INFLUENCE

OF THE

UNION OF THE CHURCH

WITH THE

STATE

UPON

CHRISTIAN UNION

AND

THE PROGRESS OF RELIGION.

BY

THE HON. AND REV. BAPTIST W. NOEL.

SOCIETY FOR THE LIBERATION OF RELIGION FROM STATE PATRONAGE AND CONTROL, 2, SERJEANTS' INN, FLEET STREET,

AND

ARTHUR MIALL, 18, BOUVERIE STREET, FLEET STREET.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE following remarks are by permission extracted from the "Essay on the Union of the Church with the State," published by the author in the year 1849.

2, SERJEANTS' INN.

September, 1866.

LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

CONCERNING THE INFLUENCE OF THE UNION OF THE CHURCH WITH THE STATE UPON CHRISTIAN UNION AND THE PROGRESS OF RELIGION.

I.-OF CHRISTIAN UNION.

Of the numerous disciples of Christ, regenerated by the Spirit, justified by faith, and living in obedience to the commands of Christ in the British Islands, many are to be found in the Established Churches of England and Ireland, and a much greater number in the Free Churches, in the Independent, Baptist, Wesleyan, and Presbyterian Churches of England, in the Presbyterian and other Free Churches of Scotland and Ireland. All these are bound by many obligations to be united in heart and in effort for the promotion of the Kingdom of Christ. They are sheep of the flock of Christ; they are fellow-servants in His household; they are fellow-soldiers in His army; they are members of His body; they are brethren of the family of God. And if they are divided and quarrelsome, it is as unnatural and disgraceful as if the sheep of the same flock, the servants in the same household, the soldiers in the same army, the members of the same body, and the brothers of the same family, should be enemies to one another. The reasons for their Union are

many and obvious. They are the children of one parent, who loves them all, and who wishes them to be united; they are the servants of one Saviour, who has redeemed them all by His blood, and who would be dishonoured and grieved by their disunion. They maintain the same great truths; they obey the same authority; they are seeking alike to glorify God and to save souls; they all, and they alone, honour Christ by their lives; they are all sanctified by the same Spirit, have embraced the noblest principles, and are adorned with the greatest social virtues. They are all labouring to serve their fellow-creatures; they are opposing with similar zeal the vice and the ungodliness of the world. God will welcome them all, as His adopted children, to heaven, and they will spend eternity together in the exercise of perfect affection towards each other. The truths on which they agree are incomparably greater than those on which they differ; their common interests are much more important than their rival interests; their own welfare, and the welfare of the world, is essentially connected with their Union, and their Union is so important that the Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles have declared it to be a mark of discipleship to Him, a prelude to the world's belief, and therefore their necessary duty. Let us listen to His words and theirs: "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another.* Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE THAT THOU HAST SENT ME.† that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.§

Him

Now,

* John xiii. 34, 35.

John xvii. 20, 21. § Rom. xv. 7.

Rom. xiv. 1.

I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.* Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity."+ Whatever, therefore, hinders this Union and encourages schism, both corrupts the Churches and prevents the progress of religion in the world.

But either the Union of the Anglican Churches with the State, that is, with the world, must be discontinued, or their union with other Churches must remain impossible.

By the canons of the Establishment, the living law by which its pastors are governed, and to which the judicial decisions of its prelates and ecclesiastical judges must be conformed, all the Independent, Baptist, Wesleyan, and Presbyterian Churches, and their ministers, with all who own them to be true Churches, and their ministers true ministers, are excommunicated. They are shut out from the company of Christians as heathens and publicans, with whom Christians ought to hold no fellowship, and who are to be excluded from the Lord's Supper. Episcopal charges are often in harmony with these canons, condemning the purest Churches, the most zealous Christians, and the most devoted ministers of this country, as schismatics, with whom the clergy should have little association. What may be expected from proud and worldly-minded men when one of the most eminent of our Evangelical bishops has thus written in his latest charge ?" Much less is our Church a sectarian body, as some would call it; that is, a small number of persons who have cut themselves off from the mass of Christians by certain peculiarities; but the national Church of the Government, nobles, and people, of our religious country at home and abroad. Walk in charity and holy wisdom towards the different bodies of Christians not of our own Church. The less we are drawn into either familiarity