"For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of DIVINITY SCHOOL LIBRARY HARVARD UNIVERSAL LONDON: PRINTED FOR SCOTT, WEBSTER, AND GEARY, CHARTER-HOUSE SQUARE. MDCCCXL. PREFACE. The main argument of this work is to prove, that whatever the ecclesiastical order which may prevail in the Millennium, yet, in reference to the present epoch,—not an outward uniformity over all (as the Church of Rome contends for), but an unity of spirit in variety of forms (as in the churches of the Reformation), is a constitution of the Catholic Church answerable to the light of reason, of sacred history, and of Scripture ;-that, in keeping with this state of things, religious men of every evangelical denomination are called upon as disciples of Jesus Christ, and the Redeemed of the Lord, to entertain towards each other, and the communions they severally belong to, feelings of mutual recognition and esteem; and thus to seek to arrive at truth and ultimate unity over all, through the medium of mutual love in Christ Jesus. A friendly Churchman to whom this was stated, said, on hearing it, that he inferred, from the attempt to advocate such a theme, that the Author was a Dissenter; and that no doubt it was a work of the same order as several others which had lately appeared in this country, which, though they professed to maintain a truly catholic spirit, yet were in reality written in the interest of dissent. He also expressed himself at a loss to understand what was meant by "The Churches of the Reformation." To this it was replied, that the Author, though he desired to keep all things personal "to himself before God," even to the suppression of his name, was no Dissenter; that it would be found, on perusal, that his work was not written in the interest of dissent; and that, with regard to the expression objected to, he spoke of the Churches of the Reformation, in contrast with the Church of Rome, for the same reasons as oblige us all to speak of the States of Modern Europe, in contrast with the Roman Empire. The volume itself was at the same time opened at page 221, and the more full develope ment of this idea, which is given there, was read. "I see what you mean," was the reply; but still the good Churchman would not say Amen. This taught the Author that his theme will meet with objections where he would wish it most to be received at once. Believing, as he most firmly does, however, that intelligent Christians generally, whether Churchmen or Dissenters, will come at last to the conclusion which he has himself arrived at, after an education which prepossessed him in favour of more stringent views of the constitution of the visible church, he "casts his bread upon the waters," happy with the thought of bearing such a testimony at such a moment; and though deeply sensible of the many imperfections of his work, and shrinking altogether from the criticism of the mere dogmatist, yet trusting confidently in the communion and sympathy of the pious, and of all who duly feel that the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost. As a work to which he owes much (though he of course also differs from it much), the Author begs to refer to the "Introduction à l'Histoire Universelle," of M. MICHELETa tract in which the finest generalities of historic truth are treated with such poetic feeling as to leave the impression on the reader, when he has perused it, that he has awoke from a beautiful dream. He begs also to notice a work entitled Religious Dissensions, their Cause and Cure, a prize essay, by PHARCELLUS CHURCH, author of the Philosophy of Benevolence, New York, 1838," a volume full of thought. It will be found, on perusal, that the resemblance between the work now in the reader's hands, and that most cogent one on a branch of the same subject, lately published by Dr NOLAN, lies in the title only. 66 LONDON, November 1839. |