The Extant Works of Pacian
The Extant Works of Pacian
Pacian of Barcelona
d. c. AD 391
Bishop of Barcelona.
Letter 1: To Sympronian. On the Catholic Name — OF THE CATHOLIC NAME
[Translated by the Rev. C. H. Collyns, M.A., Student of Christ Church.] Variety of heresies united in the Cataphrygians. 320 --- No one convinced against his will; truth not to be blamed if it fail. 321 --- Value and antiquity of the name Catholic. 322 --- Penitence, a necessary, though sad, remedy. 323 --- Exhortations to penitence in O. and N. T. after great sin. 324 --- If Apostles only could absolve, they only could baptize. 325 --- All Apostolic functions descended to Bishops, so none defined. 326 --- Caution in giving absolution; it precludes not Judgment of Christ. 327 Pacian to Sympronian his brother, greeting. 1. If it be not a carnal intention, my lord , but as I judge, a calling of the Spirit, that thou enquirest of us the faith of the Catholic verity, thou, before all, taldng thy rise as far as appears, from a streamlet at a distance, and not holding to the fountain and source of the principal Church, shouldest, in the first instance, have shewn what or how different are the opinions which thou followest. Thou shouldest unfold thyself as to what cause more particularly had loosened thee from the unity of our body. For those parts, for which a remedy is sought, should be laid bare. Whereas now (if I may so say) the bosom of correspondence being closed, we see not on what members more especially we have to bestow our care. For such are the heresies which have sprung forth from the Christian head, that of the mere names the roll would be immense. For to pass over the heretics of the Jews, Dositheus the Samaritan, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees, it were long to enumerate how many grew up in the times of the Apostles, Simon Magus, and Menander, and Nicolaus, and others hidden by an inglorious fame. What again in later times were Ebion, and Apelles, and Marcion, and Valentinus, and Cerdon, and not long after them, the Cataphrygians, and Novatians, not to notice any recent swarms!
2. Whom then in my letters must I first refute? Wouldest thou the mere names of all, my paper will not contain them; |320 unless indeed by your writings every way condemnatory of penance you declare your agreement with the Phrygians. But, most illustrious Lord, so manifold and so diverse is the error of these very men, that in them we have not only to overthrow their peculiar fancies against penance, but to cut off the heads, as it were, of some Lernaean monster. And, in the first place, they rely on more founders than one, for I suppose Blastus the Greek is of them; Theodotus also and Praxeas were once teachers of your party, themselves also Phrygians of some celebrity, who falsely say they are inspired of Leucius , boast that they are instructed by Proculus . Following Montanus, and Maximilla, and Priscilla, howmanifold controversies have they raised concerning the day of Easter, the Paraclete, Apostles, Prophets, and many other disputes, as this also concerning the Catholic name, the pardon of penance.
3. Wherefore if we would discuss all these points, thou hadst need been present and teachable. But if on those points merely on which thou writest, my instruction should not be sufficiently full, yet as it is our duty to serve, in whatsoever way we can, those who solemnly adjure us , we now, for the sake of informing you, discourse with thee summarily on those matters about which thou hast deigned to write to us. If thou wouldest have fuller knowledge on our side, thou must on thine declare thyself more unreservedly, lest by somewhat of obscurity in thy enquiries, thou leave us uncertain, whether thou art consulting or censuring. 4. Meanwhile (and this concerns our present correspondence ) I would above all entreat thee not to borrow authority for error from this very fact that, as thou sayest, throughout the whole world no one has been found , who could convince or persuade thee contrary to what thou believest. For |321 although we be unskilled, most skilful is the Spirit of God, and if we are faithless, faithful is God, Who cannot deny Himself. Then, also, because it was not allowed the Priests of God to contend long with one who resisted . We, says the Apostle, have no such custom, neither the churches of God. After one admonition , as thou thyself knowest, the contentious is passed by. For who can persuade any of any thing against his will? Thine own fault was it therefore, brother, and not theirs, if no one convinced thce of what in itself is most excellent. For at this day too it is in thy power to despise our writings also, if thou hadst rather refute than approve them. Yet very many resisted both the Lord Himself, and the Apostles, nor could any ever be persuaded of the truth, unless he consented to it by his own religious feeling.
