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she is the indispensable house of healing for all men and times. The many single churches are not merely joined together in outward union, but they are rather branches of an organism in which flows divine vitality. And the Pope in Rome? Cyprian felt and accepted an honorary priority of the See of that Peter, to whom Christ gave, as the first though not the only follower, apostolic powers. He spoke of the principality of the Roman Church, which is the mother and root of all the rest. Yet he was no special pleader, supporting the gradu- ally awakening belief that Rome's bishop possesses the highest power and that his is the position of a monarch over and above the mon- archistic units of Catholicism that is, over the unity of all episcopal churches. He saw, it would appear, above the whole Church a crown that is the invisible dominion of Christ Himself.
Indeed this pioneer advocate of unity lived to see the day when he would flatly contradict the Pope. Once more a question that con- cerned the nature of the Church had arisen. The Catholic and hereti- cal congregations both administered baptism according to the Biblical formula. If a person abandoned heresy and became a child of the Church, was his baptism to be considered valid or was he to be baptized again? Later theologians would put the question thus: is the sacra- ment valid by reason of the fact that it has been performed in the proper way, or docs the validity depend upon the right faith and moral character o r 'he one who atLnir , seers k? This was in all truth the prelude of a conflict that would embroil the Church through centuries. Stephen, the Pope, said that the baptism of the heretics was valid be- cause it was the baptism of Christ and had been administered in his name. Cyprian, and with him other bishops of Africa and Asia, adopted the point of view that since the sacraments belonged to the one Church only, the rebaptism of a convert must be insisted upon. Stephen appealed to tradition and demanded conformity with the Roman practice. A mission was sent from Carthage to dissuade the successor of Peter from making erroneous use of his powers, but this was sent back and the Primate of Africa together with his supporters were threatened with the ban, Cyprian resisted and a schism seemed inevitable. Then the Pope died, just as a new persecution under Valerian was about to begin. Sixtnis II, his successor, agreed at last to permit the questionable practice. Then he was arrested during
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