Page:The Church of England, its catholicity and continuity.djvu/228

212 efficiency of that great organization which has been such a powerful means of good. I am far from wishing to appear unkind in these remarks upon Dissent. See the truth of them for yourselves. I can only refer you to the numerous bodies of Dissenters—as catalogued by Whitaker, about 280 different sects in all—and ask you to inquire the cause of their birth. You will find in most cases it was due to the fact that their founders sought for a religious system which would suit their particular selves. They were not satisfied with tlne doctrines and customs in which they were reared, and were not contented to give their adherence to the Church. They, therefore, started fresh sects to correspond to their own ideas, and according to their own conceptions and interpretations of religious truth. It was through this spirit that the early Baptist movement split up into two or three separate sects, which differ from one another on some particulars, and that the original Methodist movement gave birth to four or five other separate sects. The same remark is true of other bodies. It is the spirit of Dissent, I say, which is wrong, and it is not calculated to lead to unity and peace. It does not consider that for the sake of the public good, for the sake of making public worship possible, it is quite as necessary that we should sink our private differences in minor matters as it is in our ordinary social relationship.

But I must now draw these reflections to a close. But before doing so I should say that we ought to have the greatest respect for the work of some of the Dissenters, though we must deplore that they do not see their way to throwing in their lot with the Church, for the sake of the