How did John Henry Newman describe the authority of the early undivided church?

John Henry Newman viewed the early, undivided church of the first five centuries as the definitive model of "catholic," or universal, church authority. During his time as an Anglican leader of the Oxford movement, he argued that the test of true catholicity lay in the teaching of this ancient, undivided body of the Fathers, positioning it as a "middle way" between Roman Catholicism and popular Protestantism.12

Newman emphasized the dogmatic authority of this early church as a necessary corrective to the liberal tendencies of his age. In works such as his Lectures on the Prophetical Office of the Church, he sought to reconcile contemporary doctrinal standards—such as the Thirty-nine Articles—with the teachings of that original, undivided era. Ultimately, his study of this historical period led him to conclude that the modern Roman Catholic Church was the true, legitimate development of that early foundation.123