Part 18 (1/2)

He must then have known that his Gospel would carry with it blessings which this sees far surpassing the evils of division,--a peace which no jarrings of controversy could disturb,--a good-will that could triumph over the alienations of party Were it my object, it would be easy to show that the distribution of the Christian world into sects has achieved incalculably ood than it has inflicted injury; that the rudest conflicts of a y are preferable to the hollow peace of universal thraldo surface of huhts, is a fairer object than its dark and leaden stagnation; that discussion multiplies the chances of truth, diffuses the thirst for knowledge, leads forth reason froives to a dead faith a moral and operative power It would be easy to show that our religion, especially since it has issued froht of day, has accoood, hich no controversy has been able to interfere; that it has iiven to conscience a more majestic voice, raised the depressed portions of society; that it has enabled moral refinement to keep pace with the intellectual advanceiventowering and eternal truths beyond whose shadow reason cannot fly It would be easy to anticipate the tin principles of Christianity shall , and extract the lingering selfishness that poisons discussion with its bitterness; when the unrestricted and disinterested love of truth shall no longer be an empty fiction; when the differences betweenpaths by which oal of certainty But it is not es of controversy, or to predict its future triuers, and to suggest a few thoughts which e so controversial as ours Toon the principles of the association at whose anniversary I speak, no topic see principle is, the rejection of all creeds and human formularies of faith, and a si ”able,” without comment or interpretation, ”to h have been tried, and been found wanting; that every such attempt to produce uniforainst the laws of the hu then that unanimity is one of the weakest dreams of the visionary and the fanatic, we expect to see diversity of sentiht not to be displeased, to see the religious world full of the activity of discussion But since we agree to abandon encies of opinion, it is peculiarly incumbent on us to consider what new moral aspect society assu denoe of doctrinal debate

I It is the duty of Christians to reion, my friends, a matter of the intellect only,--a rant that it is in perfect unison with the dictates of enlightened reason, and that it administers the noblest stimulus and worthiest employment to the faculties of the s with the affections? Does it not present to us new objects of love, new scenes of hope, a new syste, and pour the full tide of emotion upon the soul? What else can so melt in penitence, so solemnize with awe, so prostrate in fear, so enkindle with joy? What else can impart such majestic power to huuish and temptation, to conquer the solicitations of self-love, and pursue with meek inflexibility deserted and solitary ways of duty? For the greatest triuo where it is matched with the passions of the heart, the iulated nature, and see how it prunes their exuberance, enriches their sterility, purifies their pollutions, expands their littleness, refines their ruggedness Now these influences are common to every form of Christianity; its appeals to the affections are not uttered in the vocabulary of sectarianise of the huion in the gorgeous colors of an i ritual; some may throw round it the arace of its primitive siure breathes, the same radiant features smile Where is the system of Christianity that does not present to our affections an Infinite Being, who has shadowed forth his invisible glories in the splendors of the universe, who rolls the silent wheels of time, whose presence, felt in other worlds, is secretly shed around each huhts up the smile of peace, who has an eye on every heart, and carries on his parental discipline in scenes beyond our vision and without an end? Where is the system of Christianity which does not lead us to the Saviour as the iht reflection of his character, and the noblest assurance of his love,--which does not trace to Jesus innuuidance arief, for power of endurance a nature, and prospects of attractive grandeur beyond the grave? Where is the system of Christianity which does not cast upon this state the shadow of an eternal tribunal,--which does not associate with sin the horrors of the outer darkness, and impart an infinite value to every pure tendency of the soul, by inviting virtue to a never-ending progression replete with ineffable joy? What Christian has not enshrined in hisportions of the volume of our faith? Is there a Christian parent that can read the invitation of the benevolent Jesus, ”Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not,”

without a heart of love to the Heavenly Teacher, without a purified conception of that kingdom which infantine docility alone can enter, without an uplifting of prayer that no rude worlddews of his innocence? Is there a Christian sister that has not blessed the Divine Teacher, who, himself touched by the sorrows that he quelled, restored the lost Lazarus to his weeping and defenceless hoered with the bereaved Mary around the cross, wondered at her awful sorrows, and thought how in the watches of the nightback upon her ear that last appeal, ”Woes like these, the ades of ination, are not the exclusive possession of any sect; they are the unrestricted boon of God to the huather fro influence, the same impressions of duty, the same impulses to prayer And on our Christian Sabbath, while we tread the threshold of differing temples, are they not all dedicated to Hiardeth not their trivial distinctions? While the worshi+ppingthoughts, are they not addressing a Being to whoht but like an infant's dream, and who looks only to that heart of love that anih on that sacred day Christians athered around ues, their praises blend like kindred fires as they rise, and burst into the courts of God, one brilliant flame of incense from the universal shrine of the huhts which we should cherish, to convince us how much, amid all our diversities, we have in co portion of our faith, is others' as well as our own; and to soften those strange animosities that embitter our weak tempers, and enfeeble the heavenly ties that encircle the whole family of God If there be any truth in the remark of a philosopher, that the essence of friendshi+p is to have the saround have all Christians for reat concern of all is with God, the Infinite Father; with Christ, the commissioned prophet, the merciful redeeuide; with eternity, the seat of our deepest and most perrave of virtuous sorrow, the home of the tossed and faithful spirit

