(<M(?'"jW1i' V >.31i<' '. j't- 
 
^K 1720 .C8 P6 1840 ^ ' 
 ^?«o!' ^^^^S^e Ayliffe, 18091 
 
 -Loo J . 
 
 The life and times of Saint' 
 
 CVDrian ■ 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 SAINT CYPRIAN. 
 
^ \ 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 SAINT CYPRIAN. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEO. AYLIFFE POOLE, M.A. 
 
 INCUMBENT OF ST. JAMES'S CHURCH, LBEttS. 
 
 OXFORD, 
 
 JOHN HENRY PARKER ; 
 
 J. G. F. AND J. RIVINGTON, LONDON. 
 
 1840. 
 
BAXTER, PRINTEft, OXFOIlt). 
 
TO THE 
 MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD 
 
 WILLIAM, 
 
 LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, 
 PRIMATE OF ALL ENGLAND AND METROPOLITAN, 
 
 THIS HISTORY 
 OF THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CYPRIAN, 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF CARTHAGE, SAINT AND MARTYR, 
 
 IS 
 
 IN THESE DAYS OF UNGODLINESS AND INFIDELITY, 
 
 AND OF 
 
 BITTER HOSTILITY AGAINST THE CHURCH, 
 
 WITH HIS grace's PERMISSION 
 
 MOST DUTIFULLY AND HUMBLY 
 
 INSCRIBED. 
 
 MDCCCXL. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 If this volume at all answers the Author's 
 design, there is one important consideration 
 which the reader ought to carry with him 
 during its perusal. 
 
 The w^ork was undertaken with a desire 
 to recommend that tone of religion, calm, 
 reverential, implicit, self-sacrificing, and 
 objective, which is well and conveniently 
 called, " Catholic," to distinguish it from 
 the bustling, irreverent, neological, self- 
 seeking, and subjective character of the 
 fashionable religion of the present day ; 
 and which was happily exemplified in 
 St. Cyprian, and generally, though indeed 
 with glaring, and for our present purpose 
 valuable exceptions, in the Church over 
 which he presided. 
 
 Perhaps, too, something of the consti- 
 tution and pohty of the Church, as exem- 
 plified in the Ufe and times of St. Cyprian, 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 and of the form and order of its several 
 assemblies and offices, may be profitably 
 contrasted with the impatience of rule and 
 discipline, and the undervaluing of what- 
 ever is positive and ritual, which is charac- 
 teristic of the loudest and most obtrusive 
 party of religionists in the present day. 
 
 Now the spirit and form of the Anglican 
 Church is eminently Catholic, in the 
 sense before mentioned. But we may 
 contract a careless habit of judging our 
 Church by its present members ; and for- 
 getting that she every where protests 
 against their laxity and irreverence, we 
 may lay that blame on the sorrowing 
 mother, which ought to fall on the un- 
 dutiful children. Or again, while we are 
 studying the history of a particular Church 
 and age, for the sake of the "Catholic" 
 spirit which it embodies, we may be in 
 danger of forgetting, that that spirit may 
 animate very different forms : and so we 
 may hastily condemn our own Church, 
 because we, in our folly and pride, deem 
 the various arrangements which she has 
 made, in wisdom and in love, inconsistent 
 with a primitive character, because they 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 are not identical with a particular primitive 
 form. This is a grievous error into which 
 those are Ukely to fall, who are seeking to 
 catholicise the present generation of the 
 sons of the Church by a reference to the 
 ecclesiastical records of any former age. 
 But let us all remember, (and the Author 
 of this volume feels that the warning is 
 necessary for himself, which he presses on 
 others,) that if, in pretence of a Catholic 
 spirit, we touch but the hem of the garment 
 of our own holy brother except with the 
 deepest reverence and piety, we most un- 
 equivocally give the lie to our pretensions. 
 There is no one thing which our Church 
 can require, so long as she hath the grace 
 of God with her, so wrong, so opposed to 
 all Cathohc form and spirit, as the unfilial 
 judgment, or the imperfect obedience, of 
 any of her sons. 
 
 Leeds, June 20, 1840. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Scantiness of strictly personal notices of Cyprian. — Pontius 
 his panegyrist. — Questions of theplace of Cyprian's birth, — 
 of his age,- — and of his marriage. — His profession and con- 
 dition as a heathen. — His acquaintance with CEecilius. — 
 His conversion. — His use of the Scriptures. — His Bap- 
 tism. — His own account of the spiritual change effected 
 in him at Baptism. — He adopts the name of Caecilius. p. I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 St. Cyprian's writings while a layman. — His Epistle to 
 Donatus, on the Grace of God. — His Treatise on the 
 Vanity of Idols. — The death of Caecilius ; — who appoints 
 Cyprian the guardian of his family. — St. Cyprian a 
 Deacon. — Dionysius of Alexandria. — St. Cyprian a Pres- 
 byter. — His three books of Testimonies against the 
 Jews. 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Cyprian chosen Bishop. — His attempt to escape. — The part 
 of the people in his election. — The constitution of the 
 Church in the Cyprianic age. — The state of morals and of 
 discipline in Cyprian's diocese, and the acts and writings 
 which arose out of the condition of the Church. — The 
 Epistles of Cyprian. — The case of Gerainius Victor: — 
 commemoration of the dead : — the primitive practice a 
 witness against Romish Errors.— The case of the player: — 
 the state of the stage in Cyprian's time. — The case of the 
 rebellious Deacon. — The case of the (rvmrccKToi. — " Ancient 
 Christianity." 39 
 
Ml CONTENTS. 
 
 c"hapt]:r IV. 
 
 Revolutions in the Roman State. — Their influence on the 
 condition of the Church. — Edicts of Decius. — The perse- 
 cution commences. — Some retire from Carthage; — among 
 whom St. Cyprian himself. — Cyprian's reasons for retiring. 
 — His care of the Church while absent. — His letter to the 
 Confessors. — The insinuations of the Roman Clergy against 
 Cyprian : and Cyprian's answer to their Epistle.— The 
 progress of the persecution. — The sufferings of Mappalicus, 
 and other Confessors and Martyrs. 76 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The number of apostates in the Decian persecution. — The 
 Sacrijicati, Thurijicali, and Libellatici. — The discipline of 
 the lapsed. — Its rigour^ — and its occasional relaxation. — 
 The privilege of the Martyrs: — abused in this instance. — 
 The Clergy chiefly in fault. — Cyprian's own determination 
 of the case of the lapsed. 104 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Cyprian's return prevented by a schism in his Church. — 
 The origin of the schism. — Novatus : — his character : — 
 his crimes. — He is cited to appear before Cyprian. — 
 He escapes under cover of the Decian persecution. — He 
 makes a party, and forsakes the Church. — He obtains the 
 ordination of Felicissimus : — it is questioned by whom. — 
 The five Presbyters companions of Novatus in schism. — 
 Cyprian appoints deputies to put his regulations in force. — 
 The place which voluntary seceders hold, in respect of 
 the Church. — Novatus goes to Rome. — Novatian ; — his 
 character. — His secret cabals: — fostered by Novatus. — 
 Election of Cornelius to the See of Rome. — His character. — 
 Novatian's schismatical ordination. — His practices at home 
 and abroad. — The s])read of his party. — Novatus returns 
 to Carthage. )2f) 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Proceedings touching the election of Cornelius, and the 
 schismatical ordination of Novatian, at Carthage;— at 
 Hadrumettium. — The Episcopate of Cornelius finally re- 
 cognized. — Felicissimus and the five Presbyters excom- 
 municated. — St. Cyprian's letters to the schismatical con- 
 fessors—His Treatise De Vnilale Ecclesice. — Letter of 
 Dionysius of Alexandria to Novatian. — A Synod at Car- 
 thage, and in Rome. — The return of the schismatical 
 Confessors. — Letters of Cornelius, the Confessors, and 
 Cyprian. — Reflections on the Novatian schism. 1.57 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 A review of St. Cyprian's Tract De Uvilale Ecclesice. 1 8 1 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A schism at Carthage. — Its origin. — The surreptitious or- 
 dination of Fortunatus. — The schismatics apply to Cor- 
 nelius for his support: — they are at first repelled, but 
 afterwards too favourably heard. — St. Cyprian expostvdate.s 
 with Cornelius. — The extinction of Fortunatus's party. — 
 Maximus ordained by the Novatians in Carthage. — His 
 faction contemptible. ].Q7 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Persecution renewed on occasion of the plague. — Cyprian'.^ 
 apologetic letter to Demetrian. — His Epistle to the Thyba- 
 ritani. — The penitent lapsed admitted to communion, in 
 anticipation of persecution. — The exhortation to Martyr- 
 dom. — St. Cyprian's last letter to St. Cornelius. — Death of 
 Cornelius. — Of Lucius. — How far persecution a test of 
 truth. 208 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XT. 
 
 Tlie plague rages at Carthage. — Cyprian's Tract De Mor^ 
 lalilnte. — The expectation of the last day in the early 
 Church : —Gibbon's use of it — Cyprian's opinion on the 
 time, person, and character of Antichrist. 250 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Weakness of the Roman empire. — Numidian Christians 
 carried captive by Barbarians. — Collections made in Car- 
 thage to redeem them. — Cyprian's Epistle to Caecilius on 
 the mixed cup. — His doctrine applied to half communion, 
 and other errors in the present day. 272 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Revolutions in the Roman empire. — Questions of Fidus 
 
 touching a lapsed Bishop, and the case of infant^baptism 
 
 The case of Fortunianus : — of Basilides and Martialis: — 
 of Marcianus of Aries. — The insolence of Pupianus. 304 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The question of the baptism of heretics, and the controversy 
 arising out of it. — Its origin in Asia Minor : — it is dis- 
 cussed in a Synod at Carthage. — Cyprian's letter to the 
 Bishops of Numidia. — The character of several objections 
 against his rule. — ^A Synod of seventy-two Bishops as- 
 sembled at Carthage to determine the question. — Cyprian's 
 account to Stephen of the proceedings of the Synod. — 
 Cyprian's letter to Jubaianus. .327 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Stephen, Bishop of Rome, interferes in the controversy about 
 the Baptism of heretics. — Cyprian's Epistle to Pompeius. — 
 The last Council assembled at Carthage to determine the 
 question ; — St. Cyprian's opening Address ; — and several 
 of the more remarkable suffrages — The unanimity of 
 the Council against the judgment of Stephen, and the 
 custom of Rome. — Irenseus and Victor. — Dionysius and 
 Stephen. 358 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A general view of the principles involved in the controversy 
 concerning the baptism of heretics. 379 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Valerian instigated by Macrianus to persecute the Church. — 
 Death of Stephen : — and election of Sixtus. — St. Cyprian 
 summoned before the Proconsul: — his confession: — his 
 banishment: — his vision. — Dionysius of Alexandria also 
 banished. — Cyprian recalled to Carthage by Galerius 
 Maximus. — He retires for a short time when summoned to 
 Utica. — He returns to Carthage, and is brought before 
 the Proconsul. — His examination, — sentence, — and death. 
 
 397 
 
THE 
 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 SAINT CYPRIAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 scantiness of strictly personal notices of cyprian. — 
 pontius his panegyrist. — questions of the place of 
 Cyprian's birth, — of his age, — and of his mar- 
 riage. — his profession and condition as a hea- 
 then. — HIS acquaintance with CjEcilius. — his con- 
 version. — his use of the scriptures. — HIS bap- 
 tism. HIS OWN account OF THE SPIRITUAL CHANGE 
 
 effected in HIM AT BAPTISM. HE ADOPTS THE NAME 
 
 OF CiECILIUS. 
 
 The personal history, even of gieat men, 
 derives its charm not from the splendour and 
 importance of those actions by which they were 
 ennobled, but from the variety of incidents, in 
 which the distinctive peculiarities of their cha- 
 racter were displayed. The unity and expression 
 of the whole, which are the sources of our gratifi- 
 cation, result not from the greatness of the parts, 
 but from their due proportion and subordination, 
 and from a pervading tone, harmonizing their 
 
 B 
 
 A* 
 
2 Li IE AND TIMKS 
 
 very nuiuitoness and variety : as the Mosaic 
 must be Avrought into an harmonious whole out of 
 pieces infinitely small and diversified, or it will 
 present, not a finished and striking tablet, but a 
 cold and disjointed patchwork. Even in the 
 lives of heroes and of statesmen, the reader is 
 interested not only by the preparations for con- 
 flict, the bustle of the encounter, and the elation 
 of success ; but also, and perhaps still more 
 intensely, by the lighter incidents : the child's 
 question or the boy's exploit, a hasty expression 
 of hope or disappointment or impatience, a liking 
 or an antipathy, in short any thing and every 
 thing which may serve to embody a marked trait 
 of personal character, in the record of a trifling 
 incident. 
 
 The charm, however, of these minute records, 
 is to be referred to the more splendid incidents, 
 and to the greatness of the whole subject. We 
 are delighted to see one who is elevated to a 
 dim and mysterious height above us, brought 
 down to our level ; identified with the man with 
 whom his neighbours conversed, whom his as- 
 sociates admired, and whom his family loved. 
 Hence it is impossible to throw the appropriate 
 charm of biography over the history of a great 
 man, if we possess but few characteristic anec- 
 dotes of his private life, and but few unstudied 
 expressions of his personal feeling. With all our 
 effort to keep the same person always in view. 
 
OF ST. •CYPRIAN. 3 
 
 and always the centre of interest, we are still 
 writing History, not Biography ; and neither 
 splendour of character nor importance of incident 
 can supply the requisite material. They may 
 elevate the pages in which they are recorded to 
 the more exalted order of ethics or of history, 
 and impart something of the interest appropriate 
 to their new station ; but they cannot invest 
 them with the peculiar charm of the story of 
 a life in its varied sameness, in its blended 
 diversity of thoughts, of feeling, and of in- 
 cident. 
 
 It is not inconceivable, that the very greatness 
 of the part which a man has played, may have 
 deprived us of these most valuable materials of 
 his biography. While we are dazzled with splen- 
 did actions, we do not discern traits of character; 
 and while we are proclaiming the deeds of high 
 emprize which make the hero, we omit those 
 little incidents which mark the man. Thus the 
 means of gratifying it, are often in the inverse 
 proportion of the interest with which we look for 
 indications of the complexion of a mind, which 
 has wrought revolutions in opinions or in em- 
 pires. 
 
 These remarks preceding a life of St. Cyprian 
 are apologetic : for though he was the centre of 
 most important ecclesiastical movements in his 
 own day, and though scarce any single person 
 has ever contributed more to give a colour to 
 
 b2 
 
I LI IK AND TIMES 
 
 distant ages, so tliat we cannot repress a 
 curiosity to know more of his individual mind 
 and feelings, we are remarkably destitute of 
 information on these points. His only professed 
 biographer affords us almost no assistance ; and 
 while the public records of his Episcopate are a 
 great part of the history of the Western Church 
 in his day, the sources from which these are 
 derived, though chiefly his own Epistles, are 
 equally deficient in strictly personal notices. 
 An account, therefore, of St. Cyprian's life and 
 times, stands in that middle ground between 
 biography and history, which it is difficult to 
 invest with the appropriate interest of either. 
 
 We have no records, and but very scanty 
 intimations, of the incidents in the life of 
 Thascius Cyprian before his conversion to 
 Christianity, though it was doubtless varied by 
 the political events of his day, and coloured 
 with the peculiar energy of his character. 
 Cyprian was not, indeed, without a contempo- 
 rary biographer. Pontius, his Deacon, his com- 
 panion in many of his labours and troubles, and, 
 what is more, his affectionate friend and ardent 
 admirer, sought consolation at the death of 
 Cyprian in the pious task of enumerating his 
 actions and recording his virtues. But Pontius 
 was either ignorant of the specific charm of 
 biography, or so conscious of the difficulties 
 before mentioned in the particular case of St. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 6 
 
 Cyprian, that he has not adventured to overcome 
 them. We cannot help regretting, that one who 
 had so full an opportunity of acquainting himself 
 with Cyprian's former life and condition, did not 
 think these subjects worthy of his attention. 
 There is certainly more of the piety than of the 
 judgment of a Christian biographer, in the 
 resolution to commence the account of an illus- 
 trious convert with his spiritual birth ; as if it 
 was not interesting and profitable to know what 
 a man was before his conversion, as well as what 
 he then became: for surely an acquaintance with 
 his former life and disposition is a necessary 
 element in a comprehensive view even of his 
 Christian character ; and must form a part of 
 our estimate of its importance, as illustrative of 
 the grace of God. The world has recorded this 
 judgment in its appreciation of the Confessions of 
 St. Augustine. 
 
 The expression of Pontius is worthy of re- 
 mark, as giving at the very commencement of 
 his work a clue to its real character. '' Whence"," 
 says he, " shall I commence his panegyric, but 
 from the dawn of his faith, and from his heavenly 
 birth ?" And in perfect harmony with this ex- 
 ordium, we find Pontius far more earnest in 
 celebrating the praises, than laborious in relating 
 the actions, of Cyprian : in eulogising, than in 
 
 ' Unde igitur incipiam ? Unde exordium honorum ejus 
 aggrediar, nisi a principio fidei et nativitatc ccclcsti, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 illustrating, his character. He professes, that 
 not only his own eloquence, but even eloquence 
 itself^ must fail to paint the virtues of his 
 martyred Bishop in their true colours : he 
 represents the seed-time, the harvest, the bud- 
 ding, and the pressing of the grape, the planting 
 of the tree, and the ripening of the fruit', as all 
 crowded into the same season, in this illustrious 
 convert : he prefers him far before Cornelius, 
 who w as baptized by Philip ; and the very 
 oppositions which Cyprian met at his entering 
 on the Episcopate, he represents as providen- 
 tially occurring, that they might reflect the 
 greater honour on the holy Bishop by his 
 conquest of them'. 
 
 Meanwhile we are left to collect as we can 
 from other sources, all the most interesting 
 particulars concerning Cyprian's former life. 
 Where was he born, and when ? What was his 
 lineage and condition ? Was he a married or a 
 single man ? And at what age did he embrace 
 
 b St. Augustine expresses the same thing by another strange 
 conceit. Ciijus reverendi Episcopi et venerandi Martyris 
 laudibus nulla lingua sufficeret, nee si se ipse laudaret. Sermo 
 cccxiii. vol. viii. p. 1258. Ed. Bassani, 1807. 
 
 "^ It is curious to find the modesty of Cyprian, and the 
 admiration of Pontius, expressed under the same image. 
 Exilis ingenii, says Cyprian, (Ep. i. p. 1.) angusta mediocritas 
 tenues admodum fruges parit, nuUis ad copiam fcECundi 
 cespitis culminibus ingravescit. 
 
 '' Quidam illi restiterunt, etiam \it vinceret. Pontius, v. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 
 
 the faith of Christ ? These are questions which 
 Pontius will not answer for us, and some of 
 which are still subjects of controversy : not of 
 curious enquiry only, but actually of controversy, 
 such are the interest and importance which they 
 derive from Cyprian's character and position. 
 
 Where ' Cyprian was born we have no means 
 of discovering, and the time of his birth is equally 
 uncertain ^ A general notion seems to prevail, 
 that he was already an old man before his con- 
 version ; but all the indirect evidence that I can 
 find seems to lead to a different conclusion. His 
 voluntary discipline while a Catechumen, which 
 excited the admiration of Pontius, was more 
 appropriate to one in the vigour of life than to 
 an old man ", and all his actions and writings 
 are replete with the energy of a mature manhood, 
 not yet deprived of the fire of youth. 
 
 * Perhaps, however, we may obscurely collect, that he 
 was not born at Carthage, the scene of his many labours, 
 from this slight negative evidence. Speaking, during his 
 temporary retreat, of his desire to revisit Carthage, he asks, 
 " Where could my time be spent, either more delightfully 
 or more profitably, than where it was the will of God that I 
 should first believe, and continue to grow in the faith ?" 
 Ep. xxxvi. 49. It may be supposed, that if Carthage had 
 been his birth-place, he would have added. Where can I 
 better dwell ? where, if I must suffer, can I better resign 
 my soul to God, than where I first received it at his hands ? 
 
 f Quando natus sit ignoramus. Aiiju.si ' enno. cccx. 
 
 ^ Inter fidei suae prima rudimenta, nihil aliud credidit 
 Deo dignum, quam ut condnenfia?)! tueretur. 
 
l,irE yVND TlME.s 
 
 Such a life as induced some to invent the 
 evidences of his noble descent is more honourable 
 to Cyprian, than the most ancient and dignified 
 pedigree could have been : yet there is a real 
 elevation in rank and ancestral nobility, which 
 harmonises well with whatever is great and good; 
 it is only, therefore, for want of sufficient evidence, 
 that I reject the notion of Baronius, founded on 
 a passage of Gregory Nazianzen, that Cyprian 
 was of noble birth, iind of senatorial rank. Of 
 the personal consideration, however, of Cyprian 
 in the profession of oratory we have clearer 
 evidence. Lactantius, who prefers him above all 
 those wlio had employed a cultivated mind in 
 the defence of Christianity'', tells us of the dis- 
 tinction which he had gained as a master of 
 Rhetoric : and Cyprian himself seems to refer to 
 his own personal condition before his baptism, 
 when he describes, in his Epistle to Donatus, the 
 pomp of place, and the crowd of clients, by which a 
 distinguished public character is surrounded. St. 
 Augustine mentions his wealth : and here again, 
 his own account seems to infer as much ; for all 
 those allurements of pleasure and of sin which he 
 represents as opposing the greatest obstacles to 
 the reception of Christianity, and which he 
 mentions in such a manner as scarce to admit a 
 doubt that he was speaking from his own ex- 
 perience, are such as the rich only are acquainted 
 
 '' Lactantius, lib. v. p. 2'Sl. Ld. Cantab. l685. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 
 
 with. Ease and luxury; vestments of gold and 
 purple ; the pomp and the projects, the passions 
 and the pursuits, of the great and wealthy, had 
 all combined to enslave the ardent mind of 
 Cyprian, and to keep him still in the Egyptian 
 bondage of heathenism and vice. Nor yet at the 
 time that he wrote his Epistle to Donatus on 
 occasion of their baptism, had he wholly ceased 
 to relish the advantages of an honourable wealth. 
 His rural retreat, which he evidently describes as 
 it was then before his eyes, and filling his mind 
 with images of beauty, was not unworthy of a 
 Cicero or a Pliny; nor the use which he made of 
 it of a Christian philosopher. *' The season and 
 the place," says he, " both alike invite us to se- 
 rious conversation ; the cool breezes that fan the 
 face of the earth, gemmed with flowers, and this 
 lovely arbour, excluding every obtrusive step and 
 curious gaze, but admitting the free light and the 
 whispering breeze through the hanging branches 
 of the vine, invite us to the communion of Chris- 
 tian souls ; and while we despise the pleasures of 
 sense as an end, lead us gracefully and naturally 
 to something higher '." 
 
 But the most honourable memorial of Cyprian's 
 wealth, is the sale of his estates for the benefit 
 of the poor, and the supply of their penury, out 
 of his private fortune. To the Christian duty of 
 almsgiving, it seems more than probable that he 
 ' See Ep. i. p 1. 
 
10 UVK AND Tl.MKS 
 
 soon after sacrificed that rural retreat in which 
 we have seen him delighting : for Pontius speaks 
 of his " gardens," which were providentially 
 restored to him in his last sufferings, though he 
 had sold them long before for charitable uses. 
 To these gardens he retired after his baptism, and 
 from them he went to meet his martyrdom. 
 
 Opposite parties find an object in giving 
 Cyprian a wife ''. As the polemical importance 
 of the question, whether he was married or no, is 
 quite distinct from its biographical interest ; and 
 as there is no direct evidence of the fact, while all 
 the presumptive evidence is against it ; we may be 
 excused in concluding, that Cyprian had no wife 
 at the time of his conversion, and probably had 
 never been married. 
 
 Such then, so far as we can collect, was 
 Thascius Cyprian. His mind was matured both by 
 years and study, but yet unchilled with the frosts 
 of age. He had a soul ready to sacrifice wealth, 
 interest, and ease to religion, and a sense of duty ; 
 
 '■ Milner goes yet farther, and gives his imaginary wife 
 an imaginary character, in order to enhance as it seems to 
 him the character of Cyprian. " In vain," says the Histo- 
 rian, (?) " his wife opposed his Christian spirit of liberality." 
 In truth, the liberality of Cyprian would have been scarcely 
 just, and altogether imprudent, if he had to provide for 
 others, as well as himself. In the passage from the life of 
 Cyprian by Pontius which has given rise to these misstate- 
 ments, the biographer is speaking not of Cyprian and his 
 wife, but of Job and his wife. The passage is given at page 
 14 of this vohnne. 
 
OF ST. CYFRIAN^. H 
 
 and family he had none. He was of good repute 
 for his successful practice of an honourable and 
 lucrative profession ; and he was rewarded by 
 the possession of the fruits of his labour and 
 reputation. The highest powerS;, unblessed from 
 above, are unworthy of the office, for which 
 Cyprian was designed ; and by God's grace a 
 more moderate share of talents and acquirements 
 may adorn the highest station : but God does 
 condescend to employ the talents of his creatures ; 
 and He had marked out Cyprian for His work, 
 and by the ruling of His providence He had 
 formed his mind, his character, and his circum- 
 stances accordingly. 
 
 It was surely providential, that Cyprian con- 
 tracted an intimacy, which soon ripened into no 
 common affection, with Ceecilius, an aged Pres- 
 byter ' of the Church of Carthage. This friend- 
 ship with a Christian Priest Avas the means of 
 Cyprian's conversion, which took place, as he 
 himself informs us, at Carthage, and, as it seems 
 most probable, very early in the year of grace 
 246. We may perhaps collect from St. Jerome, 
 that the book of Jonah was especially instru- 
 mental to his conversion. " Let us," says St. 
 Jerome, in his commentary on the third chapter 
 of Jonah, " set before us the example of St. 
 Cyprian, who was before an advocate of idolatry, 
 and had arrived at so great reputation as a 
 
 ' Caecilius et aetate tunc, et honore Presbyter. Pontius. 
 
12 LllE AM) ilMKS 
 
 orator, as to teach rhetoric in Carthage: but 
 having heard this preaching of Jonah, was con- 
 verted, and repented ; and attained to such a 
 height of virtue, as to preach Christ publicly, 
 and to submit his neck to the sword for His 
 sake." 
 
 Nor is this either the only or the strongest 
 intimation that Cyprian, before his ordination, 
 and even before his baptism, was freely per- 
 mitted to study the holy Scriptures. Those 
 who know how painfully the concession of the 
 Scriptures to the laity in some countries has 
 been extorted from the Church of Rome, and 
 who have not escaped the vulgar error, that 
 Rome really follows antiquity as she pretends, 
 may wonder to find, that in Cyprian's days the 
 Bible was not a sealed book even to Catechu- 
 mens. ^^ e of the Anglican Church, following 
 the principles of Catholic antiquity, encourage 
 that godly custom, and use the practice of the 
 ancient Church, not merely as an argument, but 
 as an argument a fortiori. If the laity and new 
 converts in Cyprian's time were encouraged in 
 this custom, much more should they be now. 
 For though it is impossible that the Church 
 could then have provided so ample commentaries 
 upon the Scriptures ; and though Neophytes, 
 fresh from the ranks of heathenism, could scarce 
 be so well prepared for their interpretation, as 
 all in C'hristian countries ought to be ; and 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 13 
 
 though, therefore, if it were true uow to say 
 with Rome, that more evil than good would 
 arise from the reading of the Scriptures by the 
 laity'", it were much more true to have said so 
 in the days of Cyprian : yet the use of the 
 sacred volume was then fully indulged to the 
 laity, and even to Catechumens. When only 
 a Presbyter, we shall find Cyprian recommending 
 to Quirinus, whom he calls his son, and who was 
 probably therefore, and indeed almost certainly, 
 a layman, a careful study of holy writ : and he 
 himself, while only a Catechumen, read the 
 Scriptures with constant and anxious attention ; 
 and bringing to bear upon them the strength and 
 the resources of a powerful and cultivated mind, 
 he profited greatly by their perusal ; nor need 
 we adopt the assertion of Pontius, at least in its 
 literal sense, that the first approach of the 
 
 ^ The Romanist adduces the unnumbered heresies which 
 have arisen from the rash interpretation of the Scriptures by 
 individuals : but let us only remember the fact, that almost 
 every heresy has originated not from the laity, but from the 
 clergy ; and if we dared act upon sttch an indication of ex- 
 pediency, we may retort upon them their reasoning, and say, 
 that if from the laity, then much more from the clergy, should 
 the holy Scriptures be taken. But man is not wiser than 
 God: and those Scriptures which were originally written as 
 much to and for the laity as the clergy ; some of which were 
 actually addressed to individuals not clerical but lay, were 
 surely adapted to the laity, and are not to be taken from 
 them without impiety ; as they cannot be without absurdit)^ 
 except by those who would uphold a system contradicted by 
 those inspired writings. 
 
M l.irr AND TIMES 
 
 divine light left in liini no darkness at all, to 
 shew that he was early prepared, as well in the 
 knowledge of sacred things, as in the character 
 of a Christian, for all the offices of the sacred 
 Ministry. Even his earliest works, some of 
 which were perhaps written while he was yet 
 a layman, attest the progress which he had made 
 in the true use of the Scriptures ; and we have a 
 beautiful picture of the practical account to 
 which he turned these divine lessons, from the 
 pencil of his affectionate biographer. " When 
 he read of any who had received commendation 
 from God, he would recommend the enquiry. 
 Wherefore was it that God was well pleased with 
 them ? If Job, glorious in the testimony of God, 
 was declared to be a true worshipper of God, 
 and one to whom none other upon earth might 
 be compared, he would exhort us to do that 
 which Job also did ; that while we follow the 
 example of Job, we may receive the like testi- 
 mony from God. Making light of the necessary 
 expenses of his household. Job advanced to so 
 great elevation of virtue, that he felt not the 
 sacrifice which he made of temporal wealth, in 
 the cause of piety. He was unbroken by penury 
 and by grief: the persuasions of his wife could 
 not move him ; and he bore the afflictions of his 
 own body unshaken. His manly virtue stood 
 unmoved in its own place; and the deep root of 
 his devotion remained firmly fixed. To no tempt- 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 15 
 
 ation of the devil did he yield, nor did he cease, 
 to thank God, in faith and gratitude, even in the 
 midst of all his misfortunes. His house was ever 
 open to the stranger. No v^ddow was sent away 
 unprovided ; no blind man was undirected or 
 unattended by him. He was a staff to the lame, 
 and his hand w^as the protection of the poor and 
 helpless. And so ought we to do, Cyprian was 
 accustomed to say, if we would please God. 
 And so would he run through all the records of 
 the saints of old ; and while he studied to 
 imitate the best, he himself became worthy of 
 imitation." 
 
 Cyprian has himself told us, in his Epistle to 
 Donatus, some of the struggles which it cost 
 him to leave the world, and to embrace the life 
 of a Christian, cut off, as it then was, by external 
 circumstances, from the secular employments and 
 honours of the state, and from the pomp and 
 revelries of a too luxurious wealth. We shall 
 not be surprised to find, that some of the 
 temptations which assailed the young convert 
 were directed against his pride of reason. Like 
 Nicodemus, he could not receive the mystery of 
 a spiritual regeneration. '' While," says he, '' I 
 was lying in darkness and in the shadow of 
 death, and while I was tossed uncertain upon 
 the waves of this tempestuous world, ignorant 
 of what was my real life, and an alien from truth 
 and light, I thought the method of salvation 
 
)(> LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 which was proposed to me strange and im- 
 possible. I could not believe that man should be 
 born again ; and being animated with a new 
 life, put off, in the laver of regeneration, what 
 he had before been ; and though remaining the 
 same in his whole natural and animal frame, 
 become changed in his mind and affections." 
 The favour of God, however, which had directed 
 Cyprian to the good Csecilius, did not desert him 
 in these difficulties ; and coming at last with 
 faith and repentance to the Sacrament of 
 Baptism, Cyprian received that grace of re- 
 generation, at w^hich his natural reason had 
 stumbled. 
 
 All the regulations respecting the administering 
 of Baptism in the Primitive Church, tended to 
 invest that Sacrament with the highest reverence 
 and interest ; and none more so, perhaps, than 
 the setting apart certain days, on which alone, 
 except in extreme cases of danger, or other 
 exigencies, it was administered. The custom of 
 different Churches slightly varied in this matter, 
 though the same spirit animated all. Easter, 
 Pentecost, and the Epiphany, and in some places 
 the festivals of saints, and the anniversary of the 
 dedication of churches, were the times appointed 
 for Baptism : and thus a double advantage was 
 gained ; the solemnity of the act and the re- 
 verence of the season reflected on each other 
 associations of deeper and more intense devotion ; 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 
 
 17 
 
 the number of the baptized on each occasion was 
 increased, in proportion to the infrequency of the 
 ceremonial". There must have been something 
 singularly imposing in the crowd of Catechumens, 
 distinguished not only by their white garments, 
 but by the joyful alacrity, with which they 
 hastened to the confession of their faith before 
 the whole Church, and to the rite in which they 
 were enrolled among the ranks, and assumed the 
 duties and received the privileges of the Church 
 militant in earth. 
 
 With respect to the custom of the African 
 Church, Tertullian" mentions Easter and Pente- 
 cost only as the seasons of Baptism. But it 
 is plain that such regulations must give place to 
 circumstances, and as a Church increased greatly 
 in numbers, the seasons of Baptism would be 
 multiplied ; every advantage being still retained, 
 which was originally consulted in the restriction 
 to one or a few of the greater festivals : and we 
 learn from the history of the Vandalic perse- 
 cution by Victor of Utica'', that the Epiphany, 
 
 ° The* number of candidates for Baptism, under these 
 regulations, was so great, that Deacons were sometimes per- 
 mitted to administer that Sacrament at Easter, though 
 at other times it was no part of their office ; and we hear of 
 three tliousand persons baptized at Constantinople, on one 
 of the greater Festivals. 
 
 " De Baptismo, xix. torn. i. p. 392. Opera, Ed. Parisiis, 
 1616. 
 
 ■^ Quoted from Bingham, Orig. Ecc. XI. vi. 7. 
 
 C 
 
IS I. IFF. AM) TI.MF.S 
 
 on which day it is supposed Christ was himself 
 baptized, was afterwards added to the seasons of 
 Baptism by the African Churches. 
 
 Cyprian was probably baptized at Easter, in 
 the year of grace 246. His own w^ords will best 
 describe the spiritual benefit which he received 
 on this occasion : and as they are the words of 
 one who was yet too young a Christian to inno- 
 vate and invent ; and as they appeal to the 
 experience of his friend Donatus also, we may 
 be sure that they express what was then taught 
 and experienced to be tlie effects of the Sacra- 
 ment of Baptism. " So entirely was I immersed 
 in the deadly atmosphere of my former life, so 
 enveloped in the habits and commission of sin, 
 that I despaired of ever freeing myself, and 
 began to look upon these things, and to love 
 them, as a part of myself. But when the 
 sulliage of my past iniquities was washed away 
 by the waters of Baptism, the pure and serene 
 light from above infused itself into my whole 
 spirit : wlien my second birth of the S})irit had 
 formed in me a new man, all at once what had 
 been doubtful before, became certain ; what had 
 been shut, was opened ; into the darkness light 
 shined; that was easy, which before was difficult, 
 and that only difficult, which before was impos- 
 sible: and now I knew, that that was earthly and 
 mortal, which had formerly included me in the 
 bondage of sin ; but that the Holy Spirit of 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 19 
 
 God had animated me with a new and better 
 nature ''." 
 
 Thus does St. Cyprian speak of the grace of 
 Baptism, as a matter of his individual experience. 
 In other parts of his works he treats of Baptism 
 dogmatically ; and says, again and again, that 
 therein we receive the Spirit, have our sins 
 remitted, and are born again. And nothing 
 can more assuredly manifest the consent of the 
 Church in this doctrine, than the way in which 
 he makes these assertions. He does not go about 
 to prove them: no, this was unnecessary, since 
 they were confessed by all ; nor were they in his 
 day, nor till 1200 years after, a subject of con- 
 troversy ; but he assumes them as premises 
 mutually agreed upon, from which to deduce the 
 catholic doctrine on another subject ^ In a 
 word, in Cyprian's days, and long after, the doc- 
 trine of Baptismal regeneration was no more 
 questioned in the Church, than the first axioms 
 in Geometry are questioned in our Schools. If 
 some pretended demonstration should involve the 
 denial of the proposition that the whole is greater 
 than a part, it would be rejected with contempt, 
 
 1 Epist. i. p. ?. 
 
 ^ " The argument of Cyprian and his adherents, against 
 the validity of heretical Baptism, proceels upon the as- 
 sumption, that Christiajis are born again, and receive forgive- 
 ness of sins, and the Holy Ghost in Baptism." Bp. Bethell's 
 General vieiv of the Dochine of Regeneration in Baptism, 
 (Ed. 2.) p. 117, note. See also p. 85, et seq. 
 
 c2 
 
20 I'll' I- AM) TIMKS 
 
 without fartlier refutation : and so, if some new 
 doctrine or custom sliould be clearly incon- 
 sistent with the doctrine of baptismal regene- 
 ration, that alone, in the eyes of the primitive 
 Christians, would have branded it as false and 
 heretical. 
 
 It was usual for the new convert to receive 
 another name at Baptism : a custom fairly derived 
 from the authority of our Saviour himself, in 
 giving new names to some of his earliest disciples; 
 and one, too, which well enough harmonized with 
 the solemn occasion of that new birth, wherein 
 we put off the old man, and put on the new 
 man, with all his attendant duties and privileges. 
 And there was something of religion in the 
 assuming a name which had been borne by some 
 eminent saint or apostle ; not, as the Council of 
 Nice says, that there is any merit or fortune in 
 the name itself, but that it may serve as a 
 stimulus to emulate the character of him from 
 whom it was derived. Cyprian, actuated by 
 these motives, and by affection for his master in 
 Christianity, took the name Csecilius, from the 
 venerable Presbyter who had first been his com- 
 panion and friend, and afterwards his spiritual 
 father. Henceforth then we speak not of Thas- 
 cius, but of Ca^cilius Cyprian, except when we 
 find the Saint before a heathen tribunal : and we 
 may perhaps look with some little interest even 
 in this change of a pronomen, when we find 
 
or ST. CYPRIAN. 21 
 
 hereafter a proud professor, and a recusant of 
 Cyprian's authority and fellowship, concentrating 
 some portion of his malice and contempt in a 
 recurrence to the old designation of Cyprian, 
 calling him, "Cyprian, alias Thasc'ms" :" while 
 
 * For Cyprianus, the future Saint and Martyr, had already 
 a name accounted of happy omen, as we collect from 
 Augustine's panegyric: " He who rooteth up and planteth, 
 (Jer. i. 10.) came unto him; and rooting out the old 
 Cyprianus, and placing him on the true foundation, planted 
 the new C3^pi*ianus in himself, and caused the true Cyprianus 
 to spring out of himself. For the Church saith to Christ, 
 * My beloved is a bundle of cij press.' (Cant. i. 15.) At the 
 same time then that he was made a Christian from Christ, 
 he was also made Cyprianus from the true Cypress. For he 
 became a sweet savour of Christ in every place; as the 
 Apostle Paul saith of himself, who also was first as a per- 
 secutor a destroyer of the Church, and afterwards a 
 builder of the Church as a preacher." Aug. Serm. cccxii. 
 In Natali Cyp. Mart. vol. viii. p. 1257- 
 
 By some of the heathen, who ridiculed the application of 
 his powers to the support of Christianity, this auspicious 
 name of Cyprian was by a change of a single letter con- 
 verted into one of opprobrious signification. " A doctis 
 hujus seculi, quibus forte scripta ejus innotuerunt, derideri 
 solet. Audivi ego quendam hominem sane sacrilegum, qui 
 eum immutata una litera Coprianum vocaret ; quasi quod 
 elegans ingenium, et melioribus rebus aptum ad anileis 
 fabulas contulisset." Lad. v. 1 . 
 
 This playing upon names was not unusual either among 
 the Heathen or Christians. Thus the historian Titncens came 
 to be called Epilimceus, the calumniator, for his malignant 
 lies. St, Jerome plays upon the name of Vigilantius; " Ais 
 Vigilaniiiim, qui x«t' xvTi<p^cca-iv hoc vocatur nomine, nam 
 Domitantius rectius diceretiu*." And to return to an instance 
 of better omen : Dionysius of Alexandria (in Eusebius) 
 speaking of a martyr contemporary with Cyprian, says. 
 
22 MFE AND TIMES OF ST. CVPRIAN. 
 
 Cyprian retorts the opprobrium, whatever it may 
 be, of such a designation, styling his uncourteous 
 correspondent, " Florentius, alias Pupianus" 
 
 " A native of Africa called Macarius, that is to say, happy, 
 and who was happy indeed, since he possessed the favour of 
 God, having been unmoved by the menaces of the judge, 
 was burnt alive." Ecc. Hist. vi. 41. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ST. CYPRIAN S WRITINGS WHILE A LAYMAN. HIS EPISTLE 
 
 TO DONATUS, ON THE GRACE OF GOD. HIS TREATISE ON 
 
 THE VANITY OF IDOLS. THE DEATH OF CiECILIUS ; 
 
 WHO APPOINTS CYPRIAN THE GUARDIAN OF HIS FAMILY. — 
 
 ST. CYPRIAN A DEACON. DIONYSIUS OF ALEXANDRIA. — 
 
 ST. CYPRIAN A PRESBYTER. HIS THREE BOOKS OF TESTI- 
 MONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 
 
 St. Cyprian's active mind sought occupation 
 in his altered state, in recording the mercy of 
 God in his conversion ; and in displaying to his 
 former associates in pagan wickedness and super- 
 stition, the vanity and folly of the religion which 
 he had left. 
 
 The first-fruit of his conversion seems to have 
 been his Epistle to Donatus, on the grace of 
 God ; the subject of which sufficiently indicates 
 its date. Donatus was a companion of Cyprian 
 as a catechumen, and also at baptism ; and the 
 more ingenious and learned of the two friends 
 under the form of a familiar Epistle, arising out 
 of certain past conversations, addresses to the 
 other an appropriate exposition of the import- 
 
■2A I HE AND TIMES 
 
 ance of Christianity in general, and especially of 
 its initiatory rite, together with an exposnre of 
 the vanity and wickedness of the world, from 
 which trne religion is the only safe refuge. 
 These important topics are rendered yet more 
 interesting hy many personal allusions ; and the 
 whole r^pistle has a tinge of individual feeling, 
 which gives it much of the warmtli and brilliancy, 
 which are only found where the highest matters 
 are treated by those who have themselves felt 
 their importance. But the singular interest of 
 St. Augustine's Confessions has so entirely cast 
 all other works of this character into the shade, 
 that I shall be excused for treating Cyprian's 
 Letter to Donatus rather as an historical docu- 
 ment than as an interesting literary production ; 
 and for having made use of it for the hints which 
 it suggests of its author's former life and character, 
 instead of presenting to the reader a connected 
 view of the work itself. 
 
 Of his treatise. On the vanity of Idols, 
 which seems also to have been written about this 
 time, and while he was yet a layman, I must, 
 however, speak more at length : although in this 
 class of writing also St. Augustine has surpassed 
 all others, before or since his days. Indeed St. 
 Augustine's work De Civitate Dei, surpasses all 
 other writings, adversus gentes, in learning and 
 general importance, as much as his Confessions 
 surpasses all other religious autobiographies. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 25 
 
 There is a singular interest attached to the 
 writings of the early Christians, addressed to the 
 heathen, whose society and superstitions they had 
 lately deserted. Whether such works appealed to 
 the heathen by way of apology or of instruction, 
 they must be such as a pagan could understand 
 and appreciate ; such as might, if possible, in- 
 terest him : and yet they must be imbued with a 
 spirit of religion, seeking higher objects than any 
 which this world contains. Accordingly, they 
 present Christian literature to our view in a 
 transition state, so to speak ; freed from the 
 living death of the heathen, and casting off the 
 garment spotted with the flesh ; but not yet 
 soaring into the purer empyrean of Christian 
 mysteries, nor opening its seraph wings to the 
 full blaze of day. 
 
 Works of this kind were often, perhaps gene- 
 rally, undertaken by late converts, or by those 
 whose profession did not lead them into the 
 depths of theology: and such persons were on 
 some accounts the best suited to such an under- 
 taking. They were themselves somewhat in the 
 same moral condition with the works which they 
 had to produce. Neophytes, and fresh from the 
 memory, even from the love of paganism ; or still 
 living in the busy pursuits of the world ; their 
 zeal and their courage would be ardent and 
 aspiring; while their arguments might be ex- 
 pected, if any might, to find a way to the hearts 
 
26 MFK AND TIMES 
 
 of those Ibr whom they wrote, whose ojiinions 
 were so fresh upon their minds ; on whose 
 prejudices they could make so direct an attack ; 
 whose language they could so readily assume. 
 
 It would not unfrequently happen, that the 
 very persons who, as Christians, thus stepped 
 forth in defence of the Church, had before been 
 its direct opponents, as tlie avowed advocates of 
 paganism. It was the most appropriate method 
 such persons could take to manifest the sincerity 
 of their faith and repentance, and to promote the 
 service of God, to exert their earliest energies as 
 Christians in the demolition of the temple which 
 they had before assisted in propping, or in the 
 construction of outworks to that sanctuary which 
 they had endeavoured to demolish. We learn 
 from St. Jerome, that Cyprian himself, when a 
 heathen, had been a defender of pagan idolatries. 
 If the words of St. Jerome imply that he had 
 engaged his pen in their cause, the unhallowed 
 work of his ignorance is lost : of his palinode 1 
 subjoin the following sketch. 
 
 It opens with a general reference of the deities, 
 temples, and images of the heathen to their 
 acknowledged origin in a desire to maintain the 
 memory and reverence of kings, and other bene- 
 factors of the several nations ; and descending to 
 particulars, he mentions Castor and Pollux, 
 yEsculapius, Saturn, and Mars, as illustrating 
 his assertion ; shewing, moreover, that the Moors 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 27 
 
 still worshipped their kings, without veiling their 
 practice under any other form. 
 
 Hence arose the variety of deities and the 
 different character of their worship in various 
 countries: and hence, too, the whole system of 
 idolatry was exposed to manifest objections and 
 ridicule ; as for instance : Wherefore is it that 
 the gods, who were formerly so prolific, have long 
 ceased to multiply their kind ; as if Jupiter were 
 too old to be a father, and Juno had lost the 
 privilege of bearing children ? Wherefore is it 
 that the gods who are powerful enough to assist 
 Rome, have not an equal power to defend other 
 nations ? As for the origin of the gods, Romulus 
 owed his apotheosis to the perjury of Proculus. 
 Even courtesans were deified : and vices and 
 diseases had their patron deities. Viduus, whose ' 
 part it was to dissolve the connexion between the 
 soul and the body, is banished from the city on 
 account of the terrors of his office : and Venus 
 the Bald is more subjected to ridicule, than the 
 wounded Venus of Homer. 
 
 Kingdoms owe their power not to merit, but 
 to fortune ; Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Greeks, 
 and Egyptians, succeed one another in order ; 
 and at last Rome, whose very origin is enough 
 to excite a blush, succeeds : and whatever 
 auguries may indicate, she shall hold her 
 dominion for her appointed season, and no 
 longer. Indeed, what so deceitful as the rites 
 
•2S LIFK AND TIMES 
 
 of divination ? Regulus consulted the Augurs, 
 and was taken prisoner ; so did Mancinus, yet 
 he passed under the yoke ; and Paulus received 
 a happy omen, and fell at Cannae : but Caius 
 Ca3sar, who despised such indications of future 
 events, seemed to be prosperous, and to conquer 
 in proportion. The origin of all these things 
 is in those wandering and lying spirits, which, 
 being immersed in grovelling vices, and having 
 lost their heavenly temper in the contact of 
 earth, cease not to hurry others into their own 
 depravity and perdition. 
 
 Your own poets and philosophers, continues 
 Cyprian, know that there is one God, and that 
 these all are but demons^. In this, Socrates, 
 Plato, and Hermes Trismegistus, consent with 
 us. These wandering spirits you attach to 
 statues and images. They breathe their inspi- 
 ration into your prophets, animate the entrails 
 of sacrifices, direct the flight of birds, dispose lots, 
 contrive oracles, jumble falsehood and truth 
 together, (for they are themselves deceived and 
 deceivers,) disturb your existence, infest your 
 sleep, inject causeless and superstitious fears, 
 convulse your limbs, injure your health, irritate 
 diseases to bring you to their shrines, that they 
 
 * Perhaps the best account of the theology of the heathen, 
 especially of their apparently inconsistent doctrine of many 
 demons and one God, may be found in Bp. Warburton's 
 account of the heathen mysteries, in his Divine Legation of 
 Moses demonstrated. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 29 
 
 may feast on your sacrifices, and then by undoing 
 their own work, seem to effect a cure. By such 
 means do they seek to divert you from the 
 worship of the true God ; and to involve you in 
 their guilt, that they may have companions in 
 their punishment. But even these demons, when 
 adjured by us in the name of the true God, are 
 obliged to leave the bodies which they have 
 possessed, conquered and confessing their real 
 nature. Under the influence and mighty opera- 
 tion of our exorcisms, you may hear them confess 
 that they are beaten with stripes, bound in the 
 fire, and more and more exceedingly tortured : 
 and as they either depart by degrees, or flee 
 away at once, according to the faith of the 
 demoniac or of his exorcist, you may hear them 
 declaring whence they came and whither they 
 go. And hence the enmity of the common 
 people against us ; for these demons instigate 
 them to hate us, without knowing what we are, 
 lest if they should once know us, they should 
 cease to be our persecutors. 
 
 There is, in short, but one God, and He is 
 Lord of all. If in states and cities there can be 
 no division of sovereignty without dissension, 
 how much more is it necessary in the mighty 
 universe that there should be one God. And 
 what temple can contain God, whose temple is 
 the whole world ? If you ask His name, it is 
 God : as He is but one, He requires no dis- 
 
•.\() 1,1 IK AND TlMl'.S 
 
 tinctive appellation. And indeed the common 
 expressions of the people shew the innate sense 
 of this truth in the mind : for do not all exclaim, 
 O God ! and say, God seeth. May God reward 
 them, and the like ? 
 
 What Christ is, and the dispensation of 
 salvation through Him, may be thus briefly 
 stated. To the Jews first the favour of God was 
 vouchsafed, and His promises were made ; and 
 hence their ancient sanctity and prosperity. 
 But they became at length, as they themselves 
 confess, disobedient and idolatrous ; or if they 
 confess it not;, their present condition is a token 
 of the wrath of God. Now God had long ago 
 declared that He would choose for Himself 
 another people, who should serve Him faithfully, 
 and be blessed with the highest privileges. Of 
 this dispensation, Christ is the Messenger, and 
 the Mediator : and as such He was foretold long 
 before He came, by prophets of the Jews. 
 Hence the Jews themselves expected Him : but 
 as He was to come twice ; • once in humility, and 
 again in power and great glory ; they in their 
 pride and folly overlooked His first coming, being 
 blinded judicially for their past offences : and 
 now they suffer their due reward. 
 
 Then, after a slight sketch of the life, and 
 death, and ascension of Jesus, Cyprian proceeds 
 to declare the appointment of disciples to preach 
 the religion of which He is the head ; and points 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 31 
 
 out the fact, that they are manifestly doing this, 
 in the midst of sufferings and persecutions, which 
 are but the filling up of the measure of the 
 sufferings of Christ Himself in His followers. 
 Suffering, which is the test of truth, we endure, 
 that Christ the Son of God may be proclaimed 
 not only by the preacher's life, but by the 
 martyr's passion. Him we accompany. Him we 
 follow ; He is our Leader, our Light, our Salva- 
 tion : He will open to us the gates of Heaven, and 
 make us partakers of the Father. We Chris- 
 tians shall be hereafter what Christ is, if we 
 imitate Christ in this world. 
 
 Such is Cyprian's tract on the vanity of idols, 
 which affords a very fair specimen of that kind of 
 work in the early days of the Christian Church. 
 We return now to his personal history, and to 
 the first steps of his singularly rapid ecclesiasti- 
 cal career. 
 
 Cyprian soon lost his friend and spiritual 
 father ; for Pontius has scarcely named Ca^cilius, 
 before he mentions his ^eath ; adding, that on his 
 death-bed, Cascilius left his wife and children to 
 the care of Cyprian ; thus making him, who was 
 heir to his piety and religious attainments, the 
 guardian of his dearest relations. 
 
 Even in the short interval, however, between 
 his own baptism and the death of Cascilius, 
 Cyprian had been admitted into the order of 
 Deacons ; for Pontius, who was himself of that 
 
:J2 11 FE AND TIMES 
 
 order, says, while lie was one of us^, he dwelt 
 with Coeciliiis, a iiuin of honourable report, whose 
 memory is yet held in reverence ; who had 
 already been the means of his conversion to the 
 faith of Christ." The interpretation of this pas- 
 sage of Pontius is not without importance, since 
 it is the only dh'ect testimony which we have to 
 the admission of Cyprian into the Diaconate, 
 before he filled the higher orders of the Church. 
 Eusebius thus speaks of him : Cyprian, first a 
 Rhetorician, afterwards a Presbyter, and at 
 length Bishop of Carthage, eventually received 
 the crown of martyrdom ; and St. Jerome says, 
 that being early elected into the Presbytery, he 
 was afterwards made Bishop of Carthage': while 
 Pontius, whose duty it was to be more explicit, 
 only says in general terms, that he passed through 
 each honourable step, to the highest order of the 
 priesthood. Hence, contrary to all probability, 
 which should surely be the interpreter of the 
 silence of historians, some have chosen to deny 
 that Cyprian was ever a -Deacon. The silence 
 of Pontius may, I think, be accounted for, from 
 the exaggerated stream of panegyric, in which 
 the life by that author is composed ; for he 
 
 b Erat ille etiam de nobis &c. Pontius. 
 
 ■" Christianus factus, omnem substantiam suam pauperibus 
 erogavit, ac post non multum temporis electus in Presby- 
 terum, etiam Episcopus Carthaginiensis constitutus est. 
 HiEnoNYMi, Cat. Script. Eccl, vol. i. p. 18?. Editio 
 Franc'ofuvti 1^84. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 33 
 
 seems determined to mention nothing which he 
 cannot convert into a singular mark of honour in 
 his idolized master. Hence, while his own 
 modesty prevented his speaking of the order to 
 which he himself belonged as an honourable dis- 
 tinction, he could scarce find fit words to express 
 the fact, that Cyprian had passed through it. In 
 such general terms as these, then, Pontius speaks 
 of Cyprian's advancement : " He rose rapidly 
 from the order of Priests to that of Bishops ; for 
 who would hesitate to advance such an one 
 through the highest degrees of honour ?" And 
 again ; '' this surely is a sufficient commendation 
 of his excellence, that he was elected to the 
 honour of the Priesthood, and of the Episcopate, 
 by the judgment of God, and the favour of the 
 people, even while he was yet accounted but a 
 Neophyte." We cannot wonder, however, that 
 some should make use of such expressions to 
 prove, in spite of probability, that Cyprian was 
 never a Deacon; when we find Blondel asserting, 
 in spite of a yet greater probability, and in 
 opposition even to these plain assertions, that he 
 became a Bishop, without ever having been a 
 Priest. 
 
 But though St. Cyprian was doubtless a 
 Deacon at the time of Caecilius's death, it is 
 certain that he was not yet advanced to the 
 Priesthood ; for in that case, neither could 
 Caecilius have committed to him, nor could he 
 
 D 
 
34 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 have accepted, the guardianship of his wife and 
 children, without breach of ecclesiastical disci- 
 pline ; which debarred Priests and Bishops from 
 taking upon themselves any secular duties, espe- 
 cially those of a guardian or executor. The 
 Deacon, not as yet permitted to consecrate the 
 Eucharist, or to administer Baptism, except under 
 peculiar circumstances, was not rigidly tied down 
 by the sanctity of his office to purely spiritual 
 avocations ; indeed his duties, even in respect of 
 the Church, required some degree of intercourse 
 with the daily offices of common life ; to him, 
 therefore, such a charge was permitted. And 
 there was nothing inconsistent in these regu- 
 lations ; as there might seem to be if they were 
 still enforced, when the Diaconate has become a 
 step soon passed over, and taken almost invariably 
 rather as an approach to the Priesthood, than for 
 its own sake : for in the early Church many 
 remained for life in the order of Deacons ; while 
 others passed through it, with a rapidity as little 
 known among us as the opposite continuance in 
 it. Cyprian, who passed hastily through the 
 Diaconate, and his panegyrist Pontius'', who pro- 
 bably never advanced beyond it, afford examples 
 in point. 
 
 It was during the reign of the Emperor Philip, 
 
 '' Jerome, speaking of Pontius, calls him only " Pontius 
 Diaconus Cypriani." Cat. Script. Ecc. vol. i. p. 187- Nicholas 
 Ferrar is an example of the like kind in oiu" Church. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 35 
 
 while the Church was free from persecution, that 
 Cyprian was thus adorning the progressive states 
 of a catechumen, of a lay communicant, and of 
 the Diaconate, by his personal and active piety 
 and charity, and by his works in defence of 
 Christianity, and in illustration of Christian 
 doctrine. Meanwhile one of his great contem- 
 poraries was advancing, in a distant part of 
 Africa, to the summit of his dignity and repu- 
 tation ; for it was at this time that Dionysius 
 was appointed to fill the Episcopal throne of 
 Alexandria, vacant on the death of Heraclas, 
 who had been its occupant for sixteen years'. 
 The Epistles of Cyprian and of Dionysius form a 
 large part of the authentic materials for the 
 ecclesiastical history of this age : and we shall 
 often have occasion to cite the authority of the 
 Prelate of Alexandria. 
 
 It was probably in December of this year 
 (247) that Cyprian was made a Presbyter. 
 Without distinctively referring any of his acts or 
 writings to this part of his life, Pontius tells us, 
 in general terms, that as he had been active as a 
 layman, so he was also as a Priest. To this 
 season we may probably refer his three books of 
 Testimonies against the Jews: this at least is the 
 conclusion of the Benedictine editors of Cyprian's 
 works, who have well remarked, that the contents, 
 or rather the omissions, of this work, indicate the 
 
 " Pearson's Annals. Eusebius vi. 35. 
 
 d2 
 
86 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 time at which it was composed ; since it contains 
 no alhisions to those events in which the interest 
 and energies of Cyprian were so deeply engaged, 
 during all the remainder of his life ; while even 
 some of his principles are less vividly displayed 
 than they would have been at any subsequent 
 period. In the third book, for instance, he 
 collects several Scriptural testimonies against 
 heretics and schismatics; but he would have been 
 fuller and more vehement on this point, had he 
 written amidst the very flames and commotions 
 which were excited by heretics in his own 
 diocese. 
 
 The three books into which this work is dis- 
 tributed are addressed to Quirinus, who was 
 probably a young Christian, for Cyprian calls 
 him his dear son. It seems that Quirinus had 
 requested his more accomplished friend to 
 furnish him, from the Scriptures, with the 
 evidences of Christianity ; in consequence of 
 which request these books were written. The 
 tw^o first books were given to Quirinus, accom- 
 panied with an introductory Epistle, in which 
 Cyprian thus unfolds his plan. '' I have com- 
 prised the subject of this work in two books of 
 nearly equal size ; in the first book I have 
 endeavoured to shew^ that the Jews, as it had 
 been foretold, had departed from God, and 
 forfeited the favour of the Lord, which had been 
 at first granted to them, and promised to their 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 37 
 
 posterity; but that Christians, whose faith is the 
 ground of their acceptance with God, have 
 succeeded in their place, out of all nations, and 
 from every quarter of the globe. The second book 
 contains a statement of the mystery of Christ ; 
 shewing that he is come, as the prophets had 
 foretold, that he has done and suffered all that 
 had been presignified concerning him." In the 
 third book, in conformity with another request of 
 Quirinus, Cyprian presents in the words of 
 Scripture, a summary of the duties of Christians; 
 following the same plan which he had pursued in 
 the two former books, and adding nothing of his 
 own to the citations from holy writ, but the 
 connecting heads of the several sections ^ For a 
 
 ' Some notion of the contents of these books may be 
 derived ft-om the following heads. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 1. That the Jews grievously offended God, by leaving the 
 Lord, and following idols. 
 
 2. And also because they believed not the prophets, but 
 slew them. 
 
 3. That it was foretold that they should neither recognize, 
 understand, nor receive the Lord. 
 
 12. That the old baptism should cease, and another be 
 instituted. 
 
 16. That the old sacrifice should cease to be offered, and 
 that a new one should be offei'ed in its stead. 
 
 17. That the old Priesthood should be extinct, that a new 
 Priest should come, whose Priesthood should be eternal. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 1. That Christ is the first-begotten of God, and himself 
 the wisdom of God, by whom all things were made. 
 6. That Christ is God. 
 
38 LIFE AND TIMES OF ST. CYPRIAN. 
 
 better understanding of these matters, he remits 
 Quirinus to the Scriptures themselves, assuring 
 him that strength will be given to him as he 
 reads ; and that his insight into sacred things 
 and all spiritual truth will be increased, as he 
 goes through the contents of the Old and New 
 Testaments. 
 
 Thus was Cyprian preparing himself, by a 
 diligent and useful career in the inferior stations 
 of the Church, for the highest order of the 
 Christian hierarchy, to which he was soon most 
 unexpectedly raised. 
 
 II. That he was to be of the seed of David according to 
 the flesh. 
 
 19- That Christ is the bridegroom, and the Church his 
 bride, from whom a spiritual progeny should spring. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 l6. The benefit of martyrdom. 
 
 24. That we can approach the Father only through 
 Christ. 
 
 2.5. That no man can enter into the kingdom of God 
 unless he be baptized and regenerated. 
 
 26. That it avails little to receive Baptism and the 
 Eucharist, unless we advance in good works. 
 
 53. That the secrets of God are inscrutable, and that our 
 faith therefore should be implicit. 
 
 54: That none is free from sin and corruption. 
 
 65, That all sins are cast off in baptism. 
 
 III. That the sacrifices of the wicked are evil. 
 
 llG. That he loveth God more, to whom the more sins 
 are remitted at Baptism. 
 
 120. That we sliould continue instant in prayer. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 CYPRIAN CHOSEN BISHOP. HIS ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE. THE 
 
 PART OF THE PEOPLE IN HIS ELECTION. THE CONSTITU- 
 TION OF THE CHURCH IN THE CYPRIANIC AGE. THE STATE 
 
 OF MORALS AND OF DISCIPLINE IN CYPRIAN's DIOCESE, 
 AND THE ACTS AND WRITINGS WHICH AROSE OUT OF THE 
 
 CONDITION OFTHECHURCH. THE EPISTLESOF CYPRIAN. 
 
 THE CASE OF GEMINIUS VICTOR: COMMEMORATION OF 
 
 THE DEAD : THE PRIMITIVE PRACTICE A WITNESS AGAINST 
 
 ROMISH ERRORS, THE CASE OF THE PLAYER : — THE STATE 
 
 OF THE STAGE IN CYPRIAN's TIME. THE CASE OF THE 
 
 REBELLIOUS DEACON. THE CASE OF THE 2TNEISAKTOI. 
 
 " ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY." 
 
 The elevation of St. Cyprian to the Episcopal 
 throne of Carthage, followed very soon upon his 
 admission to the Priesthood : for at the death 
 of Donatiis% in the year 248, the whole body of 
 the people, with the concurrence of by far the 
 
 • It is only from a casual expression of Cyprian, in one of 
 his Epistles to Cornelius, that we learn the name of his pre- 
 decessor : Anfecessorum nostrorum Fubiani el Donati. Agrip- 
 pinus, of whom we shall afterwards have occasion to speak, 
 is, I believe, the only Carthaginian Prelate before Cyprian 
 and Donatus, whose name has descended to these times. 
 
40 LIFE AM) TIMES 
 
 greater part of the clergy, demanded Cyprian for 
 their Bishop ; overlooking the youth of the 
 Christian, in the singuhir merit of the man. 
 The modesty of the young Presbyter, however, 
 would have given place to his seniors ; and he 
 actually witlidrevv, concealing himself for a while 
 from the eager search of the people. But the 
 providence of God had marked Cyprian as their 
 Bishop ; and when the people had for some time 
 surrounded his house, besieging the door, and 
 searching every passage and retirement in their 
 officious zeal, he appeared at last, baffled in his 
 concealment, before the assembled crowd. The 
 people received him with transports of joy, pro- 
 portioned to the earnestness of their hopes and 
 expectations. Yet his consecration was not 
 wholly free from opposition ; for certain Presby- 
 ters, who seem to have had some previous pique 
 against him, opposed his election, and contrived 
 to embitter a considerable portion of his Episco- 
 pate with their factious and schismatical opposi 
 tion. So far from rigid truth is the boast of 
 Pontius on behalf of his patron, " Quidam illi 
 restiterunt, etiam ut vinceret :" — some opposed 
 him, that his dignity might be graced by his 
 overcoming their opposition ; unless indeed it 
 was Pontius's meaning, that he overcame evil 
 with good ; for he presently adds, that it was a 
 wonder to many how patiently he endured this 
 opposition, and how readily he pardoned it, so as 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 41 
 
 to receive his opponents into tlie number of his 
 most intimate and friendly acquaintance. 
 
 St. Cyprian is not the only example that 
 antiquity presents, of one avoiding the Episco- 
 pate so pertinaciously, as to resort even to con- 
 cealment or flight. Indeed there was so much 
 of personal risk, so little of temporal advantage, 
 and so great a weight of spiritual responsibility, 
 attached to the highest pastoral office in a per- 
 secuted Church, that it is no wonder that many 
 were anxious to escape from the invidious 
 dignity. We shall presently find the see of 
 Rome vacant for some months, because of the 
 danger which must inevitably beset one who 
 should fill it ; and when the election was at last 
 made under a favourable aspect of affairs, we 
 shall find Cyprian magnifying the virtuous and 
 disinterested courage of the man who did not 
 shrink from the mingled duties, dangers, and 
 honours, of that station. In the mind of Cyprian, 
 however, the fear of danger could have had no 
 place ; and it was doubtless his unaffected 
 modesty which prompted his intended rejection 
 of the dignity which the acclamations of the 
 people of Carthage would have conferred on 
 him. St. Athanasius, like Cyprian, a man too 
 bold to flee from danger, and indeed in no 
 immediate apprehension that it would await his 
 elevation to the Episcopate, affords a parallel 
 example. ApoUinaris the Syrian, as quoted by 
 
42 MFK AND TIMKS 
 
 Sozomen'', tells us, that Alexander, Bishop of 
 Alexandria, being near his end, was divinely 
 moved to appoint Athanasius his successor. As 
 he lay, therefore, expecting his death, he called 
 aloud for Athanasius, who had fled to avoid the 
 choice which was to fall upon him. An attendant 
 of the same name answered the dying Prelate, 
 who only said, that it was not he whom he called, 
 and continued still to call " Athanasius ! Atha- 
 nasius !" At length the good Alexander exclaimed 
 with a prophetic impulse, *' Thou thinkest to 
 escape, Athanasius ; but thou shalt not escape." 
 And he was accordingly found by the direction 
 of Providence. 
 
 Nor was the part which the people had in the 
 choice of a Bishop in Cyprian's case at all unusual. 
 SS. Ambrose and Augustine present remarkable 
 instances of a like choice. Indeed this seems to 
 have been one of the methods in which God 
 designated certain persons for this high office; as 
 he did also in other ways, quite beyond our 
 present experience; and, since he has established 
 the Church in a settled form and order, beside 
 the necessity of the case. It would be almost as 
 unreasonable to wait for the expressed consent of 
 the people in the choice of a Bishop now, or 
 even to give to their acclamations a very material 
 influence, as it would be to expect that his 
 successor should be appointed by Divine admoni- 
 " SozoMEN, ii. 17. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 43 
 
 tioii in a dream to a dying Bishop, or that a 
 dove should alight upon the head of the person 
 to whom God would direct the choice of His 
 Church. Cyprian, Athanasius, and Fabian ' , 
 were designated by such means ; but we therein 
 find, not a rule of discipline, but a manifestation 
 of God's special purpose ; not a principle of 
 general application, but a particular interposition 
 of Providence. 
 
 Having now accompanied Cyprian in his 
 elevation through the several orders of the 
 Apostolic Ministry, to the Episcopate, the Sacer- 
 dotii sublime fastigium, we may pause for a 
 moment to take a rapid view of the polity of the 
 Church, as it appears in ecclesiastical records of 
 that period ''. 
 
 The whole body of the Church was divided 
 first of all into two grand divisions. Clergy and 
 Laity: a distinction which was first made by 
 Jesus Christ himself, and which was guarded 
 most reverently by his Apostles, and by the whole 
 of Christendom for many ages : yet Dodwell has 
 to meet the objections of Rigaltius against the 
 primitive authority of this division of the Church, 
 
 c EusEBii Ecc. Hist. vi. 29. 
 
 ^ Those who would acquaint themselves with the minutia? 
 of this question, will consult Bishop Sage's principles of the 
 Cyprianic age, with his vindication of that work. Stilling- 
 fleet, in his Unreasonableness of the Present Separation, is 
 also pretty full upon the subject. 
 
44 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 which he does with his usual learning in his first 
 Cyprianic dissertation, de voce cleri sctcri or dims 
 propria. Dodwell's arguments are still important, 
 for they bear on the position of all those sects 
 who trace their origin, or that of their Ministry, 
 to lay interference ; in short, to any thing but 
 Apostolical derivation. If there is a Clergy in 
 the Church of Christ, and if the office of the 
 Clergy is not only to minister for men, but to 
 minister fro7?i God, then it is clear that some- 
 thing more than the choice of the people or the 
 assumption of the individual is required to give a 
 man a place in the Clergy: and it is equally 
 clear, that the intervening of a few or many 
 successions to an usurped office does not better 
 the position of the last intruder. If A, having 
 no power to ordain, that is to transmit the office 
 of a minister /rom God, pretends to ordain B, 
 and B to ordain C, and so on to M or N, since 
 none of the intervening persons can transmit 
 more than he received, and B in fact received 
 absolutely nothing from A, who had absolutely 
 nothing to give, then are M and N mere lay- 
 men, with this only addition, whether it be of 
 honour or of shame, that they are assuming a 
 sacred office which belongs not to them. 
 
 How many sects are now without Clergy, I will 
 not pretend to say. 
 
