James Henry Alexander Gwyther

“ We have all one Father, and happy will be the time, when His divided and distracted household, shall again “love as brethren;” when the oppressor shall cease; when “violence shall not be heard in our borders;” when the clangor of war shall give place to the melting sounds and celestial song of “Peace on earth, and good will towards men;” when truth shall fill all intellects, and love reign in every heart. ”

“ But see, my beloved brethren, what influence this christian unity would exert, and what consequences would follow from it in the conversion of the world. For the church would then be a witness for the truths and excellence of the glorious gospel—and how important is that! It is in the church that the men of the world study the gospel. They care not to investigate its real nature, as revealed in the bible—they care not to study its features, in the character of Christ—they care not to attend to its delineation in the ordinance of preaching. ”

“ Nor these things only. Our success has provoked the zeal of our adversaries. Idolatry, which once regarded our efforts with silent scorn, now feels our power, and arms itself for resistance. Popery tracks the footsteps of the christian mission; not in Tahiti only, but in China, India, Africa, the West Indies—on every soil they tread.
Yes! beloved brethren, we must not dream of repose, or allow our past success to lull us into security or indifference.
The hosts of earth and hell are opposed to us; they unite in strong phalanx against the Lord, and against His Anointed. ”

“ But on the other hand this society has had to mingle her tears with her praises, and exhibits the trials as well as the triumphs of faith.
From Madagascar the shepherds have indeed been driven, and their flocks scattered; they wander amid the wilderness as lambs among wolves, and many have been offered as a sacrifice upon the altar of their faith.
From the deserts of Siberia also, where for more than twenty years our faithful brethren laboured with untiring zeal, to plant amid those snowy solitudes the garden of the Lord—they have been driven from their much loved toil. ”

“ But the Church includes all who believe on the Son of God, among whatever community they may be found. Each christian may have, and ought to hold dear, his convictions, as to the truths the bible teaches, and the church principles which are there developed.
The Bible is ever to be his standard, and his conscience binds him to receive all that it teaches. We plead for no latitudinarian indifference. We have our convictions, nor dare we yield them, unless God should, by His Spirit, afford us another view of truth; nor will any candid christian, who differs from us, call for such a sacrifice. ”

“ None but those who rest upon His atonement, and rely upon His grace, as the one foundation of their hope for eternity. It is not the bearing of a Christian name; it is not an enrolment in any society, however scriptural in doctrine and apostolic in discipline that constitutes men Christians. There may be loud profession—an orthodox creed—ceaseless activity—large sacrifices, without faith in Jesus or love to his name. But these are indispensible; without them there is no interest or fellowship with Christ, and no part, or lot in His Church. Without faith, there is no salvation ”

“ Better, a thousand fold better, is our present state, than such an unity as that. It is at least replete with life, though disfigured by diversities. We have spirit, and we have power; though that spirit is too frequently expended in strife, and that power in warfare.
The first thing essential to the attainment of Christian Unity is, that Christians should be brought to feel that real one-ness, which even now exists between them. ”

“ The Gospel purposes it, and to secure its accomplishment, the Gospel is daily putting forth its heavenly energy, and ere long, earth in love shall be the very emblem of the heaven of heavens. The fierce passions of the human spirit shall be subdued. “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid” ”

“ To all of them Jesus is precious; then let our hearts embrace with ardour all “who love our Lord Jesus Christ, in sincerity;” and if we can do this, there will be but little difficulty in rendering that unity visible. How can it be concealed? For where there is true love, there must to some extent be friendly intercourse—sympathy will be engendered—in spite of existing distinctions, love will draw us together into kindly greetings, and social fellowship. Nor will there be wanting opportunities of co-operation in efforts to diffuse the Bible, extend the Gospel, and convert immortal souls. ”

“ Eighteen hundred years have rolled away, since the command was given by the Great head of the church, the risen and ascending Saviour, “go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” And still the Prince of darkness maintains his sway among the nations. Idolatry and superstition, the chief pillars of his throne, are resting in almost every land. Darkness still covers the earth, and gross darkness, the people. Out of 900 millions of immortal souls, scarcely 300 millions are even nominally Christians. ”

“ But the spirit of justice, philanthropy, and religion, maintained the hard fought contest, till the spirit of oppression though unchanged, was compelled to yield; and amidst the scenes where Smith was martyred as the friend of the slave—where the sanctuaries of God were pillaged and destroyed—where faithful brethren were seized, imprisoned, and threatened with death, there liberty has been proclaimed to the captive, and there the glorious gospel of the blessed God has gladdened and governed the hearts of thousands. ”

“ Rather let as mourn over our own imperfections and short-comings; let us recall to mind how feeble and often futile have been our efforts; how our piety has mingled with much of earthliness, our love with much of selfishness, our zeal with much of partiality, and our devotedness with much of self exaltation. ”

“ Co-operation has ever been found very powerful in producing and sustaining unity. In such christian efforts, there is a common object proposed; a measure of agreement in the means to be employed, in order to its attainment; a participation in responsibility; a sympathy in trials; an interest in success; all which bind kindred hearts; unite in holy brotherhood those who share in the same common-wealth and privilege ”

“ But where are now the advocates of Paganism, and the apologists for Idolatry? The moral condition of the heathen is better understood to-day, by the children in our schools, than it was by the enlightened classes of society fifty years ago; and the necessity of the gospel to meet the wants, and heal the sufferings of mankind, has become a familiar and undisputed truth. And by whom have these idle tales and gross fabrications been exposed? By the men of God, sent forth from our midst, who have lived with the heathen, and for the heathen ”

