the 'witness of Jesus'; or as the organ of divine authority, guiding and disciplining the lives of men. But it is equally plain that such modes of representing the Church are not at all incompatible with one another, and all of them equally postulate the visibility of the Church.

We proceed then to trace up the different lines of tradition in the Church so as to show that the difference of colour put upon Christian truth by the varieties of spiritual temperament and the varying claims of circumstance did not affect this central position. And as, of recent years, considerable originality has been assigned to the 'Augustinian theory' of the Church, we will make a beginning in the West: with the Church of St. Augustin-the Church of

Tertullian.

Africa. Now, whatever novelty there may have been in Augustin's presentation of the matter,2 at least he did not originate the idea of a visible Church. Let us take our earliest representative of African Christianity, Tertullian (at the end of the second century), and listen to what he teaches on the subject, in argument with the Gnostics, giving it as the one thing certain, whatever may be matter for question.

1 E.g. by Dr. Hatch .c. pp. xii, xiii.

2 St. Augustin's doctrine of the Church is thus stated by Mr. Cunningham (St. Austin, p. 116): 'The kingdom of God was not a mere hope, but a present reality, not a mere name for a divine idea, but an institution, duly organized among men, subsisting from one generation to another; closely inter-connected with earthly rule, with definite guidance to give, and a definite part to take in all the affairs of actual life. To him the kingdom of God was an actual Polity, just as the Roman Empire was a Polity too: it was "visible" in just the same way as the earthly State, for it was a real institution with definite organization, with a recognised constitution, with a code of laws and means of enforcing them, with property for its uses, and officers to direct it.' This would represent what is meant by the Augustinian theory.' But in fact St. Augustin's relation to the idea of the Church is a complex one. On the whole he intended to spiritualize rather than materialize it: cf. Hermann Reuter Augustinische Studien, esp. pp. 101, 150-1, 485 ff.

'Christ Jesus our Lord,' he says,' 'so long as He was living on earth, spoke Himself either openly to the people or apart to His disciples. From amongst these He had attached to His person twelve especially, who were destined to be the teachers of the nations. Accordingly, when one of these had fallen away, the remaining eleven received His command, as He was departing to the Father after His Resurrection, to go and teach the nations, who were to be baptized into the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. At once, then, the Apostles (whose mission this title indicates), after adding Matthias to their number as the twelfth in the place of Judas on the authority of the prophecy in David's psalm, and after receiving the promised strength of the Holy Ghost to enable them to work miracles and preach, first of all bore witness to the faith in Judaea and established Churches, and afterwards going out into the world proclaimed the same teaching of the same faith to the nations, and forthwith founded Churches in every city, from which all other Churches in their turn have received the tradition of the faith and the seeds of doctrine; yes, and are daily receiving, that they may become Churches; and it is on this account that they too will be reckoned apostolic, as being the offspring of apostolic Churches. Every kind of thing must be referred to its origin. Accordingly, many tan and great as are the Churches, yet all is that one first Church which is from the Apostles, that one whence all are derived. So all are the first, and all are apostolic, while all together prove their unity while the fellowship of peace and the title of brotherhood and the interchange of hospitality remain amongst them-rights which are based on no other principle than the one handing down of the same faith.'

:

Here we have a perfectly clear conception of the

1 de Praescr. 20: Christus Iesus, Dominus noster, permittat dicere interim, quisquis est, cuiuscunque dei filius, cuiuscunque materiae homo et deus, . . . quamdiu in terris agebat, ipse pronuntiabat sive populo palam sive discentibus seorsum, ex quibus duodecim praecipuos lateri suo allegerat destinatos nationibus magistros. Itaque uno eorum decusso reliquos undecim digrediens ad Patrem post resurrectionem iussit ire et docere nationes tinguendas in Patrem et Filium et in Spiritum sanctum. Statim igitur apostoli, quos haec appellatio missos interpretatur, assumpto per sortem duodecimo Matthia in locum Iudae ex auctoritate prophetiae quae est in psalmo David, consecuti promissam vim Spiritus sancti ad virtutes et eloquium, primo per ludaeam contestata fide in Iesum Christum ecclesiis institutis, dehinc in orbem profecti eandem doctrinam eiusdem fidei nationibus promulgaverunt. Et proinde ecclesias apud unamquamque civitatem condiderunt, a quibus traducem fidei et semina doctrinae ceterae exinde ecclesiae mutuatae sunt, et quotidie mutuantur, ut ecclesiae fiant. Ac per hoc et ipsae apostolicae deputabuntur, ut soboles apostolicarum ecclesiarum. Omne genus ad originem suam censeatur necesse est. Itaque tot ac tantae ecclesiae una est illa ab apostolis prima, ex qua omnes. Sic omnes primae et omnes apostolicae, dum una omnes probant unitatem. Communicatio pacis et appellatio fraternitatis et contesseratio hospitalitatis, quae iura non alia ratio regit, quam eiusdem sacramenti una traditio.'

