THE SIN OF DISUNITY

"Each one is attached to his own sect and despises all others. The unity and charity of Christ are at an end."

"The genuine spirit of piety, in every time and place, tends to promote union in heart and brotherly kindness."

The call is not to organized unity; but to the recognition of that perfect heart unity provided in Christ for all; fellowship in Christ being the strongest unifying bond. The believers are members one of another; and "'embers of His flesh and of His bones," oh, that we might realize more, experimentally, the unity which is ours judicially.

The prophet, Isaiah, gives a twofold picture of unity; in its true and its false aspect:

"Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught, speak the word and it shall not stand... For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not a confederacy, to all them whom this people shall say a confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of Hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread." Isaiah 8:9-13,

The great burden, pressing the Saviour's heart, in the shadow of the cross, was, the unity of all His followers, down through time till the consummation of the age; hear His great intercessory prayer for them:

"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they may ALL 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. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and has loved them, as thou hast loved me." John, 17:17-23.

"And one of them named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not' And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." John 11:49-52.

It is suggestive that from the utterance of this prophecy of the essential unity of all God's children, Jew and Gentile, black and white, rich and poor, foreign or native, Samaritan and Hebrew, high and low cast, plebeian and prince, serf and master, and all the other sheep not of the fold of Israel, for whom the Master's heart yearned, "Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put Him to death." In their narrow partisan pride, the Jews had forgotten the words of Isaiah, their prophet, which, while recognizing them as chosen people, did not limit Jehovah's affection to them. "In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance." Isaiah 20:24-25. Thank God the measure of God's love is broader than the measure of man's mind! Larger than can be contained in any sectarian, or non-sectarian mould! He cannot be syndicated! He is the light of the world and not merely the light of any one denomination!

Each new sect had it origin either in the conviction from the Lord, or in the egotism of its leaders, that it was better capacitated to shepherd the Lord's flock than others. The latter spirit is that "I am holier than thou," self-righteousness so repugnant to God, that righteousness which says: "Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou." The self-righteous are abhorred by God -- "a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all day." This was the sin of the fallen angels! Self-exaltation! But it is hard to be fair with ourselves and admit that we have this spirit when it hides under zeal for the pure glory of God, as we think, which is, however, often the god of self. Paul described such leaders as "grievous wolves taking away disciples after themselves." True unity is distasteful to the sectarianist because he does not want it in Christ -- his vision is of a unity which brings everybody into his sect.

Go to the world thou blind ecclesiastic, and learn wisdom. General Pershing, on the departure of Generalissimo Foch from America, said, "I shall always be glad (rejoice) that my voice was raised for unity under the great commander who led the combined forces to victory." Pershing saw that one of the deadliest defects of the Allies was the diversified and ununified nature of their fighting -- from the outset he stood for unity of command. General Pershing was doubtless a great soldier, but he gladly effaced himself to defeat the terrible foe. No matter who gets the honor, so the foe is crushed. Does not God speak to His torn church by this man of the army? Shall not the Lord's lesser generals efface themselves and plead for unity under the great Generalissimo of the Lord's armies, Jesus Christ?

The children of the world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. They highly value the principle of unity and cooperation. But for it, there would be no great railroads stretching from ocean to ocean; or mighty vessels plowing the deep. Get together Conferences are the order of the day. Trusts, mergers, syndicates, amalgamations, corporations, combines, world conferences, international tribunals are words ever before us. Hardly a group of men congregate but they talk of getting together; "We must get together." We must stand together." A farmer boy told us that if the farmers would really organize and stand together in withholding the products of their farms from the markets, they would all soon be millionaires; that they would starve the populace while doing it, was incidental. Twenty men of Japan, recently touring America, own over fifty percent of Japan's wealth. Organization is the word rife everywhere. In college, groups from the different states band together; there are debating societies; alumni associations, etc. In business financial groups stand together; a very small percent of the population owning a very large percent of the total wealth of our country. Manufacturing groups, labor organizations, political groups, lodge organizations galore, social groups, all are preaching to the church, the value of cooperation.

A prominent New York Protestant Episcopal bishop recently published the statement, in the Literary Digest, that "our divisions are sin," writing of what would be termed nominal Christianity as represented by the various evangelical churches. Our good brother writes a truly startling word! More so because of the unexpected source!

