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This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked. below/ Ce document est filmd au taux de reduction indiquA ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X >/ 12X 16X 20X a4x 28X 32X The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: Harold Campbell Vaughan Memorial Library Acadia University The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol — ^ (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. 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Tons les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmds sn commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symholes suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre fi!m6s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 CHRISTIAN UNI T Y. A SERMON PREACHED IN ST. GILES'S CHURCH, EDINBURGH, JULY 3, 1877, AT THE OPENING OF THE FIRST GENERAL PRESBYTERIAN COUNCIL, by: ROBERT FLINT, D.D., LL.D., VROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. Published b^ Request of the Councili MONTREAL! A, A. STEVENSON, PRINTER, 245 ST, JAMES STREET. 1878, PREFATORY NOTE BY THE AUTHOR, The circumstances in which this Discourse was preached may give it to many an interest to which it is not entitled by any merits of its own. It formed a part of the religious exercises at the opening of the proceedings of a Council composed of delegates representing the whole family of the Presbyterian Churches throughout the world. The author has been honoured by the Council with a request to publish his Discourse. The request, he need scarcely say, cannot be reasonably supposed to commit the members of the Council to an approval of all the particular state- ments contained in the Discourse. He feels confident, however, of being at one with all his brethren in the desire .that not only may the Presbyterian Churches be drawn more closely together, but that all who are united to Christ by faith may become more united to one another in love. Edinburgh^ yuly, 1877. Note. — It was intended to have published this Sermon in the Presbyterian Record some months ago. The limited space of that Magazine, however, pre- venting, the publishing Committee have taken this method of furnishing the Ministers of Tue Presbyterian Church in Canada with a copy of this Dis- course, which, apart from its intrinsic value, has attached to it a historic interest by reason of the great occasion on which it was preached. Montreal, July, J8y8, s:Ei:Ri^oiW*4ij^S5?i',fc^vS£-«.S-/;t#a^^ } history with the French Revolution ; it owes its very existence to the Christianity which it is set up to rival. But the signs of the times seem clearly to indicate that, under some form or other, or rather that under many forms, what has been called the religion of humanity — which is just the belief in the brotherhood of men sepa- rated from belief in the fatherhood of God- fraternity divorced from piety — unity de- tached from its supernatural root — veill b^ one of the chief enemies which Christian> ity must contend with. Merely ecclesiaa- tical questions will probably have far less, and social questions far more, importance assigned to them in the estimation of Christian men in the future than they have had in the past ; and all Christian ChurcheH, it is to be hoped, will hence- forth realise better than they have hitherto done that their duty is to conquer the world around them, and transform it into a part of the kingdom of Chriot — to a anc- tify society, and to stamp the image of the Redeemer on all the relatiouH of lite.B vt in attempting to accomplish this task, Christian belief will assuredly be resisted by worldly unbelief; and yet in such a struggle, the foe of Christianity, to oppose it with any chance of success, must be neither wholly worldly nor wholly unbe- lieving ; it must have some positive truth, some generous faith, some cause capable of eliciting enthusiasm. The world will not be conquered — not generally influenced and governed — by mere doubts, mere nega- tions. But where is unbelief to get a truth, a faith, a motive which will serve its pur- pose ? I answer that unbelief, although so fertile in doubts and negations, is so poor as regards the positive truth which can alone suj port and ennoble life, that it must borrow it from the very system which it seeks to combat, and can have no other originality than that which it gains by mutilating the truth which it borrows, To the Fatherhood of God and the Brother- hood of Man, it will oppose the latter alone — to Christian unity, what it will call a broader, but what is really a narrower thing, a merely human unity— to the whole truth, the half truth. And for many a long day Christian men and Christian Churches will have no more urgent work to do than to show by words and deeds, by teaching and conduct, what is the whole truth and what is only the half truth ; that the temple of human brotherhood can only be solidly founded and firnaly built up OQ the Eiernal Rock, on whicb rests Christian faith ; that the world can only be reconciled to itself by being reconciled to its God ; that human unity can only be realised in and through Christian unity. The unity which Christ asked for Hie disciples is, I remark next, a unity which has not only its foundation, but its stand- ard or