Unity.
This most delightful little psalm summons our attention to the exceeding excellence of this grace of unity, and by so doing it invites us to consider what are its elements and conditions. Now, we all of us have a general idea of what unity is; we need not labor after an exact definition, and we are ready to subscribe our assent to the declaration of the psalm, and say of it, "Behold, how good and pleasant it is!" These two qualities do not always go together; there are many things that are good but are not at all pleasant, and we know that there are many things which are pleasant which are not at all good. But of the grace of unity, both can be affirmed. Now, this will be seen as we consider—
I. WHAT, HERE, THIS GRACE OF UNITY IS LIKENED TO. To the sacred consecrating oil with which the priests of God were anointed (cf. Exodus 30:22-33). And also to the dew which descended on Mount Hermon.
1. Take these two similitudes together. That which is common to them both is their so descending, flowing down, that, as in the case of the holy oil, the whole person of the priest is sanctified by it; it descended from the head to the beard, and thence to the borders of the priestly garment, so that his whole service was consecrated, and all his members. And so with the dew on the lofty Hermon; it stayed not there, but descended—the word "descended" is used in each ease, it is the key-word of the psalm, like the word "keep" in Psalms 121:1-8.—to the lower heights, and thence to the plains, so that the whole land, from Hermon in the north to Zion in the south, was blessed thereby. Now, the grace of unity is in this respect like the holy oil and the dew—it is a blessing for all and every one; for all our service and ministry, for all the people, the lowly as well as those of high station, and for all the land. North and south in Palestine had been torn by discord, strife, and war; but when this psalm was written they were all "as one man," gathered and bound together in the unity of their national life and of their one faith (Ezra 3:1; Nehemiah 8:1). Happy the nation, happy the Church, happy the home, where this blessed spirit of unity comes and abides!
2. Take them separately. And:
II. WHAT ARE ITS CONDITIONS.
1. Association. We must come together; there can be no unity in solitariness. We are many members, but one body. It condemns all separatism for separatism's sake.
2. Variety. There is no unity in the mere repetition of the same things, as in a heap of sand, a flock of sheep. But unity requires harmonized varieties. Music is not a monotone, but a harmony. Acts of Uniformity cannot secure it. In a true Christian society there must be variety of thought, feeling, and opinion, of age, position, character.
3. Liberty. There is no unity where there is no freedom. No real agreement exists where none is allowed to disagree. A lump of ice binds together a whole mass of most discordant things, but there is no unity in such a mass. They are fettered together by the frost force; let that be loosed, and each goes its own way at once.
4. Life. There is no strife in a graveyard; dead things do not quarrel A dead Church is peaceful enough.
5. Intelligence. The unity that is produced by priestcraft and superstition, where education and intelligence are lacking, where if light came it would at once be dissolved,—that is not true unity. But without these conditions (verses 1-3) unity is not.
III. WHAT ITS REAL SOURCE. The Holy Spirit of God. Like as one life animates our bodies and makes them one, one common feeling the passion-swayed multitude; so when the Spirit of God comes into a community, then, as at Pentecost, there is one body, "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:1-32.).
IV. WHAT THE FRUIT IT BEARS. "There the Lord commanded the blessing," etc. (verse 3). It is ever so.—S.C.