{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p><span class=\"smcap\">Chap. viii.</span>—13. Nor do I think that the blessed Cyprian\r\nhad any other motive in the free expression and earlier utterance\r\nof what he thought in opposition to the custom of the\r\nChurch, save that he should thankfully receive any one that\r\ncould be found with a fuller revelation of the truth, and that\r\nhe should show forth a pattern for imitation, not only of diligence\r\nin teaching, but also of modesty in learning; but that,\r\nif no one should be found to bring forward any argument by\r\nwhich those considerations of probability should be refuted,\r\nthen he should abide by his opinion, with the full consciousness\r\nthat he had neither concealed what he conceived to be the\r\ntruth, nor violated the unity which he loved. For so he understood\r\nthe words of the apostle: \"Let the prophets speak two\r\nor three, and let the other judge. If anything be revealed\r\nto another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_91_91\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_91_91\">[91]</a> \"In\r\nwhich passage he has taught and shown, that many things are\r\nrevealed to individuals for the better, and that we ought not\r\neach to strive pertinaciously for what he has once imbibed and\r\nheld, but if anything has appeared better and more useful, he\r\nshould willingly embrace it.\"<a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_92_92\">[92]</a> At any rate, in these words\r\nhe not only advised those to agree with him who saw no better\r\ncourse, but also exhorted any who could to bring forward arguments\r\nby which the maintenance of the former custom might\r\nrather be established; that if they should be of such a nature\r\nas not to admit of refutation, he might show in his own person\r\nwith what sincerity he said \"that we ought not each to strive\r\npertinaciously for what he has once imbibed and held, but that,\r\nif anything has appeared better and more useful, he should\r\nwillingly embrace it.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_92_92\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_92_92\">[92]</a> But inasmuch as none appeared,<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_45\">[Pg 45]</a></span>\r\nexcept such as simply urged the custom against him, and the\r\narguments which they produced in its favour were not of a\r\nkind to bring conviction to a soul like his, this mighty reasoner\r\nwas not content to give up his opinions, which, though\r\nthey were not true, as he was himself unable to see, were at\r\nany rate not confuted, in favour of a custom which had truth\r\non its side, but had not yet been confirmed. And yet, had not\r\nhis predecessor Agrippinus, and some of his fellow-bishops\r\nthroughout Africa, first tempted him to desert this custom,\r\neven by the decision of a Council, he certainly would not have\r\ndared to argue against it. But, amid the perplexities of so\r\nobscure a question, and seeing everywhere around him a strong\r\nuniversal custom, he would rather have put restraint upon\r\nhimself by prayer and stretching forth his mind towards God,\r\nso as to have perceived or taught that for truth which was\r\nafterwards decided by a general Council. But when he had\r\nfound relief amid his weariness in the authority of the former\r\nCouncil<a id=\"FNanchor_93_93\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_93_93\">[93]</a> which was held by Agrippinus, he preferred maintaining\r\nwhat was in a manner the discovery of his predecessors,\r\nto expending further toil in investigation. For, at the\r\nend of his letter to Quintus, he thus shows how he has sought\r\nrepose, if one may use the expression, for his weariness, in\r\nwhat might be termed the resting-place of authority.<a id=\"FNanchor_94_94\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_94_94\">[94]</a></p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","BOOK SECOND."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-87"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"c9fd04c79239fb90e4517dee7fbbbdb5372d3a498fb2b5096579208b00b6c2ac","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_93_93","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Title leaves identify J. R. King, T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1872; catalog identifies translator John Richard King (1835-1907). Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/American Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_93_93","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_93_93\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_93_93\"><span class=\"label\">[93]</span></a> The former Council of Carthage was held by Agrippinus early in the third\r\ncentury, the ordinary date given being 215 <span class=\"smcap\">A.D.</span></p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_93_93","text_sha256":"d319b34b06502a91b29fc8103bd15a3bf8f2a6ec8ecd03abe76edabfb673d0ad","verified":false,"work_id":null}