The matter will become still plainer if we consider another principle taught and practised by Christ and the Apostles; viz., the necessity an absolute union of the forces of God under Christ for the accomplishment of his work. Christ said, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand," and he prayed for a perfect union among his followers in order that the world might believe in him (Matt. 12:25; John 17:20, 21). Paul says, "Whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal? For when one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?" (I Cor. 3:3, 4). Again he says, "If ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another" (Gal. 5:15). Divisions inevitably lead to weakness, waste and defeat. A small army united in the authority of a wise commander can defeat the largest army on earth if it be divided through every officer doing as he pleases or as he thinks best. Therefore Christ demanded absolute union in his authority, and the Apostles first of all worked for a union of Jews and Gentiles in one body or working force. If the purpose had only been to save individuals, the Jews might have been saved as Jews, but the object was to enlist the Jews with the Gentiles in God's new army of conquest. This new union under Christ, or re-alignment of religious forces, was so important that the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles was conditioned on their entering it, and, if necessary, all other unions and alliances had to be broken to maintain this. All race and class distinctions must succumb. "There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male nor female; for ye are all one man in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). Not even family ties were permitted to interfere with this union in the authority of Christ. "He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. For I came to set a man at variance with his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: and a man's foes shall be they of his own household" (Matt. 10:35-37). The subjection of wives to their husbands and of children to their parents is limited "in the Lord" (Col. 3: 18, 20). Summing up the New Testament principles that are to guide us in our gospel work, we may say that we are to go as a united force along the line of least resistance, making the eternal salvation of the individual our supreme aim.