We shall... offer earnest prayer and supplication that the Creator of the universe may preserve undiminished the established number of His elect in all the world through His beloved Son Jesus Christ, through Whom He has called us out of darkness into light, out of ignorance into the full knowledge of the splendour of His Name, that we may hope in His Name, which gave existence to all creation.
St. Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians, 59
