"THAT THEY MAY BE ALL ONE"

“THAT THEY MAY BE ALL ONE”

The surest proof of real devotedness to Christ is when the heart studies and clings to the desires of His heart. To do a service or a kindness is the delight of any friend; but to study the mind of another, however superior to oneself, until one has acquired some certain idea of the ^[p. 49] leading desires there, in order to devote oneself to the promotion and accomplishment of them, is the act of unselfish devotedness. Here Mary altogether surpassed Martha. The general character of zealous service is that one is much cumbered, earnestly promoting what he thinks is the best work; he has consulted his own mind, and not, in reality, the Lord’s mind. He does not intend to be independent, but he really is. He thinks for the Lord, and this comes easily to one, in contrast to the holy seclusion and separation in heart and ways which are necessary in order to ensure a present and distinct acquaintance with His desires. True, as we read the Scriptures we cannot overlook the desires of His heart expressed in John 17; but though we may well know these desires as to the letter, we require to be in communion with Him to be assured of His mind and its leading desire at the moment.

There is immense cheer and encouragement to every true heart in this chapter, because it was given to the church after 2 Timothy, after the breakdown of the testimony committed to it. Here I read not only the inalienable gifts of Christ to His people, namely, eternal life, the words, and the glory, but I learn here His desires for His people to the close. However disunited and painfully opposed, His desire that they may be all one overrides all the din of strife and all the religious warfare.

Miserable sight indeed it is, christian contending with christian for what is called truth, when often each contending party is defective in knowledge as to the truth itself. No conflict among men has ever presented anything equal to the ludicrous, if not impious, contentions among christians about the greatest thing communicated to man. Yet, high above all this babel, in the clear sunshine of unfailing light, as the heart is near Him, then one hears His crowning desire, “THAT THEY MAY BE ALL ONE”, in spite of all that is so contrary to its fulfilment down here. Oh, that many hearts might be so ^[p. 50] near Him, and hear from Himself His own words, with His own voice, that they might take up their position here for Him, as Moses did in another day, when he came from the glorious mount to vindicate God as He had been seen in His own sphere, in the midst of His people wholly given to idolatry!

Many have been the cries which have been raised for unity or oneness among the Lord’s people; but, though the intention was good, they have always failed to draw together in one the truly faithful and enlightened. The cause for this failure — for it has been oft repeated — is of paramount consequence to ascertain. Romanism imitates oneness by insisting on the same prayers, in the same language, being used by its communicants all over the globe. This is plainly untenable and unsound to any godly exercised soul. But there are other and more specious attempts at oneness, which have attracted the true but unspiritual, simply because the divine way to reach and secure this great end was not observed.

There is no more dangerous snare than the adoption of a promise or a precept as one’s object; for in proportion as it is the magnifying of a gift or a responsibility into a platform for personal distinction, so I must lose sight of the Lord in my pursuit; and when I do, every attainment or acquisition, however right and good in word, must be human, and effected by carnal means. Thus the farther I advance, the less I commend my efforts to the godly or the spiritual. Here the Evangelical Alliance failed. Many an earnest one was drawn into it, but as the heart grew nearer the Lord, it discovered that there was no real bond, no divine oneness mutually controlling them.

The adoption of the Lord’s desire as an object to even the more enlightened — those who professed to see the body — has also proved a failure. Many, to be sure, are to be found in their circle, but the most devoted and spiritual have either escaped from it, or have refused to be connected with it.

^[p. 51] It is not the programme which obtains the greatest number of true-hearted adherents which can be assumed to be the right one. That which obtains the sanction and support of the most spiritual, though numerically less than any other, is without question the one most according to God. Paul, in 2 Timothy 4, very distinctly defines the state of those who would adhere to the testimony, though few in contrast to the many. But we have to consider now why the great and unique desire of our Lord has so often been frustrated, and so little practically responded to; and why the attempt to produce oneness among the Lord’s people has so often miscarried. The answer to this inquiry is, Because it has not been sought in a truly divine way. Before our Lord gives expression to His crowning desire, “That they may be all one”, He states two other desires, “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me”, and “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth”. Now it is plain that if these two desires are not attended to and observed, the third cannot be attained. There is a moral order in His desires, and the more spiritual I am, the more I am led and taught by the Spirit of God, the more truly shall I learn and follow His desires according to their order.

The attempt and the effort to attain a great result without submitting to the only true and right steps to reach it is not uncommon; but however this may sometimes succeed among men, it can never succeed in God’s things. No believer can contribute to or promote the oneness of all saints, who is not kept of the Father in His own name, and who is not sanctified.

In Romanism, and more or less in all the other attempts at unity in this day, it is unity at any price. Holiness is not made an essential attribute; the first two desires of the Lord are overlooked. If they were observed and responded to, in order, by those who clamour for the unity expressed by evangelical alliance, there could not be such a nondescript confederation representing all ^[p. 52] shades and peculiarities of religious opinion or differences. To call such a company an expression of oneness, and a fulfilment of the Lord’s desire, is simply preposterous, and indicates ignorance of the Lord’s meaning when He desires “that they may be all one”. How could any, kept in the Father’s name, sanctified from this world both by the truth and by Christ’s dissociation from everything here, have differences of judgment as to the things of the Lord? or if they had, how could they retain them when they assumed to be all one? It is simply a mockery and a glaring ignorance of the Lord’s desire to profess outwardly to be all one, and at the same time for each to retain his own peculiar opinions in the greatest discrepancy one from the other.

Again, and here the difficulty increases, there are many who professedly hold church truth, so-called, who, while they advocate the oneness of all saints, do not command the co-operation of those who have Christ’s desires simply before them, because they are not in careful separation from doctrinal taints, or the partisans of the authors of them. Though often well taught and much enlightened, they do not seem to seize the new ground, and holiness, by which only they can reach or in any degree secure, “that they may be all one”.

In the limits of this paper it is not possible for me to point out the various ways by which this oneness is prevented by true and earnest souls, while at the very moment they are conscientiously seeking it. Often among the most enlightened and the greatest advocates for unity are found two things which are subversive to godly unity in its most incipient stage, namely, worldliness and religiousness. For if I allow the world to influence me, and if I sanction religiousness in any form, in singing, praying, or preaching, I am fostering and upholding the barrier between me and every spiritual one. If those dear people were awakened to see that the religious element, the human energy, and the natural feelings were not in the Father’s name or sanctification ^[p. 53] by the truth, and that all connection with the world, in its mind or things, prevented and barred them from this desired oneness, there would be continued prayer and real exercise before the Lord, not so much for oneness, as that each of us might be fully and distinctly cleared of that which stands in the way of this oneness. Surely we should be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” if we were entirely unconformed to this world. Then we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds, to “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”. If we were according to God, and perfectly separate from the world, we could have no difference of opinion; and as there are differences we must deplore them, and seek, each of us personally, to be clearer of everything which, either in ourselves or in others, causes or promotes these differences.

Finally, we may rest assured that the nearer we approach to the spiritual condition where oneness can be assured, the more will the more spiritual be drawn together in company, and the more will the Lord honour them with His gifts, so that they may be able to promote His desire, on the principle that “unto every one that hath shall be given”. May the Lord stir our hearts to answer to His desires!