EXCERPTS FROM A LETTER TO ONE ENSNARED THEREIN.

Beloved brother:Recently I heard of your having gone into a "union" in order better to support your family. This was a great surprise to me, and has troubled me so much that I cannot forbear addressing you upon the subject. Surely, dear brother, you cannot have weighed this step in the light of the judgment-seat of Christ, where we must so soon appear. I trust, therefore, you will not resent my endeavoring to draw your attention to several portions of that Word which we both love and which I know must be familiar to you, but may have, of late, been overlooked. I choose to write to you, rather than to speak to others of you, and I do so because the Book says, " Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him."I am sure too that you will remember that "faithful are the wounds of a friend," and " open rebuke is better than secret love."

I would be unfaithful to God and to you if I refused any responsibility towards " washing your feet" simply through fear of, for the time being, hurting your feelings. And so, dear brother, let us meditate a little first upon the present position of our Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us. His position, of course, determines our only proper one, for we are linked eternally with Him. Where is He then, as to this world ? Alas, He has been cast out of it! He is in no sense of it any more. For Him there was no room in the inn, no room anywhere while living,-and when dead, only room in a borrowed tomb. Always outside. Always getting His wrongs, instead of His rights, as one has said; always in a different path from the dwellers on the earth in His clay of humiliation ; this is in brief His history. And yet it might have been so different, if one dare allow the thought. That is, He need not have taken the place of rejection they gave Him. Had there been in Him an atom of selfishness (which there was not, for in Him was no sin,) He might have claimed a place among them here as others did; yea, and better than others, for all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them were offered Him, but on what conditions ? Conditions He could not brook for one moment, for He must have acted in violation of the word of God to have accepted them. This He could not, would not do, (oh, that we were more like Him !) and so faithfulness to God kept Him ever the rejected One, till at last He suffered outside the gate.

Let us remind ourselves, dear brother, that this is the One to whom we owe everything for eternity, whose loving kindness is better than life. Do you then want a place where He had none ? And do you want it so much that you will have it despite the fact that you must grieve His heart to get it, and that if, like Him, you seek to be faithful to God, you never can get it ? Is it really worth so much ? Will it appear so when you see His face ? Surely you cannot say so ! Better, far better, a crust of bread and a cup of water, than plenty at such a cost.

Nor has He come inside yet, despite all that men may boast of the subjection of the world to Christ. I know there is a Christ, one whom even a well-known preacher* intimates would Himself join a union if on earth a " carpenter" again; but this is not the holy, unworldly Christ dear to our hearts, my brother. *"Rev." Courtland Myers in "Would Christ join a Labor Union ?" Religious novels of this mischievous character abound to-day. How shameful to think of ministers of the gospel turning from their vocation to write works of fiction.* This is a creature evolved from the evil imagination of the writer's own deceitful heart, palmed off as the Christ of God. Our Christ, the Jesus who shed His blood for us, is outside still; and again, I say, His place determines ours. We may have another, if we will; but not in fellowship with the devoted Object of the world's hatred and malice.

What avails it if we profess to gather to His name and turn our backs on sects and systems, religiously, to be identified with systems, socially and commercially, in which He has even less place than in the various parties of Christendom ? In such a case are not our legs the unequal ones of the lame ?

Let us notice also, what you must often have noticed before, the solemn language of 2 Cor. 6:14, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?" Let us stop here a moment. Of old God said, "Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass yoked together." The clean and the unclean yoked for toil was thus forbidden. "Doth God take care for oxen, or saith He it altogether for our sakes ? For our sakes, doubtless, it is written." And here in our chapter we have the divine commentary upon what might have seemed so trivial a matter to an Israelite of old. Let us lay it to heart. Righteousness and unrighteousness cannot be yoked together without incurring the Divine displeasure. "Righteousness;" that should characterize the Christian. Can a member of a labor union be righteous ? Is it righteousness to turn my brother out of employment because his conscience will not let him affiliate with what is so manifestly contrary to God ? This is what the union demands of its members.