A greater than he (Paul) wrote that Christians are called to the exalted fellowship of God's Son. From much modern emphasis one would get the idea he was called to the fellowship of some one of the diversified sects of whom it can no longer be said, "Look how these Christians love one another," but, "see how they separate from each other I see how suspicious they are of each other! see how fearfully jealous they are lest any of their (often proselytized flock) go to the other fold!" Paul continues, because of our calling to the pure fellowship with God's Son, "Now I beseech you brethren, by the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and there be no divisions among you; but that ye be "perfectly joined together" in the "same mind" and in the "same judgment." For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren... that there are contentions among you... Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? (a fine sarcasm; if they were, they were not baptized at all: the original command being to be baptized in the Name of Christ). I Cor. 10:13. "For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you "envying," and "strife," and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" It is possible to have carnality while talking most loudly about its destruction. The divisive, sectarian spirit, is the ear-mark of carnality! It was in connection with the sin and carnality of disunion that Paul wrote his solemn word of warning about a man's work being burned up and himself saved as by fire because he built on some other foundation than Christ. Those who cause division serve not the Lord Christ but their own selves!

It is no light thing, wrote John Wesley, "to make a rent in the body of Christ and separate from those with whom we were before united." Schism, in the professed body of Christ, everywhere, is the great hindrance to the progress of the kingdom; there needs to be conviction for the sin of it; and deep repentance for it; and its utter abandonment. Whitfield, Wesley, and Edwards, a weighty triumvirate, are all on record as despairing of any extensive revival unless different sects should forget their non-essential differences and rally around the name of Christ for the salvation, and edification, of souls, in Christ; If, during the war, the churches united their services to save coals, ought they not unite to save souls? Spiritual union among the evangelical denominations and united cooperation in promoting the Lord's work is the quickest way to the revival so much needed and the sure cure for the animosity and bigotry too prevalent among us under the specious name of zeal for truth; or my church; or our church; indeed we have allowed our Protestantism with its mechanical activities, often, to crowd Christ off the program. On the street car recently I overheard the conversation of two ministers who were returning from a church convention; they repeated, in the course of their conversation, the word church! church! church! church! church!; our church; my church; the church; your church until our heart sickened. There are fifteen thousand references to Christ and God in the Bible and how seldom we speak of Him.

We were once supplying as pastor, in a superior sanctity-congregation. The building in which it worshipped was stolen by a vote in which two-thirds, by sheer force of numbers voted that the one-third minority had no rights in the property in which they had put their money; when the big two-thirds juggernaut rode over them, the golden rule of Christ and the equity of the Bible was annulled. The deal was duly consummated and the name changed and the people introduced into a forward (?) step with God. When we were informed of the high-handed manner in which the building was gotten, it troubled the conscience; not being able to see that it was right to steal, even in the name of the Lord; or that it was any more right to steal lumber to build a house than to steal sheep to make a flock for the Lord; or that One could be a partaker of other men's sins under the specious pretense of the Lord's glory. It troubled us until it got into our dreams. One night we dreamed that we saw a tug of war. The Saviour's heart was the center of it; two companies were at the ends of the rope, mostly women on their side, and they were actually tearing the Saviour's heart in twain. This was truly startling! We are not guided by dreams. But it was such a perfect picture of our thought of the matter that our convictions were deepened that it was no longer right for us to shepherd a flock which had stolen their corral; so we handed in our resignation. The dream was true; the Saviour's heart was greatly torn in that community by the division; the other party going to another part of the small city and starting a new work; the world looked on in amazement at those who preached a grace which makes one, and wondered; and steered clear of both little charmed circles. But there is a blessed sequel. In that same city was a great church which should have given the others the pure doctrines of God's Word about the holy life; but it failed. Because the others had erroneously expounded and poorly demonstrated the word of God, it chose the cowardly course of silence. In the course of time an evangelist arrived on the scene, impartially sized up the situation, and decided on a course of action. There was blame at every intersection of the triangle. Finding fault with none, seeking to help all, he got a big touring car and loaded it up with the leading spirits of each party and took them for a joy ride, ostensibly, but really, to have a heart to heart talk over the situation and its hindrance to the work of God. He first confessed, "we, of the big church have been too cautious and conservative and we have not done our duty. Forgive us, we will do better." He then kindly, but firmly asked the others if they did not think that they had been too radical? "And will you not surrender some of your radicalness to us to help tone up our conservativeness and take some of our conservativeness to help modify your extreme radicalness?" It was agreed and sealed by prayer and confirmed by the Lord in sending them a mighty revival.

