Christian Unity
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course shall be pursued toward him? We learn from the Bible that men
whom God had used to do a great and good work committed grave
sins. The Lord did not pass these by unrebuked, neither did He cast
off His servants. When they repented, He graciously forgave them
and revealed to them His presence and wrought through them. Let
poor, weak mortals consider how great is their own need of pity and
forbearance from God and from their brethren. Let them beware how
they judge and condemn others. We should give heed to the instruction
of the apostle: “Ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit
of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” We may
fall under temptation and need all the forbearance which we are called
to exercise toward the offender. “With what judgment ye judge, ye
shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured
to you again.”
The apostle adds a caution to the independent and self-confident:
“If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he
deceiveth himself.... Every man shall bear his own burden.” He who
considers himself superior in judgment and experience to his brethren
and despises their counsel and admonition, evinces that he is in a
dangerous delusion. The heart is deceitful. He should test his character
and life by the Bible standard. God’s word sheds an unerring light
upon the pathway of man’s life. Notwithstanding the many influences
which arise to divert and distract the mind, those who honestly seek
God for wisdom will be guided into the right course. Every man must
at last stand or fall for himself, not according to the opinion of the
party that sustains or opposes him, not according to the judgment of
any man, but according to his real character in the sight of God. The
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church may warn, counsel, and admonish, but it cannot compel any to
take a right course. Whoever persists in disregarding the word of God
must bear his own burden, answer to God for himself, and suffer the
consequences of his own course.
The Lord has given us in His word definite, unmistakable instruc-
tions, by obedience to which we may preserve union and harmony in
the church. Brethren and sisters, are you giving heed to these inspired
injunctions? Are you Bible readers and doers of the word? Are you
striving to fulfill the prayer of Christ that His followers might be one?
“The God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one
toward another according to Christ Jesus: that ye may with one mind