was described beforehand by
our Lord in His parables and discourses, and which He declared could
not be entered except through a new birth of the Spirit. And we have
seen how the Holy Ghost was given according to His promise, first to
lead men to accept the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ;
then to bring them into His Kingdom, new-born as the children of God;
and then to dwell within them and influence their lives, and prepare
them for the presence of their Father.

Consequently, in professing our faith in "The Holy Catholic[22]
Church," we are simply expressing the belief of Christians, that the
good news which He preached has come to pass, that "The Kingdom of
Heaven" has been founded; and that we, who profess this belief, have
been called to enter it as His subjects, and have been put into the
way of salvation, wherein we have a present share in His infinite
merits, and a good hope of eternal Life through Him.

The Holy Catholic Church is "The Kingdom of Heaven."

But we have also to deal with the words "The Holy Catholic Church" as
referring to a matter of fact. The existence of the Church is a
historical fact, which may be traced down through the eighteen
centuries from the times of the Apostles to our own. And we cannot
realize in any practical manner what the Holy Catholic Church is,
without some degree of knowledge of its history. Consequently, we must
now proceed to consider what the Church is, by the help of the records
which have come down to us.

The history of the Church of Christ during the greater part of the
first century is within reach of all, because it is contained in Holy
Scripture, in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, and in the
Epistles. And this Bible history of the Holy Catholic Church may be
divided into two periods; the first, whilst the Church was confined
almost exclusively to converts from amongst the Jews, and had hardly
extended beyond the limits of Palestine; and the second, when it
began to spread amongst the Gentiles, in the heathen countries of Asia
and Europe.

During the first period the interest is centred in Jerusalem. On the
day of Pentecost the foundation of the Church was laid in Jerusalem,
through the conversion of three thousand devout Jews to the faith of
Christ. And as the Apostles went on preaching boldly to the Jewish
people, that the Lord Jesus whom they had crucified was none other
than Messiah, of whom their prophets had foretold all things exactl