The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-01-19

friends. express my personal sense OF
obligation to your pastor for his cor
dial and brotherly Invitation to come
to the service this afternoon and TO
say a few words from the standpoint
of my own communion upon this
great subject Of church unity.
come today, as those who are
to follow ue will come, standing mere
in no sense as an official delegate or
the communion to which i belong
but speaking. as they doubtless In turn
will speak, as an individual mem per
and minister OF one of the various
Christian communions into which the
| great church OF Christ Is at present
divided.
Two Great Visions.
The subject lis "a timely one. Some
one has said in speaking Of this
! twentieth century, and contrasting II
| with the century which preceded 1t,
| that both were centuries of VISION
! but that the difference was that TINS
| twentieth century not only saw the
! vision, but believed that 1t could move
! onward toward It's Accomplishment,
| And / think you will all agree with
| me when / say that above everything
! else two great visions confront Chrls-
/ tan people in this century.
! Cne IL the vision Of better social
order. I need not dwell upon it; we
| are ali conscious of IL, we breathe
an air that Is saturated with II, we
| are no longer content to helievs that
| the principles of the gospel and the
/ laws Of trade must forever stand IN
| apparently hopeless contradiction we
I believe that the time is coming, how
| ever slowly. when all these dlHefenSes
| between men---these ESSENTIAL DIFF
frences In power. In Intellect, I'm posi-
! ton. In influence--wiil make no
longer towards simply giving the race
( to the swift and the battle to the
| strong, will no longer seem TO con-
| firm the old hard Idea of the sur
| vival of the attest, but that We shaii
see them in the light Of the gospel
| OF Christ as go many opportunities for
the exercise OF brotherhood.
And so. too, with this other great
| vision of the reunited church. The
latter half of the nineteenth century
witnessed. the ,gentling OF contro-
versy: 1t Witnessed also 10 the grad
| ually increasing respect and sympathy
between the various Christian com
munions growing out OF the 1ncreas-
ing knowledge that one had of the
other. And that Is much to some or
us who can remember perhaps the
days of militant denominationalisui
the days of controversial tracts, the
day when the Individual Christian
minister felt IT part OF his duty TO
denounce the mistakes, the shortcom
inEs of some other communion. MY
friends, there has been long ad-
vance made since that day. Why, Tor
a Christian fnan--let alone minis
ter of Christ's churciI--to speak to-
day In unkind terms OF some other
great communion is not simply, what
! II always has been. sin against
charity. but It is felt today to be q
hopeless anachronism The day has
gone by--and we ell thank God
that day Of hitter controversy between
the acattered members OF Christie
body Fl
a Vision of the Reunited Church.
And vet we are not content-that Is
the glory of tive are not content
with this state Of mutual kindly toiera-
ton, we are not content any longer
7 to rest In this condition of conpiscen'
/ sectarianism. oh, net We have
caught the vision of something great
er, something far more glorious--yes
, and We believe something far more
enduring in the future. We have
caught this vision of the reunited
church of Christ and we have sci
! ourselves already toward the task OF
manifesting once more to the worlc
the unity. the essential organic unity
Of the followers OF Jesus Christ.
I say we have set ourselves TO the
task Of manifesting the unity, not Of
q making IT, For, my friends. the 0nits
g-of tfts. Christian church Is something
v which man did not give and which
h man can never entirely take away
= Every loyal disciple OF Jesus Christ
\ Is in Him; he shares His life; ht
r draws from Him strength TO meet his
to daily needs He is In Christ and be-
ing In Christ he ia also united with
h every other loyal disciple Of the satift
I Lord and Master.
f The unity OF the Christian church II
j today achieved for the vast majorit,
= of Chrlsts disciples. All sincere ane
60 humble and earnest followers OF tht
I Lord Jesus Christ who have passed
beyond this earth are one today 1T
Him. II is only q fragment OF Christi
. Church, II IL the Church militant here
on earth now, that IL divided: there
Ia no division between the followers
OF Jesus Christ who have passed or
into His more Immediate presence
And SO the task that Is before us, ane
r the vision that this twentieth centur,
q has caught, Is not the task or the vi
sion OF making a unity which man car
neither make nor unrnake, but II fs ol
tsrartfestiag, ta, the world hege aFia tsJx
1 that tf4wRftf. spiritual unity which al
ready exists between all those WHIT
love our Lord Jesus Christ IN sincerity
! r nat IN what We are ttttrk asoa'
in the course OF these conferences, 81
, | understand them.
Prayer Mighty Factor.
What are the means toward thal
unity? Wen. in the first place. may
say this--T believe in all sincerity thai
the greatest power that the Christian
u believer can possibly employ today TO-
ward the bringing about OF the mani
festation once more OF the unity o.
Christ's disciples IS the power Of pray
err. How many OF us. wonder, pray
at ell regularly and earnestly for ths
e united Church? How many OF us pray
not simply IN vague aud general term:
for the unity OF the body of Christ
but oh, my friends. how many OF u.
fray for every division of that body
How many Of us are praying for ths
J. kreat Roman Catholic communion, fol
the great Baptist or Methodist com
munion In this land? How many OF II.
are asking God earnestly 10 lighter
our darkness as we'll as theirs? How
many OF liz are praying tyat God vii
- through his Holy Spirit so guide ane
govern them In their work Gas wei
, as ourselves) that "the comfortable
-