13S CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, DERM.Iz; settled and peaceful church ; some are peevish, because the church will not consent to let them have their own will, or because others will not obey their assumedpow- er. Some affect to make divisions upon every little occasion, out of unreasonable pretences of purity and order, where scripture gives no plain rule. Whatever varnish may colour over such practices in this world, yet such humorous and unreasonable disturbers of the peace shall receive no thanks from our Lord Jesus in the great day, whether they be pastors or people. Reflection IV. " When we behold a society ofchris- tians flourishing in holiness and honourably maintaining the beauty of this sacred fellowship, let us take occasion to raise our thoughts to the heavenly world, to the church of the first-born, who are assembled on high," where everlasting beauty, order, peace, and holiness are main- tained in the presence of Jesus our common Lord. And " when we meet with little inconveniences, uneasiness, and contest in any church of Christ on earth, let us point our thoughts and our hopes still upward to that divine fellowship of the saints, and the spirits of the just made perfect, where contention and disorder have no place." There the glories and the graces of the Redeemer, who is the head of the church, are diffused over all the hap- py assembly : They adore and love their God, and their Saviour with supreme fervency, and they love one an- other with pure affection ; their hearts and souls are one, and they rejoice in the love of God, and in the presence of the Lamb for ever. ,
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