Church-Hifiory ofBifbops and that Novatos an African Prieft, that went to Rome and got Novatian or- dained' Bithop, did not deny them Pardon of Sin with God, but only Church-Communion. a. Nor did he deny this to other great Sinners re- penting, but only to thofe thatlapfed to Idolatryordenying Chrift. But the Novatians long after extended,it to other heynous Crimes, as upon fuppofedparity ofReafon. S. 27. VII. Next this wehave- Cyprians African Council in which (after the cenfuring of fome that reproached a Paftor) they condemn a Dead Man called Victor, becaufe by his Will he left one Fauflinus a Presbyter the Guardian of his Sons, which the Canons had forbidden, becaufe no Minifters of God fhould be called from their facred Work tomeddle with Secular things : Therefore they Decree that ViElors Name (hall not be mentioned among the Dead in Deprecation, nor any Oblation made for his Refl. `(Non eft god pro dormitione ejos apuel vosfiat oblatio, out deprecatio aliqua nomine ejos in Ecelefidfreqúentetur.) The cafe ofthe Clergy is much altered fince then ; And whether the penalty had more of Piety; as to the end, orErrour in the rigor, and the matter (asif it were a Punifhment to the Dead, not to be offered for, or prayed,for) I leave to-further con- fideration, Cypr. li. i. Epifl. 66. §. 28. VIII. The next Council we meet with is Coneil. Iconienfe an. 258.; where the Bifhops of Cappadocia, Cilicia, Galatia, and other Oriental Pro- vinces at Iconium in Phrygia, Decreed that theBaptifms ofHereticks, their Ordinations, Impofition of Hands, and other facred Actions were inva. lid. For which, faith Baronius an. 258. n. 14, 15, 16. Pope StephenExcom- municated all thefe Oriental Bifhops, and Reprobated the Council, and would not receive or hear their Legates : Of which Firmilianus Cafar. Cap- pad: writeth to Cyprian againft him. 4. 29. IX. At the fame time, Eufeb. lib.7,c.6. tells us, there was alfo, a- Synod at Synadis, yea, divers in otherplaces, that all decreed the fame thing, for rebaptizing thole that were baptized by Hereticks; and that this had been the Bilhopsopinion of fo long time before, that Eufebius durít not condemn it. Viol. Baron. Anno258, n. 17. But it isnow commonly con- demned. 4: 30. X. If theyhad'con5ned their opinion of rebaptizing to fuch He; reticks as are ftri&ly fo-called, that renounce any elf ntial Article of the Faith, they might have made the Controverfie hard ; But asHereticating increafed; fo theirown difficulties increafed. Andnow the Novatians were - pronounced Hereticks, it grew a hard queftion, whether all that the No- varions had baptized, muff be rebaptized. And for this an African Coon- cil, Anno z58. concluded affirmatively: Becaufe all that are baptized are baptized into the Church : But Hereticks are not in the Church, and fo baptize not into theChurch : therefore fuchmutt be. rebaptized. Cyprian: and many very GodlyBifhops confented in this errour. §. 3 t XI. To try thisbutinefs further, Cyprian gatheredanother Coun- cil of above 70Bifhops out of Africk, and Numidia, and.all.were defiredto. declare;
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