can be accomplished, no power upheld, but by unity of effort. Every kingdom “divided against itself is brought to deso "lation; and every city or house divided "against itself shall not stand and if Sa “tan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom “stand ?". a dog down,eu Still further: to shew the natural consequence of divisions, he reminds his hearers of an aphorism of their own, against the force of which they could take no excep tion. He that is not with me is against "me; and he that gathereth not with me “scattereth abroad;" leaving them to draw from it the following unavoidable inference; that the conduct which they admitted to be in general so injurious, was not likely to have been adopted on that particular occasion; that if nothing less. than the steady and uniform direction of its power towards its own preservation can effectually promote the welfare of any góvernment, Satan could not, without absurdity, be supposed to be so grossly negligent of his own interests, as to divide

against himself, by providing his avowed adversary with weapons to overthrow his kingdom.dworkeredhet po qua Tuh mak DoAssuming then that the proverbial saying thus objected by our Saviour to these Jewish cavillers, may be accommodated without impropriety to the subject before us, it will perhaps admit of being thus paraphrased. He that is not with me," that is, he who does not act under my direction and authority, is against me;" his labours, though apparently directed to the same end, are in fact opposed to mine; he divides those whom I would have collected in one, even while he seeks to gather them; and, by breaking down the fences of that one fold, which it is my design to form, he scatters the sheep, seducing them from my pastures, depriving them of my protection.

1

:

*

If we may be allowed thus to employ the language of the text, it will powerfully illustrate the fatal effects of those

labours

the irregular impulse of private imaginations, rather than according to the dictates of Jesus Christ and his Apostles. no.

The event of many arduous contests, and of many a plausible, but unsuccessful plan for preventing their recurrence, has proved that the ministers of Christ can never properly discharge their sacred function, as the watchmen of Israel, the shepherds of Christ's flock, the stewards of his mysteries, unless they be convinced, that, however desirous they may feel to provide for the things which make for peace," it is their first duty to maintain the truth; and that every project for uniting Christians upon any other terms has hitherto increased the evil which it was intended to remedy.

The historical evidence by which this position is supported may be arranged under three separate heads.

I. The first will include a cursory view. of those projects, which have had for their object the reunion of Protestants and Papists.pos

II. Under the second may be ranked the

attempts to restore unity among the dif ferent classes of Protestants in foreign countries. beoąż

III. The third may comprise the various plans which have been proposed for the reconciliation of the Church of England and her dissenting brethren.swed

This general view of the subject, while it enables us to ascertain the common principle upon which all these undertakings have been conducted, may perhaps suggest, in that principle, the cause of their failure, by ranking them under that species of gathering, which tends to scatter, rather than unite.

I. Of the efforts made by the Church of Rome to promote Christian unity littlecan be said, and that little must be unfavourable. To the repeated and earnest declarations of the Reformers, that they were anxious to prevent divisions, and to preserve the unity of the Church by any sacrifice which they could conscientiously make; she answered only by an haughty avowal of her determination to maintain the doctrines, which they disclaimed as un

scriptural and to abide by the practices, against which they protested as superstitious and idolatrous.

To their appeals in favour of primitive truth and discipline, she obstinately refused to listen; and their arguments she attempted to silence by the exertion of authority. She d wished indeed that Christians should be all of one mind:" but it was an unanimous submission to her usurped supremacy, rather than to the faith of the Gospel, which she endeavoured to enforce.

The days of primitive suffering might have taught her the vanity of labouring to subdue the mind by torturing the body; and from the lives of those martyrs whom she affected to venerate, she might have learned to despise the folly, as well as to detest the cruelty, of religious persecutions. In the arrogance however of assumed infallibility, she refused to receive instruction from the experience of former ages; and the breach which prudent concession

d See Note CXXX. Appendix.