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I TORONTO: llOWSELL & ELLIS, KINU-HTREET EAST. " 1861. J//^ V A LAY SERMON. " Let them fight — like dogs and Christians as they are !" ( Turkish Philosophy, ) " Let them fight — like dogs and Christians as they are !" exclaims the philosophic Turk, contemptuously regarding the Greek and Latin devotees, who shew their zeal for orthodoxy by an occasional murderous onslaught on each other in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, at the gracious season of Easter. " Let them fight !" says the " true believer," but the con- flict waxes sometimes so serious as to require the interven- tion of the Turkish guard, with musket and bayonet, to part the Christian disputants. There arc many to whom the highly edifying warfare, carried on for for some time past amongst Upper Canadian Churchmen, is an indifibrcnt, if not a positively gratifying exhibition. Some watch the contest with a critical eye, applauding the force or dexterity of especial combatants — the point-blank directness of an episcopal " shoulder-hitter" — the clumsy energy of a rampant Presbyter — or the vindictive adroitness of a grim lay-brother Avho has scienti fically caught an opponent's head into " chancery " — all in turn earn their meed of applause. And the Turk (if we 4 had liim) would say, " Sec how these Christians hate one- iinother," and the indifferent woukl mutter with Bolingbrokc, " the priests remind one of the nurses of Jupiter — they make a chimour to drown the voice of their God !" But there arc many, very many, we trust, to whom the spectacle serves more for tears than laughter, and who ask sadly, "What is to become of the one great cause — the spread- ing of that Kingdom, whose professed subjects are engaged in deadly civil strife ? The leaders on each side will answer you with some com- mon-place about doing your duty, and leaving the consequen- ces in higher hands, or perhaps Avill urge that the fight must go on till the adversary be crushed — that there can be no halting between two opinions, and that God or Baal must prevail. Brave and true words like these have been on the lips of strong reformers of abuses, but have also too often been used to justify the bigot, and to nerve the arm of the persecutor. The grave question forces itself on all minds, not hopelessly blinded by controversial zeal, whether such a state of things can continue without deadly peril to the great mission of the Church. ii Party spirit has moderated very much in England during the last few years. Bartizans still exist on both sides of the great questions, ready for any amount of recrimina- tion and unreasoning calumny ; but, as a keen observer lately remarked, it would be difficult just now to excite the religious world to the boiling point of fifteen or twenty years ago, or as when the war raged betAvecn Henry of Exeter and the invader of Bampford-Spcke. Public opinion has unmistakeably protested against the revival of this horrible style of discussing religious questions, and, but for the wicked course pursued by the so-called "religious newspapers,"- -ilisgraccful exceptions to the im- proved tone of public journalism, — avc should hear but little ol' the bitterness of theological ^vrangling. In Western Canada, wo seem to be many years behind our parent land in these matters. Ever since the abomina- ble warfare that sprung up on the contested election for tlic western diccese, party spirit has raged amongst us, aYid the consequences are melancholy and humiliating to all true lovers of the Church. Friends have been alienated — old friendships rudely broken — the heads of our dioceses seem hopelessly at variance— charges of heresy und unsoundness bandied back and forward, and calumny and misrepresenta- tions sown broadcast over the land. Every combination for purposes of general interest, depending for its success on the hearty co-opcratioa of all, is paralysed, and measures are approved or condemned according to the "school" of the men who propose them. The design of these remarks is not to express any opinion, or take any side on the theological merits of the (jucstion at issue, but rather to draw attention to facts and probable results. 1 A large party in the church is vehemently assailed by another large party, as upholding certain views of a R i luin- izing nature, especially on I'aptism and the Eucharist. J t is retorted on the assailants tliat they arc schismatical Church- men, ignoring the Prayer Book, Homilies,' and Canons, which they dishonestly profess to be bound by, but practically deny. This controversy, developed in milder or stronger forms, has existed since the lloformation, nor is it to be expected that it should wholly cease until a clearer revelation be vouchsafed. No freeman can object to its full discussion. It is of the essence of IVotestantism to enquire and to dis- cuss ; and by such processes tlio theological mind must bo developed and educated. In tlic judgment of all but fanatixis, it is the glor^ of the United Churcii of England and Ireland, to ollow as wide a latitude to her children as is consistent -vvitli the great veri- ties of tlic gospel, and not to place upon their necks a yoke which neither they nor their fathers could bear. On both the sacraments, great latitude of opinion exists, and must exist so long as our Common Father is pleased to create the infinite varieties of the human mind. i This generation -well remembers the satisfaction of mode- rate