During the World War, when fuel economy was necessary to help win it, as it was said, a strong public sentiment in the East demanded that the churches bury their non-essential differences and worship together to save coal; prominent business men are now pointing out the needless waste, in duplicating the operating expenses of so many little struggling sects; all claiming to believe the same Bible, to love the same Lord, and to worship the same God and to be bound for the same heavenly home; we understand that the objective of these demands was for a mere outward, external or organic unity, effected largely for the economy or good business of it. The church will do well, and especially those claiming the Highest New Testament Experience and Life, will do well to note the strength of this argument, if they would have power with thinking men. The world has a right to ask us to deliver! to put up or shut up!

But if all the churches extant should get together and agree on a universal creed; a joint hymnal; unity in form of worship; the same form of government and discipline; a unified missionary program and the same curriculum in all their educational institutions, -- all, together, would not constitute the union for which Jesus prayed in the shadow of the cross. It is impossible to make men good by law; or to make men sober by legislation; or to change them by reformation; (as world prohibition by 1925); or to make them spiritual by a code of church laws. Outside of "oneness" in Christ there is no worthwhile unity. True disciples are all one in Christ Jesus! not because they have agreed to believe a series of doctrinal statements; such unity has but the strength of a rope of sand! They are one because of a common life in their Lord. "One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye, (in Him) are brethren." True unity comes not by organization but by baptism -- "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into (R. V. of) one Spirit." Corinthians 12:13. This oneness is further" likened unto the close sympathetic union of the body and its members; if one member suffers all the members suffer with it: so it is in the true church of Christ.

The attainment of the perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is only reached in the unity of the faith; the fullest comfort and the fullest assurance are likewise linked with all the children of God being knit together in love; all lowliness and longsuffering forbearance of each other in love, shine most clearly when the church directs effort to unity: "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Because, however much we seek to divide the church into endless factions, "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye 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." Ephesians, 4:2-6. The power of unity, too, is significantly suggested in that the unprecedented effects of Pentecost came on and through a perfectly unified company who were all of one accord and in one place, and most startling they were of one accord before the Spirit came. The pleasantness of unity also is described together with its goodness, preciousness and blessedness here, and eternal life beyond: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head... as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there (when together in unity) the Lord commanded the blessing, (it is the place of blessing) even life for evermore." Psalm, 133. The unity of His people, is the ground for the restoration of the faith of the Gospel which shall shake to the foundation the kingdom of Satan: "Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel; and in nothing terrified by your adversaries." Philippians, 1:27-28. Instead of unitedly contending for the faith of the Gospel we have divisively contended for the shibboleth of our party! There is an intimation, in the last reference, that Satan's strength is so great that it will require the combined faith of God's people, to defeat Him. But what do we behold in the warfare against Satan? instead of a united front, like the English, French, Belgians and Italians, in the early days of the war, before the unification of command of all the Allied Armies under Foch, each pecked away on his sector, sometimes making a dent in the enemies' lines, but not able to hold the gain for lack of reinforcements, which the enemy was quick to note, were repulsed with terrible losses. And yet again and again they were ordered forward, Gibbs tells, with the promise of reinforcements which did not come! What fearful losses we have sustained! What victories might have been ours! If each of the guilty parties, instead of selfishly and hopelessly, well nigh, pecking away on His little sector of the enemy's line, had buried his ambition for distinction as a leader, like Pershing, and all had clamored for unification and the pooling of the resources of all under Generalissimo Jesus and unitedly charged the enemy's line! How his walls would have fallen! How his strongholds would have been compelled to give way!

If the Allies had not seen the necessity of the centralized command; of the pooling of their resources, forces and supplies, there would doubtless be world war-fighting yet. The remarkable achievement of the Central Powers, of virtually keeping foreign soldiers off of their territory, especially the German sector, was due to the unitizing effect of the iron ring of foes about them. In Germany, they said, "now henceforth we bury our differences; we are no longer divided into different factions; we are no more Centrists, Liberals, Royalists: Catholics, Laborists or Socialists; we are Germans; as one man we unitedly face the common foe." Would God that the terrific onslaughts which the foe of God, man and the Church, is now making at the end of the age, would likewise electrify the diversified parties of the Church, quickening them into real united resistance in the Name of Christ! Well the Adversary knows that in unity there is strength! He has used his greatest wisdom in scattering the power of the holy people.

