Doctrine for a long time until they began to Rebaptize upon an Opinion that there were no true Ministers in the Catholick Church and by consequence no true Sacraments St. Augustine says that in his time they were Pares Doctrinâ Ritibus agreed in the chief points of Doctrine and in the Ecclesiastical Rites And when Optatus wrote against Parmenian Optat. p. 72 They had generally One Creed One Testament and One Baptism viz. in the Name of the Blessed Trinity they prayed to One God and used the Lord's Prayer alike The Controversie was not de Captie but de Corpore concerning the Head but the Body of the Church But their Schism which divided that Body was sufficient to condemn them Opt. p. 72. St. August cum Emerito Extra Ecclesiam omnia possunt habere praeter salutem possunt habere honorem possunt habere Sacramentum possunt cantare Hallelujah possunt respondere Amen possunt Evangelium tenere possunt in nomine patris filii Spiritus sancti fidem habere praedicare sed nusquam nisi in Ecclesiâ Catholica salutem possunt invenire He granted they had the Scriptures the Sacraments the Prayers and Preaching materially the same as in the Church but yet Salvation was not to be had but within the Church All which is true upon the grounds of St. Paul as well as St. Augustine because without Charity all these gifts and exercises do profit nothing 1 Cor. 13. And therefore the Primitive Fathers did so passionately declaim against Schisme not only because it was the Occasion of greater confusion in the Church than Heresies ordinarily were but because it did equally endanger the Salvation of those that obstinately persisted in it fitting them for any Error Dionysius Alexandrinus wrote to Novatian Quisquis ab Ecclesia Catholica separatus est quanquam laudabiliter se vivere existimet hoc solo scelere quod à Christi unitate disjunctus est non habebit vitam Epist 152. that he might rather do any thing than rent the Church of God by Schismes which saith he you ought to avoid as much as Idolatry for when you flye from Idolatry you consult only your own safety but when you avoid Schisme you consult for the benefit of the Universal Church I shall therefore only mention that great Error in the chief Article of Faith wherein Donatus himself and many of his Followers agreed with the Arians as divers of the * Aug ad quod vult Deum Ancients have recorded viz. That the Son was less than the Father and the Holy Ghost than the Son This being a Consequent of the Schisme And it is usual for such as first desert the Unity of the Church to deny the faith and verity therein professed within a short time It is my intent to speak chiefly of such Opinions as led them to it or hardned them in it that others may see and avoid them There was a strict Canon in the Catholick Church forbidding Christians to hold any Communion with such as had in times of Persecution turned Apostates or Traditors until they had undergone the censure of the Church and manifested their repentance but as if this Canon were not strict enough the Novatians first and then the Donatists made themselves wiser than the Laws and would not on any termes admit such Persons accounting that by Communion with them the whole Congregation was defiled and such as had been of the Clergy they accounted of as lay Persons and the lay People they esteemed of as Heathen their Baptisme being frustrated upon this ground they withdrew from the Communion of Cecilian and other Catholick Bishops pretending they had been Traditors and that all the People adhering to them were polluted and that the Bishops and Clergy of the Church could not lawfully rule or teach the People nor administer the Sacraments the efficacy of all these Ordinances depending oâ— the Holiness of the Minister and that there were no such true Ministers but among themselves For this Opinion they urge Acti 19.4 where St. Paul gives order that they who had been baptized by St. John should be baptized again in the Name of Jesus Now if John's Baptism say they who was a Friend of the Bridegroom was made void much more ought the Baptism of those that are Enemies and Apostates to be so accounted Against this Opinion Optatus argueth thus Non dotes Ministri sed Trinitatem in Sacramento operari cui concurrit fides professie credentium The efficacy of the Sacrament depends not on the endowments of the Minister but the grace of the blessed Trinity in whom if they that are baptized do believe and make profession accordingly their Baptisme will doubtless have its effect for the believer is regenerate not according to the abilities of the Minister but the power of the Sacrament Nascitur Credens non ex Ministri sterilitate sed ex Sacramentorum fertilitate This is handsomely expressed by Gregory Nazianzene in the allusion of an Image ingraven on two Seals one of Iron another of Gold where the Image being the same the Iron Seal makes the same impression as that of Gold But St. Augustine observes also the difference between the Baptisme of St. John and that of our Saviour Chriâ—â— which was in the Name of the Holy Trinity and therefore both Optatus and St. Augustine charge the Donatists with no less sin than Blasphemy when as their practice was they would exorcise those whom they had rebaptized with this form of words Maledicte exi for as calling the whole Trinity in whose Name they had been baptized accursed Optatus therefore farther urged Opt. p. 86 Si datis alterum baptisma date alteram fidem date alterum Christum It is superfluous to renew the Baptisme where there is no alteration of the Faith He adds Etsi hominum litigant mentes non litigant Sacramenta The Sacrament is the same although the judgment of those that administer it may differ The Bishops of the Catholick Church did therefore admit of those that were baptized by the Donatists although the Donatists would by no means approve of the Catholicks Baptisme Which plainly argues as well their excess of Pride as their defect of Charity both which St. Augustine observed in a Donatist Bishop that Preached in his City of Hippo who used this comparison that the Church of God was like Noah's Ark it was pitched both within and without without Nè admitteret baptisma alienum and within Nè emitteret suum that it might not admit of those that were baptized by others nor baptize any but such as were of their own perswasion They uâ—ged the bare Authority of St. Cyprian for their rebaptizing which as St. Augustine says theâ—â— despised when he pleaded for the unity of thâ—â— Church Cyprianus tolerandos in Ecclesia malos potius quam propter cos Ecclesiam deserendam exemplo consirmavit praecepto admonuit though his arguments weâ—â— inforced with Scripture
