tiful exclamation of the Psalmist," Behold, how good and joyful a thing it is, brethren, to dwell together in unity!"

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But this truly Christian spirit, which made men of one heart and of one soul ;' this truly Christian practice of "all believers being being together, and continuing daily with one accord in the temple," was but of short duration. It was to no purpose, that our blessed Lord had commanded his disciples, to "love one another";" and had earnestly prayed his Father "for them that should believe on him, that they all might be one":"-it was to no purpose, that his holy Apostles most fervently enforced the same affection and union; that St. Peter exhorted the Christian converts to "greet one another with a kiss of charity;" that St. John cautioned his followers against such as would "seduce them from the truth;" that St, Jude warned believers to beware of " those who separate themselves;" and that St,

,,

• John xvii.

1 John ii. 26.

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Paul more particularly in the most earnest manner repeatedly insisted upon the same point; beseeching" the Corinthians "in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that they would all speak the same thing, and that there might be no divisions among them;" intreating the Ephesians, that they would" forbear one another in love, and endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace ";" and praying to God, in behalf of the Romans, to

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grant them to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus; that they might with one mind and one mouth glorify God." The corrupt and perverse propensities of human nature too soon prevailed, in opposition to the exhortations of the Apostles, and to the commandments of their Lord. "Despite was done unto the Spirit" of truth and love. Heresies and schisms; unsound opinions, and unreasonable divisions too soon broke the unity of the Church; and the prediction of our Saviour was too fatally fulfilled,

1 Cor. i. 10, 11.

› Eph. iv. 3.

i Rom. xv. 5.

that he "came not to send peace on earth, but a sword k."

If then the unity and peace of the Church were thus distracted in the age of the Apostles, when the Church was under the government of men, who had received their authority immediately from Christ, and whose ministry was attested by the seal of miraculous power; much as we may be grieved, we have no reason to be surprised, at divisions among Christians in subsequent ages; when the governors of the Church no longer derive their authority immediately from Christ, although in direct and unbroken succession from his Apostles; and when they are no longer endowed with extraordinary power, by which to attest and support their authority.

But however this consideration may lessen our surprise at the existence of divisions in the Church; it does not alter, the nature of such divisions, nor lessen the guilt of those

k Matt. x. 34. 1

who cause them. If Schism, or an unreasonable separation from the Church, be in itself sinful; it is sinful at one time as well as at another: as well when the Church is under the government of the legitimate successors of the Apostles, as when it was under the government of the Apostles themselves as well after the Church has been established eighteen hundred years, as at the period immediately succeeding its establishment. Allowing that "it must needs be that offences come," still our blessed Saviour teaches us to conclude, that there must be "woe to that man, by whom the offence cometh 1."

It is our lot to be cast on times, remarkable for many strange peculiarities, both in opinion and in practice; for no one perhaps more remarkable than for a general spirit of insubordination and licentiousness in matters of Church discipline and Church union. So universally indeed has this spirit been disseminated, that

1 Matt. xviii. 7.

Schism, even in the estimation of many professed members of the established Church, is a sin of small account; although that Church herself condemns it as explicitly, and instructs all her members to deprecate it as earnestly, as any of the most heinous sins. It It may be therefore no unseasonable task, if I endeavour with God's blessing to show you, 1st, The general sinfulness of Schism, or an unreasonable separation from the Church; and 2dly, the benefits, to be derived individually from a conscientious communion with it. It is necessary to premise that I take for granted, that the established Church of England is a true branch of the Church of Christ : apprehending, as I do, that the error of the modern separatists in general does not arise so much from a positive objection upon principle to the national Church; as from an imaginary liberty, by which they suppose themselves to be exempted from all obligation to Church communion; and authorized to attach themselves to any religious society, or to form new ones, as their inclination may direct.