Why are there Christian sects?

We shall perhaps be told that, notwithstanding our possession of the holy scripture, we have, nevertheless, sects, parties, creeds, and schools of thought almost innumerable. But why is this? Simply because we refuse to submit our whole moral being to the authority of holy scripture. This is the real secret of the matter — the true source of all those sects and parties which are the shame and sorrow of the church of God.

But whence comes this disruption of outward, visible unity? The differences are on points of doctrine, discipline, organisation and other similar matters. It may be said that on such subjects there must always be difference from the various structure of the human mind. No doubt if man's will and judgment are allowed to work at all, such differences must exist. But God opens no door for man's thoughts to enter. He has not left those matters to be settled by the human mind. Had the Church been faithful, Christ's presence in its midst would have decided all questions. With the Word as the infallible guide, and the Holy Ghost as the infallible interpreter, no diversity of judgment could have manifested itself. What brought in difference of judgment was want of subjection to God's thoughts. Man put his own wisdom in the place of God's. The Spirit's guidance was no longer sufficient for him, and he began exercising his own judgment, dragging in worldly philosophy, choosing teachers according to his own tastes, and forming schools of doctrine to suit his own inclinations.

The same want of faith has operated, though in a different way, in matters of church order. Instead of believing that God cares for His Church, and has left ample rules for its government, man has sought to form a code of his own; and as human wisdom has been the source of this code, each man has had his own judgment; so that in proportion to the freedom with which man could act, different codes and different sects have multiplied. Every departure in this way has been by the addition of something to the word of God - the assumption of powers which the word of God does not give, or the adoption of rules which the word of God does not enjoin. The simple faith which could receive what God has said, leaving difficulties to Him, would have prevented the schisms caused by various theological schools. The simple faith which could accept the teaching of God's word as sufficient guidance on all matters of church order would have prevented the schisms caused by various denominational schools. There would still, of course, have been different measures of intelligence; but even the most unintelligent, if subject to Scripture, would have seen that these furnished no excuse for sectarian separation.

Where there is not power to repress dissent after this fashion, the result of an authoritative creed is to produce divisions. Being human merely, it will not, of course, be perfect: it will give the measure of its composer's knowledge, and, very naturally, also bear the marks of his failure, wherever he has failed to apprehend the teaching of the Word. These errors are now, equally with the truth itself, bound upon all by the same authority. People must submit, and do violence to their consciences, or they must respect their consciences and go outside. The confession becomes thus a party badge. It binds people together by the very beliefs in which they differ from other Christians, whom they cannot but own to be walking as godly as themselves. Scripture itself has to be interpreted in conformity with the creed, and where it cannot be silenced sectarians are made in plenty, and doctrines are changed from their design of edification to be the unholy watchwords of intestine strife.

So we have lost practically the blessed name of Christians, and are known as Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists — names derived from our differences only. Our differences are exalted above what we have in common, and the body of Christ is rent into many bodies, which become, therefore, human organizations, not divine. God's Church is owned to be the true one, but it is invisible. There are practical working churches, which accommodate themselves better to the many minds of men, and which they can regulate to their own satisfaction.

We might say at the outset that Scripture gives no hint of looseness in the matter of Church organization. Many speak with indifference of these things, and under the guise of broad-minded liberality allow room for the greatest divergence of views on these questions. Nay, the effort is made to show that Scripture itself is, in the main, silent as to the matter, and has only given us the outline, to be filled out in detail pretty much as men please, or as apparent exigencies may arise in various places; that certain problems of organization were left to be solved by the sanctified reason of the Church, which would gradually find out what plan was best suited to meet the varied and growing needs of a body ever increasing in size and importance, and whose interests would become with each year more complex. And so, in this very premise, men open the way for all manner of variety and of contradiction. What wonder is it then, that we find sects all contending for their own forms of existence, and, as a result, dividing the one Church of Christ almost beyond recognition? And then, instead of being abashed by the havoc thus made, men tell us that these very divisions are a part of the beauty of church organization, intended by Providence to foster a spirit of generous rivalry, and to increase by emulation the zeal of all! So far will even Christian men be led as apologists for their own disobedience and neglect of Scripture!

