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THE

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PREACHED BEFORE THE

SYNOD OF PENNSYLVANIA,

!N CALVARY CHURCH, PHILADA.

OCVOBEia 3.T, X85S.

WILLIAM R. DE WITT,

SEKIOR PASTOB OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHDBOH, HABBISBPBQ.

PHILADELPHIA:
"PRINTED BY HENRY B. ASHMEAD,
GEORGE STREET ABOVE ELEVENTH.
1855.

THE CHURCH

THAT

CHRIST LOVED.
A DISCOURSE

PREACHED BEFORE THE

SYNOD OF PENNSYLVANIA,

IN CALVARY CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA,

OCTOBER 17, 1855.

WILLIAM K. DE WITT,
SENIOR PASTOB OP THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, HARRISBURO.

PHILADELPHIA:
PRINTED BY HENRY B. ASHMEAD,
GEORGE STREET ABOVE ELEVENTH.
1855.

Rev. "Wm. R. De Witt, D.D.
Rev. and Bear Sir : — We solicit in behalf of the Synod of Pennsylvania,
agreeably to its unanimous request, a copy of your discourse on " The Church,'
preached before that body on the evening of the 17th inst., believing that its
evangelical and catholic spirit is well suited to the times, and will tend to ad
vance the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom. David Malin, ")
A. Converse, V Committee.
Adam H. Hinkel, J
October 19, 1855.

Rev. D. Malin, Rev. Dr. Converse and A. H. Hinkel, Esq., Committee of
Synod. Gentlemen ; — At the request of Synod, I place the discourse preached in
Calvary Church, on last evening, in your hands. You will readily perceive from
the manuscript that the discourse was not prepared, nor is it now corrected for
the press. I have not leisure to correct it myself, but consent to its publication
under your inspection, in the hope, that it may have some tendency to check the
spirit of denominationalism, which I fear is at present, in our own and other
sections of the Church, sadly entrenching on the devotion we should ever
cherish to the Church Christ loved, and for which He gave himself.
Very respectfully, Tour obedient servant,
Wm. R. De Witt.
Philadelphia, Logan Square,
October 19, 1855.

SERMON.

Ephesians, v. 25.
"Christ also loved the Church."
The heart of Christ beats with no vague emo
tions. It is full of holy affections, yet these
have ever some definite object. When the
Apostle tells us "Christ loved the Church," he
embraces in this term an object distinctly contem
plated by the Son of God, which awoke in his
heart a love, whose manifestations are the fullest
developments of the divinity itself.
What, then, is that Church which Christ
loved ? Why did he, and does he yet love it ?
And how has this love been manifested ? An
answer to these questions, which we propose to
attempt, will suggest, we trust, some important
instruction relative to the discriminations we
should make in reference to the Church of
Christ, the place that Church should hold in our
affections, and the duties we owe to her. It
may be proper, perhaps, to state in advance,

that I have no new or novel theory to present
in regard to the Church, and intend to enter
into no discussion of theories that have been
advanced. My object will be to present some
plain truths familiar to you all, in the hope of
stirring up your pure minds by way of remem
brance, and inducing a more ardent and self-de
nied devotion to the cause of the Redeemer.
In the first place, what is the Church which
Christ loved ? The meaning of the Apostle is
distinctly intimated by his language in reference
to it. It is the Church for which Christ gave
himself, that He might sanctify and cleanse it,
and ultimately present it to Himself a glorious
Church, holy and without blemish. It, then,
embraces the whole number of the elect of our
fallen race, and them alone — those whom God
predestinated to eternal life, and chose in Christ
from before the foundations of the world— those
who were given to Him in the covenant of re
demption, as the travail of His soul — the reward
of His humiliation. They have existed through
all the successive generations of men, from the
promulgation of the first promise, immediately
after the apostacy, down to the present moment.
The fires of their sacrifices burned on antedilu
vian altars, and were rekindled amid the deso-

lations of a rescued world. They had their
abodes in the tents of the old patriarchs, and
they worshipped God - in the solitudes of their
ancient groves. When God in judgment for
sook the rest of the world, and gave them up to
their delusions and their lusts, He preserved
the holy seed among the generations of His
chosen people ; and in the darkest days of Is
rael's apostacy, there were those who bore the
seal of His Spirit, and were the -witnesses of
His grace and truth. The coming of Christ
.broke the bonds of the restricted covenant, and
in the redemption of the promises made to the
fathers, the number of the saved were greatly
multiplied. Since then, wherever the gospel
has been sent, it has won its triumphs over
human depravity, and called out from the world
those, who have borne the image of the heavenly,
and for whom to live was Christ, and to die was
gain. The world has never been without them
— it is upheld in existence for their sakes alone.
They are now " in the midst of many people, as
a dew from the Lord, and as showers upon the
grass, that tarrieth not for man." They are
found, not only in those favored lands on which
the true Shekinah has long rested, but in savage
wilds, far off, where the pale crescent gleams,

