Is there, anywhere upon earth, anything to which we can turn and say, according to the truth of God, and with certainty in our own minds as we point to it, "The Father worketh herein and the Son also"? Most assuredly, Yes. The Church of the living God is still upon earth, and that Church is the workmanship of God—is the subject and field of the operations of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Yes! God is working a work upon the earth; a work, too, which was counseled from everlasting, which is for God's own eternity, and for Himself and His Son, in that eternity. Let this be once seen as to the Church, and man (the renewed, saved man) will see how near he is to the work of God. Questions will, then, surely follow to each one -questions, such as, " How far do I understand God's thoughts in the Church?"-" How far am I practically working together with God in this matter," or " How far is my life, here below, practically inconsistent with the present aim and the present object of God in this His work?"
It is not merely eternal life to one's own soul, but eternal life connected, through the Spirit of God, dwelling in a body which is seen in the Church, upon earth; a body which is made responsible for the honor and the glory of the Lord; a body, in which God not only forms by faith the souls of His own for eternity, but which He has placed as a pattern to show forth that which is to come.
Eternal salvation to each soul individually is through faith in the Lord Jesus;—but the individuals so saved were to be gathered together, in each place, under the present guidance, corporately, of the Holy Ghost;—and be the body which is responsible for the truth and the honor of the Lord.