Excerpt from Presbyterianism the Truly Primitive and Apostolical Constitution of the Church of Christ But while we thus maintain the doctrine of the unity of, the visible Church Catholic; and while we rejoice in the assured belief, that sectarian names, as they were unknown in the Apostolic age, so they will be unknown among the members of the Redeemer's glorified body still, in this mili tant state, there is a separation, not merely nominal, but real and deplorable; a separation which interferes most deeply with the communion of saints, and which lamentably mars those precious opportunities of proximity and intercourse, which too often, alas become incentives to contention and strife, rather than to Christian love. Amidst this diversity of sects and names, it becomes, to every intelligent and conscientious Christian, a most interesting question - 'which of the various denominations which bear the name of Christian Churches, may be considered as approaching nearest to the New Testament model? We freely acknowledge, indeed, as Churches of Christ, all who hold the fundamentals of our holy religion, and consider it as our duty to love and honour them as such carefully avoiding all treatment of them that tends to the increase of strife and division, and that is con trary to godly edifying. Still, it cannot be doubted, by any rational man, that some one of these denominations is nearer to the Apostolic model, as a Church of Christ, than any of the est. Which of the whole number this is, is a most serious question in the View of every one who wishes to know the will of Christ, and who desires to be found walking in that way which was trod by inspired Apostles, and in which they left the Church harmoniously walking, when they ceased from their labours. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.