The Homilist; or, The pulpit for the people, conducted by D. Thomas. Vol. 1 ...

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Leading Homily.

THE CARNALITY OF CHURCHISMS.

“FOR WHILE ONE SAITH, I AM OF PAUL, AND ANOTHER I AM OF APOLLOS, ARE YE NOT CARNAL?" 1 Cor. iii. 4.

N the Church at Corinth there was a variety of elements of thought and feeling. The

Roman element was there, and this element was democratic. Indeed the city as it stood in the days of Paul had been built by Julius Cæsar some fifty years before this letter was written, and was undoubtedly populated, to a considerable extent, by freedmen. The tendency in this class of mind would be independency in thought and action. The Greek element was there, the Greek mind was cultured, philosophic, and aesthetic; in teaching, it would crave for the speculative in thought, and the rhetorical in expression. The Jewish element was there, and the craving of the Jewish mind in religion was for marvels, signs, and wonders. In consequence of this variety of mind in the Corinthian Church, there would naturally be much diversity of thought, and VOL. XLIX No. 1.

discussions which would lead to divisions.

"The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness." The Jews lived in

signs and the Greeks deified wisdom. The members of the Corinthian Church, therefore, at this time instead of being thoroughly united in soul one with another, by having Christ as the supreme subject of thought, and supreme object of love, were divided by certain forms of religious thought and types of religious teaching. No two men, however enlightened and honest, will have exactly the same views on the same subject, or present those views in identical aspects. Paul would not give out exactly the same views in exactly the same way as Apollos did, or as Peter did, or either of them as the other, and their auditors would therefore have their preferences. Herein we have the philosophy of the existence of various Churches and sects. The text suggests to us the nature and the carnality of Churchism.

I. The NATURE of Churchism. What is it? Those in the Corinthian Church who said, "I am of Paul," "I am of Apollos," and "I am of Peter," had such an exaggerated estimate of, and excessive and vaunting devotion to, the opinions and preaching of their particular favourites, as led them to ignore and even depreciate the merits of the others. To the Paulites

there was no teacher equal to him, no Gospel equal to his-so with the Peterites, and so with the admirers of Apollos. The worth of one man's opinions and ministry was magnified to the ignorement and disvaluing of those of others. This I call Churchism. To become members of institutions called Churches, to adopt and advocate the

peculiar views they represent, may be right enough, and peradventure useful. To meet together in a community of those with whose ideas, sympathies, and aims, we have the most in common, is both proper and salutary. It affords opportunities for mutual counselling and spiritual stimulation, to elevating thoughts and sacred devotions. But when that communion becomes the centre and circumference of our souls it is Churchism or sectarianism. What are Churches? The best Churches that exist in Christendom to-day are but the organisation of certain human opinions concerning Christ and His Gospel. Man's theories of the Gospel are no more the Gospel than physiological theories are life. Calvin had his views―he propounded them, many endorsed and adopted them. Luther had his views-he set them forth before the eyes of men and enforced them, they were accepted by multitudes and organised into Churches. Wesley had his views—which he advocated with saintly zeal, numbers adopted them, and they were organised into Churches. Edward Irving had his apocalypses, and his dreams were organised into Churches.

And thus we have Roman Catholic Churches, Greek Churches, Episcopal Churches, Presbyterian Churches, Wesleyan Churches, Morisonian Churches, Unitarian Churches, Congregational Churches, and Baptist Churches. What are they all? Nothing more, I trow, than various human opinions of the Gospel embodied in institutions. And though the human opinions and theories thus organised are varied, contradictory, and never absolutely true, they nevertheless attract to them men of various types of religious thought and forms of religious feeling, so that on all hands we hear each devotee of his Church extolling its pre-eminent merits.

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