heirs according to the promise;" and, as they are Abraham's spiritual children, they are also the offspring of mystical Sarah; the patriarchal church under the covenant of promise; "the children, not of the bond woman, but of the free." Ancient Jerusalem, "Jerusalem above," both as to time and place, "is the mother of them all."1

They are all spiritual brethren, for they have a common character. They all, though in different degrees, resemble their Father in heaven, and their great Elder Brother. They are "renewed after the image of him that creates them," "in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness." They "are conformed to the image of God's Son." They already bear the spiritual, as they will by and by bear the outward image of "the Second Man, the Lord from heaven." They have "the mind in them that was in him;" they are "in the world as he was in the world;" his animated images, his "living epistles, known and read of all men."2

They are spiritual brethren, for they have a common education. They are all nourished by the "sincere milk of the word." In a higher sense than the Israelitish brethren, who were their prototypes, "they all eat the same spiritual meat, and they all drink the same spiritual drink :" "the flesh of the Son of Man, which is meat indeed, the blood of the Son of Man, which is drink indeed." They are all taught by the same Spirit; taught materially the same truths, so that the differences on vital subjects among true Christians are always rather apparent than real-differences rather about the meaning of words than the truth of principles; and they are all disciplined by the same paternal Providence, for "what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?" 3

They are spiritual brethren, for they have a common residence. They dwell together in that spiritual "better country," of which Canaan was an emblem, a state of favour

and fellowship with God; and in that spiritual house of which the temple was a type, "the church of the living God." They are "not strangers and foreigners" to one another; they are "fellow citizens," they belong to the one "household of God;" and they shall all dwell for ever in their Father's house of many mansions above; "the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."1

Finally, they are spiritual bretliren, for they have all a common inheritance. "If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus." They are "begotten again to a living hope, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them."

Such are the brethren who are here referred to. Men brought out of their natural condition of guilt and condemnation, into a state of forgiveness and acceptance; men "transformed" in their characters, "by the renewing of their minds" in the exercise of the same Divine grace, by the operation of the same Divine influence; and thus, by these changes of state and character which are common to them all, materially the same in each, placed in a most intimate endearing relation to each other, with common views and affections, common likings and dislikings, common hopes and fears, common joys and sorrows, a common interest, common friends, common enemies, they are brothers indeed.

Relation and duty are correlate ideas, and the weight of obligation corresponds with the closeness of the connexion. Those who are connected together as brethren, must be bound to feel towards one another, and to act towards one another, as brethren. The whole of the duty which one Christian brother owes to another Christian brother, to all other Christian brethren, is that which is here enjoined towards the brotherhood-Love. This duty is clearly described, and powerfully enforced, in the following Apostolic

1 Eph. ii. 19. Psal. xci. 1. John xiv. 2.

2 Rom. viii. 17. 1 Pet. i. 3, 4.

injunction: "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." Christians are bound to love all men with a love of benevolence; but the love of esteem and complacency which a Christian ought to cherish towards a Christian, is a sentiment very different from this general benevolence; a sentiment of which none but a Christian can be either the object or the subject. This affection originates in the possession of a peculiar mode of thinking and feeling, produced in the mind by the Holy Spirit, through the knowledge and belief of Christian truth, which naturally leads those who are thus distinguished to a sympathy of mind and heart, of thought and affection, with all who, under the same influence, have been led to entertain the same views and cherish the same dispositions. It has for its end the highest good, the spiritual improvement and final well-being of its objects, consisting in entire conformity to the mind and will of God, the unclouded sense of the Divine favour, the uninterrupted enjoyment of the Divine fellowship, the being with and like the ever-blessed Holy, Holy, Holy One.

This subject, the duty of the brethren to the brethren, individually considered, is a very interesting and important one; but the subject to which our attention is now to be turned, though nearly allied to it, is still a different one, the love of the brethren to the brotherhood as a body.

The "brotherhood" is the brethren in an associated form, in a social capacity; and it is plainly necessary, in order to our distinctly apprehending the nature and extent of the duty here enjoined, that we clearly perceive what is its object. It is the more necessary that this be attended to, that mistaken apprehension as to what this brotherhood, or, in other words, what the Church of Christ is, has led into very im

11 Pet. i. 22, 23.

portant practical mistakes, and induced men, under the impression that they were loving and honouring the brotherhood, to hate and persecute the brethren. Men have often thought they were showing their regard to the church by maltreating its true members.

It is impossible to read the New Testament carefully, without perceiving that it is the intention of Jesus Christ, not only to render his followers individually holy and happy, as so many distinct children of God; but, in subordination to this end, to form them into a happy, holy fellowship, the bond of which should be the faith and love of the same truth, and the objects of which should be the united worship of their common God and Father, the united promotion of the honours and interests of their common Lord and Saviour, and their mutual improvement in the knowledge of Christian truth, the cultivation of Christian dispositions, the performance of Christian duty, and the enjoyment and diffusion of Christian happiness. This society, founded on Christ's institution, subject to his authority, regulated by his law, animated by his Spirit, devoted to his honour, and blessed by his presence, is the Christian church. This is the brotherhood. None ought to be admitted into, or retained in this society, but those who, by an intelligent consistent profession of the faith of the gospel, give evidence that they are brethren; and all who are brethren should readily join themselves to, and be readily welcomed by, the brotherhood.

This society, though one in its principles and objects, was necessarily from the beginning divided into separate associations, composed by the brethren residing in the same immediate vicinity, meeting together for the common observance of the Christian ordinances. These associations considered themselves each as a component part of the great brotherhood, "the Holy Catholic Church," "all who in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus." The members of one of these brotherhoods were viewed as members, of course, of the great brotherhood, and were recognised as such by being

readily admitted into fellowship in all the offices of religion, by other Christian societies in other localities, on producing a satisfactory letter of attestation from the society with which they were more immediately connected.1

Nor was this all. In joining the Christian brotherhood they connected themselves not only with the whole of the brethren on earth, but also with those who had finished their course, and had been admitted into the mansions of celestial purity and rest. They joined the great "family in heaven and in earth called by the one name;" they "sat down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of their Father;" they came to "an innumerable company of angels, the general assembly, to the church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven, and to the spirits of the just made perfect."

There are various important truths respecting the church of Christ, suggested by its being termed a brotherhood, especially the two following, which I shall merely notice in passing. First, none but brethren ought to be admitted to be its members. An ungodly man is fully as much out of his place in a Christian church, as Satan was when he presented himself among the sons of God; and, secondly, there must be no tyrannical rule in the church of Christ. "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; but ye shall not be so. Be not ye called Rabbi; for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.""

This goodly fellowship, this noble brotherhood, was not only in its elements, but in its social capacity, its organized form, the fit object of the respectful ardent attachment of each of its members; and this respectful affectionate attachment was to be manifested in a corresponding course of conduct. Every Christian had a duty to discharge, the sum of which was, love to the Christian brotherhood with which he