Ah, my brother, put the question home to your own conscience, is it righteous in the sight of God to have to turn a Christian from your employ because ungodly men (infidels and blasphemers many of them) say you shall? Where is care for a fellow-member of the body of Christ here ? Fellowship with the unrighteous destroys invariably real fellowship with the people of God. How, think you, will this look when the mists of earth have cleared from your soul, and you see all in His light at the judgment seat ? How differently will sound the words then, " What communion hath light with darkness ? " In nature there can be none! And in things spiritual if the child of light associates with the children of darkness, he will find the light within him become darkness too, and every spiritual perception enfeebled.

I need not say to you that nothing is more false than to pretend that this scripture applies merely to marriage, or even simply Church fellowship. It applies clearly to every relationship of life.

Let us read on :" And what concord hath Christ with Belial ? Or what part hath he that believeth with an unbeliever ? " It does not refer alone to an " infidel," as we use the term to-day, though even that were strong here, for how many actual atheists must a " union man " have part with ! But an unbeliever, one who has not trusted Christ is what is really meant. Trade-unionism makes a man have part so thoroughly with such that they are more to him than his brethren in Christ. He may and often must boycott the latter. He dare not act out of harmony with the former.

"And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols, for ye are the temple of God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" (verses 14-18).

Notice here, that the last verse depends on the previous one. " Come out … be separate . . . and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you." One might ask, Is He not the Father of all believers, whether separate from such associations or not ? Assuredly He is; a grieved Father often, but a loving Father still. Why, then, does He say to the separated one, I will be a Father to you ? Ah, dear brother, is not this the answer to what has been troubling you ? Did you not go into this ungodly association because you feared your business would be ruined, and your means of support gone if you wholly followed the Lord ? See how He rebukes such a thought:"The parents ought to lay up for the children," and He says, I will do the parents' part, I will be your Father; you shall be My son. The question of support will be Mine to attend to, if you walk apart from evil in holy separation unto Me.

Is not He better than all human fathers, and will He not care for His own ? Has He not even said, " Leave thy fatherless children unto Me and I will preserve them alive; " and " let thy widows trust in Me ?" Thus we may, if in the path with Him, be assured of care for us and ours while we walk on earth, and care unceasing for those we leave behind, if taken home. He is far more to be relied on than trade-unionism, whose one controlling principle is selfishness. But let us be careful how we practically take ourselves out of His hands, lest we learn bitterly what it is to be cast on our own resources.

But I want to pursue our subject a little further, even to its final terrible phase. For this I turn to Rev. 13:The contents of this chapter you will remember at once. The revived Roman Empire is pictured in the first beast, as I presume we both are agreed. It is its last form, after the Church has been taken to heaven and when Jewish saints are suffering on earth. The lamb-like beast with dragon tongue is doubtless the symbol of Antichrist. In connection with the image which he makes to the first beast, we are told:"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads; and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of his name (ver. 17). This, then, is trade-unionism, at least the spirit of it when full blown, and this is what, in principle, you are now associated with! Does not the very thought make you shudder as you reflect on what company you are keeping ? " Be not deceived, evil communications corrupt good manners."

In that awful day, a remnant will choose deprivation of all the necessaries of life, yea, choose death itself, rather than be affiliated with this antichristian association ; and shall we, with so much greater light and higher privileges, be characterized by devotion to Christ less than theirs? Rather, as Moses, let us choose to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

Already one sees how easily Antichrist will be able to combine men of the most diverse opinions and characteristics, as well as stations in life, in one common cause;- the exaltation of man as God:for even now this is what trade-unionism, free masonry and other like associations are doing. The spirit of it all is utterly antichristian. The great idea is to build another Babel tower and be independent of God.

The value of the book of Revelation is that it gives us the full grown trees which are seen in their incipiency, -and some quite well advanced in growth,-everywhere about us to-day. It behooves the child of God to " touch not the unclean thing," for "blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame" (Rev. 16:15).
Let us then labor, dear brother, since we are accepted in Him, let us labor to be acceptable before Him in that day (Eph. 1:6; 2 Cor. 5:9). In order to this we must avoid every entanglement which would hinder our going on with Himself.

In conclusion, let me urge you to go down before God about this solemn matter; and I know, if you are honest with Him and faithful to His word, you will at once sever the link that has temporarily bound you to the accursed thing. Let us pray one for another. It is a day of much weakness. We need each others' help in going on with our God. Believe me to be,

Yours affectionately in Christ Jesus. H. A. I.