resolves, the mass of those early believers would have been swept away and lost forever to the cause of Christ by the corrupted currents of the world's tumultuous life; would have been swallowed up by the mighty maelstrom of selfish greed, of carnal indulgence, of worldly ambition, of bloody strife, which then engulfed the masses of mankind. But for the church, which, in the providence of God, preserved the traditions and the testimonies of the great Teacher, which kept alive the story of His wondrous works and transmitted the knowledge of them to coming generations, all that Jesus said and did would have died away upon the airs of time and perished from the memory of the race. tianity obtained a sure foothold as a new revelation of God to men, it survived the dark days that followed the crucifixion of him who gave it being, it became a great, on-going, ever-swelling movement in human history, because the church was founded in Christ's own day, as a result of his labors, as a fruit of his spirit, as a conservator of the Gospel of the Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of man. The new wine of the divine kingdom was put into the new bottles of a regenerate, Christianized church, and was thus preserved. Chris 4. The fulfillment of the profounder hopes and aspirations of a human heart in the earlier ages of the world, in the most inspired teachings of the ancient Jewish people, was largely if not wholly dependent upon the founding of a church on the part of him by whose agency the foreshadowed result was to be accomplished. Thus Moses is reputed to have said, "The Lord thy God will raise up to thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren; unto him shalt thou hearken." - Deut. xviii. 15. ·Deut. xviii. 15. And Isaiah, And Isaiah, "Unto us a child is born, a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this." Isa. ix. 6, 7. "Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment unto the Gentiles." "He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth and the isles shall wait for his law."-Isa. xlii. 1, 4. ·Isa. xlii. 1, 4. And yet another, "I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven; And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." - Daniel vii. 13, 14. *** Now whatever theory we may adopt in regard to the prophetic writings of the Old Testament, or whatever view we may hold concerning the direct application of the passages quoted to the person and mission of Christ, it cannot, I think, be doubted that they were the formulated utterances of those instinctive desires and aspirations which God had implanted deep in the heart of humanity in the beginning and may reasonably be deemed divine auguries of some future good and glory for the race of some deliverer, Messiah, Saviour yet to come, who should bring redemption to Israel. Jesus did not refrain from applying them to himself and of considering them indicative of his mission; whether in a literal or in a spiritual sense does not affect materially the use I now make of them. That they have a place and a meaning in the divine order of the world, I have no doubt, as I have none that they are rich in promise for the generations and ages that were to be when they first found expression in human speech and took their place in the annals of the world. And my plea is, that, as such, the blessings that they foretell, so far as they were to be the outcome of the advent and life-work of Jesus of Nazareth, could not possibly have been shared and enjoyed to any marked degree except through the agency of the Christian society or church. This makes such society or church an indispensable adjunct or outcome of Christianity itself, a legitimate product of the work of Christ. 5. The New Testament records are replete with passages which imply if they do not positively declare that Christ regarded himself and was regarded as virtually the designer and founder of the church with which his name was and has always been identified. My text is one of these. "On this rock will I build my church," etc., and again, "I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am. known of mine." "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." -John x. 14, 16. As a final act of discipline in the case of an offending disciple he said; "Tell it unto the church; but if he neglect to hear the church let him be as a heathen man and a publican."-Matt. xviii. 17. When the great outpouring of the Spirit occurred on the day of Pentecost, soon after the passing away of Jesus from the earth, and multitudes were converted thereby under the preaching of Peter, it is written that "The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."— Acts ii. 47. "Ye are the body of Christ," said Paul, "and members in particular."-1 Cor. xii. 27. "Christ is the head of the church."- Eph. v. 23. "He (Christ) is the head of the body, the church." Col. i. 18. From these and kindred passages found in the Gospel and Epistles it seems to me evident that Christ deemed himself in some proper and distinctive sense the architect and builder of that religious order or associated group of men and women who owned a common allegiance to him, who were glad to confess that their highest, truest, best life was derived from him, and who felt bound to him by the most tender and sacred of ties those of spiritual sympathy and fellowship; an order or group known even at an early day as his church. And furthermore it seems evident that the Apostles, without any hesitation or question, regarded him in the same light; as standing in the same relation to themselves and their fellow-believers that the head in any living organism does to the various members and functions which make of that organism, a living, perfect whole. "For as the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have all been made to drink into one Spirit." "Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular." I Cor. xii. 12, 13, 27. - In my next I will enter upon an exposition of the intrinsic nature and constitutional character of Christ's true church. |