(^I)lWeUa^

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

BY THE

REV. GEORGE DANA BOARDMAN, D.D.

Unity of the Church;
OR,
Problem of Ecclesiastical Unity.
Paper read before Sixth Annual Session of Baptist
Congress at Indianapolis. Ind., Nov. 15, 1887,
BY
GEORGE DANA BOARDMAN,

AUTHOR OF

1 S'l'l DIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK," UStUDIESIN THE MODEL PRAYER," "EPIPH
ANIES of the Riskn Lord," "Studies in the Mountain
Instruction," "The Divine Man," Etc.

" That they may be one, even as we are one ; I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be perfected into one.'' — Our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Chnst.

NEW YORK :
Church and Home Publishing Co.,
721 East 141st Street.

1888.

COPYRIGHT by
CHURCH AND HOME PUBLISHING CO.
1888.

To
The One Bride of The One Bridegroom
This Study in
Church Unity
Is Lovingly Offered.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.
Perhaps the most blessed sign of these latter days is the deep longing of
many of Christ' 's people for the speedy fulfilment of his promise of the Unity
of his Church. It is to be feared, however, that this longing is often as vague as
it is deep, springing from misapprehensiofts touching the nature of this prom
ised Unity. It is a chief design of this pamphlet to clear away , so far as may
be, these misapprehensions, and to show the real nature of this promised Unity;
•what it does not mean as well as what it does mean. Accordingly, this bro
chure is not offered as an ecclesiastical irenicon, or specific device for securing
Church-Unity: it is rather a presentation of the fundamental principles which
constitute Churchy-Unity \ and which alone can make Church-Unity possible.
IVhen mists are cleared away, Zion's watchmen will see eye to eye. G. D. B.
Philadelphia, March, 1888.

the Word
Church."

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH;
OR,
PROBLEM OF ECCLESIASTICAL UNITY.

TN pondering the problem of Church Unity, let us note,
¦¦*¦ first, the meaning of the word, "Church;" secondly, the
meaning of the word "Unity;" thirdly, the meaning of the
words, "The Church a Unity ;" and, fourthly, "The Prob
lem of Ecclesiastical Unity."
And, first, the meaning of the word " Church." A clear, i.— meaning
mutual understanding of this word is vital to the discussion
in hand; for the word itself is so ambiguous that we often
glide from one of its meanings into another in the same
sentence without being aware of having made the transition;
and so our thoughts become obscure and even self-con
tradictory. Let me then define as exactly as possible the
word "church " as I use it in this brochure.
Archbishop Trench, in his New Testament Synonyms
instances the use of the Greek noun ekklesia, from which
comes our English adjective " ecclesiastical," and which is
translated "church," as a fine example of the power of
Christianity to ennoble not only language in general but
also particular words. Notice the steps by which this word,
ekklesia, rises in moral dignity. First, there is the primary,
classic sense, meaning a legally convoked assembly; as when
the citizens of Athens gathered in ekklesia, that is, town
meeting, or when the town clerk of Ephesus counselled the
mob to submit the affair of Demetrius against Paul to the
decision of the ekklesia, that is, the regular assembly. Sec
ondly, there is the Hebrew or rather the Septuagint sense,
meaning Jehovah's covenant people ; as when Moses

8
sang before all the ekklesia or assembly of Israel his fare
well song, or when the martyr Stephen in his plea before
the Sanhedrim alluded to ancient Israel as the ekklesia or
church in the wilderness. Thirdly, there is the New Tes
tament or Christian sense, meaning an organized band of
Christians; as when we read of the ekklesia or church in
Jerusalem or in Antioch. And when we have gained this
noble height to which Christianity carries up this originally
pagan word, we find a second series of moral ascents.
There is, first, as just hinted, a particular company of
Christians banded together in a definite place; as in the
phrase the ekklesia or church in the house of Aquila and
Priscilla; there is, secondly, the entire aggregate of profess
ing Christians, as when Paul speaks of having persecuted
the ekklesia or church of God; and, there is, lastly, the spir
itual company or ideal corporation of the regenerate, in
cluding the saints in heaven and the saints on earth and the
saints yet to come, as when Paul declares that Christ loved
the ekklesia or church, and gave himself up for it. Thus this
word ekklesia, translated church, is a noble instance of trans
figuration, showing how Jesus Christ does indeed make all
things new, infusing into the originally secular idea of a
lawful assembly of Greek citizens the new and exalted idea
of a universal and celestial society, even Christ's own Body.
Now it is of the Church in the last and noblest of these
meanings that I wish to speak chiefly in this paper. I do
not mean by this word church any local organization, or the
aggregate of organized churches, or the general mass of pro
fessing Christians. But I do mean by it the one organic,
universal, spiritual, ideal Church of the living God, which
he has bought with the blood of his adorable Son. Glance
for a moment at the difference between a church in the
sense of a human organization and the church in a sense of
a divine organism. An organized church is a voluntary
association, dependent on conditions of place and time and

