word literally mean to summon or call together in public convocation.
It was, therefore, used to designate any popular assembly which met
for the transaction of public business. As an example of the secular
use of the term, see Acts 19: 32, 39. This particular application of
the word, however, does not here concern us.

Since the word _ekklesia_ conveys the idea of an assembly of "_called
ones_," it expresses beautifully the Christian's call to churchly
association. The divine call of believers is frequently expressed
in the New Testament: they are "called with an holy calling" (2 Tim.
1:9); "called in one body" (Col. 3:15); "called unto his kingdom and
glory" (1 Thess. 2:12); or, as Peter expresses it, "Ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;
that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out
of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Pet. 2:9). While these texts
and many others describe the exalted rights and privileges accorded
the "called ones," there is distinctly implied the idea of their
organic association, and it was this association that constituted them
the Christian church.

[Sidenote: Its two Christian phases]

"The church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood" (Acts
20: 28), is Clearly set forth in the New Testament. And the term
"church" in its religious usage is given two significations. In its
largest and primary signification, the church of God is the entire
body of regenerated persons in all times and places, and is in this
respect identical with the spiritual kingdom of God, the divine
family. In a secondary sense, church designates an individual assembly
in which the universal church takes local and temporary form and in