ions of the dignity of the
Catholic Church, could not brook the thought that the ministers
connected with the schism of Felicissimus could dispense any baptism at
all. He imagined that the honour of the party to which he belonged would
be irretrievably compromised by such an admission, and he was sustained
in these views by a strong party of African and Asiatic bishops. On this
occasion Stephen repeated the experiment made about sixty years before
by his predecessor Victor, and attempted to reduce his antagonists to
acquiescence by excluding them from his fellowship. But this second
effort to enforce ecclesiastical conformity was equally unsuccessful. It
only provoked an outburst of indignation, as the parties in favour of
rebaptizing refused to give way. This controversy led, however, to the
broad assertion of a principle which might not otherwise have been
brought out so distinctly, for it was frequently urged during the course
of the discussion that all pastors stand upon a basis of equality, and
that the bishop of a little African village had intrinsically as good a
right to think and to act for himself as the bishop of the great capital
of the Empire.

It is very clear that at this time the unity of the Church did not
consist in the uniformity of its discipline and ceremonies. The
believers at Jerusalem continued to practise circumcision nearly a
century after the establishment of Gentile Churches in which such a rite
was unknown. On the question of rebaptizing heretics the Churches of
Africa and Asia Minor were diametrically opposed to the Church of Rome
and other communities in the West. As to the mode of observing the
Paschal feast a still greater diversity existed. According to the
testimony of Irenaeus there was nothing approaching to uniformity in the
practice of the various societies with which he was acquainted. "The
dispute," said he, "is not only respecting the _day_, but also
respecting the _manner_ of fasting. For some think that they ought to
fast only one day, some two, some more days; some compute their day as
consisting of forty hours night and day; [634:1] and this diversity
existing among those that observe it, is not a matter that has just
sprung up in our times, but long ago among those before us." [634:2]
When Cyprian refused to admit the lapsed to the Lord's Supper on the
strength of the tickets of peace furnished by the confessors and the
martyrs, he departed from the course previously adopte