5. Therefore, my Lord, neither have we written with that confidence, as though we could persuade thee, if thou resistest, but in that faith by which we would not deny thee an entrance to holy peace, if thou wiliest. Which peace if it be after thine own soul and heart, there ought to be no contest about the name of Catholic. For if it is through God that our people obtain this name, no question is to be raised, when Divine authority is followed. If through man, you must discover when it was first taken. Then, if the name is good, no odium rests with it; if ill, it need not be envied. The Novatians, I hear, are called after Novatus or Novatian; yet it is the sect which I accuse in them, not the name: nor has any one objected their name to Montanus or the Phrygians. 5. But under the Apostles, you will say, no one was called Catholic. Be it thus. It shall have been so. Allow even that. When after the Apostles heresies had burst forth, and were striving under various names to tear piecemeal and divide the Dove and the Queen of God, did not the Apostolic people require a name of their own, whereby to mark the unity of the people that were uncorrupted, lest the error of some should rend limb by limb the undefiled virgin of God? Was it not seemly that the chief head should be distinguished by its own peculiar appellation? Suppose, this very day, I entered a populous city. When I had found Marcionites, |322 Apollinarians, Cataphrygians, Novatians, and others of the kind who call themselves Christians, by what name should I recognise the congregation of my own people, unless it were named Catholic? Come tell me, who bestowed so many names on the other peoples? Why have so many cities, so many nations, each their own description? The man who asks the meaning of the Catholic Name, will he be ignorant himself of the cause of his own name if I shall enquire its origin? Whence was it delivered to me? Certainly that which has stood through so many ages was not borrowed from man. This name "Catholic" sounds not of Marcion, nor of Apelles, nor of Montanus, nor does it take heretics as its authors.
7. Many things the Holy Spirit hath taught us, Whom God sent from Heaven to the Apostles as their Comforter and Guide. Many things reason teaches us, as Paul saith, and honesty, and, as he says, nature herself. What! Is the authority of Apostolic men, of Primitive Priests, of the most blessed Martyr and Doctor Cyprian, of slight weight with us? Do we wish to teach the teacher? Are we wiser than he was, and are we puffed up by the spirit of the flesh against the man, whom his noble shedding of blood, and a crown of most glorious suffering, have set forth as a witness of the Eternal God? What thinkest thou of so many Priests on this same side, who throughout the whole world were compacted together in one bond of peace with this same Cyprian? What of so many aged Bishops, so many Martyrs, so many Confessors? Come say, if they were not sufficient authorities for the use of this name, are we sufficient for its rejection? And shall the Fathers rather follow our authority, and the antiquity of Saints give way to be emended by us, and times now putrifying through their sins, pluck out the grey hairs of Apostolic age? And yet, my brother, be not troubled; Christian is my name, but Catholic my surname. The former gives me a name, the latter distinguishes me. By the one I am approved; by the other I am but marked.
8. And if at last we must give an account of the word Catholic, and draw it out from the Greek by a Latin interpretation, "Catholic" is 'every where one ,' or, (as learned men think,) "obedience in all," i. e. all the commands of |323 God. Whence the Apostle, Whether ye he obedient in all things; and again, For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous. Therefore he who is a Catholic, the same man is obedient . He who is obedient, the same is a Christian, and thus the Catholic is a Christian. Wherefore our people when named Catholic are separated by this appellation from the heretical name. But if also the word Catholic means 'every where one,' as those first think, David indicates this very thing, when he saith, The queen did stand in a vesture of gold, wrought about with, divers colours; that is, one amidst all. And in the Song of Songs the Bridegroom speaketh these words, My dove, My undefiled, is but one; she is the only one of her mother; she is the choice one of her that bare her. Again it is written, The virgins shall be brought unto the King after her. And further, Virgins without number. Therefore amidst all she is one, and one over all. If thou askest the reason of the name, it is evident.
9. But as to penance , God grant that it may be necessary for none of the faithful; that no one after the help of the sacred font may fall into the pit of death, and that Priests may not be compelled to inculcate or to teach its tardy consolations, lest, whilst by remedies they soothe the sinner, they open a road to sin. But we lay open this indulgence of our God to the miserable, not to the happy; not before sin, but after sins; nor do we announce a medicine to the whole, but to the sick. If spiritual wickednesses have no power over the baptized, none, that fraud of the serpent, which subverted the first man, which hath printed on his posterity so many marks of condemnation: if it hath retired from the world, if we have already begun to reign, if no crime steals over our eyes, none over our hands, none over our minds, then let this gift of God be cast aside, this help rejected; be no confession, no groans, heard; let a proud righteousness despise every remedy.
