Enlargement and consolidation.
"Spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes." Applying these words to the Church of Christ in its attitude of holy expectation, and its sacred duty under all circumstances, but particularly in the time of growth, we learn of it—
I. THAT IT SHOULD CONSTANTLY BE ANTICIPATING ENLARGEMENT. The challenge comes from its Lord, "Spare not, lengthen thy cords;" i.e. take the attitude and the action of those who are looking for increase, for the incoming of those who are outside. The Church of Christ is well warranted in doing this; for it has:
1. Ample scope in a vast unredeemed world beyond its borders; souls that are capable of brotherhood, of sonship, of heirship.
2. All the materials it wants for successful enterprise, in authority to work and win, in truth perfectly fitted to the deepest wants of the human heart, in the potency of Christian love and zeal.
3. Divine promise that its labour shall not be in vain.
II. THAT IT SHOULD CONTINUALLY BE ENGAGED IN CONSOLIDATION. AS a multitude of armed men do not make an army, so a number of people with Christian words on their lips and Christian ordinances in their practice do not make a Christian Church after Christ's ideal. The accession of numbers is not everything; it may prove to be very little; before now, in certain cases, it has proved to be "less than nothing and vanity." The Church must "strengthen its stakes" as well as "lengthen its cords." It must not spare its strength in providing for permanence and stability as well as increase. It must aim at, and must pray and labour for:
1. The intelligent acceptance of the truth of Christ in its integrity.
2. Spirituality in worship.
3. Consistency of conduct and consequent illustration of a large part of Christ's will in its daily life.
4. Order and discipline in its regular action.—C.