Observe therefore, in the valedictory discourse of our Lord, the frequent recurrence of the words: "_Because I go to the Father_," one of the sayings which greatly perplexed his disciples. In the light of all which Jesus says in this connection, let us see if its meaning may not be clear to us. "If ye loved me ye would rejoice because I go unto the Father; for the Father is greater than I" (John 14: 28), he says in the same connection. We cannot here enter into the deep question of the _kenosis_, or self-emptying of the Son of G.o.d in his incarnation.
It is enough that we follow the plain teaching of the Scripture, that though "being in the form of G.o.d, he counted it not a thing to be grasped to be on an equality with G.o.d; but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant" (Phil. 2: {43} 6, 7, R. V.). What now does his going to the Father signify but a refilling with that of which he had been emptied, or a resumption of his co-equality with G.o.d? The greater blessing which he could confer upon his church by his departure seems to lie in the fact of the greater power and glory into which he would enter by his enthronement at G.o.d"s right hand. As Luther pointedly puts it: "Therefore do I go, he saith, where I shall be greater than I now am, that is, to the Father, and it is better that I shall pa.s.s out of this obscurity and weakness into the power and glory in which the Father is." In the light of this interpretation the meaning of our Lord"s words above quoted does not seem difficult. The Paraclete was to communicate Christ to his church,--his life, his power, his riches, his glory. In his exaltation all these were to be very greatly increased. "All things that the Father hath are mine" (John 16: 15), he says. And though he had for a time voluntarily disinherited himself of his heavenly possessions, he is now to be repossessed of them.
"Therefore said I, that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you" (16: 15). Christ at G.o.d"s right hand will have more to give than while on earth; therefore the church will have more to receive through the Paraclete than through the visible Christ. What obvious significance then do the following sayings from this farewell sermon of Jesus have: "Verily {44} verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also; greater works than these shall he do; _because I go unto the Father_" (John 14: 12). The earthly Christ is equal only to himself thus conditioned; and if the Holy Spirit shall communicate his power to his disciples, they will do the same works that he does. But the heavenly Christ is co-equal with the Father, therefore when he shall ascend to the Father, and the Spirit shall take of his and communicate to his church, it will do greater works than these. The stream of life, in other words, will have greater power because of the higher source from which it proceeds.
Very deep are the mysteries here considered, and we can only speak of them in the light which we get by comparing Scripture with Scripture.
Did the risen Christ breathe on his disciples and say to them: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost"?[4] "It is enough, Lord, that we have received the Spirit from thee," they might well have said. Yet it was not enough for him to give; for looking on to the day of his enthronement, he says: "But when the Paraclete is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me" (John 15: 26). When Jesus hath ascended "on high," then can the {45} Holy Ghost communicate "the power from on high." Therefore it is expedient that he go away.
As with the power which Christ was to impart to his church through the Paraclete, so with the righteousness which he was both to impute and to impart; its highest source must be found in heaven: "And when he, the Comforter, is come, he will convince the world of righteousness; . . .
of righteousness _because I go to my father_, and ye see me no more"
(John 16: 8-10). We may say truly that the righteousness of Christ was not completely finished and authenticated till he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. By his death he perfectly satisfied the claims of a violated law, but this fact was not attested until the grave gave back the certificate of discharge in his released and risen body. By his resurrection he was "declared to be the Son of G.o.d in power, according to the Spirit of holiness" (Rom. 1: 4). But the fact was not fully verified till G.o.d had "set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all princ.i.p.ality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named" (Eph. 1: 20, 2l). Now in his consummated glory he is prepared to be "made wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" to his people. He who had been "manifest in the flesh" that he might be made sin for us, was now "justified in the Spirit" and "received up into glory," that he might be made {46} righteousness to us, and that "we might be made the righteousness of G.o.d in him." Christ"s coronation, in a word, is the indispensable condition to our justification. Till he who was made a curse for us is crowned with glory and honor we cannot be a.s.sured of our acceptance with the Father.[5] How deep the current of thought which flows through this narrow channel--"Because I go to the Father."
