without 
 feeling disposed to provide and pour in the 
 healing oil and balm. It would be strange and 
 unnatural indeed, if any son of Zion should re- 
 joice in her trouble, and take pleasure in behold- 
 ing perpetual strife and violence in the city of 
 God, instead of seeing it a peaceful habitation. 
 If a true Christian is unavoidably placed in a 
 scene of confusion, he will sigh and pray for de- 
 liverance from it ; and if conscience and the duty 
 which he owes to God require him to say or do 
 what may prove the occasion of disturbance or 
 of alienating him from the aflTeclions of his breth- 
 ren, he will sympathize deeply with the plaintive 
 prophet, when he feelingly exclaims, " Wo is 
 me, my mother, that thou hast born me a man of 
 strife, and a man of contention to the whole 
 earth ! I have neither lent on usury, nor men 
 have lent to me on usury ; yet every one of 
 them doth curse me *." No wonder that at- 
 tempts to heal divisions have been made, propos- 
 als of conciliation started, and plans of union 
 
 * Jcr. XV. 10. 
 E 4 
 
104 
 
 concerted, in almost every age. The import- 
 ance of the design might warrant them ; and 
 though they may not always have been in them- 
 selves proper or admissible, nor attended with suc- 
 cess, yet the movers may deserve the praise and 
 receive the blessing of peace-makers, so far as 
 they singly intended and sincerely prosecuted 
 an end confessedly laudable. Every person of 
 right feeling will be disposed to construe charit- 
 ably, and to censure with lenity, some errors and 
 miscarriages which may be committed in the 
 management of such attempts ; provided no self- 
 ish interest or dishonest snare lurk under the 
 mask of conciliation, and provided the plans do 
 not evidently tend to produce other evils, greater 
 than those which they propose to remedy. 
 
 It is no less necessary to warn you, on the other 
 hand, against being ensnared by fair and plausible 
 schemes of union. Remember that the Spirit of 
 error takes an active part in the unions as well 
 as in the divisions of Christians ; and be not ig- 
 norant of his devices. Of old he deceived the 
 people of God by raising the cry of Peace, 
 peace ; and so successful has he found this strat- 
 agem that he has ever since had recourse to it 
 at intervals. There is a rage for peace as well 
 as for contention, and men otherwise wise and 
 good have been seized by it as well as the giddy 
 multitude. If religion has suffered from merci^ 
 less polemics and cruel dividers, history shews 
 that it has suffered no less from the false lenity 
 and unskilful arts of pretended physicians — the 
 motely tribe of those who have assumed the name 
 
105 
 
 of reconcilers. They will say that they have no 
 intention to injure the truth ; but it is your duty 
 carefully to examine the tendency of their pro- 
 posals, and not to suffer yourselves to be caught 
 with " good words and fair speeches." Have 
 nothing to do with those plans of agreement, in 
 which the corner-stone is not laid in a sacred re- 
 gard to all that is sanctioned by the authority of 
 your Lord. Bewaire of all such coalitions as would 
 require you to desert a faithful and necessary 
 testimony for the truths and laws of Christ, would 
 call you back from prosecuting a just warfare 
 against any error or sin, would involve you in 
 a breach of your lawful engagements, or prevent 
 you from paying the vows you have made to 
 God. Keep in mind that there are duties incum- 
 bent on you beside that of following peace. 
 Violate not " the brotherly covenant" by which 
 you may be already bound to walk with your 
 fellow-Christians in a holy and good profession, 
 from a fond and passionate desire of forming new 
 connections. Throw not rashly away a present 
 and known good for the prospect of a greater 
 which is uncertain and contingent ; and do not 
 suffer your minds to be diverted from the ordi- 
 nary duties of your Christian vocation, by en- 
 gaging in extraordinary undertakings, while the 
 call to these is not clear, and you have not good 
 ground to depend on God for that extraordinary 
 aid which is required in prosecuting them. 
 
 The text on which we have been discoursing, 
 my friends, and others of the same kind in the 
 sacred volume, will, if rightly improved, keep 
 
106 
 
 you from this as well as the former extreme. If 
 your hearts are established by a firm persuasion 
 that God will, according to his promise and in 
 his own time, restore unity and peace to his 
 church, you will be kept equally from negligence 
 and impatience, from indifference and precipita- 
 tion. " Against hope you will believe in hope, 
 that it shall be as God has said but you will "not 
 make haste," nor have recourse to any improper 
 means for obtaining the blessing. He knows to 
 choose the best season for beginning and com- 
 pleting the work. We may think him remiss and 
 slack in performing his promises, weary at his 
 delays, attempt to anticipate him with unbeliev- 
 ing and impatient haste, or tempt him by saying 
 presumptuously, " Let him make speed and hast- 
 en his work that we may see it, and let the 
 counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh 
 and come that we may know it *." The check 
 which our Saviour imposed on his disciples is 
 needful here: "Mytime is not yet come, but your 
 time is always ready f." He has ends, wise, im- 
 portant, and every way worthy of himself, to 
 serve by permitting the continuance as well as 
 the entrance of divisions. Divine truth must be 
 cleared and purified from every foieign admixture 
 by its being submitted to the ordeal of keen 
 controversy. The faithfulness of its professed 
 friends must be tried ; the hypocrisy of false dis- 
 ciples detected; and the ignorance, imperfection, 
 and mistakes, which cleave to the best disco- 
 
 * Isa. V. 19. 
 
 ■f- Jo. G. 
 
107 
 
 vered. God must be glorified by presernng the 
 cause of religion in the world, not only in oppo- 
 sition to its open enemies, but also amidst all the 
 dissentions and rivalships and deadly feuds which 
 prevail among its professed friends. When these 
 and similar objects have been accomplished, he 
 will " hasten his word to perform it." Having 
 begun the good work, he will not draw back his 
 hand until he has " finished it in righteousness." 
 
 Are there any who, when they hear of the fu- 
 ture uniting of all Christians in profession, affec- 
 tion, and practice, are disposed to receive the in- 
 timation with a smile of incredulity, to treat the 
 prospect as visionary, and to exclaim, ' How can 
 these things be Will God create a new race on 
 the earth Will he give a new structure to the 
 minds of men ? Will they not continue to think 
 and act about religion as they have done from the 
 beginning until now.'' Hear the word of the Lord, 
 ye scornful men : Is it a small matter for you to 
 weary men, will ye weary my God also.= Hath 
 he not said, " I will give them one heart and 
 one way, that they may fear me.''" And will he 
 not do it Let God be true, and every man a 
 liar. When the time comes, the time which he 
 hath set for accomplishing his promise, he shall 
 arise, and every difhculty and every obstruction 
 shall give way before him and vanish at his ap- 
 proach. Do you ask a sign .'' Do you ask it in 
 the heaven above It is he that "binds the 
 sweet influences of Pleiades, and looses the" 
 frozen " bands of Orion, and guides Arcturus 
 
108 
 
 with his sons*." Do you ask it in the earth be- 
 neath ? " The wolf also sliall dwell with the 
 lamb, and the leopard sliall lie down with the 
 kid, and the calf, and the young lion and the fal- 
 ling together, and a little child shall lead them; 
 — for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of 
 the Lord, as the waters cover the sea-f-." The 
 Infinite One has, in his faithful word, pledged all 
 his perfections for the accomplishment of this 
 work. What resistance can be opposed to in- 
 finite power, put in motion by infinite love, and 
 guided by infinite wisdom .? He can raise up in- 
 struments properly qualified and disposed for 
 promoting his design, guide their counsels, ani- 
 mate them to constancy and perseverance, and, 
 finally crown all their exertions with the wished- 
 for success. He has the hearts of all men in his 
 hand, and can turn them like the waters in an 
 aqueduct. He can rebuke the spirit of error and 
 delusion, " cause the prophets and the unclean 
 spirit to pass out of the land," and remove and 
 abolish all things that ofTend in his kingdom. 
 He can subdue the most stubborn and invete- 
 rate prejudices, allay the fiercest heats and ani- 
 mosities, convert jealousies into confidence and 
 hatred into love, and having *' made the wrath 
 of man to praise him" by accomplishing his pur- 
 poses, can " restrain the remainder thereof." 
 
 Who is among you that feareth the Lord, and 
 obcyeth the voice of his servant, who walketh in 
 darkness and hath no light as to the removal or 
 
 * Job xxjtviii 31. 
 
 t Isa xi. G— 9. 
 
109 
 
 abatement of the melancholy divisions of the 
 church? Let him plant his faith firmly on tlie 
 promises of Jehovah, and stay himself on his 
 perfections. Say with the prophet Jeremiah, 
 in a similar case, " Ah, Lord God ! behold 
 thou hast made the heaven and the earth by 
 thy great power ; and there is nothing too hard 
 for thee : The Great, the Mighty God, the 
 Lord of Hosts is his name : Great in counsel, 
 and mighty in work *." Place yourself in spirit 
 in the midst of the emblematical valley into 
 which Ezekiel was carried, and say, God who 
 raiseth the dead can easily do this. Rivers, deep 
 and broad, seas, noisy and tempestuous, " on 
 which no galley with oars can go, neither gallant 
 ship ride,'' have disparted the territories which 
 the God of heaven hath given to his Son, and 
 prevented the intercourse of his subjects. But 
 he " shall utterly destroy the tongue of the 
 Egyptian sea, and with his mighty wind he 
 shall shake his hand over the river, and smite 
 it in the seven streams thereof, and make men 
 go over dryshod ; and there shall be a highway 
 for the remnant of his people, like as it was to 
 Israel in the day that he came out of the land 
 of Egypt -f-." Brazen " mountains of separation'" 
 may stand in the way of this desirable event. 
 But the resistance which they oppose to it shall 
 he overcome, not according to the confused 
 plan of modern projectors, by throwing a scaf- 
 folding over them, by which those who have 
 reared altars on their tops may hold occasional 
 
 • Jcr. xxxii. 17—1:;. t **• 15, 10- 
 
110 
 
 intercourse and partial communion ; but in a 
 way becoming the New Testament Zeru-babel, 
 The Disperser of Confusion. When he rends 
 the heavens and comes down to do things which 
 we looked not for, " the mountains shall flow 
 down at his presence *." Those separations 
 which have been of most ancient date, and which 
 threatened to last for ever, shall yield to his 
 power : " The everlasting mountains shall be 
 scattered, the perpetual hills shall bow," before 
 him whose " ways are everlasting-f-.'" If there 
 shall be one that has reared its head above all the 
 rest, and makes a more formidable resistance, it al- 
 so shall crumble down and disappear: " Who art 
 thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou 
 shalt become a plain %. Then shall the mountain 
 on which the house of God is built be established 
 on the top of the mountains, and exalted above 
 the hills, and all nations shall How to it. And 
 he will rebuke and repress the envious risings of 
 its proudest rival. " A hill of God is the hill of 
 Bashan, a high hill is the hill of Bashan. But 
 why lift ye up yourselves, ye high hills This 
 (Zion) is the hill which God desireth to dwell in ; 
 yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever §.'" 
 
 May God fulfil these promises in due time; and 
 unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, 
 throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. 
 
 « Iia. Isiv. 1. t Hab. iii. 6- \ Zccli. iv. 7. § Ps. Ixviii. 15, IC 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 A Short View of the Plan of Religious Reformation 
 and Union adopted originn/ii/ hij the Secession. 
 
 The Bible is the great repository of divine trutli, 
 and standard of what is to be believed and practised in 
 religion. It is the duty of the church to bring forth 
 the sacred treasure, to circulate it, and to preserve 
 any part of it from being lost, debased, or deteriorat- 
 ed. Ever since the completing of the canon of Scrip- 
 ture, it has been the work of Christians, individually 
 and as associated, to make profession of "the faith once 
 delivered to the saints," and " earnestly to contend" 
 for it, in opposition to all attempts to destroy its 
 purity or defeat its influence. That society whose 
 religious profession is not founded on and conform- 
 able to the Scriptures, can have no claim to be con- 
 sidered as " the house of the living God." But while 
 the matter, as well as the ground, of the church's 
 profession is properly speaking divine, the acts and 
 modes of professing and maintaining it are necessarily 
 human. When false and corrupt views of Christian- 
 ity become general, it is necessary that confes- 
 sions of the truth in opposition to them be embodied 
 
112 
 
 in formal and written documents, which maybe known 
 and read by all men. Vox emissa peril : litem scripta 
 manet. It is not enough that Christians confess their 
 faith individually : to comply with divine commands, 
 to answer to their character as church mem- 
 bers, and the better to gain the ends in view, it is re- 
 quisite that they make a joint and common confes- 
 sion. When the truths contained in the word of God 
 have been explicitly stated and declared, in opposi- 
 tion to existing errors, by the proper authority in a 
 church, an approbation of such statements and de- 
 clarations may be required, as a test of soundness in 
 the faith and of Christian fidelity, without any un- 
 warrantable imposition on conscience, or the most 
 distant reflection on the perfection of Scripture. The 
 same arguments which justifj' the use of creeds and 
 confessions will also justify particular declarations or 
 testimonies directed against errors and corruptions 
 prevailing in churches which still retain scriptural 
 formularies. Those who allow the former cannot 
 consistently condenm the latter. It is not sufficient to 
 entitle persons to the character of faithful witnesses 
 of Christ, that they profess a general adherence to 
 the Bible or a sound confession of faith, provided 
 they refuse or decline to direct and apply these sea- 
 sonably against present evils. It might as well be 
 said that the soldier has acquitted himself well in a 
 battle, because he had excellent armour Ij'ing in a 
 magazine, or a sword hanging by his side, although 
 he never brought forth the armour nor drew liis sword 
 from its scabbard. The means alluded to are the un- 
 sheathing of the sword and the wielding of the ar- 
 mour of the church. So far from setting aside the 
 authority of Scripture, they are necessary for keeping 
 a sense of it alive on the spirits of men, and for declar- 
 ing the joint views and animating the combined endeav- 
 
113 
 
 ours of those who adhere to it. By explaining and 
 applying a rule, we do not add to it, nor do we de- 
 tract from its authority. 
 
