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Christian Unionism

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 2, 1915

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 92, No. 43.

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Christian Unionism

By C. M. S.

God designs that there shall be no wall of separation between him and his children. Something does come between now. God says that our sins have separated between us and him, and it is they that have hid his face from us. But he has made ample preparation for the complete removal of that hindering veil, so that we may be entirely at one with him again.
The union that God proposes to make between us and himself is the closest possible. It is fittingly set forth in the illustration of the vine and the branches.
“I in them, and thou in me,” was the prayer of Jesus for his disciples. That union with the Father made Jesus all-powerful for good; and Christ’s prayer fulfilled in his disciples will make them also a resistless power in the work of God.
In union there is strength. In the right kind of union there is increased power for good; in the wrong kind of union there is increased power for mischief. It is worth while to know whether we are working with the one or being worked by the other. The ideal union is the one in which the Leader is working for the good of all, and every member is working for the good of all men, and consequently for the glory of that Leader. That is the perfect union — One working for all, and all working for that One, and for all others. That union is not of human origin. It is Christianity. That is the union which Jesus Christ came into the world to institute among men for their eternal good and for the glory of God. In the true Christian union there is an eternal principle which the mind of the worldly man cannot comprehend. He clings to, and works for, self and its interests; gains his ends by himself if he can, or else by confederacies with others against those who oppose; but in true Christian union there must be the surrender of self and selfishness. In such a move the worldly man sees only ruin; but in it the Christian finds eternal gain, everlasting riches.
The union which Christ taught is comprehended in the one word, love. Humanity had severed the cord that should have held it to the heart of the universe, and infinite love came down to join again the broken band. God was holding it forth to a world turning its back upon him, and he holds it forth still. There is infinite harmony in that union. Christ declares: “I and my Father are one;” and again: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” “All mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.” In that union with God through Christ, there is no bitterness, no oppression, no envy, no malice toward any.
In the illustration which our Saviour uses, the vine and the branches, we learn this lesson: Separated from him, the life channel is sundered, the branch withers, the fruit decays, and the keeper of the vineyard finds nothing but food for the flames where there might have been glorious fruit. In that illustration is the story of the gospel work and its results. There are the two classes: one in union with God, bearing fruit to his glory; one cut off from that union, withering into itself and perishing.
The union of man’s designing is for a fragment of time, and the birthright of eternity is sold for its “mess of pottage.” It struggles for self, fights for self, exalts self to be its god, and lies down finally in the ashes of its idol to wake no more forever. How insignificant, how worthless, how transient, are the fruits of such unions! In the working out, class is arrayed against class, company against company, hatred against avarice, man against man — to force the coffers of other men; and when it is worked out, all that might have been is lost, and the full coffers of eternity are bolted and barred against them. It is not worth it.
How much better — infinitely better — is that union which Christ is instituting among men! Running all through it are the golden threads of love; and hatred, and strife, and accusation have no place. Selfishness is sacrificed; but in its place we have all working for the good of each, and the hearts and interests of all twined and intertwined and woven into one harmonious web of love and peace, stretching out in undimmed and unending beauty as long as the universe holds and God lives. Works of love and mercy here, and all the blessings and riches of eternal life when Christ shall come — that is the union for which the Christian will work and plead. That is Christian unionism.
C. M. S.