out of his own estate, but declined to receive any thing from the churches under his care, except two loaves of bread every Lord's day. Socrates says that his polite and ingenious sermons were extant in his time. Chrysanthus was succeeded in the episcopate by a person of the name of Paul, who had been a teacher of Latin; but, laying aside that employment, he betook himself to a retired life, occupying himself wholly in acts of devotion, of which Tertullian had set him an example. While bishop of the church he was almost universally beloved by the citizens of Constantinople, the great mass of whom, of all sects and parties, accompanied his remains to the grave, singing psalms as the funeral procession advanced, and bewailing the departure of one whose simplicity and integrity of manners had greatly endeared him to them. He died in the year 439.

The learned Cassiodorus, who wrote about the middle of the sixth century, makes mention of one Eusebius, who belonged to the sect of the Novatians, whose history entitles him to a slight notice from me. This man was blind from his childhood: but blessed with a wonderfully retentive memory, which enabled him to become intimately acquainted with all the best authors and books, and to treasure up in his mind a stock of useful knowledge. Cassiodorus, who knew him personally, does not furnish us with any information respecting his situation in life, nor say whether he filled any office, civil or ecclesiastical. Possibly the loss of sight might discourage or disqualify him for that; but it would appear that he made good use of his leisure, and stored his mind with valuable knowledge, which he communicated in conversation as he had opportunity.

From the particulars now laid before you, I think it must appear, that the denomination of the Novatianists, the first Protestant dissenters from the church of Rome, had among them many individuals whose learning, talents, and virtues would have done honour to any sect or party, and I enlarge upon their history with the greater pleasure, because it is an act of justice to injured merit. It is only discharging a debt of gratitude which we, of the present day, owe to the memory of a class of men who were the first to set us an example of contending for the purity and simplicity of Christian worship, and a firm adherence to the laws of Christ's kingdom. In maintaining a uni

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form and consistent regard to divine truth, and zealously opposing every corruption of it, they subjected themselves to continual reproach and obloquy from the Catholic party, and were frequently made to feel the effects of their malice, of which I may give you a few additional instances.

There were several churches of the Novatianists in the city of Alexandria at the beginning of the fifth century. In the year 412, Cyril was ordained bishop of Alexandria; that is, of the Catholic church in that famous city, having succeeded his uncle Theophilus in that see. The bishops of that city had for some time past arrogated to themselves great authority and power, not only in ecclesiastical, but in civil affairs also; and Cyril, the newly appointed bishop, was not of a temper to permit any power to be diminished which fell into his hands. One of his first acts was to shut up all the churches of the Novatianists, strip them of all their sacred vessels and ornaments, and deprive Theopomptus, one of their ministers, of every thing he possessed. Socrates, who relates this, having mentioned the names of several bishops of Rome, proceeds to speak of Innocent, who was ordained in the year 401 and died in 417, and then adds, "he was the first that persecuted the Novatianists at Rome, taking away from them many churches." Celestinus, also, one of his successors, who possessed the see of Rome from the year 424 to 432, followed the example of Innocent: he "deprived the Novatianists of all their churches at Rome, and forced them to assemble for worship in private houses in the most obscure places." Socrates adds that, "until this period, the Novatianists had flourished mightily at Rome, having a great number of places of worship, and large congregations, but envy laid hold of them also, the bishop of Rome, like that of Alexandria, having long since surpassed the sacerdotal dignity, and assumed secular power and authority; for which reason those bishops would not allow these persons to meet together freely, though they were of the same opinion with themselves. They, indeed, commended them for their soundness in the faith, but took away from them every thing that they had. In the city of Constantinople, the bishops (of the Catholic church) acted in a different manner; they treated the Novatianists with much affec

tion and mildness, allowing them to hold their meetings for public worship within the walls of the city."*

I now take my leave, for the present, of the sect or denomination of the Novatianists, whose memory I venerate as witnesses of the truth as it is in Jesus; and shall proceed to give you some account of another denomination which was contemporary with them, and contended for the same things, but who resided mostly in Africa, and passed under a different name,

THE DONATISTS.

I do not find any class of professors which so much resembled the Novatianists as that of the Donatists, to which, consequently, I am now about to draw your attention. It is true that they do not make their appearance, in the annals of the Christian church, so early as the Novatianists by half a century, and the churches in this connexion appear to have been confined almost exclusively to Africa. They agreed with the former in reprobating the lax state of discipline which was common to the churches in the Catholic communion; and though they did not, like them, refuse to re-admit penitents into their communion, nor, like them, condemn all second marriages, they denied the validity of baptism as administered by the ministers of the church of Rome, and rebaptized all those who left the communion of that church to unite with them. In doctrinal sentiments they were agreed with both the Novatianists and the Catholics; while the regard which they paid to purity of communion occasioned their being stigmatized with the epithet of Puritans, and their being treated as schismatics by those who wrote against them, particularly Optatus and Augustine.