No one can live habitually under the influence of these grand and affecting objects, and turn from them to condescend to the littleness of a polereatness to his soul, and give him that best of powers,--the power over himself Such a one may use the pen of controversy without fear

II But I confess that the contemplation of these points of union would impart little peace to our minds, or serenity to our tempers, if at the same time we believed that the differences of our faith would follow us into the eternal future, and determine our condition there

I therefore observe, in the second place, that, amid all our controversies, it is of moment that we should remember the moral innocence of mental error This principle, my friends, seeht of private judgation, and affix no temporal rewards or punishments to any system; yet this would be but a worthless boon, if we upheld over any creed the penal menace of eternity We should thus only transfer the bribe from men's interests to their fears; we should push our exclusion froive it a vaster theatre in heaven As many Christians, not otherwise disposed to be narrow in their spirit, have so this primary principle of Christian charity, suffer me to say a feords with a view to establish the perfect innocence of ument on one text, which, unhappily for Christian love, has been left somewhat elliptical in its expression ”He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; he that believeth not, shall be damned” Believeth what? Transubstantiation, says the Catholic; miraculous conversion, says the Wesleyan; the vicarious atonement, replies the Calvinist; the Trinity, says the Athanasian Creed Every one has an anathema for the opponent of his favorite tenet; and the still, s winds of controversy, and dies unheard Let us see whether our Heavenly Father will not perates of mercy which others have so sternly closed

It is not necessary for our present purpose to inquire what are the salvation and condee in question speaks It ument, that they have reference to the destinies of a future world Every reader of Scripture will acknowledge that the unbelief which our Saviour menaces, is unbelief in his Gospel, as preached by his Apostles, and confirmed by visible miracles;--it is a rejection of Christianity

Froion of Christ is professed, however erroneous it may be, can be coument of the exclusionist is this:--My own system is, in my view, the only one that is identical with the Gospel; therefore I must believe that those who reject my system are exposed to the penalties annexed to the rejection of the Gospel It is surprising that soCo with that of theone profession of Christianity, rejects all others; and you will find that there are two most momentous points of distinction,--therejected is different

What can be more obvious, than that our Saviour refers to the hearer's _intentional_ rejection of the Gospel,--a rejection of _his own_ Christianity, not of his neighbor's When punishment is held forth as the consequence of any act, is it not always implied that the act must be intentional? Is it not an understood principle of every law, human and divine, that a deed of accident and inadvertence is exened, it would deserve? To condeh ht for a restorative, would be as just as to put the erring believer and the wilful unbeliever on the sae this enorht of i Christian may err, remote as his faith may be from the truth as it is in Jesus, his intent is to believe; he yields his assent, no less heartily than his wiser brother, to the evidence which God has placed before him; he only mistakes what it is which that evidence proves; he reverences, no less than others, the authority which Jesus claims; but he does not discern all the truths which that authority establishes Strange would it be, brethren, if God, who in all other cases looketh at the heart, should in this look at the understanding only

But perhaps it will be urged that the same perversion of mind which Jesus condemns is displayed by the reat essentials of Christianity; that his disbelief in them, in short, is not wholly involuntary A feords to this objection

I admit that faith is a co; connected indeed most obviously with the latter, but deter their seat in the forhing argu up the mind, is undoubtedly involuntary When the evidence is once placed before the inquirer, no energy of will can repel the conclusion which is forced upon the judg produces different results on different persons, that one ument which to another appears weak and worthless, it becomes necessary to account for these varieties in the effects of evidence And there can be no doubt that the perception of truth is very materially influenced by the uments in favor of the Gospel derived froinality and loftiness of our Saviour's character, froion to the wants of the human mind under all its countless varieties! And yet this species of evidence will be wholly without effect on those whose minds are destitute of moral sensibility and refineuine are always apt to believe what they hope, the timid what they fear; and the hopes and fears of conscience will exert this influence on belief no less than any other Prejudice which ht to be shaken off, passions which blind and corrupt the judgment, uneasy conscience which alienates the desires from God, all these may exercise a powerful moral sway over the faith; and for the influence of these every man is certainly accountable