imaginary than real. There is " an unity of faith" to which they all come11; and which the untutored Indian attains as easily as the most learned philosopher; for it is learned by the heart rather than the head; and it is God alone that can guide us to the knowledge of it'.
In affection also they are one, being " kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love," and " loving one another with a pure heart fervently." They are all " taught of God to do sok." What the real tendency of Christianity is may be seen in the effects produced on the first Christians1: and if there is not the same measure of love among Christians of the present day, it is not owing to any want of efficacy in the grace of God, but to the slender measure in which it is possessed : for, in proportion as the grace of Christ abounds in the soul, will ever be the measure of our faith and love m.
Moreover, in the scope and tenour of their lives also they are one. They all acknowledge the Scriptures as the one directory which they are to follow ; and, according to their several
attainments, " they walk by the same rule"" Without
this, all other " unity," whether " in the faith," or " in the Spirit," is of no avail.
This " holding of the Head" by faith, this ministering to each other by love, and this progressive increase of the whole body in the ways of holiness, constitutes that true union which the Gospel produces, and which our Lord so earnestly desired in our behalf0.]
Let us now consider, II. The unspeakable importance of it —
Truly it is of the utmost importance : for on it depends,
I. The honour of Christ — [In the days of the Apostles, the Messiahship of Christ was abundantly proved by the most stupendous miracles wrought in confirmation of it. But it was the design of God, that, when Christianity was once established, it should carry its own evidence along with it, and convince men by producing such effects in the world as would demonstrate to all its Divine origin. The perfect consistency which there was in the testimony of all the Apostles and of the first teachers of Chris- tianity shewed, that they must have been inspired by the same Spirit ; who kept them all from error, and guided them into all truth. In the whole apostolic age we .read of but one
h Eph. iv. 13. '1 Cor. ii. 14. k 1 Thess. iv. 9.
i Actsii. 44,45. andiv. 32. '» 1 Tim. i. 14. Eph. iv. 3, 1, 7. " Phil. iii. 16. Gal. vi. Hi. ° Col. ii. 19.