10. But if the Lord Himself hath provided these things for His own creature man, if the same Lord Who hath bestowed remedies on the fallen, hath given rewards to them that stand, cease to accuse the Divine goodness, to erase by |324 the interposition of your own rigour so many inscriptions of heavenly mercy, or by inexorable harshness to prohibit the gratuitous good gifts of the Lord. This is not a largess from our own bounty. Turn ye, saith the Lord, even to Me, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart; and again, Let the wicked man leave his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts , and turn unto the Lord, and he shall obtain mercy. And also after this manner crieth the Prophet, For He is gracious, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil. Hath the serpent so lasting a poison, and hath not Christ a remedy? Doth the Devil kill in the world, and hath Christ no power here to help? Be we indeed ashamed to sin, but not ashamed to repent. Be we ashamed to hazard ourselves, but not ashamed to be delivered. Who will snatch the plank from the shipwrecked, that he escape not? Who will grudge the curing of a wound? Doth not David say, Every night I will wash my bed, I will water my couch with my tears; and again, I acknowledge my sin, and mine unrighteousness have I not hid;
and yet more, I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord, and so Thou forgavest the wickedness of my heart. Did not the Prophet answer him when, after the guilt of murder and adultery, penitent for Bathsheba, The Lord also hath put away from thee thy sin? Did not confession deliver the king of Babylon, when condemned after so many sins of idolatry? And what is it that the Lord saith, Shall he who has fallen not arise, and he who has turned not return? What answer give the subjects of those many parables of our Lord? That the woman findeth the coin, and rejoiceth when she hath found it? That the shepherd carrieth back the wandering sheep? That when the son was returning, all his goods wasted in riotous living with harlots and fornicators, the Father with kindness met him, and, assigning the grounds, chideth the , envious brother, saying, This My son was dead, and is alive again, was lost, and is found. What of him who was wounded in the way, whom Levite and Priest passed by? Is he not taken care of? |325
11. Ponder what the Spirit saith to the Churches. The Ephesians He accuses of having forsaken their love; to them of Thyatira He imputeth fornication; the people of Sardis He blameth as loitering in the work; those of Pergamus as teaching things contrary; of the Laodiceans He brandeth the riches; and yet He calleth all to penance and to satisfaction. What meaneth the Apostle, when he writeth to the Corinthians thus, Lest, when I come, I bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness, and fornication, and lasciviousness, which they have committed? What, when again to the Galatians, If a man be overtaken in a fault, (i. e. any whatever,) ye who are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Does then the master of the family in a large house guard only the silver and golden vessels? Does he not deign to guard both the earthen and the wooden, and some that are put together and repaired? Now I rejoice, saith the Apostle, that ye sorrowed to repentance; and again, for godly sorrow worketh repentance unto enduring salvation. But penitence, you say, was not allowed. No one enjoins a fruitless labour, For the labourer is worthy of his hire. Never would God threaten the impenitent, unless He would pardon the penitent . This,you will say, God alone can do. It is true. But that also which He does through His Priests, is His own authority.
Else what is that which He saith to the Apostles, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven? Why said He this, if it was not lawful for men to bind and loose? Is this allowed to Apostles only? Then to them also only is it allowed to baptize, and to them only to give the Holy Spirit, and to them only to cleanse the sins of the nations; for all this was enjoined on none others but Apostles. 12. But if both the loosening of bonds and the power of the Sacrament are given in one place, either the whole has been derived to us from the Apostolic form and authority, or else not even this relaxation has been made from the decree. I, he saith, have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. This, therefore, we build up, which the doctrine of the Apostles laid as the foundation. And, lastly, Bishops also are named Apostles, as saith Paul of Epaphroditus, My brother and fellow-soldier; but your Apostle. 13. If, therefore, the power of the Laver, and of the Anointing, gifts far greater, descended thence to Bishops, then the right of binding and of loosing was with them. Which although for our sins it be presumptuous in us to claim, yet God, Who hath granted unto Bishops the name even of His only Beloved, will not deny it unto them, as if holy and sitting in the chair of the Apostles.
14. I would write more, brother, were I not pressed by the hasty return of the servant, and were I not reserving a fuller account for thee when either present, or making confession of thy whole purport. Let no one despise the Bishop on consideration of the man. Let us remember that the Apostle Peter hath named our Lord, Bishop. But are now, he saith, returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. What shall be denied to the Bishop, in whom operateth the Name of God? He shall indeed give an account, if he have done any thing wrong, or if he shall have judged corrupt and unrighteous judgment. Nor is God's Judgment forestalled, but that He may undo the work of a wicked builder. In the mean while, if that his ministration be holy, he abideth as an helper in the work of God. See the Apostle writeth to Laity: To whom, ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. But if what the Laity forgive, the Apostle saith that he hath forgiven, what a Bishop hath done, in what character can it be rejected? Therefore neither the Anointing, nor Baptism, nor remission of sins, nor the renewing of the Body, were granted to his sacred authority, because nothing was entrusted to him as assumed by himself, but the whole has descended in a stream from the Apostolic privilege.
