HE DOES NOT KNOW CHRISTIANITY.
By Editor
It is not the custom of this paper to make any notice whatsoever of unsigned communications; but we make an exception very rarely, if not to "adorn a tale" to "point a moral." We have received not a few letters from union working men who have read our Capital and Labor issue. Almost invariably they see and appreciate the consistency of our position as Christians. (We do not here refer to Socialists, who agree with us as to conditions, but not as to remedy.) From purely worldly and political view-points much may be argued in behalf of Unionism and Socialism; but men who look beyond this short, disappointing life must take broader views. We do wish to note some principles in an anonymous letter which has come to us, the writer of which says:— I am a child of God, a member of the Advent Church, and a member of the union. I try every day to walk in the light of God's Word. I believe in union labor. It is right and good. When union men will do according to their constitution, they will not do wrong. The same with members of the church, yes, and the Advent Church, when its members go according to its constitution, which is the Word of God. I prefer the company of union men before non-union, because they believe as I believe in regard to the union. I love the company of Advent Christians before others, because they believe as I believe; for I love to think of the second advent of my Lord. The old proverb is ever true, "Birds of a feather flock together." I honor and respect a non-union man; if he is sincere and honest, he would have no desire to work with union men; he would seek employment with those of his own class. Union men and non-union can not work in harmony any more than Christians and the world. There would be no occasion for clashing if men would be true men, be they union or non-union. I have no desire to work with non-union men. But I am ever ready to be kind, good, and just to all men, whether union or non-union. And that is what our Constitution teaches. The first thing that strikes one in this letter as a whole is the low plane on which it places Christianity, and its exaltation of a mere human agreement. First of all, then, Christianity is not a mere organization, no true Christian church is a mere organized body of belief in certain rules or regulations. Christianity, if it is anything, is a life, the life of God sent down to men; and he who receives it enters into life-union with God and life-union with every soul who likewise receives Christianity. No mere set of rules binds him, no mere human covenant binds him, no mere union of sentiment and belief binds him to his fellow-believers. He is bound to them by the life of God in Christ Jesus, a tie above all human ties. 2. By this very union with Christ he is bound to regard above all others his brethren in Christ Jesus. In fact, this is one of the tests of genuine Christianity. "By this shall all men know ye are My disciples, if ye have love one for another." 3. By his redemption in Christ Jesus, by the very fact of his life-union with God, the Christian is bound to labor for all others beyond the church. "I am debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish;" and we may as truly add, "both to the union man and the non-union man." "So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith." 4. It therefore follows that no human union of any sort should be permitted to come between us and the mission which Christ has given His followers to every man. But this writer would prefer a union man to his own life brother in Christ Jesus who was a non-unionist. And if he is a faithful union man, living according to the union constitution, he will, in times of stress and strife and difference, stick to his fellow unionist, and turn from the non-unionist, even tho a fellow Christian. To keep his union constitution, he must utterly ignore the requirements of Christianity. If he do right in times of difference, and hold with his non-union Christian brother, he separates himself from the union or becomes subject to fine or penalty. 5. It is not the business of our "Brother Adventist" or any other Christian to judge as to whether a non-union man is sincere or not. That rests with God. 6. Again, what does our brother do with the "Golden Rule"? How does it or can it work in the union which he prefers? Christ did not say: "All things therefore whatsoever ye would that union men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them;" but "whatsoever ye would that MEN [all men] should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them," the all men. We know that no union man wishes to be deprived of work for the support of his family. We know that he would not wish to be waylaid on his way home; that he would not like to be called "scab;" that he would not wish his place of business "picketed" and his business injured; that he would not like to have men pursue, in a score of different ways, the course toward him that he does toward a non-union man. Why do union men do this, then?—Simply and solely, in the last analysis, because they do not know Christ and have not His Spirit. Their defense is never from the side of Christianity. It is strange that a Christian should stand with them in these things, which are the logical outgrowth of their demands and claims. We have no prejudice, whatsoever, in this matter. We know union men of the world whom we respect, not because of their unionism, but because of their manhood. We know mean non-union men, mean not because of their non-unionism, but because of yielding to inherent selfishness. In doing common, secular, legitimate work, we do not see why any Christian could not work with both unionists and non-unionists, or either, if both were equally manly. Christianity lifts a man above all these schemes of men. It makes him value a man above all human organizations to which he may belong. It does not measure a man by his politics or social creeds, but by his needs and his possibilities in Christ Jesus. In the Christian's relations with men, apart from regular government, he can not be bound by any human rules and regulations whatsoever.