A. 251.

112

Uniform wickedness of Novatus.

EPIST. from his chair and people, and exiled from the Church of LII. Christ, he wanders about through other distant provinces, and himself having made shipwreck of truth and faith, contrives the like wreck for some like himself. But that Nicostratus, having lost the sacred administration of the diaconate, for having by sacrilegious fraud subtracted the Church's revenues, and withheld the deposits of widows and orphans, did not so much wish to come to Africa, as, from consciousness of his rapines and dreadful crimes, to escape thither from the City. And now a deserter and renegade from the Church, as if to change the clime were to have changed the man, he still further boasts and declares himself a Confessor, whereas one who hath denied the Church of Christ, can no longer either be called or be a Confessor of Christ.

Eph. 5, 31. 32.

2. For since Paul the Apostle says, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church;-since, I say, the blessed Apostle says this, and by his holy voice bears witness to the unity of Christ and the Church, fitted together with indissoluble bonds, how can he be with Christ, who is not with the spouse of Christ, and in His Church? or how can he assume to himself the charge of ruling or governing the Church, who hath robbed and defrauded the Church of Christ?

3. For of Novatus no news need have been sent from you to us, but rather he should have been made known by us to you, as one ever eager for innovation, frantic with the rapacity of an insatiable avarice, puffed up with the arrogance and stupor of swelling pride, always known for evil to the Bishops here, ever, as a heretic and perfidious, condemned by the voice of the whole priesthood; ever inquisitive in order to betray; a flatterer, to the end that he may deceive; never faithful to love; a torch and firebrand to light up the flames of sedition; a whirlwind and tempest to make shipwrecks of faith; a foe to quiet; an adversary to tranquillity; an enemy to peace. Lastly, when Novatus departed from among you, that is, when the storm and whirlwind departed, a calm in part succeeded there, and glorious and good Confessors, who had left the Church

Consciousness of guilt hurries to further guilt.

113

at his incitation, after he had left the City, returned to the Church. It is the same Novatus, who amongst us scattered the first flames of discord and schism, who separated some of the brethren here from their Bishop, who amid the very persecution, was to our's as another persecution in overthrowing the minds of the brethren. He it is, who, without my permission or knowledge, of his own factiousness and ambition, made' Felicissimus his follower Deacon; and in company with his own storm, sailing to Rome also, to overthrow the Church, he there contrived similar and like plots, rending a portion of the laity from the Clergy, cleaving asunder the concord of the brotherhood, who were closely knit together and mutually loved each other. In short, as Rome from her greatness ought to have precedency of Carthage, there he committed greater and more grievous crimes. He who here made a Deacon against the Church, there made a Bishop. Nor should any one wonder at this in such men. The wicked are ever overborne by their own madness, and after they have committed crimes, are hurried on by the very consciousness of a guilty mind. Nor can they continue in the Church of God, who have not observed its deific and ecclesiastical discipline, either in the conversation of their lives or the peaceableness of their behaviour. Orphans robbed by him, widows defrauded, treasures of the Church too denied and withheld, exact this punishment of him, which we behold in his madness. His father too died of hunger in the street, and was not afterwards in death even buried by him. The womb of his wife was stricken by his heel, and miscarriage quickly following, the offspring was brought forth, the father being its murderer. And now he dares to condemn the hands of those that sacrifice; although his own feet are more guilty, by which the son, who was being born, was murdered. This consciousness of crime he long

• constituit: i. e. though ordained by others, as, immediately after, Episcopum fecit, of Novatian, whereas he obtained three Bishops to consecrate him, (see ab. on Ep. 15. p. 111, note n.) Cassian, Collat. iv. 1. relates that Paphnutius, a Presbyter, "wishing to provide a worthy successor for himself, advanced (provexit) him to the honor of the Presbyterate," i. e. recommended

I

him, as was the rule of Abbots, Gaz. ad loc. People now speak of persons being "made Bishops" by the civil power.

P de zel. et liv. §. 8. p. 274. Rig. quotes also "the deific Scriptures," (Crescens à Cirta in Conc. Carth. §. 8. Elius the Proconsul, ap. Optat. i. fin.) i. e. which retain in Christians "the Divine Nature," whereof they have been made "partakers."

114 Badmenleavingthe Church forestall,not escape,her sentence

EPIST. since dreaded. For this cause he felt assured that he would LIII. A. 251. not only be removed from the Presbytery, but prohibited from communion: and at the urgent desire of the brethren, the day of trial, when his cause was to be heard before us, was coming on, had not the persecution intervened; which he welcoming from a desire to gain an escape from condemnation, hath committed all these crimes and wrought this confusion: and so he, who was to be expelled from the Church and excluded, has by a voluntary departure anticipated the judgment of the priesthood, as if to forecome the sentence were to have escaped the punishment.

