In our Lord's answer to this wicked accusation, there are expressions which deserve special attention. Let us see what lessons they contain for our use.
"We ought to notice, in the first place, how great is the evil of dissensions and divisions.
This is a lesson which is strongly brought out in the beginning of our Lord's reply to the scribes. He snows the absurdity of supposing that Satan would " cast out Satan/' aud so help to destroy his own power. He appeals to the notorious fact, which even his enemies must allow, that there can be no strength where there is division. " If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand."
This truth is one which does not receive sufficient con- sideration. On no point has the abuse of the right of private judgment produced so much evil. The divisions of Christians are one great cause of the weakness of the visible church. They often absorb energy, time, and power, which might have been well bestowed on better things. They furnish the infidel with a prime argument against the truth of Christianity. They help the devil. Satan indeed is the chief promoter of religious divisions. If he cannot extinguish Christianity, he labors to make Christians quarrel with one another, and to set every man's hand against his neighbor. None knows better than the devil, that " to divide is to conquer."
Let us resolve, so far as in us lies, to avoid all differ- ences, dissensions, and disputes in religion. Let us loathe and abhor them as the plague of the churches. We cannot be too jealous about all saving truths. But it is easy to mistake morbid scrupulosity for conscientiousness,