CHURCH HISTORY. 135 



We must remember that the names of the parts 

 of the Church in the primitive ages did not indicate 

 real divisions of the Church, but were simply in- 

 tended to designate the parts of the same body 

 existing in different localities. Thus the Church 

 at Laodicea was a portion of the same organization 

 as the Church at Ephesus, and the Church at 

 Ephesus was the same as the Church at Corinth. 

 In course of time these local names became 

 more numerous, as Christianity spread to other 

 places. Thus we hear of the Gallican Church 

 existing in Gaul, or ancient France ; the Bntish 

 Church in England and Wales, and the African 



Church in Africa. 



These were not all disconnected bodies but 

 were the local subdivisions of the same body 

 Upon great occasions they met together m General 

 Councils, and there were interchanges of fellow- 

 ship. At the present day, in some countries there 

 are national Churches, protected by the aws of 

 the land., and supported in part or entirely from 

 the public funds. Thus, in Russia the Greek 

 Church is the religion of the land. In England 

 the Anglican Church holds the same position. 



Mere local names, then, or the adoption of a 

 branch of the Church by a particular nation, 

 do not of themselves indicate any real severance 

 of the Body of Christ. 



t . The fust formal division of the Church was 



