fundamental nature of the church itself, what it was and what it was
designed to accomplish. The church was not, as we have seen, a mere
aggregate of individuals that happened to gather or that assembled for
ordinary purposes. A social club or a business organization would have
possessed all those features. The church was the body of Christ, the
body to which he gave spiritual life and through which he designed
to manifest his power and glory. Hence its visible organization was
secondary, merely incidental as the means for the accomplishment
of those higher ends involved in the transcendental element of the
church. The relation of the divine and the human characteristics was,
therefore, the relation of _soul and body_--Christ, the soul; redeemed
humanity, the body. The establishment of this relationship was
the manifestation to the world of the "body of Christ." It was
organization of the church.

From the foregoing considerations, we are certain that in the
apostolic church the real emphasis was placed on _life_ and that the
governmental power and authority of the church was derived from its
divine life in Christ and not from its organization. Apostolic church
government was, therefore, more than the adoption of some particular
form of external organization and administration.

[Sidenote: Divine administration]

The origin of the church was divine. Jesus said, "I will build my
church." And though, as we have seen, he employed human agents in its
completion, these agents were so specially inspired and directed by
Christ through the Holy Spirit that it was in reality _his_ work.
Jesus was not only the initial founder of the church, but he was its
permanent head and governor. Isaiah, predicting the coming of Christ,