I now proceed to notice, II. The excellence of that constitution —
In our text, this particular constitution is set forth,
1. As ornamental to the Church itself —
[Let any one view the Church as so constituted. Let the loftiest " firs and pines" be viewed in union with the humble " box;" the kings and princes of the earth assembled at the footstool of the Divine Majesty in concert with the lowliest classes of mankind : all there are bowing their knees together before their common Lord and Master : the same confessions, how humiliating soever they may be, proceed equally from the lips of all : the same petitions for grace, for mercy, for peace, for strength, are urged by all, with equal and united importu- nity: the same devout acknowledgments are poured forth by all for blessings received : the word delivered to them all is pronounced with the same authority, and entire submission to it required from them all under the same awful sanctions: the same invitations and promises are held forth to all : and the same glorious inheritance assured to all who receive and obey the word. View them all as then sitting down together at the table of the Lord, as guests equally invited ; and equally accepted, by the great Master of the feast ; all eating of the same bread ; all drinking of the same cup ; and all receiving into their souls the same heavenly communications; and all returning to their homes refreshed and strengthened for their future labours. Say, is not this lovely? Is it not a very emblem of heaven itself, where a poor Lazarus, whose very sores the dogs but lately licked, because he had not a friend to bind them up, now sits down with all the Prophets and Apostles of the Lord at the heavenly banquet, his head reclined in the very bosom of Abraham himself? Yes ; thus it is in the Church below : " The rich and the poor meet together ; and the Lord is the Maker of them all," the Father of them all, the portion of them allf. Amongst them all, there is no room either for contempt or envy ; the honour and the happiness of all being wholly independent on worldly circumstances, and dependent only on the access to God which each obtains for himself, and the consequent manifestations of God's love which he is privi- leged to enjoy. Their degree of usefulness to the Church may indeed be affected by the situations which they severally occupy in civil life, and the qualifications with which they are endowed : but, as in the natural body, so in Christ's mystical body, though one member may have a higher office than another, none can dispense with the services of the rest : " the
1 Prov. xxix. 13. VOL. VIII. n N