8
and in lands of darkness, around the habitations
of cruelty. These, then, are now the elect of
God, the first fruits of missionary toil, the ear
nests of a blessed harvest. Out of the genera
tions that are yet to be, they will be called and
gathered as long as the world exists — until the
last heir of heaven's eternal kingdom, from this
apostate race, is safely brought within the pale
of God's Holy Covenant. The day will come ! —
yes, the light of its morning now dawns upon
the mountains, when the Spirit shall be poured
out from on high, and converts to holiness ex
ceed the drops of the dew in the morning.
Ages of peace, and light, and love, will succeed
to these years of darkness, and toil, and con
flict, with which sin has cursed this world ; and
through those ages, the successive generations
of earth's vast population, with but few excep
tions, will be adorned with " the beauties of holi
ness from the womb of the morning." Deeply
as we mourn the multitudes that now press the
broad way to destruction, the number of the
saved, we doubt not, will immeasurably exceed
those that are lost. In the aggregate, they will
be a number which no man can number — suffi
cient to satisfy Christ for the travail of His soul
in the days of His griefs — sufficient to gratify

9
the heart of infinite benevolence. All these,
not one less, are embraced in that Church which
the Apostle here tells us, Christ loved.
And when he tells us that Christ loved this
Church, he means more, much more, than the
affection which Christ bears for his elect indivi
dually. This affection is indeed intense. Each
one of the unnumbered multitude has been, from
eternity, distinctly contemplated by the mind
of Christ, and is, personally, as much the object
of His notice, of His regard and affection, as if
He alone was their exclusive object. The names
of all his saints he bears deeply graven on His
heart. There is no condition so humble, no re
tirement so lonely, no poverty so abject, as to
shut one of them out from the tender sympathy,
and the holy affections of His heart. But
whilst Christ loves his people individually, thus
intensely, He looks upon them as a whole, and
the affection he bears to each becomes concen
trated in the " Church, His body, the fullness of
Him, that filleth all in all." The term church,
in this connection, carries with it the idea of
perfect unity as its essential characteristic. In
its completion, when it shall have become a
glorious Church, without spot or blemish, then
the prayer of Christ in behalf of His people

10
shall be answered : " That they all may be one,
as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that
they may be one in us." The basis of this one
ness is their union to Christ. His Spirit dwells
in each one of them, as the fountain and the
source of their life, their joy and their blessed
ness ; and, in their common participation of this
one Spirit, they are in close and indissoluble
union with each other. Their inner life springs
from the same source, and love, its supreme law,
rules every heart.
Sin broke up the union and harmony of the
first creation. It separated man from God, and
in that separation the bond, that would have
united the race in love, was rudely sundered.
Men are now in deadly conflict both with God
and each other, except as restraints are imposed
on their depravity. Regardless alike of the
claims of justice and the ties of brotherhood,
under the dominant influence of selfish passions,
they have ever preyed on each other's happi
ness. Over crushed hearts and blasted hopes,
through tears and blood, they have sought the
gratification of their pride, their ambition, and
their lust, and have filled the earth with the
groans and wails of suffering humanity. Now,
it is the purpose of Christ, and it will be the

11
great glory of His achievement, to bring back
the wretched offspring of guilt and depravity,
through union with himself, into union with
God and each other — to restore the harmony,
and more than the harmony, of the original
creation — to make all one in Him, the second
Adam, the Lord from Heaven — to bring back,
through His Spirit reigning in all, the reign of
perfect love, when the ties of a holy brother
hood shall be felt, binding the vast company of
the redeemed in one perfect society, where
every heart shall beat in unison, and the joy
and the blessedness of each, shall augment the
blessedness of all. There is now a progression
toward this end. Amid all the jealousies and
selfishness and antagonism of sects and denomi
nations, the purposes of Heaven are ripening.
Men shall not defeat what God designs. . The
exalted Saviour from His throne, sees His spirit
permeating all the members of His body in
heaven and earth ; and though on earth it is in
conflict with evil, and ever will be, yet He
knows that His resources are sufficient to sanc
tify and cleanse His church, and present it to
himself a glorious church, without spot or blem
ish. His infinite mind now contemplates this
result with unspeakable, joy, and as He looks
upon His finished work, He loves it.