9
form; it may be, and often is, rent by dissensions; it may
suffer extinction; it acts on itself legislatively and execu
tively, receiving or dismissing or disciplining or excluding
its members according to its own will; the relation between
its components is constructive and temporal; in brief, it is
an organization. But the church organic is a divine so
ciety, independent of conditions of place and time and
form. It was never " constituted " in human time and
space ; it was born of a past eternity, chosen in Christ eph. 1:4.
before the foundation of the world, having immortality
for its birthright and creation for its heirloom. Its mem
bers are not inserted into it by baptism or by letters
of transfer from other churches; they are corporate; essen
tial, living parts of it. Being that spiritual body of which
Christ is the spiritual head, there is between them, as be
tween him and them, community of sentiment — thought, ex
perience, judgment, purpose, movement, in a single word
life. And this ideal church, surveyed as a whole, in and by
itself, has never had an outward, formal organization. True,
it has its creed; but this creed is not written in any stone
tables of theological symbols; this creed is written with the 2 0oR- 3: **¦
Spirit of the living God in tables that are hearts of flesh.
It has its condition of membership; but this condition is
neither baptism nor vote of those already members; this
condition is faith in the Divine Father, as revealed in Jesus
Christ his Son, through demonstration of the Holy Ghost.
It has its member-roll; but this member-roll no mortal eye
has seen; this member-roll is the Lamb's roll of life. It
has its sessions; but these sessions are not held in any struc
tures of wood or brick or stone; these sessions are held in _
' Eph. 2: e.
the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It has its pastor ;
but this pastor no earthly presbytery has ordained ; this
pastor is the minister of the true tabernacle, which Heb 8. 2_
the Lord pitched, not man. It has its music; but this
music is not the audible melody of solo or chorus; this

10
music is the silent rhythm of human character and divine
grace. It has its baptism; but this baptism is not in any
matt, a: 11. earthly water; this baptism is in the Holy Spirit. It has its
communion; but this communion is not in any earthly bread
John 6:32-68. and wine ; this communion is in the living bread and the
living water that came down from heaven. It has its polity;
but this polity is not the polity of written constitution and
2 pet. s: n. by-laws; this polity is the polity of holy living and godliness.
It has its liturgy; but this liturgy is not the liturgy of rubric;
rom. 12:1. this liturgy is liturgy of daily character. Take all these
things away; take away creed and member-roll and sanc
tuary and minister and music and baptistery and com
munion-table and liturgy and discipline. What have you
taken away ? You have taken away only what is formal
and incidental and transient ; the church of the living God,
in all the essentials of her nature, still survives. Not that I
would for a moment hint that we do not need church or
ganizations or the enforcement of our Master's ordinances.
These we must have, and must strenuously maintain; for
they are, at least in this world, essential not only to the
spread of the gospel, but even to the preservation of the
Christian life itself. Indeed, I am almost ready to affirm
that without churches, that is, formal organizations, we
could hardly have the church, that is, the spiritual organism
which is the theme of this monograph. In fact, all life
tends to organization, even as all death tends to disorganiza
tion. Accordingly, a church in the sense of a formal or
ganization is as truly a divine institution as the church in
the sense of a spiritual organism. He who is too good for
a local, visible church is not good enough for the universal,
invisible church. In short, a church is Christ's appointed
means to the Church. Nevertheless, the church which we
are considering in this pamphlet is larger and diviner than
even the ecclesiastical organizations of the apostolic period.
It is the church of the heavenly Bridegroom, the spiritual