 In St. Cyprian's time, the distinction between 
 the Clergy and the Laity was so strictly guarded. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 45 
 
 not only by ecclesiastical laws, but also by 
 popular opinion and feeling, that it would have 
 been morally impossible for a single person to 
 usurp a single pastoral function without ordi- 
 nation : an intruder even into the Deacon's office 
 would have been rej ected every where with scorn and 
 indignation, and his temerity would have found its 
 proper reward in excommunication. But nothing 
 can be more unjust than to suppose that the 
 Laity were therefore depressed, or deprived of 
 their proper place and influence in the Church : 
 so far from it, that the very plainness of the line 
 of demarcation by which they were separated 
 from the Clergy, giving them a definite position, 
 ensured them also definite privileges. Were the 
 Laity confused with the Clergy, all ecclesiastical 
 affairs must inevitably fall, sooner or later, into 
 the hands of the Clergy ; for they would be the 
 best fitted for them by the habits and oppor- 
 tunities of their office ; and having this direction 
 pointed out to their ambition, they would cer- 
 tainly follow it, unless they were more than men 
 in virtue, and as certainly succeed, unless they 
 were less than men in conduct'': but with a 
 defined province for each. Clergy and Laity have 
 
 •■' The immense influence of the Clergy in secular affairs 
 during the middle ages, when the case just supposed was 
 reversed, and the Clergy were more secularized, instead of 
 the Laity being more confused with the Clergy, fortifies this 
 reasoning with an ex abmidanii example. 
 
4tJ I'IFE AND TIMES 
 
 their proper place, from which neither the one 
 nor the other will advance or retire, if they know 
 the real strength of their own position, or consult 
 the real welfare of the whole body. 
 
 We have seen indeed already, in the election 
 of St. Cyprian to the Episcopate, how great a 
 voice the people had in those days, when the dis- 
 tinction between Clergy and Laity was most 
 marked; and many other proofs might be added, 
 shewing that they had a more effectual influence 
 in the ecclesiastical polity of those times. St. 
 Cyprian himself always appears most anxious to 
 save their privileges, and to give them their 
 proper place in the body of the Church ^ 
 
 The Clergy, who were set apart for the 
 pastoral office by a solemn Ordination, of which 
 the Bishop w^as the sole dispenser, were dis- 
 tinguished into three ranks. Deacons, Pres- 
 byters, and Bishops. These had each its 
 defined province distinct from the rest, just as 
 clearly as the Laity distinct from the Clergy. 
 The Bishop was the chief ruler in the Church 
 under God, and the fountain of authority to all 
 the rest ; especially he was the channel through 
 which whatever partook of a sacramental efficacy 
 or character was transmitted from God to the 
 
 f I may refer on this head to a little Pamplilet published 
 anonymously by myself some two years past. On the 
 admission of Lay Members to the Ecclesiastical Synods of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church in Scotland. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 47 
 
 Church. Hence the rule, that nothing should be 
 done xcopLs Kina-KOTrov, or duev yi'cofxrjy tov 
 'ETnaKOTTov: which means something more than 
 that it ought not to be done without the Bishop's 
 sanction ; but that if it were so done, it would be 
 as if not done at all, illegal, and even invalid. 
 So St. Ignatius says, that without the Bishop 
 there is no communion ; and such passages from 
 other primitive authors might be cited almost 
 without end. 
 
 The distinctive theological office of the Bishop, 
 that which could under no circumstances be 
 committed to any other, that which not only 
 must not be done x^P^S" ^Ettio-kottov, but which 
 must be done b?/ the Bishop, was Ordination. In 
 this were the Bishops always reckoned more 
 especially the successors of the Apostles, and the 
 express ordinance of God. The Presbyterate, 
 which was the next order, had its own functions 
 also, which were derived from the Bishop, but 
 could not be committed to the Deacon, especially 
 the consecration of the blessed Eucharist ; and 
 this order also was referred to the immediate 
 ordinance of Jesus Christ. The last order of the 
 Pastoral Clergy was that of the Deacons, which 
 was instituted by the Apostles themselves, and to 
 which were committed other functions and offices, 
 into which the Laity were not permitted to 
 intrude, though they were below those of the 
 Presbyterate. The highest office for which the 
 
48 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 Deacon was held competent was the adminis- 
 tration of Baptism, to which he was ordinarily 
 appointed by permission of the Bishop on the 
 jrreater festivals, at which the number of candi- 
 dates was so great, that the Presbyters and 
 Bishops were not sufficient for the task : in some 
 places it seems to have been the common prac- 
 tice for Deacons to baptize". 
 
 Thus then, in St. Cyprian's time, and for all 
 the generations in the Church before it, a proper 
 Episcopacy, in its strictest theological sense, was 
 established. That this Episcopacy was also 
 diocesan, or such that the authority of the 
 Bishop extended over many separate congre- 
 gations, is equally clear from the whole history 
 of the Church in those days. In Rome there 
 were at this very time forty-six Presbyters, seven 
 Deacons, seven Sub-Deacons, forty-two Acolythes, 
 fifty-two Exorcists, Readers and Ostiarii, with 
 above fifteen hundred widows and poor, depen- 
 dent on the bounty of the Church. All these 
 were under the Episcopal jurisdiction, that is, in 
 the diocese of Cornelius *»: and when the number 
 of Christians at Rome is estimated from the 
 number of Clergy, officers and poor among them, 
 it will be too absurd to suppose that they were 
 not many Churches, or separate congregations. 
 
 K Bingham, Orig. Ecc. 11. xx. 9- 
 
 " See the letter of Cornelius in Eusebius, Ecc. Hist. vi. 43. 
 In Cyrus, the diocese of Theodoret, there were 600 parislies, 
 or Churches under the government of separate Presbyters. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 40 
 
 The Churches of Rome' and Carthage, 
 together with many others, were also at this 
 time Metropolitan, or Archiepiscopal, as will 
 appear abundantly during the course of this 
 work. This is indeed rather a question of polity 
 than of theology ; the Archbishop or Metropoli- 
 tan being elevated above the Suffragan Bishop 
 not in theological order, but in ecclesiastical 
 rank and power : it is however very satisfactory 
 to see our own ecclesiastical form so exactly paral- 
 leled in the primitive Church, and before the 
 alliance with the State can have secularized the 
 Church, or in any way modified her constitution. 
 
 Thus far, then, we are wholly in accordance 
 with the primitive Church ; for even the place of 
 the Laity, and their influence in the councils of 
 the Church, which escapes a careless search under 
 another form, is yet found not too minute, but, 
 on the contrary, rather exaggerated, in the 
 alliance of Church and State, and in the King's 
 supremacy •* : and nothing can be clearer than 
 the identity of our constitution both theological 
 and ecclesiastical ; of our Churches Episcopal 
 and Metropolitan, our Episcopate, Presbyterate, 
 
 ' The highest rank to which the Church of Rome ever 
 attained by right, was to that of a Patriarchal See, which is 
 to Metropolitan Churches what they are to the Suffragan 
 Sees. But it is to be observed, that Britain is not in the 
 Patriarchate of Rome. 
 
 ^ See Hooker, Ecc. Pol. viii. 8. It is well to find a saving 
 of important principle in what seems our weakest point. 
 
 E 
 
50 IIFE AND TIMKS 
 
 and Diaconate, with those of the Church of 
 Carthage in St. Cyprian's time. 
 
 The only question which occurs is suggested 
 by the enumeration of ecclesiastical officers 
 before mentioned, who were subject to Cornelius 
 in his Church of Rome ; and we shall meet with 
 the same frequently in Carthage, and other 
 Churches. Even here, however, the difference 
 is not so great as at first sight appears. For first 
 of all, the inferior orders, Subdeacons, Acolyths, 
 and the rest, were never suspected to be of 
 divine appointment, or of necessary use in the 
 Church ; nor were they entrusted with any 
 charge approaching to a pastoral or sacramental 
 character. In the next place, though under 
 different names, we have very nearly the same 
 servants of the Church ; Churchwardens, 
 Parish Clerks, Vergers, Sextons, &c. succeeding 
 to all the offices of Subdeacons, Readers, Ostiarii, 
 and the rest. One difference we confess, and 
 would gladly see removed, but it is rather in the 
 character of the times, than in the spirit or consti- 
 tution of the Church : — that whereas in Cyprian's 
 time whatever was at all connected wdth the 
 service of God was regarded with greater reve- 
 rence ; and so it was required that all persons 
 engaged within the precincts of the Church, 
 even the very servants, should be separated to 
 their occupation by a religious ceremony : now 
 we have reduced religion within the confines of 
 
OP ST. CYPRIAN. 51 
 
 the smallest province in which she can maintain 
 her state ; and the Apostolic principles, and the 
 sentiment which led to consecrations having 
 languished, the very thing itself seems out of 
 date. 
 
 But we must return to St. Cyprian in the 
 discharge of his Episcopal office. His attention 
 seems to have been turned, immediately on his 
 elevation, to the restoration of discipline, which 
 had been much relaxed during the long peace 
 which the Church had enjoyed'; and in some 
 instances to the correcting of most serious 
 abuses, which had crept into the manners even 
 of ecclesiastics. To this end he called in the 
 advice and assistance of his clergy and people, 
 and wrote his Tract de habitu virgimim, together 
 with several Epistles, adverting to particular 
 cases which called for his interference. 
 
 And now our attention is arrested by the first 
 of those Epistles of St. Cyprian, which throw so 
 much light on the history, laws, and principles of 
 the Church in his days. Geminius Victor, an ec- 
 clesiastic of the Church at Furni, and not impro- 
 bably its Bishop, at his death appointed Geminius 
 Faustinus, then a Presbyter, the guardian or 
 executor of his will. The necessity of keeping 
 
 ' Sulpicius says, that after the persecution under Severus, 
 the Church enjoyed a peace of thirty-eight years, except 
 when Maximinus persecuted some particular Churches. 
 Africa did not, in all probability, suffer in this partial 
 affliction. See Pearaon's Annals. 
 
 E 2 
 
5-2 ■ I-II'E AND TIMKS 
 
 the Clergy free from the cares of this world, and 
 especially from those duties which would bring* 
 them within the precincts of the court of the 
 heathen magistrate, had suggested laws to pre- 
 vent any of the Clergy from undertaking such an 
 office, under pain of degradation. The civil 
 law, on the other hand, on account of the diffi- 
 culty with which persons were found to take on 
 themselves places of such trouble and responsi- 
 bility, (the discharge of which, however, was 
 necessary to the proper transaction of affiiirs,) 
 had made it penal to refuse them. The Church, 
 therefore, was obliged to inflict the penalty, in 
 some instances, not on the Clergyman who ex- 
 ecuted, but on the testator who imposed, such an 
 office ; and now Cyprian was called upon to 
 enforce the laws of the Church against Victor, 
 who had nominated Faustinus his executor. 
 Accordingly in a letter to the Clergy and people 
 at Furni, he expresses his regret at such a 
 breach of discipline ; cites the decision of a 
 former Synod condemning the practice, of which 
 Victor had been guilty; and reasons, in general 
 terms, on the necessity on which the Ecclesi- 
 astical Canons on that head were founded. 
 No mem that warreth entangletli himself zdth the 
 affairs of this life, that he mat/ please him who 
 hath chosen him to be a soldier: and if this rule 
 should regulate the life of every Christian, much 
 more of every ecclesiastic, that he may give 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 5-S 
 
 himself the more entirely to the service of the 
 Altar : on the same principle proceeded the 
 exemption of the Levites, mider the Mosaical 
 law, from the cares of this life : and all this was 
 maturely considered by those who made the 
 ecclesiastical rule which Victor has disregarded. 
 ^' Wherefore," continues Cyprian, " since Victor 
 has dared, contrary to the law lately enacted in 
 Council, to nominate Faustinus his executor, no 
 oblation ought to be made for his death, nor any 
 prayer be offered in his name in the Church : that 
 so we may maintain the decree of the Bishops 
 which was religiously made, and of necessity ; 
 and that a warning may be given at the same 
 time to the rest of the brethren, not to call off 
 the Priests and Ministers of the Altar and Church 
 of God, by the distracting cares of this world." 
 
 This method of enforcing an Ecclesiastical 
 Canon, by forbidding the mention of the offender, 
 even after his death, in the service of the Church, 
 leads us to consider another primitive rule and 
 custom. The oblations of the faithful in the 
 Holy Eucharist were made not only for them- 
 selves individually, but for the whole Church ; 
 and, of consequence, for the dead in Christ ; who 
 were ever held to be a portion of the Church, as 
 certainly as those who were still living in 
 the flesh : and though the ancient Fathers, with 
 their characteristic caution in handling sacred 
 and mysterious subjects, did not venture to 
 
54 I'H'K AND TIMES 
 
 describe what was the specific advantage which 
 the faithful dead might receive from this act; 
 yet they held it highly congruous to suppose, (as 
 who will not ?) that when the memorials of 
 Christ's death and sacrifice were solemnly cele- 
 brated on earth, it was not without some benefit 
 to all who were truly interested in that stupen- 
 dous act of his love. The Angelic Host they 
 believed to be present at the Holy Eucharist : 
 and as the celebrants communicated with seraphic 
 spirits by their presence ; why should they not 
 also with those with whom they might certainly 
 be present in spirit, being mystically joined with 
 them in one body, even Christ's ; and so all his 
 whole Church on earth and in paradise be 
 united by a mutual benefit ? 
 
 Nor was there any superstition in the belief, 
 that the prayers of the righteous, especially 
 when assembled as a Church, and sanctified by 
 the celebration of the most sublime mysteries of 
 our faith, might benefit the souls of those who 
 awaited, in their separate state, the full fruition 
 of their bliss. But here, as in the case of 
 oblations, the primitive Church pretended to 
 unravel no mystery; and sought not to explain 
 or to particularize what was most excellent in its 
 sacred obscurity and generality. As they offered 
 for the blessed dead as well as for themselves, so 
 also they prayed for them, but in both cases 
 without fanaticism, and without superstition. 
 
OF ST. cvniiAN. 55 
 
 111 order to the greater interest in this part of 
 the service of the Church, the names of those, 
 for whom offerings and prayers were made, were 
 recited aloud, out of the diptychs or sacred rolls 
 of the Church. Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, 
 the Blessed Virgin, and the Martyrs of the 
 Church, were first mentioned ; and then those 
 pious men who had departed in immediate com- 
 munion with that particular Church were enu- 
 merated in order ; especially the Bishops, and 
 other ecclesiastics. Besides the mysterious 
 benefits which might thence accrue to the de- 
 parted, it was not doubted that this was a fit 
 honour to their name and memory: and to the 
 living, it had this assured benefit ; that it was a 
 great inducement to them to cultivate that unity 
 of the faith, and those virtues which were thus 
 rewarded : — that it kept up in their hearts the 
 memory and affections of the dead, with a pious 
 hope of a reunion with them at the resurrection : — 
 that it was a marked confession of the great 
 truth which Christ himself taught, when he said, 
 that God was not the God of the dead, but of 
 the living; viz. that all saints live in and to 
 him : — that even if the dead received not a bless- 
 ing, yet at least this service performed by the 
 living, in piety and charity and hope, was accept- 
 able to God, and so would not miss its reward : — 
 that it was an instrument of discipline in the 
 hands of the Church, by which the living might 
 
56 I'lt'li AND TIMES 
 
 be encouraged to a godly life ; for they could 
 not choose but be excited to virtue by the pious 
 memorial of the blessed, and affected sadly, yet 
 profitably, by the solemn verdict of the Church, 
 which refused the wicked a participation in these 
 honours and benefits. 
 
 The judgment, then, of St. Cyprian against 
 Geminius Victor, amounted to this ; that his 
 name should not be inserted in the diptychs of 
 the Church, nor any memorial be made of him 
 at the Altar, at which he had once communicated. 
 If this should seem a severe sentence, the neces- 
 sity of the case should be considered, and the 
 importance of supporting, by every possible 
 means, a canon which seems at first sight 
 wanting in the more rigid moral sanctions. 
 Moreover it should be considered, that this 
 excommunication of Victor after his death, was 
 the infliction only of an ecclesiastical form of 
 discipline, and by no means amounted to a 
 judgment of his state before God ; to whom 
 mercy was still left, though disapproval was 
 the duty of the Church. The conduct of 
 Cyprian is justified, moreover, by the constant 
 practice of the Church, and even by an act of 
 General Council ; for the sixth Council having 
 anathematized Pope Honorius, as a Monothelitc, 
 after his death, together with several other 
 Bishops, ordered that their names should ])e 
 erased from the diptychs. And the judgment 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 57 
 
 of a particular Bishop or Church might after- 
 wards be reversed, as in the case of a person 
 excommunicated in his lifetime without suf- 
 ficient cause : thus when Chrysostom had been 
 unjustly condemned and excommunicated, the 
 Western Bishops would not communicate with 
 the Bishops of Egypt, the Bosphorus, Thrace, 
 and the East, until they had restored the name 
 of Chrysostom to the diptychs of his Church. 
 Arsacius, the successor of Chrysostom, was actually 
 deprived of their countenance ; which Atticus, 
 the next Bishop, only obtained, by submitting to 
 their just demands'". 
 
 To those who give only a cursory attention to 
 such matters, what we have just said may seem 
 to array the Church in the days of St. Cyprian 
 on the side of Rome, in her custom of oblations 
 and prayers for the dead, and in her doctrine of 
 pm'gatory, which grew out of that custom. I 
 must, therefore, point out the difference between 
 the Roman and the primitive practice ; and 
 shew that the latter does not presuppose, but 
 actually refute the doctrine of purgatory. 
 
 The oblations and prayers which were offered 
 for the dead in the Primitive Church, were 
 offered not for the unholy, but for the blessed 
 dead ; not for those concerning whose state the 
 Church was in doubt ; but for those concerning 
 whom there was never any question, but that 
 
 "^ THEoDOUETr Ecc. lH.sl. V. [i\. vol. ill. p. 1076. Ed. 
 Halae 1769. 
 
58 l^ll-'K AND TIMES 
 
 they were received into Abraham's bosom, or 
 Paradise : not, therefore, that they might be 
 delivered from any, I know not what torments, 
 but that their joy might be more full even in 
 their state of expectancy ; and that the time of 
 the consummation of their glory might be 
 hastened : a petition which we make expressly 
 in the words of our Funeral Service, and virtually, 
 whenever we pray. Our Father', Thy kingdom 
 come. 
 
 And therefore it was that the primitive Chris- 
 tians prayed for the greatest saints, and for those 
 only whom they believed to be in their rest in 
 Paradise : and even though they had believed in 
 a purgatory, it was not to such as might be 
 supposed to be in that place, that these prayers 
 referred ; else Geminius Victor, before men- 
 tioned, should rather have been the more than 
 the less remembered in the prayers of his Church, 
 for the offence which he had committed. But, 
 in fact, there is not a single vestige of any thing 
 like the doctrine of purgatory till long after the 
 days of Cyprian : and though Augustine certainly 
 gave occasion to the less modest assertions of 
 subsequent doctors, by his very guarded expres- 
 sion of a question, whether a place of intermediate 
 purgation might not by possibility exist ; yet even 
 Augustine's modest opinions were not in accord- 
 ance with the Romish dogmatical assertions, 
 guarded by eternal sanctions". 
 
 " " Constanter leneo purgatorium esse, animasque ibi 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 5<| 
 
 But if prayer for the dead, according to the 
 primitive notion, is incongruous with the doc- 
 trine of purgatory, it is perfectly irreconcilable 
 with the practice of praying to the saints, or of 
 using their mediation with God. It were almost 
 impossible to pray first for, and then to or 
 through, any being : but the primitive Christians 
 actually did pray for the Blessed Virgin, the 
 Holy Apostles, and such other saints as Rome 
 now prays to, and makes her mediators". 
 
 detentas fidelium sufFragiis juvari." " Hanc veram Catho- 
 licam fidem, extra quam nemo salvus esse potest." Creed of 
 Pope i ius IV'. 
 
 The Bishop of 1 xeter, in his Letters to Charles Butler, has 
 proved at length that Augustine's notion of purgatory was 
 not the same as that of Rome at the present day. Even 
 Augustine would scarce escape the penalty of damnation for 
 the rejection of this Article; and certainly all the preceding 
 Fathers of the Church cannot but be condemned. 
 
 ° It is very instructive to see the change made by the 
 gradual perversion of doctrine, in those public Prayers which 
 are the very best records of the tenets of a Church : I there- 
 fore transcribe the following passage from Bingham's Orig. 
 Ecc. book XV. iii. 15. which bears directly on this point. 
 
 " It appears from all the ancient Liturgies under the 
 names of St. Basil, Chrysostom, Gregory Nazianzen, and 
 Cyril, that they prayed for all saints, the Virgin Mary 
 herself not excepted. And it is remarkable, that in the old 
 Roman Missal they were used to pray for the soul of 
 St. Leo, as Hincman, a writer of the ninth age, informs us, 
 who says the prayer ran in this form, " Grant, O Lord, that 
 this oblation may be of advantage to the soul of thy servant 
 Leo, which Thou hast appointed to be for the relaxation of 
 the sins of the whole world." But this was thought so 
 incongruous in the following ages, that in the later Sacra- 
 mentaries or Missals it was changed into this form : " Grant, 
 
()0 r,ll"i; AND TIMKS 
 
 It seems then, on a careful review of this 
 matter of prayers and oblntions for the dead, that 
 
 O Lord, we beseech Thee, that this oblation may be of 
 advantage to us by the intercession of St. Leo," as Pope 
 Innocent the Third assures us it was in his time. And such 
 another alteration was made in Pope Gregory's Sacranienta- 
 riuni. For in the old Greek and Latin edition there is this 
 prayer : *' Hemember, () Lord, all Jhy servants, men and 
 women, who have gone before us in the seal of the faith, and 
 sleep in the sleep of peace ; we beseech Thee, () Lord, to 
 grant them, and all that rest in Christ, a place of refresh- 
 ment, light, and peace, through the same Jesus Christ our 
 Lord." But in the new reformed Missals it is altered thus, 
 " Remember, Lord, Thy servants and handmaids N.and N. 
 that liave gone before us, &c." That they might not seem 
 to pray for saints as well as others that were in purgatory. 
 Which makes it very probable, that St. Cyril's Catechism 
 has also been tampered with, and a clause put in, which 
 speak of their praying to God by the intercession of 
 Patriarchs, I'rophets, Apostles, and Martyrs: since the 
 ancient Liturgies prayed for them as well as for all others. 
 St.Chrysostom says expressly, " they offered for the Martyrs." 
 And so it is in his Greek L,iturgy, " VVe offer unto Thee this 
 reasonable service for the faithful deceased, our forefathers, 
 fathers. Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, Evangelists, 
 Martyr.s, Confessors, religious persons, and ever)' spirit 
 perfected in the faith ; but especially for our most holy, 
 iuunaculate, most blessed Lady, the Mother of God, and 
 ever Virgin Mary." Though, as Hp. Usher has observed, 
 some of the Latin translators have also given a perverse 
 turn to these words, rendering them thus, " We offer unto 
 Thee this reasonable service for the faithful deceased, our 
 forefathers and fathers, by the intercession of the 
 Patriarchs, Prophet*!, Apostles, Martyrs, and all the Saints." 
 For it .sounded ill to the Latin ears to hear St. Chrysostom 
 say, the ancient Churcli prayed for Saints and Martyrs. And 
 yet he says it, not only in the forementioned places, but 
 over and over again in others. 
 
or ST. CVl'RIAN. 61 
 
 we of the English Church are far nearer to the 
 doctrine, principles, and practice of the Primitive 
 Church, than the Church of Rome is : for Rome, 
 apparently continuing the same custom, has con- 
 nected it with principles and doctrines, together 
 with which the precise custom of the ancients 
 could not stand ; while we, not so obtrusively 
 retaining the custom, yet have retained it in part; 
 and for the doctrine and principles, maintain 
 them still entire. For we expressly comme- 
 morate the dead in the Eucharist ; and with 
 regard to oblations for the blessed dead, for those, 
 that is, for whom they were presented in St. 
 Cyprian's time, I defy any one to point out 
 a single principle or doctrine of the English 
 Church which is opposed to it. On the contrary, 
 the commemoration being made in the very 
 prayers in which the oblation also is made, leads 
 obviously to the conclusion, that the offering is 
 for them, as well as for the living mentioned with 
 them : and so far as prayer for the dead is 
 concerned, it is not only not condemned, but 
 actually used by the Church over the grave of 
 every departed brother, when she saith, " That 
 it may please Thee of thy gracious goodness 
 shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect, 
 and to hasten thy kingdom ; that we, with all 
 those that are departed in the true faith of thy 
 holy Name, may have our perfect consummation 
 and bliss, both in body and soul, in thy eternal 
 
62 MFK AND TIMKS 
 
 and everlasting glory ; through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord." Thus we have commemoration of the 
 dead, and, if I be not greatly mistaken, an 
 oblation for the dead, and prayer for the dead ; 
 the only difference being, that we pray for none 
 by name. 
 
 Now when it is considered that we have so 
 7nuch of the primitive custom, and all the pri- 
 mitive doctrine upon this question ; and that 
 whatever of this custom we have not, we have 
 been obliged to forego on account of the false 
 doctrines w^hich Rome had so connected with the 
 custom, that there was, humanly speaking, no 
 possibility of avoiding her error without modi- 
 fying her usage : the blame of our partial defi- 
 ciency, if such it be, will surely be laid on those 
 who have robbed us of our right, by their 
 perverse adherence to wrongP. 
 
 A player, who had left off the exercise of his 
 profession when he embraced Christianity, but 
 still continued to teach it to others, gave occasion 
 to the second of Cyprian's Epistles ; in which he 
 gives the following answer to Eucratius, an eccle- 
 siastic, who had asked, whether such a person ought 
 to be admitted to communion. *' I hold it to 
 be inconsistent with sacred and evangelical dis- 
 cipline, that the modesty and honour of the 
 Church should be tainted with the contact of 
 
 '' See on this subject Palmer's Originrx Lilurgic<e, vol. ii, 
 chap. iv. §. 10. p. 94' el seq. 2fl Edition. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN, (J3 
 
 such a person : for if it be contrary to the 
 divine law for men to wear women's garments, 
 how much more so must it be for them to 
 imitate also the manners and gestures of the 
 most abandoned of that sex : nor is the excuse 
 to be heard, that he does not himself appear thus 
 before the public, while he continues to teach 
 others to do so ; for he can scarce be said to 
 have retired from a profession, who is training 
 up to it many successors. If, however, he 
 makes poverty a pretence, let him receive 
 sufficient for his wants, so they be moderate, 
 from your Church ; or if you are poor, he can be 
 amply provided for here : and instead of leading 
 others into the paths of perdition, he may him- 
 self learn that which shall be for his everlasting 
 peace." 
 
 The licentiousness of the theatre St. Cyprian 
 had already touched in his Epistle to Donatus. 
 He observes, with evident truth, that while the 
 stage was occupied with the representation of 
 the most monstrous actions that had ever been 
 perpetrated, and while the repetition of the 
 scenic story was accompanied with loud ap- 
 plauses, men were habituated to the forms of 
 vice ; and began to fancy, that what was ap- 
 plauded as done in the days from whence the 
 fable was borrowed, might always be done, and 
 that with honour. Thus crimes, which ought 
 not so much as to enter into people's imagina- 
 
<»1 LIFK AM) TIMES 
 
 tion, were not only not permitted to sink into 
 oblivion, but were converted into examples. 
 Other parts of the dramatic scene were direct 
 stimulants to vice ; so that the woman who went 
 thither virtuous, might return, in inclination at 
 least, thoroughly depraved; while all was rendered 
 worse, by the gods themselves being represented 
 as criminals, in many cases, so that the people 
 who are ready enough to follow bad example, 
 and to find an excuse for sin, would be led to 
 consecrate every perpetration of wickedness into 
 religion. 
 
 Without at all advocating the modern theatre, 
 I must yet remark, that much of this reasoning 
 of Cyprian is not applicable to our times ; 
 though it was loudly called for by the state of 
 things in his own. Women not being permitted 
 to appear on the stage, all the female parts were 
 sustained by men ; there was a degree of licen- 
 tiousness and obscenity in the representations of 
 many pieces, which would not now be tolerated 
 on the stage of the most abandoned cities : and 
 above all, the drama was so intimately linked 
 with idolatry, that a Christian could not have 
 taken his part in it, consistently with his duty to 
 God, even though there were no other and more 
 direct immorality, inseparable from the profession 
 of a player**. Still, however, it will be obvious 
 
 'i The profession of an actor was always by the Primitive 
 Churcli held to be inconsistent with true religion In the 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 65 
 
 that the moral question and its solution is not 
 now wholly different from that which Eucratius 
 put to Cyprian, and Cyprian's answer. If the 
 general tendency of the stage, as it is now con- 
 ducted, be deleterious to the public principles 
 and morals, we need not doubt on which side 
 such an one as Cyprian should and would place 
 the weight of his authority. 
 
 Cyprian's third Epistle is to an aged Bishop, 
 named Rogatian, who asked his advice as to the 
 course which he ought to pursue with a Deacon, 
 who had so forgotten his station and his duty, as 
 to insult the person and despise the authority of 
 Rogatian. In strict accordance with the prin- 
 ciples of Church government and discipline in 
 his age, Cyprian declared most explicitly, that it 
 was wholly in Rogatian's power to proceed 
 against the rebellious Deacon, either to degrada- 
 tion, or to excommunication, as the case required : 
 yet he recommended, first of all, the milder 
 methods of persuasion and reproof; since it is 
 better to overcome reproaches and injuries with 
 patience and clemency, than to overwhelm the 
 offender with the weight of the Episcopal autho- 
 rity. 
 
 But the most painful delinquency against which 
 Cyprian had now to exert his Episcopal authority 
 
 African code of Canons (45) players are grouped with 
 apostates. And the Apostolical Canons (14 al 18) deny 
 Holy Orders to one who has married an actress. 
 
 F 
 
66 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 forms the subject of his fourth Epistle. The ex- 
 perience of the Church during two centuries of 
 persecution had fully justified St. Paul's assertion, 
 that for the present distress, celibacy was the 
 better state. It was also recognized by the word 
 of inspiration as an acceptable discipline and 
 instance of self-denial. From these concurring 
 circumstances and Scriptural declarations, a single 
 life was by this time looked on as a state of 
 greater privilege and sanctity, and many of each 
 sex had voluntarily embraced that condition, not 
 binding themselves by any vow, but simply 
 purposing to themselves a religious celibate ^ 
 
 ' Such persons in Cyprian's days, and till long after, did 
 not subject themselves to any particular regimen : this is 
 clear from the directions and exhortations in Cyprian's book, 
 de habilti virginum ; and also from the circumstances to 
 which we are now directing our attention, which must have 
 arisen out of the most unbounded licence in the voluntary 
 celibates of both sexes, to follow their own inclination as to 
 the place of their residence, and their general deportment. 
 The difficulties also which Chrysostom notes {de sac. III. 
 xvii.) in the sacerdotal government of virgins in the Church, 
 arise out of the same liberty. The following words of 
 Bingham {Orig. Ecc. VII. iv. 3.) will sufficiently indicate 
 the progressive restraints which were laid upon professed 
 virgins. Having observed that in Cyprian's days they were 
 not even positively forbidden to marry, he proceeds : " But 
 in the following ages, the censures of the Cliurch were 
 inflicted on them. The Council of Ancyra [[Anno 314.] 
 determined universally against all such as having professed 
 virginity, afterward went against their profession, that they 
 should be subject to the same term of penance as digamists 
 were used to be ; that is, a year or two, as we learn from 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. * 67 
 
 From this condition, those who were already 
 married were of course excluded : but for those 
 there was a greater refinement of asceticism open, 
 by a voluntary continence ; and to this some of 
 them resorted. This discipline, like that of the 
 voluntary celibates^ was neither scandalous, nor 
 in itself otherwise than innocent : though it had 
 too much the appearance of going beyond what 
 was required by God, to seem wholly wise and 
 safe. But out of it arose a most criminal practice ; 
 for it seems to have suggested to those who had 
 already professed celibacy, the dangerous ex- 
 pedient of choosing one of the other sex, bound 
 by the like vows, with whom they might form a 
 kind of spiritual nuptials, still maintaining their 
 chastity, though, in all things else, living as freely 
 together as married persons *. 
 
 That there were unworthy motives at the 
 bottom of such a course it would be difficult not 
 
 one of the Canons of St. Basil. The Council of Chalcedon 
 |r4.51] orders them to be excommunicated, if they married, 
 but leaves the term of their penance to the Bishop's discretion. 
 The Council of Valence [[374] in France is still more 
 severe, forbidding them to be admitted immediately to 
 penance ; and when they were admitted, unless they made 
 full and reasonable satisfaction to God, their restoration to 
 
 communion was still to be deferred " 
 
 ' Non deesse qui Dei templa et post confessionem 
 sanctificata et illu strata membra turpi et infami concubitu 
 suo plus maculent, cubilia sua cum foeminis promiscua 
 jungentes. Ep. vi. p. 12. see also Ep. Ixii. pp. 102 — 104. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 * LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 to believe : it is however fair to suppose, that 
 tlie delinquents were self-deceived. They had 
 prevailed on themselves to believe, that they 
 might thus, even more effectually than in any 
 other way, strengthen their religious character> 
 by preserving their celibate, in the midst of such 
 temptations : and there was something in the 
 spiritual union which they did not conceal, not 
 unapt to excite admiration, and to fill them with 
 self-complacency. The world, however, refused 
 to view the matter in this light ; and much 
 scandal, as might be expected, ensued ^ Pom- 
 ponius, then, a brother Bishop, wrote for St. 
 Cyprian's advice, as to the course M'hich he 
 should pursue, and the manner in which he 
 should treat those who had been guilty of this 
 scandalous custom in his diocese ; one of whom 
 it seems was a Deacon. Cyprian, after his usual 
 manner, takes a decided view of the case, and 
 does not for an instant temporize with the deceit- 
 ful reasonings by which such a practice was 
 excused. He declares at once, that the professed 
 celibates with their agajoetce had placed them- 
 selves within the snares of the devil; and laments 
 that many had already, as might be expected, 
 fallen a sacrifice to his wiles : he recommends, 
 that those who had offended in this matter, with- 
 
 • Quando etsi stuprum conscientiae eorum desit, hoc 
 ipsum grande crimen est, quod illonim scandalo in alionun 
 ruinas exempla nascimtur. Ibid. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 69 
 
 out reference to the truth or falsehood of their 
 assertions of purity, shouki undergo penance ; 
 that they should then resume their state of pro- 
 fessed celibacy, if they still thought it conducive 
 to their Christian character ; but otherwise, that 
 they should marry, since, as St. Paul says, it is 
 better to mar'ry than to burn. But if any refused 
 to forego their scandalous custom, they were to 
 be excommunicated, without hope of reconcili- 
 ation. 
 
 As for the Deacon who was among the number 
 of the delinquents, he had been already excom- 
 municated by Pomponius, whose judgment Cy- 
 prian approves. 
 
 This whole matter affords us a most useful 
 general lesson, and an awful example of the 
 deceitfulness of sin. It was under the pretence 
 of a singular sanctity that the o-vveicraKTOL 
 voluntarily placed themselves in a position so 
 full of scandal to the Church in general, and of 
 danger to themselves ; and many of them doubt- 
 less, when they were on the verge of losing the 
 very purity which they estimated so highly, were 
 priding themselves on the constancy with which 
 they resisted temptation, and maintained their 
 Christian life. 
 
 We are also forcibly reminded here, that God 
 is the wisest dispenser of our duties ; not only 
 when he is apparently rigid and severe, but also 
 when he is so merciful to our infirmities, that 
 
70 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 men fancy they can advance in their obedience 
 even beyond what he requires of them. Every 
 step towards the extreme criminality of some at 
 least of the avueiaaKTOt, was beyond the law of 
 of God, though taken with an avowed intention 
 of pleasing him ; and had this course of conduct 
 stopped but one or two steps sooner, we might 
 have been almost disposed to believe, that the 
 voluntary yoke was good to be borne: in other 
 words, that man was in this case wiser than 
 God, But the principle of the mischief was in 
 the voluntary exercise of the married, opposing 
 as it did a plain precept of holy writ ; and 
 it advanced still farther in the asceticism of the 
 celibate, also contrary to the spirit of many of 
 the sacred declarations. T need proceed no 
 farther ; I will only observe, that we have still, 
 in the Roman Church, a memorial before us of 
 the truth of the remarks which I have now made : 
 for though Rome has so far profited by the fall 
 of the (TvueLaaKTOLf as to take her celibates under 
 the peculiar protection of the Church, and to 
 enforce a separate habitation for the two sexes, 
 the whole system is scandalous and dangerous ; 
 and she had certainly better revert to obedience 
 to the word of God, than proceed to the organizing 
 of human devices. We will not deny to Romanists 
 the merit of a good intention, at least in a vast 
 majority of instances ; neither surely can the// 
 deny, that some of the blackest stains that ever 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 71 
 
 came upon any Church, or upon any body of 
 men whatever, have proceeded from their system 
 of celibacy. 
 
 Thus far I had written, before an extraordinary 
 attack upon the Church appeared, under the title 
 oi Ancient Christianity. The character and the 
 writings of St. Cyprian are strangely distorted 
 in this work ; and the case of the avvelaaKTOL, 
 with St. Cyprian's Tract on the attire of virgins, 
 are made, by perversion, abundantly useful in 
 supporting the slanderous representations which 
 are wanted for the support of the argument. 
 Mr. Taylor's system required, that the celibacy of 
 persons of either sex should be the effect if not of 
 actual, yet at least of moral, force : and so, with- 
 out the shadow of proof, he speaks of the " rash 
 and unwarrantable vow of perpetual celibacy, or 
 virginity, taken or forced upon multitudes of 
 young women, in some moment of artificial 
 religious excitement"." To this representation 
 we have simply to say, that it is false ; and with- 
 out it the whole scheme totters. 
 
 The work of all others in which one would 
 expect to find St. Cyprian labouring to produce an 
 artificial religious excitement, which should force 
 virgins to devote themselves to a perpetual 
 celibate, is the tract above named. On the Attire 
 of Virgins, — NimSyMv. Taylor explains it; though 
 he ought to know, that nmis, in the sense in 
 
 " Ancient Christianily, p. 72. 
 
72 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 which his reader will understand the word, had 
 then no existence ; and though he is manifestly 
 aware, that unless it be thus understood, his 
 reasoning will lose half its force. This is dis- 
 honest, and should have been avoided by one 
 who speaks in this very same page of a similar 
 sophism with becoming reprobation : " How 
 much," he exclaims, " turns often upon an insen- 
 sible substitution of a technical, for the general 
 and genuine sense of an ethical, term''!" How 
 much, we may retort, here turns on the artful sub- 
 stitution of a name, which has been appropriated 
 to an institute unknown in Cyprian's time, and 
 associated in our minds with a large catalogue of 
 evil, which had no place in the world until ages 
 after, for a simple term, sufficiently expressing its 
 object, and not adapted to suggest suspicions, and 
 opprobrious thoughts ! 
 
 Then, again, there is the accomplished manage- 
 ment by which a few isolated passages are made 
 to stand as the representatives of the whole 
 Tract, and of the character of all St. Cyprian's 
 writings. To a mind at all versed with the sub- 
 ject, and imbued with the necessity of giving at 
 least some meaning to the words of our Lord and 
 of St. Paul on the subject of a life of religious 
 celibacy, even the passages adduced, as they stand 
 in their isolated form, will cause no unfavourable 
 impressions. But when it is remembered, that 
 " Page 75. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 73 
 
 the treating of any particular virtue almost 
 necessarily leads to the giving to that virtue an 
 undue preference at the time ; — the balance 
 being justly struck not on a view of a particular 
 Tract or Homily, but of the whole series of 
 moral discourses of an author or an age ; 
 when it is remembered, that St. Cyprian is 
 there expressly speaking of a religious celibacy, 
 and there only in all his works, instead of almost 
 every where, as a careless reader of " Ancient 
 Christianity" would suppose ; and when it is 
 remembered, that even that work alone does 
 really stand free from the blame which Mr. Taylor 
 attaches to it, if it be read as a whole ; when all 
 this is remembered, the argument of " Ancient 
 Christianity" will gain but little from the Tract 
 De Habitu Virgmum. 
 
 And if we were to judge of the whole Church, 
 or of any portion of it, by the invectives which 
 are pronounced against certain vices in certain 
 members of it, what would the indignant remon- 
 strances of Bishop Latimer lead us to suppose 
 was the state of England in his day : — of the 
 Protestant Court of Edward VI., and of the 
 reformed Church of our fathers ? 
 
 And, if the characters of the very preachers 
 against iniquity were always to be involved in 
 the stain of which they speak ; (and unless it be on 
 that principle, I know not whence the stigma falls 
 upon those names which Mr. Taylor delights to 
 
74 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 mention ;) where again would be the character of 
 every bold reprover of vice in every age ? 
 
 And what can be a more satisfactory proof of 
 the purity of the Christian Church, as a society, 
 from any particular vice, than the indignant 
 reprobation of that vice by all who hint at it, and 
 its denunciation by several Councils ^ ? Perhaps 
 it may signify little to Mr. Taylor, that there is 
 in the Apostles' Creed such an Article as " the 
 HOLY Catholic Church ;" but we confess that we 
 should scarce prove its holiness very satisfactorily, 
 if we found in all its safeguards of virtue, and all 
 its repudiation of vice, nothing but the symptoms 
 of leprosy, or the indications of a moral plague. 
 
 If Mr. Taylor himself had not zealously 
 laboured to disabuse us of such an opinion, we 
 should have been in danger of taking his book for 
 the work of a man half learned at most, who had 
 heaped together by the use of indexes all the 
 passages which seemed to serve his impure pur- 
 pose, by some mention at the very least of 
 impurity, though to condemn it : and that with- 
 out reading a single entire page, still less a single 
 entire treatise, he had concluded, that all was 
 alike impure, or capable of easy misrepresent- 
 ation. 
 
 ' The learned reader may turn to Dodwell's third Cyprianic 
 Dissertation, for much learning on the whole of" this matter; 
 and for the voice of Fathers and Councils, to sect. 3. of that 
 Dissertation. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 75 
 
 But this at least is certain. That Mr. Taylor 
 has commenced the study of the Fathers with a 
 sinister purpose, with a mind early infected with 
 the spirit of dissent, at an age when it was too 
 late for him to acquire that tact, without which 
 the theological, and even the profane literature of 
 an age, can never be understood and appreciated. 
 Such being his object, and such his qualifications 
 for the task, the irreverent and the impure will 
 revel in his pages, if they be unlearned ; but all 
 the really learned will see through his artifice or 
 imperfect information, whichever it may be : and 
 the Church of God, which has withstood the 
 attacks of moral persecution from many a 
 stronger hand, will weep as she receives the 
 blow, not at her own discomfiture, but at the 
 impiety of her son. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 REVOLUTIONS IN THE ROMAN STATE. — THEIR INFLUENCE ON 
 
 THE CONDITION OE THE CHURCH. EDICTS OF DECIUS. 
 
 THE PERSECUTION COMMENCES. — SOME RETIRE FROM 
 
 CARTHAGE ; AMONG "WHOM ST. CYPRIAN HIMSELF. 
 
 CYPRIAN's REASONS FOR RETIRING. — HIS CARE OF THE 
 CHURCH WHILE ABSENT. — HIS LETTER TO THE CON- 
 FESSORS. —THE INSINUATIONS OF THE ROMAN CLERGY 
 AGAINST CYPRIAN: AND CYPRIAN's ANSWER TO THEIR 
 
 EPISTLE. THE PROGRESS OF THE PERSECUTION. — THE 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF MAPPALICUS, AND OTHER CONFESSORS 
 AND MARTYRS. 
 
 While St. Cyprian was engaged in restoring 
 that discipline which a long peace had relaxed, 
 the Roman state was convulsed by a rapid 
 succession of rebellions. Within the space of 
 six months the two Philips were slain ; a traitor, 
 who had assumed the imperial name, expiated 
 his treason with his blood ; and the imperial 
 dignity descended on one no better entitled to it 
 than the rebel whom he had chastised. Early in 
 the summer of the year 249 a rebellion broke out 
 among the legions of Moesia, who invested an 
 
LIFE AND TIMES OF ST. CYPRIAN. 77 
 
 inferior officer named Marinus witli the purple. 
 Decius marched against the upstart, who was 
 soon after murdered : and Decius, who left Rome 
 the general of Philip, returned in the imperial 
 robes, to hurl his former master from the throne. 
 The elder Philip met the traitor with an army of 
 superior numbers, but the appeal to arms was 
 unsuccessful : he was routed, and in a few days 
 slain at Verona ; and soon after, his son and 
 associate in the empire, the younger Philip, 
 was murdered at Rome by the praetorian guard. 
 This was in August : in September, Decius pro- 
 claimed himself emperor, throwing off all pretences 
 of allegiance, which he had hitherto affected to 
 maintain; and in October he was received at-Rome 
 with the acclamations of the people and senate. 
 
 To the citizens of Rome it was comparatively 
 unimportant whether Philip, or Marinus, or 
 Decius, reigned ; but to the Christians through- 
 out the empire it was far otherwise. These 
 revolutions were the signal of a bitter persecu- 
 tion. Philip had always been favourable to 
 Christianity, and Eusebius tells us, that it was 
 even reported by some that he was a Christian : 
 but Decius was warmly attached to the super- 
 stitions of his forefathers ; was alarmed possibli/ 
 at the number of Christians who might be 
 expected to resent the death of Philip, and 
 certainly was not the more kindly disposed 
 towards Christians, for Philip's encouragement 
 
78 ^ I-IFF, AND TIMES 
 
 of the Church. The reign of Decius com- 
 menced, therefore, with an edict against the 
 Christians, directed to the magistrates through- 
 out the empire ; in which he commanded that 
 the Christians should be driven to apostacy, 
 and to the worship of the heathen deities, by 
 every motive of fear and force ; threatening the 
 infliction of severe penalties, and even tortures, 
 upon the magistrates themselves, if they should 
 neglect to execute this decree in all its rigour. 
 The officers in the several provinces, thus stimu- 
 lated to a cruel persecution, immediately entered 
 upon their odious charge ; and seemed to make 
 it an occasion of increasing their ingenuity, as 
 well as cruelty, in the arts and infliction of 
 torture. Many were thrown into prison, many 
 were scourged, and new and strange instruments 
 of torture were exhibited, to intimidate the 
 appointed victims ; and in many instances death 
 was the only favour which the judge conferred 
 on the trembling and agonized confessor and 
 martyr. 
 
 The letters of Dionysius of Alexandria, pre- 
 served by Eusebius, give some account of the 
 persecution which followed on this edict in 
 Egypt ; though he tells us at the same time, that 
 a popular fury, which often ended in horrid 
 violence and murder, had already been excited 
 against the Christians of Alexandria by a poet, 
 who had employed his art in upholding the 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 79 
 
 ancient superstitions, and exciting his fellow- 
 citizens against the Christians. This letter of 
 Dionysius, together with the Epistle of St. 
 Cyprian, to which we shall presently refer, 
 affords a sufficiently correct view of what was 
 passing throughout Christendom ; nor shall we 
 find any lack of such descriptions of particular 
 cases of suffering and constancy, as may give to 
 the general history the necessary, though in this 
 case painful, interest of individual and personal 
 details. 
 
 The first step which was taken on the publica- 
 tion of the edict of Decius seems to have been, 
 the appointing a day on which all who were 
 accused or suspected of being Christians should 
 be required to renounce their faith, and sacrifice 
 to the heathen gods. Meanwhile they were 
 suffered to remain unmolested in possession of 
 their own property, and without any farther 
 sacrifice of their rights, as subjects and citizens. 
 There was sufficient leniency here towards the 
 persons of the brethren, but a cruel policy against 
 the faith of the Church; for there was no 
 more likely method than this to make apostates. 
 The measure of suffering which he might have 
 to expect on the appointed day, was yet un- 
 known to the Christian ; and he had no ground 
 to look for any thing short of the most cruel 
 torments and a lingering death. Space was 
 given to brood upon this danger ; and the 
 
80 I^H'E AND TIMES 
 
 Church had not been composed of men, if there 
 had not been found many to shrink from torture 
 and death by a denial of their holy faith ; espe- 
 cially since this, too, was made easy to them by 
 many devices, which ensured to the apostates the 
 safety, without the public exposure, of their re- 
 cusancy. 
 
 Many, in express obedience to the precept of 
 our blessed Lord himself, who taught his disciples, 
 when persecuted in one city to flee to another, 
 retired from Carthage, leaving their possessions 
 as the price of their life ; and perhaps, (since 
 some of them doubtless fled from their distrust of 
 their own fortitude,) as a price of their Christianity 
 also. These certainly did well, and reasoned 
 justly, and received a reward in proportion to 
 their integrity and faith ; although, as we shall 
 find hereafter, they avoided not the sneers and 
 reproof of their more courageous brethren. " Let 
 no one, my beloved brethren," says Cyprian, in 
 his Treatise on the Lapsed, " let no one derogate 
 from the honours of those who thus maintained 
 their integrity, nor cast any reproach upon their 
 confession. When the appointed day had passed, 
 whoever had not yet denied himself to be a 
 Christian, had in fjict confessed the faith of 
 Christianity. The first title to the crown be- 
 longs indeed to those who confess their Lord in 
 the hands of the heathen; but to reserve one's self 
 in the faith and service of the Lord, by a cautious 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 81 
 
 retreat, is only second to that highest point of 
 glory. The first is a public confession, the latter 
 is a private confession. The first is a conquest 
 over the judge of this world ; the latter is the 
 maintaining a pure conscience, and integrity of 
 heart, content with the testimony of God alone. 
 On the one hand is the greater and more cheerful 
 endurance ; on the other a wiser and safer 
 caution. One man is found ready, when the 
 hour of suffering approaches ; but another is 
 perhaps only reserved for a future trial, having 
 already sacrificed his fortune, that he might not 
 abjvu'e the faith \" 
 
 Those who fled of course suffered proscription, 
 and confiscation of goods ; while those who re- 
 mained, but neither sacrificed to heathen gods, 
 nor otherwise denied their faith, were banished, 
 or cast into prison, there to await the more 
 vigorous proceedings of the proconsul, when he 
 should arrive at his province. St. Cyprian him- 
 self was among those who avoided persecution 
 by an early retreat : not, however, before he had 
 seen ample indications, that against him especially, 
 as the Bishop of the Church, the fury of the 
 heathens would be excited ; not before the circus 
 and the amphitheatre had again and again echoed 
 the voices of the people, calling out that he 
 should be cast to the lions ; and not before 
 (which is far the most important) he had become 
 * De Lapsts, p, 182. 
 G 
 
82 LU'E AND TIMES 
 
 fully convinced by the best consideration, and, as 
 he liinisolf tells us, by a warning also from heaven, 
 that he should thus be fulfilling his duty to God 
 and his Church more perfectly. Under these 
 circumstances it was, that he followed the precept 
 of the Lord, as he himself assures the Roman 
 Clergy *"; and at the first outbreak of popular 
 fury, when the cries of the people were swelled 
 with loud threatenings against him, consulting 
 not so much his own safety, as the welfare of the 
 flock committed to his charge, he made his 
 retreat; lest by his inopportune and illjudged 
 presence, the commotion already so violent, 
 should be still more increased ^ On this retreat 
 Cfficilius Cyprian was proscribed by name, and his 
 estate confiscated ''. 
 
 We know not the place of St. Cyprian's first 
 retreat, nor the names of any of his companions, 
 except Victor his Deacon : he tells us, however, 
 mcidentally, that he had not retired from Car- 
 thage, without leaving so much of his property, as 
 he was enabled to appropriate, for the benefit of 
 
 •' Ep. xiv. 
 
 '^ St. Cyprian is not the only person who has avoided 
 persecution by flight under the like circumstances. " His 
 contemporaries, Dionysius of Alexandria, and Gregory of 
 NeocEesarea, had fled also ; as had Poly carp before them, and 
 Athanasius after them." See chap. xii. of " The Church of 
 the Fathers;" in which is an admirable view of the prin- 
 ciples of the Church of Christ on this subject. 
 
 '' Ep. Ixix. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 83 
 
 the poor of his diocese ; committing it, for that 
 purpose, to the Presbyter Rogatian : and we have 
 presently sufficient indications, that if absent in 
 body, he was yet in spirit present with his flock ; 
 sparing neither exertion, nor prayers, nor eucha- 
 ristic commemorations, nor frequent directions, 
 encouragements, and reproofs, to preserve them 
 in the true faith of Christ, and within the bonds 
 of Apostolical order. 
 
 He was careful, therefore, through the medium 
 of Tertullus % of whom he speaks with much 
 affection, to receive constant intelligence from 
 Carthage ; and he made up for his absence, as 
 much as possible, by his frequent letters to the 
 Clergy, and to the people of his Church. He 
 begins, in Epistle V. with the necessary pro- 
 visions for maintaining discipline in his absence. 
 Having acknowledged the good providence of 
 God in his present security, he exhorts his Clergy 
 to give the greater diligence to the affairs of the 
 Church : since his part in them had now devolved 
 on their management ; and since the state of 
 Carthage, and his own office, more obnoxious to 
 popular vengeance, permitted not his return. 
 With prudence, and a total absence of all fanati- 
 cism, he exhorts them to a proper care to restore 
 all things to peace and quiet, if it were possible ; 
 and he suggests a present rule of conduct to this 
 end, that the Presbyters, whose office it was to 
 
 " Ep. xxxvii, p. 50. 
 G 2 
 
84 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 visit the confessors in their prisons, should not 
 crowd about them in too great numbers ; but 
 that they 'should go separately, each attended 
 with his single Deacon ; that the attention of the 
 heathen might not be arrested, nor their suspi- 
 cions needlessly excited ; that the Priests might 
 not be debarred the exercise of their duty in 
 administering the Holy Eucharist to their im- 
 })risoned brethren, nor they be deprived of the 
 privileges of communion : " for we ought," says 
 he, " as servants of God, to adapt ourselves to 
 the present times, meekly and humbly; to concert 
 means of quiet, and to have respect even to the 
 feelings of the people." 
 
 The same real wisdom is manifest in all his 
 letters under these trying circumstances. In his 
 seventh Epistle, for instance, he writes to his 
 Clergy, *' I salute you, dearest brethren, being 
 through God's blessing in safety ; and I would 
 that I might soon obtain permission from heaven, 
 and find fitting occasion to return to you, both 
 to your joy and my own. For what would both 
 my pleasure and spiritual interest point out as 
 the best place for me, but that in which the 
 providence of God made me a Christian. But 
 however trying it may be to remain still separated 
 from you, it is my first duty to promote the 
 peace of the community, and to remain here ; 
 lest my return should excite the rage and malice 
 of the gentiles, and I, who ought to consult 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 85 
 
 peace in all that I do, should become the chief 
 occasion of violence." In this letter, St. Cyprian 
 makes mention of a supply out of his own patri- 
 mony, which he had left behind him for the use 
 of the pensioners of the Church ; and he men- 
 tions a farther supply which he thus sent by his 
 Acolythe Naricus ; and makes suitable arrange- 
 ments for its distribution. 
 
 St. Cyprian's sixth Epistle "^ is addressed to 
 Sergius, Rogatianus, and the other confessors in 
 prison ; to those, that is, who had refused 
 obedience to the edict of Decius, before the 
 magistrates of Carthage ; and were remitted 
 to confinement until the arrival of the Proconsul 
 with higher powers. The terms of high praise 
 and of respect in which he addresses these 
 sufferers for the name of Christ, may prepare us 
 to hear of their future elation, when we consider 
 how very difficult it is for men to bear the praise 
 of their fellow-creatures, without vanity and pre- 
 sumption : yet from Cyprian, whose adherence to 
 the cause of Christ was of a different complexion, 
 and though equally sincere, yet wanting in the 
 splendour of a public confession, and continued 
 sufferings before the eyes of the people, those 
 expressions of deep reverence come with a pecu- 
 liarly good grace. " Would," says he, " that 
 the present state of affairs would permit me 
 to visit you in person : for what could now fill 
 « Ep. Ixxxi, in the Benedictine Edition. 
 
8() LII'E AND TIMES 
 
 me with greater joy, than to embrace you again, 
 and to receive tlie pressure of those arms, which 
 have retained their purity amid the temptations 
 to idolatry, and still held fast the faith of our 
 Lord ? What so delightful, what so ennobling, 
 as to touch those lips which have uttered a 
 glorious confession : and to be seen by those eyes, 
 which have looked down upon this world, and 
 shewn themselves worthy of the beatific vision ? 
 But since so great a privilege is denied me, 
 I send these letters to you in my place ; at 
 the same time congratulating you, and exhorting 
 you to farther perseverance, that you may stand 
 fast in your professions, and persist in your 
 heavenly path, until you receive the crown of 
 glory ; having that God for your defender and 
 keeper, who saith, Lo ! I am with you alxvaySf 
 even unto the end of the world. O blessed prison, 
 which your presence has illuminated ! O blessed 
 dungeon, which is but as the next step to heaven! 
 O darkness more splendid than the sun itself, so 
 long as it contains living temples of our God, 
 even your bodies sanctified by a divine confession! 
 Now you need no other occupation than to 
 meditate on those divine precepts and loving 
 commands, with which the Holy S})irit has 
 continued to animate you to the endurance of 
 suffering. Think not then of death, but of 
 immortality ; think not of temporary torment, 
 but of eternal glory ; since it is written, Precious 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 87 
 
 in the sight of the Lord is the death of his samts : 
 and again ; A hroken spirit is a sacrifice to God, 
 a broken and a contrite heart God doth not despise: 
 and again ; where holy writ speaks of those 
 divine torments which consecrate the martyrs of 
 God, and sanctify them by the very endurance of 
 suffering : ' Though they be punished in the 
 sight of men, yet is their hope full of immor- 
 tality. And having been a little chastised, they 
 shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, 
 and found them worthy for himself. As gold in 
 the fire hath he tried them, and received them as 
 a burnt-offering. And in the time of their 
 visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro 
 like sparks among the stubble. They shall judge 
 the nations and have dominion over the people, 
 and their Lord shall reign for ever^'" 
 
 Cyprian proceeds to some appropriate exhort- 
 ations ; and we learn from his letter, that women 
 and children were not free from this persecution, 
 nor wanting in that divine grace, which enabled 
 them to witness a good confession. He mentions 
 with especial praise Rogatian and Felicissimus, 
 two ecclesiastics, who had borne the first outrage 
 of heathen violence, preparing as it were for 
 their brethren mansions in the prison house, and 
 a way to heaven through violence and death : 
 and he does not conclude without a prayer, that 
 those whom God had made confessors, He would 
 
 ^ Wisdom iii. 4 — 8, 
 
88 MFE AND TIMES 
 
 still continue to bless, until their first steps to 
 glory should be consummated with the martyrs' 
 crown. 
 
 While St. Cyprian was thus earnestly engaged 
 in fulfilling his duty towards his flock, though 
 absent, reports had gone abroad to his dis- 
 advantage ; and at Rome he had been repre- 
 sented rather as a renegade, than as a faithful 
 but prudent man, acting himself upon those high 
 principles of duty, which he openly recommended 
 to others in the like case. 
 
 It seems doubtful whether the Roman Clergy 
 had heard of Cyprian's retreat from his enemies ; 
 or whether they had heard it only imperfectly, 
 and without any of the peculiar circumstances 
 which forced the Bishop to a temporary retreat 
 for the benefit of his people. At any rate, they 
 had not yet been told, for there had not been 
 time for this, of that great diligence in his 
 charge which, as they themselves afterwards 
 confessed, made him as it were present with 
 his flock, though in person he was absent from 
 them. Looking upon Carthage, therefore, as a 
 deserted Church, and being themselves deprived 
 of their Bishop by the martyrdom of Fabian, 
 they wrote to Carthage a letter, in which they 
 offered many suggestions, in harmony with the 
 directions which Cyprian had already given, for 
 the better government of the Church ; and in 
 which they glanced somewhat severely at the 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. SQ 
 
 conduct of the absent Bishop. There can be 
 little advantage in transcribing strictures which 
 evidently took their rise from a false report, or 
 at least a misapprehension : one passage, however, 
 I cannot refrain from copying, (though it is not 
 quite free from insinuations against St. Cyprian,) 
 since it gives us a fair description of the Church 
 of Rome at that time. " We do not," say the 
 clergy of Rome to their brethren at Carthage, 
 '' send you bare exhortations, but they are en- 
 forced, as you may easily learn from those who 
 have seen our state, by our example. By God's 
 grace we have done, and yet do, according to 
 our precepts, notwithstanding the extreme peril 
 in which we stand ; for we have the fear of God, 
 and eternal torments, rather than man's anger, 
 and a short suffering, before our eyes ; and thus 
 encouraged, we leave not the brethren forsaken, 
 but continually warn them to constancy in the 
 faith, and preparation to meet the Lord. Thus 
 we have even recalled some to their duty, who 
 were going up to the capitol by restraint, to offer 
 sacrifice, or openly to apostatize. Our Church 
 stands firm ; though some indeed have fallen, 
 either from the extremity of terror, or because 
 they were remarkable for their station, and the 
 more exposed to the fear of man : whom, how- 
 ever, even in their separation from us, we do not 
 utterly abandon ; but we exhort them to re- 
 pentance, that they may obtain pardon from 
 
90 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 Him \vho can alone bestow it; lest being 
 utterly forsaken by us, they should become 
 worses." 
 
 Crementius, the Subdeacon, who was the 
 messenger of the Roman Clergy to Carthage, 
 carried also a letter to St. Cyprian, giving an 
 account of the martyrdom of Fabian. This 
 letter was so expressed, as to convey a tacit 
 reproof to Cyprian for his retreat. I shall give 
 Cyprian's answer entire*^. 
 
 " Cyprian to his brethren the Presbyters and 
 Deacons of Rome, Health ! When there was an 
 uncertain rumour, dearest brethren, among us, 
 of the departure of that excellent man my col- 
 league', and we were doubtful what to think, I 
 received your letters at the hands of Crementius 
 the Subdeacon, by which 1 was fully informed of 
 his glorious exit ; and I was exceedingly rejoiced, 
 that the honour of its close was worthy of the 
 integrity of his administration. I congratulate 
 you very highly, because you perpetuate his 
 memory in so illustrious a testimony ; so that 
 through you I am acquainted with the splendid 
 reputation of your Bishop, and an example of 
 faith and virtue is thus afforded me. For the 
 fall of a Bishop is not more pernicious as an 
 example of defection, than his fidelity is useful 
 
 » Ep. ii. 
 " Ep. iii. 
 ' Fal)ian. Bishop of Ur)nie. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 91 
 
 and salutary for the, imitation of his brethren. 
 I have also read another letter, in which it is not 
 clearly expressed either by whom or to whom it 
 w^as written ; and since both its character and 
 contents, and the paper itself, raised a doubt in me, 
 whether it had not been mutilated or corrupted, 
 I have sent back to you the identical letter, 
 that you may yourselves discover whether it is 
 the same which you sent by Crementius the 
 Subdeacon : for it is a matter of the utmost 
 importance, if the integrity of the letters of the 
 Clergy is rendered questionable by deception 
 or fraud. That I may know this, therefore, 
 examine carefully, whether the writing and 
 subscription be yours, and return to me the true 
 account of the matter. I wish you, dearest 
 brethren, continued health." 
 
 This mention of the death of Fabian, Bishop 
 of Rome, opens to us an altered view of the 
 present persecution. It was before observed, 
 that the Christians were not, generally at least, 
 immediately put to death ; but that some days 
 were allowed for them to determine whether 
 they would sacrifice their rights as subjects, or 
 their religion ; and that those who confessed 
 Christ at the expiration of that term, were then 
 banished, or committed to prison, until the 
 Proconsul of each province should arrive, to 
 enforce a more rigorous sentence. But still 
 death was the ultimate sanction of the imperial 
 
92 LIFE AND TIMKS 
 
 edicts : and in Rome, where they were first 
 pnblished, woukl the interval soonest expire 
 between their mildest and their most severe 
 execution. Accordingly, Fabian first fell a 
 sacrifice to the inhuman edict of Decius : 
 Alexander Bishop of Jerusalem, and Babylas of 
 Antioch, succeeded in due time ; and the per- 
 secution being directed more especially against 
 the Bishops of the several Churches, as St. 
 Cyprian himself assures us, the Prelates of 
 various Churches received the crown of martyr- 
 dom ; while others, among whom were Gregory 
 Thaumaturgus and Dionysius Alexandrinus, 
 sought security, as Cyprian did, in a temporary 
 retreat ; the latter Prelate, as well as Cyprian, 
 pleading an express revelation from heaven as 
 his warrant \ 
 
 Fabian, who had filled the Roman see fourteen 
 years, received his crown on the twentieth of 
 January, in the year of grace 250. Soon after, 
 Moyses and Maximus, of whom we shall hear 
 more presently, and Nicostratus a Deacon, were 
 cast into prison ; and Celerinus, of a family of 
 martyrs', was summoned before Decius, and 
 
 * EUSEBIUS, vi. 40, 
 
 ' " A via ejus Celerina jam pvideni martyrio coronata est: 
 item patnuis ejus et avunculus f-aurentius et Egnatius, in 
 castris et ipsi quondam soecularibus militantes, sed veri et 
 s-piritales Dei niilitcs, dum diabolum Christi cumfessione 
 prosternunt, palmas a Uomino et coronas illustri passione 
 meruerunt." Ep. xxxiv. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 93 
 
 after many torments was imprisoned nineteen 
 days. By the time that a report of these things 
 had reached Carthage, the persecution had as- 
 sumed there also the same violent form. The 
 Proconsul arrived at Carthage probably about 
 the beginning of April, nearly at the same time 
 at which Crementius came from Rome, with 
 letters to Cyprian, and to the Clergy at 
 Carthage. Those who were already imprisoned 
 were treated with greater rigour : they were 
 macerated with hunger and thirst, and thus 
 prepared to experience the most savage tortures, 
 or death itself. A general view of this stage of 
 the persecution may be collected from St. 
 Cyprian's Epistles, written at this time, which 
 will also afFqrd us some instances of individual 
 suffering and constancy. I shall transcribe the 
 first of his Epistles (No. X.) to the martyrs and 
 confessors on this occasion, as affording not only 
 a description of the sufferings of the Christians 
 of these times ; but also an example of the 
 manner in which their Bishop fulfilled his part 
 as a ruler of the flock, and as their friend and 
 counsellor in all spiritual matters. 
 
 " Cyprian to the martyrs and confessors, con- 
 tinued health in Christ our Lord, and in God the 
 Father. 
 
 " I am exceeding glad, and heartily congra- 
 tulate you, brethren, most blessed in your great 
 endurance, when I hear of your faith and courage. 
 
94 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 in which your Mother the Church triumphs. 
 Indeed she triumphed before, wlien a judicial 
 sentence drove the confessors of Christ into exile, 
 without shaking- their constancy. But your pre- 
 sent confession is as much more glorious and 
 honourable than that, as the sufferings have been 
 greater, through which it has been maintained. 
 The combat has been greater, and greater has 
 been the glory of the combatants. You have 
 not been deterred from the contest, but you have 
 been rather the more excited to the battle, by the 
 prospect of torture : and you have returned, firm 
 and undaunted, with an unshaken devotion, to 
 the struggles of the hottest engagement. Some 
 of you, I hear, have already been crowned ; some 
 are pressing towards the crown of victory, and 
 stand ready to grasp it ; and all the glorious 
 band, upon whom the dungeon has closed, are 
 animated with an equal and mutual ardour to 
 carry on the contest. This is as it ought to be 
 with the soldiers of Clu'ist in the army of the 
 saints ; that effeminacy may not enervate, that 
 threats may not terrify, that racks and tortures 
 may not move the integrity and stability of their 
 faith : since He is greater who is in us, than 
 he who is in the world ; and no earthly infliction 
 has greater power to cast us down, than the 
 Divine help has to support us. Of this we have 
 the proof before our eyes, in the glorious contest 
 of those of our brethren, who were the leaders in 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 95 
 
 this conquest of tortures ; and afforded an 
 example of constancy and faith, while they 
 rushed again and again on the battle, until 
 the battle was overcome. In what words shall I 
 proclaim your praises, O brethren, most invinci- 
 ble ! With what device of the herald shall I 
 blazon the strength of your fortitude, the endur- 
 ance of your faith ! You have borne the most 
 exquisite tortures, even to the consummation of 
 your glory ; nor have you yielded to torment, 
 but rather torment has yielded to you. Your 
 martyrdom has crowned those sufferings, to which 
 your tortures refused to put an end. The 
 severity of infliction was thus continued, not 
 to the overthrow of a dauntless faith, but that it 
 might transport men more rapidly to their Lord. 
 The spectators wondering at the celestial contest, 
 the contest of God, the spiritual contest, the 
 battle of Christ, saw his servants standing, with 
 a determined voice, with a mind untainted, with 
 heavenly virtue ; without the arms of this world, 
 indeed, but strong in the panoply of faith. The 
 tortured stood more unmoved than their tor- 
 turers ; and the crushed and lacerated limbs 
 overcame the instruments of cruelty. The fierce 
 and often repeated lash could not overcome their 
 invincible faith, although their very vitals were 
 laid open with repeated stripes, and the frequent 
 blow fell not on the body, but on the wounds 
 of the servants of God. The effusion of blood 
 
9() LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 might liave extinguished the flames of perse- 
 cution, might have assuaged the very fires of hell 
 with its glorious stream. O how noble was that 
 spectacle ! In the eyes of the Lord how sublime ! 
 How great, how acceptable in the sight of God, 
 that fulfilment of the oath, that pledge of the 
 devotion of his soldiers ! since it is written in the 
 Psalms, the Holy Spirit speaking also to us. 
 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death 
 of his saints. This is indeed a precious death, 
 which has purchased immortality ; which has 
 received the crown as the consummation of 
 virtue. How did Christ then rejoice ! How 
 willingly did he fight and conquer in such 
 servants of his ; confirming their constancy, and 
 giving to all those who believed in him according 
 to their faith ! He was present, as if the contest 
 were His own : He strengthened, encouraged, 
 and animated those who fought for Him, and for 
 the honour of His name : and He who once 
 conquered death for us, continues to conquer 
 death in us. When they shall deliver you up, 
 says he, think not wliat ye shall say ; for in that 
 hour it shall he given ]jou what ye shall say: for it 
 is not ye who speak, hut the Spirit of your Father 
 who speaketh in you. The present combat 
 afforded an evidence of this truth. A word full 
 of the Holy Spirit broke from the mouth of the 
 most blessed martyr Mappalicus, when he ex- 
 claimed, in the midst of his tortures, to the 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 97 
 
 Proconsul, To-morrow shall you see a struggle 
 indeed! And what he said with the witness of a 
 courageous faith, the Lord himself fulfilled. The 
 heavenly struggle was seen ; and the servant of 
 God received his crown in the height of the anti- 
 cipated contest This is the struggle which 
 
 the Apostle Paul describes, in which we ought to 
 run so as to obtain the crown of glory : Know ye 
 not, says he, that they which run in a race run all, 
 hut one receiveth the prize ? So ?'un, that ye may 
 obtain. And every man that striveth for the 
 mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do 
 it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incoi'- 
 ruptible. Again, describing his own contest, and 
 in immediate anticipation of being offered up, he 
 says. For I am now ready to be offered, and the 
 time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a 
 good Jight, I have finished my course, I have kept 
 the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a 
 crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righ- 
 teous Judge, shall give me at that day : and not to 
 me only, but unto all them also that love his 
 appearing. 
 
 " This struggle, therefore, appointed by the 
 Lord, undergone by Apostles, Mappalicus, in his 
 own name and in the name of his companions, 
 promised that the Proconsul should see. Nor 
 did he disappoint the expectation that he had 
 excited : he exhibited the contest he had pro 
 mised ; he bore off the palm which he deserved. 
 
