each of the seven churches,
or branches of the Church of Christ, then existing in Asia,
administering reproof, admonition and encouragement, as the condition of
each required.

The final ministry of John marked the close of the apostolic
administration in the Primitive Church. His fellow apostles had gone to
their rest, most of them having entered through the gates of martyrdom,
and although it was his special privilege to tarry in the flesh until
the Lord's advent in glory,[1448] he was not to continue his service as
an acknowledged minister, known to and accepted by the Church. Even
while many of the apostles lived and labored, the seed of apostasy had
taken root in the Church and had grown with the rankness of pernicious
weeds. This condition had been predicted, both by Old Testament
prophets[1449] and by the Lord Jesus.[1450] The apostles also spake in
plain prediction of the growth of the apostasy all too grievously
apparent to them as then in progress.[1451] Personal manifestations of
the Lord Jesus to mortals appear to have ceased with the passing of the
apostles of old, and were not again witnessed until the dawn of the
Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.

NOTES TO CHAPTER 38.

1. Presiding Authority and Common Consent.--"Another instance of
official action in choosing and setting apart men to special office in
the Church arose soon after the ordination of Matthias. It appears that
one feature of the Church organization in early apostolic days was a
common ownership of material things, distribution being made according
to need. As the members increased, it was found impracticable for the
apostles to devote the necessary attention and time to these temporal
matters, so they called upon the members to select seven men of honest
report, whom the apostles would appoint to take special charge of these
affairs. These men were set apart by prayer and by the laying on of
hands. The instance is instructive as showing that the apostles realized
their possession of authority to direct in the affairs of the Church,
and that they observed with strictness the principle of common consent
in the administration of their high office. They exercized their
priestly powers in the spirit of love, and with due regard to the rights
of the people over whom they were placed to preside."--The author, _The
Great Apostasy_, 1:19.

2. Pentecost.--The name means "fiftieth" and was applied to the Jewish
feast that was celebrated fifty