 True religion, intrinsically considered, is neither 
 variable nor local, Christianity is the same now that 
 it was eighteen hundred years ago ; it is the same 
 in America or Otaheite as in Britain. But this is not 
 inconsistent with varieties in the profession made of 
 it in different ages and countries. The attack is 
 not always made on it from the same quarter, nor 
 directed against the same point. This must regulate 
 the faithful contendings of the church ; and accord- 
 ingly her testimony, though ever substantially the same, 
 has been greatly diversified in respect of its form and 
 direction ; just as a river, in its long-continued course, 
 assumes different appearances, winds in several di- 
 rections, and is seen running sometimes in a narrower 
 and at other times in a more extensive channel. In 
 the New Testament we meet with frequent referen- 
 ces to the circumstances in which the churches were 
 placed among the adherents of Judaism or of Pagan 
 idolatry, as serving to point out and determine the 
 peculiar duties, dangers, and temptations of Christ- 
 ians. The instructions, warnings, and reproofs, con- 
 tained intJie epistles which the apostles addressed pri- 
 marily to certain churches and individuals, bear direct- 
 ly on tlieir respective circumstances, and are inter- 
 mingled with numerous references to facts on which 
 they were founded. Certain classes of false teach- 
 ers and evil workers are specified ; and individuals 
 are mentioned by name, both those who had de- 
 served well of the church by their faithfulness and 
 important services, and those who, by their opposition 
 to the gospel and propagating of false doctrine, liad 
 incurred public censure or justly exposed themselves 
 to it. In the letters sent to the seven Asian churches, 
 
114. 
 
 our Lord intimates that he took notice and judged of 
 the conduct of each according to its particuhxr and 
 local circumstances, and not merely in reference to 
 duties and trials common to all. " I know thy works, 
 and where thou dwellest." The church of Ephesus 
 is praised because she " could not bear them that 
 were evil," had tried and convicted certain persons 
 who " said they were apostles and were not," and had 
 testified her hatred to " the deeds of the Nicolaitans." 
 While the church of Pergamos is blamed for retain- 
 ing in her communion " them that held the doc- 
 trine of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans," she is com- 
 mended by Christ, because she had " held fast his 
 name and not denied his faith, even in those days 
 wherein Antipas was his faithful martyr, who was 
 slain among them." There are peculiar obligations 
 which Christians are subjected to by tlieir birth and 
 lot in the world ; and then, and then only, can they 
 be said to act a faithful part, when they endeavour to 
 discharge their duty in all its extent according to 
 their actual and relative situation. So far is it from 
 being true, in this respect, that a religious profession 
 ought to be disencumbered of all localities or refer- 
 ences to the facts of a particular period or country, 
 that, on the contrary, its due and seasonable applica- 
 tion to these is a test of its faithfulness. 
 
 At the happy era of the Reformation, many of the 
 grosser corruptions which had grown during the long 
 continued defection which had preceded, were re- 
 moved in several countries : and in some of these, 
 particularly in Scotland, religion was settled on a 
 Scriptural basis and in great purity. Had refornuv- 
 tion been at its height in all the protestant churches, 
 or had that which was attained in some of them been 
 placed beyond the danger of being changed or relin- 
 quished, there would have been no need for testimo- 
 
115 
 
 nies or contendings in the way of separation from 
 them. Few will pretend that this is the case. In 
 the constitutions of some of these churches the features 
 of the Man of Sin are but too visible, and those of them 
 that were most renowned for beauty have given evi- 
 dence of their defectibility by actually falling into de- 
 cay. To rectify the one and recover the other is a work 
 which deserves the attention and utmost endeavours 
 of all who wish well to the interests of religion. And to 
 accomplish these ends in some degree within their 
 sphere, was what those who declared a Secession from 
 the established Church of Scotland proposed by the 
 association which they formed, andavowed in the Tes- 
 timony or Declaration of their views and intentions 
 which they published to the world. As their object has 
 been much misunderstood, and as mistaken, or nar- 
 row and partial notions of it have been adopted, not on- 
 ly by their opponents, but also by not a few of their 
 professed friends, it may perhaps be of some use to 
 take a cursory view of it. 
 
 Some have represented Seceders as holding a set of 
 religious principles altogether peculiar to themselves, 
 and have attempted, ignorantly or artfully, to set 
 these in opposition to the principles held in common 
 by other Christians and Protestants. Such a repre- 
 sentation is groundless and injurious. Their profes- 
 sion, while it rests on the ground common to all true 
 Protestants, the supreme autliority of Scripture, era- 
 braces the general interests of Christianity, and gives 
 them their due place and importance. Whatever 
 others, as Christians, Protestants, or Presbyterians, 
 profess and glory in, they vindicate as theirs too, and 
 have embodied in their testimony. With respect 
 to those things by which they are distinguished in 
 principle or in practice, from other denominations of 
 Presbyterians, and which will be called their peculi- 
 
116 
 
 arities, they plead that these are either expressly war- 
 ranted by the word of God and the subordinate for- 
 mularies of the Church of Scotland, or follow from 
 them, as conclusions from premises and corollaries 
 from geometrical axioms. And they plead further 
 that these are, in different respects, necessary to the 
 support and the consistent maintenance of the other. 
 On the contrary, some late partial historians of the 
 Secession have done injury to its cause in an- 
 other way. In order to present it in a point of view 
 more attractive to the spirit of the present age, or 
 more congenial to their own sentiments, they have 
 narrowed its ground, thrown some of its prominent 
 parts into shade, and fixed the attention wholly on 
 otliers, which, however important in the eyes of the 
 founders of the Secession, never occupied their en- 
 tire and exclusive regards. The exertions which 
 they made in defence of the leading doctrines of the 
 gospel, and the rights of the Christian people, are too 
 well known to stand in need of empty panegyric ; and 
 those do little honour to their memory who deal in 
 this, while they disparage or throw a veil over their 
 contendings in behalf of a great and extensive cause 
 of which tliese formed but a part. 
 
 When it appeared that there was no reasonable 
 prospect of the grounds of their separation being re- 
 moved, and of their being able to return conscien- 
 tiously into the bosom of the established church, the 
 Seceding ministers found it their duty to dispense di- 
 vine ordinances to those through the country who la- 
 boured under the same grievances witli themselves. 
 But they did not act on the limited principle, after- 
 wards adopted by another society, of merely all'oril- 
 ing relief to those who felt galled and oppressed by 
 the yoke of Patronage ; nor did they think that they 
 could discharge the duty which, as ministers of Christ 
 
117 
 
 and of the Church of Scotland, they owed to the ex- 
 isting and subsequent generations, if they confined 
 their endeavours to the promoting of what immedi- 
 ately concemed the spiritual interests of those who 
 might place themselves under their ministerial and 
 judicative inspection. They felt that there was a 
 public cause, and more general and extensive inter- 
 ests, which had a claim upon them. They, along 
 with the people adhering to them, had, for a series of 
 years, been testifying, in communion with the esta- 
 blished church, against a variety of evils deeply affect- 
 ing the interests of religion, or, as they express it in 
 their Deed of Secession, " a course of defection from 
 our reformed and covenanted principles." Finding 
 themselves now placed in a new situation, and in the 
 possession of greater liberty than they had formerly 
 enjoyed ; looking around them on the religious state 
 of the church and nation with which they were con- 
 nected ; and taking into serious consideration the man- 
 ifold obligations under which they lay, they judged 
 themselves called, "in the course of sovereign and holy 
 providence, to essay the revival of reformation," 
 and to employ all the means competent to them for 
 advancing this work. In prosecution of this design 
 they published their Judicial Testimony and other offi- 
 cial papers, settled the terms of their communion, and 
 regulated their public managements. 
 
 The object proposed by the founders of this asso- 
 ciation was of a precise and definite kind. As they 
 did not push themselves forward, nor put their hand 
 to a work of such difficulty, without being satisfied 
 of the call which they had to engage in it, nor pro- 
 pose to do more for its advancement than providence 
 might put in tlieir power, and lay within their sphere 
 as an ecclesiastical body ; so they did not conceal the 
 objects which they aimed at, nor leave the world in 
 
118 
 
 anj' doubt as to their nature and extent. It was a 
 specific reformation which they proposed. They 
 did not come forward in the suspicious character of 
 general reformers, who would not avow what they 
 intended to pull down, and did not know what they 
 would build up in its room ; they did not plan a re- 
 form according to a scheme of principles of their 
 own ; nor was it their object to overturn that church 
 which had lately driven them from its commu- 
 nion. But they appeared as a part of the Church 
 of Scotland, adhering to her reformed constitution, 
 testifying against the injuries which it had received, 
 seeking the redress of these, and pleading for the re- 
 vival of a reformation, attained, according to the word 
 of God, in a former period, approved by every au- 
 thority in the land, and ratified by solemn vows to 
 the Most High. Without right views of this Refor- 
 mation it is impossible to understand the Secession 
 Testimony ; and disaffection to the former, in pro- 
 portion to the degree in which it prevails, necessa- 
 rily implies a dereliction of the latter. 
 
 The same principles which led our fathers in Scot- 
 land to free themselves from the tyranny and cor- 
 ruptions of Home induced their successors to cast oft' 
 the imjjosed yoke of a protestant hierarchy, and to 
 rid themselves of the abuses which it had brought 
 along with it. When they associated for this pur- 
 pose, thej- needed only to renew the covenant by 
 wliich popery had been first abjured, with a few slight 
 explications and acconmiodations of its language to 
 their existing circumstances. It is not, therefore, 
 needful for nie to go farther back than the Second 
 Reformation, as it is usually called, which took place 
 between the year 1638 and 1650, and which embo- 
 died, in its proceedings and settlement, all the valu- 
 able attainments of the First Reformation, and carried 
 
119 
 
 them to a greater extent. These included summar- 
 ily, — the revival of the purity of doctrine, which had 
 been corrupted by Popish errors introduced under 
 the new garb of Arniinianism — of the purity of wor- 
 ship, which had been depraved by the imposition of 
 foreign rites and ceremonies — and of the government, 
 discipline, and liberties of the church, which had been 
 supplanted and overthrown by royal supremacy and 
 the usurpations of prelacy. 
 
 But the most important and discriminating feature 
 of this period was the extension of the Reformation 
 to England and Ireland. It is well known that reli- 
 gion was very imperfectly reformed in the first as 
 well as in the last of these countries, and that many 
 Popish abuses and coiTuptions were allowed to re- 
 main in its worship and government. These defects 
 had been all along complained of by the best Eng- 
 lish Protestants, who often sighed for the purity and 
 freedom of religion enjoyed by their neighbours. 
 The growing oppression of the ecclesiastical courts, 
 the religious innovations tending to pave the way for 
 peace with Rome, and the invasions on the civil liber- 
 ties of the nation, during the earlj' administration of 
 Charles I. inflamed these complaints and wishes, 
 and communicated them to the greater and better 
 part of that kingdom. The struggle which ensued 
 between the friends of reformation and liberty on 
 tlie one hand, and an arbitrary and popishly-afTected 
 court on the other, led to the formation of the famous 
 Solemn League, which had for its principal and IcaiU 
 ing object the preservation of the reformed religion 
 in Scotland, the reformation of religion in England 
 and Ireland, and the bringing of the churches in the 
 three kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uni- 
 formity in doctrine, worship, discipline, and govern- 
 ment. From tliis time the Reformation in Scotland, 
 
120 
 
 England, and Ireland was combined, and whatever 
 may since have been its actual fate in any of these 
 countries, its true and enlightened friends have never 
 ceased to regard it as one common object of interest, 
 and, so far as it was in their power to promote it, of en- 
 deavour and exertion. The steps taken to fulfil these 
 sacred stipulations, the progress made in the work, and 
 the causes of its being interrupted in England, endan- 
 gered in Scotland, and at last perfidiously overthrown 
 in the three kingdoms, are known to all who are not 
 utter strangers to the most interesting and eventful 
 period of the historj^ of Britain. 
 
 The work of which we speak was properl}' one — 
 a reformation of religion ; although we usually speak 
 of it as ecclesiastical and civil, in respect of the two 
 authorities engaged in carrying it on. The Eccles- 
 iastical Reformation, in Scotland, consisted of what 
 was done by the judicatories of the church, to whom 
 it belonged directly and properly to set in order the 
 house of God, and to correct what was amiss in reli- 
 gious profession or practice. This includes the 
 condemning of the episcopal innovations and abuses, 
 the reviving of the presbyterian worship and discip- 
 line, and in-general the raising up of the ancient con- 
 stitution of the church from the rubbish in which it 
 had been buried for many years ; all of which was pre- 
 ceded by the renewing of the National Covenant. It 
 includes also the encouragement given by the Gene- 
 ral Assembly to the proposals of union with England 
 and Ireland, their forming and promoting of tlie So- 
 lemn League and Covenant, sending of commissioners 
 to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, receiv- 
 ing and approving of the formularies agreed on by 
 that Assembly, and proceeding to act on them as sub- 
 ordinate standards of that religious unity and conjunc- 
 tion between the churches in the three kingdoms 
 
121 
 
 which they had sworn to promote. The Chil Re- 
 formation consists in what was done by the civil au- 
 thorities, within their sphere, and in co-operation 
 with the ecclesiastical judicatories, for advancing the 
 same cause. This includes what was done by the 
 Parliament, or the Convention of Estates, in Scot- 
 land, (not to speak at present of the Parliament of 
 England) in abolishing episcopacy, legalizing what 
 the church had done in the revival of presbytery, en- 
 tering into and prosecuting the ends of the League 
 with England and Ireland, sanctioning the standards 
 of uniformity, ratifying the liberties of the church and 
 abolishing patronage, reforming places of power and 
 trust, and settling the constitutional laws of the king- 
 dom in such a way as to secure the reformation which 
 had been attained. 
 
 When Seceders, in their Testimony and other pub- 
 lic papers, speak of our Civil Reformation, they do not 
 mean a reform objectively civil, or which embraced 
 objects which were purely civil and political. They 
 express an approbation of the struggles of our ances- 
 tors in behalf of civil liberty, which, indeed, was at 
 that period closely and inseparably connected with re- 
 ligion. But they were aware that it was incompetent 
 for them as a religious body to bear a testimony in fa- 
 vour of a particular form of civil government, or of 
 certain laws as contributing most to the political wel- 
 fare of a people. They can be understood only as 
 referring to civil laws and managements, so far as 
 they had religion for their object, or as they affecteJ 
 and were in one way or another connected with its in- 
 terests, by contributing to its advancement or security. 
 And in the same sense must we understand them, 
 when they condenm the political settlement by which 
 the reformation was overturned, or particular parts of 
 r 
 
122 
 
 the existing constitution and laws. Viewed in this 
 light, an approbation of" our ancient Civil Reforma- 
 tion,"and a disapprobation of "our present civil defor- 
 mation," form a necessary and important branch of 
 their testimony and profession*. 
 