 H 
 
98 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 Let me, tlien, exhort those of you wlio remain to 
 follow that most glorious martyr, and the rest 
 who shared in his engagement ; who were patient 
 in tribulation, who were victorious over the rack, 
 and stood like soldiers and comrades unbroken 
 in faith. That those whom the bond of one 
 confession and the walls of the dungeon have 
 already associated, may also be associated in the 
 consummation of virtue and the heavenly crown. 
 That you may dry, by your joy, those tears of 
 your Mother the Church, which she sheds over 
 the fall and ruin of many; and that you may 
 confirm those, who are yet unshaken, by your 
 example of endurance. When your turn shall 
 arrive, and you too shall be called to the fight, 
 quit yourselves valiantly, and endure with con- 
 stancy ; well assured that you fight under the 
 eyes of the Lord, who is present with you, and 
 that you march to glory through the confession 
 of his name. He is not such a master as to 
 look on his servants from afar; but He himself 
 struggles together with them ; with them He 
 advances to the conflict : He himself, in the 
 successful issue, both bestows and receives a 
 crown. 
 
 " If, however, the Lord should grant peace to 
 the Church, before your day of conflict arrive, 
 still yours is the imshaken purpose, and yours a 
 conscious deserving of glory. Nor let any of 
 you be moved to envy by the apparent superiority 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 99 
 
 of those who have endured torments before you. 
 and arrived by a glorious journey to the Lord, 
 having trampled a conquered world under their 
 feet. The Lord is a discerner of the hearts and 
 the reins ; he sees through our secret thoughts, 
 and looks into our inmost heart. The testimony of 
 Him alone, who is to award it, will be sufficient 
 to secure you the crown. Either condition, 
 therefore, dearest brethren, is alike noble and 
 illustrious : it is safer to hasten to the Lord fresh 
 from the victory; it is more joyous, having served 
 with honour, to receive for a while the praises of 
 the Church. O how blessed is our Church be- 
 come ; bright with the approval of God, illus- 
 trious with the glorious blood of her martyrs. 
 She was already white with the works of her 
 sons ; now she is red with the blood of martyrs : 
 neither the lily nor the rose is wanting in her 
 coronal. Now let each one of you contend for 
 the full possession of either dignity: let him 
 receive either a white crown for his works, or a 
 purple crown for his passion. Peace and war 
 have their garlands alike in the heavenly camp, 
 with which the soldier of Christ may be glori- 
 ously crowned. 
 
 " Brethren, most courageous and most blessed, 
 I wish you health in the Lord : continue to hold 
 me in your remembrance. Fare ye well." 
 
 The history of a persecution is but an aggre- 
 gate of the records of sufferings inflicted on 
 
 H 2 
 
100 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 separate individuals. 1 shall therefore best finish 
 this part of the subject, by collecting from the 
 works of Cyprian some other accounts similar to 
 that of Mappalicus in the foregoing letter. 
 
 Celerinus'", descended from a family of martyrs, 
 both on his father's and his mother's side, was 
 the first who earned the glorious title of a con- 
 fessor, animating his brethren by his example, 
 and teaching them victory by his successful en- 
 durance. Yet, as Cyprian tells us, his struggle 
 was not short nor light ; but he triumphed by a 
 miraculous constancy and courage : nineteen days 
 and nights was he confined and tortured ; but 
 his body only was enchained, while his soul re- 
 mained free and unshackled. His body was 
 emaciated by hunger and thirst ; but God kept 
 his soul alive in faith and virtue, with spiritual 
 food. While stretched upon the rack, he was 
 stronger than his torturers ; while in prison, 
 greater than they who imprisoned him; prostrate 
 so far as his body was concerned, he was more 
 lofty than they who stood over him; in his bonds 
 he was more unfettered than they who bound 
 him ; receiving his sentence more dignified than 
 his judges. The marks of his wounds remained 
 conspicuous in his glorious body ; and his ema- 
 ciated limbs long bore witness of his suffering. 
 Such patient endurance received the honourable 
 testimony even of the persecutor himself, and is 
 " Ep. xxxiv. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 101 
 
 worthy to stand foremost among the records of 
 this season of affliction patiently endured to the 
 glory of God, and the honour of the Church. 
 
 Aurelius also receives an honourable testimony 
 from St. Cyprian, as one who had twice suffered 
 for the faith ; first of all, indeed, being banished 
 only, but afterwards tortured, and victorious on 
 both occasions. It should seem that the torture 
 was often inflicted, and before several magistrates, 
 since Cyprian tells us, that as often as the adver- 
 sary would challenge the servant of God, so often 
 was he found prompt and courageous, so often 
 did he fight and conquer. To have suffered in 
 banishment under the eyes of a few was little : 
 he was reserved to display a greater endurance 
 in the forum itself, that he might be victorious 
 over the proconsul, as he had before been over 
 the inferior magistrates ; and that after his exile, 
 he might suffer tortures. The account which we 
 have of Lucian tells us incidentally, that the 
 torture inflicted on Aurelius had deprived him of 
 the use of his hands ; for he was one of those 
 whose names Lucian used, (with that pretext,) 
 in the letters of communion to the lapsed, with 
 which Lucian is less honourably connected, than 
 his place as a confessor would warrant us to 
 expect. 
 
 For Lucian was a faithful and courageous 
 witness for the truth ; though not sufficiently 
 imbued with those principles of order and dis- 
 
10-2 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 cipline which might have handed down his name, 
 with that of Celerinus and Mappalicus, his 
 brethren in snfFering, with unalloyed splendour. 
 He himself thus speaks of his sufferings, with 
 those of several others, his companions ". Bassus 
 died in the quarries : Mappalicus on the rack : 
 Fortunio in prison. Paulus from the effects of 
 torture ; and Fortunata, Victorinus, Victor, 
 Herennius, Credula, Herena, Donatus, Firmus, 
 Venustus, Fructus, Julia, Martialis, and Aristo, 
 were all starved to death in prison. With these 
 I shall myself probably be numbered, adds 
 Lucian, before this day is over : for now we have 
 been for eight days past confined with still 
 greater rigour than heretofore ; though for five 
 preceding days, our only allowance was a morsel 
 of bread each day, and a small measure of water. 
 With this enumeration, by one of the sufferers, 
 of the various tortures and hardships inflicted on 
 the brethren, I shall conclude the account of this 
 persecution. Those who estimate duly the im- 
 mense moral influence of courage in suffering, 
 combined with unshaken virtue, and mildness of 
 demeanour, will not be at a loss to understand 
 the assertion, that the blood of the martyrs has 
 ever been the seed of the Church : and those 
 who know and feel that even in Christians the 
 remains of corruption, of fear and self-in- 
 dulgence continue will not wonder that many 
 " Ep. xxi. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 103 
 
 were found unable to stand against so violent an 
 assault. The constancy of those who patiently 
 endured to the end, striving even unto blood, we 
 must ascribe to the grace of God, operating in 
 them marvellously, almost miraculously; and 
 sometimes, indeed, with an evident manifestation 
 of an Almighty hand, that neither persecutors 
 nor })ersecuted might fail to see, that it was not 
 the might of man, but of God, which was thus put 
 forth. For those who fell we may mourn ; but 
 proudly or harshly we may not condemn them. 
 It is God that maketh us to differ ; and he who 
 glorified his power in the strong, may hereafter 
 glorify his mercy in the feeble. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE NUMBER OF APOSTATES IN THE DECIAN PERSECUTION. 
 
 THE SACRIFICATI, THURJFJCATI AND LIBELLATICI. THE 
 
 DISCIPLINE OF THE LAPSED. — ITS RIGOUR, — AND ITS 
 OCCASIONAL RELAXATION. — THE PRIVILEGE OF THE 
 
 MARTYRS : ABUSED IN THIS INSTANCE. THE CLERGY 
 
 CHIEFLY IN FAULT. — CYPRIAN 's OWN DETERMINATION OF 
 THE CASE OF THE LAPSED. 
 
 In this persecution, which was the fiercest to 
 which Christianity had yet been exposed ; and 
 which found the Church less prepared than it 
 had been at any previous time to resist its 
 spiritual eneniies ; a proportionate number of 
 the brethren, in all parts of the Roman empire, 
 apostatized from the faith. We have several 
 indications of the multitude of the lapsed, not in 
 Carthage only, but in Egypt, and Spain, and in 
 Rome itself: and now it was that by the united 
 effort of the sound part of the Church in all 
 Christendom, the ecclesiastical regulations con- 
 cerning the treatment of the lapsed, on their 
 return to a better mind, were reduced to the 
 most perfect form that they ever assumed. This 
 was not effected, however, without very serious 
 
LIFE AND TIMES OF ST. CYPRIAN. 105 
 
 divisions in several places ; and the exigency of 
 the times, in this as in other cases, called out and 
 exercised the master mind of St. Cyprian. 
 
 Those who lapsed in times of persecution, had 
 been called formerly, from the kinds of abjuration 
 which had been demanded of them, Sacrificati, 
 and Thurificati ; according as they had ap- 
 proached the heathen altars with a sacrifice, or 
 only with incense : but in the present perse- 
 cution, another kind of apostates arose out of 
 the circumstances of the times, called Libellatici. 
 The two former classes of persons had plainly 
 and unequivocally denied their Saviour and the 
 one true God ; the Libellatici found a way of 
 avoiding the penalties of persecution by a more 
 indirect, yet still a real, denial of their faith, and 
 by a virtual dereliction of their religious prin- 
 ciple. It is probable that Decius had decreed, 
 that every one who was accused or suspected of 
 being a Christian, should be called on to produce 
 a certificate, or lihellus, from the magistrate, 
 attesting that he had abjured his faith in Christ, 
 or declared that he had never been a Christian. 
 The cupidity of the magistrate, and the pusil- 
 lanimity of some of the accused, (fearful alike to 
 deny their heavenly Master, and to confront a 
 heathen judge,) conspired to erect on this found- 
 ation a system equally disgraceful to both ; yet 
 one which should enrich the one, while it ensured 
 safety to the other, at the expense of such a 
 
106 MFE AND TIMES 
 
 measure of temporizing, as might probably evade 
 all censure and enquiry. The timid Christian 
 was eager to purchase, and the venal magistrate 
 was not unwilling to sell, such a testimonial, or 
 libellus, as was required to ensure a freedom 
 from farther molestation : and the Libellaticus, 
 or person who had purchased the /ibel/ns, 
 returned to his occupation and his patrimony, lio 
 longer obnoxious to the laws. 
 
 The sale of these libelJi was more profitable 
 to the magistrate than the shedding of Christian 
 blood : and it was more subversive, whether or 
 no it was suspected to be so at the time, of 
 the true interests of the Church ; which flourished 
 while it was watered with the blood of martyrs, 
 and encouraged by the voice of confessors ; and 
 only languished in the sad but silent defection of 
 cowardly pretenders. Every facility seems to 
 have been given to those who would thus pur- 
 chase immunity from suffering ; and it is more 
 than probable that many were permitted to 
 purchase the libellus, without being subjected to 
 a public examination, or to any enquiries. The 
 number of those who were detected by the cir- 
 cumstances of their defection, was sufficient to 
 overwhelm the Church with sorrow and shame ; 
 and we need not now speculate on the multitude, 
 who may have secretly enjoyed their purchased 
 freedom from suffering, together with the peace 
 of the Church. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 107 
 
 These Libellaticl were numbered, equally with 
 the Thurificati and Sacrificati, among the lapsed ; 
 although their crime was not held to be quite so 
 great, and their ecclesiastical penalty was mo- 
 derated in proportion. The discipline of the 
 lapsed, which had been previously established by 
 the usage of the Church, seems to have been as 
 follows. Those who 'had denied the faith ex- 
 plicitly, or by offering sacrifice or incense, were 
 at once excommunicated : no offerings were re- 
 ceived from them, and no mention was made of 
 them at the Eucharistic commemorations ; nor 
 were they received with the faithful into any 
 ecclesiastical fellowship. They were not, how- 
 ever, utterly cast off, nor left to become hardened 
 by escaping observation and rebuke ; nor, if 
 they came to a sense of their miserable condition, 
 were they permitted to remain in despair of the 
 favour of God, by being for ever shut out from 
 the peace of the Church : but all those who 
 would bear reproof and receive exhortation, 
 seem to have been the object of vigilant and 
 laborious attention from the Clergy of the 
 Church ; while all who came of themselves to 
 a sense of their condition, and desired the peace 
 of the Church, even though their fidelity did not 
 return till all danger was passed, were admitted, 
 at the discretion of the Bishop, to a penance 
 proportionate with their offence ; and were 
 afterwards formally received into communion 
 
108 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 with the faithful, by Episcopal imposition of 
 hands. 
 
 Another and a more glorious way, of re- 
 trieving their place in the Church, was by 
 actual confession afterwards, and a martyr's 
 death. In such cases as these, the long and 
 formal penance which was usually necessary, 
 which was profitable both to the returning 
 lapsed, and to the Church in general, was 
 fairly remitted ; since no length or rigour of 
 penance could be more effectual than such a 
 confession or death, to attest their return to 
 soundness of faith and Christian courage ; nor 
 could any exhibition of a humiliated condition, 
 nor any solemnity of reconciliation, more ef- 
 fectually impress the whole body of the Church 
 with the necessity of faithful endurance, and a 
 good confession. In the case of those who 
 actually attested their perfect restoration to 
 the faith with their blood, none denied that they 
 received a martyr's crown ; especially since 
 martyrdom was always accounted a kind of 
 second baptism, in which all sins were purged 
 away, at least on the Church's account, with 
 blood ; as they had been, in the ordinary laver 
 of regeneration, with water. 
 
 There were also some cases, in which it would 
 have been manifestly more rigorous than wise or 
 charitable to withhold the communion of the 
 Church from penitents among the lapsed ; even 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 109 
 
 though the whole term of their penance had not 
 transpired, and though they had not received 
 imposition of hands from the Bishop. Such was 
 the case of those who were truly penitent, so far 
 as man could judge, and who fell into any mortal 
 sickness, before they were restored. And in 
 cases in which extreme danger seemed to threaten 
 a whole population, due provision was sometimes 
 made for the frequent occurrence of such cases. 
 Thus St. Cyprian himself, in anticipation of a 
 season of peculiar unhealthiness at Carthage, 
 proposes in some degree to relax those rules 
 which postponed the restoration of the lapsed, 
 till the judgment of the Bishop in person had 
 been heard : " Since," says he, in an Epistle to 
 his Clergy, (xii.) " summer has already com- 
 menced, which is a season abounding with serious 
 sickness, I think that some indulgence ought to 
 be granted to our brethren, and that those who 
 have received letters of communion from the 
 martyrs, and may hope through their privileges 
 to be accepted by God, if they are seized with 
 any grievous and dangerous illness, may make 
 confession of their fault before any Presbyter 
 who may be present, without waiting for my 
 return ; or if a Presbyter cannot be found, and 
 death seems near at hand, before a Deacon, so 
 that by imposition of hands, in order to their 
 penance, they may approach the Lord in that 
 peace of the Church, which the martyrs would 
 
no LIFK AND TIMES 
 
 have bestowed upon them by their letters. The 
 rest of the people also who have fallen, I would 
 have you support by your presence, cherishing 
 them with appropriate encouragement, that they 
 may not entirely fall away from the faith and 
 from the mercy of the Lord : for they, who in 
 meekness and humility and true penitence perse- 
 vere in good works, will not be so forsaken by 
 the gracious help of the Lord, as not to be 
 partakers of the mercy of God." 
 
 Eusebius" relates an interesting case, which 
 will illustrate this provision by the example of an 
 individual. Serapion had led an irreproachable 
 life ; but having sacrificed to the heathen gods 
 during the violence of persecution, he often 
 implored remission, but in vain. Being taken ill, 
 he remained three days speechless and insensible. 
 On the fourth day coming to himself, he called a 
 youth to him, and said, " How long shall I be 
 detained in this world, while absolution is with- 
 held from me? (;o, and bring me a Priest." 
 After this he again became speechless. The 
 child ran to fetch a Priest ; but it was night, and 
 the Priest was sick. His Bishop, however, 
 (Dionysius of Alexandria, on whose authority 
 Eusebius relates this story,) had ordered, as we 
 have before seen Cyprian doing, that Communion 
 should not be withheld from those who implored 
 it in their last moments, (especially if they had 
 
 " Liber vi. 44. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. H] 
 
 asked for it while in health,) so that they might 
 die in hope of salvation. The Priest, therefore, 
 gave the child a portion of the Eucharist, telling 
 him to moisten it with water, and to put it into 
 Serapion's mouth. The child returned ; but 
 before he had reached the house, the old man had 
 come to himself. My child, said he, I perceive 
 that you are returned, but that the Priest has 
 not been able to come: do as he has ordered, so 
 that I may be suffered to depart. The child 
 moistened the portion of the Eucharist, and 
 placed it in Serapion's mouth, who died almost 
 immediately on receiving it. Is it not plain, 
 asks the historian, that God had preserved his 
 life until he should obtain pardon for his fault ; 
 and that, having been reconciled to the Church, 
 he received the rew^ard of his good works ?" 
 
 Another medium of return to the peace of the 
 Church, was the intercession of the martyrs ; 
 which was so prevailing, (and founded indeed on 
 such good grounds,) as almost to amount to a 
 command, when exercised with tolerable judg- 
 ment, and consistently with good order. It was 
 fair to suppose, that those blessed saints who 
 were awaiting in the faith and hope of martyrs 
 an immediate crown of glory, and admission to 
 the beatific vision, and whose prison was sancti- 
 fied to them by the presence of the Spirit of God, 
 might especially prevail in their intercessions at 
 the throne of grace ; since an Apostle had said, 
 
112 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 that the fervent effectual niter cession of the righ- 
 teous man availeth much: and the privilege of those 
 whose souls should soon cry from beneath the 
 heavenly altar, against the persecutors, was 
 thought to extend in some degree to a prevailing 
 intercession for the persecuted. St. Cyprian 
 himself, reminding the martyrs of their duty in 
 this respect, does not forget that they were such 
 as shovdd sit as judges with Christ : a consider- 
 ation as proper to exalt their privilege in this 
 case, as to prompt them to a careful and holy 
 use of it. In these considerations, there seemed 
 sufficient grounds to attribute no slight efficacy, 
 even with God himself, to the intercession of 
 martyrs : and as concerns the Church, none 
 certainly ought to prevail so greatly with her, 
 as those her most holy and most faithful children; 
 whose confession was her glory, whose endurance 
 was her strength, and in whose blood she was 
 more than conqueror ". 
 
 '' Inwrought, In^yov^ivn- James v. l6. 
 
 "^ Tliese considerations prevailed witli the Church in very 
 early times. Tertullian twice alludes to the privilege of 
 the martyrs to restore those to the peace of the Church by 
 their intercession, who liad been cut off from it by sin or 
 apostacy, but whose repentance and desire to be restored 
 was manifest: and there is this evidence, at least, that the 
 custom was not new, even in TertuUian's time ; that it had 
 begun to be in part abused, as we may collect from the 
 twenty-second chapter of his book Dc Pudicltici. Origen 
 also has several passages bearing on the same point. But 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 113 
 
 To prevent those evils which might be expected 
 in the exercise of such a privilege by the martyrs, 
 (and every privilege entrusted to men, however 
 pious, is liable to abuse,) it was the custom of the 
 Priests and Deacons, who were engaged in visiting 
 the martyrs in prison, to instruct them in the 
 proper exercise of their privilege ; to shew them 
 the necessity of doing every thing in subordina- 
 tion to the Church in general, and in accordance 
 with her laws ; and, in this instance, so to ex- 
 press their recommendations to the mercy of the 
 Church, as to leave them to be ratified by the 
 Bishop, the proper minister of ecclesiastical 
 reconciliation. It was the duty of the Clergy, 
 too, to suggest, and to approve, the individuals 
 who should receive this great favour through the 
 recommendations of the martyrs ; an office for 
 which they were prepared by the exercise of their 
 pastoral care, in which they became acquainted 
 with the character, the penitence, the reformation, 
 of those who had yielded, indeed, to the violence 
 of persecution, but whose tears and submission 
 marked them out as proper recipients of the 
 favour of the Church. Under these limitations, 
 the privilege of the martyrs, of which we have 
 been speaking, was a great benefit not only to 
 individual penitents, but also to the Church in 
 general ; affording a fair and constitutional 
 
 for the learning on this head, I must refer to the eighth of 
 Dodwell's Dissertationes Cyprianicae. 
 
 I 
 
114 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 method of remitting the severity of Ecclesiastical 
 Canons, in those peculiar cases in which they 
 were too rigorous for the particular occasion, 
 though necessary for the general health of the 
 Church. It was the exercise of the royal pre- 
 rogative of pardon, whereby the law is not 
 weakened, and yet the offender is received into 
 favour, and the community gains a subject. 
 None could question that the peace of the 
 Church was well bestowed upon Numeria and 
 Candida, for instance, who had fallen, but 
 sincerely repented ; and manifested their re- 
 covery not by tears only, but by good works : 
 whose brother Celerinus, too, a most noble con- 
 fessor, himself in his prison bewailed their fall 
 with unspeakable grief, and besought on their 
 behalf the restoration of the Church's favour, 
 through the mediation of Lucian, whose spirit 
 was then vibrating, as it were, between heaven 
 and earth. 
 
 Nor should it be forgotten, that in this, as in 
 every other case in which a rule of discipline is 
 applied by the Church, it was never supposed 
 that God's pardon was necessarily withheld from 
 those who were not restored to Church commu- 
 nion, provided that they were really penitent. 
 This principle, which Cyprian expressly lays 
 down in the eleventh Epistle, sufficiently de- 
 fended the practice of the Church from any 
 taint of tyrannical severity ; while it left to her 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 115 
 
 laws those sanctions, by which her purity and 
 fidelity must be guarded. 
 
 Thus, whatever there was of leniency in the 
 treatment of the penitent lapsed, was not without 
 reason and without profit : and whatever there 
 was of austerity and extreme rigour, was suffici- 
 ently counteracted by the assurance, which we 
 need not doubt was industriously afforded to all 
 whom it properly concerned, that though the 
 Church might not relax her rules of communion; 
 since what was formal and external was a part of 
 her charge ; yet God, who seeth the hearts of his 
 penitent servants, might receive those to his 
 favour, whom the Church dare not, without some 
 indication of his will, readmit into her fellowship. 
 In a word, the treatment of the lapsed was a part 
 of Church discipline, and not a judgment upon 
 the eternal state of individual Christians. But it 
 will be better to express this in the words of St. 
 Cyprian himself. '' I know," says he, to the laity 
 of his Church, " from my own grief, that you, 
 dearest brethren, lament and bewail the fall of our 
 brethren. For my part, in the words of the 
 Apostle, Who is xmak, and I am not weak ? who is 
 offended, and I burn not 9 and again. If one member 
 suffer, all the members stiff er with it; and if one 
 member rejoice, all the members rejoice with it. I 
 sympathize, therefore, and lament with you, over 
 those of our brethren who have fallen away under 
 the terrors of persecution ; tearing away with 
 
 I 2 
 
116 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 them, as it were, a part of mine own bowels, and 
 inflicting on me equally the pain of their wounds. 
 To these indeed the D'lvhw mercy may apply a 
 remedy ; yet I think that we ought not to judge 
 incautiously, or to act hastily in their case ; lest 
 while the peace of the Church is rashly invaded, 
 the Divine wrath be the more incensed against 
 them ''." 
 
 But during the present persecution of the 
 Church in Africa, the salutary laws, which should 
 have restrained the exercise of the martyrs' 
 privilege, were in many instances disregarded 
 by all persons concerned ; by the lapsed, by the 
 Presbyters and Deacons^ and even by the 
 martyrs themselves : and hence arose miserable 
 divisions in the Church, with all the heart- 
 burnings and lasting evils of party spirit ; some 
 proceeding even to actual violence, and others 
 taking occasion from this excitement and division, 
 to add fury to a previous faction, and strength 
 to a subsequent schism. In a word, the question 
 of the lapsed is more or less connected, hence- 
 forth, with almost every incident of importance 
 in which we shall find St. Cyprian involved. 
 We must therefore trace the history of these sad 
 disputes with considerable care. 
 
 So soon as the end of April, before, that is, 
 the extremity of persecution had lasted a month, 
 we find Cyprian lamenting the pride and pre- 
 '' Ep. xi. p. 21. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 117 
 
 sumption of some confessors ; and again, soon 
 after, (Ep. vi.) he rebukes some of the clergy 
 for a spirit of insubordination, and contention. 
 And in an Epistle written in June to his clergy 
 he feelingly laments, that the beauty and excel- 
 lence of confession was so often tarnished by 
 these vices ; and having recommended humility 
 and obedience, and regretted his own necessary 
 absence at so trying a season, he enters at once 
 upon the great question which then awaited his 
 decision, touching the reconciliation of those who 
 had received a recommendation from the martyrs, 
 without sufficient proof of penitence on the part of 
 the lapsed ; without sufficient caution on the part 
 of the martyrs ; and wholly without a sufficient 
 care, to say the least, on the part of the clergy, 
 to maintain due order and discipline. " I 
 regret," says he, " to hear, that some of you, 
 actuated by pride, and impudence, employ your- 
 selves in exciting discord .... and that they 
 cannot be governed by the Deacons or the 
 Priests ; but so demean themselves, that the 
 illustrious splendour of many and excellent con- 
 fessors is tarnished by the disreputable manners 
 of a few. Such persons ought to dread, lest 
 they should be expelled from the society of the 
 good, being condemned by their testimony and 
 judgment. For he is the truly illustrious con- 
 fessor, for whom the Church has not to blush 
 afterwards, but in whom she still glories. As 
 
118 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 for that which my brother Presbyters Donatus 
 and Fortunatus, Novatus and Gordiiis, have 
 written to me, 1 have been able to answer 
 nothing alone ; since I have determined, from 
 the beginning of my Episcopate, to do nothing 
 by my private judgment without consulting you, 
 and without the consent of the people. But 
 when God shall permit my return, we will 
 determine what ought to be done together, as 
 our mutual dignity demands'," 
 
 Although, how^ever, Cyprian would absolutely 
 determine nothing in this case for the present ; 
 yet he found it necessary to exert the authority 
 both of his office and of his character, to 
 regulate matters as far as possible in the mean- 
 while. For this purpose he wrote presently 
 after his last Epistle three others, to the martyrs 
 and confessors ; to the clergy ; and to the 
 laity of his Church ; recommending to each the 
 course that they should pursue, in the present 
 exigence. It is from these Epistles, chiefly, 
 that we collect the proper and ordinary rules of 
 the Church ; and from them we also collect that 
 these rules were in every possible respect dis- 
 regarded in the present case. 
 
 The first fault seems to have been in the 
 
 negligence of the clergy, in not aflPording to the 
 
 martyrs sufficient advice and assistance in the 
 
 exercise of their privilege, and the choice of the 
 
 ' Ep. V. pp. 10, 11. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 119 
 
 objects on behalf of whom it should be exerted. 
 It will be well if the reader does not come to the 
 conclusion, that in this instance the martyrs 
 were made the tools of an ambitious and factious 
 party among the Presbyters, who actually insti- 
 gated them to an unworthy use of their licence 
 of recommendation, in favour of men to whom 
 they knew that Cyprian could never conscien- 
 tiously concede the privilege of communion : 
 thus associating with themselves, in their 
 opposition against their Bishop, a body of over- 
 weening martyrs and confessors, and a clamorous 
 party of the lapsed ; while they flattered the 
 pride- of the one, and excited the hopes and 
 passions of the other. 
 
 For in his (tenth) Epistle to the martyrs and 
 confessors, Cyprian expressly declares, that the 
 fault is not so much with the martyrs themselves, 
 as with the clergy, who ought to have so directed 
 them, as to cut off all occasion of such disorder : 
 whereas, in fact, the clergy were so far from 
 setting before the martyrs the rules of the 
 Gospel, and of ecclesiastical discipline, that they 
 actually, and intentionally, misrepresented them ; 
 so that when the martyrs themselves would have 
 exercised a proper caution with due respect to 
 the authority of their Bishop, certain Presbyters 
 rather excited them to insubordination, and 
 made their care ineffectual. Thus many were 
 actually admitted to communion, whom the 
 
120 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 martyrs had only recommended to the lenient 
 judgment of the Bishop ; and that before any 
 penance had been exacted of them, or any suf- 
 ficient ecclesiastical reconciliation had taken 
 place. Thus Cyprian, while he does not wholly 
 excuse the martyrs, yet lays the greatest blame 
 on some of the clergy : and it is remarkable, 
 that, presumptuous and unwarrantable as some 
 of the demands of the martyrs were, yet still, 
 had they been precisely obeyed by the Pres- 
 byters, they would not have led to so great a 
 breach of discipline, as the restoration to com- 
 munion of the lapsed, without the Bishop's 
 consent or knowledge. This will appear even 
 from the following most haughty letter of the 
 confessors to Cyprian. 
 
 '' All the confessors to Pope Cyprian, Health ! 
 Be it known to you, that we have granted peace 
 to all those, concerning whose good conduct 
 since their fall you may be well persuaded ; and 
 it is our will that this measure of ours be made 
 known by you to other Bishops. We would 
 that you should maintain peace with the holy 
 martyrs. Written by Lucian in the presence of 
 an exorcist and reader ^" 
 
 But if Cyprian did not condemn the martyrs 
 so much as certain of the clergy in this matter, 
 still less did he compare the guilt of the lapsed 
 themselves, with that of the factious Presbyters. 
 
 ' Ep. xvi. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 121 
 
 '* As for the lapsed," says he, " they may be 
 pardoned. Who would not seek for life, feeling 
 himself to be dead ? who would not, knowing his 
 danger, seek earnestly for safety ? But those 
 who are placed over them should restrain their 
 impetuous desire, and keep them within the 
 bounds of proper discipline : or else they who 
 should be the shepherds, become rather the 
 butchers of the flock." In another Epistle (xxvii.) 
 Cyprian expressly tells us, that some of the 
 lapsed, who had received the recommendations of 
 the martyrs, yet maintained the humble and 
 Christian bearing which was due to him as their 
 Bishop : and these he very highly commends. 
 
 But of those of the clergy who were involved 
 in these errors, Cyprian speaks very differently ; 
 as will appear from his ninth Epistle, of which 
 the following is an extract. 
 
 '' I have long forborne, dearest brethren, to 
 interpose in this affair ; hoping that my silence 
 would rather tend to the peace of the Church : 
 but now, since the rash and hasty presumption of 
 some threatens to disturb the honour of the 
 martyrs, the modesty of the confessors, and the 
 peace of the whole body of the people, I can 
 remain silent no longer, without danger to the 
 Church in general, as well as to my own authority. 
 For what danger may we not anticipate, when 
 some of the Presbyters, forgetful both of the 
 Gospel and of their place, and slighting both 
 
122 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 the judgment of God which is to come, and his 
 Bishop now phiced over them, arrogate to them- 
 selves the sole authority with an unprecedented 
 impudence. And I would that the injured 
 Church were not a sufferer by their arrogance. 
 The insulted dignity of the Episcopate I could 
 overlook and bear, as I have often done: but now 
 there is no place for forbearance, while the 
 brethren are being led astray by some of your 
 body, who endeavour to win upon the lapsed by 
 their groundless pretences of restoring them to 
 the peace of the Church, and in fact cajole them 
 to their ruin. The very apostates themselves 
 know, that they have committed the most heinous 
 offence ; and he who withholds from them the 
 judgment of God, deceives those who are already 
 most miserable : for then, those to whom a true 
 repentance is open, and who may appease God 
 their merciful Father by prayers and by their 
 future obedience, are deluded to their greater 
 damnation ; and they who might otherwise 
 retrieve themselves, are more miserably fallen. 
 For whereas, even for smaller offences, a stated 
 time of penance is imposed ; and confession is 
 required according to a certain rule of the 
 Church ; and the penitent is restored to his 
 place by imposition of hands of the Bishop and 
 clergy ; now, at a brief interval, before the 
 persecution has ceased, the Church herself not 
 enjoying peace, they are admitted to communion. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 123 
 
 and their name is offered with those of the faith- 
 ful at the altar : and without penance, without 
 confession, without imposition of hands, the 
 Eucharist is given to them, though it is written. 
 He who eateth the bread or dTinketh the cup of the 
 Lord unworthily, is guilty of the body and blood of 
 the Lord. 
 
 " But now the chief guilt falls upon those who 
 are placed over them, yet neglect to inform them 
 how they should act in this case with due rever- 
 ence to God, and to the authority of the Church. 
 Hence the blessed martyrs are exposed to envy, 
 and the confessors are set at variance with their 
 Bishop : so that whereas mindful of my dignity, 
 they had originally expressed their wish that 
 their petition might be considered when the 
 Church was restored to peace, and I had returned 
 to my place ; the Presbyters, forgetting that 
 honour which the martyrs had accorded to me, 
 and despising those divine laws which they had 
 regarded, communicate with the lapsed, before 
 any one necessary preliminary has been observed. 
 
 " For these things the anger of God is 
 expressed against us night and day. For not 
 only in visions of the night are we reproved, but 
 young children, moved by the Holy Spirit, recount 
 to us day after day those rebukes, which the 
 Lord will have to be uttered against us. Of 
 these things I will give you a more particular 
 account when the mercy of God shall restore me 
 
124 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 to my Church : meanwhile, if those among you 
 who act so rashly and proudly, with such forget- 
 fulness of their duty to man, and of their fear of 
 God, still continue such a perverse conduct, I 
 am determined to put forth that power with 
 which the Lord hath endued me, and to suspend 
 them from their office, until they may be heard 
 and judged before me, and before the confessors 
 themselves, and the whole body of the Church." 
 
 From such statements as these, we have no 
 difficulty in determining, that the chief fault in 
 the matter of the premature restoration of the 
 lapsed lay with certain Presbyters. The names 
 of some of them w^e collect from Cyprian's 
 fifth Epistle ; in which he mentions a letter, 
 which evidently displeased him, from Donatus, 
 Fortunatus, Novatus, and Gordius. Two of these 
 names we shall find often hereafter, among the 
 schismatical opponents of Cyprian ; and we can 
 hardly doubt that they were all among those 
 original opposers of his election to the Epis- 
 copate, of whom Pontius tells us. It may be 
 well to bear this in mind, for the character of 
 these men gives a colouring to the whole history 
 of Cyprian's Episcopate ; and the perpetual recur- 
 rence of their persons and of their party, affords 
 a remarkable instance of the same moral de- 
 pravity, exposing itself in various ecclesiastical 
 offences, and falling into divers theological errors, 
 of opposite tendencies ; alike only in being evil. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 125 
 
 It is impossible, indeed, to state the con- 
 clusion of this whole affair of the lapsed, without 
 entering into the history of an actual schism 
 which arose out of it ; or which at least took 
 it as its avowed origin. It will be sufficient here 
 to state, that St. Cyprian continued firm in his 
 determination to maintain the discipline of the 
 Church, such as I have before stated it ; mode- 
 rating the strictness of general rules only where 
 particular cases required ; and giving repeated 
 injunctions to his clergy, to seek the real good 
 of the lapsed, by setting before them the danger 
 of their state, or encouraging them to hope in 
 the mercy of the Lord, according as each indi- 
 vidual might require to be treated ; and all along 
 proposing to settle the whole matter by his 
 Episcopal authority ; (not, however, without the 
 counsel and consent of his clergy and people ;) 
 when peace should be restored to the Church, 
 and when he should be enabled to return to the 
 personal superintendence of his diocese ; an event 
 which was long protracted by the cabals of his 
 enemies. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CYPRIAN S RETURN PREVENTED BY A SCHISM IN HIS 
 
 CHURCH. THE ORIGIN OF THE SCHISM. NOVATUS*. 
 
 HIS character: — his CRIMES. HE IS CITED TO APPEAR 
 
 BEFORE CYPRIAN. HE ESCAPES UNDER COVER OF THE 
 
 DECIAN PERSECUTION. HE MAKES A PARTY, AND FOR- 
 SAKES THE CHURCH. HE OBTAINS THE ORDINATION OF 
 
 FELICISSIMUS : IT IS QUESTIONED BY WHOM. THE FIVE 
 
 PRESBYTERS* COMPANIONS OF NOVATUS IN SCHISM. 
 
 CYPRIAN APPOINTS DEPUTIES TO PUT HIS REGULATIONS 
 
 IN FORCE. THE PLACE WHICH VOLUNTARY SECEDERS 
 
 HOLD, IN RESPECT OF THE CHURCH. NOVATUS GOES 
 
 TO ROME. NOVATIAN : HIS CHARACTER. HIS SECRET 
 
 CABALS: FOSTERED BY NOVATUS. — ELECTION OF CORNE- 
 LIUS TO THE SEE OF ROME. HIS CHARACTER. — NOVA- 
 
 TIAN's SCHISMATICAL ORDINATION. HIS PRACTICES AT 
 
 HOME AND ABROAD. — THE SPREAD OF HIS PARTY. NOVA- 
 TUS RETURNS TO CARTHAGE. 
 
 Cyprian had now remained more than a year'* 
 in his retreat. He lamented his forced absence 
 with deep and unceasing regret ; day and night 
 with tears and groans regretting, that he who 
 
 ■* Noil sufieceiat exilium jam biennii, &c. Ep. xl. the last 
 Epistle to his people before his return, p. 53. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES OF ST. CYPRIAN. 127 
 
 had been chosen their Bishop with so great and 
 zealous affection, was still deprived of the pre- 
 sence of his flock. He found consolation, how- 
 ever, in the hope that he should celebrate the 
 approaching Easter among them : for at this 
 high festival, and at the solemn season preceding 
 it, it was the custom of all Bishops to be present 
 with their spiritual children ; and all ecclesias- 
 tical affairs were so ordered, as not to interfere 
 with this arrangement. But the promised plea- 
 sure and privilege was denied to Cyprian and his 
 flock, by the miserable secession and rebellion of 
 certain of his own people, who so disturbed the 
 peace of the Church, and excited so much passion 
 and violence, that Cyprian compares the effects 
 of their machinations to another persecution: and 
 as he had before remained absent from his city, 
 lest his presence should too much excite the 
 avowed enemies of Christ and his Church, and 
 lest he who ought to be the bond and conservator 
 of peace, should become, however unwillingly, 
 the occasion of tumult; so now he declares it was 
 inexpedient for him to return, lest the authors of 
 schism, though professed Christians, should be 
 excited to some sudden ebullition of violence, by 
 the return of their own Bishop. 
 
 The seeds of these disturbances had fallen on 
 a soil fruitful in evil, before the commencement 
 of the Decian persecution; but we omitted to 
 notice them at that time, that we might give a 
 
128 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 tolerably connected account of the growth of this 
 fatal schism. But after the usual manner of 
 such noxious words, it branched into so many 
 separate factions ; each united in itself, but 
 separated from the Church by various errors; 
 that we shall be called off more than once from 
 the main tenour of the history of Cyprian and the 
 Church, to expose the crimes and follies, or to 
 trace the adventures, of some wanderer from the 
 doctrine and fellowship of the Apostles. 
 
 In the Church of Carthage, at the time when 
 our history commences, was a Presbyter named 
 Novatus. He was doubtless among those who 
 opposed the election of Cyprian, and disturbed 
 the beginning of his Episcopate ; for a rancorous 
 and persevering hostility to whatever was right, 
 seems to have been habitual in him. We find 
 him avowedly connected with Donatus, Fortu- 
 natus, and Gordius, in proposing a factious 
 question to Cyprian, touching the lapsed '' : and 
 these, with whom Novatus was then associated, 
 were among the Presbyters of whom Cyprian 
 says, that they still retained the recollection of 
 their former conspiracy, and their opposition to 
 his Episcopate, though sanctioned by the whole 
 Church, and by the judgment of God himself. 
 This Novatus was a lover of novelty, of insatiable 
 avarice, proud and overbearing, of ill report 
 among the Bishops of his province, and accused 
 
 " Ep. V. p. II. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 129 
 
 by common report of peculation in the temporal, 
 and error in the spiritual deposit of the Church ; 
 he was fawning and treacherous, a firebrand of 
 contention, in the Church a destroying tempest, 
 and a disturber of all peace " . This man, about 
 the end of the year 249, seems to have become 
 obnoxious to ecclesiastical censure, by specific 
 acts of violence and injustice. We have the 
 following catalogue of his crimes ; but it is not 
 clear for which of them he was called to give an 
 account. He had appropriated to himself a part 
 of the funds appointed for the relief of widows 
 and orphans : he had occasioned his wife's mis- 
 carriage, by kicking her when she was pregnant; 
 and he had suffered his father to die of hunger 
 in the street, and had not even taken the charge 
 of his funeral. 
 
 For these crimes, or some of them, Novatus 
 was cited to answer before Cyprian ; and there 
 is little doubt that he would have been con- 
 victed, and deprived of his ecclesiastical dignity. 
 
 '^ Ep. xlix. p. 63. Mosheim warns us against taking 
 Cyprian's account of Novatus without question. It is out 
 of all doubt the testimony of an adversary; and we know 
 that the best men are not free from liability to mistake the 
 character of their opponents: but if we do but judge Nova- 
 tus by the specific charges which Cyprian adduces against 
 him, without taking his comments upon them, (and surely 
 we shall not accuse Cyprian of deliberate falsehood, though 
 Mosheim does not hesitate to do so,) we shall find Novatus 
 branded with indelible infamy. 
 
130 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 and even of lay communion. But when the day 
 for his trial was near at hand, the Decian per- 
 secution broke out with such fury, as to disturb 
 all the arrangements of the Church, for its in- 
 ternal purity and peace. 
 
 Nothing could have fallen out more op- 
 portunely for Novatus : he thus avoided the 
 present censures of the Church, and found time 
 also to make a party to maintain his cause 
 against his accusers and his judge, and abet 
 him in his future plans. He was not content 
 with impunity ; he must also have notoriety, 
 influence, and revenge : and he turned the dif- 
 ficulties of the Church under persecution into 
 an opportunity not only of covering his own 
 retreat, but of collecting round him a factious 
 multitude, chiefly composed of those who were 
 disgusted with the rigour with which the dis- 
 cipline of penance had been exacted from the 
 lapsed. So soon as he had gathered about him 
 a sufficient number of clergy and laity to make 
 his party formidable, he separated, by his own 
 act, from the Church ; and not only braved her 
 censures, but even opposed to her body a con- 
 venticle of his own, and retorted her condemn- 
 ations and warnings with insolent and rebellious 
 threats. 
 
 His appropriate charge as a Presbyter was 
 over a congregation separate from that of the 
 mother Church, but in the diocese, and under 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 131 
 
 the episcopal jurisdiction, of Cyprian. This con- 
 gregation met on some eminence in the suburbs 
 of Carthage, whence the place of their assembly 
 was called '^ on the hill." At this Church 
 Novatus collected around him five other Pres- 
 byters, together with a large body of the people ; 
 taking advantage to this end of the commotions 
 which followed on the decision of Cyprian con- 
 cerning the lapsed, which he himself fomented, 
 and had perhaps originated, that they might 
 subserve his personal ambition. Among his acts 
 of insubordination, that in which schism and 
 rebellion were most formally involved, was the 
 procuring the ordination of Felicissimus as his 
 Deacon, without the consent of Cyprian his 
 Bishop, and even without his knowledge. This 
 Felicissimus became afterwards his tool and 
 most active partizan : indeed he was a worthy 
 associate of Novatus ; for he too had been a 
 peculator, and was charged with repeated 
 adulteries, and the most heartless debaucheries '', 
 The order of these events is obscure ; and the 
 facts, though in themselves undeniable, are so 
 denuded of circumstances in the accounts which 
 we have of them, as to suggest many difficult 
 questions. How, for instance, being only a 
 
 * Ep. xxxviii. p. 51. and Ep. Iv. p. 79, Mosheim here 
 endeavours, as before in the case of Novatus, to take off the 
 edge of Cyprian's censures : indeed he is the self- constituted 
 apologist of every one whom Cyprian condemns. 
 
 k2 
 
132 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 Presbyter, could Novatus ordain Felicissimus ? 
 or, if he did not himself usurp the episcopal 
 function in that instance, how could he obtain 
 so irregular an ordination for one of his own 
 choice, at the hands of any Bishop ? or, if this 
 office w'as really performed by a Bishop, how is 
 it that that Bishop, becoming a party in the 
 schism, is not associated with Novatus in the 
 condemnation, nor so much as named by 
 Cyprian ? Mosheim supposes, that as a Presbyter 
 of a separate charge Novatus had, or thought 
 that he had, power to ordain a Deacon for his 
 own Church : and that he did so in this case. 
 Blondel had before expressed the same opinion. 
 Baronius supposes, though in direct contradiction 
 of all history, that Novatus was himself a Bishop; 
 and so, not by an usurpation of office, though 
 schismatically, conferred orders on Felicissimus. 
 Of these two opinions, wdiich are founded on the 
 false assumption that Novatus ordained Felicis- 
 simus with his own hands, that of Baronius is 
 the least improbable : for it is just possible, 
 though only just possible, that an error may 
 have been committed in stating the place of 
 Novatus in the Hierarchy ; but it is not possible 
 that Novatus should have supposed himself 
 endowed with the authority to ordain, be'ng but 
 a Presbyter, or that he should have acted on 
 such a presumption, being the first Presbyter 
 who had ever ventured on such an anomalous 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 133 
 
 act, without its being specially noted in the 
 history of the Church. Aerius was the first 
 person who adventured upon such a theory or 
 practice, and he did not live till the next 
 century ^ 
 
 But Novatus most assuredly did not ordain 
 Felicissimus. He probably took advantage of 
 the presence of a strange Bishop at Carthage, 
 whom he found some means of influencing, to 
 obtain the ordination of his satellite : and per- 
 haps in his own Bishop's protracted absence, it was 
 not very difficult to make out a probable case, 
 and one which would satisfy a person unsus- 
 picious of evil, for the ordination of a Deacon, in 
 a congregation separate from the mother Church. 
 Or, reasoning from what zvas in another case, to 
 what might he in this, perhaps Novatus procured 
 the cooperation of some Bishops, by such dis- 
 
 • Aerius, as Augustine tells us, {de Hceres. vol. x. p. 21.) 
 was mortified at not himself attaining the Episcopate ; and 
 having fallen into the heresy of Arius, and having been led 
 into many sti'ange notions by impatience of the control of 
 the Church, he taught among other things that no difference 
 ought to be recognized between a Bishop and a Presbyter. 
 Thus Aerius revenged hiinself upon the dignity to which he 
 had unsuccessfully aspired: and he has left his history and 
 his character to future ages, as an argument almost as forcible 
 as direct reasoning and evidence, of the Apostolical ordinance 
 of the Episcopate. Aerius, like some others who have suc- 
 ceeded him, was a self-erected reformer, actuated by personal 
 pique, and regulated by Anti-Catholic principles. See 
 Hooker's Ecc. Pol. VII. viii. Q. 
 
134 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 graceful arts as Novatian soon after employed, 
 to procure his consecration at the hands of three 
 obscure Italian Prelates. But it seems to me 
 most probable, that some lapsed Bishop, attached 
 to the cause of Novatus by community in error, 
 miglit have given the necessary orders to Feli- 
 cissimus : for such Bishops were employed, as we 
 learn from Cyprian himself, in the schismatical 
 consecration of Fortunatus^ This supposition, 
 which is in itself probable, will solve all dif- 
 culties ; and will sufficiently account for no 
 mention being made of the ordainer of Felicis- 
 simus, or of his being involved by this schisma- 
 tical act in the condemnation of Novatus ; for 
 such a Bishop as I have supposed would have 
 been already implicated in the whole guilt and 
 sin of separation ; and Cyprian would scarce 
 have condescended to mention the name of a 
 person thus situated, except for some very 
 special purpose. The Church knows nothing of 
 heretics and schismatics. 
 
 The extent to which this schism was already 
 carried, is sufficiently apparent from the fact, 
 that it rendered Cyprian's return to his own 
 diocese a matter of danger^',* or at least of 
 
 ' 'lanta apud eos etiam malorum penuria est, ut ad illos 
 nee de sacrificatis nee de haereticis viginti quinque colligi 
 l)ossunt. Ep. Iv. pp. 84, 85. 
 
 Pastes et lapides et gladios, quos verbis paracidalibu.s 
 jactitant, non perhorrescimus, &c. Ep. Iv. p. 80. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. I35 
 
 imprudence : a consequence however monstrous 
 in itself, yet naturally enough flowing from a 
 schism which separated a large portion even of 
 the clergy of Carthage from the communion of 
 the Church Catholic. Of the eight Presbyters, 
 besides Novatus'', of whom alone we have any 
 mention as attached to the Church of Carthage, 
 and who perhaps formed the whole of the 
 Bishop's consistory, five, that is, the majority of 
 the whole number, adhered to the party of 
 Novatus, and to his Deacon, surreptitiously 
 ordained. These five were Fortunatus, Jovinus, 
 Maximus, Donatus, and Gordianus, Presbyters 
 of long standing, and the same who had been 
 the old oppugners of Cyprian's Episcopate ; 
 while of the three who remained faithful, Britius, 
 Rogatianus, and Numidicus, the last had been 
 lately, and indeed during the very progress of 
 the schism, added to the list of the Presbytery of 
 Carthage'. Encouraged by so large and im- 
 portant an array of Ecclesiastics, this party 
 presumed so far, as to declare that they would 
 refuse the communion to all who maintained the 
 
 ^ Bishop Pearson, the Benedictine Editors, and Mosheim, 
 all enumerate five schismatical Presbyters exclusive of 
 Novatus. 
 
 ' See Ep. XXXV. written by Cyprian to his clergy and 
 people to inform them, that he had added Numidicus to the 
 Carthaginian Presbytery. Numidicus had already adorned 
 the same station in some other Church by remarkable courage 
 and fidelity. 
 
136 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 fellowship, or obeyed the mandates of Cyprian ; 
 and this assumption, though without the shadow 
 of lawful authority, though in fact a sentence of 
 excommunication against themselves, yet was not 
 to be despised ; for it wanted not that kind of 
 power which the people can most readily appre- 
 ciate, that of numerical strength. 
 
 Cyprian, though absent in person, had not left 
 his flock without pastoral charge.. He had placed 
 the care of the poor and of strangers in the 
 hands of a Presbyter, Rogatianus ; having him- 
 self provided for their need in the first instance, 
 and added to his former supply by the hands of 
 Naricus, an Acolyte : and afterwards he sent 
 Caldonius and Herculanus, two of his colleagues 
 in the Episcopate, and Numidicus the Presbyter 
 before mentioned, associating them with Roga- 
 tianus in such parts of the charge of his diocese 
 as could be executed by deputies''. The charge 
 of these persons extended to the enforcing of 
 those laws concerning the lapsed, which it was 
 the policy of Novatus and his faction to oppose ; 
 and Felicissimus ventured openly to deny the 
 authority under which they acted, and to threaten 
 excommunication to all who obeyed them. Such 
 extreme audacity and insolence defeated its own 
 purpose, and wholly overreached the mark ; for 
 it so far opened the eyes of the people, that 
 many thenceforth retraced their steps. Cyprian 
 
 '' See Epistles xxxvi. and xxxviii. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 137 
 
 himself at once recognized the happy conse- 
 quences of their avowed separation of themselves 
 from the communion of the Church ; which was 
 far better than their continuing its members in 
 name, while they were in fact enemies to the 
 body of Christ ; and was even preferable, on the 
 whole, to the sentence of excommunication pro- 
 ceeding in the first instance from the Church. 
 '* Let him," says Cyprian to his before-mentioned 
 deputies, " abide by his own sentence, and hold 
 himself as separated from our communion, his 
 voluntary act being ratified by us'." And, writing 
 to his people, he says, '^ It seems nothing short 
 of an interposition of Divine Providence, that 
 these men have brought upon themselves, by 
 their own act, without my will or even know- 
 ledge, the punishment which was due to their 
 crimes ; and that they who must otherwise have 
 suffered the sentence of excommunication at our 
 hands, and with your suffrage, have themselves 
 left the pale of the Church™." 
 
 It is scarce possible to record this judgment of 
 Cyprian, without a mental reference to parallel 
 cases in our own times. Our Church is subject, 
 as that of Carthage was in Cyprian's days, to 
 the insolence of voluntary seceders from her 
 body : we are attacked and maligned and op- 
 posed with every available weapon ; and the 
 
 ' Ep. xxxviii. ■" Ep- xl. p. 52. 
 
138 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 terms of the communion of each sect involve our 
 condemnation and exclusion. Now, that all this 
 is very sad, let no one deny, who bears in mind 
 the frequent exhortations of the Apostles and of 
 Christ himself, to unity and charity and humi- 
 lity : — let no one deny, who recognizes in the 
 Church a divinely appointed medium of spiritual 
 gifts ; and who must believe, therefore, that 
 those who are without her pale are deprived of 
 great and inestimable privileges : but I think 
 that we invest it with a kind and character of 
 evil which it does not possess, and render it still 
 more painful, when we view it as an attack upon 
 us by part of our own body ; as if there were a 
 continuing schism within us and among us, and 
 brother divided against brother. If any just 
 concession on our part, in the first instance ; if 
 any fair and honourable terms of union even 
 now, were able to reunite these dissevered limbs 
 to the Church, it would be the part of Christian 
 charity to concede, or to reflect upon the terms 
 which might be offered : and if the schismatics 
 had been thrust out by us with unnecessary 
 contumely, and irritated by improper severity, a 
 burden would indeed rest upon us. But when 
 we can appeal to history, that toe have not been 
 the separatists either actually or in temper ; 
 when we can call each sect to witness for us, 
 except in the particular question in which it is 
 itself involved ; when we can, with pious confi- 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 139 
 
 dence, approach God, as loving our brethren, as 
 protesting against error and divisions, as in no 
 way and in no degree affording sufficient grounds 
 for leaving our communion ; when in a word we 
 may look on all who have left us as self-erected 
 enemies, and self-constituted aliens from our 
 body ; we may pity them indeed, and we may 
 lament the evil of disunion in general ; but we 
 stand so far above their insolence, and so far 
 beside their malice, that we need not feel nor 
 express irritation, and that peculiar tone of 
 sorrow, which is excited by the treachery of 
 brethren and of friends. 
 
 In the censures before mentioned, Cyprian 
 includes Augendus, (a layman I suppose, who 
 had been led away by the faction of Novatus ; 
 who was perhaps singularly violent, and so 
 obtained an unenviable conspicuousness notwith- 
 standing his private station,) and all others who 
 were alike criminal were equally obnoxious to 
 the same sentence, unless they should re})ent. 
 All this we collect from Epistle xxxviii, which is 
 a precept or commission to Caldonius and Her- 
 culanus, and Numidicus with Rogatianus, to pro- 
 nounce this sentence of excommunication : and 
 this we find by the next Epistle that they imme- 
 diately proceeded to do. Thus Felicissimus and 
 Augendus, with two or three others who were of 
 the number of the confessors, but whose pre- 
 sumption had linked them in affections and pre- 
 
140 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 tensions with the schismatical party, were for- 
 mally separated from the Church. 
 
 Novatus, who had before escaped the censure 
 of his Bishop under cover of the persecution, on 
 this occasion avoided a formal excommunication 
 by absence. He was in Rome, whither he carried 
 his iniquitous character unchanged ; and where 
 he found, or soon made, equal occasions of exer- 
 cising it to the peril of the Church. 
 
 For it was now the beginning of the year 251, 
 and the chair of Rome had been vacant for a 
 whole year, Fabian having suffered martyrdom 
 in the preceding January, and Decius being so 
 furiously set upon the extirpation of the Chris- 
 tian priesthood, that the brethren at Rome had 
 not dared to proceed to the election of another 
 Bishop. Decius, however, was now in Macedonia, 
 and Julius Valens had assumed the purple, and 
 was gone into Illyricum", and the Church at 
 Rome being left in comparative quiet by civil 
 commotions, proceeded to the election of a 
 successor of their late Bishop. 
 
 One of the most remarkable of the members 
 of the Church of Rome at this time was Nova- 
 tian. He commenced his public career as a 
 professor of the philosophy of the Stoics ; and 
 his mind was naturally attuned to the austere 
 system of that sect. A lover of solitude, and 
 given to severe moral speculations, and morbidly 
 " Bishop Pearson's Ann. Cyp. p. 29. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 141 
 
 excitable by the suggestions of those evil spirits 
 which attack us through the medium of a vain 
 imagination, he came first under the notice and 
 discipline of the Church as an energumen ; for 
 it was not till he had been long vexed by an evil 
 spirit, that he sought the faith and help of 
 Christ". In this condition he remained until his 
 death seemed to be approaching, and then he 
 received clinical Baptism. The singular and 
 striking character of the man had invested him 
 with so great interest and factitious importance, 
 that he was too incautiously raised by his Bishop 
 to the order of Presbyters, when it seemed that 
 this favour was necessary to retain him in that 
 Church, which he had entered under such strange 
 circumstances, and with the spirit of which his 
 rigid temper and harsh morals were so incom- 
 patible. The whole body of the Clergy, however, 
 and many of the people, protested against his 
 ordination, properly objecting against him his 
 clinical Baptism p. But what was morose in 
 
 " Beside the Cyprianic Epistles, the materials for the 
 history of Novatian are found in Eusebius, especially in an 
 Epistle of Cornelius to Fabius, Bishop of Antioch, which 
 Eusebius has transcribed in the forty-third chapter of his 
 sixth book. 
 
 p Whether this objection was founded on any Canon yet 
 actually made in any Church, or whether it was only from 
 the reason of the thing, I know not : but afterwards, (in the 
 beginning of the fourth century,) the Bishops assembled at 
 the Council of Neo-Cesarea ordained in their twelfth Canon, 
 
142 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 his disposition, and what was irregular in his 
 conduct, was not in the least altered by his 
 elevation : for now, involving the true God and 
 the true religion in the rigorous principles of his 
 philosophy, (instead of reducing his philosophy 
 into subordination to the truth, and his mind 
 into submission to God,) he imagined a system 
 of divinity which had all the faults of his miserable 
 ethics'', and gloomy speculations. According to 
 this system, all offences were equal, and all 
 inexpiable ; and such attributes were ascribed 
 to God, as could not be imagined without equal 
 harshness and temerity ^ He exacted of Chris- 
 tians as a condition of communion, a more rigid 
 perfection than the best men were able to main- 
 tain ; and declared them utterly cut off from the 
 privilege even of penance by their first fall ; 
 
 that those who had received clinical Baptism should not be 
 admitted Priests, since their faith was not of choice, but of 
 necessity. 
 
 1 Magis durus secularis philosophise pravitate quam sophiae 
 dominicae lenitate pacificus, &c Ep. Ivii. p Q5. 
 
 ■■ Quis ante crudelissimum Novatianum, crudelem Deum 
 dixit, eo quod mallet mortem morientis, quam ut revertatur 
 et vivat? Vincentii Lirinensis Com. cap. xxxiv. 
 
 I ought not to withhold the confession, that there is some 
 difficulty in determining how far Novatian personally carried 
 these monstrous principles. In the sect which originated 
 from him they were certainly carried to the extremest 
 length. Mosheim, as usual, is learned and industrious in his 
 enquiries into this matter. See his Commentarii de rebus 
 Christ. Scec. iii. l6. pp. 520 et seq. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 143 
 
 especially by an apostasy, though in the bitterest 
 persecution. 
 
 Yet Novatian himself followed not so rigid a 
 rule of conduct ; nor maintained his courage and 
 fidelity without suspicion : and no marvel ; for 
 after his Baptism he rejected the ordinary dis- 
 cipline of the Church, refusing to receive the 
 holy unction ^ from the Bishop, which was the 
 appointed vehicle of the highest grace, and the 
 confirmation of his baptismal privileges ^ : and 
 how then was he a partaker of the Holy Ghost ? 
 And during persecution he was betrayed by terror 
 into the denial of his office ; for when the 
 Deacons besought him to leave the solitude in 
 which he had immured himself, to engage in 
 the active duties of his station, and to exhort 
 the brethren to perseverance and courage ; he 
 answered their entreaties in a rage, and declared 
 that he would no longer be numbered with the 
 Presbyters, but that he would return to his 
 former profession of philosophy". 
 
 * Cornelius apud Eusebium, ut ante. 
 
 ' 'Avocjuvjjit-ov (Tccvrhv ^^? I'-^Xi fivn-TxyMytxi, Iv tj ol riMvft,lva(, f^irci 
 rii* upvYi<Tiv rev Tv^xvvav, xeci riv rov /SsiinXias of^oXoyixv, oitvit a-(ppxy'ihcc 
 rivx /ict(riXiK>iv Oiy^ovroii rov Trvivf/^ariKov ftv^ou ro ■^PiTfji.oc' ax; h tvto) 
 rZ f^vpa) ry,v uo^urov rev TTXvxytov Hvivfictroi X''^^^^ vvohiy^iuivot. 
 
 Theodoret, in Cant. i. 2. vol. ii. p. 30. 
 
 " This conduct of Novatian brought him within the 
 meaning of the sixty-second Apostolical Canon ; if the code, 
 of which it is a part, was so soon framed. " If any Clergy- 
 man from fear of man, Jew, heathen, or heretic, deny the 
 name of Christ, let him be excommunicated : if he deny his 
 
144 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 The inconsistency of his conduct with his 
 professions did not rest here : for while he was 
 covertly seeking the Episcopate, he denied with 
 tremendous adjurations (opKcou (polSepcou) that 
 he desired that dignity: an incident which 
 Mosheim endeavours to turn to his advantage, 
 as if it was a proof that he really sought not that 
 elevation, nor had manifested any ambitious 
 pretensions : whereas it was plainly an attempted 
 expurgation of himself of intentions and practices 
 already imputed to him; for who solemnly desires 
 that of which he has never been accused ? His 
 eloquence was abundantly sufficient for all his 
 purposes " : but that which chiefly won upon the 
 people was his rigorous adherence to the theory 
 of Church discipline, and his severity to the 
 lapsed. The confessors especially, flattered with 
 the exclusive dignity and prerogatives which he 
 awarded to them, but from whom his ambition 
 and inconsistency were at present concealed, were 
 especially moved by his eloquence and pretensions 
 
 clerical character, let him be deposed; and on repentance 
 be received only as a layman." 
 
 ^ Cyprian more than once speaks of the eloquence of 
 Novatian ; not indeed in terms of admiration, but so as to 
 prove the fact, that this quality was usually attributed to 
 him. Some notions may be obtained of Novatian's parts, 
 from the Epistle of the Roman Clergy to Cyprian, (inter 
 Epis. Cyp. xxxi.) which was written by him, as Cyprian 
 himself tells Antonian. We have also a work of his remain- 
 ing on the Trinity. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 145 
 
 to a singular piety. Thus Moyses, a most glo- 
 rious professor, and one who eventually died in 
 prison after torture, was at first one of his nearest 
 associates ; but on a farther knowledge of the 
 man and his designs, this holy martyr repudiated 
 him entirely. Others, however, continued their 
 false estimate of the man and his principles, 
 and Novatian gathered around him a large num- 
 ber of persons, who imagined that in him — in him 
 who had not been brought up in the Church, nor 
 scarce regularly admitted into it — in him who 
 had endured no conflict for the faith ; nay, who 
 had avoided all question by a cowardly and igno- 
 minious solitude, and now at length showed him- 
 self when all danger was passed- — that in him 
 they had found a proper successor of the holy 
 Bishop and martyr Fabian, and a worthy com- 
 petitor with Saint Cornelius. \ 
 
 Affairs were in this posture when Novatus \ 
 arrived at Rome ; and his love of faction over- 
 came all principle in him, as ambition had 
 already done in Novatian. Novatus, who had 
 before excited and organized a schism against 
 Cyprian at Carthage, on the pretence that the 
 lapsed ought to be received with a short penance 
 or none ; now at Rome joined the party of 
 Novatian, who denied communion to the lapsed, 
 even after the most rigid discipline, and on their 
 death-bed, not even allowing them the privilege 
 
 L 
 
14() LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 of penance. Novatian also had changed his 
 opinion on that subject, though not quite in the 
 same degree, liaving joined the Roman clergy 
 in their sentence that the lapsed should be 
 restored, though indeed with just caution, and 
 after the most severe discipline''; a judgment 
 which he now altogether repudiated, and even 
 made his opposition to it an occasion of disturb- 
 ing the repose of the Church, and himself 
 breaking off from her body. 
 
 Novatus entered at once into all the designs 
 of Novatian, and even outran the ambitious 
 demagogue, spurring him to a more hasty breach 
 from the Church, and a more determined opposi- 
 tion to its laws. So long as the vacant see was 
 yet open to a fair competition, there is no reason 
 to suppose that Novatian, though actuated by 
 Novatus, proceeded beyond the usual arts of 
 those, who court popularity, by crooked ways 
 indeed, yet without the breach of any express 
 laws, but those of honour and conscience. But 
 the eloquence and ambition of Novatian, seconded 
 by the unprincipled violence of Novatus, were 
 insufficient to compete with the established cha- 
 racter and sterling virtues of Cornelius ; and 
 accordingly the latter was elected to fill the 
 chair of Rome, with the consent of the whole 
 body of the clergy, and the greater part of the 
 
 >■ See Kpisf/e xxxi. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. I4f 
 
 laity ; and Cornelius was canonically ordained 
 by sixteen Bishops. 
 
 If contrast can add blackness to the character 
 of Novatian, and criminality to his schism^ we 
 have that contrast in the sterling worth of 
 Cornelius, and in the unimpeachable justice 
 of his cause. St. Cyprian in a letter to Antoni- 
 anus gives an account of Cornelius, against the 
 truth of which I know not that ecclesiastical 
 history has any thing to oppose. Of the qualifi- 
 cations and election of that Prelate he thus 
 writes : '' You will more safely collect the 
 character of this man from the judgment of 
 God, by whose providence he fills his present 
 station, and from the unanimous testimony of 
 his brethren in the Episcopate throughout the 
 world, than from the inventions of malignant 
 slanJerers. It is not a little in his favour, that 
 he rose not suddenly to his present position, but 
 that he has passed through all the inferior 
 ecclesiastical orders : and having approved him- 
 self faithful in the functions of each, has now 
 attained through them all to the Episcopate, 
 the pinnacle of jJriestly dignity. He sought not, 
 he did not even desire, this elevation ; still less, 
 like some who are inflated with arrogance and 
 self-conceit, did he usurp it. With the quiet and 
 modesty which is among the usual characteristics 
 of those who are divinely appointed to this office, 
 and which accorded well with his native hu- 
 
 L 2 
 
148 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 mility, purity, and worth, he rather yielded to 
 force in ascending the throne, than used force, 
 like Novatian (ut quidam), to obtain it. With 
 such qualifications, then, with the judgment of 
 God and of his Christ, with the consent of 
 almost all the clergy, and with the applause of the 
 crowd of bye-standers, and with the full concur- 
 rence of assembled Prelates, Cornelius was made 
 Bishop, when the chair of Fabian, that is the chair 
 of Peter, and the sacerdotal office was yet unfilled. 
 
 And how great was his courage and 
 
 constancy, that he took his seat undaunted, at 
 that very time when the tyrant (Decius) was 
 uttering the most malignant threats against the 
 whole of the Episcopate ; and when he could 
 have endured with more patience to hear of a 
 competitor for the purple, than of a new Bishop 
 of the Church in Rome. Is not Cornelius, then, 
 to be applauded as a pattern of faith and virtue? 
 Is he not to be numbered with the greatest 
 martyrs and confessors ? He, who awaited so 
 long and so resolutely the approach of execu- 
 tioners and tormentors, braving their vengeance, 
 though it should be enforced with fire or the 
 sword, with the rack or with the cross? And though 
 the power of God has hitherto protected his 
 servant in his appointed elevation, yet so far as 
 peril and devotedness is concerned, he has 
 suffered whatever can be inflicted : and thus in 
 his unstained priesthood he first conquered that 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 149 
 
 tyrant, who was so soon to fall beneath secular 
 arms in other hands ^." 
 
 The election of Cornelius excited Novatian to 
 a degree of criminality, of which it is probable he 
 had scarce conceived himself capable : for the 
 Episcopate which his ambition had failed to 
 reach, he would now compass by actual usurpa- 
 tion. He sent, therefore, two of his wicked 
 party to some obscure Italian cities, and thence 
 fetched three Bishops, pretending that he re- 
 quired their intercession with Cornelius^ Having 
 got these persons into his power, Novatian en- 
 gaged them in so free indulgence at a feast, that 
 the close of the day found them intoxicated ; and 
 then, by the imposition of the hands of the three 
 Bishops, he obtained Episcopal Orders. But he was 
 not a whit the nearer his end, until he could obtain 
 the influence as well as the name of a Bishop ; 
 until he could find a diocese to govern, which 
 the three Italian Bishops had not to bestow. 
 We must now follow him through his arts to get 
 himself recognized Bishop of Rome, in spite of 
 the canonical election and consecration of Cor- 
 nelius. 
 
 ^ Ep. Hi. pp. 68, 69. 
 
 TTOvs i^XTTXT'^TXi iiyiv, o>i oiidiv TTgia-jiivs-ofiivovi; vttI^ xvtov TTpl? rot t«5 
 
 'Tdfivii iTtls-KOTTov. Theodoret. de Haeret. Fab. III. v. vol, iv. 
 p. 3'\,5. See also the Epistle of Cornelius to Fabian, in 
 Eusebius. 
 
160 LII'E AND TIMES 
 
 Novatian had now to support his cause both 
 at home and abroad. At home, besides the 
 usual arts of demagogues, he employed one 
 method of revolting impiety, at which we almost 
 shudder while we relate it. In administering 
 the Eucharist, he exacted of each communicant 
 an oath of adhesion to his cause ; and while he 
 held their hands, together with the Body of 
 Christ, between his own, he said, " Swear to me, 
 by the Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, that thou wilt never abandon my party, 
 nor return to that of Cornelius." And thus 
 those unhappy men could not communicate, 
 without uttering maledictions against them- 
 selves ; and instead of the accustomed "Amen," 
 at the receiving of the sacred bread, their re- 
 sponse was, " I will not return to the communion 
 of Cornelius ^" 
 
 In supporting his cause abroad, the first 
 business of Novatian was to dispatch letters of 
 communion to all Christian Bishops, according 
 to the manner of those times : and since herein 
 he had been of course anticipated by Cornelius, 
 he took occasion not only to recount the fact of 
 his own election and consecration, (which we 
 may well suppose he did with less regacd to 
 the truth of the matter, than to the object which 
 he had in view,) but also to throw all the odium 
 he could on the character of Cornelius ; and to 
 " KusKmiis vi. 4^. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 151 
 
 affix on him if possible such specific offences, as 
 would nullify his election. 
 
 The contents of these letters of Novatian may 
 be collected from the notice of one of them to 
 Antonianus, an African Bishop, which occurs in 
 an Epistle of Cyprian to that Prelate ; who it 
 seems had been shaken by the representations of 
 Novatian in his adherence to the Catholic com- 
 munion of Cornelius. From Cyprian's answers 
 to the scruples of Antonianus, we collect, that 
 besides the general accusation against Cornelius, 
 of an undue lenity towards the lapsed, the 
 particular charge was added, that he had com- 
 municated with an ill-judged and indecent haste, 
 and with some circumstances of peculiar im- 
 propriety, with one Trophimus^; and besides, 
 that he was himself stained with the crime of 
 the UbeUat'ici. This last and most scandalous 
 article of accusation seems to have been an 
 unqualified falsehood : the rest were founded on 
 certain apparent grounds, but were magnified 
 and distorted, so as to seem criminal, whereas 
 they were in fact commendable. 
 
