1. Luke 15,-The truth which was dominant in the blessed Lord’s mind at this time seems to me to have been-neither that of the privileges or experience of disciples, nor that of the way of making man such; and though, doubtless, it had connection with both of these topics, they are so entirely subordinate to it, that if either of them absorb the attention, it, in all its magnificent splendor, is, for the moment, necessarily lost sight of.
The goodness of God, which had recognized man (though a sinner) under His governmental way-if, haply, man could so be blessed-having been shown out to be insufficient, through the sinfulness of man, for man’s blessing, God, if He would bless man, must act upon the ground of His own immutable character, and position, and rights, as God—upon that which it was meet that He should do, according to His own position, and character, and will.
Sinful man’s being satisfied with any position of blessing whatsoever, is vanity, unless God, in His own immutable character and grace, fill both man and the position with power.
The governmental ways and dealings of God include, not only the Mosaic economy, but the Noahic and Abrahamic blessing also; for ere ever there was a people for Moses to take up in Egypt, God had separated Abram from among idolaters, and even before that, had given a charter of providential blessing through Noah.
People are so awfully full of self and man, that they can hardly read the Lord’s teaching with the thought, that God and the full range of His ways were what occupied Him.
2. "I do not know that the unity of the House is stated anywhere in Scripture, any more than the, unity of Christ; and are you scriptural in saying, the Spirit dwells in the body? Scripture speaks only of the unity of the Spirit-only says, ‘There is one body’ (Eph. 4, and 1 Cor. 12). The unity of the body is as foreign from Scripture thought as a thing to be kept, as is the unity of the house. ‘The unity of the Spirit, to be kept in the bond of peace,’ is all that Scripture speaks of. ‘There is one body:’ unity, in this sense, cannot be broken.—The use of the term unity’ is often ambiguous. It means practical union, when contrasted with schism; and immutable oneness, when used of the Body. But what underlies much of the ignorance on these subjects is the denial of the unity of the body on earth; the result would be isolate churches, and unity there alone. The body and the house cannot be separated as to responsible position. No doubt the house is not really the body of Christ-it is another order of ideas; but they who call themselves ‘Church’ (assembly), take upon themselves the responsibility of the body, as well as of the house, The assembly, which is His body—‘how one ought to behave oneself in the House of God, which is the assembly of the living God.’ Rome is not the house, nor is a national establishment; the whole is. The question is this: The assembly is the house, the assembly is the body. What is the assembly? He hath set in the assembly apostles; gifts of healing: not in a local body, apostles-not gifts of healing-but on earth.’
3. If I were an Englishman, I do not think that I should be able to entertain a thought, which supposed that the three things represented by the kingdom of Great Britain, the Royal Household, and the family of Queen Victory, were now separable.
Loving and honoring the powers that be, such would be the expression of my heart and moral feeling about my country.
A stranger, as an Indian or a savage, ignorant of the subject, might suppose, on hearing me talk, that the three expressions "Great Britain," "Queen Victoria," "The Royal Household "were three synonyms for one and the same thing. At first, I might let this assumption pass; after a time, I might endeavor to explain to him how these three terms were like three circles drawn from one and the same center, one outside the other; three circles having, indeed, one common center, and, in one sense, "all one," yet, in another sense, each of them having ideas distinctly peculiar to itself.
Queen Victory-she, while she lives, is the center and pillar of the State; her family are separated from everybody else in the nation, the alone right inheritors of the throne.
The Royal Household contains them all and such as are necessary for their comfort and state.
Great Britain is (not herself, nor her family, nor her household, nor the whole of her empire, but) the kingdom more peculiarly hers;—kingdom which owns and puts her forward, the wide world over, as its representative.
Yet, while each circle has ideas peculiar to it—they all go together, and form an inseparable unity in the heart of an Englishman.