Churchmen, when the higliest legal tribunal pronounced that there was nothing in the iirticles or creeds of tiie Clmreli necessarily to exclude the large number who held Mr. Ciror- ham's views. An opposite construction would have rent tlie Church asunder. Thousan<ls who then protested against the decision, now ackno^dcdgo its wisdom. It seems reasonably clear that our Churcli has her posts of honour and usefulness for good and true men who difler widely on the "baptismal" ([ucstion, as well as for those whose sacramental opinions vary almost as widely as those of Luther and Ulric Zwingle. If her courts of last resort narrow her doctrine down to either the " lligli " or " Low " Church standard, she must at once exclude tens of thousands now embraced in her wide-spread arms. Insist on a more dogmatic tlieology, and the fair globe of the Church may be shivered into the elements of half-a-dozen sects. Tiic majority amongst us will say that they desire nothing of this kind, and wish our system to remain as com- prehensive as it has ever been. i !i. It is idle, however to profess a theoretic liberality, if svc enforce a practical persecution on all who differ from us — pronounce them unworthy of Church membership, and use all our power to destroy their usefulness, and drive them from the common fold. When party spirit rages, as it unhap- pily does in Canada, wo have the unreasoning and unreason- able extreme High Churchman, denouncing his opponents as schismatics, false to their ordination vows — false to canon and formulary. Ilis antagonist upbraids him as a Romish wolf, trespassing on the free pastures of a Protestant Church. Of the extreme classes to which the combatants belong, it has been said, with great shoAV of truth, that the first too often puts the Churcli above its Founder ; and of the second, that its hatred of Popery far outweighs its love of Christ- ianity. All this, veiled as it too often is, under discreditable professions of charity and zeal for the soul of erring brethren, is simply persecution — the old besetting sin of Christian men. Satan has no more powerful lever to stir up tlie vicious inside of man's sinful heart than the appeal to his bigotry — " his zeal for tlic truth " as it were — to start him on the task of forcing all men to vicAv the great truths common to all Christians precisely from his stand-point — precisely through his spectacles, green, blue or yellow, as they may be. When bigotry had power on its side, it crushed by physical force : now that the power is lost, it develops itself in systematic attempts to depreciate, to defame, and to ruin. But little real difference exists betwixt the Torquemada and the Dominic of centuries past, and your modern bigot, " oily and venomous," ])rolosting his profound regard for the soul of his erring brother, his desire " to speak the truth in love," and then denouncing him cither as a schismatic or 8 „„ ,„,„tof ovU-a..a all ^^<^^ _, ,,„i •^mct labouvcr u. vU,,,ovation, (-'f"','""'Tl':„„ higher or lower view on t,,o Master's »-■--•» 'tXthc'ohuvch a.A her wisest ,,,;„. ...hamoaovn '■'"'f';;^ ;;,„;„nhc peace of a.,uiet I, there n.>t instance « " " p' ,,„„ ^ot the less fa.th- i,,„ (Where the Lonl s -^^^^Icn ,„,, the n.oMnoss k„y, because -"-^''^fj^X^ the intrusive mcialins ot its "'■■"■-'"■ »^".": f,™n " s eiing .he trnth in love of ..,n " extven.e pa.tL.. n \ ^^ ^^^^ ,„„„„,„lness of its „„a trying to 1«'-^""^', ",,s of a " religious newspaper : P-'°'-- '^■■' : :u: -haritahleness ever presen s ,vl,-,>t a mass ol nial ce an uttere.l-no convse too itself '. No slanaer « too as to b „ ._^^^ ^ ...^^ ,„ean to be resortcl t to g t n ^^ i„Mlihihty of „,,„ ,vho lives \X JlL Z''^ complaint, however .U- tbc journal and its '^'"t"°',;;;J„f„,isb against the poor fomnlea, which anony,nousne can .^ p,u.son iVon, any 'l"'f " ^'^ Ji„j, ,„a offensive lren> ..» ^.Hh a commentary ' »" ^,^^. ;';:*ieetatlon of regret ; and ostentatious parade of el.auty ^^^^.^ ^.^^^.^.^tc,! though the slamler be prom J ex -^^^^^ ^^_^^,^, ^^^„ j„,,y :::!:;r"':ior'ofcontroveLyr-ttUeyre.a. ^^cles to readers of peculiar tastes. 1 „,Kr Miavf^c made by .anai«-creutism;'willhet;-'^^^^^^^^^^^^^ extreme men agams^_tl»^J^' _ "li-^T^lTi^ew M It is easy to maunder about " Laodiccans " and " Gal- lio.s." It is anything but oasy to undo tho horrid mia- chicf done to the cause of Christ and his gospel by the men ■\vlio will be too ready to fasten such names on .ill Avho see ■with sorrow, verging on despair, the party feeling that is desolating the Church. The true " indifferent " cares nothing for these things. They jar not his moral epicurean- ism. Our "Turk" would mutter, "Let them fight — dogs and Christians as they arc !" The educated mind is ever attracted to that religious teacher Avho with tho humility of true wisdom, abstains from unnecessary dogmatism — who shrinks from the presumption that insists on positive exactness in defining, what Holy Writ has (likely with wise design) omitted to <lefine. The unthinking are top readily drawn to follow the shallow fana- tic, who persists in fastening the interpretation patronized by his own narrow-minded faction on the solemn truths of faith. In proportion to the largeness of the intellectual grasp is tho disposition to widen instead of narrowing the basis of ortho- dox interpretation. Profound thinkers — our Butlers, "Whatclys, and others, well knew that our creed has truths not to be interi)reted by mere reason yet to be realised by faith, — and