model, in heaven. The prayer of Christ is not only that His people may be one, but "as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us." The union of believers not only flows from the union between the Father and the Son, who is the Mediator between the Father and us, but should resemble it as much as the relationship between finite beings can resemble that between infinite beings. The unity which Christ came to produce on earth was one meant to reflect and ex- press in a finite form the perfect unity of the Divine Nature. That unity, ai Chris- tianity has revealed it, is very different from the mere abstract unity of speculative philosophy — the wholly indeterminate unity of which nothing can be affirmed ex- cept that it exists ; very different also from the solitary, loveless, heartless unity of the God of Mohammedanism. It is a unity rich in distinctions and perfections ; the unity of an infinite fulness of life and love ; the unity of a Godhead in which there are Father, Son, andH oly Spirit, a trinity of persons, a diversity of properties, a variety of offices, a multiplicity of opera- tions, yet not only sameness of nature and equality of power and glory, but perfect oneness also in purpose, counsel, and affec- tion — perfect harmony of will and work. It is in this unity, in the contemplation and fruition of which poets like Dante, saints like St. Bernard, and divines like Melancthon, have supposed the highest 6 happiness of the blessed to consist, that we are to seek the archetype of the unity of believers on earth. It is one of the most marked and one of the grandest characteristics of Christian- ity, that it continually sets before us the heavenly, the divine, the perfect, as the law and rule of our lives. As Moses was commanded to make the tabernacle for the children of Israel in all things according to the pattern shown him in the Mount, so is the Christian commanded to frame his conduct in every respect according to the perfect model of heaven. To be perfect, as God is perfect— to do our Father's will on earth, as it is done in heaven — to love one another as Christ has loved us,— such is the uniform tenor of the teaching which we receive from the Gospel ; and eo here our Saviour's words remind us that we are to be one, as the Father and the Son are one. If, as those dream who would found a mere human brotherhood, heaven were empty, or wholly inaccessible to our faith — if there were no Father and no Son, or, at least, none to be known by us — if there were not in the Godhead itself an intimate indwel- ling of person in person, a perfect com- munion of spirit with spirit, an infinite love, all- comprehensive, all-pervasive, all- unitive, — would there be any real and ade- Ciuate standard assignable to the unity of men with men, to the love of man for man? When one who disbelieves in God and His Son tells his fellow-men to be one, can he also reasonably and consistently tell them in what measure or according to what model they are to be one ? No. He can find no rule in the history of the past, stained as that has been with hatreds and dissensions. He must not be content with merely pointing to good men, for clearly the best human lives have been very de- fective, and in many respects warnings rather than examples. If he say, **Love and be at one as far as is for the greatest good of all," he gives us a problem to cal- culate instead of an ideal which can at once elicit and measure, which can at once sus- tain and regulate love and unity. If he say, "Love and be at one as you ought," he forgets that the very question ia, How ought we to love and be at one ? Human unity is a derived and dependent unity, and its standard can only be the ultimate and uncreated source of unity— in the indwel- ling of the Father in the Son, a nd of the Son in the Father. The words of our Lord, I remark next, indicate to us not only the true foundation and the true standard, but a\ro the true nature of the unity which he prayed for. What He asked was that all His followers might be "one in Us," one in the Father and in Himself— one in the Father through belief in Himself, which can only mean that what He desired was that His follow- ers might all possess a common life— mightj all participate in the mind whish was in Him — might all walk not by sight but by faith, not after the flesh but accord- ing to the Spirit — and might all conscious- ly feel and ouLi^ardly manifest that they were thus really one. This is, of course, a kind of unity which embraces all Christ's followers without any exception. The Church of Christ, which is the body of Christ, contains every human being of whatever kind, or tongue, or nation, who has that life which is not of this world, but 'hid with God in Christ ; and it con- tains only those who have it. Therefore the Church — the body of Christ — is one. It is one in itself, because one in it s Lord ; one*in its many members, because these members are all united to Him who is the Head of the Church — the sole head of the Church. The Headship of Christ and the unity of the Church are two aspects of the same truth. Christ is ths Head of the Church because He is the life of all, the guide of all, and the Lord of all, who are within the Church : their life, through the agency of His Holy Spirit ; their guide, through the