Denominations, Use of – Charles Spurgeon

SUPPOSE that all the livery companies in London should give up their distinctive names, so that there should be no Goldsmiths’ Company, nor Cloth Workers, nor Merchant Tailors, nor Fishmongers, but that all should be called citizens, it would be a wonderful piece of policy, and would singularly unite the citizens of London, would it not? We believe that the reverse would be the case. The existence of the separate corporations, each with its peculiar interests to maintain, but all bound up with the prosperity of the city, help to create unity; and so the unity of the Savior’s body is preserved rather than destroyed by each believer carrying out his convictions of the Lord’s will, and not refusing to identify himself with those who think with him, nor refusing to wear the name which describes them.