 * Speaking of ihe Judicial Act a?id Testimony, the Associate 
 Prcsbytci7 say, in tlu ir Answers to Mr Nairn ; " According to 
 the particular calls of ])rovidcnce hitherto, that Tcstimonv, — was 
 especially in favours of our ancient ecclesiastical Reformation; 
 and against those evils whereby the same hath been, in a great 
 measure, dejiarted from and overthrown : while a Testimony for 
 our ancient civil reformation, — and against these evils whereby 
 the same hath been, in a great measm e, deviated from and destroy- 
 ed; was lifted up, and all along carried forward. — But, at this 
 time, the Presbytery have a particular call of providence, 
 — to bear witness more especially unto our ancient civil re- 
 formation." Having laid down in general the principles on 
 \vhich such a reformation rests, they proceed to say: "Agreeably 
 unto all this, the Deed of Civil Constitution was set tipou 
 a refoniied footing; by Act VIII. Pari. 1. James VI. Though 
 the above settlement was, for some time, followed by suitable ad- 
 ministration ; yet a course of lamentable defection and conmption 
 therein did soon ))ieviiil : 'Till a reviving of the tnie religion 
 and reformation in the Church took place, and was gloriously ad- 
 vanced betwixt the years 1G38 and 1650. That work of God, 
 which became then engaged unto throughout the three kingdoms 
 by a solemn League and Covenant, — was also, in an agreeablc- 
 ncss to this Covenant, accompanied with and supjiorted by a civil 
 reformation. In Kngland (wherewith we have become more 
 nearlv concerned than formerly, by virtue of the Solemn League 
 and Covenant), the civil administration was, in some valuable in- 
 stances, subservient unto the said work of Cod. Uut more con- 
 liderable advances were made in Scotland : AVhile, beside many 
 laudable acts in the civil adniinistnition, the deed of Civil Con- 
 stitution was farther reformed than ever before ; by Act XV. of 
 the second session of Parliament, anno 1644^. And acconiing im- 
 to this settlement, was King Charles II. crowned at Scoou ; Jan- 
 uary 1st. 1651. 
 
 " The Presbytery intend not to affirm, that there was nothing 
 defective in the above managements ; or that no inipnidcncies 
 
123 
 
 By the good hand of God upon her, Scotland at- 
 tamed to greater pui'ity in religion, and higher de- 
 grees of reformation, than any other protestant coun- 
 try. It is the duty of one generation to declare the 
 works of God to another, and no people can depart 
 from religious attainments without being deeply 
 guilty. But this is not all. In no nation has the 
 true religion been so solemnly avouched as in Scot- 
 land. Every important step taken in reformation was 
 accompanied with confessions, protestations, vows, 
 covenants, and oaths, which were made and subscrib- 
 ed by all ranks, voluntarily, cheerfully, joyfully, re- 
 peated on every new emergency and call, and ratified 
 by every authority in the land. Hence, it has ob- 
 tained the distinguishing name of the covenanted re- 
 formation ; and under this view was it embraced by 
 the associated body of Seceders, who, by renewing 
 these engagements in an oath adapted to the time aiid 
 to their circumstances as a church, served themselves 
 heirs to the professions, vows, and contendings of their 
 fathers, or rather to the cause of God transmitted to 
 them by their fathers under all these sacred sanctions 
 and solemnities. 
 
 It is of importance to distinguish between the re- 
 
 or mistakes were lo be found therein. It is evident, liowcver, 
 that, by the good hand of God, the Estates of England, but more 
 especially of Scotland, were inspired with a noble and predu- 
 niinunt zeal for the House of God, in all its valuable institutions ; 
 and attained to a considerable jiitch of civil rtfonnation, subser- 
 vient unto the same : All which this I'resbytery desires, with 
 thankfulness, to commemorate and bear witness unto. Upon 
 the whole, it is observable, that in Scotland, the rcfommtion 
 of the church hath always, in a beautiful order, jircceded and 
 introduced the reformation of the Stale." (Display of the Sc- 
 cctiion Testimony, vol. i. p. 278, 281 — 284.) 
 
 f2 
 
124 
 
 ioimation materially anA formaUij considered. The 
 Westminster standards were not the reformation, nor 
 did they form any part of it farther than they were 
 received and approved, and than religion was reform- 
 ed and settled according to them. We may approve 
 of the Confessions of the reformed church of France, 
 or of Helvetia, or of Holland. In like manner per- 
 sons may approve of the Westminster standa:'ds, as 
 to doctrine, worship, and church-government, and a 
 religious society may conduct its ecclesiastical affairs 
 according to them ; and yet they may not adopt or 
 promote the covenanted reformation properly and 
 formally considered. To adhere to these, since the 
 reformation took place, is to adopt them as a system 
 of religion which is still entitled, both by divine and 
 by human right, to be professed and established in 
 the three nations ; — to testify against all proceedings 
 prejudicial to it, and all laws introducing or main- 
 taining another system, as what no friend of reforma- 
 tion can bind himself actively to support and counte- 
 nance; — and to hold that it is the duty of all classes to 
 endeavour, in their station and by all lawful means, 
 to have the reformed and presbyterian religion pub- 
 licly and legally settled, — and that from the consider- 
 ation not only of the divine authority on which it 
 rests and its intrinsic excellence, but also of the ad- 
 ditional obligation arising from rational oaths and 
 leagues, and the former attainments and laws of 
 church and state, which arc still virtually pleadable 
 and in a moral point of view retain their force. Thus 
 formally was the covenanted reformation adopted 
 and testified for by Seceders *. Hence the parti- 
 
 * " Tlic profession, defence, anJ niainlenftncc of the tnic re- 
 ligion, in doctrine, worslii]), discipline, and rrcsbyterial cliurcli- 
 governnicnl, agreeable unto and founded upon the word of God, 
 
125 
 
 cularity with which they specified and condemned, 
 in their judicial acts, the various steps of deviation 
 from this cause in Church and in State. They con- 
 demned not only the series of wicked laws passed at 
 the Restoration, but also various evils in the Revolu- 
 tion settlement, and in the incorporating Union, by 
 the fundamental articles of which Scotland was "more 
 deeply involved in perjury" by giving her consent 
 to " the maintenance and preservation of the hierar- 
 chy and ceremonies of the Church of England *." 
 Hence also the care with which they guarded against 
 all professions or engagements which implied an ap- 
 probation of these defections and of the united con- 
 stitution. They evinced this by declining to swear 
 the usual public oaths, at the expence of relinquish- 
 ing privileges to which they were otherwise entitled, 
 and of exposing themselves to the charge of disloyal- 
 ty from those who were ignorant of their principles 
 or disposed to misrepresent them -j-. 
 
 — was secured by tlie fundamental constitution of the civil go- 
 vernment in our i cfoi ining pcriotls; wliich deed of constitution, 
 in all moral respects, is moralli/ unalterable, — because of its 
 agretableness to the divine will revealed in the Word, and be- 
 cause it was attained to and fixed in pursiumcc of our solemn Co- 
 venants." The Associate I'resbytcry's Answers to Mr Naiin, 
 in Display, i. 274. In the same paper, the Presbytery, af- 
 ter deploring " the fatal overthrow of the foniier civil refor- 
 mation" at the Kcstoration, and pointing out in what respects 
 the settlements at tlie Kcvolulion and Union were inconsistent 
 with it, concludes thus : " Upon the whole, it appears, that, un- 
 der the present constitution, a mighty bar is thrust in the way 
 of our covenanted reformation, both in tliiirch and State: yea, 
 a gravestone is laid and established. on the same." Ibid. p. 280'. 
 * Ibid. p. '28.3. 
 
 t Answers to .Mr Nairn; ibid. p. 2.91. The inconsistency 
 of au unciualilicd approbation of the present constitution with aiU 
 F 3 
 
126 
 
 This is the fair amount of their principles on this 
 head, and what they never sought to conceal from 
 the beginning. But they, at the same time, de- 
 nied that any minority, and far less, that they 
 themselves, as an ecclesiastical body, had any right 
 to dictate laws to the nation. They reckoned that 
 they did all that was incumbent on them, when 
 they gave information and warning, as they were 
 called from time to time, respecting public sins 
 and duties, and when they continued to promote re- 
 ligious reformation within their own sphere. They 
 did not stretch themselves beyond their line, nor 
 suffer themselves to be diverted, by the testimony 
 which they bore against public evils, from opposing 
 those of a more private kind, and whose remedy lay 
 more directly within their reach ; nor did the}', it is 
 hoped, become indifferent about those ends which 
 ought to be kept immediately in view by every church 
 of Christ — the salvation of sinners, and building up 
 of saints on their most holy faith. Thej' never judged 
 that they had a call to address the throne or the le- 
 gislature on the subject of religion ; and they knew 
 that no such change as they desired can take place 
 in the national profession and laws with regard to it, 
 until a previous change shall have been effected on 
 the sentiments and inclinations of the various orders 
 of the people *. 
 
 licrcncc to a previous reformation, is maintained by the As- 
 sociate PrcsbUcry in that Public Deed, tlic express design of 
 which is to condemn " the dangerous extreme, wliich some had 
 gone into, of impugning the present civil authority over these na- 
 tions and subjection thereunto in lawful commands, — on account 
 of the want of these (pialirications Magistrates ought to have by 
 the wuid of God and our covenants ; even although they allow 
 us the free exercise of our religion, and aix uol manifestly un- 
 hinj^ing the liberties of the kingdom." 
 
 ♦ Ibid. p. 280. 
 
127 
 
 I know that it has now become fashionable to dis- 
 credit this work, and to represent even,' appearance 
 of attachment to it as a sure mark of bigotr}', and a 
 mind weakly wedded to ancient prejudices, or, as 
 some modishly express it, to the rehcs of a barbar- 
 ous age. To the most of our modern great pre- 
 tenders to religion the very name of a Covenanted 
 Reformation is offensive and intolerable. Many 
 who would still fain speak well of it, look upon any 
 thing that was good in it as of temporary interest, 
 and quite unsuitable to our times ; while the greater 
 part of those who once appeared as its avowed and 
 sworn friends, after shrinking from the odium attached 
 to it, and testifying their willingness to divide the 
 cause, appear now to be ashamed even to name it. 
 But is there any good reason for this ? I may venture 
 to assert, that if ever all that was great and valuable to 
 a people was concerned in any work, it was concern- 
 ed in that under our consideration. The design was 
 nothing less than the advancement of true religion, in 
 connection with liberty — of religion, in all its extent, 
 among individuals, families, and the public, and the 
 providing, in the best manner, for the continuance 
 and perpetuity of it in the three kingdoms, that unborn 
 posterity migiit reap the fruits of the toil and travel 
 and sufferings of their fathers, and might live happily 
 in peace and in the fear of (iod. It proposed the 
 correction of abuses which had long been matter of 
 grievance ; and the settlement of religion and church- 
 order on scriptural principles and agreeably to known 
 and approved precedents, and not according to any 
 visionary, hazardous, or untried scheme. It was the 
 effect of long and ardent wishes, and of many prayers. 
 The wisest and most godly in Britain, from the com- 
 mencement of the lleformation, had desired to see 
 F 4 
 
128 
 
 such a work, and hailed it at a distance. Providence 
 afforded an opportunity for engaging in it when it 
 was least expected, and for some time smiled on the 
 attempt. Nor was it overturned until the benefits to 
 be expected from it were attested in the experience 
 of thousands, who till then had been almost total 
 strangers to Christianity. 
 
 Let sober thinkers only reflect for a moment, what 
 advantages would have ensued, if religion had been 
 settled agreeably to the Solemn League and the plan 
 recommended by the Westminster Assembly ; and 
 if that settlement had been allowed to stand. Of 
 what benefit would it have been to England, if a lordly 
 hierarchy, together with a burdensome and unprofit- 
 able mass of human rites and ceremonies, and an igno- 
 rant, idle, and scandalous clergy, had been removed ; 
 and if, in their place, an evangelical, pious, laborious, 
 and regular ministry had been settled in every parish, 
 with elders to inspect the morals of the people, and 
 deacons to attend to the wants of the poor, under the 
 superintendence of presbyteries and synods ! Would 
 not this have proved of incalculable advantage to that 
 nation, in a religious, moral, and political point of 
 view? Would it not have been a powerful check on the 
 spread of error, the increase of schism, and the pre- 
 valence of ignorance, profaneness, and vice? Of what 
 benefit might it not have been before this day to un- 
 happy Irolaiul, which has been perhaps more indebt- 
 ed to colonies from Scotland, and to the religion im- 
 ))orted by them, than to any boon it has received 
 from England! And would not great benefit have re- 
 dounded from it to Scotland herself, whose ecclesiasti- 
 cal constitution and liberties, as well as the religious 
 principles and habits of her people, have suffered so 
 much formerly and of late, from her intimate connec- 
 
129 
 
 tion with a country, in which a system opposite in 
 various respects to hers has been established ? If 
 there is any truth in the representation now given, let 
 me again ask. Is it not matter of the deepest regret 
 that this work should have been interrupted and over- 
 turned? That it continues still buried? That an 
 opposite system was reared on its grave, which has 
 been and still is productive of manifold evils ? Are 
 not these national sins ? Is it possible to free them 
 from the high aggravation of perfidy, after the solemn 
 pledges that were publicly exchanged and ratified? Is 
 it not a great duty to testify against these sins, and to 
 seek a revival of that Reformation ? This is what 
 has been done by Seceders. If this forms their pecu- 
 liarity, they have reason to glory in, not to be asham- 
 ed of it ; and the only real disgrace which they can 
 incur is that which will attach to their withdrawin<r 
 from the cause, and deserting their good profession. 
 
 In considering this cause there are two things 
 which are very commonly overlooked, and which merit 
 particular attention. In tlic first place, it embraced 
 a plan o/'relijrious union. This was its avowed object. 
 It was so from the beginning, and was kept in eye 
 through the whole progress of the work. Reforma- 
 tion was a means to this end. It was indeed abso- 
 lutely necessary to the attainment of it. The corrup- 
 tions retained in the English Church — the hierarchy, 
 with its usurped claims, temporal and spiritual, the li- 
 turgy, thetotal absenccof all ecclesiastical discipline, a 
 . -non-resident and non-preaching clergy, the Arniiniaa 
 and Popish errors wiiich they iiad patronized, — these, 
 ' with various abuses connected witli them, Iiad proved 
 a source of continued discord and division in Eng- 
 land, had en)l)roilc(l her with Scotland, and served as 
 a wall of partition between her and all foreign clmrcheg 
 I- 5 
 
130 
 
 professing the same faith. Until these evils were 
 removed it was vain to look for union either at home 
 or abroad. The platform of reformation was so con- 
 structed as to promise the accomplishment of this de- 
 sirable object. The system of faith laid down in the 
 Confession and Catechisms was substantially the 
 same with what M'as declared in the Confessions and 
 Catechisms of all the reformed on the Continent. The 
 form of church-government was " according to the 
 word of God and the example of the best reformed 
 churches." Public worship was set free from the 
 trammels of a formal and stinted liturgy, and at the 
 same time duly guarded by the Directory, which, while 
 it " held forth such things as are of divine institution 
 in every ordinance," regulated others " according to 
 the rules of Christian prudence, agreeable to the 
 general rules of the word of (lod," and gave such in- 
 structions to ministers as tended to produce " a con- 
 sent of all the churches in those things that contain 
 the substance of the service and worship of God." 
 The more narrowly the proceedings of the Assembly 
 which prepared the model of religious reformation 
 and uniformity are looked into, the more, I am per- 
 suaded, will it appear, that, in the conclusions to 
 which they came, (particularly on the controversies 
 which arose at that time among the friends of reli- 
 gion), the}' displayed a healing a.id moderate spirit, 
 combined with an enlightened regard to truth and 
 the general welfare of the church, which shewed thent 
 to be uncommonly fitted for the great task vvhicii Pro- 
 vidence assigned to them, and which has not been 
 displayed in the same degree by any assembly, ex- 
 traordinary or ordinary, which the world has since 
 seen. 
 
