Epistle IX. ¹

To the Clergy, Concerning Certain Presbyters Who Had Rashly Granted Peace to the Lapsed Before the Persecution Had Been Appeased, and Without the Privity of the Bishops.

Argument.--The Argument of This Epistle is Contained in the Following Words of the XIV^th Epistle:--"To the Presbyters and Deacons," He Says, "Was Not Wanting the Vigour of the Priesthood, So that Some, Too Little Mindful of Discipline, and Hasty with a Rash Precipitation, Who Had Already Begun to Communicate with the Lapsed, Were Checked."