15. Know , brother, that not indiscriminately to all is this very pardon through penance granted; nor until there shall have been either some indication of the Divine will, or perchance some visitation, may men be loosed; that with |327 careful pondering and much balancing, after many groans and much shedding of tears, after the prayers of the whole Church, pardon is in such wise not refused to true penitence, as that no one thereby prejudgeth the future Judgment of Christ. If, brother, thou wouldest write thy sentiments more openly, thou shalt be more fully instructed. [Marginal numbered notes, references, and footnotes all moved to the end and renumbered] 1. Domine 2. He was one of the "false Christs" shortly after our Lord's Coming. See Orig. c. Cels. i. 57. in Matt. Comm. Lat. §. 33. ed. de la Rue al. Tr. 27. in Joan. tom. 13. §. 27. 3. He separated from the Church as a Quarto-deciman, whence S. Irenaeus wrote to him as a schismatic, (Eus. H. E. v. 20.) he, however, seems to have so done as judaizing, (Tert. adv. omn. haer. c. 8.) S. Epiphanius mentions Quarto-decimans as an off-shoot of Montanists. Haer. 50. c. 1. see Tillemont, t. 2. Art. Montanistes c. 15.
4. who first denied our Lord in persecution, then His Divinity. Tert. L. c. Some then of the Montanists became nakedly Humanitarians, as others (note d.) Sabellians. 5. One section of the Cataphrygians, named from one Aeschines, (kata Aeschinem,) said that Christ was both the Son and the Father. Tert. ib. c. 8. 6. The forger of Apocryphal books. 7. from whom one division of the Montanists was called kata Proclum, (Tert. 1. c.) and who held a disputation with Caius at Rome in the time of Zephyrinus. Eus. H. E. vi. 20. 8. hoc V. 9. quoquo modo adjurantibus V. R. 10. colloquimur. Conloquemur. R. 11. literas added V. 12. inventus sit V. 13. 2Tim.2, 13. 14. obnitenti Vat.R. obtinendo Edd. Galland. conjectures obnitendo. 15. see ab. St. Cypr. Ep. 59. fin, p. 171. 16. 1 Cor.11, 16. Titus 3, 10. 17. Vat. omits et, "if it be dear to thy soul."
18. debet V. 19. multa ed. Rom. 20. 1 Cor. 11, 14. 21. ubique unum V. 22. doctores V. 23. 2 Cor. 2, 9. 24. Rom. 5, 19. 25. justi "'to what is right"' omitted Vat. 26. Ps. 45, 10. 27. Song of Solomon 6,9. Ps. 45, 15. 28. Song of Solomon 6,8. 29. see Tert. de Poen. c. 7. p. 361. 30. Ipse V. R. 31. Joel 2, 12. 13. 32. added. V. 33. Is. 55,7. 34. Joel 2, 13. 35. or, (as S. Jerome from the Heb.) "shall he turn again, and He [God] not return?" 36. Ps. 6, 6. Ps.32,5. ver. 6. 37. illi V. 38. 2 Sam. 12, 13. 39. Jer.8,4. see on Tert. de Poen. c. 4. p. 354. n. o. Oxf. Tr. Tert. de Poen. c. 8. 40. nepotata G. 41. Luke 15, 24. 32. 42. Tert. de Poen. c. 8. 43. 2 Cor. 12,21.
44. Gal.6, 1. 45. 2 Cor. 7, 9. ver. 10. 46. Luke 10, 7. 47. Tert. de Poen. c. 8. 48. Mat. 18, 18. 49. 1 Cor. 3, 10. 50. Phil. 2, 25. 51. et om. V. 52. 1 Pet. 2, 25. 53. 2 Cor. 2, 10. 11. 54. scito R
Letter 2: To Sympronian. Concerning Novatian's Letter
EPISTLE II.
