Messiah the Prince, or the Mediatorial Dominion of Jesus Christ

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 edition. Excerpt: ...a unity of interest in Christ the Head; and of love, and sympathy, and duty, among the members. The unity which depends on such grounds as these is invisible. The visible church must have a visible unity. This visible unity springs from its having one Head; from its making profession of a common faith; from its participating in the same ordinances of ecclesiastical fellowship; from its having one mode of conveying authority to its office-bearers; and from the nature of the government instituted for the preservation of its purity and peace. Let us illustrate these points a little. 18 Eph. iv. 4, 5; 1 Cor. x. 17. The church must be one, as it has but one Head. 'Christ is the head of the church.' 'He is the head of the body, the church.' 'There is one Lord.' We nowhere read of the heads of the churches. It follows, either that each individual church has no head, or that the churches possess a character of visible unity under one common Head. There is, besides, a common faith, by the profession of which the unity of the visible church is exhibited and preserved. There is 'one faith.' A profession of faith being a visible thing, is thus fitted to form a bond of visible unity. The doctrinal creed of all who belong to the visible church is substantially the same. A public acknowledgment of belief in the truths which compose the Christian system, not only constitutes the individual by whom it is made a member of the particular congregation with which he connects himself, but unites him with all throughout the world who hold the same sentiments. If he has been before a Pagan, or a Mahometan, or a Jew, the avowal in question, while it severs him distinctly from the community to which he formerly belonged, as surely connects him with that great community...