principle as that which was wielded so terribly by
Gregory VII in the papal church of the eleventh century.

CHAPTER VIII

MODERN SECTS

[Sidenote: A mental picture]

Picture a keen observer living in the middle of the first century
of our era. He travels about from place to place studying the
development, nature, and fruits of the recently established religious
phenomenon--Christianity. He observes the purity of its doctrines and
the high moral standard exemplified in the lives of its adherents, and
he inquires particularly concerning the secret of that mysterious bond
which unites in one body and in one fellowship, sympathy, and love the
entire society of believers in Jesus. He departs. After the lapse of
long ages he returns near the beginning of the twentieth century,
and lo, what is it that meets his astonished vision? The mournful
spectacle of a divided Christendom; of rival sects compassing land and
sea to make proselytes; of the spiritual alienation of those who, in
reality, belong to the one divine family; of waste and inefficiency
in methods of evangelical effort; not to mention the error, pride, and
worldliness inherent in the gigantic ecclesiastical systems known as
denominational churches. What a change!

It is useless to minimize the evils inherent in the sect system.
Intelligent men the world over need not the services of an
eye-specialist to see clearly that there is something wrong with
modern Christendom; that the sect system does not represent the
standard of primitive Christianity, but that in reality the sect
principle misrepresents the apostolic ideal as portrayed in the New
Testament. We may as well face the facts honestly and seek for
a remedy for this disease that has so long marred the beauty and
corrupted the nature of the true Christian system.

[Sidenote: Inherent evils]

I cheerfully admit that God has worked among his people in all ages
in accordance with the degree of light and truth which they possessed.
But I can not forget that the greatest revivals of evangelical
religion have either taken place in spite of the sect system or
among those who had just made their escape from the bondage of
ecclesiastical despotism and had not as yet become very deeply
affected by the sectarian principle. To what source, then, are we to
trace sects? What is their cause?

[Sidenote: Alleged causes of sect-making]

A large proportion of the Christian world would reply without
hesitatio