the Munster Anabaptists had their good effect Most Men are severe censurers of the same sins in others which they do indulge and allow in themselves There is scarce a Separatist among us who when he shall impartially consider the grievous and continued troubles of the African Churches occasioned by the Schisme of the Donatists who upon false or frivolous pretences first forsook the Communion of the Catholick Church and then raised Parties to oppose it falsly accusing condemning persecuting and murthering their Fathers and Brethren affronting the Magistrates despising their Laws raising Tumults and Armies and pronouncing them Martyrs that dyed in Rebellion I say there is not any but will readily condemn these though he have been seduced to joyn with such as have practised the same or worse things The Ancients resembled a wise Man to the Image of Janus which looked both forward and backward and it would certainly be a point of Prudence in us to look back upon the transactions and counsels of former Ages and to observe what Opinions and practices have been condemned by wise and good Men and carefully avoid such As also to look forward and to consider to what dangers and precipices our present Opinions may betray us what out-rages and cruelties our ambition may lead us to though for the present we think it impossible that ever our lusts or any temptations or advantages should be able to transform us into such ravenous beasts as afterward we may appear to be Had Cromwel been foretold as Hazael was what horrid Massacres and Regicide he should commit he would have thought it a slander though from the mouth of a Prophet 2 Kings 8.12 And if such as have given themselves up to dividing principles did but consider how easily they may be taught to act over the same Tragical Scenes of Sacrilege Rapine and Blood when their Masters shall get power and opportunities agreeable to their malice which both ancient and modern Sectaries have done before them they may find just cause to grow jealous of themselves though they have yet the sheeps clothing on them and to suspect their Teachers though transformed into Angels of light for the Ministers of Satan whose design it is to attempt the ruine of the Church by the abused zeal of her seduced Children which he could not effect by the cruelty of her professed Enemies To undeceive such Persons and render Schisme and Faction as odious and pernicious as the Scripture doth describe them and both the History of former Ages and the sad experience of our own do demonstrate them to have been and that all who profess the Name of Christ may agree in the truth of his Holy Word and live in Vnity with their Brethren and in due Obedience to their lawful Governors both in Church and State is the only Design and hearty Prayer of Si sapitis benè recte si non sapitis vestri curam gessisse non poenitebit quia etsi cor vestrum ad pacem non convertitur pax nostra ad cor nostrum convertetur August ad Petil. l. 3. IMPRIMATUR G. Jame R.P.D. Hen. Episc Lond. à Sacris Dom. THE HISTORY OF THE DONATISTS WHen Dioclesian as a Romish Wolf had worried and scattered the Flock of Christ and exhausted Rivers of that precious Blood he perceived that he could neither diminish their Numbers nor abate any thing of that primitive Spirit which like a Rock did not only stand firm but broke in pieces the Fluctus Decumanos most impetuous Waves of the greatest persecution Ann. 300 The Tyrant thought therefore of a more probable way to extinguish that Spirit which was to withdraw the word of life and accordingly in the Nineteenth Year of his Empire like another Antiochus Epiphanes who did Mosaicis libris bellum indicere he publisheth his Edict That the Christian Churches should be levelled with the ground the Ornaments seized to his use the Holy Scriptures consumed in the Fire and all that professed Christianity be deprived of all Liberties Offices and Dignities unless they would offer Sacrifice to the Heathen Gods Immediately upon publishing this Edict his Officers do generally become Inquisitors and strictly require all the Christians to deliver up the Utensils of their Churches and the Testament of their Lord to be consumed in the Fire which if any refused they themselves were condemned to the Flames Among other Confessors Felix Deacon of Autramitum was summoned by the Inquisitors Optarus p. 40. to deliver up the Ornaments of his Church and the Evangelical Books which were in his custody whereupon he hid himself with Mensurius Bishop of Carthage whereof the Officers being informed they require Mensurius to deliver him up or to appear on a set Day at the Emperors Court to answer the contempt Where it is observable that Episcoporum domus nè in persecutionibus fas erat violare the Bishops Houses even in times of Persecution were accounted as a Sanctuary by the very Heathen Mensurius was too much a Christian to betray his Brother and therefore he chose rather to submit himself to the Emperors sentence and to appear at the appointed time but in the interim he is careful to secure the Goods belonging to his Church And in those Days as the Christians had Churches called Basilicas so those Churches had their Ornaments St. August contr Cresconium says that the Church of Cirta in the time of Dioclesian had two Chalices of Gold six Cups of Silver and a Silver Candlestick Yet the Treasuries of those Churches were much exhausted in those days it being the frequent practice of those