DR. KNOX ON THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.[153]
The disjointed state of Christendom, resulting from the divisions existing among those who profess the Christian religion, whether we regard it in the light of reason or of faith, is both grievous and deplorable. Much labor has been expended on the removal of the causes which have produced these divisions, at different periods in the history of the Christian Church. In recent times—not to speak of the long past, for the evil is of remote date—several efforts have been made to bring about the return of those who, three centuries ago, went out from the sacred fold of the Catholic Church. Men of genius, learning, and virtue took a leading part in some of these movements; nevertheless, they did not meet with any notable success. The best known of these, perhaps, was the one made in the latter part of the seventeenth century, in which the celebrated Leibnitz and the great Bossuet were the principal actors engaged. If this effort was not otherwise fruitful, it at least was the occasion of their contributing two of the most valuable works on the subject—The System of Theology, by the German philosopher, and The Exposition of the Catholic Faith, by the Bishop of Meaux. In the Established Church of England, in our own day, a number of its members, especially among the clergy, profess to seek and to labor for what they call “a corporate
union” with the Catholic Church. So far as one can see up to this moment, though no one can tell what may happen, there has been in this direction no promise of great results. In this country the efforts for unity have taken a more limited sphere for their activity, and ever and anon there is a stir made in public about a union among Protestants, confined, however, to those who are called “evangelicals.”
The unperverted religious sentiment naturally yearns after an all-embracing and real unity. Man’s heart has sympathies which cannot be confined to himself, or to a family, or to a nation, or to a race. Only when man is so devoted to purposes which embrace the whole human race as to raise him above all lower instincts of his nature, does he become conscious of his true dignity and of the greatness of his destiny. Humanity is a word that has a real meaning, conveying a great truth, and it is fraught with mysterious power. These aspirations of the soul are the workmanship of God, and Christianity, as a universal religion, must aim at directing them to their proper objects. For Christianity is the universal religion, or it is nothing.
The symptoms of unrest which manifest themselves among those Christians who are divided up into hostile sects are a sign of a noble life stirring within their souls—a life which cannot contemplate with joy the wranglings of hostile creeds. These aspirations after that unity which will bind all men, without distinction of race, nationality, or
color, into one common brotherhood of love—these cravings of the heart to act for universal ends, for the realization of God’s kingdom upon earth—are the evidences of a Christian spirit which seeks for a clearer vision and a closer communion with the true church of Christ.
With these views and in this spirit, which are in harmony with his own, we purpose to consider the interesting and important article of Dr. Knox on “The Organic Unity of the Church.”
WHAT IS THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH, ACCORDING TO DR. KNOX?
Here is his answer to this question in his own words: