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iat would have come is they could have heard, since Wh over heard ran hastily and came. HOW many lapsed merothero restored by a glorious consessioni They bravely stood, and by the very suffering os repentance Were made braver
3. What does Novatian say to these things, dearest brother Does ho yet lay asido his error ' or, indeed, as is the customos olish men, is he more dri ven to fury by our very benestis and prosperi ; and in proportion as the glory os love and faithmows here more and more, does the madness of dissension
a deserter of the church, a foe to mer , a destroyer of repentance, a teacher of arrogance, a corrupter of truth, amurderer os lovel Does he noW acknowledgo who is tho
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brother, for the sahe of the mutuat love by Whicli me arejoined ono in another, that since we are instructed by tho providence of the Lord, Who Warns us, and are admonished by the whol ome counseis of divine mercy, that the day of o contest and struggle is atready approaching, we sbould notes e to be instant With ait the peopte in fastings, in Watchings, in prvers. Let us M urgent, With constant groaningsand frequent prayers. For these are our heavenly arms, Which maho us to stand fast and bravely to persevere. Theseare the spiritus defences and divine weapons whieh dolandus. Let us remember one another in concord and unanimi . Let on both sides alWays pray for one another. I et usrelievo burdens and amictions by mutuat love, that ii any ono of us, by the sWisiness of divine condescension, shali goheneo the fidit, our love may continue in the presen ce of the Lord, and our prayers for our brethren and sistera not cerae
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-E EPISTLES OF CYPRIAM193banishment of Lueius had hanened by divine direelion,
as meli a confessor as a priest. But noW also me no Iesscongratulate Fou and Four companions, and the wholo se
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so that While you Were prepared and ready to undergo ali punishment, yet the Lord WithdreW you from punishment, and preservia you for the church. In Dur retum thedimi of his confession has not been abridged in the bishop, but tho priestly authority has rather increasta; so that apriest is assisting at the altar of God, Who exhorta the peopleto take up the arma os confession, and in submit in martyr
dom, not by his moria, but is his de s; and non that
Antichrist is near, prepares the soldiem for the batile, notonly by the urgency of his speech and his morda, but by tho
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Uritten aper both Unori eo eming the lapsed os inhielimention was mari above in Epistis iiii.; but whether αlong time or a ahori time after is tincertain, although theeonteaee indieates iacit it was initten durins a time of
1. Cyprian, and others his colleagues Who mere present in councit, in number fixty-six, to Fidus their brother, greeting. - have read your letter, dearest brother, in Which youintimated concerning Victor, sormerly a presbyter, that our colleague Therapius, rashly at a too early season, and with OVer-eager haste, granted peace to him beforo he had fullyrepented, and had satisfied the Lord God, against whom heliad sinned; whicli thing rather disturbed us, that it Was a departure from the authoriw of our decree, that peaco fhould bo granted to him besore the legitimate and tali time os sati
faction, and without the request and consciousnem of thopeople-no sichness rendering it urgent, and no necessity
us, it was considered sufficient to rebuke Therapius our col
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completed by the majesty and work of God their Maher.
3. Moreovor, bellei in divine Scripture declares to us, thalamong ali, whether infants or those Who are older, there istho fame equality of the divine gist. Elislia, beseechingGod, so laid himself upon tho insant son of the wido' Whowas lying dead, that his head Was applied to his head, and his face to his face, and the limbs of Elislia mere spread overand joined to each of the limbs of the child, and his iaet to his Dei. Is this thing be considered Mith respect to thoinequali of our birili and our body, an insant could not bomade equat With a person grown up and mature, nor could ita lituo limbs fit and bo equat to tho larger limbs of the manJ. But in that is expressed the divine and spirituat equali , that ali men are liko and equat, since they have once been made by God; and our age may have a disserenos in thoincrease of our bodies, according to the Worid, but not accord- ing to God; unless that very grace also Which is given to thebaptized is given either tess or more, according to the age of the receivers, Whereas the Ηoly Spirit is not given withmeasure, but by the love and mercy of the Father althe to all. For God, as Ηe does not accepi the person, So does notaccepi the age ; since He shows Himself a Father to ait withwell-weighed equality for the attainment of heavenly grace. 4. For, Willi respect to What Fou say, that the aspect of
at lassing it in giving grace and in maing peace; since in
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tho hiss ot an infant every one os us ought, sor his very religion's inhe, to consider the stili recent hanti os Godthenaseives, which in some fore We are hissing, in the maniately formed and freshly born, When we are embracing that whicli God has made. For in respect os the observance of
the eighth day in the Jewisti circumcision os the fleis, a
but whon Christ came, it Was sulfilled in truth. For becauseste sighth day, that is, the siret day after the Sabbath, Wasto M that on whicli the Lord should riso again, and should quichen us, and givo us circumcision of the spirit, the ei indari that is, the first day after the Sabbath, and tho GraesdV, Went before in the figure; Which figure ceased When by and by the truth came, and spiritual circumcision Was
5. For whicli reason we thinh that no one is in bo hinderedhom obtaining grace by that laW Which Was atready ordained, and that spiritual circumcision ought not to bo hindered by carnal circumcision, but that absolutely evem man is to boadmitted to the grace os Christ, since Peter also in the Acts of the Apostles speaks, and says, Tho Lord hath said is mostat Ι should cali no man common or unclean. But uanything could hinder men hom obtaining grace, their more
astor tho flesti according to Adam, he has contracted the contagion of the ancient death at iis earliest birth, Who approaches the more eastly on this very account to the reception of thoninivetiem os sins-that to him are remitted, not his o nsins, but the sins os another. 6. And theresore, dearest brother, this mas our opinion in
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Gined in respect of ali, me thinh is to be even more observedin respect of infandi and ne ly-born persons, Who on this Very account deserve more from our help and hom the divino
thousand sesterces, contributed by brethren and Hatera andeolleagues. It is probable that this captivity was the work of those barbariana against whom Deciua went to war and
was killed. 1. Cyprian to Januarius, Maximus, Proculus, Victor, Modianus, Nemesianus, Nampulus, and Honoratus, his brethren, Meeting. Willi excessive mes of mind, and notmithout leam, dearest brethren, I have read your letterwhich you Wroto to me hom the solicitude of Four love, comeerning the captivity os our brethren and sistera. For Whowould not grieve at missortunes of that End, or Who Would not consider his brothers gries his o n, since the Apostis Paul spealis, saying, μ Whether one member suffer, ait themembera suffer With it; or ono member rejoice, ait themembere rejoice mitti it ' and in another place he says,
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union; and not love only, but also religion, ought to instigato
and strengthen us to redeem the members of the brethren.
ot us wili do for another What he would wish to be done forhimself, is he himself wero held captive among barbarians. For who that is mindsul of humani , and remitided os mutuallove, it ho bo a fallier, Will not now consider that his sons aris there; ii ho be a husband, mill not thinh that his wiso is thero hept captive, With as much gries as shamo for tho marriago uel But hoW great is the general griei among ali Oi us, and suffering concerning the perit of Virgins who ars hept there,on whose bellais Wo must bowail not only the loss of liber , but os modesty; and must lament tho bonds os barbariansless than tho violence of seducers and abominable places, testthe members dedicated to Christ, and devoted for ever inhonour os continence by modest virtve, should be sullied by tho lusi and contagion of the insulter. 3. Our brotherhood, considering ali these things accordii gio Iour letter, and sorroWiully examining, have ali promptly