where fome attempts were made to ftrengthen the Novatian party. But all these churches united to condemn the fchifm; and Dionyfius wrote to the Roman confeffors both before and after they had returned to the church. On the whole, the east and weft united in condemning the new diffenters, whofe head having profeffed that fome brethren had compelled him to the feparation, Dionyfius wrote to Novatian himself to this effect:" If you were led unwillingly; as you fay, you will prove it by returning willingly; for a man ought to fuffer any thing rather than to rend the church of God. Even martyrdom on this account would be no less glorious, even more fo than any other. For in common martyrdom a man is a witness for one foul, here for the whole church. And now, if you would compel or perfuade the brethren to unanimity, your good conduct would be more laudable than your defection was culpable. The latter will be forgotten, the former will be cele brated through the chriftian world. But if you find it impracticable to draw over others, fave your own foul at leaft; I wish you, ftudious of peace, to be ftrong in the Lord." Such was the zeal of the chriftian leaders at that time for the prefervation of unity. Had there been a defection from chriftian purity of doctrine in the general church, or were the heads of it vicious men, for the most part, in principle or practice, one might have fufpected that the Lord had forfaken thefe, and that his fpirit had refled chiefly with the new feparatifts. But that godlinefs in a confiderable degree prevailed ftill in the church at large is evident. Cyprian, Dionyfius, Cornelius, Firmilian, were holy men. Martyrs in abundance fuffered for Chrift's fake from their flocks. A number of church-officers fuffered in a very edifying

manner.

manner.

The lapfed were restored among them by the most chriftian methods of mildnefs and just discipline, and this with fuccess in a variety of cafes. Dionyfius concurred with Cyprian in his views on the fubject; and though the flame of christian piety was confiderably lowered fince the days of Ignatius, I fee not a fhadow of proof that there was any just reason for diffent or any fuperior degree of fpirituality with the Novatians. Had there been any perfons among them of half the piety of Cyprian for instance, I think it probable that we must have had fome account of them.

It is my duty to trace the work of the Divine Spirit wherever I can find it. Traces of his Spirit with the Novatians in general in these times I cannot discern; and yet it is improbable that they fhould be a people altogether forfaken of God. Wherever the real truth, as it is in Jefus, is profeffed, there fome measure of his Spirit most probably is. Novatian himself is conftantly reprehended both by Cyprian and Dionyfius. Yet I obferve they caft no imputations on his moral character. His fchifm alone is the object of their accufation. Cornelius indeed carries the matter ftill farther, as we have seen; but I am not difpofed to credit all he fays. He was heated against him, and was in a state of perfonal competition with him. Let us, before we proceed to other inflances of the Decian perfecution, finifh the whole of Novatian's affairs, by collecting what we can on the other fide, in order to form a juft estimate of his character. If after all the evidence be not fatisfactory, let it be imputed to the fcantinefs of our materials.

Novatian from a ftoic becoming a chriftian, feems to have contracted that severity which

formed

formed the bafis of his fect. He was born à Phrygian, and came to Rome, where he received christianity. Having neglected fome ecclefiaftical forms after he had recovered from a fickness, he was objected to by the clergy and people when applying for the office of prefbyter. The bishop, probably Fabian the predeceffor of Cornelius, defired that the rules might be difpenfed with in his cafe, and it was granted; a teftimony furely rather in favour of his abilities and conduct than otherwife, though coming from the mouth of Cornelius his rival. That he excelled in genius, learning, and eloquence, is certain. I hence infer, that he must have been a man of good character. The evils of his fchifm were great, but no blot feems affixed to his conduct, nor any juft fufpicion to lie on the purity of his intentions. One of the letters of the Roman clergy to Cyprian is ftill extant in his collection, in which he at that time coincided with the African prelate, and it is worthy of a Roman prefbyter and a zealous christian. Eufebius, in his Chronicon, ranks him among the confeffors, and it is certain, that while he continued prefbyter his fame was not only without a blot, but very fair in the church.

Perhaps it had been happy for him had he never confented to become a bishop. Cornelius being preferred before him in the election, was, probably enough, the grand cause of his fchifm; and, from a temperate degree of feverity, he became intolerably inexorable in his ideas of difcipline. It is not for man to fay how far temper, ftoicifm, prejudice, and principle might all unite in this bufinefs. We must now behold him bishop of the Novatians, and fpreading the fchifm to far as he can through the chriftian world. The repeated

peated condemnation of it in fynods hindered not its growth, and as purity of conduct, with inflexible feverity of manners, were their favourite object, it is not to be apprehended that Novatian could have fupported himself in the opinion of his followers without fome exemplarinefs of conduct. The chriftian faith he is allowed to have preferved in foundness. In truth, there is extant a treatife of his on the Trinity, one of the most regular and most accurate that is to be found among the antients. It is aftonishing that any should ascribe the ideas of the Trinity mainly to the Nicene Fathers. We have repeatedly feen proofs of the doctrine from the Apostles' days, being held diftinctly in all its parts. This treatise of Novatian may be added to the lift. I don't know how to abridge it better than to refer the reader to the Athanafian creed. The Trinity in Unity, and the Godhead and Manhood of Christ in one perfon, are not more plainly to be found in that creed than in this contemporary of Cyprian.

I with a more experimental view, a more prac tical ufe of chriftian doctrines, were to be feen in it. But churchmen or diffenters, all chriftians feem to have relaxed in this refpect. The favour and fimplicity of the life of faith in Jefus was not now fo well known: yet, particularly under the article of the Holy Ghoft, he fpeaks very diftinctly of him as the author of regeneration, the pledge of the promised inheritance, and, as it were, the hand-writing of eternal falvation, who makes us the temple of God and his houfe, who intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered, acting as our advocate and defender, dwelling in our bodies, and fanctifying them for immortality. He it is who fights against the flesh, hence the flesh fights against the fpirit; and he goes on in the

best

best manner to speak of his holy and blefied opera tions in the faithful *.

He wrote alfo a fenfible little tract against the bondage of Jewish meats, and maintains chriftian liberty, according to the views of St. Paul, with juft directions for the maintenance of temperance

and decorum.

The letter to Cyprian before mentioned clofes his works. He lived to the time of Valerian, under whom Cyprian fuffered. In that perfecution. alfo fell Novatian by martyrdom, as appears from the authentic teftimony of Socratest. His rival Cornelius had fuffered a little before them, dying in exile for the faith, and it is no unpleafant contemplation to conceive these three men meeting in a better world cloathed with the garments of Jefus, and in him knowing their mutual relation which prejudice hindered in this life. I can by no means juftify either the feparation of Novatian, or the feverity with which these two good bishops perfonally condemned him. We feem, however, to have found fufficient evidence of the chriftian character of the feparatift. His death, added to the general tenor of his life, fhews to whom he belonged.

The reader will pardon this digreffion, if it be a digreffion, to fhew that the Spirit of God was not limited to one denomination, and to pave the way for that liberal and candid conftruction of characters, which it will behove us to cultivate in the future fcenes of this hiftory, while we trace the kingdom of God through a multiplicity of names and divifions of men †.

To proceed with the Decian perfecution. It feems to have been the whole employment of magiftrates

Greg. Ny vita Thaum. p. 1000.-See Fleury, b. 6-25.