[November 8th, 1857.]
Men exist as individuals. These are united by common bonds. 1. Of brotherhood as men. 2. By rational relations. 3. By common descent, as in tribes or clans, e.g., the Jews. 4. By common blood as in families. But there is a communion of saints, that is, a community bound together as saints, and because they are saints. Here are two ideas. (1.) Saints. (2.) Communion.
I. Those who are thus united are saints.
It is evident from the nature of the union that it cannot arise from anything external. It is not subjection to the same ecclesiastical head, nor to the same governing body, nor to the same constitution, nor to the same creed speculatively adopted. The saints are not those outwardly consecrated, not mere professors, but those truly sanctified. The union which binds them together arises from their being born again, and being made truly the children of God. Hence the communion of saints is the communion of true believers.
II. Communion, , having things in common, from , to have things in common. The communion of saints arises therefore from the fact, or consists in the fact that they have this in common. 1. They sustain a common relation to Christ. They all partake of him. They are members of his body, of his family, of his flock, of his kingdom. They all partake of the benefits of his redemption. They are all the objects of his love. The more intimate the union with Christ, the more intimate the communion of saints. The more conscious we are of our union with Christ, the more conscious we shall be of our communion with his people. As the union between Christ and his people is a vital one, more intimate than any other, so the bond which unites saints is the most intimate of all bonds. 2. They have the Holy Ghost in common. They are all partakers of the Holy Ghost. He dwells in all. They have a common participation of life. Hence (a.) They have a common faith. (b.) They have a common experience. The religious experience of one Christian is the same as that of all others. Hence sympathy and congeniality exist. (c.) They have common objects of affection and allegiance. They all love and serve the same Master, and are devoted to the same cause. (d.) They have a common destiny in this life, and in the life to come. 3. This communion expresses or manifests itself, (a.) In mutual affection. (b.) In the recognition of each other as Christians. (c.) In union, in worship and ordinances. (d.) In sympathy or fellow-feeling, so that if one member rejoices, all the members rejoice with it. (e.) In community of goods, as far as is best in the present state of the world; that is, so far as it does not destroy the motive to individual exertion, and so far as is consistent with that accumulation of capital, and division of labor which are best suited to the present condition of men.
Consider,
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The importance attached to the communion of saints in the Scriptures.
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The lamentable defects of Christians in this respect, not only of churches but of individual Christians. They do not love each other as they ought. They do not sympathize with and assist each other as they ought, but feel and act towards their fellow Christians very much as they do towards other men. 3. The Bible makes Christian communion essential. If we do not feel our union with believers, and sympathize with them, we are not united to Christ.
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