instrumentality of His Word } and their Lord, through the redemption of them from sin to His own blessed service. And just because Christ is thus the sole Head of the Church, in the plain Scrip, tural sense of this great doctrine, the Church itself is one. Without Him it would have no centre of unity, no coher- t^ K «Doe of parte, no eattienees of life, no har- mony of eentimente, no conamonneHa of purpoee ; while in Him it hae all these. Has them, I eay, and not merely will hare them. The unity of the Church ia not simply a thing to be hoped for, prayed for, worked for ; it is also a thing which already exists, and the existence of which ought to be felt and acted on. Christiana are certainly far, far indeed, from being one, as Christ prayed that they might be one — completely one — one as He and the Father are one ; they are far from that, because they are far from being perfect Christians ; but in so far as they are Chris- tians at all, they are to that extent already one. To be a Christian is to be — through change of nature, through newness of life —one with all other Christians. Now I know scarcely any truth about Christian- ity which we are more apt to forget, and which we mere need to remember, than just this, — that Christian unity already ex- ists as far as Christianity itself does ; that we do not need to brirg it into existence, but that Christ Himself by His work and spirit brought it into existence ; that any unity which we are entitled to look i. r ia the future must be merely a development, an increase of that which already binds to- gether Christian men of all denominations —not something of an essentially different nature. The great duty of Christians in this matter, some seem to think, is tu ignore their diflferences, to conceal them, or to get rid of them anyhow ; they appear to find it difficult to understaHd how there can be a unity coexisting with and under- lying differences, and wholly distinct from the uniformity which can only be gained by the surrender or suppression of differences. This is a very superficial view, for it represents Christian unity not as a living and spiritual thing at all, but as a mere dead outward form of doctrine or policy ; it is also a very dangerous view, for it tends directly to the establishment of ecclesiastical despotism, the discourage- ment of the open expression of individual convictions, and the destruction of faith in the sacredness and value of truth. To me it seems that the chief aim and desire of Christians as to unity ought to be to re- alize their oneness notwithstanding their differences ; to estimate at its true worth what is common to them, as well as what is denominationally distinctive of them. Christian unity does not require us to undervalue any particular truth, or to sur- render any denominational principle, or even individual conviction, which is well founded : it merely requires that our minds and hearts be open ali^o to what is common, catholic, universal ; that we do not allow our denominational differences and individual peculiarities to prevent us from tracing and admiring the operations of the Spirit of grace through the most dissimilar channels. There maj be Chris- tian oneness where there are also differ- ences which no man can rationally count of slight moment. The differences between Protectants and Roman Catholics are of the most serious kind, religiously, morally, and socially, — yet obviously the feelings to which St. Bernard gave expression in the hymn, "Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts," a ' those which Charles Wesley poured forth in the hymn, "Jesus, lover of my soiri," had their source in the same Holy Spirit, and their object in the same div" ae Saviour. There is a great distance, and there are many differences, between the Roman Catholic Church of France and the Free Church of Scotland ; but Fenelon and M'Chey ne were of one Church, the one true Church, because at one in their spirit- ual experience. St. Bernard and Pope Alexander VI., Fenelon and Cardinal Dubois, were united in the Church of Rome — who will dare to say that they were one in Christ ? St. Bernard and Charles Wesley, Fenelon and M'Cheyne, were ecclesiastically far apart — who will dare to say that they were not one in Christ ? I trust that Protestants will never think lightly of the differences which sepa- rate them from the Church of Rome ; and yet I hesitate not to say that when Protes- tants in general are clearly able to discern the oneness even beneath these differences, and cordially to love whatever is of Christ mSimff'vMt^Ti 8 and His Holy Spirit, even when it appears in the Church of Rome, a greater step will have been taken towards the attainment of Christian unity than would be by the mere external union of ail the denominations of Protestantism. As to the differences between these deno- minations, they might surely exist and yet prove merely the means of exercising and strengthening Christian unity. If we can be at one in spirit with those only who agree with us in opinion, there can be lit- tle depth or sincerity in such oneness. The love whieh vanishes before a difference of views and sentiments, must be of a very superficial and worthless nature. And, as a plain matter of fact, it is neither merely nor mainly the differences of principle or opinion