Views Concerning The Church and the Sacraments During the Second Period (300-750 A.D.): The Doctrine of the Church (1): The Church Visible

There was at this time a controversy about the purity of the Church and the question of Church discipline between the Donatists and the Church Catholic, whose view was represented and defended by Augustine. The Donatists were a schismatic party in North Africa. When we speak here of the Church Catholic we must not confuse this with the present Roman Catholic Church, but with the Old Catholic Church as it existed during and immediately upon the age of the apostles. There was at this time a...