The True Church A STUDY Historical and Scriptural By ALLEN MACY DULLES, D. D. Professor of Theism and Apologetics in the Auburn Theological Seminary NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO Fleming H. Revell Company LONDON AND EDINBURGH PREFACE THIS book is but an argument. It makes no pre tense to furnish Information concerning The Church, which may be found in such admirable works as those of Hatch and Hort and T. M. Lindsay, representing the evangelic notion of The Church or the more recent works of Darwell Stone and Durell, represent ing the Anglo-Catholic opinion. The substance of the book was given as lectures to the students of the Auburn Theological Seminary and it is published to meet in some measure the need of any who may wish to see some of the facts concerning The Church arranged so as to be better able to answer sophistical questions such as, who has authority to give sacred bread A. J. Mason and the constantly reiterated statement that in order to have authority from above a minister must be in supposed apostolic succession. It is a criticism of the catholic position of which Gore and Moberly have been such ardent defenders, that The Church has been from the beginning a society with a divinely appointed succession of those who are in holy orders. 11 The author feels that the churches are in danger to day of returning to an ecclesiasticism which has, in the past, limited Christian liberty and corrupted Christian service. 6409853 6 Preface The criticism of ecclesiasticism of the catholic kind is keenly pointed by Oman Faith and Freedom, p. 322, The Person of Jesus loses all real signifi cance as soon as we interpret Him mainly as the Founder of an outwardly authoritative institution. Ritschl wrote in 1859 Studien und Kritikeri There is need of this apologetic justification of the evangelic concept of The Church because false de terminations or measures of what The Church is are to-day current within evangelical Christendom. There is not less need to-day. A concept of The Church which excludes the Quaker, Fox and the leader of the Salvation Army, William Booth must be, can be, shown to be false. This is our purpose, to state and defend the evan gelic concept of The Church, not to show that any one form of church government is better or worse than another. While the author would have gladly given time, if he had had it, to make his little book more perfect, both as to matter and form and to remove defects of which he is probably as conscious as any reader yet such as it is, he dedicates it to the service of The Church which is, indeed, the Bride of Christ, and to the churches which are the existence-centres of that Church on earth, in the hope that the churches may more and more come to a unity of faith and hope and love, and so to an outward unity free from inner an tagonisms. Auburn, N. K, November, CONTENTS I. THE Two CONCEPTS OF THE CHURCH . II. THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE Two CON CEPTS 2 III. THE ANGLICAN CHURCH ... 3 IV. WHY SEEK TO DECIDE WHICH CONCEPT is VALID 4 V. THE DIFFICULTIES .... 6, VI. THE CHURCH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT . 7 VII. CHRIST AND THE CHURCH 9 VIII. THE CHURCH AND THE APOSTLE PETER . n IX. THE TWELVE AND THE CHURCH . .12, X. THE CHURCH AND THE PRIESTHOOD OF ISRAEL 14 XL THE SELF-ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCHES 15, XII. THE EVOLUTION OF EPISCOPACY AND PAPACY 17 XIII. GENERAL ARGUMENTS OF GORE AND MOBERLY 1 8 XIV. THE MARKS OF THE CHURCH . .19 XV. THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH . .23 XVI. THE MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH . . 25 7 8 Contents XVII. THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH AND THE CHURCHES 267 APPENDIX Ritschl on the Invisible Church 291 NOTES 303 BIBLIOGRAPHY 309 INDEX OF NAMES AND SUBJECTS . .313 INDEX OF TEXTS 319 I THE TWO CONCEPTS OF THE CHURCH Religion is necessarily social. This is particularly true of the Christian religion. The name for the Christian association is, Church. The content and concept of the word Church has varied. There are two concepts, evangelic and catholic. In what respect these differ...

This book reveals what heaven expects from the church. It reveals what Jesus meant by “I will build my church.” It is not a critique but a standard of spiritual measurement and divine alignment as to the definition of a true church. The true church (The Ekklesia) is not a denominational gathering of any kind, whether orthodox, charismatic or pentecostal. The true church is one, which has placed primacy on building the dispensational temple (the man) only according to God’s pattern. This book will be a great eye opener for you. You will no longer strive in the flesh any more after going through this book. The issue of competition, comparison, sense of inferiority and superiority complex, which are some of the distraction and strategies of the enemy, will be exposed. Your work and ministry with God will never remain the same. You can't read this book and still retain your old mentality and operating system. Whatever you are building for the Lord from now on shall be to the Lord's glory and according to his specifications. Personal agenda will be given up. Deeper truths and insights are made available inside this book..

Bp. McGill examines claims of various groups to be the true Christian Church. He holds these claims up to scripture, history, tradition and reason to ascertain the truth of their claims. He then contrasts these claims against the claims of the Catholic Church to show why they fall short; and why the Catholic Church is the One, True Church of Jesus Christ.

According to the Global Christian Encyclopedia, there are forty-one thousand different denominations of Christianity in the world. Since there was only one true church of Christ at the time that he and his apostles originally organized the primitive church, why are there now forty-one thousand variations of his church? Where on earth did all these separately organized religious establishments of Christian worship come from, and more importantly, which one of them embodies the precepts of Christ's original church? The overall "falling away" and inevitable decay of the original primitive church was definitively prophesied by Isaiah, the apostle Peter, the apostle Paul, and even by the Savior himself, as is outlined in this book. The purpose of this book is not to stir up controversy or to disparage any particular church but only to direct sincere Christians back to the true doctrines of the Gospel and to track down the true church of Christ.