 The second thing to which I alluded as meriting 
 
131 
 
 particular notice in this work, is the extensive scale on 
 which it was undertaken. Its object was not only to 
 reform and unite, but to reform religion and settle 
 unity through three kingdoms. Nor was this all. 
 Thougli called more immediately to provide for their 
 own safety and to promote Christianity in that part 
 of the world where they dwelt, those who embark- 
 ed in it did not confine their views to this object. 
 They had before their eyes the security of " the true 
 religion and professors thereof in all places," the 
 forming of an association among " other Christian 
 churches," and in general " the enlargement of 
 the kingdom of Jesus Christ." These ends, expres- 
 sed in their solemn bond of confederation, were never 
 lost sight of in the prosecution of their undertaking. 
 Theirs was no narrow, contracted, or sectarian plan. 
 On the contrary, it was one of their principal ob- 
 jects, in all that they did, to testify their charity and 
 conformity to all the reformed churches, to abolish 
 those restrictions whicn had prevented free inter- 
 course with them, and to secure union, communion, 
 and co-operation with them upon the great principles 
 of Christianity and Protestantism. 
 
 Under both of these important views was the Re- 
 formation adopted by Seccdcrs. In publishing their 
 Testimony, their language on the matter was : ' We 
 have no peculiar principles : we abide by and de- 
 cicre our adherence to those books which are still 
 professedly owned by the national Church of Scot- 
 land, and which were agreed on as the standards 
 of religious uniformity in the three nations ; we are 
 willing to hold connnuniqn with all who shall be 
 found consistently adhering to these ; and to them 
 as a subordinate test we are ready to snbmit the de- 
 cision of every point which forms the s;il)ject of dis- 
 
132 
 
 pute and controversy between us and others.' The 
 same language all true adherents to the cause of the 
 Reformation still continue to hold. The same offers 
 
 thej- still make In vindicating their Secession, and 
 
 stating its grounds, they were necessarily led to 
 give greater prominence to the state of religion 
 in Scotland and to their contendings with the ju- 
 dicatories of that church with which they had been 
 intimately connected. But they did not allow these 
 to engross their regard. They considered it as a 
 high duty to promote religion in England and Ire- 
 land, which are as much interested in the cause of 
 the Secession, rightly understood, as Scotland. When 
 they complied with petitions from these countries, 
 and erected congregations in consequence of them, 
 they did not lay themselves open to the charge of 
 enlisting followers under the standard of a party, or 
 engaging them in local controversies in which they 
 liad no concern ; but could plead, with the utmost 
 truth, that they only embodied them under princi- 
 ples and obligations, which were common to the 
 three nations. In fine, while they considered them- 
 selves bound to do what in them lay to enlarge the 
 kingdom of Christ, they reckoned that they had a 
 special call to send the gospel to those distant parts 
 of the world where there were settlers from this coun- 
 try ; and by the exertions which they made in this 
 way from an early period, multitudes have enjoyed 
 the means of religious instruction and salvation who 
 would otherwise have been left totally destitute of 
 them. 
 
 When the Secession from the Church of Scotland 
 was first declared, its friends were not under the ne- 
 cessity of proving the leading principles in which 
 their Testimony in i'avour of the Reformation pro- 
 
133 
 
 ceeded. This had been the work of their fathers ; 
 and they were not called to lay again the foundation, 
 when there were few around them who attacked it. 
 Their opponents, while they condemned them for 
 testifying in the way of separation from the establish- 
 ed church, went along with them in owning the whole 
 doctrine of the Westminster Confession, the divine 
 right of Presbytery, and even the continued obliga- 
 tion of our National Covenants. The state of mat- 
 ters is now, and has for a considerable time been, very 
 different. All these have been attacked with great 
 keenness from various quarters ; and it no longer re- 
 mains a matter of doubt or dispute, that the greater 
 part of Seceders themselves have relinquished their 
 adherence to the Reformation cause, and are disposed 
 to call in question those things which were once most 
 surely believed among them. A vindication of these 
 has become more than ever necessary. This, how- 
 ever, is not proposed in these pages. All that I 
 mean is to suggest a few things which may tend to 
 obviate the difficulties of such as still feel attached to 
 the cause, while their minds have been thrown into 
 confusion and embarrassment by the specious and 
 plausible objections which have been confidently ad- 
 vanced against it. And I shall endeavour to do this 
 with all possible succintness. 
 
 One of the most conmion and startling objections 
 brought forward is that which involves a charge 
 against the Westminster Confession of Faith, as fav- 
 ourable to persecution for conscience' sake, and arm- 
 ing the civil magistrate with a power to punish good 
 and peaceable subjects purely on the ground of their 
 religious opinions and practices. This is a charge 
 which affects all who have owned that Confession, or 
 who declare a simple adherence to it ; and among 
 
134, 
 
 these are many, who, it will not be denied, have 
 shewn themselves strenuous friends of the rights of 
 conscience, and who were not likely to subscribe any 
 formulary which they had not examined and did not 
 believe. The passage chiefly referred to is in Chap. 
 XX. sect. 4. Let us try if it justifies the charge. 
 
 In the second section the doctrine of liberty of 
 conscience is thus laid down : " God alone is Lord of 
 the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines 
 and commandments of men which are in any thing 
 contrary to his word, or beside it in matters of faith 
 or worship. So that to believe such doctrines, or to 
 obey such commandments, is to betray true liberty 
 of conscience and reason also ; and the requiring of 
 an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, 
 is to destroy liberty of conscience and reason also." 
 This is an important doctrine, and necessary to be 
 maintained against the encroachments and unwar- 
 rantable claims of every creature, and of rulers 
 both civil and ecclesiastical. May every man then 
 think and speak, and act as he pleases, under the plea 
 that his conscience gives him liberty to do so, or dic- 
 tates to him that he ought to do so? To guard 
 against this pernicious abuse of the doctrine is the 
 object of what follows in the Confession. In section 
 third, those are condemned, who, " upon pretence 
 of Christian liberty, do practise any sin or cherish 
 any lust." The design of section fourth, is to guard 
 against the abuse of the doctrine in reference to pub- 
 lic authority. " And because the powers which God 
 hath ordained, and the liberty which Christ hatli 
 purchased, are not intended by God to destroy, but 
 mutually to uphold and preserve one another ; they 
 who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, shall oppose 
 any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it, whctlier 
 
135 
 
 it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the ordinance of God." 
 He who is the Lord of the conscience has also insti- 
 tuted the authorities in church and state ; and it would 
 be in the highest degree absurd to suppose that he 
 has planted in the breast of every individual a power 
 to resist, counteract, and nullify his own ordinances. 
 When public and private claims interfere and clash, 
 the latter must give way to the former ; and when 
 any lawful authority is proceeding lawfully within its 
 line of duty it must be understood as possessing a 
 rightful power to remove out of the way every thing 
 which necessarily obstructs its progress. The Con- 
 fession proceeds, accordingly, to state : " And for 
 their publishing of such opinions, or maintaining of 
 such practices, as are contrary to the light of na- 
 ture, or to the known principles of Christianity, wlie- 
 ther concerning faith, worship, or conversation, or 
 to the power of godliness ; or such erroneous opi- 
 nions or practices, as either in their own nature, or 
 in the manner of publishing or maintaining them, are 
 destructive to the external peace and order whicli 
 Christ hath established in the church ; they may law- 
 fully be called to account, and proceeded against by 
 the censures of the church, and by tiie power of the 
 civil magistrate." Now, this does not say that all 
 who publish such opinions and maintain sucii prac- 
 tices as are mentioned, may be proceeded against, 
 or, punished (if the substitution of this word shall be 
 insisted for) by the civil magistrate ; nor does it say, 
 tliat any good and peaceable shall be made liable to 
 Uiis process simply on the ground of religious opi- 
 nions published and practices maintained by him. 
 For, in the first place, persons of a particular charac- 
 ter are spoken of in this paragraph, and these are very 
 different from good and peaceable subjects. Thc:^ 
 
136 
 
 are described in the former sentence as " they who 
 oppose lawful power or the lawful exercise of it," and 
 *' resist the ordinance of God." The same persons 
 are spoken of in the sentence under consideration, as 
 appears from the copulative and relative. It is not 
 said "A)i7/ one for publishing," &c. but " they who 
 oppose any lawful power &c. for their publish- 
 ing," &c. In the second place, this sentence speci- 
 fies some of the ways in which these persons may 
 become chargeable with the opposition mentioned, 
 and consequently " mai/ be called to account ;" 
 but it does not assert that even they must or ought 
 to be prosecuted for every avowed opinion or prac- 
 tice of the kind referred to. All that it necessarily 
 implies, is, that they may be found opposing lawful 
 powers or the lawful exercise of them in the things 
 specified, and that they are not entitled to plead a 
 general irresponsibility in matters of that kind : not- 
 withstanding such a plea, " they may be called to ac- 
 count and proceeded against." For, be it observed, 
 it is not the design of this paragraph to state the ob- 
 jects of church censure or civil prosecution : its 
 proper and professed object is to interpose a check 
 on the abuse of liberty of conscience as operating to 
 the prejudice of just and lawful authority. It is not 
 sin as sin, but as scandal, or injurious to the spiritual 
 interests of Christians, that is the proper object of 
 church-censure ; and it is not for sins as such, but 
 for crimes, that persons become liable to punishment 
 by magistrates. The compilers of the Confession 
 were quite aware of these distinctions, which were 
 then common. Some think that if the process of th« 
 magistrate had been limited to offences " contrary 
 to the light of nature," it would have been perfectly 
 justifiable ; but the truth is, that it would have been 
 
137 
 
 so only on the interpretation now given. To ren- 
 der an action the proper object of magistratical pun- 
 ishment, it is not enough that it be contrary to the 
 law of God, whether natural or revealed ; it must, 
 in one way or another, strike against the pubUc good 
 of society. He who " provides not for his own, es- 
 pecially those of his own house," sins against " the 
 light of nature," as also does he who is " a lover of 
 pleasures more than of God ;" but there are few who 
 will plead that magistrates are bound to proceed 
 against and punish every idler and belly-god. On 
 the other hand there are opinions and practices " con- 
 trary to the known principles of Christianity," or 
 grafted upon them, which either in their own na- 
 ture, or from the circumstances with which they may 
 be clothed, may prove so injurious to the welfare of 
 society in general, or of particular nations, or of 
 their just proceedings, or of lawful institutions es- 
 tablished in them, as to subject their publishers and 
 maintainers to warrantable coercion and punish- 
 ment. As one point to which these may relate, I 
 may mention the external observance and sanctifica- 
 tion of the Lord's Day, which can be known only 
 from " the principles of Christianity," and is con- 
 nected with all the particulars specified by the Con- 
 fession — " faith, worship, conversation, the power of 
 godli'iess, and the external order and peace of the 
 church." That many other instances of a similar de- 
 scription can be produced, will be denied by no so- 
 ber-tliinking person wiio is well actjuainted with po- 
 pish tenets and practices, and with those which pre- 
 vailed among the English sectaries during the sit- 
 ting of the Westminster Assembly ; and he who does 
 not deny this, cannot be entitled, I should think, up- 
 on any principles of fair construction, to fix the stig- 
 ma of persecution on the passage in (juestion. 
 
138 
 
 In support of the objection under consideration 
 some liave referred to chap. 23. of the Confession, in 
 which it is stated to be the magistrate's duty to " take 
 order that — all blasphemies and heresies be suppress- 
 ed," &c. But as certain means by which he is to en- 
 deavour to effect this end are there mentioned, with- 
 out one word about coercion or punishment, eveiy 
 person must perceive that that passage gives no oc- 
 casion for such an inference Others appeal to 
 
 passages in the private writings of presbyterians 
 at the period when the Confession was compiled. 
 But it is evidently unjust to attempt in this way 
 to fasten on a public deed an odious sense which its 
 own language does not natively and necessarily im- 
 ply. Would all those who wish to make Rutherford's 
 treatise on Pretended Liberty of' Conscience an authen- 
 tic interpreter of the passages in question, be willing 
 to make the same use of his treatise on Spiritual An- 
 tichrist with reference to the doctrine taught by 
 the Confession on the Covenant of Grace? Or, 
 would they be willing that the same use should be 
 made of the writings of individuals in the present day 
 in disputes about the principles of the bodies with 
 which they are connected, before the public or be- 
 fore courts of judicature ? 
 
