V. ITS NATURAL AND NECESSARY OUTCOME.

Christian unity and fellowship.

[16333] What, then, are we to say of Christian union? Is it a dream? one of those illusions by which men try to escape from the hard world of reality into a world of beautiful possibilities where all falls into imaginary order, and none but voices of peace are heard. It is undeniable that some of the noblest Christian hearts have cherished this dream. Ever and again, from amidst the distractions of controversy and the miseries of unchristian strife, there has gone up the cry for a united Christian Church which should face the evils of the world, and the moral wretchedness which comes from division and unbelief. In a time like ours, which is big with all issues of good and evil-with heavenward and earthward aspirations alike—with the throes both of a wider faith and a deeper scepticism -the longing for Christian union has grown in many quarters and taken various practical developments. It has sometimes seemed as if the wave of reaction from a preceding period of indifference or of bitterness would carry forward the growing enthusiasm till it issued in a mighty stream bathing all the churches and flooding them by its onward flow.-Rev. J. Tulloch,D.D.

[16334] The ground of all living unity amongst men is Christ, and there is no other ground. He is the centre which, when we touch, all our enmity is broken and our discords healed. Alienations, divisions, jealousies, fall away from His peaceful presence. When we really come into His presence, we find ourselves at one not only with Him but with our brethren, who are also His brethren. The spring of this union is spiritual, and only spiritual.-Ibid.

[16335] Christian union is not merely a union in Christ as a common spiritual centre, but it is such a union as subsists between God the Father and the Son. Now, this union of Divine Persons in the Godhead-whatever else it may be -is a perfect consonance of will and affection, so that the Father hath evermore delight in the Son, and the Son in the Father. It must be, therefore, a unity of heart with heart, and will with will, and so a union, characteristically, of action, for all affection is already action. This is the lowest conception we can form of Christian union; but at the same time it is the highest. For whatever may be higher in the unity of Christ with God, and of Christians with Christ and with one another, we can only believe that this arises from its greater spiritual secrecy -its more profound mystery of spiritual truth.Ibid.

[16336] Whenever we touch the life of Divine love and self-sacrifice that is in Christ, the hard and selfish heart melts away. The enthusiasm of humanity-of a common brotherhood in humanity-kindles within us at the quickening Louch. The love of self dies down, or is no

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longer an absorbing passion consuming our higher and better feelings. The love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again."— Ibid.

[16337] The least drop of water hath the nature of its element, hath the entire properties of it, partakes of the round figure of that element, and best agrees with, and unites itself to water. In like manner it is with fire, and the rest of the elements, being homogeneal bodies, every part doth participate of the name and nature of the whole, shuns what is contrary to that nature, and most willingly gathers itself to that which is of the same kind. So it is with the true members of that mystical body whereof Christ is the Head; such is the union, unanimity, association, and fellowship of the people of God one amongst another, that they cannot suffer themselves to be combined with wicked persons and unbelievers; no, they will associate unto themselves none, by their good wills, who are not endowed with grace and goodness, and a godly conversation, being the true qualities and marks of that true Church whereof they themselves are true members.-Spencer.

[16338] Here is the unity foretold by the prophet Jeremiah: "I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever." Here is the unity seen in Apostolic days: "The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul." Here is the unity that still exists. Beneath all the strife that sin hath introduced into Christian churches, beneath all the dissensions that the enemy stirs up, is there not to be found amongst all true followers of the Lamb an underlying principle of real, genuine love one to the other; a love that not seldom has overleaped all barriers of rank, education, variety of opinion; and so bound men together in the firmest ligaments of a heaven-taught charity? We have heard of two men, perfect strangers to each other, knowing not a word of each other's language, becoming firm friends, because each in evident sincerity could utter the word "Abba."-Rev. G. Everard, M.A.

[16339] The moment a man's heart touches the heart of Christ in living faith, he becomes, whether he knows it or not, the brother of every other, in heaven or on earth, who has come into the same relationship with Christ. Whoever is united to Christ is brother or sister to everybody else that is united to Him.-H. W. Beecher.