3. The Paraclete teaches only the things of Christ; yet teaches more than Christ taught: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all the truth" (John 16: 12, 13). It is as though he had said: "I have brought you a little way in the knowledge of my doctrine; he shall bring you all the way." One reason for this saying seems plain: The teaching of Jesus during his earthly ministry waited to be illumined by a light not risen--the light of the cross, the light of the sepulchre, the light of the ascension. Therefore until these events had come to pa.s.s, Christian doctrine was undeveloped, and could not be fully communicated to the disciples of Christ. But this is not all. The "because I go to the Father" still gives the key to our Lord"s meaning. "But what things {47} soever he shall hear, these shall he speak, and he shall declare unto you things to come" (John 16: 13, R. V.). Very wonderful is this hint of the mutual converse of the G.o.dhead, so that the Paraclete is described as listening while he leads, as having an ear in heaven attentive to the converse of the Father and the glorified Son, while he extends an unseen guidance to the flock on earth, communicating to them what he has heard from the Father and the Son. And we may reverently ask, Has not the glorified Christ more of knowledge and revelation to communicate than he had in the days of his humiliation? Of "the things to come" has he not secrets to impart which hitherto may have been hidden in the counsels of the Father? To take a single ill.u.s.tration from the words of Christ.
Speaking of his second advent, he says: "But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13: 32[6]). It is best that we should interpret these words frankly, and instead of saying, with some, that he did not know in the sense that he was not permitted to disclose, admit it possible that while in his humiliation and under the veil of his incarnation, this secret was hidden from his eyes.
But is it not presumptuous for us to reason, that {48} therefore he does not now know the day of his coming? How constantly is that text quoted as a decisive and final prohibition of all inquiry into the proximate time of our Lord"s return in glory. But they who so use this saying simply remand us to the childhood of the church, to the spiritual nonage of the ante-Pentecostal days. Have we forgotten that since our Lord ascended to the Father he has given us a further revelation, that wondrous book of the Apocalypse, which opens and closes with a beat.i.tude upon those who read and faithfully keep the words of this prophecy? And one characteristic feature of this book is its chronological predictions concerning the time of the end, its mystical dates, which have led many sober searchers of the word of G.o.d to inquire diligently "what and what manner of time" the Spirit did signify in giving us these way-marks in the wilderness. This being so, we may ask: If we are not irreverent in concluding with many devout expositors that our Saviour meant what he said in declaring that he did "not yet" know the time of his advent, are we presumptuous in taking literally the opening words of the Apocalypse?: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which G.o.d gave unto him, to show unto his servants the things which must shortly come to pa.s.s." It was because of his going unto the Father that greater works and greater riches were to attend the church after Pentecost. Why may we not a.s.sign to the same {49} cause also the fuller revelation of the future and the leading into completer truth concerning the blessed hope of the church? In other words, if we may think of Christ as entering into larger revelation as he returns to the glory which he had with the Father must we not think of larger communications of truth by the blessed Paraclete?
Have we not learned something of the nature and offices of the Spirit by this study of his new name, and of all that the departing Lord says in the wondrous discourse wherein he introduces him to his disciples?
