Striving To Keep The Unity Of the Spirit

Church Fights and Schisms And Conduct of Ministers

“… Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.…” 1 Cor 13:4-7.

L.M.

This verse I write from many years
Of trav’ling through this vale of tears;
- From knowing many ups and downs,
Brethren’s patience, and the world’s frowns;

To some, who’s now in a church fight,
Alas! there’s some, seems their delight;
And only live, to get the best;
With all around, they always wrest.

Brethren, I find it’s still a trial
To meet together where there’s guile;
- When our old nature comes between,
And thus would mar the lovely scene;

When brethren meet to hear and pray,
What meekness then may we display;
What caution before our dear friends,
To shun all of the old man’s trends.

Oh, may Thy Love constrain my soul
For this to ever be my goal;
That with Thy children, I might rest,
And in their peace be always blessed.

Lord, may Thou season all my way
With grace and salt while here I stay;
- May not be blown from shore to shore,
Dejection’s sorrow to explore;

As God gives grace, may this apply,
And through His Spirit thus comply,
When in the Spirit, truly talk,
Then in His Love we’re shown to walk;

May Truth not here be crucified
Between two thieves upon Thy side;
-But I might seek the golden mean,
Nor run to Satan’s vain extreme;

- May not Thy Love be in my head,
But may my heart and soul be fed;
May peace and love, I ever seek,
Or ever grow Pharisaic.

- When I reverse Christ’s order, shown;
Though, I myself, a sinner, own,
- Will still condemn the Pharisee,
While know that Grace must set both free;

For we are both a sinner found,
While passing o’er this world’s low ground;
When I’m not beating on my breast,
Would, with Simon, Christ’s glory wrest;

Jesus came to Zacchaeus’ house,
And found him there among the boughs;
Though Simon did no honor show,
Yet, he came to Simon’s also;

May I contend for Sovereign Grace,
In meekness before all Thy race;
But let not arrogance and pride
Upon my flesh, presume to ride;

But as a servant, may not strive,
Or as a rebel, then contrive,
- Against my Master’s Sovereign Will,
But must in patience, here be still;

Of some doctrine, a hobby make,
Though peace of God, my heart forsake;
Like tinkling brass, my speech become,
To sounding cymbals, I succumb;

With tongues of angels, men may speak,
Though their own ship’s sprung a great leak;
With headiness, carried so high,
That some poor souls will go awry;

For we may think the battle’s won,
Then look for peace, and still find none;
But find to our dismay, so sore,
To feel we might have lost the war.

There must need’s be, offenses come,
When dear love grows cold here in some;
And if the Spirit does not urge,
And from our body, these things purge,

We all shall be cast into hell,
Where all our sorrows greatly swell;
We look far off to Abram’s breast,
But still our souls find there no rest.

Though poor Lazurus entered in,
In poverty, he ceased from sin;
We, rich and proud, despised the best,
And now, our conscience has no rest.

And some will farther even go,
To drown themselves in depths of woe;
With a millstone ‘round conscience neck,
When passions made them peace reject.

Our own shortcomings are so great,
Thus with our brethren can relate;
Who feel their own great weakness too,
When they have done all flesh can do;

Yes, you may meet one on the road
Whom does not carry, this your load;
But whom their kindness, shows to you,
Though, may not know what you pass through;

Still, through their kindness, lifts your soul,
- When by your path, perhaps they stroll;
Your strife and envy flies away,
And your heart sings in that new day;

Our fleshly nature we can’t kill,
Or make Old Satan, lie there still,
Still, God His goodness, will fulfill,
And work in us all His goodwill.

Mere criticism will not do,
Or help your sermon carry through;
Unless your critique shall ring true,
When grace distills like morning dew.

Your speech may be “yea, and amen”,
What’s more than this, proceeds from sin;
- Will more and more, itself increase,
Till from it’s power, God may release.

With nature’s humor we are blessed,
To go further, is sin undressed;
These foolish things, saints put away;
For sin’s no longer here their stay.

And with the profane, home can’t make,
For then, old sin, we can’t forsake;
These briers and thorns will choke our soul,
If with their clan, our life enroll;

Do not use vain innuendoes,
For there your crudeness often shows;
It plants hard feelings in one’s breast,
And will disturb the brethren’s rest.

But let your peace be clearly shown,
By this, your calling will be known;
Goodwill will mark you before all,
And never find you in a brawl.

Evil’s surmising of old hearts
Is where contention often starts;
These things, may Grace then put away,
And peace shall live in our New Day;

Partiality, hard to shun,
Away from this, we too must run;
And bow before God’s smallest gift,
For they our hearts will often lift.

Don’t tell a preacher where to preach,
To whom his words may thereby reach,
Nor where his sermon here will go;
For, about all this, you don’t know;

Or how his manner in the stand,
Of how he seeks his thoughts to land,
To think all his notes must be banned,
With a worn Bible in his hand;

Scripture, he might not even quote,
When, on his breast, sometimes has smote;
You’ll know the language of his soul,
And feel it in your heart, console;

What he has, God to him did show;
And where Christ led his mind below;
How gained, we may not need to know,
For none of this to us he owes.

Make not offenders, for a word,
To search through every thing you’ve heard;
Mere critics here have a hard road,
And make themselves carry a load;

Think of all the mistakes you’ve made,
Then, these with others, you must trade;
These little things, our souls won’t kill,
Or slow our steps up Zion’s hill;

If our cause is to bicker still,
And from a fight, get all our thrill;
These things will not Christ’s Love fulfill,
Like quietness in us, He distill;

The world of mankind, you can’t judge,
Nor from their course, shall ever budge;
These things are for the saints, too high,
Though ruled by Him above the sky;

The times and season’s not revealed,
For this has not been our God’s Will;
To know what here, shall then take place,
But now we must still walk by faith;

Let others on this old world look;
Christ’s Kingdom’s not a his’try book;
Till see themselves as one therein -
And they are in it, born again.

