Edward White Benson

“ The usual parallel between the three orders of the Christian and Jewish ministry differs entirely from that drawn by Cyprian.
The stress laid on the responsibility of the laity is very great. Though the virtue of the office is transmitted by another channel, it is they who, by the "aspiration of God," address to each bishop his call to enter on that "priesthood" and its grace, and it is their duty to withdraw from his administration if he is a "sinner" (Ep. 67) . The bishops do not co-opt into or enlarge their own college. Each is elected by his own Plebes. ”

“ Its introduction of the primacy of Peter as the centre of unity is a clumsy interruption of the argument and an overthrowal of Cyprian's universal principle of the "copiosum corpus Episcoporum" (Ep. 68, iii.; 55, xx.) as the core of the visible unity of the church. The rest of the treatise is the development in beautiful language, and the illustration from nature and scripture, of his principle. Schism is a divine test and prejudicial separation of unbelievers in principle. ”

“ On the Mortality.—This treatise, or epistle as Augustine calls it (he quotes it no less than six times) , presents to the Christians the consolatory primitive view of the topics set threateningly before Demetrian. It is meant to elevate their view of both the persecution and the plague, from which some expected providential exemptions, while others hated it only as an interference with martyrdom; he explains his theory of probation and of predictions as evidencing a divine plan. He cannot reject, but he gives a Christian turn to the general belief in the world's decay ”

“ Augustine well draws out the independence of thought and action which Cyprian wished to be maintained without exclusiveness, and tells us (Aug. v. de Bapt. 17) how he was never weary of reading the conclusion of the Ep. to Quintus. Every bishop was free to judge for himself, none to be persecuted for his views, and therefore every one to be tender of the bonds of peace: "Salvo jure communionis diversa sentire." The unanimity of such early councils and their erroneousness are a remarkable monition. Not packed, not pressed; the question broad; no attack on an individual ”

“ Dionysius of Alexandria, and with him Origen, Gregory Thaumaturgus, Maximus of Nola, Babylas of Antioch, Alexander of Jerusalem, Fabian of Rome, were all attacked, the last three martyred. There was no fanaticism of martyrdom as yet. It seemed wrong to expose a successor to instant death, and no bishop was elected for 16 months at Rome. Like the former three, Cyprian placed himself (before the end of Jan.; Lipsius, Röm. Bisch. Chronol. p. 200) out of reach, and, with the same determination with which he afterwards pronounced that his time was come, refused concealment. ”

“ Dispersed as this system of Cyprian's lies, through his correspondence and tracts, it will be seen that in his mind it was not fragmentary, but logical and coherent. Over the theory promulgated by one of his powers and character, backed by an army of bishops, [25] moving as one man under him, yet independent enough each to find their own telling arguments (Conc. III.) , Stephen's triumph without a council, against remonstrances from the East, and hindered by his own pretentiousness and uncharitableness, [26] was great. ”

“ The first appearance of Cyprian's characteristic error about baptism occurs in c. xi. Its first problem is the existence of schism (as distinct from heresy) , "altar against altar," with freedom from corrupt doctrines and lives. The sole security is the ascertainment of the seat of authority and bond of unity. ”

“ The heathen answer attributed it to the divine displeasure at toleration. Cyprian accepts also a certain theory of mundane decrepitude, but bases his real reply on the general dissolution of the bonds of society; an important passage, perhaps the very earliest on slavery (viii. [6] ) , marks the exact stage reached by the Christian consciousness on this subject. So also the theory of Resentment is exhibited in a certain stage of purification, though some of the language would be intolerable now. The eternal conservation of beings for eternal suffering is laid down (xxiv. 21) . ”

“ Cyprian's principle was the same which blinded Tertullian (de Bapt. xv.) ; which was extended by the Donatists to make moral defects in the minister debar grace; [27] which led Knox and Calvin to deny baptism to the infant children of "papists," and the Genevan divines to allow it, on the hope that "the grace which had adopted" the great-grandfathers might not yet be so "wholly extinct that the infants should have lost their right to the common seal" (Hooker, iii. 1, 12) . ”

“ Among circumstances known to us directly it would be more natural to link it to the great speech which Pontius mentions as having been delivered at that time to the community. Here again we find Cyprian working out the new faith into a life-system; philosophically (as in a kind of Tusculan) adjusting moral feeling and practice to the newly gained higher facts about God and Man. See cc. ix. x. xi. practically developing that "loss is gain," and "gain is loss," to those who are within the care of Christ, xvi. Christianity becomes a social element which uplifts the poor ”

