tical fellowship. Cyprian of Carthage at length determined to
set his face against this system of testimonials. He alleged that the
ticket of a martyr was no sufficient proof of the penitence of the party
who tendered it, and that each application for readmission to membership
should be decided on its own merits, by the proper Church authorities.
The bishop was already obnoxious to some of the presbyters and people of
Carthage; and, in the hope of undermining his authority, his enemies
eagerly seized on his refusal to recognize these certificates. They
endeavoured to create a prejudice against him by alleging that he was
acting dictatorially, and that he was not rendering due honour to those
who had so nobly imperilled or sacrificed their lives in the service of
the gospel. To a certain extent their opposition was successful; and, as
much sickness prevailed about the time, Cyprian was obliged to concede
so far as to consent to give the Eucharist, on the tickets of peace, to
those who had lapsed, and who were apparently approaching dissolution.
But, soon afterwards, strengthened by the decision of an African Synod,
he returned to his original position, and the parties now became
hopelessly alienated. The leader of the secession was a deacon of the
Carthaginian Church, named Felicissimus, and from him the schism which
now occurred has received its designation. The Separatists chose a
presbyter, named Fortunatus, as their bishop, and thus in the capital of
the Proconsular Africa a new sect was organized. But the secession,
which was based upon a principle thoroughly unsound, soon dwindled into
insignificance, and rapidly passed into oblivion.

The schism which occurred about the same time at Rome was of a more
formidable and permanent character. It had long been the opinion of a
certain party in the Church that persons who had committed certain
heinous sins should never again be readmitted to ecclesiastical
fellowship. [631:1] Those who held this principle did not pretend to say
that these transgressions were unpardonable; it was admitted that the
offenders might obtain forgiveness from God, but it was alleged that the
Church on earth could never feel warranted to receive them to communion.
Cornelius, who was then the bishop of Rome, supported a milder system
and contended that those who were not hopelessly excluded from the peace
of God should not be inexorably debarred from the visible pledges of His
affection. The leader