during the Conference and intreats them to direct their discourse to the causes and grounds of the difference which was between them But the Donatists who as St. Augustine observes Contra Emeritum hoc unum agebant ut nil ageretur make use of all possible cavils and subterfuges as if the chief business that they had to do were to take care that nothing might be done and to return with as much Pride and Pomp as they came First therefore they object that the time appointed was elapsed then that there was no certain Date to the Imperial Edict because the Names of the Consuls were not inserted These being answered they desire to know who procured the Edict for that Meeting that the Names of the Legates and their Petition might be read tacitely reflecting upon the Catholicks saith St. Augustine for referring the cause of the Church to the Emperor To this it was answered that the Catholicks who confessed that they procured it had done no other than they themselves appealing from the Sentence of Meltiades in the case of Cecilian unto the Emperor Constantine Then they begin to reflect on the Persons of Felix and Cecilian and having almost tired Marcellinus to keep them from impertinencies repetitions and evasions he brought them at last to the merits of the cause But Quid dignum tanto I know not any thing that may raise greater admiration than to consider what trifles and apples of contention like the forbidden fruit ingaged all Africa in such desperate fewds as made it an Aceldama for blood-shed and slaughters and imployed so many Emperors Bishops and Councils for more than an Hundred Years together without any considerable effect For when the differences and causes of that confusion came to be considered in this Conference we do not hear that the Donatists could plead in justification of their Schisme that their supposed Enemies did deny God or Christ or the Resurrection or did actually persecute them or that they did with pride and contempt deny to admit them to their Communion nor did the Catholicks charge the Donatists with Apostasie from the Faith and denying Fundamentals of Christianity We do not hear them urging as they might their rebaptizing and joyning with the Macedonians or Jews and Pagans against those whom they knew to be Orthodox Bishops They all professed an agreement in all such necessary points of Faith that it is strange how they could differ in any thing And yet the Donatists persecuted the Catholicks so cruelly as if they had not been agreed in any principle of Christianity Marcellinus having heard the whole Conference declared against the Donatists and charged the inferior Officers speedily to execute the Imperial Laws in seizing their Churches for the Catholicks scattering their Conventicles and confiscating their Meeting places which Edict the Emperors confirm and cause to be entred among the publick Acts. That which was pretended by the Donatists as the ground of the Schism was that Cecilian who was Bishop of Carthage for almost 100. Years before was a Traditor that he and other Catholick Bishops had admitted lapsed Persons into their Communion whereby all their Churches were defiled and ought not to be communicated with Quia lapsi vel haeretici qui resipiscerent admittebantur Prosper de promiss praedict So I find the Question expresly stated by consent of both Parties Vtrum Ecclesia permixtos malos usque id finem habitura praedicta sit an omnion omnes bonos sanctos atque immaculatos ab hoc seculo usque in finem habitura sit Whether the Church of God according to the predictions concerning it were to consist of a mixture of good and evil or only of such as were holy and undefiled The Catholicks maintained the former from the predictions of the Prophets concerning the Universal extent of Christ's Kingdome from many Parables of our Saviour concerning his Church from the Commission he gave to his Apostles to Disciple all Nations from the event which succeeded upon the Apostles preaching the Conversion of all Nations from many Arguments used by St. Cyprian against the Novatians and lastly from their own practice in readmitting the Maximianists who had revolted from the Donatists and used another Baptism And most unreasonable it was to think that the wickedness of one Man should ruine the whole Church of Christ St. Aug. Epist 50. Nec peccavit Cecilianus haereditatem suam perdiâ—â— Christus Against this the Donatists urge that the same Prophets foretold that the Church of Christ should be Holy as well 〈◊〉 Catholick that Hierusalem was to be a Holâ— City the Spouse of Christ must be withouâ— spot a chast and undefiled Virgin To whicâ— St. Augustine replies Perfectio promissa non data that these things oughâ— to be endeavoured in the Church in thiâ— World but would never be effected untâ—â— Christ do come in the end of the World wheâ—â— he will thoroughly cleanse his Flowr gather the Wheat into his Garner and burn up the chaff with unquenchable Fire Then the Donatists begin to recriminate Mensurius and Cecilian that had been long dead To which it is presently answered That they were absolved by the Emperor and Councils of the Church then in being as did appear by most ancient Records which were ready to be produced and thereby also