Therefore, when men deny the supernatural
world, the inspiration of the Scriptures, and the divinity of Jesus
Christ, they really assail the whole body of Christians--Romanists,
Protestants, or Greeks. They are virtually attempting to destroy the
foundations of faith in all the belief of Christians, whatever their
particular differences of religious opinion, or forms of ecclesiastical
government. All Christian churches live by faith. No form of government,
monarchical or republican, concentrated or diffused, suffices to
maintain a church. There is no authority so strong, and no liberty so
broad, as to be able in a religious society to dispense with the
necessity of faith. What is it that unites in a church if it is not
faith? Faith is the bond of souls. When the foundations of their common
faith are attacked, the differences existing between Christian churches
upon special questions, or the diversities of their organization or
government, become secondary interests. It is from a common peril that
they have to defend themselves, or they must be content to see dried up
the common source from which they all derive sustenance and life.
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