Primitive Christians to sell their Plate and Ornaments to redeem the lives or to relieve the necessities of their persecuted Brethren Mensurius therefore causeth an Inventory of the Treasury of the Church of Carthage to be made and committing the Treasury it self to the custody of the Elders as Optatus saith he leaves the Inventory with an ancient Woman p. 41. whom he had always found faithful charging her to preserve it for his Successors if it should please God to account him worthy of Martyrdom * Erant in illâ Ecclesiâ quamplurima Ornamenta Auri Argenti St. Augustine saith there were in that Church very many Ornaments of Gold and Silver Concerning the Death of Mensurius we have no certain account in Ecclesiastical History only we find the Bishoprick of Carthage to be void shortly after and Dioclesian languishing under a surfeit of Christian blood resigned his Empire to Maxentius who was overthrown sometime after by Constantine as also Maximinus another Tyrant by Licinius and thereupon Constantius the Father of Constantine though he were then in England was proclaimed Emperor but he dyed in York and so the whole Empire was devolved on Constantine who by his Mother Helena had been from his Childhood instructed in the Principles of the Christian Religion Which Baronius observes to be true notwithstanding the opinion of some ancient Writers to the contrary for
THE HISTORY OF THE Donatists By THOMAS LONG B. D. and Prebendary of St. Peter's EXON Mutato Nomine de te Anglia narratur LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1677. To the Reverend GEORGE CARY D. D. AND DEAN of EXETER Reverend Sir ALthough I am no Conjurer yet I suspect I have done enough to raise the spirits of the Donatists which are wont to be very troublesome and that it may exceed my skill to allay them And therefore I have thus seasonably I hope taken Sanctuary under Your Name for I have observed that some consecrated Persons as well as Places are not haunted with such Spectres And though such Apparitions have been very affrighting vexatious to Men of weak judgments wavering minds yet some Persons who have arm'd themselves with constant integrity to God and resolved Loyalty to the King have been least obnoxious to their power and malice as good Souldiers that keep their ranks are not so much exposed to the hazards of War as they whose fears make them sneak from Place to Place And this through God's good providence was Your security in the late Times of Confusion wherein notwithstanding the busie Emissaries of the Prince of Darkness you did not only shine as a bright Example of Christian resolution sound Doctrine and a holy Life but did really influence a great part of your neighbouring Clergy the sense whereof hath obliged me to this publick acknowledgment by which I cannot hope to add to your reputation but to provide for my own quiet against such unjust and unsavory reflections as guilty persons are prone to make from whom I appeal to your more righteous judgment whether I have done them wrong or no. Sure I am I intended them none for I only present them with a Glass wherein if they see their own defects they have no reason to be displeased with the Glass but with those Vices which cause the reflexion Socrates l. 2. c. 15. of the Tripartite History tells us that Constantine to shame the Arians provided by an Edict that they should be called Porphyrians Ut quorum mores imitati sunt eorum nomine perfruantur that they might be known by his Name whose manners they did imitate And a greater than Constantine did the like by the Jews John 8.44 Ye are of your father the Devil and his lusts ye will do Every Man 's publick profession and practices are the plainest characters to teach us what party he is of They who through pride and discontent raise and propagate new Opinions that they may head a Faction and take pet at the preferment of better Men vexing their Governors despising their Authority persecuting their innocent Brethren and fomenting Divisions in a well established Church are as manifestly acted and animated by the spirit of Donatus as if there were a transmigration of Souls Sic oculos sic ille manus sic ora gerebat As old Donatus did so do his Race Cast up their Eyes and Hands with down-cast Face In vain therefore do such pretend as with great confidence they do that they are the off-spring of those Primitive Christians who suffered under the Heathen Emperors for they in the worst times obeyed their lawful Governors in all things wherein they might not disobey God and constantly adhered to their Bibles their Bishops and their Brethren accounting all such Traditores i.e. Traytâ—rs as forsook either Such pretences therefore do make odious representations of the Primitive Christians as if they were in their Generation as factious and seditious as the late Donatists in ours And as ill reflexions do they cast on their Christian Governors as if they were very Persecutors But by their fruits ye shall know them for if it be considered how exactly every Scene of that horrid Tragedy which was first acted in the Churches of Africa hath been acted over and if I may so speak over-acted in the Church of England it cannot be denyed that they who destroyed the Church of England and its Defender were the most natural off-spring of those Donatists who so perpetually vexed the good Constantine and made Havock of the Churches of Africa or that the present Sectaries who so tenaciously adhere