CHAPTER VIII.
THE ESSENTIAL UNITY OF THE KINGDOM.
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“Elect from every nation, Yet One o’er all the earth; Her charter of salvation, One Lord, One Faith, One Birth.” |
If it is true that our Lord came to found a real Kingdom, and if the Church described in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles is this Kingdom, it is clear that the quality of Unity or Oneness is essential to it. It must belong to the nature of the Church that it should be One; because we cannot conceive in our minds, in any practical sense, the idea of two Kingdoms of Heaven.
This truth was illustrated by our Lord under the form of a figure. “I am the Vine; ye are the branches” (S. John xv. 5). The idea of a tree implies oneness, and the branches have no separate existence apart from the stem. Even so the subjects of “The Kingdom of Heaven” can exist only through union with Christ Himself; and wherever Christians are enrolled, in whatsoever country they may be, all must belong to the same Kingdom, because all are branches of the One Vine.
Consequently, if the Church be “The Kingdom of Heaven,” then, as it spread through the world and different countries received the Gospel, we shall expect to find that the various branches of the Church founded by S. Paul and the other Apostles were not independent one of another, in the sense of being so many separate and distinct bodies, but were all united together, as forming the One Church or Kingdom of Christ.
The question now arises, Was this the case?
God in His Providence has not left us in any doubt upon this point. We can trace this oneness very clearly in the history of the Church during its extension under the Apostles, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. The following incident serves as an example. After S. Paul’s return to Antioch at the close of his first missionary journey, a dispute arose about the necessity of teaching the Gentile converts to observe the law of Moses. And it was determined by the Church at Antioch that “Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem, unto the Apostles and Elders, about this question.” The first recorded Church Council was then held to consider the matter; and after full discussion, it was determined to send the decision in a letter after this manner: “The Apostles and Elders and Brethren send greeting unto the Brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia.” Then after stating the case, the decision was thus given: “It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well” (Acts xv. 1-29). From which it is clear that all the believers in the several Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch and Cilicia were brethren together, and fellow-subjects of one Kingdom, bound to the observance of common laws framed by common consent for the general good government of the whole body. And it is equally clear that the ties which held together these various communities of Christians were the Apostles themselves, who had founded them. The various Churches were one, because their founders were fellow-workers, who acted in concert, taking counsel together. But what bond of union held the founders themselves together?