or desirous to extend the mischiefs of schism, passed the sea and came to Rome. There he connected himself Account of with a priest, named Novatian, a friend of the Novatian. confessor Moyses, who has been already mentioned, and whose sufferings at Rome were of a tedious nature. Novatus had the address and management to effect the separation of Novatian from the Church. Moyses renounced all intercourse with his former friend and acquaintaince on account of this conduct; and soon after died in prison, where he had been confined nearly a year. Doubtless, he entered into eternal glory at length, having left the evidence of modesty and peaceableness, in addition to his other more splendid virtues, as testimonies of his love to the Lord Jesus.

Novatus found the religious ideas of his new associate and partner arranged in extreme opposition to his own. Novatian had been a Stoic before he was a Christian; and he still retained the rigour of the sect to such a degree, that he disapproved of receiving those into the Church who once had lapsed, though they gave the sincerest marks of repentance. Full of these unwarranted severities, he exclaimed against the wise and well-tempered lenity of the Roman clergy in receiving penitents. Many of the clergy of Rome, who were still in prison for the faith;-and among these Maximus and others, to whom Cyprian had formerly written, were seduced by this apparent zeal for Churchdiscipline; and they joined Novatian. His African tutor, with astonishing inconsistency, after having stirred up a general indignation in his own country and against his own bishop on account of severity to the lapsed, now supported a party who complained of too much lenity at Rome. It is hard to say which of the two extremes is the worse:Novatus defended both within the compass of two years; -and with equal pertinacity.

The Roman clergy thought it high time to stem the torrent. They had, for sixteen months,* with singular piety and fortitude, governed the Church during one of its most stormy seasons. Schism was now added to persecution : The necessity of choosing a bishop grew more and more urgent; yet a bishop of Rome must, of course, be in the most imminent danger of martyrdom ;-for Decius threat* Fleury, b. 6. [c. 52.]

ened all bishops with great haughtiness and asperity. Sixteen of them happened to be then at Rome, and these ordained Cornelius as the successor of Fabian. He was very unwilling to accept the office; but the people, who were present, approved of his ordination; and no step was to be neglected, which might be useful in withstanding the growing schism. The life of Cornelius appears to have been worthy of the Gospel: Novatian, however, not only vented many calumnies against him, but also contrived, in a very irregular manner,* to be elected bishop in opposition.

Thus was formed the first body of Christians, who, in modern language, may be called DISSENTERS; that is, men, The first who separate from the general Church, not on Dissenters. grounds of DOCTRINE, but of DISCIPLINE. The Novatianists held no opinions contrary to the faith of the Gospel. It is certain from some writings of Novatian extant,† that their leader was sound in the doctrine of the Trinity. But the confessors, whom his pretensions to superior purity had seduced, returned afterwards to the communion of Cornelius, and mourned over their own credulity. In a letter of Cornelius to Fabius, bishop of Antioch, a few circumstances are occasionally mentioned, from which an idea of the state of the Church of Rome, at that time, may be collected. There were under the bishop forty-six priests, seven deacons, seven subdeacons, forty-two acolyths, fifty-two exorcists, readers, and porters, and upwards of fifteen hundred widows, and infirm or disabled persons. "The number of the laity was," says he, "innumerable." I don't know so authentic a memorial of the number of the Christians in those times.

In this letter he charges Novatian, perhaps without sufficient warrant, with having denied himself to be a priest during the heat of the persecution, and with obliging his separatists, when he administered to them the Lord's Supper, to swear to adhere to himself. The party, however, at Rome, daily lost ground: Nicostratus the deacon was among the very few persons of note there, who, after being seduced * See in Euseb. [vi. c. 43] Cornelius's letter concerning Novatian, whom Eusebius, by mistake, confounds with Novatus.

+ See Waterland's Importance of the Trinity, [c. 6. p. 347.]

Epist. 49 and 50.

§ About the middle of the third century. [Euseb. vi. c. 43.]

by the arts of Novatian, did not return into communion and peace with Cornelius. Conscious of scandalous crimes,* this schismatic fled from Rome into Africa ;--whither Novatus himself also returned; and there the Novatians found many adherents, and are said to have elected for themselves, as a sort of counter-bishop, a presbyter, named Maximus, who had been lately sent as deputy from Rome by Novatian, to inform Cyprian of the new election † in opposition to that of Cornelius. This same deputy, Cyprian had rejected from

communion.