to the principles and follow the practices of them that brought such confusion on the Land in the former Age are their proper Successors However it is advisedly done by their Apologists to make their Pamphlets swell with the frequent mention of the Indulgence of some of the Emperors to peaceable Christians but pass by the many strict Edicts of the most Christian and pious Emperors against such as withdrew from the Communion of the Catholick Church some of which I have transcribed for their better information at the end of this History and shall only acquaint them here with that success which Sozomen l. 3. c. 11. of the Tripartite History observed to follow on the due execution of them Who speaking of the Laws of Constantine against such as denyed communion with the Church in his days The Emperor saith my Author strictly commanded that their Meeting-places should be taken from them and they not permitted to assemble in private Houses or Churches by reason of which Law I suppose saith Sozomen the Memorial of Heresie was utterly destroy'd for after this Law they could meet neither publickly in the Churches nor secretly being observed and forbidden by the Bishops and Clergy Doubtless those Bishops and Clergymen were no Persecutors they did what was their duty and by a seasonable restraint of Men of corrupt principles preserved the true Christians in peace And certainly the present Bishops would be defective in a special duty of their Function which is to preserve the Flock of Christ in Peace and Unity if they should tolerate such as seek to scatter and make a Prey of them St. Hierome who is thought by some to have been no Friend to that Office doth yet affirm that it was ever since the Apostles days the best Remedy against Schisme I shall entreat your patience while I mention a passage or two of that Father which have been tortured to speak against Episcopacy but do so far commend its usefulness and assert its antiquity and authority as may suffice to silence all its adversaries In his Comment on 1 Titus he saith Antequam Diaboli instinctu c. Before such time as by the instigation of the Devil Factions were made in Religion and the People began to say I am of Paul and I of Apollo and I of Cephas the Churches were governed by the common Council of Presbyters but afterward when every one accounted those whom he had baptized to be his own and not Christs it was decreed in the whole Christian World that one chosen out of the Presbyters should be set over the rest unto whom the care of the Church should belong that the seeds of schisme might be taken away Would you know when this was done and by whom Panormitan will
tell you Li. Decret de consuetud c. 4. Immediately after Christ's death all the Presbyters ruled in common but after a while the Apostles caused that Bishops should be created for the appeasing of Schismes If any shall not agree that this is St. Hierome's sense let him compare that passage in his Epistle to Evagrius 85 Quod autem posteà That after this i. in the Apostles age as appears both by what goes before and by what follows concerning St. Mark one was chosen and set over the rest was done for a Remedy against Schisme lest every one drawing a part of the Church to himself should destroy the whole for in the Church of Alexandria from the days of St. Mark the Evangelist unto Heraclas and Dionysius Bishops there the Presbyters choosing one of their number and setting him in a Higher degree called him Bishop and in his Dialogue ad Luciferianos Ecclesiae salus in summi sacerdotis dignitate pendet cui si non exors ab omnibus eminens detur potestas tot in Ecclesiis efficientur schismata quot sacerdotes So then St. Hierome's testimony is express for the Antiquity of Bishops for as to the original institution I shall not now discourse that they were in the Apostles days particularly in the Church of Alexandria in St. Mark 's days and in the Church of Corinth ever since the People began to say I am of Paul and I of Apollo for the ending of which controversie one was preferred above the rest and the Scholiast tells us on Titus 1. that Apollo was the Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Bishop of Corinth and the same was decreed in all the Christian World That the care of the Church was committed to them and the welfare of the Church depended on their dignity to whom if there were not an eminent and peerless power given by all there would be as many schismes in the Church as there were Priests and lastly that it was a principal duty of theirs though it be now accounted their crime to prevent the growth of schisms in their several Churches And this is that which I have according to my mean capacity endeavour'd in these Papers wherein I have only applyed that gentle Remedy which hath been approved by Ancient and Modern Divines who agree that The means to confute schisme is to reduce it to its first Original for howsoever it comes to pass that factious persons are in love with their own they cannot but abhor the actions of their Progenitors And now Reverend Sir If I have said any thing unworthy of your Name I know that as your judgment will discern it so your candor will pardon it since nothing hath moved me to this attempt but my duty to the Church and my particular esteem of your great Merits who are a chief Ornament of the same for though you have been placed in an eminent station yet that you have rather honour'd that dignity than been dignified by it is the judgment of all that know you and not only the private opinion of Your Humble Servant THO. LONG Exon Febr. 1. 