Let me repeat the words of our Episcopal brother: "Our divisions are sin." If this is so of what we term nominal Christianity, how much more it is so when there is division of spirit with those claiming perfect love, sanctification, the indwelling Christ, or victory? Well, we know that there may be unity in a diversity of church names, forms of church government and ritual or the form of worship, and that God has often providentially overruled this diversity to the salvation of some souls who might not otherwise have been reached. We are pleading that we shall not fire our guns into each other's camps but steadily, and wherever possible, unitedly train our guns on the enemy's stronghold. If what we term nominally spiritual churches unite for a type of union revival effort which frequently includes elements which we do not approve (and yet our hearts are large enough to rejoice in all the pure good which results); and if business men, as a matter of good business advertisement, where there is not full cooperation of the pas.tots and churches, will get behind and boost a popular sensational type of hippodrome revival campaign, with more or less mixed motives, how much more should the people of God claiming the most exalted life in Christ, under various terminology, get together at least once annually, for an unselfish campaign on full salvation lines! We embrace unity in theory and renounce it in practice. It is evident that the Spirit of God is calling for self-effacement deeper than we have known, all around, and for the recognition that the larger glory of Christ's kingdom far transcends, in importance, the success of any one branch of it. Who will volunteer to be swallowed? There is little use to talk of a doctrinal union which is belied by numerous divisions and increasing distance in fellowship; at present our unity is a mirage denied by practice in instances too numerous to mention. There is little use to say such instances are not representative for they are characteristic of conditions everywhere. There is as much hope of unity among the denominations at large as among the churches and movements claiming the highest life.

Christ did not pray for spasmodic nor temporary unity but for real and actual unity; not for mere impractical and unreal unification; nor for the external and seeming but that type which conforms to the test. His prayer was for heart unity of the Spirit, whose praise is of God more than man; his intercession was not for that type of accordness which is found primarily nor secondarily or inherently in any Church movement but only in the Father and in the Son, "That they may be one in us." Organic Unity, Head and Body united!

It is not contingent on identification with a certain company or joining an elect circle, although its subjects are found often in the various evangelical organizations and sometimes without them; many even in the pre-Reformation church knew its blessedness: its great condition is to walk like Some One: "If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship one with another;" fellowship with God's Son and unison with all in that fellowship.

Quoting a Methodist bishop: "It is not a mere outward, or dead unity -- this is not the kind we stand most in need of, but of the heart -- Pentecostal union in Christ -- the true union of fellowship in Him -- a unity of life." This agreement does not have a creedal basis, but a Personal basis -- a Christo-centric basis, "Ye are all one in Christ Jesus." In its experience and fellowship, we ask not so much, "Where men belong," as, "to Whom do they belong?" In it there is nothing higher than to be a Christian -- a follower of Christ. In its enjoyment, with Wesley, "We desire a league offensive and defensive with every other soldier of Jesus Christ." We are, as David wrote, companions of all them who keep His precepts; irrespective of his nationality or denominationality, as another eminent servant of God wrote, "We are not consciously separated from any one who loves Jesus Christ, in sincerity." As individuals we are not responsible for the endless religious parties of our day, we are only responsible not to have the divisive spirit in our own hearts; and not to refuse fellowship with any one whose views are consistent with a holy life. True oneness in Christ does not exclude from its fellowship the humblest believer in Christ.

Studying the prayer of Christ for the unity of His disciples there is the fact of intercession with the objective of their oneness through all time; that it is a concomitant of true sanctification, or Bible sanctification. We say Bible sanctification because there is extant much profession of sanctification and Pentecost which coexists with a jealous and selfish antagonism of other organizations which stand for the same truths, sometimes with varied Scriptural terminology. It was a sanctification which was to be accomplished through the instrumentality of the truth: "Sanctify them through thy truth;" giving fitness for life service and preceding the commission to it; "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." The unselfish type of it is pointed out: "For their sakes I sanctify myself; that they also may be sanctified" -- with this same kind that I have for the sake of others. The universal scope of it is mentioned: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them: also which shall believe on me through their word;" it is the basis' of faith in His mission: "That they all may be one in us; 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." He further makes the oneness of His disciples the basis for the world's: knowledge or recognition of His Messiaship "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me." The only perfection possible in this life, a result of Christ's indwelling the individual and Church is mentioned: "I in them and thou in mc: (and its effect) that they may be made perfect in one." It is in connection with this perfection of oneness of His Church that the promised glory is given: "And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them." This unity is the same in kind if not in degree that Christ had with the Father; "that they may be one as we are one."

