Union with Christ

“ My friend, there are men and women who are ready to set to their seals that that is true, and who can say, 'I have found it so. By union with Jesus Christ in faith, I have received new tastes, new inclinations, a new set to my whole life, and I have been able to overcome unrighteousnesses which were too many and too mighty for myself.' It is so; and some of us to our own consciences and consciousness are witnesses to it, however imperfectly. God forgive us! We may have manifested the renewing power of union with Christ in our daily lives. ”

“ It requires the obliteration of sect lines and the recognition of no other bond of union than that of a common brotherhood through union with Christ. Divine life secured through repentance and faith is the sole condition of membership in the church of Christ, and this relationship is maintained by obedience to the commands of Christ and consistent Christian conduct. "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7) . ”

“ It is not for any human motive, but impelled by divine charity and a desire for the salvation of all, that We advise the reconcihation and union with the Church of Rome; and We mean a perfect and complete union, such as could not subsist in any way if nothing else was brought about but a certain kind of agreement in the tenets of belief and an intercourse of fraternal love. The true union between Christians is that which Jesus Christ, the Author of the Church, instituted and desired, and which consists in a unity of faith and a unity of government. ”

“ Union with Christ gives to the believer the legal standing and rights of Christ. As Christ's union with the race involves atonement, so the believer's union with Christ involves Justification. The believer is entitled to take for his own all that Christ is, and all that Christ has done; and this because he has within him that new life of humanity which suffered in Christ's death and rose from the grave in Christ's resurrection,—in other words, because he is virtually one person with the Redeemer. In Christ the believer is prophet, priest, and king. ”

“ The prayer of the Savior, and the whole tenor of his teaching, clearly show that it is God’s will that his children should be united. To the Christian, then, such a union must be desirable. But an amalgamation of sects is not such a union as Christ prayed for and God enjoins. To agree to be one upon any system of human invention would be contrary to his will, and could never be a blessing to the church or the world: therefore the only union practicable or desirable must be based on the Word of God as the only rule of faith and practice. ”

“ Why are we not all united in love and union? Why these distances, controversies, disputes, mutual condemnations, why these splittings of formulas? Why cannot the Church of Christ be one flock under one Shepherd? My friends, at the proper time the Lord will unite us all. Thank God, we see the morning star rising; the Union approaches, in Europe through Bible-societies, in America, too, through mission-societies, through the efforts of the rich and poor in sending out religious tracts, through the hundred thousand children who now learn to know their God and Savior in the Sunday-schools. ”

“ The Gospel of Jesus Christ unfolds them, and the Priesthood are the true exponents of that Gospel; in fact, what we have here—the government of God restored again to the earth. We have here a people who are not ashamed to acknowledge God, who are not ashamed to acknowledge his law and his power, who are not ashamed to acknowledge his authority, nor afraid to submit to his laws.
How extensive has this union to be? and who understands anything about correct principles—how to put in order things that are wrong, and straighten up the crooked paths? ”

“ They hold that to be united to Jesus Christ is the highest and noblest aim of man, and that only the holy Catholic church supplies the means for the closest union with Jesus Christ; and they are convinced that the yearning to possess this closer communion with Christ has, by divine attraction, drawn thousands of earnest minds to seek in the Catholic church this, the highest happiness to be enjoyed on earth. ”

“ The only way that union meetings of different denominations have been at all possible, has been by ignoring the plain teaching and practice of the Apostles on the question of baptism. We never can have Christian union in the authority of Christ, which is the only union which will satisfy his prayer and demand, until we agree on the two simple ordinances which are the forms in which the gospel embodies itself to bless our souls. ”

“ There is no hope, therefore, of any man winning to himself a union with Christ by any amount of painstaking in work. If your heart is yearning for that union, you must accept it as a free gift because Christ Jesus, the Son of God, has redeemed you by His own most precious blood, and you must do so just as you are, without waiting for even one more effort in His service. ”

“ It is an attempt to ignore the very act by which we enter into union with the Father and with the Son, as, also, the “whole family in heaven and on earth,”—immersion into Christ, into the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, under the sham pretext of a union meeting, a union communion. There is no Christian union in any meeting that intends to ignore the clear law of induction into the kingdom of God. It is only a union in disloyalty to the Great King—ignoring his law. ”

“ I humbly ask, What must we enter—a pact or federation of denominations or a super-ecclesiasticism? Same of us have had enough of organized meddling already. Such a union will not remove denominationalism. To do so, it must embrace every Christian in the world.
If a single follower of Christ is left out, the organization can not call itself catholic truthfully. A big denomination is no more Scriptural than a small one. Then, since it can not solve the problem of Christian unity, even from a worldly standpoint, why should we feel obligated to enter it? ”

“ But instead of uniting men otherwise alienated, the Church has alienated neighbours and friends; and men who will do business together, who will dine together, will not worship together. Thus the Church has lost a large part of her strength. Had the kingdom of Christ been visibly one, it would have been supreme and without a rival in the world. Had there been union where there has been division, the rule and influence of Christ would have so far surpassed every other influence that peace and truth, right and justice, godliness and mercy, would have everywhere reigned. ”