Donatâ—â— stood condemned But saith St. Augustine if those Bishops had been wicked the Church of God cannot be judged to have perished with them Whether they were good or bad they were our Brethren if we knew them to be evil we would joyn with you to condemn them but not to desert the Church of God because of them If Cecilian were good and innocent he hath the reward of his innocence and I rejoyce at it but I never placed my hope and faith in his innocence if he had been evil yet the Church thought fit to continue in his Communion and so do we Melius est per patientiam ferre malos quam per calumniam relinquere bonos St. Aug. in Colloq Carthag The several Arguments and Answers are too large to be here set down Upon the whole Marcellinus adjudged that the Donatists arguments and pretences were invalid their Schisme unjust their practices cruel and therefore he willed them to return to the Communion of the Church and live in peace and unity otherwise he would provide that the Imperial Laws should be executed upon them In the mean time he prevailed with them to subscribe the Records of the Conference which had been faithfully taken by the Notaries on both sides and so dismissed them After the Publication of this Conference and of the Emperor 's reinforcing the Laws for pecuniary Mulcts and Banishment against them some Thousands of the common People deserted them and returned to the Catholick Church and to their honest and lawful callings which they had long omitted as generally the Circumcellians did But the Donatist Bishops and Presbyters were for the most part obstinate and
endeavoured to continue the Schisme There were many imprisoned and condemned for Murther and Robberies committed in that Tumult wherein Restitutus and Innocentius were slain for these St. Augustine mediates and obtains Pardon But the Donatist Bishops return in great discontent and report among the People that they were not permitted to speak with that liberty and freedome as they ought And Petilian who went off from the Conference before it was ended having lost his Voice by raving and passion pretended afterward that he was dissatisfied with the partiality of Marcellinus and therefore he perswaded the rest to Appeal from his Sentence pretending that they had been kept as Prisoners and were not suffered to prosecute their Arguments and that Marcellinus was corrupted and pronounced the Sentence at Midnight which was contrary to Law And St. Augustine going afterward to Mauritania was challenged by Emeritus one of the Donatist Bishops who undertook to defend the Conference in a Personal disputation which St. Augustine agreed to and hath given us a particular account of it But as St. Augustine saith Hoc proprium Donatistis eandem cantilenam canere It was their custome to inculcate the same Arguments again which had been often confuted many Years before There being no reformation among the Leaders of the Faction who continue several Tumults Cruelties and Murthers Thirty of their Bishops were condemned to be banished who met together and resolved rather to cast themselves over the Precipices as the practice of the Circumcellians was and to dye Martyrs for the cause And some did destroy themselves in Wells and by throwing themselves from the Rocks In so much that Dulcitius who was joyned with Marcellinus in the Government of Africa advised with St. Augustine what was most fit to be done with those obstinate Persons that still seduced the People and what counsel St. Augustine gave him we read in the 61. Epistle Furiosus error paucorum non debuit tot populorum salutem impedire Proculdubiò melius est ut quidam suis ignibus perirent quam pariter sempiternis ignibus Sacrilegae dissentionis ardeant universi That the error of a few distracted Persons should not be permitted to involve all the People in confusion and ruine and that without doubt it was better that such as were Incendiaries should dye in the flames which they had kindled than that all the People should still suffer in the fires of sacrilegious Dissention Thus I have given you a Summary of the History of these dangerous Persons for full an Hundred Years and might pursue it yet farther but considering how troublesome and unsafe it may be to follow them too nigh I shall desist and only add some Reflections upon the Faction And first Of their several Sects The Luciferians as the most moderate shall have precedency These were so called from Lucifer Calaritanus Bishop of Sardinia who in the Nicene Council was a zealous Defender of the Catholick Faith against the Arians for which he was banished while they had the power He is commended for it by Athanasius Hilarion and St. Hierome When the Arians were suppressed he was recalled and restored to his Bishoprick but perceiving that many of the Arians were on very easie conditions admitted to the Catholick Communion and made capable of Ecclesiastical Dignities he was much dissatisfied and denyed to hold Communion with the Church for being so charitable to those new Converts He therefore lays the Foundation of his Schisme in Sardinia where the Catholicks solicite him by all gentle and rational means not to divide that Church whose Faith and unity he had so strenuously asserted but finding that he was not only resolutely obstinate but indefatigably industrious to propagate the Schisme the Catholicks thought fit to suspend him and to dissipate his adherents Whereupon he transports himself into Africa whither great numbers of his perswasion follow him and joyn themselves to the Donatists but kept themselves as a distinct Faction in this respect that they did not rebaptize as the Donatists generally did but their Pride and contempt of the Catholicks was in a short time equal to that of the Donatists St. Augustine commends them for not renouncing their Baptism but condemns them as much for cutting themselves off from the Catholick unity and much urgeth that known Axiom Extra Ecclesiam non est