At least the study should enable us to distinguish two inspired terms which have been needlessly confounded by not a few writers, viz.: the words "_Paraclete_," and "_Parousia_." The latter word, which constantly occurs in Scripture as describing our Lord"s second coming, has been applied in several learned works to the advent of the Holy Spirit; and since Christ came in the person of the Spirit, it has been argued that the Redeemer"s promised advent in glory has already taken place. But this is to confuse terms whose use in Scripture marks them as clearly distinct. Observe their difference: In the Paraclete, Christ comes spiritually and invisibly; in the Parousia, he comes bodily and gloriously. The advent of the Paraclete is really conditioned on the Saviour"s personal departure from his people: "If I go not away the Paraclete will not come to you" (John 16: 7). {50} The Parousia, on the other hand, is only realized in his personal return to his people: "For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the _presence_ of our Lord Jesus Christ _at his coming_?" (1 Thess. 2: 19.) The Paraclete attends the church in the days of her humiliation; the Parousia introduces the church into the day of her glory. In the Paraclete, Christ came to dwell with the church on earth: "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you"
(John 14: 18). In the Parousia, Christ comes to take the church to dwell with himself in glory: "I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also" (John 14: 3). Christ prayed on behalf of his bereaved church for the coming of this Paraclete: "And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Paraclete." The Holy Spirit now prays with the pilgrim-church for the hastening of the Parousia. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come"
(Rev. 22: 17). These two can only be understood in their mutual relations. Christ, who gave the new name to the Holy Spirit, can best interpret that name to us by making us acquainted with himself. May that name be for us so real a symbol of personal presence that while strangers and pilgrims in the earth we may walk evermore "in the _paraclesis_ of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 9:31).
[1] The word _parakletor_ is used in the Septuagint (Job 16:2) with the meaning of "_Comforter_," and the term _parakletos_ occurs in the Talmud, signifying "_Interpreter_."
[2] The most obvious reason for concluding that the Holy Spirit is a person is that he performs actions and stands in relations which belong only to a person, e. g.: _He speaks_ (Acts 1: 16); _he works miracles_ (Acts 2: 4; 8: 39); _he sets ministers over churches_ (Acts 20: 28); _he commands and forbids_ (Acts 8: 29; 11: 12; 13: 2; 16: 6, 7); _he prays for us_ (Rom. 8: 26); _he witnesses_ (Rom. 8: 16); _he can be grieved_ (Eph. 4: 30); _he can be blasphemed_ (Mark 3: 29); _he can be resisted_ (Acts 7: 51, etc).
[3] If the Holy Spirit may not speak of himself as preacher, how canst thou draw thy preaching out of thyself--out of thine head or even out of thine heart.--_Pastor Gossner_.
[4] Let it be observed that in this communication of the risen Christ it is not said, "Receive ye _the_ Holy Ghost"--the article being significantly omitted--_Labete Pneuma agion_ (John 20: 22).
[5] How righteous must he be, who will go to the Father from the cross and the grave! Thus will the Holy Spirit convince the world that he is a righteous man, and truly righteous for man.--_Roos_.
[6] "Neither the Son": "It is more than _neither_; it is _not yet the Son_," says Morrison the commentator.
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IV
THE EMBODYING OF THE SPIRIT
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"But now the Holy Ghost is given more perfectly, for he is no longer present by his operation as of old, but is present with us so to speak, and converses with us in a substantial manner. For it was fitting that, as the Son had conversed with us in the body, the spirit should also come among us in a bodily manner."--_Gregory n.a.z.ianzen_.
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IV
THE EMBODYING OF THE SPIRIT
"The church, which is his body," began its history and development at Pentecost. Believers had been saved, and the influences of the Spirit had been manifested to men in all previous dispensations from Adam to Christ. But now an _ecclesia_, an outgathering, was to be made to const.i.tute the mystical body of Christ, incorporated into him the Head and indwelt by him through the Holy Ghost. The definition which we sometimes hear, that a church is "a voluntary a.s.sociation of believers, united together for the purposes of worship and edification" is most inadequate, not to say incorrect. It is no more true than that hands and feet and eyes and ears are voluntarily united in the human body for the purposes of locomotion and work. The church is formed from within; Christ present by the Holy Ghost, regenerating men by the sovereign action of the Spirit, and organizing them into himself as the living center. The Head and the body are therefore one, and predestined to the same history of humiliation and glory. And as they are one in fact, so are they one in name. He whom G.o.d anointed and filled with the Holy Ghost {54} is called "the Christ," and the church, which is his body and fullness, is also called "the Christ." "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, _so also is the Christ_" (1 Cor. 12: 12).