between the various denomina- tions of Christians which mar and violate their Christian unity, but the evil and un- christian passions which gather round these differences. The differences are only the occasions of calling forth these pas- sions. If they did not exist at all, the same passions would create or find other differ- ences, other occasions for displaying them- selves. It is not when one body of men holds honestly, openly, and firmly the Voluntary principle, and another the Es- tablishment principle, that Christian unity is broken, but when those who hold the one principle insinuate that those who hold the other are, simply in virtue of doing so, ungodly men, or men who disown Christ as the life and guide, the Lord and Head of His people ; when, instead of cor- dially acknowledging and rejoicing in what is good in each other, each exaggerates what is good in himself, and depreciates what is good in the other, or even rejoices in his neighbour's humiliation or injury ; and when those who represent them con- tend, by speech or writing, in a manner from which a courteous and honourable man of the world would recoil ; — it is then that Christian unity is broken — visibly, terribly broken — for then the Christian spirit is manifestly absent, or grievously feeble. AH the differences of principle which separate most of our Christian denomina- tions might redound to their common honour, and might reveal rather than con- ceal their common unity, had their mem- bers and spokesmen only a little more jus- tice, generosity, and love— a little more grace and virtue— a little more of the spirit of that kingdom which is righteous- ness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. They might set a high value on their distinctive principles, and yet rejoice that what they held apart was so small a portion of the truth in comparison with what they held in common. It may, per- haps, be quite reasonable that tor the sake of one principle as to which they differ, two denominations shall stand apart, al- though on a thousand other principles they are agreed ; but it cannot be reason- able that their divergence of view as to the one principle should shut their eyes and hearts to the fact that on the thousand others they are agreed. And yet there is, as all experience proves, a very great dan- ger of our thus allowing distinctive priiici- ples to obscure or prevent our recoj^nition of common principles. It is the penalty attached to all undue exaltation or glorify- ing of what distinguishes us from our Christian brethern. And met as we are as a General Presbyterian Council, I hope we shall be on our guard against such a dan. ger. God forbid that the Presbyterian Churches of the world should have so littlt received the spirit or learned the law of Christ as that they should in any degree confound Presbyterian unity with Chris- tian unity — or vainly boast of what is but an outward form — or say or do anything to hurt the feelings or the usefulness of other Churches which are as dear to the Saviour as themselves, and which are sepa- rated from them by so thin a partition wall as a mode of ecclesiastical government. We have come together as Presbyterians, but with the wish to promote Christian unity ; aad the very thought of Christian unity, if apprehended aright, must save ua from unduly and offensively magnifying any secondary unity, any outward distinc- tion. f •i Ghriatian unity we have seen to be a Bpiritual anity which linkfi together all ChristianB, and nnderliee all the differenceR which diHtinguieh them from one another. It is a natural and neceBBary conBequence of this truth that ChriBtian unity, although it may lead to Buch secondary unities aa identity of doctrine, or uniformity of ritual, or onenena of gorernment, ought never to be identified with them. ChriBtian unity may be where there are none of these thinga. It might not be where they all are. Take doctrine. ChriBtian unity un- doubtedly involves in its very essence a oneness of faith, for the Christian life is one of confidence towards God as a re- conciled Father in Jesus Christ — a con- fidence which is gained through belief in Jesus Christ, while that belief is gained through assent to what Scrip- ture testifies of Jesus Christ. This unity of a living faith naturally finds expres- Bion in a unity of doctrine or creed. God and Christ are one, and the testimony of Scripture regarding Him is a self-con- sistent whole, and the longer, the more im- partially, the more freely and honestly, the more reverently and profoundly that testimony is studied, the more likely, or, if you will, the more certainly, is unity even of doctrine to be the result. And it has been the result. The harmony of the Creeds and Confessions, not of Presby- terianism alone, nor even of Protestantism alone, but of the whole Christian world, is most comprehensive. The harmony of the chief Protestant creeds and confessions ip, of course, far more so ; it shows us a unity of doctrine abundantly sufiicient, surely, for almost every want of practical Christian life. This unity or harmony was inevitr able, because no very different system of doctrines could be evolved out of the Scriptures by the collective labours of large masses of men one in spirit, than that which has been derived from them and embodied in