Though controversy has its evils, it has also its uses. We never infer that, because there is no controversy in a church, there must be the upholding of sound doctrine. It is not the stagnant water which is generally the purest. And if there are no differences of opinion which set men on examining and ascertaining their own belief, the probability is, that, like the Samaritans of old, they will worship they 'know not what'.

Heresy itself is, in one sense, singularly beneficial. It helps to sift a professing community, and to separate the chaff from the wheat. And whilst the unstable are carried about by the winds of false doctrine, those who keep their steadfastness find, as it were, their moral atmosphere cleared by the tempest. We consider this statement to be that of Paul, when he says to the Corinthians: 'There must be also heresies amongst you, that they which are approved may be made manifest' (1 Corinthians 1:19).

And it is not the mere separation of the genuine from the fictitious which is effected through the publication of error. We hold that heresies have been of vast service to the church, in that they have caused truth to be more thoroughly scanned, and all its bearings and boundaries explored with a most painstaking industry.

It is astonishing how apt men are to rest in general and ill-defined notions, so that, when interrogated and probed on an article of faith, they show themselves unable to give account of their belief. When a new error is propounded, you will find that candid men will confess that, on examining their own views on the disputed point, they have found them in many respects vague and incoherent. Until driven to the work of expounding and defining, they have never suspected their ignorance upon matters with which they professed themselves altogether familiar.

We think that few men would have correct notions of truth, unless occasionally compelled to investigate their own opinions. They take for granted that they understand what they believe. But when heresy or controversy arises, and they are required to state what they think, they will themselves be surprised at the confusion of their own views.

We are persuaded, for example, that, however mischievous in many respects may have been the agitation of the question of Christ's humanity, the great body of Christians have been thereby advantaged. Until the debate was raised, hundreds and thousands were un­consciously holding error. Being never required to define the true doctrine of the Saviour's person, they never doubted that they knew and understood it, though, all the while, they either confounded the natures, or multiplied the person. Many formed no idea at all on so mysterious, yet fundamental a matter.

Thus controversy stirs the waters, and prevents their growing stagnant. We do not indeed understand from the 'must be' of Paul, that the well-being of the Church is dependent on heresy, so that, unless heresy enter, the Church cannot prosper. But we can readily suppose that God, foreknowing the corruptions which would be attempted of the gospel, determined to employ these corruptions as instruments for speeding onward the growth in grace of his people. The 'must be' refers to human depravity and satanic influence. It indicates a necessity for which the creature alone is answerable, but the end which God all the time aims at is the Church's good. In this way God overrules controversies for the better.