The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-03-22
SERMON
BY IRVING A. sEARLIs.
The BOdD."

70 the church which is Ills body.-Eph. l. y.
Here The kingdom OF God Is compared 10 the
human organism: the church is tho body and
christ is the head Of that body. THIS figure is
quite suggestive OF important truth
! IL christ Is the head OF the church, what an
exalted idea h.ud We have OF that society
Among the heather, to call man powerful
would imply thai he was of great muscular
development When civilization calls enc
powerful it means that be has good brain no
matter how fine body one may have, IL be is
an IDIOT we DO not have very exalted idea OF
him. We look to the head WHEN We would
form an estimate OF ona's worth. What IS true
OF individuals is true of nations. No matter
how worthy may be the masses OF this country,
it our congress is weak, haK drunken, the
government stands disgraced before foreign
powers In forming an estiiD.te OF this nation
they look at it, head Now Christ Is the head
oftbe church; chs. makes tue church to differ
fundamentally from all otlMr societies 1t IL
divine lnstuusion Ia sHnse that 10 other
organization is divine.
2 |; CEtst il the heil OF the church he
should gooern. 1t ia's cad state OF things for
tie individual Rnen the mind no longer rules;
when tias governing power is al! below the
bridge az the nose: when reasons will is no
longer heard and spVetite's every behest is
regardta II natlous where the body instead
OF To. head rules o. tres to rule we have
revolrt,ons Chris as the head OF the churea
should rGle you are not TO accept nay Opinions
az art,clee of fait, o. the mere OPTIONS OF any
Other man living OF dead; you are 30 go direct
" 70 Chrst's teachings; his commands you are
to obey 7thereis the governing pewer.
People talk OF conversion as though it 1ne
some metaphysical. incompreirensible occur
rance but tine central idea in conversion rs
Submission to Ckrist's authority: it is saying
thai he and nor ourselves shat! rule our osn-
ducs
Yea may hs~e heard Of Haney. the celebrated
hose. tanner. Fe could take the most vicious
ccit. unused 20 saddle. birdie or harness. end
IN p stort tinShe would have the animal under
eiss dare apptcach, he wouh thoroughly con-
qus- He did THIS. not with the whip. but by
t,r,aeing ks sill power to bear upon the will
OF the auinaIl He would look the vicious.
ss-uly horse squarly in the eye his will
power was stronger than that OF the animal.
8y and by the weaker will yielded to the more
powerful in conversion o, any soul to Christ,
two wills play part: the will OF the sinner
aud the viii OF Christ When the will Of the
slnner is brought face to face with the will OF
chrst. feels its power so as to yield an unquah-
field obedience to the divine will. his CONVEX
s,onsis we'll nigh accomplished.
3 II Christ is the head of the church then he
must be IN sympathy with u.s. The brain is
thsgTeat nerve centre OF the human system.
An injury done TO the remotest part of the
body lie feK by the brain. You place your
haudtn the fire and one set OF nerves flashes
tho intelligence to the brain that your hand is
al the fire and quicker than thought another
set OF nerves sends back word tase your hand
out OF the fire. The brain is IN direct com
municstior with all parts of the body. Christ
as The head Of the church is IN direct communl-
eaton with US; he Is also in sympathy wi U.s.
"Nerily say unto you In as much as you have
dons it cnto the least OF these We have done it
unto me-"
During the battles before Richmond the
heavy canonadng threw little bird from its
nest in one OF the trees; its mother was crying
piGfuiiy over her fallen offspring. Gen. Lee,
witnessing all this, stopped down, picked up
the little creature and placed it In Its nest.
This tenderness on the part of the great chief
tainjwas mentioned in all the Southern press.
Bat we are taught that not sparrow falls to
the etound without our Fathers notice.
II Christians are members OF the body OF
Christ. then ere we dependent on one another.
The eye cannot say unto the hand, have no
need OF thee For again, the head to the feet,
have no need OF the
in one of the Colonies of Lepers a strange
SIGHT was seen There was one man whose
legs were destroyed BY the leprosy and another
vino bad lost the use OF his arms because of
tue same malsdy. These two men we're in the
field sowing grain; the one whose arms we're
destroyed was carrying the one who had the
use OF his arms Ia this way one made up for
wha& tue other lacked This is not an unapt
illustration OF the condition OF things in the
church and IL society. In a great sense
capital is dependent upon labor and labor upon
capital Some can preach but not unless
others viii pay bin.
n we are members of the same body, then
we should be In closest sympathy with one an
other. II your little finger is injured the whole
body immediately sympathizes with that
wounded member. The whole system goes to
work at once to neal that wound every energy
ID bent IN this direction. But, alas how Is it |
when a member OF the body OF Christ or
msnber OF society is injured or IN trouble !
Instead OF the whole body standing by the un-
fortunate member and rushing to his or her
rescue, how frequently do we find that wound
cd member deserted altogether The body