vate
judgment must be subordinated to its decisions. To constitute the Church
they say there must be bishops at its head, ordained by men whose
ecclesiastical orders have come down from apostolic times in unbroken
succession. Without this apostolical succession, it is affirmed, there
can be no Church, no true ordination, no valid or effectual
administration of sacraments.

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