It is of great importance, too, for real Christians to act on the principle that “those who are not against us are for us.” We should always cheerfully acknowledge, and prudently avail ourselves of, whatever, in others, is favourable to the truth, even though they may not be so far advanced as is to be wished; and we should remember that it is foolish in itself, and hurtful to religion, to drive away from us, and to irritate into open, direct, and declared opposition, those who may be, in so far, promising well. Besides, if it be so that certain persons are very deficient in light and consistency, what do reason and Scripture prescribe as the likely way to gain them entirely over? Not surely to disown them, and to attack them without discrimination, and without mercy; but to deal kindly with them, to lay hold on whatever is right in their views, and to take whatever just principles they acknowledge in common with ourselves, as a groundwork for further calm discussion, and as the means of leading them on to renounce whatever is wrong, and to supply whatever is deficient in their views and conduct. In like manner, for the general prosperity of the Church, it is certainly of great importance that all good men, without giving up any thing they deliberately consider to be scriptural, or sacrificing their consistency, should unite in forwarding objects in which they are agreed.
