This is most distinct. We are not to judge those “without,” but we are to judge those “within.” That is, those who take the ground of being Christians—of being members of God’s assembly—all such come within the range of judgment. The very moment a man enters the assembly, he takes his place in that sphere where discipline is exercised upon every thing contrary to the holiness of the One who dwells there.
And let not the reader suppose for a moment that the unity of the _body_ is touched when the discipline of the _house_ is maintained. This would be a very serious mistake indeed; and yet, alas! it is a very common one. We frequently hear it said of those who rightly seek to maintain the discipline of the house of God, that they are rending the body of Christ. There could hardly be a greater mistake. The fact is, the former is our bounden duty; the latter, an utter impossibility. The discipline of God’s house must be carried out; but the unity of Christ’s body can never be dissolved.
Again, we sometimes hear people speak of cutting off the limbs of the body of Christ. This also is a mistake. Not a single limb of the body of Christ can ever be disturbed. Each member has been incorporated into its place by the Holy Ghost, in pursuance of the eternal purpose of God, and on the ground of the accomplished atonement of Christ; nor can any power of men or devils ever sever a single limb from the body. All are indissolubly joined together in a perfect unity, and maintained therein by divine power. The unity of the Church of God may be compared to a chain stretching across a river: you see it at either side, but it dips in the middle; and if you were to judge by the sight of your eyes, you might suppose that the chain had given way at the centre. So is it with the Church of God: it was seen to be one at the beginning; it will be seen to be one by and by; and it is, in God’s sight, one now, though the unity be not visible to mortal eyes.
It is of the very last moment that the Christian reader should be thoroughly clear on this great Church-question. The enemy has sought, by every means in his power, to cast dust into the eyes of God’s dear people, in order that they might not see the truth in this matter. We have on the one side, the boasted unity of Roman Catholicism; and on the other hand, the deplorable divisions of Protestantism. Rome points, with an air of triumph, to the numerous sects of Protestants; and Protestants likewise point to the numerous errors, corruptions, and abuses of Romanism. Thus the earnest seeker after truth hardly knows where to turn or what to think; while, on the other hand, the careless, the indifferent, the self-indulgent, and the world-loving are only too ready to draw a plea, from all that they see around them, for flinging aside all serious thought and concern about divine things; and even if, like Pilate, they sometimes flippantly ask the question, “What is truth?” they, like him, turn on their heel without waiting for an answer.
Now, we are firmly persuaded that the true secret of the whole matter—the grand solution of the difficulty—the real relief for the hearts of God’s beloved saints, will be found in the truth of the indivisible unity of the Church of God, the body of Christ, on the earth. This truth is not merely to be held as a doctrine, but to be confessed, maintained, and carried out, at all cost to ourselves. It is a great formative truth for the soul, and contains in it the only answer to Rome’s boasted unity on the one hand, and to Protestant divisions on the other. It will enable us to testify to Protestantism that we have found unity, and to Roman Catholicism that we have found the unity of the Spirit.
It may, however, be argued, in reply, that it is the veriest Utopianism to seek to carry out such an idea in the present condition of things. Every thing is in such ruin and confusion that we are just like a number of children who have lost their way in a wood, and are trying to make the best of their way home, some in large parties, some in groups of two or three, and some all alone.
Now this may seem very plausible; and we do not doubt in the least but that it would carry immense weight with a large number of the Lord’s people at the present moment; but in the judgment of faith, such a mode of putting the matter possesses no weight whatever. And for this simple reason, that the one all-important question for faith is this, namely, Is the unity of the Church a human theory or a divine reality? A divine reality most surely, as it is written, “There is one body, and one Spirit,” (Eph. iv. 4.) If we deny that there is “one body,” we may, with equal force, deny that there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all,” inasmuch as all lie side by side on the page of inspiration, and if we disturb one, we disturb all.