Take Up the Cross

Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
— Galatians 6:2

Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
— 1 John 2:8-10

Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
— Leviticus 19:18

I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.
— Psalm 119:63

Rules for Promoting Harmony Among Church Members, by Thomas Smyth.

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.—John 13:34

1. To remember that we are all subject to failings and infirmities of one kind or another (Mat 7:1-5; Rom 2:21-23).

2. To bear with and not magnify each other’s infirmities (Gal 6:1).

3. To pray one for another in our social meetings, and particularly in private (Jam 5:16).

4. To avoid going from house to house for the purpose of hearing news and interfering with other people’s business (Lev 19:16).

5. Always to turn a deaf ear to any slanderous report and to allow no charge to be brought against any person until well-founded and proved (Pro 25:23).

6. If a member be in fault, to tell him of it in private before it is mentioned to others (Mat 18:15).

7. To watch against shyness of each other and put the best construction on any action that has the appearance of opposition or resentment (Pro 10:12).

8. To observe the just rule of Solomon, that is, to leave off contention before it is meddled with (Pro 17:14).

9. If a member has offended, to consider how glorious, how God-like it is to forgive, and how unlike a Christian it is to revenge (Eph 4:2).

10. To remember that it is always a grand artifice of the devil to promote distance and animosity among members of churches, and we should, therefore, watch against everything that furthers his end (Jam 3:16).

11. To consider how much more good we can do in the world at large and in the church in particular when we are all united in love, than we could do when acting alone and indulging a contrary spirit (Joh 13:35).

12. Lastly, to consider the express injunction of Scripture and the beautiful example of Christ as to these important things (Eph 4:32; 1Pe 2:21; Joh 13:5, 35).

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Unity and peace are a duty well-pleasing to God, Who is styled the author of peace and not of confusion in all the churches. God’s Spirit rejoiceth in the unity of our spirits; but, on the other hand, where strife and divisions are, there the Spirit of God is grieved. Hence it is that the apostle no sooner calls upon the Ephesians not to grieve the Spirit of God, but he presently [adds] a remedy against that evil: that they put away bitterness and evil speaking, “and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph 4:32).

As unity and peace are pleasing to God and rejoiceth His Spirit, so it rejoiceth the hearts and spirits of God’s people—unity and peace brings heaven down upon earth among us. Hence it is that the apostle tells us that “the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom 14:17). Where unity and peace are, there is heaven upon earth; by this we taste the first-fruits of that blessed estate we shall one day live in the fruition of, when we shall come “to the general assembly and church of the first-born,” whose names are written in heaven, “and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Heb 12:23).

The unity and peace of the church make communion of saints desirable. What is it that embitters church-communion and makes it burdensome, but divisions? Have you not heard many complain that they are weary of church-communion because of church contention? But now, where unity and peace are, there Christians long for communion.—John Bunyan
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Our union is from God, in God, and to God: from the Spirit, with God, through Christ. The whole Trinity is concerned in this union. By the communion of the Spirit, we are mystically united to Christ, and by Christ to God. The Father is, as it were, the root, Christ the trunk, the Spirit the sap, we the branches, and our works the fruits. This is the great mystery delivered in the Scriptures. Christ doth not only dwell in us by faith, but God dwelleth in us, and we in God, and the Spirit dwelleth in us. —Thomas Manton

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