Bible Truths Illustrated by J. C. Ferdinand Pittman

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BIBLE TRUTHS ILLUSTRATED
744. Upon closing his lectures on art, Joshua Reynolds said
''And now, gentlemen, I have but one name to present to you ; it
is the incomparable name of Michael Angelo." So, in endeavoring
to present a platform upon which union can be based, we
point with reverence to the one incomparable name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and say, as did John Wesley : "Would to God that
all party names and unscriptural forms might be forgotten, and
that we might all sit at the feet of the one Master. We must
"Let names and sects and parties fall,
And Jesus Christ be all in all."
745. At the Centennial Convention of churches of Christ,
held in Pittsburgh, U. S. A., in October, 1909, and attended by
fifty thousand delegates, W. E. Ellis said : "The great Restoration
movement was born in answer to the Saviour's prayer that
His people might be one, that the world might believe, and came
upon the stage to accomplish its twofold mission, made imperative
by the divided state of Christendom and the lost condition
of the world. This is the work God has called us to do. We are
here to persuade the people of God to be reconciled to each
other, and to persuade the world to be reconciled to God. We
stand in the attitude of ambassadors for Christ, beseeching
. . Christian unity is necessary to
Christian people to lay down their weapons of warfare against
each other, and pleading with the world to lay down its weapons
of warfare against God. .
make the evangelisation of the world possible. To see the
heathen world dying while God's people in so-called Christian
lands are spending their energies in building up party walls, is
a sight to make angels weep."
746. To follow imperfect, uncertain, or corrupted traditions,
in order to avoid erring in our own judgment, is but to exchange
one danger for another. It is said that, some years ago, there
was a bridge at Bath in so crazy a condition that persons chose
rather to make a long circuit than run the risk of crossing it.
One day, however, a very nervous lady, hurrying home to dress
for the evening, came suddenly upon the spot, without, till that
moment, remembering the danger. What was she to do? If
she went on, the frail arch might give way under her; to go
round would be fatiguing, and attended with loss of time. She