Christian has his Church, in whose very name his Lord is honoured.  Sometimes the word denotes the Christians of a specified city or locality—­the Church at Ephesus, the Church at Corinth.  Sometimes it is limited to a number of Christians meeting for worship in a house, as in Romans xvi. 5 and in Philemon.[185] Sometimes “Church” denotes a particular denomination of Christians, as the Presbyterian Church, the Episcopal Church.  Sometimes it expresses the distinctive form which Christianity assumes in a particular nation—­the Church of England, the Church of Scotland.  In the Creed the Holy Catholic Church means the whole body of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, all who anywhere and everywhere are looking to Him for salvation, and are bringing forth the fruits of holiness to His praise and glory.

The Lord Jesus Christ did not, during His ministry, set up a Church as an outward organisation.  He was Himself to be the Church’s foundation; but in order to be qualified for this office it was necessary that He should first lay down His life.  The work of building and extending, in so far as it was to be effected by human agency, must be undertaken by others after His departure.  He came to fulfil the law, and so He was not sent save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  He worshipped, accordingly, in the Jewish temple and synagogues, observed the sacraments and festivals of the Old Testament Church, and during His earthly ministry bade His disciples observe and do whatsoever the men who sat in Moses’ seat commanded.  “The faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation,” with which the Christian Church was to be charged as God’s message to the world, was not yet published, for Christ had still to suffer and enter into His glory, and the Holy Ghost had yet to be sent by the Father before the standard of the Church could be set up.  While the Church rests on Christ, it is founded upon His Apostles also, to whom He committed the work for which He had prepared them, and for which He was still further to qualify them by bestowing power from on high.  The gifts which He received for men when He ascended were needed to equip them for the work of founding that Church, which became a possibility only through His death and resurrection.  Applying to them the redemption purchased by Christ, the Holy Ghost wrought in and with them, and crowned their labours with success.  The Christian Church was set up on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost came down upon a band of believers assembled at Jerusalem waiting for the promise of the Father.  Under His inspiration Peter preached the first Christian sermon with such power that the same day there were added unto the Church three thousand souls.