ALONE WITH GOD     

Possibility Of Christian Unity

    In the olden days Israel was oppressed by their enemies. The Philistines took eager advantage of all their weakness. One day these haughty foemen "spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim." When David inquired of the Lord he was instructed (as we read the story in II Samuel, chapter 5): "And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the Lord go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines. And David did so, as the Lord had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer."

The host that challenged Israel on that far distant day has long since melted into the dust of death; but still the armies of God's enemies menace the flock of Christ, dangerously divided and scattered. However,, since unity is the will of our Lord there is always a spiritual force working to bring it to pass. The urgency of that will is putting tension on the heart and conscience of every true Christian in the whole wide world. Every real Christian on earth is a member of the holy mystical body of Christ; and this consciousness is awakening ever deeper yearnings, holy and fervent longing, for the healing of all division and the manifestation to the world of the visible unity of his body, the church.

This heart cry of the church is the wind swaying the tops of the mulberry trees—the divine omen that the hour of victory is near.

Quite naturally this call came first from the missionary lands, for the new converts are more like the new converts of the early ages of the church. They have had no part in nor connection with the creedal battles which divided the historic church. They were not divided in heathenism—in many cases—and now it seems strangely incongruous with the doctrine of the church's spiritual unity that they who were united in heathenism should be divided in Christ, and divided over questions long since dead in Western lands, and never existent among them.

At the Lausanne Conference on Faith and Order a native Chinese pastor, the Reverend Professor Timothy Tingfang Lew D.D., delivered an address on the necessity of Christian unity for the missionary enterprise, in the course of which he said: "I shall first present to you the message of the Chinese Church concerning the necessity of unity. In 1922 there was held in Shanghai the National Christian Conference of China, the greatest conference of its kind ever held in China. One thousand delegates, five hundred Chinese and five hundred missionaries representing every Protestant communion, were assembled. That conference issued a message to the Christian church. The very first passage of the message is entitled 'The United Church.' It reads as follows:

" 'We Chinese Christians who represent the various leading denominations express our regret that we are divided by the denominationalism which comes from the West. We are not unaware of the diverse gifts through the denominations that have been used by God for the enrichment of the church. Yet we recognize fully that denominationalism is based upon differences the historical significance of which, however real and vital to the missionaries from the West, are not shared by us Chinese. Therefore, denominationalism, instead of being a source of inspiration, has been and is a source of confusion, bewilderment, and inefficiency. We recognize also most vividly the crying need of the Christian salvation for China today, and we firmly believe that it is only the united church that can save China, for our task is great and enough strength can only be obtained through solid unity. Therefore, in the name of the Lord, who prayed that all may be one, we appeal to all those who love the same Lord to follow his command and be united into one church, catholic and indivisible, for the salvation of China. We believe that there is an essential unity among all Chinese Christians, and that we are voicing the sentiment of the whole Chinese Christian body in claiming that we have the desire and the possibility to effect a speedy realization of corporate unity, and in calling upon missionaries and representatives of the churches in the West, through self-sacrificial devotion [93] to our Lord, to remove all the obstacles in order that Christ's prayer for unity may be fulfilled in China"' (Faith and Order, p. 496).

After such a noble plea as this, how silly that old joke about Chinese imitation sounds! You know we were always told that the Chinese imitated with monkey-like simplicity. If a man gave a Chinese tailor a pair of trousers to copy and make a new pair like them, the Chinaman would copy so exactly that he would even put a patch on the new pair if the old pair had a patch.

Well, maybe the heathen Chinese copy like that, but evidently the Christian Chinese do not wish to imitate our denominationalism and copy our Christianity so completely that they put the patch of denominationalism upon it. As a matter of fact we gave them the patched Christianity to copy, and they are requesting of us the privilege to leave the patch off. In other words, they desire the seamless robe of Christ neither torn nor patched, but perfect in its original beauty.

Is it not pathetic to read this plea for unity in Christ from people who have only recently come out of heathenism into the freshness and enthusiasm of the new life of Christian love and fellowship? And to think that it is addressed to the Western Christians who were instrumental in giving them the gospel! Think you that this divine yearning will finally be quenched and these godly hopes crushed and disappointed? Possibly for a time, but the belief seems reasonable and is surely Scriptural that this longing for unity is prophetic of what is in the omniscient mind of the Holy Spirit to bring to pass shortly, as time is measured in history.

Lest it should be thought that the cry of the churches of China is something of an anomaly in the mission fields, I quote herewith from the official statement of the great Jerusalem meeting of the International Missionary Council held in Jerusalem, Palestine, over Easter, 1928. Among other things they say, under the caption, "Christian Unity":

" This statement would be seriously incomplete without reference to the desire which is being expressed with increasing emphasis among the younger churches to eliminate the complexity of the missionary enterprise and to remove the discredit to the Christian name, due to the great numbers of the denominations and the diversity and even competition of the missionary agencies now at work in some countries.