Cyprian
C. A.D. 255.

one catholic Church,1 founded in fulfilment of Christ's intentions by His immediate ambassadors, of which every local Church is the representative for a particular area. Behind 'the Churches,' and prior to them in idea is the one Church which each embodies.2 Thus the Church is to Tertullian's mind God's institution for man's education and salvation. To the Church belong the Scriptures; so utterly in fact does he refuse to separate the books of the Church from herself that he declines, in theory at least, even to argue as to the meaning of the Scriptures with those outside the Church, because they do not belong to them. So little does he conceive of the Christian religion as an abstract doctrine written in a Book! 3

It was, then, through membership in this one apostolic Church, catholic and local, that African Christians believed themselves to inherit the grace of Christ. Communion with God depended on communion with His Church. He cannot have God for his father,' Cyprian is fond of emphasizing, 'who has

1 Second century writers speak of the Church as actually catholic-so strong is their sense that it is meant to be so-i.e. they speak of the Church as having spread universally. Cf. πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τὰ ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανὸν κατοικοῦντα, ἀκούσαντα καὶ πιστεύσαντα . . . ἐκλήθησαν (Hermas Sim. ix. 17); ἡ ἐκκλησία . . . κατὰ τῆς ὅλης οἰκουμένης ἕως περάτων τῆς γῆς διεσπαρμένη (Iren. i. 1o. r) ; expansa in universum mundum' (ib. iv. 36. 2); ǹ katà tǹv oikovμévnν KabodiKỲ ÉKKλnoía (Mart. Polyc. 8). 2 The thought of salvation in the Church is so prominent in Tertullian's mind that he finds it in the Lord's Prayer. Speaking of the title' Father,' he says (de Orat. 2): 'Appellatio ista et pietatis et potestatis est. Item in Patre Filius invocatur; Ego enim, inquit, et Pater unum sumus. Ne mater quidem ecclesia praeteritur. Sequidem in filio et patre mater recognoscitur, de qua constat et patris et filii nomen.'

3 de Praescr. 19: Ergo non ad scripturas provocandum est, nec in his constituendum certamen, in quibus aut nulla aut incerta victoria est, aut parum certa. Nam etsi non ita evaderet collatio scripturarum, ut utramque partem parem sisteret, ordo rerum desiderabat illud prius proponi, quod nunc solum disputandum est: quibus competat fides ipsa, cuius sint scripturae.'

4 Ep. lxxiv. 7: Ubi et ex qua et cui natus est, qui filius ecclesiae non est? ut habere quis possit Deum patrem, habeat ante ecclesiam matrem.' Cf. Ep. lv. 24: 'Quisque ille est et qualiscunque est, Christianus non est qui in Christi ecclesia non est.' Ep. lxxiii. 21: 'Salus extra ecclesiam non est.' Cyprian's conception of the bishop constituting the Church will be brought out later.

not the Church for his mother.' 'Dost thou believe -so runs the baptismal interrogation in St. Cyprian's day (in) the remission of sins and eternal life through the holy Church? '1

C. A.D. 175

There is no reason to think that such a question would have startled or shocked the faithful in any part of the Christian Church. Certainly Irenaeus, Irenaeus the bishop of Lyons, who represents the Church of Gaul and the Churches of Asia where he had been brought up, held the same belief in the Church and made the same exclusive claim for it.

'In the Church,' he says, 'God placed apostles, prophets, doctors, and the whole operation of the Spirit, and all who do not have recourse to the Church do not participate in Him, but deprive themselves of life. . . . For where the Church is there is the Spirit of God, and where the Spirit of God is there is the Church and all grace.' 'God will judge all those who make schisms. . . . No reformation can be wrought by them which can compensate for the injury of the schism. God will judge all those who are outside the truth-that is, who are outside the Church.' 'The Church has been planted as the paradise in this world: so then, of every tree of the paradise ye shall eat, says the Spirit of God-that is, of every Scripture of the Lord.' 2

1 Ep. lxix. 7: 'Credis remissionem peccatorum et vitam aeternam per sanctam ecclesiam? Ep. lxx. 2: 'Credis in vitam aeternam et remissionem peccatorum per sanctam ecclesiam ?'

Dr. Westcott (Historic Faith, Note iii. p. 186) does not notice the latter form. Previously (p. 116) he lays stress on the idea that 'we do not say we believe in' the Church: we believe only 'that it is. This distinction comes from Rufinus; cf. his Commentary on the Creed § 36: 'hac itaque praepositionis syllaba Creator a creaturis secernitur et divina separantur ab humanis.' Cf. St. Augustin de Fide et Symbolo 21. But this would apply neither to all the western Creeds (see, in Heurtley's Harmonia Symbolica, Creeds xix, xxvi, xxvii, xxx, xxxvii-viii, and the early Spanish Creed in Priscillian Tract. ii. p. 36), nor to the eastern form of the Constantinopolitan Creed (the form of most authority in the Church) with the earlier eastern Creeds (see Pearson On the Creed art. ix, notes 52, 53; and Westcott 7.c. P. 195). It is therefore surely impossible to lay stress on it.

