Besides these different senses of the church universal, there is in the New Testament another meaning of the word church, a particular body of Christians united for their common edification by the ministry of the word and the celebration of the ordinances of the Christian religion. Paul writes to "the church which is in Corinth," to "the churches in Galatia," and the messages in the Apocalypse are addressed to "the seven churches which are in Asia."

I shall now go on to state in what consisted the unity of the church universal in the days of the apostles. "There is one body and one spirit." Here is a figure evidently derived from the human constitution. The human body is one because it is animated by one soul. So is the church of Christ one, because it is pervaded by a common spirit, the spirit of Christ, the spirit of piety and benevolence. And this, after all, is the only basis of true communion. It is of no consequence to me that a man communes with me at the same table, if I have no spiritual communion with him,—if he have not integrity, piety, and benevolence. It is of no consequence to me that a man communes at a different table, if, on becoming acquainted with him, I find there is a moral sympathy between us. In this sense, there is a unity in the church at the present hour. All truly good men have a moral sympathy with each other all over the world, and are prepared to enjoy each other's society on earth and in heaven. Not only so, this oneness of spirit makes the church one in all ages and all times. A true Christian now, is just what a true Christian was in the days of the apostles, because vir

tue and piety are forever the same. Human nature is the same, and its trials are the same that they were two thousand years ago. The truly good, who have arrived at heaven, are all of one church. All speculative differences have been removed by the light of eternity. The differences of modes and forms, of course, have become of the things which have passed away. They were in their own nature only instrumental, and having accomplished their purpose, they are forgotten. Of what consequence is it to the immortal spirit in heaven, whether the mortal body it has left behind was baptized with much water or little, provided the soul was baptized into the spirit of Christ? Of what consequence will it be to inquire, whether that body received the communion standing or sitting, reclining or kneeling, provided the soul obtained its spiritual life and strength from the words of Christ, of which the elements of communion are merely symbolical? Of what consequence will be the name by which the person was called, who ministered the word, which enlightened and sanctified and saved the soul, whether bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, or even if he had no distinctive name at all, and were one of the brethren peculiarly gifted?

The second ground of unity of the church, which is mentioned by the Apostle is, that all Christians have "one Lord." What is lordship? It is simply authority. In the case of Christ, it is authority to teach, and authority to command, authority to bind the faith and the conscience. He treats Christ as his Lord, who believes what he has said, and does what he has

commanded. That this is the sense in which Christ claimed to be Lord of his followers, appears from his own words: "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?" "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

Lordship may be original, and it may be derived. In the case of Christ, it was derived. For Peter declares: "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." All the churches, then, which were planted by the apostles in various parts of the world, were united in this, that they deferred to the authority of Christ. What he had taught, they believed to be true; what he had commanded, they felt themselves under obligation to perform, because God had made him both Lord and Christ.

And so all Christian churches now, all over the world, have this common bond of unity, that they all acknowledge the lordship of Christ, they all defer to his authority. They confess their obligation to believe what he has said, and do what he has commanded. They differ as to the grounds of his lordship. Some make him Lord by original right, because he was God; others agree with the Apostle, and consider him Lord, because God made him so. All receive his teachings as of Divine authority, and regard them with a reverence which they pay to nothing else.

"One faith and one baptism

may be considered

together, as they were intimately connected, one being the profession of the other. One baptism has here no reference to the uniformity of the mode of baptism, as some have supposed, nor does it refer, as others have imagined, to the fact that the ceremony was performed but once, but simply that the rite meant the same thing all the world over.

And what did baptism mean all the world over? It was an initiation into the Christian church. It was a public profession of the Christian faith. And what was the Christian faith? We have its fundamental articles in the form of baptism itself. They were baptized into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. But a part of this creed was held by the Jews before. They believed in the Father, in Jehovah, the only living and true God. They believed in the Holy Ghost; they believed that God had miraculously made himself known.

But in order to learn what a man professed, when he was admitted into the Christian church, it is only necessary to go back to the first member that was received into it. And who was he? Plainly it was Peter. Jesus, after exhibiting to his disciples for some time his credentials, one day asked them whom they took him to be. Peter answered, according to Mark, "Thou art the Christ;" according to Luke, “Thou art the Christ of God." Jesus immediately calls him the corner stone of his church, or in other words its first member. The Jew then added to his belief in the one Jehovah, the belief in Jesus as the Messiah. When the Jews, after the ascension of Christ, were baptized

into the Christian church, it was not necessary that the whole form should be used, but only the name of Jesus. Accordingly, it seems, as we pursue the history, that in baptizing Jews and Samaritans, they made use only of the name of Jesus. Thus, in the second chapter of Acts, Peter says to the Jews, on the day of Pentecost: "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." When Philip the Evangelist went down to Samaria, and made converts of the Samaritans, it is said of them, that they "were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus."

But when heathens were to be baptized the case was different. They had known nothing of the Jehovah of the Jews. It was necessary, therefore, that they should profess belief in him, should be baptized into the name of the Father as well as the Son. It was necessary, too, that they should profess belief in the Holy Ghost, for this article alone established a peculiar relation between God and Jesus, which clothed him with divine authority. As was expressed by Peter on another occasion, in his speech to Cornelius and his companions "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power." Now, if a man did not believe that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, he could not be baptized, for he could not assent to the third article of the creed.

So, although the form of baptism was different under different circumstances, the substance was the same. under all circumstances. It might be broken up into