11

corporation of regenerated characters, the body of Jesus
Christ. I have dwelt thus long on this point, because this distinc
tion between the church as a human organization and the
church as a divine organism is of the utmost consequence,
theologically and practically. This word, church, is so am
biguous that unless we use it discriminatingly, the spirit of
a remark or even the tenor of a whole volume may be mis
interpreted. Let us then cherish the habit of using this
term, church, scrupulously, ever carefully distinguishing
between a church organized and the church organic ; be=
tween a church local and the church universal ; between a
church divisible and the church indivisible ; between a
church mortal and the church immortal; between a church
nominal and the church ideal ; between a church con
structed or man's fabric and the church born or Christ's
body. And it is this spiritual body of Christ, not the actual
church of Christendom, which is an organic unity. And so
we pass to note:
Secondly, the meaning of the word, " Unity."
Unity, I say, and not unit. For consider for a moment
the difference between them. A unit is a single one, sur
veyed externally, in isolation from other ones; a unity is a
single one, surveyed internally, in its parts, each and every
part being in mutual adjustment to a common end. A unit
is a bare one; a unity is the co-ordination of several differ
ent ones into a state of oneness. A unit is one in the sense
of numerical singleness; a unity is one in the sense of har
monious pluralness. For example : A molecule of water,
considered in its wholeness and in distinction from other
molecules of water, is a unit ; but the same molecule of
water, considered in its composition as made of eight
weights of oxygen and one weight of hydrogen, is a unity.
But unity implies something more than harmonious variety of

— Meaning of
the WORD
' Unity."

12
parts; it also implies the subordination of these various
parts to a common end. It is this co-operation of diverse
parts to a common end which makes these diverse parts as
a whole a unity. For example : The separate blocks in a
stone-yard are not a unity; they are only units ; but actually
bring them together and fit them to one another in due
shape and order for the purpose, say, of a temple structure,
and they become a unity. In brief, it is the co-ordination
of diverse units for a common end which makes a unity.
And observe the effectiveness of a duly grouped co-ordin
ated unity. How is it that a steam engine, small compared
with the mass it moves, is able to drive a mighty craft, with
her ponderous cargo, in teeth of billows and tempest, from
continent to continent ? It is not merely because it is made
of iron and worked by the expansive force of steam ; it is
also because piston and cylinder, beam and connecting-rod,
crank and fly-wheel, valve and condenser, pump and gov
ernor, all work in reciprocal adjustment and harmonious
confederacy to a common end, namely, to send the steamer
across the Atlantic. But let some slight derangement of the
machinery occur, some valve refuse to work, some cog in
terfere, some pin give way; and the engine, which has been
a useful unity, becomes a mass of useless units. In fine,
unity consists in converged diversities, where all the ends
are means and all the means are ends. And now we are
ready to ponder:
rn.— meaning of Thirdly, the meaning of the words, " The Church a Unity."
THE WORDS The . ...
church a unity." And here we see the vast importance, as I insisted m the
outset, of distinguishing clearly between the various uses of
this term, " church." For, alas, it must be confessed that
the church, in the technical, ecclesiastical, usual sense of
the word, as meaning the aggregate of the professors of
Christ's religion, is often far from being a unity; it is oftener
a church of discord than the church of concord. The only

clue-thread to the labyrinths of ecclesiastical history is the
keeping clearly and firmly in mind the distinct uses of this
v/ord, church; otherwise we shall speedily be entangled in
ambiguities, misconceptions, and quarrels. At the cost then
of iteration, but at the gain of clearness and emphasis, let
me again briefly define the word, church, as I use it in this
discussion. I do not mean by it any local organization, or
the aggregate of organized churches. But I do mean by it
the one organic church of the living God, the one church of
the elect and regenerate and sanctified and saved, the one
church of the spiritual corporation of redeemed humanity,
the one ideal church of the sum-total of Christly characters
in all lands and times and of all sects, the one church of
the second and continuous incarnation or the immortal
body of Christ; in brief, the one Church of the Lamb.
And it is the church in this spiritual, universal, immortal,
ideal, divine sense which, in virtue of her own nature, always
has been, is now and always must be, a unity.
This unity of the church will probably be best set forth
under the analogy of the human body; an analogy which
the apostle Paul often uses, notably in a classic para
graph of his first letter to the Corinthians :
As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the analogy of the
members of the body, being many, are one body ; so also is
Christ. Tor in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free ; and were all
made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is noi one member,
but many. If ihe foot shall say, Because I am not the hand,
I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body. And
if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the
body; it is not therefore not of the body. If the whole body
were an eye, where were the hearing! If the whole were
hearing, where were the smelling 2 But now hath God set
the members each one of them in the body, even as it pleased
him. And if they were all one member, where were the body ?

