The Walk of I the Church By REV. WILLIAM EVANS. D. D. $ Director of Bible Coune & Moody Bible Inststute. Chicago x TEXT-"One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and In you all." Ephesians 4:6. ? The Epistle to the Ephesians falls into two divi sions: The High Calling and Glory of the Church (ch. 1-3), and The Practical Walk of fte Church & View of this HSgh Calling (ch. 4-6). We are now con sidering the sec ond divisio,n which may be summed up in three ways: First, the walk of the church, which should be char acterized by unity (4:1-16); sec eond, the walk of the indi vidual Christian, which should be a walk of purity (4:17-5:21); third, the walk of the family, which should be k< charactered by loving submission and service (5:22-6:9). The difference between the two main divisions of this epistle may be stated thus: in the first, the church is presented as an or ganism which God alene sees; in the second, the church is set forth as an .organization such as God would have the world see. Looking now for a moment at the church as characterized by unity, we notice three trios of unities. First there are those specific virtues which secure and maintain the peace and unity of the church: they are lowlir ness, meekness, long-suffering and for bearance, and love. The lowly man is one who is not always clamoring for his rights but is willing at times and where occasion requires to yield those rights for the welfare of others; he is, in other words, the man of humble and lowly spirit. Where this spirit is found in any church, uni.y prevails; its ab sence means friction. The meek 'man is the man who thinks as little of his personal claims as the humble man does of his per sonal merits ; he gladly gives place to others and is willing to take the low est room. How many seeds of strife and roots of bitterness would be de- j stroyed if this mind were in us all. Self-importance and love of office, and a craving for applause and leading I tf-'Aaym^c .imity and pea Ce of the church. The long-suffering man is he who is not harsh or censorious or impatient in his dealings with those who are weaker than himself and who have not yet reached his attainment. He is forbearing with the weaknesses and faults of others and does not cease to love or interest himself in his neigh bor, even though he has faults and weaknesses. There is next presented to us those fundamental unities on which the unity of the church is based, namely, one body, one ?pirit, one hope; one Lord, one faith, one baptism ; one God over all, through all, in all. The church is one body. This is the teaching cf Scripture. At the time of his conversion every believer was baptized by the holy spirit into the body of Jesus Christ One spirit, the holy spirit, permeates all its members. Indeed, only spirit-quickened men be long to the real church which is the body of Jesus Christ. There is one hope of our calling, that is, friendship with Christ who is the one object and inspiration of pur hope; one object, to realize, likeness to Christ; one prize to win, the crown of life. Are we not going to the same heaven, and looking for the same Lord? The one ness of aim of believers makes unity and fellowship a glorious reality. Then the church is in reality one, and , church unity is really a fact. There may be many denominations, yet one body; many stars, and one star differ ing from. another in glory, yet one radiant sky; many regiments, each . its own uniform and colors, but one great army; many folds, but one fiock: many creeds, but one faith; many ac cents, but one common language; many ways of doing things, but one motive. Here then is a true unseen unity which binds together all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and shall we say that an outer unity pf organiza tion is impossible? Who will dare say that? We would be sorry to see the handwriting of the church affixed to such a conclusion. Shall we deem impossible an enter prise which secular societies are ac complishing every day? Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in Ascalon, that a unity which the order of freemason ry and the brotherhood of locomotive engineers have succeeded in attain ing by voluntary effort and under no stronger force than sympathy and a sense of common need-that such a unity has been declared impossible to the church of Jesus Christ! The vision may come. If it tarry, let us wait for lt, but meanwhile let us rest assured of one thing, that the real church of Jesus Christ is one body, is permeated by one spirit, and has one hope of her calling. , lumm WEST mm? o . o- o O' o g By SADIE WOODS. % o o .?c?e?eooo&?c