At the Council of _Rome_ assisted among other Presbyters _Novatian_: but as he maintained, in Opposition to the whole Assembly, that the Lapsed were to be admitted upon no Terms or Satisfaction whatsoever, but should be left to the Divine Tribunal, he was himself cut off from that Communion, which with an invincible Obstinacy he denied to others[365]. Provoked at this Sentence, he readily gave Ear to the Insinuations of _Novatus_, a Presbyter of the Church of _Carthage_, who had fled from thence to _Rome_, to avoid the Sentence of Excommunication, with which he was threatened by St. _Cyprian_, and the other Bishops of _Africa_, for his scandalous Doctrine, and irregular Practices[366]. _Pacianus_ paints him in the blacked Colours: [Sidenote: Novatus _his Wicked ness_.] He stripped the Orphans, says he, plundered the Widows of the Church of _Carthage_, and appropriated to himself the Money belonging to the Poor and the Church[367]: He turned his Father out of Doors, and let him die of Hunger in the Streets, and would not even be at the Trouble of burying him after his Death. With a Kick in the Belly he made his Wife miscarry, and bring forth a dead Child: whence _Pacianus_ calls him a Traitor, an Assassin, the Murderer of his Father and Child[368]. As for his Doctrine, he held, while at _Carthage_, Tenets diametrically opposite to those he taught at _Rome_: for, at _Carthage_, he was for admitting to the Communion of the Church not only the Lapsed, but all other Sinners, let their Crimes be ever so heinous, without any Sort of Penance; and, at _Rome_, for excluding them, let their Penance be ever so long, let their Repentance be ever so sincere[369]. At _Carthage_ he found _Felicissimus_, of whom I shall speak hereafter, inclined to Lenity; and _Novatian_, at _Rome_, to Severity: and therefore, as he was a Man of great Vanity, and no Principles, he suited himself to the different Tempers of such as he judged the most capable of raising him. [Sidenote: _He gains many Followers, and some Confessors, to the Party of_ Novatian.] At _Rome_, by a Pretence to an uncommon Sanctity and Severity, he gained a great many Followers, and among them some Confessors lately delivered out of Prison, from whom he extorted Letters directed to _Novatian_, wherein they consented to the Ordination of the said _Novatian_. In virtue of these Letters he was accordingly ordained, some say in _Rome_[370], others in a neighbouring Village[371], by Three Bishops sent for by _Novatus_ out of the Country for that Purpose, and quite unacquainted with his Views. [Sidenote: Novatian _the first_ Anti-pope.] Being thus ordained Bishop, he was set up by the Party against _Cornelius_, whom they charged with relaxing the Discipline of the Church, and communicating with the Lapsed, especially with one _Trophimus_. This St. _Cyprian_ calls a false and groundless Charge; for, as to _Trophimus_, though he was in the Number of the