Appendix (Notes A–E)
A.
The Donatist Church was the result of a double election to the Archiepiscopal throne of Carthage. Caecilianus and Majorinus were the two rival primates of Africa, and the death of the latter soon made room for Donatus, a man of superior abilities, and apparent virtues.
The dispute was finally settled after a severe inquisition into the claims of the candidates. The Praetorian vicar, the Proconsul of Africa, the decrees of the Councils of Rome and Aries, the supreme judgment of Constantino himself were all favourable to the cause of Ceecilian, who was unanimously acknowledged by the civil and ecclesiastical powers as the true and lawful Primate of Africa. The Donatists refused to acquiesce in this decision, disputed the election, and denied the powers of the usurper; they boldly excommunicated the rest of mankind who had embraced the party of Caecilian, and of those who ordained him. They asserted with confidence, that the Apostolical succession was interrupted: that all the bishops of Europe and Asia were chargeable with guilt and schism, and that the prerogatives of the Catholic Church were confined to the chosen portion of the African Church, which had preserved the integrity of their faith and discipline. Their conduct was consistent with their theory. Whenever they acquired a proselyte even from the distant provinces of the cast, they 8(5 APPENDIX.
carefully repeated the rites of baptism and ordination, as they rejected the validity of those already received from the hands of heretics and schismatics.
Bishops, virgins, and even infants were subjected to a public penance before they could be admitted to the communion of the Donatists. If they obtained possession of a Church which had been used by their Catholic adversaries, they purified the unhallowed building with the same jealous care which a temple of idols might have required. They vpashed the pavement, scraped the walls, burnt the altar (which was commonly of wood), melted the consecrated plate, and cast the holy Eucharist to the dogs, with every circumstance of ignominy which could provoke, and perpetuate the animosity of religious factions. This memorable schism afflicted the provinces of Africa above three hundred years, and was only extinguished with Christianity itself. Vide Gibbon's Roman History, vol. iii. chap. 21. Calvin also, in the 4th book of his Institutes, chap. 13, speaks of the Donatists as " men so imbued with the false persuasion of their own absolute sanctity, that they became, as it were, certain setherial demons, and despised all intercourse with their fellow men, in whom they perceived the traces of humanity." " Such," he adds, "are some Anabaptists of the present day, who wish it to appear that they have made progress beyond others."
B.
Acatius, Bishop of Amida, knowing that a vast multitude of Persians were perishing from hunger, called together the clergy and thus addressing them, " Our God hath need neither of cups nor platters, for he neither eats nor drinks," melted the sacred vessels that he might provide food and ransom for these unfortunates. 1. Acatius, Lib. ii. cap. 16. Triper: Hist.
C.
Ambrose, when accused of having broken up the sacred vessels to provide the ransom for prisoners, offered this beautiful apology: " He who sent forth his apostles without gold, hath gathered the Churches without gold. The Church possesseth gold, not to keep, but to bestow it and make it serviceable in cases of necessity. What need to guard closely that which is of no use? Are we ignorant what a mass of gold and of silver was by the Assyrians carried away from the temple of God? Is it not better that the priest melt it down as alms for the poor if other modes of relief be wanting, than that a sacrilegious enemy carry it away? Would not the Lord speak thus: —Why didst thou suffer so many poor to die from hunger when in truth thou hadst gold whence thou couldst have supplied alms? Why are so many captives led away unransomed? Why so many slain by the enemy? Better to keep vessels of living men, than of metal. Thou canst give no reply to this: for dost thou say, I had fear lest ornament should be wanting to God's terajile? The Lord would answer thee thus :—sacraments require not gold, neither do things take pleasure in gold which are not bought with gold. The ornament of sacraments is the ransoming of the captives." De Off., lib. ii., cap. 28.
D.
The Council of Basil, like its precursor, that of Constance, dissolved in the year 1418, was reluctantly summoned by Pope Martin fifth, and again by his successor, Eugenius the fourth, to pacify the clamorous demand for a Reformation of the Church, which the general voice of Christendom sent forth. Cardinal Julian Cajsarini presided: its session opened on the 2-3rd of July, 1431; the points proposed for deliberation were, the union of the Greek and Latin Churches, and the Reformation of the Church Universal in its head, and in its members. The Pope strove hard to dissolve this Council, but the fathers who composed it were earnest, and persevering in their work, and established this principle—that the authority of the Council was superior to that of the Roman Pontitf. The latter, after a long dispute, first conceded this claim by his silence, and then by a letter from Rome expressed his approval of the Council, and his acknowledgment of its authori^^^y. The reforming acts of the Council so alarmed and offended the Pope, that, with a view of neutralizing its exertions, he tried to transfer its place of meeting into Italy, which was prudently resisted by the members of the Council. By virtue of their admitted jurisdiction they summoned the Pope to appear at Basil, which requisition was met by a decree from Eugenius, pretending to dissolve the Council at Basil, and to assemble another at Ferrara. This decree was set at naught by the Council, who, with the consent of the Emperor, the King of France, and several other Princes continued its deliberations at Basil, and on the 28th September, 1437, pronounced a sentence of contumacy against the Pontiff, for having refused to obey its mandate. The only act of moment accomplished by the Pontiff's Council at Ferrara, (afterwards transferred to Florence,) was a reconciliation between the Greek and Latin Churches, some doctrinal concessions on the part of the former, " and an acknowledgment," that the Roman Pontiff was the supreme judge, the true head of the universal Church. Meanwhile, the legitimate Council of Basil had not been idle, but impatient of the acts and imperious^ ness of Eugenius, deposed him from the Papacy on the 25th June, 1439, and in spite of Papal thunder, elected Amadeus in his room. Thus, at the same time, Christendom was scandalized by the rivalry of two popes and two councils, and its day of Reformation was postponed.
E.
The Catabaptists are thus alluded to in Calvin's Institutes, book 4th, cap 16. " Moreover, if this be true which we have laid down that a Sacrament is not to be appreciated with reference to the hands of him by whom it is administered, but, as it were, with reference to the very hand of God, from whom, without doubt, it has proceeded, then it is a lawful conclusion that nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be subtracted from its dignity in consideration of the hand of him who delivereth it. Such reasoners are the Catabaptists of this our day, who deny that we are baptized after a proper ritual, because we receive baptism at the hands of impious men and idolaters, therefore, they fiercely press a rebaptizing of us. Against their trifling absurdities we are fortified by a sufficiently strong reason, when we reflect that by baptism we are initiated not into the name of any man, but into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: therefore, baptism is not of man, but of God, by whomsoever the rite shall have been administered. So that allowing that our baptizers have been pre-eminently ignorant, and the despisers of God and true piety; yet they have not dyed us into a fellowship of their own ignorance or profaneness, inasmuch as they invoked not their own name but the name of God, neither have they baptized us into any other name."