vi. THE STATUE AND THE STONE. IIT 



into this solid and enduring form. And how strikingly 

 in this respect did it symbolize the city of God, which 

 is compactly built together the kingdom of God, 

 which is composed of those who are all one in Christ 

 Jesus. Believers have a strong family resemblance. 

 They all bear the likeness of their Father and Elder 

 Brother, and consequently of one another. Notwith- 

 standing their individual peculiarities, and their varieties 

 of character, culture, and circumstance, they are all 

 essentially one, after the image of God's unity, and 

 consequently of His eternity. Their unity is not legal, 

 but spiritual ; not of dull uniformity, but of bright 

 unanimity. Rooted and grounded in mutual love, 

 they comprehend with all saints the love that passeth 

 knowledge, and are filled with the fulness of God. 

 "There is 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 us all." 



3. Another point of contrast is the limitation of 

 the statue, as compared with the illimitable development 

 of the stone. The statue was of gigantic size, but 

 its human shape circumscribed its boundaries. Its 

 outlines were rigidly determined. And this was the 

 characteristic of the vast empires of antiquity, which, 

 almost as soon as they were formed, became stereo- 

 typed and incapable of progress. They speedily 

 crystallized into a permanence and immobility of 

 aspect like the changeless deserts and plains out of 

 which they had emerged. The pyramids, with their 