 " Bingham, by a singularly strange supposition, makes 
 Tropliimus one of the Bishops who ordained Novatian; and 
 that to be the crime for which he was deposed, though the 
 lenity of his Bishop still maintained him in the communion 
 of the Church. But it is scarce possible that Novatian 
 should have accused Cornelius of too great mildness towards 
 one, whose only crime had been the ordaining of Novatian 
 himself. See Bingham's Scholastical History of Lay-Baptism, 
 chap. ii. sec. 3. and chap. v. sec. 3. 
 
15Q LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 '* You ought not/' says Cyprian to Antonianus, 
 " to wonder, tlmt you receive scandalous and 
 malignant reports of Cornelius ; for you know 
 that it is the constant work of the devil, to wound 
 the reputation of the servants of God with false 
 accusations, and to asperse the noblest names : so 
 that they, whose conscience is the most unstained, 
 may be defiled with the slander of others. But 
 be assured that our colleagues have most clearly 
 proved, after patient investigation, that Cornelius 
 is untainted with the ignominy of the Uhellatici, 
 notwithstanding what you have heard ; neither 
 hath he received into communion those who 
 sacrificed at the heathen altars, but those only 
 whose innocence has been established after suffi- 
 cient enquiry. As for Trophimus, of whom you 
 wish me to write, the affiiir has been maliciously 
 and falsely reported to you : for our dearest 
 brother has done in this instance no more than 
 his predecessors have often done, in yielding to a 
 necessary expedient for collecting his scattered 
 flock : and because with Trophimus a large 
 portion of the Church had seceded, now, at his 
 return to the Church with satisfaction and 
 penance, and a confession of his past error, and 
 on his bringing back with all humility and sub- 
 mission that portion of the brethren which he 
 had sc})arated, his prayers are granted ; and not 
 so much Trophimus, as the great body of the 
 brethren who adhered to liim, have been re- 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 153 
 
 admitted ; none of whom would have returned 
 at all, had they not had Trophimus as the 
 companion of their reconciliation. After advising 
 therefore with many of his colleagues, Cornelius 
 received Trophimus to communion ; and the 
 return of his brethren with him, and the restora- 
 tion of many to salvation, was his sufficient justi- 
 fication in this proceeding. And yet after all, 
 Trophimus was received only into the place of 
 laymen, and not, as the libel of Novatian would 
 insinuate, to the exercise of his priestly func- 
 tions '"." 
 
 We may judge from hence how far Novatian's 
 account of the proceedings at Rome was from 
 the truth, even when he pretended to detail facts. 
 Perhaps, however, if we proceeded even with 
 Cyprian's vindication of Cornelius, we might be 
 disposed to believe, that that Prelate had been 
 somewhat more lenient in his treatment of the 
 lapsed, I say not than was right, and perfectly 
 within his power as a Catholic Prelate, but than 
 seemed exactly fitting to most of the Bishops of 
 his age, and to Cyprian himself, as his opinion 
 had been expressed again and again. But 
 whether this was so, could never have a legitimate 
 place in the discussion of the validity of the 
 election and Episcopate of Cornelius ; nor could 
 any degree of lenity in a Bishop, which trans- 
 gressed no rules already laid down by the Church, 
 ^ Ep. Hi. p. 69- 
 
154 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 or 110 principles by which the Church universal 
 would not be bound in the declaration of her 
 judgment, be a sufficient excuse for disturbing 
 his government, still less for breaking communion 
 with him, and with the Church, and for usurping 
 his Episcopate. 
 
 These lying letters were not the only vehicle 
 of the poison of Novatian. Messengers were sent 
 from Rome to the different Churches, expressly 
 commissioned to carry a report favourable to 
 Novatian, and subversive of the authority of 
 Cornelius. The bearers of Novatian's letters to 
 Carthage, and of his accusations against Cor- 
 nelius, played their part most pertinaciously, 
 even after they had been rejected by Cyprian and 
 a synod of Bishops : and we have no reason to 
 doubt that their impudence was equally great in 
 other places. By all these means a great effect 
 was produced in the Churches of many parts. 
 We have already had occasion to notice the 
 hesitation of Antonianus ; which is little im- 
 portant in itself, compared with that of some 
 other Prelates, but which called forth a vindi- 
 cation of Cornelius from Cyprian's pen, from 
 which we have derived much valuable information. 
 We learn from Eusebius % that at Antioch some 
 Bishops leaned so much towards the Novatian 
 cause, that a council was necessary to sup})ress 
 his party ; and the schism which originated with 
 ■^ Ecc. Hist. vi. ta 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 155 
 
 him was not entirely healed until the sixth 
 century. 
 
 But we are anticipating the times at which 
 the party of Novatian prevailed in distant parts 
 of Christendom : at present we find it struggling 
 for a bare existence in Rome; where Novatian, his 
 error, and his schism, were formally condemned, 
 and the three Bishops who had ordained him 
 were punished : two of them being deposed, and 
 their sees filled by new Bishops, and the third 
 being restored to his ecclesiastical functions only 
 after he had humbly confessed his fault with 
 many tears, and at the unanimous petition of 
 the people. 
 
 Novatian's party had been already treated 
 with equal rigour in Africa : for Maximus, 
 Longinus, and Macheeus, his emissaries to that 
 province, and the first of them the Bishop whom 
 he had endeavoured to obtrude upon the Church 
 of Carthage, were expelled from that country. 
 But he was only incited to greater exertions by 
 these severities ; for he still maintained himself 
 as the centre of the schism at Rome, and laboured 
 more and more to disturb the peace of the whole 
 Church, sending Bishops of his party, with other 
 emissaries, into several cities. Of these, Evaristus 
 a Bishop, together with Nicostratus ^ a Deacon 
 
 ' In Evaristus and Nicostratus we have characters of like 
 depravity with that of Novatus. Nicostratus had defrauded 
 
156 LII'E AND TIMES OF ST. CYPRIAN. 
 
 and Confessor, and Priscus and Dionysius, ac- 
 companied Novatus, his ever-active and ever- 
 dangerous ally, to Africa, whence his party had 
 been before driven with ignominy. 
 
 his secular patrons, and had robbed the Church to a great 
 amount. As for Evaristus, he had been already deposed 
 from liis Episcopate for schism. See Ep. xlviii. p. 62. 
 Bingham, \vith less improbability than he asserts the same 
 of TrophinmSj makes Evaristus, one of the Bishops who 
 ordained Novatian ; but I find nothing approaching to 
 evidence on this point. Bingham's Scholastic History of 
 Lay-Baptism, chap. v. sec. 3. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS TOUCHING THE ELECTION OF CORNELIUS, AND 
 THE SCHISMATICAL ORDINATION OF NOVATIAN, AT CAR- 
 THAGE; AT HADRUMETTIUM. THE EPISCOPATE OF COR- 
 NELIUS FINALLY RECOGNIZED. FELICISSIMUS AND THE 
 
 FIVE PRESBYTERS EXCOMMUNICATED. ST. CYPRIAN's 
 
 LETTERS TO THE SCHISMATICAL CONFESSORS. — HIS TREA- 
 TISE DE UNITATE ECCLEStM. LETTER OF DIONYSIUS OF 
 
 ALEXANDRIA TO NOVATIAN. A SYNOD AT CARTHAGE, AND 
 
 IN ROME. THE RETURN OF THE SCHISMATICAL CON- 
 FESSORS. — LETTERS OF CORNELIUS, THE CONFESSORS, 
 AND CYPRIAN. REFLEXIONS ON THE NOVATIAN SCHISM. 
 
 Having now brought Novatus back to Car- 
 thage, we shall take occasion to describe the 
 conduct of Cyprian in that see, and the means 
 which he took for the suppression of the party, in 
 the organizing of which Novatus had been so 
 deeply implicated, and still continued so actively 
 engaged. 
 
 We have said that Cornelius, as was usual, 
 immediately on his election sent letters of com- 
 munion to the several Bishops of the Church, 
 notifying what had been done, and seeking from 
 them a recognition of his Episcopate. The 
 
158 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 letters of Cornelius to Carthage found a Synod 
 of Bishops there met, and to this ecclesiastical 
 assembly Cyprian communicated their contents, 
 which intimated not only the election of Cor- 
 nelius, but also the disturbances which had since 
 arisen, though they had not yet proceeded so far as 
 to the election of a schismatical Bishop. Upon 
 this important occasion, Cyprian sought the coun- 
 sel of his colleagues ; and it was agreed that 
 Caldonius and Fortunatus, two of their number, 
 should be sent to Rome to collect information on 
 the spot of what had passed, upon which the 
 African Bishops might frame their definitive 
 sentence. Caldonius and Fortunatus had also in 
 charge to do what they could towards restoring 
 peace to the Church in Rome. 
 
 It was in the absence of these Carthaginian 
 deputies, that Maximus, Augendus, Machseus, 
 and Longinus, the messengers by whom Novatian 
 sent his letters, arrived at Carthage, claiming 
 on behalf of their pseudo-Bishop, that he should 
 be received as Bishop of Rome. There was 
 sufficient evil manifested in this appearance of 
 legates from another person pretending to the 
 Episcopate of Rome, after Cornelius had been 
 elected and ordained, to warrant the rejection of 
 those legates from the communion of the Church; 
 and to make it necessary to oppose their mission, 
 and to refute their pretences, even before the 
 fuller information which might be desired should 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 15*) 
 
 arrive. This accordingly Cyprian and his col- 
 leagues did. They soon discovered that they w^ere 
 amply justified by the real merits of the case : 
 for while Caldonius and Fortunatus were still 
 absent, Pompeius and Stephanus, two African 
 Prelates who had been present at the election 
 and consecration of Cornelius, came to Carthage, 
 and furnished Cyprian and his associates in the 
 Church with a true account of the disturbances 
 at Rome. 
 
 The arrival of Pompeius and Stephanus was 
 most opportune ; for the emissaries of Novatian, 
 not satisfied with their repulse, had still laboured 
 with pertinacious boldness, and by the use of 
 slanderous reports against Cornelius, to obtain 
 their end. They proceeded so far as to present 
 themselves riotously at the religious assemblies of 
 the Carthaginian brethren ; by whom it was 
 their object that their accusations against Cor- 
 nelius should be heard, and their libels read. 
 The conduct of Cyprian was most prompt and 
 judicious. He doubtless employed the inform- 
 ation which he possessed to support the cause 
 of Cornelius in the proper way and place ; but to 
 the importunate and unquiet Novatus, and in 
 the presence of the crowd, he only deigned to 
 reply, that it was not according to his principles 
 of government to suffer the character of one who 
 was already chosen and ordained Bishop, to be 
 publicly aspersed, or his conduct to be so much 
 
1()0 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 as called in question before the people. The 
 letters, however, of Cornelius, which seem to 
 have been free from invective and a bitter spirit, 
 were freely read to the people. 
 
 Thus repulsed in all their public attempts, 
 these unhappy men went about from house to 
 house, and from city to city, seeking to divide 
 the Church, and to gain adherents to their 
 schism. That they were not wholly unsuccessful 
 is certain ; but they found no countenance any 
 where with the well-afFected of the Church, or 
 with those who understood those principles of 
 government and order, by which she was then, 
 and ever had been, and we trust ever will be, 
 regulated \ 
 
 The Synod of Bishops, who sent Caldonius and 
 Fortunatus to Rome, had adjourned for a season, 
 after determining that the final sentence should 
 be deferred until the return of their emissaries ; 
 that it might be pronounced at last upon more 
 ample assurance and information : hence, though 
 there was a moral certainty of the result, yet the 
 members of that Synod were not at liberty, 
 as yet, to pronounce individually on the Epis- 
 copate of Cornelius. This will account for a 
 little incident, to which we now proceed. 
 
 The letters of communion of Cornelius to 
 Hadrumettium had been received and answered 
 
 ■' We learn all this from a Letter of Cyprian to Cornelius, 
 sent by Primitivus a Presbyter. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 1()1 
 
 by Polycarp, Bishop of that colony, in an 
 Epistle to Cornelius himself, in which he was 
 recognized as the Bishop of Rome. But Cyprian 
 and another Bishop, Liberalis, had gone together 
 into that part of the country, during the recess 
 of the Carthaginian Synod ; and they commu- 
 nicated to Polycarp the present state of the 
 question, with the determination of the Synod to 
 defer their final sentence till Caldonius and 
 Fortunatus had reported the result of their 
 enquiries. In consequence of this, Polycarp 
 directed the letters which he had occasion to 
 send to Rome, not to Cornelius individually, but 
 to the Clergy of that Church ; thus avoiding a 
 specific acknowledgment of the Episcopate of 
 Cornelius. Cornelius was wounded by this change 
 in the conduct of Polycarp, consequent on 
 Cyprian's visit to him, and expostulated with 
 Cyprian accordingly : the answer of Cyprian, 
 though not written till a somewhat later stage of 
 the history, we shall take this occasion to notice, 
 because it affords an intimation of the point 
 at which things were left in Carthage, at the 
 recess of the Synod. 
 
 Cyprian denies not the circumstances to which 
 Cornelius adverts with displeasure : but declares 
 that they proceeded from no inconstancy or 
 indecision on his part ; but that the Synod 
 assembled at Carthage had determined to pro- 
 ceed to no definitive arrangement, until Cal- 
 
 M 
 
!(>•_> LIFK AND TIMES 
 
 donius and Fortiinatus should return with an 
 account of restored peace at Rome, or at least 
 with an authentic report of what had been done 
 there. Of this arrangement the Clergy of 
 Hadrumettium were ignorant at the time ; but 
 they immediately acceded to it, when it had been 
 explained to them by Cyprian and Liberalis. 
 
 And as Cyprian had before acquainted Cor- 
 nelius w'ith the steps which he had taken on his 
 behalf; so now he is careful to show, that this, 
 w^hich seemed less directly in his favour, was not 
 done except upon good grounds, and such as 
 were consistent wdth, and even prudently arranged 
 for, the confirmation of Cornelius's Episcopate. 
 " I suffer none," says he, " to leave me, without 
 an especial charge to avoid the dissemination of 
 scandalous reports, and without an exhortation 
 to maintain the unity of the Church : but be- 
 cause of the great extent of my province, which 
 stretches into Numidia and Mauritania, lest a 
 division in my city should be of ill consequence 
 with those at a distance, we determined, when 
 by means of the Bishops whom we sent we had 
 been placed in full possession of the truth, and 
 had the more irrefragable arguments of your 
 canonical ordination, and after every shadow of 
 doubt should have been removed from every 
 mind, that letters should be sent from all the 
 Bishops who reside in that province, as has now 
 been done ; so that all our colleagues might 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 16.3 
 
 acknowledge you, and your communion, and 
 maintain at the same time the unity and love of 
 the Church universal. And I rejoice that this 
 has so happened, according to my intentions, as 
 to seem an instance of providential interference : 
 for now by these means, both the validity and 
 the dignity of your Episcopate are placed in the 
 clearest light, and rest on the strongest possible 
 confirmation ; since, by the answers of my 
 colleagues who have written an account of these 
 things from the spot, and from the relation and 
 witness of Pompeius and Stephen, of Caldonius 
 and Fortunatus, our brethren in the Episcopate, 
 the propriety and entire justice of your title from 
 first to last is more fully manifested '\" 
 
 This letter of Cyprian shows us how great 
 stress was laid in those days on the acknow- 
 ledgment of a new Bishop by the whole body 
 into which he was elected : which was, indeed, 
 the most assured safeguard of a Bishop's au- 
 thority; and to the Church, the most assured 
 warrant of his orthodoxy. Nor is it unworthy of 
 remark, that whereas in these days Rome has 
 usurped the whole authority of this confirmation, 
 in all Churches subject to her sway ; and has even, 
 if not verbally yet by implication, declared, 
 that without her confirmation there cannot be a 
 theologically valid, still less an ecclesiastically 
 
 '' Ep. xlv. p. 59. 
 
 M 2 
 
KM I IFE AND TIMES 
 
 legitimate and canonical Episcopate ; in a word, 
 that there cannot be a valid Episcopate in 
 any Church not subject to her ; as, for instance, 
 in the whole Greek Church *=: in Cyprian's days 
 the Bishop of Rome was fully as dependent 
 on the recognition of others, as others were 
 on that of the Bishop of Rome ; nor could 
 afford to despise the countenance or overlook 
 the least shadow of defection of a poor Prelate 
 of a remote colony. 
 
 We have already collected from Cyprian's 
 account of the matter to Cornelius, that on 
 the return of Caldonius and Fortunatus, the 
 whole subject of the Roman Episcopate was 
 set at rest in the minds of the Bishops who 
 met again at Carthage to receive the report 
 of their messengers ; that they directed their 
 letters of communion to Cornelius, and de- 
 clai-^d that the same should be done by the 
 whole province. 
 
 The same Synod which took these import- 
 ant steps for the confirmation of the authority 
 of Cornelius, and the peace of the Church in 
 Rome, took steps equally important to the peace 
 of Cyprian, and to the repose of their own pro- 
 vince, in the excommunication of Felicissimus 
 
 * Yet mfcicl Rome acknowledges the Orders of the Greek 
 Church ; as do many of her best divines of our own Church. 
 I only speak above of what she would do, if she were in all 
 cases consistent in her own principles. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 1G5 
 
 the deacon, and the five Presbyters his adherents 
 in his schism. Of this they sent an account to 
 Cornelius. 
 
 And the same messengers who carried these 
 accounts from the Synod, and the letters of 
 Cyprian to Cornelius, also took with them a 
 letter from Cyprian to those confessors in Rome 
 who had been enticed into the sect of Nova- 
 tian ; in which he deplores most feelingly that 
 schism, to which their accession gave its chief 
 strength and influence. In this letter he ex- 
 poses the full heinousness of their crime ; and 
 impresses on their minds a theolog'cal verity: 
 (to all most practically important in princip e, but 
 to them, in their present situation as confessors 
 yet schismatics, most unpalatable in its appli- 
 cation :) that though the constancy of confessors is 
 an additional honour even to the Church herself, 
 glorious as she is, if they continue faithful to her ; 
 it ceases to be an honour even to the individual 
 sufi'erers, from the instant of their defection. 
 " Repress, I beseech you," says he, '' this schism, 
 respect your own confession, respect the divine 
 tradition, and return to your mother, from whom 
 you have seceded. Remember that it was from 
 her body, and to her exceeding joy, that you 
 advanced to the trial of your faith, and attained 
 the glory of confessors. But now : — think not 
 that you are maintaining the Gospel of Christ, 
 while you are living in voluntary segregation 
 
!(>() LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 from the fold of Christ, and from its peace and 
 unity ; since it would better become you, as good 
 and illustrious soldiers, to sit down together 
 in the camp at home, and to act and consult for 
 the common good. Our unity and agreement can- 
 not be disturbed : we cannot leave the fold of 
 the Church, and go out and join you ; therefore 
 it is that we beseech you the more earnestly 
 to return to your mother, the Church, and to the 
 fellowship of her sons ''." 
 
 Mettius, a Subdeacon, the bearer of this 
 letter, was especially charged to read it to 
 Cornelius, before he delivered it to the confessors 
 to whom it was addressed *". This was a proper 
 attention on the part of Cyprian, to the courtesies 
 of the Episcopal order. 
 
 It seems probable, too, that Mettius, though 
 without any commission, conveyed a copy, or at 
 least a report, of Cyprian's Tract on the Unity of 
 the Church ; which was occasioned by the present 
 disturbances, and was certainly known at Rome, 
 before the Author himself sent a copy thither. 
 This Tract, which is one of the most elaborate 
 of St. Cyprian's works, and indeed one of the most 
 valuable remnants of Ecclesiastical Antiquity, 
 is so important, that a review of it must have a 
 chapter to itself. We only observe now, that it 
 seems to have materially subserved the cause for 
 which it was written. 
 
 ■^ Ep. xliv. p. 58. ' Ep. xliii. p. 58. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 107 
 
 The impression produced by the Epistles and 
 writings of Cyprian, was deepened by a letter of 
 Dionysius of Alexandria to Novatian. This 
 letter affords another, and an evidently inde- 
 pendent testimony, to the paramount importance 
 of Church Unity, which we have seen so effec- 
 tually urged by Cyprian, and which it is now so 
 much the fiishion to despise as a mere fantasy of 
 dreaming theologians ; or as something worse, 
 an engine of intriguing priestcraft. Perhaps 
 Novatian might judge equally hardly of it. " If, 
 as you declare," says Dionysius, '' you were com- 
 pelled to separate, in spite of yourself, you will 
 manifest your sincerity by a voluntary return. 
 It had been a sufficient motive for suffering any 
 thing that the Church might not be divided : nor 
 had it been less glorious to suffer martyrdom for 
 the Unity of the Church, than to avoid offering 
 to idols. Nay, I even hold that it would have 
 been the more illustrious of the two : for while 
 the martyr in general suffers for his own salvation, 
 he who suffers in the cause of unity, suffers for 
 the salvation of the vdiole Church. Even now, 
 if you can persuade your companions in separation 
 to return to the bosom of the Church, your merit 
 will more than equal your offence : you will avoid 
 the imputation of the one, and of the other you 
 will receive the praise : but if they should con- 
 tinue obstinate, and you cannot save them, at 
 
168 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 least save your own soul. I wish you health in 
 the Lord, and that you may learn to love 
 peace ^" 
 
 This letter of the Alexandrian Prelate shall 
 introduce us to better prospects, and to the view 
 of that peace which he so ardently desired : for 
 now the question of the lapsed was fully deter- 
 mined at Carthage, according to the rule of 
 St. Cyprian and Cornelius, which we have already 
 sufficiently explicated. This was in August 
 [257] : and Cornelius, having received from 
 Cyprian an account of what was done at Car- 
 thage, both in the matter of the lapsed, and in 
 that of Novatian, summoned a provincial Synod, 
 to consult on the same subjects. Sixty Bishops, 
 with many Presbyters and Deacons, obeyed his 
 summons, and the same course was pursued by 
 the Church at Rome, as had been already pur- 
 sued at Carthage by the ecclesiastics of that 
 province; those Prelates who were absent from 
 the Synod signifying their consent to its decrees, 
 so soon as they were acquainted with them. And 
 now, the case of Novatian being so plainly con- 
 demned by all authority ; and the exhortations 
 of all good men seconding the principles of sound 
 ecclesiastical discipline, and the express decrees 
 of the Church ; the confessors who had joined 
 the party of Novatian would no longer persist in 
 their separation, and they sought and obtained 
 
 ' J'.useh. vi. 4.5. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 169 
 
 admission into the fold from which they had 
 wandered. 
 
 Of this joyful event Cyprian received in- 
 telligence, first from Cornelius, and afterwards 
 from the restored confessors themselves. The 
 following extracts from the letters which conveyed 
 this intelligence to Cyprian, with his congratu- 
 latory replies, will be interesting. 
 
 '' I received in the first instance," says Cor- 
 nelius*^, " vague accounts of symptoms of com- 
 punction, and of a return to a better mind, in some 
 of the adherents to Novatian's schism, from per- 
 sons of approved integrity, and well-wishers to 
 the Church : and bye and bye this report was 
 admirably confirmed ; for two confessors, Ur- 
 banus and Sidonius, came to our brethren of 
 the Presbytery and declared, that Maximus, also 
 a confessor, and a Presbyter, was desirous of 
 returning with them into the Church ; but since 
 many things had occurred which made it im- 
 prudent to trust too entirely to their good faith, 
 I determined to hear from their own mouths the 
 proposal which they had sent by others. Ac- 
 cordingly they appeared before us ; and when 
 they had been charged with their criminal 
 conduct by the Presbyters, and especially that 
 they had very lately dispatched letters full of 
 scandalous and false reports, to the disturbance 
 of peace and unity through all the Churches ; 
 
 ' Ep. xlvi. p. 60. 
 
170 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 they aifirmed that they had been deceived, and 
 that they knew not the contents of those letters : 
 yet they confessed that they had been implicated 
 too deeply in schism and heresy, when they were 
 induced to suffer the imposition of hands upon 
 Novatian. And when the heinousness of these 
 and the like actions had been exposed to them, 
 they earnestly petitioned that they might be 
 remitted and forgotten. When this had been 
 reported to me, I summoned an assembly of my 
 Presbyters ; with whom also five Bishops were 
 associated, so that it might be determined with 
 the consent of all, what course should be pursued 
 with the returning confessors. At the close of 
 these proceedings, Maximus, Urbanus, Sidonius, 
 Macharius, and several others of the brethren 
 who had joined them, were admitted into the 
 presence of the Synod. With earnest prayers 
 they besought us to bury their delinquencies in 
 silence and oblivion, and promised for their part 
 to present to God thenceforth the sacrifice of a 
 heart undefiled, in accordance with the Evan- 
 gelical benediction ; Blessed are the pure in 
 heart, for theij shall see God. It still remained 
 to inform the people of all these events, that 
 they might see those, who had been formerly 
 wandering in error, established in the Church. 
 There was accordingly a large assembly of the 
 people: and with one voice they rendered thanks 
 to God, weeping for very joy, and embracing the 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 171 
 
 restored confessors, as if they had but that 
 instant been liberated from prison. As for the 
 confessions of the restored brethren, I send you 
 their very words. ' We know that Cornelius is 
 a Bishop of the most holy Catholic Church, 
 elected by God Almighty and Christ our Lord. 
 We confess our error : we have been deceived, 
 we have been carried away by captious and 
 fraudulent misrepresentations. For even while 
 we seemed to be holding some kind of com- 
 munion with a heretic and a schismatic, our 
 mind was still faithful to the Church. Nor are 
 we ignorant that there is one God, and one 
 Christ the Lord, whom we have confessed, and 
 one Holy Spirit : and that there should be one 
 Bishop in a Catholic Church.' 
 
 ** Who," continues Cornelius, '' would not, 
 by such an acknowledgment, be moved to admit 
 those who had confessed before the powers of 
 this world, to the full proof of their confessions 
 in the Church? Maximus, therefore, we restored 
 to his former dignity ; the rest we received to 
 communion, with the applause of the whole 
 multitude : all judgment we committed to God, 
 
 to whom all judgment belongs We 
 
 believe moreover, nay are confident, that others 
 who are at present involved in the same error, 
 will soon return to the Church, when they see 
 that their former leaders are again associated 
 with us." 
 
J 72 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 The following is the letter of the confessors 
 themselves to Cyprian. 
 
 " JNIaximus, Urbanus, Sidonius, and Macharius, 
 to their brother Cyprian, Health ! We are sure, 
 dearest brother, that your joy will equal our 
 own, at the step which we have taken ; that con- 
 sulting the good of the Church, and passing 
 by former events, and committing them to the 
 judgment of God, we have made peace at once 
 with Cornelius our Bishop, and with the whole 
 body of the Clergy. And we write this letter 
 that you may be well assured, that we have done 
 this to the great joy of the whole Church, and so 
 as to carry with us the affections of all. We 
 wish you health, dearest brother, for many years 
 to come^" 
 
 Cyprian's answer to the confessors shall close 
 this series of letters. 
 
 " Cyprian to his brethren Maximus the Pres- 
 byter, Urbanus, Sidonius, and Macharius, Health! 
 I confess, dearest brethren, that the perusal of 
 your letter, in which you give an account of your 
 return to the obedience and peace of the Church, 
 gave me as much joy, as the report of your 
 glorious confession had formerly done. For 
 to confess the unity of the Church, is another 
 witness of your faith, another token of your 
 virtue ; to maintain that the Church is free from 
 possible participation in the error or wickedness 
 ' Ep. 1. p. 64. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 173 
 
 of any, is to seek again the same encampment, 
 from which you before advanced to the battle, 
 and rushed eagerly to meet the foe, and to lay 
 him prostrate. The trophies of your success 
 ought to be suspended in that Church, from the 
 armoury of which you were arrayed for the 
 victory ; lest the Church of Christ should lose 
 the glory of those, whom Christ had prepared for 
 glory. And now at last, you have returned to a 
 path worthy of your faith, and of the love and 
 reverence for the divine law which burns in the 
 hearts of each of you ; and you have given an 
 example also of love and peace to others, that 
 the truth of the Church, the sacrament of 
 unity in the Gospel, which was before maintained 
 by us, might be knit together also with the 
 additional bond of your consent ; and that the 
 confessors of Christ who had stood out as the 
 foremost in virtue and in honour, should not 
 become leaders in error. Others are doubtless 
 conscious of a great joy at your return ; but I 
 confess that I feel singularly interested in it, and 
 my congratulations fall short of none, in sincerity 
 and joy. Let me open to you my feelings with 
 all simplicity. I was greatly and oppressively 
 afflicted by the thought, that I could no longer 
 hold communion with those whom I had begun 
 to love with my whole heart. When a schisma- 
 tical and heretical error received you, as it 
 were, out of prison, whither you had been carried 
 
174 LIFE AND TIMKS 
 
 with tlie praise and gratiilation of the Church, 
 it was as if your glory had remained in the dun- 
 geon. For though there are evidently tares in the 
 Church, this ought not so to subvert our faith or 
 love, as to induce us to forsake the Church. It 
 is our part to labour, that we may be wheat ; that 
 when the wheat is gathered into the barn of the 
 Lord, we may receive the reward of our labour. 
 The Apostle says, /;/ a great house there are not 
 only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood 
 and of earthy and some to honour and some to 
 dishonour. Be it our care, dearest brethren, so 
 to labour, that we may be vessels of gold or of 
 silver : but to break the vessels of earth can be 
 committed to the Lord alone, to whom is given 
 the rod of iron. The servant cannot be greater 
 than his master : nor may any one arrogate to 
 himself what the father has given to the son 
 alone ; nor think himself at liberty, by human 
 judgment, to fan the floor, or drive away the 
 chaff, or separate between the wheat and the 
 tares. This were nothing short of madness, of 
 obstinate pride and presumption : and while 
 some will be always assuming to themselves a 
 greater authority than justice and mildness will 
 allow, they themselves fall away from the Church; 
 and while they are boasting themselves of their 
 greater light, their very pride shuts them up in 
 impenetrable darkness. Bearing these things in 
 mind, and endeavouring to follow the indications 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 175 
 
 of God's will, in His justice and in His com- 
 passion, after long and deep consideration, I 
 have myself arrived at a moderate judgment in 
 these matters : as you will see on the perusal of 
 the accompanying treatise, which I have lately 
 read to my own people, and now commit affec- 
 tionately to your perusal ; and in which there is 
 neither wanting just censure upon the lapsed, 
 nor such milder remedies as may effect their 
 cure. I have also, to the best of my power, 
 written upon the principle of unity in the Church 
 Catholic : and I have the more confidence that 
 you will approve of that treatise, now that your 
 own actions and affections may be in accordance 
 with it : for you have now, by your return to 
 the peace and unity of the Church, exemplified 
 in your conduct, that which I have committed to 
 writing. Dearest and most beloved brethren, I 
 wish you eternal health'." 
 
 Here I close the direct history of Novatian 
 and his party ; though it is obvious that these 
 events must give a colouring to the future 
 narrative. 
 
 If any, on a retrospect of the whole matter, be 
 disposed to ask. What heresy did Novatian teach, 
 that he fell under such heavy censures and 
 punishments, and eventually under such universal 
 execration of all good men ? I shall return the 
 answer of Cyprian to this very question, when it 
 ' Ep. li. p. 65. 
 
176 T^lFE AND TIMES 
 
 was proposed to him by Antonianus. " It is not 
 fitting to enquire too narrowly what he teaches, 
 since, whatever it is, he teaches it out of the 
 Church. Whoever and whatever he may be, he 
 cannot be a Christian who is not in the Church 
 of Christ''. Let him pride himself as he will on 
 his philosophy or eloquence; and let his boasting 
 equal his vanity ; he who hath held fast neither 
 brotherly love nor Church unity, has lost even 
 that which he before possessed'." 
 
 That Cyprian's principle is startling, I admit ; 
 but the more we think upon it, the more likely 
 we are, I suspect, to believe that it is true. It is 
 moreover of very general application. It is so 
 far from being a sufficient vindication of a sepa- 
 ratist, that he carries the doctrine of the Church 
 with him, that it is in fact the very extreme form 
 of sinful schism, or causeless separation, to do 
 this. So far as their separation is concerned, 
 (abstracting from it all its antecedents and con- 
 sequents,) the Manicha^an or the Arian was 
 excusable ; the Quaker or the Socinian is now 
 excusable ; in comparison of any who may think 
 to plead in their justification, that they teach no 
 doctrines which ever were or ever can be con- 
 demned by the Church as heretical. 
 
 Nor will it be sufficient to take away this 
 
 ^ Quisquis ille est et qualiscunqueest, Christianus non est, 
 qui in Christi Ecclesia non est. 
 ' Ep. Hi. p. 7.3. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 177 
 
 opprobrium from separation, that though there is 
 no sufficient cause for it in a conscientious differ- 
 ence of doctrine ; yet conscience is pretended, in 
 respect of discipline. For the regulation of dis- 
 cipline is the proper province of the visible body 
 of Christ's Church : and all individuals are bound 
 to obey, and not to cavil, still less to rebel : and 
 those who pretend conscience in this matter, too 
 often mean obstinate opinion, or at best weak 
 scruples. Cyprian gives a case in point, when he 
 says to Antonian, " Among our predecessors, 
 there were certain Bishops in this very province, 
 who thought that the peace of the Church ought 
 not to be given to adulterers, and cut them off 
 from all the privileges of penance : yet they 
 seceded not from the college of their brethren in 
 the Episcopate, nor broke the unity of the 
 Church by an obstinate severity and censure ; so 
 as that one who allowed not penance to adul- 
 terers, should secede from those who did. In 
 such cases, the bond of unity being inviolate, 
 and the peculiar mystery of indivisibility in the 
 Catholic Church being preserved, each Bishop 
 acts as he will, and on his own responsibility, as 
 one who is hereafter to render his account to the 
 Lord "\" 
 
 Of course I do not deny, that by an hypo- 
 thesis of unbridled and unchastened fancy, the 
 Church may enjoin obedience to such rules of 
 
 '" Ep. lii. p. 72. 
 
 N 
 
178 MFK AND TIMES 
 
 discipline, as may constitute a ground of sepa- 
 ration truly conscientious : but in this case the 
 Church itself would be schismatical, and in case 
 of actual rupture, she would be the separatist ; — 
 which is in theology impossible, whatever it may 
 be in imagination or logomachy ; — and it is illogi- 
 cal to reason on any other than theological prin- 
 ciples, in matters of theology. 
 
 But, in fact, there is so much of doctrine in- 
 volved in discipline, though perhaps indirectly, 
 that dissent on a pretended conscience against 
 the Church's discipline, will usually end in down- 
 right heresy. In this light the schism of Novatian 
 was very dangerous, and its consequences very 
 instructive. Its pernicious effects were soon 
 evolved. Pretending as its essential character 
 a severer form of discipline, and avowing the 
 intention of maintaining a more ascetical and 
 uncontaminated piety, it might seem at first 
 sight, (especially if viewed as a matter of opinion 
 or speculation,) that the harshest judgment which 
 could be pronounced of it was, that it was more 
 rigid than was expedient: more honest than wise. 
 But in fact it tended, and that presently, to obscure 
 the character, and overthrow the reality, of the 
 Church itself. Contrary to the universally re- 
 ceived interpretation of the parables of the net, 
 which gathered of all fishes good and bad ; of 
 the field, in which tares and wheat grew together 
 until harvest ; the definition of the Church which 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 179 
 
 Novatian was obliged to assume as the ground 
 of his separation, excluded from that body every 
 assembly which contained a mixture of wicked 
 men : and the obvious inference was, that the 
 Church no where existed : no where, as he him- 
 self avowed, except with his own cabal; no 
 where, as even his own party must soon discover, 
 unless they should be judicially blinded to their 
 own enormities. Moreover, the distinctive title 
 which he assumed for his party, whom he called 
 Cathari (Y^aOapoT) or puritans, while it sounded 
 only as a profession and earnest of greater purity, 
 in fact involved a reproach, and was intended so 
 to do, of the Catholic Church. " Having ob- 
 tained imposition of hands by robbery," says 
 Theodoret" of Novatian, '^ he became the leader 
 of a heresy ; and gave to his followers not only the 
 name of Novatians, but of Kathari : and he 
 trembled not at the rebuke pronounced against 
 some who say, / mn clean, touch me not; to 
 whom the Lord God saith. These are smoke in 
 my nose, afire that burnetii all the day; for the 
 Lord resisteth the proved''.'' Perhaps some who, 
 to this day, would be distinguished by a name 
 which casts opprobrium on all others, may not 
 be free from the crime of the Novatians, nor 
 
 " Theodoreti Haeret. Far. compend. lib. iii. v. Ui^i Nxvurev. 
 vol. iv. p. 345. 
 
 •^ See Isaiah Ixv. 5. and 1 Pet. v. .'5. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 MFE AND TIMES OF ST. CYPRIAN. 
 
 undeserving of the divine rebuke thus applied to 
 them by Theodoret. 
 
 It was a corollary of Novatian's doctrine con- 
 cerning the Church, that the Baptism of the 
 Catholics was invalid, or rather was no Baptism 
 at all. Hence his party was guilty of the sacrilege 
 of rebaptizing those whom they received into 
 their number p. Again, they have their parallel 
 in certain sectaries of these days. The whole 
 complexion, too, of their theology, represented 
 God and Christ as cruel and implacable ; and 
 was therefore tinged at least with impiety. Have 
 they no parallels again in these days? In a word, 
 as Dionysius says, " We have cause enough to 
 hate Novatian ; for he hath divided the Church ; 
 he hath involved some of the faithful in his im- 
 piety and blasphemy ; he hath brought in a 
 dangerous doctrine ; he hath taken away the 
 mercy and beneficence of the Saviour ; he hath 
 rendered Holy Baptism useless, and hath thereby 
 driven away the Holy Spirit, even though there 
 might yet be hope of his return''." 
 
 I' The Catholics received the Novatians without Baptism ; 
 but administered unction to them, on their conversion, as 
 well as imposition of hands; for the Novatians rejected this 
 part of the ceremony of Baptism. 
 
 1 Eusebius vii. 8. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A REVIEW OF ST. CYPRIAN S TRACT " DE UNITATP^ 
 ECCLESI^." 
 
 It was on occasion of the disturbances in the 
 Church, of which we have just given an 
 account, and in the midst of those of which 
 we are about to speak, that St. Cyprian wrote 
 his celebrated and most important tract " de 
 UNiTATE ECCLESiiE *," — " On the Unity of the 
 Church." 
 
 The exordium is most appropriate to the 
 times. Persecution was then the great and 
 overwhelming temptation by which Christians 
 were every where assailed : and as persecution 
 was the temptation then most dreaded, so was 
 open apostacy, and a return to heathen rites 
 and superstitions, the sin most likely to abound ; 
 and the number of the lapsed was still read- 
 ing to the Church a sad lesson of fear and 
 humiliation on this head. On the other hand, 
 since external assaults are usually found to 
 cement a society in the bonds of a closer 
 compact, schism would seem to be the sin least 
 
182 I- in: and times 
 
 to be expected, and faction and cabals the 
 temptations least to be feared. St. Cyprian 
 then begins his work against the evil of sepa- 
 ration from the Church, by warning his readers 
 and his hearers (for the tract in question was 
 probably preached as well as published) against 
 the deceitfulness and subtlety of Satan, who 
 would now insinuate the temptations least ex- 
 pected, while the Church was watchful and pre- 
 pared against the dangers more obviously im- 
 pending. 
 
 To all the commandments of God, then, the 
 Christian Bishop writing under these circum- 
 stances demands the obedience of his flock ; and 
 against all temptations, especially at that time 
 against temptation to schism and heresy, he 
 forewarns them ; teaching them, that they who 
 neglected God's law of unity imposed upon the 
 Church, must perish equally with those who 
 disobeyed any other divine precept. 
 
 The first point to be proved, according to this 
 plan, is this ; That unity is the appointment of 
 God and of Christ. A visible unity of a visible 
 body ; not that factitious unity which was then 
 pretended, and of which the liberalism of the 
 present day dreams so vaguely, but the sacra- 
 ment of unity ^, or an outward and visible union 
 of the Church, as a sign and conveyance, ap- 
 
 ' Unitatis Sacrainentum, p. ip6. his. 
 
OF ST, CYPRIAN. 183 
 
 pointed by Almighty God, of certain spiritual 
 gifts and privileges. 
 
 The first proof that St. Cyprian offers of this 
 is the typical character of St. Peter, whereby he 
 becomes (not as Bishop of Rome, but in his 
 individual personal character) a type or figure 
 (not an instrument) of the unity of the Churchi 
 The two limitations here expressed are most 
 important, because it is by keeping them out 
 of sight that the Romanists make it appear on a 
 cursory view that St. Cyprian favours their own 
 Church in his present reasonings ; whereas if 
 either of those limitations be found or implied 
 in St. Cyprian's teaching, the whole scheme of 
 Rome must fall to the ground, so far as Cyprian's 
 testimony is concerned. But in truth both are 
 most plainly indicated in this very treatise ; 
 much more therefore is the system of Rome, 
 which cannot consist with either, unsupported by 
 St. Cyprian. 
 
 The passage in which the typical character 
 of St. Peter is thus adduced in proof of the will 
 of God and of Christ that the Church should be 
 one, is as follows ; " Addressing Peter, the 
 Lord saith, / say unto thee, Thou art Peter, 
 and upon this rock I will build my Churchy 
 and the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
 it: and to thee will I give the keys of the 
 kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever things thou 
 shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven 
 
184 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 also ; and whatsoever things thou shalt loose 
 on earth, shall he loosed in heaven also. And 
 again to the same (Peter) he saith after his 
 resurrection. Feed mij sheep. He builds his 
 Church upon one, [and commits his sheep to 
 him to be fed.] And although he committed an 
 equal power to all the Apostles, saying. As 
 my Father sent me, so send I you : receive ye the 
 Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins ye remit, they 
 shall he remitted unto him; whosesoever sins ye 
 retain, they shall he retained: yet, for the ex- 
 emplification of unity, he so disposed, by his 
 authority, the original of that unity, that it 
 might take its rise from one. The rest of the 
 Apostles, indeed, were what Peter was ; endowed 
 with an equal fellowship both of dignity and 
 of power ; yet the beginning proceeds from 
 unity, that the Church may be shewn to be 
 oneV 
 
 Now it will be observed, that while the last 
 sentence is quite at variance with the Papacy, 
 every word here uttered may be accepted by an 
 Anglican divine ; or at least, whether or no it 
 
 •• In this quotation I have followed the Oxford Edition of 
 St. Cyprian's Works. The reason why the Benedictine 
 Edition and those which it follows are not to be relied on 
 here, may be found in James on the Corruptions of the Fathers 
 and Councils; in the note at the end of the tract on the 
 unity of the Church in the Oxford translation of St. 
 Cyprian's Works, and in the Appendix to my own " Tes- 
 timony of St, Cyprian against Rome." 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 185 
 
 agree with his private opinion, be permitted 
 as harmless, in the controversy with Rome. But 
 since the schism which gave occasion to the whole 
 tract occurred at Rome, it is next to impossible 
 that St. Cyprian, if he had at all symbolized with 
 the modern Romanists in the matter of St. 
 Peter's supremacy, should entirely forget to 
 speak of St. Peter the Bishop of Rome, as well 
 as of St. Peter the Apostle ; and to make him 
 not a tyj^e only, but also a centre and instrument 
 of unity : for there lay the chief strength of this 
 part of the argument, according to the Romish 
 assumption. 
 
 The typical character of St. Peter is prophetic 
 of the Church's Unity, but we have also ad- 
 duced by St. Cyprian an older prophecy of the 
 same thing ; for in harmony with Catholic inter- 
 pretation, he explains the words of the Bride- 
 groom to the Bride in the Song of Songs; My 
 dove, my spotless one, is but one ; she is the only 
 one of her mother, elect of her that bare her, as 
 spoken by Christ to his Church. And afterwards 
 he adduces many direct precepts of unity, all 
 tending to set in the strongest light the intention 
 and the command of God, that the unity of the 
 Church should be visibly and inviolably main- 
 tained. 
 
 Besides these, there are many other indirect 
 proofs of the divine origin of the principle of 
 unity adduced by St. Cyprian, such as the type 
 
lii(> I-irJ-, AND TLMKS 
 
 of the seamless coat of Christ, which the very 
 soldiers would not divide, and the unity of the 
 ever-blessed and glorious Trinity. INIany too 
 are the warnings which he deduces from Scrip- 
 ture, as the case of Jannes and Jambres, and 
 that of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram : and it 
 is scarce necessary to add, that all those texts 
 which are ordinarily cited for the same purpose, 
 he does not forget to adduce as positive precepts 
 to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of 
 peace ; only this is observable, that it never seems 
 to have suggested itself to his mind, that men 
 could obey these precepts of love and charity 
 and unity, while they were visibly separate, and 
 actively employed in maligning and undermining 
 the Church. 
 
 Hitherto we have St. Cyprian indicating the 
 duty of Church unity, but not mentioning any 
 instrument or bond of union, without which the 
 Church would be incomplete ; and which Rome 
 thinks that she finds in her own Bishop, while 
 Ultra-protestants know not where to look for it. 
 Now though Cyprian does not with modern Rome 
 make St. Peter personally or in his successor at 
 Rome a centre or instrument of unity ; neither 
 does he, with the modern Dissenter, and with 
 those members of the Church who are best 
 designated perhaps as invisible Churchmen, forget, 
 that an instrument of that unity is really pro- 
 vided, by means of which the command of God 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 187 
 
 may be obeyed. This instrument of unity, or 
 visible bond and centre of brotherhood, St. 
 Cyprian finds in the Episcopate : ^' which unity," 
 saith he, " we should firmly hold and maintain ; 
 especially we, who as Bishops should preside in 
 the Church, that we may approve the Episcopate 
 itself to be one and undivided. Let none lead 
 the brethren astray with a lie : let none corrupt 
 the unity of the faith with treachery and prevari- 
 cation. The Episcopate is one, and each Bishop 
 so shares in it, as to have an interest in the whole ''." 
 If any thing be wanting to make this doctrine of 
 Cyprian plain, it may be gathered from his Epistle 
 to the laity of his own Church, on occasion of 
 the schism of Felicissimus. " God is one, and 
 Christ one, and the Church one, and there is 
 one Episcopal chair founded on a rock by the 
 word of THE Lord. It is impossible that any 
 altar can be erected besides the one altar ; or 
 any new priesthood added to the one priesthood. 
 Whoever gathers from other sources scatters. . . . 
 Let no one, dearest brethren, induce you to 
 wander from the ways of the Lord. Let none 
 snatch you who are Christians from the Gospel 
 of Christ. From the Church let none separate 
 the sons of the Church. They who will perish, 
 let them perish alone. They who have seceded 
 from the Church, let them alone remain without 
 
 t Episcopatus unus est, cujus a singulis in soliclum pars 
 tenetur. page 195. 
 
1S8 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 the Church. They who have rebelled against 
 the Bishops, let them alone be separated from the 
 Bishops'^." 
 
 To these passages might be added many others 
 to show, that St. Cyprian makes the Episcopate 
 not only what he had made St. Peter, a type of 
 unity, or an indication that God would have his 
 Church one ; but also more than he made St. 
 Peter, that is to say, an instrument of unity, by 
 means of which the Church actually was what 
 God had indicated in the typical character of 
 St. Peter that it should be. 
 
 The Church, he adds, after the express decla- 
 ration of the oneness of the Episcopate, " The 
 Church also is one, and by the increase of her 
 fruitfulness, extends herself far and wide, still 
 remaining one. So the rays of the sun are many, 
 but its light is one ; the boughs of a tree are 
 many, but its strength is one, residing in the 
 firm root ; and when from one source several 
 streams take their rise, though the copious foun- 
 tain pour forth many rivers, yet unity is preserved 
 in the source itself. Intercept a ray of the sun, 
 and the principle of unity in its light no longer 
 suffers it to shine. Tear a branch from the tree, 
 and it cannot bud forth again. Cut off the stream 
 from its source, and its channel is dried up. So 
 
 •' Extra ecclesiam soli remaneant, qui de ecclesia recesse- 
 runt, soli cum Episc<)pis non pint, qui contra Episcopos 
 rebellarunt. Ep. xl. 53. .04. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 189 
 
 the Church, pervaded with the light of the Lord, 
 extends its rays through the whole world : yet 
 the light is still one, in its universal diffusion, 
 nor is the unity of the body disturbed : its ex- 
 uberant fruitfulness extends its boughs over all 
 the earth ; it pours forth its streams far and 
 wide : yet is there but one head, one source, one 
 mother, present every where in her unnumbered 
 progeny." 
 
 But there were some who thought to obtain 
 the blessings promised to the one Church by 
 a factitious unity among themselves ; and those 
 especially, who had gained over the Confessors 
 at Rome, boasted of communion with these 
 champions of the faith, and thought they might 
 on the strength of it neglect the real Church 
 Communion with the Bishop, and so, instru- 
 mentally, with Christ. In a word, they thought 
 to receive the grace of the Sacrament of unity, 
 while sacrilegiously rejecting the outward sign. 
 With these St. Cyprian thus reasons. " Let 
 them not deceive themselves with a false inter- 
 pretation of our Lord's words. Where two or 
 three are gathered together in my name, there am 
 I in the midst of them. This is to tamper with 
 the Gospel, and to adapt it to a purpose which 
 it does not support, by taking part, and omitting 
 the remainder. And as they are themselves 
 broken off from the Church, so would they 
 mutilate the passage, and present it in frag- 
 
190 I'lFK AND Ti.MKS 
 
 merits. For thus did the Lord say, when He 
 would persuade His disci})les to unanimity and 
 concord. If two of you shall agree on earth as 
 touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be 
 done for them of my Father ze>hich is in heaven. 
 For zvhere tzc>o or three are gathered together in 
 my name, there am I in the midst of them. 
 Indicating that the unanimity of the petitioners 
 
 was of more avail than their numbers 
 
 But how can he agree with another, who first 
 agreeth not with the body of the Church itself, 
 and with the whole brotherhood ? How can 
 two or three, manifestly separated from Christ 
 and from His Gospel, be gathered together in 
 Christ's name ? [And such is their case.] For 
 we departed not from them, but they from us : 
 and heresies and schisms have a date posterior 
 to ours, originating in the formation of separate 
 assemblies, by those who have left the head and 
 original of the truth. But, truly, it is of His 
 Church that the Lord speaks ; and to those who 
 are in His Church that He says, that if they be 
 of one mind, as He commanded, yet though they 
 be but two or three, yet the majesty of God will 
 hear their petitions'^." 
 
 *■ Page 198. We may again find a parallel in one of St. 
 Cyprian's Epistles. Writing to Piipianus, he says, " The 
 Bishop is in the Church, and the Church in the Bishop ; 
 they wlio are not with the Bishop, are not in the Church : 
 and they miserably deceive themselves, who, not maintain- 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 191 
 
 But not only do such men cut themselves off 
 from the peculiar privileges attached to unity, 
 but all other the peculiar blessings of the 
 Church are to them of none avail. " What 
 peace do they hope to receive who are at enmity 
 with the brethren ? What sacrifice do they offer 
 who are opposed to the Priest ? Do they who 
 are assembled together, without the Church of 
 Christ, dream that Christ is with them in their 
 assemblies ? Though such men should die in 
 confession, not even their blood would wash 
 away these stains. The sin of dissention is too 
 weighty to be expiable by suffering. He who 
 is not in the Church cannot be a martyr ^" 
 
 And in respect both of criminality and of 
 wretchedness of condition, he postpones the sepa- 
 ratists even to the lapsed ^. " Their crime is 
 more than that with which the lapsed appear 
 to be stained : for those do at least deprecate 
 the wrath of God, with all the appointed offices 
 of penance. The lapsed seek after the Church 
 as suppliants: schismatics resist the Church. The 
 
 ing communion with the Bishops of God, think cunningly 
 to insinuate themselves into the Church, by communicating 
 with certain others ; whereas the Church, which is one and 
 Catholic, will not endure separation and schism, but is 
 united and consolidated through all its parts by the cement 
 of an united Episcopate." 
 -' p. 198. 
 ^ This is in exact harmony with the Epistle of Dionysius 
 to Novatian, upon his schism. 
 
1})'2 MFE AND TIMES 
 
 lapsed yielded to force and compulsion : schis- 
 matics cleave with full purpose to their sin. 
 The one injures his own soul alone, the other 
 perils the souls of many. The one sees that he 
 has sinned, and weeps and laments ; the other 
 elated in his wilfulness, and rejoicing in his very 
 crimes, separates children from their mother, 
 allures sheep from their fold, and subverts the 
 Sacrament of God ; and whereas the lapsed has 
 once sinned, the other offends daily. Finally, 
 the lapsed may be received into the kingdom 
 of heaven after martyrdom ; but he who is slain 
 out of the Church hath no part in the rewards 
 of the Church ''." 
 
 How terrible we may well say is the picture 
 which St. Cyprian presents, and to which all the 
 saints of that age agree, of the state of heretics 
 and schismatics ! And since the very elect may 
 be almost within the deceptive art of the tempter, 
 how great reason that we should not be high- 
 minded but fear ! Yet the temptation to schism, 
 in St. Cyprian's view of it, is only another way 
 by which the great enemy destroys the souls of 
 those who in truth are his, though other trials 
 had failed to move them. " Let none," says 
 he, *' account it possible for the good to depart 
 from the Church. The wind carries not away 
 the wheat ; nor does the storm tear up the 
 firmly rooted tree. It is the chaff that flies 
 " Page 201. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 193 
 
 before the wind ; it is the rotten trunk that 
 is shattered by the storm. Such are they whom 
 St. John transfixes with a curse : Theij went out 
 from us, because they were not of us : for if they 
 had been of us, no doubt they woidd have continued 
 
 with us The Lord suffers these things to be, 
 
 leaving still to each his free will ; that while the 
 choice of truth attests the sincerity of our hearts 
 and minds, the unshaken faith of the approved 
 may shine with redoubled lustre. The Holy 
 Spirit forewarns us of this by the Apostle : 
 There must be heresies, that they which are 
 approved may be made manifest among you. 
 Thus are the faithful proved ; thus are the 
 faithless detected. Thus, even before the day 
 of judgment, are the works of the just and 
 of the unjust divided, and the chaff separated 
 from the wheat '." 
 
 After these copious extracts, it is scarce neces- 
 sary to notice the grave and indignant warnings 
 against separation, and the affectionate and 
 earnest entreaties to peace and unity, by which 
 they are followed. But perhaps some one will 
 ask. Is there nothing in the tract which we are 
 examining about that charity, that bond of 
 peace, which is as the soul, of which external 
 visible unity is the body ? I must remind those 
 who should thus ask, that St. Cyprian is ex- 
 pressly writing about the visible unity, about 
 
 ' Page 197. 
 O 
 
194 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 the sacramentum uniiat'is ; so that lie need not 
 be accused of indifference to love and charity, 
 though he liad said but little about them : but 
 in fact his ardent and affectionate spirit would 
 not miss the opportunity of commending those 
 Christian graces ; and he again and again refers 
 to them in very energetic terms. One passage 
 (but it is one out of many) shall suffice. " In 
 the house of God, in the Church of Christ, they 
 dwell with united affections, in concord and 
 singleness of heart. And therefore came the 
 Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. A creature 
 of cheerfulness and simplicity ; bitter with no 
 gall, fierce and violent with no savage beak and 
 hooked talons, delighting in the dwellings of 
 man, consorting together and rearing their young 
 in an house : flying side by side in their wander- 
 ings from their nests, sweetening life with society 
 and a mutual affection, betokening their peace 
 with gentle kisses, and in all things living ac- 
 cording to a law of love. Such simplicity, such 
 love, should be seen within Church, and from 
 the dove should the love of the brethren take its 
 pattern''." 
 
 Such is an imperfect sketch of the tract of 
 Cyprian on the unity of the Church. The 
 abstract propositions which it maintains are and 
 will ever be true. Their application to present 
 circumstances may be difficult ; and certainly is 
 
 ^ Pages 196, 197- 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 195 
 
 far more so than when St. Cyprian wrote : for 
 thoiigli tlie mystical holiness and truth of the 
 Church remain perfect to the eye of faith ; yet 
 if She hath in any degree (and who shall dare to 
 say that She hath not ?) presented to the eye of 
 sense a far different aspect ; with Her assuredly 
 is some part of the sin, and much of the shame, 
 when Her weaker sons are scandalized. It is 
 still their duty to live by faith ; but if She hath 
 made it harder to them, though they be not 
 excused, surely Her own children will less readily 
 cast the stone. 
 
 Against two extreme forms, however, of schis- 
 matical proceeding, there can be neither hesita- 
 tion nor danger in declaring all that Cyprian 
 says to be just as true as ever, even in its 
 direct application. If there be any who deny 
 not the truth of the Church's doctrine, and the 
 sufficiency of the means of grace, which she 
 herself affords, or which may be had in perfect 
 harmony with her laws ; yet with unordained 
 hands and with no Apostolic commission, present 
 the mockery of an altar and of the Christian 
 Sacraments ; they are wofully deceiving the 
 people, and feeding them with husks, whereas 
 in their Father's house is enough and to spare 
 for the meanest servants. 
 
 And again, the Romish Church, which first of 
 all had so extremely overlaid the truth of Christ 
 with error, and the purity of the Church with 
 
 o2 
 
190 LIFE AND TIMES OF ST. CYPRIAN. 
 
 sin and crime, that its holiness and its catholicity 
 was removed, except from the most piercing eye 
 of faith ; so that we might almost say, that even 
 had we separated we should have been (dare I 
 say justified ? yet) at least forgiven : and at last, 
 when we laboured earnestly to go back to a pri- 
 mitive faith and catholic practice; and would not, 
 while we left the error, and escaped the sin, be 
 driven, taunted, persecuted to separation ; herself, 
 by her own act separated us from her communion : 
 and then came hither by intrusion, and set up 
 Bishop against Bishop, and altar against altar ; — 
 surely thus doing, the Romish Church does bring 
 itself, and its adherents in this land, under the 
 very meaning of St. Cyprian's definitions of 
 schism, and within the range of his reprobation. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 A SCHISM AT CARTHAGE. — ITS ORIGIN. THE SURREPTITIOUS 
 
 ORDINATION OF FORTUNATUS. THE SCHISMATICS APPLY 
 
 TO CORNELIUS FOR HIS SUPPORT: THEY ARE AT FIRST 
 
 REPELLED, BUT AFTERWARDS TOO FAVOURABLY HEARD. 
 
 ST. CYPRIAN EXPOSTULATES WITH CORNELIUS. THE EX- 
 TINCTION OF FORTUNATUS'S PARTY. MAXIMUS ORDAINED 
 
 BY THE NOVATIANS IN CARTHAGE. HIS FACTION CON- 
 TEMPTIBLE. 
 
 We have no sooner concluded the history of 
 the attempt of Novatian on the peace of the 
 Church in Rome, than we are called upon to 
 record a similar series of events in Carthage. 
 They were indeed of far less importance ; nor did 
 they originate any party which long existed as a 
 separate communion : yet they gave some trouble 
 to Cyprian ; and called for the application of 
 precisely the same principles of Church govern- 
 ment and discipline, which were so fully elicited 
 during the scandalous schism of the Novatians 
 at Rome, and embodied with so great skill and 
 judgment in the work we have just reviewed. 
 And it is singular enough, that both these schisms 
 
li)y LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 should indirectly have occasioned for a while 
 some mutual distrust of one another in S. Cor- 
 nelius and S. Cyprian : for as Cyprian's having 
 suspended his formal judgment touching the 
 Episcopate of Cornelius, though for good purposes, 
 had called forth a remonstrance from that Pre- 
 late, who knew not the motives by which Cyprian 
 was actuated ; so also did the hesitation which 
 was occasioned in the mind of Cornelius by the 
 false reports of the enemies of Cyprian, when 
 there were no sufficient sources of authentic in- 
 formation at hand, give occasion to an expostu- 
 latory Epistle of Cyprian. From this Epistle 
 we extract the following accounts. 
 
 Many years before, one Privatus, a notorious 
 heretic, had been condemned at Lambesa, in 
 Numidia, by a Synod of ninety Bishops ; whose 
 judgment had been approved by Fabianus and 
 Donatus, the predecessors of Cornelius and of 
 Cyprian in their respective sees. This man came 
 to Carthage, accompanied by Felix, (whom he 
 had schismatically ordained Bishop,) and by Maxi- 
 mus, Jovinus, and Repostus, who had lapsed in 
 the late })ersecution. Privatus, thus accompanied, 
 wished, it iieems, or pretended a wish, to obtain a 
 second hearing of his cause at Carthage ; but this 
 being denied him, he with his four companions, join- 
 ing this party of Felicissimus, determined on con- 
 stituting in the Church of Carthage an Episco})al 
 dead to their schismatical body. They fixed on 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 199 
 
 Fortunatus, of whom we have already heard as 
 one of the five presbyters who took part with 
 Felicissimus in his schism ; and they gave out 
 that five and twenty Bishops were to join them 
 from Numidia, to assist at his ordination. This, 
 however, was a vain boast, for five only, and 
 they excommunicated, assembled for this pur- 
 pose. 
 
 Cornelius was already acquainted with the 
 name of Fortunatus, and catalogues had been 
 sent to him from Carthage both of those Bishops 
 who were sound in the faith, and also of those 
 Bishops and others who had been condemned and 
 expelled the Church ; Cyprian therefore deemed 
 it hardly necessary to convey a particular account 
 of these matters to Cornelius by a special mes- 
 senger. He did, however, write to Rome soon 
 after by Felicissimus ; but in the mean while 
 Felicissimus arrived at that city, together with 
 other adherents of Fortunatus, there to appeal 
 against the judgment of the African Prelates, 
 and to produce the evidence on which they 
 claimed that Fortunatus should be recognized as 
 Bishop of Carthage. 
 
 At first Cornelius utterly rejected the claims 
 of these impudent pretenders ; but when they re- 
 peated the lies which they had forged at Carthage, 
 and gave out that the number of Bishops assisting 
 at the ordination of Fortunatus was that which 
 they !iad at first promised to produce, — not five, 
 
200 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 but twenty-five ; — and threatened to read the 
 letters which they had brought with them in 
 public, if they were not received by Cornelius, 
 and to spread many scandalous reports : Corner 
 lius was so far moved by their threats, that his 
 determination was shaken, and he addressed a 
 letter to Cyprian, seeking farther information 
 upon the subject. 
 
 This application called forth the rei)ly, from 
 which this account is taken. All the circum- 
 stances of the ordination of Fortunatus, Cyprian 
 relates as we have given them, and expostulates 
 somewhat warmly with Cornelius, for his vacilla- 
 tion in so clear a cause. He tells Cornelius, 
 in his own behalf, as he had before told Anto- 
 nianus on behalf of Cornelius, that we are not to 
 listen to the scandalous reports of factious and 
 ungodly men, and such as the Church repudiates: 
 lie reminds him that such attacks upon his cha- 
 racter by those who profess the same religion, 
 are a })art of the portion of a good Bishop in this 
 world, as well as the open violence of Jews and 
 heathens; even as Jacob and Joseph both suffered 
 from the enmity of their brethren, and Christ 
 himself was betrayed by a disciple. The foul 
 calumnies which the followers of Fortunatus 
 vented he turns to an evidence against them ; 
 for the evil man out of the evil treasure of his 
 heart bringeth fortii evil things : and especially 
 when they are spoken against the priest of God ; 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 20 J 
 
 since it is written/' he that clespiseth you tlespiseth 
 me ;" and since our Lord himself and St. Paul 
 illustrated by their conduct and precept the 
 general rule, " thou shalt not speak evil of the 
 ruler of thy people." 
 
 Thus having stated the source of such irreve- 
 rence to the sacred office which he held, he goes 
 on to point out its consequences also : that here- 
 sies have no other origin but this, that the priest of 
 God is not obeyed, and that it is not sufficiently 
 remembered, that there is but one Bishop at a 
 time in a Church, and but one judge, in the 
 place of Christ ; that if the whole brotherhood 
 would obey him, according to the divine institu- 
 tion, no one would be found to devise practices 
 against the college of Bishops : no one, in oppo- 
 sition to the judgment of God, to the suffrage of 
 the people, to the consent of the Episcopate, 
 already declared in behalf of any, would erect 
 himself into a judge not so much of his Bishop as 
 of God himself: no one would rend the Church 
 of Christ by a breach of unity ; no one would 
 indulge his vanity and pride by the erection of a 
 new heresy*. 
 
 Then he proceeds to set forth liis own testi- 
 monies as the one Bishop in his see ; his election^ 
 his constancy in persecution, and the like; and after 
 giving an account of the proceedings of Fortu- 
 
 •^ Neque enim aliunde hacrcses oborttt sunt, Sec. Ep. Iv 
 p. 82. 
 
'^02 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 natus and his party, with a view of their 
 characters ; which we will gladly omit, or at 
 least sum up iu the single expression of Cyprian, 
 that Fortunatus and they were worthy associates, 
 he as a ruler, they as his people : — after having 
 declared that the threats which they uttered 
 against him personally made them murderers 
 in the sight of (iod'': — after especially intimating 
 their guilt, and largely proving its heinousness, in 
 too readily receiving the lapsed ; he enters upon 
 another ground of complaint against them, and 
 shows that the very fact of their carrying their 
 cause to Rome, after it had been heard and 
 determined in their own province, was in itself 
 criminal, so that it ought not only not to be 
 encouraged, but not so much as permitted by 
 Cornelius. 
 
 St. Cyprian's words are as follows : " After 
 these schismatical proceedings, and when a false 
 Bisho]) had been ordained for them by heretics, 
 they dare to take ship, and to carry letters from 
 schismatics and profane persons, to the see of 
 Peter, and to a principal Church, from whence 
 the unity of the l^piscopate took its rise ; for- 
 getting that it was the Romans, whose faith is 
 applauded in tlie preaching of the Apostle; to 
 whom perfidy could have no access. But where- 
 fore did they come, and tell you of their having 
 
 ' Fiistis et Inpidis ct ^ladios quod in illis est, hoinicidan 
 sunt apud Deum tales. I'!p. Iv. p. 80. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 203 
 
 ordained a pseudo-bishop, in opposition to the 
 (true) Bishops ? For either they are still pleased 
 with their deed, and persevere in their crime ; 
 or if they regret it, and would retrace their steps, 
 they know whither they should return. For since 
 it has been determined by us all, as indeed is 
 just and fit, that the cause of every man should 
 be heard where his offence was committed ; and 
 that a portion of the Hock should be attached to 
 each pastor, to be by him ruled and governed, 
 each having to render an account of his actions 
 to the Lord ; it is fit that those over whom we 
 rule should not wander about, nor make a breach 
 in the coherent concord of Bishops, by their own 
 artifice and deceitful boldness ; but that tliey 
 should plead their cause where they may both 
 find accusers, and witnesses of their crime. 
 Unless, indeed, to a few desperate and aban- 
 doned wretches, the authority of the Bishops 
 constituted in Africa, who have already judged 
 their cause, and with the weight of their sentence 
 confirmed the condemnation of their consciences, 
 bound with many crimes, seem inferior. Their 
 cause is already determined ; their sentence is 
 already pronounced : nor is it fit that the judg- 
 ment of Bishops should be subject to the repre- 
 hension of inconsistency and change." 
 
 And afterwards : " They have not the face to 
 appear before us, and to remain with us, so 
 heinous and weighty are the crimes which are 
 
204 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 alleged against them. Yet, if they be willing 
 to submit to my judgment, let them come. 
 Let them show their penitence, for the Church is 
 shut against none ; and as for my personal acces- 
 sibility and mildness, they cannot deny it." 
 
 These passages arc not unworthy of note, 
 as conveying expressly, what we shall find more 
 than once implied in the following pages, the 
 judgment of St. Cyprian, and in him I will ven- 
 ture to say of the Church Universal in his days 
 and for ever, concerning appeals to Rome, wherein 
 consists one important branch of the supremacy 
 usurped by that see ". 
 
 " The nearest approach that was ever made by any Eccle- 
 siastical Synod, that could be deemed better than a party 
 cabal, towards investing Rome with the privilege of hearing 
 appeals, was made by the Sardican Council, about a hundred 
 years after Cyprian's time. It was then determined, that if 
 any particular Bishop felt aggrieved by the judgment of his 
 comprovincial Bishops, he might apply to Julius. Bishop of 
 Rome, (observe not to the Bishop of Rome absolutely, but to 
 Julius the then Bishop,) in order to another trial, (but 
 observe) not before Julius personally, or in his courts, but 
 before such Bishops of the next adjoining province as lie 
 should appoint; or ultimately, under certain circumstances, 
 before his legates. 
 
 Now, in the first place, this Sardican Council is not of 
 universal authority ; and the time was when Rome thought 
 so too, or acted at least as if she thought so. For in the 
 year 415, Irsinius, Bishop of Rome, rejudged the cause 
 of Apiarius, an African priest, who had been deposed by 
 his own Bishop, prelaidmg ihc outhorily of the Council of 
 Nice for these Sardican Canons, as if conscious that they 
 required the authority of that greater Council; and under this 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. -205 
 
 It is needless to add, that the cause of Cyprian, 
 just in itself, and thus advocated, was wholly 
 
 pretended authority he sent his legate into Africa, to hear 
 the cause of Apiarius. It so happened that a Synod of 
 two hundred and seventy Bishops, among whom was the 
 great St. Augustine, was assembled at that time ; and they 
 all replied, that they knew of no such Canon among those of 
 Nice ; and after six years, during the whole of which time 
 it should seem the imposition was attempted, they declared 
 their final decision, that the Nicene Fathers had determined 
 the contrary to what w as pretended by the Roman legates ; 
 that delinquent Clergymen were thereby left to the judg- 
 ment of their own Bishops, and Bishops to that of their 
 Metropolitans; and that all such matters should be deter- 
 mined in the places where they arose : that the grace of the 
 Holy Spirit would not be wanting in each province, for the 
 right ordering of all such matters ; and that they could find 
 no decree of the Fathers which justified the proceedings of 
 Rome in sending legates to them. 
 
 But, secondly, it was not without a reason that the power 
 then given to Julius, Bishop of Rome, was limited in the 
 Sardican Canons to him personally. The Council of Sardica 
 met to restore St. Athanasius, and to provide for the con- 
 tinued security of the orthodox. Now the Emperor had 
 the same privilege of granting a re-hearing which is 
 here given to Julius : and the then Emperor was Con- 
 stantius, an Arian, of that very sect against whose machina- 
 tions the Canons in question were intended as safeguards. 
 The exigency, then, arising from the heterodoxy of the pre- 
 sent Emperor, was met by transferring one of his privileges, 
 by an internal arrangement of the Church, to the present 
 Bishop of Rome, The whole matter was an expedient, and 
 fell to the ground, both according to the letter and to the 
 spirit of the Canons in question, when the present necessity 
 was passed. 
 
