full-blown. He got the question taken up at three successive councils of African bishops, and carried his own way. At one of these no less than eighty-seven bishops were present. No account is given of the discussion, because, in all likelihood, there was none; but Cyprian has preserved the formal opinions delivered by each bishop, in which there is sufficient diversity to show that every man spoke his own mind in his own words, and the lack of logic is made up by a redundance of asperity. The document in which these are preserved is a curious relic of ecclesiastical antiquity, and one of the few monuments that we have to help us to form an estimate of the abilities and qualifications possessed by the early bishops in general.

Augustine afterwards completely demolished the positions taken up by Cyprian and the African bishops in this controversy, which would have rent the Church in twain, if Cyprian and those who agreed with him had not, with great good sense and moderation, abstained from retaliating on Stephen, who hastily and intemperately excluded them from his communion.

But Cyprian's end was drawing nigh. He had escaped unnoticed, apparently, during the persecution of Gallus, the successor of Decius, who, after a brief pause, disturbed the peace of the Church; but under Valerian, who had been the protector of

the Christians during the first three years of his reign, and during the last three years and a half of it was their merciless persecutor, Cyprian, in A.D. 257, was brought before Paternus, the proconsul of Carthage. In his examination he conducted himself with dignity and presence of mind, and was treated with courtesy and kindness. He was exiled to Curubis, a pleasant little town on the coast, about fifty miles from Carthage, where he lived in private lodgings, and was treated with great kindness by the citizens, for eleven months. At the end of this period he was recalled by Galerius Maximus, who, in the mean time, had succeeded Paternus, and took up his residence at his own gardens. A dream which he had at Curubis, related at length by Pontius, had made him look forward with certainty to martyrdom as his divinelyappointed doom. He was prepared to meet it with firmness and heroism, but determined, if possible, not to die out of Carthage. He concealed himself while the proconsul was at Utica, lest he should be sent for and martyred there. On the proconsul's return to Carthage, Cyprian repaired again to his gardens. On the 13th of September, A.D. 258, the chief-jailer and marshal of the guard apprehended him and conveyed him in a chariot to Sexti, a place about six miles from Carthage, whither Galerius, who was convalescent, had gone. The news spread through Carthage, and drew out

"He laid aside his cloak and knelt down in prayer, then, rising, took off another upper garment, ordered twenty-five gold pieces to be given to the trembling executioner, bade him do his office quickly, covered his face with his hands, and calmly awaited the fatal stroke." (Page 37.)

the whole Christian population, who crowded around the gate of the officer's house, where the bishop was confined till next day. On the morrow he was brought before the proconsul in the criminal court. The last act of the drama was short. Cyprian was firm, and the council reluctantly pronounced sentence. When the proconsul read aloud, "It is the will of this court that Thascius Cyprianus be immediately beheaded,” the martyr replied, "Thanks be to God!" and a shout arose from the crowd, "We will die with him." He was marched at once to the place of execution, a field near Sexti, under a strong escort. It was a plain thinly planted with trees, which many of the immense concourse that had collected climbed, to see their bishop die. He laid aside his cloak and knelt down in prayer, then rising, took off another upper garment, ordered twenty-five gold pieces to be given to the trembling executioner, bade him do his office quickly, covered his face with his hands, and calmly awaited the fatal stroke.

His death was worthy of his life. His brave soul passed away exulting in the glory of having won the martyr's crown, after manfully and zealously finishing his work, and doing as much for the Church in his brief episcopate of ten years as probably all the rest of his contemporaries put together. His letters and treatises are interesting not only as specimens of the literary taste of his