their deep wis- dom rev'olted from the presumption of dogmatism, where the founders of our religion, and tho fathers of our reformed church had refused to dogmatise. The self-confidence of controversial bitterness knows no such restraints, and dam- nation is launched with the fierceness, if not the power, of an Innocent or a Ilildebrand, against all who dissent from the interpretation of each noisy school. Either of the extreme parties may hope to win converts from the mass of those who are too ready to let their spiritual " directors " think for them, and perhaps the more extrava- 10 gant and offensively sectional the teaching, the more attrac- tive is it to the multitude. But if the Church (to say nothing of its extension beyond its present bounds) is to win the affec- tions of sucli of its professed members as think a little for themselves, — who shrink from all partisanship, and reject any Aveighticr yoke than the law hath placed upon them, — is it not time for its ministers to lend their aid f o allay instead of exciting the personal bitterness exhibited in our controver- sies ? Can the wildest optimist believe that aught but evil can come out of such strifes as we have lately witnessed? There is One who can bring good out of every thing and make all redound to His glory : but such a comforting truth must not leave us in judicial blindness as to the palpable tendency of our lamentable divisions. Repeating the desire to avoid all expression of approval or disapproval of the doctrinal variances involved, it is necesary to illustrate the views here presented by allusion to recent events. Can any Avell-balanced mind in the Church — any calm believer in her creeds and articles — we appeal not to the zealots of the extreme schools that distract her peace — do otherwise than mourn over two striking developments of the controversial spirit new exciting attention 'i In one case we find a respectable layman, — zealous almost to slaying, for his stringent views on baptism, — not merely in rebellion to his spiritual pastor, but exercising his power to eject him bodily from his charge, solely on this speculative ground of difference. Again, we have the case of an Institution founded not many years past by the zeal of an aged Prelate, supported by the generous liberality of Churchmen throughout the Pro- vince, and once an object of just pride to all without distinc- I, 11 tion of party. As party spirit waxed fiercer and stronger after its shameful development in tlie diocesan election already noticed, it became known that the institution was looked on with disfavour by one in the highest position in the Clmrch, entitled by law to an absolute veto upon all its pro- ceedings, and armed with extensive power to ensure to him a due weight in its counsels. Now if ever there was a case in which reasonable men would have expected a resort to every legitimate means for the (juiet reformation of any thing exceptionable iy doctrine or discipline, — if ever there was a case for the tolerant con- sideration and kindly forbearance of all generous minds, it would seem that of an infant institution struggling for exist- ence, and requiring the hearty support of all shades of opinion. But zealous, even unto slaying, as the layman above men- tioned, the appointed guardian and governor of the institu- tion, suddenly startled the whole Canadian Church, by for- mally branding this, his own peculiar charge, as heretical in its teaching, and pronouncing over it the "greater excom- munication." The nature of this assault at once precluded all hope of peaceful compromise,— its only result could be resistance or surrender at discretion. No event in our local Church history, perhaps, ever pro- duced a deeper sorrow in tlie minds of a very largo, and pos- sibly not the least devoted, educated, or disinterested of Canadian Churchmen. Like the zealous Layman, the zealous Churchman may be orthodox in his individual opinions, and yet AvhoUy unwar- ranted in the construction he tries to fasten on those of his opponents ; but, be the abstract truth as it may, the con- crete mischief is as palpable, as it is (we fear) irreparable. 12 We point to sucli occurrences in a spirit of earnest sorrow, with no unkindly feeling towards the actors, but with a deep sense of the terrible consequences of this " throwing about of fire." There has o^'cr been, and now is, a party ready to ap- plaud to the echo all acts of this kind. Consequences are wholly overlooked ; temporary triumph over opponents is the exultant feeling. The layman and the ecclesiastic both doubtless have their applaudcrs, but the wounds thus inflicted will continue to fester and bleed afresh, long after the echoes of thoughtless applause have died upon the car. The Church, as an organised body, sulVcrs deeply from such proceedings ; but deeper and deadlier injury is, avc fear, done to the souls of men. There is bitterness enough in political and social dis- putes; there might be some "charmed ground" left to us within the wide arms of our mother the Church, where peace and charity might find a resting-place. Our minds are all too ready to take umbrage, and find occa- sion for dispute. History, with uniform consistency, proves the apparent paradox, that no animosity is so deadly and so unreasoning, as that provoked by different views of the great truths of the gospel of peace. In nothing should we expect our spiritual pastors to be more scrupulously careful, than in saying or doing aught to evoke the