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frequently for the Washing aWay and cleansing of your sin; but, after ali these things, you shali die Without the pale of
in the grave there is no consession, netther can confession
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152 THE EPISTLES OF CYPRIAM of the church, since they have netther hept the uni of ths
spirit nor of the church. 30. These se things for the present, out of many, dearme
1. Cyprian in Fortunatus, Ahymnus, optatus, Privatianus, Donatulus, and Felix, his brethren, greeting. Youhavo written to me, dearest brethren, that When you Were in the city of Capsa for the purpose of ordaining a bis RSuperius our brother and colle ue brought beiore you, that Ninus, Clementianus, and Florus, our brethren, Who had been proviousty laid hold Oi in the persecution, and confessing thonamo of the Lord, had overcome the violence of tho magi tracy, and the attack of a raging populace, RiterWards, Whenthey were tortured before the proconsul mith severe sufferings, mere Vanquishod by the acuteness of the tormenta, and fell,
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necessi , ceased their repentance tor the space of three years: of Whom Du thought it right to consult whether it was mollio receive them noW in communion.
2. d indeed, in respect of my own opinion, I thinh thattho Lord's mercy mill not be wanting to those Who are knownto havo stood in the ranks os batile, to havo consessed thonam ,- to have overcome tho Violence of the magistrates and the rush of the raging populacs With the persistency Ofuninaen faith, to have suffered imprisonment, is have longresisted, amidsi tho threata of the proconsul and the war ingos the surrounding people, torments that Wrenched and torothem With protracted repetition ; so that in the last momentio have been vatiquished by the infirmity of the flesti, maybe extenuated by the plea os preceding deserta; and it maybo sufficient for such to have lost their glory, but that Woought not, moreoVer, to close the place of pardon to them, and deprivo them of their Father's love and os our communion ; in Whom Wo thinh it may bo sussicient sor entreatingtho mercy of the Lord, that for three years continuatly and formWsussy, as you Write, they have lamented mitti excessivo penitentiat mourning. Assuredly I do not thinh that peaco is incautiousj and ove hastily granted to those, Who WB see, by the bravery of their Warsare, have not been previousty anting to tho batile ; and who, ii the strumle s uid comison meW, might be able to regain their glo . For When itwas decidia in the munest that penitenta in peril of sichnessahould bo assisted, and have peace granted to them, surelysiose ought is precede in receiving mace Whom We See notto have fallen is meakness of mind, but Who, haring engagedin the conflici, and being Wounded, have not been able tofustain the crown of their consession throuo meaness of the flesh; especialty since, in their destre to die, they merenes permitted in flain, but the tortures Wrenched their Mearled frames long enough, not in conquer their salth, Whichia unconquerable, but in exhaust the flesh, which is meah.
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io ali thoae etcho had repentel so that they might be themore eoummous for the eontest os austering. Cyprianannounces this deerre of the bishops in the name of the whola synod lo Father Cormelius; and there fore this letteris not so much the letter of Cyprian himself as that of the entire African Unod. Cyprian, Liberalis, Caldonius, Nicomedes, Caecilius, Junius, Marrulius, Felix, Successus, Faustinus, Fortunatus, Victor, Saturninus, another Saturninus, Rogatianus, Tertullus, Lucianus, Eutyches, Ampius, Sattius, Secundinus, another Saturninus, Aurelius, Priscus, Herculanus, Victoricus, Quintus, Honoratus, Montanus, Hortensianus, Verianus, Iambus,
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Donatus, Pompeius, Polycarpus, Demetrius, another Donatus, Privatianus, another Fortunatus, Rogatus and Monesus, to Cornelius their brother, greeting. 1. Wo had indeod decidod somo timo ago, dearest brother, having mutuatly tahen counsel one With another, that th Who, in the fierceness of persecution, had been overthrown
by the adversa , and had lapsed, and had polluted thom-
λ me superscription in other luxis is as Iollows: Cyprian, Liberalis, Caldonius, Nicomedes, Caecilius, Junius, Marrulius, Felix, Successus, Faustinus, Fortunatus, Victor, Saturninus, another Saturninus, Roga-lian, Tertullus, Lucianus, Sattius, Secundinus, another Saturninus, Eutyches, Ampius, another Saturninus, Aurelius, Priscus, Herculaneus, Victoricus, Quintus, Honoratus, Manilianeus, HorteuSianus, Verianus, Iambus, Donatus, Pomponius, Polycarp, Demetrius, another Donatus, Privatianus, another Fortunatus, Rogatus and Munnulus, in Corneli
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156 THE EPISTLES OF CYPRIAM to beseech tho Lord ; and 'avo decidedJ that they ought to
for the contest of the heavenly Warsare. For the repentance of the mourners Was reasonably prolonged for a more pro
departure, so long M peace and tranquilli prevalled, whichpermitted the long postponement of the lears of the mourners, and late assistance in sichness to the dying. But noWiudeed peace is necessary, not for the sich, but for thostrong; nor is communion to be granted by us to the dylan but to the living, that we may not leave those Whom me stirup and exhort to the batile unamed and nahed, but may
communion Τ3. - should mae a difference, dearest brother, betW nthose Who, either, have apostatiZed, and haVing returned tothe world whicli they have renounced, are living heathenishlives, or, having become deserters to the heretics, ars dialytising up parricidal arms against the church; and those Whodo not depari from the church's threshold, and constantly and sorro fulty imploring divine and paternat consolation, profess that they are noW prepared for the batile, and readyto stand and fght bravely for the nams of thoir Lota and
