i8 74 ] NEWMAN S THEORY OF PROPHECY 277 



the theocracy to which all are bound to do homage, and 

 this homage can become visible only as done to the visible 

 Church. Hence, the final glorification of the theocracy 

 must become manifest just in the exaltation of the visible 

 Church. 



But what do we mean by the final glorification of 

 God s Kingdom ? Is it not, according to the prophets 

 and according to the teaching of our Lord Himself, the 

 visible dominion of Christ and Christ s Kingdom over all 

 the earth ? And can this find its expression in honour 

 and homage done to the visible Church ? Surely not. 

 For the organisation of the visible Church to which alone 

 such homage could be paid is essentially ministerial, and 

 so has no right to accept sovereignty over the world. 

 No doubt every advance of Christ s Kingdom will bring 

 increased respect for the visible organisation of the Church; 

 but this one result is not the full expression of the advance 

 of the theocracy. 



And if this is so, it is at least an incorrect expression 

 to call the invisible Church the Kingdom of Christ. No 

 doubt the same persons make up the body of Christ and 

 the Kingdom of Christ, but they do so under different 

 categories. The old sound Reformed doctrine is that 

 there are not two churches, a visible and an invisible, but 

 one Church visible in respect to its organisation for the 

 administration of the word and sacraments, invisible in 

 respect to the criterion of individual faith in Christ. 

 Hence, the only organisation of the Church qua Church is 

 the organisation of visible Church government for the per 

 formance of purely spiritual actions. And so my actions 

 as a member of the Church, and under the organisa 

 tion thereof, are purely spiritual actions the worship of 

 God and the bearing witness among men to his grace 

 by special acts of cultus. But as a member of Christ s 

 Kingdom my functions are not purely spiritual. That 

 Kingdom is to subdue all the earth, and so every action 

 has a relation to it. My discharge of my daily calling on 



