Relationships
Three circles or degrees of relationship are pointed out for us in Ephesians 4:4-6, to each of which privileges and responsibilities naturally attach. First and nearest is the relationship of
The One Body
Each member of Christ is united to Him by faith. He is the life in every one of them, as the sap, or life, of the vine is in the branch. But the members of Christ are also united together by the Holy Spirit into one body, of which Christ is the Head. The unity of this body is what we are exhorted to "endeavor" practically to keep even here on earth, but which we, together with the whole church, have so grievously failed in. May godly sorrow, and turning to the Lord for healing, as far as may be, mark all those who confess the Church's unity in Christ.
The Confession or Profession
Secondly, there is the relationship with all those that profess faith in the Son of God as Saviour, by whose atonement upon the cross, God's righteousness is maintained and glorified in saving sinners. This is what the enemy is now so boldly and widely assailing throughout Protestant denominations. May all who love our Lord and His people pray fervently that the true believers may no longer remain associated with "thieves and robbers" who have entered those folds, and would remain therein devouring the sheep.
Prayer for all men and those in authority
The third relationship extends to all men as "offspring of God" by creation. The needs, trials, and welfare of our fellow-men have claims upon us all. Therefore we are exhorted to "pray for all men," and to "do good unto all," as children of our Father who "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Linked with all mankind by nature, and dependent upon one another as we all are, let us remember the apostle's exhortation, to "pray for all men," and "for all that are in authority" (1 Tim. 2:1, 2). Government is God's institution from the days of Noah (Gen. 9), for the repression of evil doers and the protection of them that do well (1 Pet. 2:13,14). Do we not forget what an awful place this world would be if governments should break down under anarchism, as Rev. 6:4 seems to indicate they will for a time? These are difficult days for those in authority. Let us pray for them, and beware of disrespectful language toward our rulers, nor permit a glib tongue to offend against God's appointments(Jude 8).
A stand against modernism
In connection with one of the above mentioned circles of relationships, we quote the following report, which appeared in the New York Tribune of Feb. 4th, in which the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of the New York Diocese frankly ranged himself as unalterably opposed to Modernist preachers within the churches of his diocese.
Bishop Manning read his sermon, entitled "A Message to the Diocese," to more than 3,000 worshipers who crowded the huge church on Morningside Heights, as it seldom has been.
"We have had," he said gravely, "in times past discussions upon questions of lesser moment-questions of ritual, of Biblical criticism, of speculative theology in the sphere of that wide liberty which this Church allows. But the questions which are now before us are different. They touch the very soul and center of our faith as Christians. They relate to the person of our Divine Lord Himself, His bodily resurrection, His ascension into heaven. These are not matters of doctrinal detail or opinion…. They are the basic facts upon which our faith in Christ rests, without which the Gospel would cease to have reality or meaning
"Christianity stands or falls with the facts about Jesus Christ as declared in the creed and in the Scriptures. If these things did not happen Christianity has no basis whatever; the whole message of the New Testament is a mistake. It is these great realities of the Christian faith which are now being questioned within the Church itself.
"In the ordination service every member of this Church, bishop, priest or deacon, is required before his ordination to make and sign the following declaration:'I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and I do solemnly engage to conform to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.' On this understanding each one of us received, and holds, his commission. So long as we continue in the teaching office of this church this obligation rests upon us."
Bishop Manning dwelt on the doctrine of the virgin birth, denying the assertions of Modernists that it is "unimportant." He said, "If by the incarnation we mean only that God was in Christ in the same way that He is in all of us, if Jesus Christ is, after all, only a man in whom the Spirit of God was especially manifest, then the creed, and with it the whole faith and worship of the Church, become foolish, unmeaning, superstitious-as some say that they are."
At another point the Bishop disclaimed any apprehension that vigorous opposition on his part to Modernism would weaken his campaign for funds with which to complete St. John's Cathedral. "If this suggestion," he said, "were true, my answer would be that a thousand cathedrals are of less importance than one foundation fact of the Christian faith. Better that the cathedral should never be built than that a Bishop of this Church should fail to bear his witness for the full truth of Jesus Christ."
Let the prayers of those who love the Lord and His people hold up the hands of all such, that their stand for the truth may be maintained.