Human Body.
1 Cor. 12: 12:27.

14
But now they are many members, but one body. And the eye
cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee ; or again the
head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much rather,
those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble are
necessary; and those parts of the body, which we think to be less
honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor ; and
our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness ; whereas
our comely parts have no need : but God tempered the body
together, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked ;
that there should be no schism in the body ; but that the mem
bers should have the same care one for another. And whether
one member suffereth, all the members suffer with it ; or one
member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye
are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof {members
each in his part).
Of course, this paragraph does not teach that Christ and
his church form a corporeal structure, having bodily organs.
It is an analogy, not a proposition ; accordingly, it is to be
taken sense-wise, not sound-wise. And what the analogy
declares is this : The relation between Christ and his church
is as real, as vital, as reciprocal, as organic, as the relation
between the head and its body. And now let us attend to
some of the lessons which this profound analogy suggests.
Christ and his And, first, as the body, including head atid members, forms
church one per- one organism, so the Church, including Christ and his people,
forms one personality.
The statement, you perceive, is twofold. First, Christ
himself is the head : Grow up in all things into him who
is the head, even Christ. The church is no headless torso.
Being himself the head, Christ is, so to speak, the nervous
centre of his church, sharing her sensations, whether of joy
or of grief, co-ordinating her faculties, directing her move
ments, unifying her activities, maintaining her life. As
there is but one Christ, so there is but one head. The

SONALITY.

15
Lamb of God is no hydra-headed monster. And, sec
ondly, as Christ is the head, so the church is his body:
Gave him to be head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him who filleth all in all,
the overflowing receptacle of his measureless amplitudes.
Being his body, his church is, so to speak, a part of his own
personality, drawing from him her life, sharing his experience
and character, executing his will. As Augustine profoundly
says: Totus Christus caput et corpus est (the whole Christ
is head and body). Or, as another Latin proverb states
it still more compactly: Ubi Christus, ibi Ecclesia (Where
Christ, there Church). And as Christ is not a monstrosity,
in the sense of being many-headed, so his church is not a
monstrosity in the sense of being many-bodied. As there
is but one Christ, .the head, so there is but one church, his
body. Christ and his church form one personality.
May I add that evidences are not wanting that the theolo
gical mind of this generation is taking, under guidance of
the Holy Spirit, an onward step in its conception of the
church of the living God ? While the doctrine of the mutual
relation between Christ and each Christian is clearly and
stoutly held, the doctrine of the mutual relation between
Christ and his people, as a whole, has never been very pre
cisely stated, and this probably because it has never been
very precisely conceived. The idea, as a sort of divine
germ, has always existed in the bosom of the church. Ever
and anon we catch glimpses of it as of some vast, sublime,
yet dim, aerial conception, floating along the mighty stream
of the church's thought, experience and consciousness. It
seems to have received special hospitality in the bosom of
Thomas Aquinas, him whom his contemporaries loved to
style the Angelic Doctor; for he speaks often and warmly of
what he calls the Unio Mystica. But it can hardly be said to
have taken definite shape or to have been crystalized into a
formula, like its somewhat counterpart doctrine of the rela-

16
tion between Adam and his race. Unless I greatly mis
take, the drift of the general Christian meditation, the
church, under guidance of that blessed Spirit "from whom
all holy desires, all good counsels and all just works do
proceed," is swiftly gravitating toward deeper and clearer
views on this transcendent topic, even the acknowledging
of the mystery that Christ and his people are one, not as an
organization, but as an organism ; he the head, his people,
of whatever polity or name, his body ; and so he and they
absolutely one, " As the body is one, and hath many mem
bers, and all the members of the body, being many, are one
body ; so also is Christ."

Secondly, as the body involves diversity of members and func-

Christ and His
Church a Myri
ad-fold Diversity tlOttS, SO does the Church. '

As the body is not all brain or heart or eye or foot or
blood or nerve or bone or cell ; so the church is not all
conscience or reason or sensibility or will or creed or
polity or minister or layman or sex or sect. The church
has all variety of gift, faculty, grace, temperament, experi
ence, vocation, method, opportunity, conception. And as
uniformity is a mark of the. lowest stage of existence, so
variety is a mark of the highest. The nobler the life, the
more complex and differenced. For example : how won
derfully life complicates and diversifies as, starting with the
lowest forms of animal existence, we trace its ever-multiply
ing differentiations in the amoeba, the polyp, the clam, the
spider, the salmon, the lizard, the eagle, the lion, and, finally,
man himself. Indeed, one of the happiest definitions of life
is this (A.H.Guyot): "Life is the mutual exchanging of rela
tions." And the higher the life, the intenser the exchange.
Contrast, for instance, the child of barbarism and the child
of civilization. How simple the wants of the savage ; how
few and rude his tools ; you might almost gather them into
a shop. But how diversified the wants of the civilized man;

