2 Indicating also by the way whence heresy and schisms are wont to take their rise, so that the letter is with good reason inscribed by Morell "Contra Haereticos."
3 [He was a purse-proud layman. But see Elucidation Xlll. infra.]
4 [" The sacramental host of God's elect."-The Task, Cowper.]
12 [This idea became embedded in the minds of Western Christians. See Southey, Roderick, xxv. note pa. The Fabulous Chronicle which Southey gives at length is a curious study of this subject.]
23 [i.e., in each Church the one episcopate-" the college of priests" - is represented by the one bishop. See note, Oxford trans. p. 155.]
24 [An illustration again of the Cyprianic theory. See the Treatise on Unity. These notes will aid when we reach that Treatise.]
30 [Cyprian could not have written this letter to Cornelius had he recognised in him, as a successor of Peter, any other than the gifts which he supposed common to all bishops.]
35 [" Our fellow-bishops." This council was held on the return of Cyprian, A o. 251, soon after Easter.]
36 [" Our fellow-bishops." This council was held on the return of Cyprian, A o. 251, soon after Easter.]
37 [They were not appointed there by any "favour of the Apostolic See," and Cyprian knows much more of their existence as bishops than Cornelius does.]
39 Or, "with Privatus, the proved heretic; " or, according to the Oxford translation, "a proud heretic." [See p. 308.]
43 Strictly, the phrase here as elsewhere is, "should do penance," "poenitentiam lagerent."
44 "That by the malice of the devil they may consummate their work;" v. l.
45 Scil. Capitol of Carthage, for the provinces imitated Rome in this respect. Du Cange give many instances.
46 Isa. xxix. 10: orig. "transpunctionis."
48 [The or animation of the laity into their freedom and franchises is part of the Cyprianic system, and gave birth to the whole fabric of free constitutions, in England and elsewhere.]
50 "Unless they had set up," vl.
51 [The Apostolic See of the West was necessarily all this in the eyes of an unambitious faithful Western co-bishop; but the letter itself proves that it was not the See of one who had any authority over or apart from his co-bishops. Let us not read into his expressions ideas which are an after-thought, and which conflict with the life and all the testimony of Cyprian.]
52 [To be interpreted by Epistle xxx. p. 308, supra. Elucidation XII.]
53 [Note this decree, "by all of us," and what follows.]
54 [Only "desperate and abandoned men" could make light of other bishops, by carrying their case from their own province to Rome This was forbidden by canons. Cyprian's respect for the mother See was like that felt by Anglo-Americans for Canterbury, involving no subjection in the least degree. See Elucidation Xlll.]
56 [Exod. xxiii. 2. The best comment on Cyprian's system is to be found in the Comnonitoryof Vincent of Lerins (A.D. 450), who lays down the rule, that if the whole Church revolts from the faith save only a few, those few are the Catholics.]
57 Ecclus. xvi. 1, 2. The words in parenthesis are not found in many editions.
58 [See vol. ii. pp, 15, 22. And for this ecclesiastical "remission," 2 Cor. ii. 10 , which Cyprian imitates.]
59 [What a contrast to the hierarchical spirit of the Middle Ages, this primitive compassion for penitents! Think of Canossa.]
61 [Cyprian's love for the people is always thus conspicuous. Here the majesty and dignity of the Catholic Church is identified with all estates of men therein.]
62 [Phil. iii. 2. The apostle calls the Judaizers a concision, the particle cut offand thrown away in the rite of circumcision; a rejected schism. See Joel iii. 14, Eng., margin. Elucidation XII.]
63 [Note this significant language. Our author has no conception of a pontifical system excluding the presbytery from its part and place in the councils and regimen of the Church.]
64 [Elucidation XV,; also Elucidation XIII.]
68 Ecclus. xxviii. 24 (Vulg. 28).
70 [It must be seen what all this implies as to the position of Cornelius and ("our brotherhood there") his comprovincial bishops, i.e., in their relations to Cyprian.]
72 2 Thess. iii. 6. [Cyprian virtually commands Cornelius, through, the Apostle, what course to take. Elucidation XIII.]
73 [Had such a letter been sent by Cornelius to Cyprian,-so full of warning, advice, and even direction,-what would not have been made of it as a "Decretal" ? A.D. 252.]