134 CHURCH UNITY 



trine or worship; or giving countenance 

 to what is deemed an injurious departure 

 from what Christ has commanded, is un- 

 doubtedly criminal and mischievous." 



(2) Such an amalgamation of the 

 churches, on the principle that their di- 

 versities in doctrine and order, as long 

 as they do not affect the fundamentals of 

 religion, are of little account, and ought 

 not to permit the most intimate union, 

 would discourage that "searching of the 

 Scriptures " and that earnest " contending 

 for the faith" which is expressly com- 

 manded as a Christian duty. 



(3) But such union, even if attained 

 without dishonest sacrifice, would do no 

 good. It would not produce love, and 

 without love it would be a curse. The 

 nearer the Christian denominations come 

 to each other, the more they would fight. 

 This writer does indeed express the hope 

 that all the Reformed churches in the 

 United States holding the Presbyterian 

 system will be united in organic union, 

 and that some alive then (1836) would 

 live to see the day, but he says that even 

 such a union as that he would strenuously 

 oppose, because the conditions of friend- 



