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teemed its joint celebration as the highest pledge as the hallowed test of obedience to the commandment of the Son of God; aid of the maintenance of that union which must characterise the true members of his church. Hence, St. Paul says The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the com munion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, being many, are one bread and one body FOR WE AFE ALL PARTAKERS OF THAT ONE BREAD. (1 Cor. 16, 17.)pmult o quo paitpo k. odv

Thus we see that our Lord taught and enforced the necessity of maintaining the unity of his church; and that a devout participation in this most sacred ordinance, and, therefore, in every act of public worship, is required, as a necessary proof of our love to him, and of our obedience to his commands.iigi eilt made on n tA

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Let us therefore, my brethren, be per fectly united in one heart, and in one mind, that the world may believe that Christ was sent from God the Father, and that we are his true disciples.otti nodig and divanda o evovlu end Lux quemolbit, histua so

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That they all may be one: as thou, Father, wart in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may know that thou hast sent me.

THE great duty of preserving the unity of the churchzin obedience to the command of our divine Master, was, in the apostolical age, emphatically asserted, and zealously -maintained; inasmuch as this church is represented as one individual body, of which Christ is the head. Thus the apostle tells us, that the Father gave Christ to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Eph. i. 22, 23.) Nor is this body to be regarded as an undistinguished mass, without internal order and harmony of parts: for the same apostle exhorts his converts, that they, speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head,

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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. (Eph. iv. 15, 16.) And, in another place, he speaks of holding the head, from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. (Col. ii. 19.)

20 Thus it appears, that the church of Christ his a well-organized body, in which every member has its due place and office, and the several parts have a mutual subserviency and co-operation to the good of the whole. Wherefore St. Paul exhorts, That there be no schismor breach in the body; but that all the members should have the same care one for another. (1 Cor. xii. 25.) He does not speak of the local congregations of the church as distinct bodies; for we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Rom. xii. 5.)

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In another place, he says God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now

beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together, in the same mind, and in the same judgment. (1 Corii 9, 10.)

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St. John also declares If we walk in the lighty as he is in the light, we have fellow ship one with another; and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John, 1.7.) Thus we learn that, in compliance with our Lord's new commandment, the apostles inculcated the essential lesson of unity in mind, in judgment, and in affec tions, amongst the true professors of Chris, tianity. And we shall presently see, that one principal end, for which a regular and duly authorised ministry had its appoint ment, was the maintenance of this union, which was consolidated, not only by the use of the same sacred ordinances, but also by the profession of one common faith, and the acknowledgment of one uniform system of doctrine. Many, indeed, have urged the plea of Christian liberty, for the disturbing of the constituted order of the church in these particulars. But it is clear, that this

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great principle of liberty, as infolded by the apostles, does not extend to the setting aside of the authorised ministry, or the dissolving of the integrity of Christ's body:stneither does it furnish the slightest pretence for any innovation in its faith, or the doctrine of its teachers; the purity and identity of the faith being essential to the very being of the church. Our Lord prayed to the Father, that all those who should believe in him through the word of his apostles, (might be preserved in perfect unity.Accordingly, we are told that the three thousand who were converted at one time by the preaching of St. Peter-those first fruits of the church

continued stedfast in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking bread and in prayer. (Acts, i42.) blodtre vlub

These converts not only received the doc trine of the apostles as they had been taught, but continued perfectly united with them, and with each other, in the congregation of the faithful, in the use of the shered ordinances, and in the form of worshipuɔThey did not satisfy themselves with a) general belief in the truth of the Gospel, cand then withdraw into little separate assemblies to

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