Unity — Divisions
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"Let party names no more
The Christian world o'erspread;
Gentile and Jew, and bond and free,
Are one in Christ their Head."
"Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:3
"You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?" 1 Corinthians 3:3
The Church of Christ is one. It is one family, one flock, one army, one vineyard, one body, one bride. Her God is one. Jesus, her husband and head, is one. Her privileges, her interests, her objects, her destination, are one. "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."
And if the Universal Church is one, should not each of its separate branches be one? But are they one? To ask the question is a taunt and mockery. Oh! if tears could bedim those eyes which gaze on the glories of the beatific vision — would not the heavenly multitudes weep and wail at the sad spectacle of the mystical body of Christ — torn and mangled as it now is! And while Heaven might weep — hell might well rejoice, as she doubtless does, with fiendish triumph, at the sight! The world which now lies in wickedness will continue to lie therein, until a divided Church is made one — one in spirit and affection at least, even if its members be not fully joined in the same mind and the same judgment.
Satan is well aware that the conversion of the world is suspended upon the unity of the Church; and hence he leaves no means untried which are likely to embitter its various sections one against the other, that his reign might be thereby prolonged. And were Christians as fully aware of the same fact, would they not be likely to come closer together? Would they not be disposed to forget their trifling differences? Would they not be willing to lose them, in the indulgence of a heavenly charity — in the noble oblivion of love? We might then hope; yes, we might entertain the assured conviction, that the set time to favour Zion had come — the time when God, even our own God, would abundantly bless her, and when all the ends of the earth would be brought to fear Him.
The above considerations are abundantly confirmed by the memorable prayer which the Saviour offered on the night in which He was betrayed. Among the petitions which He then addressed to His Heavenly Father, this was one: "I do not pray for these alone — but for those also who shall believe on Me through their word; that they all might be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us — that the world may believe that You have sent Me." The world will not believe before then. The one must precede the other. It is heaven's own plan; and to imagine that it will be otherwise, is to expect that the Savior's prayer will be frustrated, and that, out of mere indulgence to our perverseness, to our cold carnalities and unhallowed bigotries.
How desirable is it, in order to hasten this blissful consummation, that Christians should have a deep and realizing impression of the spiritual relationship which exists between the whole body of the faithful. They are all children of the same Father, members of the same Son, habitations of the same Spirit. It is the same mercy that pitied them, the same blood that bought them, the same grace that sanctifies them, the same blessed hope that animates them! Are they not all walking by the same Scriptural rule, all pressing toward the same heavenly mark, all engaged in the same earthly warfare, all hated by the same vile foes! Is not the same blood now coursing through their veins, and are they not hereafter to spend unending ages in the same heaven, surrounding the same throne, and singing the same song! How is it then that they keep so far apart from each other now? Whence those divisions and alienations which are, alas! so common? The poet asks,
"Is Christ divided? What can part
The members from the Head?
O how should those be one in heart,
For whom one Saviour bled!
Bound to one Lord by common vow,
In one great enterprise;
One faith, one hope, one centre now,
Our common home the skies.
O let us undivided be:
Let party contests cease;
Nor break the Spirit's unity,
Nor burst the bond of peace.
Then shall the wondering world again,
Admire how Christian's love,
And know we do not bear in vain
His name who pleads above.
We would further say — let us not give undue prominence to those minor points on which we differ. What are they, when compared with those great points on which we are agreed? They bear no more proportion to each other than did the mint, and anise, and cumin of old — to the weightier matters of the law. Need we ask, What is it, that sanctifies and saves? What is it, that cheers and supports when guilt presses down upon the conscience, or when care is corroding the heart, or when sorrow drives sleep from the eyes, or when death robs us of the friends we love, or when he is likely to lay his cold hand upon ourselves? Are they not those blessed truths in reference to which all who love the Saviour are agreed? O, should there be more in matters of church government, and outward forms — to keep Christians apart; than there is in their common adoption, their common justification, their common hopes and anticipations — to bring them together!
Reader, seek to promote in every way — a spirit of greater love and unity among the followers of Christ. Mark those who cause divisions — and avoid them. Guard especially against every unhallowed propensity in your own breast, which may have the least tendency to produce the evils over which we mourn. "Lay aside all malice, and all deceit, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings," on the one hand: and "follow after the things which make for peace," on the other hand.
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