Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

THE SECOND MAN VERIFIED IN HISTORY.163guarded it against all attack. As the great centralrite of Christian worship it is presented dayafter day, in myriads of churches, from age toage, to the eyes and hearts of men. The act inwhich Christians assemble, in which they offer upat once their repentance and their requests, theirthanksgivings and their praises, to Him who hasformed them into one Body, lives upon this truth.And further, the order of men which is the backboneof the Church, the great Christian priesthood,made by our Lord in instituting the riteand conferring the gift, exists for its continuance.Against such a truth, defended with such bulwarks,both infidelity and heresy dash themselveswith impotent rage in vain.Thirdly, we have in the epistles of S. Paul amention of the bishop's office and the duties belongingto it. The mention " is incidental, and thewords not so determinate as in the former instancesgiven. Those who are outside the Body,in their attack upon the necessity of episcopacy,thought that they could cat through these wordsso as to make it doubtful whether the office ofbishop, as distinguished from that of priesf origut then historv disthe fact that when the last apostle was taken fromthe earth not a church existed which was notunder episcopal jurisdiction, and through thewhole world, by the institution, of bishops, wasfulfilled the prediction, - Instead of thy fathers