finds the essence of the church, not in the personal charac- ter of the several Christians, but in the union of the whole church with Christ. Taking the historical point of view, he goes back to the founding of the church, which may be seen * Aug. Contra literas Petil. 1. i. cap. 5 (torn. ix. p. 208) : " Qui fidcm a perfido sumserir, non fidem percipit, sed reatum ; omnis enim res origine et radice consistit, et si caput non babet aliquid, nihil est." " Comp. vol. i. § 104, p. 404 gqq. § 71. INTERNAL HISTORY OF DONATISM. 367 in the New TestameDt, which has spread over all the world, and whicli is connected through the unbroken succession of" bishops with the apostles and with Christ. This alone can be the true church. It is impossible that she should all at once disappear from the earth, or should exist only in the African sect of the Donatists.' What is all that they may say of their little heap, in comparison with the great catholic Christendom of all lauds ? Thus even numerical preponderance here enters as an argument ; though under other circumstances it may prove too much, and would place the primitive church at a clear disadvantage in comparison with the prevailing Jewish and heathen masses, and tlie Evangelical church in its contro- versy with the Roman Catholic. From the objective character of the church as a divine institution flows, according to the catholic view, the efficacy of all her functions, the sacraments in particular. When Pe- tilian, at the Collatio cum Donatistis, said : "He who receives the faith from a faithless priest, receives not faith, but guilt," Augustine answered : " But Christ is not unfaithful {perfidus), from whom I receive faith (Jldem), not guilt {reatum). Christ, therefore, is properly the functionary, and the priest is simply his organ." " My origin," said Augustine on the same occa- sion, " is Christ, my root is Christ, my head is Christ. The seed, of which I was born, is the word of God, which I must obey even though the preacher himself practise not what he preaches. I believe not in the minister by whom I am bap- tized, but in Christ, who alone justifies the sinner and can for- give guilt." ' ^ Augustine, ad Catholicos Epistola contra Donatistas, usually quoted under the shorter title, De unitate ecclesise, c. 12 (Bened. ed. torn. ix. p. 360) : " Quomodo coep- tum sit ab Jerusalem, et deinde processum in Judaeam et Samariam, et inde in totam terram, ubi adhuc crescit ecclesia, donee usque in finem etiam reliquas gentes, ubi adhuc non est, obtineat, scripturis Sanctis testibus consequenter ostenditur ; quisquis aliud evangelizaverit, anathema sit. Aliud autem evangclizat, qui periisse dicit de cajtero mundo ecclesiam et in parte Donati in sola Africa remansisse dicit. Ergo anathema sit. Aut legat mihi hoc in scripturis Sanctis, et non sit anathema." • Contra literas Petiliani, 1. i. c. 7