UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

chief among you, let him be your servant, who
yea, the servant of all." Under such a law,
servitude was
and made honorable,
dignified
but slavery was made an impossibility.
That the church was essentially, and in its
KEY TO UNCLE TOMS CABIN. 231
of lifeand love țhat breathesin every description
who was himself a perfect realizationof this
of the Christianchurch.
beautifultheory:
"
Who is weak,and I am
To all,whether bond or free țh e apostle not weak 1 Who is offended, and I burn
addressesthese
" "
inspiring words : There is not?" To whom ye forgiveanything, I
one body,and one spirit, even as
ye are
called in one
hope of your calling; one
baptism,
one faith, one
one God and Father
of all,who is above all,and throughall,
have access,byone
and in you all." "For throug him we all
Spirit, unto the Father."
"
Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers
and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with
saints, and of the household of God,and are
forgivealso."
Lord, But still further,
the
said,I will dwell in them and walk in them."
built upon the foundationof the apostles and Nor was this sublime language in those days
prophets, Jesus Christ,himself, beingthe
chief corner-stone." "Ye are allthe children
of God,byfaithin Jesus Christ ; there
is neitherJew nor Greek țhere is neither
bond nor freețhere is neither male nor female,
for ye
are all one in ChristJesus."
fillethall in all seeks this church to
be the associate and complementof himself,
even as a wife is of the husband. This
body of believersis spokenof as a bright
and mysticalbride,in the world,but not of
own nature, such an institutionof equalityit;spotless,
divine, immortal,raised from the
brotherhood, love and liberty, as made the death of sin to newness of life, redeemed by
existence of a slave,in the characterof a the blood of her Lord, and to be presented
slave,in it,a contradictionand an impossibility,
at last unto him,a gloriouschurch,not
isevident from the generalscope and havingspot or wrinkle,or
tendency of all the any such thing.
apostolic writings, particularly
A delicate and mysteriousympathyis
those of Paul.
supposed to pervadethis church,like that
And this view is obtained, not from a dry delicateand mysterioustracery of nerves
analysis of Greek words,and dismal discussions
thatoverspreads the human body;the meanest
about the meaning of doulos,but from member cannot suffer without the whole
a fulltide of celestial, irresistible spirit, full body,quivering in pain. Thus says Paul,
were
individual Christians
reminded,in languageof awful solemnity,
"What! know ye not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost,which is
in you, which ye have of God, and that ye
are not your own?" And again,"Ye are
the temple of the livingGod ;
as God hath
passed over as a mere idle piece of rhetoric,
but was the ever-presentconsciousnessof the
soul.
EveryChristian was made an objectof
sacred veneration to his brethren, as
templeof the livingGod. The soul of
"
For,as the body is one, and hath many every Christianwas hushed into awful stillness,
members,and all the members of that one and inspired to carefulness, watchful-
body,being many, are one body șo, also is and sanctity, by the consciousnessof an
Christ ; for by one Spirit are we allbaptized indwelling God. Thus Ignatius, who for
into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
hispreeminentpiety was called, par excellence,
whether Ave be bond or free ; and whether
by his church,"Theophorus, the Godbearer,"
when summoned beforetheEmperor
one member suffer, allthe members suffer
with it,or one member be honored, all the Trajan, used the following remarkable language
members rejoice with it."
evil
It was the theoryof this blessed and spirit
* ** * for,bearing
my heart Christ
divine unityțhat whatever gift, or superiority,
the king of heaven,I bringto nothingthe
or advantage, was possessedby one arts and devicesof the evilspirits."
member, was possessedby every member. "Who, then,is 'the God-bearer'?" asked
Thus Paul says to them, "All things are Trajan.
yours ; whether Paul,or Apollos, or Cephas, "He who carriesChrist in his heart,"
or life, or death,all are yours, and ye are was the reply. * * * *
Christ's, and Christis God's."
"Dost thou mean him whom Pontius Pilate
Having thus represented the church as crucified? "
one livingbody,inseparably united țhe "He is the one I mean,"replied Ignatius.
apostleuses a still more awful and impressive
# * *
simile. The church,he says, is "Dost thou then bear the crucified one in
one body,and that bodyis the fulnessof thyheart?" asked Trajan.
Him who fillethall in all. That is,He "Even so,"said Ignatius:"for it is
the
: " No one can callTheophorus an