salus Oratio de obitu Satiri St. Ambrose writing to his Brother Siricus who espoused this Schisme doth thus acquaint him with the danger of it Non est fides in Schismate cum enim propter Ecclesiam passus est Christus Christi corpus sit Ecclesia non videtur ab his Christo exhiberi fides à quibus evacuatur ejus passio corpus distrahitur There is no true faith in Schism for whereas Christ suffered for his Church and that Church is his Body it doth not appear that true faith in Christ is in them by whom his Passion is frustrated and his Body divided for Christ gave his Natural Body for the preservation of his Mystical Body the Church Saint Hierome therefore comparing these Donatists with the Novatians calls them both Non Ecclesiam Christi sed Antichristi Synagogam These Luciferians stood as independent on the Donatist Congregations or any of the other Factions which were generally Anabaptistical For they did not only Rebaptize the adult that came over to them but refused to baptize Children contrary to the practice of the Church as appears by several discourses of St. Augustine The most desperate Sect of all were the Circumcellians who were as so many Hectors to fight for the Donatists on all occasions These were the Zealots which did abound in every faction and pretended to higher dispensations than their Brethren for they believed that they were inspired by God to act and suffer extraordinary things which they were ready to attempt as often as their Brethren or their own lusts did prompt them thereunto They met sometime in lesser and sometime in greater Numbers either as Robbers to abuse and plunder all that were not of their own Perswasion Slaves would rob their Masters and Debtors would force their Creditors to deliver up their Obligations and had the perfect Principles of Levellers holding that none had right to any of their Possessions but by partaking of the same Faith and Profession with themselves Dominium fundatur in gratiâ was their Maxime Or else they would meet in great Numbers well armed and able to affront the chief Armies of the Emperor And were often the Aggressors provoking the Roman Souldiers to their own destruction Thus they set upon Paulus and Macarius who were sent with Presents to the Church of Carthage from the Emperor Constans who being assisted by the Proconsul slew great Numbers of them These were animated by their Leaders who were generally Donatist Bishops and called Sanctorum Duces Captains of the Saints and were animated by a Perswasion that as many as suffered a violent Death in defence of the
was not repeated on them that were formerly baptized we read the same Divine Testament we invocate One God the Lord's Prayer is the same with us and you for they used it until they thought themselves so without sin that they could remit the sins of others and then they saw they could use it no longer without a manifest contradiction Quid vocaris dum peccata confiteris tua si sanctus es cum dimittis aliena Opt. l. 2. but the Schisme that was made to the dividing of the People of God and to the destroying of unity was the great grievance And it is also remarkable that though many Heresies were at this time vented in the Church as the Novatian Macedonian Audaean Apollinarian and Arian too yet none did so much afflict the Churches of Africa as this Schism against which as Optatus spent all his labour so St. Augustine wrote at least one of those great Volumes which the Church of GOD doth now injoy The good Emperor notwithstanding that the Donatists had defeated so many of his endeavours for Peace was resolved to trie one more which was to call in some of the Eastern Bishops to joyn with those of the West as he intimates in an Epistle written to Alexander and the other Bishops of Aegypt mentioned by Eusebius in the Life of Constantine who also says that the Emperor was much blamed for his too great indulgence toward these implacable Spirits But if the necessity of his affairs be considered it will appear that he could not do otherwise for having out of his Christian clemency condescended so far to them they take advantage of some unhappy Circumstances to force him farther For about this time Licinius Anno 315. to whom the Emperor had given his own Sister in Marriage and almost half the Empire revolted and begun a War against him The Arian Heresie also was spread over Aegypt and like a mighty Torrent overflowed the Christian World Of which Heresie it will not be impertinent to give a brief Account because many of the Donatists to strengthen their Faction against the Catholicks joyned with them And indeed the descent from Schisme to Heresie is very facile and familiar Arius a Presbyter of Alexandria in Egypt appeared about the Year 315. He was bred up under Meletius a Presbyter while Peter was Bishop of Alexandria by whom Arius was made Deacon but being found to have maintained Opinions contrary to the Catholick Faith both he and Meletius that had corrupted him were excommunicated Meletius persisted in his Heretical Opinions That Christ was not the Eternal Son of God but a very Man Ex utroque Parente and that it was lawful in times of Persecution to deny him which also he did pleading for himself that he had not denyed God but a Man only and at last Daemonibus sacrificavit he sacrificed to Devils Thus as from Schisme to Heresie so from Heresie to Infidelity and Atheisme the passage is obvious Arius refined this Opinion of his Master and differed but in one Letter from the Catholicks teaching that Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a like substance with his Father not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. of the same nature and substance with the Father which Opinion for a while he dissembled until Peter the Bishop was dead to whom succeeded Achillas who did not only restore Arius to his Office of Deacon but afterward ordained him Priest and being a Man of subtile parts he was appointed to be a Reader of