There is one more point I meant to make in regard to the position of the C.L.A. with respect to the strike.

Thus far I argued that the strike is principally wrong because it is revolutionary. It is a refusal to work for those whom we regard as our employers, and to whom, therefore, we owe obedience and subjection according to Scripture. And, secondly, I showed that the strike cannot possibly stand in the service of righteousness, because it is not duly instituted authority that settles the issue in a strike, but mere force. The strongest wins.

The point I still wish to make is that for a Christian organization the use of the strike weapon is hopeless.

The people of God are a little flock. Thus they are called in Scripture, and thus they are throughout the ages. Even what is nominally known as the Church in the world is small in comparison with the unbelieving world and the forces that openly defy God and His Christ. Much smaller still is the Church that, even in a general sense, still professes the truth of the gospel. And very little, indeed, is the number of those that belong to the true, spiritual body of Christ, the true saints in Christ Jesus. They are small in number, weak in means and power, and insignificant in their position in the world. If their cause, in any department of the life of this world, depends on numbers and the use of force, it is absolutely hopeless. Their number is smaller, and their power is inferior, according as they are more truly faithful in their profession and walk to the truth as it is in Christ.

Necessarily, this is true for any truly Christian organization.

It is true for the C.L.A.

According as the Christian Labor Alliance is faithful to the Word of God and the precepts of our Lord, it will be small in numbers and of little power.

What do they amount to, from the aspect of power and influence, in the great industrial world of today? What significance can they expect to acquire, from a worldly viewpoint, in comparison, with the mighty unions of the world? It is ridiculous even to speak of the power of the C.L.A. in this sense of the word.

Hence, their use of the strike weapon is hopeless.

Do not misunderstand me. Principally, the use of the strike weapon is always hopeless. This is true, not only for the C.L.A., but also for the A.F.L. and the C.I.O. It will never help to solve any social problem. It represents the class struggle. It leads to revolution.

But I am considering the strike now merely from the viewpoint of its being a temporary means to gain one’s end, as an employment of power in the mighty industrial struggle of today, a means of the laboring man to improve his social position. From this viewpoint I consider it ridiculous for the C.L.A. to speak of the strike weapon.

If, nevertheless, the Christian Labor Alliance insists on maintaining the strike clause, the result win be inevitably an attempt on her part to become strong in numbers at (the expense of principle and true spiritual power.

And thus the C.L.A. will lose its distinctive character, and, hence, its reason for existence.

It will become like the salt that has lost its savor, and that is good for the dunghill.