fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." Heb. 1: 1, 2. This adorable Christ came into the world and delivered the perfect laws of his kingdom, and when about to finish his mission on earth he said, “I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them." John 17:8. And when he sent forth his ministers to preach his gospel to every creature, he commissioned them to make disciples in all nations, "baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matt. 28: 19, 20). Thus we see that Christ Jesus spoke all the words that the Father "put into his mouth," and all that he had commanded him to speak; and the Son likewise commissioned his apostles to publish all that, and only that, which he gave them. Therefore, "All Scripture divinely inspired, is indeed profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for that discipline which is in righteousness; so that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly fitted for every good work." 2 Tim. 3:16, 17, Emphatic Diaglott.

God the Father, then, is the source of this new

covenant, and Jesus Christ the mediator. Its objects are the "conviction" of men in sin, and the teaching and discipline in righteousness of all the saints of God. The result is that God's people are perfect. As divinely inspired discipline, it corrects every error and teaches every obligation of righteousness in all our relations to God and to man.

By means of this perfect law the man of God -every man of God-may be perfect, thoroughly furnished in all that pertains to a life of righteousness, and fully instructed in every good work. So if the Scriptures of divine truth are unsuited or insufficient as a discipline for any people, it would indeed appear that such are not men of God. The creeds that men have multiplied in the earth testify against themselves and in favor of this divine Book of discipline. They very generally admit that the Word of God is the only inspired and infallible rule of faith and practise, "so that whatever can not be read therein nor proved thereby, it is not necessary to receive or believe." So they say, and yet they impose upon their unwary joiners heaps of forms, traditions, and rules having no place in the inspired discipline of the divine

church. God's church is a "spiritual house,' and to her was given a spiritual law; but earthborn associations, even though called churches, are earthly in their tendency, and therefore they can not be governed by a spiritual law. For this reason they make their own laws, and amend them according to their own option. But the divine and heavenly law of the Lord, perfect in all its doctrines and ordinances, is well suited to be the discipline of his holy church.

Her government is divine, not only in the legislative department, as we have just seen, but likewise in its judicial and executive departments. "The government shall be upon his shoulder." Isa. 9:6. "And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion." Micah 4:8. "He is the head of the body, the church, . . . that in all things he might have the preeminence." Col. 1:18. A divine government in the highest sense: a theocracy not only appointed by but administered of God. Even "one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." Eph. 4:6. "It is the same God which worketh all in all." 1 Cor. 12: 6. He chooses men for elders

and deacons, as "governments" and "helps"; but these, as well as all the members of the body, have no right or power to act, except as "it is God that worketh in them." If, therefore, they teach or exhort, it is by his Spirit dwelling in them; if through them judgment is dealt out, it is not "man's judgment," but his that dwelleth in them. So her government is indeed all divine; yea, it is a government of God, working all things in all the members.

Her walls are salvation (Isa. 26:1; 60:18). "Behold, God is my salvation." Isa. 12:2. Therefore her walls are also divine. She has a divine door, even Jesus Christ himself (John 10:7, 9).

Having been purchased, founded, and built by God, he claims in her the exclusive right of proprietorship. She is not "our church," but "God's building," divinely owned, and his glory he will not give to another.

Her members are all the sons of God and bear his holy image.

She is even divinely named. "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." Eph. 3: 14, 15. And let

not men or devils presume to characterize her by blasphemous names which they invent. Behold, she is all divine.

THE CHURCH IS AN ORGANIC STRUCTURE.

Therefore when men charge us with discarding all organizations, they either ignorantly or wilfully misrepresent us. As the Word teaches, so we teach. The church that Jesus purchased with his own blood, he also "built" (Matt. 16: 18); that is, organized. "In whom [Christ] all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple into the Lord."

Eph. 2:21.

These scriptures and many others clearly set forth the church of God as a symmetrical and perfectly organized structure. Of this fact there is no question; but with regard to who holds the prerogative of organizing the body, not all so well agree.

The general teaching in sectarian theology is that God only saves and gathers men out of the world into a general mass and that it is the duty of ministers to form the material thus provided into organic form. But our teaching is that God not only saves men into his church, but also forms them in due order and really or