Here plainly and with wondrous honor the church is named _o Christos_, commenting upon which fact Bishop Andrews beautifully says: "Christ is both in heaven and on earth; as he is called the Head of his church, he is in heaven; but in respect of his body which is called Christ, he is on earth."
So soon as the Holy Ghost was sent down from heaven this great work of his embodying began, and it is to continue until the number of the elect shall be accomplished, or unto the end of the present dispensation. Christ, if we may say it reverently, became mystically a babe again on the day of Pentecost, and the hundred and twenty were his infantile body, as once more through the Holy Ghost he incarnated himself in his flesh. Now he is growing and increasing in his members, and so will he continue to do "till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of G.o.d unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of fullness of Christ." Then the Christ on earth will be taken up into visible union with the Christ in heaven, and the Head and the body be glorified together. Observe how the history of the church"s formation, as recorded in the Acts, harmonizes with {55} the conception given above. The story of Pentecost culminates in the words, "and the same day there were added about three thousand souls" (Acts 2: 41). Added to whom? we naturally ask. And the King James translators have answered our question by inserting in italics "to them." But not so speaks the Holy Ghost. And when, a few verses further on in the same chapter, we read: "And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved," we need to be reminded that the words "to the church" are spurious. All such glosses and interpolations have only tended to mar the sublime teaching of this first chapter of the Holy Spirit"s history. "And believers were the more added _to the Lord_" (Acts 5: 14.) "And much people were added _unto the Lord_" (Acts 11: 24.) This is the language of inspiration--Not the mutual union of believers, but their divine co-uniting with Christ; not voluntary a.s.sociation of Christians, but their sovereign incorporation into the Head and this incorporation effected by the Head through the Holy Ghost.
If we ask concerning the way of admission into this divine _ecclesia_, the teaching of Scripture is explicit: "For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body" (1 Cor. 12: 13). The baptism in water marks the formal introduction of the believer into the church; but this is the symbol, not the substance. For observe the ident.i.ty of form between the ritual {56} and the spiritual. "I indeed baptize you in water," . . . said John, "but he that cometh after me . . . shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and in fire" (Matt. 3: 11). As in the one instance the disciple was submerged in the element of water, so in the other he was to be submerged in the element of the Spirit. And thus it was in actual historic fact. The upper room became the Spirit"s baptistery, if we may use the figure. His presence "filled all the house where they were sitting," and "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." The baptistery would never need to be re-filled, for Pentecost was once and for all, and the Spirit then came to abide in the church perpetually. But each believer throughout the age would need to be infilled with that Spirit which dwells in the body of Christ. In other words, it seems clear that the baptism of the Spirit was given once for the whole church, extending from Pentecost to Parousia. "There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Eph. 4: 5). As there is one body reaching through the entire dispensation, so there is "one baptism" for that body given on the day of Pentecost. Thus if we rightly understand the meaning of Scripture it is true, both as to time and as to fact, that "in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free."
The typical foreshadowing, as seen in the church in the wilderness, is very suggestive at this point: "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be {57} ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all pa.s.sed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Cor. 10: 1). Baptized _into_ Moses by their pa.s.sage through the sea, identified with him as their leader, and committed to him in corporate fellowship; even so were they also baptized into Jehovah, who in the cloud of glory now took his place in the midst of the camp and tabernacled henceforth with them. The type is perfect as all inspired types are. The ant.i.type first appears in Christ our Lord, baptized in water at the Jordan, and then baptized in the Holy Ghost which "descended from heaven like a dove and abode upon him." Then it recurred again in the waiting disciples, who besides the baptism of water, which had doubtless already been received, now were baptized "in the Holy Ghost and in fire." Henceforth they were in the divine element, as their fathers had been in the wilderness, "not in the flesh but _in the Spirit_" (Rom. 8: 9); called "to live according to G.o.d _in the Spirit_" (1 Peter 4: 6); to "walk _in the Spirit_" (Gal.