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not amid indulgences, but amid arms. We grant race, notior rest, but for the field of batile. Ιη according in What me hear, and destre, and belleve of them, they shali standbravely, and shali overthrow the adversary With us in thoencounter, Me shali not repent of haring granted peace tomen so brave; yea, it is the great honour and glory of our episcopale to have granted peace to martyra, so that me, as primis, Who datly celebrate the sacrifices of God, may prepare offerings and victims for God. But is hich may the Lord avere from our brethren-any one of the lapsed aliould deceive, seehing peaco by mile, and at the time of the impending struggle receiving mace Without any purpοκof doing batile, he betrays and deceives himself, hiding onething in his heari and pronouncing another With his Volce. , so far as it is allo ed to us to see and to judge, look uponthe face of each one; we are not able to scrutinige the heartand in inspect the mind. Concerning theso the Discemer
eomo and judge of the secreta and hidden things of tho heart. But tho ovil ought not to stand in the way of the good, butrather the evit ought to bo assisted by the good. Neither ismace, thereiore, to be dented to those Who aro about to
rance lis may not be the firet one to be passed over, Who in the struggle is to be cromed. 4. Nor let any one say, that he who accepta martyrdomis baptized in his oWn blood, and peace is not necessary tollim from the bishop, since ho is a ut is have the peace of his οὐ fory, and about to receivct a greater reWard fromthe condescension of the Lord.' Flast os ali, lis cannot bestted sor martyrdom Who is not armed for tho contest by theehurch; and his spirit is deficient Whicli tho Eucharist receiveddoes not resso and stimulate. For tho Lota sus in His
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158 THE EPISTLES OF CYPRIAMSpirit of your Father Whicli speaheth in you. ' No
since Ho says that tho Spirit of the Father speahs in thoso who are delivered up and set in the consession os His name, how can he be found prepared or fit for that consession whohas not firat, in the reception of peace, received tho Spirit of the Father, Whο, giving strength to His servanis, Himselfspealis and consesses in us ' Then, besides-is, having fouesahen everything that he has, a man shali flee, and dwellingin hidinyplaces and in solitude, sh est fati by chance among thieves, or shali die in sevor and in Moahness, will it not bocharged upon us that so good a soldier, Who has forsahen allthat ho hath, and contemning his house, and his parenis, and his children, has preferred to follow his Lord, dies Without
be brought against us by the Lord, Which by His prophet
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THE EPISTLES OF CYPRIAN. 159 crueity than the benigni tyJ of divine and paternat lovo; Wohavo determined by tho suggestion os the Ηοly Spirit aniltho admonition of the Lord, conveyed by many and manifestvisions, because the enemy is foretoid and shown to bo at hand, to gather Within the camp the soldiers of Christ, to examine thocases of each one, and to grant peace to the lapsed, yea, ratherto furnish arms to those who are about to figlit. And this, metrusi, vili please yomin contemplation os the paternat mercy. But ii there be any of our colleagues Who, noW that the contest is urgent, thinks that peaco fhould not be granted to ourbrethren and sistera, he shali givo an account to the Lord in the day os jud ent, either of his grievous rigour or of his inhuman hardness. We, as befitted cur salth and charity and solicitude, have laid before you What was in our oWn mind, namely, that the day oi contest has approached, that a violentenemy Will Soon rise up against us, that a struggle is comingon, not such as it has been, but much more serious and fierce. This is frequently shown in us frem above; concerning this me ars osten admonished by the providence and mercy of the Lord, of Whose help and lovo we who trusi in Him may bo Secure, becauso He Who in peace foretelis to His soldiers thattho batilo mill come, Will gius to them When they are Warringvictory in the encounter. We bid you, dearest brother, ever
TO CORNELIUS, CONCERNING FORTUNATUS AXD FELICISSIMUS, OR AGAINSΤ THE HERETICS. ARGUMENT.-Cyprian chisy warna Cornelius in this lettea not to hear the ealumnies of Felicissimus and Fortunatus against him, and not to be frightened by their threata, but to be of a brave spirit, as beeomes God's priesis in oppo/ition to heretios; namely, those etcho, after the customprevatting among hereties, began theis heresy and schisma
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160 THE EPISTLES OF CYPRLAM Uith the eontempe of one bishop in the ehureh et indieativ
aeribed by Moreti Contra meretisos 1. I havo read your letter, dearest brother, Which yousent by Saturus our brother the acolyte, abundantly fuit offraternat love and ecclesiastical discipline and pHestly reproos; in which you signified that Felicissimus, no neW enemy of Christ, but long ago excommunicated for his Very many and grave crimes, and condemned not Only by my judgment, butalso by that of very many of my sesso bishops, has been rejected by Du there, and that When he came attended by a band and faction of desperadoes, he was dri ven fromtho eburch with tho fuit vigour With vhicli it bohoves abishop to aci; hom Whicli church long ago he Was driven, with othors liho himself, by the majesty of God and the severi of Christ our Lord and Judge; that tho authoros schism and disaneement, the fraudulent user os moneyentrusted to him, the violator of Virgins, the destroyer and Corrupter of many maresages, should nos, by the dishonour of his progeneo and his immodest and incestuous contac violato further tho spouse of Christ, hitherio uncorrupi, holy,
2. But yet, When I read your other letter, brother, Which you subjoined to your first one, I Was considerablysurprised at observing that you mere in some degre disturbod by the throais and terrors of those Who had come, When, according to What yοu Wrote, they had attached and threatened you With the meatest desperation, that is youWould not receive tho letters which they had brought, theymould read them publicly, and Would ulter many base and disgraceful things, and such as Were Worthy of their mouth. But is tho matter is thus, dearest brother, that the audaci of tho most miched men is to be dreaded, and that what ovilmen cannot do rightly and equitabin they may accomptishby daring and desperation, there is an end of the vigour of the episcopa , and of the sublime and divine power of