 But although that just stated is the nearest approach 
 towards giving to Rome a power of hearing appeals, yet it is 
 
206 LIVE AND TIMES 
 
 triumphant at Rome and elsewhere ; indeed he 
 tells us, that by the very fact of the ordination of 
 Fortunatus, the faction which adhered to him 
 was diminished almost to nothing, so that they 
 could scarce number among their adherents, lay 
 or cleric, so many as had joined in their con- 
 demnation ' : for this shameless act opened the 
 eyes of all who were hitherto deceived by the 
 pretensions of thjit party, and by the hope of 
 being re-admitted into the Church by their means, 
 the possibility of which was now precluded. I 
 do not know that we hear any thing more of this 
 desperate faction. 
 
 The ordination of Maximus by the Novatian 
 party at Carthage was still more obscure ; and 
 scarce gives us an opportunity of mentioning, 
 that there were now three rival Bishops in Car- 
 thage. The only account which Cyprian deigns 
 to give of this latter pretender is contained in 
 the following passage of the letter so often 
 lately quoted. "It is scarcely consistent with 
 the majesty of the Catholic Church, to notice 
 
 not the nearest approach to the like power given to another 
 Church : the nearest approach to the power now claimed by 
 Home that was ever given to any Church, was given by the 
 Fathers assembled at (^halcedou to the See of Constanti- 
 nople. See Canon ix. of that Council. 
 
 In the whole matter of this note, consult Johnson's Vade 
 Mecum ; and see also Palmer's Treatise on the Church of 
 Christ, part ii. ch. 2. 
 
 '' Ep. Iv. page 87. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. '207 
 
 the impudent attempts of heretics and schis- 
 matics ; I hear, however, that a party of the 
 Novatians have lately sent as their Bishop into 
 these parts, one Maximus, whom I had already 
 excommunicated." The best use to make of 
 such accounts, is to collect from them the 
 testimony even of heretics to the necessity of 
 that discipline which the Catholic Church has 
 ever maintained. It seems that in those days it 
 was not thought possible to assume even the 
 external figure of a Church, without the pre- 
 sence of a Bishop : and that too, a Bishop of 
 that particular Church, where the schismatics 
 assembled. It would have seemed monstrous 
 then to have assumed the character of a Chris- 
 tian Church without a Bishop, or of a Christian 
 Church, in London for instance, under a Bishop 
 of Olena. But some in these wiser days seem to 
 think otherwise. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 persecution renewed on occasion of the plague. 
 
 Cyprian's apologetic letter to demetrian. — his 
 
 epistle to the thybaritani. the penitent lapsed 
 
 admitted to communion, in anticipation of per- 
 secution. the exhortation to martyrdom. st. 
 
 CYPRIAN's last LETTER TO ST. CORNELIUS. DEATH OF 
 
 CORNELIUS. OF LUCIUS. HOW FAR PERSECUTION A TEST 
 
 OF TRUTH. 
 
 Before Cornelius received the account, of For- 
 tunatus and his schism, a new scene of persecution 
 had opened upon the Church ; for Cyprian says, 
 that he had been called for by the enraged populace 
 to the lions, while he was writing the Epistle last 
 mentioned: the blood of a Christian Bishop being 
 required as the most acceptable libation upon the 
 sacrifices offered to appease the wrath of Apollo 
 the destroyer, or to propitiate Apollo the pre- 
 server. 
 
 The plague having lately raged with extraor- 
 dinary fury over almost the whole of the empire, 
 Gallus and Volusianus had struck coins with the 
 inscription Apolloni Salutari, and had appointed 
 
LIFE AND TIMES OF ST. CYPRIAN. 209 
 
 sacrifices to be offered to the same deity. In 
 these sacrifices the Christians of course refused 
 to join ; and thus they offered first to the popu- 
 lace, and then to the state, a specific occasion 
 of wreaking on them the vengeance of that 
 malicious and cruel superstition, which imputed 
 to them every evil that afflicted this lower 
 world. 
 
 This is a fair example of the way in which the 
 Christian Church generally suffered under some 
 imputation, as absurd as it was impious and 
 malicious; and became the victim first of popular 
 rage, and eventually of an authorized and organ- 
 ized persecution. Whenever the empire suffered, 
 whether from the consequences of natural con- 
 vulsions, or from the famine or disease attending 
 on unfruitful or unhealthy seasons, or from in- 
 vasion by foreign foes, or from the crimes of 
 political incendiaries, or from the impudence or 
 immorality of emperors, the first effect was 
 popular discontent and commotion ; and then 
 the hated religion of Jesus was cast out to the 
 people, that they might expend on it all their 
 rage. If the first occasion of the discontent 
 was such as we naturally refer to supernatural 
 agencies, as famine or pestilence, so much the 
 more directly did the imputation and the penalty 
 fall upon the Christians; for they were the avowed 
 enemies of the gods, whose vengeance was sup- 
 posed to be excited against the empire for har- 
 
 p 
 
210 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 bouring them : but if the first evil was evidently 
 the work of man, as the burning of a city in sport ; 
 no matter, the Christians must still suffer, if the 
 popular clamour was excited. Certainly no peo- 
 ple had ever so deep an interest in the repose and 
 prosperity of a nation, as the Christians had in 
 that of the Roman Empire ! 
 
 Its frequent recurrence, and its frightful effects, 
 serve to invest this moral phenomenon with great 
 interest, and perhaps with equally great import- 
 ance. Let us see how it has been viewed by some 
 of those who lived within its fatal influence. 
 
 Tertullian, in the second century, in his book 
 against the Gentiles, having exclaimed against 
 the custom of calling the assemblies of Chris- 
 tians, bands of lawless men, conspiracies, de- 
 clares, that these titles are rather to be given 
 to the factious crowd of people who conspire 
 against the peace and safety of the good and 
 peaceable, inventing against them the most ab- 
 surd accusations, and then calling out for their 
 destruction : ^' If the Tyber has flooded the city, 
 or if the Nile has not flooded the fields ; if the 
 earth has trembled, or if the heavens have not 
 fallen in showers ; if there be a plague or a pesti- 
 lence ; presently there is a cry, ' The Christians 
 to the lionM'" 
 
 Origen, in the next age, a contemporary of 
 Cyprian, mentions a particular instance in which 
 
 " Tertul. arlv. Gentes, §. 40. vol. lii. p. 70. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. QU 
 
 an earthquake was attributed to the Church. 
 " We know/' says he, *' that in our own days 
 there was an earthquake, which in some places 
 was very destructive; so that the impious infidels 
 said that the Christians were the cause of the 
 calamity, the Churches being incensed at the 
 persecutions which they had suffered. And not 
 the impious only, but some also, of whom 
 better things might have been expected, said 
 publicly, that the most terrible earthquakes 
 happened on account of the Christians''." In 
 short, so great an interest do the heathen seem 
 to have attributed to the Christians with heaven, 
 that it had become an old proverb in the days of 
 Augustine, " Non pluit Deus, die ad Christianos." 
 Long before the time of that Father, the Gentiles 
 had learned to associate with the Church of Christ 
 all such occurrences as they looked on as divine 
 interpositions ; and if the gods seemed to speak 
 in a voice of anger, the Christians were to be the 
 sacrifice ; and the destruction of their " godless 
 superstition" the propitiation : and it mattered 
 little whether the gods were the immediate exe- 
 cutioners of their own sentence, or whether they 
 employed hostile nations as their instrument; for 
 we have it on the authority of the same Father, 
 that a recent irruption of the barbarians was at- 
 tributed to the Christian Religion''. 
 
 '' Orig. in Mat. cap. xxiv. 
 
 •^ Augustine De Civ. Dei, ii. 2, 3. 
 
 p2 
 
212 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 It is 110 wonder that the Christians should 
 labour to free themselves as well from the odium 
 as from the danger of such absurd imputations ; 
 and we find it a point often and most earnestly 
 argued in their Apologetics. Arnobius even opens 
 his work with a declaration, that he was led to 
 compose it by the fact, that many, who seemed 
 to fancy themselves wiser than their neighbours, 
 declared with all the violence and fanaticism of 
 those who pronounce an oracle, that ever since 
 the beginning of the Christian religion the world 
 had been manifestly declining, the human race 
 had suffered new and terrible disasters, and that 
 all traces of the visits of Deity to the earth, which 
 used to be frequent, had now vanished. But it 
 would be endless to cite all the complaints of the 
 Christians on this head ; or to recount all the 
 arguments by which they refuted the absurdities 
 of the heathen, and endeavoured to avert their 
 terrible consequences. Let us confine ourselves 
 now to a work of Cyprian, in which he touches 
 on the same subject, and to which the above 
 remarks may give an additional interest. 
 
 The work of Cyprian, to which we allude, is 
 the Apologetic Epistle to Demetrian, who seems 
 to have been a lawyer at Carthage ; or, })erhaps, 
 a professor of Rhetoric, of the same grade in 
 which Cyprian himself had been before his con- 
 version. Some have supposed that he held a 
 high civil station, perhaps even the Proconsulate 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 013 
 
 of Africa ; and that on him, therefore, personally, 
 the execution of the penal laws, against which 
 Cyprian argues, devolved : but I think that Mo- 
 sheim ^ has sufficiently shown that this could not 
 be ; and Cyprian's character is cleared from the 
 imputation of something almost approaching to 
 faction, in speaking of the civil magistrate in 
 terms of such marked disrespect as occur towards 
 Demetrian in the work before us. That holy 
 Bishop would never have been so far forgetful of 
 the precepts and example of our blessed Lord and 
 his Apostles. 
 
 Whoever and whatever Demetrian was % it 
 seems that he had been in the habit of entering 
 into theological disputation with Cyprian ; and 
 that present circumstances had directed their dis- 
 cussions to the real or supposed connexion between 
 the rise and progress of Christianity, and the 
 anger of the Gods manifested in public calami- 
 ties, and those dreadful scourges of the earth, 
 pestilence and famine. The rudeness or obsti- 
 nacy of Demetrian had determined Cyprian to 
 discontinue the verbal discussion of this interest- 
 ing and important question ; and to close the 
 
 '^ Mosheim. tie rebus ant. Const. Mag. p. 532. 
 
 « No one seems to suspect that Demetrian was only 
 an imaginary person, to whom Cyprian addresses his 
 Apology, which is intended for the heathen in general ; but 
 is not this in itself probable ? And what difficulty is there 
 in the way of such an opinion ? 
 
 / 
 
214 I'lFE AND TIMES 
 
 whole controversy, so far as he and Demetrian 
 were concerned, with this Epistle. He himself 
 tells us this in the opening paragraph. 
 
 " You say," says Cyprian, " that all the evils 
 with which the world is now harassed and shaken, 
 are to be attributed to us, and to our refusing to 
 worship your Gods. But since you are ignorant 
 of the Divine counsel and truth, you must first 
 be told that the universe itself has already grown 
 old. The earth has lost its pristine vigour, and 
 can no longer put forth the energies of youth. 
 I need not quote our Scriptures to confirm this 
 assertion, nor enter into speculations of my own ; 
 for the world itself witnesses its own decline, by 
 sufficient tokens. The rains of winter and the 
 summer now maintain not their just proportion ; 
 the spring smiles not as formerly with the pro- 
 mise of fruitfulness, nor does autumn bend be- 
 neath so rich a burden. Less marble is dug from 
 the exhausted quarries, less gold and silver from 
 the impoverished mines. Husbandmen are wanting 
 for the fields, sailors for the sea, and soldiers for 
 the camp. Innocence and justice are banished from 
 the forum and the courts. Society is deprived 
 of concord ; the arts are deficient in skill ; mo- 
 rality has relaxed her discipline. Can you sup- 
 pose that all these things should retain the same 
 vigour which they possessed when the world was 
 yet young ? Every thing is necessarily attenuated 
 as its end approaches. The sun shines more 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 215 
 
 feebly in his setting ; and the moon in her wane 
 dwindles to a slender thread. The tree once 
 green and stately in its broad shade, withers 
 and diminishes to a stump : and the most abun- 
 dant fountain is at last exhausted, cind pours out 
 drop by drop the scanty remainder of its waters. 
 This is a law imposed upon all things by the 
 Deity, that whatever is born must die ; that 
 whatever increases must eventually fall away : 
 strong things must decay in strength, and large 
 things in magnitude ; and all must eventually 
 perish. Do you attribute it to the Christians, 
 that every thing is deteriorated with the general 
 decay and old age of the universe ; or do you lay 
 it to their charge, that life is now terminated within 
 one hundred years, instead of extending to eight 
 or nine hundred .'" .... 
 
 It is curious to find the Apologist confessing 
 the premises, (that is, that the world really was 
 then in a worse condition than hitherto,) and 
 answering one false deduction from them, by 
 another equally false in fact, though in reason 
 and piety most just and true. But we shall find, 
 by and bye, that it was an opinion frequently 
 expressed by Cyprian, and other great and good 
 men, that the world was grown old, and near its 
 end. Meanwhile we are indemnified for such 
 false presumptions and false reasoning, by other 
 arguments more to the purpose. For Cyprian 
 continues : — 
 
216 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 " Know, however, that all these things have 
 been predicted ; and know also, that they happen 
 not as you ignorantly assume, because we wor- 
 ship not your Gods ; but because God is not 
 worshipped by you. For since He is the Lord 
 and Ruler of the universe, and all things obey his 
 will, and nothing ever happens but by his hand, 
 or his permission, when such events occur as 
 demonstrate his indignation, they occur not 
 because of us who worship God, but because of 
 your iniquities, who will not seek the Lord, nor 
 fear him ; who will not desert your vain super- 
 stitions, and acknowledge the true religion ; so 
 that God who is the same God over all, may by 
 all be alone worshipped and supplicated." We 
 cannot refrain from observing, with how good a 
 grace the Christians, after they had acquired the 
 superiority in temporal power, retorted upon the 
 heathen their accusation, that they were the 
 causes of evil in the world ; since they had not 
 been afraid to make the same accusation, while 
 they were depressed and persecuted. 
 
 St. Cyprian proceeds to quote several passages 
 from the Jewish Scriptures, in which the very same 
 judgments are denounced against those who will 
 persist in serving false Gods, as the heathens 
 then suffered, and imputed to the vengeance of 
 the Gods against the Christians. He applies 
 these threatenings of the prophet to the present 
 time. He tells Demetrian, that the purpose of 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 217 
 
 those judgments in the Divine counsel, was to call 
 the heathen to repentance ; yet he adds other 
 prophecies, which intimate that the threatened 
 judgments should fail in this purpose, and that 
 in consequence of the obduracy of the heathen, they 
 should still continue. This use of the Prophets 
 was perfectly legitimate, even in argument with 
 a heathen ; for the Jewish Scriptures were of 
 known and acknowledged antiquity ; and in this 
 instance fell upon times which supplied an ex- 
 ternal evidence of their authority and truth ^ 
 The conclusion of Cyprian's argument from these 
 denunciations and their fulfilment is as follows. 
 " Lo ! scourges fall upon you from above, yet ye 
 tremble not. If some such note of the Divine 
 vengeance fell not upon men, encouraged by im- 
 punity, how much greater would be their boldness 
 and impiety !" 
 
 After having at some length exposed the vices 
 of the heathen, as calling for the vengeance of 
 God, and amply justifying the infliction of all 
 those calamities which were attributed to the 
 wrath of heaven against the Church, St. Cyprian 
 
 ' Yet Lactantius, with more assumption than sound rea- 
 son, says, " Non defugi hunc laborem, ut implerem ma- 
 teriam, quam Cyprianus non executus est in ea oratione, qua 
 Denietrianum (sicut ipse ait) oblatrantem, atque obstre- 
 pentem veritati, redarguere conatur ; qua materia non est 
 usus, ut debuit : non enim Scriptura testimoniis, quam illi 
 utique vanam, fictam, eorum arbitriumque putabat; sed argu- 
 mentis, et ratione fuerat ref'ellendus." v. 4. 
 
218 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 proceeds to the mention of those cruelties with 
 which the Christians were every where over- 
 whelmed. " It is not enough that you yourselves 
 serve not God ; but those who do serve him you 
 pursue with impious rage. You neither worship 
 God, nor suffer him to be worshipped by others : 
 and while you extend indulgence to the worship- 
 pers of dumb idols, and images made by the 
 hands of men ; nay even of portents and mon- 
 sters ; the worship of the true God is alone 
 proscribed. The hideous gods of the Egyptians 
 are adopted by you, and sacrifices burn on every 
 side to apes and crocodiles ; while God must be 
 without an altar, at least in public. You dis- 
 inherit, you banish, the innocent and just, and 
 those whom God loves ; you put them into 
 chains and dungeons ; you drag them to the 
 beasts, to fire, to the sword. Nor are you satisfied 
 with depriving us of life by a quick and simple 
 process ; you inflict the most cruel and linger- 
 ing death, and are not content even with tortur- 
 ing us except by some new invention, and with 
 the exercise of a savage ingenuity. How in- 
 satiable your cruelty ! How implacable your 
 vengeance ! 
 
 " Christianity either is or is not a crime. If 
 it be a crime, why do you not at once execute 
 him who confesses his guilt ? If it be not a 
 crime, why do you persecute the innocent ? 
 Again : allowing it to be a crime ; those who 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 219 
 
 are implicated in it, but obstinately withhold a 
 confession of their guilt, would be the proper 
 objects of torture : but we confess, we proclaim, 
 our adherence to the Christian cause, and our 
 contempt of your gods. Why then are we tor- 
 tured, as if we concealed our guilt ? Why this 
 attempt upon the infirmity of our bodies ; upon 
 the weakness of what is but earthly in us ? 
 Rather enter the lists with our minds ; try the 
 strength of our reason ; see if you can subvert our 
 faith with argument ; and -if you must conquer, 
 conquer by an appeal to reason." 
 
 Cyprian afterwards shows, that the heathen 
 deities were, in truth, not the patrons but the 
 clients of their worshippers : needing their <siiip- 
 port against the power and influence of the Chris- 
 tians, whose exorcisms would expel them from 
 the victims of whom they had taken possession. 
 
 But the Pagan opponents of Christianity might 
 remark, that the Christians were not free from 
 the same evil which afflicted the nation in gene- 
 ral ; and that the misery of persecution was an 
 additional suffering which the Church alone en- 
 dured ; so that if it was indeed true that the 
 pressure of misery was a punishment for impiety, 
 the Christians who bore the greatest infliction at 
 the hands of the Deity must be accounted the 
 greatest criminals. Cyprian answers this objec- 
 tion thus''. 
 
 h To the Christians themselves Cyprian had another answer 
 to the same observation. See his work upon the Plague. 
 
•220 I.ll'li AND TIMES 
 
 ** He it is who experiences the whole bitterness 
 of temporal evil, whose hopes and joys, whose very 
 glory, is centered in this world : who hath no 
 happy anticipations ; whose very hope is but a deep 
 despair. They, on the other hand, whose pro- 
 spects, whose joys, whose ambition, are future, feel 
 not the pains and disappointments of this life. 
 Thus we neither despond nor murmur ; but we 
 rather rejoice in the same evils, which overwhelm 
 you in affliction and despair : and we are taught 
 to believe, that our very sufferings are intended 
 to strengthen our faith. Do you reckon then, 
 that to us and to you evils are equally evil ? 
 Do you not know from your own observation, 
 that you and we bear not afflictions in the same 
 way ? . . . . Among us, hope then flourishes in its 
 full vigour, and faith loses nothing of its con- 
 fidence : our mind stands erect, and our virtue is 
 unshaken, amid the ruins of a falling world': our 
 patience is never wearied, while our souls repose 
 themselves still upon God. The Prophet says, 
 ** Although the fig tree shall not blossom, 
 neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labour of 
 
 ' Inter ipsas steculi labentis ruinas erecta mens est, et 
 immobilis virtus, p. 222. Probably Cyprian had in his mind 
 the words of Horace, {Carm. iii. 3.) 
 
 Justum virum 
 
 Si fractus illabatur orbis 
 
 Impavidiini ferient rulna*. 
 But with Cyprian the riiiiKc are literal, which with Horace 
 are figurative: for Cyprian believed the end of the world to 
 be at hand. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 221 
 
 the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no 
 meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, 
 and there shall be no herd in the stalls : yet I 
 will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of 
 my salvation." That is, the man of God, and he 
 who worships him, cannot be moved by the changes 
 and miseries of this world : the vine may fail and the 
 olive ; the plain may be brown with the parched 
 herbage ; but what is this to Christians, to the 
 servants of God, for whom Paradise stands open, 
 for whom is prepared the fulness of grace, and 
 the abundance of the kingdom of Heaven ? They 
 ever rejoice in the Lord, and boast and delight 
 themselves in their God ; and while they look 
 forward to the gifts and glories of eternity, they 
 endure manfully the wrongs and afflictions of 
 time : for we who have set aside our natural 
 birth, and are born again, and created anew by 
 the Spirit, live no longer to the world, but to 
 God." 
 
 Then Cyprian declares, that the prayers of 
 Christians are constantly offered even for their 
 persecutors. He sets before the heathen the 
 necessity of repentance ; and declares, that in 
 thus doing, he most convincingly displays his 
 charity. 
 
 This is a short summary of the contents of 
 Cyprian's Epistle to Demetrian on the subject 
 of the present persecution, and its occasion as 
 pretended by the heathen. I have not thought 
 
'2-22 LIFK AND TIMES 
 
 it necessary to translate the more intemperate 
 language of the Christian Prelate, believing it 
 to be rather attributable to the times than to 
 the man, or the religion which he professed : 
 for it abounds every where in the controversial 
 writings to which we shall presently arrive, 
 among which those of Cyprian are by no means 
 alone faulty. I hope and believe that the latter 
 expressions of charity are more consistent with 
 the temper of Cyprian, and a more exact 
 transcript of his real feelings ; as they certainly 
 better agree with the precepts of Christ. Nor 
 indeed were any of the divine injunctions of our 
 Saviour more exactly obeyed in the early ages 
 of the Church, than that which engages us to 
 pray for them which despitefully use us and 
 persecute us. Dionysius of Alexandria says of 
 Gallus on this very occasion ; " He persecuted 
 the saints who were praying to God for his 
 health and for his glory ; and deprived himself 
 of the benefit of their intercessions, while he 
 drove the brethren from his dominions ''." 
 
 And if we must give Cyprian credit for the 
 sentiments of true charity which he professed 
 towards the heathen ; so may we be sm*e that 
 
 '' Eusebius vii. 1. And see Arnobius Contra Gentes, 
 liber i. p. ] 8. Da veniani Rex Summe tuos persequentibus 
 famulos : et quod tuae benignitatis est proprium, fugientibus 
 ignosee tui nominis et religionis cultum. Non est miruni si 
 ignoraris: majoris est admirationis si sciaris. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 223 
 
 the expression of firmness, and even of glorying 
 in tribulation, which he attributes to the per- 
 secuted Christians, was really found among 
 them : for he writes in the same strain, not 
 only to the Gentiles, when he would set forth 
 the evidences of the faith ; but to Christians 
 also, when he would imbue them with a proper 
 temper, in these trying times. His exhortation 
 to martyrdom breathes the spirit rather of an 
 Epiniceon, than of a Threnic ode : and the same 
 spirit animates his Epistle to the Thybaritani, 
 who had repeatedly entreated him to visit them, 
 but to whom he excuses himself from the peculiar 
 complexion of the times, and the necessity which 
 lay upon him of attending his own flock with the 
 greater care. He warns them of the coming 
 storm ; and tells them that he had received 
 such intimations from the Lord concerning its 
 violence, as led him to anticipate a persecution 
 even more fierce than that under the Decii. 
 In this he was certainly deceived ; and it will 
 follow that he either misinterpreted a real com- 
 munication from heaven, or mistook for such 
 a communication the more than ordinarily im- 
 pressive emotions of an excited mind ; but that 
 he wrote under that impression is all that is 
 needed to show the view which he took of 
 persecution, in its extremest form, and the 
 practical application which he made of it to 
 those of his own faith, with the preparation 
 
2'24 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 which he deemed most appropriate for en- 
 countering it. 
 
 " A more fierce and dreadful conflict," says 
 lie', " now awaits us, for which the soldiers of 
 Christ ought to prepare themselves with un- 
 corrupt faith, and a manly virtue ; drinking to 
 this end, day by day, the blood of Christ, that 
 for Christ they may be enabled to shed their 
 own blood. If we would manifest our willing- 
 ness to be with Christ, we ought also so to walk 
 as he walked : as St. Paul tells us ; ' we are sons, 
 and if sons then heirs, heirs of God, and joint 
 heirs with Christ, if we so suffer with him as to 
 be glorified with him also "'.' And this we should 
 now bear in mind, that none of us may have his 
 desires fixed upon this world, now ready to 
 perish ; but that all may follow Christ, who 
 himself liveth for ever, and giveth life to those 
 who are established in the faith of his name." 
 
 After having quoted several warnings of our 
 Lord and his Apostles of impending persecutions, 
 with the accompanying promises and blessings, 
 he proceeds, '' In the midst of persecution, our 
 Lord would have us exult and be glad ; for then 
 the crowns of faith are bestowed, then the sol- 
 diers of God are approved, then heaven is thrown 
 open to the martyrs. Nor did we so enroll our 
 names in the army of the saints, as to look for 
 a peaceable service only, and to deprecate and 
 ' Ep. Ivi. p. 90. '" Rom. viii. 16, 17- 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 225 
 
 refuse the battle : for our Lord Himself, our 
 example in humility and patience and long- 
 suffering, commenced our course in actual con- 
 flict ; Himself beginning that warfare which He 
 would have us to wage ; and bearing for us in 
 His own person, that which He would have us 
 to bear after Him. Remember that He, to whom 
 all judgment is committed, has declared, that those 
 who confess Him here He will confess before His 
 Father; and that He will deny those who deny 
 
 Him And let none be discouraged, dearest 
 
 brethren, at seeing the company of the faithful put 
 to flight by fear of persecution, and because he 
 sees not the flock assembled in one place, nor 
 hears the voice of the shepherd [Bishop]. They 
 cannot be collected together who are appointed 
 not to kill, but to be killed. And whithersoever, 
 in those days, a single disciple shall be driven 
 by necessity, being absent from the brethren in 
 body, but present with them in spirit, let him 
 not be cast into despondency by his flight, nor 
 be driven to despair by the solitude of his re- 
 treat. He flies not alone, who hath Christ the 
 companion of his flight. He is not alone, who 
 beareth about with him every where the temple 
 of God, and hath God ever within him. And 
 if robbers, or wild beasts", or any accident, cut 
 
 ° The number of persons thus cut off, always entered 
 largely into the account of the havoc made among the 
 Christians by persecution, 
 
 Q 
 
226 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 him off in his flight, Christ still beholds His 
 servants ; and wheresoever, and under what cir- 
 cumstances soever, the encounter is endured, 
 CiiiiisT bestows the reward (which He hath 
 promised to give at the resurrection) upon each 
 one who dies for the honour of His name, on 
 occasion of persecution ^ Nor is that martyr- 
 dom devoid of glory, which is not endured 
 publicly : the witness and appearance of Him 
 who crowns the martyr, being a sufficient token 
 of the glory of the martyr." 
 
 Then having proposed to them the examples 
 of Abel, of Abraham, of the Three Children, 
 and of Daniel ; having reminded them of the 
 slaughter of the Innocents ; but more especially 
 having set before them the unparalleled sufferings 
 of Jesus Christ ; he warns them, that the times 
 of Antichrist are approaching : and adapting his 
 exhortation to their necessities, he proceeds ; 
 " Men are trained and exercised for victory 
 
 '' Et persecutionis causa, pro nominis sui honore mo- 
 rienti prarnium reddit, quod daturum se in resurrectione 
 promisit. (p. Ql.) Cyprian here avoids the promise of 
 immediate glory to those who did not suffer actual martyr- 
 dom. This is woi-thy of remark; for if he speaks of an 
 immediate crown to the martyr, but of a crown only at the 
 resurrection to the rest of the faithful, how can he dispose 
 of the latter except in hades ? of the Catholic doctrine of 
 which there are no direct assertions in the works of St. 
 Cyprian ; so that even these passing indications o? his 
 opinion are valuable. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. '2Q7 
 
 in the secular games ; and they account it no 
 slight accession to their glory, if they receive 
 the prize before a crowded assembly, in the 
 presence of the Emperor. Lo ! our great, our 
 illustrious contest ; glorious with the guerdon 
 of a heavenly crown ! Lo, how God witnesses 
 our struggle ; and looking benignantly on those 
 w^hom He condescends to call His children. Him- 
 self rejoices in our victory ! How great the 
 happiness in the sight of God to contend : to 
 be crowned by the judgment of Christ ! Let us 
 arm, my beloved brethren, let us arm for the 
 fight! Let us prepare for the contest with 
 a mind and a faith uncorrupted, and with 
 devoted valour ! Let those who have hitherto 
 conquered resume their arms, lest they lose the 
 glory which they have nobly won ! Let those 
 who have before fallen gird on their harness, 
 that they may retrieve their former disgrace. 
 Let honour incite the faithful, let remorse impel 
 the fallen to the field." 
 
 In marked accordance with this last portion 
 of his exhortation, was his own conduct in pre- 
 paring his Church for the coming persecution ; 
 for besides these general exhortations to mar- 
 tyrdom, and other such-like obvious measures, he 
 tells Cornelius, in a synodical letter ^, that 
 he had, with the concurrence of forty-one of 
 his comprovincial Bishops, re-admitted the peni- 
 '' Ep. liv. 
 
 q2 
 
2'28 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 tent lapsed to communion. " For we are 
 warned," said he, " by divers signs, to arm 
 for the battle, and to summon the whole army 
 of Christ to His banners ; and at such a time 
 we thought it advisable to place arms in the 
 hands of those who had before deserted their 
 ranks, though not as incorrigible traitors or 
 renegades : and as they had already been 
 admitted to penance, so now to admit them 
 to the peace of the Church. For now the 
 communion of the brethren is as necessary to 
 them in their perilous life, as it was heretofore 
 at the hour of death ; at which time it was 
 always proposed to re-admit them into the 
 Church \ And how shall we expect those to pour 
 out their blood for Christ, to whom we deny 
 the cup of Christ's blood in the Supper of the 
 Lord r 
 
 The Epistle to Fortunatus, entitled an Ex- 
 hortation to Martyrdom, is in the same strain 
 with that just quoted. It is composed after the 
 same manner with the Testimonies against the 
 Jews ; being little else than citations of apposite 
 passages of Scripture, arranged under separate 
 heads. Cyprian expresses his motive for this 
 arrangement of the subject under the following 
 singular figure. " The work thus performed, 
 
 ' The reader will remember, that on a former occasion the 
 approach of the inihealtiiy season was anticipated by a 
 similar indulgence, for a parallel reason. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 229 
 
 will be more readily adapted to every one's use. 
 If I had presented you with a garment ready cut 
 out, finished for myself, it would be my own 
 garment, though for another's use, and it might 
 be but ill fitted to his individual stature and 
 bodily form. But now, I have sent you the 
 fleece itself, and the purple die from that Lamb, 
 by whom we are redeemed, and in whom we live ; 
 and from this you can yourself form your gar- 
 ment according to your own will and conve- 
 nience ; and you will feel greater pleasure in the 
 use of your own appropriate vesture. You will 
 also be able to supply the like materials to others, 
 that they too may possess the materials of a 
 garment after their own taste ; and all, throwing 
 the robes of Christ over their former nakedness, 
 may appear clothed with the garments of celes- 
 tial grace *." 
 
 As Cyprian has himself prefaced this Epistle 
 with a syllabus of its contents, I shall present 
 this to the reader. 
 
 " In exhorting the brethren, and preparing 
 them M^th the fortitude of virtue and of faith 
 for the confession of their Lord, and in arming 
 for the conflict of suffering and of death, it is 
 necessary, in the first place, to declare, that those 
 idols which man makes for himself are no Gods ; 
 for neither are those things that are made 
 greater than he who designed and made them, 
 » Page 262. 
 
'i-SO LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 nor can those things which perish within their 
 very temples, unless they are preserved by the care 
 of man, afford any protection or preservation : 
 neither are the elements to be worshipped, which 
 are appointed by the providence of God, for the 
 service of man. 
 
 ** When the idols have been destroyed, and 
 the true position of the elements declared, we 
 must show that God alone is to be worshipped. 
 
 ** Then the threatenings of God against those 
 who sacrifice to idols are to be denounced. 
 
 '' And then, the difficulty with which God 
 pardons idolaters should be shown ; and that He 
 is so indignant against the w^orship of idols, that 
 He has appointed that all who are guilty of per- 
 suading others to that sin are to be put to death. 
 
 *' After these things we must add. That we 
 who arc redeemed and quickened by Christ's 
 blood, are bound to prefer Christ before all other 
 things ; because He, too, preferred nothing to us, 
 but on our account preferred evil to good, poverty 
 to wealth, servitude to dominion, death to im- 
 mortality ; that we, while we suffer, might, on 
 the contrary, prefer the riches and delights of 
 paradise, to the misery and vanity of the world, 
 an eternal power and kingdom to temporal ser- 
 vitude, immortality to death, God and Christ to 
 the Devil and Antichrist. 
 
 " They, too, who have been snatched from the 
 jaws of the devil, and delivered from the snares 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 231 
 
 of this world, must be warned lest, beginning to 
 perceive themsel'^es in difficulties and dangers, 
 they desire to return again to the world, and so 
 perish in their former delusion ; and they must 
 be encouraged rather to persevere in faith and 
 virtue, and in the perfection of every grace, that 
 they may attain to the palm and the crown of 
 victory. 
 
 " For to this very end we are persecuted and 
 afflicted, that is, that we may be proved ; and 
 the injuries and tortures inflicted by persecutors 
 are not to be objects of terror ; for God is more 
 powerful to save, than the Devil to destroy. 
 
 " And lest any should be troubled above mea- 
 sure and affrighted by the difficulties and perse- 
 cutions which surround us in this life, it ought to 
 be proved, that it was foretold that we should be 
 hated by the world, and persecuted ; so that the 
 truth of God may be attested by these very things, 
 and the assurance therefore of the coming reward, 
 which is built on the promise of the same God, 
 may be increased : while at the same time it is 
 apparent, that no new thing occurs in this to 
 the Christians ; since, from the beginning of the 
 world, the good have ever suffered under the 
 oppression and violence of the wicked. 
 
 ** In the last place, we may enlarge upon the 
 hope and the reward of the just and of martyrs, 
 when the troubles and persecutions of this life 
 are ended ; being assured, that the reward of our 
 
23t2 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 sufferings hereafter will far outweigh whatever 
 misery we endured in the martyrdom itself ^" 
 
 Such is the strain in which Cyprian exhorts 
 his brethren in Christ to the constancy of con- 
 fessors and martyrs, and such the preparation 
 which he made for the conflict. He was, indeed, 
 mistaken in looking for a more fierce persecution 
 than that from which the Church had lately 
 emerged ; but the event which happily contra- 
 dicted his anticipation, diminishes not the glory 
 of his preparation. 
 
 We are not, however, excused from the mention 
 of confessors and martyrs under Gallus and Volu- 
 sianus. For in Rome, the magistrates, intending 
 by one deadly blow to annihilate the Church, 
 directed their attacks against Cornelius, the 
 Bishop of that city. But whatever might be 
 the method of attack, the ravagers of the fold 
 found that the flock preferred death to apostacy ; 
 and that they would rather be united in suffering, 
 than flee from their shepherd in his danger; for not 
 only those who had always been constant, but even 
 many of the lapsed, collected round Cornelius, 
 now that he had borne the especial mark of 
 the persecutors' malignity". Cornelius himself 
 was banished to Centumsellee, whether alone, or 
 with what number of his faithful adherents, does 
 not appear. Cyprian wrote a congratulatory 
 Epistle" to him in his banishment, greatly com- 
 ' pp. 262, 263. " Ep Iv. * Ep. Ivii. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 233 
 
 mending, and as a member of the same body 
 exulting in, his ' courage and constancy ; and 
 declaring the benefit which the alacrity and 
 firmness of the Church in Rome, in baffling 
 persecution, would afford, and indeed had af- 
 forded, to the whole body of Christians. Cyprian 
 concludes his Epistle to his brother saint, with 
 a pious determination and request, that which- 
 ever of them, he or Cornelius, should first be 
 taken from the Church on earth, would continue 
 his prayers to the Father for him who remained. 
 An exact parallel to the affecting petition of the 
 truly catholic martyr Ridley to Bradford, his 
 fellow-sufferer, shortly before the execution of 
 the latter. " Brother Bradford," says Ridley, 
 " so long as I shall understand that thou art on 
 thy journey," his journey, that is, to execution, 
 " by God's grace, I shall call upon our heavenly 
 Father, for Christ's sake, to set thee safely home ; 
 and then, good father, speak you, and pray for 
 the remnant that are to suffer for Christ's sake, 
 according to what thou then shalt know more 
 clearly." 
 
 The presentiment of Cyprian here apparent of 
 the approaching end of his earthly intercourse 
 with Cornelius was verified : for that Prelate died 
 at the place of his banishment, and, as we collect 
 with probability from some casual expressions, a 
 martyr in the most rigorous sense of that word, 
 as he certainly was virtually a martyr. This, how- 
 
234 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 ever, is not quite indisputable, and at any rate 
 the manner of his death is unknown. He died 
 A. D. 252, and on the 14th of September ; unless 
 the Roman Breviary, being published by Papal 
 authority and received by all the Bishops within 
 the Roman Obedience, is to be believed before 
 an historical testimony, in which case St. Corne- 
 lius and Cyprian both suffered on the 16th of 
 September. 
 
 After an interval of a few days, Lucius was 
 chosen Bishop of Rome in the place of Cornelius : 
 and he too soon fell a victim to the rage of per- 
 secution ; being first banished, with several of 
 his brethren, but soon after permitted or obliged 
 to return. And we suppose with about the same 
 degree of evidence upon which we arrive at the 
 same conclusion respecting Cornelius, that he 
 suffered martyrdom. Cyprian, in his Epistle to 
 Lucius >' after his return to Rome, while he con- 
 gratulates him on his confession, intimates that 
 it was perhaps the intention of the Lord in order- 
 ing his return, that he should be crowned with 
 greater glory to himself, and greater benefit to 
 the Church, in the presence of his own people. 
 Whether this intimation had any other founda- 
 tion than the pious and characteristic sentiment 
 of St. Cyprian, or whether it was justified by the 
 event, is not certain. Mosheim says% that he 
 could make it appear that neither Cornelius nor 
 
 y Ep. Iviii. * De Rebus Chrig. p. 529. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 236 
 
 Lucius suffered actual martyrdom ; he confesses, 
 however, that the opposite opinion is upheld by 
 no contemptible authority. 
 
 Some expressions in Cyprian's gratulatory 
 Epistles to Cornelius and Lucius lead us to 
 enquire, how far he held persecution to be a test 
 of the truth of the persecuted party. After 
 having expressed his joy, that not only those who 
 had before adhered to the faith, but that some 
 also who had formerly lapsed, had joined Corne- 
 lius in his confession ; so that the Church was 
 rather united than scattered by this attack upon 
 it ; he continues : " What says Novatian to these 
 things, dearest brother ? Does he yet lay down 
 his error ? or rather, as is usual with men so 
 infatuated as he is, does his rage increase, at the 
 sight of our blessed prosperity : and does the 
 madness of dissention and fanaticism gather 
 strength among his party, in proportion as the 
 glory of an union in faith and charity is advanced 
 among us ? . . . . Does he yet perceive who is the 
 true priest of God ; which is the Church and 
 house of Christ ; who are the servants of God, 
 against whom the Devil expends his rage ; who 
 are the Christians, whom Antichrist opposes? For 
 Satan pursues not those whom he has already 
 seduced to subjection ; nor does he labour to 
 extirpate those, whom he has made his own 
 servants. The deadly foe of the Church passes by, 
 as already conquered and captive, those whom 
 
236 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 he hath seduced from the pale of the Church ; 
 and directs all his efforts against those in whom 
 he perceives that Christ dwells V 
 
 And again, in the next Epistle to Lucius, 
 " We perceive, dearest brother, and with our 
 whole heart and understanding consent to the 
 wisdom and goodness of the counsel of God, 
 whence arose this sudden persecution, and to 
 what end the whole power of the state raged 
 against the Church of Christ, and the blessed 
 Bishop and Martyr Cornelius, and you all ; even 
 that THE Lord might confound and crush the 
 heretics, by showing which is the Church, which 
 is the sole Bishop chosen and appointed with the 
 Divine sanction, who are the priests associated 
 with the Bishop in the sacerdotal functions, which 
 is the true flock of Christ, one in fellowship and 
 love ; who they are whom the enemy would 
 destroy, and who are they whom the Devil would 
 spare, as his own children. For whom doth the 
 enemy of Christ persecute and oppose, but the 
 army and the soldiers of Christ ? Those who are 
 already prostrate in heresy, and become his own, 
 he passes by in contempt ; but those whom he 
 beholds erect, them he seeks to throw down^." 
 
 From such passages we should almost judge, 
 that Cyprian inclined to the belief, that all here- 
 tics are exempt from persecution, that the true 
 Church is alone subject to this expression of the 
 
 * Ej). Ivii. p. 9.5. >' Ep. Iviii. p. 97. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 237 
 
 Devil's enmity : in other words, that the enduring 
 of persecution is a certain and sufficient mark of 
 truth ; which would be, to say the least, a very 
 strong expression of a proposition, which is true 
 only in a mitigated form. Nor are the passages 
 just quoted the only ones in which Cyprian 
 seems to express the same opinion ; and to apply 
 it in its practical result, as a means of separating 
 ' between truth and error : for we have found him 
 giving it as one of the divine warranties of his 
 own Episcopate, that he was obnoxious to popu- 
 lar and heathen fury, and more than once called 
 for to the lions. 
 
 There is something very plausible in this method 
 of reasoning; and it proceeds upon opinions which 
 will always have advocates, among those who 
 find support from them, under the peculiar cir- 
 cumstances of their Church or sect. Nor yet 
 are such opinions to be at once discarded ; only 
 they must be kept within due bounds, and not 
 suffered to go quite to that length in theory, to 
 which those who are, or fimcy themselves, perse- 
 cuted may be disposed to carry them ; nor to be 
 practically applied quite so unsparingly as all 
 who find it convenient to hold them may wish. 
 For persecution may be found sometimes, as 
 history has evinced now, whatever it may have 
 done in Cyprian's time, with a sect or a heresy ; 
 and may even be pretended where it does not 
 exist : and so it may be brought to bear with 
 
2:18 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 equal force upon opposite sides of a theological 
 discussion, and sometimes with equal truth by 
 both ; that is, it may possess no authority at 
 all. 
 
 It is just so with miracles, another sigrl of the 
 true Church, which however may be counterfeited 
 by the cunning and villany, and possibly by the 
 cunning and zeal, of man ; and may form a part 
 of the illusory art even of other powers^. Mira- 
 cles were pretended on both sides in a late 
 controversy within the Romish pale : and the 
 pretence to them has been revived before us, by 
 the deluded and deluding followers of Edward 
 Irving. Now in all these cases, we will not 
 admit the miracles, real or pretended, as a test 
 of truth ; and in the former case it is a matter 
 of demonstration, that they could not divinely 
 approve opposing tenets. And though these were 
 also (probably) cases of pretended miracles, there 
 is no reason to doubt (nay rather there is the 
 highest ground for believing) that error itself 
 may be accompanied with the deceitful sign of 
 lying wonders. 
 
 But I mention this only that we may return 
 to the question of persecution with the additional 
 light gained from a parallel case. A claim to 
 the merit of the persecuted may be advanced by 
 those who suffer no persecution at all ; but who 
 so confuse things that differ, as to construe even 
 
 ^ Sec Deut. xiii. and Vincentius Lirinensis, cap. xv. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 0.^9 
 
 punishment for secular crimes into suffering for 
 religion, and for theological opinions : or they 
 may construe suffering for some dogma, which 
 may be in itself true, but which has no connexion 
 with religion, into suffering for an article of 
 faith. And from the moment that any party 
 of religionists has become involved in any suf- 
 ferings, for any cause, there is a very strong 
 temptation, (a temptation which I fear has 
 seldom been effectually resisted,) to look upon 
 and to adduce that suffering as a ground of 
 boasting the exclusive verity of their faith, on 
 the evidence of persecution. Even those branches 
 of the Catholic Church which have fallen under 
 depressing and painful circumstances, have been 
 deceived into this erroneous judgment. In Scot- 
 land, for instance, the members of the Catholic 
 and Apostolic Church (there to the present day, 
 to the shame of our nation be it said, left to 
 struggle under the difficulties and opprobrium 
 of dissent from an adverse establishment ; and, 
 in former times, to the still greater disgrace of 
 our nation, involved in still greater and more 
 positive difficulties) : — in Scotland, I say, the 
 members of the true Church, and the adherents 
 of the established sect, are equally fond of ad- 
 ducing the persecution which they have suffered 
 at different times, as a plain and popular, and 
 very exciting and effective test of the truth of 
 their several communions. Now here again, it 
 
'J 40 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 is demonstrative that both cannot be right, even 
 supposing both to be persecuted, in the proper 
 acceptation of the word, and the only acceptation 
 in which it can be taken for any thing which is 
 a test of religious truth. But the truth is, that 
 neither is or has been persecuted. As regards 
 the Catholics, who have the truth on their side, 
 by a higher evidence than they themselves could 
 elicit from a persecution though real, it is clear, 
 I think, that what they hold to be persecution, 
 was the rendering them obnoxious to a severe 
 system of political pains and penalties, in them- 
 selves, it is true, excessive, and continued longer 
 than was needful, but still directed against 
 political opinions and practices which were 
 associated with religion by themselves ; and 
 which the existing government was obliged, 
 for its own security, to condemn as criminal. 
 Admitting their high principle, (which I do 
 willingly and with admiration,) still they were 
 martyrs, if we must give them that name, to 
 their loyalty, and not to their religion : and 
 their suffering would go to prove, if it go to 
 prove any thing at all, not that Episcopacy 
 is a characteristic of the Church Catholic, which 
 is the use that they would make of it; but that the 
 Stuarts were unjustly deprived of their kingdom, 
 and ought at all hazard, and at any time, to be 
 restored to it. 
 
 As for the martyrs (so called) of the Presby- 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 241 
 
 terians, they are the only martyrs from the 
 beginnhig of Christianity to the present day, 
 who have died with swords in their hands. In 
 fact, they were slaughtered insm-gents, who sold 
 their lives as dearly as they could. They were 
 wrong in every thing almost in which men can 
 be wrong, except only that they were conscien- 
 tious in their errors. The example is striking ; 
 for these, too, though not martyrs, either in 
 patience, or in the truth of that doctrine and 
 discipline in behalf of which (and not as its 
 supporters, but as its inventors) they took arms 
 and died, are yet as much vaunted to this day 
 in Scotland, as are in England the meek and 
 blessed martyrs and confessors in the Marian 
 persecution, who died to witness against errors 
 which the Scotch also have thrown off; and as 
 our not less illustrious martyrs. King Charles 
 and Archbishop Laud, who died for the verities 
 which they continue to deny. 
 
 And it is farther to be remarked, that the 
 very party which is in fact the persecuting, may 
 be the one to complain most loudly, and to boast 
 their sufferings for the truth. We have various 
 forms and degrees of this self-deception in the 
 world. There is a tendency among some to 
 declare, that they are accounted the very ofFscour- 
 ing of all things, and to protest themselves an 
 afflicted and despised race of men, because they 
 and they alone among their countrymen hold the 
 
242 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 truth : but meanwhile do they not themselves 
 put in exercise a most cruel spiritual persecution, 
 while they declare all others reprobate, and bear 
 themselves towards them as towards aliens and 
 heathens. And again ; at this moment, there is 
 here a combination of all parties against the 
 Church of England, which amounts to the spirit 
 of persecution, and in some respects and places 
 to the actual violence of persecution : and yet 
 she is every where assailed by the very parties thus 
 in league against her, as a persecuting Church. 
 In a word, it is now with us as it was in the days 
 of King Charles the Martyr, though (thank 
 God!) in a very much mitigated degree, to 
 whom Laud writes in the dedication of his Con- 
 ference with Fisher. " One thing more let me 
 be bold to observe to your Majesty in particular, 
 concerning your great charge in the Church of 
 England. She is in hard condition. She pro- 
 fesses the ancient Catholic faith, and yet the 
 Romanist condemns her for novelty in her doc- 
 trine. She practises Church government as it 
 hath been in use in all ages, and all places, 
 where the Church of Christ hath been esta- 
 blished both in and since the days of the 
 Apostles, and yet the separatist condemns her 
 for Antichristianism in her discipline. The plain 
 truth is, she is between these two factions, and 
 unless your Majesty look to it, to whose trust she 
 is committed, she will be ground to powder, to 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 243 
 
 an irreparable dishonour and loss to this king- 
 dom. And it is very remarkable, that while both 
 these press hard upon the Church of England, 
 both of them cry out against persecution, like 
 froward children, who scratch, and kick, and 
 bite, and yet cry out all the while as if they 
 were killed." Of course I am not adducing 
 this in proof of the Apostolicity or Catholicity 
 of our Church : I thank God that we want not 
 the testimony of the enmity of our opponents, 
 though it may be as strong an one as they 
 can bestow : but only to show the absurdity, 
 yet possibility, of the persecutors, if either party 
 be persecuted, making persecution the test of 
 truth. 
 
 None of these instances, however, exactly 
 touches the point of which Cyprian speaks, 
 which is the suffering for the cause of Christ 
 under the attacks of Heathen assailants ; and 
 it is certainly possible that persecution may 
 afford a more just criterion of the truth of those 
 who suffer, when inflicted by heathens upon those 
 who have the name and profess the faith of 
 Christ, than when employed by one party of 
 professed Christians against another. But in 
 this case, too, history will not bear out the 
 propositions of St. Cyprian, if taken in their 
 most rigid sense, and applied without limitation. 
 Among the Arians, for instance, we find men 
 who have suffered together with the Church 
 
 r2 
 
244 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 Catholic ; for under Julian the Apostate, who 
 was too hostile to the very name and pretensions 
 of Christianity to distinguish between a sect and 
 the true Church, the followers of Arius were 
 involved in the common misfortune. 
 
 I think, then, that it must be admitted, that 
 although God has employed persecution from with- 
 out more frequently to purify and confirm and 
 render illustrious the faith of the true Church, 
 than to punish the iniquity of heretics and sepa- 
 ratists ; and that He has also, on the whole, made 
 so marked a distinction in this respect, between 
 the body of Christ, and all those who have broken 
 off from tliat body, as to surround the former 
 with a visible glory from above, while the latter 
 are left in their darkness, or in their self-assumed 
 light ; yet still, the mere fact of suffering, under 
 the name of suffer ing for the truth as it is in 
 Jesus, is not sufficient to prove one a member of 
 the Church of Christ, any more than the fact of 
 suffering for the dogmas of a sect is sufficient 
 to confirm the truth of those dogmas. 
 
 And this was, I imagine, the more solid con- 
 viction of Cyprian himself; for he seems to me 
 to lay much more stress upon his sound reason- 
 ing, that there is no confession or martyrdom out 
 of the Church, though there may be those zoho 
 suffer and die ; than upon his more oratorical 
 assumption, that none but the faithful would be 
 put to the test, or none but they would endure 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 245 
 
 it. Indeed, so far from collecting from a broad 
 view of Cyprian's works, that none but Catholics 
 ever did, or in his opinion ever could, suffer and 
 die for the name of Christ ; we shall rather 
 collect from such passages as those which I shall 
 presently adduce, that some at least, if not many, 
 had actually thus suffered and died ; and that 
 his repeated and earnest references to the posi- 
 tion in which such persons stood in respect of 
 the Church, arose out of the necessity which 
 their existence at least, and their pretensions, if 
 not their number, produced. 
 
 Thus, speaking of Nicostratus, he says'*, " This 
 deserter and renegade boasts himself a confessor : 
 whereas he can neither be nor be called a confessor, 
 who has denied the Church of Christ." Again, 
 at the conclusion of the Epistle to Antonianus : 
 " apostates and deserters, or the adversaries of 
 Christ, who sow discord in His Church, cannot 
 be admitted by any Apostolic rule to the peace 
 of the Church, no not though they be slain for 
 the name of Christ, while they are yet without : 
 since they have maintained neither the spirit nor 
 the unity of the Church''." And even in the pas- 
 sage immediately following that before quoted, 
 in which he exults over Novatian as having 
 escaped persecution, Cyprian says, " Even if one 
 of such a party should fall into the hands of the 
 enemy, there is still no sufficient ground for his 
 * Ep. xlix. p. 63. '' Ep. Hi. p. 75. 
 
24« LllE AND TIMES 
 
 boasting himself a confessor of the Christian name; 
 since it is phiin, that if such persons are ever put 
 to death out of the Church, they receive not the 
 crown of their fidelity, but the meet reward of 
 their perfidy ; nor can they, whom we behold 
 separated from the household of faith by their 
 reckless discord, be accounted among those who 
 continue of one mind in the house of God'." The 
 very event which Cyprian here admits as possible, 
 and against the pernicious effects of which he 
 provides an antidote, did actually occur ; for 
 Socrates tells us in his Ecclesiastical History*^, that 
 Novatian, who escaped, indeed, the persecution in 
 which Cornelius and Lucius perished, suffered 
 death under Valerian. 
 
 In a word, (for we are forced to take refuge at 
 last in this safe harbour,) no popular test of the 
 truth — ^such as the endurance of persecution, 
 though it may appeal ever so strongly to man's 
 affections ; or pretended miracles, though they 
 may take his reason almost by storm — no such 
 test can be safely trusted alone, however valuable 
 it may be in its right place, and however fascinat- 
 ing its use : but after all we must apply a more 
 severe rule of judging between catholic verity and 
 the fancies and vagaries of sectaries and fanatics. 
 We must listen to no reasoning, however sup- 
 ported, which tends to shake our faith in that 
 which has been the doctrine of the first days of 
 ^ Ep. Ivii. p. 95. '^ Lib. iv. 28. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 247 
 
 the Church, and has been ever held as the faith 
 of the Apostles : our eyes must be closed against 
 all portents, our ears must be stopped against 
 all boastings and lamentations, which would 
 subvert that primitive doctrine ; or else we 
 shall be in danger of falling victims to those 
 delusions, by which Satan would deceive, if it 
 were possible, the very elect ; and from which 
 it is only possible that they can be saved by the 
 application of those means which God has com- 
 mitted to them, to prove all things, that they 
 may hold fast that which is good. 
 
 It can scarcely be necessary to remark, that 
 the questions here touched are all and altogether 
 different from that which relates to persecution 
 as a sign of the truth of Christianity itself, in 
 opposition to heathenism and infidelity. Upon 
 this subject St. Cyprian expresses himself most 
 excellently at the close of his tract on the "Vanity 
 of Idols, where he is stating the evidences of his 
 religion to the Gentiles. " The followers of 
 Jesus," says he% " are put to the torture, are 
 crucified, and suffer all manner of indignities, 
 that their sincerity may be tried to the utter- 
 most. Suffering, which is the test of truth, is 
 inflicted on them, that Christ the Son of God, 
 on whom they believe as the Author of eternal 
 life to man, may be proclaimed not only with the 
 voice of the preacher, but with the testimony also 
 
 e De Idoli Van. p. 228. 
 
248 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 of martyrs." This reasoning has all the force of 
 demonstration, when it is considered, that those 
 Avho first suffered as Christians, could not possibly 
 be deceived as to the truth of those events, in 
 attestation of which they shed their blood : nor 
 would it so much as shake this evidence, if some 
 few isolated individuals had been found willing 
 to maintain an obstinate adherence to known 
 falsehood before the face of torture and of death : 
 such single exceptions of a general rule may 
 afford psychological phenomena of great interest 
 and importance ; but can never shake those 
 foundations of human testimony, on which we 
 may and must build as unquestionably secure. 
 
 Thus in a history of these times, and of the 
 persecution under Gallus, we have found leisure 
 to speculate upon those subjects which perse- 
 cution naturally suggests : as Cyprian himself, 
 though he had anticipated a more violent attack 
 upon the Church than that which they had ex- 
 perienced from the Dccii, found himself now, 
 however, at liberty to continue among his people, 
 and to encourage them with many works, and 
 constant pastoral care ; whereas in the former 
 case he had been driven from his charge by the 
 more violent rage of the persecutors. In writing 
 of the Decian persecution, we were chiefly occu- 
 pied in detailing instances of suffering and con- 
 stancy ; but now we have found time and oppor- 
 tunity to turn our eyes to the attendants of 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 049 
 
 persecution, to its usual causes and consequences : 
 to the feelings, doctrines, and encouragements, 
 rather than the actual sufferings, of martyrs and 
 confessors : and to the calm reasoning of Chris- 
 tians upon the passing events : to the way in 
 which men were prepared for the conflict, rather 
 than the way in which they actually endured it : 
 to the crown of martyrdom, towards which their 
 hopes were directed, rather than the instruments 
 of torture and of death. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE PLAUUE RAGES AT CAUTHAGE- CYPHIAN S TRACT DK 
 
 MORTALITATE. THE EXPECTATION OF THE LAST DAY IN 
 
 THE EARLY CHURCH : GIBBON's USE OF IT. — CYPRIAN's 
 
 OPINION ON THE TIME, PERSON, AND CHARACTER OF 
 ANTICHRIST. 
 
 The persecution at length ceased, but the 
 plague, which had afforded to the heathen the 
 first pretence of persecution, still remained ; a 
 more destructive, but a less cruel, enemy; for cer- 
 tainly the Christians must have felt that it was 
 better to fall into the hands of the Lord, than 
 into the hands of men. This scourge of the 
 nations afforded an additional and most im- 
 portant and interesting occasion of the display of 
 the character of St. Cyprian, as a Christian and 
 as a Bishop. 
 
 The symptoms of this terrible disease Cyprian 
 has himself described ; they seem to have in- 
 cluded a fearful state of exhaustion, with fever, 
 and mortifying and putrid sores * : and Pontius 
 
 ' Quod nunc corporis vires solutus in fluxuni venter evis- 
 cerat, quod in faiicium vulnera conceptus nieduUitus ignis 
 
LIFE AND TIMES OF ST. CYPRIAN. Q51 
 
 tells US, that this terrible pestilence swept away 
 numbers daily, sometimes carrying off whole 
 households. The carcases of men lay in the 
 streets, and there were none to bury them ; the 
 uninfected deserted their sick relatives, or even 
 turned them out to die unattended in the streets. 
 Yet those who had not courage to attend the 
 living, or to bury the dead, summoned resolu- 
 tion to rob those who were in the extremity 
 of sickness ; and the fears of the Gentile inha- 
 bitants of the great city of Carthage were only 
 surpassed by their cupidity. In short, all was 
 consternation, misery, and crime. There is no 
 reason to suspect Pontius of exaggeration here ; 
 indeed, exaggeration of such horrors would scarce 
 be possible. Gibbon gives an appalling account 
 of the miseries of these times. '' Our habits of 
 thinking," says he, " so fondly connect the order 
 of the universe with the fate of man, that this 
 gloomy period of history has been decorated with 
 inundations, earthquakes, uncommon meteors, 
 preternatural darkness, and a crowd of prodigies, 
 fictitious or exaggerated. But a long and 
 
 exaestuat, quod assiduo vomitu intestiria quatiuntur, quod 
 oculi vi sanguinis inardescunt, quod quorundam vel pedes 
 vel aliquae membrorum partes coiitagio morbidae putredinis 
 atnputantur, quod per jacturas et damna corporum prorum- 
 pente languore vel debilitatur incessus, vel auditus obstruitur, 
 vel coecatur aspectus. De Morialilate, p. 232. 
 
252 LIFE AND TIMi:s 
 
 general famine was a calamity of a more serious 
 kind. It was the inevitable consequence of 
 rapine and oppression, which extirpated the pro- 
 duce of the present, and the hope of future, 
 harvests. Famine is always followed by epide- 
 mical diseases, the effect of scanty and unwhole- 
 some food. Other causes must, however, have 
 contributed to the furious plague, which from the 
 year 250, to the year 265, raged without inter- 
 mission in every province, every city, and almost 
 every family of the Roman empire. During some 
 time five thousand persons died daily in Rome ; 
 and many towns that had escaped the hands of 
 barbarians, were entirely depopulated. 
 
 " We have the knowledge of a very curious 
 circumstance, of some use, perhaps, in the melan- 
 choly calculation of human calamities. An exact 
 register was kept at Alexandria of all the citizens 
 entitled to receive the distribution of corn. It 
 was found, that the ancient number of those 
 comprised between the ages of forty and seventy, 
 had been equal to the whole sum of claimants, 
 from fourteen to fourscore years of age, who 
 remained alive after the reign of Gallus. Ap- 
 plying this authentic fact to the most correct 
 tables of mortality, it evidently proves, that 
 above half the people of Alexandria had pe- 
 rished ; and could we venture to e.xtend the 
 analogy to the other provinces, we might suspect, 
 that war, pestilence, and famine, had consumed. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 253 
 
 in a few years, the moiety of the human 
 species^." 
 
 Tlie courage and the charity of Cyprian shone 
 with resplendent lustre, in this gloom of misery 
 and vice. Assembling his people as here- 
 tofore, he inculcated, with the authority of a 
 Bishop, the highest moral lesson, enforced with 
 the most powerful and religious motives. He 
 exhorted them to a proper care of the sick, and 
 to a pious sepulture of the dead ; and that not 
 only of their own numbers, but even of the very 
 Gentiles who were taking occasion of the plague 
 to persecute them : thus did he illustrate the 
 divine precept of our Lord, by which we are 
 taught to love our enemies, to repay evil with 
 good, and to bless those who persecute us ; and 
 thus did he exhort them to imitate the mercy of 
 God, Who maketh his sun to rise on the evil and 
 on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on 
 the unjust. If the heathen had heard him ad- 
 dressing such lessons to his people, says Pontius, 
 surely they must have been converted. 
 
 The consequence of this care on the part of the 
 pastor, was manifested in the conduct of the flock. 
 Provision was made for the visiting of the sick, and 
 for the burying of the dead ; and those who had 
 no money to gite, gave their labour. That pious 
 care of the Christians for their departed brethren, 
 
 b Gibbon's Decline and Fall, vol. i. p. 455. end of 
 chap. X. 
 
254 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 which SO forcibly struck the Apostate Julian, was 
 here extended, under the most distressing and 
 appalling circumstances, not to their brethren 
 only, but to their very enemies. How great 
 effect does this give to the severity with which 
 Cyprian upbraids the heathen, in his Epistle to 
 Demetrian, with their desertion of the dead and 
 of the dying ! " You cry out," says he, " against 
 the plague and the pestilence, while by that very 
 plague and pestilence the crimes of individuals 
 are either detected or increased ; while pity 
 is withheld from the infected, and avarice and 
 robbery gloat over the dead. The very persons 
 who dare not perform the pious obsequies of the 
 departed, are rash in their schemes of plunder : 
 they flee from funerals, that they may rush upon 
 the spoil ; and it would almost seem that the 
 wretched sufferers are left alone in their sickness, 
 lest perchance they should escape death, if they 
 were attended. For he surely manifests a desire 
 for another's death, who scarce waits for it, that 
 he may seize upon his wealth ' ." 
 
 There were other considerations, however, to 
 be urged upon his people by Cyprian at this 
 juncture, besides those which excited them to 
 charity and good works : they were to be for- 
 tified against personal afflictions ; against the 
 fear of death, and against immoderate sorrow 
 for departed friends. Accordingly, the watchful 
 
 " Page 219. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. '255 
 
 Bishop prepared a discourse on the present 
 mortality, which was probably delivered from 
 his own lips to his assembled people, as well 
 as distributed among them as a written tract : 
 and he expressly declares, that this was done 
 in obedience to repeated warnings from Heaven. 
 In this discourse he urges much at length, and 
 with characteristic eloquence, the Scriptural 
 encouragement to patience in suffering, and 
 the reasons which a Christian has to look on 
 death as a blessing, though it come in the 
 most terrible form. To that which is equally 
 applicable to all times of affliction in this dis- 
 course, I will not advert : but I may mention, 
 that among the causes of the impatience which 
 Cyprian had to contend against, was the fear 
 of some, that they might be deprived, by the 
 progress of the plague, of the honour of martyr- 
 dom. He reminds such persons, that martyrdom 
 is not to be accounted as a property even of the 
 best and most courageous Christians, nor to be 
 reckoned upon as if in every man's power ; since 
 it is in a double sense a free gift of God, Who 
 both places us in the way to it, and enables us 
 to endure it ; and both by an exercise of His 
 free grace. He encourages them to believe, 
 moreover, that God, Who trieth the hearts and 
 reins, would, if they were really prepared for 
 martyrdom, bestow on them the reward of 
 martyrs, though they died not under the sword 
 
256 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 of the magistrate, but beneatli His own fatherly 
 visitation : for if, in vengeance. He rejected 
 Cain's offering, anticipating the crime not yet 
 perpetrated ; much more could He, in mercy, 
 accept them, though the noble act which they 
 meditated was not yet accomplished, and might 
 perchance be placed out of their power. 
 
 He relates an anecdote of a brother Bishop, 
 who was at the point of death, and clinging still 
 tenaciously to life, prayed earnestly for a short 
 respite. While he was thus praying, and while 
 death was closing upon him, a youth stood 
 beside him, of an aspect noble and heavenly, 
 and such as mortal eyes could scarce behold, 
 except those that were about to open upon 
 another world. With an indignant voice and 
 manner, he cried aloud to the dying man ; 
 
 Do YE SHRINK FROM SUFFERING ; ARE YE UNWIL- 
 LING TO depart; what would Yli THAT I SHOULD 
 
 DO FOR you' ? This rebuke, says Cyprian, could 
 not have been intended chiefly for the dying 
 Bishop, to whom it had already ceased to be 
 of use as a practical admonition ; but it was 
 uttered that he might publish it to those whom 
 he should leave behind, and that we might apply 
 it to our spiritual benefit. 
 
 There is another topic often touched by St. 
 Cyprian, in this and other works, to which I 
 
 '' Pati timetis, exire non vultis, quid faciam vobis? Dc 
 Morlalilatr, p. g.34. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 257 
 
 shall advert at greater length ; because the 
 prevalence of the opinion which we shall find 
 him expressing, is made by Gibbon one of the 
 natural causes of the rapid increase of Chris- 
 tianity, in a discussion which is so conducted 
 as to interpose secondary causes to our per- 
 ception of the first divine cause, to which rather 
 they ought to direct our attention. 
 
 We have already seen Cyprian reasoning with 
 Demetrian, from a presumption that the world 
 was rapidly approaching its end : and this belief, 
 from which he there gathered topics of reproof 
 to the heathen, he here employs to animate and 
 encourage his brethren in Christ, in their present 
 transitory struggle with afflictions. " The king- 
 dom of God, brethren most beloved, has begun 
 its nearer approaches. The reward of life, the 
 fruition of eternal bliss, perpetual security, and 
 the enjoyment of paradise lately forfeited, are 
 dawning upon us, as the world passes away. 
 What place, then, is there left, for fear and 
 trepidation ^" And again, having inculcated the 
 general lesson of resignation at the death of 
 friends, he adds ; " this submission, which ought 
 always to be the temper of the servants of God, 
 is now much more incumbent on them, while 
 the world is hastening to destruction, in the 
 midst of accumulated evils. We who have seen 
 terrible events, and know that yet more terrible 
 " De Mort. p. 229. 
 s 
 
'258 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 are impending, should reckon it our privilege 
 and happiness to escape the more quickly. If 
 your house shook, and threatened every moment 
 to bury you beneath its trembling walls, would 
 you not rush out of it as soon as possible ? 
 If you were on a voyage, and the winds and 
 the swelling waves threatened destruction to your 
 vessel, would you not hasten to the port ? Be- 
 hold, then, the world, nodding to its fall, and 
 affording every indication not only of an age 
 past maturity, but of its approaching end : and 
 dost thou not give God thanks : dost thou not 
 congratulate thine own felicity, that thou art 
 snatched by an earlier deliverance from im- 
 pending wreck and ruin^?" 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to transcribe other 
 passages to the same purpose ; though we may 
 make several references, to show how habitually 
 the notion of which we are speaking pervaded 
 Cyprian's mind. In his Treatise on the Unity 
 of the Church, he refers the heresies and 
 divisions which gave occasion to that work to 
 the prophecy of St. Paul to Timothy, that in the 
 last days perilous times should come, and divi- 
 sions arising from the wilful and insubordinate 
 temper of many in the Church ^. In his book on 
 the Vanity of Idols, he connects the calling of the 
 Gentiles with the end of the world, in such terms 
 as to prove that he imagined the prophecies 
 
 ' i'age 236. 5 Page 200. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 259 
 
 which he adduces, spoke of his own days, as 
 the fuhiess of times, and the approaching end ''. 
 In his Epistle to the people of Thybaris, before 
 quoted, he draws the same conclusion from the 
 afflictions which the Church was then suffering ' : 
 and in his Epistle to Cornelius, he refers the 
 schisms in the Church to the last days spoken 
 of by St. Paul, with the Apostle's warning, that 
 such evils should precede them*". Thus, whether 
 he had to rebuke the wilfulness of sectaries, or 
 to meet the arguments of the heathen, or to 
 exhort the brethren to meet martyrdom with 
 courage, or the terrible death by pestilence with 
 patience, or the loss of friends with resignation ; 
 whether he had to support the faith of the 
 Church against heresies, or its order against 
 schism, he still referred to that overwhelming 
 consideration, that the end of all things was at 
 hand. 
 
 Nor does Cyprian stand alone in this mistaken 
 conviction. St. Chrysostom says, " the end is 
 no longer to be delayed ; for these things are 
 even at the door. We know not, whether even 
 in this our generation, the death of all things tem- 
 poral may not arrive, and that dreadful day dawn, 
 the day of judgment. For the greater part of 
 the signs of that day are before us : the Gospel 
 is preached in all lands ; we have had wars, and 
 earthquakes, and famine ; and what besides is 
 ^' Page 227. ' Ep. Ivi. " Ep. Iv. 
 
 S 2 
 
200 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 there to intervene ? But you do not recognize 
 these signs. Learn, however, that this blindness 
 of yours is among the greatest of them ; for so 
 it was in the days of Noe, and of Sodom '," &c. 
 And not to accumulate instances unnecessarily, 
 Gregory, Bishop of Rome, at the close of the 
 fifth century, writes : " As when night is ending 
 and day beginning, before the sun rises there is 
 a sort of twilight, while the remains of the 
 departing darkness are changing perfectly into 
 the radiance of the day which succeeds ; so the 
 end of this world is already mingling with the 
 commencement of the next, and the very gloom 
 of what remains has begun to be illuminated 
 with the incoming of things spiritual." And 
 again ; " Why is it, I ask, that in these last 
 times so many things begin to be clear about 
 souls which before were hidden ; so that by open 
 revelations and disclosures the age to come seems 
 forcing itself on us and dawning ?" 
 
