Though Cornelius was chosen by the unanimous Voice of the People and Clergy, yet Novatian, a Presbyter of the Church of Rome, who aspired to the same Dignity, not only refused to acknowlege him; but having gained a considerable Party among the People, Five Presbyters, and some Confessors, he wrote in their Name and his own to St. Cyprian, and no doubt to many other Bishops, laying heinous Crimes to the Charge of Cornelius; namely, his having sued for a Protection from the Pagan Magistrates, which was ranking him among the Libellatici, who were excluded from all Dignities and Employments in the Church. St. Cyprian having received this Letter, and at the same time one from Cornelius, acquainting him with his Election, as was customary in those Times among Bishops, he caused the one to be read in a full Assembly of the People and Clergy, but suppressed the other, looking upon it as a scandalous Libel[[358]]. |St. Cyprian calls a
Council,| However, to prevent the Calumnies and false Reports that might be spread abroad by Novatian and his Partisans, he assembled a Council of all the Bishops of his Province, who, hearing of the Schism in the Church of Rome, resolved to send thither two of their Body, who should carefully inform themselves of what had passed in the late Election, and on their Return make a faithful Report of all they had learnt. Pursuant to this Resolution, Caldonius and Fortunatus, Two African Bishops, were dispatched to Rome with Letters from the Council to the Clergy of that City, and to the Bishops who had been present at the Ordination of Cornelius. The Bishops no sooner received these Letters than they answered them, assuring their Brethren in Africa, that Cornelius had been lawfully chosen; and at the same time commending him as a Person, on account of his extraordinary Piety, and exemplary Life, most worthy of the Dignity to which he had been raised. |which acknowleges
Cornelius.| Their Testimony was soon after confirmed by Caldonius and Fortunatus returning from Rome, and like wise by Stephanius and Pompeius, Two African Bishops, who had assisted at the Ordination of Cornelius; so that he was universally acknowleged all over Africa[[359]].
The African Bishops no sooner acknowleged Cornelius than they acquainted him with the Resolutions, which they had taken in their late Council, with respect to the Lapsed. |Resolutions of the
Council of Africa
concerning the
Lapsed.| The Substance of these was, That such as had yielded to the Fury of the Persecution ought not to be abandoned, lest, giving themselves up to Despair, they should fall into a total Apostasy; but should be re-admitted to the Union of the Church upon a sincere Repentance, and after a long Penance; that the Time of their Penance should be shortened, or prolonged, according to the Nature of their Crimes; that is, the Libellatici should have a shorter Time assigned them; and the Sacrificati, called also Thurificati, who had actually offered Sacrifice, or Frankincense, to Idols, should not be admitted till they had expiated their Offence by a very long Penance; but that both the Libellatici and Sacrificati should be taken in, before the Time of their Penance was expired, if at the Point of Death, or even thought to be in Danger[[360]]. As to fallen Bishops, they were to be dealt with in the same Manner; and, after due Penance, or, as it is sometimes called, Satisfaction, be admitted only in a Lay Capacity[[361]]. Cornelius did not, upon the Receipt of these Determinations or Decrees, step into his oracular Chair, and thence, as an infallible Judge, condemn or approve them. Such arbitrary Proceedings would not have been well relished by the Bishops of Africa, nor even by his own Clergy, who not long before had declared, That a Decree could not be binding without the Consent and Approbation of many. |Which are approved
by the Council
of Rome.| He therefore acted on this Occasion as St. Cyprian had done, as other Bishops did afterwards; that is, he assembled a Council, which Eusebius calls a great Council[[362]]; for it consisted of Sixty Bishops, and a great Number of Priests, Deacons, and Laymen, who, in those Times, were admitted to all Councils[[363]]. By this Venerable Assembly were the Decrees of the Council of Africa examined and approved, and then sent to be in like manner examined and approved by other Bishops, till the whole Church had agreed to them[[364]].
Novatian excommun-
icated.