CONCERNING NOVATIAN'S LETTER. [Translated by the Rev. C. H. Collyns, M.A., Student of Christ Church.] Novatians claimed to be called Christians only, not Catholics; cannot get rid of their human name; or affix any on the Catholics. Sympronian's captious criticism; all language God's gift. The civil power may punish misbelievers, if with good end. Novatians not persecuted, yet dwindle. Contrast of S. Cyprian and Novatian. Nov. no martyr, nor would suffering out of the Church make one. Pride of Novatian; humility is innocence. Pacian the Bishop to Sympronian his brother, greeting. 1. On a prolix question I will, as far as I can, seek brevity. Nor will I, brother, make thee any return of evil, although, under plea of fair questioning, casting and directing at me hidden arrows in thy speech, of thine own framing. We are bidden to pray for those that persecute us, and to bless those who curse us. Deceit belongeth as it were to the fox, violence to the lion. Either is most alien from the nature of man, but deceit is deservedly the most odious. For whereas thou deemest thou art best informed , thou questionest as if ignorant; when thou thinkest that thou art teaching, thou pretendest to be taught. The Pharisees of old were wont to call the Lord, Rabbi, when they were setting before Him ambiguous questions of the law; they entitled Him Master, when they would claim all mastery for themselves. But do what thou wilt, brother, thou shalt hear all in return from me without guile. I had rather be thought unskilful, than malicious. I. had rather be judged foolish, than crafty.
2. Wherefore, before I assign the grounds of our faith, (about which thou art anxious,) hear a few words on your letter, which you put as a front to your treatise. You say that you were refreshed by our former Epistle, and then straightway add that my answer was couched in bitter terms. If bitter things refresh, I know not what would be the effect |328 of sweet; unless it be that, as in a draught of medicine, what is bitter is wont to cure more than what is sweet. But, I beg, look again at my letters and see whether they are at all sprinkled with gall; what there was haughty, what unsweet in my answer. Thou sayest that I named many heresies, about which no one enquired. Well, how did this affect thee, if thou wert not an heretic? You raised a question concerning our faith, and said that you wished for instruction; I wrote that the causes of ignorance were manifold, in order that you might shew which one especially had influence on you, to save perplexity in opening a large number.
3. On the name Catholic I answered fully and with calmness. For I said, that it mattered to neither, what the other was called. And if you demanded the meaning of the name, I said that, whatever it might be , it was wonderful, whether it was 'one in all,' or 'one over all,' or (an interpretation which I have not mentioned before,) 'the king's son,' that is, 'the Christian people.' Certainly too that was no accessory name which endured through so many ages. And indeed I am glad for thee that although thou mayest have preferred others, yet thou agreest that the name attaches to us. What, should you deny? Nature would cry out. But and if you still have doubts, let us hold our peace. We will both be that which we shall be named, witness the antiquity of the name. If, however, thou perseverest in asking, beware lest that man of might exclaim, Why askest thou thus after My Name, seeing it is wonderful? I next added, that we need not consider, whence Catholics, derived this name, because neither was it wont to be any imputation against the Valentinians, if they were called after Valentinus, nor the Phrygians, if from Phrygia, nor the Novatians, if after Novatian. At this you are grievously excited, and rouse yourself as if pierced with a sting. For in your wrath you thus exclaim, 'Is it ever any objection to that holy man Cyprian, that his people bear the name of Apostaticum, Capitolinum , or Synedrium? Thou revilest, but lo!
I am not moved. Have we been called by any of |329 these names? Ask a century, brother, and all its years in succession, whether this name has adhered to us; whether the people of Cyprian have been called other than Catholic? No one of these names have I ever heard. Consider now, if a man can be called by a name, which he knows not to have been given him. What then? These are taunts, not names, and taunts of the angry, taunts of the petulant. I too could call you by as many names as you will, were it lawful to be angry. Callest thou Cyprian holy, and his people apostatizing? How so? If the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches. Am I Apostate, or Novatus? I, I say, or Novatus who forsook his father, abandoned the Church, and caused his wife to miscarry ? Am I Apostate, or Novatian, whom a letter in his absence made a feigned Bishop , whom the Episcopal seat received without consecration from any? But of these points hereafter. In the mean time, tell me yourselves what ye are called. Do ye deny that the Novatians are called frorm Novatian? Impose on them whatever name you like; that will ever adhere to them. Search, if it please you, whole annals, and trust so many ages. You will answer, "Christian. But if I enquire the genus of the sect, you will not deny that it is Novatian.
