Church of God

“ In the history of the Christian Church the great figure has been the preacher. The Church of God is the body of Jesus Christ. As such she is the eye and ear, she is the hands and feet of the Lord, but especially she is the voice of the Lord. Doth not wisdom cry in all time? Did not the Spirit when sent forth lift the voice declaring the great Gospel message? ”

“ So we say, Mankind feel and always did feel the necessity of an infallible church, of a distinct, positive, dogmatic faith. Therefore they exist, and always did exist. Only in the Catholic Church are these wants realized; therefore the Catholic Church is the true Church of God. ”

“ One of the principal doctrines of the glorious gospel of the blessed God, on which the salvation of the church rests, and which can only entitle us to, and prepare us for death, judgment, and eternity, is the meritorious obedience of Christ to the holy law of God. This, by an act of grace, is imputed and placed to the account of the elect church of God, by the adorable Father, and received into the enlightened minds, affections, and consciences of those who are taught by the Holy Spirit. ”

“ The Church is the living Temple of God, into which believers must be builded as so many living stones. It is his Body, and his Body is no more to be dispensed with than his Soul; otherwise we could not call her always visible, for to some she would be visible, to others only invisible, and then there would be no visible Catholic Church. ”

“ So is the Church of God. In some saints it works miracles; in others gives voice to the truth; in others, again, maintains the [pg 100] virginal life; in others keeps conjugal fidelity; in these one thing, in those another; each have their proper work, but all alike live. Now, what the soul is to the human body, that is the Holy Spirit to the body of Christ, which is the Church: what the soul does in all the limbs of an individual body, that does the Holy Spirit in the whole Church. ”

“ It must be specially appointed of God. No human institution, therefore, nor combination of institutions for which there is no special divine appointment, can ever constitute the church of God, for it is of God and not of men. ”

“ It is the Catholic Church only which retains the true worship. This Church is the fountain of truth, it is the house of faith, it is the temple of God. If any one either comes not into this Church, or departs from it, his eternal salvation is desperate. No one must flatter himself obsti­nately, for his soul and salvation are at stake. ”

“ But the Church of Christ, precious as it is; beloved by its great Head; in the harmony of its truth, perfect; in the beauty of its holiness, passing all praise; in its power of salvation, absolute—yet the Church of Christ will doubtless stand under the protecting aegis of the Kingdom of God in common with other systems of religion, enjoying only such rights as will be common to all. ”

“ There is not more than one Church, or people of God, one earth. This one Church has one faith, one baptism, one confession of God the Father and of Jesus Christ. Its members faithfully hold, and abide by, these common truths. Every one desiring to be saved and to come to God must be incorporated into this Church, outside of which no one will be saved. ”

“ Our Churches are set apart for the worship of God as much as the Temple was; and if we do not worship God when we go for that purpose, we displease our heavenly Father. Everything belonging to God must be treated with reverence, and honoured by being used according to His Will. In this way, therefore, we must reverence and honour His day, His house, and His word. You will thus see that being careless and inattentive at Church is a great sin. ”

“ The Church on earth—which is One through the Apostolic Gospel and through the living union of all its true members with its one Head, even Christ, and which is Holy through the indwelling Holy Spirit Who sanctifies the Body and its members—is ordained to be the visible Body of Christ, to worship God through Him, to promote the fellowship of His people and the ends of His Kingdom, and to go into all the world and proclaim His Gospel for the salvation of men and the brotherhood of all mankind. Of this visible Church, and every branch thereof, the only Head is the Lord Jesus Christ ”

“ But the Apostles argument is otherwise, that we must pray for all men, because God willeth that all should be saved, that is, Gods will it is, that the Gentiles should be called, and added unto the Church, the Gospell should be preached amongst all Nations: therefore now pray ye for all men, specially for Kings, because by the good affection of Kings to Gods Church, the Church of God is like to prosper farre better then by the conversion of meane persons. But it no way followeth, that God willeth their salvation, because we pray for their salvation. ”

“ Grant that your Church, being bound together in love and obedience to you, may be united in one body by the one Spirit, that the world may believe in him whom you have sent, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. ”

“ But as things now are, the "Church" is broken up into various "churches" or societies, striving more or less to realize the ideal. Each society does so just in proportion as it is able to carry out our Lord's purpose as to its ministry being one in faith, believing Christ's words, in its knowing truly that He came from God to save sinners, and in its seeking, from love to God and man, to make all men know their Father, in the knowledge of whom is salvation. ”

“ The Church by its very existence is a body of men and women set apart for a holy use. The New Testament word for Church, ecclesia, means a society "called out" from among other men. It exists not for common purposes, but to witness for God and for Christ, to maintain before the eyes and in all the common ways and works of men the ideal life realized in Christ and the presence and holiness of God. ”

“ Prepare yourselves, you High Priests, for the duties and responsibilities that may devolve upon you, that the Church of God may be strengthened in all its parts, and every man in his place, all prepared to magnify their calling. ”

“ I assure you, a day has not passed without my offering up my unworthy prayers to Almighty God in your behalf; and I cannot refrain from again saying, that I hope one day we shall be united in the same faith of the One Holy and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. How great is the consolation to belong to that holy Church which alone Jesus Christ has founded, which alone He has illustrated with a never-failing succession of {188} pastors and of miracles, from which all others have separated, and out of which I find in the Holy Scriptures no covenanted promise of salvation! ”

