The Church: Her Books and Her Sacraments

by E. E. Holmes

THE CHURCH.

CHAPTER I.

THE CHURCH ON EARTH.

Christus Dilexit Ecclesiam: "Christ loved the Church"[[1]]—and if we love what Christ loved, we do well.

But three questions meet us:—

(1) What is this Church which Christ loved?

(2) When and where was it established?

(3) What was it established for?

First: What is the Church? The Church is a visible Society under a visible Head, in Heaven, in Paradise, and on Earth. Who is this visible Head? Jesus Christ—visible to the greatest number of its members (i.e. in Heaven and in Paradise), and vicariously represented here by "the Vicar of Christ upon Earth," the Universal Episcopate.