"'And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I
will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it,'" read Mary.

"I have heard a few discussions about the 'rock' of this text," said
Robert. "Some affirm that it means Peter, others that it means Peter's
confession, and still others that it means Christ. I do not know which
is right, but I believe Christ is the real rock. Anyway, Mary, it
teaches that Christ did build a church, doesn't it? and that it should
not be overthrown. Read Acts 2:47."

"'Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord
added to the church daily such as should be saved,'" read Mary. "Then
the church was built by this time, wasn't it? 'And the Lord added to
the church,' Then I wonder if they joined the church? How did the Lord
add them?"

"I do not know," said Robert, "maybe there was no joining in that day.
It may be that as soon as they were saved they were counted members
of the church. There are several texts here in Acts about the church.
'There was a great persecution against the church which was at
Jerusalem,' (Acts 8:1); they 'ordained them elders in every church'
(Acts 14:23); Paul 'saluted the church' (Acts 18:22), etc. Well, there
was an early church, judging from these texts, which corroborates the
words of Jesus who said He would build a church."

"What was the name of that church?" asked Mary. "Are there any texts
that show what it was called?"