Divinity in the City of Alexandria which he performed with some applause and go◠such an esteem among the Inhabitant that the Bishoprick of Alexandria being void by the Death of Achillas he was Competitor with Alexander but Alexander being a Person of greater Wisdome and Piety was preferred by a general suffrage Whereat Arius being much discontented openly opposed Alexander and having nothing to object against his Life or Learning he began to contradict his Doctrine for whereas Alexander had taught that Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same substance and ought to receive the same Worship with the Father Arius taught that he was indeed the Son of God and more excellent than the other Creatures but that he was not from Eternity but made Ex praeexistentibus of things pre-existent and did not partake of the substance of the Father nor was of equal dignity and power but that the Son was inferior to the Father and the Holy Ghost inferior to the Son by whom he was made So that he affirmed Christ to be the Son of God by Adoption only not by Eternal Generation and that he was mortal and passible not only according to the flesh but as he was The Word of God These Doctrines the good Bishop could not indure and finding that Arius did diligently propagate and defend them he first excommunicates him and then procures his banishment and sends cautionary Epistles to his Colleagues throughout Alexandria to suppress those destructive Opinions and fortifie their People against them which notwithstanding a great part as well of the Clergy as the Laity were infected So that Hosius Bishop of Corduba a right good Catholick and a Favourite of the Emperor's by the intreaty of Alexander perswaded Constantine to Summon a General Council of Bishops and Presbyters at Nicaea a City of Bithynia where Three Hundred and Eighteen Bishops besides Presbyters and others assembled together the Emperor himself being present and moderating among them About this time Epiph. Heres 69 but whether during the Session of this Council or before it is not agreed by Ecclesiastical Writers Arius dyed Baronius thinks he dyed not until the Year 336. But his Death hapned thus Alexander provoked Arius to a publick disputation and the time and place being appointed Alexander sets a-part the precedent day for publick fasting and prayers to God to put a stop to that pernicious Doctrine which had so much infected the Catholick Church as that the very foundations of Christianity were shaken And the time of Meeting being come Arius going towards the place was troubled with a violent pain in his bowels whereupon going aside to ease himself the pains increased and became so yiolent that he voided his very Bowels and so miserably dyed But his Name and Doctrine survived in another Arius Arianus potius homo quam Arius who appeared and disputed with the great Athanasius in the Council of Nice to which Council there was presented a Confession of the Faith of the Arians which was no sooner read but condemned and presently rent in pieces and the judgment of the Council in Opposition thereto was drawn up in the Nicene Creed They also ordered the burning of such Tracts as Arius and his Party had written Constantine also published an Edict that none should conceal any of their Books on pain of Death However Lirinensis observes 〈◊〉 6. that by these Hereticks not only the Foundations of the Church but of the Roman Empire were shaken all
things sacred and civil brought to confusion Non solum affinitates cognationes Domus verum etiam Vrbes Provinciae Nationes imo Vniversum Romanum Imperium funditus concussum emotum est And St. Hierome says All the Eastern Churches except Athanasius and Paulinus were corrupted Among the Bishops Eusebius Nicomediensis was a chief Defender of the Arian Heresie and Eusebius of Caesarea was tainted also for he refused for a while to subscribe the Anathema against them though the next Day he was better perswaded and did it But notwithstanding all the Learning and care used by this Council the Arians increased for Constantine dying his Son Constantius succeeded him in part of the Empire who being of the Arian perswasion did so countenance those Hereticks that many of the Catholick Bishops were banished and wandred up and down in remote Parts among whom Athanasius whom they wickedly called Sathanasius was forced to flee as far as Triers and there lay obscure several Years until the Storm was over Of which the good Leontius a Catholick Bishop did foretel when putting his hand on his gray Hairs he said When this Snow shall be melted much filth will be dissolved with it Multum Luti sequetur meaning great Persecution and Impiety would shortly befall the Church To these Hereticks the Donatists joyned themselves many of whom defended the same Opinions and they that did not yet agreed in the Persecution of the Catholicks as their common Enemy To this Heresie saith St. Augustine those who are called Circumcellians in Africa do belong De Haeres c. 69. And St. Hierome saith that Donatus wrote a Book De Spiritu Sancto agreeable to the Doctrine of the Arians For before Arius was well known Ebion and Cerinthus and Corpocrates while St. John lived troubled the Churches of Asia with the like Opinions against which St. John at the desire of those Churches wrote his Gospel to assert the Eternal Deity of our Saviour And Eusebius and others say that Origen was the Father of Arius for he taught That As much as the Apostles were inferior to Christ to much was Christ inferior to God and that the Son was not to be prayed unto with the Father seeing he was not the Author of granting our requests but onely a Supplicator or Mediator And among these Hereticks the Gloria Patri was altered which they used in this form Gloria Patri per Filium in Spiritu Sancto Glory be to the Father by the Son in the Holy Ghost To this Council we find that Cecilian was called as appears by his Subscription but none of the