It is not the purpose, in the present series of brief articles, to go into detail as to the nature, unity and order of the Church of God, but rather to dwell upon those characteristics which at the present time appeal to us, for the refreshment of our memories or the awakening of our consciences. This indeed calls for a brief recapitulation of the salient features of the Church, so that we may have before us the standard, the Church as unfolded in Scripture-the ideal, "without spot or wrinkle." Such it will be in the day of glory toward which we are hastening; such it ever was, and is, in the mind and heart of God.

But why, it may be asked, do we speak of present day papers on this subject? Is there a condition now existing which calls for some other provision of divine grace, some modification of the character and testimony which was sufficient in other days, but which has outlived its usefulness? To the thoughtful, reverent mind, such questions may seem needless, but as we go on with our subject, it will be seen that perhaps most of us may profit by at least facing conditions and giving the only answer possible to faith.

While details will come before us as we go on, it may be well to call to mind the prominent scriptures which present the Church to us. These include:-Ephesians, where we may say we have the abiding nature of the Church as Body, House and Bride; 1 Corinthians, giving us the formation, functions, and responsibilities of the Church as a vessel of testimony and of service upon earth; 1 Timothy and Titus giving its order and government; 2 Timothy, the provision for faith in a day of human failure; the epistles to the churches in Rev. 1-3, the moral conditions-which have marked the Church throughout the various stages of its entire history. This, of course, does not exclude other portions of the Word, notably Matt. 16, the book of Acts, 2 Corinthians and Colossians, together with other scriptures which apply to the subject. Those named,, however, are the principal portions which will claim our attention.

It may also be added that some special remarks will be made upon the character of various meetings of the saints, and other activities which are not literally prescribed in the Scriptures, but which we all recognize as being neither unscriptural nor useless. This will be seen when we come to those features. Perhaps in connection with these matters we shall find special need for mutual exhortation, and personal exercise.

One further word before we begin our main examination :It need hardly be remarked that we are living in the closing days of the Church's history, in which we have the fulfilment of divine predictions before our eyes. Great spiritual and moral declension are everywhere manifest; the mixture of mere profession with the true people of God is an admitted fact, even defended by many; rationalism, false doctrine, the hydra-headed forms of Modernism are bold, insistent and vicious in their assaults upon the truth; at the opposite extreme are increasingly numerous fanatical cults, laying claim to miscellaneous and apostolic manifestations-of "perfect holiness," the gifts of tongues and of healing.

Outside of all these we find various anti-Christian forms of error calling themselves by Christian names, gradually shading off into oriental heathen darkness. Truly, we are living in days of apostasy. It seems only necessary to advance some extravagant theory in order to find willing adherents.
The low moral tone of public and private conduct, the mad rush after wealth, pleasure, power; the increasing disregard of all authority – parental, governmental and divine; the wretchedness of poverty in many nations, the restlessness of the masses both politically and socially, and the mutterings of war-alas, it is a dark and dreadful picture, but is it not a true one? Again we hear a Voice, the Shepherd's voice, "Little children, it is the last time."

What, then, is the Church of God? What its nature and destiny? The answer is given with divine clearness in the Scriptures. It is the Body of Christ, of which He, the risen Lord, is Head (Eph. 1:22, 23). As such it is already united to Him, indwelt and baptized by the Holy Spirit. Looked at as a temple, it is built upon the immutable Rock, "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16-18). It is also presented to us as the Bride in glory, in the future,

"Meet companion then for Jesus."

1. We will speak first of the Church as the Body of Christ. This is sometimes spoken of as "the mystical body"; but such an expression is apt to be misunderstood, as implying something vague, indeterminate and inexact. The reverse of all this is true. While no sober Christian thinks that it means a literal, human, material body, it does mean a true, vital, organic reality. The Body of Christ is as real as the Head of the body, for it is united to Him by unbreakable ties. We hesitate to say that the body is an illustration of the relationship of the Church to the Lord. It is more than an illustration, as will easily appear upon thoughtful meditation.

For it is a participant in His life. While new birth and the baptism of the Spirit are to be distinguished, they cannot, in this dispensation, be separated. "You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Eph. 2; Gal. 2). The opposite of the life in Christ is death. So that while life was the portion of believers from the beginning, throughout all dispensations, yet it is now characterized by the presence and fulness of the Spirit, who dwells in every believer, and thus has baptized him into the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). Since Pentecost this blessed fact has been true. We cannot conceive of the Church as composed of rejects member, partakers of a life held independently of the Head or of each other.

Therefore it is a unity. This follows immediately upon what has been said. If all believers are partakers of a common life, united to one Head, they must be also united to one another. That unity is so wide that it includes every participant in the life of the Head; so narrow that it excludes every one not a partaker of that life. But this gives a definite fixed Body of which every child of God in this dispensation is a member. Nothing is left to human skill and wisdom, nothing to the choice of men. It is a divine workmanship-"We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." I find myself, through infinite grace, trusting, as an unworthy sinner, in the blessed Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour; I am, by that very fact, sealed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit who has united me to the risen Son of God. What is true of me is also true of every other sinner saved by grace. What folly then to attempt to separate what God has thus joined together. So surely as we have been joined to the Lord, we have been also joined to one another.

