2. The Creeds and Dogmatic Definkkms.— -The Apos- ties' Creed says, I believe "in the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints,** to which the Nicene Creed adds iqxMtolicity. The Catechism in use in the Greek Church gives the following definition : ** The Church is a divinely-instituted community of men, united by the (Mthodox faith, the law of God, the hierarchy, and the sacraments** (PuU Caiechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Ckwrch, Moscow, 1888). In speaking of the unity of the Church, Platon says : ** From this unity of the Church all those have separated who either do not receive the divine word at all, or mix with it their own absurd opinions** (see BihHotheca Sacra, xxi, 827). The Roman Catholic Church (Catechism of Trent) says, '* The Church b one, because, as the apostle says, there b *■ one faith, one Lord, one baptism ;' but more esp^ dally because it has one invbible Ruler, Christ, and one vbible, viz., the occupant for the time being of the chair at St Peter at Rome." ....*' The Church b holy, first, because it b dedicated to God ; secondly, because the Church, consisting of good and evil mixed together, b united to Clirist, the source of all holiness ; thirdly, because to the Church alone has been com- mitted the administration of the sacraments, through which, as efficient instruments of divine grace, God makes us holy; so that whoever b truly sanctified must be found within the pale of the Church. The Church b catholic or universal because it b dlffhsed throughout the world, embracing within its pale men of all nations and oondit#>ns, and also because it com- prehends all who have believed from the l>eginning, and all who shall believe henceforward to the end of time. The Church b termed apostolic, both because it derives its doctrines from the apostles, whereby it b enabled to convict heretics of error, and because it b governed by an apostolic ministry, which b the oi^ gan of the Spirit of God" {Catechinn, Cone, Trid, c. x, § 1). Bellarmine defines the Church thus: *'It b a society of men united by a profession of the same Christian feith, and a participation of the same sacra- ments, under the government of lawftd pastors, and especially of the one vicar of Christ upon earth, the Roman pontiff.*' The Lutheran Church defines the Church to be " a congregation of saints, in which the Gospel b purely preached and the sacraments are rightiy administered** {Confession of Augsburg, sec. vii). " The sum of what we here profess to believe is there- fore thb : I believe that there b upon earth a certain community of saints, composed solely of holy persons, under one Head, collected together by the Spirit ; of one faith and one mind, endowed with manifold gifts, but united in love, and without sects or divbions** (Lu- ther*s Larger Catechism), The Reformed Confessions : — ^The Church of England : ** A congregation of feith- ful men, in which the pure word of God b preached, and the sacraments be duly administered according to
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Christ's ordinance in all those things that are of neces- sity requisite to the same** (art xix). — ^The same defi- nition is given by the Methodist Episcopal Chorch. — ** The Church is a community of believers or saints, gathered oat of the world ; whose distinction it is to know and to worship, through the Word and by the Spirit, the true God in Christ our Saviour, and by &ith to participate in all the blessings freely given to us through Christ. Those are all citizens of one pol- ity, subjects of the same Lord under the same laws, and recipients of the same spiritual blessings" (Eel- veUc Confeatkmy 1566).— ''The CathoUc Church is the community of all true believers, viz., those who hope in Christ alone for salvation, and are sanctifled by his Spirit. It is not attached to any one place or limited to particular persons, the members of it being dis- persed throughout the world" (Belg. OmfettUm, sec. 27, 29).— The Scotch Confession \C<mf, 8coi, art xvl) de- fines the Church " to be a society of the elect of all ages and countries, botii Jews and Gentiles ; this is the catholic or universal Church. Those who are mem- bers of it worship God in Christ, and enjoy fellowship with him through the Spirit. ThU Chorch is mvmble, kmnan on^ to God, who alone hiowi who are Aw, and comprehends both the departed in the Lord and the elect upon earth." — The Confession of Polish church- es : '* There are particular churches and the Church universal. The true universal Church is the com- munity of all believers dispersed throughout the world, who are and who remain one catholic Church so long as they are united by subjection to one Head, Christ, by the indwelling of one spirit and the profession of the same £Uth; and this though they be not associa- ted in one common external polity, but, as regards external fellowship and ecclesiastical regimen, be not in communion with each other." — "A true particular Church is distinguished from a felse one by the pro- fession of the true £uth, the unmutilated administra- tions of the sacraments, and the exercise of discipline" (Declaratio Thortmieims),—DT, Gerhart, speaking for the German Reformed Church of America in its kter form of thought, under the influence of the so-called ifercersburg theology, says: **The Christian Church is a divine-human constitution in time and space: divine as to its ultimate ground and interior life, and human as to its form ; brought into existence by the miraculous working of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, who is sent by Christ as the bearer of his incarnate life and salvation, in order to continue and develop this life and salvation, according to the law of the Spirit, in its membersbif down to the end of time uninterruptedly. As such, it is not a collection of units, but an objective organism that has a principle, a unity, a law, organs, and resources of power and graae, which are in it and its own absolutely" (Bibli- ofkeca Sacra, 1868, p. 58, 54. See also Dr. Kevin, in Mercersbvrg Review, vol. ix [articles on '* Hodge on Ephesians"] ; vol. x [** Thoughts on the Church," two articles]).