when the Word of God is brought forward to show that all God's people should be one, they seek to cover the enormous sin of schisms by saying, "All God's people are one." Now while it must be admitted that in the hearts of all who possess any degree of saving grace there is a measure of inward fellowship and a tendency to draw together, it is equally true that there is such a thing as the sin of division. Had not Christ seen that it was possible for divisions to be brought in among his disciples, he would not have so earnestly prayed that they should all be one. It is also true that although there are men and women in the various organized divisions who have passed from death unto life, they can only "live at a poor dying rate" while they are fenced apart by the party names and creeds. As we have said, the tendency of all who profess any measure of the love of God is to draw together and assemble together; but this very inward bent of the Spirit of God is denied this course by the control of party interests and party lords. And so the Spirit, grieved and hindered, gradually dies out of the heart, and the sectarian spirit only is left to animate the profession.

So, then, be it understood (1) that perfect unity is the order of God's church and his will in all that believe; (2) that disciples of Christ may be in a scattered condition in sects, and are in all the Protestant sects, so far as real Christians compose their membership; (3) that where separations of any kind are brought in between truly converted men, the church is not in the normal state, and spiritual death must sooner or later ensue to the body thus disjntegrated; and (4) that the forming of sects, or the organizing of divisions, both destroys the church and prevents the salvation of the world.

THE CATHOLICITY OF THE CHURCH.

The church of God contains all true believers. As salvation constitutes us members of it, all the saved are its members. No one can be a Christian outside of the divine church. The church is the body of Christ, and the body of Christ includes all the redeemed in heaven and earth.

This is one of the principal distinguishing features between the true church and the false, between the divine ecclesia and man-made institutions. This one truth, the catholicity of the

church of God, locates every sect. The church of God includes the family of God, and it is but one family in heaven and on earth; therefore it includes in its membership every Christian, all the redeemed in paradise and all the saved on earth. Including all Christians, it is not a sect, but is the whole. Now, a church that does not include in its membership all Christians in heaven and earth can not be God's church, and hence it is a sect. All the religious denominations taken together come far short of including all Christians. Before any of these institutions arose, there were millions of Christians. None of the blood-washed saints in paradise are now members of any of these earthborn institutions; and right here upon earth there are tens of thousands of happy saints in robes of righteousness who have come out and stand clear of creed-bound churches, and there are many thousands of others who are saved from sin and have never joined any of them. Therefore all denominations put together, both Roman, Greek, and Protestant, do not constitute the universal church, but are only sects.

In holding membership in the one universal church and in no other, we stand clear of the

They are a sect-a

sin of division; are members of no sect, but members of that church to which all the saved in heaven and earth belong. This is the one and only catholic church. The church of Rome has long laid claim to the title "Catholic church," but in doing so they have assumed a title that does not belong to them. sect, too, that includes very few real Christians. The church of God is catholic not only in that it includes all Christians, but also in that it is destined to fill the whole earth. "And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High." Dan. 7:27. Dan. 7:27. "And the stone which smote the image upon the feet became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." Dan. 2: 35. These texts have direct reference to the universality of the church of God.

Moreover, the religion of the church of God will apply to all men of all nations. The church of God gathers into her fold the rich and the poor, the educated and the illiterate, the high and the low-in short, all classes of all men. These, when saved, are on one common level of equality. Many of the religions of the world

are local in their nature and apply only to certain classes. These have adopted peculiar customs, manners, and styles of dress. But Christianity, the religion of the church of God is not local in any sense. It is the one universal religion, the one religion that will apply to all classes of men. It imposes no peculiar customs, manners, or dress. Thus we see again the catholicity of the church of God.

THE EXCLUSIVENESS OF THE CHURCH.

The use of the term "exclusiveness" conveys the idea that all who are not in the church that Jesus founded are excluded from salvation and the Christian's hope. If any person is not disposed to comply with the conditions of membership in God's church, he can turn aside and join some church that presents a wider door, but he can not thus obtain salvation. There is but one Savior of all men. "There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” Those who are saved by him are baptized, or inducted, by one Spirit into one body; so all who are outside of this one body are excluded from the grace of God.