INDEPENDENCE OF CHURCHES. 401 ends. This probably they did at first in a free way, without rule, ac- cording to occasion, as prudence suggested, but afterwards, by confe- deration and consent, those conventions were formed into method, and regulated by certain orders established by consent; whence arose an ecclesiastical unity of government within certain precincts, much like that of the united states in theNetherlands ;which course was very prudential, and useful for preserving the truth of religion and unity of faith against heretical devices springing up in that free age, for maintaining concord and good correspondence among Christians, together with a harmony in manners and discipline: for that other- wise Christendom would have been shattered and crumbled into numberless parties, discordant in opinion and practice, and conse- quently alienated in affection,which inevitably, among most men, follows difference of opinion and manners, so that in short time it would not have appeared what Christianity was, and consequently the religion, being overgrown with differences and discords, must have perished. Thus in the case about admitting the Lapsi* to communion, St Cyprian relates, " When the persecution"of Decius " ceased, so that leave was now given us tomeet in one place together, a considerable number of bishops, whom their own faith and God's protection had preserved sound and entire," from the late apostasy and persecution, " being assembled, we deliberated of the composition of the matter with wholesome moderation," &c.' " Which thing also Agrippinus of blessed memory, with his other fellow-bishops, who thengoverned the church of Christ in the African province and in Numidia, established, and, by the well-weighed exa- mination of the common advice of them all together, confirmed it "' Thus it was the custom in the churches of Asia, as Firmilian tells us in these words: " Upon which occasion it necessarily happens that every year we, the elders and rulers, come together to regulate those things which are committed to our care, that if there should be any things of greater moment, by common advice they be determined."3 Yet while things went thus, in order to common truth and peace, * Those who had lapsed into heresy, apostasy, or crime. En. ' Persecution sopita, cum data esset facultas in unum conveniendi, oopiosus episco- porum numerus, quos integros et incolumes fide sua ac Domini tutela protexit, in unum convenimus, et scripturis diu ex utraque parte prolatis, temperamentum salubri mode- ratione libravimus, &c.Cypr., Ep. lii. ad Antonia». Quod quidem et Agrippinus boommemori vir, cum ce=teris coepiscopis suis, qui illo tempore in provincia Africa et Numidia ecclesiam Domini gubernabant, statuit et librato consilii communis examine firmavit.Cypr., Ep. lxxi. ad Quint. Qua ex causa necessarioapud nos fit, ut per singulos annos seniores et prsepositi in unumconveniamus, ad disponenda ea gum curet nostrse commissasunt, ut si qua gra viora sunt communi consilio dirigantur, &c.Cypr., Ep. lxxv. vol.. I. 26
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=