Do you heartily believe, upon divine authority, in the doctrine of the unity of the body of Christ? Do you believe that there is such a body on this earth now, united to its divine and living Head in heaven by the Holy Spirit? Do you hold this great truth from God Himself, upon the authority of Holy Scripture? Do you hold as a cardinal and fundamental truth of the New Testament the indissoluble unity of the Church of God? Do not turn round and ask, “Where is this to be seen?” This is the question which unbelief must ever put, as the eye rests upon Christendom’s numberless sects and parties, and to which faith replies, as the eye rests upon that imperishable sentence, “There is one body and one Spirit.”

Mark the words: “There is”! It does not say there was at one time and there shall be again “one body.” Neither does it say that such a thing exists in heaven. No, but it says, “There is one body and one Spirit” now on this earth. Can this truth be touched by the condition of things in the professing Church? Has God’s Word ceased to be true because man has ceased to be faithful? Will anyone undertake to say that the unity of the body was only a truth for apostolic times, and that it has no application now, seeing that there is no exhibition of it? Is it on appearances that faith ever builds? Did Elijah build on appearances when he erected his altar of twelve stones? Did Josiah build on appearances when he carried his reformatory operations into all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel? Surely not! They built upon the faithful Word of the God of Israel. That Word was true whether Israel’s tribes were scattered or united. If God’s truth is to be affected by outward appearances, then where are we? The fact is, there is hardly a truth in the entire compass of divine revelation to which we could with calm confidence commit our souls if we suffer ourselves to be affected by outward appearances.