n that the existence of the modern sects is due to these
two things: the principle of religious liberty and the limitations
of human knowledge. Such an answer reveals a superficial view of
the whole subject. Religious liberty among Christians existed in the
primitive church before the rise of ecclesiastical tyranny over the
conscience, and the masses of men in those days were at least as
limited in knowledge as are we. Still, the church was one; it was not
divided into rival and hostile sects. There was no need in those days
of constructing churches to conform to the limited capacity of men's
minds; for there was already in existence a church sufficiently
_catholic_ in its nature and spirit to accommodate all classes of
minds, because there was in operation the power of the Spirit of
God which revealed truth to men and thus enlightened their minds and
brought them into harmony with the divine standard. Concerning the
principle of religious liberty, I shall have more to say hereafter.

[Sidenote: Human limitations]

The natural limitations of human knowledge may account for difference
of opinion, but more than this is required to account for the entire
system of organized sects such as we see it today. Millions of
evangelical Christians possessing spiritual affinity and holding
opinions no more divergent than often exist between members of the
same sect, are, nevertheless, divided into independent, rival parties.
Something else originated and now perpetuates that barrier between
them.

When differences are fundamental and therefore unavoidable, they will
become more pronounced under test than at any other time. If, during
an epidemic, a physician believes that the method of treatment
employed by another doctor is actually killing the patients, his
opposition to such a method will then he stronger than at any other
time. As long as that method is simply a theory, it is harmless. Only
when put into practise does it become dangerous.

It is a matter of common knowledge that evangelical Christians are
not driven further apart but are really driven together whenever
Christianity itself is placed under any special trial, as, for
example, in foreign missionary work in heathen lands. And even in our
own country, whenever a great local interest is taken in the work
of soul-saving there is a corresponding tendency for Christians
of different sects to ignore their differences of opinion and get
together as if they believed in