It would not have been worth while to have detailed these events so distinctly, but for the purpose of marking the symptoms of declension in the Church, the unity of which was now broken for the first time: for it ought not to be concluded that all the Novatians were men void of the faith and love of Jesus. The artifices of Satan also, in pushing forward opposite extremes, are worthy of notice: The skilful tempter tries both the lax and the severe method of discipline. The former he finds more suitable to the state of Christianity in our times; but it could gain no solid footing in the third century. The Novatian schism stood at last on the ground of excessive severity ;-a certain proof of the strictness of the ecclesiastical government then fashionable among Christians, and, of course, of great purity of life and doctrine having been prevalent among them: To refuse the re-admission of penitents was a dangerous instance of pharisaical pride but, in justice to Novatian, it ought to be mentioned, that he advised the exhorting of the lapsed to repentance, though he thought that they should then be left to the judgment of God. On the same plan he also condemned second marriages :-Extreme austerity and superstition were growing evils in this century; and they were cherished by false philosophy.

At length, Cyprian ventured out of his retreat and returned to Carthage. In what manner he there conducted himself, shall be the subject of the next chapter.

The Novatians called themselves Cathari, pure people,
+ The election of Novatian.

CHAP. X.

CYPRIAN'S SETTLEMENT OF HIS CHURCH AFTER HIS RETURN, AND THE HISTORY OF THE WESTERN CHURCH TILL THE PERSECUTION UNDER GALLUS.

THE prudence of Cyprian had been so remarkable during the whole of the persecution of Decius, that we may fairly conclude he had ceased to apprehend any personal danger when he appeared again in public at Carthage. In fact, it was not the cessation of malice, but the distraction of public affairs, which put an end to this persecution. Decius on account of the incursion of the Goths, was obliged to leave Rome; and God gave a respite to his servants, while men of the world were wholly taken up with resisting or mourning under their secular calamities.* After Easter a council was held at Carthage, and the eyes of Christians were turned toward it: The Church was in a very confused state; and some settlement of it was expected under the auspices of Cyprian and the other bishops of Africa. At first, a short delay was occasioned on account of doubts which arose respecting the validity of the election of Cornelius. But an exact information of the circumstances laid open the truth: The regularity of his appointment, and the violation of order in the schismatical ordination of Novatian, by some persons who were in a state of intoxication, appeared so clearly, that no room for hesitation was left: Novatian was rejected in the African synod:-Felicissimus, with his five presbyters, was condemned; and Cornelius was owned as legitimate bishop of Rome. And now the case of the lapsed, which had given so much disquietude, and which Cyprian had so often promised to settle in full council, was finally determined and with men, who feared God, it was no hard thing to adjust a due medium. A proper temperature was used between the precipitation of the lapsed and the stoical

[About this time Cyprian is supposed to have written his short treatise, de lapsis, and in the fourth chapter he tells some extraordinary stories about the effects which the reception of the Lord's Supper produced upon some who, in the persecution, had fallen from the faith, and that in one case the bread was changed into a cinder; stories which sufficiently show, that ignorance and superstition must have prevailed to a great extent among the Christians at Carthage at that time, and that he himself was either very superstitious, or imagined that stories, however absurd, provided they favoured Church discipline, were not only not to be discredited, but to be vouched for.] + See Cornelius's letter in Euseb. [vi. c. 43.]

severity of Novatian. Hence, tried penitents were restored, and the case of dubious characters was deferred; and yet every method of Christian charity was used to bring about and facilitate their repentance and re-admission.

Fortunatus preserved still a schismatical assembly. But both this bishop and his flock shrunk soon into insignificance. The Christian authority of Cyprian was restored. The Novatian party alone remained a long time after, in Africa and elsewhere, numerous enough to continue a distinct body of professing Christians. The very little satisfactory light, which Christian annals afford concerning these Dissenters, shall be given in its place. And, as I am convinced that the Almighty has not limited his creatures to any particular and strictly defined modes of Church-government, I cannot be under much temptation to partiality. The laws of historical truth have obliged me to state facts which prove their secession to have been unjustifiable; but that circumstance does not render it impossible that the Spirit of God might be with some of this people during their continuance as a distinct body of Christians.

Thus did it please God to make use of the vigour and perseverance of Cyprian in recovering the Church of Carthage from a state of most deplorable declension. First, she had lost her purity and piety to a very alarming degree; then, she was torn with persecution, and sifted by the storm so much that the greatest part of her professors apostatized; and, lastly, she was convulsed by schisms, through men's unwillingness to submit to the rules of God's own word in wholesome discipline and sincere repentance. On Cyprian's return, however, a new train of regulation was established by the council of Carthage; and unity was restored in a great measure: The accounts of the succeeding transactions are imperfect; but there is great reason to believe that the Church of God was much recovered in these parts.

Decius lost his life in battle in the year two hundred and fifty-one, after having reigned thirty months. A prince— neither deficient in abilities nor in moral virtues; Decius slain but distinguished, during this whole period, by A. D. 251. the most cruel persecution of the Church of God; he appears to have been bent on its ruin; but was stopped in his career by an overruling Providence.