his church. He was its life, and through it he manifested himself
in the only form in which, since the incarnation, he can be fully
exhibited to men.

[Sidenote: Avoiding extremes]

The fact that Romanism has stressed the "church" idea, parading before
the world as the church an organic body devoid of true spiritual life,
a mere corpse, is no reason justifying a view which, ignoring the
practical church relationship taught in the New Testament, talks
glibly of an ethereal, intangible, ghostly something which, without a
body, lacks all practical contact with men. The Bible standard is the
proper union of soul and body. It is certain that, as in apostolic
days, such union is necessary to the proper exhibition of the divine
life and absolutely essential to the full accomplishment of the divine
purposes in Christ's great redemptive plan.

Christ, the life of his spiritual body, and the life-giver, remains
the same in all ages. Hence the church _body_ is the part that has
been disrupted and corrupted by apostasy and sectarianism, and is
therefore the sphere of reformatory effort. And while reformation
pertains to historical Christianity, it implies, as we have already
shown, a return to the primitive standard. Therefore, before
proceeding to describe particularly the present reformation, we must
give attention to the constitution of the apostolic church, the divine
original.

PART I

The Church in Apostolic Days

=The Last Reformation=

CHAPTER I

THE CHURCH DEFINED

[Sidenote: The term "church"]

The word "church" as used in the New Testament is, in most cases,
derived from the Greek word _ekklesia_. The component parts of this
word literally mean to summon or call together in public convocation.
It was, therefore, used to designate any popular assembly which met
for the transaction of public business. As an example of the secular
use of the term, see Acts 19: 32, 39. This particular application of
the word, however, does not here concern us.

Since the word _ekklesia_ conveys the idea of an assembly of "_called
ones_," it expresses beautifully the Christian's call to churchly
association. The divine call of believers is frequently expressed
in the New Testament: they are "called with an holy calling" (2 Tim.
1:9); "called in one body" (Col. 3:15); "called unto his kingdom and
glory" (1 Thess. 2:12); or, as Peter expresses it, "Ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy natio