4. But as regards the rest of the brethren, whom we mourn to have been deceived by that crafty impostor, we labour that they may flee their perilous nearness to him, that they may escape the deadly toils of his solicitation, that they may return to the Church from which he has deserved to be by Divine judgment expelled. These indeed we trust, the Lord helping, may through His mercy return. For no one can perish, but he of whom it is plain that he must Mat. 15, perish, in that the Lord says in His Gospel, Every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. He therefore who has not been planted in the precepts and lessons of God the Father, can alone depart from the Church; alone, forsaking the Bishop, continue in madness with schismatics and heretics. But the rest the mercy of God the Father, and the forbearance of Christ our Lord, and our own patience, will unite with us.

13.

I bid thee, dearest brother, ever heartily farewell.

EPISTLE LIII.

To Cyprian, their brother, Maximus, Urbanus, Sidonius, and Macharius, greeting.

We are assured, dearest brother, that you also rejoice with us, with equal fervency, that we, having well deliberated, especially consulting the advantage and peace of the Church, having passed by all former transactions and left them to the

9 i. e. none will remain in his schism and perish in it, but he who would perish for the sinfulness of his life.

"The wicked alone would continue schismatics." F.

Union with the Church, in faith & peace, a confession of Xt. 115 judgment of God, have made peace with Cornelius our Bishop and the whole Clergy. That this took place to the joy of the whole Church, and with the affections of all the brethren in our behalf, thou oughtest to have the fullest assurance by these our own Epistles.

We pray, dearest brother, that thou mayest for many years fare well.

EPISTLE LIV.

Cyprian to Maximus, Presbyter, as also to Urbanus, Sidonius, and Macharius, his brethren, greeting.

1. When I read your Epistle, dearest brethren, which you sent to me concerning your return, and the peace of the Church, and full restoration of the brotherhood, I confess that I rejoiced as greatly as I had before rejoiced, when I was informed of the glory of your confession, and, myself a partaker of your joy, heard of the heavenly and spiritual praise of your warfare. For this also is another confession of your faith and praise, to confess that the Church is one, and not to be partakers of the error or rather wickedness of others; to seek again the same camp whence ye went forth, whence ye issued forth, with most resolute courage, to wage war and subdue the adversary. For thither should the trophies from the battle be carried back, whence arms for the battle had been received; lest whom Christ had prepared for glory, these, when covered with glory, the Church of Christ should not retain. But now, in the peace of the Lord, ye have held the even tenour conformable to your faith, and the law of undivided charity and concord; and by your walk ye have given to others an example of affection and peace; so that the truth of the Church and the unity of the Gospel Sacrament, held by us, is also knit together by your consent and band; and Confessors of Christ become not guides to error, who had been praiseworthy patterns of virtue and honour. How much others may congratulate you, or how much each for himself may exult, must be left to them; I for my part confess that I congratulate you more, and more than others exult in this your peaceful return and charity. For you

LIV.

116 Who would bepurer than the Church,perish from the Church EPIST. ought in all plainness to hear what was in my breast. I A. 252. grieved exceedingly and was heavily afflicted, that I could not communicate with those whom I had once begun to love. When, on your going out from prison, schismatical and heretical error overtook you, it was as if your glory had remained in prison. For there the honour of your name seemed to have stayed behind, when soldiers of Christ did not return to the Church from prison, into which they had before entered with the praises and congratulations of the Church.

Mat.13,

25.

2, 20.

2. For although tares are seen in the Church, yet our faith or charity ought not to be hindered, so that, because we see that there are tares in the Church, we ourselves should depart from the Church. We only must labour that we may, be wheat, that when the wheat shall begin to be gathered into the garners of the Lord, we may receive fruit according to our labour and toil. The Apostle saith in his Epistle,

2 Tim. In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honour, and some to dishonour. Let us take pains, dearest brethren, and labour as much as we can, to be vessels of gold or of Ps. 2, 9. silver. But to break the vessels of earth is granted to the Lord alone, to Whom also the rod of iron is entrusted. John13, The servant cannot be greater than his Lord. Nor can any

16.

one claim for himself that which the Father hath granted to the Son Alone; so as to think that he can take in his hand the fan for winnowing or purging the floor, or can by human judgment separate all the tares from the wheat. That is a proud obstinacy and sacrilegious presumption, which a phrenzied wickedness assumes to itself. And while some even assume to themselves a dominion greater than a mild justice allows, they perish from the Church; and while they evidently exalt themselves, blinded by the swelling of their own pride, they lose the light of truth. On which account we too observing a due temperament, and having regard to the balance of the Lord, and considering the love and mercy of God the Father, have long and deeply pondered with ourselves and weighed what should be done, with due moderation. All which ye may see thoroughly on perusing the

r

Quoted by S. Aug. c. Cresc. Gramm. ii. 34. 37. c. Gaud. Donat. ii. 3. Ep.

108. ad Macr. Donat. c. 3. Brevic. Collat. c. Donat. c. 10.