We Must Unite — J. C. Ryle
Thoughts on the necessity of forming a well organized Union of Evangelical Churchmen
[These words were originally penned in January, 1868. Up to the present day, they have proved painfully prophetic. In the matter of the Irish Church the English Evangelical body has fallen sadly short of its duty. The day of retribution will come. We shall reap as we have sown.]
The title of this tract points to a subject which must always be interesting to a true Christian. That subject is unity. Unity was a thing that the Lord Jesus asked for His people, in almost His last prayer. (John 17.21, 22.) Unity will be part of the perfection of Heaven. Unity with one another ought to be the aim of all travelers in the narrow way. Where is the believer who does not feel that “union is strength” — that religious divisions are the weakness of Christendom — and that the Master’s words are true to the letter: “If a house is divided against itself — then that house cannot stand!” (Mark 3:24.) But unity in general, abstract unity, is not the particular subject I wish to handle in this tract. I am writing with a special reference to one section of the Church of Christ. The point that I have in view is the pressing necessity of organized union among Evangelical members of the Church of England. To them particularly I venture to address the paper which I am now sending forth. On them especially, I urge the words which head these pages: “We must unite.”
That there is a distinct, clearly-marked body, called the Evangelical body in the Church of England. That the members of this body are the only genuine and thorough representatives of the Church of England — that the theological principles of this body are essentially different from those of Ritualists and Neologians — that the whole Evangelical body is at this moment in a state of extreme peril — all these are points which I shall either take for granted or touch very lightly. They are tempting subjects — but I dare not enter upon them at any length.
I wish in this tract to stick closely to my subject. I shall proceed therefore, without further preface, to examine three questions, which in this day appear to me to demand an answer:
I. Is there a lack of organized union among Evangelical Churchmen?
II. Is such an organized union a necessary thing?
III. Is such an organized union a practical and possible thing?
If an examination of these three questions does not throw strong light on the position and duties of Evangelical Churchmen at this peculiar crisis, I shall be much mistaken.
I. In the first place, “Is there a lack of organized union among Evangelical Churchmen?”
I answer that question, without hesitation, in the affirmative. There is a “conspicuous absence” of organized union among us. The old saying is true, whether we like it or not — that we are “a rope of sand.” Each individual particle and fibre and hair of the rope may be sound and good. But there is a curious absence of interweaving, cohesion, cement, and glue about the whole. The huge rope will neither lift, nor pull, nor draw as it ought — in proportion to its size. Try to do anything out of the beaten path of custom — and it falls to pieces.
I grant freely that we have many things in common. You may see clearly that the atoms of sand — are all chips and fragments out of the same quarry. In the main we preach the same doctrines, and hold the same opinions. In the main we support the same Societies, go to the same meetings, subscribe to the same charities, work our parishes in the same way, go to the same bookseller shops, read the same books, papers, and magazines, and groan and sigh over the same evils in the world. But here our union stops. Hitherto I can go, but I can go no further. Now begins the “rope of sand.”
For defending common principles — for resisting common enemies — for facing common dangers — for attaining common great objects — for harmonious conduct in circumstances of common perplexity — for decided, prompt, energetic action in great emergencies — for all this I say unhesitatingly, that we have no organized union at all. Every Evangelical Churchman does what is right in his own eyes, and every district goes to work in its own way — and only too many, without suggestions and directions, do nothing at all. In short, for lack of organization, the Evangelical body often finds itself as helpless as a mob. We have God’s truth on our side. We have numbers, strength, good will, and desires to do what is right — but from lack of organization and leadership, we are as weak as water!
I dislike making vague and general assertions. Let me come to facts. I will name a few subjects of pressing importance at the present day, and I will ask my Evangelical readers whether we are prepared to act together about them. Have we taken counsel together? Have we weighed them well, and come to any united conclusion? Are we ready to show a common front about them, or are we at a standstill for lack of conference and organization? “Judge what I say.”