Then thro' the mid complaint of my confession, Then thro' the pang and passion of my prayer,
Leaps with a start the shock of His possession, Thrills me and touches, and the Lord is there.
Scarcely I catch the words of His revealing. Hardly I hear Him, dimly understand,
Only the Power that is within me pealing Lives on my lips and beckons to my hand.
Whoso hath felt the Spirit of the Highest Cannot confound nor doubt Him nor deny:
Yea with one voice, O world, tho' thou deniest, Stand thou on that side, for on this am I.
2. The Church must recognize a real brotherhood among its members. — We shall be helped to understand the meaning of the Apostle's doctrine concerning the Church as a brotherhood if we Bee what he has written in other portions of his Epistles. In the text he declares that the Church is the body of Christ. He uses the same figure of speech many times. " But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ ; from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." " For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the
EPHESIANS I. 22, 23 15
same office : so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." " Now ye are the body of Christ, and members each in his part." Nothing can be clearer, in the light of these words, than that the Church of Jesus Christ means a real brotherhood among the members.
^ A comparatively new method of Christian work is what is known as the Brotherhood Movement. The meetings of this movement are held mostly on Sunday afternoons, and they give a pleasant hour to thousands who never otherwise attend any place of worship. Doubtless the movement has been a boon and a blessing. The president of the movement recently said : " We are part of organized Christianity, and we must ally our forces with other parts of God's great army, and present to the world a united front, and together attack the forces of evil." In the same address he presented some of the perils of the movement, and sounded, not without reason, the note of warning. The Sunday school can speak of its losses through the pleasant enticements of the Brotherhood meetings. Experience will teach us how to avoid the perils, and to secure the best service and most helpful work in the one and the other. The gleams of God's glory shine in buoyant hope wherever the truth of brotherhood is declared. The Church of Christ, which is His body, meets all human needs. The claims of brotherhood are recognized as being far-reaching. These claims are founded upon the relationship which exists between each member and the risen Lord. In Christ we are all brethren.^
^ The name of brother carries with it a sweet and delectable sound, and is in itself an argument for peace. It is true that the complication of interests strangely relaxes the fraternal tie ; brethren pursuing their fortune by the same path often jostle and hinder one another; but a common faith originates a true and perfect brotherhood, which nothing should ever be allowed to disturb. The beautiful ideal of brotherly kindness is always a reason for peace. Fraternal discord is an odious spectacle. Strife between those who should be friends is more grievous than an outbreak of plague. . . . Quarrels among brethren are always unnatural, and in the presence of unbelievers — the Canaanite and the Perizzite in the land — unspeakably mischievous. There is always a common foe around us, within earshot of our brawling and controversy, rejoicing in our internecine warfare, and watching for our fall. On the other hand, it is beautiful and impressive when men who are united by a common faith and hope live in
» J. C. Owen.
i6 THE CHURCH
love and peace. " Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity ! "
Keligion should extinguish strife, And make a calm of human life.^
3. The Church must fulfil its mission to the world. — Through the Church, which is His body, Christ carries on the work of salvation. Thought cannot express itself apart from the body, even so Christ cannot carry on His work without His Church. "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." Over the waves of the ages sound the marching orders, " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
^ It is as the Church realizes and expresses the mind and purpose of Christ, that He finds in it the reward of His great sufferings, the satisfaction of His beneficent desires. The stars obedient in their courses, and the flowers lovely in their season, are emblematic of a higher and an enduring perfection in the moral world, where men are won to Christ and choose His will as their highest good. His wisdom, and purity, and grace, and love will then become their abiding possessions, they will be transformed into His nature, and be filled with His disinterested affection, and be moved with a benevolence from whose all-comprehensive sweep nothing can escape.^