5: 25); "praying always with all prayer and supplication _in the Spirit_" (Eph. 6: 18). In a word, on the day of Pentecost the entire body of Christ was baptized into the element and presence of the Holy Ghost as a permanent condition. And though one might object that the body as a whole was not yet in existence, we reply that neither was the complete church in {58} existence when Christ died on Calvary, yet all believers are repeatedly said to have died with him.
To change the figure of baptism for a moment to another which is used synonymously, that of the anointing of the Spirit, we have in Exodus a beautiful typical ill.u.s.tration of our thought. At Aaron"s consecration the precious ointment was not only poured upon his head, but ran down in rich profusion upon his body and upon his priestly garments. This fact is taken up by the psalmist when he sings: "Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron"s beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments" (Ps. 133: 1, 2). Of our great High Priest we read: "How G.o.d anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power" (Acts 10: 38). But it was not for himself alone but also for his brethren that he obtained this holy unction. He received that he might communicate. "Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he that baptizeth in the Holy Ghost" (John 1: 33). And now we behold our Aaron, our great High Priest, who has pa.s.sed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of G.o.d, standing in the holiest in heaven. "Thou didst love righteousness and didst hate iniquity," is the divine encomium now pa.s.sed upon him, "therefore G.o.d, thy G.o.d, anointed thee with the oil of gladness {59} above thy fellows" (Heb. 1: 9). He, the _Christos_, the Anointed, stands above and for the _Christoi_, his anointed brethren, and from him the Head, the unction of the Holy Ghost descended on the day of Pentecost. It was poured in rich profusion upon his mystical body. It has been flowing down ever since, and will continue to do so till the last member shall have been incorporated with himself, and so anointed by the one Spirit into the one body, which is the church.
It is true that in one instance subsequent to Pentecost the baptism in the Holy Ghost is spoken of. When the Spirit fell on the house of Cornelius, Peter is reminded of the word of the Lord, how that he said: "John indeed baptized in water, but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Ghost" (Acts 11: 16). This was a great crisis in the history of the church, the opening of the door of faith to the Gentiles, and it would seem that these new subjects of grace now came into partic.i.p.ation of an already present Spirit. Yet Pentecost still appears to have been the age-baptism of the church. As Calvary was once for all, so was the visitation of the upper room.
Consider now that, as through the Holy Ghost we become incorporated into the body of Christ, we are in the same way a.s.similated to the Head of that body, which is Christ. An unsanctified church dishonors the Lord, especially by its incongruity. A n.o.ble head, lofty-browed and intellectual, upon a {60} deformed and stunted body, is a pitiable sight. What, to the angels and princ.i.p.alities who gaze evermore upon the face of Jesus, must be the sight of an unholy and misshapen church on earth, standing in that place of honor called "his body."
Photographing in a sentence the _ecclesia_ of the earliest centuries, Professor Harnack says: "_Originally the church was the heavenly bride of Christ, and the abiding place of the Holy Spirit_." Let the reader consider how much is involved in this definition. The first and most sacred relation of the body is to the head. Watching for the return of the Bridegroom induces holiness of life and conduct in the bride; and the supreme work of the Spirit is directed to this end, that "He may establish our hearts unblamable in holiness before G.o.d our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints" (1 Thess. 3: 13). In accomplishing this end he effects all other and subordinate ends. The glorified Christ manifests himself to man through his body.
If there is a perfect correspondence between himself and his members, then there will be a true manifestation of himself to the world.[1]
Therefore does the Spirit abide in the body, that the body may be "inChristed," to {61} use an old phrase of the mystics; that is, indwelt by Christ and transfigured into the likeness of Christ. Only thus, as "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people," can it "shew forth the virtues of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light." And who is the Christ that is thus to be manifested? From the throne he gives us his name: "I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore"
(Rev. 1: 18). Christ in glory is not simply what he is, but what he was and what he is to be. As a tree gathers up into itself all the growths of former years, and contains them in its trunk, so Jesus on the throne is all that he was and is and is to be. In other words, his death is a perpetual fact as well as his life.