17
how numberless and complicated his instruments ; the Ex
position grounds of our American Centennial could not con
tain them. In brief, differentiation is the very condition of
life. Dead things are uniform; live things are multiform.
Every growing thing grows by multiplication of organs and
functions and their consignment to specific ends. Develop
ment is by specialization. How wonderfully this comes out
in the growth of the germinating vesicle of the egg or the cell.
And the higher the grade of being, the more individualized as
well as the more complicated, become its organs and func
tions. Now the church is the superbest finite instance of dif
ferentiation and specialization; and this alike in respect of
organs, functions, gifts, opinions, methods. She is a myriad-
fold diversity.
Thirdly, as the body' is diversity in unity, so also is the
Church. For recall the difference between a unit and a unity. A
unit is a single, isolated one; a unity is the systematized
union of diverse ones into a state of oneness. To illustrate
again from St, Paul's great analogy of the bodily organism : A
finger, surveyed as a finger in distinction from other fingers,
is a unit. But the hand, surveyed as a system of fingers, is
a unity. So a cell, surveyed as a cell in distinction from
other cells, is a unit; but the body, surveyed as a system of
cells co-ordinated into one common organism, is a unity.
And this convergent diversity is indispensable to the unity.
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing ? If
all the members were similar members, all eyes, or ears, or
noses, where were the body ? But now they are diverse
members, and therefore one body. And this diverse co-
membership is mutually co-necessary ; the eye cannot say
to the hand, " I have no need of thee." And this necessity
of diversity is especially true of the smaller, obscurer mem
bers of the body; those members which seem to be more

Christ and His
Church a Diver
sity ;n Unity.

18
feeble are necessary. If there were no cells, there could be
no blood; and if there were no blood, there could be no body,
either corporeal or personal. Thus the unity of the body
consists in the unified diversity of its parts. And the
church is the noblest specimen of a body, because she is
Christ's body, he the head and she the members. Accord
ingly, the church, in the adjustment of her own most multi
form organs, in the co-ordination of her own most diversi
fied functions, in the unification of her own most hetero
geneous elements and conditions, is the consummate,* finite
instance of unity as well as of diversity, of unity because of
psalm 133:1. diversity. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity.
the holy Spirit Observe now that it is the Holy Spirit who is the unifying
thf ec^t of force (n t]ie church or body of Christ. He it is who diversi-
THE CHURCH'S J y J
unity. fies the gifts, allots the functions, and unifies the whole.
Read another classic paragraph from the great Paul :
Now, there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And
there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord. And
there are diversities of workings, but the same God, who
worketh all things in all. But to each one is given the mani
festation of the Spirit to profit withal. For to one is given
through the Spirit the word of wisdom ; and to another the
word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit ; to another
faith, in the same Spirit ; and to another gifts of healing, in
the one Spirit; and to another workings of miracles ; and to
another prophecy ; and to another discernings of spirits; to an
other divers kinds of tongues; and to another the inter
pretation of tongues: but all these worketh the one and
the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as he will.
Thus it is that in one Spirit, even the Holy Ghost, all
we were baptised into one body, even the spiritual body of
Christ, whether we were Jews or Greeks, whether bond or
free, whether Quakers or Baptists and were all made to
?Deity is the infinite instance.