odious demon of religious discord. Every parish in Canada con- tains, in various proportions, men of antagonistic opinions on the questions of the day. A discreet and kindly charity in his words and acts, will enable a faithful minister, in nearly every case, to preserve peace, without the least concealment — much less abandonment — of his own convictions. He may freely address his people, and urge them to embrace his views, without danger of offence. But a harsh word — r 13 such as, unhappily, ^3 all hear too frequently — "will act like a spark of fire tt I do the flame of religious disputation. When we look to our spiritual advisers for the words of peace and charity, for oil on our troubled waters, we hear but "Curse ye INIeroz, curse yc bitterly!" The curse is harsh enough on the ear at all times. Disgust is added to disapprobation when the cursor wraps the imprecation in some prostituted scripture formula, and assures his hearers that he "speaks the truth in love," and that it is the doc- trine, not the man, that he holds up to reprobation. Is the case over-stated? Can any reader not readily recall the bitter Avords he has heard from clerical lips against some clerical brother, whose oidy crime was that he held an opinion a shade lower or higher than that of the speaker, as to the spiritual presence, or the efficacy of infant baptism ? The most violent and ultra of the clergy, high or low, will always have a small circle of especial admirers, whose ap- plause will follow his every act ; and the more extravagant the proceeding, the noisier will be the approbation. This loud approval is too often mistaken by its object for the voice of the public at large, and naturally so, as he hears all that is palatable to his egotism ; while a far larger num- ber of the most thoughtful and earnest-minded of the souls entrusted to his care, view his proceedings and hear his words of bitterness with silent reo;ret. No man is asked to surrender or to conceal an honest conviction. As frankly and uncompromisingly as ever he may press his own views, — be they of Hooker or be they of Simeon. He may, however, obtain by prayer and Avatch- fulness the blessing of that quiet spirit, which is ready to accord to his fellow minister the credit of labouring with sincerity in the Master's service, at least as genuine as his 14 own. ITc may succeed in exorcising that spirit of presump- tuous dogmatism wliicli prompts him to denounce his brother as an emissary of evil, and his (higher or lower) view of a sacrament as heretical and soul-destroying. It is not pretended that foolish partizans on either sido have not occasionally said and preached in a style deserving severe reprobation, straining an extreme view to apparently dangerous practical results. Such weak brethren will exist in every church — on the one side startling and offending by idle and mischievous novelties, mediaeval millinery, gesture and posture masters — on the other side treating all discipline and rubrical direction with contempt ; and, in an unhealthy zeal for spiritual liberty, over-leaping all decorous barrier of article or canon. These "irregulars" can be best dealt with and brought to their senses by very different weapons from those commonly used against them. Let not the spirit of these remarks be misunderstood. They emanate from no personal bitterness. They are only intolerant towards intolerance ; they pander to no party spirit ; they espouse no party views. The writer desires impartial justice on all the disturbers of the Church's peace. Of his views this much may be said, that they possibly accord most with those of the religious party which he fools most inclined to blame, not for its opinions, but for its cruel manner of enforcini; them. I ' ' Is this .1, time for a church — struggling with heavy exter- nal difficulties — to be distracted ])y " civil war ?'' Are the two dioceses to be like hostile camps ? Is the training institution, to which our Sovereign granted her charter, instead of enjoying the generous su[)port of all, and having any proved abuses corrected by the friendly hands of its legal guardians, to be abandoned by those charged with the solemn duty of upholding its usefulness, and denounced as a stronghold of heresy ? While a rationalistic theology is openly assailing the traditions of our faith, is the Church to ho internally at variance ? While tlic Roman is thundering at the gate, arc John and Simon to be slaying in the temple ? We may be called alarmists — unnecessarily anxious about temporary excitements which time will cure. The excite- ment doubtless may pass away, but the wounds inflicted in the contest will be long to heal — too ready to bleed afresh. We believe profoundly in Time, both as the healer and the avenger. The day will surely come, when reflection will bring to the authors of present mischief, and the neglcctors of solemn duties, a saddening and humbling consciousness that when they lightly called down fire froin heaven, they "knew not what manner of spirit they Avere of." He who made us Avith minds of various powers Avill, Ave trust, look more leniently on the existence of various shades of opinion among His servants, on the intangible mysteries of faith, than those servants — in their zealous Aveakncss — looked on each other. I. > FelloAV Churchmen — clerical and lay — arc those outside our fold still, to say Avith the Ottoman sentry, — " Let thcra fight I — Dogs and Christians as they arc !" Toronto, January, 18G1.