THE REV. THOMAS CONNELLAN, - The Gospel Magazine

The Gospel Magazine. 557·
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it." It was said of our Lord's human body, "a bone of it shall not
be broken ; " and while the soldiers brake the legs of the two malefactors
that were crucified with our blessed Redeemer, "they brake not His
legs." Watched over by His Heavenly Father, that body hung upon
the cross uninjured! Lifeless, yet complete! And not one member
of His mystical body shall be severed from the Head. Persecution
may scatter the Lord's people, and many wa.ves and billows may
pass over them; but not one of them shall be missing, in "the day
of His espousals,' and in the day of the gladness of His heart." Until
then the Head suffers with the members; "in all Dur afflictions"
the Lord Jesus "is afflicted." "He is touched with the feeling of
our infirmities;" and though " He finished transgressions, and made
an end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness," yet, while
His members are in the wilderness, His sorrows (arising from sympathy
with them) still continue; and therefore He is said to sit "at the
right hand of the Father, waiting until His enemies be made His footstool,."
for their foes are His foes, and their sufferings are His,. but
when the members shall rejoin in the courts of heaven their exalted
Head, sorrow and sighing shall for ever flee away.
The union subsisting between Christ and His Church is illustrated
in Holy Scripture by another figure, and 'one which brings out even
a higher degree of sympathy than that which exists between the head
and members of the human body. It is constantly compared to the
marriage bond.
.St. Paul, writing to the Ephesians concerning the union of man
and wife, says, " For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,
and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh,."
and then adds, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning
Christ and the Church." And as the bride's name is merged in that
of her bridegroom's, so the Church'" forgets her own country and
her father's house;" and losing her name of "Loruhamah" (not
having obtained mercy), receives that of" Ruhamah " (having obtained
mercy). Her debts become her Lord's, and His rank and glory hers.
She that was wont to tremble at the name of God, and call Him
" Baali" (my Lord), now looks into the face of her Redeemer, and
says, "Ishi!" (my husband). Christ has, indeed, acted toward His
Church the true part of a Redeemer (kinsman).
When Ruth, the Moabitess, found grace in the eyes of Boaz, he
restored to that destitute and blighted woman all her forfeited inheritance.
"Before the elders of Israel, and all the people, he arose
and said, Ye are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was
Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of
Naomi: moreover, Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have
I purchased to be my wife." Thus, as we were partakers of flesh
and blood, our Lord Jesus Christ "took part of the same," in order
to become our "Kinsman," and act the part of the Redeemer.
And beholding His Church the slave of Satan, and utterly ruined,
He purchased her with "His precious blood;" and in doing so
redeemed her forfeited inheritance, and endowed her with a goodly