as a building reared on this foundation, Ephes. ii. 20; and his application of the term oirodoμɛīv, to designate whatever contributes to the furtherance of Christian life. That principle, from which the formation of this communion proceeded, always continues to be the bond of its union. Paul, in treating of this unity, adduces as marks of its internal formation, that one spirit which animated this one body, the one object of heavenly blessedness to which they were called, the one faith in one God, whom through Christ they acknowledged as the Father of all, with whom through Christ and the Spirit imparted by him, they were connected most intimately, so that he rules over them with his all-guiding, all-protecting might, pervades them all with his efficacious power, and dwells in all by his animating Spirit-and the one Redeemer, whom they all acknowledge as their Lord, and to whom they were dedicated by baptism.' The chosen people, under the Old Testament form of the theocracy, constituted a contrast to the heathen nations, which was now transferred with a more spiritual and internal character to the community of believers. They retained the predicate of ayo and nyiaoμéroe as the holy, devoted people, in reference to the objective consecration founded on redemption, and their objective contrariety to the profane, the rooμor; but yet the subjective consecration arising from the development of the divine principle of life, was necessarily founded on the former, and inseparable from it-even as justification and sanctification are connected with one another. They retained also the predicate kλŋroì, as those who were called by the grace of God to a participation of the kingdom of God and eternal happiness; and this calling is not to be considered merely as outward, by virtue of the external publication of the gospel, but agreeably to its design, and as the very idea imports, the outward is united with the inward, the outward publication of the gospel with the efficacious inward call of the DivineSpirit, so that hence the idea of Kλnroì coincides with that of believers who really belong in heart to Christ. In general, Paul considers the outward and the inward, the idea and the

1 We cannot suppose that the ev Bánтioμa refers to unity in the outward institution of baptism, which would be here quite irrelevant. All the marks of unity manifestly relate to the same thing, to which the unity of faith also relates.

appearance, in all these relations as intimately connected, the confession as an expression of faith, 1 Cor. xii. 3,—the being in Christ as a reality, the being a professed Christian as a sign of inward communion with the Redeemer, 2 Cor. v. 17; and thus also the Church as the outward exhibition of the body of Christ, the fellowship truly established by the Spirit of God. The language in which he addresses individual churches is conformable to these views.

But though in general the apostle sets out from this point of view, yet it could not escape his observation that not all who represented themselves as outwardly members of the church, were really members of the body of Christ. This distinction he does not make in the original idea of the church, since it is not naturally deducible from it, but must be considered as something incongruous and morbid, and not to be known excepting by observation, unless we refer it to the inevitable disorders in the development of the visible church, owing to the reaction of sin. Certain experiences of this kind forced the distinction upon him; in 1 Cor. vi. 9, he declares that those who professed Christianity outwardly, and represented themselves as members of the church, but whose conduct was at variance with the requirements of Christianity, could have no part in the kingdom of God. It followed, therefore, that they were already excluded by their disposition from that kingdom, from that communion of the faithful and redeemed which, strictly speaking, constitutes the church. In this passage, he treats of cases in which the foreign elements which had mingled with the outward manifestation of the church, might be easily detected and expelled by the judgment of the Christian community for the preservation of its purity; for such marks of an unchristian course of life are here mentioned, as are notorious and apparent to every one. But an unchristian disposition, a deficiency of faith working by love, might exist, without being manifested by outward signs which would be as easily understood as in the former case; and here the separation of the elements corresponding to the idea of the έλŋσía from those that were incongruous, could not be so accurately made. We learn this from Paul himself, in 2 Tim. ii. 19, 20, where he contrasts with the apostates from Christian truth, those who constituted the firm foundation of God's house, and who

wore the impress of this seal, "The Lord knoweth them that are his," and "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." "In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and vessels of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour." The great house is here the visible church; in it there are those who are members only in appearance by an external superficial union, without really belonging to it by their disposition, and though reckoned by the Lord to be his, they are "the vessels to dishonour," and are thus distinguished from those who are united in heart to the church, "the vessels to honour," who, in order that they may be preserved as such, avoid all sin, and call on the name of the Lord without hypocrisy. He here intimates that the line of distinction between the genuine and spurious members of the church can be drawn only by God, who knows the state of the heart. Accordingly, in the application of the idea of the visible church, the distinction arises between the collective body of those in whom the appearance corresponds to what is internal and invisible, and those who belong to the church in appearance, without having internally any part in it.