1676 7. THE PREFACE IT hath been sometime known that when divers learned Physicians after all their regular methods of Physick have given over their Patients as desperate a mean Empirick by an easie and gentle application hath effected the Cure And having often considered with my self how fruitless and ineffectual the many excellent Discourses and unanswerable Arguments of such as have opposed the Separation from our Church have been and that the contumacious humor still spreads it self to the infection and ruine of many precious Souls I thought it might be expedient to apply another remedy viz. A true representation of the Opinions and practices of such Schismaticks as have been condemned in the Primitive times of the Church whereby as in a Glass such as are guilty of the present Separation may reflect on their own deformities and the evil consequence of their dividing practices Some Women who have been too well conceited of their beauty when they have unawares beheld in a clear Glass the deforming and destructive effects of a loathsome Disease have been so surprised with the change that is visibly made on their Faces that they have immediately fallen sick and dyed And who knows but when those fanciful persons who are so highly conceited of their purity and tenderness of their Consciences shall be convinced as by a serious reflection on this History of the Donatists they may be what unclean spots and visible defects the Souls and Consciences of such as live in Separation from a well established Church have contracted they may immediately grow sick of their Sins and apply themselves to the mortification of them that their Souls may be saved It is the Opinion of some learned Men that the Cardinal Baronius hath raised more Prejudices against the Reformed Churches by his Annals than Cardinal Bellarmine by all his Arguments And indeed upon supposition that the Relation which he gives of the Primitive Doctrine and Discipline is true the contrary whereof hath been sufficiently evinced by Bishop Jewel and many others he hath done more to prove our Churches guilty both of Heresie and Schism than all the Polemical Divines of the Church of Rome Accordingly when it shall appear by the Authentique Records of the Church of God that those Persons who held the same Opinions and followed the same practices as some in this present Age do were frequently condemned by the best Christian Emperors and Catholick Councils as schismatical and dangerous and upon what small and inconsiderable grounds they have run themselves into such great confusions as have overturned all things Sacred and well setled in Church and State it may be rationally hoped that though the most cogent arguments have not perswaded them â—et such horrible Spectres may affright them from their sullen and unchristian apartment and make them choose to live rather with peaceable and humble Christians in a conformity to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Primitive and present Church than among such turbulent spirits as revive the Opinions and practices of the most dangerous and condemned Schismaticks And it is both a more civil and facile way of insinuating instructions and reproofs to the minds and consciences of such as are averse from plain dealing to teach them by pertinent instances and examples by Historical allusions and wise Apologues such as the Parable of Trees used by Jotham and of the Ewe-Lamb by the Prophet Nathan and this method was familiarly used by our Saviour especially when he would convince the Pharisees as he doth in the Parable of the unthankful Husband-men Luke 21.33 and divers others wherein he proves them to be worse than those who persecuted the Prophets by their malice against the Son of God and v. 45. it is said They perceived that he spake of them In the days of the late Vsurpation The History of Andronicus the unfortunate Politician of Massonello and
the Congregations that joyned with them were the true Churches of Christ and all the rest were Apostates Gaudentius one of their Faction undertook to maintain That the Article of the Catholick Church was Figmentum humanum an Invention of Man and not agreeable to the Ordinance of Christ And Donatus who gave the Name to the Faction used all diligence to gain the face and reputation of a Church to the separated Brethren to which end he teacheth it to be necessary that they who were admitted to their Communion should make a Publick confession of their Errors and submitting themselves to the Discipline of their new pastors should be rebaptized for by these means he knew he should secure as many as came to his communion without any fear of their return to the Catholick Church And to the Sacrament of Baptism they added Exorcisme which is still retained in the Church of Rome in this form of words Maledicte exi foras Come forth thou wicked Spirit whereby as Optatus observes they did blaspheme the blessed Trinity in whose Name they had been formerly baptized The Catholick Bishops are not remiss in the Vindication of Cecilian but prevailed with Zenophilus a Man of Consular dignity to take cognizance of the difference between Cecilian and Majorinus and in the inquiry to the merits of the cause it was affirmed by one Nundinarius a Deacon who was sometime privy to the transactions of that Party that most