12
There is another idea embraced in the term
Church as here used, not to be overlooked —
organism as well as unity. The Church is the
body of Christ. It is also called the temple of
God. In these similitudes there is implied a
perfect adaptation of its parts to each other, and
the symmetry of the whole. This is essential
to its perfection. So far as it can be secured, it
is now an important means of its edification.
From Christ, as its head, " the whole body fitly
joined together, and compacted, by that which
every joint supplieth, according to the effectual
working in the measure of every part, maketh
increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself
in love." Its perfection in this respect, however,
is not to be looked for, until the Church, in all
its members, comes, "in the unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ." The temple of God will
not be completed until the last living stone is
taken to Heaven. Here, in this wilderness, the
timbers are cut, and the stones are taken from
the quarry, and dressed and fashioned, each fdr
its place, and with such perfect exactness, that
in rearing the temple above, the noise of the
hammer shall not be heard. Every stone will
have its place, its own place, its best place.

13
Not one could be spared without destroying the
symmetry and the beauty of the entire struc
ture. And when the top stone shall be brought
forth, it will be with shoutings of Grace, grace
unto it. It will be a temple reared by infinite
wisdom and skill, to reflect the glory of God's
grace. Such, my brethren, is the Church that Christ
loves, and for which "He gave Himself, that He
might sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of
water by the word, that He might present it to
Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or
wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish." There is no
other church that Christ loves as He loves this.
All other churches, whether based on prelacy,
or presbytery, or independency, are utterly
worthless in His sight — and so they should be
in ours, only as they are made to subserve His
purposes in regard to this Church.
II. It is now evident, my brethren, why
Christ loves this Church, and only this ; because,
viewed in its completion, it is that which, of all
God's works, most perfectly and fully reflects
the image of Himself. God dwells in light in
accessible — whom no eye hath seen or can see.

14
In heaven itself there is no direct vision of God,
even among the most exalted of His creatures.
The Son is "the brightness of the Father's glory,
and the express image of His person ;" — the
Word through whom, and by whom, God is made
known. " No man hath seen God at any time,
the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of
the Father, He hath revealed Him." In the
creation He has made Him known, for all things
were made by Him. In providence, for He
upholds and directs all things. But neither the
robes of beauty and grandeur, thrown over this
vast creation, nor the wisdom and power dis
played in the machinery of providence, exhibit
so much of the perfections and character of the
invisible Godhead, as the Church of Christ viewed
in connection with the means and the methods
of its redemption. The innumerable myriads of
the saved, raised up from the ruins and the
degradation of the apostacy — redeemed by the
blood and spirit of the Lamb — restored to the
friendship of God — and united to each other in
the bonds of perfect love, constituting the holy
and blessed kingdom of Jesus Christ, for ever
brightening with richer beauty and increasing
blessedness, is the ultimate of all God's works,
in which the heart of infinite love finds its

15
highest joy, as the most perfect image of itself
— the fullest development of uncreated excel
lence. And not only for the beauty with which He
has adorned it, but the happiness he has con
ferred upon it, does Christ love His church.
He not only loves the happiness of His people,
but He loves them because they are happy;
since their joy, their blessedness, is the imme
diate effect of that holiness which He has con
ferred upon them. In the completion and per
fection of the church, when Christ shall present
it to Himself, a glorious Church, holy and with
out blemish, it will exhibit the indissoluble
union, which God has established between per
fect holiness and perfect blessedness, and, in
this respect, be the type of His own infinite
nature. But again, Christ loves His Church because
it is the work of His own hands — the fruit of
His own deep humiliation — the purchase of His
sufferings and death. The condition of His
people, degraded, ruined, lost, awoke the com
passion of His heart, and moved by that com
passion, He undertook their salvation. It could
be accomplished only byHis laying aside for a
time, the manifestations of His divinity — fore-