Donatists they being excluded from the Communion of the Catholick Church The Donatists taking occasion of these troubles abroad did with the more violence prosecute their good old cause at home and now they take the confidence to petition the Emperor Constantine to rescind and abrogate the Laws made against them And whereas some of them had been denied the liberty of exercising their Functions either publickly or privately and others banished for transgressing the Laws and inforced to return to secular imployments they urge that their banished may be recalled particularly that Silvanus one of their Bishops of whom we have spoken before might return He was banished upon the accusation of Nundinarius for selling the Ornaments of his Church but his Party reported that he was banished for refusing to communicate with Vrsacius and Zenophilus two Catholick Officers under the Emperor who as they said did persecute him This slander St. Augustine refuteth l. 3. contra Cresconium c. 30. where he shews that the cause of his banishment was not as they pretended for denying to communicate with the Catholicks only but Quia cum jam traditor fuit permanere haereticus voluit ut falsum honorem in parte Donati haberet qui habere in Catholicâ nullum potuit tam manifestis traditionis suae gestis publico judicio reseratis because being evidently proved a Traditor he would continue in the Schisme hoping to find a false honor among the Donatists who could have none among the Catholicks It hapned that this Vrsacius being imployed in the Emperor's Wars lost his life at whose Death the Donatists rejoyced as a token of Divine vengeance against a Capital Enemy of theirs I may not omit another clause of their Petition which was that they might enjoy Libertatem Arbitrii that is as Valesius c. 17. interprets it Liberty of Conscience but St. Augustine calls it more fitly Licentiam agendi a Licence to do what they pleased and that they might no more be constrained to communicate Antistiti ipsius i.e. Constantini Nebuloni with that Prelatical Knave of his Cecilian Colloq Carth. l. 3. c. 54. Brevic. August c. 21. Declaring that neither by threats nor promises they would be thereunto induced bus would rather suffer a Thousand Deaths These demands of theirs how insolent soever were proposed in such a juncture of time that the Emperor could noâ— deny them but grants what they desired leaving them to the Divine vengeance which had begun to be revenged on them The consideration of this restless temper of theirs puâ—â—â— St. Augustine into so great a passion that hâ— said Epistle 167. Puto quod Diabolus ipseâ— I think that if the Devil himself had been so often condemned by Judges of his own choosing he would not have been so impudent as to persist in such a cause Now that this indulgence was extorted from the Emperor may appear by his consolatory Epistle written to the Catholick Bishops which I shalâ— here insert from the Appendix to Optatus p. 287. You well know that I have endeavoured by all the Offices of humanity and moderation which either faith requireth oâ— prudence and purity would admit that the most holy peace of that fraternity wherewith the grace of God hath indued the hearts of his Servants might in all things be kept inviolate But for as much as our good endeavours have not been effectual to subdue that power of wickedness which adheres to the judgment of those who still rejoyce in the mischiefs which they have acted we must expect until by the mercy of Almighty God the malice of these Men which from a few hath infected many be again mitigated for from thence we must expect a remedy from whence every good work proceeds and until this heavenly Medicine be applyed our counsels are to be moderated that we may give an Honourable testimony of our patience and by the virtue of true tranquillity we may endure whatever their wonted insolence shall do or attempt For it is a folly to usurp that revenge which we ought to leave to God especially when by faith we ought to be confident notwithstanding all that the fury of such Men may cause us to suffer that God will esteem it as Martyrdom for what else is it at such a time as this to overcome in the Name of God and with a constant heart no endure the insolent affronts of
that such Jews and Hereticks as molested the Church should be pâ—nished with Banishment or loss of Life Oâ—â— device of the Donatists may be here seasonably mentioned which is this Honorius the Emperor and Arcadius his Brother were Persons of so much piety and clemency that they could not immediately reproach them as Persecutors and therefore they laid the blame of all the severe Laws that were enacted againâ—â— them St. August Epist 129. upon the evil Counsellers that weâ—â— near them These are not the Laws say they of the Sons of Theodosius but of Stilicho yet when Stilicho was dead the same Law were vigorously executed against them I hapned in the Year 410. that Attalâ—â— a Tyrant had invaded the Emperor's Dominions and promised protection to all such as would submit to him whereupon many of the Donatists fled to him insomuch that the Emperor was inforced to grant a General Toleration that every one should worship God in what manner he pleased to prevent that general revolt to Attalus which was feared Upon this the Donatists grew more insolent than ever so that they permitted not the Catholick Doctors to speak against their Errors nor to Preach the truth They dragged Restitutus a Presbyter through a Chanel of mud Possidonius in vitâ Aug. Contra Cresc l. 2. Epist 166. and after twelve days torments slew him They put out the Eyes of others and poured in Lime and Vinegar into the holes and with Fire and Sword terrified all the Churches of Africa To divert this fury the Catholicks meet again at Carthage and send four Bishops to the Emperor to acquaint him of the Cruelties that had been committed upon his Edict for Toleration which he recalls by hi Rescript in these words