“ Christ declares that the evangelization of the world is dependent upon Christian union. Therefore, the ultimate triumph of his church necessitates the triumph of Christian union. We praise God for every movement that looks toward a closer union of Christians; but we are sure that nothing short of the removal of every vestige of denominationalism and the complete restoration of the one body or church of New Testament times will satisfy the demands of God's Word. ”

“ We have, then, in this beautiful section, as we have seen, a picture of unbroken communion and its delightful issues. May our lives correspond! First, one with the King, then speaking of the King; the joy of communion leading to fellowship in service, to a being all for Jesus, ready for any experience that will fit for further service, surrendering all to Him, and willing to minister all for Him. There is no room for love of the world here, for union with Christ has filled the heart; there is nothing for the gratification of the world, for all has been sealed and is kept for the Master's use. ”

“ He must first be in him, before he can grow up in him, or bring forth fruit in him. And therefore the first thing that souls would go about, should be to get an union made up with Christ, and be clothed with his righteousness by faith; and then they have a right to all his benefits. First, they should labour to get their state changed from enmity to peace and reconciliation with God, through faith in Jesus. ”

“ What may be done in our day, what our generation has the call and the means, if only it has the resolution, to bring about, is the union of Protestants. But this union will never be on the basis of the actual Scriptural Protestantism of our Puritans; and because, so long as they take this for the gospel or good news of Christ, they cannot possibly unite on any other basis, the first step towards union is showing them that this is not the gospel. If we have succeeded in doing even so much towards union as to convince one of them of this, we have not written in vain. ”

“ Why has our Catholic life been increased and strengthened so wonderfully, except to win more souls to Christ, to bring more of the American people into closer union with God? If this be so, then we must not leave our Lord to work alone; we must be fellow-workers with Him, by helping forward the growth of holiness, the progress of the spiritual life, the poverty of the Cross, the spreading of His Spirit in opposition to the formal and self-indulgent spirit of the age, and this by every means in our power; and, above all, by multiplying amongst us Catholic schools and institutions. ”

“ You lovers of Jesus, and beloved of him, however scattered in this cloudy and dark day, you love the truth as it is in Jesus (if our hearts deceive us not) ; so do we. You desire union in Christ with all them that love him; so do we. You lament and bewail our sad divisions; so do we. You reject the doctrines and commandments of men, that you may keep the law of Christ ”

“ Christ manifested the union first when he appeared on earth in the incarnate state, since he came to declare to men that they were not estranged from him, but had always been, and still were, in harmony with him. Men are not craven enemies of God, which error a harsh theology would make them [Pg 470] believe. They are his friends, for Christ regarded them complacently as such; and the atonement must not be deemed the reconciliation of sinful humanity and angry Deity, but as the first manifestation of an ever-existing unity of the two parties. ”

“ We are taught to pray for the unity of the disciples of Christ, "that they may be one as He and the Father are one," and consequently to oppose such regulations as tend to sever the bonds of union among God's people, and cause divisions in the household of Christ. Such means for defending the faith, are creeds which inculcate only those doctrines clearly taught in Scripture ”

“ Unity of believers
But our union with Christ, by which we become members of the divine family, necessarily fixes our relationship with all those who are members of Christ. If, through salvation, we are brought into a sacred unity with Christ, we are by the same act brought into essential unity and fellowship with the members of Christ. This the Word distinctly affirms: "We, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another" (Rom. 12: 4, 5) . "There should be no schism in the body ”

“ Whatever there is at present of asperity in the emulous labors of the competing denominations, would it not be manifold exasperated if the competition were restricted to four great corporations or confederations? If the intestine conflict of the church of Christ in America should even be narrowed down (as many have devoutly wished) to two contestants,—the Catholic Church with its diversity of orders and rites, on the one hand, and Protestantism with its various denominations solidly confederated, on the other,—should we be nearer to the longed-for achievement of Christian union? ”

“ It is necessary to the very {602} life of the church and its several members, that they be all one body. As their union with Christ the head and principle of their life is principally necessary, so unity among themselves is secondarily necessary, for the conveyance and reception of that life which floweth to all from Christ. For though the head be the fountain of life, yet the nerves and other parts must convey that life unto the members ”

“ Where there is no fruit, there has been no real union with the Vine. Probably you are a professor, but not a possessor; a nominal Christian, an attendant at church or chapel, but not really one with Christ. True union with Him produces a temper, a disposition, a ripe and mellow experience which certainly indicates that Christ is within. You cannot simulate the holy joy, the thoughtful love, the tranquil serenity, the strong self-control, which mark the soul which is in real union with Jesus ”

“ Then they ask if the true Church of Christ can be thought to consist in one single society perfectly at union with itself. They allege many conjectures against this, but dwell on the argument, that in defect of a visible external test, such an assertion could not be maintained without imposing upon all a most intolerable burden of searching out where is the true doctrine and the legitimate ministerial succession: for it is not until those are found, that, at length, that one single society will be recognised, with which, as the only true Church, unity of Communion is to be kept. ”

“ The wide diversity of belief in the Protestant churches is regarded by many as decisive proof that no effort to secure a forced uniformity can ever be made. But there has been for years, in churches of the Protestant faith, a strong and growing sentiment in favor of a union based upon common points of doctrine. To secure such a union, the discussion of subjects upon which all were not agreed—however important they might be from a Bible standpoint—must necessarily be waived. ”