Duties to the Church

Besides those duties which, as has been said, primarily concern yourself, there are others which concern the Church of Christ, and in the first instance that particular branch of it to which you have been united. Agreeably to the explanation already given, you have not only made a profession of your individual faith, but have declared yourself a participant of that communion, in token of which you joined in partaking of the same loaf and the same cup. You are of this family. These are now your brethren and sisters in the Lord. No tie on earth is closer; and your conduct should be such as to show that it is not a mere name. You henceforth owe them duties, which are all fruits of holy love. For you are bound not only to Christ, but to his people. Never cease to remember, that you are no longer

92 THE YOUNG COMM tJNICAJf T.

your own, and that in some sort jour individual interests are merged in those of the Christian body. Ycu have entered on a walk which is not solitary, but social; therefore, “Love the brotherhood.”*