" .... The council is only performing an inescapable duty when it appeals to the older churches to adopt a sympathetic attitude toward the longings expressed by the younger churches for a more rapid advance in Christian reunion" (Jerusalem Meeting I.M.C., 1928, vol. III, p. 172).

When one remembers that this meeting comprised representatives of practically all non-C a t h o l i c churches that are doing missionary work, and when one understands the diplomacy and caution necessary in writing a statement which all such diverse elements could freely sign, it will be seen that this is really a startlingly bold acknowledgment of the desire of the young converts on the mission fields for a practical manifestation of Christian unity.

But it is not the converts on the mission fields alone who are feeling the urge of the Spirit of God to that unity for which Christ prayed. The Lausanne Conference, previously referred to, composed, as you remember, of representatives of every great Christian communion in the world, the Roman church alone excepted, sent forth a call to unity to the whole Christian world, from which I quote in part: "God wills unity. Our presence in this conference bears testimony to our desire to bend our wills to his. However we may justify the beginnings of disunion, we lament its continuance, and henceforth must labor, in penitence and faith, to build up our broken walls" (Faith and Order, p. 460).

I think this proves beyond cavil that the desire for unity is not merely the irresponsible mouthings of wildeyed fanatics, but the reasonable and clearly formed ideal of the soberest and gravest men who bear the Christian name, speaking in a truly representative capacity for all Christendom.

The cry of the millions of heathen converts on the mission field, and the solemn utterances of the most revered Christian leaders, is an indication that the Spirit of God is moving for unity, and he will not be denied.

It is easy to exaggerate the difficulties in the way of visible unity. Cynics may regard its attainments as a wild and foolish dream, utterly fanciful and theoretical. Somehow this taunt of practicalminded men does not seem so effective when we remember that the thing for which we yearn is a condition which once obtained in history, and on a large scale, too.

The unity of the little group which gathered around Christ does not at first seem so unaccountable. There were only a few of them; and they were doubtless men not given to subtle theological discussions and controversies. Upon deeper thought, however, one sees that the whole problem of Christian unity lay implicit in the little company of Christ's first disciples.

The lust for power and eminence was there, as evinced by the aspiration of James and John for seats on the Lord's right and left hand. The passion to be first inspired debate then as well as at later times. Money-hunger was there—in Judas. And the disciples who discussed our Lord's statement in regard to eating the Lord's body, and finally went away because their minds could not grasp nor their faith compass it, were doubtless capable of the later historical debate over the nature of the eucharist.

A little thought will reveal that it was just as hard for the first disciples to maintain unity as it is for us, all considered.

It is interesting, also, to remember that it continued to overcome the forces of division for hundreds of years. The church grew and developed into a wide fellowship, reaching beyond the limits of the civilized world, in some instances; and yet it maintained its visible unity.

As previously noted, there came into it philosophers and barbarians, and men of all the races known to the western world at that time, including the peasants of the provinces and the aristocracy of Rome. Patricians and slaves knelt together as brothers in her divine fellowship.

Verily, all the possible variations in human nature, all the possible grades of human society, all the possible comparative stages of culture mingled together in the holy unity of the ancient church.

The attraction of the glorious person of the blessed Christ drew and held them together in spite of differences in that age of vivid contrasts unknown to our more democratic age. There are no masters of slaves to rebel at equality in our country today. There are no princes to refuse to worship with plowboys and section-hands. Unity ought to be easier for us than it was for them; and I believe it would be if we were as near to Christ as were they.

A study of the ancient church before the rise of Roman Catholicism will well repay the time of any earnest Christian. There he will see that most of the bugaboos which are raised against the idea of visible unity are defeated by the patent facts of the church's past experience.

For instance, the critics contend that a church in unity would sink into lethargy because of the lack of competition among contending sects. Doubtless this would be true of a mere human religion.

I remember one time in a ship on the Indian Ocean I traveled nearly two weeks in company with a Roman Catholic priest. In the course of our numerous long conversations this priest explained to me that the

Roman Church in Prance and Italy was in a stagnant and dead condition. In some places he said not enough persons could be found to act as priests, and one priest has to officiate in four or five different parishes.

Upon my remarking that I was surprised at his report; that the Catholic Church was very prosperous in America, where it faced Protestantism at every turn; and I thought it would probably be even more prosperous in those countries like France and Italy where there was practically no Protestantism to contend with, the priest then sadly assured me that I was wrong, and that it was a bad thing for a church to have the whole field to itself. He thought it flourished better in competition.

Notwithstanding all this I maintain that the example of the early church goes to show that a spiritual and gospel church free from division would be more vital and successful than any group of divisions could be, no matter what they were.

