c. He administers it himself through his Holy
Spirit. Hence no men or set of men can confer any power or authority
whatsoever upon any individual to act for Christ. Christ calls his
own assistants, and any man unto whom the Word of the Lord comes is
divinely authorized to proclaim His message. The only sphere of human
operation respecting this administration of divine government is
simple recognition of what God has done, and this recognition in the
last analysis belongs to the whole body of God's people. The basis
of every man's authority and responsibility is, therefore, not human
appointment or official position, but the divine call, gifts, and
qualifications, that he possesses. If, for example, he is called to
apostolic work and endowed with gifts and qualifications fitting him
for such service, he has apostolic authority and responsibility,
and there is nothing for other ministers or Christians to do but to
_recognize what God has done_. "Now hath God set the members every one
of them in the body, as it hath pleased him" (1 Cor. 12:18). Such, in
short, is the divine organization and government.

[Sidenote: What of the future?]

The realization of this grand ideal of the restoration of the New
Testament standard of church membership, government, and authority,
is impossible within the sect system. For the sects to turn all the
people of God loose from subjection to every foreign yoke and make
them free to associate without restriction with all the saved of God,
would be an act of suicide. _Only by division and by holding the grasp
of ecclesiastical rule can sects survive._ But he is blind to the
signs of the times who can not see that the grip of ecclesiasticism is
slipping and the bonds of true catholicity becoming strengthened.
The true people of God are becoming more and more dissatisfied with
present conditions and are beginning to think in terms of a universal
Christianity. The rising tide of evangelism among such is already
beginning to overflow the lines of sect. What may we expect in the
future?

Things can not continue as they have been in the ecclesiastical
world. A sweeping reformation is imperative and imminent. In fact,
the vanguard of this great movement is already visible. What will the
future bring forth? Will the sects themselves fade away and gradually
become dissolved? or will the powers that rule in the ecclesiastical
world finally set themselves against the spirit of catholicity and
thus pra