Come Together Right Now Over Me

"What an endless variety of denominations, taken from some men of character, or from some little peculiarities, has prevailed in the Christian world, and crumbled it to pieces, while the Christian name is hardly regarded?... What party-names have been adopted by the Protestant churches, whose religion is substantially the same common Christianity, and who agree in much more important articles than in those they differ. To be a Christian is not enough now-a-days, but a man must also be something more and better; that is, he must be a strenuous bigot to this or that particular church.

Ever man will find that he agrees more fully in lesser as well as more important articles with some particular church than others; and thereupon it is his duty to join in stated communion with that church; and he may, if he pleases, assume the name which that church wears, by way of distinction from others; this is not what I condemn. But for me to glory in the denomination of any particualr church, as my highest character; to lay more stress upon the name of a presbyterian or a churchman than on the sacres name of Christian; to make a punctilious agreement with my sentiments in the little peculiarities of a party the test of all religion; to make it the object of my zeal to gain proselytes to some other than the Christian name; to connive at the faults of those of my own party and to be blind to the good qualities of others, or invidiously to represent or diminish them: these are the things which deserve universal condemnation from God and man; these proceed from a spirit of bigotry and faction, directly opposite to the generous catholic spirit of Christianity, and subversive to it. This spirit hinders the progress of serious practical religion, by turning the attention of men from the great concerns of eternity, and the essentials of Christianity, to vain jangling and contest about circumstantials and trifles. Thus the Christian is swallowed up in the partisan, and fundamentals lost in extra-essentials...

Endeavor to find out the truth, even in these circumstantials, at least so far as is necessary for the direction of your own conduct. But do not make these the whole or the principal part of your religion: do not be excessively zealous about them, nor break the peace of the church by magisterially imposing them upon others... You may, if you please, call yourselves presbyterians or dissenters, and you shall bear without shame or resentment all the names of reproach and contempt which the world may brand you with. But as you should not be mortified on the one side, so neither should you glory on the other. A Christian! a Christian! Let that be your highest distinction, let that be the name which you labout or deserve. God forbid that my ministry should be the occasion of diverting your attention to anything else."
-Samuel Davies, 'The Sacred Import of the Christian Name'

While lengthy, I thought this quote from Davies, an 18th-century American preacher in the Great Awakening, was deeply insightful. Here is the sort of scriptural call to loving unity which we in the church today seem so unable to articulate. In reading it, I think there are three important things to note:

1. Davies correctly recognizes that there will be disagreements among true believers in Christ, and that this is in fact a good thing. He never calls us to abandon the study of scripture as it relates to so-called 'non-essential' matters, but instead to seek out truth yourself while not using it to break the peace with brothers and sisters in the church. Here is where many in the theological right fall off the horse, as they take matters which do not delineate the love of God and use it to decide their love for people. Rather, we ought to endeavor to extend the embrace of brotherly Christian affection as widely as is the kingdom itself.

2. Davies holds the gospel as that which unites Christians. While not directly addressed as such, Davies clearly holds to an 'essential Christianity' which unites us as believers. Thus, we are united not by throwing out truth, but by clinging to it. It is far too common among many people I visit with for them to forget what it is they're having unity about. Instead, they feel so hardpressed to unite the people of God that they throw God out and end up just uniting a bunch of people. It is not Christian love to ignore differences to such an extent that we all hold hands and merrily skip together down the road to hell.

3. Davies sees us as being united because of the gospel. This is the heart of the matter, and the solution to both the above problems. Why are we to unite in spite of differences? Because if we together love the Lord Jesus Christ, who died to atone for our sins and rose to give us new life, then doctrinal disputes and quibbles over the affects of this are subsumed in relationship with Him. They are still, important, granted, but they are things which we can graciously disagree upon because they are the outworkings of the glorious faith we both share.

At the same time, it corrects the liberal who would abandon the gospel by showing him that its truth, rather than the problem, is the very thing which ought to fix it. Calling for unity without Christ is foolishness; if it isn't His body, why must it not be divided? If it is not His name, why must we uphold its honor? Let us endeavor, and let me endeavor, to hold this foremost in our thoughts.