pleaded with God for Israel. The ignorance of the prophet, who thought
he was the only faithful Israelite, has its counterpart in our own
times. God knows, but we do not know, how many faithful saints there are
in the world who are in fellowship with one another because they are in
fellowship with Him. We are excluded by many barriers from the knowledge
of our brethren and sisters in Christ Jesus. Natural and moral
difficulties stand in the way, hindering this knowledge; differences in
language, in environment, in habits and modes of thought, and other
limitations, disable us for truly gauging the character of those with
whom we are brought into close contact. Communion is nevertheless real
and true. The members of the Church of the living God, however they may
be scattered and divided, have communion and fellowship with the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and being in fellowship with God, they are
of one mind, and are knit together by common faith and mutual sympathy.
They are all one with the same Head, and they have all one hope of their
calling.

Our Lord brought life and immortality to light, and taught men that
between the Church militant and the Church triumphant there is
indissoluble fellowship. Those who followed holiness in this life are
saints still in the life to which they have passed. In the Epistle to
the Hebrews, believers are told that they "are come to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven ...
and to the spirits of just men made perfect."[195]

While the clause was probably inserted at first to vindicate the
doctrine of communion of saints in this life, it has long been regarded
as extending to a communion subsisting between the spirits of just men
made perfect and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ who are still on
earth. The passage last quoted justifies the inference that death does