FOOTNOTES:
[18] Let me beg every reader of these lines to pause here, and shoot up an arrow of prayer that God may lead men to think of the blessedness of being united, as sons of one Father, brethren of one family, subjects of one Kingdom. And I would ask those readers who may be, at present, living in outward separation from the Ancient Branch of Christ’s Church in this land, to consider with themselves what cause there is in their own case to justify, before God, such a separation from their Brethren in Christ.
[19] Consider also S. Paul’s earnest words, “Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.” “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, that there are contentions among you” (1 Cor. i. 2, 10, 11).
[20] A caution is perhaps needed here to prevent the reader from supposing that any re-union is advocated which would involve union with error. On the one hand, we must “stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” (Gal. v. 1). We must firmly refuse to accept any other foundation than that of the Creeds, settled by an undivided Christendom. And on the other hand, we must set ourselves with equal firmness against allowing any “Shibboleth” (Judges xii. 6), made out of exaggerated views of particular doctrines, to cut off those who should be brethren, not only in name but in life.
[21] Truths are many-sided. Men may agree in their belief in truths, and yet hold different opinions concerning those truths. Just as men, who live on different sides of a mountain, all look upon the same mountain, and yet see different views of it; so men see different sides of a truth. To know a truth perfectly men must see it from every point of view. And the power of taking such comprehensive views of truths is granted to few, if any, here on earth. Probably this perfect knowledge is reserved for us in Heaven; when all, who have loved their Lord in sincerity, will find that their controversies with one another here on earth have been due to their imperfect knowledge and limited views of the truths of God.