1 Cor. 12: 4-11.

19
drink of one Spirit, even the Divine. The Holy Ghost
is the secret of the church's unity.
Thus the diversified unity of the bodily organism is the
palmary symbol and type of the diversified unity of the
ideal organism or Christ's mystical body. And Christ's
mystical body or the ideal organism is in a certain sense
the divine model for our ecclesiastical organization, or the
actual church of Christendom. And the great, practical
problem of ecclesiology is to make the church organized
or man's fabric, coincident with the church organic or
Christ's body; a problem which, like the famous problem of
squaring the circle, though incapable of absolute solution,
is nevertheless capable of approximations ever closer and
closer. And this leads me to my concluding point.
Fourthly, the Problem of Ecclesiastical Unity. iv.— the prob-
. .. -ill LEM 0F Ecclesi-
Is such a unity desirable? If desirable, is it practicable? AST!CAL UN1TY.
If desirable and practicable, how can it be secured?
Observe then, first of all, that this unity, at least to a
certain degree, has been promised. It was foreshadowed
in the Old Testament conception of Israel as a single per
sonality. Even Caiaphas, sacrilegious pontiff though he was, j0HN 11:B2.
unconsciously prophesied that Jesus by his own death would
gather together (synagogue) into one the children of God
that are scattered abroad. Accordingly, the apostle Paul
repeatedly declares that in the new Society or Christian
Commonwealth, there is and can be neither Jew nor Greek, gal. 3: 28.
bond nor free, neither male nor female, but all are one in
Christ Jesus. And the Good Shepherd himself has promised
that the day is coming when all his sheep, of whatever fold, j0HN I0. 18.
shall become his one flock, even as he is already their one
Shepherd. And what our divine head has promised, we, his mem
bers, certainly should strive to realize. I am aware that
this seeking after Christian unity is often sneered at as a

20
girlish sentimentalism, unworthy the sturdy muscle of de-
juoe3. nominational champions contending earnestly for the faith
which was once for all delivered unto the saints. But
does it never occur to these redoubtable knights of the
matt. 22: 37-40. faith once for all delivered unto the saints, that that ancient
faith means chiefly this : Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy
self; there being no other commandment greater than these,
since on these two commandments hangeth the whole law,
and the prophets ? Do these doughty warriors of the prim
itive orthodoxy never catch a glimpse of the majestic truth
Rom. 13: 8-10. , , . ... , ,
gal. 5: 14. that the whole law is summed up in this royal word, name
ly: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, this love being
col. 3: h. itself the very bond of perfectness? Ay,
" I'm apt to think the man
That could surround the sum of things, and spy
The heart of God and secrets of his empire,
Would speak but love. With him the bright result
Would change the hue of intermediate scenes,
And make one thing of all theology.''
This matter, then, of Christian union is more than a mere
sentiment or sweet privilege; like humility or prayer or
faith, it is not even a matter of option; it is the most im
perial of the commandments, the ordinance of the ordin-
1 cor. 13: 13, ances. Now abideth faith, hope, love; these three, and the
1 John 4: ie. greatest of these is love. And no wonder, for God himself
is love; so that he who abideth in love abideth in God and
God in him. In brief, love is the characterizing mark of
the Christian religion, separating it discretively from all
other religions and by that fact proving it to be divine :
John 13: 35. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye
have love one to another." Accordingly, the last thing for
which the Man of Sorrows prayed was this, the unity of his
John 17: 22, 23. church: " Father, that they maybe one, even as we are
one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected
into one." And that which chiefly absorbed our Lord's last

Secured by De
creeing Uniform-

21
thoughts the last night he was on earth, namely, the unity
of his church, this surely should be the paramount consid
eration and aim of our Lord's people. And so the practi
cal question arises: How shall we bring about this prom
ised unity?
And, first, negatively. This unity of the church cannot unity cannot be
be brought about by decreeing uniformity of outward or
ganization. This outward uniformity is one of the marked ity.
characteristics of the Church of Rome. And it must be
confessed that this unvarying uniformity of creed and
polity and ritual in all lands and through all times is, in a
certain sense, quite impressive. But there is peril in this
very uniformity and the exacter the uniformity, the more
perilous. For decrees of concordance or " acts of uniform
ity " imply an autocracy which is more than apt to be des
potic. See how, in the case of Rome, ecclesiasticism has
supplanted Christianity; the church, the Bible; the pope,
our Lord. Thus the very uniformity of Romanism (and
there is no more splendid sample of homogeneousness) is
morally perilous, tending to extinguish individualism and
apotheosize churchism, and so annihilating the very idea
of unity. No, the unity of the church cannot be brought
about by decreeing uniformity of organization.
Nor, again, can the unity of the church be unity cannot be
' ° ' , , Secured by Abol-
brought about, at least in this aeon, by abolition of ishing sects.
of sects. In fact, I believe that each Christian sect, in so
far as it has the spirit of Christ, has a divine mission of its
own. Who would wish to erase from church history the
story of the Waldenses or the Moravians or the Methodists?
Of course I cannot go into a detailed statement of the
mission of each one of the sects ; let me only attempt a
swift characterization in roughest outline of the more salient
features of some of the more prominent denominations. A
chief distinctive mission of the Roman Catholic branch of the
one Church (I mention it first only because it has by far the
largest number of members) is, it seems to me, to give play

