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Samuel J. Baird (sometimes known as Mr. Polity) writes in his ecclesiastical catechism, The Church of Christ: Its Constitution and Order (1864):

§ 272. Is the Church actually organized upon the scriptural model?
The ignorance, blindness, and corruption which still infect the best and purest Churches, have caused errors and divisions which mar the symmetry and unity of the body of Christ. Nor will it be otherwise until the promised day when the Spirit shall be poured out, when all shall know the Lord, and the watchmen shall see eye to eye. 1 Cor. xi. 18, 19, — "heresies," — Original, "sects;" Isa. lii. 8.
§ 273. May the order of the Church be disregarded for the sake of Christian union?
Any neglect or violation of the order of God's house is a transgression of the law of Christ, by which that order is established, and a disregard of the authority of his Spirit, by whom it is attested in the Word. It cannot, therefore, inure to the unity of the Spirit, which is the only bond of peace, and without which no other union is of any value. It tends, not to edification, but to destruction.
1 Tim. iii. 15; 1 Cor. xi. 34; xiv. 40; Tit. i.5; Eph. iv. 3; Isa. lxiii. 10; Rom. xvi. 17.
§ 274. What then is the present duty of Christians with respect to union?
It is the duty of Christ's people, as much as in them is, to harmonize differences by the light of revelation; and whereunto they have already attained, to walk by the same rule and mind the same things; whilst they adhere, as closely as possible, to the revealed constitution of the Church; as well as to the Scriptural doctrines of grace.
1 Cor. i.10; iii. 3; Phil. iii. 16; 1 Tim. iii. 15; 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17.

How Christians ought to strive for unity in the Spirit of God! A needful reminder among the ecclesiastical splits of the 19th century, and even more so in 21st century America.

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Book 7 of Samuel Baird’s Digest (formally titled A Collection of the Acts, Deliverances, and Testimonies of the Supreme Judicatory of the Presbyterian Church From Its Origin in America to the Present Time, published in 1856) is entitled “Heresies and Schisms.” It is filled with details about the controversies in the Presbyterian Church in the 18th and 19th century. Baird opens Book 7 with a quote from the 1806 General Assembly Minutes (one of these days we hope to have all the 18th and 19th century GA Minutes available on our site) that is both time-bound and timeless. May the Lord enable us to hold to and contend for the truth in holiness and love.

We live at a time when it become a duty peculiarly incumbent, to “contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.” It will however be remembered , that the sacred cause of truth can never be promoted by angry controversy or railing accusation. It is therefore recommended to the churches to vindicate the truth, not only by sound and temperate discussion, but also and especially by the manifestation of its sanctifying and transforming power over the life and conversation; and by evincing that “the like mind is in us which was in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
It should ever be recollected, that error in doctrine has a native tendency to produce immorality in practice; and therefore, that we should not be carried about by every wind of doctrine. Let us prove all things, and hold fast that which is good. This caution, it is hoped, will be received with attention and solemnity, inasmuch as the Church has been of late invaded by errors which strike at the very foundation of our faith and hope; such as the denial of the Godhead and atonement of the blessed Redeemer, the subjection of the Holy Scripture to the most extravagant impulses of the heart of man. These, and other errors of a dangerous nature, have been industriously, and, alas! that the Assembly should be constrained to add, in some portions of our country, too successfully disseminated.

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