The True Apostolical Succession
H. W. Beecher. Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) Though you have a straight line of apostolical ancestors, if your work is poor, you are not in the line of the succession; and if your Church does not make full-grown men, it is not. I do not care about the pedigree of my grapes if my vineyard bears better fruit than yours. You may say that yours came from those which Noah planted — but "by their fruits shall ye know them." And the tests of all churches, doctrines, usages, governments, is this: What are their effects on the generations of men. (H. W. Beecher.) Parallel Verses KJV: Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) WEB: Paul, an apostle (not from men, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead),