And surely we may safely assert that what would lead the saints now into more of the congregational spirit is just communion with Him whom the ark and table shadowed forth. If we were more conversant with Christ as the ark, covering in this scene of death, and, moreover, with the table of showbread, whereon stood _the food of the priests_--if, I say, we knew more of Christ in these blessed aspects of His character--we should not be as we are, _a proverb_ and a byword by reason of our gross disunion. But, alas, as the Church grew weary of the curtains and the boards, and laid aside her Gershonite and Merarite character, so has she laid aside her Kohathite character, because she has ceased to carry the ark and the table upon her shoulder, and cast those precious pearls which were, through the grace of God, her peculiar property, to the swine, and thus has she lost her elevated character and position in the world. Thus, let us review those three grand features of character shown forth in the tribe of Levi. * * * * * 1st. Strangership. "Therefore the world _knoweth us not_, because it knew Him not." "Here we have no abiding city." "Dearly beloved, I beseech you _as strangers and pilgrims_, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." * * * * * 2d. Sorrow in the world. "_In the world_ ye shall have tribulation." "If they have _persecuted Me_, they will also _persecute you_." "I RECKON that _the sufferings of this present_ time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." "After that _ye have suffered awhile_, make you perfect"--"_ye have need_ of patience"--"ye yourselves know that ye are appointed thereunto." "If we _suffer_ with Him, we shall also reign with Him." "These are they that came out of _great tribulation_, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." * * * * * 3d. Union. "That they _all may be one_." "He should gather together in _one_ the children of God that are _scattered_ abroad." "That He might reconcile _both_ unto God in ONE body by the cross." And here, again, I would request of my reader to bear in mind that, while there was this beautiful diversity in the character and line of service of the Levites, yet they were _one people_, and that _manifestly_--they were _one_ in _life_, _one_ in standing, _one_ in calling, _one_ in inheritance; and so should it be with Christians _now_. We are not to expect uniformity of opinion on every point, nor yet are we to look for a perfect correspondence in the line of service and development of life; but then the saints should be seen as _one people_--_one_ in worship,[14] _one_ in labor, _one_ in object, _one_ in sympathy; in a word, _one_ in everything that belongs to them in common as the people of God.