The fact is that the true and certain divinity, the God character of the Church, hardly enters any more into men's hearts. Let it be once rightly grasped and felt that the Church, as such, is a thing of God, that God's name and saving grace are linked with it, and that it is the channel, conservatory of heaven's truth and saving grace, by which alone men's souls are saved. Let those who profess to be Christians avoid any and every connection that holds teachings, rituals, prayers, and practices contrary to its teachings, prayers, and practices, and the Church would not be shorn so much of her strength and be so little thought of. If men are "brethren" in other connections besides the "brotherhood of Christ," which is the Church, hold with one hand to idolatry and with the other to Christianity, it need not be wondered that their zeal is a divided one, and, in most cases, the Church receives the smallest division. The first general thought, then, is this: The Church is God's. Says the text, it is the body of Christ, distinct from all man-made associations, and so to be honored. And what--to consider the second and larger part of our discourse--are some of the distinguishing traits of its members? By what are they to know each other and to be known of one another? Other societies have their pledges and badges. In some it is a secret sign known only to the initiated, the brethren of the craft; in others it is some peculiarity of speech or of dress, the cut of the cap or the hair. Now, it is remarkable that the Savior and His apostles prescribed no such external badge of membership, more remarkable because, perhaps, every society then, as now, could be known by such an outward badge. The Jew would be known everywhere by his broad phylacteries and the borders of his garments; the Roman soldier had some mark wrought with imperishable dye in the skin; the Greek introduced into the Eleusinian mysteries had some outward method of expressing that fact to the world. And nothing would have been easier than for the Savior to have appointed some such emblem for His followers. But in the sacred record there is not even a distant intimation of any such badge by which Christ's people or Christ's ministers are to be externally so distinguished. And yet, was there no badge, no mark of distinction? There was. What was it? Permit me, in answer, to quote a few passages. "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." "He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love." "As touching brotherly love, ye have