 Another objection brought against the Confession 
 is, that it subjects matters purely religious and ec- 
 clesiastical to the cognizance of the civil magistrate, 
 and allows him an Erastian power in and over the 
 church. This, if true, would be very strange, con- 
 sidering that the Assembly who compiled it were en- 
 gaged in a dispute against this very claim with the 
 Parliament under whose protection thcj' sat, and 
 that owing to their steady refusal to concede that 
 power to the State (in which they were supported by 
 
139 
 
 the whole body of Presbyterians), the erection of 
 presbyteries and synods in England was suspended. 
 Independently of this important fact, the declarations 
 of the Confession itself are more than sufficient to 
 repel the imputation. It declares " that there is 
 no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus 
 Christ." (chap. 25. § 6.) ; and that, he, as " king and 
 head of his church, hath therein appointed a govern- 
 ment in the hand of church officers, distinct from the 
 civil magistrate. To these officers the keys of the 
 kingdom are committed." (chap. ;^0. § 1.2.) Yea, 
 tiie very passage appealed to in support of the ob- 
 jection begins with the following pointed declara- 
 ation : " The civil magistrate may not assume to him- 
 self the keys of the kingdom of heaven." (chap. 
 23. § 3.) " The keys of the kingdom of heaven" in- 
 clude all the power exercised in the church, under 
 Christ, its sole king ; not only that which is ordinari- 
 ly exercised in the government of particular congre- 
 gations and in censuring offenders, (chap. 30.) but 
 also the power " ministerially to determine con- 
 troversies of faith, and cases of conscience, to set 
 down rules and directions for the better ordering of 
 the public worship of God, and government of his 
 church, to receive complaints in cases of mal-ad- 
 ministration, and authoritatively to determine the 
 same," (chap. 31. § 3.) The Confession teaches that 
 magistrates cannot warrantably assume to themselves 
 the power of doing these things, and what it adds 
 nmst be understood in a consistency with this declara- 
 tion. It is true, that it allots to the magistrate a 
 care of religion, and asserts that " he hath authority, 
 and it is his duty to take order, that unity and peace 
 be preserved in the church," &c. But is there no 
 order which he can take for iiaving these things 
 
140 
 
 done by the persons and in the way by and in which 
 they ought to be done, without taking the doing of 
 them into his hand, and thus assuming what does not 
 belong to him ? The Confession asserts that there is, 
 and proceeds to say : " For the better effecting 
 whereof* he hath power to call synods." And is 
 there any good reason for absolutely denying him 
 this power? ^\nien " the unity and peace of the 
 church" are broken and endangered in any country, 
 " the truth of God" is depraved, " blasphemies and 
 heresies" of almost every kind are spreading, "corrup- 
 tions and abuses in worship" are abounding, and when, 
 the church being disorganized, there is no general 
 authority of an ecclesiastical kind to use means for 
 remedying these evils, may not the civil government 
 of that country warrantably call a synod for that pur- 
 pose ? When the state of the nation, as well as of 
 the church, may be convulsed, and its convulsions 
 may be in a great degree owing to religious disor- 
 ders, is it not a high duty incumbent on him to take 
 such a step, provided he finds it practicable and ad- 
 visable ? Was not this the state of matters in Eng- 
 land when the Westminster Assembly met ? Was 
 not the state of matters similar in many respects at 
 the Revolution in Scotland ? And may not a crisis of 
 the same kind yet recur ? Was there any rational 
 ground to think, at the period of the Westminster As- 
 sembly, that such a synod would have met, or, suppos- 
 ing it somehow to liavc been collected, that it could 
 
 * " For tlic better government niul further cditication of tlie 
 cliurcli, tlierc ouglilto be sucli iisseiiiblies as are coninioiily calU 
 cd Synods or Councils :" i. e. for attaining the end belter llian 
 can be accomplished iu smaller meetings of church-officers. (^Conf. 
 chap. 31. ) 
 
141 
 
 have continued together until it liad finished its busi- 
 ness, if it had not been convoked, maintained, and pro- 
 tected by the Parliament of England ? Do many of 
 those who deny the power in question reflect, that 
 they owe those books which they still, in one degree 
 or another, own as the subordinate standards of their 
 ecclesiastical communion, to a synod which v/as thus 
 convoked ? Do they reflect, that by means of them 
 the interests of religion have been promoted to an 
 incalculable degree, unity and peace preserved in 
 the church, &c. from the period of their compilation 
 down to the present day, in Scotland, in England, in 
 Ireland, and in America? Or, recollecting these things, 
 are they prepared to take the pen and insert their 
 absolute veto — " The civil magistrate — for the bet- 
 ter effecting thereof, hath" not " power to call 
 synods ?" At the same time it may be observed here, 
 as on the former objection, that it is not asserted, 
 that the magistrate may exercise this power on 
 all occasions and in all circumstances, or whenever 
 there are any evils of a religious kind to correct. It 
 is sufficient that there may be times and circumstances 
 in which he may warrantably exert this power. It 
 is true that the Confession, in another place, (cliap. 
 31. § 2.) is not sufficiently full and explicit in declar- 
 ing the intrinsic right of the church to convoke 
 synods. But this defect was supplied by the Act of 
 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 
 receiving and approving of the Confession * ; and in 
 the Formula used in the Secession from the begin- 
 ning an approbation of the Confession is required 
 " as received" by that Act of Assembly. 
 
 • Sec Act of Assembly, prefixed to nil our copies of the Cou- 
 fcision of Failli. Agreeably to tliis Act v/m the Coufc^iuon ra- 
 tiCeci by ibe PiirliuiiKut of Seollund. 
 
142 
 
 After stating that the magistrate has power to call 
 synods, it is added, " to be present at them, and to 
 provide that whatsoever is transacted in them, be 
 according to the mind of God." Not to insist here, 
 that these words ought, in fair construction, to be un- 
 derstood of such synods as have been convoked by 
 the magistrate, wiiat reasonable objection can be 
 made to his being present ? May he not claim a 
 right to be present at any public meeting within his 
 dominions ? May he not be present in a synod to wit- 
 ness their proceedings, to preserve their external peace, 
 to redress their grievances, or (why not?) to receive 
 their advice or admonitions ? But, if it be supposed 
 that his presence is necessary to give validity to their 
 proceedings, and that he sits asy)reses of their meeting, 
 or as director of their deliberations and votes, I shall 
 only say that the words of the Confession give not the 
 slightest countenance to such claims, which are utterly 
 inconsistent with the common principles of Presbyter- 
 ians, and in particular with the well-known and avow- 
 ed principles of the Church of Scotland. A similar 
 answer may be given to the objection against the last 
 clause of the paragraph. May not any Christian, 
 whatever his station be, " provide that whatsoever is 
 transacted," even in synods, " be according to the 
 mind of God ?" If the legislature oc government of a 
 nation have a special care about religion, or if there 
 is any particular duty at all which they have to dis- 
 charge respecting it, and particularly if they have 
 power in any case to call synods, nmst it not in a 
 special manner be incumbent on them to see to this? 
 Nor does this imply that they arc in possession of 
 any ecclesiastical powers, or that they pass a public 
 judgment on true and false religion. Their private 
 judgment is sufficient to regulate them in their pub- 
 
143 
 
 lie managements in this as well as on many other sub- 
 jects, about which they exercise their authority, with- 
 out sustaining themselves as the proper judges of 
 them, as in the case of many arts, sciences, &c. which 
 they patronize and encourage. Must not Christian 
 rulers, judges, and magistrates provide that." whatso- 
 ever is transacted" by themselves, " be according to 
 the mind of God ?" Is it not highly fit that they should 
 be satisfied, and that they should by every proper 
 means provide that the determinations of s)mods be 
 according to the mind of God, if they are afterwards 
 to legalize them, or if they are to use their autho- 
 rity for removing all external obstructions out of the 
 way of their being carried into effect ; both of which 
 they may do, without imposing them on the con- 
 sciences of their subjects ? And, in fine, are there 
 not various ways in which they may provide as here 
 stated, without assuming a power foreign to their 
 office, or intruding on the proper business of synods, 
 or ecclesiastical courts ? But, if it be supposed that 
 the magistrate, as the proper judge in such matters, is 
 to controul the deliberations of the ecclesiastical as- 
 sembly, to prescribe and dictate to them what their 
 decisions shall be, or that, when they have deliberated 
 and decided, he may receive appeals from their de- 
 cisions, or may bring the whole before his tribunal, 
 and review, alter, and reverse their sentences, I have 
 only to say, as formerly, that the words of the Con- 
 fession give not the slightest countenance to such 
 claims, which are utterly inconsistent with the com- 
 mon prijiciples of Presbyterians, and in particular 
 witli the well-known and avowed principles and con- 
 tendings of the Church of Scotland. 
 
 Hut though I consider these objections as destitute 
 of a solid foundation, yet, as the construction on which 
 
144 
 
 they proceed has often been put on the passages to 
 which they refer, I, for my part, can see no good 
 reason why an explanation should not be given of 
 these passages, or of the doctrine contained in them, 
 with the view of preventing all misconception of the 
 sentiments of those who approve of the Confession ; 
 provided the two following things are attended to. 
 In the first place, that this declaration do not fix on 
 the Confession the obnoxious sentiments which are 
 disclaimed. And, in the second place, that it do not, 
 under the cover of general and ambiguous expres- 
 sions, invalidate or set aside the general doctrine re- 
 specting the exercise of civil authority about religion 
 which is recognized in the Westminster Confession, 
 and in those of all Protestant Churches. Explan- 
 ations of this kind were given in the early papers 
 of the Secession, which are sufficient to shew that 
 they entertained no principles favourable to persecu- 
 tion or injurious to the liberties and independence of 
 the church, and that they did not view the Confes- 
 sion as containing such principles *. 
 
 That magistrates are not exempted from all con- 
 cern about religion in their public and official capa- 
 city, and that civil authority ought to be employed, 
 and is capable in different ways of being employed, 
 for the advancement of religion, and, in Christian 
 countries, for the good of the church, is a doctrine, 
 which, in my opinion, is not only true, but of great 
 practical importance. I shall state, as briefly as I 
 can, the grounds on whit h 1 consider this doctrine a^ 
 resting, and the leading explications and qualifica- 
 tions with which it has been received among Pres- 
 
 * Act and Testimony, apml Display, i. 156 — 159. aud An- 
 swers to Naira, ibid. p. 311 — 31k 
 
145 
 
 byterians, and particularly in the Secession. The 
 general doctrine seems equally consonant to the dic- 
 tates of sound reason, the maxims of good policy, and 
 the uniform tenor and express declarations of Scrip- 
 ture. The obligations and the practice of religion 
 in some degree] must be supposed to exist 
 antecedently to the erection of social institutions 
 among mankind. It enters into all the duties and 
 offices of life ; and none are at liberty to overlook or 
 beinditterent about its interests in any relation in which 
 the)- stand, or in reference to any connection which 
 they may form. It is the firmest bond of social 
 union, the most efficient ciieck on power, the strong- 
 est security for obedience, the principal source of 
 justice, fidelity, humanity, and all the virtues. In 
 framing their laws, all nations, ancient and modern, 
 have availed themselves of its sanctions, and made 
 provision in one way or another for that worship 
 which they practised. And the principle on which 
 they acted was expressly recognized, and applied to 
 the true religion, in the only system of national po- 
 lity that ever was prescribed inniiediately by Heaven, 
 It would be strange if a people professing Christian- 
 ity should give the first exani])le of a nation set- 
 tling its fundamental laws and regulating the ad- 
 ministration of its governniL-nt, without acknowledg- 
 ing tl-.e God that is above, making any provision 
 for the maintenance of his iionour, or requiring any 
 religious qualifications whatever in those who were 
 to rule over it. It would be stranger still, if it should 
 be argued that C'liiistianity itself requires this, and 
 that it forbids any homage being done to its founder 
 by national laws, or any service being performed to 
 him by their administrators. 
 
14G 
 
 " The public good of outward and common order 
 in all reasonable society, to the glory of God, is the 
 great and only end which those invested with Magis- 
 tracy can propose in a sole respect unto that office*." 
 This distinguishes their office from that of ministers 
 of the gospel, which is versant about " the disorders 
 of men's hearts." But it does not surely mean, that 
 there is nothing incumbent on magistrates but the 
 employment of physical force in restraining men from 
 committing injuries, or in putting down riots and sedi- 
 tions. The prevention of crimes and disorders is a more 
 important object than their punishment. A right to ac- 
 complish any end implies a right to use all the means 
 that are necessary or conducive to the gaining of that 
 end. And of all the means which are calculated to pre- 
 serve order,to repress crimes, and topromote thepub- 
 lic and general good of society, the most powerful be- 
 yond all reasonable doubt is religion. On this ground 
 it becomes one of the first duties of those who are 
 entrusted with the care of the public weal of a nation, 
 to preserve and cherish a sense of religion on the minds 
 of the people at large, andfor this purpose to give pub- 
 lic countenance and decided encouragement to its 
 institutions. And the more pure and perfect — the 
 more free from imposture, falsehood, error, supersti- 
 tion, and other corruptions — the more certain in iti 
 foundation and the more forcible in its motives, that 
 any system of religion is, the higher claims must it 
 have to public countenance, both on tlie ground of its 
 intrinsic truth and authority, and on account of its 
 superior practical influence and utility. This is not 
 to make religion an engine of state. It is to use it 
 for one of those ends which it is calculated in its own 
 
 * Answers to Nairn, ut supra, p. 311. 
 
147 
 
 nature to sen-e, and which its Author intended it 
 should serve : it is to make the ordinances and the 
 institutions of God mutually subservient, and thus to 
 promote in a more extensive way his glory and tlie 
 good of his creatures. Thus, as it is incumbent on 
 all men to employ every lawful means, in their seve- 
 ral stations, for advancing the true religion, the duty 
 of the enlightened and patriotic Magistrate, and the 
 duty of the pious and public-spirited Christian who 
 may hold that office, become so far coincident, and 
 a uniform manner of action, according to the com- 
 plex character which the individual sustains, is pro- 
 duced, 
 
 Magistracy is common to mankind at large, whether 
 living within or without the church. It supj)oses 
 them capable of religion, and practising it in some 
 shape under the moral government of (>od ; but as 
 it is founded on natural principles, and on the moral 
 laws (which was prior to the Christian faith and more 
 extensively known), it would be absurd to suppose that 
 it was instituted by the Mediator, or that it has the 
 supernatural things peculiar to Christianity for its 
 direct and proper object. " As the whole institu- 
 tion and end of the office are cut out by, and lie with- 
 in the comjiass of natural principles, it were absurd 
 to suppose, that there could or ought to be any exer- 
 cise thereof towards its end, in the foresaid circmn- 
 staiices, but what can be argued forand defended from 
 natural principles : as, indeed, there is nothing espe- 
 cially allotted and allowed to Magistrates by the 
 word of God and the Confessions of the Heforjued 
 Cliurches, but what can be so *." Tliis cstabJishes 
 the power in question on its proper and broadest ba:<is, 
 
 * Amuert to Naiiu, ui &up. 
 
 u 2 
 
us 
 
 as extending to natural religion, whether more imper- 
 fectly understood without revelation, or more fully 
 explained in the Bible. But then it is to be observ- 
 ed, that religion and morality in all the extent to 
 which they were contained in the law of nature, are 
 taken into the system of Christianity. There is — 
 there can be — no such thing as a distinct profession 
 or practice of natural religion in Christian countries. 
 And, consequently, there could be no objects of a 
 religious kind, in such countries, about which magis- 
 tratical power could be employed, unless it were to 
 regard them as existing in the constitution of the 
 Christian Church, and see to tlie observance of them 
 as enforced by immediate divine authority, and con- 
 nected with supernatural mysteries. To deny, there- 
 fore, that civil rulers have a right to do this, would be 
 to represent the gospel as making void instead of es- 
 tablishing the law, and as invalidating that authority 
 and abridging those powers, which the God of na- 
 ture had instituted and conferred for the wisest and 
 most beneficial purposes. When duly and wisely em- 
 ployed about the external concernments of the 
 Church, as a visible society erected in the world, so 
 as to be really serviceable to her interests, civil au- 
 thority becomes doubly a blessing to a people, and as 
 such it was repeatedly promised to Christian nations 
 in tl>e prophetic scriptures both of the Old and New 
 Testament. But in this case there is no addition of 
 power to magistracy, but merely an application of its 
 conmion power, under the direction of its original 
 general law, to a particular object, which is brought 
 under its cognizance in some periods and places of 
 the world. The kingdom of Christ, though not of 
 Ts in this world ; as externally set up among men it 
 is entitled to all the support and countenance which 
 