 Indeed, as the learned author of the tract on 
 Purgatory, in the " Tracts for the Times," from 
 which the quotations from Gregory are borrowed, 
 observes, '' Nothing has been more common in 
 every age, than to think the day of judgment 
 approaching ; and perhaps it was intended that 
 the Church should ever so suppose. Perhaps so 
 to suppose is even a mark of a Christian mind ; 
 
 ' Chrysostomi Horn. xx. al. xxi. in Matt, last paragraph, 
 vol. vii. p. .'504. new Edition of Paris. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. W\ 
 
 which at least will ever be on its watch-tower to 
 see whether it be coming or no, from desire of its 
 Saviour's return "\" 
 
 Now it is not to be doubted, that this pre- 
 vailing expectation of the end of the world 
 would materially influence the character of Chris- 
 tians ; and that for the better : and thus in- 
 directly it would be influential in the propagation 
 of the faith ; since the purity of the Church was 
 one of the great moral elements of its influence 
 over the heathen, and one which we as Christians 
 can never be ashamed to recognize. I confess 
 that Gibbon does verbally ascribe to this opinion 
 its appropriate effect in the primitive Church : 
 but let us remember, that it is his main object in 
 the fifteenth chapter of his work, to which we 
 are referring, to state the causes of the rapid 
 growth of the Christian Church ; the second of 
 which he makes " the doctrine of a future life, 
 improved by every additional circumstance which 
 could give weight and efficacy to that important 
 truth." Having this his object in mind, and 
 taking his words in their proper connexion, we 
 shall see that he would represent the heathen 
 as frightened into Christianity by that expecta- 
 tion which purified the character of Christians ; 
 and not as being won over to the Church, 
 by the beauty of the Christian character thus 
 purified. 
 
 '" Tracts for the Times, No. 79, p. 4(). 
 
262 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 It is thus that he expresses himself. " When 
 the promise of eternal happiness was proposed to 
 mankind, on condition of adopting the faith, and 
 of observing the precepts of the Gospel, it is no 
 wonder that so advantageous an offer should have 
 been accepted by great numbers of every religion, 
 of every rank, and of every provi?icc in the Roman 
 empire. The ancient Christians were animated 
 by a contempt for their present existence, and by 
 a just confidence of immortality, of which the 
 doubtful and imperfect faith of modern ages 
 cannot give us any adequate notion. In the 
 primitive Church, the influence of truth was 
 very powerfully strengthened by an opinion, 
 which, however it may deserve respect for its 
 usefulness and antiquity, has not been found 
 agreeable to experience. It was universally be- 
 lieved, that the end of the world, and the king- 
 dom of heaven, were at hand. The near approach 
 of this wonderful event had been predicted by 
 the Apostles ; the tradition of it was preserved 
 by their earliest disciples, and those who under- 
 stood in their literal sense the discourses of Christ 
 himself, were obliged to expect the second and glori- 
 ous coming of the Son of Man in the clouds, before 
 that generation was totally extinguished, which 
 had beheld his humble condition upon earth, and 
 which might still witness of the calamities of the 
 Jews under Vespasian or Hadrian. The revolu- 
 tion of seventeen centuries has instructed us not 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 263 
 
 to press too closely the mysterious language of 
 prophecy and revelation ; but as long as, for wise 
 purposes, the error was permitted to subsist in 
 the Church, it was productive of the most 
 salutary effects on the faith and practice of 
 Christians, who lived in the awful expectation 
 of that moment, when the globe itself, and all 
 the various races of mankind, should tremble at 
 the appearance of their divine Judge." 
 
 Now not to mention the malicious tone of this 
 passage, and the temerity with which its infidel 
 author has ventured so to interpret prophecy as to 
 make it false ; (surely his unhallowed hand might 
 have refrained at least from touching the ark 
 itself!) is it not manifest, that as concerns the 
 expectation of the coming of Christ, and that 
 also of the Millenium, to which he next adverts, 
 and in short every expectation founded on the 
 reception and belief of what was revealed by 
 Christ, and propagated among his disciples, with 
 or without some mixture of human error ; is it 
 not manifest, that such an expectation could only 
 produce an effect on those who had believed 
 already ; that is, on those who had embraced the 
 revelation of the truth ? But if so, this expecta- 
 tion was not among the direct causes of the 
 growth of Christianity, by directing towards it, 
 or frightening into it, those who were without : 
 and if it was, and was by God Himself intended 
 to be a means of purifying the lives and afFec- 
 
264 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 tions of Christians, and so indirectly working 
 upon the heathen, who saw their good works, 
 and glorified Our Father which is in Heaven, 
 little will be gained to the cause of infidelity, 
 from this ground of a Christian's rejoicing and 
 humble boast. 
 
 And here some other remarks are suggested, 
 upon the ' Christian's hope of his Lord's speedy 
 coming. The expectation of a rapid period of 
 the world was never a matter of faith in the 
 Church, nor imposed as such by any body of 
 Christians, nor by any individual. It was at 
 most an opinion of many great and good men, 
 which had in it nothing contrary to true piety ; 
 and which gave a high and noble tone to the 
 applied theology of each passing age. It is 
 in vain therefore to argue from their mistake 
 in this matter, which was not a matter of faith, 
 against the authority of the Fathers, as witnessing 
 to the rule of faith. It is equally in vain to 
 argue from hence against the importance of the 
 unanimous judgment of the doctors of the 
 Church, in its earliest and best days : for in 
 the first place it is not clear that the unanimous 
 judgment of the Fathers, at any one time, was 
 ever recorded upon this subject^; and moreover, 
 
 " The Author of the Advent Sermons on Antichrist (No. 83 
 of Tracts for the Times) says, after having quoted some 
 prophecies of impending persecution from the Scriptures, 
 " These passages were understood by the early Christians 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 265 
 
 the expectation of the end of the world as imme- 
 diately impending at any particular time, could 
 never, in the very nature of things, become ca- 
 tholic ; for it must always want the semper of 
 catholicity, though at any one time it might have 
 had (which however I deny in fact) the ubique, 
 and the ab omnibus. For example, those only 
 who lived before and during the time of Cyprian, 
 could possibly agree with him in supposing that 
 in his day the end was at hand. This is, indeed, 
 self-evident, and may appear like solemn trifling; 
 but it has really its importance derived from the 
 misrepresentations of those who deride the appeal 
 to antiquity in theological discussions : for such 
 opinions of })articular times, or of individual 
 persons, are often adduced against us, as weak- 
 ening the authority of tradition, or of the recorded 
 universal judgment of all ages and Churches, in 
 attestation of doctrinal truth. But we of the 
 
 to relate to the persecution, which was to come in the last 
 times ; and they seem evidently to bear upon them that 
 meaninpj. Our Saviour's words, indeed, about the fiery 
 trial which was coming, might seem at first sight to refer to 
 the early persecutions, those to which the first Christians 
 were exposed ; and doubtless so they do. Yet, violent as 
 these persecutions were, they were not considered by those who 
 suffered them, to be the proper fuljilment of the prophecy." 
 (p. 44.) Now if they looked for a farther fulfilment of 
 these prophecies, they looked for a time in which they might 
 be fulfilled ; and so those to whom the learned author refers, 
 did not expect the end of the world as immediately ap- 
 proaching. 
 
266 I'IFE AND TIMES 
 
 Anglican Church receive not as conclusive the 
 testimony of one man or of one age ; therefore 
 to weaken the authority of one man or one age, 
 is not to weaken the support of our system : and 
 again, we distinguish between doctrine and opi- 
 nion ; and should distinguish between catholic 
 doctrine, and pious and probable opinion, even 
 if it should happen to be catholic : in the latter 
 it is conceivable, that the whole Church might err, 
 and yet the promise of Christ not fail ; in the 
 former we know not how to believe that this 
 could be the case, and therefore we believe 
 Christ and the Church. 
 
 Besides which it is to be remembered, that 
 whatever weight the judgment of individuals, or 
 even of Churches, may have on such a subject as 
 the times of the end of the world, it must have as 
 an interpretation of prophecy, as yet unfulfilled : 
 and even those among us who place the authority 
 of tradition at the highest, plainly declare, that 
 " the Fathers do not convey to us the interpreta- 
 tion of prophecy, with the same certainty as they 
 convey doctrine." Even, therefore, should it be 
 admitted, for argument's sake, that the Fathers 
 have here, as a body, interpreted wrongly, our 
 confidence in their authority, where they ought 
 to be appealed to, is not a whit shaken. But let 
 me remit the reader to the Tract last quoted ; 
 the three first pages of which will convince all 
 who know what is the doctrine of Rome on the 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 267 
 
 Authority of Tradition, that that doctrine is not 
 the doctrine of those who wish/to remember, that 
 our Church was once stigmatized as the " Church 
 of the Traditioners''," and to convert the impu- 
 tation into a badge of honour and a pledge of 
 fidelity and truth. As for persuading those who 
 know not what the doctrine of Rome is, that is 
 out of the question ; they want one of the things 
 to be compared, and cannot therefore judge of 
 their disparity. It would be well if they could 
 be persuaded to hold their tongues, until they 
 have qualified themselves to speak. 
 
 Here, too, I cannot withhold a comparison of 
 the modesty of the general expressions of Cyprian, 
 and the rest of the Fathers here quoted, with the 
 temerity of those inteiyreters (shall I call them ?) of 
 sacred Scripture in these days, who would fix the 
 very year and the very day, at which we are to 
 look for the end of the present system of things. 
 In nothing does Antiquity rebuke modern specu- 
 lators more severely, though silently, than by the 
 reverence, the holy fear, with which she was wont 
 to touch whatever is sacred, to enquire into what- 
 ever is hidden. 
 
 Of Cyprian's belief that the end of the world 
 was at hand, it was an almost necessary part, that 
 Antichrist was also already come, or very soon to 
 be revealed : and accordingly he states most 
 
 '' See note B of the Appendix to Dr. Hook's Call to Union 
 on the Principles of the English Reformation. 
 
268 MFE AND TIMES 
 
 clearly that he looked for the revelation of that 
 mystery of niiquity, as preceding the coining of 
 Christ. " Let it not move you," says he to the 
 brethren of Legio and Astm'ia', " that in these 
 latter days the faith of some has been wavering ; 
 that the fear of God has diminished among them, 
 and the bonds of union broken. These things 
 have been foretold as the attendants of the end 
 of the world ; and our Lord and His Apostles 
 have agreed in predicting, that at the close of the 
 world, and at the co?fimg of Antichrist, all good 
 things should appear to fail, and all evil things, 
 and all things hostile to the Church, should in- 
 crease." And again, " Antichrist is at hand, but 
 Christ also cometh immediately after. The enemy 
 advances in his rage, but the Lord delays not 
 His coming, to avenge our sufferings and afflic- 
 tions ''." 
 
 That Antichrist was very near at hand, was 
 evidently, then, a part of Cyprian's belief; but 
 when we come to enquire what was his notion 
 concerning the character of Antichrist, and his 
 personality, so to speak, we shall find the same 
 vagueness in him, that we must find in all who 
 cannot avoid the mention of such things as are 
 vaguely set before us in Scripture to excite us 
 to piety and to watchfulness, because the mys- 
 terious annunciations have become deeply im- 
 pressed upon their feelings ; but who dare 
 ' Ep. Ixviii. p. 120. ^ Ep. Ivi. p. 92. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 269 
 
 not take such liberties with Holy Writ, as to 
 erect for themselves a figure of full propor- 
 tions, out of a few striking lineaments. It should 
 seem, however, that Cyprian believed Antichrist 
 to be a man, an individual, as opposed to a 
 sect or party, to a prevailing tone of ethics or 
 divinity, to a system of philosophy, or a spirit 
 of philosophising, or to a vague accession of 
 evils, whether persecution, or moral or religious 
 evil, in which light Antichrist seems to be viewed 
 by different persons at present. For in his 
 testimonies against the Jews, having referred to 
 the prophecy in the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah, 
 especially to the words, " Is this the man that 
 made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, 
 that made the world as a wilderness ?" he speaks 
 of Antichrist as of him who shall come as a man\ 
 And the following passage may seem to tend the 
 same way : " those virgins (who are cut off in the 
 plague) leave the world in peace, and with an 
 untarnished reputation, and have not to dread the 
 threat, the seductiones et lupanaria, of the ap- 
 proaching Antichrist""." Here, besides the person 
 of Antichrist, we have also one feature of his 
 character, a heartless and shameless debauchery, 
 in a word, a total moral degradation. 
 
 The assertion that Antiochus, in the very act 
 
 • De Antichristo, quod in hominem veiiiat Test. Jud. 
 lib. iii. §. 118. p. 329- 
 "' De Mort. p, 233. 
 
270 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 of persecution mentioned in the historical book 
 of the Maccabees, was an impersonation, or at 
 least a precursive figure, of Antichrist", also leads 
 to the conclusion, that Cyprian made that mys- 
 tery of iniquity an individual ; and intimates 
 another part of his expected character and ac- 
 tions, that he should be a savage persecutor. 
 And yet another character of that coming pest 
 is indicated by the assertion of Cyprian, that 
 those who separate the Church, imitate his 
 character, and are actuated by his spirit. *' Their 
 perversion," says he, in his Epistle to Cornelius 
 on the schism of Fortunatus and Felicissimus, 
 '^ is to be lamented even to tears, whom the Devil 
 so thoroughly blinds, that, disregarding the eternal 
 pains of hell, they dare to imitate the approach 
 of the coming Antichrist"." And againP;"If 
 we set aside the errors for which men contend, 
 and revert religiously and faithfully to the au- 
 thority of the Gospel, and to the tradition of 
 Apostolical principles, we shall perceive, that no 
 portion of the grace of the Church, and of salva- 
 tion, remains at their disposal, who scatter and 
 oppose the Church of Christ ; and who are 
 called adversaries by Christ himself, but by his 
 Apostles Antichrist." Hence we may collect, I 
 
 " Rex Antiochus infestus, immo in Antiocho Antichristus 
 expressus. Ad Fort. p. 270. 
 " Ep. Iv. p. 8}). 
 •' Ep. Ixxiii. p. 1.S4. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 271 
 
 think, as from no obscure hints, that Antichrist 
 was, in Cyprian's judgment, to be not only a 
 persecutor and an alien from all the hopes and 
 blessings of Christianity, but that he was to be 
 also an apostate ; ravaging that fold to which 
 he had once belonged. 
 
 I have only to add, that there has nothing 
 intervened, that I know of, which should prevent 
 our having the same notions of Antichrist, and 
 the same feelings about his coming, that St. 
 Cyprian had : and so long as the end shall be 
 yet future, the words of Cyprian may well ex- 
 press the feelings of those who are on their post 
 as watchmen, and convey a timely warning to 
 the careless. As an appropriate precept and en- 
 couragement to those who deeply feel these things, 
 he reminds Lucius, that he has returned to his 
 Episcopal throne, " that the Bishop may stand 
 at the Altar of God, to exhort his flock to take 
 up the arms which shall prepare them for con- 
 fession and martyrdom, and to second his pre- 
 cepts with his actions ; and thus to prepare his 
 soldiers for the battle, while Antichrist is ap- 
 proaching, with the incitements not only of his 
 voice and of his exhortations, but by the example 
 also of his faith and firmness^." 
 
 1 Ep. Iviii. p. q6. 
 
CHAP. XII. 
 
 WEAKNESS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. — NUMIDIAN CHRISTIANS 
 CARRIED CAPTIVE BY BARBARIANS. — COLLECTIONS MADE 
 IN CARTHAGE TO REDEEM THEM. — CYPRIAN's EPISTLE TO 
 
 C^CXLIUS ON THE MIXED CDP. HIS DOCTRINE APPLIED 
 
 TO HALF COMMUNION, AND OTHER ERRORS IN THE PRE- 
 SENT DAY. 
 
 Such was the state of the Roman Empire in 
 this age, that while its very centre was subject 
 to the incursions of the Goths, the confines were 
 exposed to the ravages of the several barbarian 
 nations on whose territories they bordered : and 
 Numidia, with the rest of the frontier provinces, 
 was subject to this kind of border warfare. On 
 one occasion, in the beginning of the year 253, 
 a descent having been made on their territory, 
 a number of Christians were carried off, together 
 with other Numidian captives, by their barbarian 
 invaders'*, and the brethren of their own province 
 
 ' It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine who were 
 the barbarians, into whose hands the Numidian brethren 
 had fallen. Some have supposed that they were Persians; 
 
LIFE AND TIMES OF ST. CYPRIAN. 073 
 
 being too poor to redeem them from captivity, 
 the Church in Carthage took advantage of the 
 opportunity of relieving the distressed members 
 of a sister Church ; and of acting upon that 
 Christian communion, which binds together all 
 the members of Christ's body, first, individuals 
 with their particular Church, and then, in those 
 Churches, with the whole body. On this occa- 
 sion, a collection was made in Carthage, at the 
 instance of St. Cyprian, to whom the Numidians 
 had applied for assistance ; and notwithstanding 
 the large demands on their charity which had 
 already arisen during the plague, no less than 
 a hundred thousand sesterces (nearly eight hun- 
 dred pounds) was transmitted from the Carthagi- 
 nians to the distressed Church of the Numidians. 
 
 but it should seem to be sufficient to set aside this notion, 
 that their victorious invasion of the Roman Empire was 
 not till the year 260, seven years after the events of which 
 we are speaking; and yet this opinion must be inentioned, 
 because it has had its influence in determining, or rather in 
 rendering indeterminable, the date of the Epistle of Cyprian 
 to the Numidian Bishops. Bishop Pearson, in his Annates 
 Cyprianici, argues with great learning, from St. Augustine 
 and others, that the invaders in this instance were some 
 warrior nations bordering on Numidia to the south. The 
 Franks seem about this time to have pushed their successes 
 thi'ough Spain into Mauritania, and may well have reached 
 Numidia also, in their rapid foray : but perhaps it may be 
 difficult to determine whether this irruption of the Franks 
 exactly synchronizes with the Epistle of Cyprian. See 
 Gibbon's Decline and Fall, vol. i. p. 415 
 
 T 
 
274 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 The Epistle with which Cyprian accompanied 
 this charitable collection, is replete with the 
 expressions of those sentiments of Christian be- 
 nevolence, and of those principles of Christian 
 fellowship, which alone entitles even liberality 
 to the name of Cliaritij, and to the reward of 
 a Christian grace. " I read your letter," says 
 he to the Nmnidian Bishops, " with much emotion, 
 and not without tears at the sad account which 
 you gave of our brethren in Christ. For who 
 can help grieving in such a case, or refuse to 
 look on their calamity as his own ; since St. 
 Paul says, if one member suffer, all the members 
 siffer with it : and again, zi'ho is zaealc, and I am 
 not weak ? The peril therefore and the captivity 
 of our brethren should be felt as if it were our 
 own ; since we are one body with them, and 
 not only natural affection, but religious prin- 
 ciple, should incite us to relieve them. More- 
 over, since we are told, that they who are 
 baptized have put on Christ ; we should behold 
 Christ Himself in these our suffering members : 
 and He who redeemed us from death, should in 
 them be by us redeemed from danger : He who 
 delivered us from the jaws of the Devil, and 
 is now in the power of the barbarians, should 
 by us be delivered thence : and He who paid for 
 us the ransom of His blood, should now be 
 ransomed by our pecuniary aid. Doubtless He 
 now suffers these events, that our faith may be 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 275 
 
 put to the test ; that it may be seen, whether 
 each of us is willing to do that for others, which 
 
 he would wish to have done for himself "," &c 
 
 He afterwards says, that the brethren in Car- 
 thage, though they hoped that no such need 
 would occur, yet desired to be acquainted with 
 it, if their help should be again required in a like 
 case. 
 
 In return for this supply, which was the act 
 of fellowship which Cyprian and his Church were 
 enabled to afford, they request the prayers of the 
 poor Numidians, which would be on their part 
 an equal reciprocation of Christian fellowship. 
 " That you may be enabled to return the benefit 
 which you receive from the contributors, by your 
 prayers, and by Eucharistic commemorations, I 
 have subjoined their names," says Cyprian, " to- 
 gether with those of the other Bishops, who, 
 happening to be in Carthage, have contributed 
 according to their ability. We bid you fare- 
 well, brethren, and desire your constant remem- 
 brance." 
 
 I need not remind the reader, that this fra- 
 ternal intercourse of giving and receiving be- 
 tween distant Churches, united in one faith, is 
 accordant with the Apostolical precepts and 
 practice. It is also perfectly in the spirit of 
 primitive Christianity, and probably existed in 
 " Ep. Ix. p. 99. 
 T 2 
 
276 lifp: and ri.viKs 
 
 the earlier ages of the Churcli, to a much 
 greater extent than we are aware. Tlie Church 
 of Rome, distinguished from the earliest ages for 
 its wealth, was also honourably distinguished for 
 its diffusive benevolence; and it became an esta- 
 blished custom to make collections in Rome for 
 the poorer, but more ancient and mother Church 
 at Jerusalem. " Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, 
 writing to the Roman Church in the time of 
 Soter, eleventh Bishop of Rome, about the middle 
 of the second century, says, that ' it had been 
 customary with them from the beginning, to 
 benefit all the brethren in various ways ; and 
 to send assistance to many Churches in all cities, 
 thus relieving the poverty of the needy ; and to 
 supply aid to the brethren condemned to the 
 mines, by the gifts which they had sent even 
 from the beginning ; that they preserved as 
 Romans the customs of the Romans, delivered 
 to them from their fathers ; and that their 
 blessed Bishop Soter had not only observed 
 this custom, but had increased it by supplying 
 abundantly the provision allotted to the saints, 
 and by comforting with blessed words the 
 brethren who came to him, even as a loving 
 father acts towards his children.' The same 
 mercy and charity of the Roman Church is 
 mentioned by Dionysius Alexandrinus, in the 
 following century, in an Epistle to Stephen, 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 277 
 
 where lie states, that all Syria and Arabia had 
 received supplies from Rome '." 
 
 Perhaps it would be well if this practice of 
 making collections for poor Churches with which 
 we are in communion, as well as for the poor 
 under any other name, were more frequent ; for 
 it would be a constantly recurring memorial and 
 exercise of that communion which exists, (and 
 ought not to be a dormant or forgotten privilege,) 
 as truly between Catholic Churches as corporate 
 bodies, as between Catholic Christians as indi- 
 viduals ; and even more truly than between 
 Christians with all men whoever, as of the same 
 blood with them, and children of the same 
 heavenly Father. And as the poor shall never 
 cease out of the land ; so that we shall never 
 lack the privilege of doing unto Christ the good 
 which they require and receive at our hand : 
 so also between particular and national Churches 
 there will always be a sufficient disparity to 
 enjoin the duty, and to afford the privilege of 
 communicating in giving and receiving. 
 
 The next Epistle, (the sixty-third,) written to 
 Cgecilius to enforce the necessity of using wine in 
 the Eucharistic cup, is most instructive on the 
 subject of the primitive doctrine of the Holy 
 Communion. A passing indication that it was 
 written during persecution enables us with suffi- 
 cient accuracy to refer this Epistle to the spring 
 *^ I'ahner's Ti'eatise on the Church of Christ, vol. ii. p. 4()8. 
 
278 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 of the year 253. Its first occasion and object 
 are soon related ; but it affords so many indi- 
 cations of Cyprian's opinion upon the doctrine 
 of the Eucharist, that we shall be obliged to 
 examine it at considerable leneth. 
 
 At the time of which we are writing, a very 
 frequent, perhaps a daily, participation in the 
 Eucharistic feast was the universal custom among 
 Christians : but there were men, who were in- 
 duced from a fear that their religion would be 
 betrayed by the smell of the wine, taken in the 
 morning, to consecrate the cup only with water ; 
 and thus to avoid an involuntary confession, and 
 the consequent persecution. These persons are to 
 be distinguished from the Aquarii or Encratites^ ; 
 a pernicious sect, who refused to consecrate wine 
 at the Eucharist, because, forsooth, they thought 
 it wrong to use either wine or flesh, and would 
 be more holy than Christ Himself. Had he 
 been refuting the error of such persons, Cyprian 
 would have been more indignantly severe : as it 
 is, he exposes the danger and impropriety of the 
 practice in question firmly, indeed, but with 
 much patience and forbearance ; and the hardest 
 things that he says of those who were Aquarii 
 from timidity, is, that they seem ashamed of 
 Christ's blood, and that, therefore, they cannot 
 hope to be worthy to pour out their own blood 
 
 •^ For an account of these Aquarii, see Bingham's Orig. 
 Ecc. XV. ii. 7. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 079 
 
 for His sake. And he maintains, with arguments 
 only too abundantly conclusive, that wine must at 
 all hazards and at all events be mingled with the 
 cup, and taken by the people, or that the com- 
 municants are deprived of the blood of Christ in 
 the Eucharist. 
 
 And his expressions in this Epistle are such, 
 and his arguments are so conducted, as to afford 
 the most convincing proof, that in two things 
 at least he was most decidedly opposed to the 
 modern Romish system, in that (1) he could 
 never have consented to take the cup from the 
 laity ; and (2) he cannot have held the dogma 
 of transubstantiation. 
 
 It would be absurd to make a parade of the 
 evidence which we derive from Cyprian's works, 
 that the laity in his days received the Eucharist 
 in both kinds ; since the custom of the Church 
 for several centuries is confessed on all hands ; 
 and since the only question is, not whether Rome 
 took away the cup from the laity, but whether 
 she did not, in so doing, act presumptuously, 
 tyrannically, and sacrilegiously : presumptuously, 
 in contradicting our Lord's intention, as collected 
 from the method of His institution, handed down 
 and interpreted in and by the Apostolical method 
 of administering these most solemn mysteries of 
 our faith : tyrannically , in thus curtailing the 
 people's privileges in this blessed Sacrament : and 
 sacrilegiously, in depriving the people of grace. 
 
280 ' LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 when she took away from tjiem one of the means 
 of its conveyance. I maintain, upon grounds 
 wliich I proceed to adduce, that Cyprian would 
 have held that Rome has fallen under the whole 
 of this censure. 
 
 " Although," says he, " I know that almost all 
 the Bishops hy divine appointment set over the 
 Churches of the Lord throughout the world 
 maintain the order of Gospel truth and divine 
 tradition, and do not depart from that which 
 Christ our Master taught and did, to follow a 
 new invention ; yet since some, either through 
 ignorance or simplicity, do not do that which 
 Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour did and 
 taught, in the consecration of the cup of the 
 Lord, and in the administering it to the people ; 
 I have thought it as well necessary as religious, 
 to write this Epistle to you, that if any one be 
 still involved in that error, he may receive the 
 light of truth, and return to the root and original 
 of the divine tradition ^" Let it be borne in mind, 
 as we read this passage, what it is that Cyprian 
 calls a novel invention, an error ; and in what 
 sort of things he holds the divine tradition, the 
 Gospel truth, the teaching and example of our 
 Lord and Master, to be imperative ; what are 
 the desertions of it which he attributes to igno- 
 rance or simplicity at the best ; and what he 
 judges it a matter of religious necessity to set 
 
 * 1'. 104. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. -281 
 
 right : and I think it will be sufficiently clear, that 
 he would have pronounced precisely the same 
 judgment on the actual taking away the cup 
 from the laity, which he pronounced on the 
 virtual taking it away from the Eucharist alto- 
 gether, by a fancied consecration of that which 
 could not become the blood of Christ. 
 
 But let us again hear the words of Cyprian. 
 "■ We ought to follow the truth of God, not the 
 custom of men : for God saith by the mouth of 
 Isaiah, In vain do they worship me, teaching the 
 commandments and doctrines of men. (Is. xxix. 13. 
 see vers. LXX.) And again the Lord Himself 
 repeats this rebuke in the Gospel, saying. Ye 
 reject the commandment of God, that ye may 
 establish your own traditions; and again in another 
 place he says. He who shall break one of the least 
 of these commandments, and shall teach men so, shall 
 be called the least in the Mngdom of heaven. No^v 
 if it is not lawful to break even the least of the 
 Lord's commandments, how much less is it per- 
 mitted to change or infringe, by any human tra- 
 dition, a divine rule concerning that which is so 
 great, so important, and so essentially connected 
 with the very Sacrament of our Lord's passion, 
 and our redemption. For if Jesus Christ our 
 Lord and our God is Himself the High Priest 
 of God the Father, and first offered Himself 
 as a sacrifice to the Father, and commanded us 
 to do this in the remembrance of Him ; surely 
 
28-2 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 that priest truly discharges the office in the room 
 of Christ, who imitates the actions of Christ; 
 and he then offers a full and true sacrifice in the 
 Church to God the Father, when he so enters 
 upon the offering, as Christ also seems to have 
 doneV'^^c. 
 
 I do not adduce these passages, nor any of 
 those presently quoted, as if they were an ex- 
 pression of his avowed judgment, upon a point 
 which was never discussed in the Church, till he 
 had long gone to his crown. He does 7iot here 
 afford an actual and specific condemnation of the 
 practice of Rome in withholding the cup from 
 the laity : such a condemnation, preceding the 
 times in which it was to be applied, could only 
 be expected from our divine Lord, who could 
 foresee its future necessity : and such a con- 
 demnation we actually have in his words Drixk 
 ye ALL of it: and again. Except ye eat the flesh 
 of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have 
 no life in you. But such expressions as those 
 just quoted from St. Cyprian indicate his mind 
 sufficiently to make us morally certain, that he 
 would at once have protested against the breach 
 of a rule (not sanctified, for it was already 
 divine, but) handed down and attested by in- 
 spired Apostles, and holy Bishops, and martyrs 
 and saints, in short, by the whole Church of the 
 living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, 
 ' pp. 108, J 09. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 283 
 
 from the first time that the Eucharist was ever 
 celebrated with lay communicants. Surely Cy- 
 prian would have judged, that in this Rome acted 
 most presumptuously: and perhaps his opinion 
 would not have been altered^ if he had known 
 that the Council of Constance, which first en- 
 joined half communion, would venture to do so 
 expressly, notwithstanding our Lord did appoint 
 it in both kinds. 
 
 But I maintain farther, that there is every 
 reason to believe, that Cyprian would have 
 judged that Rome acted tyrannically and sacii- 
 legiously, as well as rashly, in thus mutilating the 
 feast of the Eucharist, and curtailing the privi- 
 lege of the people, so as to leave it doubtful at 
 the least whether he did not deprive them of 
 grace, in taking from them one of the means 
 by which it is conveyed. For I observe, that in 
 his argument to enforce the necessary presence 
 of wine in the cup, he distinguishes the meaning 
 of each portion of the mixed cup, telling us that 
 the water signifies the people, that the wine 
 signifies the blood of Christ*" : and that he 
 
 '' See p. 108. It is worth noting, that this reasoning, 
 does not touch the validity of our oblation, and communion 
 without water in the cup : for though it were most desirable 
 that we should have every possible figure of communion 
 with the brethren in the Eucharistic cup, it is only essential 
 that we have the New Testament in Christ's blood. It may 
 be desirable, that is, that we have the water, but is only 
 essential that we have the wine. By all participating in the 
 
284 I^ll'l'- AND TlMEh. 
 
 reasons thus ; that if but one be offered, it will 
 be without the people, or without the blood of 
 Christ respectively. Now if he thus distin- 
 guishes between the separate portions of the 
 mixed cup, in one part of the Eucharist ; much 
 more surely would he have distinguished between 
 the separate elements of the Eucharist them- 
 selves : especially, since for thus doing he would 
 have had ample authority in the words of the 
 Apostle ; the cup of blessing xvMch zae bless, is it 
 ?iot the communion of the blood of Christ? The 
 bread rvhicJi we break, is it not the communion of 
 the body of Christ^? and since the whole body 
 of the Church has ever attested the same thing, 
 in the formulary of administering ; where the 
 bread is ever called the body of Christ, and the 
 cup the blood of Christ"'. But if there is a 
 
 same cup, we have the actual communion with the brethren, 
 and may therefore dispense with the figure: but if all do 
 not partake of the cup, they receive neither the figure nor 
 the reality of Christ's blood; neither the figure nor the 
 reality of communion, either with Christ, or with the Church. 
 Palmer, in his Origines Liturgicae, has shown how strong our 
 position is in this matter against the cavils of Rome. 
 
 ' 1 Cor. X. I(). 
 
 "' This is true even of the Romish Liturgy of the mass, 
 for in receiving the /;«*/ the priest says. Corpus Domini voslri 
 Jcsn Chriiili cinlodial animam menm in vitain celernam: and in 
 receiving the chalice he says. Sanguis Domini &c. Hut this 
 is not the only instance in which the Liturgy of the mass, 
 which is, as a whole, more ancient than the doctrines of 
 Rome on the subjc-cl of the Eucharist, is very inconveniently 
 adapted to the service of that Church. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 285 
 
 distinct meaning in, according to the very lowest 
 view of the Sacraments, there is a distinct instruc- 
 tion conveyed by each portion of the Eucharist : 
 and surely to deprive the people of either portion 
 of the instruction, can consist with no proper 
 respect to the institution of God ; with no sound 
 exercise of the Church's love, as the mother of 
 the faithful ; with no common care for the spiritual 
 advantage of the people : and still less can such 
 an act consist with any right view of the dignity 
 and efficacy of the Eucharist, of the duty of the 
 Church, of the privilege of the people, if the 
 Eucharist be more than a means of instruction, 
 even a conveyance of grace. 
 
 But it is not a mere matter of probable deduc- 
 tion that Cyprian would make, he actually does 
 make the cup the instrument of particular bless- 
 ings, so as to convey the complement of the 
 Eucharistic grace, as it certainly forms the com- 
 plement of the Eucharistic oblation and feast. 
 For he quotes the Psalmist, saying. Thy exhila- 
 rating cup is very good, (calix tuus inebrians per- 
 quam optimus ;) and spiritualizes this into an 
 assertion of the graces conveyed by the Eucha- 
 ristic cup, in a manner which would be wholly 
 inapposite, as applied to the Eucharistic feast 
 without the cup ; as much so indeed as applied 
 to the cup without the wine : and I especially 
 speak here of the feast of the Eucharist, as well 
 
28G LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 as the sacrifice ; because the Romanists also make 
 the cup a part of the sacrifice, though they take 
 it away from the people in the feast. Let this 
 be borne in mind, while we observe that the 
 whole force of Cyprian's reasoning, when he thus 
 applies the Psalmist's words to the matter in 
 hand, is derived from the particular properties of 
 wine, with its (ffects upon htm who drinks it, so 
 as to display his notion of that forming a part 
 of the Eucharistic feast ; and this is all that we 
 want, whether or no his illustration is the hap- 
 piest that might be imagined. " That exhila- 
 ration," says he, " produced by the cup of the 
 Lord and his blood, not being like that which is 
 produced by common wine, the Psalmist declares 
 the exhilarating cup to be very good : for the cup 
 of the Lord so exhilarates those who drink it, as 
 to make them sober"." These few words are 
 sufficient to indicate the drift of his reasoning 
 here ; and to show also, that it would be absurd, 
 if no especial grace w^as conveyed to the recipi- 
 ents by means of the cup ; or if the whole 
 efficacy of the Eucharist resided in either kind. 
 Indeed, if this latter figment of Rome were true, 
 the practice which Cyprian condemns was quite 
 as absurd, as it was erroneous. Why did not 
 the Aquarii, who feared detection from the smell 
 
 'p. 107. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 087 
 
 of wine, receive the bread only ? As in the 
 Church of Rome now, the single Priest or Bishop 
 who was required to officiate, might consecrate 
 and offer, and himself receive of the wine for he 
 had no occasion, his duties and avocations being 
 all clerical, to endanger his safety by mixing 
 with the heathen : and the many of the laity, 
 whose occupation would not permit seclusion, 
 would have been just as safe, as upon the 
 Aquarian plan. There was more reason then 
 to refrain from the wine at the Lord's Supper, 
 if it were both lawful and equally beneficial, 
 than there has ever been since : and if it be in 
 itself unlawful, nothing can make it lawful ; if it 
 be any thing short of quite as beneficial to the 
 communicant, none without tyranny and sacri- 
 lege can deprive the Church, or any member of 
 the Church, of the greater benefit. 
 
 But I go even farther. The pretence of the 
 Roman Church, that the laity in receiving the 
 body of Christ, receive also his blood, would 
 at once have overturned Cyprian's whole argu- 
 ment in this Epistle. A Romanist now could 
 not, without exposing himself to the recoil of 
 his own weapon, refute the very error which 
 Cyprian exposes, upon the same grounds which 
 Cyprian takes, who was unshackled by a future 
 invention of the Church. And herein, whether 
 he is right or wrong, Cyprian is intensely Anti- 
 Romish. 
 
088 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 One or two more extracts from the Epistle 
 before us will enforce this assertion. " In Bap- 
 tism the Holy S])irit is received ; and so those 
 who have been baptized, and have received the 
 Holy Spirit, come to the drinking of the cup of 
 
 the Lord Baptism is once for all received ; 
 
 but, on the contrary, there is always a thirst for 
 the cup of the Lord, and it is conriantly drank 
 [Calix Domini in Ecclesiae semper et sititur et 
 bibitur] °." Now who are they who always 
 thirst for the cup of the Lord but the baptized ? 
 And w ho has, or can have, a right to take away 
 from them that for which they have always 
 thirsted, and which they have always received ? 
 
 Again : if it be reasonable to ask, and it is 
 highly reasonable, " How shall we drink new 
 wine of the fruit of the vine with Christ in 
 the kingdom of His Father, if in the sacrifice 
 we offer not the wine of God the Father, and 
 of Christ ; nor mix the cup of the Lord accord- 
 ing to the divine tradition p?" — Is it not equally 
 reasonable, and even more natural, to ask, Flow 
 shall we drink of the fruit of the vine new with 
 Christ in His kingdom, unless we drink of the 
 cup of His blood in the Eucharist ? Would not 
 he who asked the first question, most probably 
 have asked the second, if occasion served ? And 
 would he not have held it a spiritual tyranny 
 and sacrilege, to deprive the people of the 
 
 ° Page lOG. '' I'age 107- 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 289 
 
 privilege spoken of in those mystical words of 
 Scripture ; or even to have laid them under 
 a reasonable doubt, whether they were deprived 
 of it or no ? 
 
 These remarks having been suggested directly 
 from what Cyprian says, as deducible from his 
 reasoning, by the addition of such steps only as 
 are wholly in accordance both with his tone of 
 argument, and with his known opinions ; 1 con- 
 ceive that we might well suppose him to speak 
 thus, if he could be called upon to give his 
 judgment on the depriving the laity of the cup 
 in the blessed Eucharist. 
 
 ' There is, then'", no excuse for following the 
 practice of any, who may have hitherto ad- 
 ministered the Lord's Supper to the people in 
 one kind only, withholding from them the cup, 
 which is the blood of our Lord. For we must 
 ask, whom do they follow ? If in the Sacra- 
 ment which Christ ordained, Christ alone is 
 to be followed, surely this is our sufficient rule. 
 We must hold to the truth of God, though 
 particular customs of men be against it. Does 
 not Isaiah say. In vain do they zaorship me, 
 teacJimg the cloct lines and commandments of men 9 
 And does not the Lord say. Ye reject the com- 
 mandment of God, that ye may establish your ozmi 
 traditions ? And again ; Whoever shall break one 
 
 d Non est ergo, &c. p. lOS. I am not here making a 
 translation, but running a parallel. 
 
 U 
 
290 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 of the least of these commandments, and teach jfien 
 so, the same shall be called the least in the king- 
 dom of heaven 9 And if one of the least of 
 Christ's commandments cannot be broken with 
 impunity, how much less may any of those 
 institutions which we have from Christ Himself, 
 handed down by the Church in all ages hitherto, 
 by Apostles and all holy men, and which form 
 a part of His own appointed method of cele- 
 brating those tremendous mysteries of His body 
 and blood ? The priest then only performs his 
 proper office, when he does as Christ did, the 
 great High Priest of our calling : and all religion 
 and sound discipline will be overthrown, if that 
 which was divinely appointed in such a matter 
 is to be broken through or not, at the will of 
 men. 
 
 ' Nor yet are we to view this question as if 
 it concerned obedience to God alone ; since 
 something is due in all such matters to the 
 Church and to the people of God. And how 
 can you, without tyranny, take away from the 
 people that which is theirs of right ? and since 
 it is so theirs as to be the instrument of 
 grace to them, how can you deprive them of it, 
 without lowering the Church's holiness ? If they 
 receive not the blood of Christ poured out for 
 them, how can they be expected, if occasion 
 should call for it, to pour out their blood for 
 the truth ? If they drink not into Christ's 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 291 
 
 death, how can they be expected to live in 
 newness of life ? No. Let not this reproach 
 remain any longer on the Church, or on any 
 party in it ; but do you return to, and let us 
 all hold, the divine, the Apostolical custom and 
 tradition: and maintain in those sacred mysteries 
 a due reverence to God, and a due charity to all 
 men.' 
 
 We proceed to shew, in the second place, 
 that the Author of the Epistle under considera- 
 tion could not have held the doctrine of Transub- 
 stantiation. 
 
 Here, again, let us first see the ground on 
 which Cyprian stood in respect of the question 
 before us ; lest we should on the one hand expect 
 too much from his testimony, or on the other make 
 too light of that which we have. 
 
 The question last discussed is one of custom ; 
 or rather it is so represented by those who must 
 so represent it, to place it within the bounds 
 even of that exaggerated spiritual power before 
 which they bow. They, with us, confess that 
 the custom was otherwise in Cyprian's days ; yet 
 hold that it has been rightly altered before our 
 own. But the question of Transubstantiation 
 is one of doctrine ; and must have been the 
 same, therefore, through all ages, in all orthodox 
 Churches. Although, therefore, we are just as 
 well able to point out the actual rise and growth 
 of this doctrine, as of the former practice, this is 
 
 u2 
 
292 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 denied by the Romanists, who chiini the Church 
 in all ages, and all orthodox Clu'istians, Cy- 
 prian of course among the rest, as maintaining 
 their present doctrine. Their claim, however, 
 will not subvert the truth of history ; and they 
 are in vain challenged to prove from ancient 
 and authentic records, that the doctrine of 
 Transubstantiation was held by the ancient 
 Church, or even by any one divine, through 
 many centuries. 
 
 But this fact of the novelty of the doctrine, 
 which makes it impossible for the Romanists 
 to prove their point from the Fathers, makes 
 it also more difficult to find an express con- 
 demnation of their view of the question by the 
 same Fathers. For who would, who could, 
 except with the spirit of prophecy, condemn a 
 doctrine in express terms, which was not taught 
 till ages after he entered into his rest ? And 
 because Cyprian could never have dreamt that a 
 question should be discussed, which was first 
 mooted in the eighth century '' ; because he 
 
 ' There are, however, polemical miracles related as 
 having been wrought in proof of the doctrine in question 
 before this time. For instance, Gregory the Great, seeing 
 a woman laugh at the celebration of the Eucharist, asked 
 her why she laughed ; and was answered, " Because you call 
 the bread which I myself made, the body of our Lord." 
 And at tlie prayers of the saint the consecrated bread 
 appeared as flesh. Of course this miracle is an after in- 
 vention ; for, indeed, both the sneer of the woman and the 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. "293 
 
 could never by anticipation imagine, that a 
 determination of that question should be imposed 
 as a matter of faith necessary to salvation ; 
 it would be unreasonable to look in Cyprian for 
 any express denial or refutation of that doctrine ; 
 or any actual protest against the spiritual tyranny 
 which decreed such a monstrous opinion as 
 necessary to be believed. This, as in the former 
 case, could only be expected from divine inspira- 
 tion, or from our Lord Himself; and there in 
 fact we find it, totidem verbis: for He who said. 
 Drink ye all of this, also said, by his Apostle 
 Paul, " As often as ye eat this bread, and drink 
 this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He 
 come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, 
 and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall 
 be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 
 But let a man examine himself, and so let him 
 eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." And 
 
 miraculous answer to it, are in the spirit of a much later 
 age. But I mention this miracle as suggesting a remark on 
 others of the like kind; that they, as well as the writings of 
 the doctors of the Church, bear testimony to the changes 
 which have been made in the doctrine of Transubstantiation. 
 So long as portions of Christ's body were all that was 
 required for the establishment of the then doctrine of Rome, 
 the bread was in the habit of miraculously assuming the ap- 
 pearance of divided flesh : but when " whole Christ" was 
 wanted to attest an improvement of the doctrine, " whole 
 Christ," a little babe in the cradle, or the like ap])eared. 
 Romish inventions, not to say the Roman Church, makes 
 Heaven most accommodating in its miraculous tokens. 
 
294 LIFE AMD TlMi:S 
 
 again, " the bread whicli we break, is it not the 
 communion of the body of Christ ^ ?" 
 
 All that we must ex'pect then in Cyprian, 
 touching the figment of transubstantiation, is what 
 we find also in him touching the reveries of 
 Emmanuel Swedenborg, or the inspirations of 
 the Quakers or of the Irvingites ; that is, such 
 a manner of expression as can be accounted for 
 only by his profound ignorance of the doctrine in 
 question. If we find any thing (which in fact we 
 shall not) which may be distorted into a verdict 
 in favour of that doctrine, we shall not be much 
 staggered ; because it is natural to fall into a 
 manner of expression not rigidly correct, when 
 error, on either hand, has not yet called for pre- 
 cision : but if it should happen, (as it will,) that 
 we find something literally adverse to it, its effect 
 will be great in proportion. Any one who will 
 find in a writer so early as St. Cyprian a sjieclfic 
 condemnation of the doctrine of transubstantiation, 
 will do Rome a great favour, however paradoxical 
 the assertion may appear ; for he will be pro- 
 ducing historical evidence of its existence, such 
 as she has never yet been able to find. 
 
 But now, that we may know what it is that we 
 are to compare with Cyprian's doctrine, we must 
 state where it is that we are obliged to dissent 
 from Rome ; and how far we should or may go 
 along with her. 
 
 ' 1 Cor. xi. 2f) — 28. and x. \ir>. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 295 
 
 That the bread and wine, then, in the blessed 
 Eucharist, are verily and indeed the body and 
 blood of Christ, we must hold, or desert the 
 Catholic fciith, and the doctrine of our own 
 Church, as stated even in her elementary Cate- 
 chism. Wherein consists the presence of the 
 body and blood of Christ ; that is, how it is 
 present, and how we are to reconcile the verity 
 of its presence with the substance of the bread 
 and wine still before us ; we do not absolutely 
 define. We may leave even the Romanist to 
 hold his own view of this, (I mean this speci- 
 fically ; the presence of Christ, not the absence 
 of the bread,) so he hold it only as a pious opinion, 
 not to be imposed on others as a matter of faith: 
 nay, so far, we may even allow him greater liberty 
 in his faith than the ultraprotestant, who alto- 
 gether denies, or explains away, the presence of 
 Christ in the Eucharist. But that the bread 
 and wine are no longer present in the Lord's 
 Supper, that we cannot admit; nay, we may not; 
 for we cannot if we do receive Christ's words, 
 and those of the Apostles, in their simplicity. 
 
 Perhaps I ought to apologize for all this pre- 
 paration : but few who have not turned their 
 minds to the subject polemically, are aware 
 of the importance of bearing in mind the position 
 of those whose judgment they would apply to the 
 question, and of forming a precise notion of the 
 matter in dispute. 
 
29(> LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 But now to the immediate subject. 
 
 What did Melchisedec offer ? Bread and wine. 
 In this Melchisedec typified the Eucharist, as 
 Cyprian tells us, with the consent, as I believe, of 
 all the Fathers who have touched upon the subject, 
 and with perfect truth. But how does Cyprian 
 express this ? Christ '' offered the very same 
 thing which Melchisedec had offered, that is, 
 bread and wine ; that is, in very truth. His own 
 body and blood," [panem et vinum, suum scilicet 
 corpus et sanguinem^'.] These words arc equally 
 strong against the Romish and the Zuinglian doc- 
 trine of the Eucharist. The Romanist could not 
 consistently say that Christ offered bread and 
 zoine : the Zuinglian will not endure to hear 
 that he offered his ozvn body and blood in the 
 Eucharist. 
 
 Cyprian quotes Genesis xlix. 10. He shall 
 wash his garments in wine, and his clothes in 
 the blood of the grape : and asks*^, when the blood 
 of the grape is mentioned, what is signified but 
 the wine of the cup of our Lord's blood ? Here 
 the last remark may be repeated. 
 
 But the following passage is one of the most 
 remarkable incidental testimonies against the 
 Romish doctrine of transubstantiation, that all 
 antiquity affords. 
 
 " That waters signify people, holy Scripture 
 tells us in the Apocalypse, when saying, The 
 » Page \or). 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 297 
 
 waters which thou saxvest, upon zohich that harlot 
 sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations of 
 the heathen, and tongues. And the like figure we 
 see is contained in the Sacrament of the cup : 
 for since Christ bare us all, who also bare our 
 sins, we perceive that the people is to be under- 
 stood in the water, while the blood of Christ is 
 shewn in the wine. When, therefore, water is 
 mingled with wine in the cup, the people is 
 made one with Christ, and the host of the 
 believing is associated and joined with Him, in 
 whom they have believed. Which association 
 and conjunction of water and of wine is so 
 made in the cup of the Lord, that there can be 
 no separation of either from the commixture. 
 Whence it cometh, that nothing can separate 
 the Church, that is, th§ multitude constituting 
 the Church, and maintaining faithfully and with 
 unmoved constancy, that faith which it hath 
 received, from Christ, so as to shake their 
 inseparable love, or to put an end to it. There- 
 fore on no account can water be offered alone, 
 in the consecration of the cup, nor wine alone : 
 for if any one offers only wine, the blood of 
 Christ begins to exist without us, but if the 
 water be alone, the people begins to be without 
 Christ : but when both are mixed together, and 
 combined by a perfect union, then is the spiritual 
 and heavenly Sacrament perfected. And so neither 
 water alone, nor wine alone, is the cup of the 
 
2f)8 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 Lord, unless each be mingled with the other; 
 just as neither flour alone, nor water alone, can 
 be the body of the Lord ; but both must be 
 joined together, and united in the substance of 
 one loaf. In which Sacrament also the people is 
 displayed united ; for as many grains collected 
 together, and mingled and joined one with 
 another, make one loaf; so in Christ, who is the 
 heavenly bread, we know that there is but one 
 body, with which the whole number of the faith- 
 ful is conjoined and made one." 
 
 Now here, either both are transubstantiated, 
 the water and the wine, or neither is : but if the 
 water is transubstantiated, it is into the whole 
 body of Christ's people : that is, water' no 
 longer remains in the cup, but the whole 
 body of Christ's people is there bodily in its 
 stead : but this is absurd : therefore the wine is 
 not transubstantiated according to the opinion 
 of Cyprian here expressed. 
 
 Or again : either both are represented, Christ's 
 blood and the people, or neither is. But the 
 people are represented ; for Cyprian says so, 
 (as he does indeed of Christ's blood, though I 
 would overlook for a moment the actual as- 
 sertion,) and therefore according to Cyprian, 
 Christ's blood is represented. But this is not 
 the doctrine of Rome''. 
 
 ' Aquas, &c. p. lOK. 
 
 ■^ In fact, the Romanists do away witli the sacramental 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 209 
 
 There are also in the same Epistle, from 
 which we have been now quoting, several passing 
 expressions decidedly anti-Romish ; and which 
 we should have adduced as affording no vague 
 intimation of Cyprian's judgment, if we had not 
 had the above-mentioned stronger passages to 
 rest our argument upon. Such are, for instance, 
 " Non potest videri sanguis ejus, quo redempti 
 et vivificati sumus, esse in calice quando vinum 
 desit '\," instead of non potest esse or Jieri sanguis 
 ejus — in calice. And again, " Quia passionis 
 ejus intentionem in sacrificiis omnibus facimus 
 (passio est enim Domiiii sacrificium quod of- 
 ferimus) [instead of, Dominus est enim hostia 
 quam offerimus, or the like,] nihil aliud quam 
 quod ille fecit facere debemus'." 
 
 Surely we have here stronger evidence than 
 
 nature of the Eucharist altogether, by removing wholly the 
 thing signifying ; so that there is no outward sign. More- 
 over in making a miracle of their transubstantiation, they 
 deprive the presence of Christ in the Eucharist of all mys- 
 tery : and the solemn name of the Sacrament of the Altai-, so 
 common in the old Fathers, the xlupenduiis mijslerie.s, is really 
 inapplicable to that Sacrament according to their view of it. 
 Nor should it be forgotten, that they thus lower a mystery 
 into a miracle, which is spii'itually a much inferior thing 
 {greater things than these shall he do; because I go inilo my 
 Father; John xiv, 12. see also John v. 20. and i. .00.) in order 
 to provide that which we are expressly told profiteth no- 
 thing; for il is Ihr Spirit thai quickenelh, the jiesh projiteth 
 nothing. 
 
 ^ Page 104. 
 
 ' Page lOp. 
 
300 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 we could have expected, under the circum- 
 stances, of Cyprian's judgment against Rome, 
 in her innovations in the doctrine of the Eucha- 
 rist : and were it not that it would extend this 
 chapter unduly, I should show, that we have 
 equally strong, and most express, testimony 
 against those who deny the real presence of 
 Christ in the Lord's Supper, and the spiritual 
 virtual change of the elements in that solemn 
 feast. On a review of the whole Epistle to 
 Caecilius, we arrive (as it seems to me) at the 
 following doctrines concerning the Eucharist, as 
 taught by St. Cyprian : doctrines of the Catholic 
 Church every one of them, and of the Church of 
 England, because she is Catholic ; but not doc- 
 trines of those who actually or virtually dissent 
 from Catholic truth and communion ; not doc- 
 trines of those who embrace the additional and 
 superinduced dogmas of the Church of Rome. 
 
 * In the holy Eucharist, there is a commemo- 
 rative celebration of Christ's death ; for therein 
 we ever mention Christ's passion, which is indeed 
 the sum of our offering. But there is not a com- 
 memorative celebration only, but also an oblation 
 to God; and a feast upon the sacrifice of Christ : 
 wherein we not only express our faith and thank- 
 fulness in and for, but receive the benefits of, his 
 death and passion : such as remission of our sins, 
 and grace and strength, according as our need 
 may be. And since our need is daily, daily we 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 301 
 
 should receive this means of grace ; or, at least, 
 as often as may be, as our Lord hath taught us 
 to pray. Give us this day our daily bread. And 
 in this heavenly feast we eat and drink Christ's 
 body and blood virtually, while we eat and drink 
 bread and wine actually ; the one being pressed 
 with our teeth, the other being fed upon by our 
 faith : and so that we receive not the benefit 
 merely as being engaged in a solemn service, or 
 merely as being in general, and by the whole 
 ceremony, excited to a higher devotion, and so 
 blessed with a more singular grace ; — but we re- 
 ceive an appropriate and especial grace in the 
 very act of receiving the consecrated elements ; 
 perhaps even a peculiar blessing with each part 
 of the Sacrament. Nor is it right to separate any 
 essential part of the Eucharist from the rest ; and 
 the cup is essential, both in the consecration, and 
 in the communion or receiving : therefore the 
 cup may not be taken away, either from the 
 Eucharist, or from the communicant ; and those 
 who should take it away from the people would 
 be guilty of an awful boldness in disturbing a 
 divine institution, and an apostolic tradition and 
 custom ; and of sacrilege against the Sacrament 
 and the Church; and of tyranny and injustice 
 towards those whom they should deprive of any 
 portion of the Sacrament, with its appropriate 
 graces and blessings. 
 
 ' As for those who leave the Church, they 
 
302 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 deprive themselves of all sacramental benefit in 
 the Eucharist, which can only be validly adminis- 
 tered in the Church. We need not much care if 
 some of them teach a lower tone of doctrine con- 
 cerning these tremendous mysteries, which they 
 imagine that they celebrate ; since it is certain 
 that they cannot descend in their doctrinal views, 
 below the efficacy of their own ceremonial : for 
 the Holy Ghost doth not animate a schismatical 
 body ; and where the Holy Ghost is not, the 
 Eucharist can receive no valid consecration, and 
 convey no spiritual benefit. But though viewed 
 relatively to themselves only, the doctrine of the 
 schismatic may not deserve a refutation; yet if a time 
 should come at which a spirit of liberalism should 
 give importance in the eyes of those who maintain 
 the Catholic communion, with too little of the 
 Catholic spirit, to the reasonings which would 
 disturb our doctrine, and subvert our discipline, 
 (and since Cyprian's day perhaps such a time 
 has come,) then it may be necessary to reply 
 specifically to the objections of heretics, and to 
 vindicate the mystery and dignity of the Holy 
 Eucharist from their carnal reasoning, and from 
 their irreverence.' 
 
 If I have added a few light touches to com- 
 plete this sketch, those who are best able to 
 judge will confess that they are in total harmony 
 with Cyprian's own hand : nay, were it not for 
 the fear of extending this study over a yet more 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 803 
 
 disproportionate part of the work, 1 believe I 
 could fill up every part of the picture with 
 the lineaments and colours of St. Cyprian 
 himself. 
 
CHAP. XIII. 
 
 REVOLUTIONS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. QUESTIONS OF 
 
 FIDUS TOUCHING A LAPSEB BISHOP, AND THE CASE OF 
 
 INFANT BAPTISM. THE CASE OF FORTUNIANUS : — OF 
 
 BASILXDES AND MARTIALIS : — OF MARCIANUS OF ARLES. 
 
 THE INSOLENCE OF PUPIANUS. 
 
 Meanwhile revolutions succeeded one another 
 in the Roman empire, which materially benefitted 
 the external condition of the Church. We 
 have already mentioned the loss of the Decii in 
 the Autumn of 251, and the renewal of the per- 
 secution by Gallus. The Goths, before whom 
 the Decii had fallen, fliongh, or rather because, 
 their retreat had been purchased at a great price, 
 still remained formidable enemies of the Roman 
 crown and empire : and while Gallus was re- 
 posing in the luxuries of his capital, i^milianus, 
 the governor of Pannonia and Maesia, had ad- 
 vanced against the Barbarians in Illyria, and 
 repulsed tliem. The money collected for a tribute 
 to the (ioths, was converted by the victorious 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. .305 
 
 general to a more popular and more politic use ; 
 distributing it as a donation to the legions, he 
 was proclaimed Emperor on the field. Gallus, 
 who went to meet the usurper, was deserted by 
 his army, and murdered ; and iEmilianus was 
 confirmed by the senate in the dignity conferred 
 on him by the army. This was in the April of 
 253. 
 
 But the avenger of Gallus tarried not long. 
 Valerian had been sent to bring the legions of 
 Gaul to Germany, to the aid of Gallus : and 
 though too late to save his master, he arrived in 
 time to receive the fruits of his deposition and 
 murder, without the guilt of either. At the 
 approach of Valerian, i^^milianus was slain by his 
 army, and Valerian was acknowledged emperor 
 by the Roman world, with more of unanimity 
 than usually appeared on such occasions. 
 
 The disturbances in the empire following the 
 revolt of yEmilianus, had occasioned a partial 
 repose in the Church : and Valerian seems to 
 have made it one of the earliest acts of his 
 government, to confirm the security of the Chris- 
 tians. In the first dawn of a less troubled day, 
 the chair of Lucius, at Rome, had been filled by 
 the election and consecration of Stephen, on the 
 thirteenth of May, (253,) after it had been 
 vacant eight days. And now that a serene day 
 had fully opened upon the Church, Cyprian took 
 
 X 
 
30(i LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 the earliest opportunity to convoke a provincial 
 synod of the African Bishops. At this synod 
 sixty-six Bishops were assembled ; and from their 
 consistory an answer was returned to an Epistle 
 of one Fid us, (of whom we know nothing,) in 
 which two questions had been submitted to Cyprian, 
 the answers to both of which are important, as 
 affording the synodical judgment of a provincial 
 council of those days, with the important con- 
 currence of Cyprian, upon two points of primitive 
 discipline and order. 
 
 Victor, a Presbyter, had lapsed; and Therapius, 
 Bishop of Bulla, had received him to communion, 
 before he had fulfilled the appointed penitential 
 course. Of this Fidus wrote to acquaint Cy- 
 prian ; and he, with his associates at the Synod, 
 proceeded to reprimand Therapius, who was 
 one of their number ; but determined that 
 Victor shouhl retain the privilege improperly, 
 though with a Bishop's authority, extended to 
 him. 
 
 Here we have the important rule recognised, 
 that the act of a Bishop (and by parity of 
 reasoning of any other ecclesiastical Minister) 
 may be valid, though it be improper and ir- 
 regular ; that is of course, provided that the 
 act itself, supposing it to be done with every cir- 
 cumstance of propriety, is within the limits of his 
 office. For the judgment of the Bishops pro- 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN, 307 
 
 ceeded upon the principle, tliat the peace of the 
 Church once given, in whatever manner, by a 
 Bishop, ought not to be recalled *. 
 
 The second question of Fidus related to the 
 baptism of new-born infants. He had declared 
 his opinion, that they ought not to be baptized 
 within the second or third days from their birth ; 
 with a doubt whether they ought not to be kept 
 unbaptized even till the eighth day : arguing for 
 the first delay, that children at their birth were 
 in such a sense unclean, as to present a re- 
 pulsive appearance, and to make us naturally 
 unwilling to impart to them the kiss of peace, 
 which was in those days a part of the ceremonial 
 of Baptism *": and grounding his preference for 
 the still longer interval on the analogy of Baptism 
 with the Jewish rite of Circumcision. The issue 
 of this appeal to Cyprian is conclusive against 
 the doctrine and practice of Antipaedobaptists ; 
 and the question of Fidus, both from the answer 
 which it elicited, and from the form in which it 
 is proposed, is almost as important in its results, 
 as it is in itself unsound and absurd. For it is 
 inconceivable that Fidus should have grounded 
 his objection against baptizing until after the 
 second or third day on such a whimsical reason, 
 if there had been the shadow of an argument 
 in his favour from the practice of the Church. 
 
 « Ep. lix. p. 98. 
 
 " See Bingham, Orig. Ecc. xii. iv. 5. 
 
 x2 
 
308 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 And as for his reason for defcrrinp^ Baptism until 
 the eighth day, because of the analogy between 
 Baptism and Circumcision, this argument, which 
 is neither absurd nor fanciful, but in itself pious 
 and reasonable enough, must on that very account 
 have already prevailed with the Church, unless 
 the point had been otherwise settled by Apo- 
 stolic and Catholic usage. So that by a singular 
 infelicity, the reasonableness of the arguments of 
 Fidus, where they are reasonable, tells as much 
 against his cause, as their absurdity, where they 
 are absurd. 
 
 It is to be observed, moreover, that the rea- 
 soning of Fidus from the analogy of Baptism with 
 Circumcision, for delaying Baptism for eight 
 days, is precisely opposed to the reasoning of the 
 Antipaedobaptists of later ages, who will not 
 admit any analogy at all, extending to the age of 
 the recipients, between the initiatory rites of 
 Judaism and Christianity. 
 
 I have anticipated the answer to the question 
 proposed by Fidus : it was simply, that Baptism 
 is to be denied to none, on account of their youth 
 or age. As for the strange fancies of Fidus, St. 
 Cyprian reminds him, (and the allusion contains 
 a hidden rebuke,) that to the pure all things are 
 pure ; and that since God fashioneth us even in 
 the womb, the new-born babe coming more im- 
 mediately from the hands of God, rather claims 
 our more affectionate and reverential embrace. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. oOJ) 
 
 When Elisha raised the widow's son, he put his 
 own mouth and each of his limbs on the mouth 
 and corresponding members of the chikl ; a thing 
 not to be understood literally, or, at least, not 
 without a spiritual meaning ; for the different 
 dimensions of the man and of the child seem to 
 forbid such a contact : herein then we are taught, 
 that when once fashioned by the hand of God, 
 all men are in a spiritual and divine sense 
 equal. As for Circumcision, the type was done 
 away, when the antitype appeared ; and Christ 
 rising on the eighth day, or the day after the 
 sabbath, procured for us a spiritual circumcision, 
 into which we may be baptized at any time ; 
 and, in a word, if there be a difficulty in the 
 admission of any to the laver of regeneration and 
 the sacrament of remission, it should rather seem 
 to affect those old and hardened offenders, who 
 have added to their original corruption, many 
 and long offences ; and not infants, who are 
 personally guiltless, and bear the sin and death 
 only of the race from which they spring. 
 
 In the too hasty admission of Victor to com- 
 munion, we have already seen an instance of the 
 usual attendants upon a temporary repose in the 
 Church, after persecution. We are now called 
 on to notice several other instances of a like 
 kind, though of much greater importance ; for 
 the attention of Cyprian was now variously 
 occupied by the return of Bishops in Africa, in 
 
310 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 Spain, and in Gaul, to the exercise of the 
 spiritual functions from which they had been 
 justly and canonically deposed for apostacy. 
 The first case, which is also the simplest, and the 
 least important in itself and in its results, is that 
 of Fortunianus, Bishop of Assuri. It may be told 
 in a few words. 
 
 Fortunianus had fallen in the late persecution 
 into the most grievous form of apostacy, having 
 sacrificed to idols, and incurred the extreme 
 penalty of the Sacrificati*^. But after the per- 
 secution had ceased, he looked back with regret 
 on the forfeited honours and emoluments of his 
 Episcopal functions**, and endeavoured again to 
 obtrude himself into the office which he had thus 
 voluntarily rejected ; and of which, so far as we 
 are able to judge from the slight notices that we 
 have of him, he had never been worthy. It 
 seems probable, that, on the defection of For- 
 tunianus, Epictetus had been chosen to succeed 
 him ; for it is to him by name, together with 
 the Assuritani in general, that Cyprian directs 
 his Epistle ; and to whom he declares the neces- 
 sity of maintaining in this, as in every instance, 
 the discipline of the Church ; which appointed^ 
 that persons in the situation to which Fortunianus 
 had degraded himself, should never, even after 
 
 • " Post gravem lapsuni." I'.p. Ixiv. p. 110. "Quasi 
 post aras diaboli accedero ad altare Dei fas sit." p. 111. 
 ^' " Stipes, et oblatioues, et liicra desiderant." p. 111. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 311 
 
 long penance, rise to any station above that of 
 the hiy communicants. As for Fortunianus, he 
 says that he had better have spent his time in 
 the appointed and appropriate penance, than 
 sought to approach the Altar of God, after 
 having sacrificed to Devils ; or to exhort others 
 to fidelity and courage, having proved himself 
 a coward and an apostate. If any man worship 
 the beast and his image, he shall be tormented in 
 the presence of the holy Angels ; and shall he 
 who is thus marked out for eternal wrath venture 
 to approach God in so sacred a character, wherein 
 not he only, but the people also are concerned ? 
 Without the Holy Ghost is no Eucharist ; and 
 how can he who has denied his Lord, and despises 
 the discipline of the Church, to which the Holy 
 Ghost is promised, look for that Spirit to sanctify 
 his ministrations ? Fortunianus, then, was on 
 no account to be restored to his forfeited Epis- 
 copate. 
 
 I know not that we have any farther account 
 of Fortunianus in ecclesiastical history, and sup- 
 pose therefore that the judgment of Cyprian was 
 held conclusive by all parties. 
 
 A greater complication of circumstances, and 
 the bearing of the whole on the claims of the 
 Church and Bishop of Rome, make the next 
 instance in which the judgment of Cyprian was 
 sought on a like occasion far more important. 
 Basilides and Martialis, two Spanish Bishops, 
 
31-2 LlIK AND TIMES 
 
 had fallen into many very heinous offences, in the 
 greater part of which they were equally impli- 
 cated : they had incurred the guilt of the Lihel- 
 lat'ici, one of those classes into which the lapsed 
 were distributed for the purpose of apportioning 
 their ecclesiastical penance. The separate offences 
 of these two delinquents Cyprian himself enume- 
 rates in the following order : Basilides, besides 
 his apostacy, had blasphemed God in sickness, 
 a crime which he himself confessed ; Martialis 
 had often sat with the college of the heathen 
 priests, at the gross and obscene feasts of the 
 Gentiles ; and had followed also the heathen 
 rites of sepulture for his sons, depositing their 
 remains with the bodies of aliens and idolaters : 
 besides which, both had been guilty of other 
 offences. 
 
 Basilides, conscience stricken at the compli- 
 cation of guilt with which he was overwhelmed, 
 had voluntarily confessed his unworthiness to 
 retain his Episcopal functions, and had retreated 
 into the rank of penitents ; confessing that he 
 could justly look for no greater lenity, than to be 
 received in due time as a lay-communicant. 
 Martialis has left no record of his repentance 
 even for a time ; and there is no hint that he 
 ever abdicated his Episcopal chair, or concurred 
 in the justice of the sentence by which he was 
 deprived : both however were judicially de- 
 posed from the Order which they had disgraced ; 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 813 
 
 I say both, for I conceive that the voluntary 
 secession of Basilides would not have so voided 
 his chair as to make the appointment of his suc- 
 cessor canonical, which however Cyprian declares 
 it to have been : or perhaps his secession was 
 coctaneous with the sentence of the Bishops ; 
 and, like Uzziah, " they thrust him out from 
 thence ; yea, himself hasted also to go out, be- 
 cause the Lord had smitten him." However, 
 though it is not actually mentioned, I can only 
 suppose that a synod of Bishops, having adjudged 
 the case of both delinquents, declared their seats 
 void, and proceeded to consecrate other Bishops 
 as their successors. This would have been ac- 
 cording to the universal custom of the Church ; 
 it is not too much, therefore, thus to fill up the 
 blank in the history. 
 
 However this was, Martialis determined, if 
 possible, to maintain the dignity by cunning % 
 which he had forfeited by crime : and Basilides 
 also, repenting of his repentance, and lamenting 
 not his sins but his degradation, when it kept 
 him from the high station which he had held, in 
 a Church no longer persecuted ; endeavoured 
 also by a bold and nefarious policy, to regain his 
 Episcopate. He sent, therefore, a false statement 
 of the whole affair to Stephen, Bishop of Rome, 
 entreating that he would communicate with him 
 
 e Nee Martiali potest profiiisse /rt/Zoc/rt (juo niinus ipse 
 (jiio(jue delictis gravibii^ invoiutus, SiC. Ep. Ixviii. p. lip. 
 
314 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 as with ti Bishop of the Church ; and hoping to 
 deceive the distant Prelate into such a measure, 
 and thus to obtain the powerful countenance of 
 his support. The fraud of Basilides succeeded 
 to his heart's content. Stephen was deceived, 
 and endeavoured to restore him to his forfeited 
 dignity. But the principles of Catholic polity 
 were not to be so readily surmounted; and though 
 he succeeded in the means, Basilides wholly 
 failed in the end which he had in view. 
 
 Yet for a while he seemed to triumph ; and 
 Martialis shared in the temporary advantage of 
 his scheme. The important sanction of Stephen's 
 support induced many to receive Basilides again, 
 as if he had been duly restored to his forfeited 
 dignity, and to the Episcopal communion : and the 
 similarity of their cases probably induced them 
 to associate Martialis with Basilides, as equally 
 worthy of the same lenity ^ But those who duly 
 respected the sanctity of the Episcopate and the 
 Apostolic order of the Church, still adhered to 
 the communion of Felix and Sabinus, who had 
 been consecrated to fill the chairs of the two 
 apostates, in spite of the declared or inferred 
 judgment of the Bishop of Rome. 
 