22
to the body side of our nature; and this it does by its ap
peal to the senses in the way of architecture, statuary,
painting, music, colors, forms; and nobly is it fulfilling its
sensitive vocation. A chief distinctive mission of the Pres
byterian branch of the one Church is to give play to the
theological side of our nature ; and this it does by the
prominence it assigns to creed and catechetical instruction;
and nobly is it fulfilling its sturdy vocation. A chief dis
tinctive mission of the Congregational branch of the one
Church is to give play to the personal side of our nature;
and this it does by its insistence on the right of each con
gregation to ecclesiastical independence; and nobly is it ful
filling its manly vocation. A chief distinctive mission of
the Episcopal branch of the one Church is to give play to
the worshipful side of our nature; and this it does by the
prominence it assigns to liturgy and aesthetics; and nobly
is it fulfilling its devotional vocation. A chief distinctive
mission of the Methodist branch of the one Church is to
give play to the active side of our nature; and this it does
by the vigor of its ecclestiastical system, and its recognition
of its lay element in its class meetings; and nobly is it fufill-
ing its robust vocation. A chief distinctive mission of the
Quaker branch of the one Church is to give play to the pas
sive side of our nature; and this it does by its doctrine of
inner light, and by its disuse of forms: and nobly is it ful
filling its placid vocation. A chief distinctive mission of
the Baptist branch of the one Church is to give play to the
exact side of our nature; and this it does by its demanding
literal obedience to the Scriptural ordinance of baptism; and
nobly is it fulfilling its stalwart vocation. Thus each of the
sects has its own peculiar mission, and each, I doubt not,
would be benefited by some absorption of the peculiarities
of the others; we Baptists, I am sure (and this without
abating one jot or tittle of our distinctive mission), would
not be harmed by a little infusion of the Presbyterian polity,
the Episcopal aesthetics, the Methodist discipline, the

23
Quaker simplicity. For all things are ours, whether Paul, i cor. 3:22, 23.
the apostle of advance, or Cephas, the apostle of arrest, or
Apollos, the apostle of culture; all are ours and we are
Christ's and Christ is God's. No, the unity of the church
cannot be brought about by abolition of sects.
Nor, once more and most decisively, can the unity of unity cannot be
the church be brought about by surrender of personal con- secured by sur-
T /. , . . ,,,. 11 ,.,•¦ rendering Con-
victions. it there is in all this world a sacred right, it is motions.
the right of every human being to have his own personal
moral convictions. If there is in all this world a sacred re
sponsibility, it is the responsibility which every human
being has before his God and before his fellows for those
personal convictions. If there is in all this world a sacred
obligation, it is the obligation which rests on every human be
ing to be true, at whatever cost, to his own convictions. The
man who is willing to surrender his own convictions for the
sake of unity is a man whose convictions are to be dis
trusted; for he who begins with being false to himself will
end with being false to his fellows. Moreover, the unity
that is brought about by surrender of convictions or moral
compromises is not really a unity; it is only a weak, senti
mental, flabby uniformity. Like a composite photograph
in which no sign of individuality is visible, the boneless,
pulpy acquiescent looks very kind and also very weak. No,
the unity of the church cannot be brought about by a smirk
ing vapidness.
How then shall the promise of unity of his church be UBmcMBESE-
brought about? And, now, affirmatively: By heartily accept- Hearty "reotgni-
ing God's own principle of diversities in unity. Here was the TIONSmEs.'VER
mistake of John when he saw one casting out demons in the MABK9. 88.42.
Master's name and forbade him on the ground that he was
following Jesus in his own way and not in the apostles'.
But Jesus said, " Forbid him not; for there is no man who
shall do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to
speak evil of me: for he that is not against us is for us." It
is the blending of different yet complemental colors of blue