16
going the homage of heaven — assuming the vest
ments of our degraded humanity — and offering
Himself a sacrifice to eternal justice on our
behalf. To all this He cheerfully submitted. And
the humiliation to which He condescended, and
the sufferings He endured in behalf of His
people, binds them more closely to His heart.
The scenes of Bethlehem and Nazareth, of Geth-
semane and Calvary, are ever present to His
mind. He wears in His glorified humanity, the
print of the nails that fastened His hands and
His feet to the cross, — of the thorns that wreathed
His brow, and remembers the agonies that
wrung His soul. And as He looks upon the
vast multitudes of His redeemed, brightening
in His image, and ever increasing in their joy,
He sees in each the travail of His soul, and His
heart throbs with infinite love. — Surely, my
brethren, Christ has the best reasons for loving
His Church, for pouring out upon her the full
ness of His affections, and rejoicing over her in
His love. Even now, in her earthly state, yet
soiled with sin, and, in her own view, black as
the tents of Kedar, — in His sight who loved her,
she is "beautiful as Tirzah, comely as Jerusa
lem ;" and with His head filled with dew, and His

17
locks with the drops of the night, He waits for
her to open her heart to Him, that He may
come, and bless her with His richest blessings.
Yes, my brethren, if there be His hidden ones
here in this assembly, His heart yearns with
infinite tenderness toward us, and if we but
turn in the sorrow, the affection, and the confi
dence of our souls to Him, He will come and
bless us.
III. But how has Christ manifested His love
for this Church ? He has made all things else sub-
ordinateand subservienttoit. Before the heavens
were created, or the foundations of the earth were
laid, in His own eternal purposes, the Church
stood out before His mind, as the end, for which
all else should be. It was the motive which
called forth His power, in its mysterious work
ings, and which, out of nothing, brought forth
ancient chaos, and from chaos evolved this
material universe, the abode of holy, intelligent
beings, created to behold the glory of God dis
closed in, and by His Church, and drink of the
fountains of bliss, which that disclosure alone
unsealed. The introduction of sin into our
world, the fall of man, with its far-reaching con
sequences, were permitted, in the mysterious
2

18
sovereignty of God, to furnish the occasion for
the fuller development of His character, and
displays of His grace, in the redemption of man
by the cross of Christ, and the establishment
and completion of His Church. "Oh! the depth
of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge
of God ! How unsearchable are His judgments,
and His ways past finding out." The plan of
divine providence, reaching from the fall of man
onward, through all time, to its final consum
mation, has the Church of Christ for its central
object. Amid all its events, their relations, and influ
ences, one spirit pervades and controls all, and
all to one end, the salvation of Christ's chosen,
and their union to Him and to each other in the
brotherhood of love — His Church. For this the
ages have rolled on, and generations have fol
lowed generations to the tomb, and the seasons
have succeded each other in their order, and the
stars have kept their courses, and the earth has
pursued its way in its orbit, and the sun has
known its risings and settings. For this, the
world has been swept with the waters of ven
geance, and cities have been consumed with fire
from heaven, and the ¦ earth has reeled like a
drunken man, and devoured her inhabitants, and

19
wars, and pestilence, and famine, have had their
mission to destroy and consume. For this,
nations and kingdoms have succeeded each
other, and the potsherds of the earth have dash
ed against the potsherds of the earth, and wild
ruin has reigned, and the pulse of the world beat
heavily with the throes of suffering humanity.
Could we draw aside the veil that conceals the
ways of God from man ; could we comprehend
the vast, the complicated, machinery of Provi
dence, — those wheels within wheels, which the
prophet saw in vision, and the living creatures
sustaining the sapphire throne on which sat one
like the Son of Man, we should see that one
spirit pervaded all — "His, who bore for us the
platted thorns with bleeding brows" — and that
one great end rules all — that for which he be
came incarnate, and bled and died — the Church
— His body — " the fullness of Him that filleth all
in all." And thus will it be ; the conflicts of
ambition, and selfishness, and lust will continue ;
the noise of tumult and the din of battle will be
heard — the gleam of God's holy anger will flash
across this sin-accursed world, and lay in ruins
its glory, and all things be made to subserve the
Church, till the purposes of heaven respecting
her are fulfilled, and her glory consummated.

