the power of the infinite repose and rest of God.  Joined with the apostle’s command to be at peace, we find another doctrine, the doctrine of the unity of the Church of Christ.  “To the which ye are called in one body,” in order that ye may be at peace; in other words, the unity of the Church of Christ is the basis on which, and on which alone, can be built the possibility of the inward peace of individuals.

And thus, my Christian brethren, our subject divides itself into these two simple branches:  in the first place, the unity of the Church of Christ; in the second place, the inward peace of the members of that Church.

 The first subject then, which we have to consider, is the Unity of the
 Church of Christ.

And the first thing we have to do is both clearly to define and understand the meaning of that word “unity.”  I distinguish the unity of comprehensiveness from the unity of mere singularity.  The word one, as oneness, is an ambiguous word.  There is a oneness belonging to the army as well as to every soldier in the army.  The army is one, and that is the oneness of unity; the soldier is one, but that is the oneness of the unit.  There is a difference between the oneness of a body and the oneness of a member of that body.  The body is many, and a unity of manifold comprehensiveness.  An arm or a member of a body is one, but that is the unity of singularity.  Without unity my Christian brethren, peace must be impossible.  There can be no peace in the one single soldier of an army.  You do not speak of the harmony of one member of a body.  There is peace in an army, or in a kingdom joined with other kingdoms; there is harmony in a member united with other members.  There is no peace in a unit, there is no possibility of the harmony of that which is but one in itself.  In order to have peace you must have a higher unity, and therein consists the unity of God’s own Being.  The unity of God is the basis of the peace of God—­meaning by the unity of God the comprehensive manifoldness of God, and not merely the singularity in the number of God’s Being.  When the Unitarian speaks of God as one, he means simply singularity of number.  We mean that He is of manifold comprehensiveness—­that there is unity between His various powers.  Amongst the personalities or powers of His Being there is no discord, but perfect harmony, entire union; and that brethren, is repose, the blessedness of infinite rest, that belongs to the unity of God—­“I and my Father are one.”

The second thing which we observe respecting this unity, is that it subsists between things not similar or alike, but things dissimilar or unlike.  There is no unity in the separate atoms of a sand-pit; they are things similar; there is an aggregate or collection of them.  Even if they be hardened in a mass they are not one, they do not form a unity:  they are simply a mass.  There is no unity in a flock of sheep:  it is simply a repetition of