ciety intended to last for an indefinite future. It
is quite true that they did believe that the second Advent of Christ
would not be long deferred. This belief arose partly from a mistaken
interpretation of certain sayings of our Lord, in which they confused
His prediction of the fall of Jerusalem with the end of the present
age, and partly from a very natural idea that His manifestation in
Glory could not be separated by any length of time from His
Resurrection and Ascension into heaven. The fact remains, however,
that the foundations of the Christian Church were planned with the care
and forethought that an age-long existence called for, with the result
that, when the expectation of an almost immediate return was seen to be
unfounded, the disappointment did not in the slightest degree weaken
the faith or check the growth of the Church. The certainty that Christ
would return remained, as it still remains, one of the component parts
of the Christian's belief about Christ. When the time comes, He will
most certainly return "to be our Judge", but as He Himself said "Of
that day and hour knoweth no one ... neither the Son, but the Father
only". It is not for us to speculate therefore about the exact date of
Christ's return, but to endeavour to live in such a state of
preparation that we should be ready to meet Him at whatever time His
second Advent may occur. "Blessed are those servants whom their Lord,
when He cometh, shall find watching."

Christ is the Head of His Church, which is therefore a Divine
Institution, though it works in the world by human instruments. Into
this Body we are admitted at Baptism, and by virtue of Christ's
Headship become by our admission "Members of Christ, Children of God,
and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven".

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

As Christ is God and also shares our humanity, and in virtue of His
great Act of Reconciliation shown on the Cross, we rightly approach God
the Father through Him. That is why we end our prayers with the
words--"through Jesus Christ our Lord", and plead the Sacrifice of the
Cross before the throne of God in the Blessed Sacrament. St. Paul
(Romans VIII. 34.) speaks of Christ as making intercession for us at
the right hand of God.

HIS CHURCH AND HER MEMBERS

Christ told His disciples that He would be with them always, even to
the end of the Age. This promise He, as Head of His Church, fulfills,
both to that Body at large, and to the individual