FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   >>  
ng, a fenced wall on every side! "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." "In _all_ thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths!" "ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE WITH THE SAME MIND." Twenty-ninth Day. LOVE OF UNITY. "That they all may be one."--John, xvii. 21. Surely there is nothing for which Christian churches have such cause to hang their harps on the willows, as the extent to which the Shibboleth of party is heard in the camp of the faithful--sectarianism rearing its "untempered walls" within the Temple gates! How different "the mind of Jesus!" Sent "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," He was never found disowning "_other_ sheep not of that fold." "Them also will I bring," was an assertion continually illustrated by His deeds. Take one example: The woman of Samaria revealed what, alas! is too common in the world--a total absence of all real religion, along with an ardent zeal for her sect. She was living in open sin; yet she was all alive to the nice distinction between a Jew and a Samaritan--between Mount Gerizim and Mount Zion: "How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria?" Did Jesus sanction or reciprocate her sectarianism?--did He leave her bigotry unrebuked? Hear His reply--"If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldst have asked of _Him_, and _He_ would have given thee!" _He_ would have allowed no such narrow-minded exclusiveness to have interfered with the interchange of kindly civilities with a stranger. Nay, He would have given thee, better than all, the "living water" which "springeth up to everlasting life!" How sad, that when the enemy is "coming in like a flood"--the ranks of Popery and infidelity linked in fatal and formidable confederacy--that the soldiers of Christ are forced to meet the assault with standards soiled and mutilated by internal feuds! "Uniformity" there _may_ not be, but "unity," in the true sense of the word, there _ought_ to be. We may be clad in different livery, but let us stand side by side, and rank by rank, fighting the battles of our Lord. We may be different branches of the seven golden candlesticks, varying and diversified in outward form and workmanship; but let us combine in "showing forth the praises of Him" who recognizes, as the one true "churchmanship," fidelity in shining for His glory "as lights in the world." How can we read the 1
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   >>  



Top keywords:
Samaria
 

living

 

sectarianism

 
stranger
 

civilities

 
kindly
 

coming

 

everlasting

 

springeth

 

knewest


unrebuked

 
reciprocate
 

bigotry

 

narrow

 

minded

 

exclusiveness

 

interfered

 

allowed

 

wouldst

 
fenced

interchange

 

linked

 
diversified
 

varying

 

outward

 

workmanship

 

candlesticks

 
golden
 

battles

 
fighting

branches

 

combine

 

showing

 

lights

 
shining
 

praises

 

recognizes

 
churchmanship
 

fidelity

 

livery


Christ

 
soldiers
 

forced

 

confederacy

 

formidable

 

Popery

 

infidelity

 

assault

 

standards

 

Uniformity