XV.

[Preached January 11, 1852.]

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH A FAMILY.

EPHESIANS iii. 14, 15. —“Our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named."

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IN the verses immediately before the text the Apostle Paul has been speaking of what he calls a mystery that is, a revealed secret; and the secret was this, that the Gentiles would be "fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ by the Gospel." It had been kept secret from the former ages and generations; it was a secret which the Jew had not suspected-had not even dreamt of. It ap peared to him to be his duty to keep as far as possible from the Gentile. Circumcision, which taught him the duty of separation from the Gentile spirit, and Gentile practices, seemed to him to teach hatred towards Gentile persons, until, at length, in the good pleasure and providence of God, in the fulness of time, through the instrumentality of men whose hearts rather than whose intellects were inspired by God, the truth came out distinct and clear, that God was the Father of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews, "for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him." (Rom. x. 12.) In the progress of the months, my Christian

brethren, we have arrived again at that period of the year in which our Church calls upon us to commemorate the Epiphany, or manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, and we know not that in the whole range of Scripture we could find a passage which more distinctly and definitely than this brings before us the spirit in which it is incumbent upon us to enter upon this duty.

In considering this passage we shall divide it into these two branches:

I. The definition which the Apostle Paul here gives of the Church of Christ.

II. The Name by which this Church is named.

I. In the first place, let us consider the definition given by the Apostle Paul of the Christian Church, taken in its entirety. It is this"the whole family in heaven and earth." But, in order to understand this fully, it will be necessary for us to break it up into its different terms.

1First of all, it is taught by this definition that the Church of Christ is a society founded upon natural affinities a "family." A family is built on affinities which are natural, not artificial; it is not a combina tion, but a society. In ancient times an association of interest combined men in one guild or corporation for protecting the common persons in that corporation from oppression. In modern times identity of politi cal, creed or opinion has bound men together in oné. league, in order to establish those political principles: which appeared to them of importance. Similarity of taste has united men together in what is called an association or a society, in order by this means, tơ

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attain more completely the ends of that science to which they had devoted themselves. But, as these have been raised artificially, so their end is, inevitably, dissolution. Society passes on, and guilds and corpo rations die; principles are established, and leagues become dissolved; tastes change, and then the associa tion or society breaks up, and comes to nothing. It is upon another principle altogether that that which we call a family, or true society, is formed. It is not built upon similarity of taste, nor identity of opinion; but upon affinities of nature. You do not choose who shall be your brother; you cannot exclude your mother or your sister; it does not. depend upon choice or arbitrary opinion at all, but is founded upon the eternal nature of things. And precisely in the same way is the Christian Church formed-upon natural affinity, and not upon artificial combination. "The family, the whole family in heaven and earth;" not made up of those who call themselves brethren, but of those who are brethren; not founded merely upon the principles of combination, but upon the principles of affinity. That is not a church, or a family, or a society, which is made up by men's choice; as when, in the upper classes of life, men of fashion unite together, selecting their associates from their own class, and from what is technically called a society; it is a combination, if you will; but a society it is not, a family it is not, a Church of Christ it cannot be. And, again, when the Baptists or the Independents, of any other sectarians, unite themselves, with men holding the same faith and entertaining the same opinions, there may be a sect, a combination, a persuasion, but a Church there cannot be. And so, again, when the Jew,

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time past, linked himself with the Jew, with those of the same nation, there you have what in ancient times was called Judaism, and in modern is called Hebraicism-a system, a combination, but not a Church The Church rises ever out of the family. First of all, in the good providence of God, there is the family, then the tribe, then the nation; and then the nation merges itself into humanity. And the naj tion which refuses to merge its nationality in Human ity, to lose itself in the general interests of mankind is left behind, and loses almost its religious nationality, like the Jewish people.

Such is the first principle. A man is born of the same family, and is not made such by an appointment, or by arbitrary choice.

2. Another thing which is taught by this definition is this, that the Church of Christ is a whole, made up of manifold diversities. We are told here

whole family" taking into it the great and good of ages past, now in heaven; and also the struggling, the humble, and the weak, now existing upon earth. Here, again, the analogy holds good between the Church and the family. Never more than in the family is the true entirety of our nature seen. Observe how all the di versities of human condition and character manifest themselves in the family. First of all; there are the two opposite poles of masculine and feminine, which contain within them the entire of our humanity which together, not separately, make up the whole of man. Then there are the diversities in the degrees and kinds of affection. For, when we speak of family affection, we must remember that it is made up of many diver sities. There is nothing more different than the love

which the sister bears towards the brother, compared with that which the brother bears towards the sister. The affection which a man bears towards his father is quite distinct from that which he feels towards his mother; it is something quite different towards, his sister; totally diverse again towards his brother. And then there are diversities of character. First, the ma ture wisdom and stern integrity of the father; then the exuberant tenderness of the mother. And then one is brave and enthusiastic, another thoughtful, and another tender. One is remarkable for being full of rich humor; another is sad, mournful, even melancholy. Again, besides these, there are diversities of condition in life. First, there is the heir, sustaining the name and honor of the family; then, perchance, the soldier, in whose career all the anxiety and solicitude of the family are centred; then the man of business, to whom they look up, trusting his advice, expecting his coun, self lastly, perhaps, there is the invalid, from the very cradle trembling between life and death, drawing out all the sympathies and anxieties of each member of the family, and so uniting them all more closely, from their having one common point of sympathy and solicitude. Now, you will observe that these are not angidental, but absolutely essential to the idea of a family; for so far as any one of them is lost, so far the family is incomplete. A family made up of one sex alone, all brothers and no sisters, or in which all are devoted to one pursuit, or in which there is no diversity of temper and dispositions, the same monot onous repeated identity, a sameness in the type of character, — this is not a family; it is only the frag ment of a family.