of those who opposed Cecilian were Traditors and particularly that Sylvanus whom they made Bishop of Cirta had betrayed the Holy Scriptures and some Ornaments of his Church and sacrilegiously with-held what was devoted to the use of the Poor For the truth whereof he appealed to the Bishops and Presbyters of his own Party who knew the certainty of the particulars and of a great Summe of Mony Quadringinta folles Baronius Vol. 3. P. 352. each Follis weighing three Pound and half of Silver sent by Lucilla and divided among the chief of that Party to condemn Cecilian and to advance Majorinus into his Chair And that Victor who had been by Occupation a â—uller gave Twenty Folles to be ordained a Priest and all this Nundinarius affirmed to be true as in the presence of Christ and his holy Angels And thus the Schisme is begun by erecting Altare contra Altare a Presbyter or Mock-bishop against Cecilian the lawful Bishop of Carthage But the first Invader of this Holy Office was short-lived for about the Year 306. Majorinus the Mock-bishop dyed and none is thought so fit to succeed him as Donatus who hence-forth gives the Denomination to the Schisme which was no longer Pars Majorini but Pars Donati for as much as in him lay he did not only re-baptize particular Persons but the whole Church which was no longer known by the appellation of Christian or Catholick but Donatist and now he takes on him a power to silence and depose the Catholick Bishops and Presbyters or to impose such Penance on them as he thought fit and to prevent any prejudice that might arise to his Party by the restimony pf Nundinarius which was by Zenophilus certified to the Emperor he is resolved to complain first and to cast the Odium of the Schisme and all the sad consequences thereof upon Cecilian whom he accuseth to be a Traditor and contrary to the custome of the Church desireth transmarine Bishops to be appointed Judges in the case The Petition was to this effect Rogamus te O Constantine we intreat thee O Constantine most gracious Emperor whose Father never exercised Persecution that your Piety would appoint us Judges from France because that Country is free from this dissention This Petition was subscribed by Lucianus Dignus Nassutius Capito Fidentius and the other Bishops of the Party of Donatus The good Emperor was much grieved to hear of these differences which he had rather might have been determined among themselves than be brought to his Court where were many Heathen that would rejoyce at them or to trouble Foreign Churches with them However he grants their desire and appoints Marinus Maternus and Rheticius three Bishops of France to whom he adjoyneth the Bishop of Rome to determine the cause And sendeth his Epistle to Meltiades Bishop of Rome which is recorded by Eusebius l. 10. c. 5. The Epistle is as followeth Whereas I have received from Anilinus Lieutenant of Africa many Letters signifying that Cecilian Bishop of Carthage is accused by divers of his Colleagues It being grievous to me that there should be dissention among the Bishops before the People who are so prone to evil It seemeth good to me that Cecilian himself with Ten of his Accusers and Ten others whom he shall choose on his behalf do Sail to Rome where I have appointed Meltiades Bishop of Rome together with Rheticius Marinus and Maternus Bishops of France to hear and judge of the differences in question You cannot be ignorant that I would have you suffer no Schisme in any part of the Church The Great God preserve you These Bishops met at Rome in the House of Fausta in the Laterane Meltiades took to his Assistance Fifteen Italian Bishops to assist for the expedition of the cause These with great deliberation heard all that was objected against Cecilian Donatus himself being present The Bishops also agreed to take publick Notaries for the more orderly and speedy dispatch that the examinations and proofs in this cause might be reduced into publick Acts. The first thing that was inquired was who were the Accusers and what Witnesses were present to give Evidence against Cecilian To which the Party of Donatus answered that their Accusation was contained in the Libels which they had presented to the Emperor and by him were transmitted to them which they desired might be read One of the Libels was superscribed thus Libellus Ecclesiae Catholicae c. A Libel of the Catholick Church so they called their Faction containing the Crimes whereof Cecilian is accused What was contained in the Libel is not particularly mentioned by any Author nor are Ecclesiastical Writers agreed concerning the charge then in question Those who in this last Century have defended the Authority of the Pope say that nothing came in question besides the grounds of the Schisme on pretence that Cecilian himself was a Traditor And hereby they hope to avoid the Appeal which was made from the sentence of the Pope to the Emperor because say they the questions discussed afterward in the Council of Arles were of a divers nature from those at Rome but of this hereafter It is very probable that the Donatists had stuffed their Libel with more than a single accusation some particulars whereof I shall give an account The Libel being read it was demanded who were Cecilian's Accusers They answered the People of Carthage It was replyed that the Voice of the People assembled in a tumultuary manner was not a sufficient ground to condemn any and therefore the Bishops ordered