 ' I have found it impossible to separate exactly between 
 the acts of those two (UliiiquentSj and to give a clear history 
 of MartialiSj witliout sometimes associating him with 
 Basilides, (where history does not speak explicitly,) whose 
 case is more fidlv narrated. 
 
or ST. CYPRIAN. .315 
 
 These virtuous and wise Christiiins, however, 
 sought farther support in the concurrence of 
 Cyprian, and accordingly wrote to him an ac- 
 count of what had passed, asking his advice. 
 He wrote therefore the Epistle, from which we 
 derive all our information on this subject, to the 
 people of Legio, Asturia, and Emerita, who 
 were chiefly concerned in the decision of the 
 question. In this Epistle he most clearly and 
 unhesitatingly declares, that the favourable judg- 
 ment of Rome in such a case was nothing worth : 
 that Basilides had added to the catalogue of his 
 offences, already sufficiently numerous, by ventur- 
 ing to appeal to Rome : that they who retained 
 his communion on the ground of a favourable 
 judgment from Rome were mistaken in their 
 principle, and wrong in their conduct : and that 
 those who neglected in this case the decree of 
 Pope Stephen, and maintained the Catholic dis- 
 cipline of the Church, were worthy of all praise. 
 And now this Epistle of Cyprian is a standing 
 record of Catholic principles, in direct opposition 
 to more than one branch of the usurped authority 
 of the Bishop of Rome ^. 
 
 ^ Whatever concerns the Papal supremacy, I have viewed 
 in the light of Cyprian's history and writings in a former 
 work : " The lestimouy of St. Cyprian ugaint>t Hume; an 
 Essay towards determining the judgment of St. Cyprian, 
 touching Papal Supremacy." To this I shall take the liberty 
 of referring, when that particular branch of our controversy 
 with Rome is in question. 
 
316 I'll'H AND TIMES 
 
 Another event occurred about tliis time, in 
 which the interference of St. Cyprian was ear- 
 nestly sought, after an ineffectual appeal to 
 Stephen, Bishop of Rome ; and in which the 
 conduct of Cyprian admirably exemplifies his 
 principle of the equal and concurrent jurisdiction 
 of liishops ; while the whole affair greatly mag- 
 nifies his importance in the Church of that age, 
 and displays at the same time his practical 
 wisdom, and his decision of character. 
 
 It will be remembered how decidedly the 
 schism of Novatian in the Church of Rome had 
 been repudiated, and how promptly his errors 
 had been condemned by the whole body of 
 Catholic Bishops. But Marcianus, Bishop of 
 Aries, had joined the party of Novatian, and 
 embraced those erroneous principles of discipline, 
 according to which those who had once fallen 
 were refused the privilege of penance, and cut off 
 from all hope of being received again into Church 
 communion. Upon this Faustinus, Bishop of 
 Lyons, a neighbouring see, wrote to Stephen of 
 Rome ; who, both for the importance of his see, 
 and for the especial degree in which that Church 
 had been affected by the schism and error of 
 Novatian, was the Bishop most concerned, and 
 whose judgment should naturally have the 
 greatest weight ; beseeching him to interfere in 
 this extremity, for the maintenance of the Catho- 
 lic faith and unity. This request of Faustiims 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 317 
 
 had been accompanied with the like appeal from 
 other Bishops in the Gallican Provinces ; but at 
 present Stephen had not been moved to give any 
 attention to the case. 
 
 In this supineness of Stephen, Faustinus once 
 and again applied to Cyprian ; who was next to 
 Stephen in adventitious importance, whether 
 in general from the greatness of his see, or 
 in the present question from his having been 
 much engaged with proceedings touching the 
 case of Novatian ; and whose Episcopate gave 
 him an equal right to interfere, (unless he himself 
 greatly mistook the principles of the Catholic 
 Church ;) while his personal character, and his 
 greater experience in the Episcopate, elevated 
 him in moral influence even above the Bishop of 
 Rome, lately elected, and a man, as his after 
 history proves, scarce worthy to sustain the 
 dignity which descended upon him from Saint 
 Cornelius. 
 
 Cy})rian, then, bearing in mind the duty of 
 the Episcopal office, to sustain the sound part of 
 the Church at all times against the encroachments 
 of heresy and schism, having been thus twice 
 appealed to, wrote to Stephen '', to move him 
 to exertion on this occasion, and to sug- 
 gest (unless one who reads the Epistle will 
 rather say to dictate) the course which he 
 should pursue. Having briefly mentioned the 
 
 '' Ep. Ixvii. p. 1 15. 
 
;ilS LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 circumstances before related, and touched upon 
 the duty of Bishops in such a case, he proceeds : 
 '' You ought therefore to write very ample letters 
 to our fellow Bishops in Gaul, that they may no 
 longer suffer Marcianus, in his pride and obsti- 
 nacy, and in his enmity against true piety and 
 the peace of the Church, to insult over our whole 
 college, as one not excommunicated by us, but 
 as one who has long boasted, that following in 
 the steps of Novatian, he has voluntarily seceded 
 from our fellowship ; whereas in fact Novatian, 
 whom he follows, has been long ago decreed ex- 
 communicate, and an enemy to the Church." .... 
 " How absurd is it, then, dearest brother, that in 
 spite of the excommunication and total repudia- 
 tion of Novatian by the Bishops of the whole 
 world, we should now suffer his satellites to make 
 a jest of us, and to erect themselves into judges 
 of the true majesty and dignity of the Church ! 
 Let letters be directed by you to the province 
 and people of Aries '', that when Marcianus has 
 been excommunicated, they may proceed to elect 
 another in his place; and that the fiock of Christ, 
 
 "^ In proviticifnu cl ad plehem Arclaie consistantem : and before, 
 Ad coepiscopos noslros. The letters directed to the Bishops of 
 Gaul probably respected the judicial sentence against Mar- 
 cianus, which they alone could pronounce, and the conse- 
 quent excommunication, of which they were the proper 
 ministers. The letters to the people of Aries respected, 
 doubtless, the election of a successor to the deprived delin- 
 quent, in which they were not without a voice. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 319 
 
 which is at present scattered and wounded by him, 
 and cast under reproach, may be again collected 
 together." 
 
 Cyprian proceeds through the rest of the Epistle 
 to state and apply the principles of ecclesiastical 
 polity, on which his interference was grounded, 
 and to urge Stephen by every inducement to 
 make the necessary exertions : " The numerous 
 body of Bishops," says he, " is compacted with 
 the cement of mutual agreement, and by the 
 bond of unity ; that if any one of our number 
 should endeavour to introduce heresy, and to tear 
 and scatter the flock of Christ, the rest may 
 interfere, and like good shepherds gather the 
 Lord's sheep into one flock. For what, if some 
 port has become unsafe by the destruction of its 
 breakwaters ; do not the sailors run into other 
 neighbouring ports, where they may enter without 
 danger, and ride in safety? Or if some inn on 
 the road be infested and occupied by brigands, 
 so that whoever enters it is in danger of being 
 robbed ; do not travellers, so soon as this is 
 known, seek safer inns on their journey, where 
 they may lodge in security and peace ? And so 
 it should be now with us, that we may receive 
 our brethren, who are driven against the rocks of 
 Marcianus, and seek the safe harbour of the 
 Church, and that we may afford to them ad- 
 mission, into such a safe inn as that which is 
 mentioned in the Gospel, where those who have 
 
3-20 LIFK AND TIMES 
 
 fallen among thieves and been wounded, may be 
 hospitably received and attended to." 
 
 And afterwards; " Let him not pronounce but 
 receive sentence ; nor let him act as if it were 
 his part to judge the College of Bishops, when 
 he is himself condemned by their whole number. 
 For the glorious reputation of our predecessors, 
 the blessed martyr Cornelius and Lucius, is to be 
 maintained ; whose memory since we honour, 
 much more should you, who are their vicar and 
 successor, exalt and maintain it by the weight of 
 your authority. For they, when they were full 
 of the Spirit of God, and were going to martyr- 
 dom, thought, with the consent of us all, that 
 the lapsed should be restored to the peace of the 
 
 Church." *' Signify to me in plain terms, 
 
 who is substituted in the place of Marcianus at 
 Aries, that I may know to whom to refer our 
 brethren, and to whom to write." 
 
 We may suppose that this Epistle of Cyprian 
 to Pope Stephen had the desired effect ; we 
 hear not, that I know of, any thing more of 
 Marcianus. However, whatever may have been 
 its use then, it is now one of our most valuable 
 monuments of antiquity, towards a just estimate 
 of the authority of the Bishop of Rome : the 
 substance of this letter, and still more its tone, 
 and the circumstances out of which it arose, 
 where an appeal was made to a Bishop of Car- 
 thage, subsequent to a similar appeal to the 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 321 
 
 Bishop of Rome, cannot be fairly reconciled with 
 the present system of Papal Supremacy'. 
 
 There is something of interest in the character 
 and practices of such men as Novatian ; whose 
 name survives in a party which they originate, 
 and in which their erroneous principles are em- 
 bodied ; while such men as Fortunianus, Marci- 
 anus, Basilides, and Martialis, remembered only 
 for some single scene in which they bore a dis- 
 graceful part, would swell the pages of history to 
 worse than no purpose, but that their very vices, 
 calling for the interference of better men, serve 
 as occasions for the practical application of 
 principles which are never antiquated, and never 
 useless. One Pupianus, of whom we have next 
 to speak, falls even into a lower rank than these 
 latter ; and without exciting a tinge of interest, 
 or giving occasion for any thing more than the 
 display of patience and forbearance, by his im- 
 pertinence and conceit, obliges us to record 
 his name and his folly : and yet even to him we 
 owe something ; for the marvellous condescension 
 of Cyprian in affording a circumstantial refu- 
 tation of his charges, and a full vindication of 
 his own character, has supplied us with many 
 facts, of which we have availed ourselves in the 
 former portions of this work. 
 
 J See Barrow on the Pope's Siipreniaci/, p. 346. Ed. Oxon. 
 1836; or l/ie Teslinwni, of St. Cyprian against Rome, pp. 110 
 el seq. 
 
 Y 
 
322 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 The very salution of the Epistle of Cyprian, to 
 ^vhich we allude, has been supposed to afford 
 an indication of one of the impertinences of 
 Pupianus : '' Cyprian, who is also called Thas- 
 cius, to his brother Florentius, who is also called 
 Pupianus, health!" Thus writes Cyprian, and the 
 most probable reason for this strange address is, 
 that Pupianus had insolently addressed him by 
 his heathen appellation Thascius, as if to deny 
 his worthiness of the Christian name ; an un- 
 righteous taunt, which Cyprian merely retorts, 
 by reminding him also of his Gentile cognomen. 
 
 Not to take up too much time in repeating 
 either the accusation of Pupianus, or the vindi- 
 cation of St. Cyprian, we may gather, that in 
 general Pupianus, who had held communion with 
 Cyprian before the Decian persecution, and had 
 even admired his singular virtue and humility, had 
 been so much puffed up by his own confession, 
 while Cyprian had discreetly used his freedom to 
 retire till the heat of the persecution was i)ast, 
 that he not only judged himself exalted far 
 beyond Cyprian in dignity, but even erected 
 himself into a judge of his character, and a 
 reprover of his actions. Nor yet did he content 
 himself with a harsh judgment upon this parti- 
 cular act ; but making his own inferences from 
 the past occurrences, he attributed all those 
 unhappy disscntions which had divided the Church 
 on occasion of Novatian's schism, to the in- 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 323 
 
 judicious and haughty conduct of the Bishop of 
 Carthage : and forgetting what was due to the 
 office and dignity of a Bishop, he believed 
 without farther inquisition, whatever base report 
 the enemies of Cyprian invented, though they 
 were some of them such as it is shameful to 
 mention, and the very Gentiles abhor. Actuated 
 by such shameless reports, Pupianus ventured to 
 declare Cyprian unworthy of the Episcopate, and 
 to renounce his communion. 
 
 Cyprian does not evade any of these charges, 
 nor hesitate to commend himself, as the Apostle 
 Paul had done, when circumstances made it 
 necessary. He reminds Pupianus, that the pains 
 of persecution had not fallen on him alone, 
 saying with something of irony, " The approach- 
 ing persecution lifted you up, indeed, to the very 
 highest dignity of martyrdom ; but me it de- 
 graded with the oppressive weight of a pro- 
 scription, when it was publicly proclaimed. If 
 any one possesses or retains any of the goods of 
 Coecilius Cyprian, a Bishop of the Christians ; — 
 that those who would not believe me to be a 
 Bishop, by the choice of God, might at least 
 affi)rd credit to the proscription of the Devil." 
 The accusation of pride, Cyprian refutes from 
 the testimony of the Gentiles, and from the 
 former admission of Pupianus himself; and most 
 justly retorts it upon the insolent assailant. The 
 general charges he repudiates by the witness of 
 
 y2 
 
.T24 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 the whole Church, both of the Clergy, and of the 
 laity ; of holy widows and virgins ; of martyrs, 
 and of confessors from their prisons. But after 
 all, the burden of his vindication against the 
 report of aliens and schismatics, rests on the 
 higher ground of his sacred office: and he pleads 
 the dignity and sanctity of his Episcopate in 
 a tone, which could not be assumed in a parallel 
 case with any effect in these days^, when we have 
 learned to look on sanctity without reverence, 
 and on dignity without fear. 
 
 " Is it to be supposed," he asks, " that God, 
 who sufFereth not a sparrow to fall to the 
 ground without His knowledge, should suffer 
 Bishops to be ordained without His providence ? 
 If you believe such revolting reports against me, 
 what is it but to believe, that neither by God, 
 nor through him. Bishops are appointed ? Is my 
 own testimony of myself greater than the witness 
 of God ? And yet now I am called to answer 
 the accusations of men ungodly, cut off from 
 the Church, and deprived of the Holy Ghost, 
 though the witness of God is and has been with 
 me, in my Episcopate '". Is there no force still in 
 
 '" This principle is preserved in the Scottish Episcopal 
 Church ; or, as I should rather speak, in the Church Ca- 
 tholic in Scotland ; which declares in one of its Canons, 
 (XXXVI.) " No accusation shall be received against a 
 Deacon, or Presbyter, or Bishop, unless proceeding from 
 and supported by the testimony of credible persons, who are 
 regular commutiicants in the Scottish Episcopal Church." 1 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 325 
 
 the example and precepts of Christ and of the 
 Apostle, who would not insult and revile God's 
 High Priest ; but taught us not to speak evil 
 of the ruler of the people of God ?" 
 
 " What pride ! what arrogance ! That rulers 
 and Bishops should be called before your tri- 
 bunal ; and that, unless we are acquitted before 
 you, and absolved by your sentence, Lo ! for 
 these six years past the brethren have had no 
 Bishop, the people no leader, the flock no 
 pastor, the Church no ruler, Christ no repre- 
 sentative, and God no priest ! Let Pupianus, 
 forsooth, be brought in, to ratify the judgment of 
 God and of Christ, lest so great a number of the 
 faithful, who have been gathered into the Church 
 under our Episcopate, should seem to have de- 
 parted without the hope of salvation : lest the 
 multitude of converts should be adjudged to 
 have received, through us, a baptism void of 
 grace, and of the Holy Spirit : lest peace and 
 communion, extended to so many penitents, 
 should be null, without your confirmation ! 
 Deign, then, now at least, to pronounce your 
 sentence upon us, and to ratify our Episcopate 
 by your recognition ; that God and Christ may 
 
 take this opportunity of observing, that the constitution and 
 state of a Church which we hold to be Catholic, and with 
 which, therefore, we maintain communion, is not the most 
 unappropriate part of the information of an Anglican 
 Churchman. 
 
3-26 LIFE AND TIMES OF ST. CYPRIAN. 
 
 be at liberty to acknowledge with thanks, that 
 by you a Priest has been restored to their altar, 
 and a ruler to their people !" 
 
 In such a strain does Cyprian continue his 
 letter, which he closes in these words : " Such 
 is the answer which I have made in the innocency 
 of my conscience, and in my full trust in my 
 Lord and my God. You have my letter, I have 
 yours. At the last day both will be read over 
 before the judgment-seat of Christ "." 
 
 " Ep. Ixix. p. 124. 
 
CHAP. XIV. 
 
 THE QUESTION OF THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS, AND THE 
 
 CONTROVERSY ARISING OUT OF IT. ITS ORIGIN IN ASIA 
 
 minor: — IT IS DISCUSSED IN A SYNOD AT CARTHAGE. 
 
 Cyprian's letter to the bishops of numidia. — the 
 character of several objections against his rule. — 
 a synod of seventy-two bishops assembled at car- 
 THAGE TO DETERMINE THE QUESTION. — CYPRIAN's AC- 
 
 Cb^ VT TO STEPHEN OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE SYNOD. 
 
 \ 
 
 CYPRIAN S LETTER TO JUBAIANUS. 
 
 The great controversy concerning the rebap- 
 tizing of heretics, which is certainly the most 
 remarkable event that has engaged our atten- 
 tion, both in its conduct and in its consequences, 
 had already excited internal commotion in the 
 Church, and was now to embroil the province 
 over which Cyprian presided, in the general 
 discord. 
 
 There is some difficulty in determining the 
 exact dates of the events to which this contro- 
 versy gave rise, and the sequence of the several 
 minor occurrences is often obscure. The long 
 and learned note appended to Sect, xviii. Seec. III. 
 of Mosheim's Commentaries of the Affairs of the 
 
;J-28 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 Church before Constantine, seems to me to pre- 
 sent the most judicious arrangement of the several 
 events ; I shall take that historian therefore as 
 my guide. Mosheim, however, is no guide in 
 theology : and it is well, that though the records 
 of those times have left the dates and order of 
 certain occurrences obscure, they speak clearly 
 enough on the theological questions which we 
 are about to touch. 
 
 The broader features of the controversy are 
 readily traced in the Epistles of Cyprian and 
 Firmilian, which afford also some indications of 
 personal character, in the several actors in the 
 busy scene, which may give interest to the re- 
 pulsive but most important story of theological 
 disputation. The character of Stephen, Bishop 
 of Rome, must be allowed to suffer under the 
 lash of his opponents' satire and arguments, 
 almost as much as the subsequent claims of the 
 Church over which he presided suffer from the 
 development of truly catholic principles in the 
 conduct of the controversy. If the Epistles of 
 Stephen, which are lost, would have placed the 
 conduct and character of that Prelate in a better 
 light, than thatin which they appear in the accounts 
 of his opponents, I sincerely wish that they were 
 forthcoming. His conduct must have been out- 
 rageous indeed, to exceed the picture of him 
 which the historian is obliged to present, from 
 existing records ; and yet the Church of Rome 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. ^29 
 
 has been suspected of suppressing his Epistles, 
 that the character of the Pontiff might not suffer 
 by the additional light which they would throw 
 upon the history of those times. Perhaps, too, 
 the historians of the Roman obedience have need- 
 lessly confused the occurrences in which Stephen 
 took so prominent and heartless a part : for this 
 is certainly a page of history on which they can 
 engage with no great complacency ; and they 
 might have rejoiced if Raymond Missorius'* had 
 succeeded in his attempt to prove, that the 
 Epistles relating to this controversy, attributed 
 to Cyprian and Firmilian, were forged by the 
 Donatists of Africa, whose error sought support 
 from those records. 
 
 The question agitated was really one of vital 
 importance. Whether or no those who had re- 
 ceived baptism from the hands of an heretic, 
 should be admitted into the Church by a second 
 baptism : or rather, (for this is the more correct 
 way of stating the question, though the other is 
 the more common and popular,) whether the 
 sprinkling by a heretic should be accounted any 
 baptism at all ; and therefore, whether one who 
 had received such a sprinkling should be bap- 
 tized. This question had never been authorita- 
 tively determined in the Church of Christ. The 
 usage of Rome was indeed clear ; but yet no 
 Church at that time imagined the local custom 
 * A Franciscan of the last century. 
 
330 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 of Rome a rule for the conduct of all Christen- 
 dom. It had been debated on several occasions ; 
 and perhaps it had received several solutions 
 in different provinces, each particular Church 
 obeying the decision of its several Bishop, or of the 
 synod of the province of which it formed a part. 
 Meanwhile all agreed, if not in the particular 
 rule or discipline, yet in the much more import- 
 ant matter, that the Bishop was the centre of 
 authority in such matters to his own Church, or 
 the synod of provincial Bishops to each pro- 
 vince ; and that they did right who followed the 
 determination of the Bishop or the synod re- 
 spectively, until the paramount authority of the 
 Universal Church should determine the ques- 
 tion '\ 
 
 In Asia, synods had been held at Synnada and 
 Iconium, and some other places, in which it had 
 been determined, that heretical baptism was 
 invalid. In Africa, Agrippinus of Carthage had 
 presided in a Council, at which the same deter- 
 mination was adopted": but the Council was not 
 held to be binding on the whole African Church ; for 
 
 » St. Augustine to Januarius, Ep. liv. vol. ii. p. iGj. thus 
 states the principle which should be adhered to in such 
 matters. " Faciat quisque quod in ea ecclesia, in quam 
 venit, invenerit." In the same Epistle Augustine gives the 
 celebrated rule of St. Ambrose, " ad quam forte ecclesiam 
 veneris, ejus morem serva, si cuiquam non vis esse scandalo, 
 nee queniquam tibi." 
 
 •" Epistles Ixxi. and Ixxiii. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 331 
 
 we shall find a smaller synod of Bishops presently 
 consulting Cyprian on the question, as if it had not 
 been set at rest. In Rome, and in the dioceses 
 in its provinces, the opinion seems always to have 
 been, that they who came over from heresy, and 
 had received baptism in their separation from 
 the Church, should be received, nevertheless, 
 without a second baptism ; at least Stephen, 
 who advocated that rule, appeals to the tradition 
 of his own Church in support of his opinion. 
 
 The region in which this difference first created 
 dissention with Rome, was in Asia Minor ; Cap- 
 padocia, Cilicia, and the neighbouring provinces. 
 Perhaps some Asiatic Christians may have ex- 
 pressed their opinion upon the subject at Rome ; 
 and if they did this imprudently, still more if they 
 did it intemperately, they were highly culpable. 
 Perhaps some converted heretics, who had been 
 received into the Church at Rome without bap- 
 tism, may have been rejected on their return to 
 Asia : or some who had been rejected in Asia 
 may have been received at Rome ; and in either 
 case, the discipline of a particular Church, which 
 every other Church ought to respect, was dis- 
 honoured. But, from whatever causes, Stephen 
 became all at once highly indignant at the error, 
 as he thought it, of the Asiatic Churches, and 
 wrote to Asia concerning Helenus and Firmilian, 
 and the rest of the Bishops of those parts, threat- 
 ening to withdraw from their communion, because 
 
332 MFE AND TIMES 
 
 they repeated the baptism of heretics'". The 
 letter of Firmilian, of which we shall presently 
 have much to say, and of which we are all along 
 making great use, shows, that this threat was 
 carried into execution. 
 
 While affairs were in this posture between Asia 
 and Rome, Cyprian little thought of the storm 
 which was gathering around him, and was soon 
 to burst over his head. He was settling the 
 state of his own Church and province, after the 
 persecution, with the assistance of thirty-two 
 Bishops assembled with him at Carthage. Dur- 
 ing their session, a question was put to Cyprian 
 by some Numidian Bishops (eighteen in number) 
 upon the very matter which was then embroiling 
 the Eastern Church with Rome. The letter of 
 the Numidians is lost, but Cyprian's answer will 
 afford a sufficient indication of its contents, and 
 will put us in possession of his own judgment 
 upon the disputed question, with that of the 
 thirty-two Bishops assembled with him in coun- 
 cil. 
 
 This letter contains a very careful and com- 
 prehensive statement of the principle upon which 
 Cyprian and his adherents determined the ques- 
 tion touching heretical baptism. St. Cyprian 
 himself evidently views it in that light, for he 
 again and again refers to it, as containing a clear 
 statement of his opinions, and of the ground on 
 •■ EusKBii's vii. 5. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 33:3 
 
 which they rested. As it is very short, as com- 
 pared with its importance, I shall give it entire. 
 
 " Cyprian and thirty-one others, to Januarius 
 and the other Bishops of Numidia. 
 
 " When we were all assembled in council, we 
 read, dearest brethren, your Epistle to us, on the 
 matter of those who seem, to have been baptized '' 
 among heretics and schismatics. Whether, when 
 they came into the Catholic Church, which is 
 one and true, they ought to be baptized ? And 
 although you yourselves maintain, in constancy 
 and purity, the Catholic rule upon that point ; 
 yet, since you have thought good out of our 
 mutual charity to consult us, we send you our 
 opinion, which is not new, but the same which 
 was established long since by our predecessors, 
 and which we have observed ourselves, with as 
 great unanimity as that which you have evinced ; 
 for this we believe, and hold as an undoubted 
 verity, that no one can be baptized out of the 
 Church, since there is but one baptism appointed, 
 and that in the holy Church ; and since it is 
 written. They have left me, the fountain of living 
 water, and have hewn out for themselves broken 
 
 '' " Baptizati videntur." Cyprian constantly makes the 
 distinction between a real and a seeming baptism : and thus 
 he, quite as truly as Steplien, taught, that none could be re- 
 baptized. St. Cyril says, " none but heretics are rebaptized, 
 since their former baptism was not baptism." Catechesis, 
 Introductory Lecture, p. 7- in the translation in the Library 
 of Fathers, Oxon. 1838. 
 
.'i;34 LIFE AND T[MES 
 
 fou?itai/is, icliick can hold no zcater". And again, 
 another Scripture speaks in a voice of warning; 
 Abstain from strange water, and of a fountain of 
 strange water drink not K The water, therefore, 
 should first be cleansed and sanctified by the 
 Priest, that it may avail by its use in baptism 
 to wash away the sins of him w^ho is immersed in 
 it : wherefore saith the Lord by the prophet 
 Ezekiel, and I zcill sprinlde clear water upon you, 
 and ye shall he clear from all your Jilthiness ; and 
 from all your idols zcill I cleanse you ; a new 
 heart also zcill I give you, and a nezv spirit will I 
 put zc'ithin you^. But how can he cleanse and 
 sanctify the water, who is himself unclean, and 
 upon whom the Holy Ghost is not ; for the Lord 
 saith. Whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall 
 he unclean '" 9 Or how can one give to another 
 remission of sins in baptism, who cannot himself 
 lay down his own sins, being without the 
 Church ? 
 
 " Besides, the very intercession which is made 
 at Baptism is a witness of the truth. For when 
 we say, ' Dost thou believe in eternal life, and in 
 the remissio?? of sins by the holy Church 9' we 
 mean that remission of sins is not given except in 
 the Church ; but that among the heretics, where 
 the Church is not, sins cannot be remitted. 
 They then who assert that heretics can baptize, 
 
 " Jer. ii. 13. *" I'rov. vi. 24. 
 
 * Ezekiel xxxvi. 25, 26. '' Numb. xix. 22. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 335 
 
 must either change the mterrogation, or must 
 vindicate the truth against their own opinion, 
 by the very use of it ; unless, indeed, they contend, 
 ^hat even those have a Church whose baptism 
 they admit. 
 
 " Moreover, he who is baptized must also be 
 anointed, that when he has received the chrism, 
 that is the unction, he may be indeed the anointed 
 of God, and have in him the grace of Christ. 
 Now there is a Eucharistic oblation of oil, from 
 the matter of which the baptized are anointed, 
 after the oil has been consecrated on the altar ; 
 but he cannot have consecrated the creature of 
 oil, who had neither an altar nor a church. 
 Whence, again, there can be no spiritual unction 
 among heretics, since it is quite clear that oil 
 cannot be consecrated, and made an Eucharistic 
 oblation, by them'. And we ought to bear in 
 
 ' This passage is difficult, and I have seen no explanation 
 which removes the difficulty ; I have therefore ventured to 
 render it paraphrastically, conveying an explanation together 
 with a translation ; yet by no means positively asserting that 
 my explanation is the right one. The words in the original 
 are as follows. " Porro aulem Eucharistia est, unde baplizali 
 ungunninr oleo in altari sanctificato. Sancl'rficare aulem noii 
 potnit olei crealuram qui nee allai-e liabult nee eeclesiam. 
 Unde nee unciio spiritualis apud hcereticos potest esse, qnando 
 constet oleum sanctificari et Eucharisliam fieri apud illos omn'ino 
 non posse." The word Eiicharistia here, has been always, so 
 far as I know, made to refer to the Eucharist, or the Supper 
 of the Lord, administei-ed to the newly baptized. But 
 though chrism and confirmation were held to be necessary 
 to the completion of Baptism, I know not that the Eucharist 
 
336 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 mind the Scripture, Let not ihe oil of a sinner 
 
 ever was : and at any rate, if he had then been speaking of 
 the Supper of the Lord, Cyprian would have made it 
 another member of the argument, and not confused it with 
 the mention of the oil ; Avhen he had already separated the 
 mention of the oil from that of the water, which are nmcli 
 more on a par, and much more nearly connected theologi- 
 cally speaking. He would have reasoned thus : The 
 heretic cannot consecrate water, ergo he cannot baptize- 
 He cannot consecrate oil, ergo he cannot baptize. Neither 
 can he consecrate the Eucharist, ergo he cannot baptize. 
 But as the reasoning of Cyprian stands, that third proof 
 of his position is sadly confused with the second, to 
 the great detriment of both ; that is, if, which I question, 
 he accepted the third at all, as a part of his reasoning, 
 or if he is there speaking at all of that oblation which is 
 Ku.r i^o^h, the Eucharist. This reasoning will be seen in 
 its full force by those who will observe in how orderly 
 a manner Cyprian advances, in this Epistle, from one 
 step of his argument to another, closing each with a 
 reference to Scripture. It will be fell by those who know 
 how the Christians of that time were accustomed to speak 
 of the tremendous mysteries of the Christian altar; and 
 who know how very improbable it is, that such an one as St. 
 Cyprian should thus speak of those mysteries, as it were, 
 by the way, while the oil of chrism is the real and imme- 
 diate subject of his reasoning. Thus, neither as an orderly 
 reasoner, nor as a theologian, can Cyprian be supposed to 
 make any reference to the Eucharistic sacrifice in this 
 passage. To speak, too, of the creature of oil, is quite 
 analogous to speaking of the creatures of bread and. tvine ; 
 which is a usual way of designating those elements, when 
 they were about to be sanctified by an Eucharistic oblation, 
 and invocation of the Holy Ghost. Nor is the analogy between 
 the consecrations of the oil and of the bread and wine too 
 obscure to afford propriety to such a similarity of phrases. 
 St. Cyril of Jerusalem says, (Cat. Myst. iii 3 p. 268. of 
 Church's translation,) in a passage, by the way, which 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 337 
 
 anoint mine head"^. And this warning the Holy 
 Spirit gave beforehand in the Psalms, lest any, 
 leaving his proper course, and wandering from 
 the path of truth, should be anointed by heretics, 
 and the enemies of Christ. 
 
 " And, yet again, what sort of prayer can a 
 sacrilegious and sinful priest offer for the baptized, 
 since it is said, God heareth not a sinner; but if 
 any one zvorshipjieth Him, and doeth His xvill. Mm 
 He hearetW ? 
 
 " But who can give that which he hath not ? 
 or how can he, who has himself lost the Holy 
 Spirit, minister spiritual gifts ? 
 
 " On the whole then we conclude, that he is 
 to be baptized and renewed, who comes as a 
 
 renders it absolutely impossible that Cyril can have held 
 the doctrine of transubstantiation. " Beware of supposing 
 this to be plain ointment. For as the bread of the pAicha- 
 rist, after the invocation of the Holy Ghost, is mere bread 
 no longer, but the body of Christ; so also this holy ointment 
 is no more simple ointment, nor (so to say) common, after 
 the invocation, but the gift of Christ; and by the presence 
 of His Godhead, it causes in us the Holy Ghost." And in 
 the title of a prayer in the Apostolical constitution we find 
 the very word Eticharisl, as applied to a part of the cere- 
 monial of unction ; EYXAPISTIA ■nig) tov ^vo-tikov ftvgov. 
 
 I think I have said enough to shew, that the Eiicharislia 
 of which Cyprian speaks viaii be connected with the oil of 
 chrism, and not with the Saci-ament of the Lord's Supper : 
 and if it ?««?/ be, some respect to Cyprian's reasoning will 
 bring us to the conclusion, that it is connected with the oil. 
 
 " Ps. clxi, 5. LXX. and Vulgate. 
 
 ' John ix. 13. 
 
338 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 novice to the Church ; and that he ought to be 
 sanctified within her pale, by those who are them- 
 selves holy ; since it is written. Be ye holy, for I 
 am holy, saith the Lord"': so, then, he who has 
 been led into an error, and been baptized without 
 the Church, let him put off this, among his other 
 offences, in the true and catholic baptism, — that 
 when he would have come to God, while he sought 
 a true priest, he fell into the hands of a sacrile- 
 gious one, through deceit and error. 
 
 '^ Finally, to consent to the validity of the 
 baptism of heretics and schismatics is in effect 
 to approve of it. For in this case, either all or 
 none is validly performed. If the heretic could 
 baptize, he could also give the Holy Ghost. But 
 if he who is without the Church cannot give the 
 Holy Ghost, because he is himself without the 
 Holy Ghost, neither can he baptize the convert : 
 for there is one baptism, and one Holy Spirit, 
 and one Church, founded by the Lord Christ 
 upon Peter, [or upon a rock":] so that in its very 
 foundation it may bear the mark of unity. Hence 
 it follows, that since among them everything is false 
 
 "' Lev. xix. 2. 
 
 " See the note of the Benedictine Editors. I have no 
 objection to admit that the Church is founded on Peter : 
 but since there can have been no temptation to convert 
 Petnim into petram ; while there has been such strong 
 temptation to convert petram into Pi'lnnii; various read- 
 ings in such passages really do look suspicious. However, 
 the Romanists must be allowed the benefit of their character 
 for integrity in siich matters. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 330 
 
 and empty, nothing of their doing in such matters 
 ought to be acknowledged by us. For what can 
 be ratified and confirmed by God which they do 
 who are called His enemies in the Gospel? He who 
 is not zvith me is against me ; he who gathereth 
 not zvith me scattereth". And the blessed Apostle 
 Saint John also, guarding the commandments 
 and precepts of his Lord, has written in his 
 Epistle, Ye have heard that Antichrist shall come; 
 even nozv are there many Antichrists, zoherehy z£>e 
 knozv that it is the last time. They z&ent out from 
 us, but they zvere not of ns ; for if they had been 
 of us, they would no doubt have continued zenith us"^. 
 And from hence we ought to consider, whether 
 they who are enemies of the Lord, and who are 
 called Antichrists, can confer the grace of Christ. 
 Wherefore we, who remain with the Lord, and 
 maintain His unity, and administer the priesthood 
 in His Church according as He has put us in 
 charge, ought to repudiate and reject whatever 
 His adversaries and Antichrists do, and to ac- 
 count it as mere profanation. And to those who 
 escape from error and pravity, and acknowledge 
 the true faith of the one Church, we ought to 
 communicate in all the sacraments of divine 
 grace, and in the verity of unity and faith. 
 
 " Dearest brethren, we wish you continued 
 health 1." 
 
 " Luke xi. 23. p 1 John ii. 18, 1 p. "» Ep, Ixx. 
 
 pp. 124, 152, 126. 
 
 Z 2 
 
'Mi) LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 Having given this Epistlo entire, we have once 
 for all put the reader in possession of Cyprian's 
 judgment on the point at issue, from which he 
 never swerved. As we follow the controversy, 
 however, in its several turns, we shall mark such 
 new arguments as were elicited by the circum- 
 stances of the contest, and were adduced from 
 time to time in answer to new objections. 
 
 Though the Council from which the above 
 Epistle was sent, thus confirming the determina- 
 tion of a Numidian Synod, and following the 
 steps of a former Synod in Carthage, may be 
 supposed to have settled the question to the 
 satisfaction of all Catholics in those provinces ; 
 yet there were other parts of Africa which were 
 as yet unsupplied with any authoritative rule for 
 the admission of heretics into the Church ; and 
 whose Bishops, therefore, being left to their 
 private judgment in this matter, might inno- 
 cently differ in opinion and practice, one from 
 another, and from the Numidian and Carthagi- 
 nian Churches. Under sucli circumstances they 
 would gladly obtain the advice of a Bishop, so 
 eminent, both in character and station, as St. 
 Cyprian ; especially after he had presided in a 
 Council where the question had been debated 
 and determined. Hence we find Cyprian writing 
 to a Bishop in Mauritania, named Quintus, in 
 answer to a request nuidc through one Lucius, a 
 Presbyter, that he would give him his opinion on 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 341 
 
 that subject. " Lucius, our brother Presbyter, 
 has informed me, dearest brother, of your wish," 
 says Cyprian, '' that T shouhl send you my judg- 
 ment concerning those who have received the 
 semblance of Baptism among heretics and schis- 
 matics'." He sends therefore to Quintus a copy 
 of the letter to the Numidians before given ; 
 adding an answer to the objection, that there is 
 but one baptism. " Some will say," says he, *' that 
 there is but one baptism. True, but that one 
 must be in the one Catholic Church. But those 
 who admit the baptism of heretics, as well as 
 that of the Church, make two baptisms ; or else, 
 which is still worse, prefer the profane and con- 
 taminating sprinkling of the heretics, to the one 
 true and lawful baptism of the Church Catholic. 
 Or at any rate, to make but one baptism, yet to 
 recognize the baptism of heretics, is to admit 
 that heretics may truly baptize, and to allow 
 them the power of washing, cleansing, and sancti- 
 fying the spiritual man. But this is to grant too 
 much to them ; for how can they give that 
 which they have not themselves ? We do not 
 say, then, that converts from them to the 
 Church are to be rt'baptized, but that they are to 
 be baptized." 
 
 iVnother objection, which Cyprian discusses 
 in this Epistle, shows that the trick of meeting 
 arguments by reasoning perfectly irrelevant, is 
 
 ■■ Ep. Ixxi p 12f). 
 
342 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 by no means peculiar to these days. If the 
 adversaries of truth can find something in ancient 
 custom which looks like a support of their cause 
 on the most superficial view, they are not de- 
 terred from adducing it, though if it be examined 
 more deeply, it tells altogether against them. 
 They know that the mass of the people is taken 
 only by the first aspect of things ; so that the 
 desired effect will be already produced, before a 
 more candid instructor can teach them to look 
 below the surface. 
 
 It had been a primitive and catholic custom, 
 to receive those back again into the Church who 
 had been baptized therein, but had left it, for a 
 time, for the communion of heretics, by penance 
 only and imposition of hands, without a second 
 baptism. This custom respects a case utterly 
 different from that which was now agitated ; and 
 if it could be applied at all to the question, it 
 would rather go to support the peculiar sanctity 
 of Baptism administered in the Catholic Church : 
 yet it was adduced, as establishing their point, by 
 those who were for receiving without baptism 
 schismatics, who had not been baptized in the 
 Church. The fair statement of this argument is 
 sufficient for its refutation, without the reasoning 
 of Cyprian ; and I almost wonder, (especially 
 since he opposes the misapplication of custom 
 more than sufficiently by the mention of the true 
 custom of Africa, founded on the decision of the 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. ,343 
 
 Council which met under Agrippinus,) that he 
 should condescend to meet it by showing that 
 custom against reason is not to be followed. 
 However, he was right in prudence to argue with 
 men according to their folly : and in a future 
 Epistle, (to Jubaianus,) with equal condescension, 
 and practical wisdom, we find him refuting two 
 other arguments equally irrelevant, which were 
 adduced by the opponents of his opinion, that 
 heretics should be received into the Church by 
 Baptism. The two arguments to which I allude 
 are, (1.) That the Church denied not a martyr's 
 crown to them, who died in the true faith, 
 though before Baptism : and, (2.) that those 
 who had been baptized by Philip in Samaria 
 were not rebaptized by Peter and John, but 
 only received imposition of hands. Such are 
 some of the arguments against which Cyprian 
 had to contend. I shall not mention them again 
 in their proper order : they deserve to be strung 
 together for their absurdity, and not to form 
 a link in the historical sequence of events. 
 
 Cyprian's anxiety to determine this question 
 with the greatest possible authority, seems most 
 plainly to indicate, that he was aware of the full 
 extent of the violence with which Stephen, Bishop 
 of Rome, was likely to proceed against those who 
 differed from him in opinion and practice. The 
 anticipation of a future difference would make 
 him in no degree disposed to submit his judg- 
 
.3J4 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 ment to another, or to yield upon any other 
 ground tlian conclusive reasoning ; for he was 
 certainly no slave to foreign influence, and no 
 moral coward : but the coming struggle which 
 could neither shake nor frighten him, would and 
 should make him very desirous to determine the 
 question, with the full concurrence of his com- 
 provincial Bishops; both that the question might 
 be discussed with greater opportunities of ar- 
 riving at the truth ; and that the decision, when 
 made, might carry with it the greater weight. 
 
 Urged by these motives, he assembled, shortly 
 after the last Synod had dispersed, a second 
 Synod of seventy-two Bishops ; some being pre- 
 sent from Numidia, in which province the ques- 
 tion had been already determined in an assembly 
 of eighteen Bishops, in accordance with the views 
 of Cyprian, and his comprovincials. In this 
 second Council the decision of the former was 
 confirmed ; and a decree was also made upon 
 another matter of discipline, whereby it was 
 ordered, that those who had been ordained by 
 schismatics, and even those who had received 
 Orders in the Church, but had afterwards se- 
 ceded, should be received, on their return to the 
 Catholic Church, only to lay communion. 
 
 ^)f the proceedings of this second Synod, 
 Cyprian informs Stci)hen of Rome in the seventy- 
 second of the Cyprianic Kpistlcs. Tt will be 
 interesting to the reader to observe the tone 
 
OF ST, CYPRIAN. 345 
 
 in which Cyprian speaks to the Roman Pontiff; 
 and that upon a subject of such vital importance, 
 as to justify, at least in Stephen's opinion, the 
 breach of communion with those who ventured to 
 oppose his views. 
 
 " I found it necessary, for the discussion and 
 determination of many points, to collect a Synod 
 of several Bishops ; in which many things were 
 canvassed and determined : and having decreed 
 that those who have been washed without the 
 Church, and stained with the contaminating 
 touch of the water used by heretics and schisma- 
 tics, ought to be baptized, when they come over 
 to us, and to the one Church ; we thought it 
 right to communicate this decree especially to 
 you, that we might confer with your gravity and 
 wisdom on a point which so nearly touches the 
 authority of the priesthood, and the unity and 
 dignity with which the Church Catholic is di- 
 vinely appointed. We hold it insufficient to lay 
 hands upon them for the receiving of the Holy 
 Ghost, unless they als:^ received the Baptism of 
 the Church : for they can only be accounted sons 
 of God fully sanctified, when they have been born 
 again of both sacraments "', since it is written, 
 
 '" That is, of the sacrament of water for the remission of 
 sins ; and of imposition of hands for the receiving of the 
 Holy Ghost: which latter is a sacrament in no other sense 
 than the sign of the cross used in Bajitism by us may be 
 called a sacrament ; and is not at all a sacrament in the 
 
;34() LII'K AND TIMES 
 
 unless a man he born of water and of the Spirit, he 
 cannot enter the kingdom of God. We find it 
 recorded too, in the Acts of the Apostles, that 
 this principle was fully recognized and preserved 
 by the Apostles : so that, when the Holy Spirit 
 
 limited polemical sense, in ■'vhirh vp say that there arc but 
 two Sacraments, and in which the Romanist says that there 
 are seven. Imposition of hands was held a part and com- 
 plement of the Sacrament of Baptism. 
 
 To the learned it is sufficiently plain, that instances of the 
 application of the term " sacraineidum," to any ordinance or 
 other subject by the Fathers of the Church, are quite 
 irrelevant in our controversy with Rome touching the num- 
 ber of the Sacraments; for we admit in eveiy other than the 
 limited sense in which the word is used in t ;:> controversy, 
 that there are other Sacraments : whereas the Romanist will 
 not admit, that in all those things called " sacramcnia," by 
 the writers in question, are Sacraments in the same polemical 
 sense. We need not hesitate to speak of the sacrament of 
 unity, oi the Lord's Prayer as a sacrament, oi the sacrament of 
 imposition of hands or co Jirmalion, if only we be rightly 
 understood to mean just so much as the Fathers meant, and 
 no more: ard if more be necessarily intended, then the 
 Romanist will be as little able to employ the terms " sacra- 
 ment iwi iinilalis" as we to speak of the sacrament of con- 
 Jirmation. I know nothing that can better express our view 
 of the matter, than the words of St. Augustine, " Sacra- 
 mentis numero paucissimis, observatione facillimis, signifi- 
 catione praestantissimis, societatem novi populi QDominus] 
 colligavit; si cut est Baptismus Trinitatis nomine consecratus, 
 communicatio corporis et sanguinis ipsius, et si quid aliud 
 in Scripturis canonicis con.mendatur. ' \_Ei). liv. vol. ii. 
 p. iGl-.^ Thus does this great Father clearly distinguish 
 between the higher mysteries of Baptism and the Lord's 
 Supper, and those which to avoid misconception we may call 
 rather sacramentals than sacraments. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 347 
 
 had descended upon Gentiles in the house of 
 Cornelius the centurion, who were there present, 
 warm in faith, and believing in the Lord with 
 their whole heart, so that they blessed God in 
 divers tongues, through the divine inspiration ; 
 yet St. Peter, mindful of the divine ordinance, 
 and of the Gospel, commanded that they should 
 be baptized, who were already full of the Holy 
 Ghost, that nothing should seem wanting to the 
 perfect observance of the divine ordinance, in the 
 conduct of the Apostles "." 
 
 Then telling Stephen that he sends copies of 
 his letters to Quintus and to the Bishops of 
 Numidia, in which the grounds of this decision 
 were discussed, Cyprian proceeds to mention the 
 decree before alluded to, concerning the reception 
 of lapsed ecclesiastics to lay communion ; and, 
 finally, anticipating Stephen's rejection of the 
 decision of the Council touching the baptism of 
 heretics, he thus concludes : " These things we 
 have made known to you, dearest brother, from 
 regard to our mutual respect, and as befits my 
 sincere regard for you ; trusting that your own 
 piety and soundness in the faith will sufficiently 
 commend to you what is itself religious and or- 
 thodox. We know, however, that some men are 
 unwilling to lay down opinions which they have 
 once taken up, and are not easily persuaded to 
 
 " Ep. Ixxii. p. 128. 
 
IMS LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 confess a change in their sentinnents ; yet they 
 can retain tlie opinions wliich they have once 
 adopted as their own, without sacrificing the 
 peace and unity of their colleagues. And so we, 
 in the matter before us, neither impose restraint, 
 nor dictate a rule of proceeding to any man, 
 since every Bishop has full right to administer 
 the affairs of his own Church according to his 
 own judgment, rendering to the Lord an account 
 of his deeds." 
 
 Another Epistle of Cyprian, written about the 
 same time to Jubaianus, an African Prelate, puts 
 us more fully in possession of the topics of con- 
 troversy on this question, than any other of the 
 records of these times. Jubaianus had proposed 
 to Cyprian his own objections to his opinion ; 
 and had sent also a letter from some nameless 
 person, in which other difficulties were proposed. 
 This double attack upon his opinion Cyprian 
 fully meets. He first mentions the two Synods 
 which had been held, and also his letter to 
 (^uintus, in which the rule was stated, with the 
 principles on which it was founded. lie then 
 proceeds to answer objections. Some it seems 
 argued, that since Novatian affected to baptize 
 those who deserted to him from the Church, 
 therefore the Church ought to receive heretics 
 without bai)tism, lest Catholics should seem so 
 far to symbolize with Novatian, and to liave 
 borrowed his custom. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 349 
 
 In answer to this notable argument, St. Cyprian 
 shows, that, to be consistent, Novatian should 
 have been baptized into his own heresy. He 
 insinuates, that it would be as reasonable to put 
 off the proper conduct of humanity, because in 
 some things apes have imitated men ; as for the 
 Church to desert her customs, because they had 
 been aped by Novatian. And he argues, adhomi- 
 nem, (and the argument is of very general appli- 
 cation, and well worth repeating,) " Is it really 
 to be held a sufficient reason for not doing this, 
 that Novatian has done it? What then? since 
 Novatian usurps the honour of an Episcopate, are 
 we to renounce our Episcopacy? Or, because 
 Novatian endeavours to erect an altar, and 
 against all right to offer sacrifice, are we to 
 desert our altar, and to relinquish our sacri- 
 fice"?" 
 
 An argument more worthy of Cyprian's at- 
 tention occurs next : one, indeed, which hinged 
 on the very principle on which the Church 
 Catholic afterwards determined the present ques- 
 tion. I find, says Cyprian, in the letter which 
 you transmitted to me, a notion, that we ought 
 not to enquire who was the minister of Baptism 
 in any particular case ; since the baptized may 
 receive remission of sins, according to that which 
 he believed : as that Marcionites, for instance, 
 need not to be baptized, since they have received 
 '> Ep. Ixxiii. 130. 
 
:}50 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 a semblance of Baptism, in the name of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Let us take Cyprian's solution of this difficulty 
 in his own words. 
 
 " We ought therefore to examine the faith of 
 those who believe, out of the Church, to determine 
 whether it be such as that they can on account of 
 it obtain any grace. For if there be but one 
 faith common to us and to heretics, there may 
 be one grace also. If the Patripassians, for 
 instance, the Valentiniani, the Ophitae, the 
 Marcionites, and other pestilent sects, the very 
 poison and dagger of the truth, confess the same 
 Father, the same Son, the same Holy Spirit, the 
 same Church, that we confess, they may share 
 with us in our Baptism, since their faith also is 
 one with ours. But, not to run through all the 
 heretics, and all their follies and blasphemies, 
 (since it is painful to speak of that, at the 
 very knowledge of which one shudders and is 
 ashamed,) let us examine the case of Marcion 
 alone, of whom mention was made in the Epistle 
 which you sent to me, whether the validity of his 
 baptism can be reasonably admitted. 
 
 Now the Lord, when he sent forth His disciples 
 after His resurrection, taught them in what form 
 they ought to baptize, saying. All poxDer is given 
 to me in heaven and in earth. Go ye thereforey 
 and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name 
 of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 351 
 
 Ghost. In these words Christ involves the 
 doctrine of the Trinity, and in the mystery of 
 the Trinity were the nations to be baptized. 
 Now does Marcion hold the doctrine of the 
 Trinity ? Does he ascribe creation to the same 
 Father with us ? Does he recognize the same 
 Son, Christ born of the Virgin Mary, who is the 
 Word made flesh, who bare our sins, who by His 
 death conquered death, who was the first-fruits 
 and the promise of the resurrection to us, in His 
 flesh, so as to assure His disciples that they also 
 should rise in the same flesh ? Far different is 
 the faith of Marcion, and of the rest of the 
 heretics ! Yea, among them is nothing but error 
 and blasphemy and contention, the foes of holi- 
 ness and truth. How, therefore, can it be made 
 to appear, that they who are baptized among 
 them can receive remission of sins, and the grace 
 of God, on account of their faith, when their very 
 faith itself is a lie ? For if, as some imagine, one 
 who is without the Church, can receive any thing 
 according to his faith ; surely he must receive 
 that which he believes ; he then who believes a 
 lie cannot receive the truth ; but rather^ ac- 
 cording to his faith, he receives impurity and 
 profanation?." 
 
 Cyprian also argues, that if the faith of a 
 heretic might avail to his_^ receiving the grace of 
 Baptism, it would also avail to the receiving of 
 
 p En. Ixxiii, pp. 130, LSI. 
 
352 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 the grace of imposition of hands ; with which 
 rite however all were for receiving them ; and 
 after a long interval he proceeds : '' There is no 
 pretence for setting up the name of Christ 
 against the truth in this matter, and for saying 
 that they who are baptized in the name of 
 Jesus Christ, wherever and however, have re- 
 ceived the grace of Baptism : whereas Christ 
 Himself says. Not every one that saith nnto me 
 Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven ; and since He also warns us against being 
 deceived by false prophets, and false Christs, 
 coming in His name ; Many shall come in my 
 name, saith he, saying, I am Christ, and shall 
 deceive many ; but he adds, beware ; lo ! I have 
 foretold you all. Whence we learn, that we are 
 not to receive and vindicate what arrogates 
 the name of Christ, but only what is done 
 according to the truth of Christ. It is true 
 that the Apostles taught much of the name of 
 Christ for the remission of sins ; but this was 
 not as if the Son could profit any without or in 
 opposition to tlie Father ; but that they might 
 evince to the Jews, who boasted that they had 
 the Father, that the Father would profit them 
 nothing, unless tlicy believed in the Son, whom 
 
 He sent Finally, since after the 
 
 resurrection the Apostles were sent forth to 
 baptize the Gentiles in the name of the Father 
 and of the Son niul of the Holy Ghost, how can 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 35:1 
 
 some venture to say, that a Gentile baptized 
 without the Church, yea, against the Church, 
 any where, and in whatever form, so that it be 
 only in the name of Jesus Christ, can obtain 
 remission of sins; when Christ Himself com- 
 mands that the nations be baptized in the 
 Trinity in Unity : unless, indeed, he who denies 
 Christ is denied by Christ ; yet he who denies 
 the Father, whom Christ Himself confessed, is 
 not denied by Him ; and unless he who blas- 
 phemes Him, whom Christ called His Lord and 
 His God, shall be rewarded by Christ with 
 remission of sins, and the sanctification of Bap- 
 tism '^." And again : " if one could be baptized 
 among heretics, he might also receive remission 
 of sins : and with remission of sins, sanctification ; 
 and he is made the temple of God. But, I ask, 
 of what God ? Not of the Creator ; for in Him 
 he believes not. Not of Christ ; for he denies 
 that Christ is God. Not of the Holy Ghost ; 
 for since the Three are One God, how can the 
 Holy Ghost be propitiated by him, who is the 
 enemy either of the Father or of the Son' ?" 
 
 These passages, long as they are, are but 
 extracts from the reasoning of Cyprian against 
 the notion, that heretics might receive grace, 
 according to their faith, in their own mockery of 
 the Baptismal rite. But such expressions were 
 of course open to the imputation of bigotry, from 
 
 ■' pp. 134, 135. •• p. 133. 
 
 A a 
 
354 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 those who could not understand, that the most 
 energetic maintenance of the truth, the utmost 
 hatred of error, is not inconsistent with true 
 love, and personal forbearance. Against the 
 pseudo-charity, therefore, or liberalism of some, 
 he presents the following admirable exposition of 
 a passage from the Epistle to the Philippians, 
 which had been claimed then, as it is continually 
 now, as favouring such principles. 
 
 '' As for the fancy of some, that the words of 
 St. Paul, Notwithstcniding every way, xvhether in 
 pretence or truth, let Christ be preached, afford 
 any sanction to the proceedings of heretics, we 
 are convinced that they give no support either 
 to heretics or to their abettors. For in truth 
 St. Paul was not speaking of heretics, or of 
 any thing concerning them. The two classes of 
 persons whose preaching he mentions, were both 
 of the brethren ; though some were disorderly 
 in their conduct, and regardless of the laws of 
 the Church, while the rest preserved the truth of 
 the Gospel with a due reverence and fear. Now 
 while some of these constantly and boldly 
 preached the word of the Lord, and some of 
 envy and ill will ; while some maintained a 
 sincere love for his person, but others were 
 filled with hatred and malevolence ; he patiently 
 endured all, since, whether in pretence or in 
 truth, the name of Christ, which he also preached, 
 came to the knowledge of many; and the preach- 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 355 
 
 ing of all, though perhaps some were novices and 
 imperfectly taught, yet prevailed to the spread 
 of truth. Now surely it is one thing for those 
 who are within the Church to speak of Christ ; 
 and another for those who are without the 
 Church, and its enemies, to baptize in the name 
 of Christ. Let not those then who would vindi- 
 cate the proceedings of heretics, adduce the ex- 
 pressions of St. Paul concerning brethren : but let 
 them point out some place in which he grants that 
 any thing is to be conceded to heretics, in which 
 he approves their faith and baptism, in which he 
 has taught that they who are in schism, and are 
 blasphemers, can obtain remission of their sins, 
 without the pale of the Church V He then 
 proceeds to note what St. Paul does say of 
 heretics, and of the zeal with which we should 
 oppose their errors, and the fear with which we 
 should renounce their fellowship. 
 
 The argument of expediency was also pressed 
 against St. Cyprian's rule ; it was objected, that 
 the necessity of being baptized would repel here- 
 tics from the Church, and that it would bring on 
 the Church unnecessary odium. These ob- 
 jections St. Cyprian answers with characteristic 
 courage and decision, plainly declaring, that in 
 such cases the boldest way, that of the highest 
 principle is the best. As for the heretics, if their 
 baptism be admitted, it will tend to make them 
 
 ' p. 133. 
 
 A a 2 
 
350 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 think, from the very testimony of the Church, 
 that they in their separation are not cut off from 
 the privilege of true Christians ; but if they find 
 that their baptism is disallowed, they will, per- 
 haps at least, be startled by a more serious view 
 of their position, and make the greater haste to 
 regain the privileges which they have lost. As 
 for the dreaded odium of rebaptizing : if we dare 
 not incur this, shall we not involve ourselves in 
 a greater difficulty? for if we grant a true 
 baptism to heretics, we grant that not right and 
 presumptive, but mere and usurped possession, 
 is the only title to this privilege : and thus one 
 of the noblest parts of the appanage of the 
 Church is not only seized by others, but yielded 
 by ourselves : but how perilous it may be to 
 surrender our rights in spiritual matters, we are 
 divinely taught by the example of Esau ; who 
 found no place for repentance, having sold his 
 birthright. 
 
 Let us take the conclusion of this Epistle, 
 for the conclusion also of the present chapter ; 
 to which it is very appropriate, forming as it 
 does a sort of transition from the amicable dis- 
 cussion to the violent agitation of this great 
 question. Reverting to the calm, already ruffled, 
 with regret ; yet looking forward to the storm 
 with the confidence of moral rectitude and cou- 
 rage; Cyprian appears before the world protesting 
 his love of harmony, and his desire to maintain 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 357 
 
 unity as well as truth ; and desiring for his own 
 part not to be moved from the advantages of a 
 patient continuance in well-doing, whatever may 
 occur. 
 
 " I have written, dearest brother, as briefly as 
 I could, dictating to none, nor daring to condemn 
 those beforehand, who may use their liberty of 
 judging and of acting, to the best of their judg- 
 ment. If it be possible to avoid it, I will not 
 quarrel on account of heretics with any who are 
 united with me in the bonds of truth and by the 
 peace of the Lord: especially since the Apostle 
 says, if any one xoanteth to be contentious, we have 
 no such custom, neither the Church of God. I 
 hold fast, in patience and meekness, the love of 
 the Christians, the honour of our college, the 
 bond of faith, the unity of the Episcopate : and 
 to this end I have exercised myself in the compo- 
 sition of a book 071 the advantages of ixitience, 
 which I have now finished to the best of my 
 weak ability, and with the grace and help of the 
 Lord. Of this book I send you a copy, as a 
 token of our mutual affection ^." 
 
 8 page 13?. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 STEPHEN, BISHOP OF ROME, INTERFERES IN THE CONTRO- 
 VERSY ABOUT THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS. CYPRIAN's 
 
 EPISTLE TO POMPEIUS. — THE LAST COUNCIL ASSEMBLED AT 
 
 CARTHAGE TO DETERMINE THE QUESTION; ST. CYPRIAN's 
 
 OPENING ADDRESS ; AND SEVERAL OF THE MORE RE- 
 MARKABLE SUFFRAGES. — THE UNANIMITY OF THE COUN- 
 CIL AGAINST THE JUDGMENT OF STEPHEN, AND THB 
 
 CUSTOM OF ROME. IREN.EUS AND VICTOR. DIONYSIUS 
 
 AND STEPHEN. 
 
 Henceforward Stephen occupies a place in 
 the foreground of the picture, and the whole 
 scene is troubled. 
 
 About this time, that arrogant and violent 
 Prelate addressed an Epistle to Cyprian, in 
 which he expressed the opinion of his own 
 Church, with something less of humility and 
 temper than became the character of a Bishop. 
 This Epistle is lost ; but Cyprian has himself 
 preserved several parts of it, and these we may 
 suppose the most important parts, since they are 
 selected by Cyprian as most requiring an answer. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES OF ST. CYPRIAN. 359 
 
 These detached fragments of Stephen's letter 
 occur in an Epistle of Cyprian to Pompeius, who 
 had requested Cyprian to furnish him with a 
 copy of it. 
 
 " I send you," says Cyprian, " a transcript of 
 Stephen's letter ; and when you read it, you 
 will abundantly discover his error, in labouring 
 to establish the cause of heretics against Chris- 
 tians, and against the Church of God. For 
 among other things which he advances, either 
 arrogantly or impertinently, or which he so 
 states as to be even inconsistent with himself, 
 he has gone so far as to write thus : ' If, then, any 
 are come over to you from any heresy zohatever, [a 
 quacumque hceresi,^ let no new rule be followed, 
 but according to traditional usage let him be 
 received by imposition of hands and imnance ; 
 for even heretics themselves follow in this instance 
 the legitimate custom, and baptize not their pro- 
 selytes, but communicate them only ^.' " 
 
 Cyprian's answer to this judgment and rea- 
 soning of Stephen, will throw some light on the 
 estimation in which the decree of the Roman 
 Pontiff, and the tradition and custom of the 
 Roman Church, were held in the Church Ca- 
 tholic. 
 
 St. Cyprian reasons thus : 
 
 He has forbidden that converts from any 
 heresy should be baptized ; that is, he has de- 
 
 * Ep. Ixxiv. p. 138. 
 
360 Lll'E AND TIMES 
 
 termined that the baptism of all heretics is 
 lawful and valid. And forasmuch as each heresy 
 lias its own baptism, and its distinctive crimes, 
 he has accumulated upon himself the baptism 
 and the crimes of all. 
 
 As for the tradition of which he speaks, 
 whence is it ? Does it descend from divine and 
 evangelical authority ? Have we it from the 
 commands and Epistles of the Apostles ? Divine 
 traditions, divine commands, are to be obeyed. 
 If, then, either in the Gospels, or in the Acts, or 
 in the Apostolical Epistles, we are forbidden to 
 baptize converts from heresy, and required to 
 receive them at once to penance with imposition 
 of hands ; — be it so. But if heretics have no 
 other name and character in the sacred Scriptures 
 but that of enemies and antichrists, — if we are 
 taught to avoid them, — if they are said to be 
 perverse, and self-condemned ; why are we not 
 to condemn those, who, as the Apostle tells us, 
 have condemned themselves ? And now there are 
 even worse heresies in the Church, than in the 
 Apostles' days ; as that of Marcion, for instance. 
 As for those who set up the traditions of men 
 against the divine word, the Apostle teaches 
 us to withdraw ourselves from all such, for they 
 are proud, knowing nothing ''. Again : 
 
 " Neither ought the custom which has crept 
 in unawares among some, to stand in the way of 
 ^ 1 Tim. iv. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 361 
 
 the universal prevalence of truth ; for custom 
 
 without truth, is but the rust of error 
 
 Nor is the cause obscure which is to be followed 
 by those who desire, religiously and in simplicity, 
 to set aside error, and to discover the truth, and 
 bring it to light. For when we return to the 
 fountain and origin of divine tradition, human 
 error ceases ; and when we have looked into the 
 intention of the heavenly mysteries, whatever 
 before lay hid beneath the obscurity and cloud 
 of darkness, is brought into the full light of truth. 
 If a water-course, which used to flow copiously, 
 suddenly dries up, do we not go to the well-head 
 to discover the cause of the interruption ; whether 
 the spring itself has failed, or whether the stream 
 which flows freely from thence has been diverted 
 in some part of its course : so that if the defect 
 arise from a broken channel, the proper repairs 
 may restore the stream to its accustomed uses, 
 in the same plenty in which it issues from the 
 spring ? And such is the course which the 
 Priests of God should pursue, in the maintaining 
 of the divine precepts. If the truth has been 
 lost or obscured in any matter, we should trace it 
 back to its divine origin, and to the tradition of 
 the Apostles, and we then should gather our rules 
 and frame our conduct according to the divine 
 original. Now we find it recorded, that there is 
 one God, and one Christ, and one hope, and one 
 faith, and one Church, and one Baptism ap- 
 
362 11 FK AMJ TIMES 
 
 pointed in that one Church only ; and whosoever 
 departs from the unity of these things, necessarily 
 has his part with heretics ' ," &c The ap- 
 plication of this rule to the particular question of 
 Baptism we have already seen ; but it is in- 
 teresting to find Cyprian arguing against the 
 positions of the Roman Church and Pontiff of 
 that day, on precisely the same Catholic ground 
 that our Church now occupies, and is learning to 
 vindicate to herself once again, after the noble 
 example of her early reformers. 
 
 Cyprian proceeds to declare against the rea- 
 soning of Stephen : 
 
 That to adduce the custom of heretics is indeed 
 a notable device. 
 
 That if the name of Christ was sufficient in 
 Baptism, then it would be sufficient in imposi- 
 tion of hands also ; and the heretics who confer 
 the one, according to Stephen, might also confer 
 the other. 
 
 That a Bishop ought not only to teach, but 
 also to learn ; for he becomes more fit to teach, 
 as he adds daily to his slock of true know- 
 ledge. 
 
 Such is the tone (though not the exact words 
 and order) of some of the remarks of Cyprian 
 upon Stephen's authority and reasoning. Among 
 others the following striking passage occurs : 
 
 Ep. Ixxiv. ))p. Ml, 14f'2 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 363 
 
 " Doth he give glory to God, who communicates 
 with the Baptism of Marcioii ? Doth he give 
 glory to God, who thinks that remission of sins 
 can be given among those who blaspheme God ? 
 Doth he give glory to God, who asserts that 
 children of God may be born without the Church 
 of an adulteress and fornicator ? Doth he give 
 honour to God, who vindicates the cause of 
 heresy against the Church ; forsaking the unity 
 and truth which came from the law of God ? 
 Doth he give glory to God, who, the friend of 
 heretics, the enemy of Christ, judges those 
 priests of God worthy of excommunication who 
 defend the truth of Christ and the unity of the 
 Church ? If this be to honour God, if the fear 
 and discipline of God be thus guarded by His 
 priest, let us throw down our arms, let us submit 
 our hands to captivity, let us surrender the 
 administration of the Gospel, the ordinances of 
 Christ, the majesty of God, to the Devil : let 
 the oath of our divine warfare be dissolved, let 
 the standard of the armies of heaven be betrayed : 
 let the Church yield to heretics, light to darkness, 
 faith to perfidy, hope to despair, reason to error, 
 immortality to death, love to hatred, truth to a lie, 
 Christ to Antichrist. No wonder that schisms 
 and heresies thus arise day after day, and grow 
 with a strange rapidity and strength, and erect 
 their scaly heads against the Church of God, 
 injecting the poison of their error more and more 
 
364 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 fatally, while both authority and stability is given 
 to them by the advocacy of some; while their 
 baptism is defended ; while faith and truth are 
 betrayed ; while that which is done against the 
 Church without her pale, is vindicated in the 
 Church itself. But if, dearest brother, we have 
 any love of God, any faith and regard for the 
 truth ; if we keep the law of Christ, if we guard 
 inviolate the purity of His spouse, if the words of 
 the Lord are written in our hearts. When the Son 
 of man cometh shall He find faith on the earth ? 
 As faithful soldiers of God, let us fight for a true 
 faith and a pure religion ; with the courage of 
 tried fidelity, let us guard the camp divinely 
 committed to our keeping." 
 
 The Epistle of Stephen to Cyprian was an- 
 swered, as we collect with probability at least, by 
 the African Church ; which seems with Cyprian 
 to have maintained a far better temper than 
 Stephen, and to have sought his concurrence, 
 so long as it could be hoped for, and his con- 
 tinued communion, until it was denied by him- 
 self*^. This was expressly declared in the first 
 
 '' Need I remind the reader, that the Church of England 
 at the Reformation pursued precisely the same Catholic course 
 with Rome, and met witii precisely the same uncharitable 
 and scliisniatical return ? We are accused of having left 
 the Church of Rome : tlie truth is, that the Church of Rome 
 thrust us out against our will, and with the utmost contumely 
 and cruelty. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 30;') 
 
 Epistle to him before cited ; and Cyprian con- 
 tinues to call Stephen " brother/' which he would 
 not do, unless he still retained him, and wished 
 to retain him, in the unity of the Church. 
 
 The last effort" which the Africans made to 
 retain peace with Rome, seems to have been after 
 Stephen had so scandalously abused Cyprian, as 
 to call him a false Christ, a false Apostle, a 
 deceitful worker : and after he had fulminated 
 his excommunications against the whole Church 
 of Carthage. Even after this the Africans sent 
 messengers to Rome to bring things to a better 
 state if possible ; but their message was rejected, 
 and their legates treated with disrespect and 
 contumely. 
 
 Things being now in such a deplorable con- 
 dition, Cyprian, seeking countenance in the 
 consent of good and great men in the Church, 
 communicated the whole affair to Firmilian, one 
 of those Asiatic Bishops who were already in the 
 same condemnation with himself, and for the 
 same cause. Firmilian had been a pupil of 
 Origen ; he was Bishoj) of Cesaraea, in Cappa- 
 docia, and was a Prelate of great note in his 
 day : and his long reply to Cyprian's commu- 
 nication amply sustains his character with pos- 
 terity. It is certainly a masterly production, 
 or rather the production of a master mind ; for 
 
 « See Mosheim, p. 544. 
 
36C> lifl: and times 
 
 it was written in so great haste, that he himself 
 apologizes for its defects on that score. But it is 
 chiefly valuable to us, not as attesting the genius 
 of its author, but as supplying indications which 
 were else wanting of some minor incidents of this 
 controversy ; and as affording irrefragable proofs 
 that Rome and its Bishop had not then those 
 exclusive claims to respect and obedience, which 
 she arrogates iiozv over all Bishops and all 
 Churches. In this latter point of view I have 
 considered the Epistle of Firmilian in another 
 work^; and I have made continual use of his 
 historical hints, in the present view of this con- 
 troversy. 
 
 But the most important step which Cyprian 
 took, was the calling a Council of eighty-five 
 Bishops, the last, and the most celebrated of all 
 those that met under his Episcopate, for the 
 discussion of this question. We have no re- 
 cords remaining of the other Councils, but the 
 mention of them in the several Epistles before 
 cited : but of this Council the synodal acts still 
 remain. 
 
 When the far greater part of the Bishops of 
 Africa, Numidia, and Mauritania had assembled^, 
 with the Priests and Deacons, (much people 
 being also present,) and when the letter of 
 
 f Te«.tiniony of St. Cyprian against Rome, p. I70 — 178. 
 ' On the first of September, 256. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 367 
 
 Jubaianus to Cyprian concerning the baptizing 
 of heretics, with the answer of Cyprian, and also 
 a reply of Jubaianus, expressing his concurrence, 
 had been read, Cyprian rose, and thus addressed 
 the Synod. 
 