[16340] As we love Him who is our Head with a more burning, self-devoted love, we must in Him love His members. And love understands thoughts of love, although ill-expressed, and catches at thoughts of truth, though conveyed in broken words and but half uttered, and reads the heart with which it sympathizes, and can even open to it, its own undeveloped meaning, or what it should mean, instead of being itself

repelled by its rude or imperfect speech. As we love our Lord more, we shall love more all whom He loves, and as we love more we shall understand one another better. One grain of love avails more than many pounds of controversy. -Rev. E. B. Pus:v, D.D.

[16341] When the clay is removed in the case of an ordinary tree the graft is found united to the stock, so when faith is swallowed up in sight, then the perfect union of Christ and His people is seen. Heaven has not to begin, but only to perfect, the living intercourse of believers with Christ and with each other. While on earth they were all grafted into one stock. They were all one in Christ, who has said, “Neither pray I for those alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me." -Prof. Balfour..

[16342] We think much of our Thames; the inhabitants of Egypt, of the Nile; the Hindoo, of the Ganges; the German, of the Rhine; the American, of the St. Lawrence. But go down to the ocean. Ask it, "Where are these rivers?" And could it answer, it would say, "I know no Thames; I know no Rhine; I know no Nile ; they are all lost in the ocean." So the distinctions of sects, &c., are but rivers, which will be lost in the ocean of heaven's bliss. There is but one heaven.-Anon.

VI. ITS SUPREME BLESSEDNESS.

[16343] The liberty sought by worldly men in exemption from external restraints can be realized only by union with that Pattern Man who attained the true freedom. The conformity of man's will to the will of Him, in whose pattern man was moulded, is that normal state of tranquillity and happiness after which unregenerate humanity is vainly yearning. For God's "service is perfect freedom," and "if the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."

[16344] Union with God in Christ wraps up every blessing. You cannot go beyond this. It is the summum bonum, containing all, and more than all, that heart can desire, or imagination can fathom. Does it contain the privilege of access to God-of pouring out our hearts to Him at all times, of casting our burden upon Him? No doubt the being united with God must involve this privilege, but it goes beyond it.

Parties so united as to become one must, as a matter of course, have the privilege of opening their hearts one to another; from this closeness of union that privilege flows. Again, does union with God involve the privilege of hearing God's voice, of receiving from Him messages of comfort, guidance, light, counsel? It involves this also, but it goes beyond it. If I am one spirit with the Lord, it is absolutely certain,-it flows of necessity from this union, that the Lord will address me ever and anon in accents VOL. V.

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of direction, warning, and consolation. What means a spiritual union, if it does not involve at least this?-Dean Goulburn.

[16345] Mariners tell us that there are some parts of the sea where there is a strong current upon the surface going one way, but that down in the depths there is a strong current running in the other direction. Two seas do not meet and interfere with one another; but one stream of water on the surface is running in one direction, and another below is flowing from the opposite quarter. Now, here is a picture of Christian life; the Christian is like that. On the surface there is a stream of heaviness rolling with dark waves; but down in the depths there is a strong undercurrent of great rejoicing that is always flowing towards heaven.-C. H. Spurgeon.

[16346] As in mysterious and transcendent union the Divine takes into itself the human in the person of Jesus, and eternity is blended with time; we, trusting Him, and yielding our hearts to Him, receive into our poor lives an incorruptible seed, and for us the soul-satisfying realities that abide for ever mingle with and are reached through the shadows that pass away.— A. Maclaren.

[16347] As all the salt in the sea cannot make the fish salt, so evil influence cannot destroy the true life of a Christian.