149 
 
 any ordinance of God can give it ; and as its spirit- 
 uality does not render it incapable of being injured 
 by the kingdoms of this world, so neither does it ren- 
 der it incapable of being benefited by them. Church 
 and State are essentially distinct and independent 
 of each other. But kingdoms and powers which 
 are independent may surely maintain a friendly al- 
 liance ; they may assist and support each other ; and, 
 although the one cannot make laws which are bind- 
 ing on the other, yet they may make laws which 
 both tend and are intended for mutual advantage. 
 Presbyterians have stated with as great clearness as 
 those of any other denomination — I may safely say, 
 with greater clearness — the divine origin, the inde- 
 pendence, the spirituality, the heavenly constitution 
 of the kingdom of Christ, and its distinction from 
 secular kingdoms in its laws, administration, subjects, 
 offices, judicatories, and special ends. But in perfect 
 consistency with all this, they have maintained thatcivil 
 and ecclesiastical societies may sustain friendly rela- 
 tions; that they maybe helpful to each other; that they 
 may have certain common objects about wliich both 
 may be employed in a distinct manner, and a common 
 end beside that which is peculiar to each ; that the co- 
 operation of temjioral and spiritual power may be ne- 
 cessary for introducing or securing a public reforma- 
 tion of religion, when it is opposed by violence, or when 
 a corrupt system has established itself inall thedcpart- 
 ments of society; and thatcivil authority, in ordinary 
 times, may be exerted in securing and preserving the 
 church in the peaceable, full, and permanent enjoy- 
 ment of her peculiar liberties, government, and insti- 
 tutions. A civil establishment of a particular reli- 
 gion or church docs not necessarily imply a power 
 of legislating to tJic faith and consciences of Chris- 
 g3 
 
150 
 
 tians ; nor an imposing of matters purely religious or 
 of supernatural things as such, by civil penalties ; nor 
 a depriving of subjects of their natural and civil privi- 
 leges simply on the ground of their dissent. Besides, 
 there are various ways in which religion may be an ob- 
 ject of public attention, and be encouraged by those 
 who are in civil authority, supreme and subordinate, 
 without their attempting to establish a particular sys- 
 tem, which, in many cases, would be impracticable or 
 highly improper ; as when the mass of the people 
 may be grossly ignorant of Christianity or supersti- 
 tiously attached to a corrupt form of it, or when a 
 nation may be greatly divided in their religious opi- 
 nions and practice. 
 
 But it is not the design of these pages to enlarge 
 on this subject. Before dismissing it, however, I 
 have two general remarks to make. In the first 
 place, it is, to say the least, extremely inadvertent to 
 represent this as a subject of mere speculation, on 
 which Christians are called to form no opinion. Not 
 to specify here the various practical lights in which 
 the question may be viewed, it may be sufficient to 
 mention, that national laws and their administration, 
 whether in favour of a true or a false religion, have 
 always had, and nuist have, great influence upon the 
 opinions and conduct of the mass of the people. Re- 
 ligious establishments exist in our own country, and 
 are daily productive of good or evil : we must either 
 approve or condemn them in whole, or we must do so in 
 part ; but how can we do either, if we have no formed 
 principles on the subject? In the second place, it is 
 still more unreasonable to hold out that this is a mat- 
 ter of mere speculation to Seceders. After the state- 
 ment that has been given of their principles ; — after 
 their express a])probation of the national covenants, of 
 
151 
 
 the Westminster Confession, of the civil reformation of 
 Scotland, and the laws establishing the protestant and 
 presbyterian religion ; — after their condemnation of 
 the rescission of these laws at the Restoration ; — after 
 their pointed censures of the Revolution-settlement 
 on such grounds as the following, that " Prelacy is 
 never considered as contrary to the word of God — 
 nor our Presbyterian church-government and disci- 
 pline as what the land is bound and obliged to main- 
 tain by the most solemn oaths and covenants ; — and 
 all the legal securities given to this church, in that 
 covenanting period from 1638 to 1650, are overlook- 
 ed and passed by * ;" — and after having made their 
 testimony on these heads the matter of a solemn vow 
 and oath, — it surely cannot be maintained, that they 
 have no immediate or practical interest in the doc- 
 trine which teaches, that civil authority may be war- 
 rantably employed about matters of religion and relat- 
 ing to the church. The truth is, that this doctrine is 
 not only necessarily implied in their religious pro- 
 fession, hut it will bo found running through the 
 whole of it, so that it is impossible to separate the 
 one from the other without disordering and taking 
 in pieces the entire system. I do not mean by this, 
 tiiat tii.y must decide and be agreed upon all the 
 questions that have been or may be started on this 
 subject : this would be absurd in reference to eccle- 
 siastical power, and much more so as to civil. All 
 that is required is, that they hold those general prin- 
 ciples on this head of doctrine which are implied in, 
 or are necessary to support, the express approvals of 
 the national reformation, and condenmations of the 
 
 * Act and Testimony, ut suji. j). 8() — 7. Ackiiowlcilgcmcatof 
 Sins, ib. p. 230. Answers to Niiiiii, ib. [>. 286 — 7. 
 
 a. 4) 
 
152 
 
 national deformation, wliich formed so prominent a 
 part of their public profession, and by which they 
 were from the first distinguished as Seceders. 
 
 It will not be expected that I should enter here 
 into an examination of the accusations brought against 
 Presbj'terians, as cjiargeable with intolerant and 
 persecuting proceedings during the period of the 
 Solemn League. I confine myself to the following 
 general observations. In the first place, Seceders 
 never pledged themselves by an approbation of all 
 the acts and proceedings either of the state or of the 
 church during that period. Their approbation of 
 them was limited *. So far as it can be shewn that 
 any acts of the church encroached on due Christian 
 liberty, or that any acts of the state subjected good 
 and peaceable subjects to punishment for matters 
 purely religious, or imposed on them hardships wliich 
 did not necessarily result from measures requisite to 
 promote the public good and preserve the national 
 safety, the principles of Seceders do not permit them 
 to justify the conduct of the covenanters. 
 
 In the seco7id place, the charges on this head are in 
 some instances groundless, and in others greatly exag- 
 gerated. The fact is, tiiat this period of the history of 
 15ritain has been most grossly misrepresented, and er- 
 roneous and distorted views of the great transactions 
 by which it was distinguished, and of the characters 
 and actions ol' the men wlio were principally engaged 
 in them, liave at last become general, and, in some 
 points, almost universal f . By the most the nature 
 
 * Act and Testimony, ill sup. p. 62. Answers to Naiin, ib. 
 p. 283. 
 
 t I cannot lielp saying', tliat I'lTsbyterians liavc shewn llicni- 
 bclvcs strangely negligent in counlviaclinijtlicse false views; and 
 
153 
 
 of the cause in which the covenanters were embark- 
 ed, the enemies by whom they were opposed, and 
 the dangers with which they were surrounded, are 
 not understood or not duly adverted to. The work 
 
 I \vL<h I had no reason for adding, that they have suffered for their 
 iupincncss by becoming tlic dupes of nvisreprcsentation. Mr 
 Neal's History of the Puritans, a work which has been exten- 
 sively read, affords a striking exemplification of this. JExamina- 
 tions of it, or counter-statements in those instances in which 
 they considered their connections as injured by the author, have 
 been published by Episcopalians, Baptists, Quakers, and Soci- 
 nians. Nothing of this kiud has appealed from Presbyterian?, 
 although it might easily be shewn that tliey hud us much growul 
 for complaint as any of tlic ])arties mentioned. Tiie general 
 merits of that work should have been aji inducement to them to 
 point out its mistakes, wliich were more readily credited than 
 the grosser errors of less informed and more prejudiced writers. 
 
 I can only give one instance here. After stating the Pres- 
 byterian opinion concerning " the power of tlie keys," or of 
 church-government, he adds : " The Independents claimed a 
 like power for the brotherhood of every particular congiegation,. 
 but ttitliout any civil sanctions or pentdlies an7iex<d." (Hist, 
 of Puritans, vol. iii. p. 2ti(). Toulmin's ed.) Now, the annexa- 
 tion of civil penalties did not enter into the claim of tlie Presby- 
 terians, in their disputes in favour of the divine right of church- 
 govemnient in general, or of Prcsbvtery But, if it had entered in- 
 to their claim (as I grant some of them in their writings vindicat- 
 ed the propriety of the unncxution), still it would have formed 
 no distinction between them and the IndependcQls ; the latter 
 themselves being judges. "If the Magistrates power (to which 
 give as much, and, as W9 think, mork than the |n'inciples 
 of the I'resbytcrial govei iimeiit will suffer them to yield) do but 
 as&ist and back the sentence of oilier churches denouncing this 
 Don-coramunion against churches nii^carr\ing, according to the 
 nature of the crime, us they judge meet — then, without all con- 
 Irovcrbie this our way of church pn>ceeding will be tvei-y way as 
 effectual us their other cun be supiH)se»l to be" &c. (Apologe- 
 tical Nari-ulton, by the five Dissenting Members of the Assem. 
 bly of Divines, p. 18.) 
 
 c5 
 
154 
 
 to which they were called did not consist in the cor- 
 rection of simple errors in doctrine, or corruptions 
 which merely affected worship, ecclesiastical disci- 
 pline, and Christian morals. It had for its object the 
 removal of evils which were hurtful both in a reli- 
 gious and political view, and b)' which the liberties of 
 church and state were equally affected. Prelacy 
 was not only a deviation from the institution of Christ, 
 which was to be confuted and removed by an appeal 
 to scriptural authorit}^ and argument ; but secular 
 power, external violence, and political tyranny were 
 annexed to it, and interwoven with the whole form 
 and proceedings of the hierarchy. Bishops were 
 not only domineering lords in the church ; they were 
 also tools in the hands of arbitrary monarchs and per- 
 secuting statesmen. Again, these evils were owmg 
 in a great measure to the exorbitant prerogative of 
 the crown, from which, in consequence of the eccle- 
 siastical supremacy vested in it, arose the arbitrary 
 proceedings of the bishops' courts, and the illegal pow- 
 ers of the High Commission. While ihe ecclesiastical 
 grievances sprung from political abuses, the political 
 grievances might be traced in their turn to ecclesias- 
 tical abuses ; and religion and policy equally demanded 
 the correction of both. A co operation of the seve- 
 ral powers, and of the means competent "to them, 
 was therefore requisite. The use of religious means 
 was primarily needful for giving life and anima- 
 tion to the work ; but these alone could not re- 
 dress all grievances. Means of a very different 
 kind were necessary to restrain violence, to curb 
 tyranny, lo abolish the laws authorizing tlie evils 
 complained of, and to substitute others in their 
 place. If forcible opposition was made to this, or if 
 conspiracies and factions were formed for tlie main- 
 
155 
 
 tenance or restitution of the old oppressive system, 
 it was necessary to employ la^v and penalties for re- 
 straining or suppressing such attempts. In conduct- 
 ing any common measures having for their object the 
 general good of society, civil or ecclesiastical, it is 
 impossible altogether to avoid interfering with pri- 
 vate liberty, or subjecting individuals to hardships 
 and restraints which in some way affect their con- 
 sciences and the full enjoyment of their religious pri- 
 vileges. Undeniable examples of this in recent times 
 might be produced from the proceedings of religious 
 societies which have no immediate connection with 
 government. In the prosecution of the complex refor- 
 mation in which our forefothers were engaged, op- 
 posed, as it was, by such adversaries as we have de- 
 scribed, and while an intestine war raged in the coun- 
 try, it was not only extremely difficult for them to 
 steer an even course, but it was impossible for them 
 to avoid imposing restraints which would have been 
 improper in an ordinary state of affairs ; and tender-^ 
 ness apart, we liugiu to be cautious in censuring their 
 conduct, as it may turn out, on an accurate know- 
 ledge of all the facts, that measures which at first 
 view appeared intolerant or unreasonably severe were 
 indispensibly necessary to the public safety. Nor 
 should we overlook the character and designs of the 
 sectaries, who rose on the suppression of the arbitrary 
 and malignant party ; and whose claims on the head 
 of liberty of conscience were resisted, by men decid- 
 edly averse to the use of force in religious matters, 
 as dangerous to the religion, liberties, and peace of 
 the three kingdoms *. If the state of parties and the 
 
 •Seethe lives of Ciilnkcr and l.li^hlfool, in Biogrnphia Bri- 
 (annic'u, vol. iv. p. 'iKHi. vol. p. 'M'J'3. 
 
156 
 
 circumstances of tlie time be narrowly investigated, 
 it will appear, I think, that the public proceedings, so 
 far from being obnoxious to the charge of persecu- 
 tion, were upon the whole marked with uncommon 
 lenity and tenderness, even amidst open war and the 
 plots and cabals of factions, political and religious ; 
 and that that period, instead of being distinguished by 
 restrictions on opinions and practices, was rather not- 
 ed for the relaxation of ecclesiastical discipline and 
 penal laws, and for a more licentious freedom and 
 greater diversity of religion than ever prevailed in 
 any period of British history. 
 
 In the third place, the most exceptionable acts and 
 proceedings took place in consequence of the rejec- 
 tion of those salutary measures which the Presbyter- 
 ians had advised. Suffice it to state here, that, in con- 
 sequence of the opposition of the Independents 
 on the one hand and the Erastians on the other, 
 the settlement of ecclesiastical government and 
 discipline, according to the plan agreed on by 
 the Westminster Assembly, was delayed from time 
 to time, and ultimately refused by the Parlia- 
 ment of England. In this disorganized state of 
 the church, disorders of various kinds took place, 
 innumerable sects sprung up, and errors and blas- 
 phemies, fomierly unheard of and shocking to Christ- 
 ian ears, were every where propagated. Alarmed 
 at these appearances, and seeing matters fast tend- 
 ing to anarchy and confusion in the nation, the Par- 
 liament took the aft'air into their own hands, and pub- 
 lished an ordinance intended to check and punish 
 these evils. The Presbyterians l)y their declarations 
 and petitions may be brought in as accessory to this 
 measure ; but it ought not to be forgotten tliat they 
 had predicted the consequences which would arise 
 
157 
 
 from the dilatory proceedings of parliament ; that 
 they had uniformly testified an earnest desire to have 
 religious errors and disorders corrected by spiritual 
 means ; and had avowed their conviction, that a 
 scriptural discipline, if erected and allowed freel)- to 
 exert itself, would accomplish that desirable end, with- 
 out the interposition of any secular violence *. 
 
