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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
If the world sees a perfect harmony existing in the church of God,
it will be a powerful evidence to them in favor of the Christian religion.
Dissensions, unhappy differences, and petty church trials dishonor our
Redeemer. All these may be avoided if self is surrendered to God and
the followers of Jesus obey the voice of the church. Unbelief suggests
that individual independence increases our importance, that it is weak
to yield our own ideas of what is right and proper to the verdict of the
church; but to yield to such feelings and views is unsafe and will bring
us into anarchy and confusion. Christ saw that unity and Christian
fellowship were necessary to the cause of God, therefore He enjoined
it upon His disciples. And the history of Christianity from that time
until now proves conclusively that in union only is there strength. Let
individual judgment submit to the authority of the church.
The apostles felt the necessity of strict unity, and they labored
earnestly to this end. Paul exhorted his brethren in these words: “Now
I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye
all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you;
but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the
same judgment.”
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He also wrote to his Philippian brethren: “If there be there fore
any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be
like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of
mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every
man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
To the Romans he wrote: “Now the God of patience and conso-
lation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to
Christ Jesus: that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God,
even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one
another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.” “Be of the
same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend
to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.”
Peter wrote to the churches scattered abroad: “Finally, be ye all
of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be
pitiful, be courteous: not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: