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The church indeed, as supported by an almighty arm, though divided against itself, has stood, but has not advanced; its existence is continued, but its progress and prosperity are checked. If the essentials of Christianity were alone presented to the public view, as that which truly constitutes religion, many would perceive their imminent danger, who think they may delay entering upon the Christian life, till Christians are agreed amongst themselves what Christianity really is. They would see that Christianity is contained in this simple declaration,-"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but should have everlasting life."

III. Great is the folly of those who are united in essentials, and yet are perpetually disputing upon minor points. They see that the world around them are lying in wickedness; that they neither receive God's testimony concerning their own lost condition, nor concerning the divine gift of his Son. Unmoved by the fewness of those who believe in the word of life, many Christians are ready to make the number of believers still fewer, if they consent not to pronounce whatever shibboleth they may impose. They acknowledge that both they and their opponents hold in common all that is essential to salvation; but they will not allow others to rest in peace, till they believe exactly as much, or as little,

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as they themselves do; and yet, it is evident, they are taking the very measures that will make the breach between them still wider. . The more men dispute the less likely are they ever to agree. In an argument, it is not what the opponent is saying that is attended to, but the answer which is to be given to him, that is considered. A dispute necessarily directs the attention of the contending parties to the points on which they differ, while friendly agreement, and a silence respecting disputed matters, as necessarily fixes the mind on the points on which they agree. While opposition and argument in general strengthen errors, peace and silence have a tendency effectually to undermine them. One truth is connected with every other truth, and the peaceful contemplation of a few essential principles, has a tendency to lead the mind off that perverted train of thought, from which its errors arose. Most errors proceed from side-views of the truth, and from a partial consideration of its bearings. Disputes make these views more partial still; but the gentle admission of neutral truths, opens a wider prospect, and presents us with the just bearings and relation of things. There are antagonist truths, as well as there are antagonist muscles; one truth advanced without limitation will always be disproportioned and out of its proper place, but its antagonist truth limits its action, and gives it its just force. "Work out your own

salvation, for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do." Each of these truths taken separately would lead into error. Human works are necessary for working out our salvation, and a divine work is necessary, but the full truth results from their union, that our salvation is wrought out by divine and human co-operation.

Owing to the evil effects of disputes, one heresy almost always produces another. If one man sees another leaning too far, as he thinks, over a precipice, though he is in no danger himself, he throws back his own body as far in a contrary direction. Thus he who first detects another falling into heresy, recedes as far from the truth on the other side. Disputants, inflamed against each other, mutually withdraw from each other's errors, regardless that they are leaving the truth, from which they have both departed, in the middle between them; and each, looking only at the mistakes of the other, is confident that he must be in the right, because his opponent is in the wrong. But a spirit of conciliation, where no essential truth is attacked, draws both parties nearer to each other, and in all probability nearer to the truth.

IV. All who receive the Bible in sincerity have one faith, and will be led by the same spirit. All the more extensive errors in religion have proceeded from not conceding the supreme authority to the Bible, and from subjecting its interpretation

to the preconceived opinions of men, or to the narrowness of their unassisted faculties. More partial errors arise from taking only a partial view of the Scriptures. But the sincerity of an inquirer after inspired truth, is made evident by this test, whether he is accommodating the Bible to his opinions, or subjecting all his opinions to the Bible. A sincere inquirer may be mistaken at first, but the more he inquires the less he will be deceived. An insincere inquirer, the more he inquires the more he will be deceived, because he wishes not so much to find truth, as to behold his own opinions reflected back to him from the inspired volume; and every day he will improve in the destructive art of wresting Scripture to his own views. But if a man submits his opinions to the authority of the Scriptures, we can have no doubt that he is a true Christian-that he is under the teaching of the Spirit, and that sooner or later he will be led into all the truth. With such a man we need have no dispute, we are disciples of the same master, and subject to the same rule of life.

V. Besides, it is to be observed, that a variety of views by no means necessarily implies any diversity in our belief. Truth is one and the same, but the degree of evidence with which we may perceive it, and the mode of illustrating and applying it, may be very various, without any of that variety being attributable to error. The Creator delights in va

riety. Without going as far as Leibnitz, in his identity of indiscernibles, we may, however, agree with him, that not two leaves in the forest are exactly similar to each other. In the world of mind, the most excellent and complex of the works of the Creator, variety displays itself in still more inexhaustible abundance. Notwithstanding that many receive all their knowledge passively, and that the few who are inventing, derive the greater part of their information from others, still every mind shows its originality in giving the instruction it receives, a colouring of its own, and placing it in a point of view peculiar to itself. One is most struck by one argument, another by another. The topics which greatly affect one mind, fleet through a second, without leaving a trace of their passage. Some are most filled with a solemn admiration of the holiness of the divine character; some are melted and overpowered by a sense of God's infinite love. Various portions of Scripture differently affect various minds, and even the same mind variously at different times. But in all this variety there is no diversity, as long as men are held together by the unity of the same spirit. Though various, they still remain members one of another, and all members have not the same office, nor the same gifts, nor the same points of view from which they contemplate divine truth. It is this very variety which fits them for mutual edification, as

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