 * In a work published two years before the time now refer- 
 red to, Mr Baillie made the following striking declaration t 
 " Now, indeed, everv' monster walks in the street without con- 
 trolement, while all ecclesiastic government is cast asleep ; this 
 too too long inter-reign and mere anarchy hath invited every un- 
 clean creature to creep out of its cave, and shew in publikc its 
 niislia|>cn face to all, who like to behold. But, if once the govem- 
 meotof Christ were set up amongst us, as it is in the rest of the 
 reformed churches, we know not what would impede it, by the 
 swonl of God alone, without any secular violence, to banish out 
 of the land these spiiils of error, in all meekness, humility, and 
 love, by the force of truth convincing and satisfying the minds 
 of the seduced. £piscopal courts were never fitted for the re- 
 claiming of minds; their prisons, tiieir fines, their pillories, their 
 nose-slittings, their ear-cuttings, their cheek-buniings, did but 
 hold down the flame tobrcak out in season witli the greater ruge. 
 But, the reformed Presbytery doth proceed in a spiritual method 
 evidently fitted for the gaining of hearts. — It is not prophecy, 
 but a rational prediction bottomed upon reasons and multiplied 
 experience : Let England once be countenanced by her superior 
 powers, to enjoy the just and necessary liberty of consistories for 
 congregations, of presbyteries for counties, of synods for larger 
 shires, and national assemblies for the whole land, as Scotland 
 hath long jwssesscd these by the unanimous consent of king and 
 parliament, without the least prejudice to the civil state, but to 
 the evident and confessed benefit, thereof ; or as the very pro- 
 teslants in France, by the concession of a |Hipisli slate and king, 
 have enjoyed all these four spiritual courts the last fourscore 
 yean and above : I'ut these holy and divine instruments in the 
 hand of the Church of England, by the blessing of God there> 
 u|«on, the sore and great evil of so many heresies and schisms 
 shall quickly be cured, which now not only troubles the pu.-t e 
 
158 
 
 The last class of objections to which I propose ad- 
 verting is that which relates to the Solemn League 
 and Covenant. It will not be expected that I should 
 say any thing here in the way of direct answer to those 
 who find fault with the matter of that deed, or who 
 deny the lawfulness and binding force of all covenants 
 about matters of religion. The following considera- 
 tions may perhaps tend to obviate some of the difficul- 
 ties which are felt respecting the form, enactment, 
 and obligation of the Solenm League. Covenants 
 and oaths are of the same general nature, and retain 
 their proper and primary design, by whomsoever tliey 
 are employed, and to whatever purposes they may be 
 applied. Their lawfulness, utility, and obligation are 
 recognized among all people, and recourse has been 
 had to them on all great occasions tliat required their 
 interposition. Revelation teaches more explicitly 
 and corroborates their warrants and obligations, dis- 
 covers new objects about which they may emploj'ed, 
 andgives directions astothepropermannerof perform- 
 ing these and other acts of moral duty. It expressly 
 ascertains their use and application to moral and re- 
 ligious purposes, as well as to the ordinary affairs of 
 human society. There is a law of morality and reli- 
 gion common to men ; and the use of these bonds of 
 fidelity in the peculiar concerns of Christains, or of 
 ecclesiastical societies, docs not abolish or supersede 
 their use for any other lawful purpose. The gospel 
 neither adds any essential duties to the law, nor con- 
 fines it within narrower limits as to persons or objects. 
 
 and welfare, but hazards tlie Tcry subsistence both of church 
 and kingdom : without this mean, the Stale will tail itartf in 
 vain about the cure of such spiritual diseases." ( Uaillic's Dii- 
 tuasivc from the Knorii of liic Tinic, prcf. p. 7, 8.} 
 
159 
 
 Covenants and oaths are sacred in themselves, inde- 
 pendently of the matter of them. In respect of their 
 matter and immediate end they may be civil, political, 
 or ecclesiastical, or they may be of a mixed kind, in 
 which objects of a different nature are combined for 
 the better attaining of some great purpose of public 
 good ; they may be private or public ; spontaneous, 
 and about matters to which persons were not previous- 
 ly bound, or framed and enjoined by authority ; more 
 general or particular ; more extensive or limited ; 
 temporary or perpetual. They may t'ormally consist 
 in mutual stipulations between individuals or bodies 
 of men, or they may consist in a common engagement 
 to (jod, which is the strongest and most solemn way 
 in which men can become bound to one another. 
 They may relate to the intrinsic affairs of a church, 
 or to the external state and interests of cimrches and 
 nations. Any of these are lawful and obligatory w hen 
 entered into on a due call and on proper grounds- 
 All the temporal and common afiairs of men are ca- 
 pable of a religious direction and use, and may be 
 subordinated to the great ends of advancing the di- 
 vine glory and spiritual interests. No duties moral 
 or religious, can be acceptably performed but by 
 those who are acquainted with the gospel and instat- 
 ed m tiie covenant of grace ; but this must not be 
 confounded w ith their warrants or obligations. Of 
 covenanting considered as a public duty performed 
 by Christians solely in their ecclesiastical capacity — of 
 the distinction between it and those engagements, 
 virtual or actual, which are constitutive of churches 
 or of church membership, — of the distinction between 
 it and the act of faith which brings persons to an in- 
 terest in the covenant of grace, and ought not to be 
 viewed as a promise of fidelity or engagement cither 
 
160 
 
 to God or man — of the additional formality and so- 
 lemn sanctions which discriminate it from that open 
 profession of interest in God and obedience to him 
 wliich is in some way made by all believers and in all 
 churches — and of the special reasons and calls for 
 these high sanctions and pledges, — I do not propose 
 here to speak. 
 
 All the noted covenants and leagues in which the 
 interests of the Reformation throughout Europe were 
 so deeply concerned, were of a mixed kind. They 
 conlained engagements on the part of the confede- 
 rates to defend one another in the profession of the 
 Protestant religion, or iu throwing off the authority of 
 Rome, and correcting abuses, v.'hicli were partly reli- 
 gious and partly political. They were entered into by 
 public men, in their several secular capacities, as well 
 as religious, and even by corporate bodies. Such was 
 the League of Smalcalde, of the Swiss Cantons, and 
 of the Evangelic Body in Germany ; and the Cove- 
 nants of the Protestant princes and towns in France, 
 and in the Netherlands. Such also were the Nation- 
 al Covenants in Britain. The Solemn League was 
 a complex deed, both in its form, and in its matter. It 
 was not only a covenant with God,butalso between peo- 
 ple and people, for reciprocal benefit, and on certain 
 mutual terms : security was stipulated on the one part 
 and aid on the other, in the prosecution of its great ol)- 
 jects. Religion formed the great and principal matter 
 of it, but the promoting of this was not its sole object. 
 National reformation and uniformity were combined 
 with national liberty, safety, peace, loyalty, and law. 
 It was adapted to " the dangerous, distressed, and 
 deplorable estate" of the three " kingdoms," as well 
 as of the " churches" in them. It was not, therefore, 
 a mere church-covenant, but was framed, sworn, 
 
161 
 
 enjoined, and promoted by the public authorities of 
 both church and state. 
 
 Some condemn this as an improper blending 
 of heterogeneous matter, and think that our ances- 
 tors ought to have framed two separate covenants — 
 one in defence of their civil liberties, and another for 
 religious purposes. If those who express this opi- 
 nion will make the trial, I apprehend they will find 
 in it articles (and these not the least important), which 
 they will be unable to dispose of, without making a 
 third covenant, to be taken by all, or else adding 
 them to each of the two, as equally pertaining to both. 
 In either way they will inevitably plunge into what 
 they call the old error of blending. There were pe- 
 culiar duties which those in civil, and even in military 
 stations, owed respecting the articles which were of a 
 religious complexion ; and, vice versa, there were du- 
 ties which ministers of tlie gospel and church courts 
 owed respecting those which were civil, political, or 
 military. The truth is, there is no article in the Solemn 
 League that is either purely civil, or purely religious. 
 The civil things in it were connected with the religi- 
 ous, and the religious bore a relation to the nationiU 
 state and policy at that time. An accurate acquaint- 
 ance with the circumstances in which our ancestors 
 were placed, will, I presume, fully justify the mea- 
 sure they adopted, and shew that they acted with the 
 greatest wisdom, when they embodied in one com- 
 mon engagement to God and among themselves those 
 things which providence had joined together, and 
 thus secured the vigorous and combined exertions of 
 the friends of religion and liberty in a cause that was 
 common to both. Nor did this imply any undue blend- 
 ing of things which, though connected, are in their 
 nature distinct, nor any confounding of the consti- 
 
162 
 
 tutlon and powers of church and state, or of the 
 respective offices and duties of the covenanters. It 
 mayjust as wellbe said, (to make use of a familiar com- 
 parison), that, when a mason and carpenter enter in- 
 to a joint contract to finish a building, there is a con- 
 fusion of trades, and that the one is to labour in the 
 occupation of the other, instead of doing each his 
 own work, and providing what is common to both. 
 To separate the civil part of the covenant from the 
 religious, and judge of it piece-meal, is to proceed on 
 a fanciful supposition of something that never had an 
 existence. As one complex and undivided whole 
 was it framed, enacted, sworn, promoted ; and as one 
 whole must it be judged, and stand or fall. 
 
 The manner in which the covenant was enjoined 
 to be taken in Scotland — " under all civil pains," has 
 not been approved by Seceders in any of their pub- 
 lic papers. Private writers of their connection who 
 have vindicated the injunction-clause, have not con- 
 sidered it as extending beyond exclusion from places 
 of power and trust. Whatever may be the legal im- 
 port of the phrase, I believe this interpretation ac- 
 cords with the fact ; and, so far as I know, it cannot 
 be shewn, that, with the consent and approbation of 
 the public authorities, the covenant was forced upon 
 any, or that the loss of liberty or of goods was in- 
 curred by them for simply refusing it. I frankly con- 
 fess, that I have not yet seen any good reason, in point 
 of religion, justice, or good policy, for condenming 
 the exclusion of those who did not take the Solemn 
 League from places of authority and public trust. It 
 was the great bond of union, and test of fidelity, 
 among those who were embarked in that cause in 
 defence of which the Parliaments had already drawn 
 their swords. A due regard to the high interests 
 
1G3 
 
 whicli were at stake, as well as their own safety and 
 the maxims of prudence by which all people are guid- 
 ed in similar circumstances, required that they should 
 carefully distinguish between those who were well or 
 ill affected to their cause, and that they should not en- 
 trust the more active management and defence of it 
 to such as were of the latter description. In the ex- 
 traordinary circumstances in which they were placed, 
 a mixed test, partly civil and partly religious, became 
 so far necessary to ascertain common friends and 
 foes. There might be (I have no doubt there were) 
 individuals peaceably disposed, and even friendly to 
 the cause of the Parliaments, so fiir as civil liberty 
 was concerned, who yet scrupled at the stipulations 
 in the covenant which related to religion. But laws 
 cannot be made for individuals ; it belonged to the 
 public authorities to determine what description of 
 persons it was safe, in the peculiar circumstances, to 
 entrustwith power ; and in times of national confusion, 
 danger, and war, when all that is valuable to a peo- 
 ple may be put in jeopardy, individuals may be re- 
 quired to forego or may be restricted in the exercise 
 of those rights which, in an ordinary and quiet state 
 of society, they may be entitled to claim. The 
 vindicating of sucli tests in certain times and in re- 
 ference to certain parties, does not imply an approv- 
 al of them ill times or in reference to parties of a very 
 different description. 
 
 The continued obligation of our National Cove- 
 nants, is of greater importance tlian any particular 
 measure adopted in prosecuting tlicm. In what I 
 have to say on this branch of the subject, I sliall 
 keep the Solemn League more particularly in eye, 
 botii because it comprehends the substance of the 
 Nationul Covenant of Scotland, and because it has 
 
164 
 
 been the object of more frequent attack. It is not 
 every lawful covenant, nor even every lawful cove- 
 nant of a public nature, that is of permanent obliga- 
 tion. Some of both kinds, from their very nature or 
 from other circumstances, may undoubtedly be tem- 
 porary. The permanent obligation of the Solemn 
 League results from the permanency of its nature 
 and design, and of the parties entering into it, taken 
 in connection with the public capacity in which it 
 was established. Some talk of it as it were a mere 
 temporary expedient to which our forefathcis had 
 recourse in defending their civil and religious liber- 
 ties ; and, when they have paid a compliment to it in 
 this point of view, they think they have no more con- 
 cern with the matter. This is a very naiTOW and mis- 
 taken view of the deed. The most momentous tran- 
 sactions, and most deeply and durably affecting the 
 welfare and the duty of nations and of churches, may 
 be traced to the influence of the extraordinary and 
 emergent circumstances of a particular period. The 
 emergency which led to the formation of the cove- 
 nant is one thing, and the obligation of that covenant 
 is quite another : the former might quickly pass 
 away, while the latter may be permanent and perpe- 
 tual. Nor is the obligation of the covenant to be 
 determined by the temporary or changeable nature 
 of its subordinate and accessory articles. Whatever 
 may be said of some of the things, engaged to in the 
 Solemn League, there cannot be a doubt that in its 
 great design and leading articles it was not -tempor- 
 ary but permnnent. Though the objects inuncdiate- 
 ly contemplated by it — religious reformation and uni- 
 formity — had been accomplished, it would still have 
 continued to oblige those w ho were under its bond 
 to adhere to and uiaintuin these ultainments. lh\X 
 
165 
 
 unhappily there is no need of having recourse to this 
 h'ne of argument : its grand stipulations remain to this 
 day unfulfilled. The Solemn League was a national 
 co\enant and oath, in every point of view, — in its 
 matter, its form, the authority by which it was enjoined 
 the capacities in which it was sworn, and the manner 
 in which it was ratified It was a sacred league be- 
 tween kingdom and kingdom with respect to their 
 religious as well as their secular interests, and at the 
 same time a covenant in which they jointly swore to 
 (iod to perform all the articles contained in it. Na- 
 tional religion, national safety, liberty and peace, 
 were the great objects which it embraced. It was 
 not a mere agreement or confederation (however so- 
 lemn) of individuals or private persons (however nu- 
 merous), entering spontaneously and of their own ac- 
 cord Into a common engagement. It was framed and 
 concluded by the representatives of kingdoms in con- 
 currence with those of the church ; it was sworn by 
 them in their public capacity ; at their call and by 
 their authority, it was afterwards sworn by the body 
 of the people in their different ranks and orders; and 
 finally it was ratified and pronounced valid by laws 
 both civil and ecclesiastical. The public faith was 
 thus plighted by all the organs through whicli a na- 
 tion is accustomed to express its mind and will. No- 
 thing was wanting to complete the national tie, and to 
 render it permanent ; unless it should be maintained 
 that absolute unaninnty is necessary, and that a socie- 
 ty cannot contract lawful engagements to (>od ornian, 
 as long as there are individuals whoopposo and are dis- 
 sentient. Sanctions less sacred, and pledges less nu- 
 merous, would have given another nation, or even an 
 individual, a perfect right to demand from IJritain the 
 fulfilment of any treaty or contract ; and shall not 
 