“ If what is universally accepted as ipso facto baptism (in blood) is unavailing, how can ordinary extraneous baptism be more (Ep. 73, xxi.; de Unit. xiv. (12) xix.; or Dom. xxiv.) ?
(C) The historical argument is handled by Cyprian in the most masterly way. (a) Usage is not worth considering as more than an apology for ignorance; cannot be matched against reason (71, iii. 73) ; (b) is not universal on side of Stephen (Ep. 71) ; (c) cannot be inferred from the non-baptism of restored perverts: their case differs from that of heathens, who had (to begin with) been made heretics, not Christians. ”

“ Shepherd therefore asperses the genuineness of the great Augustinian works which cite it. A critical comparison with Chromatius would require a minuteness and space here inadmissible, but the result of such investigation leaves no doubt that Cyprian is the middle term between Tertullian and Chromatics. Briefly, Chromatius knows no argument or illustration of Tertullian's which Cyprian has not employed; almost every one of these has in Chromatius (though a most condensed prosaic writer) some additional Cyprianic touch or colour adhering to it. ”

“ Faith of recipient insufficient (Epp. 73, 75, ix.) : to be effective must be true; but is deficient in a cardinal point, viz. the remission of sins by the church; even if not false and, as often, blasphemous (73, iv. v; 74) . (b) Not secured by the formula. In the Roman church there was still such absence of rigidity that it was argued that without the Trinal form baptism into Christ's name sufficed (Ep. 74, v.) . Cyprian however points to the clear words of institution, and appeals to common reason to decide whether one is truly baptized into the Son who denies His Humanity (Ep. 73, v.) ”

“ They have no other representatives in councils; he is naturally their "member." These views appear fully developed in his first epistle, and in the application of texts in his early Testimonia; it is incredible that they should have been borrowed from paganism, and unhistorical to connect them with Judaizers. They are (although Cyprian does not dwell on this aspect) not incompatible with a recognition of the priesthood of the laity as full as that of Tertullian. The African episcopate had declined in character during the long peace ”

“ In ordinary cases he treats the election by neighbour bishops as necessary to a valid episcopate (Ep. 57, v.; Ep. 59, vii.; Ep. 66) . From this time Cyprian is usually addressed both by others and by the Roman clergy as Papa, though the title is not attributed to the bp. of Rome until long after. An earlier instance of the use of the name occurs at Alexandria, but probably the first application of the name is traceable to Carthage. Some time between July 248 and April 249 Cyprian became bishop, a few months before the close of the "thirty years' peace" of the church. ”

“ The intercession and merits of the martyrs, as affecting the conditions of restoration, are set aside entirely. 3. On the other hand (as against Novatian) , no offences are considered to be beyond the regular power of the church to remit. 4. (against Felicissimus) . No power except that of the authentic organization can fix terms of communion. It will be at once seen that the free council of bishops had taken position as a Christian institution, exercising supreme governmental functions, and had laid clear lines as to where church authority resided. ”

“ At Carthage the party of laxity became prominent; at Rome, that of exclusiveness.
(1) The party of laxity was composed of confessors, spoiled by flattery (de Laps. 20) , fashionable lapsi, who declined all penance (Laps. 30) , influential ones, who had forced certain clergy to receive them, but also some clergy who united against Cyprian's policy with the five presbyters who had from the first resisted him. Of these, three were undoubtedly Donatus, Gordius, Fortunatus (Maran. Vit. Cyp. § xvii.; Rettberg, pp. 97‒112) . ”

“ The teaching on probation also marks the stage of his thoughts. He computes the world to be near 6,000 years old (ad Fort. ii.; cf. Tert. de V. V. i.) .
(g) On the Lord's Prayer.—To promote intelligent devotion was his next aim. This treatise is written with precision and with visible delight. The time is clearly shewn by his deductions on unity (xxiv.; cf. de Unit, xiv. [12] ) ; on the danger of withholding communion from penitents (de Or. xviii.) , and on the confessor's temptations to arrogance (xxiv.) . Cyprian follows Tertullian freely, not transcribing as before ”

“ Cyprian then urges for rebaptism (A) , Objective grounds. (a) The unity of the church, viz. that in the critical point of "church and non-church," schism does not differ from heresy (69, iii.) : the representation of sacred acts outside not equivalent to sacred acts within: "one Lord, one faith," there may be, but not "one baptism," for this implies "one church," which the schismatic renounces. (b) Unity of Belief. In its African form the creed ran, "Dost thou believe the remission of sins and life everlasting through holy church?" ”