[16348] To be in Christ, is to be safe in life and death, in time and in eternity; to be out of Christ, is to stand exposed every hour to the most appalling danger; to be in Christ, is to be in a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; to be out of Christ, is to stand defenceless before that storm which will, ere long, burst forth to consume His adversaries, and to sweep away every refuge of lies; to be in Christ, is to be reconciled to God, pardoned and accepted; to be out of Christ, is to be at enmity with God, guilty and condemned; to be in Christ, is to be adopted into God's family, as children, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; to be out of Christ, is to be aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise-without Christ, and therefore without God, and without hope in the world; to be in Christ, is to be a new creature, renewed, sanctified, and made meet for glory; to be out of Christ, is to be dead in trespasses and sins, polluted in our own blood; to be in Christ, is to be prepared for death, and judgment, and eternity; to be out of Christ, is to have nothing but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation.-J. Buchanan, D.D.

[16349] Since I have attained to a clear consciousness, by inward experience, that there is no way of satisfying the needs of the soul or tranquillizing the heart's longings but by the inner life in Christ-aspiration after eternal blessedness, and consequent direction of the

mind and all its powers toward God-I am aware of an increase of power for the work of my calling, whatever it be, and of joy and spirit in performing it.-Bunsen.

VII. THE MORAL EFFECTS OF A LIFE OF FELLOWSHIP AND COMMUNION WITH GOD.

As displayed in the walk and conversation of a Christian.

[16350] We know how men feel and act when they come to die; they discharge their worldly affairs from their minds, and try to realize the unseen state. Then this world is nothing to them. It may praise, it may blame; but they feel it not. They are leaving their goods, their deeds, their sayings, their writings, their names, behind them; and they care not for it, for they wait for Christ. To one thing alone they are alive, His coming; they watch against it, if so be they may then be found without shame. Such is the conduct of dying men; and what all but the very hardened do at the last, if their senses fail not and their powers hold, that does the true Christian all life long. He is ever dying while he lives; he is on his bier, and the prayers for the sick are saying over him. He has no work but that of making his peace with God, and preparing for the judgment. He has no aim but that of being found worthy to escape the things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. And therefore day by day he unlearns the love of this world, and the desire of its praise; he can bear to belong to the nameless family of God, and to seem to the world strange in it and out of place, for so he is. -Cardinal Newman.

[16351] As the Christian's conversation is in heaven, as it is his duty, with Enoch and other saints, to walk with God, so his voice is in heaven, his heart "inditing of a good matter," of prayers and praises. Prayers and praises are the mode of his intercourse with the next world, as the converse of business or recreation is the mode in which this world is carried on in all its separate courses. He who does not pray does not claim his citizenship with heaven, but lives, though an heir of the kingdom, as if he were a child of earth. Now, it is not surprising if that duty or privilege, which is the characteristic token of our heavenly inheritance, should also have an especial influence upon our fitness for claiming it. He who does not use a gift, loses it; the man who does not use his voice or limbs, loses power over them, and becomes disqualified for the state of life to which he is called. In like manner, he who neglects to pray, not only suspends the enjoyment, but is in a way to lose the possession, of his Divine citizenship. We are members of another world; we have been severed from the companionship of devils, and brought into that invisible kingdom of Christ which faith alone discerns-that mysterious Presence of God which encompasses us, which

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is in us, and around us, which is in our heart, which enfolds us as though with a robe of light, hiding our scarred and discoloured souls from the sight of Divine purity, and making them shining as the angels, and which flows in upon us too by means of all forms of beauty and grace which this visible world contains, in a starry host or (if I may so say) a milky way of Divine companions, the inhabitants of Mount Zion, where we dwell. Faith, I say, alone apprehends all this; but yet there is something which is not left to faith-our own tastes, likings, motives, and habits. Of these we are conscious in our degree, and we can make ourselves more and more conscious; and as consciousness tells us what they are, reason tells us whether they are such as become, as correspond with, that heavenly world into which we have been translated.-Ibid.

