Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

90 THE FIRST AND THE SECOND MAN.various by the rule of the artificer impressedupon them are yet one, concur to one end, andproduce one whole, from which no part can betaken, and to which none can be added withoutinjury, the least and the greatest replete with onelife, which so entirely belongs to the whole bodythat what is severed from the body at once dies.u Now as the body is one, and has many members,but all the members of this one body, beingmany, are one body, so also," says S. Paul, uisChrist," giving the name of the Head to thewhole Body. What the human head is to itsown body, that our Lord is to His Church. Perhapsno other image in the whole realm of naturewould convey with such force the three relations23which constitute spiritual headship, an inseparableunion, by which the head and the body formone whole, an unceasing government, includingevery sort of provision and care, and a perpetualinflux of grace. This is on the part of the head,while as to the body perhaps no other image butthis could equally convey the conjunction of manydifferent members with various functions, whoseunion makes the structure, and whose unity issomething entirely distinct from that which allthe parts in their several state, or even in theircollocation and arrangement, make up, for it is thelife which makes them one. Thus it is an un-fathomed depth of doctrine, which is conveyed in23 Petavius on the Headship of Christ.