^ It is related of the Duke of Wellington, that once when he remained to take the sacrament at his parish church, a very poor old man went up the opposite aisle, and, reaching the communion table, knelt down close by the side of the duke. Some one (probably a pew opener) came and touched the poor man on the shoulder, and whispered to him to move farther away, or to rise and wait until the duke had received the bread and wine. But the eagle eye and quick ear of the great commander caught the meaning of that touch and that whisper. He clasped the old man's hand, and held him, to prevent his rising, and in a reverential undertone, but most distinctly, said, " Do not move ; we are all equal here." ^
3. Unity is the secret of prosperity. Divided, men ever fail, but united, they become more than conquerors. The strands of a rope will not hold a child from falling. Knit them together, twine them about each other, and they will hold the great ship to her moorings. United, God gives prosperity. " It shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth ; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil ; and they shall hear Jezreel." God withholds His blessing until the cry that rises to Him is the united cry of land and sky and crops and men.
^ During the siege of the legations in Peking national lines and religious lines were forgotten. In the presence of the infuriated Boxers all felt that they were one and that their salvation depended upon their standing together. Protestant and Catholic and Greek were one for the time. During the siege wherever the line was hard pressed there the defenders rallied, regardless of what nationality held the hard pressed point, because a, failure at one point meant a failure at every point. One of the
1 B. Tuck.
PSALM cxxxiii. I 139
interesting incidents of the siege was connected with the inter- national gun. This was an old Enghsh six-pounder. It was mounted on an Austrian carriage; it was loaded with German powder and Russian shells ; it was fired by the trained hand and eye of an American gunner. Had it not been for the spirit of unity that prevailed in that most critical period all must have perished.^
4. Unity gives power. Our Lord evidently had a profound idea of the value and power of unity among His disciples. In His last prayer observe what He seemed most to desire for them : " That they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us : that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." As soon as a church was gathered, the spirit of concord seemed to be a necessary feature, which appeared without being forced. " These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication." They all continued " daily with one accord in the temple," etc. Writing to the churches the Apostles evidently think that brotherly unity is of the utmost importance to the prosperity of those communities. They constantly urge its preservation. " Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace ; and the God of love and peace shall be with you." " I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment." " We, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." " Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour pre- ferring one another." " I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord." " Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God ; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." "Let brotherly love continue." "But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you : for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another." " Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
^1 The dew-drop, we are told, has within it a latent thunder- bolt, yet it melts away into the corolla of the wild flower, and does its gentle work of nurture so silently that no ear can mark it,
^ A. Mcl^ean, Where the Book Speaks, 239.
HO UNITY
There are many men, and yet more women, who sink mildly into the earth-currents of life like a dew-drop, who have latent thunder enough within them to shake society if it should once go forth in that wise. But would their power for good be thereby any greater ? Is not that a false estimate of moral forces which measures them by the noise and stir, the flash and thunderous echoes, which result from their exercise ? Are not gentleness and repose, after all, the mightiest powers ? Let those who love and choose to have their words distil as the dew remember that in the silent, unobtrusive acts of daily life they may be treasuring up in other hearts forces which in their final outcome will give countless blessings to the world.^