166 
 
 God, who was not only a witness but the principal 
 party, and wliose honour and interests were imme- 
 diately concerned, in this transaction, have a like 
 claim ; or shall we " break the covenant and escape ?"' 
 Some of the principles on w hich it has been at- 
 tempted to loose this sacred tie, are so opposite to 
 the common sentiments of mankind, that it is not 
 necessary to refute them ; such as, that cove- 
 nants, vows, and oaths, cannot superadd any ob- 
 ligation to that which we are previousl}' under by 
 the law of God ; and, that their obligation on poste- 
 rity consists merely in the influence of example. 
 There is another objection which is of a more spe- 
 cious kind and lays claim to greater accuracy, but 
 which on examination will be found both unsolid and 
 inaccurate. It is pleaded, that it is only in the cha- 
 racter of churcli-membcrs that persons can enter in- 
 to religious covenants or be bound by them ; and 
 that the covenants of this country can be called na- 
 tional on no other ground than because the majority 
 of the inhabitants in their individual character volun- 
 tarily entered into them. At present I can only state 
 some general considerations tending to shew the fal- 
 lacy of this view of the subject. By church-mem- 
 bers may be meant either those who are in actual 
 communion with a particular organized church, or 
 those who stand in a general relation to the church 
 universal ; but in neither of tiicse senses can it be 
 said that religious covenants or bonds are incompe- 
 tent or non-obligatory in every other character. 
 This is to restrict the authority of the divine law 
 in reference to moral duties, and to limit tjie ob- 
 ligations which result from it, in a way that is not 
 warranted either by Scripture> or reason. How 
 can that which is founded on the moral law, and 
 
167 
 
 which is moral-natural, not positive, be confined to 
 church-members, or to Christians in the character of 
 church-members only? The doctrine in question is al- 
 so highly objectionable, as it unduly restricts the reli- 
 gious character of men, and the sphere of their ac- 
 tion about religious matters, whether viewed as indi- 
 viduals or as formed into societies and communities. 
 Tliey are bound to act for the honour of God, anil 
 are capable of contracting sacred obligations, (sacred 
 both in their nature and in their objects) in all the 
 characters and capacities which they sustain. I know 
 no good reason for holding that when a company of 
 men or a society act about religion, or engage in re- 
 ligious exercises, they are therebj' converted into a 
 church, or act merely and properly as church-mem- 
 bers. Families are not churches, nor are they con- 
 stituted properly for a religious purpose ; yet they 
 have a religious character, and are bound to act ac- 
 cording to it in honouring and serving God, and are 
 capable of contracting religious obligations. Nations 
 also have a religious character, and may act about 
 the affairs of religion. They may make their profes- 
 sion of Christianity, and legally authorize its institu- 
 tions, without being turned into a cimrch ; and why 
 may they not also come under an oath and covenant 
 with reference to it, which shall be nationally bind- 
 ing? Covenanting may be said to be by a nation 
 as brought into a church-state, acting in this re- 
 ligious capacity — the oath may be dispensed by 
 ministers of the gospel and accompanied by the usual 
 exercises of religion in the church, and yet it may 
 not be an ecclesiastical deed. The marriage-cove- 
 nant and vow is founded on the original law, and 
 its duties, as well as the relation which it establisiics, 
 arc common to men, and of a civil kind. Vet 
 
168 
 
 among Christians it is mixed with religious engage- 
 ments, and celebrated religiously in the church. 
 Ministers of the gospel officiate in dispensing the 
 vow, and accompany it with the word and prayer. 
 The parties are bound to marry in the Lord, and to 
 live together as Christians. But is the marriage vow 
 on that account ecclesiastical, or do the parties en- 
 gage as church-members only ? The Christian char- 
 acter is, in such cases, combined with the natural, 
 domestic, civil, political. Much confusion also 
 arises on this subject from not attending to the spe- 
 ciiic object of our National Covenants, and the na- 
 ture of their stipulations, by which they are distin- 
 guished from mere church-covenants. I shall only 
 add that several objections usually adduced on this 
 head may be obviated by keeping in mind, that 
 the obhgation in question is of a moral kind, and 
 tliat God is the principal party who exacts the fulfil- 
 ment of the bond. 
 
 If there is any truth in the statements that have 
 now been made, the question respecting the obliga- 
 tion of the British covenants is deeply interesting to 
 the present generation. The identity of a nation, as 
 existing through different ages, is, in all moral respects, 
 as real as the identity of an individual througii the whole 
 period of his life. The individuals that compose it, like 
 the particles of matter in the human body, pass away 
 and are succeeded by others; but the body politic con- 
 tinues essentially the same. If Britain contracted a 
 moral obligation, in virtue of a solemn national cove- 
 nant for religion and reformation, tiiat obligation nmst 
 attach to iier until i has been discharged. Have tlie 
 pledges given by the nation been yet redeemed? Do 
 not the principal stipulations in the covenant remain 
 unfulfilled at this day ? Are w e not as a people still 
 
169 
 
 bound by that engagement to see these things done ? 
 Has the lapse of time cancelled the bond ? Or, will 
 a change of sentiments and views set us free from 
 its tie ? Is it not the duty of all the friends of re- 
 formation to endeavour to keep alive a sense of this 
 obligation on the public mind ? But, although all 
 ranks and classes in the nation should lose im- 
 pressions of it, and although there should not be a 
 single religious denomination, nor even a single in- 
 dividual, in the land, to remind them of it, will it 
 not be held in remembrance by One, with whom " a 
 thousand years are as one day, and one day as a 
 thousand years ?" 
 
 By this time the reader must be aware of the 
 general opinion which I entertain of the basis on 
 which the two largest Synods of the Secession have 
 lately united. It is not my intention to enter into 
 any particular examination of the articles of that 
 agreement. Complexly taken they afford undenia- 
 ble proof of a complete recession from the ground ori- 
 ginally occupied by Seceders. The exception made 
 to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Cate- 
 chisms, is expressed in such a way as to leave on 
 them the imputation of teaching persecuting princi- 
 ples in matters of religion, and in such a way as to set 
 aside, or to throw loose, the whole doctrine which they 
 teach respecting the exercise of magistratical authori- 
 ty about these matters; Besides, the united Synod 
 merely " retain" these books, " as (to use their own 
 words) the confession of our faith, expressive of the 
 sense in which we understand the Holy Scriptures ;" 
 but do not receive them, as was formerly done by the 
 the Church of Scotland and rn the Secession, under 
 the consideration of their being subordinate standards 
 of uniformity for the three nations. The other sland- 
 
 H 
 
170 
 
 ards, the Westminster " Form of Cliurch-govern- 
 ment," and " Directory," are entirely excluded from 
 the Basis. The general statement on the head of 
 Presbyterian government is chargeable with ambigu- 
 ity, and, unless inadvertency be pleaded, is evasive. 
 The expression of veneration for our Reforming 
 ancestors, and of a warm sense of the value of 
 their efforts " in the cause of civil and religi- 
 ous liberty," 1 have no doubt, is " unfeigned ;" and 
 the approval of " the method ado})ted by them 
 for mutual excitement and encouragement by so- 
 lemn confederation and vows to God," is so far 
 good. But I must be allowed to add, that this is 
 saying no more than has been often said, by those 
 friends of civil and religious liberty whose system of 
 religion was very opposite to that of our Reforming 
 ancestors ; and that it is a very poor substitute for 
 tliat explicit approbation of and adherence to the Co- 
 venanted Reformation of Britain which Seceders for- 
 merly avouched. This is all that the United Synod 
 have to say respecting our National Covenants ; they 
 " approve of the method adopted — by solemn confed- 
 eration and vows to God;" but they have not a word to 
 say on the present or continued obligation of these vows. 
 J"or, surely, it was not expected that the public would 
 consider this as included in the following declara- 
 tion : " We acknowledge that we are under high 
 obligations to maintain and promote the work of Re- 
 formation begun, and to a great extent carried on 
 by them." Nothing, in fact, could be more disgrace- 
 ful to these covenants tlian to attempt to bring 
 them in under the cover of such an expression : and, 
 after the open, decided, exj)ress, and repeated avow- 
 als of the perpetual obligation of the National Co- 
 venant of Scotland and the Solemn League and Co- 
 
171 
 
 venant of the three kingdoms, m the former profes- 
 sion, and in the Ordination-formula, of the two bo- 
 dies no«' composing the Union, the omission of every 
 thing of this kind, and the careful exclusion of the very 
 names of these covenants, can be view ed in no other 
 light than a practical renunciation of their obligation', 
 and a rescinding of all former declarations in favour of 
 it. If the United Synod were the same with the ori- 
 ginal Seceding body, how severely would thej' con- 
 demn themselves by the charge which they once and 
 againbrought against the Established Church after the 
 Revolution, because " they did not, by any particu- 
 lar act of Assembly, assert the oliligation of our Co- 
 venants, national and solemn league, and their bind- 
 ing force upon posterity *," On the provision made 
 by the articles for the practice of covenanting, I have 
 only to observe, that this exercise was all alone view- 
 ed, in that part of the Secession by which it was ob- 
 served, as the most solemn mode of sealing the com- 
 mon profession of the whole body ; that as such it 
 was engaged in at the express cail of tlie supreme 
 judicatory ; and that, when tlic United Synod cannot 
 say that " the circumstances of Providence require 
 it," I can scarcely persuade myself that it is seri- 
 ously contemplated to practise tliis sacred service in 
 a manner which would discredit it, and which is totally 
 irreconcilable with Presbyterian principles f . With 
 respect to the religious clause in some Burgess oaths 
 
 * Act and Testimony, in Display, i. 90. Acknowledgement 
 of Sins, ib. 231. 
 
 t Fonncrly sessions were left to dt terrainc wlicu the per- 
 formance of the duty was suitaMc to tlie cireiinislanccs of their 
 respective congrejjnlions ; but now llity nmsi determine whether 
 Providence is reqiiirin!^ the duty, or in other words, whether it 
 be at all a duty incumbcul on the church iu the present times, 
 
 11 2 
 
172 
 
 which occasioned the original strife, the preamble 
 to the Basis supposes that there are some " towns 
 where it may still exist," and all the provision it 
 makes with respect to this is, that " both Synods 
 agree to use what may appear to them the most 
 proper means for obtaining the abolition" of it. 
 No provision is made, that, if they shall be unsuccess- 
 ful in their applications for an abolition of it, the oath 
 shall not be taken in the united society ; although it 
 is well known that one of the parties had all along 
 maintained that Seceders involved themselves in con- 
 tradiction by swearing it, and continued down to 
 the time of the Union, to require all intrants to 
 public office among them to declare their solemn ap- 
 probation of an act condemning it in this point of 
 view. They are thus involved in a judicial allowance 
 of what they hold to be sinful ; and have recognized 
 a principle which may be applied to an indefinite ex- 
 tent, and wliich ought to have been guarded against 
 witli the utmost care, as it enters into all the loose 
 plans of communion which are so fashionable in the 
 present day. This is still more evident from the en- 
 gagement which they have come under, that they 
 " shall carefully abstain from agitating in future 
 tlie questions which occasioned" the separation. 
 It is proposed that the united Synod shall prepare 
 a Testimony, " containing the substance of the Ju- 
 dicial Act and Testimony, the Act concerning the 
 Doctrine of Grace, and the Answers to Nairn's 
 Reasons of Dissent." What some may under- 
 stand by the substance it may be difficult to say; 
 but if the proposed Testimony really contain the sub- 
 stance of the first and last named of these papers, 
 the basis will not support the superstructure. In an^ 
 swer to all this, some will say, We are at full liberty 
 
173 
 
 to hold all our principles as formerly. But such per- 
 sons should remember, that the question is not about 
 their principles, but the principles, or rather the pub- 
 lic profession, of the body; and that it has been 
 chiefly by means of the latter, that the declarative glo- 
 ry of God has been promoted in every age, and his 
 truths and cause preserved and transmitted to pos- 
 terity. 
 
 It is painful to me to be obliged to speak in this 
 manner of the terms of a union, which it would have 
 filled my heart with delight to see established on a 
 solid and scriptural foundation. But in such cases there 
 is a duty incumbent on all the friends of the cause of 
 the Reformation and the Secession : and this they 
 must discharge whatever it may cost them, and re- 
 gardless of the obloquy that they may hereby in- 
 cur. They are sacredly bound to adhere to that 
 cause, to confess it, and, according to the calls 
 of providence, to appear openly in its defence. It 
 cannot but be grieving to them to find that the at- 
 tempt made to heal the breach among its profess- 
 ed friends has discovered that disaffection to it 
 existed to a greater extent than they could have 
 imagined. They may be accused as the enemies of 
 peace and union. But they have this consolation, 
 that they still occupy that ground on which their 
 fathers displayed a faithful testimony for the truths 
 and laws of Christ against prevailing defection ; 
 and that they arc adhering, without any reservation, 
 or any mark of dissent, to that testimony, and to 
 those books of public authority which were former- 
 ly agreed on for settling and preserving religious 
 unity and communion on the most extended scale. 
 And they are encouraged to maintain this ground 
 by the hope which they still cherish, that the 
 
174 
 
 God of their fathers and of their vows, will yet, in his 
 merciful providence, bring round a time of reforma- 
 tion ; and that, when this period shall have arrived, 
 the ^^'estnlinster Standards may form a rallying-point 
 around which the scattered friends of religion, in this 
 land, shall meet, and again happily combine. 
 
 THE £.VD. 
 
 Caw ii. Killer, Piiiuers. 
 
Lately Published 
 
 BY 
 
 THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 1. 
 
 Handsomely printed in Two Voliinics Octavo, with Porlnuti of 
 Knox and Regent Murray, Piiee £ 1, Is. Uoards, 
 
 THE FOURTH EDITION 
 OF THE 
 
 LIFE OF JOHN KNOX, 
 
 CONTAINING 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE 
 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND; 
 With Biograpliical Notices of tlic I'rincipal Reformers, and 
 Sketches of the Progress of Literature in Scotland, during a 
 great part of the Sixlecntli Centui^. To whieii is sulyrnncd, 
 an Appendix, containing Letters and other Papers iiilhcrto 
 unpuhlislicd. 
 
 Several additional facts and piipers of importance have 
 been introduced into this Edition. For the use of such as are 
 already in possession of the Work, copies of these additions are 
 published separately. Price Is. 
 
 II. 
 
 Handsomely printed in Two large ^'olu^^es Octavo, price £ 1, Is. 
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE. 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 Illustrations of the Ecclesiastical and Literary lli>tiiry of Scot- 
 land, during the latter part of the. Sixteenth and beginning 
 of the Seventeenth Century. With au Appcudi.x, consisting 
 of Original Papers.