Unity of the Body of Christ; the House and Body; Principles Exercised at the Beginning; House Truth Came Later Than Church; Separation From System

The unity of the body is a turning-point with loose brethren; many brethren may not have learned it, but with the loose brethren it is a necessity to deny it. It makes an essential difference of the true position of the saints. Those loose had long been drifting there; the annihilation question brought it to a point, because some would, some would not have them. It was what brought me out and put me where I am, and made the difference of leaving the National system, not a point objected to as a dissenter, but on the positive real ground of the church of God united to the Head - the real ground of God's assembly formed by the Holy Ghost. The doctrine of the House came out much later: but 1 Cor. 10-12 formed the basis of the ground I came out to; Matt. 18 giving the practical feasibility of it now. All my Swiss controversies, for it was there I had them, turned on this point -the dissenters, semi-brethren, there rejecting it.
San Francisco,
June, 1876.