And yet it is not the name of thy Novatian which I censure, and which, so often sought after, thou cnvelopest in lines of circumlocution, and, if I may so speak, in closed bosom. Confess it without deceit. There is no wickedness in the name. Why, when so often enquired for, do you hide yourself? Why ashamed of the origin of your name? When you first wrote, I thought you a Cataphrygian. Dost thou acknowledge it in thy second letter? Dost thou grudge me my name, and yet shun thine own? Think what there is of shame in a cause which shrinks from its own name. 5. But what is this thy criticism on which thou art so busy? As though I had applied to a Rhetorician, or had to |330 treat of a science, or to expound verses of Virgil? What then had I said? or what verses of Virgil was I expounding ? Having named several heretics, I added, 'Et quos fama recondit obscura .' And whence thinkest thou this to be quoted from a verse of Virgil, if thou hadst no knowledge at all of Virgil? But I did not set down the verse in order, for I said, 'Quos fama recondit obscura,' just as, when speaking, we are accustomed, out of the abundance of human language, to say any thing which may have been said before. Whereas you requote the verse in its own order, in its rhythm. Hadst thou so much more love for Virgil, as to deem it sacrilege, to make any infringement on his verse? And yet I had learnt this of a little child. What wonder if I stumbled on that which I knew? Is there such a spirit of enterprise then, brother, that now at last thou readest those very things, which thou didst blush should once have been read by others? As well mayest thou accuse one, taught in Latin, for speaking Latin, as thou mightest a Greek for speaking Greek, a Parthian for speaking Parthian, a Carthaginian for speaking Punic. Medes, Egyptians, Hebrews, have each their own language, according to the abundance of the Lord, Who hath harmonized language into an hundred and twenty tongues.
A Bishop quote a verse from a Poet! What? Does the Apostle Paul blush, when he hath both quoted and approved of that Athenian verse? For in the Acts of the , Apostles he putteth it thus, As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are His offspring. Since then we are the offspring of God. And again, to Titus he said, One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. And he added, This witness is true. So we have authority for our error. Nor are we Rhetoricians, but whatever word we use, we believe it to be the rich gift of God. Latium, Egypt, Athens, Thracians, Arabians, Spaniards, acknowledge God. The Holy Spirit understandeth all languages. |331 7. But why do you say, 'I will smear thy letters with fresh oil of cedar, to protect them from the destructive enemies of the Muses?' What Muses, I pray you? Those who invented letters, and wrote the sheets which are the prey of moths? Tell me, I pray then, brother, did the Muses invent letters? Are not all things through The Lord, and all from God? Besides those hundred and twenty tongues, was there yet another of the Muses? That idea was falsely devised by Hesiod on Helicon, but only to please the Athenians, who , the Apostle says, had no leisure but to talk. We (the Apostle is our witness) retain the measures of all words, and all kinds of language, as inspired by God. Yet I pardon you, brother, if you rely somewhat upon your own author, and if you join together the philosophy of Novatian, whereby he made shipwreck of religion, with the authority of Hesiod. But thou oughtest to have remembered the words of the Apostle, who saith, Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit.
8. And now of what sort is that which you think is to be imputed to Catholics, "if at any time kings or governments have persecuted you? Then, on the other hand, ought it to be imputed to you, as often as Catholics have had to endure the wickedness and persecution of kings, and pagan princes have persecuted us. Have ye had to bear the odium attached to Christians? But we have had more reason to complain. Let him who did this, see to it with what intention, in what spirit he did it; to procure peace or discord. But and if some of them have erred, he saith, shall they make the faith of God without effect? And yet think not that there was any reason to complain of us. When through our Faith princes had begun to be Christians, these very princes, favouring the Catholic, that is their own, side, were moved by their own sorrow; unless it is to be imputed to Daniel, that he was avenged by Darius: or to that most holy woman Esther, when for her a chief minister of the king is put to death: or to the three youths, because after they had made trial of the flames, the king of Babylon for their sakes threatens the wicked and unbelieving. Does not Peter put |332 Simon to confusion with the consent of the judge ? Does not Paul strike Elymas blind with the approval of Sergius?
And even at Jerusalem he had been avenged, had he when in bonds had any confidence in them . Dost thou not know that authorities themselves are the servants of the innocent, and minister for good to the holy side ? As saith the Apostle, Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shall have praise of the same through the Lord; for he is a minister of God to thee for good. 9. And yet I have complained of no one, I have been avenged on no one, nor do I think that the Novatians are any obstacle to me, in whose fewness and decrease, if I would, I might glory. See, no one accuses your people to the Emperor, and yet thou art alone . Nevertheless we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, of which one thing I know the Novatians would complain, if their cause were acceptable to any princes. 10. "It profiteth more," you say, "to overcome than to please." But they who are led by a burning desire to overcome make their way by contention. Whereas the Apostle saith, But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the Churches of God. On the other hand, of the desire of pleasing he saith, I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own, profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. But ye, whilst ye are thinking of your own, not the profit of your brethren, had rather destroy by overcoming, than refresh by pleasing. To overcome evil with good, is the office of reason: but to wish for victory, in whatever cause it be, is the part of a mad presumption. This cometh from the law not of Apostles, but of Greeks, amongst whom it is found on record, that the whole spirit of the Lacedemonians was inflamed with a |333 desire of conquering. The filthy boar also, and the infuriated tigress, what else do they desire but to conquer, rather than to please?
