September 1925
THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
386
T h e T rue Basis o f C h r is t ia n U n i ty By Ohas. F . Reitzel, A ltoona, P a.
hear h im ?” “No-,” said he,, “ bu t they told me about it. W asn’t th a t fierce?” Said we, “Doctor, if we had a farm and had a flock of sheep on th a t farm and th e re were sev eral wolves on th a t farm , do you th ink th a t we would use our good office as a farm er to try and get th e sheep and wolves tog eth er?” “ I th ink no t,” said he, “you would get a gun and shoot the wolves.” And so we would. Let us now by way of illu stration suggest th ree pictures touching Christian unity. The first th a t we shall mention is the ideal. It is this: On the day of Pentecost th e disciples “were all w ith one accord in one place.” And where was th a t “ place” ? Ju st where the Lord wanted them to be— in Jerusalem , for said He, “T arry ye in the city of Jerusalem , un til ye be endued w ith power from on high.” Now while such á condition would seem to be possible, yet in the light of the prophecies concerning the last days, it does not seem to be probable. I t is no t likely th a t we will ever see th e day when “ all” the members of the nom inal church will be of “ one accord,” so we m ight ju st as well pass th is phase of the m atter up as a hopeless proposition. Let ps suggest ano ther picture. The Lord said, as already stated, “T arry ye in the city of Jerusalem . This is “ according to Christ Jesus,” But if you will allow us to make a wild supposition and yet a supposition in full h ar mony w ith present day conditions, some of the number of th e disciples who rob th e Word of Christ of its final and absolute authority, m ight have said,' “Why insist on in te r preting the word of th e Lord literally? L et us come together, b u t let it be in Jericho instead of Jeru salem .” And then, if we may suppose again, the re st of th e disciples — a bunch of jelly fish, backboneless fellows-—say, “Well,? we know th a t Jesus says, ‘In Jerusalem ,’ bu t these men will not yield and meet w ith us in Jerusalem , and we abhor contentions and must have peace a t any price, hence let us go to Jericho and th e re meet w ith them .” And they all went and met in Jericho, and were th ere “w ith one accord and in one place,” b u t it was not God’s “ place.” It was unity, bu t not on God’s basis;.;- They were “ likem inded,” it is true, bu t not “ according to Christ Jesus,” Let us now suggest the th ird picture, or w hat seems to be th e only altern ativ e position for the tru e child of God to assume. As to the first picture, the ideal, there seems to be no possibility under present existing circum stances of ever attain ing to it. The modernist is stubborn and unyielding in his position. He will never consent to unity “ according to Christ Jesus.” It is not a p a rt of his program . Now w hat shall be done? Shall the fundam entalist go w ith the modernist and have peace a t any cost? No, no, a thousand times, No. In doing so all would be wrong. There is but one course left for the fundam entalists. Let them stand by th e ir guns. If the modernists persist in getting together a t Jericho, th e place of a curse, let them go, bu t let the tru e and tried fundam entalists stay a t Jerusalem , th e ,place of God’s peace and unity or the divine location of getting together. As to compromise, th e fu n d am e n talist, has no such a word in his vocabulary. As to conceding to th e enemy some of the principles of his faith, he knows nothing of th a t so rt of a thing. Our fath e r was a captain during the Civil W ar. One n igh t in company w ith a few of his men he went out from camp into the wilds of V irginia and
“N o w th e G od o f p a tie n c e a n d c o n s o la tio n g r a n t y o u to h e lik em in d e d o n e to w a r d a n o th e r a c c o r d in g to C h rist J e s u s .”— R o m a n s 15:5. NE of the living and most v ital issues before the’ church of the present day is th e subject of Chris tian unity or likem indednes|. : It is heard dis cussed on every hand. The a ir is full of it. And it is no wonder, for some of th e g reat religious bodies are ju st about to be re n t asunder. Ju st how and how soon the cleavage will be brought about remains somewhat proble matical, bu t it is sure to come. Of course^ we are not so much concerned about organic union or disunion. There is something vastly more im portant th a n organic union— it is likem indedness or th e unity of th e faith. Now w hat shoflld be the a ttitu d e of th e tru e child of God am idst all this chaos of conflicting opinions? Briefly speaking, and on this point th ere must be no m isunderstand ing, the views of th is man and th a t man should have no weight whatsoever in determ ining one’s course, only so far as those views are supported by th e Word of God. Well, let us make a hom iletical analysis of the words of the Apostle th a t stand a t th e head of this article, and in this way we may find some suggestions on th e subject of Christian unity. 1. Christian unity or likem indedness recommended. “ Be likem inded one toward ano th er.” Unity is God’s will for H is people. Of th is th ere can be no doubt. The Lord does not w ant His people to believe anything and everything or nothing a t all. 2. The basis or underlying principle of Christian unity. “According to Christ Jesus.” Unity th a t in any sense clashes w ith either th e person or work of Christ is not worthy of th e name and is worse th a n open discord. Psalm 2:3 speaks of a unity, a coming “ tog eth er,” bu t it is th e unity of the kings of the earth setting themselves, and the ru lers tak ing counsel together, “ against th e Lord and His Anointed,” And, unhappily, much of the cry of th e present day for unity and federation savors of th is same Christ- destroying spirit. ■ 3. The source of Christian unity or likem indedness. It is a g ran t from God. “The God of patience and consolation g ran t you to be likem inded.” There can be no Christian unity where God is ruled out, and where, instead, th e flesh has full sway. A year or so since th e w riter attended a g reat religious gathering a t which a high official of one of th e religious bodies th a t is having more or less trouble w ith the mod ernists spoke. He declared him self on th e fundamentals, but did it in such a way th a t th e thing seemed to stick in his th ro at. Somehow it didn’t w ant to go down. The hesitancy was so app aren t to the w riter th a t he could not help bu t be rem inded of his w ife’s attem pts on several occasions in tak ing castor oil. She gagged and gagged and made a , w ry face, and in spite of her repeated desperate attem pts the th ing refused to “ stay p u t.” Then th e speaker went on to say, th a t he expected, as well as felt it his duty, to use his good office to reconcile or bring togeth er the two w arring factions of his church. The message was delivered a t an evening service. The next morning a dear and tru e man of God, whose name is well known all over the. world, m et th e w riter and said, “B rother Reitzel, did you hear Doctor — — B last evening?” “Yes,” said we: “ did you
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