pope. In his eyes, Stephen was but a bishop, full of audacity and insolence, because he had dared to separate himself from the communion of those who had another belief from his own upon the question of the baptism of heretics; and he even goes so far as to compare him to Judas. Nor must it be forgotten that Firmilian was one of the holiest and wisest bishops of his time.
The principle of unity he placed in God; he says, "As it is but one and the same Lord that dwells in us, he joins and knits together his own among themselves, by the bond of unity, in whatever place they may be."
As for the Church of Rome, which it is sought to impose upon us now as the centre of unity, he thus speaks of her:
"Those who are at Rome do not observe all the things which were given at the beginning, and it is in vain that they pretend to support themselves upon the authority of the apostles: it is thus, that, upon the day for the celebration of Easter, and upon a great number of other mysteries of religion, there are diversities among them, and that they do not observe all that is observed at Jerusalem; likewise in other provinces, many varieties are encountered according to the diversity of places and tongues; yet they are not separated for all that from the peace and unity of the Church Universal."
The Church of Jerusalem was the model church, according to Firmilian; she was the mother of all the others, and the purest type after which all the others should form themselves. As for the Church of Rome, she could, like any other private church, be cut off from unity. This is why be declared so energetically against Stephen, who had dared to break peace with the bishops of Africa; who slandered the Apostles Peter and Paul, by pretending to follow their traditions. "I have reason," he said, "to be indignant at the manifest folly of Stephen, who, on the one hand, glories in his episcopal seat, and pre-
