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thus in any place or in all places, and in any age or in every age, voluntarily and openly and legitimately have this peculiar and distinguishing mark.

This last then is what is called the visible church, and the term also in this more restricted sense, has commonly two significations in the New Testament; first, the whole professing people of God through- out the whole world, or that part of mankind who publicly own and acknowledge the divine authority of Christ, as well as His divine personality, make an open profession of allegiance to Him, and prac- tice subordination to all His laws, precepts and ordinances; and secondly, any local or particular congregations of such professing Christians. Thus, for example, we read of Christian churches as churches of Christ in the plural number, in difierent parts of the world, as the churches of Galatia, the church of Asia, and the like; and likewise in the singular number, as the church of Jerusalem, at Antioch, at Corinth, at Ephesus and the like, where those disciples of Christ, who at that time professed His religion, and who statedly assembled them— selves together for the purpose of mutual instruc- tion and edification, as so many distinct communi- ties or congregations are plainly intended. It ought to be remembered, however, that when the terms church or churches is used anywhere, in the last acceptation, it is always by way of accommodation, importing a smaller part of one great whole: a form of speech frequently used in Scripture. This is

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