The candlestick in the temple was a type of the Church. It was for the high priest to supply the oil, to trim the lamp, to watch and tend it; the light must be ever brightly burning.
The ruin of a kingdom is a little thing in God’s sight, in comparison with division among a handful of sinners redeemed by the blood of Christ.
When the body is in perfect health, there is a noiseless, perfect co-operation of the members; so was it with the church at Pentecost, and so it ought to be with us now.
To reform the Church of God we should always begin with self-reform. Schisms and divisions will increase so long as we begin with reforming others. Wisdom is only with the lowly.
Every kind of self-pleasing is rebuked and put down in the 2nd of Philippians; but, alas! the Church of God in these days is more like the carnal, puffed up, schismatic Corinthians, than the lowly saints at Philippi, whose fellowship in the Spirit made glad the heart of Paul.
The new creation is God’s delight; of that new creation Christ is the Head; as one with the Church Christ stands before God.
The Church, the body of Christ, cannot rise above its present low estate, until there be a conscience in the members of fulfilling each one his office in the body.
While I mourn over schisms and divisions in the Church of God I justify God, and bless Him for the wisdom and equity of His discipline: He gives us to reap as we sow.
The titles given to the Church in Scripture bespeak heavenly unity, such as “the body,” “the vine,” “temple of God,” “a holy nation,” “a chosen generation,” “a royal priesthood.” Such words set forth the church of God as a witness for Him in the world; but the names which have been invented by men are names of sects, and declare our shame.
The Church of God is a field that needs double ploughing.