iv.

v.-xiii.

xiv.

xxxvi.

spiritual influence is occupied by faithful sufferers, even by voluntary exiles for conscience' sake; and by those who had been faithful in danger, although not in actual suffering.

To the Lapsed sympathy is due; and his sympathy rings as true as his sense of discipline; especially with those who had broken down under intensity of torture. Between these and others he draws a broad line.

After shewing that Persecution is not without its good and useful service he proceeds to analyse the causes of Lapse which have been so wide-spread and so operative through the whole Church,-and that in spite of forewarnings, of the unnatural horrors of the very act, of all the given opportunities for avoiding it. He concludes that the secret is to be found in the world-leavened spirit of the Church.

He next enters upon a close argument (1) with the party of lax readmission, (2) with the Confessors who promote it, and (3) with those of the Lapsed who seek it; setting before them deterrent experiences and the dishonesty of the position.

He concludes by an exhortation to honesty of confession, to seriousness of repentance and to activity in good works. High hope is yet in store for them.

The book on the Lapsed has largely contributed to our narrative. Its teachings concerning the Eucharist, and its evidence upon contemporary Supernaturalism will be discussed each in its own place. Upon Penitential Discipline, its views, equally remote from Protestant and Roman stan

dards, have been exemplified sufficiently.

I. Yet we may now further remark on the singularity of the relation in which Romanism stands to the Cyprianic view of the influence of interceding saints. Their merit, (Cyprian holds,) may aid sinners in the day of judgment, in the world to come1. But they cannot on earth reverse or disturb the organization and working order of the visible Church.

1 De Lapsis, c. 17.

Departed martyrs are heard in the Apocalypse still praying to be avenged. How can they in that situation be the defenders of others'?

How ingenious then is the Romish combination of a supposed accumulation of meritorious treasure with its official dispensation by visible authorities!

II. His opinion that there might be occasions when a man would not be justified in accepting the offered crown of martyrdom, and that flight from persecution in such circumstances was a private confession of Christ as martyrdom is a public one,' must have saved to the Church valuable lives, although the problem of decision in any given case was not the least of the difficulties which arose between Christianity and heathenism.

The eloquence of the De Lapsis seems almost perfect. The style has gained in lucidity though still here and there the touches are a little too ornamental. There are few finer passages than the triumphal ode in prose with which he celebrates The White Cohort of Christ,'-the Confessors, men, women and children, restored to the Church after their warfare. A touching instance of its felt power is an adaptation of two passages from it on an African inscription3,

Magus Innocent Child.

Now thou beginnest existence among the Innocent.
How stedfast now is Life to thee.

How joyful thou art to be welcomed by thy Mother the Church on thy return from this world.

Let the sighing of our hearts be stilled.
Let the weeping of our eyes be stayed.

6

Another beautiful passage1 and one which illustrates how the oratory of Cyprian sometimes piles itself up like that of Barrow, is worthy of quotation upon the obliteration of repentance by over hasty communion.

'This is no peace but war. He does not join the Church who parts from the Gospel. Why do men call an injury a blessing? Why give to impiety the style of "Pity"? How 'do they pretend to give communion, when they interrupt the ' repentant lamentation of those who have need to weep in⚫deed? Such teachers are to the lapsed as hail on corn; are 'as a star of tempest to trees; the ravage of pestilence to 'flocks and herds; the wildness of the storm to ships at sea. The solace of everlasting life they steal away; uproot the 'tree; creep on with sickly suggestion to deadly infection; 'wreck the ship ere it enter the harbour. Such easiness yields 'no peace, but annuls it; gives no communion but hinders 'salvation. It is a fresh persecution, a fresh temptation. Our 'subtle foe employs it in his advances to assail the fallen yet 'again with unperceived devastations: stilling their lamenta'tion, silencing their sorrows, wiping out the remembrance of 'their sin, hushing the groaning heart, quenching the weeping ‘eyes, drowning the entreaties of long and full repentance 'toward a deeply offended Lord,—and all the while it stands written, "Remember from whence thou art fallen and re'pent.'"

monument itself. The Cyprianic passages are De Lapsis (2) Quam vos latos excipit mater ecclesia de prælio revertentes, (16) comprimatur pectorum gemitus, statuatur fletus oculorum. It has been suggested to correct statuatur as in itself absurd to struatur by the

monument. However statuatur is quite
Cyprianic; 'Si fontem siccitas statuat,'
ad Demetr. c. 7. The second and
third lines also of the inscription seem
quoted, but I know not whence.
[Hartel læto sinu-pectoris.]

1 c. 16.

Mai's supposed Fragment of Cyprian.

I can find no place among the Cyprianic arguings which could be filled by the fragment KYПPIANOY πeρì μeтavoías (Mai, Class. Auctt. e Vat. codd. editorum Tomus x. pp. xxix., 485—7), nor, I suppose, could Mai, who says 'videtur hic Cyprianus Antiochenus.' For that however there is no colour. The point of the extract is that equal sufferings have no power to equalise the bad and good. Besides, if we except slight touches on S. Paul (which compare with Cyprian [Hartel], p. 304, 26; 511, 16—18) not one of the Scripture illustrations is Cyprianic in handling. The Fragment adduces Pharaoh, the Penitent Thief, Naboth, Ananias, who are never named by Cyprian; Job is not taken from Cyprian's very distinct point of view; Zedekiah, also, not in Cyprian, is curiously dealt with, much as in the spurious De Pascha Computus (Hartel, App., p. 258, 22; 260, 19). The contrast between Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar is that the former was consigned to feed beasts and the latter to feed with beasts. The realistic contrast between our Lord and the Thief lacks Cyprian's delicacy. Thus the Fragment's first air of resemblance to Cyprian melts away.

CHAPTER IV.

CYPRIAN OF THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

I.

Time and Substance of the Treatise.

THE two or three leading motives of this victorious essay were sketched at the point where we had to outline the principles on which the Council acted. The flesh and blood, so to speak, the colour and the warmth, claim nearer attention.

The conjuncture at which it was read to the Council' is discernible. Allusions to Novatian and to his having assumed the episcopate are plain and numerous'. On the other hand there is no reference to Felicissimus and his faction, a subject which in a paper on unity could not have been avoided unless it had been already disposed of. Allusions there are to laxity and dissoluteness on the part of former confessors, but without any reference to methods to be adopted towards them, and only in illustration of the position that confessors (and so Novatian) were not secure from falling away. Thus the publication of the treatise is marked

1 Ep. 54. 4. In de Unitate c. 5 we have a trace of its original character as a Lecture or Essay addressed to colleagues: 'Quam unitatem tenere firmiter et vindicare debemus maxime episcopi qui in ecclesia præsidemus.'

2 c. 3, ministros justitiæ asserentes...

interitum pro salute, &c. c. 8, uno in loco...multos pastores... c. 9, luporum feritas. c. 10, episcopi sibi nomen. C. 13, æmuli sacerdotum (bishops). c. 15, sacramentum profanat. c. 17, aliud altare.

3

C. 21.