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88 Credibility of the Gospel History.
brose^ condemns, and shows* to be extremely absurd and
unreasonable.
This, most probably, is the true account : and perhaps
Eusebius, and"^ some others, who speak much after the same
manner with him, ought to be so understood likewise, though
they seem to express themselves differently ; for Ambrose
too charges them*^ Mith denying salvation to men. The
meaning of those writers I suppose to be this, that the Novatians,
even by their hard-hearted doctrine, and letting them
die out of the communion of the church, discouraged men's *
repentance, and consequently obstructed their pardon and^
salvation. Novatus then forbade the receiving to the communion
of the church such as had fallen in time of persecu-
tion, whilst other christians were for r&ceiving- them after
tokens of repentance, suitable to the kind and degree of the
offence ; some after a shorter, others not till after a longer,
time of humiliation and penance; all however who desired
it in^ the near approach of death. In this way of conceivingof
this matter we are confirmed by the accounts Eusebius
has left us of the epistles of Dionysius of Alexandria to several,
upon the doctrine of repentance, and the various degrees
or kinds of offences.
But though the controversy upon this head was occasioned
by the falls of some under persecution, it is not unlikely
that Novatus himself, or his followers afterwards, carried this
rigour and severity to other sins, sometimes called mortal,
and reckoned more heinous than others ; such as adultery,
fornication, and the like ; withholding' the communion of the
church from all who were surprised into any of these. So
noctibus ingemisce,—sed extra ecclesiara post omnia ista morieris : quaecumque
ad pacem pertinent, facies : sed nullam pacem, quam quaeris, accipies. Cypr.
Ep. 55. [Pam. 52.] p. 114. in. ^ Quid autem durius, quam ut
indicant poenitentiam, quam non relaxant ; cum utique, veniam negando, incentivum
auferant pcenitentioe? Amb. de Pcen. 1. i. cap. 1. n. iv. p. 390. BenM.
^ Frastra enim dicitis, vos prsedicare poenitentiam, qui tollitis fructum pcEui-
lentiee. Homines enim ad aliquod studium aut praemiis aut fructibus incitantur.
Id. ib. cap. 16. p. 413. Conf. cap. 11. p. 404.
^ — adimendo spem salutis, denegando misericordiam patris, respuendo
poenitentiam fratris. Anonym, ad Novatian. Haeret. apud Cyprian, p 16. a.
Oxon. Et tu jam, Novatiane, judicas, et nullam spem pacis ac misericordiae
habere lapsos praedicas. Id. p. 19. infr. m, •= Sed quid mirum, si
salutem negatis aliis, qui vestram recasatis ? Ambr. ib. 1. ii. c. 4. [al. 5.] p. 422.
•^ Hinc ergo apparet, Novatianum cum dole dicere agendam poenitentiam.
Ut quid enim poeniteret, si delictum aboleri negatur ? Ex Vet. et Nov. Test.
Qu. cii. ap. August. T. iii. in. App.
^ En, qui salutis viam fratribus inexorabili religione praecludat ! Pacian.
Ep. 2. p. 309. A. ' Ut lapsis infirmis et in exitu constitutis pax
daretur, ap. Cypr. Ep. 55. [al. 52.] p. 102.