who are yet in the body to pray to him, and give him thanks. And between them and us there is this fellowship and sympathy: not only that we all trust in the same redemption, but that, as we rejoice in their present rest and their future glory, so shall they hereafter rejoice in the salvation of those who survived them upon earth.

And not only is there a communion between all Christians who are, or have been, in the world; but also between them and all the faithful who died before Christ's coming; the patriarchs, the prophets, and the good men of ancient times. All these now rest in hope: for them the christian church rejoices; since with them she shall be saved hereafter, through the mercies of our Lord. (Matt. viii. 11.)

A communion also subsists between the church now on earth and the company in heaven. The angels, as our blessed Lord tells us, rejoice when men are saved. (Luke xv. 10.) And in the steadfastness of those blessed spirits, who kept their first estate, when the disobedient angels fell, the church on earth rejoices. Thus there is a community of affection between the church visible and invisible. There is also a community of employment. In heaven, the praise of God is the

continual occupation of the blessed spirits; on earth it is the chief pleasure, and, if it were in their power, would be the chief occupation, of the good. And the crowning blessing which the inhabitants both of earth and heaven enjoy, the one imperfectly and invisibly, the other visibly and eternally, is the presence of God.

All these, the living and the dead, the heavenly and the earthly church, maintain their holy agreement, through the imparted grace of God. And since those who receive his grace are participators of his nature, therefore those who have christian fellowship one with another (1 John i. 3) have also fellowship with God the Father.

To maintain this perfect communion is the highest blessing promised by the Gospel of our Lord; to enjoy it perfectly is to be in heaven; to promote it on earth is to make this world resemble heaven. Where there is love and concord, there is Christ in the midst of us; and where Christ is, there must be every blessing: since the followers of Christ are his companions, his friends, his brethren; the heirs with him of his Father's inheritance; those to whom God hath freely given all things. (Rom. viii. 32.)

But when shall this communion be perfect upon earth? For now, so divided and distracted

is the christian church, that we have urgent need indeed to pray to God, as for an unaccomplished blessing, that his kingdom may come, and his will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. For, however desirous the true servants of God may be for the universal prevalence of this heavenly concord, yet they must hourly acknowledge, that the channels of its diffusion are impeded by the weakness and wickedness of man. The church is at variance with itself, one member with another; and nation rises against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, not only in a temporal, but also in a spiritual, warfare: and christian men act as if there were many bodies of Christ; when, in fact, by their own wickedness, that one body is torn and rent asunder!

Now the real and sound portions of Christ's church are those, who have always believed and maintained all doctrines and holy practices which the Scriptures teach; and which, being in accord ance with Scripture, or not contradictory to it, are known, from history and sure testimony, to have been held by the apostles and their successors; and have been held by the great body of the faithful, in all places and in all ages.

And such a branch is that to which we belong; the church of England and Ireland. This church

holds the pure doctrine of Christ. She believes in God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. She receives his sacraments, his grace, his benefits, both present and to come. She has bishops, priests, and deacons. She acknowledges the entire of Holy Scripture, and teaches the same to all her members. She holds the doctrine which was held by the apostles, and which the testimony of those ages which were nearest the apostolic times assures us are true. She rejects all doctrine opposed to Scripture, all things that are the mere superstitious inventions of men; and professes nothing, as essential to salvation, except that which has been taught her from above.

Hereafter the church shall be, in its fullest and real sense, triumphant: for then the angels and all faithful Christians shall form one company, triumphing for ever over the destruction of death and sin. And not only they, but also, as we said before, all the holy men of the remotest times (Luke xiii. 28), who, before the coming of Christ, have served God, and who shall be redeemed by his blood, shed as well for them, as for those who, in after ages, were baptized in his name; these all shall form, hereafter, the church of God in heaven. Then, every corrupt

branch being cut off, and every perfect one having attained its full maturity, the church of God, the body of Christ, the vine of his planting, the temple of his Holy Spirit, shall be complete, and God shall dwell in the midst of it: the Lord shall be their everlasting life, and their God their glory.

Extracted from "The Divine Economy of the
Church."

J. Rider, Printer, 14, Bartholomew Close, Londor.