[16352] That is the true and effectual regeneration when the seed of life takes root in man and thrives. Such men have accustomed themselves to speak to God, and God has ever spoken to them; and they feel "the powers of the world to come" as truly as they feel the presence of this world, because they have been accustomed to speak and act as if it were real. All of us must rely on something; all must look up to, admire, court, make themselves one with something. Most men cast in their lot with the visible world; but true Christians with saints and angels. Such men are little understood by the world because they are not of the world; and hence it sometimes happens that even the better sort of men are often disconcerted and vexed by them. It cannot be otherwise; they move forward on principles, so different from what are commonly assumed as true. They take for granted, as first principles, what the world wishes to have proved in detail. They have become familiar with the sights of the next world, till they talk of them as if all men admitted them.—Ïbid.

[16353] There are two types of character in the world, with which you are familiar enough. I find no single word to mark them, but shall try to describe each. The one is masculine; full of insight, reading motives, penetrating plans and results, skilful to plot and scheme. It has the wisdom of the serpent, the understanding of a man. Active, too; delighting in "push" and business; its hands full, hurrying and energetic. It despises quiet, laughs at the simple, and has no time for sentiment. The other finds its emblem in the dove. It is credulous and unsuspecting; shrinks, and is reserved. You never hear its voice, for it is soft and timid; but it has a heart to feel and to bear. Try it where the passive virtues of endurance and meekness shine, and it will toil and sacrifice and suffer with the unconscious simplicity of a child and the silent heroism of a martyr. It is the character typified in childhood, and continued in the higher forms of womanliness. The one of these types of character schemes where the

other trusts; the one is wise, the other harmless; the one is given to work, the other to prayer; the one is masculine, the other childlike. Both the manliness and the gentleness blend in

"The grand old name of gentleman,” and they blend also in true Christian character, for every Christian should be, potentially at least, a gentleman.-O. Dykes, D.D.

VIII. HOMILETICAL APPLICATIONS.

[16354] This life of which such glorious things are spoken comes not naturally to any man. Thousands idly hear of it, dream of it, sigh for it, for one who sets himself to seek, to cherish, to confess it. Beware of that languid indolent assent, which regulates the attainment of it into some distant region, of past or future, with which the present, our only possession, has neither contact nor commerce. If there be such a thing as the hidden life, then are we dead men without it-dead, not like St. Paul, to this life of time, but dead to that only life which is indeed eternal.-Rev. F. Fergusson, D.D.

[16355] It will draw you very near your Saviour, if every day, every morning, you think, Now, here is something to set right by the help of the Holy Spirit : I am turning cold-hearted and indevout; I am growing worldly again, and self-seeking: I am growing envious, suspicious, harsh of temper, hasty of speech: I am growing careworn, depressed, unthankful. All that must be changed: O Blessed Saviour, give Thy Spirit to change it! And then the solid comfort of feeling, if we could but really feel, that all the worries, all the petty sordid vexations which come of dealings with impracticable, wrong

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headed, stupid, dishonest people, all the growing weariness, and the blank dissatisfaction, and the gleam gone from this world, are God's discipline to work the higher inner health and life and prosperity. Even in seasons of despondency, deep almost as Elijah's, what a true help, just to cling to this one thing, and hold it tight in the darkness, that God has sent this. This is what I need: let His Blessed Spirit make it do what He intended. If in any good measure we succeed in attaining this, then, in so doing, we have transferred our true interest and our soul's portion from this outer worldly scene, with its innumerable accidents and mischances, never to be quite guarded against, and from whose reach not even God's own people (though loved of Him) are free; to that serener inner region where there are no mischances; where it may be all prosperity, all growth, all increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end. We have got away from the strifes and storms of time, into the calm of eternity: we have turned from the seen to the unseen: we have set our true life where it is no longer at the mercy of a thousand outward contingencies, but where it is "hid with Christ in God."-Boyd.

[16356] The gate is open. Come unto me" is the inscription without-"Sin no more" the watchword within: rest of heart and soul, peace amidst trouble, strength in weakness, life in death, shall be yours on the instant: safety still, eternal life still, when flesh and heart fail you : a course like that of the light which goes on and illuminates unto a perfect day; at last, that rest which remaineth and is no more brokena home where Christ is, and, with Him, quietness and assurance for ever.—Dean Vaughan.