“ Number 7 here refers to the organization of the church. According to the Bible every local congregation is entirely independent under God to manage its own affairs, with its elders overseeing its work. Acts 14:23: “When they had ordained them elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.” Acts 20:28 says, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” ”

“ If Christ sanctify all whom he saves, many will appear to have been mistaken in their expectations at another day. It is grown amongst us almost an abhorrency to all flesh to say, the Church of God is to be holy. ”

“ Although the Scripture, the true word of God, is not to us a rule of faith, taken independently of the teaching authority of the pastors of the Church, the successors of the apostles, yet it is not inferior to the Church in excellence and dignity. ”

“ The Church to me means all who, consciously or unconsciously, are forwarding God's kingdom on earth. In the broad definition of the Master it means "all those who are not against us." The way in which men associate for worship, or in which they consider it most remunerative to invest their efforts to forward the kingdom, gives them no right to arrogate to themselves the title of God's Church. ”

“ Let us pray for the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church which is spread from one end of the earth to the other; that God would preserve and keep it unshaken, and free from the waves of this life, until the end of the world, as founded upon a rock; and for the holy parish in this place, that the Lord of the whole world may vouchsafe us without failure to follow after His heavenly hope, and without ceasing to pay Him the debt of our prayer. Let us pray for every episcopacy which is under the whole heaven, of those that rightly divide the word of Thy truth. ”

“ As members of such a Church, let us always strive to act up to our baptismal vows, carefully studying all the articles of the Christian faith, that we may hold them fast; and that our faith may be firm and lively: let us renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil, constantly striving against sin in every form, so that we may truly keep the commandments and precepts of God: loving Him with all our hearts, and our neighbour as ourselves, for His sake. ”

“ It becomes those who form the Church to meet God's purpose in calling them out of the world and to consider themselves as devoted and set apart to attain that purpose. Their destination is no longer that of the world; and a spirit set upon the [22] attainment of the joys and advantages the world gives is wholly out of place in them.
2. More particularly those who compose the Church are called to be "saints." Holiness is the unmistakable characteristic of the true Church. The glory of God, inseparable from His essence, is His holiness, His eternally willing and doing only what is the very best. ”

“ We have seen that the various ceremonies and practices of the Catholic Church are dictated by right reason; that they are the rational deduction from Christ's teaching; that they obtain for us divine grace, excite pious thoughts, and elevate our minds to God; and that a true Christian is one who not only believes but also practises the teachings of Christ and His Church. The observance of these pious practices of the Church makes us Christians in fact as well as in name. They assist us to keep the commandment and to live in accordance with our faith. ”

“ The gospel which we preach is the gospel of life and salvation. The Church which we represent is the Church and Kingdom of God, and possesses the only faith by which the children of men can be brought back into the presence of our Father and God. ”

“ To the Church we know the New Testament was addressed: and by the Church (with all other means of grace) it was preserved. By the Church’s instrumentality we, individually, are brought to that Font where the “stewards of God’s mysteries” received us to the mystic body of the faithful. By the Church we really are taught in the truth; for notwithstanding every boast of independent thinking, the Church is practically to us, what it was to the first Christians, “the pillar and ground of truth.” (1 Tim. iii. 15.) From the Church’s voice we learn even the lessons of Holy Scripture. ”

“ Every child of God, by virtue of his birthright into God’s family, a family of priests to God, had the right to perform any and every service connected with the Church of God, limited only by God’s directions and by the ability to do it decently and in order. ”

“ For now that God has given us the grace of providing Holy Church with a good and just shepherd, who delights in the servants of God, and wishes them near him, and expects to be able to purify the Church and uproot vices and plant virtues, without any fear of man, since he bears himself like a just and manly man, we others ought to help him. I shall perceive whether we have in truth conceived love for the reformation of Holy Church; for if it is really so, you will follow the will of God and of His Vicar, will come out of your wood, and make haste to enter the battlefield. ”

“ The Lord Jesus Christ declares, "I will build My Church." The true Church of Christ is tenderly cared for by all the three People of the blessed Trinity. In the plan of salvation revealed in the Bible, beyond doubt, God the Father chooses, God the Son redeems and God the Holy Spirit sanctifies every member of Christ’s mystical body. ”

“ Having found this present, immanent Spirit and being deeply convinced that all that really matters happens in the dread region of the human heart, they turned away from all ceremonies and sacraments and tried to form a Church which should be purely and simply a Communion of saints—a brotherhood of believers living in the joy of an inward experience of God, and bound together in common love to Christ and in common service to all who are potential sons of God. ”

“ Christ’s words of light require no tapers of man to make them more distinct; dishonour to the name of Jesus in Christendom; difference between owning the ruin and endeavouring to reinstate the Church; the Church of God the greatest work, next to the cross, that God has ever wrought on the earth; to slight it is worse than any evil of former days ”

“ They that are without the church, and acknowledge one God, and live in a certain charity towards the neighbour according to their religious belief, are in communion with those that are of the church; for no one who believes in God and lives well is condemned. It is therefore clear that the church of the Lord is everywhere in the whole world, although specifically it is where the Lord is acknowledged, and where the Word is. ”

“ For the Church can bless and the Church can curse. The Church can bind and can loose. She can commend to the protection of God Almighty and His holy angels, and she can deliver over to Satan. She can bestow light and peace on her true and faithful children, and send out the disobedient and impenitent beyond the consecrated confines of her spiritual powers and graces. ”