“ Paul, “look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” Each preferring his brother in honour and in love. The bonds of christian union will be strengthened, and the dove-like spirit of peace condescend to dwell in the hearts of christians, constraining even the world, as of old, to confess—“see how these disciples love one another.”
3.—Christian Unity is to be promoted by co-operation in those wise schemes of christian effort, which may consistently embrace all who love the Saviour. ”

“ We dare not say that a connexion with any system of itself can make men Christians; nor of Episcopacy, Presbyterianism, Congregationalism, nor Methodism, that it is exclusively The Church of God, so as to monopolize all sacred relations and existing piety. But we believe that genuine disciples of Christ are to be found amongst them all. ”

“ There is a principle which is inseparable from the existence of vital godliness, and that is faith in Christ. Now if all who look to the work of Christ for justification, and confide in the Holy Spirit for sanctification, are really Christians, why should they not be felt to be such, and loved as brethren? ”

“ Such would appear the transcendent glories of that object, that all others would in comparison lose their power to charm or interest us. The ruin, guilt, danger, wants, and woes of a perishing world, would awaken our tenderest compassion and ever watchful solicitude. ”

“ And in every scene of conflict with error and sin, the champions of the truth have maintained a good fight, and have been heard exulting, “now thanks be to God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.” ”

“ To form a just estimate of the benefits that have directly resulted from the missionary labors of this and other kindred societies, during the brief period of their varied efforts, it is necessary that we should attentively consider the magnitude of our design—the conversion of 600 millions of idolators to christianity—a multitude diversified in habits, language, and character—the limited amount of agency that has yet been employed—the antiquity of the various systems of idolatry which prevail, in contrast with the novelty and strangeness of the gospel claims ”

“ But on the other hand, the inhabitants of the east were glowingly described as blest with civilization, and enlightened by science; and although the objects and forms of their worship were diversified, yet as their eulogists affirmed, their veneration for their gods was sincere and unbounded; while in social life, they were patterns of excellence—kind in their tempers, and lovely in their manners—living to make each other happy, and dying in the assurance of paradise hereafter. ”

“ On the other hand, let us be willing not only to allow, but even to rejoice in the excellencies of others—to ponder their worth and their works—to cast the sin-covering mantle of true christian charity over the infirmities of our brethren, and to rejoice with them in their success, weep with them in their discouragements, and aid them in their necessity. ”

“ The Church must first be made one itself. The universal harmony predicted, and eventually to be realized in the world, must first pervade the elements of Christ’s Visible Church, and therefore as a means to that great end, even that p. 6the world may believe in, fully recognize, and submit to the authority of Him, whom God has sent, the Redeemer here prays, that His disciples may “be one;” implying thereby that the unity of the Church, is the great pre-requisite for the conversion of the world. ”

“ A one-ness, where except for the title “Christian,” and for the form of godliness, no p. 8religion seemed to exist; life and soul were lost, the frame-work alone remaining. This one-ness was that of the tenants of the sepulchre and the grave yard, where the fellowship was that of an universal corruption, and the calm was the stillness—the silence of death, only broken by here and there a mourner, weeping that the dry bones were so many, and that they were so very dry. ”

“ And again—if such unity existed and prevailed, the whole undivided energies and resources of the church, would be at liberty, and ready to be devoted to the extension of the gospel, and the salvation of the world.
Much strength is now lost in our conflicts with each other—much squandered upon vain and profitless discussion. ”

“ What numerous evils have not been terminated, and what daring crimes have not been prevented by the influence of missions? How many a widow, otherwise doomed to perish amidst the horrors of the burning pile, now lives! ”

“ The unity which the Church of Christ should maintain within, and promote without, even in our present circumstances exists, and that substantially, though imperfectly. Its existence is proved by an identity of motives and aims; proved by that similarity of sentiment, which makes the Christian find a new brother in every converted man ”

“ I.—The object, which in this petition the Saviour seeks.
It is the unity of all believers upon Earth. Not indeed that Christ is indifferent to the peace and love which ought to bind together all mankind as one great family. He purposes to secure this; but he seeks to bless His Church, that thro’ it he may bless the world. Yes! beloved brethren,—Men ought to “be one” in the bonds of love and kindness. We are Brethren, all “one man’s sons,” and where there is a man, there is one who has a claim upon the thoughtfulness, the care, the kindness of his fellow man ”

“ In the judgment of the slave-holder to instruct the negro in the mild principles of Christianity, was an offence not to be forgiven, an evil pregnant with every conceivable danger; and of all men, the missionary was the man most to be dreaded and detested. ”

“ The genuine disciples of the Saviour, are to be found in various ranks, and among different denominations of Christians; from these many have been gathered already, and swell the throng around the throne of God above. Even now the multitude collected from among them, is greater than any man can number; they have lost their party badges and sectarian titles. This is their only distinction, “They have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,”—and they need no other—this is their great title—this secures them a happy, blissful place before the throne of God and the Lamb ”

“ These considerations are suggested, not for the purpose of alleviating disappointment and bespeaking forbearance to a narrative of failures; but rather to heighten our pleasure and enlarge our gratitude, that amidst obstacles so gigantic and with means so limited, we have in the short space of fifty years been favored through the divine blessing, with success so varied and abundant—success, both in character and amount, it may be confidently affirmed, greatly exceeding the largest expectations of the fathers of the cause. ”