20
Brethren, how else could Christ manifest His
love for his Church ? Exalted on his throne,
head over all things — His, all power, and autho
rity, and dominion — the kingdoms of nature and
Providence under His supreme control — He
makes all things subservient to the interests of
His Church. Everything but His Church, — the
glory of the earth and its riches, in his esteem,
are worthless. Yea, men are given for her, and
people for her life. The sacrifice of a world is
little regarded, if necessary to secure her safety
and promote her interests. The tide of human
affairs, as it rolls tumultuously on, bears on its
bosom the Church of Christ. He, who rides
upon the whirlwind, and directs the storm, con
sults its safety, and that alone. The vast
schemes and plans of earth shall all be dashed
and overwhelmed in ruin — and their wrecks be
seen floating on the misty ocean of eternity;
but the Church of Christ shall be borne trium
phantly over every wave, and through every
howling storm, until finished and perfected, it
reposes in the eternal calm of Heaven's com
placency. There is, my brethren, only one way more
conceivable in which Christ could have mani
fested his love for His Church, and that is its

21
highest manifestation. He gave himself for it.
Not contented with making the riches of earth
subservient to its interests, He bestowed upon
it the treasures of eternity. God is love —
pure, unbounded love. In creation and in pro
vidence He has manifested the riches of His
goodness toward us. But far surpassing every
other exhibition, "in this was manifested the love
of God for us, that God should send his only
begotten Son into the world that we should live
through Him." "Ye know, brethren, the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who though He was rich,
for your sakes became poor, that ye through His
poverty might be made rich." It is this, that has
filled heaven with wonder — the bright spirits of
that world suspending their songs, and concen
trating their thoughts on this amazing truth,
have desired to look into these things. In it
there is a height and depth, a length and breadth,
that surpasses all comprehension. It has wakened
the song of the redeemed, which has already
heard its response in the echoes of eternity —
" Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from
our sins in his own blood, and made us kings
and priests unto God and His Father, unto Him
be glory and dominion for ever and ever."
Brethren, in this, the highest manifestation

22:
of his love for us, we mean to include all his
condescending grace and goodness to each one
of his people, that constitute his Church — in
bearing with them through the years of their
folly and sin, pursuing them through all their
devious paths of transgression, arresting them
in their iniquities, bringing them to His own feet
in penitence and faith, and making them His
willing people in the day of His power. Then
watching over them, sanctifying to them the
dispensations of His Providence and the means
of His grace — protecting them through every
deep and dark valley of trial and temptation,
and blessing to them the fires and the waters of
affliction, until prepared to join the general as
sembly of the Church of the first born, whose
names are written in heaven.
" His sheep, his own peculiar care,
Though simply now they seem to roam,
Are led or driven only where
To bring them best and safest home.
" True, they nor know nor see the way,
But trusting to his piercing eye,
None of their feet to ruin stray —
None of them fail, or droop, or die."
Whom he loves, he loves to the end. Of all
that has been given to Him not one shall be

23
lost. They shall all be brought safe to heaven,
in union with that Church he loved, and for
which He gave himself.
We have thus endeavored to show you what
that Church is which Christ loved — why He
loves it, and how He has manifested His love
for it.
And now, my brethren, in the application of
this subject, I would briefly remark that it is
obviously our duty to be Christ-like in this re
spect as in every other — to have, on this sub
ject, the same mind that was in Christ Jesus —
to love the Church that He loved, and for the
reasons He loved it, and as He did, subordinate
everything else to its welfare, and solemnly de
vote ourselves to its highest interest. This
affection, ruling in our hearts, will enable us to
determine with safety, our duty under all those
perplexing circumstances into which we may be
thrown by the jealousies and conflicts of sec
tarianism, and give to the discharge of that duty,
an unction that will silence gainsayers, and dis
arm opposition. It is true this Church is not
visible to mortal eyes, nor will it be until the
veil is rent, and amid the hidden things of God,
it stands revealed in all its beauty and glory.
But it should not on that account be the less an

