The Tether

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     The little village where I was born was surrounded by land which was called "free range." This meant that you could turn your cows out of the lot and they could eat where they wished. You fenced your garden or yard if you wanted to guard against a stray cow looking in your window. Now we fence cattle in, then we fenced them out.

     As a barefoot boy, my task was to search for our cow and those of the neighbors, and drive them home for milking in the evening. Occasionally there would be a cow which, like some humans, had a tendency to stray too far. Such a cow was said to have "wandering fever" when she went "over the hill."

     A very effective method of restraint was practiced in such cases. It was called "staking out." We had an iron bar which was driven into the ground and a rope fastened about the cow's neck was also looped around the stake and tied. The amount of territory which such an animal could cover was regulated by the length of the tether. The area where it might be done was determined by where the stake was driven. Life and activity re-

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volved around the stake as a center.

     This is a very homely example of what happens to one who allows himself to be "staked out" by the party spirit. Whatever one makes a test of fellowship becomes the center of his life and thought. The rope of the party about his neck will allow him to crop the truth only so far. The cry of the factional system has been the same in all ages, "Conform or be crucified!"

     But a great revolution is taking place in "The Church of Christ." For the first time in a century the winds of change are sweeping across and affecting every faction, even the most reactionary. This has never occurred before since we adopted the fallacy of seeking to unite the world to Christ by practicing division among ourselves. It is evident in the letters which cross our desk. It is manifest in the long distance calls from preachers who want to know if there is a congregation known to us which would allow them to be free men in Christ. It is seen in bulletins and papers edited by young brethren in every faction, noble young men who are sick of the hypocrisy involved in a disguised sectarianism.

     One of these days a great transformation will come. Brethren will start pulling up their stakes and will begin to move closer to our blessed Lord as the only real center valid for a worthwhile plea to a sinful world. All of us who love Him and one another will be tethered to the stake which God drove down into the earth at Golgotha. The only rope about our necks will be the invisible cord of love. It is amazing how elastic that cord will be in a widening brotherhood. It will be astonishing how firmly that stake will hold us to a common center and restrain us from going too far.

     In the meantime we should begin an apostolate of prayer for those are even now tugging and straining at the party ropes, who are weary of the treadmill and sick of the circle. Pray for those who have scaled divisive walls and from their tops have glimpsed the verdant fields of fellowship beyond, but who are still restrained even as they long for freedom. But freedom will come to the people of God, for the Spirit of God is mightily at work in our age!