hate iniquity," is the divine encomium now
passed upon him, "therefore God, thy God, anointed thee with the oil of
gladness {59} above thy fellows" (Heb. 1: 9). He, the _Christos_, the
Anointed, stands above and for the _Christoi_, his anointed brethren,
and from him the Head, the unction of the Holy Ghost descended on the
day of Pentecost. It was poured in rich profusion upon his mystical
body. It has been flowing down ever since, and will continue to do so
till the last member shall have been incorporated with himself, and so
anointed by the one Spirit into the one body, which is the church.

It is true that in one instance subsequent to Pentecost the baptism in
the Holy Ghost is spoken of. When the Spirit fell on the house of
Cornelius, Peter is reminded of the word of the Lord, how that he said:
"John indeed baptized in water, but ye shall be baptized in the Holy
Ghost" (Acts 11: 16). This was a great crisis in the history of the
church, the opening of the door of faith to the Gentiles, and it would
seem that these new subjects of grace now came into participation of an
already present Spirit. Yet Pentecost still appears to have been the
age-baptism of the church. As Calvary was once for all, so was the
visitation of the upper room.

Consider now that, as through the Holy Ghost we become incorporated
into the body of Christ, we are in the same way assimilated to the Head
of that body, which is Christ. An unsanctified church dishonors the
Lord, especially by its incongruity. A noble head, lofty-browed and
intellectual, upon a {60} deformed and stunted body, is a pitiable
sight. What, to the angels and principalities who gaze evermore upon
the face of Jesus, must be the sight of an unholy and misshapen church
on earth, standing in that place of honor called "his body."
Photographing in a sentence the _ecclesia_ of the earliest centuries,
Professor Harnack says: "_Originally the church was the heavenly bride
of Christ, and the abiding place of the Holy Spirit_." Let the reader
consider how much is involved in this definition. The first and most
sacred relation of the body is to the head. Watching for the return of
the Bridegroom induces holiness of life and conduct in the bride; and
the supreme work of the Spirit is directed to this end, that "He may
establish our hearts unblamable in holiness before God our Father, at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints" (1 Thess. 3:
13). In accompl