Then, as to those of you who make doctrinal interpretations of the Word your ground of separation from others, and of association among yourselves, we can just as little go with or yield to you as to the others. We own how evil it is that we should be of different minds as to the meaning of God's Word. We acknowledge that as the Word can have but one meaning, there must be sin and the blinding influences of the flesh at work somewhere, on one side or other, where diversities of judgment prevail. We give full weight to the apostle's solemn admonition to us, that we should "all speak the same thing", that we should be "perfectly joined together in the same mind, in the same judgment;" but then we also bear in mind that this very Word was given not in order that we might divide into sections, where we could be mutually agreed in our respective thoughts or judgments, but in order that there should "be no schisms among us," and to allow our zeal for like-mindedness on difficult points of doctrine or interpretation to lead us to do the very thing for the avoidance of which like-mindedness was enjoined, seems rather a contradictory mode of procedure. Where the Word of God speaks plainly in distinct affirmation, we have no hesituation; but where it is a question of lifting a man's inferences from the Word to a level with the Word itself, that is what we must decline. We see two parties among you separating from each other and from us, and organizing yourselves into opposing bodies, under your respective party-names, on the ground of your strong convictions as to the soundness of your respective inferences from certain Scriptures. You hold these opinions of yours as very important, no doubt, and are very strongly persuaded in your own minds that you are right, and that your way of it is God's way; but you seem quite to overlook the fact that in your zeal for inferred truth you are trampling on plainly-stated truth, for God has plainly forbidden division and you are dividing. Now, to our sorrow, we have to own that we are at present unable to be all of one judgment on these matters, and have among us those who hold with one, and those who hold with the other of your parties; but we cannot, dare not, attempt to remedy this evil by seeking to force the consciences of our brethren; there are, assuredly, inconveniences arising out of our want to unanimity on these points, but we dare not take matters into our own hands, as you have done, and make it more comfortable for ourselves by organizing sects, and allying ourselves with only those who think with us. This is man's remedy, not God's, and in taking it, you, dear brethren, have made yourselves "sects", and have departed from. God's ground, so that we cannot, in faithfulness, have anything to do with your organization, since God's word by Paul, in his letter to the Romans (Rom. 16.17), bids us mark them which cause divisions, and avoid them.

We must have faith, then, in what the grace of God has given us, in order to be able to get on with it; but more, we must have faith also in the ability He gives to possess ourselves of it. Here, how many questions naturally assail us! When we think of the centuries during which the Church has been in possession of the completed Word, and think again how little of unity of interpretation there is at the present time, — divisions only increased, as one might think, by coming to it, — divisions for which Rome reproaches Protestants, so far with justice: but her remedy is to take Scripture out of our hands altogether, and to give us only just what and how she may deem fit, — certainly any amount of division is incomparably better than this. Nevertheless, the ruin of everything seems only to become continually more manifest. New heresies start; creeds multiply; Scripture, as is the common urging of unbelief, is appealed to for all, and Satan can boast of the success he has in making that which is the truth itself in some way the apology for error everywhere. But what are we to conclude as we think of it all? That after all there is indeed before us an open door to enter into and take possession of the word of God, to an extent only limited by our lack of faith in Him? Is it humility even to judge others in the way this seems to necessitate? And is it not presumption on our part to think that we may even possibly succeed where the generations have so much and so uniformly failed? Nevertheless, there abides for us one word of Christ which, if we keep it, will outweigh them all: "And when the Spirit of truth is come, He shall lead you into all truth." Is this a sufficient assurance? Is the failure His or ours? Are we given up to failure? To take any such position as these is only, in one way or another, to charge failure upon God Himself. No, rather the fault has been that we have trusted other guides more than this one sufficient One. We have given those whom God has given to us, in order to help us with the interpretation of His Word, a place of authority which belongs to nothing but to the Word itself. We have been the followers of men too much; and thus oftentimes the best meant attempts to preserve the truth to us have only resulted in hindrance and stagnation. If God has given a little revival, if He has recovered for us a few truths that we had lost, the way has been immediately to make that which we have the measure of everything; and this, enshrined in creeds and confessions, has been a sorer hindrance in the path of progress than we may be willing to allow that it could be.

