with humanity, and accessible to all. The Master's charge was that the
Gospel should be preached to every creature. The Church's field is the
world, and her commission sets before her as a duty that she shall go
into all the world bearing the glad tidings of salvation. The disciples
did not at first realise this comprehensiveness of the new faith. Even
after his address on the day of Pentecost, Peter had not risen above his
Jewish prejudices. It was not until after he beheld in vision the great
sheet let down from heaven, and was forbidden to regard anything which
God had cleansed as common or unclean, that the fulness of the Gospel
dispensation was understood by him, and he discovered to his
astonishment that God is no respecter of persons, but that in every
nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is acceptable to
Him.[188]

The Catholic Church is _One_. It is _the_ Holy Catholic Church, one in
its origin as the household of God built upon the foundation of the
Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone;[189]
one body, with one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.[190] The
distinctive marks of the true Church are allegiance to one Lord,
confession of a common creed, and participation in the same Sacraments.

The unity of the Catholic Church is quite compatible with the existence
of separate organisations that differ in regard to details of government
or worship. There is no outward organisation which possesses a monopoly
of Christian truth and privilege. While all who "hold the Head" stand
fast in one spirit, they are not all enrolled as members of one
ecclesiastical body, or subject to the authority of one earthly ruler.
Their citizenship is in heaven; not in Rome or in any city of this
world. The claim asserted by the Bishops of Rome to be infallible
representatives of Christ and exclusive possessors of the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, to whom all men owe allegiance, and whose decrees and
discipline cannot be questioned without sin, has no support in
Scripture, which, while it enjoins unity of spirit, never prescribes
uniformity of organisation.

What the Romanist claims for the Pope is virtually claimed for the
Church by some who reject Papal authority. By the Church they mean one
visible body of Christians under the same ecclesiastical constitution
and government, and they maintain that the right to expound with
authority the will of God is vested in this body, and that pri