To get entangled with the world,
Is to forget, you’re just a herald;
For, Jesus, to old Pilate said,
My kingdom’s not by these things led;

This world’s riches you still must shun,
If not, with patience, you can’t run;
For, there, when you put all your trust,
You’ll find this wealth will turn to rust;

Riches within, and pride without,
With us, these things are very stout;
All these things we must flee from too,
That our gospel have all it’s due.

Consider how the raven’s fed,
And to it’s nest, the sparrows’ led;
And shall not God clothe you also,
And every kindness to you show?

You’re like the lilies of the field;
Where God’s wild nature brings the yield;
For they toil not, neither do sow,
But God adorns them here below.

Solomon’s glory could not show,
What Christ has made you freely know;
-All the efforts that Wealth produce,
Could not His Grace e’en introduce.

Riches encumber you with care;
- Loads on you all your talents bear;
Though even you be bright and young,
Soon find these things will turn to dung.

They sometimes will become a snare,
And you’ll awake in their dark liar;
No comfort shall you find therein,
When they have overcome by sin.

What is spiritual, you have none,
That’s why these riches, you must shun;
Because you have such little time,
The true riches, in Christ to find.

For, how can saints redeem the time,
If Christ to them, is just pastime?
Or how their days, so evil know,
If they so love this world’s vain show?

All these amusements will grow old;
You’ll hunger for God’s children’s fold,
And for that Love that’s ne’r been told,
And for that Life that Christ doth hold;

If you shall imitate your Lord,
With this old world, you’ll soon get bored;
And find, with Him, you’re suff’ring too,
And sometimes sigh to soon be through.

God’s children shall refrain to boast,
They care not for the world’s vain toast;
- They know that all to Christ is due,
Though gifts be many, or are few.

A call by Grace makes you not mad,
But makes your heart with joy be glad;
It puts you in your own right mind,
As the Gadarene, so did find.

In peace with him you may go home,
For you’re no longer here alone;
Among your friends you now may tell,
That Jesus has done all things well !

Nothing more need, to bless your soul,
That in God’s house, you might enroll;
For, this you will forever sing,
In earth, and when Heaven shall ring;

His Love and peace will make you bold,
- Will make you tell what man’s not told;
It puts you in Christ’s peaceful fold,
And brings to light things new and old.

With diligence, may we take care,
Lest roots of bitterness spring here;
That many may become defiled,
And leave in sorrow some dear child;

- Cause them to wander to and fro,
‘Cause you forgot, God’s Love to show;
And may make them, to the world go,
And there more sorrows in it know.

But let our strife be always this:
To greet each other with love’s kiss;
And all good courtesy to show,
Shall relieve tensions here below;

Oh, to God’s word we might conform,
So it our souls rightly inform;
- Constrain us here to put away,
And carefully, these evils weigh;

Christ’s meekness in me, so constrain,
That I, in patience, may refrain
- Against the pricks, unduly kick,
Or think, that giants, myself can lick;

- Learn to be gentle to Christ’s all,
For all are sinners in this fall;
May pity move us on the road,
Where sin has left such heavy load,

The fallen one, to not pass by,
Lest they might perish, there to die;
If God’s given you oil and wine,
May not your mercy with them dine?

For Christ’s kindness will still shine through
The work He gives His own to do;
It’s His pleasure, in these to work,
Though their old nature still will shirk;

And though our strength will always fail
And against Him, we’ll sometimes rail;
His power and love is still the same,
As when at first to us He came;

May I then know, to always say,
“My old heart’s hard - yet to this day”
- May then I bow at brethren’s feet,
And we before Thee, thus entreat:

“May not the serpent’s deadly head
Of envy, jealousy, be fed;
But all these vain passions remove,
That we Thy children, thus may prove;”

But, may we seek our brother’s good;
- Help him to stand where he has stood;
Rejoice with him, his gifts t’excel,
And pray that he more of Christ tell.

When our new heart’s filled with Christ’s Love,
Then our desire is all above;
Better than self, others esteem;
Dearer than self, we them shall deem;

You, whom are spiritual will know,
The words I write, will plainly show;
For yourselves too, this way have been,
And all these paths you have walked in.

If a dear brother may object
To some of what I now project;
May they consent to wholesome words,
And that their conscience surely heard;

For all these things, they can’t deny -
Why should they want to them reply?
They are the Words of our Dear Lord,
And all our peace can here afford.

Our conscience, then, shall not condemn,
When all our trust from love does stem;
We’ll fondly hope to meet again,
When our hearts to all, say “Amen”.

Then we shall sweetly walk in Love,
Have our hearts set on things above;
The hurtful things of sinful flesh,
From these, may Grace our hearts refresh;

And when our union must convene,
- We must depart the lovely scene;
May all hearts be united still,
Christ still in us, All Hope to fill;

Again, shall join in sweet accord,
When God in all, His peace afford;
For “we shall speak our joys abroad,”
And they that hear shall then applaud;

In union, saints shall raise their voice,
And fields and woods shall then rejoice;
The nations shall at their feet bow,
And even Kings raise their eyebrow.

Their glory to Christ’s kingdom bring,
Will make Agrippa then to sing;
With him, many shall they persuade,
When Love, the hardest hearts has swayed.

Copyright 2001,

O. Allen Bailey