The Sheepfold and the Common; Or, Within and Without. Vol. 2 (of 2) — John Shaqi
The Sheepfold and the Common; Or, Within and Without. Vol. 2 (of 2)East, Timothy
Religion
The Sheepfold and the Common; Or, Within and Without. Vol. 2 (of 2)
East, Timothy
Christian life; Christian life -- Pictorial works
_Mrs. John Roscoe._--"That is true. If I were in a church on a
Sabbath morning listening to a Tractarian; if I returned in the
afternoon, and heard a Moderate; and if, in the evening, I occupied
the same pew, while an Evangelical was doing duty in the pulpit, I
should find myself in a modern Babel, witnessing, on a small scale,
a new specimen of the confusion of tongues."
_Rev. Mr. Guion._--"But this difference of opinion and diversity
of interpretation on the same theory of belief, prevails amongst
others as well as amongst us. Even amongst unbelievers, who almost
deify reason--asserting and maintaining, that it is fully equal to
all the exigencies of humanity, without being under any obligation
to a Divine inspiration--there is almost an endless diversity of
belief and opinion on all questions relating to God, to human
responsibility, and the final destiny of man. They are obliged to
pass a toleration act to live in peace."
_Rev. Mr. Ingleby._--"I like a toleration act; it is essential to
our peace. The period is coming when we shall _'see eye to eye_;'
but that will be under a dispensation very different to the present;
we must now agree to differ, and while contending earnestly for
the faith once delivered to the saints, we must live together as
brethren."
_Rev. Mr. Guion._--"Jesus Christ said to his disciples--'These
things I command you, that ye love one another' (John xv. 17); and
he says the same things to us. And if we love one another, we shall
never vote for a repeal of our toleration act, which admits of some
shades of difference in our religious belief and opinions."
_Rev. Mr. Ingleby._--"It was doubted, a few years since, whether
even the spiritual members of our various denominations cherished
any fraternal esteem and affection for each other--they often acted
more like gladiators than brethren; but now they are cultivating a
spirit of union and peace."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"This change in their spirit and conduct is a very
gratifying and auspicious event; but some good men maintain that the
entire abolition of the distinctive denominations and their union
in one undivided body, would be more conducive to the honour of
Christianity, and more favourable to its progressive triumphs."
_Rev. Mr. Ingleby._--"This I conceive to be impracticable during the
partial obscurity of the present dispensation; and I must confess
that I do not think it advisable. I have no objection to those
divisions of opinion which separate us into different denominations,
though I deplore the spirit which they sometimes engender. I think
that a variation in belief, on some of the minor questions of
religion, by keeping our attention awake and active, tends to
preserve the more important truths in a purer state; and the action
and re-action of one Christian denomination on another, prevents
that stagnation of feeling, and that inertness of principle, which
an unbroken and undisturbed uniformity admits of."
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