And could we by any ingenuity of human energy introduce a single soul into such a unity? It is by the sovereign, omnipotent grace of God alone that such a membership is formed. We can only wonder and exclaim as each new born soul is united to the Body-"What hath God wrought!" Preach the word we must; warn, beseech, persuade men; labor, pray, weep over souls-but the work is God's. This does not tie our hands, nor make us slothful or indifferent; it will rather stimulate us to increasing earnestness, but it will cast us all the more upon God.

It will also lead us to lay stress upon the divinely given instrument of conversion. We will be more concerned with preaching the Word, in its fulness, its simplicity, its holiness and its love than with "methods of Gospel work." Far be it from us to criticize beloved servants of God needlessly; rather let us pray for every laborer in the white harvest fields; but we would most earnestly and affectionately emphasize the necessity of the Holy Spirit's work. Anything that savors of mere human excitement, of unduly pressing persons to make a public profession, of sweeping them off their feet (only to meet the inevitable reaction) -we surely need to guard against such methods. After all, nothing can take the place of the "still small voice" which bows the soul in the presence of infinite truth and holiness, of infinite love and grace.

Here then is the true unity. The same divine power has wrought in all; souls have passed out of death into life; they are alike sharers in the salvation of God. They are thus already a unity, which our sad failures but too easily break-so far as outward appearance goes-and blur the oneness of all believers. Thanks be to God, it cannot be really severed; but how sad it is when newly born souls are told to "unite with the church of their choice," to take up with this or that unscriptural practice. We do not minimize the confused state of things in Christendom, or think lightly of a path strewn with many stumbling blocks of human expedients, and too often of human pride and self-will. But we do plead for a simpler, larger faith in the all-sufficiency of the Word of God to order all things for the path in consistency with its truth -"There is one Body and one Spirit." "Now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him" (1 Cor. 12:18). This is as true today as when it was first spoken. Let us not think lightly of it.

Alas, we have sinned, have failed utterly to exhibit this unity of the body. We have allowed worldliness, and a low spiritual state, unjudged conduct, to mar our testimony. We have made our poor little shibboleths the touchstone instead of the infallible Word of God. We have allowed pride of knowledge to place us on a pedestal above our brethren, instead of being at their feet in lowly, loving service.

But while we have failed, the truth of God has not failed. Granted that our state might warrant our being set aside as a testimony, still there remains in all its peerless beauty the truth of the one Body of Christ upon earth. God has no other way of testimony; reverently we say, He cannot, for it would deny what He Himself has established.

We hear whisperings of forming a fresh testimony in view of the abounding infidelity in the various Protestant denominations. God grant that the awakening of conscience may result in a true reviving, a clearer witness to the truth of the Church of God. But what is this new testimony to be? A fresh denomination? A voluntary society with its own creed, organization, methods? Most earnestly would we declare there can be no true testimony that does not rest upon the solid rock of divine truth. There can be no "Body" but the one Body formed by Christ through the Holy Spirit. We cannot, we would not, set aside that divine work.

So we would say to all, "He that hath an ear let him hear." Let us take nothing but the word of God as our guide, our charter, our constitution. Will it lead us into different paths? Will it encourage us to say, "I am of Paul, I of Apollos?" Humble us it will, bring us to our knees and to great searchings of heart; but it will leave us facing the truth of the unity of the Church of God as unfolded in His word. We will not think lightly of any effort, no matter how feeble, to obey this word, nor will we deride the little companies of those who have nothing to show but His word, His name as their authority for standing as witnesses for Him.

And oh, what shall we say of those who see these priceless truths, and who becloud them with their worldly pride, their spiritual conceit and slothfulness, their strife and discord! We shrink from the assumption of "apostolic succession," but are we not in as great danger of proclaiming ourselves as the lineal descendants of those who have laid down their necks for Christ and His truth, while destitute of the devotion which marked those men of God? Let us not deceive ourselves, nor boast of our knowledge, our literature, our outward correctness. Surely we may find a message for ourselves in the word to Ephesus- "Thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works" (Rev. 2:4,5).

Truly, God is calling to His whole Church to give heed to these things. It will be vain for us, while ignoring these foundation facts, to pride ourselves upon our attainments, activities, position, whatever it may be. And here, as in all things which have to do with our God, the work is individual, and must begin in the closet. If not another person in the world is exercised about these conditions the call is all the louder to me, to thee, beloved Christian reader, to awake and call upon our God.

But our message is not one of gloom or discouragement. We have to do with the "God of hope;" the Lord Jesus is "our hope," not only for the bright prospect of His coming-oh, the gladness of that day-but to lead us on, to deliver us from ourselves, from the spirit of the world, from the pride of man. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me" is still His word for us, individually and corporately. Blessed Lord! There is no one but Thyself to whom we can turn. S. R.