one of the fundamental principles of the Congregational system. Indeed, it lies at the very foundation of the whole system. It is hopeless to think of maintaining the Congregational polity where this principle is disregarded. The talents and piety of Novatian, and the arguments which he drew from the Scriptures and the character of the apostolic churches, soon gathered around him many friends and followers. In the year A. D. 251 Novatian and his followers separated themselves from the church of Rome; and indeed, from the entire Catholic community : "not for a reason of faith"-for they agreed in doctrinal belief with the great body of the church-but on the ground, that the Catholic church had corrupted herself by the admission of unworthy members, and was no longer a body of " innocent persons ;" and that her congregations wère no longer entitled to the name of Christian churches. So agreeable to the convictions of multitudes were these doctrines of Novatian, that, besides the church which was organized by him in Rome, another sprang up in Carthage, by the side of the "arrogant Cyprian ;" and within the third century the schism had spread into Gaul. And there were churches in Nice, Nicomedia, in Phrygia, in Constantinople, and probably, in numerous other places, all over the empire, before the close of the fourth century. แ "The vast extent of this sect," says Dr. Lardner, "is manifest from the names of the authors who have mentioned them, or written against them, and from the several parts of the Roman empire in which they were found." Robinson, in his Ecclesiastical Researches, speaking of the abuse of Novatian by the Catholic writers of his day, * Quoted by Mr. Jones-Hist. of the Chris. Chh. Vol. 1. p. 318. Eng. Ed. 66 says: They call Novatian the author of the heresy of Puritanism; and yet they know that Tertullian had quitted the church near fifty years before, for the same reason; and Privatus,* who was an old man in the time of Novatian, had, with several more, repeatedly remonstrated against the innovations taking place; and as they could get no redress, had separated and formed separate congregations. They tax Novatian with being the parent of an innumerable multitude of congregations of puritans all over the empire; and yet, he had no other influence over any, than what his good example gave him.† People everywhere saw the same cause of complaint, and groaned for relief; and when one man made a stand for virtue, the crisis had arrived; people saw the propriety of the cure, and applied the same means to their own relief.‡ Gibbon tells us, that about the middle of the fourth century, "A large district of Paphlagonia [a province in the northern part of Asia Minor, on the Euxine Sea] was almost entirely inhabited by those sectaries" the Novatians.S The manner in which Socrates, the ancient ecclesiastical historian, accounts for the spread of Novatianism in this, and some other countries, deserves notice. "The Phrygians," he says, are a nation far more temperate and modest than others, for they swear very seldom. The 66 * Milner mentions Privatus only to call him "an impostor." It would have been more satisfactory had he given us his reasons for so calling him. + We should infer from this expression that the Novatians recognized another principle of what is now called Congregationalism, namely-The independency of the churches. Jones' Hist. of the Chh. Vol. I. p. 314, 5th Ed. § Decline and Fall, Vol. I. p. 467. Harper's Edition. Scythians and Thracians are hotter and more prone unto anger; for they that are nearer unto the rising of the sun are set more upon lust and concupiscence. The Paphlagonians and Phrygians are inclined to neither of these perturbations. For at this day [i. e. about the middle of the fifth century] they use no running at tilt, no such warlike exercise, neither do they use to pastime themselves with spectacles and stage plays. Wherefore these kind of men, in mine opinion, draw nearest unto the drift and disposition of Novatus' letters [or Novatian's, which he sent abroad explaining his views of church order]. Adultery is accounted among them for a detestable and horrible sin. It is well known that the Phrygian and Paphlagonian trade of life is far modester, and more chaste and continent than any other heretical sect whatsoever. I conjecture that they shot at the same modest trade of life which inhabited the west parts of the world, and leaned to Novatus' [Novatian's] opinion."-Lib. IV. Chap. 23. Such representations of " a heretical sect," by an impartial historian like Socrates, are sufficient praise: and outweigh, and give the lie to all the bitter denunciations of Cornelius of Rome, or Cyprian of Carthage, both of whom, though contemporary, were the prejudiced and bitter enemies of Novatian."* Ecclesiastical writers agree in representing Novatian as strictly orthodox in his religious doctrines; and the sect, as remarkably strict in their discipline, and pure in their morals. Milner, who mourns over the broken unity of the church, broken, for the first time, by these "schismatics," * Cornelius calls him "jolly Novatus," and accuses him of guile and inconstancy," of "perjury, falsehood, and inhumanity," and of "sleights, and devilish subtilties;" and calls him a "deceitful and malicious monster."-Euseb. Lib. VI. and who " can by no means justify the separation of Novatian," is yet constrained to admit, that these were the most respectable of all the dissenting churches, and that they "preserved for a considerable time, a strictness and purity of discipline and manners ;" and "that they held no opinions contrary to the faith of the gospel."* Mr. Waddington's account of the Novatians is worth transcribing, not because it adds anything of importance to what has already been adduced, but as the testimony of a candid Episcopalian : "Novatian, a presbyter of Rome, was a man of great talents and learning, and of a character so austere, that he was unwilling, under any circumstances of contrition, to readmit those who had been once separated from the communion of the church. ** He considered the Christian church as a society where virtue and innocence reigned universally, and refused any longer to acknowledge, as members of it, those who had once degenerated into unrighteousness. This endeavor to revive the spotless moral purity of the primitive faith was found inconsistent with the corruptions even of that early age: it was regarded with suspicion by the leading prelates, as a vain and visionary scheme; and those rigid principles which had characterized and sanctified the church in the first century, were abandoned to the profession of schismatic sectaries in the third."+ The Novatianists were repeatedly condemned by Catho lic synods; but still they increased. And if, as Milner tells us, "purity of principle and inflexibility of discipline were their favorite objects,"§ no good man can do other * Cent. III. Chap. 9. + History of the Church, p. 79. Harper's Edition. Eusebius, Lib. VI. Chap. 42. § Cent. III. Chap. 11. wise than rejoice in their prosperity, even though it broke up the ecclesiastical unity of the church. For several centuries we are able to discover distinct traces of this earliest sect of dissenters; and, alas! that these traces should sometimes be the blood of their martyrs. "Novatian himself, was put to death in the persecution under Valerianus."* And when the strong arm of the law was moved by The Church,'—so called par excellence— these conscientious dissenters were persecuted unto death; were obliged to lurk in corners, and worship God in or 66 private."+ 6 About the middle of the fourth century a war of conversion or extermination was waged upon such of them as dwelt in the region of Paphlagonia. Macedonius, the Arian bishop of Constantinople, supported by the emperor Constantius, "resolved either to convert or extirpate them; and as he distrusted, on this occasion, the efficacy of an ecclesiastical mission, he commanded a body of four thou sand legionaries to march against the rebels, and to reduce the territory of Mantinium under his spiritual dominion. The Novatian peasants, animated by despair and religious fury, boldly encountered the invaders of their country; and, though many of the Paphlagonians were slain, the Roman legions were vanquished by an irregular multitude, armed only with scythes and axes; and, except a few who escaped by ignominious flight, four thousand soldiers were left dead on the field of battle."‡ This account may, perhaps, be regarded as a sample of the treatment which these Puritans of primitive times ex * Socrates, Lib. IV. Chap. 22. Gibbon, Vol. 1. Chap. 21. p. 467. account of this persecution, Ecc. Hist. † Robinson. Socrates gives a particular |