unintelligible, and where intelligible, cruel; but where I find my Lord
preached as only one who understands Him can preach Him, and as I never
could preach Him, and never heard Him preached before, even faults great
as those shall be to me as merest accidents. Gentlemen, every thing is
pure loss--chapels and creeds and churches--all is loss that comes
between us and Christ--individually, masterfully. And of unchristian
things one of the most unchristian is to dispute and separate in the
name of Him whose one object was, and whose one victory will be
unity.--Gentlemen, if you should ever ask me to preach to you, I will do
so with pleasure."

They rose as one man, bade him an embarrassed good morning, and walked
from the room, some with their heads thrown back, other hanging them
forward in worshipful shame. The former spread the rumor that the old
minister had gone crazy, the latter began to go now and then to church.

I may here mention, as I shall have no other opportunity, that a new
chapel was not built; that the young pastor soon left the old one; that
the deacons declared themselves unable to pay the rent; that Mr. Drake
took the place into his own hands, and preached there every Sunday
evening, but went always in the morning to hear Mr. Wingfold. There was
kindly human work of many sorts done by them in concert, and each felt
the other a true support. When the pastor and the parson chanced to meet
in some lowly cottage, it was never with embarrassment or apology, as if
they served two masters, but always with hearty and glad greeting, and
they always went away together. I doubt if wickedness does half as much
harm as sectarianism, whether it be the sectarianism of the church or of
dissent, the sectarianism whose virtue is condescension, or the
sectarianism whose vice is pride. Division has done more to hide Christ
from the view of men, than all the infidelity that has ever been spoken.