THE TEACHINGS OF THE BIBLE 267 



can and should be. And you and I can learn many a 

 lesson from them. 



The church is the body of which Christ is the head, 

 and you and I are " members in particular." Let us 

 see to it that we are not the weak spot in the body, 

 crippling and maiming the whole. The church is 

 the city of God among men, and we are its citizens, 

 bound by its laws, loyal servants of the Great King, 

 sworn to obey his commands and enlarge his kingdom, 

 and repel all the assaults of his adversaries. Thus 

 the Bible seems to me to depict the church of God. 

 But what if the army contains a multitude of men 



V 



who will not obey orders or submit to discipline? 

 or if the city be overwhelmed with a mass of aliens, 

 who see in its laws and institutions mainly means 

 of selfish individual advantage ? Responsibility, not 

 privilege, is the foundation of strong character in both 

 men and institutions. There was a good grain of 

 truth in the old Scotch minister's remark, that they 

 had had a blessed work of grace in his church ; 

 they had not taken anybody in, but a lot had gone 

 out. 



There are plenty of churches of Laodicea to-day. 

 May you be delivered from them. But, thank God, 

 there are also churches of Philadelphia and Smyrna. 

 May you be pastors of one of the latter. It will not 

 pay you a very large salary, for Demas has gone to 

 the church of Laodicea, because the minister of the 

 church of Smyrna was not orthodox, or not sufficiently 

 spiritually minded meaning thereby that he rebuked 

 the sins of actual living men in general, and of Demas 

 in particular or preached politics, and did not mind 

 his business. And your church may be small. For 



