Throughout the centuries, the church has been plagued by divisions and schisms. It is most prevalent in the American church, but it is not a problem unique to it. I grew up in Dutch Reformed churches, a body whose history is marked by much of the same (although to a lesser degree). Indeed, most any tradition will have groups who have split off and formed new bodies in the name of truth.

The decision to leave a church is of no little significance. Because of the weight of such a decision, there have been some voices throughout history who have urged patience and caution against acting rashly in such a matter, including J.C. Ryle. As I have continued reading Knots Untied, I came across a warning he issued to those within the Church of England who, I assume, were threatening to leave. He writes,

It is a cheap and easy remedy to secede from a Church when we see evils round us, but it is not always the wisest one. To pull down a house because the chimney smokes, to chop off a hand because we have cut our finger, to forsake a ship because she has sprung a leak and makes a little water,—all this we know is childish impatience. But is it a wise man's act to forsake a Church because thing in our own parish, and under our own minister in that Church, are wrong? I answer decidedly and unhesitatingly, No!

It is not so sure as it seems that we mend matters by leaving the Church of England. Every man knows the faults of his own house, but he never knows the faults of another till he moves into it, and then perhaps he finds he is worse off than he was before his move. There are often smoky chimneys, and bad drains, and draughts, and doors that will not shut, and windows that will not open, in No. 2 as well as in No. 1. All is not perfect among Dissenters and Plymouth Brethren. We may find to our cost, if we join them in disgust with the Church of England, that we have only changed one sort of evil for another, and that the chimney smokes in chapel as well as in church.

This is, in part, familiar advice. We have all had someone warn us of buying into the notion that the proverbial grass is greener on the other side, and that is wisdom to heed. Some, though, may question the extent of the concessions Ryle would make to remain in a church. What conditions would need to be present for him to finally break communion with (in his case) the Church of England?

When the Thirty-Nine articles are altered,—when the Prayer-book is revised on Romish principles and filled with Popery,—when the Bible is withdrawn from the reading desk,—when the pulpit is shut against the Gospel,—when the mass is formally restored in every parish church by Act of Parliament,—when, in fact, our present order of things in the Church of England is altered by statute, and Queen, Lords, and Commons command that our parish churches shall be given over to processions, incense, crosses, images, banners, flowers, gorgeous vestments, idolatrous veneration of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, mumbled prayers, gabbled-over apocryphal lessons, short, dry, sapless sermons, histrionic gestures and postures, bowings, crossings, and the like,—when these things come to pass by law and rule, then it will be time for us all to leave the Church of England. Then we may arise and say with one voice, 'Let us depart, for God is not here.'

You sometimes hear people quip that churches split because of an inability to agree on what colour the carpet in the building should be, emphasising the fact that sometimes churches will divide for the most trivial of reasons. Ryle would certainly not fall into that category, because he maintained a firm conviction that he should fight for the truth:

But till that time,—and God forbid it should ever come: till that time,—and when it does come, there will be a good many seceders: till that time let us stand fast, and fight for the truth. Let us not desert our post to save trouble, and move out to please our adversaries, and spike our guns to avoid a battle. No! in the name of God, let us fight on, even if we are like the 300 at Thermopylae,—few of us, many against us, and traitors on every side. Let us fight on, and contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.

One of the things I have come to understand is that for the British, there is a great reticence to take such a drastic step as leaving a church. They do not share the revolutionary spirit of the Americans, and tend to favour the existing establishment. This is not to say that they do so uncritically—indeed, Ryle was an Anglican by conviction—but it helps to explain his profound concern to remain united. It would be interesting to see how Ryle would react today to issues like the ordination of women in the Church of England. Would he add that to his list of necessary conditions for leaving?

I would be interested in further discussion on what is required for unity and/or separation. On what grounds do we draw our boundaries? What is the standard for determining if we have fellowship with another group or denomination, and is there a different standard for coming into full unity with them? What conditions are to be met if we are to have sufficient reason to leave a church? What do you think?