The Donatists are said to have derived their distinguishing appellation from one Donatus, a native of Numidia, in Africa, who was elected to the episcopal office in Carthage about the year 306. I will quote to you what the learned Du Pin says of this sect; for the testimony of an adversary, when it is favourable, has always been regarded as the best kind of evidence that we can at any time have in behalf of the party. "Hitherto," says he, "we have only represented the Donatists as a faction, that separated from the [Catholic] church, without taking notice

* Socrates, 1. vii. Lardner, vol. iii. ch. 47.

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of any particular doctrine whereby they were distinguished. Indeed they did not teach any thing that was contrary to the [Apostle's] Creed; but they were so rash as to affirm, that all the churches every where which had embraced the communion of Cæcilianus [bishop of Carthage] and his party, ceased to be the true churches of Jesus Christ; that thus the Catholic church was only found among themselves, having ceased to exist in other parts of the world. Besides which, being very fond of the ancient doctrine of the African churches, that baptism and the other sacraments conferred out of the church were null and void, they rebaptized such as had been baptized by the Catholics, trampled upon their eucharist as a profane thing, and maintained that the consecrations, unctions, and ordinations performed by the Catholics were of no avail. They burnt or scraped the altars which the latter made use of, as being polluted by impure sacrifices, and broke their [communion] cups. They looked upon the vows made in their communion as of no value; in a word, they would not communicate with them. They maintained that the church ought to be made up of just and holy men, or at least of those who were such in appearance; and that, although wicked men might lurk in the church, yet it would not harbour those who were known to be such."

This is Du Pin's account of the Donatists, and there are one or two points in it, in particular, which deserve your notice. You see that he bears testimony to the soundness of their faith -but they refused to communicate with the Catholic church solely on the ground of the very corrupt state of things which prevailed in it. And then observe what a noble testimony he bears to the purity of these churches in the conclusion of the paragraph. They maintained that a church of Christ ought to be made up of just and holy men, or at least of those who appeared to be such; and that, although wicked men might lurk in the church, yet, when persons manifested themselves to be notoriously wicked characters, the church should put them away. This was the principle of the Donatists, and I hope I need not tell you that it is a principle fully supported and sanctioned by the New Testament; but it was scouted you see by the Catholic church-the latter could tolerate wicked characters

* Du Pin's Ch. Hist. Cent. iv. ch. iii.

among them, even when discovered to be such; and can you wonder that, acting upon such a principle, the Catholic church should become, as in process of time it did, "the habitation of devils, the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird?" Rev. xviii. 3.

It appears from a variety of circumstances that the Donatists were a very numerous body of professed Christians in Africa; and, in fact, they seem to have been almost as numerous as the Catholics themselves, which, considering the strictness of their discipline and their firm adherence to the laws of Christ's house, is a subject of pleasing reflection. There was scarcely a city or town in Africa in which there was not a church of the Donatists. In the year 411 a famous Synod or public conference was held at Carthage, at which were present 286 bishops belonging to the Catholic party, and of the Donatists 279-leaving a difference of only seven in favour of the former; and when we take into account, not only their rigid discipline, but also that they were a proscribed sect, and frequently the subjects of severe and sanguinary persecution from the ruling party, one can scarcely refrain from surprise at the fact. Indeed their increasing numbers, under the disadvantages just mentioned, evidently drew the attention of the governors of the province, who felt anxious if it were possible to conciliate them, and form a union between them and the Catholics. The emperor Constans, in particular, to whose lot it fell to administer the government in this quarter, in the year 348, which was only ten or a dozen years after the death of his father Constantine the Great, deputed two persons of rank to try to bring about a reconciliation between the two parties, and the account which is given by historians of the result of this attempt pours a flood of light on the principles of the Donatists. When it was urged upon them that it was their duty to study the peace of the church and avoid schism, they, with great prudence and propriety, took their stand upon Christ's good confession concerning his kingdom, and urged the unscriptural nature of the alliance which had recently taken place between church and state!" Quid est imperatori cum ecclesia?" said they in plain English," What has the emperor to do with the church?" And a more important and pertinent question could not have been propounded. Happy would it have been,

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