"The whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God."

But the unity which exists among intelligent and responsible
_persons_, their mutual dependence and relationship, is just as
real as that which obtains among material _things_, and is far more
wonderful, more solemn and important in its nature, causes, and
consequences.

The human race is an organic whole. The individual man is more
intimately united to every other man, and to all past and coming
generations, than the leaf which flutters on the twig of a great tree
is connected with the tree itself, and with every other leaf that
swells its foliage, or with the seed which was ages ago planted in the
soil, and from which the noble plant has issued. That organic unity
of the Church, springing chiefly out of a common life, derived from
Christ and maintained by His indwelling Spirit, and which the apostle
Paul so fully illustrates by the union of the members of the human
frame, holds equally true of the whole family of man.

And what is true in this respect of the human race, is as true of all
spiritual intelligences in the universe of God. "We are all members
one of another." We form a part of a mighty whole that finds its unity
in God. Subtle links from within and from without in God's infinite
network, bind us for good or evil, for weal or woe, to spirits of
light and of darkness; to principalities and powers in other spheres
and systems of being, from the lowest outcast in the unseen world of
criminals, up to Gabriel before the throne of God; while over all,
comprehending all, sustaining and harmonising all, is the great I
AM--Father, Son, and Spirit.

Consider, for example, how, according to the arrangements of the
Divine government, man is linked to man from the mere necessities of
his physical and social being.

In this aspect of our life it is evident that its whole history is one
of mutual dependence, and one in which we are compelled to receive
and to give, to partake and to share. We enter upon life as weak,
unconscious infants, depending every moment on other eyes to watch for
us, and other hands to minister to us, while we kindle in their hearts
the most powerful emotions, and unconsciously react upon them for joy
or sorrow. But we are not less dependent on our fellow-creatures for
our continuance in life from the cradle to the grave. There is not a
thread of clothing which covers our body, not a luxury which