 " You have heard, most beloved colleagues, 
 what my fellow Bishop Jubaianus wrote to me, 
 desiring my poor judgment upon the unlawful 
 and profane baptism of heretics : you have 
 heard, too, my reply ; that I thought, as I have 
 always thought and still think, that heretics, on 
 their return to the Church, ought to be baptized 
 and sanctified with the Church's baptism. You 
 have also heard the second Epistle of Jubaianus, 
 in which he not only expresses his assent to my 
 judgment, but declares himself thankful also for 
 the information which I had been able to afford 
 him. It remains that we declare, each of us, 
 what we think upon this subject, neither judging 
 any one, nor forbidding any, if he judge other- 
 wise, to communicate his opinion. For neither 
 has any one of us constituted himself a Bishop 
 of Bishops, nor reduced his colleagues to the 
 necessity of conforming to his judgment, by a 
 tyrannical display of terrors ; since every Bishop 
 has a right to judge for himself, and is at liberty 
 to use his own authority, and can no more be 
 judged by another, than he can judge another. 
 But let us all expect the judgment of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who alone hath the power, 
 
368 ' LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 both to constitute us governors in his Church, 
 and to pronounce judgment upon our con- 
 duct''." 
 
 The modesty and forbearance of the opening 
 of the Council by the insulted Cyprian, has the 
 especial praise of Augustine ; who differed from 
 him in his judgment, but could not help admiring 
 the manner in which it was enforced. And in- 
 deed it is remarkable, that not only in Cyprian, 
 but in the whole Synod assembled with him, so 
 far as we collect from the several suffrages, the 
 merits of the question were discussed without 
 any undue reference to those feelings which must 
 have been excited by the unwarrantable and rash 
 severity of Stephen. 
 
 Some few of the more remarkable of those 
 suffrages I shall transcribe. 
 
 Caecilius of Bilta, whose suffrage is first in 
 order, seems to have resembled Cyprian as much 
 in his diffuse and oratorical style, as in his judg- 
 ment. " I acknowledge," says he, " but one 
 baptism within the Church, and without the 
 Church none. That one baptism is only where 
 there is a true hope, and an assured faith. For 
 so it is written: One faith, one hope, one baptism; 
 not among heretics, where hope there is none, 
 and where faith is falsehood ; where all things 
 are carried on with lying ; where a demoniac 
 
 " page :i29. 
 
OP ST. CYPRIAN. 369 
 
 ■exercises, a profane man puts the baptismal 
 interrogatories, his words eating as a cancer ; 
 when an infidel imposes the faith, the wicked 
 man remits sins. Antichrist sprinkles in the name 
 of Christ, he who is cursed of God blesses, the 
 dead promises life, the broiler gives peace, the 
 blasphemer invokes God, the profane man ad- 
 ministers the sacred functions, and the sacrile- 
 gious consecrates the altar. To all these evils yet 
 another is added, that the chief ministers of 
 Satan dare to offer the Eucharist. Or if these 
 things be not so, let those who join the heretics 
 in their mockeries deny them if they can. Be- 
 hold, to what iniquities the Church is now com- 
 pelled to consent, while she is forced to receive 
 such men to communion, without baptism, and 
 without pardon. Surely, my brethren, we ought 
 to flee from such wickedness, and to separate 
 ourselves from such iniquity ; and to hold that 
 one baptism, which is committed to the Church 
 alone." 
 
 Polycarp of Adrumettium spoke third: ^' They 
 who approve the baptism of heretics, invalidate 
 our own." 
 
 Nicomedes of Segurnae said, " I hold that 
 heretics should be received into the Church by 
 baptism, because they can receive no remission 
 of sins without the Church, and from sinners." 
 
 The suffrage of Mummulus of Galba. " The 
 verity of our mother, the Church Catholic, hath 
 
 Bb 
 
370 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 always remained, and yet remains among us, 
 my brethren ; and even more especially in the 
 recognition of the Trinity in Baptism, since om- 
 Lord said. Go ye, and baptize the nations in the 
 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Hohj Spirit. Since then we are certain that the 
 heretics have neither the Father, nor the Son, 
 nor the Holy Spirit, they who come to the 
 Church our mother, ought to be truly regene- 
 rated and baptized : that they may, by the holy 
 and heavenly laver, be delivered from the canker 
 which is destroying them, and from the wrath of 
 damnation, and from the suUiage of error." 
 
 Fortunatus of Tuchaboris said, '' Jesus Christ 
 our Lord and God, and the Son of God the 
 Father and Creator, founded His Church on 
 a rock, not upon heresy ; and gave the privilege 
 of Baptism to Bishops, not to heretics. Where- 
 fore they who are without the Church, and 
 opposing themselves to Christ scatter the 
 sheep of His flock, cannot baptize without the 
 Church." 
 
 Secundinus of Carpi spoke thus. " Are here- 
 tics Christians, or are they not ? If they be 
 Christians, why are they not in the Church of 
 Christ ? If they be not Christians, how can they 
 make men Christians ? Or whither tends that 
 word of the Lord, He that is not with me is 
 against me, and he who gathereth fiot with me 
 scatfereth ? Whence it follows, that the Holy 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 371 
 
 Spirit cannot descend^, by imposition of hands, 
 upon strange cliildren, and the progeny of 
 Antichrist : since it is clear that heretics have 
 no baptism." 
 
 Adelphius of Thasbalte. " The report that 
 we 7'^baptize, is false, and as malicious as it is 
 untrue : for the Church does not ?*ebaptize here- 
 tics, but baptize them." 
 
 Pelagianus of Luperciana. " It is written. 
 Either the Lord is your God, or Baal is your 
 God; and now, in like manner, either the 
 Church is the Church, or heresy is the Church. 
 But if heresy be not the Church, how can 
 heretics have at their disposal the Baptism of 
 the Church ?" 
 
 Marcellus of Zama. " Since there is no re- 
 mission of sins, except in the Baptism of the 
 Church, he who baptizes not a heretic holds 
 communion with a sinner." 
 
 Zosimus of Tharassa said, '' When truth has 
 been revealed, let error yield to truth : for even 
 Peter, who before enjoined circumcision, yielded 
 to the truth which Paul preached." 
 
 The suffrage of Therapius of Bulla. '' Whoso 
 betrays the Baptism of the Church to heretics, 
 what is he but a Judas to the spouse of 
 Christ ?" 
 
 Verulus of Rusiccas. " A man that is an 
 heretic cannot impart that which himself hath 
 
 Bb2 
 
37-2 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 not ; much less a schismatic, wlio hatli lost that 
 which he had." 
 
 Clarus of Massula said, " The intention of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ is clear, from His sending 
 His Apostles, and committing to them alone the 
 authority which wa- given to Him by the Father; 
 to which Apostles we succeed, governing the 
 Church of the Lord with the same authority, 
 and baptizing those who rightly believe. On 
 the other hand, heretics, who have neither au- 
 thority being without, nor the Church of Christ, 
 can baptize none with the Baptism of CiiRin." 
 
 Natalis of Oea delivered the proxies of Pom- 
 peius and Dioga with his own suffrage, snying, 
 " As well I myself, as Pompeius of Sabra, and 
 Dioga of Leftis-Magna, who have delegated their 
 authority to me, and though absent in l)ody are 
 present in spirit, agree in the judgment of our 
 colleagues. That heretics cannot communicate 
 with us, until they have received the Church's 
 Baptism." 
 
 And last of all spoke Cyprian of Carthage. 
 " My Epistle to Jubaianus declares my opinion 
 at large : That heretics, who are declared by the 
 terms of the Gospel, and by the declaration of 
 the Apostle, to be both adversaries of Christ, 
 and Antichrists, when they come into the 
 Church, ought to be baptized with the one 
 Baptism of the Church ; that of adversaries they 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 373 
 
 may be made friends, and of Antichrists Chris- 
 tians." 
 
 Thus the eighty-five Bishops assembled at this 
 Council, with two others who voted therein by 
 proxy, unanimously agreed, that heretics ought 
 to be baptized on their conversion to the Church: 
 and thus by their Sy nodical act, they deliberately 
 chose the condemnation of Stephen and his 
 Church, (with whatever penalty of right at- 
 tended it,) before a submission to that authority, 
 when their consciences were opposed to its 
 dictates. 
 
 They were already, indeed, excommunicated 
 by Stephen ; unless we rather hold with Fir- 
 milian, that Stephen, by his excommunication 
 of the African Churches, had cut himself off 
 from the Church of Christ. But in thus volun- 
 tarily binding the burden of his anathema upon 
 themselves, rather than bending beneath the 
 weight of a new custom imposed by his Church, 
 surely the African Bishops in the Council spoke 
 volumes, as to their judgment of Rome as an 
 infallible Church, and of her Bishop as the centre 
 of unity. 
 
 With this Council ended the controversy upon 
 the baptism of heretics, so far as Africa was con- 
 cerned ; and henceforth Vv^e hear of no farther 
 discussions upon the subject ; though there is no 
 shadow of evidence that either Cyprian, and the 
 Churches who adhered to his opinion, or Stephen 
 
374 LIFE AND TMliS 
 
 and Ills party, ever came into a different judgment 
 from tliat whicli \vc liave seen tliem maintaining 
 respectively. Mosheim suggests, that the unani- 
 mity of the Africans upon this subject, and the 
 consent of the Asiatics in their judgment, 
 wrought so far at least with Stephen, as to 
 moderate the ejcpressiofi of his anger. The 
 Africans themselves, always disposed to peace, 
 and to holding their own opinions, and main- 
 taining their own customs, while they conceded 
 the same license to others, were not likely to 
 move the question with needless or untimely 
 violence. That they were cut off from all 
 external fellowship with Rome they must have 
 regretted ; but not imagining that this was tan- 
 tamount to being cast into a lower hell than is 
 opened for any other but delinquents against the 
 Church of Rome, they needed not to sink the 
 dignity of an independent Church by an idle 
 clamour. Nor yet were they forced by the law 
 of charity, to proselytize their opponents, as 
 if they could so only deliver them from eternal 
 wrath ; for neither was Carthage any more than 
 Rome to be accounted infallible, nor Cyprian 
 any more than Stephen, to be made the centre 
 of necessary unity to all Christendom. Even- 
 tually the evil cured itself, and that peace suc- 
 ceeded, which could never have returned, had the 
 violence of Stephen long irritated the Church, or 
 had it been borne with less patience than that 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 375 
 
 which arose from conscious rectitude, and an 
 absence of all fear. In St. Augustine's time, we 
 find the Africans agreeing against the Donatists 
 in the judgment of the Catholic Church, (which 
 was not however the judgment of Stephen, 
 though verbally more near to it than to that 
 of Cyprian,) to which they probably conformed 
 insensibly. 
 
 Besides, as Victor, a former Bishop of Rome, 
 had found in Saint Irenaeus one to advise more 
 moderate measures than he was disposed to 
 adopt, in the controversy concerning the keeping 
 of Easter ; so did Pope Stephen find in Diony- 
 sius of Alexandria, one not less disposed nor less 
 able than Irenasus to take the same fraternal 
 part. For Eusebius ' preserves a portion of a 
 letter from Dionysius to Sixtus of Rome, Stephen's 
 successor, concerning Baptism. Stephen, says 
 the historian, had signified to Helenus and Fir- 
 milian, with the other Bishops of Cilicia, Cap- 
 padocia, and the neighbouring provinces, that he 
 had thenceforth withdrawn his communion from 
 them, because they baptized heretics. " But," 
 says Dionysius to Sixtus, " consider I beseech 
 you the importance of this afiair. For it has 
 been determined even in great Councils, that 
 those heretics who return to the Catholic Church 
 shall be received into the rank of Catechumens, 
 and that they shall afterwards be cleansed from 
 * Lib. VII. cap. v. 
 
370 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 the impurities which they have contracted with 
 tlie waters of Baptism, I myself," continues 
 Dionysius, " wrote to Stephen, entreating for 
 them his indulgence." 
 
 Of the precise opinion of Dionysius himself in 
 this important question we are not able to speak 
 positively. The last citation, from one of his 
 Epistles seems to favour the views of Cyprian ; 
 perhaps what he says to Sixtus on a subsequent 
 occasion, looks the other way. " I have need," 
 says he, " of your counsel, to guard me from 
 error in a question, on which I have been 
 consulted. One of the brethren, who had always 
 been reputed among the faithful, and who had 
 always communicated not only before my Epis- 
 copate,buteven before that of the blessed Heraclas, 
 was present one day at the celebration of Bap- 
 tism, and heard the interrogations put to the 
 candidates, and their answ'ers. This man came 
 to me, and throwing himself at my feet, bewailed 
 his unha])py lot ; saying, that the Baptism which 
 he had received at the hand of heretics, was not 
 like ours, nor had any thing in common with it : 
 that the Baptism of which he had partaken was 
 full of impiety and blasphemy ; and that he was 
 grievously afflicted on that account, not daring to 
 raise his eyes to heaven for very shame and 
 remorse. In a word, he besought me to give him 
 the true Baptism, and to confer on him the grace 
 of adoption. I have hitherto ventured to do 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 377 
 
 nothing in this matter, and have told him, that 
 the long time that he has been in communion with 
 the true Church ought to satisfy him ; that he 
 had often been present at the prayers of the 
 faithful, and answered Amen ; that he had 
 stretched forth his hand to receive the conse- 
 crated bread ; that he had again and again par- 
 taken of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. I exhorted him on these grounds to be 
 of good courage, and to continue still to com- 
 municate in faith and hope : yet he will not be 
 comforted ; he dare not approach the holy table, 
 and we can hardly persuade him to join in the 
 prayers of the Church '\" 
 
 Now though this relation seems rather to 
 favour the view of Stephen than that of Cy- 
 prian, yet it is only at first sight ; for Dionysius 
 does not ground the propriety of the old man's 
 communicating on the validity of his Baptism, 
 but on the length of time that he had been re- 
 ceived to a participation with the Church even in 
 her higher mysteries. I do not mean that Cy- 
 prian would have agreed with Dionysius, (though 
 I cannot deny it,) but I say, and that without 
 hesitation, that Stephen would not have reasoned 
 as he did. But whatever might have been the 
 opinion of Dionysius on the abstract question, 
 nothing can be more clear than his condemnation 
 of the way in which one side of it was enforced 
 
 ■* Eusebius VII. ix. 
 
37H MFE AND TIMES OF ST. CYPRIAN. 
 
 by Rome. " Of this at least," says he, I am sm"e, 
 " that the Africans have not now introduced this 
 custom, but that it has the sanction of the practice 
 of ancient Bishops, and the authority of many 
 Councils held as well at Iconium and Synnada 
 as at other places. For my own part, I should 
 be loth to combat their opinions, to oppose their 
 decisions, or to contest the point with them in 
 any way ; for it is written. Thou shalt not remove 
 thy neighbour's landmark^" 
 
 ' Letter of Dionysius to Philemon, a priest of the Church 
 of Rome, apud Enseb. Vil. vii. 
 
CHAP. XVI. 
 
 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN THE 
 CONTROVERSY CONCERNING THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS. 
 
 The custom of the Church, established on the 
 authority of General Councils, has subsequently 
 determined the question of the baptism of here- 
 tics; so that the Council of Carthage has now no 
 authority, nor is there any place in the Church 
 for the controversy out of which it arose : but it 
 must always be a matter of interest to enter into 
 the merits of a question, which divided the Church 
 so remarkably, and which was so vigorously dis- 
 puted in distant parts of the world ; and besides, 
 there are principles recognized throughout the 
 discussion, at least on St. Cyprian's part, and in 
 every suffrage in the Council, which can never be 
 antiquated. I propose, therefore, shortly to review 
 the opinions of the parties here opposed, and to 
 elicit some of the general principles which are 
 involved in the grounds on which the question 
 was discussed. 
 
 This was no contest about terms : the opinions 
 of the contending parties were quite incompatible ; 
 
380 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 nor did any friendly mediator, of sufficient weight 
 to be heard, propose the middle course afterwards 
 approved by the Church ; a course which doubt- 
 less either of them would have pursued, had it 
 been jyreviously pointed out by such paramount 
 authority ; but which nevertheless would have 
 found an advocate, neither in Stephen nor in 
 Cyprian, had it been proposed for the first time 
 during the heat of the debate. 
 
 Those who adhered to Cyprian, without all 
 doubt denied utterly, not the lawfulness only, but 
 the iHiVid'ity, actual or possible, present or latent, 
 of the sprinklings and lustrations of heretics and 
 schismatics. We have this position so avowedly 
 occupied, so carefully and zealously defended, 
 that we cannot doubt that it was maintained 
 in all its prominence and with all its conse- 
 quences. Of Stephen's expressions and reason- 
 ings we have no original documents ; and we 
 receive what little we possess through his ene- 
 mies : hence the exact opinion of Stephen on 
 this point admits a doubt, though I think hardly; 
 for in the Epistle from Cyprian to Pompeius 
 before cited, it seems probable that we have his 
 very words ; and if so, it is certain that their 
 plain meaning must ])revail against any deduc- 
 tions from the Epistle of Firmilian, which the 
 learned Bingham ^(pu)tes as evidence, that Stephen 
 
 ■" In his scholastical History of I -ay Bajitism appended to 
 vol. iii. of his Works, lul. 1835, chap. i. p. 5(). Mihier also 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. ilHl 
 
 held tlie very doctrine wliich was afterwards 
 sanctioned by the Council of Aries : viz. that the 
 baptism of those heretics only who baptized in 
 the name and in the faith of the Trinity, should 
 be so far recognized as not to be repeated. 
 
 Firmilian, it is true, brings in the opponents of 
 Cyprian, saying, '^ No enquiry need be made who 
 was the baptizer, since he who is baptized may 
 receive grace on the invocation of the Trinity of 
 Names, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." But if 
 I mistake not, it is more probable that Firmilian 
 here groups together all the objectors and all the 
 objections, (in which case some things which are 
 not his will seem to be attributed to Stephen 
 personally, if he be taken as the representative 
 of the whole body,) than that Cyprian misrepre- 
 sents Stephen in a letter which was accompanied 
 with a copy of the very Epistle from which he 
 takes his quotations. Cyprian himself has to 
 answer those who were for allowing a baptism 
 in the name of Christ only, as well as those 
 who were for admitting every Baptism in the 
 name of the Trinity : so that if such indications 
 
 makes the judgment of Stephen the same with that of the 
 Catholic Church afterwards. " Stephen, Bishop of Rome, 
 maintained," says he, " that, if persons had been baptized in 
 the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, im- 
 position of hands would then be sufficient for their reception 
 into the Church : the point was left undecided, because no 
 party had power to compel others ; most Christians, however, 
 have long since agreed with Stephen." Cent. III. chap. xiii. 
 
3^2 MFE AND TIMES 
 
 were sufficient to determine the judgment of 
 Stephen personally, it must be determined dif- 
 ferent ways. Moreover, it must be observed, 
 that Cyprian not only quotes Stephen as allow- 
 ing the broadest recognition of the baptism of 
 all heretics ; but that in refuting Stephen, he 
 refutes the positions of one who held that ex- 
 treme opinion. Cyprian, then, who surely knew 
 pretty well how the matter stood, took Stephen 
 for the advocate of every heretical baptism : and 
 on the whole, I think, we must conclude, that 
 Stephen took in this case the extreme opposite 
 from the opinion of Cyprian, and that neither the 
 one nor the other held precisely, as the Church 
 afterwards determined, either at Aries, or at 
 Constantinople \ 
 
 '• I must not, however, withhold the unqualified praise 
 with which Vincentius Lirinensis views the proceedings of 
 Stephen, which would look as if the opinion of Stephen 
 was that of the Catholic Church. But the question recurs 
 in this form, are not we as well able to judge of the history 
 of these events as Vincentius himself was ? And though in 
 the absence of' records Vincentius would be received as the 
 best authority, yet having the same records to consult as he 
 had, are we not equally able to form a history from them ? 
 In fact, Vincentius is not quite coi-rect in his historical notice 
 of this question ; for Agrippinus was not, as he states, the 
 originator of the African custom, unless both Cyprian and 
 Firmilian are wilfully wrong in the matter of fact. And 
 once more, the definite praise which \ incentius awards to 
 Stephen, is not for the precision with which he defined the 
 truth upon this question ; but the way in which he stated 
 the important rule, that no novelty was to be admitted, but 
 that tradition was to be observed. I ought to add, that the 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 383 
 
 Nor did either party, nor does the decision of 
 the Catholic Church, hold with the modern 
 doctrine of Rome, which falls as much below the 
 lowest depth of Stephen's opinion, as Stephen 
 fell below the uncompromising doctrine of Cy- 
 prian : and which is quite as much at variance 
 with the subsequent judgment of the Church, as 
 that judgment is at variance with either Stephen 
 or Cyprian. The Church's judgment in few 
 words was this : That all who had been bap- 
 tized by schismatics, and by heretics who used 
 the words of the div'me institution and iii the true 
 sense, should be received into the Church by 
 chrism and imposition of hands, after due 
 penance, and a renunciation of their errors : 
 but that the baptism of those heretics who used 
 not the words of the institiition, or who so used 
 them as to deny the Trinity, should be repeated. 
 Rome at present teaches, that the baptism even 
 of Jews, infidels, and heretics, in cases of necessity, 
 is valid : though I suppose she does not involve 
 in her anathema against those who deny the 
 validity of the baptism of heretics, those who 
 repudiate the baptism of Jews and infidels ; 
 since these last cannot intend to do what the 
 Church does, seeing they know it not, though the 
 
 work of Vincentius does not owe its value to the precise 
 historical correctness of the examples which he adduces. 
 The reader^will do well to refer to sect. vi. of the Commoni- 
 torium of Vincentius. 
 
384 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 licretic may be supposed to know it, as lie wlio 
 shuns the good, must in some sense know it to 
 avoid it. But according to the Romish doctrine 
 of intention, is there no difficulty in this question 
 from the necessary absence of intention from 
 such baptism ? When one insinuates such things 
 against a Church which professes to follow ca- 
 tholicity and antiquity, it is quite necessary to 
 avoid the suspicion of a little polemical romanc- 
 ing : I have therefore transcribed the declarations 
 to which I refer below '^. 
 
 Now that Stephen, much more that the Church 
 in her final decree, symbolized with modern Rome 
 in this matter, none but a Romanist will hold, 
 and the Romanist will never prove. But setting 
 aside the allusion to this latter controversy, 
 Stephen holding that the baptism of all heretics 
 and schismatics should be allowed ; Cyprian 
 
 * " Extremus ordo illorum est qui, cogente necessitate, 
 sine solemnibus caeremoniis baptizavi possuntj quo in 
 numero sunt omnes, etiam de populo, sive mares sive 
 feminae, quamcumque illi sectam profiteantur : nam et ju- 
 daeis quoque et infidelibus et hsereticis, cum necessitas cogit 
 hoc munus permissum est; si tamen id efficere propositum 
 eis fuerit, quod Ecclesia Catholica in eo administrationis 
 genere efRcit." Cat. Cove. Trid. De Bap. xxii. " Si quis 
 dixerit, Baptismum, qui etiam datus ab hsereticis in nomine 
 Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, cum intentione faciendi 
 quod facit ecclesia, non esse verum Baptismum, anatliema 
 sit." Cone. Trid. Sesx. vii. can. iv. de hapf. " Si quis dixerit, 
 in ministris, dum sacramenta conficiunt, et conferunt, non 
 requiri intentionem saltern faciendi quod facit ecclesia, 
 anathema sit." Cone. Trid. Sess. vii. can. xi. de sac. in gen. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 385 
 
 pointedly denying this position in terms equally 
 general ; Which was most nearly right ? and 
 which was most excusable in his error, if the 
 nearest to the truth was in error at all ? By the 
 Church the question was certainly determined 
 in a way which seemed most to favour the opinion 
 of Stephen : Was it so in effect, and in the prin- 
 ciples which it involved ? Let us take another 
 view of the final decision of the Church, that we 
 may not forget the exact character of that which 
 is to be the standard by which the other two are 
 to be measured. 
 
 That a distinction was to be made between 
 heretics and schismatics : and that the baptism 
 of the latter was to be admitted as valid, though 
 by no means as lawful; as carrying with it a 
 springing efficacy, so to speak, and as not there- 
 fore to be repeated, but to be perfected and 
 sanctified by imposition of hands of a Catholic 
 Bishop : and that the baptism of those heretics 
 who were orthodox in respect of the Trinity, and 
 used the words of Christ's institution, was to 
 be accounted of in like manner : but that, on the 
 other hand, the baptism of those heretics who 
 denied the Trinity, and, without all manner of 
 question, of those who baptized not in the name 
 of the Trinity, was to be accounted no baptism 
 at all ; and that they who were converted from 
 such heresies were to be received by baptism into 
 the Church, as if they had been Jews or Pagacs ; — 
 
 c c 
 
38(> LIFK AND TIMES 
 
 this is the decree of the Church Catholic : a 
 decree less convenient in its application than 
 that either of Cyprian or of Stephen ; but one 
 of higher authority, and by which therefore the 
 decrees of both those Prelates must submit to be 
 tested. 
 
 Now Stephen's looks more like this decree : 
 Cyprian's, I am bold to say, is more nearhj con- 
 sistent with it. We must enter more deeply 
 into the theory of the subject to appreciate the 
 points of difference, or of accordance, in these 
 several judgments. 
 
 We have first to note, that the Church is the 
 depository and the steward of the Sacraments ; in 
 dispensing which the Bishop, or other ecclesiastic, 
 is but her minister : and it rests with her to deter- 
 mine, with the authority which Christ hath given 
 to her, but with the responsibility also which 
 attends so high a charge, who shall baptize, and 
 who not ; whose baptism shall be valid, and 
 whose legitimate ; whose perfect, whose only per- 
 fectible, and whose utterly null. But there are 
 limits which the Church could not pass, without 
 becoming tainted with the heresy to which she 
 should allow too much : which is indeed impossi- 
 ble; but we must so express ourselves at present, 
 for the sake of elucidating our position. Or we 
 may express the same thing in another way : 
 there are some baptisms which it is morally 
 impossible that the Church should allow ; for if 
 
01" ST. CYPRIAN. .^87 
 
 she allowed them, she would be sullied with 
 error ; and no such sulliage can ever cleave to 
 her. 
 
 Now it admits a doubt, whether, if the Church 
 had determined with Stephen, and had received 
 the baptism of all heretics ; as of the Marcionites, 
 for instance, who blasphemed the Father, or of 
 Paul of Samosata and his followers, who blas- 
 phemed the Son ; — it admits a doubt, I say, 
 whether she would not then have been tainted 
 with such profane and sacrilegious errors. The 
 Church, in fact, seems to me to have judged, that 
 she could not do this without incurring such a 
 stain : for while she showed that mercy and 
 liberality was the rule of her proceeding, by 
 extending her favour, so to speak, to converts 
 from other heresies, and deeming their baptisms 
 valid, though not legitimate ; she showed equally 
 clearly that some imperative claim rested on her 
 to place bounds to her indulgence, before it had 
 included those extreme profanations. Thus with 
 becoming caution did she exert her dispensing 
 power, as steward of the mysteries of God ; 
 showing favour where it could not be claimed 
 from her as of right, but where it was the spon- 
 taneous motion of her love, yet not against right. 
 But, on the other hand, was it not imperative on 
 the Church to deny the like favour to the w^orst 
 heretics ; while it was but an act of her grace to 
 allow it to the less profanely heterodox ? Might she 
 
 c c2 
 
388 LIFE AND TIMKS 
 
 not, witli perfect justice, have judged as Cyprian 
 judged ? Could she have judged as Stephen 
 judged, witliout denying all the principles of 
 authority, of sanctity, and of obedience, by which 
 she was bound to regulate her conduct in this 
 matter ? 
 
 If I am right thus far, it follows that Cyprian 
 was not wrong in this matter ; for he did that in 
 his own Church which it was competent for the 
 whole Church to do : and he did it before the 
 Church had determined otherwise ; and while it 
 was competent therefore for him, as Bishop, to 
 do in his own diocese, whatever the Church 
 might do in all Christendom. But Stephen was 
 wrong ; for he did that (before, indeed, the 
 Church had declared against him) which the 
 Church could never do, because it was in itself 
 wrong, and the Church does not err. 
 
 Or even admitting that Stephen's judgment 
 was not incompatible with sound doctrine and 
 custom ; yet still, the Church in her highest 
 authority being the steward of Baptism ; — and 
 until a General Council, the Bishop in each Dio- 
 cese, or the Synod of Bishops in each Province, 
 being the highest authority in the Church; — it 
 was wholly unwarrantable in Stephen to attempt 
 to obtrude his custom on any other Church, even 
 as Dionysius, before quoted, expressly declares : 
 and so the great St. Basil taught, that in this 
 matter their own custom was to be conceded to 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 389 
 
 particular Churches ; of course antecedently to 
 a decree of the Church universal. The inter- 
 ference then of Stephen was unjustifiable and 
 uncanonical, even supposing his opinion to have 
 been sound. 
 
 And be it observed, that, to this day, one 
 cause of complaint against Rome, is often not 
 the error of her doctrine, even where we cannot 
 wholly agree with her, so much as the un- 
 catholic spirit of domination and overbearing 
 dogmatism, by which she would bind her own 
 doctrines and customs on other Churches, and on 
 the consciences of men. For instance ; though 
 we deny, and dare not assent to, the doctrine of 
 Transubstantiation, yet we should scarce be jus- 
 tified in condemning those who hold it, without 
 breach of charity, and in Christian humility ; but 
 we have good right to complain, if that which 
 cannot be proved by God's word, and was never 
 believed or dreamt of in the Church for many 
 ages, is made a test of our Catholicity, and a 
 term of communion : and if we are either ana- 
 thematized or burned for withholding our assent 
 to such a dogma so brought in, we may well 
 utter a sad or an indignant complaint. 
 
 So far for the merits of this great controversy. 
 As for the comparative skill displayed on either 
 side, it would not be just to Stephen to say, that 
 lie seems to have been beyond compare the 
 weakest, whether he was right or wrong in 
 
390 I'H'I- AND TlMliS 
 
 principle, without observing, that we have but 
 obscure hints of the course of argument which he 
 pursued, and those hints collected from his 
 adversaries. Of the conduct of the argument on 
 both sides, we may observe, that both appealed 
 to Scripture and to custom '. Custom, if it had 
 been Catholic, could of course have told in favour 
 of one only ; but nothing can be clearer to one 
 who reviews this history, than that there was no 
 Catholic custom ; and none other than Catholic 
 custom was conclusive, at any rate beyond the 
 bounds of particular Churches. Therefore, nei- 
 ther Stephen nor Cyprian did well, if he appealed 
 to custom, i. e. the particular custom of his own 
 Church, in order to obtrude any rule of discipline 
 upon all other Churches. Now w^hich was it, 
 Stephen or Cyprian, that did this ? 
 
 '^ One or two expressions such as this, Let no man prefer 
 cuslom to truth, appearing in some of the suffrages in the 
 Council of Carthage, have been adduced to show, that Cy- 
 prian's own party perceived the most ancient custom to be 
 against them: bvit this reasoning is really most unjust: 
 expressions such as these are aimed at Stephen's claim of 
 custom ; and are not admissions in disparagement of their 
 own authorities. The words of Firmilian will convey the 
 spirit of such expressions. " Nos veiitati et consuetudinem 
 jungimus ; et consuetudini Romanorum, consuetudinem 
 sed veritatis, opponimus ; ab initio hoc tenentes quod a 
 C;hristo et ab Apostolis traditum est." We couple truth 
 witli custom, and oppose custom, the true custom, to the 
 custom of the Romans : for we hold that which was handed 
 down from the beginning by Christ and his Apostles. 
 Page 14f). 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 301 
 
 But it may be said, ' If both sides, appealing 
 to custom, yet erred one or both in their con- 
 clusions ; is not this an example of the utter 
 uncertainty of this method of judging, and of 
 the uselessness in practice of the rule of Vin- 
 centius?' We answer. That no rule is of uni- 
 versally easy application, and that none can 
 free us from the errors in its application, which 
 may result either from the weakness or from 
 the depravity of men. The error of Stephen 
 (whether of weakness or of dishonesty I will 
 not determine) was, that he took a particular 
 for a general custom ; and hence his arrogant 
 attempt upon the liberties of all Churches. 
 He argued rightly, but from wrong premises. 
 Cyprian was right, so far as we are able to 
 judge, both in his premises and in his con- 
 clusion ; since, pretending only a particular 
 custom, he left every Church at liberty to 
 maintain its own rule. These cases then are 
 not exactly in point. When we speak of Tra- 
 dition, we mean Catholic Tradition, and our 
 adversaries know that we mean that alone. 
 Wherever there was Catholic tradition to be 
 appealed to, it was triumphant in the days of 
 Cyprian ; and the question involved not tJie 
 principle of Traditions, but the fact of the catho- 
 licity of any particular Tradition, Just as, for 
 instance, every contested appeal to Scripture, 
 
3i)2 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 involves not the suffic'iencij of Scripture, but the 
 fact on zc'hich side Scripture actually decides. 
 At all events, the enemies of Tradition ought for 
 their own sakes to keep every such objection 
 in the back ground, lest they should irritate 
 us to retort the question in another form : * If 
 you agree among yourselves in almost nothing 
 but in your abhorrence of custom, are you not a 
 standing example of the uncertainty of whatever 
 rule you may please to follow V Let me add, 
 (that the question may not be misapprehended,) 
 that it glances not at Scripture, (which is 
 neither uncertain nor insufficient,) but at pri- 
 vate judgment and individual interpretation. 
 The very controversy before us exemplifies this 
 remark. 
 
 I said, that both Stephen and Cyprian appealed 
 to Scripture : and I say, too, that to Scripture 
 every heresy that ever sprang from the ignorance 
 or folly or pride or presumption or impiety of 
 men, or from the darkest suggestions of the 
 Devil, has appealed, and will appeal, we may 
 be sure, to the end of time. And not unoften 
 heretics have vindicated their claims to particular 
 texts with such a shore of reason, as to seem more 
 nearly entitled to them than the Catholic Church. 
 Thus, for instance, Theodoret tells us of the Nova- 
 tians, of whom we have had occasion to say so 
 much, that they set in array against the truth. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 893 
 
 the fourth, fifth, and sixth verses of the sixtli 
 chapter of Hebrews ^ ; not understanding that 
 the holy Apostle was then teaching the doctrine 
 of Baptism, and not interdicting the medicines 
 of repentance ^ Now none can deny the apparent 
 aptitude of this text to serve the cause of the 
 Novatians ; nor fail to perceive, that theirs is even 
 the most natural application of the text, though 
 without all question a wrong one. What is the 
 conclusion ? This is certainly a conclusion, (and 
 let those who object to it provide another, for the 
 phenomenon is of too constant recurrence, and of 
 too stupendous effect to be passed over without 
 use or comment,) this is a conclusion : that no 
 rule of applying Holy Scripture can defend the 
 Church against every conceivable error, but one 
 that goes to the Church itself, as the interpreter 
 of Scripture. 
 
 In the particular case before us, Cyprian quoted 
 Scripture with better effect than his opponents : 
 as we have before shown that his judgment was 
 the nearest to the truth ; for though the letter 
 
 «= " It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, 
 and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made par- 
 takers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of 
 God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall 
 away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they 
 crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him 
 to an open shame." 
 
 ^ ride THEODonET in locum, vol. iii, p. blQ. Ed, Haliv 1771- 
 8vo. 
 
394 MFK AND TIMES 
 
 of the texts whicli lie cites scarcely bears out the 
 whole of his reasoning, yet their spirit is quite 
 in his favour; but Stephen, quoting St. Paul's 
 doctrine of One Lord, one faith, one Baptism, 
 clearly justified the retort, that by receiving the 
 Baptism of heretics, he multiplied Baptisms, so as 
 to make as many Baptisms in the Church, as there 
 were heresies out of the Church. 
 
 The temper with which this controversy was 
 carried on does not seem to me to throw unsullied 
 light on either party : nor can I imagine how the 
 Romish historian can venture to assert, that it 
 was concluded by the consent of the wliole 
 Church, and without any rupture during its 
 continuance ; and moreover, that one of the 
 final causes for which our Lord permitted this 
 discussion, w^as, that posterity might learn from 
 the example of the contending parties what was 
 the temper and the conduct which became men 
 under such circumstances^. I believe, however, 
 
 s These are such bold misrepresentations of polemical 
 history, that I must quote the very passage to which I refer, 
 lest I should seem to be inventing myself. " Tandem dis- 
 serendo perveniunt ad celeberriniam illam de baptismo con- 
 troversiam, in qua non parva hsereticorum aut schismatico- 
 rum manus universa? Ecclesiaj bellum indixit, sed insignes 
 ecclesia?, Africa, Ca])padocia, Silicia et finitima^ provinciae de 
 re longe gravissiraa cum aliis ecclesiis decertarunt. Etsi 
 autem in ipso dissentionis incendio luctuosa rerum facies 
 extitit ; tamen ex commodis, quae in Ecclesiam ex hac con- 
 troversia fluxerunt, facile perspicitur eani Christo providente 
 et dispensante natam fiiisse, non solmn ut res tanti momenti 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 395 
 
 that none either will or can excuse Stephen per- 
 sonally, if the question is fairly proposed to them ; 
 and though Cyprian's humility and mildness have 
 been commended : and though, as I have before 
 remarked, he does in some respects deserve very 
 high commendation ; and though at any rate as 
 compared with Stephen he was admirable in his 
 temper, and in the whole management of the 
 controversy ; yet if I were Cyprian's panegyrist, 
 instead of his historian, I should be disposed to 
 pass very lightly over this page of his history. 
 Controversy, especially personal controversy, is 
 not a favourable field for the growth of the 
 Christian virtues. 
 
 If there are any questions agitated in the 
 present day upon which the history of this 
 controversy can throw any light, they are those, 
 I suppose, which are pending between the 
 Church Catholic, and all manifest heretics and 
 schismatics, as to the validity of all or any of the 
 rites administered by their soi-disants pastors. 
 But it must be borne in mind, that since a self- 
 
 conflato et conspiranti omnium consensu aliquando firma- 
 retui', sed etiam ut haberent poster! quid in ejusmodi 
 dissentioribus imitarentur. Nam baptismi haereticorum 
 defensores fraternae caritatis fcedus non ruperunt cum iis, 
 a quibus maximam sacraraentis injuriam fieri videbant; 
 isti autem et cum iis quos ne baptismo quidem initiates 
 putabant, et cum iis qui baptismum morientibus infantibus 
 deiiegare, et Eucharistiam non baptizatis porrigere vide- 
 bantur, communicare non dubitarunt." Vita Sancli Cypriani, 
 Opera Ben. Ed. p. cviii. 
 
396 LIFE AND TIMES Ol" ST. CYPRIAN. 
 
 imposed, or invalidly conferred office is as nothing, 
 the ministers of such sectaries, except in the 
 instances comparatively few in which they have 
 been in their own persons seceders from the 
 Church, and betrayers of her orders, are simply 
 laymen ; or rather less than laymen, notwith- 
 standing their assumed titles. The controversy 
 now therefore is very different from what it was 
 in Cyprian's days, when every schism and heresy 
 maintained a succession of ministers, validly, 
 though not canonically, ordained. Though the 
 sectaries of that age lived in heresy and in 
 schism, as unthinkingly as any do now, yet 
 were they in respect of a valid ministry in a 
 very different position ; and they at least as- 
 sumed, whether justly or no, a higher position. 
 
 Upon the subject of Lay-baptism, to which 
 this branch of the controversy in part resolves 
 itself, T would refer to Bingham's very learned 
 scholastical treatise on that question. Bingham 
 has exhausted the subject, so far as the collection 
 of authorities is concerned. 
 
CHAP. XVII. 
 
 VALERIAN INSTIGATED BY MACRIANUS TO PERSECUTE THB 
 
 CHURCH. — DEATH OF STEPHEN I AND ELECTION OF SIX- 
 
 TUS. ST. CYPRIAN SUMMONED BEFORE THE PROCONSUL: 
 
 HIS CONFESSION : HIS BANISHMENT : HIS VISION. 
 
 DIONYSIUS OF ALEXANDRIA ALSO BANISHED. — CYPRIAN 
 RECALLED TO CARTHAGE BY GALERIUS MAXIMUS. — HE RE- 
 TIRES FOR A SHORT TIME WHEN SUMMONED TO UTICA. 
 
 HE RETURNS TO CARTHAGE, AND IS BROUGHT BEFORE 
 
 THE PROCONSUL. HIS EXAMINATION, — SENTENCE, AND 
 
 DEATH. 
 
 The external peace of the Church, which left 
 opportunity for these internal discords, was dis- 
 turbed, before they were well hushed. Valerian 
 had been hitherto most friendly to the Christians, 
 many of whom had been admitted even within the 
 precincts of the Palace : but now, at the instiga- 
 tion of his minister Macrianus, a man equally 
 superstitious in his paganism and barbarous in 
 its support. Valerian became a persecutor, and 
 issued decrees to the several parts of his empire, 
 for the suppression of Christianity. 
 
398 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 The first edict of Valerian savoured almost as 
 much of his own lenience, as of the ferocity of 
 Macrianus, by which it was extorted : for the 
 assembling of the Christians in their churches 
 and cemetaries, and not the mere profession of 
 the Christian faith, was necessary to bring them 
 within the meaning of the imperial Edict ; and 
 the laity were suffered to depart unpunished even 
 from their assemblies, and no greater pain than 
 banishment was inflicted on the Bishops and 
 Priests who presided in the religious assemblies 
 of the Christians. All that we certainly know of 
 the results of the first Edict of Valerian, accords 
 with this representation of its comparative mild- 
 ness. We should therefore for the present admit 
 very cautiously supposed proofs of the martyr- 
 dom of any Christian however eminent ; and we 
 need not hesitate to express a conviction, that 
 Stephen, Bishop of Rome, who died on the 
 second of August, anno 557, long before any 
 appearance of additional severity in the decrees 
 of Valerian, and of the manner of whose death 
 we have no authentic accounts, died a natural 
 death, and not by decollation, as has been pre- 
 tended. 
 
 On the twenty-fourth of the same month, 
 Sixtus was elected to fill the Chair of Stephen": 
 
 " Were it not that St. Augustine, wlio was most favourably 
 situated for acquiring a knowledge of the subject, and whose 
 argument greatly requires it is wlmlly silent on the subject 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. .S<)9 
 
 and in the following month (September, 557) the 
 imperial Edict reached Carthage, where Paternus 
 was Proconsul ; and Cyprian, as the most promi- 
 nent in character and office among the Christians, 
 was the first to be summoned before the heathen 
 tribunal ". Of what passed on that occasion, 
 we have a circumstantial record in the acts of 
 St. Cyprian, Bishop and Martyr. 
 
 " The most sacred Emperors, Valerianus and 
 Gallienus, have honoured me with their com- 
 mands," said Paternus, " to exact of those, who 
 worship not the Gods of Rome, a due recog- 
 
 of a reconciliation between the Roman and Carthaginian 
 Churches ; and were it not that all ecclesiastical historians 
 are equally silent on the same subject, I should be inclined 
 to suppose, that, under the Pontificate of Sixtus, full peace, 
 though not perfect agreement of opinion, was restored be- 
 tween the Churches of Rome and Africa : for now we find 
 the communication with Cyprian, which had been forcibly 
 interrupted by Stephen, restored, apparently, to its previous 
 friendly terms ; and Pontius, the panegyrist of Cyprian, 
 gives to Sixtus the very significant character of a " good 
 and pacific Prelate." To Pontius, who viewed every thing 
 and every person only as an accessory to the one object of 
 his veneration, this marked praise could scarce seem due to 
 any, who had not fully acknowledged the communion, and 
 justly appreciated the conduct, of St. Cyprian. Nothing, 
 however, can more strongly indicate the absolute want of 
 all evidence of this desired reconciliation, than the way in 
 which St. Augustine speaks of it as in itself likely, though 
 he ventures not even to insinuate a proof that it was 
 effected. 
 
 '' Ep. Ixviii. p. 1()I. 
 
400 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 nition of the Roman rites. 1 would examine 
 you therefore concerning your name and profes- 
 sion ' : what is your answer." " / am a Chris- 
 tian" said Cyprian, ** and a Bis/top. I k?iozc> no 
 other Gods but that One onhj and true God, who 
 made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein 
 is. Him do zve Christians serve : Him night and 
 day do we supplicate for ourselves, for all men, and 
 for the pieservation of the Emperors themselves" 
 Paternus asked ; " Do you persist in this deter- 
 mination ?" Cyprian replied : " A good deter- 
 mination, taken up in the knowledge of God, is 
 unchangeable." *' Are you ready, then," said the 
 Proconsul, " according to the Edict of Valerian 
 and Gallienus, to be exiled to the City of Curubis ?" 
 " / am ready," said Cyprian. 
 
 Then the Proconsul, having thus received the 
 profession of Cyprian, and appointed the place of 
 his banishment, endeavoured to extort from him 
 the names of others who were obnoxious to the 
 same sentence. " My commission extends," said 
 he, not only to the Bishops, but also to the Pres- 
 byters of your party : I ask you then, who are 
 the Presbyters in the city?" The Bishop replied, 
 " Your laws have well provided against the abuse of 
 
 <=■ Exqnis'un ergo dc nomine lito." The answer of Cyprian 
 shows that soinethinsf more than his ?inine was included in 
 the question de tiom'me. Perhaps if" we had ventured to 
 de<;cend to a phrase, it might be rendered, "' ijour denomina- 
 lioii." 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 401 
 
 inforiners; in obedience to them I refuse to betray 
 my brethren: they may be found, however, in their 
 ozvn places." " But I will know who they are 
 now, and in this place," said Paternus. Cyprian 
 said, " It is equally contrary to the discipline of 
 their order, and to the spirit of your laws, that 
 they should expose themselves unforced: yet tliey^ 
 may be found by you, if you do but seek them out." 
 Paternus said, " They shall be found out : for I 
 have commanded that none shall hold assemblies 
 any where, nor enter your cemeteries ; and if any 
 venture to disobey this wholesome provision, they 
 shall suffer death." Cyprian replied : " Obey the 
 orders which you have j'eceived ^." 
 
 Thus as a good Bishop, worthy of his preemi- 
 nence, did Cyprian take the lead in that confes- 
 sion which was required of his flock ; sounding 
 the trumpet with no uncertain sound, to call the 
 soldiers of the faith to the combat ; and receiv- 
 ing in his own person the first assaults of the 
 enemy, while he marshalled his willing followers 
 in the rear^ 
 
 There was nothing of gratuitous severity in the 
 sentence of Cyprian, nor in the manner in which 
 
 ■' The personal history of Cyprian is now entirely derived 
 from the acts of his martyrdom, and from his life by Pontius' 
 and this notice will preclude the necessity of more minute 
 reference?. 
 
 '• Ep. Ixxviii. The Martyrs to Cyprian. 
 
 Dd 
 
40-2 I'IFE AND TIMES' 
 
 it was executed. Curubis^ to whicli place he was 
 banished, was agreeable and healthy in its situa- 
 tion ; and the house which was allotted to him 
 was deficient in no comfort which an exiled 
 Bishop could desire. His friends too, among 
 whom was Pontius, his deacon and his future 
 panegyrist, were permitted to accompany him ; 
 and his fame having preceded him to the place 
 of exile, the people received him with respect, 
 and continued, so long as he remained there, to 
 treat him with affection. Such comforts had 
 God mercifully provided for his faithful servant, 
 just fresh from his confession, and hastening 
 rapidly to his martyrdom : though, as Pontius 
 piously remarks, it was impossible that exile, to 
 whatsoever place, could be a punishment to such 
 an one as Cyprian ; or that he could be alone, 
 whose God was with him at all times, and under 
 all circumstances. 
 
 And if Cyprian was happy in the place of his 
 banishment, not less happy was Curubis in its 
 illustrious guest. Cyprian was less injured, than 
 Curubis was benefitted by the sentence of Pater- 
 nus : for whithersoever the confessor was sent. He 
 for whose sake he was an exile accompanied him. 
 
 ^ " A free and maritime city of Zeugitania, in a pleasant 
 situation, a fertile territory, and at the distance of about 
 forty miles from Carthage" Gibbon's Decline and Fall, 
 ch. xvi. 
 
• OF ST. CYPRIAN. 403 
 
 For Christ, who said, Lo, I am with you always, 
 even to the end of the zvorld, received him as a 
 member of his own body, whithersoever the fury 
 of the enemy drove him. Oh the blindness of a 
 heathen persecutor ! If thou wouldest find a 
 place which shall be a place of exile to a Christian, 
 find one if thou canst from whence Christ can 
 first be banished^! If thou wouldest not that the 
 Christian faith should be propagated, drive not 
 the confessors from their homes, for they are 
 heralds of Christ's kingdom whithersoever they 
 go^! 
 
 The exiled confessor arrived at Curubis on the 
 fourteenth of September ; and on the first night 
 of his residence there he saw one of those visions 
 of which he often speaks. I shall follow Pontius 
 in putting the relation into the mouth of Cyprian 
 himself. 
 
 " I was not yet perfectly asleep, when there 
 appeared to me a youth of gigantic stature, who 
 seemed to lead me away to the praetorium, and 
 to place me at last before the judgment-seat of 
 the Proconsul. He, so soon as he beheld me, 
 began to write my sentence, which I did not see, 
 upon his tables ; but he did not put to me any 
 of the usual interrogatories. An attendant, how- 
 ever, who stood behind, looking on him as he 
 
 s Vid. AuGUSTiNi Sermo, cccix. In Natali Cypriani Mar- 
 tyris, vol, viii. p. 1247. 
 '' See Acts viii. 4. 
 
 Dd2 
 
404 LIFE AND TIMKS 
 
 wrote, read the wliole sentence ; and since he 
 was not able to speak in that presence, he made 
 me acquainted by signs of what was written. For 
 with outstretched arm and open hand, he imi- 
 tated the stroke of the executioner, so that I 
 understood, as well as if I had seen the words, 
 that the sentence was recorded for my death. 
 I began therefore to pray earnestly for a short 
 respite, though it were but for a day, that I 
 might arrange my affairs ; and after I had often 
 repeated this petition, the judge again began to 
 write on his tables. I knew not what he wrote, 
 yet I judged from the mildness of his aspect that 
 he had been moved by my just request: and 
 the young man, who had before made me ac- 
 quainted with the sentence, now informed me, 
 by the same method of signs, that my petition 
 for a day's respite was granted. Although I had 
 not actually read the sentence, I received this 
 intimation of delay with a joyful heart ; yet still 
 I trembled so much with the fear that I had 
 mistaken the interpretation of the latter sign, 
 that my heart beat more quickly for a long time." 
 
 This vision of St. (.'yprian was interpreted by 
 the event, when a year after, a day being taken 
 for a year in the prefigurative indication of his 
 vision, he was beheaded in pursuance of the sen- 
 tence of the Proconsul Galerius Maximus. 
 
 Paternus, the Proconsul at Carthage, seems 
 to have acted upon his determination of searching 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 405 
 
 for the Presbyters, according to the imperial 
 edict ; for we find intimations of their being 
 brought to confession, before the renewed and 
 more severe provisions for the persecution were 
 promulgated. At any rate in Numidia the 
 Bishops of the Church were treated with less 
 clemency than Cyprian had experienced. They 
 were beaten with clubs, and their faith not being 
 subdued by this brutality, they were fettered, 
 and sent in separate companies to the mines. 
 This we learn from Cyprian's letter of congratu- 
 lation to them on their sufferings and constancy ; 
 in which he modestly postpones his own confes- 
 sion to theirs, and acknowledging the comparative 
 ease of his banishment, speaks of his communion 
 wdth them in suffering being rather that of a 
 Christian fellowship and love than of actual en- 
 durance. They in their turn confess the dignity 
 with which the priority of his confession in point 
 of time, as well as the eminence of his character 
 and station, invested his exile for the cause of 
 Christ. The answers of the confessors to 
 Cyprian are from three separate places, which is 
 the only intimation that we have of the separa- 
 tion of those who were still one in faith, in 
 sufferings, and in religious fellowship. Nothing 
 can be more remarkable than the total absence 
 of all querulous allusions to their sufferings in 
 these letters of the persecuted confessors. If the 
 tale of their sufferings had been left to be ga- 
 
40G Liri: AND TIMES 
 
 thered from their own Epistles, written in the 
 bitterest of their afflictions, and after some had 
 even fallen a victim to the rigour of the punish- 
 ment, we should have had no horrors to relate, 
 so greatly do the consolations and high hopes of 
 their condition outweigh in their own expressions 
 the pains and the terrors of their situation : and 
 so entirely do their Christian humility and love 
 obliterate every trace of pride and selfishness 
 from the record of their feelings, that we should 
 almost suppose that the sufferings of every other 
 person whom they mention were greater and 
 more meritorious than theirs. 
 
 In other parts of the world the Christian 
 name was followed with like persecution. We 
 shall here mention the sufferings of those only 
 of whom we have already had occasion to speak. 
 At Alexandria, Dionysius was summoned before 
 iEmilius the Prefect, with Maximus a Priest, 
 Faustus, Eusebius, and Chaeremon, Deacons, and 
 a Roman Christian, then at Alexandria. These 
 persons were his companions in a noble con- 
 fession, and also in his banishment to the con- 
 fines of Lybia. The place of his exile was 
 less pleasant than that to which Cyprian had 
 been sent just before ; but, like Cyprian, Diony- 
 sius carried with him a blessing, which consoled 
 him in his banishment, and abounded also to 
 the benefit of those among whom his lot was 
 cast. ** God," says he, " has opened to us in this 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 407 
 
 place a way for the preaching of his word. At 
 first we were received with execrations, and 
 pelted with stones ; but afterwards many Pagans 
 renounced their idolatry, and they are now en- 
 rolled among the faithful." Eventually this illus- 
 trious Prelate and his companions were still 
 farther separated ; but wherever the place of 
 their banishment was appointed, and however it 
 was changed, still the same blessings followed 
 their steps ; for God was with them'. 
 
 At Rome, Sixtus and four deacons with him'', 
 who were engaged in celebrating divine worship 
 in a cemetery, were seized and put to death'. 
 
 ' See EusEB. vii. xi. 
 
 '' Ep. Ixxxii. p. l65. 
 
 ' Gibbon, in the sixteenth chapter of his " Decline and 
 Fall/' desiring to extenuate the dangers which beset the 
 Christian name under the heathen emperors, remarks, 
 " The experience of the life of Cyprian is sufficient to 
 prove, that our fancy has exaggerated the perilous situation 
 of a Christian Bishop ; and that the dangers to which he 
 was exposed were less imminent than those which temporal 
 ambition is always prepared to encounter in the pursuit of 
 honours. Four Roman Emperors, with their families, their 
 favourites, and their adherents; perished by the sword in 
 the space of ten years, during which the Bishop of Carthage 
 guided by his authority and eloquence the counsels of the 
 African Church." Gibbon knew, but he thought perhaps 
 that his less learned readers knew not, or would not re- 
 member, that during the same space, four Roman Bishops 
 also had perished for the faith, oi', if we allow the reports of 
 Stephen's martyrdom, J??'^. The comparison if fairly made 
 will not answer Gibbon's purpose, even though he could 
 
408 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 This was oil the sixth of August ; and was among 
 the first effects of a far severer edict which Vale- 
 rian had just issued. Of these events at Home 
 we are informed by a letter of Cyprian to Suc- 
 cessus, his brother in the Episcopate, and we are 
 thus called back to the few remaining personal 
 acts of Cyprian. 
 
 Cyprian had been eleven months in his exile 
 at Curubis, and in the interval Galerius Maxi- 
 mus had succeeded Aspasius Paternus in the 
 Proconsulate. The new Proconsul recalled 
 Cyprian from his banishment, though not for 
 any purposes of mercy ; but rather, in all pro- 
 bability, that he might be more entirely within 
 his power. He was allowed, however, to reside 
 in " his gardens ;" of which we have before 
 spoken, as the place where he probably wrote his 
 Epistle to Donatus, and as a part of the pos- 
 sessions which he sold, at his conversion, for the 
 benefit of the poorer brethren : this residence 
 was now restored to him by the providence of 
 God ; and though he would again, had he fol- 
 lowed his own inclination, have converted it into 
 
 persuade us to cast out of the reckoning this very important 
 consideration ; that the ambitious competitor for the purple 
 meets a soldier's death as one of the probable conseciiiences of 
 his career ; while violence must turn aside from its ap- 
 pointed course to meet the Christian Bishop, wliose pro- 
 fession is peace. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 409 
 
 alms, he was deterred from his cliaritable pur- 
 pose by the fear of exciting popular jealousy'. 
 
 The interest with which every breath of news 
 from Rome wovdd be received by the Christians, 
 situated as they now were, may be well imagined. 
 Cyprian took effectual measures to receive au- 
 thentic information, and in the letter to Suc- 
 cessus, to which we before alluded, he conveys the 
 following intelligence : that Valerian '" had di- 
 rected his rescript to the Senate, in which it 
 was decreed, that Bishops, Priests, and Deacons 
 should be condemned by a summary process ; 
 but that Senators, and other men of noble rank, 
 should be deprived of their dignity, and should 
 forfeit their goods ; and that if they still persisted 
 in the Christian faith, having already forfeited 
 the privilege of rank, they too should be capi- 
 tally punished. That the possessions of matrons 
 should be forfeited, and themselves banished : 
 and that any of the officers of the royal house- 
 hold who either then professed, or had professed 
 before, the name of Christ, should suffer fine and 
 confiscation, and be sent in chains to the imperial 
 possessions. 
 
 To this rescript Valerian had subjoined the 
 form of his letters to the several governors of 
 provinces, directing them in their proceedings 
 against the Church. The arrival of these impe- 
 
 ■ Pontius. 
 
 "' He was then in his Peisian expedition. 
 
410 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 rial instructions at Carthage he daily expected ; 
 and, with the intrepid faith of one who knew 
 in whom he helieved, even desired. Witli the 
 example of Sixtus before him, with his knowledge 
 that the heathen officers were determined to 
 carry out their instructions to the utmost, he 
 lived in constant expectation of martyrdom ; and 
 only intent on meeting death in a proper manner, 
 his conversation turned more entirely than ever 
 on divine things, and he desired that his end, if 
 it might be, should find him discoursing concern- 
 ing God. 
 
 He had yet, however, more than a month's 
 respite : for Galerius Maximus retiring for a 
 while to Utica, there received the imperial man- 
 dates. He sent presently an officer to bring 
 Cyprian to Utica, but the holy Bishop deter- 
 mined on suffering in that place where his blood 
 would most effectually witness to the truths which 
 his lips had spoken ; and where his death might 
 most benefit the flock which he had faithfully 
 guarded during his life. He retired therefore 
 from Carthage, not to avoid his end, but in- 
 tending to return so soon as the Proconsul 
 should proceed thither in person. From this 
 his retirement he wrote his last letter to the 
 Clergy and people of his flock, explaining to 
 them the motive which actuated him in the 
 present instance, and exhorting them, as circum- 
 stances might demand, to maintain a like pru- 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 411 
 
 dent courage and constancy. " Do you, my 
 dearest brethren, according to the divine rules 
 which you have ever heard from me, possess 
 your souls in quietness and peace ; neither 
 exciting any tumult among the brethren, nor 
 exposing yourselves voluntarily to the Gentiles. 
 But when you are apprehended and delivered 
 up, then speak : and the Lord Himself shall 
 speak in you ; who would rather that we should 
 confess His name with constancy, than profess it 
 rashly. We will consult together, the Lord 
 directing us, as to the course which I myself 
 ought to pursue, when I shall be called to my 
 confession before the Proconsul. And now, my 
 dearest brethren, may the Lord graciously keep 
 you and preserve you in His Church, of His 
 abundant mercy "." 
 
 It fares ill with the reputation of the wisest 
 and best men, when those who cannot appreciate 
 their wisdom, and have no sympathy with their 
 goodness, are their self-constituted judges. Cy- 
 prian has on this occasion, and on account of 
 his former retirement, been accused of cowardice; 
 though, had he acted otherwise than he did, he 
 might have been justly accused of rashness and 
 folly. If the Christians, excited into an irre- 
 pressible enthusiasm, courted martyrdom too 
 earnestly, they were wrong ; and though they 
 may well be forgiven, the very laws of the 
 " Ep. Ixxxiii. p. 160'. 
 
412 I-IFE AND TIMES 
 
 Christian Church were their accusers : it" they 
 yielded even to the most excruciating tortures, 
 they were punished as apostates then, and now 
 they are despised as cowards : but if witli Cy- 
 prian, consulting the peace of the community, 
 and the good of the Church ; — if with Cyprian, 
 obeying the spirit and the very letter of the 
 divine precepts ; — if with Cyprian, pursuing a 
 course which they were never ashamed to vin- 
 dicate and to recommend to others, and in 
 which their own conscience acquitted them of 
 cowardice, as decidedly as the world acquitted 
 them of rashness ; — if thus, with Cyprian, they 
 retired from the violence of persecution while 
 they might do so with honour, to present them- 
 selves again to its fiercest assaults when it was 
 required of them for the good of the Church, 
 surely they ought to escape every censure and 
 every sneer. 
 
 And the event shows, that Cyprian was not 
 more deficient in cournge than in wisdom ; for no 
 sooner did the Proconsul return to Carthage, 
 than Cyprian also came back to his Gardens, 
 and there awaited the summons to confession 
 and death. Nor was his expectation long de- 
 layed ; for on the thirteenth of September, two 
 officers of the court suddenly came to demand 
 his appearance before Maximus, at a place called 
 Sextus, about six miles from Carthage, where 
 Maxinnis was residing for his health. These 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 41.3 
 
 officers placed him between them " in a chariot, 
 
 " St. Augustine (Serino cccix. vol viii. p. 1248,) finds a 
 parallel here between Cyprian and our blessed Lord cruci- 
 fied between two thieves ; " Christus namque inter duns 
 latrones ligno suspensus, ad exemplum patientiae praebe- 
 batur; Cyprianus autem inter duos apparitores, ad passioneni 
 cum portatus Christi vestigia sequebatur." Such a parallel 
 will seem too bold to some persons ; but the truth is, that 
 we cannot judge of such things, without entering into the 
 spirit of those who write them. As a portion of a laboured 
 and merely rhetorical eulogium on St. Cyprian, uttered by 
 one who used saci*ed things as if they were so far only 
 valuable as they added a splendour to his composition, such 
 a passage would be even impious : but from the lips of one 
 who was instinctively alive to every sacred association, and 
 valued it for its own sake ; coming warm from the heart of 
 one who believed with St. Paul, that the sufferings of the 
 saints filled up in their bodies what was behind of the suf- 
 ferings of Christ, and who knew that to live in Christ was 
 to take up our cross and follpw Him ; —from such an one, 
 and such was St. Augustine, it is the expression of a chast- 
 ened piety, and ought to excite no emotion of disgust. 
 
 In writing these remarks, I have had in view the ob- 
 jections which some have made against the implied parallel 
 between our blessed Lord and Saviour in his sufferings, and 
 the Royal Martyr King Charles, of whom our Church wor- 
 thily boasts, in his misfortunes and martyrdom, which seems 
 to be recognized in the Church service for the thirtieth of 
 January. Judging the Church which has appointed that 
 service by the same rules whicli I have suggested for 
 judging St. Augustine, (and surely this is not claiming too 
 much,) the reas(m will not condemn, and the heart will cer- 
 tainly applavid. If the reader would see an example of that 
 sort of parallel between the Saviour and the Saint (so called) 
 which I have before denounced as impious, he may refer to 
 the Bi-itish Critic, No. xlix. p, 178, for an extract from a 
 Sermon at the dedication of a chapel to Ignatius Loyola, in 
 the Cathedral of Bologna. 
 
414 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 and thus conveyed him, under guard, to the Pro- 
 consul, who remanded him for final examination 
 till the next day. 
 
 The report soon spread through Carthage, that 
 Thascius was apprehended, and crowds assembled 
 to witness the spectacle ; melancholy even to the 
 Gentiles, for the honour in which Cyprian was held, 
 but glorious to the Christians on account of the 
 devoted constancy of the Martyr. During his 
 short respite, Cyprian was guarded, but with 
 no unnecessary rigour, in the house of an officer 
 of the court, and the visits of his friends were 
 freely permitted ; while the crowds of persons 
 without testified their respect and affection by 
 watching the whole night in the street ; thus 
 keeping, as it were, the vigil of their Bishop's 
 glorious nativity. Nor was the composure of 
 Cyprian so disturbed, either by his own situation, 
 or by the expression of sympathy by his people, 
 as to prevent his taking such charge of them 
 as his circumstances permitted ; for he gave 
 especial orders for the protection of the women, 
 who were thus exposed, by their affectionate 
 solicitude for him, to the fatigue and dangers of 
 a night-watch. 
 
 At length the glorious day of his martyrdom 
 dawned, and he was conveyed to the residence of 
 the Proconsul, still accompanied by his affec- 
 tionate children in the faith. On his way he had 
 to traverse the stadium ; a happy circumstance. 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 415 
 
 observes Pontius, and as it would seem provi- 
 dential, that he who was to receive his crown, 
 should pass over the place of conflict on his way 
 to it. When he arrived at the Praetorium, the 
 Proconsul had not yet taken his seat on the tri- 
 bunal ; he was permitted therefore to retire to a 
 less public place, and there, hot and tired with his 
 journey, he reclined upon a seat which had been 
 accidentally left covered with a linen cloth ; so 
 that in the very article of his passion, he was 
 not without some insignia of his sacred function p. 
 One of the guard, who had formerly been a 
 Christian, offered him a change of vestments, 
 purposing to keep the garments of the Martyr 
 as a valuable relict ; but Cyprian rejected the 
 proffered luxury, observing on the folly of too 
 solicitous a use of remedies for those evils, which 
 can last but for a day. 
 
 At length Galerius Maximus assumed his 
 place in the judgment-hall, and Cyprian being 
 brought before him, he said, '' Art thou Thascius 
 Cyprian ?" Cyprian answered, " / am." " Art 
 thou he," said Maximus, " who hath borne the 
 highest offices of their religion, among the Chris- 
 tians ?" " Yes" answered the Bishop. " The 
 
 "I The remark is that of Pontius. " Sedile autem erat 
 fortuito linteo tectum, ut et sub ictu passionis episcopatus 
 honore frueretur." This may, perhaps, be but a puerile 
 conceit of Pontius ; but it is valuable as a record of the use of 
 clerical vestments and distinctions in that age. 
 
41() LTFK AND TIMES 
 
 most sacred Emperors have commanded tliat you 
 offer sacrifice," said the Proconsul. ** / will not 
 offer sacrifice" replied Cyprian. " Be persuaded," 
 said the Proconsul, " for your own sake." Cy- 
 prian replied, " Do thou as thou hast received 
 orders : for me, in so just a cause, no persuasion 
 ca?i move me." 
 
 Maximus, having consulted with his assessors, 
 pronounced the following sentence with much 
 emotion. " Thou hast long lived in impiety, and 
 hast made thyself the centre of a band of pesti- 
 lent conspirators ; thou hast acted as an enemy 
 to the gods and to the sacred laws of Rome : 
 neither the pious and most august princes Vale- 
 rianus and Gallienus, nor the most noble Caesar 
 Valerian, have been able to recall you to a dutiful 
 adherence to their religion. Since then thou art 
 convicted as the author and instigator of so many 
 iniquities, thou shalt become an example to those 
 whom thou hast seduced : the authority of the laws 
 shall be vindicated by thy blood." After these 
 words he pronounced the sentence from his tablet, 
 " Let Thascius Cyprian be beheaded." 
 
 " Thanks he to God f" said Cyprian : and the 
 crowd of Christians who surrounded him ex- 
 claimed, " Let us die with him !" 
 
 The holy Martyr was then led away, followed 
 by a great concourse of people, to an open field 
 near the place where he had received his sentence; 
 and having put off the rest of his garments, and 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 417 
 
 committed them to the Deacons, he first prostrated 
 himself in prayer to God, and then stood in his 
 inner vestments prepared for the fatal stroke. 
 The executioner, who stood trembling at the 
 office that he had to perform, was animated by 
 his encouragement. He tied the bandage over 
 his eyes with his own hands ; and that he 
 might owe that office to friends which he could 
 not himself perform, Julian a Presbyter, and a 
 Subdeacon of the same name, bound his hands. 
 To the executioner he appropriated a gift of 
 twenty-five pieces of gold : the Christians, whose 
 avarice was not mercenary, sought no other memo- 
 rials than handkerchiefs dyed with the blood of 
 their Bishop. The body was for a while exposed 
 to the gaze of the heathen ; but having been 
 removed by night by the brethren, it was buried 
 in the Mappalian Way. Two Churches afterwards 
 marked the spots which had been consecrated by 
 his death and by his burial "i. The anniver- 
 sary of his death was long observed ; and five 
 sermons of St. Augustine, preached on this fes- 
 tival, still remain as memorials of the martyr 
 Cyprian. 
 
 Thus died Thascius Caecilius Cyprian, with a 
 courage too common in those days to excite our 
 surprise, but of such intrinsic merit as to demand 
 
 •i One of these Churches was the scene of an affecting 
 incident in the early life of St. Augustine. See his Confes- 
 sions, V. viii. with the note p. 75, of the Oxford translation. 
 
 E e 
 
418 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 our admiration. He was the first Bishop of 
 Carthage who had attained to the crown of 
 martyrdom ; and he was truly worthy of this 
 high distinction. Few men have more forcibly 
 arrested the affections of their associates ; few 
 have more powerfully influenced the opinions of 
 others ; none have been more honoured by pos- 
 terity. The wish which broke from the tumul- 
 tuous assembly at his condemnation, To die with 
 him, was uttered afterwards coolly and solemnly 
 by his Deacon Pontius : but his widowed Church 
 rather lamented her own misfortune than his ; 
 and soon learned to glory in his crown more 
 than she lamented her own loss. His name was 
 long a household word with the Church which 
 he had governed, and even the heathen paid to 
 his memory the tribute of respect. 
 
 Neither Carthage nor Africa set bounds to his 
 influence or to his fame. Prudentius says of him, 
 
 Disserit, eloquitui-j tractat, docet, instruit, prophetat. 
 Nee Libise populos tantum regit ; exit usque in ortum 
 Solis, et usque obitum : Gallos fovet, imbuit Britannos, 
 Praesidet Hesperiae, Christum serit ultimis Hiberis. 
 
 And to this day, whenever any party can claim 
 the support of Cyprian's authority, the claim is 
 made with a confidence which sufficiently deter- 
 mines its value. 
 
 But perhaps the most marked indication of the 
 deserved respect in which the name of Cyprian is 
 held, is its place in the Roman Calendar : not 
 
OF ST. CYPRIAN. 419 
 
 because this is itself a proof of peculiar sanctity, 
 but because it is extorted in the present instance 
 by the voice of the Church, antecedent to the 
 corruptions of Rome, and because here whatever 
 is specifically Romish, has been forced to yield to 
 that which is truly Catholic. The works of 
 Cyprian are a strong protest againt the arrogant 
 pretensions of the Bishop and Church of Rome : 
 his theology, like that of every primitive Bishop 
 was opposed to the present system: circumstances 
 even placed him in direct collision with Rome ; 
 his whole energies were exerted for a long while 
 in opposition to the dogma of a Pope and his 
 Clergy ; and he died under what would now be 
 called excommunication by Rome, though then 
 indeed his position had no such character. And 
 yet St. Cyprian, though such an one as would 
 now be anathematized without compunction and 
 without mercy by his Holiness of Rome, is wor- 
 shipped by the Churches of his obedience as a 
 saint : for his title to be enrolled among the 
 saints was already determined by the general 
 voice of Christendom ; and Rome, when she 
 departed from his theology, and deserted all his 
 favourite principles, could not afford to repudiate 
 his name. 
 
 TUK END. 
 
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