lived in afflnenoe and grandeur. His life seeoH ti^ received new impetus, concentrated purpose, uiti meaning from the tame of his oonversioa and faiptii which occurred A.D. 246, when he was notfiu iM fifty years old. Hehadbeen won toChrittisBkrij presbyter, Caecilius, who also instructed and pRjii him for baptism, at which time Cyprian added u I name that of Caedlius, out of gratitude to ha Qn4 teacher. Befbre his conversion he was exeraHd b deep sense ofthe vanity of heatiienism. In bis tact Gratia Dei, addressed to his ftiend Donatos km i his conversion, speaking of his spiritual state v^t in heathenism, he says : ** I lay in darkness, aid ft ed on the world's boisterous sea, with no reiCiogidi for my feet, ignorant of my proper life, and tttxi ftx>m truth and light." God*s mercy in his b{q he ever praises as being a marked epoch ii bb He felt himself to be a new man, having reodved means of the regenerating wave'* the "second b by the Spirit derived from on high." As a new ai he now devoted himself fully to the study of tbe Scriptures, and also to a life of celibacy and poverty. He studied the holy Scriptures and also the best ecclesiastical writers known, tat whom Tertullian was his favorite, with whom be a muned in mind every day, calling for him, as Jffd relates, with the simple word, ** BLand me the Het4 He sold his estate, and gave the proceeds, togftbff^ with almost all else that he possessed, for tht soppr of the poor. Thb he did with the double end id rin of renouncing and despising all secular inflaeace&ei at the same time fulfilling the law of charitj, via he believed God prefers to all sacrifices. Beodotli above-mentioned letter, adDotuttttm^ he about thiiti» wrote several works, in which he unfolded his v* principles and convictions, as, for instance, X^t^s^'* vankaU and his lAbri III teaUmonionm adt. Jvmi So wonderfolly grew his Christian reputatioD tbt on the death of Donatus, the bishop of Cartilage. tixR was a pressing cry from both clergy and laitr tk Cyprian might be ordained as his successor. Bt at^ estly declined the nomination, but the pcopb ^ not be put off. They so besieged him with therio- portunities that he fled into retirement to SToid ib( popular pressure ; but the place of his cooceitaci was discovered, and the people surrounded his Itf* closed every avenue of escape, and refdeed to ri^ draw until he should yield to their wishes. Be < leqgth humbly bowed to what seemed to bia itf* * necessity imposed on him by the provideoca of Goi Thus, in perhaps not more than two years after ^ baptism, with the unanimous approbation of the li^ ops of the province, he was consecrated bishop of C* thage A.D. 248. His elevation to this place of ^ ty and power, though effected under such wide ftja was for him the be^ning of long and severe cooflxt^ Opposition to him arose among some presbjten. S(«t of the more aged, among whom were FortnnttBi ad Donatus, who had themselves aspired to the Tscaat of- fice, with some of their friends among the laitj, <ffV^ his elevation as being still only a novice in the dtof^ See DoNATiSTS. These gave him much trouble. H* treated them with kindness, but at the same time >»>- tained the authority and dignity of his oflSce vith it cision. In the time of peace which had preceded to official term, luxurious extravagance and imswnlity had gotten the upper hand in society. Cyprian po«W earnestly for reform and discipline. This becsmetti occasion of increased opposition, his strictness hinij been attributed to a spirit of hierarchical assoo^^ of power, though he did nothing, eepedally in the Ifr ginning of his episcopate, without first gathering a the views of the presbyters, whom he calls his «•• preOnfteri (comp. Ep. 14). Still worse tronUes ^ with the persecution under Decius, whkh broke d* not much more than a year after he had been W!^ ^ the episcopal ofilce, in which the heathen popali^
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h, violence demanded his death, crying Cypricmnm leomem f The cruel edict came to Carthage aboat I bec^ning of A.D. 250. The heathen hailed it as line; loose their rage upon one who, having but a r years before stood so prominent in heathenism, w occupied the front rank in the Cliristian Church, t accordingly was their first mark. He, howev- saved himself by flight, which was made the occa- n Ibr Iresh reproaches fh>m those in the Church Lo still bore the old grudge against him. Some saw wardice in this self-exile, but many praised it fVom [isiderations of prudence, and as a course which )ald still preserve his great worth and influence to e Church after peace should be restored. He kept mself in constant correspondence with the Church, d in the deepest sympathy with the trials of the con- ssors and martyrs. He longed to be with them, and Dked npon himself as deprived of all this by a neces- y painftd to his heart. He liimself seems to have (ss^sed the consciousness of having been in the ith of daty, and he gave abundant evidence in his ter life, in times of pestilence and in the persecution ' Valerian, that he possessed the firmest Christian nirage, and knew no fear of death in the path of ity. The strict and severe manner in which, after is retnm fh>m flight, he dealt with those who had de- led the &ith under trial was not favorably regarded ren by those who had faithfully endured the perse- ition, and was viewed as coming with less charity id grace firom him who had himself withdrawn from le fire. The effects of the persecution had been ter- ibly disastrous. Multitudes were driven fh)m the lith like chaff before the wind. Cyprian looked upon as a providential sifting of the Church made neces- iry by its previous worldly and immoral state, and ence was concerned that the lapsed should not be re- ared without the strictest care. Of the havoc and onfusion thus produced in the Church, and the troub- M of restoration, he gives a sad picture in his work >« LctptU, His strictness with the lapsed gave rise 0 new troubles. The faction of disaffected pres- tyters was headed now by Felidssimus, with whom rere joined Novatian and four others who refused to icknowledge his authority in the form he exercised it n the case of the lapsed. They undertook to estab- ish an independent church, into wliich the lapsed were •0 be allowed to enter without further delay. Many »f the impatient among the lapsed were charmed by his open door for speedy restoration. The result ^as a serious schism. Cyprian maintains his pod- ^n firmly, and in a letter warns all against this mare of the devU (Epistle 43). An unportant series »f controversies ensues relating to the unity of the Church, the nature of schism, the validity of baptism t)y heretics, and affiliated points, which became the occasion of one of the most important works of Cypri- ui on 7^ Unity of the Church. This controversy also gradually involved the question of the independency of the episcopate, and the merits of the claims of Stephanus, the bishop of Rome, as over against the bishop of Carthage. (See Herzog*s Real-Encyklopddie^ iii, 219, 220 ; also four articles on Cyprian by Dr. Nevin in the Merceniurg Review^ vol. iv, 1852, particularly p. 527-686.) In this Novatian controversy Cyprian ^owed great bitterness as well as great firmness, and his statements as to his adversaries are to be taken with n^any grains of allowance. Hogenbach, in Herzog's ^ff'i'EncyTdnpddie, briefly sums up the closing scene of his life, and gives an estimate of his character, which we truislate. *^At length the time came when he should have opportunity to wipe out the stain which was sup- posed to rest on his name in consequence of his flight by the blood of his own nuurtyrdom. It took place in the Valerian persecution. On the 80th of August, 257, it ▼ss demanded of him by the Roman consul, Aspasius Patemus, to offer to the gods. Having refused, he was banished to Caribis, a day*s journey flrom Car- II.— R B