11. "I have leisure," you write, and therefore art thou well pleased with contention. But to me, fully occupied in Catholic business, your letters were delivered after about thirty days; resumed, after forty more. 12. You say that I am angry. God forbid. I believe that I am roused; like the bee who sometimes defends her honey with her sting. But reconsider the letters on either side. You will soon see whether it be with stings or with flowers that we join issue on paper. The Apostle indeed speaks of some similar persons, whose mouths must be stopped . But listen, we engage with thee, as doves, with the mouth rather than with the teeth. 13. Oh! would it were true that thou sayest thou wouldest be taught! at once, with my own hands would I give thee the very anointing of the Holy Spirit. Dost thou love me? I have not harmed thee, this I know. But then couldest thou love me, if thou didst not hold things contrary; then wouldest thou approach my work with kindly feelings.
14. Dost thou marvel that the Epistles of Cyprian please me? And how should they not, the Epistles of a blessed Martyr and a Catholic Priest? Dost thou force Novatian upon me? I hear that he was a philosopher of the world; it is not then much wonder to me that he fell away from the Church of the Living God. I know that he deserted the root of the ancient law, the fountain of the ancient people; envying Cornelius, lending himself to the phrenzy of Novatus, made Bishop without legitimate consecration, and therefore not even made, by the letter of those men, who pretended they were Confessors, who rent asunder the limbs of their one mother. These points, brother, I will prove to you in letters, by the confession of your own friends. Thus this philosopher of thine, seeking to establish his own wisdom, as the Apostle saith, was not made subject to the wisdom of God, since by its wisdom the world knoweth not the wisdom |334 of God. For whereas thou supposest that Novatian suffered first, and subjoinest that Cyprian said, "My adversary hath preceded me," see how clear the answer I can make. Novatian never endured martyrdom; nor was that ever heard or read from the words of the most blessed Cyprian. Thou hast his Epistles in which he mentions Cornelius Bishop of the City , of whom Novatian was then envious, as resisting the hostile princes, often a confessor, often harassed;
as made the leader of many Confessors, of many Martyrs also, and as receiving a most glorious crown with many others, whilst Novatian was still alive, and even free from all anxiety. For he had left the Church of Christ for this very reason, that he might not have to bear the toils of Confessorship . First, stung by envy, he could not endure the Episcopate of Cornelius; then, with the mockery of those letters of a few, he had bound himself to Novatus. All this concerning Novatian you may learn from the letters of Cyprian. 15. But, moreover, although Novatian did endure some suffering, yet was he not also slain. And although he was slain, yet was he not crowned. Why not? He was without the peace of the Church, without the bounds of concord, without the pale of that mother, of whom he ought to be a part who is a Martyr. Hear the Apostle, And though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. But Cyprian suffered, in concord with all, in the common peace of all, amid a company of Confessors; and, having often been a Confessor in reiterated persecutions, and harassed with many a torment, had at last given him to drink of the cup of salvation. This was to be crowned! Wherefore let Novatian have his Epistles to himself, to himself his haughtiness, to |335 himself his pride, by which, whilst he is lifted up on high, he is dashed down to pieces, whilst he spares no one, he is himself cast out.
16. Lo! the man, who by an inexorable religion closes the way of salvation against his brethren! Lo! the man, who is confident that he beareth the fan , and is purging the garner of the Lord! Take pity on thyself, brother Sympronian, lest Novatian deceive thee under this mask, as though he were therefore to be thought the more righteous, because he despised others in comparison of himself. Audacity often feigns itself confidence; and the false image of a good conscience flatters even desperate sinners. Whereas contrariwise all humility is innocence, even that of the debtor, even that of the sinner, even that which softeneth its soul with the sinner. Blot me, I pray Thee, says Moses, out of Thy book which Thou hast written; and this, that sinners might not perish. For I could wish, saith the Apostle, that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Both then pray for sinners; and yet neither Moses nor Paul offend God on this account. Is Novatian better than they? a corrector of Prophets? a teacher of Apostles? Is he now seen with Christ, as was this same Moses? Is he now carried up, as was Paul, into the third heaven? Is he alone to be now heard, and all others neglected? This would have been a sufficient answer to return to your letter.