Since the EKKλnoia as the body of Christ not merely lays claim to a part of the life of its members, but must embrace the whole as belonging to the Redeemer, and animated by the Holy Spirit, the source of life to the church, it follows that the care for the promotion of the good of the whole is committed not merely to certain officers and persons, but all the members are bound together as organs of that Spirit by whom Christ as the governing head animates each individual member, and thus connected, are to cooperate for the same object; Eph. iv. 16. Thus, accordingly, it is the duty of each one to consider the standing-point on which God has placed him by his natural character, his peculiar training, and his social relations, as that which determines the mode in which he may most effectually labour for this end. As all natural abilities are to be consecrated as forms of manifestation for the divine life, so the Holy Spirit, while animating the whole, appropriates each individual character, and gives to each one his special gifts by which he is ordained on his own standingpoint to promote the general good. Here we have the idea of charism, which has been already explained. Without the Holy Spirit and the charisms as the necessary manifestations

and signs of his continued efficacious presence in the collective body of believers, the church (which is the continued revelation of the divine life in human form proceeding from the glorified Saviour) cannot exist; 1 Cor. xii. By the spirit of love animating the whole, the charisms of all the individual members, forming reciprocal complements to each other, are conducted to the promotion of one object, the perfecting of the body of Christ; as Paul has so admirably represented in 1 Cor. xii.

Since the church is no other than the outward visible representation of the inward communion of believers with the Redeemer and one another, the institution of outward visible rites or signs corresponds to these two elements of it, (both as visible and invisible;) these rites, Baptism and the Supper, are designed to represent the facts which form the basis of this communion. Baptism denotes the confession of dependence on Christ and the entrance into communion with him; and hence, the appropriation of all which Christ promises to those who stand in such a relation to him; it is the putting on Christ, in whose name baptism is administered,' an expression which includes in it all we have said; Gal. iii. 27. As communion with Christ and the whole Christian life has a special reference to the appropriation of those two great events, his redeeming sufferings and his resurrection, Paul, alluding to the form in which baptism was then administered, and by this illustrating the idea of baptism, explains the outward act by a reference to these two events. (Ante, p. 161.) The twofold relation of man to the former standing-point of life which he had renounced, and to that new one which he had embraced, is here signified--entering into the communion of the death of Christ, into a believing appropriation of the work of redemption accomplished by his death, dying with him in spirit, to the world in which man has hitherto lived; mortifying self, as it heretofore existed, and by faith in his resurrection as a pledge of resurrection to an eternal divine life in a transformed personality, rising to a new life devoted

1 On the meaning of the formula, "to baptize in the name of any one," see the remarks of Dr. Bindseil in the Studien und Kritiken, 1832, part ii. Paul in Gal. iii. 27, might have said, All of you who have believed in Christ. But he said instead of this, "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ," since he viewed baptism as the objective sign and seal of the relation to Christ into which man entered by faith.

no longer to the world but to him alone; Rom. vi. 4. In accordance with this train of thought, Paul terms baptism, a baptism into the death of Christ. And for the same reason,

he could also call it a baptism into the resurrection of Christ. But this latter reference presupposes the former, in which it is naturally joined. From communion with Christ as the Son of God, the new relation follows of sonship to God, of filial communion with God, Gal. iii. 26; and the participation of the spirit of a new divine life communicated by Christ, the Holy Spirit. It is Christ who imparts the true baptism of the Spirit, of which water-baptism is only the symbol, and this immersion in the Spirit makes the great difference between Christian baptism and that of John. Therefore, baptism in the name of Christ is equally baptism in the name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit. The single reference cannot be thought of without the threefold. In virtue of the connexion of ideas before noticed, entrance into communion with Christ is indissolubly connected with entrance into communion with the body of which He is the head, the whole assemblage of believers. "By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body;" 1 Cor. xii. 13. As entrance into communion with the Redeemer at baptism implies a cessation from communion with sin-the putting on of Christ implies the putting off of the old man—the rising with Christ implies the dying with Christ-the transformation by the new Spirit of holiness implies the forgiveness of sins-entrance into communion with the body of Christ implies a departure from communion with a sinful world; so the distinction arises of a positive and negative aspect of baptism. Hence the washing away of sin, sanctification and justification, are classed together at baptism; 1 Cor. vi. 11.1 What we have remarked respecting Paul's idea of Ekkλnoía, the relation of the inward to the outward, the ideal to the visible, will also apply to baptism. As Paul, in speaking of the church, presupposes that the outward church is the visible community of the redeemed; so he speaks of baptism on the supposition that it corresponded to its idea, that all that was inward, whatever belonged to the

1 As Paul here joins the ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ κυρίου and ἐν τῷ πνεύματι Toû eoû, it may be inferred that he is here speaking of subjective sanctification, by the communication of a divine principle of life, as well as of objective justification.