of the Mosaic dispensation he put it into the form of a state, of which he was the supreme head and lawgiver, while its earthly rulers exercised under him all the functions of civil offices, the bearing of the sword included.  When Christ came, he separated the church from the state, and gave it its present spiritual and universal organization.  In all this diversity of outward form we recognize the progress of one grand self-consistent plan.

4.  We may now go back again to the beginning, and consider the diversity in the forms of public worship—­the simple offering of Abel, who “brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof,” the altars of the patriarchs, the gorgeous ceremonial of the Mosaic economy with its priesthood and sacrifices, “the service of song in the house of the Lord” added by David, the synagogue service of later times, and, finally, the spiritual priesthood of believers under the New Testament, whose office is “to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5); and show that through all this variety of outward form the essence of God’s service has ever remained unchanged, so that the example of primitive believers is a model for our imitation.  Heb. chap. 11.

5.  We may show, again, that the same manifoldness belongs to the forms of labor devolved on God’s servants in different ages.  The work assigned to Noah was not that of Abraham; nor was Abraham’s work that of Moses; nor the work of Moses that of David; nor David’s work that of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; nor did any one of the Old Testament believers receive the broad commission:  “Go ye into all the world; and preach the gospel to every creature.”  They could not receive such a commission, for the way was not yet prepared.  Abraham must sojourn in the land of promise “as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob” (Heb. 11:9); Moses must lead Israel out of Egypt, and be God’s mediator for the law given on Sinai; Joshua must take possession of the land of promise and David maintain it, sword in hand; the prophets must foretell the future glories of Christ’s kingdom, not preach it, as did the apostles, to all nations.  But in the divine plan this manifoldness of service constitutes a self-consistent and harmonious whole.

6.  The same unity in diversity belongs to the spirit of revelation.  Failing to apprehend the character of God in its entireness, Marcion rent the seamless garment of divine perfection into two parts, the one consisting of justice, which he assigned to the “Demiurge” of the Old Testament, the other of goodness, as the attribute of the supreme God of the New Testament.  He did not see that God’s character is alike infinite on both sides; that his justice is a justice of infinite goodness, and his goodness a goodness of infinite justice.  Hence he arrayed in opposition to each other two caricatures of deity, the one drawn from the Old Testament, the