the creeds of the Churches. But while all this is true, and Christian unity thus naturally tends to produce a doctrinal unity, we must never confound these two things. A man may err very widely in creed, and yet have a ein cere be- lieving «oul. He may greatly misunder- stand many an iuBtruction of his Lord and Master, and yet reverence Him far more, and love Him far better— and therefore, since love is the fulfilling of the law, much more truly obey His will — than a wiser and more instructed brother, whose exe- gesis of the new Testament is perfect. A Church may have a faultless creed, to which all its members unhesitatingly as- sent, and yet be devoid of Christian unity, because devoid of Christian faith, of spirit- ual life. Mere orthodoxy is deadly heresy. The purely intellectual unity reached through a purely intellectual assent is no operation of the Spirit ; but where the Spirit is not, life is not ; and where life is not, death is. Life, however, is unity, and death is dissolution. Besides, while Christian unity tends to doctrinal unity, there nay never on earth be doctrinal identity. Wherever there is mental activity — free, honest, independtat enquiry, such as there is wherever there is either intellectual or spiritual life — re- search is ever advancing ; and the first re- sults of advancing research into the mean- ing of either God's book of nature or Hia book of revelation are often discordant and unsatisfactory. There are conflicting opinions entertained on many questions re- garding heat, light, and electricity ; there are rival schools in geology and natural history ; there is hardly a single subject in mental, moral, or political science about which there is not the greatest diversity of opinion. In all these cases, however, the continuance of free research will bring order out of chaos, harmony out of con- fusion ; yet will the perfect order and har- mony of nature be discovered and demon- strated only when science has fully com- prehended nature, and there is no room left for fresh research. It is not otherwise with regard to revelation. We can only have an absolute harmony of opiiiion as to the Bible when there are no more new truths to be derived from it, or new ques- tions raised concerning it, when its inter- pretation is perfected, and research re> S^^^!^^»^ii^S5S»^ 10 garding it completed. That will not be, I believe, before the day of doom. Certainly it will not be in our day, for never was Biblical research more actively pushei forward in all directionB than juet now. Never, therefore, were the Churches more bound, while conscientiously guarding old and assured truths, to beware of dogmat- ism as to new views, or of trammelling un- necessarily the advancing research. The free action of spiritual life in the form of investigation and criticism when displayed in fields hitherto little trodden, and in quest:' ns hitherto little studied by us, may appart atly produce, or really produce, for a time, only contradictory and destructive tceories, — yet in God's good time it will assuredly b'-ing about unity and peace, and minister to faith and virtue, as it has done in fields already traversed and as to questions row settled It is thought by some that Christian unity — unity of spirit — also tends to ritual- istic uniformity or uniformity of worship. There, are two grounds on either or both of which this opinion may be maintained. It may be argued that there is a divinely ap- pointed form of worship defined in the New Testament with sufficient distinct- ness, and that Christian men will fooner or lator be all convinced of this, and will, of course, adopt that form of worship. It may also be argued that there is an abso- lutely best form of worship, and that when the spiritual life of the Church is luffi- ciently deepened and quickened it must as- sume that form as alone fully appropriate. And these two arguments may be com- bined ; indeed, if there is a divinely-ap- pointed form of worship it can scarcely be other than the absolutely beet form of wor- ship — the one most suitable in all lands, ages, and circumstances. I have neither the time nor the desire to examine these arguments, but certainly I am unconvinced by either of them. I can- not see that there is one form of worship exclusively prescribed by Scripture and binding in all its regulations on men in all places and at all times ; or that there is ne absolutely best form of worship, iden- tical and unvarying for all men, no matter what may have been the history, or what may be the characters or circumstances, of the worshippers. Hence, although I can hardly doubt that the ii ore enlightened and earnest our piety becomes, the less value will it attach to accessories and im- posing forms, the more suspicious will it grow of what is symbolical and artificial, and the higher will be its appreciation of those forms of worship which with the greatest simplicity, naturalness, and direct- ness, bring the soul into contact with the realitieo of worship, I can feel no certainty that there would be uniformity of worbhip even if there were perfect unity of spirit ; and I will judge no man's worship by my own ideal of its form. To his own master each man standeth or falleth. The unity of worship, which is all important, is no*, in its form at all, but in its being in