THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT NO. 2

THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT NO. 2

It is a relief to me to discover from your letter that you do not seem to understand what I understand by the unity of the Spirit. I consider it a closer bond than the nerves of the human body, and any abrasion in any part or in any way affects the whole; and this abrasion, if persisted in and justified, is more mischievous and ungodly than any moral misconduct. If you understood the unity of the Spirit as the constitutional bond of the church, the body of Christ compacted together by that which every joint supplies, you could not have spoken of ‘Providence’ in connection with ————’s act, nor have put any moral conduct as deeper in sinfulness than a persistent and wilful denial of the constitution of the church of God. Paul was the most moral and amiable of men, and at the very time he was the chief of sinners because he persecuted the church of God and wasted it. How much worse the one who professes to have the Spirit and at the same time persists in and justifies the grieving of the Spirit to the pain and loss of every member of Christ over the whole universe. I am only myself awakening to the gravity of the responsibility of the unity of the Spirit. I feel we have adopted the truth too lightly, and, therefore, we must have great forbearance with one another.

I consider in every relation we are to be controlled by this new bond; an undutiful child, an unloving husband might feel the immorality of his conduct, but unless he feels it with reference to the Spirit he really is unable to comprehend the uniting bond of peace.