2 Irenaeus' conception of the organization of the Church is presented later. The passages here quoted are iii. 24. 1 (quoted below, p. 109);

iv. 33. 7 : ‘Ανακρινεῖ δὲ τοὺς τὰ σχίσματα ἐργαζομένους, κενοὺς ὄντας τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἀγάπης καὶ τὸ ἴδιον λυσιτελὲς σκοποῦντας, ἀλλὰ μὴ τὴν ἕνωσιν τῆς ἐκκλησίας· καὶ διὰ μικρὰς καὶ τὰς [τυχούσας] αἰτίας τὸ μέγα καὶ ἔνδοξον σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ τέμνοντας καὶ διαιροῦντας καὶ ὅσον τὸ ἐπ ̓ αὐτοῖς ἀναιροῦντας· οὐδεμία δὲ τηλικαύτη δύναται πρὸς αὐτῶν κατόρθωσις γενέσθαι, ἡλίκη τοῦ σχίσματός ἐστιν ἡ βλάβη.

(recognition also of God's wider dealings).

It might be asked how St. Irenaeus reconciles this exclusive claim which he makes for the Church with a truth to which he also gives expression-namely, that God's revelation of Himself through His Son, Who is the Eternal Word,' the Light which lighteneth every man,' is in a sense universal, and that in order to the apprehension of this universal revelation there is a universal capacity for faith which is exhibited in all moral obedience to God wherever found.1 Irenaeus teaches this, with the Alexandrians and with Justin Martyr.2 With the last-named father he would, no doubt, recognise all who, even in heathen lands as well as among the Jews, 'lived or live with right reason,' as the friends of Christ' the Eternal

Iudicabit autem et omnes eos qui sunt extra veritatem, id est qui sunt extra ecclesiam.'

v. 20. 2: 'Fugere igitur oportet sententias ipsorum [haereticorum] . . . confugere autem ad ecclesiam, et in eius sinu educari, et dominicis scripturis enutriri. Plantata est enim ecclesia paradisus in hoc mundo. Ab omni ergo ligno paradisi escas manducabitis, ait Spiritus Dei; id est, ab omni scriptura dominica manducate.'

The connection in the mind of the early Church between schism and heresy is very close. The fundamental idea of heresy is that of self-willed separatism or particularism. Cf. Rothe Anfänge der christlichen Kirche § 53 p. 563 f. and pseudo-Athan. Dict. et Interpret. Parabol. Evang. qu. 38 (quoted by Rothe .c. Ρ. 566) Πόθεν λέγεται αἵρεσις; ἀπό τοῦ αἱρεῖσθαί τι ἴδιον, καὶ τοῦτο ἐξακολουθεῖν. This expresses the primitive idea.

1 Iren. iv. 6. 5, 7: 'Et ad hoc Filium revelavit Pater, ut per eum omnibus manifestetur et eos quidem, qui credunt ei iusti, in incorruptelam et in aeternum refrigerium recipiat; credere autem ei, est facere eius voluntatem. Nemo cognoscit... Patrem, nisi Filius et quibuscunque Filius revelaverit. Revelaverit enim non solum in futurum dictum est, quasi tunc inceperit Verbum manifestare Patrem, cum de Maria natus; sed communiter per totum tempus positum est. Ab initio enim assistens Filius suo plasmati, revelat omnibus Patrem, quibus vult et quando vult et quemadmodum vult Pater; et propter hoc in omnibus et per omnia unus Deus Pater et unum Verbum Filius et unus Spiritus et una salus omnibus credentibus in eum.'

2 Justin Apol. i. 46: Τὸν Χριστόν πρωτόν πρωτότοκον τοῦ θεοῦ εἶναι ἐδιδάχθημεν καὶ προεμηνύσαμεν λόγον ὄντα, οὗ πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων μετέσχε. καὶ οἱ μετὰ λόγου βιώσαντες Χριστιανοί εἰσι, κἂν ἄθεοι ἐνομίσθησαν, οἷον ἐν Ελλησι μὲν Σωκράτης καὶ ̔Ηράκλειτος καὶ οἱ ὅμοιοι αὐτοῖς, ἐν βαρβάροις δὲ ̓Αβραὰμ καὶ ̓Ανανίας καὶ ̓Αζαρίας καὶ Μισαὴλ καὶ Ηλίας καὶ ἄλλοί πολλοὶ, ὧν τὰς πράξεις ἢ τὰ ὀνόματα καταλέγειν μακρὸν εἶναι ἐπιστάμενοι τανῦν παραιτούμεθα, ὥστε καὶ οἱ προγενόμενοι ἄνευ λόγου βιώσαντες ἄχρηστοι καὶ ἐχθροὶ τῷ Χριστῷ ἦσαν καὶ φονεῖς τῶν μετὰ λόγου βιούντων· οἱ δὲ μετὰ λόγου βιώσαντες καὶ βιοῦντες Χριστιανοὶ καὶ ἄφοβοι καὶ ἀτάραχοι ὑπάρχουσιν.