by Cyprian in his conflict with a similar schism.*"" The Donatists, like Tertullian in liis Montanistic writings, started from an ideal and spiritualistic conception of the church as a fellowship of samts, which in a sinful world could only be imperfectly realized. They laid chief stress on the predicate of the subjective holiness or personal worthiness of the several members, and made the catholicity of the church and the efficacy of the sacraments dependent upon that. The true church, therefore, is not so much a school of holiness, as a society of those who are already holy ; or at least of those who appear so ; for that there are hypocrites not even the Donatists could deny, and as little could they in earnest claim infalli- bility in their own di'scernment of men. By the toleration of those who are openly sinful, the cluu-ch loses her holiness, and ceases to be church. Unholy priests are incapable of adminis- tering sacraments ; for how can regeneration proceed from the unregenerate, holiness from the unholy ? No one can give what he does not himself possess. He who would receive faith ' Comp. vol. i. § 111, 115, and.lgl; 366 THIRD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590. from a faithless man, receives not faith but guilt.' It was on this ground, in fact, that they rejected the election of Csecilian : that he had been ordained bishop by an unworthy person. On this ground they refused to recognize the Catholic baptism as baptism at all. On this point they had some support in Cyprian, who likewise rejected the validity of heretical bap- tism, though not from the separatist, but from the catholic point of view, and who came into collision, u23on this question, with Stephen of Rome.'^ Hence, like the Montanists and Novatians, they insisted on rigorous church discipline, and demanded the excommunica- tion of all unworthy members, especially of such as had denied their faith or given up the Holy Scriptures under persecution. They resisted, moreover, all interference of the civil power in church affairs ; though tliey themselves at first had solicited the help of Constantine. In the great imperial church, em- bracing the people in a mass, they saw a secularized Babylon, against which they set themselves off, in sej)aratistic arrogance, as the only true and pure church. In support of their views, they appealed to the passages of the Old Testament, which speak of the external holiness of the people of God, and to the procedure of Paul with respect to the fornicator at Corinth. In opposition to this subjective and spiritualistic theory of the church, Augustine, as champion of the Catholics, de- veloped the objective, realistic theory, which has since been repeatedly reasserted, though witji various modifications, not only in the Roman church, but also in the Protestant, against separatistic and schismatic sects. He lays chief stress on the catholicity of the church, and derives the holiness of individual members and the validity of ecclesiastical functions from it. He