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the parable of the wheat and the tares, and that of the fishnet. In so far as the visible Church is
instrumental in the establishment and extension of the Kingdom, it is, of course, subordinate to
this as a means to an end. The Kingdom may be said to be a broader concept than the Church,
because it aims at nothing less than the complete control of all the manifestations of life. It
represents the dominion of God in every sphere of human endeavor.
E. THE CHURCH IN THE DIFFERENT DISPENSATIONS.
1. IN THE PATRIARCHAL PERIOD.
In the patriarchial period the families of believers constituted
the religious congregations; the Church was best represented in the pious households, where
the fathers served as priests. There was no regular cultus, though Gen. 4:26 seems to imply a
public calling upon the name of the Lord. There was a distinction between the children of God
and the children of men, the latter gradually gaining the upper hand. At the time of the flood
the Church was saved in the family of Noah, and continued particularly in the line of Shem. And
when true religion was again on the point of dying out, God made a covenant with Abraham,
gave unto him the sign of circumcision, and separated him and his descendants from the world,
to be His own peculiar people. Up to the time of Moses the families of the patriarchs were the
real repositories of the true faith, in which the fear of Jehovah and the service of the Lord was
kept alive.
2. IN THE MOSAIC PERIOD.
After the exodus the people of Israel were not only organized into a
nation, but were also constituted the Church of God. They were enriched with institutions in
which not only family devotion or tribal faith but the religion of the nation could find
expression. The Church did not yet obtain an independent organization, but had its institutional
existence in the national life of Israel. The particular form which it assumed was that of a
Church-State. We cannot say that the two coalesced altogether. There were separate civil and
religious functionaries and institutions within the bounds of the nation. But at the same time
the whole nation constituted the Church; and the Church was limited to the one nation of
Israel, though foreigners could enter it by being incorporated into the nation. In this period
there was a marked development of doctrine, an increase in the quantity of the religious truth
known, and greater clearness in the apprehension of the truth. The worship of God was
regulated down to the minutest details, was largely ritual and ceremonial, and was centered in
one central sanctuary.
3. IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
The New Testament Church is essentially one with the Church of
the old dispensation. As far as their essential nature is concerned, they both consist of true
believers, and of true believers only. And in their external organization both represent a
mixture of good and evil. Yet several important changes resulted from the accomplished work
of Jesus Christ. The Church was divorced from the national life of Israel and obtained an