24
and orange, of green and red, of purple and yellow, in fact,
of all the colors at once which yields the unity of perfect
whiteness. In striving then to realize our Master's ideal of
his church as a unity, let us evermore keep in mind his
great apostle's significant analogy of the human body;
Many different members, but one common body. That is
to say, Recognize cheerfully the fact, the necessity,
the worth of Diversity. Do not demand uniformity of
creed or of method; for that would be to merge all the
members of the body into one vast dead eye or ear or hand
or foot; and then where were the body? Hold steadfastly
and at all hazards to your own convictions; but at the same
time co-operate cheerfully with those who differ from you,
even as the eye co-operates with the hand or the ear with
the foot. True, we cannot, at least in this world, agree on
the basis of creed; indeed, I doubt whether we can even in
heaven; for man is finite, and truth is infinite. But, thank
God, we can even in this world agree on the basis of deed,
co-operating instead of competing and making schism in
Christ's body. Remember that it is not given to any one
man or to any set of men, however great, to comprehend
all the truth; for, if it were, men would be infinite. Accord
ingly, while sectarianism is born of sin and is devilish, sect
is born of finiteness and may be even angelic. Do not try
then to secure unity by hammering diversities into monoto
nous flatness. But try to secure unity by soaring high
enough to comprehend diversities, even as God's own sky
comprehends forest and ocean, valley and mountain. Not
compromise but comprehension; this is the secret of church
unity. When we cannot agree, let us "agree to disagree."
Instead of maximizing the points where we differ and
minimizing the points where we agree, let us maximize
the points where we agree and minimize the points where
rom. u: i». we differ, following after things which make for peace, and
eph. 4: a. things whereby we may upbuild one another, giving dili
gence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

25
In all our efforts to secure ecclesiastical unity let us ever
keep in mind the the golden maxim ascribed to Rupertus
Meldenius: In necessariis unitas, in non necessariis libertas,
in utrisque caritas.
God be praised, we are living in noble times, auspicious auspicious
of the great consummation. The World's Week of Prayer, 0mns-
the Evangelical Alliance, the International Sunday School
Lessons, the Young Men's Christian Associations, the num
erous Union Societies, the interdenominational visitors and
telegrams, the overtures of a liturgical church, and the re
sponses of non-liturgical churches, the private conferences
of eminent representatives of denominations, the loving
prayers of those who call upon the name of our Lord icor. 1:2.
Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours; all these
and such as these are blessed auguries of the day when
Ephraim shall no longer envy Judah, and Judah shall isaiah n: 13
no longer vex Ephraim. In that Church of the Future all
the members will be "high churchmen " because true to
God ; all will be " low churchmen " because true to man ;
all will be "broad churchmen " because true both to God
and to man. Meanwhile, let us try as best we can to or
ganize and manifest to the world all that is common in the
church. For the church is at bottom a unity. Recall the
apostle's portrayal of her sevenfold oneness: There is one eph. 414-6.
body, even the Christian Church; one Spirit, even the Holy
Ghost; one hope, even the hope of the heavenly calling ;
one Lord, even the Lord Jesus Christ; one faith, even the
trust in this one Lord; one baptism, even the baptism in the
one Spirit into the one body; one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all. Be it for us
then to manifest to the world this already existing sevenfold
unity. To this end let us league in holy alliance the Chris
tian sensibilities and the Christian capacities. Let the eye
say to the hand, " I have need of thee; " and the head to the
feet, "I have need of you." Thus endeavoring by God's
help to make the organized churches of Christendom coin-

26
cident with the one organic church of the Kingdom of God,
rev. 21 : 2. we shall hasten that day of promised visible unity, when New
Jerusalem shall be seen coming down out of heaven from
God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband ; even
that visible and majestic City of God which shall indeed be
the Catholic Church, being in truth what the Church of
eph. 4: 13. Rome is only in name, a real unity. Then shall we all
attain unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, unto a full grown man, unto the measure of
the stature of the fulness of Christ. Then shall be answered
our Lord's last prayer for his Church :
John 17: 20-26. Neither for these only do T pray, but for them also that
believe on me through their word ; that they may all be one ;
even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they
also may be in us : that the world may believe that thou
didst send me. And the glory which thou hast given me I have
given unto them ; that they may be one, even as we are one ; I
in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one ;
that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst
them, even as thou lovedst me. Father, that which thou hast
given me, I desire that, where I am, they also may be with me j
that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me ; for
thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O right
eous Father, the world knew thee not, but I knew thee ; and
these knew that thou didst send me ; and I made known unto
them thy name, and will make it known ; that the love where
with thou lovest me may be in them, and I in them.
May God speed that blessed day.
collect for all O Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in
saints' day. one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of
thy Son Christ our Lord ; grant us grace so to follow thy
blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may
come to those unspeakable joys, which thou hast prepared
for those who unfeignedly love thee ; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.