17. But as you argue to some extent against doing penance, or for doing it before Baptism; and have filled your page with many chapters of examples from his treatise, I will, though more than is called for, answer each point. I will not hold back the substance of the truer faith. And as thou hast deigned to enjoin on me to hear thee at great length, do thou in return afford a kind requital to our treatise. The Lord perhaps will vouchsafe, that we, who have patiently yielded ourselves to thy enquiries, may gather some fruit from thy patience also. The Lord vouchsafe to guard and protect thee for ever, and make thee to live a Christian and a Catholic, and to agree with us! Amen. [Marginal numbered notes, references, and footnotes all moved to the end and renumbered] 1. Mat. 5, 44. 2. autem om. V. 3. nosse te for nocere V. It.
4. aenigmata 5. praetulisti, perhaps as a false front. [Tr.] 6. repetas added V. 7. esset added V. 8. Judg. 13, 18. 9. intended, doubtless, to refer to the admission of the lapsed, who had sacrificed in the Capitol, see ab. on S. Cypr. Ep. 8. §. 2. p. 18. n. u. 10. Rom. 11, 16. 11. see ab. S.Cypr. Ep. 52. §.3. p. 113. 12. finxit. Novatian's consecration, although wholly irregular, does not appear to have the irregularity here seemingly ascribed to it. Yet S. Cyprian is thought to speak of the absence of consecration in terms equally strong (de Laps. §. 10. p. 138. Oxf. Tr. see Tillemont, H. E. t. 3. p. 350. note g. sur S. Corneille. 13. linteata sedes. "used in investitures." Hoffm. 14. illis added V. R. 15. tune for tunc V. 16. "disputandum! Quid ergo dixeram? aut quos Virgilii" inserted from Vat. after Virgilii, omitted through the
17. Aen. v. 302. 18. Coteler. (quoted by Galland.) on the Recogn. ii. 42. conjectures, that CXX has been substituted for lxx, according to the distribution of languages into lxxii, or lxxv. see his note, t. i. p. 513. and Abp. Potter on S. Clem. Al. Strom, i. p. 404. Else the number might have been taken from Acts 1, 15. 19. Acts 17, 28. 20. Tit. 1, 12. 21. ver. 16. 22. ut om. V. 23. Acts 17, 21. 24. Col.2,8. 25. regum et persecutionem Edd. impius et persecutiones V. impietatem Marg. regum imperiis R. 26. Rom. 3, 3. 27. the Catholic Faith. 28. Doubtless, Nero, who Philastrius (Haer. c. 29.) says was present, with which correspond the tales of Dio Chrys. Or, 21. and especially Sueton. (vi. 12. quoted by Baronius and Tillemont, H. E. S. Pierre Art. 34.) as to a juggler, who promised Nero to fly, and tell to the ground in his presence.
29. non R. 30. ''Vindicatus esset et Hierosolymis, si quid fidei ligatus habuisset.'' If it may thus be rendered, it may allude to Acts 25, 10. 11. and 26, 32. Could he have reposed confidence in Festus, he might have been set at liberty, through his civil privilege. 31. partibus for patribus. V. 32. Rom. 13, 3. 4. 33. the sect melting away of itself, without civil interference. 34. Rom. 14, 10. 35. 1 Cor. 11, 16. 36. 1 Cor. 10, 33. 37. Tit. 1, 9. "indentare for e0pistomiIzein for which it is also used by Lucif. Calar. pro S. Ath. ii. 40." (Gall. B. P. vi. p. 195.) Gall. 38. see on S. Cypr. Ep. 52. §. l.p. 111. n. m. 39. Rom. 10, 3. 40. 1 Cor.1, 21. 41. A spurious account of a confession, or contest (a!qlhsij), also called a martyrdom, of Novatian is mentioned by Eulogius ap. Phot. Cod. 182. 208.280. The Novatians set much store by it; Eulogius says, that "it was of the extremest vulgarity in language, thought, and composition;" and a bad fiction (kako&plastoj). It consisted chiefly of a long and foolish dialogue between Novatian and a Ducenarian, and did not even pretend that N. "endured scourging, or suffering, or torment of any kind." Socrates' statement (iv. 28.) that he was martyred, as well as that of the text, seem derived from this, and are discredited by it, as it would doubtless give the most favourable account.
42. Ep. 55. ad Anton. §. 6. 7. p 120. sqq. 43. Rome 44. see ab. p. 111. n. m. 45. 1 Cor. 13, 2. 3. 46. palam ferre V. others, paleam auferre. 47. quae animam suam cum peccatore blanditur. 48. Exod. 32, 82. 49. Rom. 9, 3. 50. Mat. 17, 3. 51. 2 Cor. 12.