" CHRIST loved the Church and gave himself for it " " nourisheth and cherisheth it even as Christ also doth the Church: for we are members of his body." The great thought of "the Church" is in our Lord's mind, and it is the Church he nourisheth and cherisheth, not a mere fragment of it, of which there is no word at all.
We should avoid getting occupied with a thought which is other than that of our Lord Jesus. The Church as a whole is his object of love and care as truly as when the saints were " all together," and our thoughts should expand so as, with him, to take in the Church in its totality, not only those we might deem the faithful, the spiritual or a more holy portion of the saints. Constant occupation with the idea of a remnant, and the thought that we only are it, tends to obliterate from our minds the Scripture thought of the Church, and to endanger our settling down with the sectarian idea that we are the only people Christ is caring for at the present hour; and, from this to our degenerating into a sect with fresh ideas and correct views is not a great step. We should have a care lest we hurt ourselves and mislead others, by cherishing unscriptural notions; and, certainly, if we do not have the whole Church of God on earth in our faith, mind, and heart, in our worship, teaching, testimony and discipline we shall not answer to Christ's mind regarding His saints. Let us beware of entertaining un-Christlike ideas and belittling the Church or Christianity, or Christ's love, care, and work for the whole body and every member °fit. It is to be feared that most saints never rise worthily in their thoughts so as to take in Christ's mind and heart for the Church, because of this constant occupation with themselves. The depreciating words which one sometimes hears as to the ungathered saints among the sects of Christendom as if they were not really the living members of Christ's body, and equally precious to Him as objects of his present love and ministry are very painful, as they indicate minds and hearts not in concert or sympathy with the Lord's thoughts. It is “THE CHURCH" Christ is to present to Himself, glorious, having neither spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing; and there is no object so near His heart now as the Church, His body, and His Bride.