first Christians after the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Ghost. Could that be otherwise than binding which is classed with such duties as adherence to Apostolic doctrine, the participation in the Holy Communion, and Common Prayer? (Acts ii. 42).

It was this spectacle of perfect union that was to be so impressive to the world. While all around were misgivings, unsatisfied longings, and great searchings of hearts even to "distress of nations with perplexity," there in Christ's Church should be perfect peace. The members were to be one, as Christ and His Father

were one.

But the dream fades away. The Church is still there, for she has her Lord's promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. She is there, but

"With a scornful wonder,
Men see her sore opprest,

By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distrest."

What wonder that perplexed and unstable souls are lost souls that might otherwise have been won for Christ? And if those who wish to believe are offended, what shall we say of those who wish to disbelieve, who "love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil"? Are they not strengthened in their unbelief by all this division among Christians? Where was the weapon forged of which the writer himself has felt the edge, when a sceptic repelled him with the sneer, 'When Christians can agree amongst themselves, then come and talk to me"?

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Nor is this stumbling-block alone to be met with in our own land. This is the testimony of the mis

sionary to the heathen. "When I asked," says Bishop Selwyn, "one of the most remarkable of the New Zealand chieftains why he refused to be a Christian, he stretched out three fingers, and, pointing to the centre joint, said, 'I have come to a point from which I see three roads branching. This is the Church of England, this the Church of Rome, and this the Wesleyans. I am sitting down here doubting which to take.' And" (adds the Bishop) “he sat doubting at that 'cross road' until he died." (Speech at the Wolverhampton Church Congress.)

As we look at all this, we can understand the yearning that at this time is awakening in earnest hearts throughout Christendom, that God will hasten the time when "Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim" (Isa. xi. 13). We can understand the prayers that in all quarters of the globe are going up for the unity of Christ's Church. "O pray for the peace of Jerusalem! they shall prosper that love thee."

There are those that read their Bibles prayerfully, to whom that Bible seems to set the broad stamp of unity all across Christianity. There is the unity of the Godhead. There is the union that Jesus Christ came to restore between God and man. There is one fold under one Shepherd. It is by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body-His Church (1 Cor. xii. 13). When we unite in the Holy Communion of His Body and Blood we are assured that "we, being many, are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread" (1 Cor. x. 17). And then like the ascending scale of a grand chorus rise those words of

St. Paul, "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Eph. iv. 4-6). It comes from the Church like a mighty echo to that prayer that her Lord prayed on the night of His betrayal, "That they all may be one: as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me."

My brother, have you ever known this longing of your Lord? Have you ever prayed His prayer?

Will you pray it now?

v.—Our Lord's Coat without Seam (John xix. 23).

There is one figure which the old writers delighted to use as symbolical of the Unity of the Church, and that was our Saviour's coat "without seam, woven from the top throughout" (John xix. 23). We shall, I think, on reflection, be slow to reject the idea as merely fanciful.

Keeping first of all in view that no word of Scripture is without its teaching for us, we may recall the inner meaning which in God's Word had already been attached to the garments of the body. There was the mantle of Elijah that fell upon Elisha, God signifying thereby His servant's succession to the office and work of a prophet. There was the rending of Samuel's mantle, figuring the rending from Saul of the kingdom of Israel (1 Sam. xv. 27, 28). Very striking too is the story of the garment which was

rent by Ahijah the prophet into twelve pieces, of which he gave ten to Jeroboam, signifying thereby the division of the kingdom (1 Kings xi. 29, 30). By the light of this contrast we read the record that our Saviour's coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout," implying thereby that in His kingdom division should have no place.

It must not be forgotten that our Lord's Kingdom was, so to speak, the key note of the Crucifixion. On this charge He was condemned by Pilate (John xviii. 33-40). This suggested the mockery of the Roman soldiers (xix. 3). This was the taunt of the chief priests (Matt. xxvii. 42). This too was the substance of the superscription on the Cross (Matt. xxvii. 39). This the prayer of the repentant thief, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom" (Luke xxiii. 42). Does not the same reference attach to this mention of the seamless coat? That there was no recognition of this truth on the part of the soldiers is no obstacle to its reception. They were unknowingly fulfilling Scripture when they forbore to break His legs (John xix. 33). They were unconsciously interpreting the same Divine Will when they refused to rend His coat.

We may further point out that this principle of assigning a hidden meaning to our Lord's vesture seems to be borne out by another instance. When St. Peter went into the empty sepulchre, "he seeth the linen clothes lie; and the napkin that was about His head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself" (John xx. 6, 7). Is there not allegorical teaching in this minute de

scription of the grave-clothes? St. Paul says of our Lord, "He is the head of the body, the Church" (Col. i. 18). When Christ arose from the grave the work of the head was done, so the napkin that was about the head is wrapped together in a place by itself. But the grave-clothes of His body, the Church, must not yet be put away. It must still suffer awhile, but it has a confidence so eloquently expressed by the folded napkin, that "Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him" (Rom. vi. 9).

If, then, the grave-clothes that were about the body seem to convey this meaning, may we not, without straining Holy Scripture, believe with the old writers, that the coat that was also about the body has its spiritual significance? That body, as we have seen, is the figure for His Church. His coat would represent the organization of His Church, and this was "without seam, woven from the top throughout.” God grant that by no act of ours it may be rent!

vi.-The Schisms in the Corinthian Church.

We are now arrived at the last stage of our inquiry as to the verdict of Holy Scripture on this question of religious separation.

We have seen that the mind that was in Christ Jesus was that there should be one fold under one Shepherd. We have listened to that wonderful prayer for the unity of His Church. It only remains for us to notice those first beginnings of schism which the Scriptures record.