Interpretation: The sceptic, if ever the eye of such scanned these humble pages, might well point mockingly to the divisions of Christendom as evidence of sorrowful divergence in the interpretation of the word, for all alike appeal to the same word. And this may be carried a stage further; even those, such as Christadelphians, who are not recognised as Christians by orthodox belief, appeal to the word as the basis and ground of their destructive doctrines. And nothing would be more foolish than for us to attempt to hide the solemn fact that true men of God have not only disagreed concerning the interpretation of scripture, but have also divided in the Church because of that disagreement. However, in the overruling mercy and goodness of God, a very great body of essential truth has been held throughout the Church, (or, perhaps, I should say, the churches), in all ages. And it is profitable study to consider that body of truth, and to rejoice that it includes so much that is infinitely precious to every redeemed soul.

That there have been world-wide divisions in the church during a history of more than eighteen hundred years is true. Enemies of the truth and evil workers have arisen which made it a necessity; and faithful men have not been wanting to uphold the standard at all cost. Who can forget the daring exclamation of Athanasius "Athanasius against the world"; and his unremitting opposition to the Arians. But in all such cases most vital questions were involved, such as the true deity of Christ, the doctrine of the Trinity, and the very essence of the gospel. It was so at the time of the Reformation. And moreover, they were questions which appealed to every believer, and directly concerned his own individual faith. Can this be said of questions to-day which have been allowed to raise veritable storms of controversy, and part Christians asunder for the rest of their days? Alas! no. They have been matters of no concern to ordinary Christians, even devout ones, and into the refinements of which they could not enter.

But the Lord loved them all. "As I have loved you." Their love to each other was to be of the same character, and to grow in intensity; though it can never reach the purity and strength of His love to them. Not even their love to Him is a measure large enough for the love which they are commanded to have for each other. Surely they all did love Him, but not perfectly. When James and John sought the highest places in the kingdom, they raised the indignation of the others, thereby proving that all had self as an object, not the Lord alone. It was their glory that occupied their minds. Peter loved the Master, came behind none in fervour, but fear made him deny his Master. The Lord's love to them was pure, patient, untiring, persevering; it never flagged. Nothing on their part could turn it aside. Nothing less than this is the pattern of their mutual love. The Lord does not say, Love me as I have loved you, it is, Love each other as I have loved you. Such power of love in them could only be the result of grace, of the power of the Spirit in their heart, she wing its reality in acts of human kindness, as well as in caring for each other's spiritual welfare. It is heavenly love in a human heart and manifested through a human medium! How greatly the Lord desired the mutual happiness of His disciples! What a divine preventive of strife and of the workings of a selfish nature! Had the church given heed to the loving Lord's injunction, disciples would have been one body in visible manifestation before men. In no mark of discipleship has the church failed more than in this. The varied and numerous names under which true believers range themselves afford sad proof. All the parties and divisions which now deface the church owe their origin for the most part, not to zeal for the truth, but to lack of love. Love does not seek occasion for separation, nor will it separate save upon scriptural ground; and when compelled by obedience to the word, always in sorrow and hoping for re-union. It is such a solemn thing, that the Lord has not left it to His disciples to decide when a man that is called a brother ought to be put away, or when au assembly is to be left. 1 Cor. 5 is plain for all immoral cases, and the Second Epistle of John decides with equal precision for the doctrinal. The touch-stone is the doctrine of Christ, the truth of His Person, His essential Deity and His manhood. Any one not bringing this doctrine was not to be received even into one's own house, much less at the Lord's table. The word being so explicit forbids us by implication to separate from any other cause. Upon any other ground separation is sin. False doctrine may arise in the church from which, according to the word, separation is imperative. But separation upon unscriptural ground is the place where evil doctrine finds a genial soil and a rapid growth. Divisions are not only the effect of false doctrine but the cause and occasion too. So we get a sorrowful sequence. Want of love works divisions, and divisions work departure from the truth, which in its turn opens the door to every kind of evil doctrine. Obedience to the word, "love one another," would have prevented the shame of such a scene; the Lord would not have been so dishonoured as we see.