would remember that the utility of any Treatise on it will materially depend, under God, on the spirit in which it is discussed. When the state of the ancient temple was to be reported on, an angel was the agent sent, and a golden measuring rod the instrument he was to employ—the highest created intelligence and an unerring standard. The writer cannot pretend to approach his task with the pure and passionless mind of an angelic nature; but he earnestly desires to imitate him in forming a lofty estimate of the hallowed employment he has undertaken; in bringing no line or measure to the work, but the perfect rule of Divine Revelation; and in applying that rule with as steady and impartial a hand as if he saw the Lord of angels himself looking on. Feeling that he is approaching a subject which the passions of men have enveloped in considerable mist and difficulty, he would humbly invoke-imploreimportune God for the indispensable illuminanation and guidance of his Holy Spirit. Remembering that it is a subject which will bring to light much of the infirmity of some of the holiest and most honored servants of God-men "of whom the world was not worthy," and who " are now without fault before the throne of God"-he would bring to it a spirit of patient forbearance and tender compassion. Recollecting that it is a subject on which some of the best of men have grievously differed and misrepresented each other, he would approach it with deep humiliation; calling injustice and wrong by their proper names wherever he may find them; not extenuating the crimes and follies of those whose memories in other respects he may hold dear; unveiling the faults of other parties, not for purposes of unholy exultation and reproach, but simply from fidelity to the cause of truth, to extract lessons of humility and Christian charity, and to inculcate a mutual oblivion of the past-firmly believing, as he does, that whenever the breaches of the Churches shall be healed, it will be a season, not of triumph to any single party, but of mutual concession and of general humiliation, that "in those days, and in that time, 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." Fully aware how nearly even a virtuous indignation is allied to hatred, and how often schism has been decried in the true spirit of schism, he would distrust the purity of every passion but that of love for the truth, and the desire of conciliating and uniting all its followers. And impressed with the idea, that the honor of God is deeply concerned in the present attempt, he would prosecute it, as if he saw the eye of flaming fire resting on him, or as if he had reached the thrice-hallowed spot where the Greater Intercessor prayed for his people "that they all might be one," and heard him still repeating the request. With such impressions, and in the exercise of such a spirit, we propose, in the treatment of the subject, to pursue the following plan :I. To exhibit the Scripture doctrine of the Unity of the Church. II. The Nature of that Unity; or, wherein its Oneness consists. III. We shall then show that Schism is the Breach of that Unity. IV. Trace the Causes of Schism; especially those which existed from the Earliest Age of the Christian Church to the Period of the Reformation. V. The principal Means which have perpetuated the Divisions of Christians from that period to the present; and which are still in fatal operation. VI. Various Tests by which the Schismatical Spirit may be detected in Individuals and in Churches. VII. Its Sinfulness and its Evils. VIII. Its Pleas and Disguises. IX. Its Removal; or, the Kind of Union to be Attempted. X. The Means by which this Union should be sought. XI. And, finally, the Reasons which should impel the Christian Church to Unite. CHAPTER I. THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. As schism is a relative term, it is natural and proper that we should begin with an inquiry into the nature of that to which the term relates -the Christian Church. And in every inquiry relating to Christian doctrine or duty, our first concern should undoubtedly be to ascertain the mind of God as revealed in his word. The term exxoia (Ecclesia,) in the New Testament, which our translators have rendered by the word church, is one which originally denotes a popular assembly, or gathering of persons into one place, without any reference to the character of the persons convened, or to the object of their meeting. In this general sense it is employed, Acts xix. 32. But as a religious appellation, it invariably denotes either the whole body of the faithful, or some one assembly of such persons associated together for the worship of God. In the former sense, our Lord affirmed,* * 66 upon this rock will I build my * Matt. xvi. 18. |