24
object of intense affection to the Christian, nor
should he devote himself the less to the promo
tion of its interests. Christ is an invisible Savi
our, yet surely we can love Him — we can en
dure, as seeing Him who is invisible — we can
make His honor and His glory the supreme end
of our lives. And why not love an invisible
Church, and labor with singleness of heart to
promote" its interests so as that all others shall be
subordinate to it? It is thus that we have com
munion with Christ, and are honored as co
workers with Him, in the great objects for which
He died, and rose again, and lives and reigns in
heaven. In these times of contest about the
Church that is visible and its interests, we need
to have our hearts deeply imbued with the love
of the Church that is invisible — we need to culti
vate that faith " which looks not at the things
that are seen, and are temporal, but at the
things that are not seen, and are eternal" — which
will take us out of the sphere of partisan strife,
and call forth our sympathies, our prayers, and
our efforts, pre-eminently for the Church which
Christ loved, and for which He gave Himself.
Brethren, all our denominational interests are
soon to come to an everlasting end— the glory
of them will pass away like the clouds of the

25
morning. All our wisdom in planning — all our
energy in executing schemes for the advance
ment of our denomination will be folly and
weakness, only as they are in our hearts, and in
reality associated with the kingdom of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Jerusalem above — there all our
affections should centre — there all our hopes
should terminate — for her all our efforts should
be made : —
" There happier bowers than Eden's bloom,
Nor sin, nor sorrow know ;
Blest seats, through rude and stormy seas,
We onward press to you.
"When shall these eyes thy heaven-built walls
And pearly gates behold,
Thy bulwarks, with salvation strong,
And streets of shining gold ?
"Jerusalem, my happy home,
Name ever dear to me ;
When shall my labors have an end,
In joy, and peace, and thee?"
Pardon me, my brethren, if it seems to you
presumption in one, who knows, he is illy quali
fied to counsel you — pardon me, while I sug
gest, that those of you who have been honored
by being placed, in the Providence of God, in
those central positions, where it is expected you
will exert an extensive influence in originating

26
and conducting plans for the advancement of
our own section of the Church, especially
need much of the spirit of Christ — much of
the wisdom that cometh down from above —
much of that love for His cause, which will lead
you cheerfully and promptly to subordinate all
denominational interests to its advancement.
From your position, your personal reputation
and influence are more than most of ours, (who
occupy less prominent situations,) identified in
the public mind with the success and enlarge
ment of our own branch of the Presbyterian
Church ; and you are exposed to the tempta
tion of devising and prosecuting measures, that
shall have too exclusive a reference to this en
largement, without duly regarding the far higher
interests of that Church which Christ loved.
You, doubtless, often meet the spirit of secta
rianism misrepresenting your plans and your
operations, and seeking to thwart your liberal
devices ; and you would be more perfect and
more wise than the most sanctified of earth, if
you were not tempted to meet this spirit by one
of the same nature, and adopt a worldly, if not
a wily and sectarian policy, to defeat opposi
tion and carry into successful operation your
own plans. Far be it from me to counsel you

27
with regard to the particular measures you
should pursue, under any of those exigencies
into which you may be thrown, by opposing de
nominational interests, and the conflicting spirit
of sectarian rivalship. Yet let me humbly urge
upon you the importance of habituating your
selves to looking beyond all merely denomina
tional interests, to the interests of that Church
which Christ loves, to which He has made all
things subordinate, and whose glorious consum
mation is to be realized in the destinies of eter
nity. Let me urge upon you the importance of
cultivating such an ardent love for this Church,
that mere denominationalism shall ever be held
in entire subordination to it ; and entreat you
to seek from God, in earnest prayer, the wis
dom that cometh from above, that you may be
delivered from a worldly policy, and be directed
to such measures, and actuated by such a spirit
in carrying them out as He will own and bless.
But while we speak thus, we would not over
look or be unmindful of the great importance of
the visible Church, and its relationship to the
invisible. The visible is the type of the invi
sible. It is its representative on earth and in
time — it shadows forth, though but dimly and
imperfectly, the glory that shall be revealed ;

28
and so far as it embraces the spiritual seed of
Christ, it is even now a partaker of that glory.
The visible Church is the great instrumentality
which Christ employs for gathering His people
out from the world, sanctifying them by His
spirit, and preparing them, by the discipline of
His grace, for His Church above. Its nature
and designs are of such importance, in our esti
mation, as to forbid the supposition that Christ
has left its form of government a matter of in
difference, to be determined by circumstances of
mere expediency. He has provided for its or
ganization, its officers, and its worship, and com
mitted to it His word and ordinances, " for the
perfecting of the saints — for the* work of the
ministry — for the edifying of the body of Christ,
till they all come in the unity of the faith and
of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ."
We regard the visible unity of the Church
as a matter of great importance, and cannot
think that Christ sanctions its division into
sects and denominations in order to promote
its efficiency. Without, by any means, con
ceding all our enemies charge upon us, we
must confess with shame, that these divi-