At the Council of Rome assisted among other Presbyters Novatian: but as he maintained, in Opposition to the whole Assembly, that the Lapsed were to be admitted upon no Terms or Satisfaction whatsoever, but should be left to the Divine Tribunal, he was himself cut off from that Communion, which with an invincible Obstinacy he denied to others[[365]]. Provoked at this Sentence, he readily gave Ear to the Insinuations of Novatus, a Presbyter of the Church of Carthage, who had fled from thence to Rome, to avoid the Sentence of Excommunication, with which he was threatened by St. Cyprian, and the other Bishops of Africa, for his scandalous Doctrine, and irregular Practices[[366]]. Pacianus paints him in the blacked Colours: |Novatus his Wicked
ness.| He stripped the Orphans, says he, plundered the Widows of the Church of Carthage, and appropriated to himself the Money belonging to the Poor and the Church[[367]]: He turned his Father out of Doors, and let him die of Hunger in the Streets, and would not even be at the Trouble of burying him after his Death. With a Kick in the Belly he made his Wife miscarry, and bring forth a dead Child: whence Pacianus calls him a Traitor, an Assassin, the Murderer of his Father and Child[[368]]. As for his Doctrine, he held, while at Carthage, Tenets diametrically opposite to those he taught at Rome: for, at Carthage, he was for admitting to the Communion of the Church not only the Lapsed, but all other Sinners, let their Crimes be ever so heinous, without any Sort of Penance; and, at Rome, for excluding them, let their Penance be ever so long, let their Repentance be ever so sincere[[369]]. At Carthage he found Felicissimus, of whom I shall speak hereafter, inclined to Lenity; and Novatian, at Rome, to Severity: and therefore, as he was a Man of great Vanity, and no Principles, he suited himself to the different Tempers of such as he judged the most capable of raising him. |He gains many
Followers, and some
Confessors, to the
Party of Novatian.| At Rome, by a Pretence to an uncommon Sanctity and Severity, he gained a great many Followers, and among them some Confessors lately delivered out of Prison, from whom he extorted Letters directed to Novatian, wherein they consented to the Ordination of the said Novatian. In virtue of these Letters he was accordingly ordained, some say in Rome[[370]], others in a neighbouring Village[[371]], by Three Bishops sent for by Novatus out of the Country for that Purpose, and quite unacquainted with his Views. |Novatian the
first Anti-pope.| Being thus ordained Bishop, he was set up by the Party against Cornelius, whom they charged with relaxing the Discipline of the Church, and communicating with the Lapsed, especially with one Trophimus. This St. Cyprian calls a false and groundless Charge; for, as to Trophimus, though he was in the Number of the Thurificati, that is, though he had offered Frankinsense to Idols, and even persuaded his Flock (for he was a Presbyter, if not a Bishop) to follow his Example, yet he had sufficiently atoned for his Crime, by a sincere Repentance, by a long Penance, and, above all, by bringing back his People with him, who would not have returned without him[[372]]. As for the others, 'tis true, he communicated with some who had not fulfilled the Time of Penance assigned them, but such only as, being admitted at the Point of Death, had afterwards recovered; which can no otherwise be avoided, says St. Cyprian[[373]], but by killing those to whom we granted the Peace of the Church, when we apprehended them to be in Danger. Novatian having thus, by a pretended Zeal for the Discipline of the Church, and the artful Insinuations of Novatus, seduced a great many at Rome, who styled themselves the Cathari, |He acquaints the
other Churches with
his Ordination.| that is, the pure, undefiled Party; he wrote in their and his own Name to the other Churches, acquainting them with his Ordination, exhorting them not to communicate with the Lapsed upon any Terms, and bitterly complaining of the scandalous Lenity and Remisness of Cornelius[[374]]. At the same time Cornelius wrote to the other Bishops, giving them a faithful Account of all that had happened at Rome, especially of the uncanonical Ordination of Novatian. However, the Letters of Novatian, signed by several Confessors, who were greatly respected in those Days, made no small Impression on Antonianus an African Bishop, and Fabius Bishop of Antioch[[375]], but quite gained over to the Party Marcianus Bishop of Arles[[376]]. |His Deputies rejected
and excommunicated
in Africa.| The other Bishops declared all to a Man for Cornelius, especially St. Cyprian, and those of his Province, who, being assembled in a Council when the Deputies of Novatian arrived, excommunicated without farther Examination both him and them[[377]]; and well they might, since they had taken so much Pains to inform themselves of the Lawfulness of Cornelius’s Election, as we have related above. The Deputies, though thus rejected with Scorn and Disgrace by the Council, did not abandon the Enterprize, but proselyting from Town to Town, nay, from House to House, inveigled a great many, under colour of communicating with the Confessors[[378]]. |St. Cyprianendeav-
ours to reclaim
the Confessors.| St. Cyprian therefore, whose Zeal was not confined within the Bounds, however extensive, of Africa, Numidia, and the Two Mauritania’s, to withdraw this main Support from the Party, writ a short but nervous Letter to the Confessors, deploring the Fault they had committed, by consenting to the unlawful Ordination of Novatian, and exhorting them to return with all Speed to the Catholic Church[[379]]. Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria writ them a pathetic Letter to the same Purpose[[380]]; and these Letters had at last the desired Effect; but not before Novatus, who had drawn them into the Schism, left Rome; which happened on the following Occasion:
Novatian sends new
Deputies into Africa.