Heedlessness of this unity is sin because it violates the positive command to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit and forfeits all the ocher invaluable results and power promised the church keeping us from the larger glory of full Pentecostal power: some of us are so easily satisfied with Pentecost on individuals and little groups but we know little of the all but overwhelming power the Spirit could manifest through a larger company of diversified and yet united believers. It is sin because it was in connection with the sending of the Spirit at Pentecost as Unifier and Sanctifier that Jesus told the disciples that the world would experience conviction for sin: "And when He the Spirit of truth is come to you (disciples) -- He will reprove the world of sin." John 16:8. The Revised Version says, "He will convict the world of sin." Whatever hinders the world's faith, and knowledge of Christ; whatever violates a positive command and thereby misses its positive and powerful rewards; and whatever hinders the full conviction of the world of sin (which comes in any given community in proportion to the heart unity of all the people of God); whatever in the church stumbles and scandalizes the world; whatever hinders the onward march of God's kingdom, cannot be designated by any other word short of the one the good bishop uses -- "Sin"! Shall not God speak in power to us by this man outside our select, charmed circle?

When Modern Churches or Movements, adroitly or subtlely intervene themselves between the soul and God they should suffer the same repudiation the Ancient Hierarchy received from the Reformers of the Sixteenth Century. As Lindsey suggests: "The Reformers taught that God gave the believer who received Christ the power to throw himself directly on God. The Roman Church taught that the mediation of a priest was essential -- that he could create, nourish and perfect the Supernatural life through the sacraments. The priesthood enslaved Europe and made Christian liberty an impossible thing. The priesthood barred the way to God or opened it. The Church, which should have shown the way to God, blocked it.

"If a man felt sorrow for sin, or if he wished comforting words of pardon; or if he wanted God's grace he must not go to God for it but to the church and priest who taught that man was not born from heaven as Jesus said but in baptism; he was to come to full age not in Christ Jesus but in confirmation; his marriage must be cleansed from lust in the sacrament of matrimony rather than in the blood of Christ; penance brought back his spiritual life slain by deadly sin rather than simply returning to the Lord; and death-bed grace was imparted in extreme unction rather than in the promise of God to be with us in the valley of the shadow of death.

"These ceremonies were not signs and promises of the free grace of God... They were jealously guarded doors from out of which grudgingly, and commonly not without fees, the priests dispensed the free grace of God.

"Between the God who had revealed Himself directly to man, the Medieval theologian had placed What he called the Church, but what really was the opinions of accredited theologians confirmed by decisions of Councils or Popes." The analogy in present conditions is true to former error either when it is insinuated that salvation inheres in certain Protestant church membership or if others of superior piety claim it can not be genuinely gotten outside of themselves. What is the difference in the assumption that grace can only flow through the Roman Church, or the spirit so prevalent today that we will not recognize you or give you the benefits of the free Gospel unless you join us altogether; that excludes you from any official work among us and our work unless you leave altogether the other church; that respects persons and regards more highly those who obey than those who are not led of God to transfer; that binds the bands of sect-ownership as tightly on the soul while offering perfect freedom as the Catholics ever did; that specifies by unwritten but well understood laws that excommunication will be your fate if you worship elsewhere and henceforth you shall be as one dead to them because their love was selfish and not Christian, which never fails. This spirit which insists that our young men who have gone to other schools than our own shall receive the finishing touches of their education in our institutions or they shall not be received into our Conferences is akin to the old one from which we have broken for liberty and looks as though we were trying to establish a new Hierarchy of our own, is a spirit which cares more for the things of its own than the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and has a greater zeal to stamp our denominational peculiarities on our young men than the Spirit of Christ. Forcing young men to a so-called recognized school for their final work so as to escape the limitations of the non-senate-school. Is this not a subtle claim of superiority over others -- a veiled claim to, of, if not infallibility -- better ability than others? A spirit which demands that young men coming into conferences, synods, presbyteries, and assemblies, shall implicitly obey the older men even if they must violate conscience, stifle convictions, and grieve the Holy Spirit to do it.

In consideration of the numerous "together" passages in the New Testament-Striving together, framed together, joined together, knit together, builded together, live together, gathering together, followers together, quickened together, heirs together, laborers together, workers together, dwell together, sitting together, caught up together, ought we not to get together? "For there shall be One Shepherd and one fold." Where? Neither here nor there! Not in your church or in mine, but in His Name and Spirit; in love, and sympathy, and cooperation, wherever possible, and in appreciation of and prayer for all who follow Him, though not with us.