ii. THE ONENESS OF THE TABERNACLE. 2 ; 



inations, each marked out by well-defined lines of doc- 

 trine and discipline, each clearly and sharply dis- 

 tinguished from its neighbour, there is in reality but 

 " one body, one Spirit, and one hope of our calling ; 

 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father 

 of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all." 

 Amid accidental diversities there is substantial unity 

 unity in all that is truly essential beneath. These 

 diversities, arising from different temperaments, habits, 

 and culture, are necessary to the development of the 

 truth, and of the freedom and power of the spiritual life. 

 Each bears witness to some essential part of the Divine 

 counsel ; each holds forth prominently some truth 

 which has been suffered by others to fall into the back- 

 ground; each is indebted to the other for "supple- 

 mental influences which make its faith and life grander 

 and wider than it could have shaped out for itself 

 unaided." 



The same process by which physical life advances, 

 through diversity of organs and functions to a higher 

 unity, and society is developed from its rudimentary 

 condition, takes place in the Church. The lowest 

 organism possesses in a single cell all the organs neces- 

 sary for the preservation and perpetuation of life ; but 

 as life advances in the animal or vegetable scale the 

 organism divides itself into many cells, some being 

 specially set apart for nutrition, and others for repro- 

 duction ; and the wonderful unity of the human body, 

 which is at the top of the scale, is secured by the com- 

 plex and harmonious operations of numerous parts and 



