The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 591

THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS

551

windows; but, throwing doors and windows wide open,

it walks through the four corners of the earth, searches the ages of the past, and looks forward into the ages to come.

Communion of saints opens its arms as wide as possible. O God how can I encompass and embrace all the dear children whom Thou throughout the ages hast regenerated and still dost re-

my

!

generate, the of

There are a few redeemed both in heaven and earth lie open upon our table, so that !

former generations whose books

we can pray, or with Augustine glory in a sin-pardoning God, or with Owen lose ourselves in the contemplation of the excellencies of Christ, or with Comrie walk in the paths of with Calvin

But what are these few that speak com-

righteousness divine.

pared to the thousands who are silent who were each in his own way divinely endowed and adorned with spiritual gifts; who in heaven will once appear bright with crowns, our brethren and sis;

now and forevermore? The communion of saints cries out: Lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes." For it is a communion not with hundreds, but with thousands; not with ten thousand, but with millions a multitude that no man can number, as drops of water in the crystal sea which is before the throne of God. ters "

;

And

this

communion

of saints will be real

:

not limited as in this

where living together in the same city we meet each other at the utmost ten times a year but an actual living together the same life, eating together at the same board, drinking from the same cup, thinking the same thought, exhilarated by the same felicity, adoring the same unfathomable mercies of our God. In Europe our fellowship with thousands is now much fuller and richer than our fathers ever knew it. The means of communication are wonderfully improved and multiplied. Telegraph and telephone afford men communication not confined to place nor distance. They were never dreamt of before. It never entered the mind of man that in fifteen minutes a saint in America could exchange thoughts with a brother in Europe. This communion of saints was therefore to them an unsolved riddle. But to us the veil is partly lifted. Actually we see something of it: intercommunication of thought in minutest detail, not confined by distance, crossing the oceans, uniting continents. And yet, what are telegraph and telephone compared to the powers of the age to come? And thus we grope in the dark and wonder how it shall be when distance shall be no more, when material aids shall be superfluous, earthly

life,

;

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