29
sions (the result of weakness or wickedness,
or both) have ever been fruitful in strifes and
contentions and jealousies, that have done incal
culable injury to the cause of the Redeemer,
and brought reproach upon His name. We can
not but mourn over the talent, the learning, the
energy, the wealth, the effort, that is wasted,
(often worse than wasted,) in building up the
interests of a party which, if consecrated to the
welfare of the Church Christ loved, would,
with the blessing of God, convert the deserts of
earth into the garden of the Lord, and swell the
joys of heaven. But so it is, and it is unwise
to spend our time in unavailing regrets, or en
gage in a crusade against denominationalism, in
the vain expectation of securing, what no efforts
of man have ever yet secured, unity in the visible
Church. We must be contented to approxi
mate as near to it as we can, and in the best
way we can, while we hold ourselves ready to
co-operate with others, in any way that Chris
tian wisdom and prudence may suggest, to se
cure it. In the meantime, we are laid under
the necessity of choosing, from the various deno
minations into which the visible Church is di
vided, the one with which we will connect our
selves, and with which we will co-operate.

30
In the exercise of this choice, under a sense,
as we trust, of our responsibility to God, we are
Presbyterians. Our form of government, our
mode of worship, our system of doctrine, we be
lieve, are, in their essential features, in accor
dance with the will of Christ. We think we
see in its past history, not merely the approval
of its Head, but the high honor He has conferred
upon it. It gave the Gospel to the world in the
first ages of Christianity, and sealed its truth
with the blood of its martyrs. It continued to
live during the long and the dark ages of apos
tacy, and from amid its mountain homes, its
light peered up through the darkness that
covered the world. In the Reformation it was
brought forth in its beauty and strength. It
stood up boldly in defence of the truth of God
and the purity of His worship, and many of its
sons and daughters cheerfully suffered death for
Christ and His cause. Since then it has re
ceived many tokens of the Divine approbation,
and been honored, by its instrumentality, in
advancing the kingdom of the Redeemer. It is
the Church of our fathers and our mothers.
The remembrance of their piety, which we
sacredly cherish as their richest legacy, is inti
mately associated with its doctrines, its worship,

31
and its communion. It is the Church within
whose pale most of us were dedicated to God in
our infancy, and where our hearts first received
the saving impressions of Divine truth. Our
solemn ordination vows were made in this
Church, when we gave ourselves to Christ in
the ministry of His Gospel, and in it we have
laboured, some of us for many years, to advance
the kingdom of our Redeemer. We feel that,
on these grounds, our attachment to it is justi
fied. We cherish that attachment, and we
exhort you, my brethren, to cherish it, and to
be no lukewarm defenders of its doctrines and
its order, but that you endeavor to your utmost
to extend its influence, and through it to build
up the Church that Christ loved.
But, brethren, while we love our Presbyte
rian Church, and cherish, as we may, a strong
confidence in her government, worship, and
doctrines, as scriptural and divine, — while we
cherish a just estimate of her past history, and
the honor God has conferred upon her in em
ploying her instrumentality for the advancement
of His kingdom, and while we seek to employ all
her means and resources for the enlargement of
that kingdom, let us remember that God honors
other churches and other instrumentalities in sav-

32
ing men, and training them for the Church above.
Let us love and honor them, and sincerely pray
that God's blessing may rest upon them and upon
their ministrations. Let us habituate ourselves
to those conceptions of the Church, which fill
the mind of Christ, and call forth the affections
of His heart, and hold our attachments to our
own denomination subordinate to our regard for
it, and be ever ready to make whatever sacri
fices its welfare demands, though they involve
the sacrifice of denominational interests, and we
shall not lose our reward. The church that
has most of this spirit, Christ will honor most.
It will bear upon it the seal of His approbation.
It will stand pre-eminent among the instrumen
talities He will employ for the advancement of
His kingdom, and it will share the largest in
the rewards of His grace, in the final consum
mation of His designs.

THE END.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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