TRUE CHRISTIAN UNITY by M. C. W.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 27, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 20.

TRUE CHRISTIAN UNITY.

By M. C. W.

TRUE Christian unity comes not by seeking for it. There is much that is called such, there are many preachers and religious optimists who become hoarse in its praise, as manifested in the tendency of the religious world at the present time. But to us it seems a surface work, largely dictated by policy and selfish ends. We are aware that this is a grave charge, but, seriously, fellow-Christians, is it not so? Union with God is the first step. Without this there can be no true union. Union with God must precede true Christian unity. This union comes only through repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and continued obedience to the teachings of Holy Writ. So prays our Saviour, "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." This is primary. What follows is an inevitable sequence: "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." Conversion to God and his truth comes first; union with our brethren necessarily follows. Union of churches or professed Christians not based on union with God will always prove abortive. But if those who professed Christ possessed a living connection with him, if they had known the depths of thorough repentance for sins, if they had experienced the power of the grace of Christ in the forgiveness and cleansing of sin, if they possessed the willingly obedient heart which would inquire, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" instead of, "What duties and obligations may I shun and still be saved?"—if these were the characteristics and motives of the professed Christians of to-day, no power could prevent their union. The Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ would actuate and mould and refine and unite. There would be souls converted to the kingdom of God. The same love which moved Christ to die for man would constrain us to labor for those for whom he died. For this love and union, we long and labor.

M. C. W.