Description
Two Churches? The Question of The Church and Churches / Publisher: CHAPTER TWO London England Booksellers and Publishers of Select Christian Literature
The writer, on repeatedly hearing of a distinction between "the Church which is His (Christ's) body" and "a church of God", sought to check this teaching, not only to see it in print in the written ministry of certain brethren, but, more especially, to compare and test it with Holy Scripture. On questioning this ecclesiastical doctrine, the writer was informed that his views were peculiar, held only by him. This explains why a section devoted to quotations of various teachers among a wide spectrum of "Brethren" (so called) has been made. The list is by no means exhaustive. It would have been of little help merely to criticize a doctrine (even if shown to be contrary to the Scriptures), but, rather, also to endeavour to explain the truth about the local church as representative of the Church at large, and in its relation to other local churches. Hence a section on principles of gathering.
It is by no means the intention of the writer to assume superior knowledge (for that he would not pretend to have), nor to stand in judgement over Christians whose personal devotion to the Lord he knows to be most sincere, but, simply, to be of service to believers who may be similarly exercised about the question of the Church and churches.
A pamphlet written many years ago pointed out that certain Christians among those called "Brethren" held to the idea of "A Dual Church" It has been thought necessary to show that the same idea is still prevalent in many companies and to examine the Scriptures in relation to it.