Novatian, being informed that the Deputies he had sent into Africa were every-where rejected and despised, resolved to send others, whom he judged, on account of their Rank and Authority, more capable of promoting his Design[[381]]. The Persons he pitched upon were Nicostratus, Novatus, Evaristus, Primus, and Dionysius. Of the Two last I find no farther Mention made in History; of Novatus I have spoken above; and as for Evaristus and Nicostratus, the former was a Bishop, and is supposed to have been one of the Three that ordained Novatian. Nicostratus was a Deacon of the Church of Rome[[382]], and had been imprisoned with the Two Presbyters Moses and Maximus, for the Confession of the Faith[[383]], which intitled him to a Place among the Confessors.|Their Characters.| To these Three St. Cyprian ascribes the excellent Letter, as he styles it, which the Confessors of Rome writ to those of Carthage[[384]]. He was likewise one of the Confessors, who writ to St. Cyprian himself, as appears from the Title of that admirable Letter, which runs thus: The Presbyters Moses and Maximus, the Deacons Nicostratus and Ruffinus, and the other Confessors, who are with them, to Pope Cyprian[[385]]. |The Name of Pope
antiently common to
all Bishops.| We may here observe, by the way, that the Name of Pope, which signifies no more than Father, was antiently common to all Bishops; but was afterwards, by a special Decree of Gregory VII. appropriated to the Bishop of Rome. To return to Nicostratus, the Character given him by St. Cyprian and Cornelius, bespeaks him quite unworthy of being joined with the others, who are named in that Letter, and were all Men of great Piety: for he had squandered away the Money belonging to the Church, that was lodged in his Hands, embezzled that of the Widows and Orphans, and defrauded a Lady, who had trusted him with the Management of her Affairs[[386]].
The Deputies are
everywhere rejected
in Africa.
These new Deputies met with no better a Reception than the former had done: for St. Cyprian, being informed of their Departure from Rome, by the Confessor Augendus[[387]], and soon after of their Characters by the Acolyte Nicephorus, both sent, for that Purpose, by Cornelius[[388]], he acquainted therewith the other Catholic Bishops, who, upon that Intelligence, rejected them with the greatest Indignation, as Apostates, and Firebrands of Sedition. Hereupon the Deputies having, by the Means and Contrivance of Novatus, procured some of their Party to be ordained Bishops, and Nicostratus among the rest, they named them to the Sees of the Catholic Bishops; which bred great Confusion and Disorder in the Church, it being a difficult Matter for the Bishops in the distant Provinces to distinguish between their lawful Brethren and the Intruders, and consequently to know whom they should admit to, and whom they should exclude from their Communion. But against this Evil a Remedy was found by St. Cyprian, and the other African Bishops, who, to arm him against the Craft and Arts of those subtle Impostors, transmitted to him a List of all the Catholic Bishops of that Province[[389]].
The Confessors return
to the Communion of
the Church.
The Storm, which Novatus had raised in Rome, was laid by his Departure; for he was no sooner gone, than the Confessors, whom he had seduced, viz. Maximus, Urbanus, Sidonius, and Macarius, signified to Cornelius their eager Desire of quitting his Party, and returning to the Communion of the Church. Cornelius questioned, at first, their Sincerity; but, being convinced of it at last, he assembled his Clergy, not caring to trust to his own Judgment, in order to advise with them, in what manner he should proceed, in the present Case. At this Council assisted, besides the Roman Clergy, Five Bishops, who either happened to be then at Rome; or, on this Occasion, had been invited thither by Cornelius. They were scarce met, when the Confessors, attended by a great Croud, appeared before them, testifying, with a Flood of Tears, the Sincerity of their Repentance, and begging they would forget their part criminal Conduct. |How received.| The Council did not think it adviseable to come to any Resolution, till they had acquainted the People with the Request of the Confessors; which they no sooner did, than the People flocked to the Place, and, not upbraiding, but embracing, with Tears of Joy, their retrieved Brethren, and with the same Tenderness as if they had been just then delivered out of Prison, pointed out to the Council the Method they were to pursue. Accordingly Cornelius, having, with the Approbation of the Council, made them renounce the Errors of Novatian, and acknowlege him for the only lawful Bishop of Rome, readmitted them, without farther Satisfaction, to the Communion of the Church[[390]]. From this Account I should imagine, that those who accompanied the Confessors, at their first appearing before the Council, were Novatians, whom they had brought back with them; but I dare not affirm it, since St. Cyprian, in his Answer to Cornelius, speaks only of the Four above-mentioned Confessors. |Cornelius acquaints
St. Cyprian with
their Return.| The Confessors being thus returned, to the inexpressible Joy of the whole People, Cornelius, impatient to impart the good News to St. Cyprian, writ to him, as soon as the Council broke up, to acquaint him with what had happened, and invite him to partake of the common Joy, to which he had so much contributed[[391]]. With this Letter Nicephorus the Acolyte embarked, without Delay, for Africa; and thence returned soon after with an Answer, wherein St. Cyprian assured Cornelius, that, the Return of the Confessors had caused an universal Joy in Africa, both for their Sake, and because it might open the Eyes of many, and prove in the End the Ruin of the schismatic Party[[392]]. The Confessors themselves writ to St. Cyprian, upon their Return[[393]], who immediately answered them[[394]]; and, in all Likelihood, to the other chief Bishops of the Church; since Eusebius informs us, that Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, writ twice to them after their Return[[395]]. |In what manner
Novatian endeavoured
to keep the rest
steady.|In the mean time Novatian, seeing great Numbers, moved by the Example of the Confessors, daily fall off from his Party, to keep the rest steady by the most sacred Ties, used, in administring the Eucharist, to hold the Hands of those who received it, with the holy Bread in them, between his, and oblige them to swear, by the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they would never abandon him, nor return to Cornelius[[396]].