Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries
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Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

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112 THE FIRST AND THE SECOND MAN.kingdom commenced have become the head of adominion which can be mentioned beside that .ofold Rome ; but still in undiminished grandeur thegreat divine republic stands over against all thesekingdoms, penetrates through them, stretches be-them, and while they grow, mature, andecay, and power passes from one to the other,her power ceases not, declines not, changes not,but shows the beauty of youth upon the brow ofage, and amid the confusion of Babel her pente-costal unity. If success be worshipful, worship ithere ; if power be venerable, bow before its holiestshrine.ut if this be the Body of Christ here in itsstate of humiliation, during which it repeats thepassion of its Head, if these be the grains of wheatnow scattered among the chaff,42 what is thatone mass to be which these shall make when thethreshin - floor is winnowed out ? We see theody in its preliminary state of suffering, whereit has a grandeur, a duration, and a beauty likenothing else on earth. What it shall be in itsfuture state S. John saw when he called it thegreat City invested with the glory of God, the %Bride adorned for her husband; and S. Paul hints,when he speaks of the perfect man compacted andfitly framed together by what every joint supplies,42 " Grana ilia quze modo gemunt inter paleas, quse massam imamfactura sunt, quando area in fine fuerit ventilata." S. Aug. in Ps. cxxvi.torn. iv. p. 1429.

THE FIRST AND THE SECOND MAN.113and grown up to full stature in the Head. Thereis in the redeemed, not only the exceeding greatnessof the quality of their salvation, that is, thegift of divine sonship; nor, again, that this gift isheightened by its being the purchase of the Son ofGod, so that He is not ashamed to call those brethrenwhom He has first washed in His own blood :but over and above all this, one thing more,that the whole mass of the redeemed and adoptedare not so many souls, but the Body of Christ.Faint shadows, indeed, to our earthly senses areHouse and Temple, Kingdom and City paved withprecious stones of that mighty unity of all rationalnatures, powers, and virtues, each with the perfectionof his individual being, each with the super-added lustre of membership in a marvellous whole,under the Headship of Christ. The exceedin gloryof this creation, which will be the wonder of allcreation through eternity, is that God the Wordmade flesh, the Head and His Body, make onething, not an inorganic, but an organised unity,the glorified Body of a glorified Head.*Once more let us note the consistencyand un-broken evolution of the divine plan.In the first creation of the human race theBody of Christ is not only foretold but prefigured,not only prefigured but expressed in the verywords uttered by Adam in his ecstasy, the wordsof God delineating that act of God, the greatestof all His acts of power, wisdom, and goodnessii.i

112 THE FIRST AND THE SECOND MAN.kingdom commenced have become the head <strong>of</strong> adominion which can be mentioned beside that .<strong>of</strong>old Rome ; but still in undiminished grandeur thegreat divine republic stands over against all thesekingdoms, penetrates through them, stretches be-them, and while they grow, mature, andecay, and power passes from one to the other,her power ceases not, declines not, changes not,but shows the beauty <strong>of</strong> youth upon the brow <strong>of</strong>age, and amid the confusion <strong>of</strong> Babel her pente-costal unity. If success be worshipful, worship ithere ; if power be venerable, bow before its holiestshrine.ut if this be the Body <strong>of</strong> Christ here in itsstate <strong>of</strong> humiliation, during which it repeats thepassion <strong>of</strong> its Head, if these be the grains <strong>of</strong> wheatnow scattered among the chaff,42 what is thatone mass to be which these shall make when thethreshin - floor is winnowed out ? We see theody in its preliminary state <strong>of</strong> suffering, whereit has a grandeur, a duration, and a beauty likenothing else on earth. What it shall be in itsfuture state S. John saw when he called it thegreat City invested with the glory <strong>of</strong> God, the %Bride adorned for her husband; and S. Paul hints,when he speaks <strong>of</strong> the perfect man compacted andfitly framed together by what every joint supplies,42 " Grana ilia quze modo gemunt inter paleas, quse massam imamfactura sunt, quando area in fine fuerit ventilata." S. Aug. in Ps. cxxvi.torn. iv. p. 1429.

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