The history of the early church proves this. There never was a more dynamic and vital age in the church's history. From a little handful of timid and ignorant workingmen they grew into an enthusiastic army that spread over the known world in less than three centuries. Even the Jewish fisher boys traveled and evangelized till they became the centers of powerful groups in the hearts of far distant cities. A revival of the missionary enthusiasm and power of the first two centuries would see the world evangelized within the present century. The church in the age of unity was a dynamic, powerful, world-conquering church. One pastor could rejoice that when he took his pastorale in a great city there were only seventeen Christians; when he closed it at the end of his life there were only seventeen heathens.

It has been said that the church in unity would squelch thought and originality. Every scholar knows that this was not true of the ancient church. For centuries the gospel message was held in its purity, but reflected from totally dissimilar minds in all the rich variety which God gives to human nature. Anyone who reads the ancient fathers of the church will perceive the absence of uniformity and the prevalence of a passionate love and devotion to unity.

In this age of unity there occurred some of the most powerful and original thinking of all history. The great fathers such as Origen, Irenaeus, and Tertullian, possessed the most brilliant and fruitful minds of their age. Scholars, philosophers, writers, and men of flashing genius discussed with each other the many varying aspects of the Christian truth; maintained a powerful apologetic against outside heathenism; and at the same time held fast to the divine unity, both spiritual and visible.

If any competition were needed to whet their fighting zeal they found plenty of it in the opposition of the outside world. In fact we also can find it there. Manifestly it is better and more Christian that we should exercise our energies in fighting the foes of Christ than in fighting one another. The ancient church kept vigorous by the former method.

The early church offers much evidence to prove that a church in unity not cramped by too much officialism and creed would act as a spur and stimulus to the spiritual zeal and vigor of the church, on the one hand, and to its intellectual life on the other.

Unfortunately, the church gradually developed both officialism and ironclad creeds, thus hardening into the cramped and petrified church of the Middle Ages. But this was partly due to her lack of any historic precedent by which to judge her development. Having this example before us, we ought to be able to escape the unfortunate development which afflicted them.

The vigor and fortitude of the early church may well be compared with the lassitude and weakness of the Orthodox Church of Russia. The powerful emperors of Rome hammered at this church for centuries without avail, whereas the Bolsheviks of Russia have almost destroyed the Orthodox Russian Church there in twelve years time.

Not only did the ancient church in unity successfully resist persecution, but it accomplished the task to which modern Protestantism so faintly and yet longingly lifts its hand today. The early church Christianized the social order. Schools, hospitals, camps, courts, palaces, cities, villages, masters and servants, all acknowledged the validity of the Christian teaching as a worthy ideal of life. Doubtless they did not, in fact, realize that ideal; but to an extent which seems impossible today, they attempted to do so. And that was an accomplishment perfectly stupendous to contemplate, even at this remote day.

I do not wish to enter into any controversy here as to how far it is possible to Christianize the social order in this age of the world; but one thing I can say: to whatever degree that is possible—and in some districts this work would be easier than in others— it can only be done by the church in unity.

At one time the government of the United States lay broken asunder and split by the struggle and fury of war. Men could not agree to accept its great creed as expressed in the Constitution of the United States.

But the country was never satisfied with that division; and after four years of strife at last it regained its unity. Now one hundred and twenty millions of people of all races, tongues, and traditions live together in submission to a great political creed—a ¢reed antagonistic to the doctrine and practice of all monarchial governments—a creed written by the hands of fallible men. I refer to the Constitution of the United States.

In view of that miracle of history why may it not be possible that the Christian church which once had a visible unity may not also regain its visible unity and have all its millions of believers live together in the acceptance of its one great historic creed—the New Testament—a creed written not by fallible men, but by the unerring inspiration of God Y This hope is the faith of an increasing number of devout and spiritual Christians.

In the Middle Ages the Crusaders grasped their swords, and crying "It is the will of God," they overcame every obstacle and invaded Palestine, even though they strewed the long roadway there with thousands of their bones.

The mere faith that they were working with and not against the stream of the divine purpose in history armed them with incredible courage and power.

With how much more assurance ought we to work who pray and labor for the unity of Christ's people? for we have, not a mere fanatical enthusiasm, but a deep, satisfying conviction that the thing for which we seek is definitely and certainly the will of God; and that in toiling for the accomplishment of that purpose we are cooperating with the eternal God in the thing to which he has set his hand. We work with and not against the tides of omnipotent Power which carry forward this world to its mysterious destiny.

Christ's prayer in the seventeenth chapter of John, in which he prayed for the unity of his people, is a sure word of prophecy, not veiled and uncertain, but as definite and unequivocal as a section from the Constitution of the United States.

He prayed for the kind of unity that the world might see. The only kind of unity the world can see is a visible unity. Therefore he prayed for a visible unity of his followers. Who of his followers dare disbelieve or deny that his prayer will be answered.