“ It is also a mistake (though Lipsius falls into it, and it is universal with the earlier writers) and introduces confusion into the history to assume that Novatus made several voyages to and fro. If his arrival be fixed soon after Mar. 5, A.D. 251, it will be found to solve the various problems. Their embassy to Carthage, rejected by the council ("expulsi" Ep. 50, not from Africa, as Pearson) , appealed to Cyprian (Ep. 44) . They were not prepared to find that he had moved towards leniency as much as Novatian to severity from their late common standpoint ”

“ Cyprian, to his honour and like a good lawyer, was not present during the trial of his opponent, who was condemned. He does not employ the first person in relating it (Ep. 45, v.) , as he always does of councils which he attended, and from Ep. 48 we must conclude that he was at Hadrumetum at that very time. [3] The programme of the council was again interrupted still more seriously. Two African bishops fresh from Rome, Stephanus and Pompeius, had brought evidence of the regularity of Cornelius's ordination (Ep. 55, vii.) ”

“ After this an altered tone, and Novatian's marked style, is discernible in their letters (Epp. 30 and ? 36) .
The granting of indulgences (not by that name) to lapsed persons, by confessors and martyrs, which had been first questioned and then sharply criticised by Tertullian (ad Mart. 1; de Pudic. 22) , grew very quickly under the influence of some of those clergy who had opposed Cyprian's election. The veneration for sufferers who seemed actually to be the saviours of Christianity was intense, and many heads were turned by the adulatory language of their greatest chiefs (cf. Ep. x. 24) . ”

“ There is no evidence, nor any contemporary instance, to warrant the belief that Novatus ordained Felicissimus deacon (see the MSS. reading Ep. 52, "satellitem suum diaconum constituit," which Hartel has unwarrantably departed from) , nor is there any such appearance of presbyterian principles in this party, as divines of anti-episcopal churches, Neander, Rettberg, d’Aubigne, Keyser, have freely assumed. The party were in episcopal communion, took part in the episcopal election at Carthage, presently elected a new bishop for themselves, and procured episcopal consecration for him. ”

“ Cyprian at once proposed by separate letters to his clergy and laity (to whom he writes with warm confidence) , to various bishops, and to the Roman confessors and clergy (Epp. 15, 16, 17, 26) , one general course of action: to reserve all cases of lapsed, without regard to the confessors' libelli, until episcopal councils at Rome and Carthage should lay down terms of readmission for the deserving (Ep. 20; 55, iv.) ; then the bishops, with clergy and laity (Ep. 17, iv.; Ep. 31) assisting, to investigate each case ”

“ An allusion to Stephen (Ep. 69, x.) seems to imply that Stephen stirred the question first. Rettberg considers, after Maran, that his Oriental dispute had already occurred (p. 170) . So Hefele. But this is not necessary. Cyprian (de Un. xi.) early committed himself to language as strong as he ever used again. The original inquiry is whether the non-heretical Novatianists, baptized as such, can be received to catholic communion. It extended itself (73, iv.) , until the cases of Marcionites and even Ophites were debated; Stephen would include, and Cyprian exclude, all. ”

“ A second council of 42 bishops at Carthage, held on May 15, 252 (Ep. 59, xiii.) , determined to readmit without exception or postponement all who had continued penitent. Their synodic letter (Ep. 57) , by Cyprian's hand, is a complete answer to his former sterner strain. The motive cause is the necessity of strengthening by communion those who will shortly be called to suffer. [8] The Novatianists having attracted converts from heathenism and now given up hope of Cyprian, consecrated their legate Maximus to be (anti-) bishop of Carthage. ”

“ Accordingly, informed of the dispatch before it came, he went into hiding in Carthage, there to await the proconsul's return. On his return, he reappeared and reoccupied his own house. [37] The details of the trial are too numerous to repeat and too remarkable to abridge. They are found not only in the narrative of Pontius, but also in a "Passion of Cyprian," which we have in different forms, and which from its simplicity, provinciality, and minute topography, must be contemporary. [38] Cyprian was removed from his home on Aug. 13 ”

“ Practical Organizations and Christian Culture.— (a) Captivity.—During the session of the council an extensive raid was executed by the Berbers, who, severely ruled as they were without any attempt to civilize them, were beginning that steady advance on Numidia which in a few years replaced the whole range of Ferratus in their possession. ”