spirit and in truth. The form is entirely subor- dinate to the spirit. The true spirit is re- stricted to no one form, for the Holy Ghost has condescended to bless and to act through the most diverse forms. There- fore, let us not rashly pronounce any of them common or unclean. Ritualistic uniformity, then, is not only not to be identified with Christian unity, but probably not even to be included in the idea of Christian unity. The same must be said of oneness of ecclesiastical govern- ment or polity. Yet nothing can be more manifest thaa that, within certain limits and conditions, Chriptian unity must work very powerfully towards ecclesiastical one- ness — towards the up'.on of Churches. The main reason why not a few Churches stand apart is unhappily to be sought aad found not in their principles, but in their passions. Jealousies, rivalries, recrimina- tions, assaults upon one another — most unseemly and improper in themselves, and most injurious to the Christian cause — are exhibited, instead of Christian graces or practices. The strength and energy which should have been applied to the conversion and sanctification of the world are far more than wasted in warring with one an- L t ■ \ 11 other, in "biting and devouring one an- other." All this is, of course, the very opposite of Christian unity, and irust dis- appear in order that Christian unity may establish and display itself. Wherever there is a real ^^"owth of religious life, there & sense of tho sinfulness of such a state of things, and the evil which it causes, must spring up, and the desire for brotherly communion and co-operation must be experienced. The spirit of love and peace, of zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of man, working from within, cannot fail gradually to effect many an ecclesiastical alliance and union ; and in all such cases there will be a clear ^ain to Christianity. There may be unions, how- ever, which have no root in Christian unity, which are prompted by worldly motives, and effected from without. These merit no adn)iration, and are not likelv to promote the progress of the Kingdom of Chiist. A true union between Churches must be rather grown into than directly striven for. Just as he who would be happy must not aim straight at happiness, but must cultivate piety and virtue, so Churches which seek such a union as God will bless, will only reach their goal by in- creasing in love to God and to all man- kind. I do not know ihat we are warranted to affirm with confidence much beyond this as to ecclesiastical union. There are not a few who hold that the Church, as the body of Christ, must become externally, visibly, organically one. This is the sort of unity which the Church of Rome has ever maintained to be an essential "' arac- teristio. of the true Church. Thus to be one is the idea' which she has so steadily striven to realise ; and the ambition of at- taining that ideal has been the inspiring cause of most of her crimes. It is a unity, I am persuaded, which would be pernicious if it could be attained, but which fortu- nately cannot be attained ; an ideal which is a dream — a grandiose dream — and also a diseased dream ; an ambition which is foolish, if not guilty. The notion of a uni- yereal Church in this sense is precisely the same delusion in religion as the notion of a universal monarchy or a universal republic in politics. Human hands are utterly incompetent to hold and gu de aright the reins of universal s./ay, either in religious or in civil matters. A universal Church would be as surely a misgoverned Church, as a universal empire would be a misgoverned empire. Before we can even affiim with ra- tional confidence that all Churches will come to have the same kind of govern- ment, not to speak of the same govern- ment, we must have convinced ourselves that there is one kind of Church Govern- ment which is alone of Divine origin and authority. This is not now the prevalent view, perhaps, in Protestant Churches. Most Presbyterians probably, while claim- ing for Presbytery that it is "founded on the Word of God and agreeable thereto," will not deny that the same may be said of other forms of Church Government, in so far as they contribute to the diffusion and application of the pure and saving truths of the Gospel, and to the gathering and perfecting of the saints. The unity of the Church, the unity of believers, cannot, it seems to me, be bound up with any one kind of government. It is a unity not to be sought for elsewhere than in the love of God the Father, in the faith of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit and in the hearts of believers. There are many truths in my text still unnoticed, but I will only mention the one which is most prominent — and I will do no more than mention it. The oneness of Christians is not simply described as a blessing to themselves, but as what would be a blessing also to the world. If Chris- tians sincerely and fervently loved one an- other, and loved the Father and the Son, and showed by their whole conduct how precious, how joyous, how divine a thing Christian love was, the world could not but be influenced by the sight ; the love of Christ's disciples towards one another w©uld guide it to th« love of Christ Him- self : and the love of Christ, to the love oi the Father ; and so the