Codex de Rel. l. 3. de Haeret 51. Ea quae circa Catholicam fidem vel olim ordinavit Antiquitas vel Parentum nostrorum authoritas religiosa constituit vel nostra Serenitas roboravit novellâ superstitione remotâ integra inviolata custodire praecipimus That whatever Laws had been established by himself or his Predecessors concerning the Catholick Faith should be held firm and inviolated By the four Bishops sent from this Council to the Emperor at the motion of St. Augustine who complained that in the Regions belonging to Hippo where the Barbarians had not come the robberies and violence of the Donatist Clergy and their Circumcellians the Churches were made more desolate than under the power of the Barbarians It was earnestly petitioned that the Donatists might be compelled to a publick conference with the Catholicks all other endeavours for Union being frustrated This Honorius willingly grants Pridie Id. Octob. 413. and lest the Donatists should refuse this Christian means or commit any act of violence against the Catholicks he sent Marcellinus his Principal Notary or Secretary to be a Moderator between them and to take cognizance of the proceedings and lest he should meet with the like affronts as Paulus and Macarius did when they were sent by Constans upon the like occasion He commanded a sufficient Army to attend him which also the Catholicks fearing the attempts of the Circumcellians justly desired The day appointed for this conference being at hand the Donatist Bishops being as they reported 279 enter the City with great Pomp and Numbers so as they drew all the City to be Spectators and to admire their equipage And though many of them lived on the benevolence of their Faction being rendred uncapable by the Imperial Laws of Ecclesiastical Dignities and Possessions or upon that which they had wrested from the Catholicks in Licentious times The Catholicks were far inferior to them as well in Riches as in Ostentation The Catholicks were in Number 286 many of their Party had been slain and many were afraid to Travel because of the Circumcellians however their Number much exceeded the Donatists for when St. Augustine viewed the Subscriptions of that Party to satisfie himself of their number he found that the noise of 279. was shrunk into 159. The Meeting was appointed to be at the Gargilian Baths in a spacious Room fitted for that purpose Aug. de Gestis cum Emerito Before the Catholicks enter they agreed mutually by solemn promise That if the Donatists could evince that the Marks of the true Church belonged to their Party they would not desire to retain their Episcopal Dignities but leave them to the Donatists to be disposed of bono pacis for the peace of the Church And if it should appear that they were in the Communion of the Catholick Church they would notwithstanding admit of the Donatists as their Brethren and Colleagues upon their conformity to enjoy their several Dignities and where-ever there was a competition for the present between a Catholick and a Donatist for any Ecclesiastical Preferment there should be a present provision made for the Donatist and if the Catholick dyed he fore him he should have an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Civilians called it a right of succession wherein they manifested their real charity who as they generally professed Parati erant Episcopatum pro Christi unitate deponere non perdere sed Deo commendare were prepared to lay down their Bishopricks for the Christian Unity and not think them lost but intrusted with God Delib p. 220. This charity was not answered with the like from the Donatists who as soon as they had been saluted by the Catholicks as Brethren Marcellinus willeth them all to sit down Accordingly the Catholicks took their Seats but the Donatists refused and Primianus their Titular Bishop of Carthage replyed August post Collat Carth. Indignuâ— est ut filii Martyrum progenies Traditorâ—â— in unum conveniant It is an indignity to the Sons of the Martyrs to sit with the off-spring of Traditors Another said Odi Ecclesian malignantium cum impiis non sedebo To which the Catholicks answered that they were met to enquire of the truth and not of Mens persons and desired that nec causa causae nec persona personae praejudicet former cause and persons might not create a prejudice to the present At length they condescend to take their Seats and then it was proposed by Marcellinus that for Orders sake there should be a Select number appointed by both Parties to discourse pro con This after some reluctancy by the Donatists was yielded to and the Number on each side were to be Seven whereof St. Augustine was to be Prolocutor for the Catholicks and Petilian who had been a Civilian for the Donatists There were also four Notaries appointed by each Party to write down the several Arguments and Answers which being printed at large and joyned with the Works of Optatus I shall refer the Reader to them and onely give a brief account of what is pertinent to the present case of the Schisme Marcellinus having produced the Emperor's Rescript for the Treaty promiseth them all candor freedom and protection
