was later somewhat broken, through the hardening of The Church into a rigidity of rules and dogmas. The Church was knit together as the meshes of a net by the welcome a Christian found wherever there was a brother Christian (Rom. 12:13; 1 Pet. 4:9; Heb. 13:2; 3 John 5-8). Paul was himself the greatest bearer of salutations (1 Cor. 16:19; Rom. 16:4, 6; Phil. 4:22). His endeavour was not to connect all the churches as links in a chain are connected so much as to fuse them together in the flame of the divine fire of love. He pours it out as liquid fire in the great chapter on charity, which is the perfect bond. So John taught that love was brotherliness. The prayer of all Christians is expressed in the beautiful prayer given in the Didache for use at the communion service: "Even as the broken bread was scattered over the hills and was gathered together and become one, so let Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy Kingdom." We conclude: Christ Jesus in a church, is the one and only mark of The Church. Louis XIV said: “I am the state." Jesus alone can say: "I am The Church." "Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I." Where Christ is, there is The Church. Where Jesus is, there will be unity, sanctity, catholicity. The unity will be a unity which requires no outward band to make it real; it will be a unity of which Christ alone is cause and attracting centre. The sanctity will not be an outward sanctity, the obedience of any external commandments, but the outflow into life of the spirit that is in the heart. The catholicity will be that universality wherewith Christ belongs to all and all belongs to Him. The apostolicity will be the permanent abiding of Christians in the doctrine and life delivered by Christ, through His spirit, to the disciples, called also apostles, and transmitted through prophets and teachers working by the Holy Spirit. XV THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH I. Jesus Christ exemplifies this. The Kingly Mission of Jesus and The Church. To subdue man to God. The Kingdom as future. The Kingdom as "coming" and as "come." The Kingdom is brought to man. Man is brought to the Kingdom. The Church must conquer the world. 2. The priestly work of Jesus and The Church. 3. The growth of a sacerdotal society. The Church has no "sacerdotal" duty. Jesus Christ offers Himself. The true nature of Christian sacrifices. New Testament silence as to priestly functions. This Moberly admits. The true worship of God by the eucharist. Worship is the whole of sacrifice. The symbolic use of the eucharist. The danger of priestcraft. The Anglican priest has "nothing to offer." The Prophetic Work of The Church. The prophet the representative servant of God. XV THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH THE true concept of The Church is to be discovered in the work assigned to it by its Head, Christ Jesus. Whatever is necessary to the fulfillment of its mission is essential to The Church. Whatever is not necessary to its functional activity is not necessary to the being of The Church. Therefore we inquire: What is the mission of The Church? The original and perpetual office or mission of The Church is found in the life work of Jesus Christ. This has its earliest illustration in the activity of the apostles and the churches which they established. All the activity of Christ was the outflow of His faith, His hope, His love. All the activity of The Church has these as its permanent source. It is clear that Jesus Christ expected His disciples to do His work as preparatory to, the sharing of His glory, just as He did His Father's work. I. THE KINGLY WORK OF CHRIST AND THE CHURCH Jesus Christ came to be the King of men ruling in a spiritual domain. "My kingdom is not of this world." It is not a kingdom made visible by rulers or governors nor maintained by any force, in outward |