And his church is predestined to be like him in this respect, since it not only heads up in him, as saith the apostle, that ye "may grow up into him in all things which is the Head, even Christ," but also bodies itself forth from him, "from whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, . . . maketh increase of the body" . . . (Eph. 4: 16). If the church will literally manifest Christ, then she must be both a living and a dying church. To this she is committed in the divinely given form of her baptism. "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his {62} death; therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6: 3, 4). And the baptism of the Holy Ghost into which we have been brought is designed to accomplish inwardly and spiritually what the baptism of water foreshadows outwardly and typically, viz., to reproduce in us the living and the dying of our Lord.
First, the living. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8: 2). That is, that which has been hitherto the actuating principle within us, viz., sin and death, is now to be met and mastered by another principle, the law of life, of which the Holy Spirit of G.o.d is the author and sustainer. As by our natural spirit we are connected with the first Adam, and made partakers of his fallen nature, so by the Holy Spirit we are now united with the second Adam, and made partakers of his glorified nature. To vivify the body of Christ by maintaining its ident.i.ty with the risen Head is, in a word, the unceasing work of the Holy Ghost.
Secondly, the dying of our Lord in his members is to be constantly effected by the indwelling Spirit. The church, which is the fullness of him that "filleth all in all," completes in the world his {63} crucifixion as well as his resurrection. This is certainly Paul"s profound thought, when he speaks of filling up "that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body"s sake, which is the church" (Col. 1: 24). In other words, the church, as the complement of her Lord, must have a life experience and a death experience running parallel.
It is remarkable how exact is this figure of the body, which is employed to symbolize the church. In the human system life and death are constantly working together. A certain amount of tissue must die every day and be cast out and buried, and a certain amount of new tissue must also be created and nourished daily in the same body.
Arrest the death-process, and it is just as certain to produce disorder as though you were to arrest the life-process. Literally is this true of the corporate body also. The church must die daily in fulfillment of the crucified life of her Head, as well as live daily in the manifestation of his glorified life. This italicised sentence, which we take from a recent book, is worthy to be made a golden text for Christians: "_The Church is Christian no more than as it is the organ of the continuous pa.s.sion of Christ_." To sympathize, in the literal sense of suffering with our sinning and lost humanity, is not only the duty of the church, but the absolutely essential condition to her true manifestation of her Lord. A {64} self-indulgent church disfigures Christ; an avaricious church bears false witness against Christ; a worldly church betrays Christ, and gives him over once more to be mocked and reviled by his enemies.
The resurrection of our Lord is prolonged in his body, as we all see plainly. Every regeneration is a pulse-beat of his throne-life. But too little do we recognize the fact that his crucifixion must be prolonged side by side with his resurrection. "If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." The church is called to live a glorified life in communion with her Head, and a crucified life in her contact with the world. And the Holy Spirit dwells evermore in the church to effect this twofold manifestation of Christ. "But G.o.d be thanked, that ye have obeyed from the heart that pattern of doctrine to which ye were delivered," writes the apostle (Rom. 6: 17). The pattern, as the context shows, is Christ dead and risen. If the church truly lives in the Spirit, he will keep her so plastic that she will obey this divine mold as the metal conforms to the die in which it is struck. If she yields to the sway of "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience," she will be stereotyped according to the fashion of the world, and they that look upon her will fail to see Christ in her.
[1] "The Holy Spirit not only dwells in the church as his habitation, but also uses her as the living organism whereby he moves and walks forth in the world, and speaks to the world and acts upon the world.
He is the soul of the church which is Christ"s body."--_Bishop Webb, The Presence and Office of the Spirit_, p. 47.
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