Highlights in Restoration History . . .
"PRAY MORE AND DISPUTE LESS"
The bitter, fratricidal conflict that we inappropriately call the Civil War came to an end at Appomattox Court House, Va. on April 9, 1865. When General Lee's last hopes were gone, he ordered a white flag to be raised and requested an interview with his opponent, General Grant of the Union army. The meeting between the two generals in a house in the tiny Virginia village is now part of American folklore.Lee donned a new full-dress uniform and wore a jewel-studded sword, which he proffered to his conqueror, as military tradition dictated. Grant, carelessly attired in an unbuttoned private's blouse and without sword, was visibly shaken by the occasion. Saddened and depressed at the downfall of a foe he had long respected for both his skill and valor, Grant not only refused Lee's sword but made the surrender terms as lenient as he could. He paroled all Confederate officers and men. He allowed the officers to keep their side-arms, and then ordered "Let all the men who claim to own a horse or mule take the animals home with them to work their little farms." He believed that would help to reconcile a divided nation.
As Lee left the meeting, he looked out on a sea of Union soldiers, who looked like a field blossoming with stars and stripes. He paused for a moment and thrice he struck a fist into the palm of his gauntleted hand. Mounting his horse Traveller, he was soon gone. A sound of cheering spread across the Union lines. Grant ordered quiet as Lee rode away. "The war is over," he cried out to his men, "the rebels are our countrymen again."
What followed in the formal surrender is one of the dramatic scenes in American history. General Joshua Chamberlain, who received the surrender on behalf of Grant, later recorded an account of what transpired. He described the Confederates:
Before us in proud humiliation stood the embodiment of manhood; men whom neither toils and sufferings, nor the fact of death, nor disaster, ,nor hopelessness could bend their resolve; standing before us now, thin, worn, and famished, but erect, and with eyes looking level into ours, waking memories that bound us together as no other bond; - was not such manhood to be welcomed back into a Union so tested and assured.
The general tells of the men in gray marching before the Union army, giving the soldier's salutation and the "order arms." The officer leading the column, with heavy spirit and downcast face, as Chamberlain described him, wheeled his horse superbly and saluted profoundly by dropping the point of his sword to the boot toe. The armies then passed before each other, honor answering honor.
General Chamberlain recalled how he was touched by the occasion:
On our part not a sound of trumpet more, nor roll of drum; not a cheer, nor word nor whisper of vain-glorying, nor motion of man standing again at the order, but an awed stillness rather; and breathholding, as if it were the passing of the dead! . . . How could we help falling on our knees, all of us together, and praying God to pity and forgive us all!
God pity and forgive us all! If it is a fitting epitaph for a war that well-nigh destroyed a nation, it is an appropriate prayer for a divided church in a lost world. If it was tragic for citizens of the same nation to meet in mortal combat on a hundred battlefields, how much more tragic for brothers in Christ to destroy each other spiritually in the morass of theological disputation. As we realize the scandal of a divided church should we not also fall upon our knees and plead for God's forgiveness for what we have done to each other?
This was the sentiment of Barton W. Stone and his fellow Presbyterian ministers who became the Springfield Presbytery following the great revival at Cane Ridge in 1801. Now wanting to strip away any vestige of sectarianism, they created The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery by which they laid to rest the little ecclesiastical entity they had formed. In writing their will they began with an impressive term, Imprimis, which means "in the first place."
"Imprimis. We will, that this body die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large, for there is but one Body, and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling." So began one of the founding documents of the Churches of Christ-Christian Churches. In the first place, they insisted, sects should lose themselves in the one Body of Christ. But they went on.
"We will, that our name of distinction, with its Reverend title, be forgotten, that there be but one Lord over God's heritage, and his name One." If a people choose to strip away all marks of sectarianism, then they will not wear a distinctive name, one that sets them apart from other believers.
The reforming Presbyterians went on in their will to say, "We will, that preachers and people, cultivate a spirit of mutual forbearance; pray more and dispute less; and while they behold the signs of the times, look up, and confidently expect that redemption draweth nigh."
It is noteworthy that we as a people began with a call for mutual forbearance, which is eminently scriptural. The fact that the apostle Paul urges, "With all humility and gentleness, with patience showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," is evidence that differences will exist between believers. In a closed society where conformity is demanded there is nothing to forbear. The need for forbearance implies a prevailing diversity with its tensions and conflicts. But unity is preserved by mutual forbearance, inspired by humility and gentleness. These are the ingredients of unity.
When our founding fathers urged that separated brethren "pray more and dispute less," they were within the tradition of Christ himself, who prayed for unity more than he disputed about differences. When his disciples were arguing among themselves, Jesus donned a towel and washed their feet, and when he was alone with the Father he prayed for the unity of his little flock. Once he had prayed for the oneness of his immediate followers, he also prayed: "I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, are in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me" (Jn. l7:20-21).
Here we have both the means and end of unity. The means is a common identity with Christ as he is in union with the Father. If we are in Christ together, we are united. The end or purpose of unity is the winning of the world for God. A divided church cannot win a lost world. And both the means and end of unity are undergirded by prayer - the praying Christ. Can we believe that the prayer of Christ will forever go unanswered?
We have hardly been true to our great heritage, for through the years we have debated more and prayed less. We have often gathered in internecine conflict, but how often have we assembled to pray? We put on the whole armor of God only to fight each other. Only when we discover who the real enemy is will we debate each other less and pray to God more. How great it would be if all across this land and around this world those who profess to follow Jesus Christ could gather in his name and pray for the unity of all God's people as Christ himself did. Speeches would not be necessary and we could forget about any kind of program. We would gather quietly and pray together as Christ prayed - that the world might be won by a church that is one - and then leave quietly. Such gatherings would bring heaven and earth closer together than have all the councils, conclaves, and conferences combined.
Pray more and dispute less! What a great and glorious heritage we have, and endangered as it is.
More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore,
let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
(Tennyson)
— the Editor
He that prayeth best loveth best. -Coleridge