[47] v. p. 60, note.
[48] v. p. 58. Had they been Cathari, the points of controversy would have been more pronounced and fundamental.
[49] v. p. 63.
[50] This was also the opinion of Origen.
[51] Or the Satan-God.
CHAPTER IV
THE SYSTEM
(A) CONSTITUTION AND ORDERS
§ 1. ATTITUDE TO ROMAN CATHOLICISM
A movement which claimed to be a revival, and even a survival, of primitive Christianity would not be likely to frame its constitution and orders upon the lines of a Church which it regarded as hopelessly corrupt, and which subjected it to pitiless persecution; any likeness between the two would be due merely to the claim or fact that they were derived from a common source. The Roman Church had three Orders—Priests, Deacons, and Sub-deacons; the Catharists also had three Orders—Majors, Presbyters and Deacons; but the difference was fundamental, for whereas the Roman Orders were sacramental, the Catharist were merely executive. Apostolic Succession was not confined to commissioned officers, but included the rank and file. It was proved not by ecclesiastical pedigrees, but by personal experience and responsive conduct. For it was the direct gift of the Holy Spirit to the individual, and was not mediated through man. These Spirit-filled persons composed the true Church. It is less true to say that the heretics were "praecisi ab ecclesia"[52] than that they deliberately repudiated and left the Church because it had forfeited its status by quenching the Holy Spirit, as was shewn by its corruptions and persecutions. The loss of the Holy Spirit involved the loss of its power to excommunicate. Only those were successors of the Apostles who copied their life.