_4. Inadequacy of Foregoing Definitions:_ "These definitions show the difficulty in which the different sections of the divided Church find themselves in framing a definition which will at once accord with the statements of Holy Scripture, and be applicable to the present state of the Christian world. We have seen that according to the Scriptural view the Church is a holy kingdom, established by God on earth, of which Christ is the invisible King; it is a divinely organized body, the members of which are knit together amongst themselves, and joined to Christ, their Head, by the Holy Spirit, who dwells in and animates it; it is a spiritual but visible society of men united by constant succession to those who were personally united to the Apostles, holding the same faith that the Apostles held, administering the same sacraments, and, like them, forming separate, but only locally separate, assemblies, for the public worship of God. This is the Church according to the Divine intention. But as God permits men to mar the perfection of his design in their behalf, and as men have both corrupted the doctrines and broken the unity of the Church, we must not expect to see the Church of Holy Scripture actually existing in its perfection on earth. It is not to be found, thus perfect, either in the collected fragments of Christendom, or still less in any one of these fragments more than another may approach the Scriptural and Apostolic ideal which existed only until sin, heresy, and schism had time sufficiently to develop themselves to do their work." (Smith's Bible Dictionary, p. 458.) LESSON XXVI. (Scripture Reading Exercise.) CLIMATIC EVENTS OF THE MERIDIAN DISPENSATION. ANALYSIS. I. Conspiracy Against the Christ. II. Death and Resurrection of the Christ. III. Post-Resurrection Ministry of Messiah. 1. In Judea. 2. On the Western Hemisphere. 3. Among the "Lost Tribes." REFERENCES. Matt, xxvi; xxvii:1-25. Mark xiv; and xv:1-15. St. John xxii and xxiii:1-27. St. John xviii. St. John xix and xx:1-18 Notes 2, 5. Luke xxiii and xxiv. Mark xv and xvi:1-8. Matt, xxvii and xxviii. Matt, xxviii:11-20. Mark xvi; St. John xx:19-31. Luke xxiv:13-53. Acts i:1-14. III Nephi chapters xi to xxx inclusive, cf. John x:15, 16. "The Fifth Gospel," Defense of the Faith and the Saints, pp. 373-399. III Nephi, chs. xv-xvi-xvii. NOTES.