as the Donatists grieved for the death of Julian so they rejoyced at the Death of Honorius It were no difficult matter to transcribe many Laws made by the Christian Emperors against the Pagan Rites but it is not to my purpose and therefore I shall only trouble my Reader with that of St. Augustine Epistle 48. Quis nostrum quis vestrum non laudat leges ab Imperatoribus adversus sacrificia Pagana illius quippe impietatis Capitale supplicium est But at last we are told that though there were very severe Laws made against Hereticks and Schismaticks yet the Emperors never did nor intended to execute them So p. 80. Constantine saith he made Laws against Hereticks rather for shew and terror than for execution and so he tells us of Theodosius that he made a Law that the Sectarians should have no Assemblies nor make any profession of their faith nor ordain Bishops and Pastors and that some of them should be banished the City and Country others made infamous and have no publick Preferment and this he enacted with severe Penalties which yet saith â—he the Emperor did never inflict for he did not ordain these things with an intention to punish but to terrifie his Subjects that they might better agree in Religion This had been a very politick device to bring their Authority into contempt when the Imperial Laws like the Blocks of Wood cast down from Jupiter among the Frogs having made a little noise shall ever after lye still for every creeping thing to leap and insult over them If the courage and resolution of those Emperors or rather the opportunities for the execution of those Laws had been answerable to their prudence in making them they might in all probability have stopt that deluge of Christian blood which was poured forth in greater abundance through all Africa by the Donatists than by the Heathen Emperors And the Execution of those Laws with such moderation as the Catholicks did alway desire expressed in several Epistles of St. Augustine to Bonifacius Cecilianus and other of the Emperor's Officers had been as St. Augustine says Epistle 50. magna in eos misericordia as great an act of Charity to the Bodies and Souls of Christians and of Piety towards God as the Indulgence granted by Julian was an occasion of Impiety and Cruelty whereby he had almost destroyed Christianity by permitting Divisions among its Professors Nor were the Christian Emperors negligent in the execution of their Laws as far as the present necessities and iniquity of the Times would permit The Objector instanceth in the banishment of Arius and four or five more with him under Constantine p. 60. And of Eunomius under Theodosius for keeping Conventicles and I have given divers other instances If we may believe the complaints of the Donatists they were not only in terrorem they felt not only the Rod but the Sword too sometime which as the Scripture saith The Magistrate beareth not in vain You may hear them complain Quod eos Costantinus ad Campum i. e. ad Supplicium duci jussit l. 1. contra Parmen that they were in great Numbers exiled and had divers Punishments even unto Death inflicted on them And we read that St. Augustine and the Catholicks Epistle ad Bonifacium did often mediate with the Emperor's Officers that their Punishment might not be unto Death and yet they accuse the Catholicks as if they had been the cause of forming and sharpning the Instruments of Punishment against them such as the following Laws mentioned in the conclusion of this History Of their unjust Censures and Calumnies The Foundation of this Schisme was laid on the ruine of the reputation of Cecilian and the Catholicks in Communion with him whom they reported to be Traditors and Idolaters that they had nor Ministers nor Sacraments and their whole Worship was corrupted by Superstition and strange Images which were set upon their Altars As for St. Augustine he was a contentious Disputer and a perverter of Souls rather to be avoided than refuted or to be dealt with as a Wolf or a Beast of prey and accordingly they did lay many secret Snares to intrap and ruine Him It is evident that by the very act of separation they did condemn their Brethren as guilty of some heinous sins for which they refused to hold Communion with them and as much as in them lay excommunicated all the Churches of Africa as corrupted by Traditors and become Apostates They appealed from Meltiades not only as partial but as being himself a Traditor Nor was the Emperor free from their Calumny for they report him to have been misguided by Hosius the famous Bishop and other evil Counsellors Imperatorias aures pravis suggestionibus sufflatas whereof he was never more guilty than in yielding so far as he did to their importunity which he did to a good end Eorum perversitatibus cedens omnimodo cupiens tantam impudentiam cohibere being wearied by them and hoping by so many sentences against them he might for ever silence their impudent clamors Of Mensurius who preceded Cecilian they said that he was Tyranno saevior Carnifice crudelior more raging than a Tyrant and more cruel than a Hangman and that he had chosen Cecilian Opt. Append p. 291. as a fit instrument of his cruelty whereas Mensurius was well known to yield himself up to the pleasure of Dioclesian rather than to betray his Brother and of Cecilian's innocency you have heard sufficiently Nor did they deal thus only with the Clergy but with the Magistrates also Donatus writing to Gregorius a Prefect begins directly in the Language of our Quakers Gregori macula Senatus Dedecus Praefectorum Thou Gregory blot of the Senate and disgrace of the Prefects Opt. p. 64. This was not their common but their holy Language Profertis Evangelium facitis convitium their Preaching was little else besides Railing And as if their Preaching was not enough they did in perpetuam Reimemoriam fill their Libels and Writings with such unsavoury Language Nullus vestrum est qui non tractatibus suis convitia nostra miscet And this they did to maintain prejudice in the hearts of the People and to lay a scandal or stumbling-block in the way of such as might otherwise be brought over to a better Opinion of their lawful Pastors Auditorum animis infunditis odia inimicitias docendo suadetis Haec omnia dicendo contra nos scandala ponitis Optat. p. 78. And though there were many among the People of the Catholick Communion that lived unblameably among their Adversaries yet did they condemn them for remaining in the Faith and Communion of their Pastors as Petilian told St. Augustine to his face Qui fidem à perfido sumpserit non fidem sumpsit sed reatum August contra Petil l. 1. When Constans sent Paulus and Macarius to promote Unity and comfort the Catholicks that had been much vexed and injured by the Donatists they report that they were