Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

168 THE SECOND MAN VERIFIED IN HISTORY.from the Incarnate Word Himself, given to themby word of mouth, of which we have spoken aboveas the great Tradition or Delivery ; and out ofwhich a part is incorporated in the written word,while the whole dwells ever in the Boclv createdto receive it, from which it is to be imparted byperpetual oral teaching. The teaching, therefore,rests upon the perpetual presence of the Body representingChrist, and as in the days of His fleshHe teaches through it, and has fixed part of Histradition in it by writing, not to the exclusion ofthe rest, but as the charter of a sovereign, thetitle-deeds of an empire, to be perpetually applied,interpreted, and developed in that whole systemof institutions, by that whole race of teachers, inthe life of that one Body, which He was creating.And lastly, to this perpetual living line of teachers,to this perpetual living doctrine, to this perpetualliving framework of grace, He has promised Hisown presence without fail to the end. In thistriple succession He is seen, lives, and rules, andthis is His Kingdom, His Temple, His Body, HisBride, His Family, to whom He says, Behold,am with you all days, even to the end of theworld.From these words of our Lord, as from thewhole previous argument, we gather that whilethe Truth which Christ imparted to His Apostleswas one and complete, its development in its variousrelations was designedly left as the proper