Such a definition of the Catholic Church excludes from participation in the ordinary means of grace the whole body of Presbyterians, nearly all the Protestant Churches of Europe, and all who refuse to admit direct transmission of orders from the Apostles as a primary condition of the Church’s existence.  Carried to its logical conclusion, it would exclude even those who maintain it; for all attempts to trace back a continuous and complete series of ordinations from modern times to the apostolic age fail to show an unbroken line.  It is therefore not possible for any bishop or minister in Christendom to be certain that, in this sense, he is a successor of the Apostles.  The Catholic Church is not exclusively Episcopalian or Presbyterian or Congregational.  It is found in all Christian communities, and maintains its identity in all.  It is said by Paul to be made up of “them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours."[191] As it is not the Pope that admits to, or excludes from, heaven, so it is not the prerogative of any church to bestow or to withhold salvation.  The right of private judgment, asserted and secured by the Scottish Reformers, is one which we are not only entitled but bound to exercise.  We must search the Scriptures for ourselves, that in their light we may prove all things and hold fast that which is good.  A famous saying of Ignatius, who first applied the term “Catholic” to the Church, supplies the true description of a living church—­“Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."[192]

SECTION 2.—­THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS

This article appears to have first found place in the Creed as a protest against the tenets of a sect called the Donatists, from Donatus their leader.  He seceded (314 A.D.) from the Christian Church in North Africa, carrying with him numerous followers, and set up a new church organisation, claiming for it place and authority as the only Church of Christ.  Circumstances put powers of excommunication and persecution at his disposal, which he directed against those who refused to become his followers.

Augustine was for a time a Donatist, but his truth-loving spirit soon discovered the real character of Donatus, and then he became his active and uncompromising opponent.  It was probably as a protest against the arrogance of the Donatists, and in deference to Augustine’s wish, that the clause was inserted.  In this profession it is declared that the Holy Catholic Church is one not in virtue of outward forms, or even through perfect agreement among its members upon all details of doctrine, but because of the holiness of those who compose it.  It refuses to excommunicate any who hold fast the form of sound words, and who adhere to one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.  It is a brotherhood of which all who have the spirit of Christ are members.  Differences in colour, or country, or rank do not suffice to separate those who are “the body of Christ and members in particular.”  The spirit of Christian fellowship that marks the saints finds fitting expression in the noble words of Augustine, “In things essential, unity; in things doubtful, liberty; in all things, charity.”